Ever wonder if a previously unknown "rich uncle" might pass away and leave you a fortune? It seems that happened recently to an Australian family (not to one individual) thanks to genealogy researchers.

A Queensland family have been surprised to learn they are the rightful recipients of a $1.4 million inheritance.

When Marcel died in 2018, he didn’t have a will, leading the NSW Trustee & Guardian on a worldwide search for the rightful recipients of his fortune.

The NSW Trustee & Guardian said Marcel had developed dementia, but momentos he had kept over the years became clues in tracking down his family.

The NSW government agency has a small team of genealogy researchers who have found more than 500 people from across the globe in the past 12 months alone.

In Marcel’s case, their family tree search went as far as Paris before the team discovered eight nieces and nephews living in Queensland and Victoria.

Years after losing contact, the family were shocked to learn they would share in the $1.4 million inheritance.

You can read the full story written by Eliza Bavin and published in the Yahoo!Finance web site at: https://yhoo.it/3qdaTkw.

The following is a press release from Findmypast:

Liz Terwilliger has written a disturbing article that has been published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette web site. She writes:

"Did you ever spit into a plastic tube and mail it in to learn if you really have Sicilian blood, or Moroccan ancestors? Ancestry investigations for fun, right? Fun, except when the information from that DNA is shared without your knowledge.

"Ancestry.com, one of the largest repositories of personal DNA data, publishes transparency reports periodically, outlining their response to governmental requests for an individual’s data. In a recent report, the company admits they will supply your DNA to the government with “a court order or search warrant.”

"23andMe, another popular DNA ancestry site, is even more vague in the privacy statement on their website. They won’t release individual data unless 'required to do so by court order, subpoena, search warrant or other requests that we determine are legally valid.'"

There is a lot more to Liz Terwilliger's article. You can read the full article at: https://bit.ly/3BidpMZ

Note: Liz Terwilliger is a founding member of Reform Congress, a national nonpartisan movement or responsible representation. She is running for congress in Pennsylvania’s District 9.

WARNING: This article contains personal opinions.

One sad fact is that many genealogy libraries are closing. The closure of any library is always sad news, of course. However, I also see a solution and perhaps even a ray of sunshine in such announcements.

Most libraries close simply because of financial difficulties. It costs a lot of money for buildings, heat, air conditioning, electricity, and employees' salaries. Oh yes, there is also a major expense for books and other materials that are the primary purpose of a library.

Smaller libraries typically serve a limited number of patrons: only those who live somewhere near the library and can use the library's facilities without spending a lot of time and money in travel, hotel rooms, restaurants, and more in order to use the facility. When it comes to attract visitors to a library, geography is perhaps the biggest impediment of all.

In contrast, let's consider online libraries.

Scanning all the books and taking digital photographs of other items in a library costs money for the labor and scanners. (High-end scanners are often rented, not purchased.) However, those expenses usually are paid back once the library closes and stops paying for the building, heat, air conditioning, and electricity. The savings typically outweigh the earlier expenses.

Admittedly, even an online library has to pay for web servers, employees to keep the servers running, other employees to run the library and continue to add new material to the holdings, administrative expenses, and more. However, these new expenses usually are much lower than the cost of running a physical library.

The second advantage of an online library is undoubtedly the biggest: patrons are able to "attend" and use the library's materials regardless of location. The closed library no longer is restricted to serving patrons who live within a limited distance. Most of the online libraries serve would-wide users.

I well remember the FamilySearch Library's decision some years ago to digitize. (That Library also remains open and available to walk-in visitors in Salt Lake City.)

The senior management of the FamilySearch Library had been considering digitizing the library's holdings for some time. There were many issues to be considered, but one relevant to this discussion was the thought "if we place everything online, nobody will come to visit in person anymore."

You probably know the rest of the story. Management launched a huge digitization effort. The effort has consumed years and is still ongoing. Usage of the library mushroomed! Instead of serving thousands of people every year, the FamilySearch Library almost immediately was serving millions, both online and in person..

As to in-person visitors, the Family History Library now has many more in-person visitors than ever before in history. In short, that library is now more popular than ever before, both in-person and online. I believe there are multiple reasons for that success but obviously the online access to the library’s holding was never an impediment.

Will smaller libraries have the same success? Will a small library become an instant success when going online? I don't know the answer to those questions. Indeed, there are many factors involved. However, I know that I frequently access online libraries that are thousands of miles from my home. You can do the same, if that library’s holdings are available online.

I also realize that handling a printed book, especially an older volume, is somewhat emotionally satisfying. You can never appreciate the smell and feel of a digital image of an old book. However, I would consider that to be a minor drawback when accessing distant books and other material of interest that have been housed in a distant library.

And, yes, I will pay a few dollars for access to a library that is available across the country or even across the world, instead of paying travel expenses for an in-person visit.

Converting to an online library or perhaps to a combined online and in-person facility involves many decisions, none of them simple. Indeed, there will still be financial issues: will patrons pay a modest fee to remotely access a library's facilities? Can modern books still under copyright be made available? (Yes, all major city libraries already do that. Ask any librarian.)

In short, perhaps everyone should see challenges as opportunities. In the 21st century, libraries do not have to be large, physical buildings.

What is more important: housing physical books or satisfying the needs and desires of worldwide patrons?

I doubt if this will aid many genealogists in their research but, if you are one of the few, this will probably be one of the greatest online assets you ever found.

In a recent addition to Milner Library’s digital repository of historical circus materials, a singular collection of photographs and ephemera relating to the Musselman family and their long-running trapeze act has been scanned and made available online for public research. The collection includes photos of the family both on and off the trapeze, offering an intimate glimpse into the life of a troupe that was different from most.

The Five Fearless Flyers pose for a group shot circa 1933. From left to right: Maxine Musselman, Clayton Behee, Frances Musselman, Eddie Ward, Jr., and Robert Musselman.

Milner’s Special Collections department has amassed a world-renowned collection of circus artifacts from costumes performers wore to heralds which advertised upcoming performances. Many of these pieces are now decades or even centuries old, which raises concerns about the inevitability of physical deterioration. Archival storage of the artifacts can stave off this process but leaves them out of reach to those who aren’t able to visit in person. To address these issues, the Milner Library Digitization Center has undertaken converting some of these physical relics into high-resolution digital surrogates. This process ensures the treasures are eternalized in their current condition and free to access via the library website.

You can read much more at: https://bit.ly/3e8Q07n.

U.S. life expectancy dropped for the second consecutive year in 2021, falling by nearly a year from 2020, according to a government report being released Wednesday.

The estimated American lifespan plunged last year to about 76 years and one month, dropping for the second consecutive year to its lowest level since 1996. Life expectancy has dipped by almost three years since the pandemic began in 2020, the biggest two-year decline in nearly 100 years. But Covid only shoulders about half the blame for the 2021 decline, the CDC said, with other factors like deaths from accidental injuries, including drug overdoses, also playing a role.

You can read more at: https://bit.ly/3COG4dm.

Are you still using floppy disks? If so, why? Even more interesting: where do you purchase new floppy disks?

Japan's digital minister, who's vowed to rid the bureaucracy of outdated tools from the hanko stamp to the fax machine, has now declared "war" on a technology many haven't seen for decades -- the floppy disk.

From a report: The hand-sized, square-shaped data storage item, along with similar devices including the CD or even lesser-known mini disk, are still required for some 1,900 government procedures and must go, digital minister Taro Kono wrote in a Twitter post Wednesday. "We will be reviewing these practices swiftly," Kono said in a press conference Tuesday, who added that Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has offered his full support.

Japan isn't the only nation that has struggled to phase out the outdated technology -- the US Defense Department only announced in 2019 that it has ended the use of floppy disks, which were first developed in the 1960s, in a control system for its nuclear arsenal. Sony Group stopped making the disks in 2011 and many young people would struggle to describe how to use one or even identify one in the modern workplace.

The acting head of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has said that the agency is not against former President Donald Trump.

“The National Archives has been the focus of intense scrutiny for months, this week especially, with many people ascribing political motivation to our actions. NARA has received messages from the public accusing us of corruption and conspiring against the former President, or congratulating NARA for ‘bringing him down.’ Neither is accurate or welcome,” Debra Wall, the acting archivist, said in an Aug. 24 message to staff members that was made public on Aug. 30.

“For the past 30-plus years as a NARA career civil servant, I have been proud to work for a uniquely and fiercely non-political government agency, known for its integrity and its position as an ‘honest broker.’ This notion is in our establishing laws and in our very culture. I hold it dear, and I know you do, too,” she added.

“Our fundamental interest is always in ensuring that government records are properly managed, preserved, and protected to ensure access to them for the life of the Republic. That is our mission, and what motivates us as we seek to uphold the public trust. I thank all of you for your dedication to that mission and your professionalism and integrity in carrying it out in a non-political and diligent manner.”

You can read more in an article by Zachary Stieber published in the ntd.com web site at: https://bit.ly/3KzvFEh.

The following press release was issued by the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration:

Tuesday, August 30, 2022

Washington, DC

Acting Archivist of the United States Debra Steidel Wall announced the appointment of 20 individuals to the National Archives and Records Administration’s 2022–2024 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Advisory Committee. The individuals named will serve a two-year term and begin meeting in September 2022. 

The FOIA Advisory Committee consists of no more than 20 individuals who are all FOIA experts from both inside and outside of government. Members of the FOIA Advisory Committee foster dialogue between the administration and the requester community and develop recommendations for improving FOIA administration and proactive disclosures. Ms. Wall has appointed the following individuals: 

Government Members 

• • Paul Chalmers – Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation 
  • Carmen A. Collins – U.S. Department of Defense 
  • Allyson Deitrick – U.S. Department of Commerce 
  • Gorka Garcia-Malene – U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 
  • Michael Heise – U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission 
  • Stefanie Jewett – U.S. Department of the Interior Office of Inspector General 
  • Catrina Pavlik-Keenan – U.S. Department of Homeland Security 
  • Alina M. Semo – Chair, U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Office of Government Information Services 
  • Bobak Talebian – U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Information Policy 
  • Patricia Weth – U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 

Non-Government Members 

• • Jason R. Baron – University of Maryland 
  • David Cuillier – University of Arizona 
  • Alexander Howard – Digital Democracy Project 
  • Gbemende Johnson – University of Georgia 
  • Adam Marshall – Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press 
  • Luke Nichter – Chapman University 
  • Ginger Quintero-McCall – Demand Progress 
  • Thomas Susman – American Bar Association 
  • Eira Tansey – University of Cincinnati 
  • Benjamin Tingo – AINS 

Background
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) established the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Advisory Committee (Committee) in accordance with the United States Second Open Government National Action Plan, released on December 5, 2013. The Committee operates under the directive in FOIA, 5 U.S.C. §552(h)(2)(C), that the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) within NARA “identify procedures and methods for improving compliance” with FOIA. The Committee is governed by the provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, as amended, 5 U.S.C. App. NARA initially chartered the Committee on May 20, 2014. The Archivist of the United States renewed the Committee's charter for a fifth term on April 28, 2022, and certified that renewing the Committee is in the public interest. OGIS provides administrative support along with chairing the Committee in accordance with the charter.