Photo: Mark Zukerberg, from Wikipedia.

Facebook was born in February 2004. It now has 500 million active users. Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg, a 20-year old Harvard Sophomore, with his college roomates and fellow computer science students. Zukerberg’s idea was to form a network so that students could get to know each other better. It was initially limited to Harvard students. Zuckerberg was born May 14, 1984 in White Plains, New York. He is now 26 years old and is CEO of Facebook, Inc.

In January 2009 Facebook was ranked as the most widely used social network worldwide in monthly active users.

Facebook generated 450 visitors in its first four hours online. Within its first month more than half the undergraduate population at Harvard was registered on the site. It expanded to Stanford, Columbia and Yale. It gradually expanded to all Ivy League schools, New York University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Expansion continued to universities in Canada and the United States. It currently gains 1 million new users per day, according to David Kirkpatrick, author of “The Facebook Effect.” It is located in Palo Alto, California. Facebook is currently open to all persons age 13 or older with an e-mail address.

The website is now worth some $15 billion dollars. More people visited Facebook than Google in 2010. A movie about Facebook, called “The Social Network” will be released next month.

Facebook is a social network where friends communicate with each other and keep track with what their friends are doing. Kirkpatrick states users of Facebook will reach 1 billion users worldwide within another year. He says that communications between people via Facebook exceeds that of e-mails.

Pahrump, Nye County and residents of the entire state of Nevada are well represented on Facebook. Not only individuals, but politicians and multiple businesses are active on the site. Groups of all kinds maintain active use of Facebook. For example “Positive Pahrump” has 1,781 friends, mostly residents of Pahrump or people actively involved with the Town, reflects positive attributes of the community.

Another group, “Mule-Lick Nevada,” is a humorous parody about Pahrump that is one of my favorites.

Local politicians use Facebook. Both Tony DeMeo and Scott Cobel, candidates for election to Sheriff of Nye County, have a presence on Facebook. You can learn a lot about each just by visiting their Facebook pages.

Whether you love or dislike Sharron Angle you will find her there as well.

Both Laurayne Murray and Dan Schinhofen, competing for election to the Nye County Board of Commissioners pursue their campaigns on Facebook. So do Carolene Endersby, Tom Waters and Don Rust, running for Town Board of Pahrump. Brian Kunzi, candidate for Nye County District Attorney, is there, though I did not find Ron Kent, his opponent.

Oddly, neither the Nye County Democratic Party nor Republican Party maintain a presence on Facebook that I could find. The Nye County Republican Central Committee has a website but seems to ignore Facebook. The Nye County Democratic Central Committee not only ignores Facebook but the internet completely since they have no website presence at all.

One would think both political parties would be communicating furiously with their members by both methods, particularly with the November elections fast approaching.

Facebook’s effect on the American political system became clear in January 2008. Both Facebook and Twitter has virtually revolutionized politics. Facebook is an extremely popular and powerful new way to interact and voice opinions on the political scene.

Facebook has been blocked intermittently in several repressive countries including Pakistan, Syria, People’s Republic of China, Vietnam, and Iran.

The impact of Facebook on the future of the United States has been recognized. Particularly with the younger generation, which is quite familiar with the Internet, Facebook, Twitter, instant messaging, and the whole range of communicative techniques of modern 21st Century. For the first time in history ordinary people are capable of personally interacting with each other, governments notwithstanding. That is a good thing.

You are welcome to read more about this and other matters on the Nye-Gateway to Nevada’s Rurals blog at http://nyegateway.com. You can also follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Featheriver.

Today, President Obama  signed legislation to provide urgent fiscal relief to school districts across the country to maintain our education system, and to enable 160,000 teachers to keep their jobs.

The 160,000 figure is nationwide. Nevada’s share is 1,400 teachers.

I assume that a portion of those 1,400 teachers will be here in Nye County.

The question is: “Will those Nye County residents that are concerned about Obama’s ‘big government spending’ rise up  in protest, demanding the federal money be rejected?”

By the way, Senator John Ensign voted No (to reject the money) and Senator Harry Reid voted Y (to take the money). [Congress.Org]

[Source: White House]

This is segment I of a video of Carolene Endersby, a candidate for the Town Board of Pahrump, Nevada.

Carolene was interviewed for about 20 minutes about where she came from, how she came to Pahrump, why she is running for election, what she hopes to accomplish if elected.

There will be a series of  of incremental clips of that entire 20 minute interview uploaded to YouTube and posted on this blog. The reason for the increments is to chop the 20 minutes into small bites making it possible to upload the files for your viewing. YouTube won’t permit uploading an entire 20 minute video—thus it must be done in increments.

In addition to this blog the video’s will appear on Twitter and that way transmitted to some 211 followers of tweets I publish. Additionally the video series will appear on Mrs. Endersby’s campaign website. Also, the videos will be displayed on Friends of Carolene Endersby for Pahrump Town Board on Facebook. Of course you can always see her videos on YouTube.

The plan is to upload each segment in about two-minute segments because of the size of videos and because it permits a viewer to download the videos to watch much faster than it would take it the entire 20 minutes of video would have to be downloaded.

You are welcome and invited to contact Mrs. Endersby about her campaign, her plans and aspirations concerning the Town of Pahrump. You can contact her on her campaign website or Facebook or via her email at ecarolene@gmail.com or phone her at 775-513-0709. Additionally, her calendar schedule is contained on her campaign website so that you will know when and where she will be appearing throughout Pahrump during her campaign. That way you can meet with her personally.

Lots of people in Pahrump have particular concerns about their town and community over a wide range of matters. Mrs. Endersby is aware of that and wishes to meet as many of you as possible to discuss the matters which concern you most. So take advantage of the opportunities to talk with her. You will find she is an excellent listener, very intelligent, very committed to improving our community here in Pahrump. I can assure you that you will be glad you took the time and exerted the effort to meet her.

Watch, meet and learn about Carolene Endersby a candidate for the Town Board of Pahrump.

Also watch for a series of future video clips of Mrs. Endersby as you explains why she is running for election, her journey resulting in her residence in Pahrump, her motivation in running for office and what she hopes to accomplish if elected.

Check out her Carolene Endersby for Pahrump Town Board. Also, visit Friends of Carolene Endersby for Pahrump Town Board on Facebook. You can become her friend too. If you want reasonable, responsible representation from a person with common sense for the common good she is your candidate.

Republican opposition in Congress has stalled legislation that would extend much-needed benefits to unemployed workers.

There are more than 14.5 million people out of work and another 2.5 million who are discouraged and have given up looking for work, according to the Labor Department.

As we have noted before, some conservatives stunningly argue that benefits keep people from looking for work.

Nevada leads the nation in the percentage of people unemplyed at 14 percent. There are 120,000 Nevadans out of work, and that doesn’t include those who have given up looking.

Despite arguments to the contrary, this isn’t about people being spoiled or lazy. There aren’t jobs available. This is about ideology: The right-wing crowd doesn’t like government, and they are willing to let millions of Americans suffer to get their way. That is tragic.

[Source: Las Vegas Sun]

I wonder  how many of those unemployed, who need this extension of unemployment benefits, are unemployed Republicans?I also wonder how those unemployed Republicans are going to vote come November?

Here are the 20 most economically stressed counties with populations of at least 25,000 and their May 2010 Stress scores, according to The Associated Press Economic Stress Index:

1. Imperial County, Calif., 31.74
2. Yuma County, Ariz., 29.14
3. Lyon County, Nev., 27.3
4. Merced County, Calif., 24.55
5. Nye County, Nev., 24.45
6. Sutter County, Calif., 23.93
7. Stanislaus County, Calif., 23.6
8. Yuba County, Calif., 23.59
9. Clark County, Nev., 23.24
10. San Benito County, Calif., 23.12
11. San Joaquin County, Calif., 22.66
12. Luna County, N.M., 22.42
13. Lake County, Calif., 21.59
14. Riverside County, Calif., 21.23
15. Kern County, Calif., 21.14
16. Madera County, Calif., 20.53
17. San Bernardino, Calif., 20.45
18. Pinal County, Ariz., 20.37
19. Fresno County, Calif., 20.01
20. Lapeer County, Mich., 19.97

[Source: Reno Gazette Journal]

Gawker calls it America’s Worst-Run County: Nye County, Nevada.

Citing the Wall Street Journal, Gawker says it has the entire sordid tale of the management case study that is Nye County.

Looks like everyone and his dog is getting their fill of Pahrump and Nye County, Nevada.

Sheriff Tony DeMeo DA Bob Beckett

It isn’t every day that Pahrump and Nye County makes the Wall Street Journal. The headline in the Journal issue of July 6 heralds “High Noon in Pahrump, Nev.: Sheriff Arrests the District Attorney.” The sub headline reads “The D.A. Chooses Not to File Charges Against Himself, Investigates His Nemesis.”

The article begins “Like a scene from a Western movie, the two top lawmen here are settling their scores in public.” Forging onward the Journal reports the D.A. appointed a special prosecutor “to investigate possible abuses of power by the sheriff’s office and other public officials.” The special prosecutor filed felony charges against deputy sheriff, David Boruchowitz, for arresting Beckett.

The Journal article proceeds to explain the arrest of District Attorney Robert Beckett by Sheriff Tony DeMeo’s deputy for allegedly “misusing public funds.” Then it points out that “…the D.A., refuses to charge himself.”

“[A]fter he (Boruchowitz) was summoned to lock himself in the corrugated metal county jail, he sent out a press release with his own mug shot announcing he had been arrested. A judge later rejected the charges, contending Mr. Beckett didn’t have the power to appoint a special prosecutor. So Mr. Beckett refilled the charges himself.”

The Journal then describes Nye County as “twice the size of New Hampshire…Most of the county is so desolate that for years the military conducted atomic testing here.…Its sparse local economy includes a gold mine and a dairy farm, as well as seven brothels whose fees finance the county’s ambulance services.” Pahrump gets its mention as being 45 minutes from Las Vegas and the “local government struggled to keep up with the proliferation of houses and mini-malls strewn across the desert.”

The Journal characterizes the beef between DeMeo and Beckett this way. “Mr. DeMeo complains that his department arrests people who never get prosecuted. Mr. Beckett contends that some of the sheriff’s cases aren’t solid.”

“I’ve often said they need a mother to stop the fighting,” said Mr. Beckett’s wife, JoDee Beckett. “It’s like two little boys.” [Read more →]

This is a video showing Butch Borasky and Carl Moore, competing candidates in the June 8 primary election, drawing cards to decide who won their tied election votes in Nye County, Nevada, for Nye County Commissioner – District IV.

Lisa Kohbarger of Pahrump writes me that:

Great Basin College in Pahrump campus needs a couple more students for the PSY 101 summer class for it to go; it’s a fast class July 6-Aug 6; this is a great way for anyone to get this pre-requisites or co-requisites done and out of the way; it’ll be here in the class room at the Pahrump campus; maybe if somebody reads it on your blog they’d sign up; we have about a 1 week and half for people to sign up for this one.. any help is appreciated–thanks so much!!!! I’m in but we need a couple more peeps thanks Jack–take care ”

“It’s the general psychology class on campus here at GBC on Calvada-main campus. PSY 101 is typically a pre-requisite for associate or bachelor degrees. anybody can call the main campus here in Pahrump at 727-2000 and ask for Jeff the advisor to get instructions on how to sign up if they cannot manage the http://www.facebook.com/l/1d0c7271LdX51uYngHMarDy3pkQ;www.gbcnv.edu website and go to Pahrump campus schedule. This is a one month course, in the classroom, not online and you receive a full three credits vs. taking it the entire semester.

Good idea. You can learn a lot by taking Psy 101. I took it years ago.