Kickstarter, or Kick to the head?

I'm always late in joining stuff, just in case I waltz
into something that's a scam. I hoped that Kickstarter
was a way for one side to get funding, while the other
got an investment that could pay off big-time.

It turns out that the investment may be little more
than a gift. Some people get a "thank you", and others
are promised a prototype. This gets contentious when
the struggling techie (or whatever) strikes it rich.

Facebook Rich!

As you know, Zucker is a sucker for anything that

will expand his brand or stick it to the competition.

Well, he has dumped 2 Billion on a Virtual reality goggle

company that has NO working prototype yet. 

Understandably, the morons who threw their money at

this fellow are feeling pretty stupid. As they should.

Kickstarter should have a warning label "if you're a sucker,

sign up here to give  your no-questions-asked gift. Moron!"

we had an old racist joke in my school about a certain
minority which ends "and the rest are kickstarters".
Looks like Kickstarter donors are indeed kickstarters.
they need a kick to the head to wise up.

A similar problem has arisen in the Law of Wills:

checkit: 

1
http://www.wired.com/business/2014/03/oculus-a-boon-to-kickstarter/

"But Facebook’s validation of Kickstarter isn’t just financial. It’s also spiritual. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg approaches Oculus with the same fanboy fervor as the 9,522 Kickstarter backers who collectively donated $2.4 million to get Oculus off the ground. "

 2
https://plus.google.com/+globeandmail/posts/VQfK67T6E3D
"Now some of those donors are crying “sellout.” They want their money back – and are happy to return the T-shirts.

“I supported this because it’s something that I’ve wanted to see become a reality since I read my first William Gibson novel,” one Oculus donor wrote on Kickstarter. “Now I find out that I might as well have handed my money right to Facebook and I feel a little sick.”

The extraordinary reaction of early Oculus VR backers and fans to news of the Facebook deal illustrates the tricky relationship between companies raising money on Kickstarter and the people who donate to them.

The hope, among donors, is that they can help the interesting ideas of these companies get off the ground. Their donations amount to seed funding – enough money to build a prototype, perhaps. And assuming they understand what they’re doing, the donors have no expectations of gaining equity in the young company.

With that largess comes a sense of community and expectations that it will deliver – or at least try really hard – on what it has promised. But when the little company hits a big payday, as Oculus VR announced Tuesday, it is strikingly clear that community has very little say in its decision-making."

People's Parliament Debates Environmentalism

from February of this year.

It was the greenest of times.
It was the darkest of times.

In the belly of the beast. Parliament committee room

[Cordal. Politicians discussing global warming]

This PP group is not about politics, or politicians. Just issues.

and People. and real democracy

As is clear from the art, politicians will never do the right thing,
in time. They are inevitably forced to do so by other factors, like
social pressure. We should be those factors.

So we had talks, and questions from the audience, including

@artisttaxidriver

who argued that indeed some rich folks don't care about the planet,

or their own children that are raised by Hispanic nannies anyway. 

The host was John McDonnell a Labour MP for the Heathrow area.
-He noted how Heathrow has dangerously high pollution already, without
a third runway. This needs to be publicised. Check twitter for

clean air London

Other speakers were a Green Party Marxist guy who was far too
philosophical, as were many in the audience. We need action, people.
George Monbiot of the Guardian, fresh from the flooded farmers'
fields of Somerset,
One of the Greenpeace gang that had attacked the Russian oil platform in
the Arctic circle,
and a climate scientist. (I'll dig the names up soon)



More on this meeting later

the Landed gentry just landed on us

I ripped off that saying from Malcolm X , who was
shot dead 50 years ago today. He said:
We didn't land on Plymouth Rock.
Plymouth Rock landed on us

In a few words, the UK is a country where, if you want
to be in charge, you better go to the right schools.
Oxford is just your finishing school. You're already made
before then.

So, the latest batch of "The only way is Eton" are
the particularly crass ConDem coalition members,
running the coalition government.

They have done the following things to the rest of us:

-sold our health info to insurance companies
-got a private company on bonus scheme to kick
the ill off of government handouts, leading to
homelessness and death [ATOS]
-charged people in public housing if they have
a spare bedroom, leading to evictions and homelessness
-got the BBC to lie for them about everything that's
important
-there are 1007 food banks in the country, and some
have empty shelves thanks to the above "frat pranks"
[BBC says there are 500]
- 1 million people going to food banks regularly
-Privatisation of a working public health care system
-crypto-privatisation of what's left of public/state education
-privatising gas provision for heating and allowing the
6 colluding companies to jack up bills 60% over 5 years
[I'm not even trying anymore. this story is typing itself]
-Using the taxman to help companies offshore their profits
e.g. Nissan, now selling cars to Brits through its Swiss
subsidiary
-Taking over the bankrupt banks so that it can slip them some
money under the table
-Cutting back on flood defences and letting Somerset drown
-Instituting a badger cull when it's not necessary
MORE LATER



So, in their honour, I commend this poem, in limmerick pentameter

UK’s a country with gentry

Where gentlemanliness bars your entry

They go to Oxbridge

then rule with privilege 

Showing us nothing but cuntry

what BO wants, BO gets

Barrack Obama says:
all non-violent protest should be destroyed

if it's happening in the US.
That was Occupy Wall Street in Zucchoti Park. Beaten and gone,
on orders from BO.


If it's violent protest happening in the Ukraine or Syria,
the government should be toppled.

[the Al Q gang. BO's friends]

All efforts should be made to f&*(k the EU, if
it gets in the way of us fomenting revolution.

There's a reason it's nickname is McF^%&&cks

Even when I was a kid, many moons ago,
McDonalds was a shit job. One that I avoided,
praise be to Ronald. He scared me.

Misery and boss tyrants.

Now, in the digital age, McDonalds can
taunt their employees when they're
lying down, off work, with stress
fractures.

Telling them to smile and to
stop bitching. It's good for you
to stop bitching.

checkit: Liberty blitz

McDonalds’ Latest Advice to its Peasant Employees: “Quit Complaining” and “Sing a Song”

Posted on November 20, 2013     

Back in July, I highlighted a ridiculous and insulting campaign that McDonalds ran with Visa in which the company tried to help its impoverished employees plan a budget. The only thing the campaign did was embarrass the company by proving that you can’t survive working there.

Well the company is right back at it in time for the holidays, with several pieces of advice for its legions of serf employees through its ”McResource” website. Three of the more insulting pieces of wisdom include:

“Sing away stress: Singing along to your favorite songs can lower your blood pressure.”

“Break it up: Breaking food into pieces often results in eating less and still feeling full.”

I saved the best for last…

“Quit complaining: Stress hormone levels rise by 15% after ten minutes of complaining.”

Shus! it's a Co-op

as you know, to shus is another verb for skiing.

So, I have the pro-capitalist, pro-co-op story
about a ski hill run by a town, for the good of ..
the town.

That's right. Nobody is making millions to
stash in the Caymans.

It's just good wholesome fun and nobody's
on the minimum wage.
Someday, one rich guy will come in and ruin the
whole thing, so keep this to yourselves.

checkit:  The Guardian

Mountain rescue: ski co-operatives blazing a trail in Canada

Skiers in Canada are forming co-operatives to buy their local slopes – reconnecting with the true spirit of the sport

    Susan Greenwood         

     Friday 15 November 2013 21.00 GMT

"Whatever happened to that simple joy?" asks the narrator of Valhalla, the latest ski film from Sweetgrass Productions. The film features a fictional ski community who eschew fast chairlifts and expensive mountain restaurants for a purer, gentler life in harmony with the mountain. It is rich in nostalgia – for a time when being in the mountains in winter was about freedom and adventure. Yet, in one sense, Valhalla is located firmly in the 21st century: it will resonate with anyone who has ever winced at the cost of a week's lift pass in a big resort, or stood in a 30-minute chairlift queue before descending a piste packed with skiers, dodging cannons making artificial snow.

Has it ever occurred to you that it doesn't have to be this way?

It occurred to the residents of Terrace, British Columbia – 1,500km north of Vancouver – who in January 2013 became the proud owners of their local hill, Shames Mountain, making it Canada's first not-for-profit ski co-operative. My Mountain Coop (mymountaincoop.ca) was formed in 2010 out of Friends of Shames, a group established to create a business model that could take ownership of the mountain (which had been for sale for a decade) and save it from otherwise certain closure. Local businesses, individuals and families bought memberships to the co-op and, through various other fundraising schemes, managed to raise the C$360,000 (£216,000) needed to meet the purchase price.

Shames is no ski resort: it has no hotels, no glitzy bars, no restaurants or shops selling the latest gear. It has two chairlifts and one tow bar, and a base lodge where you can buy food and drink and hire equipment.

It also has 480 inches of snow each year – comparing very favourably to Canadian mega-resort Whistler's yearly average of 469 inches. "We're pretty spoilt," says David Jephson, a member of My Mountain Coop. "We don't have fast chairs or fast tow bars, but we have world-class skiing, a huge amount of snow, and it's beautiful here."

Until recently there was just one flight a day from Vancouver up to Terrace; Air Canada now runs 34 each week, making the hill more accessible to visitors. "People generally only come to us when it's foggy somewhere else," says Jephson. "But once they ski here, they're like: 'This is awesome!'"

Shames 2

Visiting skiers stay in Terrace and drive the 20 minutes each day to ski, purchasing their £30 lift pass at Shames. The mountain is maintained by volunteers, who do everything from painting boundary lines to servicing machinery.

"Community ownership of ski areas allows for a certain pride," says general manager Christian Theberge. "People tend to take better care of what's theirs. It also allows members to actively participate in the improvements and really understand what makes the magic happen."

And that kind of magic looks set to spread. The co-op model is generating interest among other mountain communities, with My Mountain Coop receiving enquiries monthly about how to replicate the model.

The latest is Mount Sima in Yukon, which is run by another not-for-profit organisation, the Great Northern Ski Society (GNSS). After a tough couple of years, the GNSS has announced that Mount Sima will open for the 2013/14 season. It won't be flash – there's one chairlift and an earthy lodge for refreshments – but the GNSS views the project as a huge asset to the community, especially the youngsters.

These new ski destinations don't expect to compete with large resorts, but what they can offer is simpler, more affordable, grassroots skiing.

"Whether it's family-run or member-run, having a local ski area is key for the community," says Steve Carpenter, president of Mystery Mountain Winter Park (mysterymountain.ca) in Manitoba, which lies about 760km from Winnipeg, the largest city in the province. "It's extremely welcoming – everyone knows everyone," says Carpenter. "If you can make it up the lift without having a conversation with the person you're riding with, I'd be surprised."

It's a sentiment echoed at Shames: "Destination ski areas try to offer the same experience – different snow and terrain, perhaps, but in general they are mostly clones of each other," says Theberge. "Small community areas are unique and generally give a much more cultural experience."

That's not to say the terrain at community ski areas is negligible: family-run Tabor Mountain (tabormountain.com), near Prince George, BC, will host several events at the 2015 Canada Winter Games, despite having only one chairlift and one tow bar. About 100km from Terrace, near Smithers, lies the Hankin-Evelyn back-country recreation area, which is managed by the Bulkley Backcountry Ski Society (bbss.ca/hankin). It's an excellent off-piste area with decreased avalanche risk, because it lies below the treeline. Descents are only achieved after skinning uphill first. Because there are no lifts, there are few operational costs – and none of the environmental concerns surrounding them, either.

Talking about the environment is a controversial pastime when your chosen activity is skiing. And it's hard to argue that an overseas visitor skiing at Shames – a journey that, from the UK, would involve taking two flights and a car journey – is more environmentally friendly than someone skiing in Whistler, a resort that generates enough hydro-electric power to replace all the electricity consumed by its 38 lifts, 17 restaurants and 270 snow cannons.

However, Shames' visitor numbers and their associated impact – waste disposal, travel infrastructure, to name but two – are a fraction of that of the big hubs: 20,000 skiers a season come to Shames, and 2 million go to Whistler. The emphasis is on small-scale, and keeping it that way, to preserve the environment.

As Theberge explains: "The co-op got a great deal on buying the mountain, but that was because there was a lot of work to be done. Our goal is to fix and improve all facets of the mountain's infrastructure. Expansion only makes sense with growth in the community."

"We almost don't want more people to come," says Jephson, laughing. "At somewhere like Jasper, someone is getting richer because you're skiing there. But at Shames, everyone who rides here helps to keep the mountain going."

These hills are no mythical Valhalla of the movies: they are no-frills, hardworking, for the most part bare-bones ski mountains that depend on community support to survive. And, in that sense, as in others, they tap into the simple joy of skiing.

• Yellow Cedar Lodge (+1 250 638 7874, yellowcedarlodge.ca), near Terrace, has doubles from £87 a night B&B. Air Canada (0871 220 1111, aircanada.com) flies from Heathrow to Terrace via Vancouver from £715

If there's a job nobody wants, give it to the Canadians

Just saw a documentary-dramatisation of the D-day landing.

I've known for years that Churchill didn't want to send
British troops to Juno because of the political costs.
The Americans were nowhere to be found, so it was
up to the Canadians.

These guys thought that they were sent because they were
good. Innocent guys, but they were sent to do the dirty work.
Turns out they were good. Excellent.

16 thousand landed, 1 thousand died and the Germans were
cleaned out.
I've also heard that the shock troops were employed in
20th century warfare to bust across the lines. Even in
WW1, the Canadians were known as good shock troops.

Wikipedia: shock troops
According to Ward, the Australian and Canadian divisions deployed amongst British forces in France quickly came to be regarded as the best shock troops in the Allied ranks due to their ferocity in battle, and were employed accordingly.[3][4]

It's so strange that , as they call themselves, a bunch of
farm boys could do such a good job in awful
circumstances. Listen to them talking about it. No
bravado at all. They were all scared stiff, but just got on
with it.

in 8 parts. the last three have interviews with the soldiers.
They're all together on Ytoob.