152 Madeira Consorcio meeting 28.6.2025
Jun 30, 2025 at 1:10 pm | Posted in Posts | Leave a commentTags: bad, Consorcio, Funchal, good, Madeira, news, talk, ted
We met with in the Gallery and saw this video:
Angus Hervey: then good news you might have missed:
The speaker, at TED for the second time, brings good news on the affairs of the world.
His résumé: each person has to decide of he/she wants to listen to good news and restrict the intake of bad news, and to either believe in the collapse or the renewal of our human life on Earth.
It’s all about positive and negative news, how are the reactions?
Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are fighting in the US for a positive view of the situation, in order to sway the Americans away from “bad” Trump.
We agreed that altogether, the western world is moving toward the right.
Albuquerque seems to be listening too much to the Trump diatribes. He says the bus drivers are trying to blackmail him to get a higher salary. He has forgotten that the bus drivers are his employees/partners and that he is responsible for their wellbeing . Now, has he hasn’t relented to their demands, they might strike on July 20, the day many bus drivers are needed to carry up the PSD fans to the Chao da Lagoa party…
There are protest in Venice against the Bezos event, people are starting to protest against the rich people.
IN East Germany, there was a “schwarzer Kanal”,a satire broadcast tolerated by the regime, criticizing the West German lifestyle. (the Eats German still coveted the West German achievements.)
“Dinner for One” a satire on an very nice old British lady, famous in Germany, wasn’t even known in the UK until recently although the sketch plays in the UK. In the UK, a lot of the life circumstances remained unchanged, seen from outside, that is bad news. The UK has a lot of artists, and many good musicians and movies come from there. But life is the UK seems to be stagnant. Class is still a system the average Briton accepts as a given.
We also spoke about the universities. In the UK, education is a good product, sold to foreigners (around 70% of the student body is from abroad.)
Universities are places of innovation, scientific advances, and networking. A title obtained from Oxford or Cambridge is a sound base for a successful career in life. Trump is destroying this system in the US.
K. spoke of her two granddaughters. One is growing up in the US and at five years, under pressure to succeed in school. The other one is growing up in Hamburg, and at this age, is allowed to have a more playful time. Her parents say that the learning of the alphabet etc. will come along in due time.
Youngsters are growing up in a more cosmopolitan ways, automatically with several languages, they move around in the world with more ease and are tolerant of others. Chinese students are often sent abroad by their parents, to a get a good education and maybe, stay abroad to have a better lifestyle than in China. Or they may be pressured to return there and use their education for the homeland.
The US may fall apart soon, in the Western + Eastern seaboard states, and the middle which is pro-Trump. Sad…
Trump wants to have his faced added to Mount Rushmore. Question: will he want them to remove the other faces first??
The résumé. Each of of us has to decide wether to deliberately look on the bright side or to be led by bad news to a negative view of the world.
The Guardian has The Upside:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/series/the-upside
The SPIEGEL has a regular newsletter with good news:
https://www.spiegel.de/thema/alles-gute-vom-spiegel/
Ursula
150 Madeira Consorcio meeting 12.4.2025
Apr 14, 2025 at 3:28 pm | Posted in Posts | Leave a commentTags: afd, broken windows, chega, consorcfio, Funchal, germany, Madeira, new york, Portugal, Think Tank, trump
We met with a small group in the Gallery and saw this video:
The author wrote about the effect the “broken windows” theory had on the descent of the crime rate in New York City in the 1990’s
Due to “Stop & Frisk” (mainly on black men), the NY police claimed that crime had gone down by 2013. The author said tat by 2019, NY City was deemed to be as safe as Paris. The author, who had written accordingly before, changed his opinion and said in the talk that the NY crime wave was an “epidemic” and as such, died down as any mass disease would do. Crime is being perpetrated by black and white people alike.
Cl. wanted us to see the video because he is aware that we need to talk to each other better, also to people who have a different background and/or opinion as ours, such as AfD in Germany or “Chega” in Portugal. We should meet opponents and talk to them
U. said that conversation is usually on a rational level but that people with extreme opinions base their stance on emotions such as fear of loss (job, money, status). This way, such conversations may be fruitless. Cl. said that we should talk to them first on other issues and then move to the opinions that they have.
We then spoke about the situation in the US, on how democrats etc. could do damage control and get things back on track.
U. said that the Americans are, after 300 years of democracy, on a learning curve and need to experience another way of government. (The Brexit consequences are the learning curve for the UK.) They – and the Europeans – will see that autocrats (Trump, Meloni, Erdogan, Putin, Orban) are bad rulers because they are just out for money and power. Populations are being manipulated by creating fear of loss. Albuquerque is using the same technique to remain in power.
AfD is strong in the “old” East Germany, they lost the old system which they knew how to deal with. The old regime created a depression for the people, and they obeyed..
Some of us are optimistic that the US will come out of this after seeing how the autocrats are bad for the country. There is already resistance forming in the US. Canada is willing to defend itself and will accept many US citizens now; this may be good for Canada
We all were anonymous in declaring, that our member K., an American citizen, is highly valued by us!
What can we do?
Europeans are opting out from buying US products; any citizen can do this. American cars, we agreed, are of bad quality, so we would never buy an American car anyway. The US tariffs: Trump is trying to get other countries to pay for the American debt.
If we do not need the technology for business purposes, we can try to eliminate US technology from our PCs and Smartphones. We do not need to travel as tourists to the US now. The Tourist Immigration process was bad enough decades ago, now the behaviour of the Immigration agents is reportedly downright threatening. Who needs this?
A bet here: Trump will do the same thing Argentina* did: declare the State’s debt in the hands of other countries to be null and void, in order to get rid of the enormous debt the US has in the world. Just a thought…
*Argentina: Under Kirchner, Argentina restructured its defaulted debt with an unprecedented discount of about 70% on most bonds. The government of Argentina defaulted on 22 May 2020 by failing to pay a $500 million bill by its due date to its creditors. Negotiations for the restructuring of $66 billion of its debt continue. (Wikipedia)
143 Madeira Consorcio Excursion 11.05.2024
May 12, 2024 at 3:48 pm | Posted in Posts | Leave a commentTags: doctor, eye, Funchal, IOMT, Madeira, munoz, oftalmologico, trindade
We visited the Instituto Oftalmologico Muñoz Trindade IOMT (https://www.facebook.com/iomt.pt/) clinic in Funchal, situated at the back of the LaVie/Plaza.
Drs. Nuno Silva (from the Azores) and Fabio Trindade (Madeira) showed us the installations and the equipment they have. With altogether four doctors working there, they now pay off a (probably big) loan to a bank for the acquisition of the state-of-the-art equipment for diagnostics and treatments. Each doctor covers a speciality in their field. For problems based on other issues such as genetics, a specialized colleague visits from the continent on a regular basis.
They have a nice team (two of us are patients there) and patients are called up by name, not by numbers.
Diagnostic: The equipment enables them to take entire photos of the retina at a glance – just look into the machine and the photo is ready. Eye pressure measurements are just as simple, the machine gives of whiff of air onto the eye. – no stress for the patient.
Treatment: The doctors perform cataract operations in Clinica da Sé (apparently very well equipped) and in the Hospital Particular, and they can do laser treatments for various eye problems in their clinic. They treat glaucoma, and macular degeneration and can also help with dry-eye-symptom. A young patient from the UK with Diabetes 1 and the resulting eye problems, who was not treated adequately in the NHS; was helped by them so that the girl can now see a bit again.
Why do we get bad eyes? The simple answer, Dr. Fábio said, is age. Our eyes are not “designed” for longevity, they deteriorate. So, all of us may get problems with the vision. If an oncoming disease is diagnosed early, a good treatment can avoid bigger issues.
141 Madeira Consorcio meeting 16.3.2024
Mar 17, 2024 at 11:59 am | Posted in Posts | Leave a commentTags: climate change, Funchal, lyn stoler, Madeira, madeira consorcio, sustainability
We met in the Gallery and saw
Eco-anxiety to Climate Optimism | Lyn Stoler |
Other good talks:
We WILL Fix Climate Change! Animation
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The most important thing you can do to fight climate change: talk about it | Katharine Hayhoe
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3 Ways Your Money Can Fight Climate Change | Veronica Chau | TED
Lyn Stoler spoke about Eco-Anxiety and how to combat it. Some of the numbers she came up sounded unreal.
Maybe we should rather use the term “sustainability”. H & J already practise this in their Quinta B. (Wash-balls for the laundry, refilled soap etc for guest rooms, cleaning with self-made products based on lemon and vinegar,… H made a Blog entry about it (www.madeira-time.com in German).
The Anglican Holy Trinity Church has a gold certificate for sustainability from the home administration in the UK. They even have an “ecological” person to watch over things. The wafers are made of flour and water. Our suggestion: Add a bit of sugar, and more people will come to church…
Germany is seen to be able to reach 50% use of alternative energy sources by 2030. The underestimate their progression.
S. and her brother started a permaculture system on their land in Neves. As part of it, they want to install moisture nets (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fog_collection) to collect moisture from the clouds /fog to water the plots. This is being already done in many South American countries in high areas with low water supplies. The water in Neves will contain more salt; they will see how it goes. Our suggestion: make a report about it, also for publication in www.madeira-weekly.com , and we will visit Neves with the group once the project is more advanced.
Lots of initiatives – reason for optimism!
The result of climate change on the island: More and more, the Pombo Trocaz and blackbirds are descending from the mountains to Funchal. Sea weed arriving on the beach in Porto Santo causes increased breeding of mosquitos which by now, can bring diseases (Madeira had four imported cases of Dengue recently.)
Bad news: Our wind turbine pylons are corroding with time; one already fell over. But they will be replaced, they bring money.
The water from the source in Porto Santo cannot be sold anymore, it now contains too much salt. The tap water in Funchal is drinkable, the water in Canico de Baixo tastes awful
Cl. said that we probably reached the 1.5% heating threshold in 2023. The ocean water seems to heat up faster than the air. The scientists do not know what this means. The AMOC (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_meridional_overturning_circulation) may be breaking down soon, until 2030, or earlier. In this case, it would get very cold in the UK, but Madeira would not be affected that much.
Sustainability: houses with flat roofs should be painted white, to reflect the heat, or have solar panels or be greened. Rivers need bigger floodplains.
There are already initiatives which supply solar cookers to poor regions in the Third World. Hopefully, people there have something to cook.
South Africa is erecting a border fence to Mozambique; they are trying to stop the people from that country to come to SA as climate refuges.
Cl. said that they stopped using solar panels on their house in SA because they would be stolen. M.J. said that in his last Church in the UK, the lead from the roof was stolen once. In Funchal recently somebody stole copper from a place. How do the thieves sell it? They couldn’t get it through the airport, it is probably shipped to the mainland by boat to be sold there.
Cl. said that AI may come up with way to fight climate change that we do not envision yet.
Burial: The Farsi have Towers of Silance (https://iranparadise.com/zoroastrian-towers-of-silence/) where bodies are deposited. The bones which are picked clean by vultures are then buried later. UGH
Anyway: we should not talk of “climate change” but “sustainability”, and every citizen can do his small part.
136 Madeira Consorcio 24.6.2023
Jun 25, 2023 at 11:40 am | Posted in Posts | Leave a commentTags: ethics, Funchal, intelligent, madeira consorcio, moral, stupid, talk, yejin choi
We met with a small group in the Gallery as usual. The topic was “AI” (artificial intelligence), more concretely ChatGPT and similar programs,
The video is here:
The speaker pointed out that vast amounts of information are placed in AI on a massive scale but this does not mean that AI is intelligent or has common sense. It sometimes gives very stupid answers.
Websites which can now be found through a search engine, will in the future only be accessed via AI and if the website is not a part of a plugin for say, the search of news on Madeira or art galleries in Funchal, then they won’t be found anymore. Business owners may have to pay to AI companies to be found via paid plug-ins.
Human input will be lost with AI, it is scary. It will be more difficult to distinguish between truth and falsehood because AI is very good at inventing things, and many human beings are not good at using common sense to see if an information can be true (the pope dressed in a skiing outfit!?).
Voice generated AI can copy the voice of a woman and say, call her grandma and say “Granny, I have been abducted, you have to pay ransome for me.” Such thefts on unsuspecting older people will become more common.
“Mimo” “games” are already compelling children online to perpetrate small crimes and move them on to bigger crimes and even suicide. In the future, an AI driven game could copy the parents’ voice and lead them more toward to all kinds of obnoxious actions.
Humankind is already veering toward more nefarious things. There are people in the internet who watch moneys being tortured for “fun”, AI can be used to produce more sociopaths.
AI is already out of control because its actions cannot be verified by humans. AI could plan to kill all humans at some point. Software engineers, even the developers of AI, are warning against their own product. It should be unplugged now.
People are gullible to all kinds of false information because life is too confusing, and religious guidance is crumbling. Spiritual questions such as “Why am I here? What is my purpose in life?” need to be asked, and getting to the answers takes effort and persistence. A trait that most human beings do not have. More and more, people are taking drugs, just to get out of life’s confusion for a few hours.
Evil deeds stem from fear, AFD voters in Germany (“Chega” in Portugal) are scared to lose their livelihood and property. AI will eliminate a lot of middle-class jobs.
With fear, aversions come to light, that then creates hatred for others which the person may never have met.
People who voted for Trump and “Chega”, are less cosmopolitan, many of them do not travel outside their known paths. In Spain: “Where can we get a Germany sausage?”
On the good side, young people are more “European” and bring with them less aversion against what seems to be “foreign”.
Wealth is more visible and obscener, creating envy in the simple folks. With AI, the jobs, many in health care, will be veering toward comfortable life styles, As long as AI can keep the working population in a comfort zone, these people will not complain or strive to change things. Amusement parks should proliferate, and artificial AI games become more accessible to the simple people. Bread and Games.. Revolution may not take place.
Is AI aware of itself? Answer by Rupert Spira: it is made of consciousness, like we are (all things are based in consciousness, not on atoms) but it is not self-reflective.
What is the remedy? Common sense. Children are much mor intelligent that AI, because they learn by trial and error and experiment. They base their next steps on real life experience which AI does not have. Even children will always be smarter than AI.
We can unplug and refrain from using the internet. We can try to live of the grid, autonomous. The Google search engine can be replaced with “DuckDuckGo” really, a good search engine!).
On getting results from AI on a question, we can ask AI on the topic of religion or spirituality, and it will have no answers because it cannot deal with morals or ethics. It has no values.
So a good question might be:
“What is your information good for?”
It might not be able to answer. This can reveal and distinguish AI answers to everybody, even simple people.
(Sherlock Holmes in “Elementary” asks the AI “What is love ?” Answer: “It is a concept and therefore useful.”)
AI does not know kindness and cannot take unpredictable decisions we humans can take.
Question:
“Is this kind?”
could be a good answer to a proposal raised by AI.
Humans argue with themselves, AI never questions its answers. Another question politicians, business owners and rich people should ask themselves anyway is also a good question for AI:.
“Is this useful for the community?”
125 Madeira Consorcio Meeting 19.3.2022
Mar 20, 2022 at 5:20 pm | Posted in Posts | Leave a commentTags: art, Cecilia Zino, children, foster, Funchal, fundacao, Madeira, projects, ukraine, war
João Mota, one of the administrators of the Foundation Cecilia Zino, gave us a presentation of the Foundation’s history and work.
The website is https://fundacaozino.com/, with an English version.
Cecilia Rose Zino created the foundation in 1961, and used an old hotel building owned by the family, to install a children’s hospital in 1961. (The Nélio Mendonca Hospital only opened in 1973.) The hospital played an important role in the last Polio outbreak in 1972 on the island.
After the opening of the N.M. Hospital, the Zino hospital was turned into a residential facility for children from poor families on the island. The Foundation used funds from the stock market to finance the work on a private basis.
The Foundation had plenty of staff; at times, the Home harboured more than 40 children. The service also relied on four Dominican Nuns which supervised the work very efficiently, from 1963 until their retirement in 2020. When a Nun leaves the service, three people have to be hired to replace her because the nuns worked 24/7.
The children who arrive at the Foundation are taken out of the families for various reasons, and given into the care of the Foundation. At this time, the Foundation as 15 children, from the age of 3 to 18. Even if a youngster turns 18, he/she will be assisted in various ways until the age of 26 years. (In Germany, children who turn 18, are on their own.)
The Foundation receives interest from the stock market; it also has rental properties which bring in additional money to cover the costs. In 2018, the costs were at around 600.000€/year. Now, with less children and staff, the cost has been lowered to a manageable amount. Still, the Foundation will be asking for Government support, also in view of the fact that the State intends to send more “problem” cases to the Foundation. They know that the Foundation has excellent staff with good training and a 1:1 ratio between staff and children. (There are six institutions on the island for the support of foster children and orphans.)
We have to keep in mind that these children need a lot of care; the families they come from, have serious problems with alcohol, drugs, violence and sexual exploitation.
The Foundation has new projects:
A new building for the now smaller group of children is to be built in Funchal.
A program to not only help needy children but also to assist their often-troubled families.
Scholarships for youngsters who are going to university and into professional training, until the age of 26.
Culture trips for the Children to visit museums in Lisbon and Porto.
Art Exhibitions: The Foundations offers a space in Rua do Bettencourt for young artists who are looking for promotors, they have interesting exhibitions, the topics always have to do with children and their world.
The Cultural Passport: The Foundation also started a project with the cultural passport, to incentivize children to visit museums and art galleries on the island. (The public museums are already covered by the schools.) The children get a stamp or two for a visit to an art gallery etc. In a lottery, they can then win a trip to Madrid or another city, or win iPads and other electronic devices. The Restock Gallery will be included in this project.
The vegetable plots in the Garden have been replanted, the children simply do not have much time to learn and do gardening work. They have to be taken to the public schools early, return often around 17, then they may have a meeting with a psychologist or speech therapy etc. and on the weekends, they often visit their families.
In the current war situation, the Foundation offered 5-6 beds to the Government for children from the Ukraine but the offer (as was in the case of the Syrian refugees) was not taken up by the state, citing bureaucratic problems.
Our thanks go to MZ and João Mota for the presentation!
104th Madeira Consorcio Meeting 16.1.2019
Feb 17, 2019 at 12:35 pm | Posted in Posts | Leave a commentTags: Consorcio, elections, fact checking, Funchal, gallery, julian treasure, leon berg, Madeira, restock, trump
We met in a new venue the RESTOCK workshop room in Armazém do Mercado and I think it went very well!
The owners did a great job in providing and managing the technology and we enjoyed the videos and then ensuing discussion.
The videos were:
- A Talk by Leon Berg about the art of listening with the “Council” way:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iDMuB6NjNA
- Julian Treasure: 5 way to listen better:
https://www.ted.com/talks/julian_treasure_5_ways_to_listen_better
The art of listening is under threat by the influx of media information we are receiving. C. said that we need to deliberately speak to persons who are not of our opinion, and try to understand them.
This, almost automatically, lead to Donald Trump, who does not display great talent in this area.
Cl. volunteered to portray Trump, and he did a great job in arguing from this standpoint, we had a lot of fun with that!! Trump’s arguments for a wall to Mexico and a trade war were the main points.
There was the argument that the success Trump and other such political personalities have, is based on fear-mongering. Drugs are not coming across the US Mexican border, they are coming in planes and trucks, and M. knows somebody “inside” who told him that even the CIA is involved in the flourishing drug trade to the US today, as they were back in Vietnam and Laos. There is a movie about the events back then: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_America_(film)
So a wall wouldn’t help to solve this problem.
The trade war: our “Trump” argued that as China has grown disproportionally, the old trade deals are unfair and must be revoked.
The argument went that Trump is just a façade for the people who are really in charge (Have a look at Noam Chomsky: “Donald Trump is a Distraction” on YouTube: https://youtu.be/uQvig0KvUaE)
D. said that 1% of the world population, the rich, are really managing the USA. Democracy is not supposed to work like this.
G said that the people who are really in power, manipulate the legislation to be in their favour and they will not be voted or kicked out of office like Trump. They will remain in power, and we have no way of identifying them and des-empowering them.
Do. said that Trump is a perfect actor for this kind if disguise, and that he will be even more powerful once he is out of office, he will remain a big “influencer” for years to come.
We also spoke about the fact that less and less people are voting. Cl. – as Himself – pointed out that most of the first-time voters in the 2016 election in the US voted for Trump so he managed to get out the vote. (Voting in the US takes place on a Tuesday, instead of on the weekend.)
Fact checking websites can be found here:
https://researchguides.library.syr.edu/c.php?g=258130&p=1725901
If any team member comes across an info, listing the Portuguese party programmes and affiliations for the European elections in May, please let U.know, this can be distributed to the whole group so that we know what we are voting for.
Other info:u!
One upcoming topic might be a discussion about the speed in which we are being fed news, and if we shouldn’t deliberately slow down our intake.
101st Madeira Consorcio Meeting 15.9. 2018
Sep 16, 2018 at 11:04 am | Posted in Posts | Leave a commentTags: amory lovins, calligraphy, casa, chris bliss, Funchal, Madeira, rocky mountain institute
D. presented a TED Talk by the co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute:
| “Amory Lovins was worried (and writing) about energy long before global warming was making the front — or even back — page of newspapers. Since studying at Harvard and Oxford in the 1960s, he’s written dozens of books, and initiated ambitious projects — cofounding the influential, environment-focused Rocky Mountain Institute; prototyping the ultra-efficient Hypercar – to focus the world’s attention on alternative approaches to energy and transportation.” |
This Institute stands for a positive approach, pointing to initiatives already underway by private enterprise and driven by the markets, to wean humanity off coal and oil by 2050. This will happen, whether the American President likes it or not.
The link:
https://www.ted.com/talks/amory_lovins_a_50_year_plan_for_energy#t-2560
U. mentioned a TED talk by a Comedian who said that cartoons are a great way of communication serious issues in a humorous manner. Cartoons may, for example, open up the mind of non-believers of global warming, so that they can be receptive to the fact that global warming really exists.
The link:
https://www.ted.com/talks/chris_bliss_comedy_is_translation
Other points:
| Japanese calligraphy class for beginners
Saturday 15th of September, 11h30 – 13h Thursday 20th of September, 12h30 – 14h RESTOCK Gallery in Armazem do Mercado
|
The Buddhist Centre is now having Cinema on each first Friday of the month:
| O CBM vai dar início a um ciclo de cinema chamado ‘Ver, Refletir e Discutir’.
É uma ocasião para ver filmes e documentários alternativos. Haverá também ocasião para um chá e bolachas. Local: Sede do CBM, Rua das Mercês 26 no 2º andar. Hora: 19h Entrada: 2 Budas Para as primeiras três sessões está programado o seguinte: 28 de Setembro: “Kundun” de Martin Scorsese. Duração 2h 10min 5 de Outubro: “Human Vol.I” de Yann Arthus-Bertrand. Duração 1h 24min 2 de Novembro: “O pequeno Buda” de Bernardo Bertolucci. Duração 2h 20min Pretendemos fazer uma projecção todas as primeiras sextas de cada mês, o dia 28 de Setembro é uma excepção. São todos muito bem-vindos! |
C.A.S.A. (https://casa-apoioaosemabrigo.org/index.php/delegacoes/casa-madeira) is looking for (permanent) volunteers for the evening food handout (every 14 days, they need people for Mondays and Fridays), the contact is Silvia, 91 0365816, madeira@casa-apoioaosemabrigo.org . You can also ask U., she is on a Monday team.
88 Madeira Consorcio Meeting 22.4.2017
Apr 26, 2017 at 11:36 am | Posted in Posts | Leave a commentTags: Bread, democracy, Funchal, lawrence lessig, lazzarus, liquid, penta, walldorf
U. gave out the group’s contact list on paper again
Foundation.
M.is in negotiations with one of the family members who has access to the website, Also, the “IRS” handout has been stalled. Some issues need to be resolved at the Foundation first.
Escola de Semente:
R V contacted U to help him set up a fundraising project ; U gave him the best option for Portugal site (www.ppl.pt) and R V will study what is needed to set up a fundraising drive (photos, video, gifts, content).
The Bread Project:
E will give GV’s number to Uso she can call him and remind him that he intended to order bread. But: we must assume he that wanted to find a way to get the know-how.
M. has a contact for E for a shop in Praça A. for rent, this could be a good place for a bakery at a low price.
The Foundation is getting its own bread oven, not to feed the children (they get a lot of bread as donation) but to teach them how relate to and produce their food in a natural way.
Penta presentation
C gave us a presentation of the Penta project.
This is an Association in Funchal with a few members promoting an upgrade on the education concept behind the Walldorf schools. The major point is that the parents need to be educated before the children. Adults should have an integrated approach to their own lives, working will all five (Walldorf is based on four) of their own elements (Emotional, Mental, Vital, Physical and Spiritual). Children then copy their parents – even if parents do not see the results of this copying behavior reflected to them. This can be done by Art Therapy, Family Drama (“Constelação familiar”, to get rid of old ghosts in the closet) and other techniques. The Association also organizes walks and creates “insight” labyrinths in nature
C is a medical doctor but studies psychology and has received training on this approach from two teachers who now live in the UK (http://www.lazzarus.net/ ) The Association would like to get them over to Funchal to give training to the parents and teachers in Escola de Semente.
Other Stuff:
Al is offering Acupuncture in Funchal, in a practice in Rua da Carreia 100.
“Mundo Sustentável”, the used good resale place is behind the Forum, below the “Po de’Arroz” hairdresser’s shop.
Also very interesting:
Lawrence Lessig Our Democracy no longer represent the people:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJy8vTu66tE
And liquid democracy can be found here:
84 Madeira Consorcio Meeting 21.10.2016
Oct 23, 2016 at 11:16 am | Posted in Posts | Leave a commentTags: 2016, august, eucalyptus, fighting, fire, fire mafia, Funchal, helicopter, leste, prevention
We had Fireman Sa. as guest again. He gave us a report about the recent fires on Aug 5 – 6. He said that the conditions, with Leste coming over from Africa and with a wind speed of 75/85 km were a “perfect storm” situation. The Leste brought fire sparks down from the rim above the city.
In these situations, the firemen are on high alert and make rounds but they cannot prevent that fires start or are stated. E-was of the opinion that the Pastores who had protested about the restriction of their activity, started the fires above Funchal but Sa. said that their areas are more above S. Antonio, not S. Roque. The burning tires made the situation look very bad, there were also oil tanks wit in the tire storage facility which blew up. Old houses with damaged roofs are in special danger from flying sparks.
Sa. said that in these situations, people call for more firemen and equipment, but this would not help, he is in favor of prevention. 1 fire spot can cause 85 other fires in 1 hour so vigilance is essential. The firemen in Funchal work well together, and even when they are out for a coffee and see a fire at any time, they are proactive and send someone up there to investigate. This approach is not shared by other fire brigades outside of Funchal. He is also in favor of shared fire ponds in the communities. The communities have to come together for this.
Eucalyptus is a bad tree and should be eliminated. The disadvantage with this tree is that, even after a fire, the wood can still be used by the pulp factories to produce paper so the Paper Lobby has no problem with burning Eucalyptus forests.
Forest management is also very bad on the mainland. Gr. said that the north of Portugal is covered in Eucalyptus. After a fire, reforestation would be the ideal tool to prevent future fires but this not promoted by the Government. It was not done around S. Bras when D & S had to abandon their house twice because of the fire danger.
Sa. said that 75% of the land is in private hands, the owners are responsible for clearing out the forests. They often cannot be identified as the land registry is weak so the Government cannot apply fines for neglect.
The population used to go into the forests for firewood, nowadays, this is not needed anymore – it’s probably forbidden – this is another point why forest fires are increasing. It is even difficult now to find personnel to clean out forests; the job is not interesting and pays too little.
In the mainland there is a Fire Mafia. Government owned planes and helicopters are mysteriously out of order with maintenance problems and the Government has to hire private equipment at a high cost for fire fighting – good business for certain companies.
Sa. also said that tests with helicopters must be done in Madeira in the summer, not in winter when realistic conditions do not exist. Then we could see if fire fighting could be done on the island fir helicopters (with sweet water) or not.
Sa. said that the Proteccao Civil takes charge in such situation and they mess it up for publicity stunts, saying that everything is under control when it isn’t.
In regards to the funds for the people and companies affected by the Fire (V.) the Government should come through with decisions and hopefully , funds by mid-November
The Bread Project:
E. discovered that he can obtain the NAKU bread bags from a known shop for free, they receive plenty from a supplier. He is still looking for a place to bake his bread. He has a certain place in mind but if it doesn’t work, he is willing to invest to get a bakery for himself – no risk – no gain. An- could get him a contact to a specific Hotel group, maybe he could also bake there at night
He brought us a delicious sample of bread – mmh!
The Escola staff needs to get back to us to start working on their Blog and fundraising efforts. Ma. said that she would have more time as of mid-October.
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