Melançon Enterprises • a multidivision multinational since 1980

Snoozles Hostel
Galway
Forster Street, Galway, Ireland

(The Galway Hostel said they had no space, and wouldn't let me plug my computer into their hall outlet for a minute to find a place.

At Snoozles, I walked into the nice large lobby, plugged in my computer, and found out they have excellent unrestricted internet. And they let me stay indefinitely on the couch there without a hassle at all. And the walk-in price? Exactly the same as the internet price! And the cheapest in Galway. Super win.)

http://www.snoozleshostelgalway.ie/

Mark Follansbee, www.WormMainea.com

In addition to my plastic tote bin (instructions attached), you can use white or red cedar to make your bin. Same Idea, build a bin that is 12-18 inches tall, 18-20 inches wide and 24-36 inches long with a wood or plastic top and you'll be fine. Unless the lid is tight fitting, wood bins generally do not need air holes.

Dan made cauliflower soup. With almond milk, yellow bell pepper, garlic, and lots of tahini hummos. We could eat pureed vegetable all day.

TED talk prediction - what will Iran do about its nuclear weapons program?

This isn't statistics, past data

most complicated negotiations are predictable

Iran will create enough weapons grade fuel to research but not enough to actually build a bomb.

(balance of influences analysis)

if you can predict what people will do you can engineer what they will do

when you say "That's impossible" you're confused

[Sprung from the Facebook prison]

Wall Street on the Tundra | vanityfair.com
Source: www.vanityfair.com
Iceland’s de facto bankruptcy—its currency (the krona) is kaput, its debt is 850 percent of G.D.P., its people are hoarding food and cash and blowing up their new Range Rovers for the insurance—resulted from a stunning collective madness. ...
Great writing. Pay attention to the author's numerous cues about the parallels between the U.S. and Iceland.

Reposted from Nina Smolyar: http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=91560595311&h=v2Fa3&u=p0UXr&re...

[From an e-mail to Kara and Erik]

My personal goal boils down to /the greatest power possible for all people over our own lives./

This is a concrete goal, more difficult to corrupt with ends justify the means disasters than the worthy but more abstract goals of justice and liberty and even prosperity (all of which, in my opinion, require a high degree of equality).

[from a closed-down useless basecamp project page]
Description of the need: Open source, modular messaging framework

From: Benjamin Melançon
Date: Wed, 21 May 2008 at 9:22pm
Category: Plan

In the context of an e-mail / mailing list manager:

Every news organization, every nonprofit, every community-oriented business or organization needs e-mail that allows personalization and tracking of recipient actions in response. Another common need is for mailing lists, which allow group participation in e-mail conversation, and for forums, which allow group conversations online.

The Map: Ireland trip on Google maps.

Aggregated advice for this first trip to Ireland, for some Agaric RDF for Drupal work in Galway (the guy who knows what he's talking about in this video is the one organizing the code sprint) and then some wandering.

I first heard Green Green and Greenback Dollar was the Kingston Trio's covers.

The original authors and performers are:

The New Christy Minstrel's for Green Green

And Hoyt Axton for Greenback Dollar.

When unsubscribing, people should have the immediate option to unsubscribe with one address and subscribe with another-- to switch their e-mail addresses. It is very dumb for organizations to make this difficult.

For PWGD people should further be able to set an e-mail address for one level of messages, and another for another level.

The goal: An organization for everyone, a communication medium open to all but not an overwhelming flood of information.

What can you do to help? Whatever you are willing to do.

How much time do you have?
Skills?
Material resources to share?

(These same sort of questions would be used to match people to work to be done in causes they care about when every movement imaginable is represented on VisionsUnite.)

Guide to World Domination
Copyright © 2008 ChrisGuillebeau.com

#1: What do you really want to get out of
life? The short summary is that you think

I want to radically shift the balance of power in favor of everyone.

#2: What can you offer the world that no
one else can?

The combination of self-importance and self-negation to pull it off.

Chris lists his first obstacle to changing the world in whatever way you want to as "Gatekeepers" -- which is just what we're out to destroy.

"expeRTiSe

I tried to post Al's probable first use of "NAFTA flu" but it doesn't work for people not logged in to Facebook.

"Oops! Time to name it what it is: The NAFTA Flu..."
http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=71571447637&h=_0OWJ&u=f8Jw3&re...

VisionsUnite is what I want before I am a community organizer. Before I do town meeting again. Before I knock on doors and find out who is at risk of foreclosure. Before I try to help bring people together to work on common problems.

I want our connections to be able to scale.

And I don't want myself to be a critical path, a likely bottleneck of coordination.

Well-written story, easy to get into the main character's life, grabbed a good slice of life in the U.S. also.

Not something I usually make moral judgements about, but... Astrid...

Why sleep with the Russian guy? Why have sex with someone you don't like on any other level?

Funny, it gave me fresh respect for G cutting herself off from me so completely, though she certainly liked me in some other ways at least, I sort of understand how it was in that sense an act of strength.

Please, find a vision and pitch in.

The name is VisionsUnite. Five hundred people working toward a shared vision are far more powerful than five hundred carefully crafted personal visions independently posted and pursued to far less effect, if at all.

Here is a hilarious example of Ning failing. On Constance Steinkuehler's great Field hands post about organizing against home foreclosures the second comment is from Kurt Squire:

thanks for posting. I don't think that folks saw the post (I didn't and I'm the group leader and married to you). I'll send out an alert.

Sue and Steve
http://communitybuilders.coop

Nina - friend of Ash, interest in alternative economic models

Ellie -member of Harvest Square Coop, feels less and less like a co-op

Sarah - Labor Studies student at UMass, involved in IWW. Now looking at services for disabled people set up in coop model and not agency model. Shelter for people with autism. People learn while there, and then stay a member, or leave when they find permanent housing.

Sirin (?) - woman

Heather - worked in farming collective last growing season

Kieran???

Creamy Cauliflower Soup

2 cups (500 mL) almond milk (I used almond milk kefir instead, way tastier)

1 medium cauliflower, chopped... Read More

1 red pepper, seeded and chopped

1/2 avocado, peeled and seeded (I used a whole one)

Juice of 1 lemon

2 tablespoons (25 mL) raw tahini (I used about a quarter cup of hummus instead)

2 tablespoons (25 mL) unpasteurized miso (I used Braggs here instead, way better)

1/2 jalapeño pepper, seeded and diced

2 cloves garlic

Summary to a friend:

The first one was quite good. In addition to presenting how messed up things are and the need for radical change in a really good way to talk about, to continue the conversation with just anyone -- how the reaction to squeezed profits is to shift costs onto all of us (less pay for more work, but also tax subsidies, services cuts, so that you can come up with examples forever), the parts that were new to me:

- top 50 hedge fund managers paying themselves an average of $588 million