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)
145 Madeira Consorcio Meeting 20.7.2024
Jul 21, 2024 at 3:28 pm | Posted in Posts | Leave a commentTags: fractal, imbalance, Portugal, provedor de justica, scott galloway, simplex
We met in the Gallery and saw a frank, abrasive TED talk by Scott Galloway, criticizing the balance between old and young in the US:
The speaker says that the older generation are hurting their children in many ways because older people have chances to become well-off that the younger generation will not have.
U. was worried: He is a professor in a renowned US University, but they will not kick him out for the talk because he is not being racist or speaks up against Israel so this falls under Free Speech.
Galloway lists many areas in which the balance should be improved.
Education is one: Universities should try to give changes to the low-class youngsters and not favour the kids of well-to-do elders. Social Security is one of the systems in which older people receive benefits even if they do not need any money from it.
The group thinks that these inequalities will also come over to Europe, and there have been events that show how inequality starts revolts (the Yellow Vests uprisals in France).
In Portugal, the mentality of the populations is such that they tend not to complain too loudly. The Dictatorship they went through, is still in their minds. They complain about problems with the state to each other but not to the public entities.
The “Provedor de Justiça” should be helping the people with legitimate complaints, but they only defend the state administrations. Complaining to them yields a nicely written defence of the system in high-class Portuguese. The population is kept small and powerless this way.
Voting with 16 years would give young people more weight in the system, but J. said that with the Social Media craze, they are not well enough informed and not interested in important issues. Voting rights could also be weighted in favour of younger people based on their longer life expectancy. But again, this measure would not be accepted by the elites.
Banks are bothering the clients with more and more bureaucracy. The complexity will cause more chaos.
U. said that this is another point to see that our life is fractal, things tend to split up into more and more complicated patterns which nobody can control and reign in.
Portugal did go through with the SIMPLEX program from 2006 – 2011 (https://www.simplex.gov.pt/historia), they lowered bureaucracy by cutting around 300 regulations out of the Law. This benefitted everybody, admin and population.
J. asked: Who is responsible when a self-drive car causes an accident and kills somebody?
Politicians should definitely be pushed out of office by the age of 65, as happens to Notaries in Portugal.
A good question for the people to ask always from the politicians and from companies. “Does this help the community?” All decisions should be taken to favour the community and the environment. This is a nice idea but the well-to-do would block it.
The group was not able to fund a more positive ending to the discussion, the problems are too great.
140 Madeira Consorcio meeting 19.2.2024
Feb 18, 2024 at 12:04 pm | Posted in Posts | Leave a commentTags: Consorcio, democracy, Madeira, Portugal, tribe, war
We met in the Gallery and saw
Sarah, as she points out, is a lesbian Republican and works as political strategist.
The “tribe” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tribe) is an important human construction that provides security to its individual members Tribes can also divide a population, e.g. parties are then “us vs. them” which happens in the US at this time (and is coming over to the EU).
The Consocrio is also a tribe but one which does not attract new members ☹
In the beginning (2012) we invited Madeirans to join and they did, but never for long. We found that the Madeirans are not interested in discussions as we have them. We developed ideas to create projects and jobs (https://madeiraconsorcio.com/about/) but we couldn’t find Madeirans to take up the ideas and go through with the projects. Most of them seem to lack the vision.
A tribe can be exclusive (the Masons) but still support the population (Rotary Club). The Republican’ and Democrats’ tribes in the US divide the nation. Sara spoke a lot about Democracy in the video, and we came to the conclusion that the word doesn’t work anymore.
The danger is that with far-right politicians in charge (it may also happen soon in Thuringia, Germany) they can undo the democratic set-up from within and turn state institutions into their tools. Trump knows very well how to do that; he is the Great Divider.
J. said that the US is no democracy anymore (Anocracy)
He also said that the Ukraine war is not “our” (EU) war. He does not feel that the Ukrainians are fighting for “our” freedom. It should not be our war but the word” war” is also inadequate because it nowadays also results in cyberattacks, fake news and attempted corruption of free elections in other countries. We need another word for it.
U. said that nature, also human nature, is fractal ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractal). We tend to split into more and more differences (Big cities have several pigeon raising associations; the same goes for rabbits) and in the end, no 2 snowflakes and no 2 humans are identical. This makes us search for differences and emphasize them, to find security in “our” tribe.
International rules say that country borders must be respected (Venezuela/Guyana, China/Taiwan), otherwise people like Trump and /Putin do what they will.
U. also said that we are not aware that the overpopulation is at the basis of conflicts, If we were only 2 billion people on Earth, we wouldn’t have these problems. (Laugher ensued: what can we do about that?)
The best for us as individuals is not to live forever. We couldn’t find a positive point to close the discussion but we’ll tackle the topic again!
134 Madeira Consorcio Meeting 22.4.2023
Apr 23, 2023 at 11:21 am | Posted in Posts | Leave a commentTags: al, alojamento local, foreigners, lisbon, madeira consorcio, Portugal, rent control
We met in the Gallery again. The Topic was the Gentrification of Lisbon. The ARTE video is here:
https://www.arte.tv/en/videos/107194-056-A/re-sold-out-lisbon/
The report about Alojamento local (AL) and influx of foreign residents with money is quite nice but it left our the “rental history” of Lisbon.
The city centre has a lot of old, rent-controlled buildings in which the tenants are paying a very low rent of perhaps 20 € month. (The CZ Foundation had a rent-controlled house once where the tenants paid a rent of 200 escudos, around 1,50€, per month.)
A building owner will not invest in the upkeep for such low rents and when the roof leaks (accidentally, not deliberately) the money isn’t there to pay for renovations. If the owner damages the roof deliberately, the juridical costs to fight such a treatment is too high for simple people.
Owners also use the ploy that they need the apartment for themselves to get tenants out. It should be checked by the state if they really move in themselves.
The advantage Lisbon has from the AL boom is that decrepit buildings are now being renovated well, and once AL is stopped by the Government, the apartments are going to be offered for long-term rental to local residents.
The Government can and it seems, will turn the screw (as is custom in Portugal, slowly) by changing the taxation on AL (now net 8.75%) and long-term rental (now 28% minus certain expenses). The tax on AL could be increased and on long term rental is already being lowered. Investors will react to that and switch more and more from AL to long term.
The Golden Visa scheme is also a fact that impacts on real estate prices but the lobby to keep it is place is strong
Tourism in Madeira:
The Levadas are nowadays packed with so many tourists that the crowds resemble the Mount Everest ascent. Low-cost tourists are camping in the Laurissilva, Forbidden, but they have no clue. They should be informed and show respect for the island.
Madeira had 15 Mio tourists passing through in 2022, and many will want to relocate here.
Money talks:
We can expect that the Madeiran Government listens to the “money” and reacts too late to the squeeze on the real estate market which already disfavours the population. Salaries cannot keep up with rising real estate prices, so young couples have to keep living with their parents.
Tenants in Germany can be asked to help with renovation costs for, say, a new roof by paying an add-on for 20-30 years; that is affordable for tenants.
The Government gets high taxes from real estate purchases by foreigners because they pay more than Madeirans. Luxury projects such as Savoy and Socicorreia should be coupled with housing at affordable prices, but.. nothing is happening yet.
This may cause the Madeirans to develop ressentiments against foreigners.
The Association helping the old tenants in Alfama is:
APPA Associação do Património e da População de Alfama
Organização Não Lucrativa
Localizado em: Miradouro de Santa Luzia, : 1100-058 Lisboa
They will have an IBAN number for donations.
126 Madeira Consorcio Meeting 23.4.2022
Apr 25, 2022 at 9:11 am | Posted in Posts | Leave a commentTags: blockchain, crypo, currencies, Portugal, taxation
we met in the Gallery again, and attacked the topic of crypto currencies and blockchain. We watched 2 videos:
What is Bitcoin? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um63OQz3bjo o
and Nicolas Cary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdCCYVnxtW4
Crypto currencies are based on the open-source Blockchain software. Blockchain is a solid ledger, no information gets lost and the stored information cannot be eliminated or forged. It is “mined”, generated by writing into the blockchain, but only by people with very good computing power.
It is good for land registry and other information systems, it can have a good impact, especially in Third World countries. It could also be used to track the complete work of an artist. But it is mainly used for Crypto currencies.
There are several crypto currencies; Bitcoin is the oldest and the biggest. In theory, Bitcoin is limited to a finite number of Blocks but it can be extended.
The technology needs a lot of electricity. Newer crypto versions are trying to limit the number of checks of a transaction so that the energy consumption is lower. Also, they can try to use surplus energy at night.
Bitcoin does not reach in any way the number of transactions processed by the banks for payments systems. Crypto is very volatile. There is no protection for the trader. If the trader loses his encryption key, he can never recuperate the Bitcoins. Inheritance is impossible without the key There is not control of the system. If we pay banks fees part of it is also for the security the system offers.
In some cases, the FBI etc got the keys from criminals and managed to get the Bitcoin for the State.
Bitcoin etc can also be forbidden in a country (China).
Bitcoin is used by the Mafia etc, and in the Darknet, for drug buys and child pornography payments etc
Crypto is not taxed in Portugal, this is why traders move here to avoid taxation so far. Taxation could only take place if Bitcoin is exchanged into a “real” currency.
Bitcoin is a virtual value, it has no value in itself on the exchange, like metals, food and other products. Credit default Swaps (without a real counter-value) brought on the Financial Crisis of 2008 – 1014.
Government and banks cannot regulate Crypto it but in the future, they will certainly try to get a grip on it.
K. also found two other links to explain 2 issues.
How we could buy Bitcoin in Portugal: https://paxful.com/buy/bitcoin/portugal
What happens if the trader dies: https://www.analyticsinsight.net/what-happens-to-your-cryptocurrency-when-you-die/
122 Madeira Consorcio Meeting 23.10.2021
Oct 24, 2021 at 3:12 pm | Posted in Posts | Leave a commentTags: climate change, Consorcio, Madeira, nature, Portugal
We met in the Gallery as usual and watched this talk:
The Talk is about the fact that we define Nature too narrowly as a system that hasn’t been touched by humans. Nature can include reforested and replanted areas; new ecosystems develop in such areas as well. Weed is not necessarily bad.
C. said that Cistercian and Franciscan monks in the middle age, who farmed large spaces of land for the church, were instructed to leave a third of the land “wild”
In Germany, the farmers are instructed to leave the side-lines of their fields untamed so that wild plants can grow there and provide at least a small space for insects and other wildlife to settle there.
Rewilding:
Here is a link with more information:
In Portugal, a space on Vale do Côa is supposed to be re-wilded
https://rewilding-portugal.com/pt/oeste-iberico/
It makes no sense to cut trees into shapes, just because we find it better. Trees should grow unhindered in the shape they need to be in.
Apple trees should be used to grow apples for juice, if they cannot be eaten. This potential should not go to wasted even if the product is a bit more expensive.
The other issue the speaker has is that children like to have wild nature to touch it and be in it. They have a right to find such spaces, not to be confined to State parks where they cannot interact with nature because it has to be protected. If humans interact with nature, they do so as a part of nature.
The Plumbago at the entrance of the Gallery is such a “wild space”.
There used to be many partridges on the island as well as rabbits and ferrets. They used to be hunted. Now, rabbits were re-introduced in the forest, only in order to be fodder for hunting…
Invasive species can be bad (the eucalyptus seeds are bad, and the trees grab too much water) but they also may very well turn out to become a blessing later (medicinal plants, protection for trees against specific insect threats etc).
Climate Change:
The 2021 COP – United Nations Climate Change Conference – will take place on Oct 31 in Glasgow. Avaaz will certainly ask for signatures or donations to pressure World Leaders to do something useful about the problem (I will forward the Avaaz message to you when it comes around, Ursula)
Russia and China didn’t get the message yet but more and more industry leaders are talking about strategies that respect nature and include it in their development of new products.
It will come down that we’ll have to curtail our personal footprint as much as possible. Medium distance flights within a country, for example, will have to be forbidden.
Other stuff:
Portugal got some refugees from Afghanistan, the female musicians from Zohra orchestra. There is a link to one of their concerts:
119 Madeira Consorcio Meeting 26.62021
Jun 27, 2021 at 12:20 pm | Posted in Posts | Leave a commentTags: dumpster diving, Portugal
The topic was Dumpster Diving.
We watched a talk by a youngster who learned of dumpster diving in the USA and then started it in Kopenhagen:
Additional info is here:
and here
https://life.dn.pt/comida-lixo-desperdicio-alimentar/comportamento/350232/.
“Too good to go” also has a website in Portuguese, and we have some restaurants who participate, to avoid leftovers going to the dumpster here
The intention of the participating restaurants is to attract more business during normal hours, by showing the clients what they have after hours.
We talked about the food rubbish situation in Europe.
In some countries, it is forbidden; in others, it is in a grey zone.
France has a law that forbids supermarkets with more than 400m2 to dump food into containers, they have to donate it to charities or to companies who produce animal feed from it.
In our supermarkets, it seems that the problem of dumpster diving does not arise because the rubbish containers are in the supermarket back area, and outsiders do not have access to it.
Foodstuffs close to the expiry date are offered in Pingo Doce with an orange label for sale at reduced prices, this reduces waste (provided the buyers then eat it all).
Food waste in landfills produce a hight amount of Methane
Cl. said that the problem arises because we produce too much food for the demand. The supermarkets price in a loss of around 20% of foodstuffs due to expiry dates and freshness. Then they don’t mind that they have to throw food away. The consumer would have to accept that food is only produced in the quantity that will be needed (based on experience and sales numbers) And the food prices should be higher, to give an incentive to the consumer to buy only what he needs. But the consumer would not like to have less of a choice and would to go other shops.
It should be possible to have more of an in-time-delivery system for foodstuff as in the automotive industry, to avoid that food gets too old to be sold.
It will help that the state, in order to get more money, will add higher taxes on processed food which contain too much sugar, salt and fat.
The cost of transport is another waste-of-energy factor.
Farmer get subsidies in Germany if they leave a filed unfarmed, in order to curb overproduction in the country. Cl. said that farmers should even have to plant forests on the land, in order to offset the CO2 problem.
Quinta B doesn’t have a buffet, they serve the breakfast to order. Fruit that is not consumed gets turned inti delicious marmalade.
The Buffet in Quinta do Furão (the “leftover” from the Hotel guests) is offered to local guests at a reduced price, in order to avoid waste. The client do not get to serve themselves; the staff hands out the food and cooks eggs to order, so that what ends up on the plate, gets consumed.
Plates in general, should be smaller.
The homeless used to get “leftover” food from hotel buffets until this had to be cancelled due to Covid. Now a simple meal is offered in “CASA” at night, and “Sopa Cardoso” offers soups at lunchtime, and food bags which people can pick up. CASA and Caritas collect food in the supermarkets and pack baskets for needy families (these families have to register to be included)
Other stuff:
Freshbio (with happy chickens laying happy eggs) is at
http://www.freshbio.pt/index.php?route=information/information&information_id=19 .They deliver of baskets to your home and if somebody has a composter, they also collect fruit peels etc for composting.
93 Madeira Consorcio Meeting 18.11. 2017
Nov 19, 2017 at 1:19 pm | Posted in Posts | Leave a commentTags: Consorcio, intermittent, Madeira, Portugal, Think Tank
Due to closed roads leading to Monte, (tree cutting) we all arrived late.
After a nice tea, we viewed a documentary from the BBC Horizon series about intermittent fasting, very informative! The journalist in question interviewed several scientists, tried some options and decided for intermittent fasting. His blood work improved considerably, with it his health, lowering the risk of serious diseases, and increasing life expectancy.
Two members are practicing intermittent fasting with good success.
Other short clips and a great website in regards to Keto Fasting:
Diet doctor website https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/keto
Jason fasting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIhhrYjVhOk 5.17 min
Valter Longo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVArDzYynYc 19.0 min
How to do https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNSbL8p3_RU 4.45 min
Afterwards, we went to “Pátio das Babosas” again for a nice evening meal.
D. invited the group for a Thanksgiving Turkey Lunch, but, next Thursday being a difficult date for many, we decided to transpose it to Thursday, December 14, and combine the turkey with Father Christmas, let’s see how they get along!
The next meeting will be in 2018. We shall continue with the topic of consciousness, probably also with a video clip
83 Madeira Consorcio Meeting 17.9.2016
Sep 18, 2016 at 11:11 am | Posted in Posts | Leave a commentTags: Bread, Escola, Funchal, madeira consorcio, madeira think tank, mark zuckerberg, meeting, mundo sustentavel, Portugal, recycly, vegetarian friendly
The Bread Project:
V gave E. a “plastic” bag, to store bread and keep it fresh. The bag, produced in Austria, is not made with oil but of plant material, and decomposes easily; it can be re-used several times. The bag can be printed on. The producer is www.naku.at.We discussed the logo and design for linen bags for sale along with the bread.
We also spoke about the support we want to give the Escola de S..
We shall propose to their Team to create a blog for them, based on the text that we developed after the July meeting with them. U is going to send the approved content to Do. to look at. E.has photos; we need those for a blog. U will ask Ma. for their bank details so we can perhaps also add a PayPal donation button.
We also spoke about fundraising and how to go about it
Do. said the most important issue for fundraising is to answer the questions on what the project is and what they need. The fundraisers also need to propose adequate gifts as thank you for the donations received, e.g.
- a postcard with children’s paintings for a donation of 5€,
- for 10€ a donor would get a mug,
- and for 25€ he would get a yearbook,
- for higher amounts he would receive a mention of his name as sponsor on a (movable) plaque in the school.
An ongoing fundraising effort would be better that an occasional action, with the receipt of money from time to time.
“Teaching” support
There we have many options. S.used to go to her children’s school and read a poem which would inspire the children to make a drawing/painting about the topic, S. then gave assisted them in this. Such visits can lead to the composition of a yearbook, also as Thank You to donors.
Rui A.could do physics experiments with them, and so on…
Additional info.
Open letter from a Danish Newspaper to Mark Zuckerberg: http://www.aftenposten.no/meninger/kommentar/Dear-Mark-I-am-writing-this-to-inform-you-that-I-shall-not-comply-with-your-requirement-to-remove-this-picture-604156b.html
We have a recycling shop behind the Forum, “Mundo Sustentavel”, They accept used goods for household, decoration & more and resell them; the proceeds are split between the seller and the shop: Tel 291619768, info@mundo-sustentavel.com
Frente Mar has some shops out for public tender for rent in/near the Lido Swimming pools, several artists are working there.
The list of 10 vegetarian-friendly restaurants in Funchal :
http://frommadeiratomars.com/pt/10-vegetarian-friendly-restaurants-in-madeira/
D & S like “Olive” in Oudinot best, the restaurant needs business so we should all go there and recommend it.
Also very good: “Tipografia” in the Castanheiro Boutique Hotel. “Mania de Cozinha” in S. Pedro is closed due to fire damage.
Our next meeting will be in mid-October,
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