Posts from — January 2010

For the past few weeks I’ve neglected blogging because I’ve been deeply entrenched in genealogical research for my family tree.

In doing so I have focused on searching for books online I can read that address the history of places and people, including some of my family ancestors. In doing so I came across a website called Internet Archive that offers free digitized books you can download in pdf, text, or even read online. The particular book I am currently interested in and reading is called A History of Rockbridge County, Virginia. A number of by ancestors are in the book. Those ancestors lived in the 1700s in Rockbridge County, Virginia.

I came across the book via Ancestry.com. Since one cannot download the entire book on Ancestry I went web surfing looking to find the book so I could buy it. Amazon has it for $63.76 new. Then I found it on Internet Archive and downloaded a pdf format of the book, for free!

Internet Archive had some announcements I read about 100 new jobs scanning books in San Francisco. I think that is a tremendous use of the federal stimulus money. The announcement stated:

SF Mayor Gavin Newsom on the Internet Archive’s hiring 100 people to scan books and microfilm from the unemployment rolls leveraging a matching system using stimulus dollars.

The announcement cited a link to a YouTube video in which Mayor Newsom is trying to drum up some some more hiring to digitize library items.

For those of you looking for a job I recommend you follow up on this opportunity. Think of it. How about digitizing books in Nevada’s libraries so they can be read online?

In the local news last week was a story about a $175,000 grant from Senator Harry Reid for courthouse cameras and security systems at the Pahrump Justice Center. It seems that Brian Thelaner, bailiff of the Pahrump Justice Court, secured the grant money but got into some hot water for having done so. The Nye County Board of Commissioners criticized him for not getting the grant through Nye County’s grant administrator and failing to specify what the county could do with the money.

It was just a couple of weeks ago that a man entered and shot to death one of the security guards in a courthouse in Clark County.

I was a bit puzzled as to why Mr. Thelaner was getting so much heat. I am still puzzled. It was reported he said he was asked to get quotes on the cameras and security equipment last January. The article did not say who asked him.

The report indicated Nye County has two metal detectors, one each at the entrances of the two justice courts. Neither District Court is protected nor is the courthouse itself, if I understand the article correctly.

Courthouse security is a matter of public concern. Some judges carry firearms under their black robes. Bailiffs are armed. Probably some who attend the courts as spectators are armed as well, but who knows for sure? Courts daily have appearances by litigating parties, their attorneys, witnesses, and juries. As to the courthouse itself all sorts of people come and go tending to business with the Assessor, Tax Collector, County Clerk, et. al. Wonder how many, if any,  of them are carrying concealed firearms, knives or lethal weapons? That the judges or bailiffs are armed does not protect members of the public or the employees of the various governmental offices in the courthouse.

The daily news frequently carries stories about shootings in courthouses. Nye County’s courthouses are not immune from such occurrences any more than those in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles or any other place.

Seems to me that Mr. Thelaner has performed a valuable public service. Most of us just assumed such public facilities were safe and secure. At least I did. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Frankly, the chastising of his effort in securing the grant money does not make sense to me. That he may have secured the grant outside the customary procedures is of little concern, to me. I am more interested in results.

One of these days a tragic event may well occur in one of the county’s courthouses or courts which could be prevented by sensible security measures as envisioned by the grant.

I do not understand why the Commissioners should criticize Mr. Thelaner because he may not have followed bureaucratic procedures in securing the grant money. Looks to me like Thelaner has performed a public service all on his own. He should be commended not criticized.

Maybe the Commissioners, on further reflection, will reconsider their stance. Maybe not. I think they should. After all, one of the primary functions of government is protection of citizens.

In this day and age safety and security is one of the prime goals that must be addressed. Better to plan ahead than to repent at leisure.

California regulators on Thursday went where no regulators have gone before — approving a utility contract for the nation’s first space-based solar power plant.

The 200-megawatt orbiting solar farm would convert solar energy collected in space into radio frequency waves, which would be beamed to a ground station near Fresno, Calif. The radio waves would then be transformed back into electricity and fed into the power grid. [Green Inc]

A Southern California start-up called Solaren will loft components for the solar power plant into orbit and sell the electricity it generates to Pacific Gas and Electric, the major utility in Northern California, under a 15-year contract. The project is supposed to be turned on in 2016.

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Press conference on steps of State Capitol building will discuss the most far-reaching proposal in history to regulate marijuana

CONTACT: Dave Schwartz, NSML Campaign Manager ……………702-727-1081 or dschwartz@mpp.org

CARSON CITY, NEVADA — On Wednesday, Jan. 6, on the steps of the Nevada State Capitol building in Carson City, Dave Schwartz, the campaign manager for Nevadans for Sensible Marijuana Laws, will discuss the details of a 2012 ballot initiative to establish a taxed and regulated marijuana market for adults 21 years of age and older in the state of Nevada. The press conference will occur immediately after Schwartz submits the initiative petition to the Secretary of State. Submission to the Secretary of State is a prerequisite to circulating the petition throughout the state.  The campaign will need to collect 97.002 signatures by November 2010 in order to qualify for the November 2012 ballot. Schwartz will also unveil the campaign’s Web site, which will serve as a key educational and organizing tool over coming years.

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Politics and Senators. There is a tiny clause tucked into a 383-page Manager’s Amendment to the Senate health care reform bill. You can read it on page 98. It relates to money that states will have to pick up with regard to Medicaid. The Senate bill would expand Medicaid to people below 133 percent of the poverty level. Up until 2017, the federal government will pick up the tab for the added cost that will place on Nevada and all the other states of the union. After 2017, Nevada (and all the other states, except Nebraska) will have to start sharing the cost.

The bottom line is that Nebraska will never have to share the added cost of Medicaid if that amendment becomes law. The federal government would continue to pay for the added cost to Nebraska even after the year 2017. But Nevada will have to pay.

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