Yesterday we celebrated S's birthday. We swam in the American River at "Paradise Beach" after biking there. I was increasing my prana.

We made elderberry jam / syrup from the elderberries we picked with Enit last week and in the intervening weekend between had fun at the Fair Oaks Renaissance Tudor Fayre (set in the setting of Bridgwater in the year 1532) with S's dad.

I have been having fun 'chanting' and looking up information about Ayurvedia since being at the "Yoga Vacation" at the Sivananda Yoga Farm. I even bought the CD (of the Satsang Kirtan chants) and "Kirtan Chanting Book" as it's music brought me to tears.

I have been gardening in our allotment. Enjoying my successes and learning curve encouraging life.

I had a lot of fun being at the Harmony Festival, seeing friends (some who I planned on meeting up with there via facebook and Facebook Status Updates), contributing by being a volunteer at the Earth Activist Training booth, seeing the speakers Julia Butterfly, Starhawk, Joanna Macy, the events including the Permibus, Michael Franti & Spearhead.

I notice with dismay that I have been updating this livejournal less and that I have been using and updating via Facebook more. I have the ideas that my writing style is kinda list like. And what could be more list like than Facebook ? I do not like this idea as a portend to my longer-term desire of increasing my writing proficiency.

In regards to fb I have been noticing and thinking about the Geography concept of Distance decay, and how, for me Facebook decreases the distance decay both physically and temporally.

I am enjoying my interface with Facebook, friends, and offline life. I've had some good dinners (hooked up with fb chat), saw the activist movie "Food, Inc." with friends (arranged by fb), and am happy with fb being a tool for increasing and deepening social interaction.

Other IRL things that have happened include that the Geography course ended well. The Permibus visited us in Sacramento, contributing to much fun for me. My computer hard drive died, and was replaced, hindering slightly my Geography term project which utilized Google Earth.

An uncle died. That was sad but offered the opportunity to meet some needs expressed by my mother.

I missed the protest in the desert at Creech AFB against the drones and the fun of the annual peacewalk. I missed the Nevada Desert Experience council meeting but I was glad to have created an agenda for the council meeting, wanting to be in Las Vegas for the Sacred Peacewalk (and council meeting) but resigned to not being there, and feeling tired of persistently feeling dizzy and ill since the accident.

Yesterday we celebrated S's birthday. We swam in the American River at "Paradise Beach" after biking there. I was increasing my prana.

We made elderberry jam / syrup from the elderberries we picked with Enit last week and in the intervening weekend between had fun at the Fair Oaks Renaissance Tudor Fayre (set in the setting of Bridgwater in the year 1532) with S's dad.

I have been having fun 'chanting' and looking up information about Ayurvedia since being at the "Yoga Vacation" at the Sivananda Yoga Farm. I even bought the CD (of the Satsang Kirtan chants) and "Kirtan Chanting Book" as it's music brought me to tears.

I have been gardening in our allotment. Enjoying my successes and learning curve encouraging life.

I had a lot of fun being at the Harmony Festival, seeing friends (some who I planned on meeting up with there via facebook and Facebook Status Updates), contributing by being a volunteer at the Earth Activist Training booth, seeing the speakers Julia Butterfly, Starhawk, Joanna Macy, the events including the Permibus, Michael Franti & Spearhead.

I notice with dismay that I have been updating this livejournal less and that I have been using and updating via Facebook more. I have the ideas that my writing style is kinda list like. And what could be more list like than Facebook ? I do not like this idea as a portend to my longer-term desire of increasing my writing proficiency.

In regards to fb I have been noticing and thinking about the Geography concept of Distance decay, and how, for me Facebook decreases the distance decay both physically and temporally.

I am enjoying my interface with Facebook, friends, and offline life. I've had some good dinners (hooked up with fb chat), saw the activist movie "Food, Inc." with friends (arranged by fb), and am happy with fb being a tool for increasing and deepening social interaction.

Other IRL things that have happened include that the Geography course ended well. The Permibus visited us in Sacramento, contributing to much fun for me. My computer hard drive died, and was replaced, hindering slightly my Geography term project which utilized Google Earth.

An uncle died. That was sad but offered the opportunity to meet some needs expressed by my mother.

I missed the protest in the desert at Creech AFB against the drones and the fun of the annual peacewalk. I missed the Nevada Desert Experience council meeting but I was glad to have created an agenda for the council meeting, wanting to be in Las Vegas for the Sacred Peacewalk (and council meeting) but resigned to not being there, and feeling tired of persistently feeling dizzy and ill since the accident.

A fun event to be. Please come to the "Pivotal Permaculture Brainstorming & Seed Swap" at 6:30pm, Thursday, March 26th, at Old Soul Coffee 1716 L St., Sacramento

Posted using ShareThis then editing it.

I am very proud of R for his bar mitzvah last night, March 13th, 2009.
At the event J orated the story of his and R's great great great great grandmother, the family history behind it, why R had created it as a project titled "Make no assumptions ...", then R further explained his reasons for his accomplishments of π and how it related to Moses and Albert Einstein.
R then recited π from memory to 800 digits in celebration of Pi Day, setting a new school record, and topping his previous record of 250 digits set last year.

For continuity ...

The Sacramento City Council barely passed the Anti-Scavenging Ordinance. So it was a technical loss, but I felt glad that my City Council person Rob Fong and two other council persons (Kevin McCarty and Bonnie Pannell) did not support the new ordinance.

Actually, due to a misunderstanding and technical issues, the ordinance, as it stands now, is now even more restrictive, as tenants, homeowners, and residents are now prohibited from allowing ANYONE from going through their refuse containers, once it has reached the curb, as it now has become "city property" whereas before, the tenant, homeowner, and resident could give specific permission for someone (like a dumpster diver) to go through their garbage, if asked, and permission received.

Some of the other people protesting this ordinance are now thinking of doing a group civil disobedience of the ordinance, to show how unenforceable the law will be.

Please show up to oppose the passage of the proposed Anti-Scavenging ordinance that would criminalize scavenging from dumpsters. I believe this legislation is the wrong direction for the Sacramento City Council to be moving, as it shows a lack of compassion for those who need to scavenge for sustenance and is inconsistent with the ideals of reusing, recycling, and sustainability.

Please show up: 2pm Tuesday, March 03, 2009 at City Hall 915 I Street, 1st Floor Council Chamber

Sacramento City Council Agenda for March 3rd, see item 14
030309-14-Scavenging (PDF-255 KB)

"Trash or treasure?, Sacramento City Council considers ban on Dumpster diving", By Sena Christian in the "Sacramento News and Review"

Hello

This week, in Sacramento, the Sacramento City Council, will decide upon adopting a proposed ordinance that would make it illegal to scavenge from the waste receptacles. I believe that this is a wrong direction for the City Council to be putting enforcement of the law. 1) In tough economic times, criminalizing survival methods of the impoverished seems just wrong. Compassion seems more appropriate. 2) Sacramento takes pride in being a "Sustainable City". The passage of this proposed anti-scavenging ordinance encourages landfill waste in that it criminalizes recovery and reuse of another person's trash which could be potentially useful to someone else.

Would you be willing to show up at the Sacramento City Council meeting, 915 I St., on Tuesday, February 10th at 2pm to speak against this draconian measure that would criminalize a survival method for the impoverished and would criminalize a method of recovery and reuse of less-than-new products ?

As background, the city seems to be worried about "identity theft" which they feel is caused by people going through trash. I believe there are better, more effective methods to counter "identity theft" than criminalizing and penalizing homelessness and methods to find and reuse reusable items.

Thank you for your consideration,

Ming
Sacramento Sustainability Action Group




More specific excerpted information is below:

http://sacramento.granicus.com/AgendaViewer.php?view_id=8&event_id=74

"(Pass for Publication) Ordinance Amendment: Scavenging from Solid Waste Receptacles

Location: (Citywide)

Recommendation: 1) Review an Ordinance repealing Section 13.10.160 of the Sacramento City Code relating to the removal of recyclable materials placed for City sponsored program and adding Section 13.10.160 of the Sacramento City Code relating to scavenging from solid waste receptacles; and 2) pass for publication the Ordinance title as required by the Sacramento City Charter 32c to be adopted on March 3, 2009. Contact: Edison Hicks, Integrated Waste General Manager (916) 808-4949, Marty Strauss, Integrated Waste Planning Superintendent (916) 808-4934, Utilities Department."
http://sacramento.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=8&event_id=74&meta_id=169925 021009-11-Scavenging (PDF-340 KB)
------

Some recent things I am doing:

I enrolled in a Spanish class for this semester.

I am doing some logistical planning for the annual spring Nevada Desert Experience Sacred Peacewalk then convening the Council after the Peacewalk, as the Convener of the Council for the regularly scheduled meeting.

I am using a gouge to carve a bowl out of a block of a Black Walnut tree that used to stand across the street, and was cut down by the Urban Forestry Service.

I got a book, "Deerskins into Buckskins" and am planning on creating a buckskin (not braintanned but egg tanned instead, secondary to fears of CWD) at Echoes-in-Time in July 2009. I am also planning on making an atlatl since there is an archery range at Discovery Park.

I am planning on protesting the Anti-scavenging ordinance proposed to the Sacramento City Council. I was already one of the public that protested it's passage from the Law and Legislative Committee to the City Council and was cited here: http://www.my58.com/news/18423635/detail.html

We are planning logistics for the West Coast Climate Change Convergence to be held in the Bay Area this year.

At last night's potluck, some neat connections were formed: Kim of http://www.OrganicSacramento.org met Brian Baker of http://www.urbanearthsolutions.com, a friend of mine from http://www.couchsurfing.org found a friend in a friend of S from  http://www.meetup.com/Sacramento-Area-Permaculture ,  a co-worker friend of S who lives at Village Homes in Davis had fun meeting the group.  Patsy of http://relocalizesacramento.wikispaces.com seemed to have fun as I showed off proudly some of the "summer camp" projects I made at the Echoes-in-Time event.

We tried raw butternut squash in a variety of forms, baked butternut squash, fried parsnip chips, hummus, and a local grown rice/broccolli dish. It was fun for me. I feel it was a successful event and a successful initial event for the Sacramento Permaculture Guild.

I think our next meetup will be at "Organic Capitol" on December 11th, 2008.

The Sacramento Permaculture Potluck has be relocated to here: http://www.wiserearth.org/group/SacSustain . Call that number listed for details and directions.

I have been too busy to recently post about what I have been doing. Election stuff, organizing Bank of America & Coal Finances Funding protests, Rising Tide stuff, Climate Convergence meetings, Nevada Desert Experience organizing and management stuff have all been a vortex for my time. I have been having some fun email conversations with people from High School and Nursing school.

*Beehive Collective Presentation, October 28th, 7 PM, at Luna's Cafe 1414 16th St., Sacramento
*Halloween Lunchtime Flyering Protesting Bank of America's Investment in Coal, October 31st, 12 PM, 1130 K St., Sacramento (Costumes encouraged)
*come plan SacTown's participation in Rainforest Action Network's National Day of Action protesting Bank of America's Investment in Coal, November 6th, 6:30 PM, at my place
*Rainforest Action Network's National Day of Action Against the Financing of Coal, November 14th, 12 PM, 1130 K St., Sacramento

1) We are very lucky that The Beehive Design Collective has agreed to come to Sacramento on October 28th to present their graphic campaign. http://www.beehivecollective.org/english/tour.htm

In their new "True Cost of Coal" banner, The Beehive Design Collective combines poignant messaging with beautiful artwork. Check it out, as well as their "Dismantling Monoculture" banner, and more at: http://www.beehivecollective.org/english/graphics_campaigns.htm

"The work of the Beehive Collective goes far beyond the traditional understanding of Solidarity. It is actively fostering equal exchanges and relationship building between communities that are involved in the same struggle for justice and democracy throughout the Western Hemisphere. Their open and inclusive process and the incorporation of Latin American mythology into their work transcends borders and language barriers. The Beehive collective breaks away from traditional forms of education. Their art forces the viewer to interact and participate within the graphic, making it a vital popular education tool where people learn about the reality of Plan Colombia, the Free Trade Area of the Americas, etc. The Beehive collective are pioneers and their work is telling and effective."
-Hendrik Voss, SOA Watch Networking Coordinator, Washington D.C.

Time: 7pm
Place: Luna's Cafe 1414 16th St., Sacramento,


2) As you may already know, Rainforest Action Network is having a campaign against the Financing of Coal.

Join us in a protest outside the local branch of Bank of America 1130 K St. on Halloween at noon. We will be passing out flyers regarding the hypocrisy of Bank of America's statement of "Green" values while their corporate actions continue to finance new coal, the worst contributor to greenhouse gases. Wear any fun costumes, all the better if it can relate to coal.

Time: 12pm
Place: K St. Bank of America (1130 K St.)


3) We would like to have a meeting regarding Bank of America and investments in Coal on November 6, 6:30p at my house. Bring ideas for the National Day of Action. Possible activities include signmaking, skit rehearsal, and planning.

Time: 6:30pm
Place: my house


4) Join us in the Rainforest Action Network's National Day of Action Against Coal Finance http://ran.org/campaigns/global_finance/spotlight/november_14_15_day_of_action_against_coal_finance on November 14th at 12pm. We invite you to join us in having a protest outside the local branch of Bank of America at 1130 K St. at 12pm on November 14, 2008.

Time: 12pm
Place: K St. Bank of America

See you there !

I am now the Convener of the Council of Nevada Desert Experience.

I am also the City Ambassador of CouchSurfing for the City of Sacramento, California. I felt that I wanted business cards, so now I enjoy CouchSurfing.org business cards made from recycled cardstock from Sacramento.MinuteManPress.com, a local franchise. I was specifically looking for recycled cardstock and local production that I could not get with vistaprints com. You too can get 15% off your order if you mention my name when placing your order.

We have been doing protests against Bank of America's investments in Coal.

We have also been busy also doing phonebanking for NoOnProp8.com (California Proposition8) and other election related stuff. I am donating and voting for Heather Fargo (since I like her plans and like what she has accomplished for Sacramento), and have been doing phonebanking for Bill Durston for Congress. 

"Bailey is voting No on 4, 8, 10, P, V. Yes on 1A, 2, 5, 12, A, B, H, K, T." 8:29am

R at 8:35am October 15
"How about on 7 ?"

Bailey Stevens at 9:25am October 15
"right now i'm conflicted on 7 -- i'm pro renewables but a lot of environmental groups are opposing it. i need to do more research. do you know anything about it?"

R at 9:39am October 15
"I am pro renewables and anti "bad" laws. What I have read seems to be good toward me voting "Yes". So Sofia Gonzalez and Doug Grandt (both on my friend list) are also pro 7. Sofia (an organizer for 7) has more specific details about why some environmental groups are against it ("many have received donation money from energy corporations") and has: http://confusedinsolarcalifornia.blogspot.com , Doug is "an energy guy" who also works for the Air Resources Board and I met him via permaculture and organizing the Sustainability Symposium http://tinyURL.com/4jcpme . I am voting "Yes" unless I hear something terrible about it, soon."

So, in case you were interested, I am voting for Heather Fargo for Mayor of Sacramento, Dave Jones for California State Assembly District 9, (and I would be voting for Alyson Huber for Assembly District 10 and Bill Durston for California's 3rd congressional district if I could), "Yes" on 1A, "Yes" on 2, "No" on 4, "Yes" on 5 http://www.aclunc.org , "No" on 6, "YES" on 7 http://www.Yeson7.net , "NO" on 8 http://www.NOonProp8.com , "No on 9 http://www.aclunc.org , and "No" on 10.

I desire to "save" rainforest area. Rainforests are oxygen giving, nutrient poor areas where the trees and plants get most of their nutrients from the atmosphere. The persistant rainfall washes out the nutrients from the soils causing poor soil quality creating oxisols (the name of this type of soil).

While at the Climate Convergence http://www.climateconvergence.org/west , I learned that sometimes in order to save rainforest acres, companies sometimes destroy rainforests to harvest the wood, plant trees in tree plantations to claim "tree planting credits" then claim "carbon credits" for the trees planted. There are protests against this Deserto verde http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deserto_verde . Often the trees planted are monocrops as well lacking true rainforest diversity.

So I sent an email after returning from the Climate Convergence in the first week of August, 2008 to Nature.org regarding this Facebook apps (Lil) Green Patch http://apps.facebook.com/greentrees and Deserto Verde with the question about Nature Conservancy and oversight about their actions. I haven't heard back from them.

I have sent a number of emails so far requesting that they give me assurances that my donations to The Nature Conservancy are honorably being utilized in forest growth, rainforest protection, humanitarian methods, in the spirit of my giving.

There still has been no response from Nature.org

Lots of my Facebook friends have (Lil) Green Patch and feel like they are saving rainforests by clicking on the button. But are they really "saving" rainforest area, or inadvertently contributing to it's destruction and capitalization by corporations ?

I like trilobites.

From what I have read and understand, trilobites exhibited some characteristics that appeal to me. Their adaptively to adversity http://www.fossilmuseum.net/Evolution/TrilobiteArmsRace.htm and diversity http://www.fossilmuseum.net/Tree_of_Life/PhylumArthropoda/ClassTrilobita.htm appeals to me. I understand the idea that trilobites, as a species, increased in diversity to adapt to adversity. I like it that they, as a species, lasted so long a time (nearly 300 million years).



Here is another informational link: http://www.trilobites.info/index.htm & http://www.trilobites.info/trilobite.htm

An organization: http://www.westernta.com

A commercial site: http://www.trilobites.com

The quest to obtain Smog Certificateness involved getting a diagnostic for failing a routine Smog Check, a diagnostic inspection faulting the carburetor, which then upon the inspection of a carburetor repair person turned into a suggestion to get a new catalytic converter, getting one, a revisit to then fail again another Smog Check, returning to the Carburator guy whos short diagnostic yeilded a simple cracked rubber tube going to the EGR valve.

We have been exploring the politicalcompass.org.

We biked to a nursery, obtained some plants, and then planted the alliums, et al. in our allotment.

I heard "Wait Wait ... Don't Tell Me!" which was fun.

We saw the exciting film "Tell No One". Five Stars.

I biked all over town yesterday and, for fun, stopped by Sutter's Fort.

We biked to a CouchSurfing Good bye party last night.

In regular stuff, I am still looking at yeson7.net , and hunting for trilobites, and drinking Hong Zhen Zhu tea.

I like this definition: from http://www.shaster.org.za/old/permaculture.htm

"Permaculture is unique among alternative farming systems (e.g., organic, sustainable, eco-agriculture, biodynamic) in that it works with a set of ethics that suggest we think and act responsibly in relation to each other and the earth.

The ethics of permaculture provide a sense of place in the larger scheme of things, and serve as a guidepost to right livelihood in concert with the global community and the environment, rather than individualism and indifference.

Care of the Earth
...includes all living and non-living things – plants, animals, land, water and air

Care of People
...promotes self-reliance and community responsibility – access to resources necessary for existence

Sharing Resources
...gives away surplus – contribution of surplus time, labour, money, information, and energy to achieve the aims of earth and people care.

Permaculture also acknowledges a basic life ethic, which recognizes the intrinsic worth of every living thing."

I'm thinking about Yes on 7 http://yeson7.net .

What do you think about Proposition 7 ?

I am also cleaning house, discarding papers that clutter my life, looking for a space for a Board Meeting in the Bay Area, as well as dipping into Halopedia Picture Game and Halopedia Quiz Game.

Finding a carburetor repair shop is also on my mind.

Recently we went on a beautiful bike ride along the Two Rivers Trail passing the architecturally cool Sacramento River Water Intake Structure. We found out what was voluntarily boarding in our vermiculture bins: Hermetia illucens. I have been reading about Deserto Verde with the help of M as we meet Verônica and had a fun couchsurfing evening. More biking along the Jedediah Smith Memorial Trail. We have been cooking with our solar cooker in the Fremont Community Garden across the street.

Oh and I was made a Couchsurfing City Ambassador for Sacramento !