RatbagMedia

UploadLog

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 01:31:05 GMT

date	user	location	storeUrl	uploadDir	toFilename	backupdir	origin
06/03/2008 19:38:49	ratbagradio	ratbagradio.html	store.cgi	.	index.html	.	ok	ok	ok
06/03/2008 19:40:50	ratbagradio	ratbagradio.html	store.cgi	.	index.html	.	ok
06/03/2008 19:54:23	ratbagradio	ratbagradio.html	store.cgi	.	index.html	.
06/03/2008 19:54:27	ratbagradio	ratbagradio.html	store.cgi	.	index.html	.
06/03/2008 19:54:31	ratbagradio	ratbagradio.html	store.cgi	.	index.html	.	ok	ok	ok
06/03/2008 23:08:29	ratbagradio	ratbagradio.html	store.cgi	.	index.html	.	ok
07/03/2008 13:29:45	ratbagradio	ratbagradio.html	store.cgi	.	index.html	.	ok
08/03/2008 09:57:14	ratbagradio	ratbagradio.html	store.cgi	.	index.html	.
11/03/2008 23:50:18		ratbagradio.html	store.cgi	.	index.html	.
12/03/2008 20:31:05		ratbagradio.html	store.cgi	.	index.html	.

MainMenu

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 01:25:59 GMT

PERSONAL
MyJournal
Family Slideshow
Slideshows
PROJECTS
Wikis
Audio
Presentations
Comments
RESEARCH
ABC Learning
COGNITIVE TOOLS
Mindmaps
PLUGINS
TiddlerTweaker

StyleSheet

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 01:23:52 GMT

TiddlyWiki Classic Color Scheme

Designed by Jeremy Ruston
http://tiddlystyles.com/#theme:Classic

To use this color scheme copy the ClassicTiddlyWiki contents into a tiddler and name it 'StyleSheet' also grab the ClassicTemplate and copy its contents into a tiddler named 'PageTemplate'.

Colors Used

#630
#930
#963
#c90
#cf6
#cc9
#ba9
#996
#300
#000
#666
#888
#aaa
#ddd
#eee
#fff
#f00
#ff3

Generic Rules

body {
 background: #fff;
 color: #000;
}

a{
 color: #963;
}

a:hover{
 background: #963;
 color: #fff;
}

a img{
 border: 0;
}

h1,h2,h3,h4,h5 {
 background: #cc9;
}

Header

.header{
 background: #300;
}

.titleLine {
 color: #fff;
 padding: 5em 0em 1em .5em;
}

.titleLine a {
 color: #cf6;
}

.titleLine a:hover {
 background: transparent;
}

Main Menu

#mainMenu .button {
 color: #930;
}

#mainMenu .button:hover {
 color: #cf6;
 background: #930;
}

#mainMenu li{
 list-style: none;
}

Sidebar options

TiddlyLinks and buttons are treated identically in the sidebar and slider panel

#sidebar {
 background: #c90;
 right: 0;
}

#sidebarOptions a{
 color: #930;
 border: 0;
 margin: 0;
 padding: .25em .5em;
}

#sidebarOptions a:hover {
 color: #cf6;
 background: #930;
}

#sidebarOptions a:active {
 color: #930;
 background: #cf6;
}

#sidebarOptions .sliderPanel {
 background: #eea;
 margin: 0;
}

#sidebarOptions .sliderPanel a {
 color: #930;
}

#sidebarOptions .sliderPanel a:hover {
 color: #cf6;
 background: #930;
}

#sidebarOptions .sliderPanel a:active {
 color: #930;
 background: #cf6;
}

Sidebar tabs

.tabSelected,.tabContents {
 background: #eea;
 border: 0;
}

.tabUnselected {
 background: #c90;
}

#sidebarTabs {
 background: #c90;
}

#sidebarTabs .tabSelected{
 color: #cf6;
 background: #963;
}

#sidebarTabs .tabUnselected {
 color: #cf6;
 background: #930;
}

#sidebarTabs .tabContents{
 background: #963;
}

#sidebarTabs .txtMoreTab .tabSelected,
#sidebarTabs .txtMoreTab .tabSelected:hover{
 background: #930;
 color: #cf6;
}

#sidebarTabs .txtMoreTab .tabUnselected,
#sidebarTabs .txtMoreTab .tabUnselected:hover{
 background: #300;
 color: #cf6;
}

#sidebarTabs .txtMoreTab .tabContents {
 background: #930;
}

#sidebarTabs .tabContents a {
 color: #cf6;
 border: 0;
}

#sidebarTabs .button.highlight,
#sidebarTabs .tabContents a:hover {
 background: #cf6;
 color: #300;
}

Message Area

#messageArea {
 background: #930;
 color: #fff;
}

#messageArea a:link, #messageArea a:visited {
 color: #c90;
}

#messageArea a:hover {
 color: #963;
 background: transparent;
}

#messageArea a:active {
 color: #fff;
}

Popup

.popup {
 background: #eea;
 border: 1px solid #930;
}

.popup hr {
 color: #963;
 background: #963;
 border-bottom: 1px;
}

.popup li.disabled {
 color: #ba9;
}

.popup li a, .popup li a:visited {
 color: #300;
}

.popup li a:hover {
 background: #930;
 color: #eea;
}

Tiddler Display

.tiddler .button {
 color: #930;
}

.tiddler .button:hover {
 color: #cf6;
 background: #930;
}

.tiddler .button:active {
 color: #fff;
 background: #c90;
}

.shadow .title {
 color: #888;
}

.title {
 color: #422;
}

.subtitle {
 color: #866;
}

.toolbar {
 color: #aaa;
}

.toolbar a,
.toolbar a:hover{
 border: 0;
}

.tagging, .tagged {
 border: 1px solid #fff;
 background-color: #ffc;
}

.selected .tagging, .selected .tagged {
 border: 1px solid #aa6;
 background-color: #ffc;
}

.tagging .listTitle, .tagged .listTitle {
color: #999999;
}

.footer {
 color: #ddd;
}

.selected .footer {
 color: #888;
}

.sparkline {
 background: #eea;
 border: 0;
}

.sparktick {
 background: #930;
}

.errorButton {
 color: #ff0;
 background: #f00;
}

.zoomer {
 color: #963;
 border: 1px solid #963;
}

The viewer is where the tiddler content is displayed

.viewer .button {
 background: #c90;
 color: #300;
 border-right: 1px solid #300;
 border-bottom: 1px solid #300;
}

.viewer .button:hover {
 background: #eea;
 color: #c90;
}

.viewer .imageLink{
 background: transparent;
}

.viewer blockquote {
 border-left: 3px solid #666;
}

.viewer table {
 border: 2px solid #303030;
}

.viewer th, thead td {
 background: #996;
 border: 1px solid #606060;
 color: #fff;
}

.viewer td, .viewer tr {
 border: 1px solid #606060;
}

.viewer pre {
 border: 1px solid #963;
 background: #eea;
}

.viewer code {
 color: #630;
}

.viewer hr {
 border: 0;
 border-top: dashed 1px #606060;
 color: #666;
}

.highlight, .marked {
 background: #ff3;
}

The editor replaces the viewer in the tiddler

.editor input {
 border: 1px solid #000;
}

.editor textarea {
 border: 1px solid #000;
 width: 100%;
}

.editorFooter {
 color: #aaa;
}

.editorFooter a {
 color: #930;
}

.editorFooter a:hover {
 color: #cf6;
 background: #930;
}

.editorFooter a:active {
 color: #fff;
 background: #c90;
}

TiddlyWiki Hlep Sites/Links

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 01:08:04 GMT

Master TiddlyWiki Site Â» Â» Jeremy Ruston's Official TW Information Source
TiddlyWiki Discussion Group Â» Â» TiddlyWiki Discussion Group
TiddlyWiki Developers Group Â» Â» TiddlyWiki Developers Discussion Group
Public Wiki Help Site Â» Â» Go add your knowledge.
TiddlyVaultÂ» Â» A directory of all known plugins
TiddlyWiki for the rest of us Â» Â» TiddlyWiki tutorial more Â» Â»
Some other sites, themes and applications to download.
Journal
My Notes
TW Showcase
TiddlyDu
Plugin (vault ) Directory
TiddlerToddler Â» Â» an absolute beginner's guide to TiddlyWiki
A PowerPoint presentation on TiddlyWiki Â» Â» By Dave Gifford (7mb)
VisualTW Â» Â» Wysiwyg plugin Â» Â» Encrypted fields plugin
TiddlyWiki Guides Â» Â» Welcome to the (unofficial) TiddlyWiki Guides
TiddlyWikiTips Â» Â» TiddlyWikiTips.com is run by Jim Barr
TiddlyWikiTutorial Â» Â» Learn the Basics of TiddlyWiki
TiddlySpot Â» Â» Free Tiddlywikis and Hosting
TiddlySpotFAQ Â» Â» Questions and Answers
TiddlyThemesÂ» Â» A gallery of TiddlyWiki themes
TiddlyThemes-RinÂ» Â» A Most Popular Theme Clint Checkett's Blog
TiddlyTools Â» Â» Extensive collection of fabulous Plugins and much more
TiddlyWiki Org Â» Â» Read more...
The purpose of TiddlyWiki.org is to support the community that has grown up around TiddlyWiki with the infrastructure needed to share in its development while maintaining and improving quality. TiddlyWiki.org also hosts projects related to TiddlyWiki such as ZiddlyWiki (a serverside implementation of TiddlyWiki) and TiddlySnip (a Firefox extension that enhances TiddlyWiki).
Tid-Help Â» Â» Help/Tutorial
Knightnet Â» Â» Knightnet Default TiddlyWiki TW the way I like it - plus my Plugins
Using TiddlyWiki Â» Â» From Wikibooks, the open-content textbooks collection
TW Help Â» Â» This TiddlyWiki (you're already there..here... you're in it now!) TW Help Alt.
Martin's Wiki Â» Â» Cross-Wiki Formatting plugins
http://svn.tiddlywiki.org/Trunk/
http://svn.tiddlywiki.org/Trunk/contributors/
http://trac.tiddlywiki.org/browser/Trunk

Fold WatchThisSpace

WatchThisSpace^edit

http://www.wikimatrix.org/ Â» Â» Compare Wikis
http://users.ictp.it/~pwc/ Â» Â» Earth System Physics - Weather and Climate (Italy)
http://people.pwf.cam.ac.uk/rjr20/details/links.html
http://www.hawksworx.com/journal/2007/07/ Â» Â» Google Analytics
http://www.uniforum.chi.il.us/slides/TiddlyWiki.html
http://iewiki.net/plugins/#DisableEditingPlugin
http://weave.tiddlyspot.com/ Â» Â» Auto mark tiddlers as link in text.
http://vipa.3host.biz/TiddlyDesktop.html
http://www.commoncraft.com/video-wikis-plain-english
http://www.osmosoft.com/
http://www.tiddlywiki.org
http://www.tiddlywiki.org/tmp/panelPortal1.html
http://www.tiddlywiki.org/wiki/Help:Sandbox
http://discourse.tiddlyspot.com/ Â» Â» Notes about International Relations and Political Philosophy.
http://students.washington.edu/adcockm/amateurastronomythesaurus/ +more
While Michael's document is use-case specific, it does show the basic idea of using custom fields to represent additional tiddler links,based on specifically defined relationships (in this case: use, used by, related term, broader term, narrower term, or "scope notes").

http://msal.tiddlyspot.com/ Â» Â» Good mix of plugins
http://tinyurl.com/2uuxep Â» Â» Web Campaigning Digital Supplement
http://reiber.org/PaulsToDo.html
http://moodle.tiddlyspot.com/
http://www.mcelwee.net/MarcusWiki.html
Dawn-dahukanna.net Â» Â» HyperGraph Â» Â» Timeline 2.1.3
VisualTW Â» Â» Wysiwyg plugin Â» Â» Encrypted fields plugin
http://wiki.fckeditor.net/Developer%27s_Guide/Customization/Plug-ins
http://www.dynarch.com/projects/htmlarea/ used for ASciencePad now obsolete.
TiddlyWiki Revision History
TiddlyWiki Revision History Ver: 2.2(13.05.07)
TiddlyPedia (the tiddlers therein are copied directly from Wikipedia)
TimeLine Project more...
I submitted this question to the TiddlyWiki Requests group. Has anyone
attempted a TiddlyWiki plugin that incorporates the Timeline widget
developed at MIT?

http://simile.mit.edu/timeline/

SparkLines WebPage more...
I'm hoping to keep a running list of web sparklines found 'in the wild'. If possible, note the technology used to create the sparklines.
Sparkline PHP Library

WikiSpaces Free editable wikis

TWLinkCollection

TWLinkCollection ^{Edit this}

TiddlyWiki Group TiddlyWiki Discussion Group
http://tiddlywikiguides.org/
GTDTiddlyWiki
http://tiddlywiki.com/
TiddlySpot
TiddlySpotFAQ
http://tiddlystyles.com/
http://solo.dc3.com/tw/ Red Mountain Vista Bob Denny's extensions to TiddlyWiki
http://www.checkettsweb.com/
http://tiddlytools.com/
TiddlyWiki Org
TiddlyWikiAdaptations
TiddlyWikiTutorial

PluginSites ^{RootÂ»Detach this}
The community is also using the del.icio.us bookmarking service to create a PluginDirectory

This is a FireFox extention for snipping Internet text to add to your TiddlyWiki
TiddlySnip FireFox ExtensionÂ» Â» Read more..
TiddlySnip is a Firefox extension that lets you use your TiddlyWiki as a scrapbook! Simply select text, right click and choose 'TiddlySnip selection'. Next time you open your TiddlyWiki file, your snippets will be there, already tagged and organised.
Fold TWExamples
TWExamples^edit
TiddlyWiki is being used for all kinds of things:
+ Tiddlypedia a collection of Wikipedia articles collected into a TiddlyWiki
The Nordic countries
Solar System
T342
Photography Nice Site
Click here for An introduction to chain indexing Dewey Decimal
TW Showcase
My Qualitative TiddlyWiki Â» Â» by CynthiaRussell
My APA TiddlyWiki Â» Â» by CynthiaRussell
My name is Ktrey writing painfully amateurish album reviews
TiddlyWiki Blink List Where dozens of TiddlyWikis hang out together.
Task Oriented Performance Support Â» Â» By Jerry Muelver
George C Brackett A TiddlyWiki for studying math or science
EdgarJ personal home page
Schools in South Australia to distribute class materials to students
ChrisJohnson's personal home page
JacksonBoyle's collection of recipes
JonathanCamp's guide to Prince 2 project management
BrandonSiegel's Case Personal Security Device Project
MichaelDansie's site for the American Cryptogram Association
BrianHolland's student nodes from Buffalo Law School
RuiCarmo's Python Grimoire, a sort of recipe book for the programming language Python
Rich Kulesus' themer's blog
Qliner Software are using TiddlyWiki to create the site for their hotkeys product
AndreasKÃ¤nner's family home page at http://www.kaenner.de/
EliseSpringer, a philospher at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, USA, is using TiddlyWiki for her homepage at http://espringer.web.wesleyan.edu/ and for
ReasoningWell, a wiki for her Philosophy faculty
ReasoningWell New on TiddlySpot
MarkWygent of Wygent Reeds, a maker of Scottish bagpipe reeds from Delaware, has compiled a fascinating home page using TiddlyWiki at http://www.wygent.com/
ChristopherJames has compiled a comprehensive guide to TabletPCs at http://www.tabletpcwiki.net/
MiguelCentellas has created an extensive guide to Bolivian politics at http://www.centellas.org/politics/politiddly.html
BrunoTiagoRodrigues has created a geocaching community site in Portuguese at http://travelbugrace.geocaching-pt.net/.
CharlesStross, a celebrated British ScienceFiction writer, has used TiddlyWiki for his 'Tough Guide to the Rapture of the Nerds' at http://www.antipope.org/charlie/toughguide.html.
KristofferNilausOlsen, a member of the Danish Student Group of Amnesty International, has used TiddlyWiki to collate reports of breaches of human rights. His site is at http://www.resultat.dk/sg/tw/students.html.
MartinSilcock, an brand researcher working with Millward Brown, is using TiddlyWiki for his homepage at http://www.explorate.co.uk/.
Many people are using the GTDTiddlyWiki variant for personal productivity, and there's been some interesting experiments in TiddlyWikiFiction.
Fold TiddlyWikiAdaptations
TidldyWiki Adaptations ^edit
Latest update 02 July 2007
Here are some interesting adaptations of TiddlyWiki code;

Time sheets and formbuilder
I showed TiddlyWiki to a friend of mine. I didn't manage to get him hooked
on TW but he was quite interested in the single file applications concept.
He borrowed some TW code and used it to make these:

http://yourtimesheets.com/

It's a single file app for doing timesheets like the ones you might show
your boss at the end of the week. You can keep track of how many hours
you've worked and if you work extra hours or take leave or whatever. Once
the week ends you can "lock" the file and with one click create a new
timesheet for the following week. It will also do some other things like
verify that you worked enough hours.

http://yourformbuilder.com/

This is a single page app that has two "modes". First is an authoring tool
for a survey type form. You can add questions in a number of formats and
edit them right in your browser with drag and drop and validation rules etc.
Then when you're done you "publish" the form. This saves a standalone file
that contains the survey questions. This file you send out via email to
everyone who has to complete the survey. They complete the survey, verify
and save their file, then send it back to you. I'm not 100% if there are
tools to collate the results of your survey but it would not be hard to
write a little data extraction tool if their wasn't.

Anyway I'm certain he'd be interested in feedback, so if you want to try
these out then post comments to this thread.

Cheers,
Simon.

What the author said
Hi all,

Simon's Friend here.

Glad to get some feedback about the two sites, and *very* glad that
everyone seemed to like them.

A couple of things in response to some of the questions.

Firstly, I took both of these tools on as an experiment, because I
know Simon Baird and I had some interest in SPA programming, not
because I had knew anything about tiddlywiki.

Udo was correct in the fact that actaully the only part of the
tiddlywiki that is used is the "store" technology. However the main
reason for this was because I actually sell a commercial timesheeting
application, and therefore already had most of the client side
javascript/dhtml code to do all of the screens and timesheet logic.
The easiest way to get yourtimesheets.com (which was the first one )
up and running was to simply replace the server-side code with the
tiddlywiki "store" technology.

In response to FND ( and others ) about the tasks recording, the
reason I didn't include this is yourtimesheets.com is because, as I
said before this was an experiment and I didn't want to spend a lot of
time on it. The commercial timesheet software that I wrote has task/
customer/project time dissection built into it, so I already have the
code, it is just a matter of finding the value in the effort to add it
to yourtimesheets.com.

And in response to Uwe. I am sorry about the lack of globalisation of
yourforms.com , I will look at doing this is future releases. I was
also looking at writing an application that could take muliple files
and statistically analyse the information. The data that is stored in
each file includes the question definition and the answer given by the
user, so it is fairly easy to analyse this data.

Please note both these projects are free to plunder, and I am happy if
people want to copy whole/parts of/re-write/make better/whatever, but
if you do something with them just tell simon, so I will eventually
find out about it.

Thanks.. and happy tiddling..

Before TiddlyWiki supported Plugins, several independent developers created their own extended adaptations to support new features. These can be considered forks of the original core code, and won't necessarily be based on the latest version. For that reason, the trend more recently has been for developers to release new features as Plugins that can be readily mixed and matched and upgraded to the latest version.

Adaptations include:
TimoBenk's TiddlyTasks at http://m28s01.vlinux.de/tiddlytasks.html
KeithHodges' TiddlyPom at http://www.warwick.ac.uk/~tuspam/tiddlypom.html
RodneyGomes' RoWiki, based on PyTW, at http://rodney.gotdns.com/
LarsEnglund's TiddlyWikiRDF at http://larsenglund.com/TiddlyWikiRDF/
BramChen's PrinceTiddlyWiki at http://ptw.sf.net/index-en.html
JoshGoebel's ServerSideWiki at http://www.serversidewiki.com
MasakiYatsu's LesserWiki at http://lesserwiki.org/
MichaelBridgen's StickyWiki at http://www.squaremobius.net/~mikeb/Darcs/sticky-wiki/
DavidHarper's BloTid, at http://www.spacecoastweb.net/BloTid/Tiddly/
JacquesTurbÃ©'s TidliPo, in French at http://avm.free.fr/tidlipo.html
JoeRaii's pytw at http://www.cs.utexas.edu/~joeraii/pytw/ and his Siglet at http://www.cs.utexas.edu/~joeraii/siglet/
JÃ¡roliJÃ³zsef's MagyarTiddlyWiki at http://innen.hu/MagyarTiddlyWiki in Hungarian
Yoshimov's EncryptedTiddlyWiki, at http://wiki.yoshimov.com/?page=EncryptedTiddlyWiki
TiagoDionizio's TsWiki using Tcl and SQLite, at http://mega.ist.utl.pt/~tngd/wiki/
TimMorgan's ZiddlyWiki based on Zope, at http://ziddlywiki.org/
SteveRumsby's YetAnotherTiddlyWikiAdaptation at http://www.rumsby.org/yatwa/
PhonoHawk's PerlTiddlyWiki at http://ccm.sherry.jp/tiddly/
NathanBower's GTDTiddlyWiki at http://shared.snapgrid.com/gtd_tiddlywiki.html
GeetDuggal's PileTiddly at http://www.geetduggal.com/PileTiddly/
DanPhiffer's TiddlyWikiRemote at http://phiffer.org/tiddly/
JonnyLeRoy's TiddlyTagWiki at http://www.digitaldimsum.co.uk/
JodyFoo's TagglyWiki at http://informationality.com/tagglywiki/tagglywiki.html
ChristianHauck's at http://www.christianhauck.net/html/14300.html
TonyLownds's TiddlyHacks at http://tony.lownds.com/tiddly/dev/cgi/index.cgi
AlanHecht's QwikiWeb at http://snipurl.com/qwikiweb
TimCuthbertson and MattGiuca's TiddlyWikiCSS at http://codestar.lidonet.net/misc/tiddlywikicss.html
PeterLazarev's further improvements at http://petka.webhop.net/#NiceTiddlyWiki
PatrickCurry and GabrielJeffrey's PhpTiddlyWiki at http://www.patrickcurry.com/tiddly/

There's also KevemBuangga's TiddlyWikiClone at http://www.kevembuangga.com/hwk/hailiwiki.htm
Also inspired by TiddlyWiki, Dr MichaelRees' DotWikIE,
And AndreNho's StickWiki at http://stickwiki.sourceforge.net/

12 March 2008

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 01:04:51 GMT

Settled down into Tiddlyville. having a few issues but I'm becoming a master of my domain.

MyJournal

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 01:03:42 GMT

Error in macro <<haloscan>>

Comments

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 01:03:21 GMT

We appreciate feedback, suggestions and questions...but not abuse (not that you'd offer it).

Either about RatbagMedia projects or the TiddlyWiki application.

Error in macro <<haloscan>>

TiddlyWiki Newbie/Beginners group needed - TiddlyWiki | Google Groups

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 01:00:00 GMT

Dear RatBagradio,

A few of us know exactly your present state of mind. It is quickly
becoming what is known as the 'TiddlyWiki Tick'. The overwhelming
feeling that you are onto something important having discovered
TiddlyWiki. It's a nagging feeling that you could create wonders if
you could just get your head around it.

The next phase of the 'tick' (besides the uncontrollable head jerking
and the drooling) is that if there was just some proper documentation,
starting at the right level, all would become clear; new horizons
would open and you could take TiddlyWiki to the outer-reaches where
software has never gone before.

But alas, TiddlyWiki will never be tamed in such a way. Many have
tried to break this wild stallion by brute force, by caressing and
nurturing, begging, crying; even TiddlyWiki whisperers have tried.

The tertiary stage is setting about documenting it in your own style,
learning it as you go and putting it down in a way you understand it,
and hopefully, many of a like mind will understand it in your style.

Many have tried at the beginners level as we each perceived it.

Me: http://twhelp.tiddlyspot.com
Dave Gifford: http://www.giffmex.org/twfortherestofus.html
Julie Starr: http://tiddlertoddler.tiddlyspot.com/
Even an intelligent combined group: http://www.tiddlywiki.org/
And gobs more on all levels at: http://twhelp.tiddlyspot.com/#OtherHelpSites

The truth is that TiddlyWiki can do almost anything, therefore there
is no beginners level and no one is an accomplished expert; for the
goal post of really knowing TiddlyWiki only moves farther away the
closer you get.

Start an explanatory TiddlyWiki at http://tiddlyspot.com and explain
it the best way you can... you have nothing to lose and we will all
gain by your efforts.

Morris Gray
http://twhelp.tiddlyspot.com
A TiddlyWiki help file for beginners

Source: TiddlyWiki Newbie/Beginners group needed - TiddlyWiki : Google Groups

Permaculture

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 04:51:00 GMT

[permaculture-oceania] Re: permaculture party

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 04:49:00 GMT

[permaculture-oceania] Re: permaculture party
Russ Grayson info at pacific-edge.info
Sat Sep 3 21:50:44 EST 2005

* Previous message: [permaculture-oceania] Aust-Brazil networking (IPEC) Friday 16/9 Melbourne
* Next message: [permaculture-oceania] Re: permaculture party
* Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ]

Interesting analysis, John. This is an interesting conversation and is the
sort of thing that Permaculture needs to see as a valid use of people's
energy and to give itself time for so that people can formulate their own
ideas and reflect on the structure of the Permaculture movement,.

On 22/8/05 12:07 PM, "Champagne J & S" <brogopg at bigpond.net.au> wrote:

I think it is best to be floating and not a target due to alignment with
one particular party. It would be great to see some permies in the
National Party, maybe there is?
If you formed a faction within The Greens you would get labelled and be
exposed to political bastardy.

You would be pigeon-holed with the Greens in the political caste system.

Forming policy positions on issues from within the broad spectrum of the
Australian permaculture movement on the surface seems improbable but not
impossible.

I suspect there are a range of political positions within Permaculture. I
see evidence of positions spanning the Left, Greens (ranging from right to
left positions), the middle and even elements of Neoconservative thought.

This latter has been around for some time and has probably been adopted
without awareness of the political ideology it came from. It has taken the
form of the so-called 'user pays' principle. That is no argument to discard
it as it may have validity in some cases. However, it is bound up with the
income divide that exists in this country - that is, not all have the wealth
to engage in user pays - and stands in opposition to the more socially
equitable principle of cross-subsidisation that makes resources available
to all, irrespective of personal wealth (and which is relevant to the Second
Ethic).

In general, Neoconservative ideology is hostile to the social and
environmental ethics bound up in Permaculture's own ideology. It is
difficult to understand how the economic and social individualism it
promotes could accord with the first and second ethics.

The 12 design principles outlined by Holmgren is your
barometer for decision making and also your selling point.

This sounds like putting David's principles forward as the basis of a
political manifesto. Would be interesting to know David's thoughts on this.

Let me paraphrase: "Philosophers have hitherto only interpreted the world;
the Permaculture point is to change it to be sustainable". Or: "A spectre is
haunting Australia and that spectre is Permaculture". That ends today's
lecture in political theory.

Permaculture doesn't need a leader

Little chance of this, I suspect.

but it could have spokespersons in different portfolios or to our way of
thinking,

They would have to be politically savvy and know their area well, especially
how the mainstream thinks about it.

The question is how and through whom, PIL, the PC Institute or both, can
this be formalised

This brings us back to that old discussion about representation in
Permaculture. Who can represent it and what can they say...and how binding
is what they say in public? One point is that, going by Permaculture's
history, the group or individual that takes the initiative has the running.
The other point is that there is nobody - no individual or group - within
Permaculture with the authority (derived from whom?) to take representative
action and speak for the entire body of practitioners and supporters.

One major problem that immediately comes up is that many (most?) who call
themselves permaculturists are not members of PIL or of the Pc Institute.
How can they be represented by organisations that they are not members of
and that they therefore have no participation or influence in? In theory,
neither organisation can represent more than its members, certainly not
Permaculture as a body of practice and ideology, though as the only
organisationally 'visible' Permaculture entities they assume a de-facto
speaking role for the movement as a whole. Of course, non-members might
assume an allegiance to either in the same way that non-members support
political parties.

The second point about representation is the 'invisibility' of
Permaculture's founders. Bill's public profile has declined these past ten
years and the Pc Institute is all but absent from this listserv (maybe they
don't have time; maybe they see themselves as somehow aloof from public
discussion of the design system - if so, that is a position that could be
described as 'elitist'). The listserv is the major communications medium for
Permaculture in this country and it could be argued that taking a deliberate
decision not to participate in the national discussion of the body of
practicing permaculturists is to treat it with an element of disregard.
Interestingly, Pc Institute is largely invisible but PIL is not - office
bearers at times (probably too seldom) officially post to the listserv.

Although David comments on this list from time to time and makes public
appearances, he does not have the prominence that would be required of a
political leader. That's probably as he wants it, however even if a
leadership were to develop elsewhere then the demand for David to take a
more active role in public discourse would grow.

but first, is there the will?

I suspect there is some largely-undefined sense that something like John
raises might be needed, but I cannot see the will being there at present, in
part because politicisation in a party or quasi-party form would bring
changes to Permaculture as a movement and body of practitioners that I think
some would not welcome.

Secondly, there is the critique that Bill Mollison has consistently voiced
of the political process. While I believe it is healthy to visit such sacred
cows from time to time to test whether they retain validity (as with this
conversation), Bill's attitude has probably left a legacy that would be hard
to overcome.

My guess is that Permaculture would not succeed as a political entity, party
or otherwise. An early idea of Bill's was that we do our PDC then go back
into our areas of influence (work, community etc) and introduce the
Permaculture perspective there, seeking to enact policies and practices
compatible with the three ethics. My gut feeling - and please argue against
this if you disagree - is that would be an appropriate approach to political
work too. What Permaculture, through its national and local organisations
could offer to assist this is training in lobbying, communication, community
leadership, political ideas and philosophies and so on so that
politicly-minded practitioners could engage effectively with mainstream
politics.

What do you think?

RUSS GRAYSON
journalism, online content production, photojournalism, instructional
manuals, media services for overseas aid

PO Box 371, Byron Bay, NSW 2481 AUSTRALIA
info at pacific-edge.info
P: 02 6685 5968
www.pacific-edge.info

TerraCircle development assistance team, Oceania
www.terracircle.org.au

^{Source: [permaculture-oceania] Re: permaculture party

[permaculture-oceania] Re: permaculture party
Robyn Francis robyn at permaculture.com.au
Fri Sep 9 23:09:58 EST 2005

* Previous message: [permaculture-oceania] Re: permaculture party
* Next message: [permaculture-oceania] Creating Change
* Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ]

On 3/9/05 9:50 PM, "Russ Grayson" <info at pacific-edge.info> wrote:

I think it is best to be floating and not a target due to alignment with
one particular party. It would be great to see some permies in the
National Party, maybe there is?
I've had staunch National Party and One Nation supporters do courses, and
know permies who are active members of Liberal and Labour Parties, and many
involved in Socialist Alliance & Resistance......

Permaculture is by it's nature 'political', and will remain most effective
if it seeks to influence all rather than align with one brand of political
ideology - as limiting and polarising as aligning with a particular
religious faith....
robyn

http://jasper.cmsarchitects.com/pipermail/pil-pc-oceania/2005-September/004705.html}

[permaculture-oceania] Re: permaculture party2

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 04:36:00 GMT

[permaculture-oceania] Re: permaculture party
Robyn Francis robyn at permaculture.com.au
Fri Sep 9 23:09:58 EST 2005

* Previous message: [permaculture-oceania] Re: permaculture party
* Next message: [permaculture-oceania] Creating Change
* Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ]

On 3/9/05 9:50 PM, "Russ Grayson" <info at pacific-edge.info> wrote:

I think it is best to be floating and not a target due to alignment with
one particular party. It would be great to see some permies in the
National Party, maybe there is?

I've had staunch National Party and One Nation supporters do courses, and
know permies who are active members of Liberal and Labour Parties, and many
involved in Socialist Alliance & Resistance......

Permaculture is by it's nature 'political', and will remain most effective
if it seeks to influence all rather than align with one brand of political
ideology - as limiting and polarising as aligning with a particular
religious faith....
robyn

Source: [permaculture-oceania] Re: permaculture party

Design and Salutogenic Food Systems: an interview with Roberto Perez the permaculturalist

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 04:01:00 GMT

Thursday, 10 January 2008
an interview with Roberto Perez the permaculturalist

I decided that it might be a good idea to come up with a few specific questions for Roberto Perez of FANJ. I know I have a habit of leading conversations off track a bit. We'll see how it goes! [As you will read, I did lead the conversation off quite a bit, Roberto and I stayed talking from 2pm until we were kicked out of the office at closing time].

To give a bit of background... Roberto Perez was trained as a biologist and came to work with FANJ very early on in his career. He was involved in the Cuban urban agriculture movement from its beginnings. In fact, he was at the airport when the first permaculture designers came from Australia in the early 1990s. He was taught permaculture design from the Australians (along with English and an Aussie accent which has since become diluted). Since then, he has helped design and build demonstration gardens throughout Havana and trained hundreds of others in Permaculture design methods. He has also travelled extensively (rare for a Cuban) to see similar projects in other countries, especially Canada. He did a Postgraduate Diploma at St. FX in Antigonish, just 2 hours from my home!

Here goes my preposed questions:

[I only transcribed notes of Roberto's responses, a transcript would be pages long.]

"As a designer from a different culture, different climate and different economy, what would you say are the most precious 'jems of knowledge' that I should take back with me? I will be presenting my findings to a groups of ecological designers."

FLEXABLE POLITICAL WILL

The biggest enabling factor for the success and eventual integration of the work was flexable political will. This is especially true when it comes to land-use policy. Support for sustainable food systems came direct from the top (Fidel) and laws were altered and practises adapted that suited the development of urban agriculture. Roberto noted that this type of change is not so easy in a capitalist system where land has, what he described as, 'different value'. A good example of this flexability is the clearing and cleaning of vacant lots in Havana. As is common in Britian, vacacnt city lots in Havana gathered rubbish and debris (especially in the 1980s). Masses of red tape and petty quarrels between neighbours often kept these lots in a state of dis-repair. Changes in policy allowed these lots to be cleared and used for gardens. Roberto says that in other countries this would probably never happen. In other countries we often see vacant lots gathering rubbish with chain link fences around them preventing any useful use! In Cuba land only has value related to its usefulness, rather than speculative value.

MARKET FLEXABILITY

The socialist collective supply market was just as rigid [perhaps even moreso] as western capitalist markets. The political will that allowed changes in how food was marketed in Cuba found this truth: 'there is always space in the market for a variety of services'. For instance, there are rules that prevent small allotment gardeners in Britian from selling their produce. These rules are meant to protect farmers, who make their only livelihood from selling food. Cuban officials feared failure of the large collective farms and state price controls by allowing an alternative market. In reality, the state supplied food still plays a large part in the Cuban diet and will continue to do so. [At this point I added the comment that TESCO or Sainsbury's has nothing to fear from market gardeners. They are well suited to adapt and by no means fill all the 'needs' of the market.] Market regulators need to adjust rules to scale. The many food safety and tracability laws do help protect us from poor quality food, but do not make sense applied to a small vendor selling bottles of home made jam.

FOOD INDUSTRY LABOUR MARKET

Working in food production in Cuba pays well. This attracts innovative, intelligent and industrious workers. This isn't the same in other countries for many reasons. In order for the system to be sustainable something needs to be done to change this.

PLANNING AND DESIGN OF PUBLIC SPACES

Designers and planners have to rethink public spaces, especially parks and green spaces. There exists an absurd distinction between ornimental and productive horticulture. Edible plants need to be given a greater emphasis in public areas. This is still forthcoming in Cuba and a current FANJ project is dealing with this. Standard architectural rendering show shrubs and trees outside buildings, sometimes even inside. Why not apple or pear trees, berry hedges?

PLANNING OF GARDEN SPACE

There are physical limits with plants and space. There are also relationships to efficiency and size, labour requirements and economic sense when it comes to gardens. This is what has been discovered in Havana. In order of least productive to most productive: Home Garden, Allotment, Collective, and Community. This is also connected to size. However, we must not simply interpret this as 'bigger is better'. There are appropriate uses for each. That being said, it must be understood that the scale of productivity is not completely linear. When thinking of planning, a collective garden that supplies 5 families is probably a little smaller in total size than 5 family sized allotments. Efficiencies are gained in the layout and sharing of things like shed space, which makes sense but actual productivity is much much higher than an allotment and labour requirements per person are lower. The problem then becomes a social one. Cubans have developed various and flexable social system to suit collectives. They are usually based simply on labour. All production is based on number of hours worked in the garden.

CHEAP, HEALTHY AND FRESH

Locally grown food is cheap, healthy and fresh. Probably the most important one is cheap, in Cuba the farmer's markets are much much cheaper than the supermarkets. It is also much fresher. Farmer's markets in northern countries are expensive and thus limit their market.

"In Britian we faced a food crisis from 1939 to well into the 1950s. As an island nation that was highly dependant on trade, the war had a dramatic impact on daily life and people's perceptions of food. This response, however, was seen more as a 'war measure' that was quickly abandoned than a long term solution. As Cuba emerged from the 'Special Period', what has made these measures, such as urban agriculture, become long term solutions?"

The answer is basically twofold:
-Political will... see answer from above.
-It makes economic sense, urban farmers in Cuba tap in to a very lucritive market economy earning more than they would doing other jobs.

I concluded my conversation with Roberto speaking about possible collaborations with my contacts in Scotland and arranged a second meeting as it was time to go.

Source: Design and Salutogenic Food Systems: an interview with Roberto Perez the permaculturalist

Tagari Â» Blog Archive Â» Permaculture Peopleâs Party

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 03:54:00 GMT

Permaculture Peopleâs Party

The Permaculture Peopleâs Party , by Bill Mollison (Papers and Proposals)

The Clarion Call.

Preamble: Many of us, and all of us trained in good design for houses and farms, feel disgusted with the present political systems, which seem to prefer war to peace, and want or hunger to plenty. We feel we must act to reverse this intellectual decay and consequent global deterioration.

If we gather our friends, and students of good design, we vastly out-number the few who have joined âleft rightâ parties. We can take control. We can legislate to restore the earth, to save and generate forests, to secure water and clean food supplies, and to live to assist all people to survive, not to war on them.

All permaculture graduates know how to design life-enhancing houses and farms. Many are involved in aid programmes, or consult with landowners and builders. We have, in effect, many thousands of peopleâyears of experience in building sustainable systems. We have served our apprenticeship as worthy designers of living systems.

Thus, we believe it is time to take charge of legislating for sustainable living. Why should we, the majority, put up with the stupidities of the Liberal/ Labour, Republican/ Democrat, Tory /Socialist dichotomies, whose efforts are to defeat each other, not to assist all people?

No, we must now vote them all out, and start the urgent repair of society and the earth itself. Oil men, coal miners, and wood chippers can between them destroy all of us, for greed. In this, they are assisted by âour governmentâ. To tolerate this is madness. To tolerate the use of biocides is ridiculous, and to subsidise destructive industries is stupidity. We must act for sanity and earth-care. Permaculture ethics require us to care for the earth. The permaculture lifestyle requires us to help others to care for themselves. Our ethics and lifestyle are the very best training for responsible government.

By supporting public trusts, Holland has greatly reduced and in fact largely eliminated the âpublic serviceâ (read: public stumbling block) to a very few people, thus, we must see the real function of government not to invent policies, but to discover existing policies that work well for problem solutions.

Most politicians arise from sportsmen, public broadcasters, film stars, lawyers, and businessmen. None of these can be trusted to evolve sensible policy; almost all of them operate on conviction based on personal beliefs. (no basis for sustainable society)

No, policy must be based on well-researched, extant, working models, and constantly refined by feedback from all levels of users or âconsumersâ of that policy. For instance, Finland is noted for the excellence of early education, Denmark for the volume of exports based on research, Sweden for developing energy systems that eliminate radio active wastes, or the risks of atomic energy. And so onâ¦â¦â¦.

Bangladesh has a wonderful system for lending to the poor, involving small loans, support circles for repayments, and good advice. There are very few âbad loansâ. We all need to adopt local cash management, credit unions, mini banks, economies of fair exchange of services and goods, not taxed expenditure. We do not live to support public servants and bankers in luxury, or politicians in great comfort, or C.E.Os in obscene wealth. No, it takes too much misery to keep a few manipulators too fat. We live to help our families and neighbours live a sustainable existence. This is what âpolicyâ must be about.

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 16th, 2007 at 9:11 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Source: Tagari Â» Blog Archive Â» Permaculture Peopleâs Party

Green Left - Permaculture and Marxism

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 16:32:00 GMT

Permaculture and Marxism

Barry Healy
14 July 2007

It is often thought that concern for the interconnection of living systems is a modern development. But Karl Marxâs talked about it repeatedly throughout his Capital.

Marx didnât use the word âecologyâ â it was coined in 1866 â but metabolism . He argued that capitalist accumulation shatters basic processes of ecological sustainability âby destroying the circumstances surrounding [natural] metabolismâ. Marx called this âmetabolic riftâ. So, he said, what is needed is the âsystematic restoration [of natural metabolism] as a regulating law of social reproductionâ.

In other words: farming and other productive activities have to restore the ecological balance, and this can only really be achieved under a system where people and the environment come before profits â socialism.

Australian-developed permaculture farming principles aim at restoring this balance. Within capitalist Australia, permaculture remains a fringe movement. But in socialist Cuba, it has become mainstream. Viewers of the inspiring film The Power of Community can see with their own eyes the depth of meaning that Marx attached to âhealing the metabolic riftâ. It is a physical healing of the land, combined with a spiritual rejuvenation of human society.

As Roz Paterson and Jack Ferguson reported in the May 25 Scottish Socialist Voice: âIn the 1990s, Cuba made the transition from an industrial society, where farming was conducted on a massive scale, with a heavy reliance on fossil fuel-based pesticides and fertilisers, to a sustainable one, with a food economy based on small organic farms, workersâ co-operatives and urban gardens.â

In Havana, more than 90% of perishable produce is grown within or near the city limits. âNowadaysâ, Paterson and Ferguson explained, âwhile the children of much richer nations begin to fall prey to diet-related diseases we thought weâd seen the back of, such as malnutrition and rickets, as well as life-shrinking levels of obesity, and at a time when weâre throwing away a third of all the food we buy, Cubans are chowing down on the kind of food we can only aspire to â local, organic, fresh â and learning to waste nothingâ.

The SSV reported that instead of artificial fertilisers, Cuban farmers use micro-organisms that enrich the soil, earthworms, compost, animal and green manure, and the integration of grazing livestock.

Unfortunately, Australian agribusiness treats the soil like dirt. Similar to using the earth as a hydroponic growth medium, synthetic fertilisers and pesticides are flung around and water pumped through. Farmers who resist these trends are subjected to financial pressure; meanwhile the soil turns acidic and the rivers choke with algae.

Another concern for Marx was the struggle over the Corn Laws, which between 1815 and 1846 were tariffs protecting rich British farmers against foreign competition. Manchester-based industrialists successfully overturned the laws to reduce the amount that they had to pay in wages.

The factory bosses knew that keeping food cheap helps keep wages low. The âreproductionâ of labour means workers have to arrive at work with enough food in their bellies to create surplus value for the boss. Cheapening food means that bosses can drive wages down towards a minimum sustenance level.

But cheap food isnât always good food: often it isnât really food at all. In Marxâs day, cheap workersâ bread contained stone dust, chalk, pearl ashes, soap and other such choice items. In Capital, Marx quoted testimony to the 1855 parliamentary inquiry into food adulteration that, because of contamination, âthe poor men who lived on two pounds of bread a day did not take in one fourth of that amount of nutritionâ.

The modern equivalent of such contamination is food colourings and other additives. Eric Schlosserâs Fast Food Nation gives the 50 or so ingredients that constitute the typical artificial strawberry flavour.

The artificial flavour industry took off in the 1950s, when the gas chromatograph and mass spectrometers were invented, allowing the detection of gases in minute quantities. This allowed for tiny amounts of odour and colour to be attached to questionable foods.

We can often tell whether food is fresh or stale by its colour, odour or taste. But artificial additives disguise this. What was ground up rock to our great grandparents is today the mystifying list of numbers on labels. The modern equivalent to the factory ownersâ victory over the Corn Laws is our cheap, mass-produced âfoodâ â the modern McDiet.

As a marginal product in Australia, organic food is a little more expensive. But its price shows the real cost of producing authentic food. The artificial number soup slopped out by the Australian food industry simply isnât worth eating.

From: Comment & Analysis, Green Left Weekly issue #717 18 July 2007.

Source: Green Left - Permaculture and Marxism

The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil | Global Public Media

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 16:22:00 GMT

25 Feb 2006
View all related to Climate Change | Oil | Relocalization
Read this article in: Spanish

By Megan Quinn
From Permaculture Activist

Havana, Cuba â At the OrganipÃ³nico de Alamar, a neighborhood agriculture project, a workers' collective runs a large urban farm, a produce market and a restaurant. Hand tools and human labor replace oil-driven machinery. Worm cultivation and composting create productive soil. Drip irrigation conserves water, and the diverse, multi-hued produce provides the community with a rainbow of healthy foods.

Farmers at the Organiponico de Alamar, a neighborhood agriculture project in downtown Havana, weed the beds. (Photo by John Morgan)

In other Havana neighborhoods, lacking enough land for such large projects, residents have installed raised garden beds on parking lots and planted vegetable gardens on their patios and rooftops.

Since the early 1990s, an urban agriculture movement has swept through Cuba, putting this capital city of 2.2 million on a path toward sustainability.

A small group of Australians assisted in this grass-roots effort, coming to this Caribbean island nation in 1993 to teach permaculture, a system based on sustainable agriculture which uses far less energy.

This need to bring agriculture into the city began with the fall of the Soviet Union and the loss of more than 50 percent of Cuba's oil imports, much of its food and 85 percent of its trade economy. Transportation halted, people went hungry and the average Cuban lost 30 pounds.

"In reality, when this all began, it was a necessity. People had to start cultivating vegetables wherever they could," a tour guide told a documentary crew filming in Cuba in 2004 to record how Cuba survived on far less oil than usual.

The crew included the staff of The Community Solution, a non-profit organization in Yellow Springs, Ohio which teaches about peak oil â the time when oil production world-wide will reach an all-time high and head into an irreversible decline. Some oil analysts believe this may happen within this decade, making Cuba a role model to follow.

"We wanted to see if we could capture what it is in the Cuban people and the Cuban culture that allowed them to go through this very difficult time," said Pat Murphy, The Community Solution's executive director. "Cuba has a lot to show the world in how to deal with energy adversity."

Scarce petroleum supplies have not only transformed Cuba's agriculture. The nation has also moved toward small-scale renewable energy and developed an energy-saving mass transit system, while maintaining its government-provided health care system whose preventive, locally-based approach to medicine conserves scarce resources.

The era in Cuba following the Soviet collapse is known to Cubans as the Special Period. Cuba lost 80 percent of its export market and its imports fell by 80 percent. The Gross Domestic Product dropped by more than one third.

"Try to image an airplane suddenly losing its engines. It was really a crash," Jorge Mario, a Cuban economist, told the documentary crew. A crash that put Cuba into a state of shock. There were frequent blackouts in its oil-fed electric power grid, up to 16 hours per day. The average daily caloric intake in Cuba dropped by a third.

According to a report on Cuba from Oxfam, an international development and relief agency, "In the cities, buses stopped running, generators stopped producing electricity, factories became silent as graveyards. Obtaining enough food for the day became the primary activity for many, if not most, Cubans."

In part due to the continuing US embargo, but also because of the loss of a foreign market, Cuba couldn't obtain enough imported food. Furthermore, without a substitute for fossil-fuel based large-scale farming, agricultural production dropped drastically.

So Cubans started to grow local organic produce out of necessity, developed bio-pesticides and bio-fertilizers as petrochemical substitutes, and incorporated more fruits and vegetables into their diets. Since they couldn't fuel their aging cars, they walked, biked, rode buses, and carpooled.

"There are infinite small solutions," said Roberto Sanchez from the Cuban-based Foundation for Nature and Humanity. "Crises or changes or problems can trigger many of these things which are basically adaptive. We are adapting."

A New Agricultural Revolution

Cubans are also replacing petroleum-fed machinery with oxen, and their urban agriculture reduces food transportation distances. Today an estimated 50 percent of Havana's vegetables come from inside the city, while in other Cuban towns and cities urban gardens produce from 80 percent to more than 100 percent of what they need.

In turning to gardening, individuals and neighborhood organizations took the initiative by identifying idle land in the city, cleaning it up, and planting.

Farmers pose with their produce at a farmers' market in downtown Havana. The Cuban government now allows these private markets, which provide year-round fresh local food to the community. (Photo by John Morgan)

When the Australian permaculturists came to Cuba they set up the first permaculture demonstration project with a $26,000 grant from the Cuban government.

Out of this grew the Foundation for Nature and Humanity's urban permaculture demonstration project and center in Havana. "With this demonstration, neighbors began to see the possibilities of what they can do on their rooftops and their patios," said Carmen LÃ³pez, director of the urban permaculture center, as she stood on the center's rooftop amongst grape vines, potted plants, and compost bins made from tires.

Since then the movement has been spreading rapidly across Havana's barrios. So far LÃ³pez' urban permaculture center has trained more than 400 people in the neighborhood in permaculture and distributes a monthly publication, "El Permacultor." "Not only has the community learned about permaculture," according to LÃ³pez, "we have also learned about the community, helping people wherever there is need."

One permaculture student, Nelson Aguila, an engineer-turned-farmer, raises food for the neighborhood on his integrated rooftop farm. On just a few hundred square feet he has rabbits and hens and many large pots of plants. Running free on the floor are gerbils, which eat the waste from the rabbits, and become an important protein source themselves. "Things are changing," Sanchez said. "It's a local economy. In other places people don't know their neighbors. They don't know their names. People don't say 'hello' to each other. Not here."

Since going from petrochemical intensive agricultural production to organic farming and gardening, Cuba now uses 21 times less pesticide than before the Special Period. They have accomplished this with their large-scale production of bio-pesticides and bio-fertilizers, exporting some of it to other Latin American countries.

Though the transition to organic production and animal traction was necessary, the Cubans are now seeing the advantages. "One of the good parts of the crisis was to go back to the oxen," said Miguel Coyula, a community development specialist, "Not only do they save fuel, they do not compact the soil the way the tractor does, and the legs of the oxen churn the earth."

"The Cuban agricultural, conventional, 'Green Revolution' system never was able to feed the people," Sanchez said. "It had high yields, but was oriented to plantation agriculture. We exported citrus, tobacco, sugar cane and we imported the basic things. So the system, even in the good times, never fulfilled people's basic needs."

Drawing on his permaculture knowledge, Sanchez said, "You have to follow the natural cycles, so you hire nature to work for you, not work against nature. To work against nature, you have to waste huge amounts of energy."

Energy Solutions

Because most of Cuba's electricity had been generated from imported oil, the shortages affected nearly everyone on the island. Scheduled rolling blackouts several days per week lasted for many years. Without refrigerators, food would spoil. Without electric fans, the heat was almost unbearable in a country that regularly has temperatures in the 80s and 90s.

The solutions to Cuba's energy problems were not easy. Without money, it couldn't invest in nuclear power and new conventional fossil fuel plants or even large-scale wind and solar energy systems. Instead, the country focused on reducing energy consumption and implementing small-scale renewable energy projects.

Ecosol Solar and Cuba Solar are two renewable energy organizations leading the way. They help develop markets for renewable energy, sell and install systems, perform research, publish newsletters, and do energy efficiency studies for large users.

Ecosol Solar has installed 1.2 megawatts of solar photovoltaic in both small household systems (200 watt capacity) and large systems (15-50 kilowatt capacity). In the United States 1.2 megawatts would provide electricity to about 1000 homes, but can supply power to significantly more houses in Cuba where appliances are few, conservation is the custom, and the homes are much smaller.

About 60 percent of Ecosol Solar's installations go to social programs to power homes, schools, medicals facilities, and community centers in rural Cuba. It recently installed solar photovoltaic panels to electrify 2,364 primary schools throughout rural Cuba where it was not cost effective to take the grid. In addition, it is developing compact model solar water heaters that can be assembled in the field, water pumps powered by PV panels, and solar dryers.

A visit to "Los Tumbos," a solar-powered community in the rural hills southwest of Havana demonstrates the positive impact that these strategies can have. Once without electricity, each household now has a small solar panel that powers a radio and a lamp. Larger systems provide electricity to the school, hospital, and community room, where residents gather to watch the evening news program called the "Round Table." Besides keeping the residents informed, the television room has the added benefit of bringing the community together.

"The sun was enough to maintain life on earth for millions of years," said Bruno Beres, a director of Cuba Solar. "Only when we [humans] arrived and changed the way we use energy was the sun not enough. So the problem is with our society, not with the world of energy."

Transportation - A System of Ride Sharing

Cubans also faced the problem of providing transportation on a reduced energy diet. Solutions came from ingenious Cubans, who often quote the phrase, "Necessity is the mother of invention." With little money or fuel, Cuba now moves masses of people during rush hour in Havana. In an inventive approach, virtually every form of vehicle, large and small, was used to build this mass transit system. Commuters ride in hand-made wheelbarrows, buses, other motorized transport and animal-powered vehicles.

One special Havana transit vehicle, nicknamed a "camel," is a very large metal semi-trailer, pulled by a standard semi-truck tractor, which holds 300 passengers. Bicycles and motorized two-passenger rickshaws are also prevalent in Havana, while horse drawn carts and large old panel trucks are used in the smaller towns.

This unique Cuban transport vehicle, called a "camel", can carry 300 passengers. (Photo by John Morgan)

Government officials in yellow garb pull over nearly empty government vehicles and trucks on Havana's streets and fill them with people needing a ride. Chevys from the 1950s cruise along with four people in front and four more in back.

A donkey cart with a taxi license nailed to the frame also travels Cuba's streets. Many trucks were converted to passenger transport by welding steps to the back so riders could get on and off with ease.

Health Care and Education - National Priorities

Even though Cuba is a poor country, with a per capita Gross Domestic Product of only $3,000 per year (putting them in the bottom third of all nations), life expectancy is the same as in the U.S., and infant mortality is below that in the U.S. The literacy rate in Cuba is 97 percent, the same as in the U.S. Cuba's education system, as well as its medical system is free.

When Cubans suffered through their version of a peak oil crisis, they maintained their free medical system, one of the major factors that helped them to survive. Cubans repeatedly emphasize how proud they are of their system.

Before the Cuban Revolution in 1959, there was one doctor for every 2000 people. Now there is a doctor for every 167 people. Cuba also has an international medical school and trains doctors to work in other poor countries. Each year there are 20,000 Cuban doctors abroad doing this kind of work.

With meat scarce and fresh local vegetables in abundance since 1995, Cubans now eat a healthy, low-fat, nearly vegetarian, diet. They also have a healthier outdoor lifestyle and walking and bicycling have become much more common. "Before, Cubans didn't eat that many vegetables. Rice and beans and pork meat was the basic diet," Sanchez from the Foundation for Nature and Humanity said. "At some point necessity taught them, and now they demand [vegetables]."

Doctors and nurses live in the community where they work and usually above the clinic itself. In remote rural areas, three-story buildings are constructed with the doctor's office on the bottom floor and two apartments on the second and third floors, one for the doctor and one for the nurse.

In the cities, the doctors and nurses always live in the neighborhoods they serve. They know the families of their patients and try to treat people in their homes. "Medicine is a vocation, not a job," exclaimed a Havana doctor, demonstrating the motivation for her work. In Cuba 60 percent of the doctors are women.

Education is considered the most important social activity in Cuba. Before the revolution, there was one teacher for every 3,000 people. Today the ratio is one for every 42 people, with a teacher-student ratio of 1 to 16. Cuba has a higher percentage of professionals than most developing countries, and with 2 percent of the population of Latin America, Cuba has 11 percent of all the scientists.

In an effort to halt migration from the countryside to the city during the Special Period, higher education was spread out into the provinces, expanding learning opportunities and strengthening rural communities. Before the Special Period there were only three institutions of higher learning in Cuba. Now there are 50 colleges and universities throughout the country, seven in Havana.

The Power of Community

Throughout its travels, the documentary crew saw and experienced the resourcefulness, determination, and optimism of the Cuban people, often hearing the phrase "SÃ, se puede" or "Yes it can be done."

People spoke of the value of "resistir" or "resistance," showing their determination to overcome obstacles. And they have lived under a U.S. economic blockade since the early 1960s, viewed as the ultimate test of the Cuban ability to resist.

There is much to learn from Cuba's response to the loss of cheap and abundant oil. The staff of The Community Solution sees these lessons as especially important for people in developing countries, who make up 82 percent of the world's population and live more on life's edge. But developed countries are also vulnerable to shortages in energy. And with the coming onset of peak oil, all countries will have to adapt to the reality of a lower energy world.

With this new reality, the Cuban government changed its 30-year motto from "Socialism or Death" to "A Better World is Possible." Government officials allowed private entrepreneurial farmers and neighborhood organizations to use public land to grow and sell their produce. They pushed decision-making down to the grassroots level and encouraged initiatives in their neighborhoods. They created more provinces. They encouraged migration back to the farms and rural areas and reorganized their provinces to be in-line with agricultural needs.

(Photo by John Morgan)

From The Community Solution's viewpoint, Cuba did what it could to survive, despite its ideology of a centralized economy. In the face of peak oil and declining oil production, will America do what it takes to survive, in spite of its ideology of individualism and consumerism? Will Americans come together in community, as Cubans did, in the spirit of sacrifice and mutual support?

"There is climate change, the price of oil, the crisis of energy â¦" Beres from Cuba Solar said, listing off the challenges humanity faces. "What we must know is that the world is changing and we must change the way we see the world."

This article appeared in the special Peak Oil issue of Permaculture Activist, Spring 2006. The author, Megan Quinn, is the outreach director for The Community Solution, a program of Community Service Inc., a nonprofit organization in Yellow Springs, Ohio. For information about its soon-to-be-released documentary, "The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil" visit its website, e-mail her at megan@communitysolution.org, or call 937-767-2161.

Source: The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil : Global Public Media

CollapsedTemplate

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 00:22:00 GMT

<!~~--> <div class='toolbar' macro='toolbar expandTiddler collapseOthers closeTiddler closeOthers +editTiddler permalink references jump'></div> <div class='title' macro='view title'></div> <!--~~>

Satire

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 00:19:00 GMT

Type the text for 'Satire'

Bicycling

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 00:16:00 GMT

Type the text for 'Bicycling'

PageTemplate

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 16:15:00 GMT

TiddlersBarPlugin

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 16:13:00 GMT

Name:	TiddlersBarPlugin
Description:	A bar to switch between tiddlers through tabs (like browser tabs bar).
Version:	1.2.5
Date:	Jan 18,2008
Source:	http://visualtw.ouvaton.org/VisualTW.html
Author:	Pascal Collin
License:	BSD open source license
CoreVersion:	2.1.0
Browser:	Firefox 2.0; InternetExplorer 6.0, others

Demos

On homepage, open several tiddlers to use the tabs bar.

Installation

import this tiddler from homepage (tagged as systemConfig)
save and reload
if you're using a custom PageTemplate, add <div id='tiddlersBar' refresh='none' ondblclick='config.macros.tiddlersBar.onTiddlersBarAction(event)'></div> before <div id='tiddlerDisplay'></div>
optionally, adjust StyleSheetTiddlersBar

Tips

Doubleclick on the tiddlers bar (where there is no tab) create a new tiddler.
Tabs include a button to close x or save ! their tiddler.
By default, click on the current tab close all others tiddlers.

Configuration options

Disable the tabs bar (to print, by example).
Automatically hide the tabs bar when only one tiddler is displayed.
selected tab command button.
previous tab access key.
next tab access key.

Code

config.options.chkDisableTabsBar = config.options.chkDisableTabsBar ? config.options.chkDisableTabsBar : false;
config.options.chkHideTabsBarWhenSingleTab  = config.options.chkHideTabsBarWhenSingleTab  ? config.options.chkHideTabsBarWhenSingleTab  : false;
config.options.txtSelectedTiddlerTabButton = config.options.txtSelectedTiddlerTabButton ? config.options.txtSelectedTiddlerTabButton : "closeOthers";
config.options.txtPreviousTabKey = config.options.txtPreviousTabKey ? config.options.txtPreviousTabKey : "";
config.options.txtNextTabKey = config.options.txtNextTabKey ? config.options.txtNextTabKey : "";
config.macros.tiddlersBar = {
	tooltip : "see ",
	tooltipClose : "click here to close this tab",
	tooltipSave : "click here to save this tab",
	promptRename : "Enter tiddler new name",
	currentTiddler : "",
	previousState : false,
	previousKey : config.options.txtPreviousTabKey,
	nextKey : config.options.txtNextTabKey,	
	tabsAnimationSource : null, //use document.getElementById("tiddlerDisplay") if you need animation on tab switching.
	handler: function(place,macroName,params) {
		var previous = null;
		if (config.macros.tiddlersBar.isShown())
			story.forEachTiddler(function(title,e){
				if (title==config.macros.tiddlersBar.currentTiddler){
					var d = createTiddlyElement(null,"span",null,"tab tabSelected");
					config.macros.tiddlersBar.createActiveTabButton(d,title);
					if (previous && config.macros.tiddlersBar.previousKey) previous.setAttribute("accessKey",config.macros.tiddlersBar.nextKey);
					previous = "active";
				}
				else {
					var d = createTiddlyElement(place,"span",null,"tab tabUnselected");
					var btn = createTiddlyButton(d,title,config.macros.tiddlersBar.tooltip + title,config.macros.tiddlersBar.onSelectTab);
					btn.setAttribute("tiddler", title);
					if (previous=="active" && config.macros.tiddlersBar.nextKey) btn.setAttribute("accessKey",config.macros.tiddlersBar.previousKey);
					previous=btn;
				}
				var isDirty =story.isDirty(title);
				var c = createTiddlyButton(d,isDirty ?"!":"x",isDirty?config.macros.tiddlersBar.tooltipSave:config.macros.tiddlersBar.tooltipClose, isDirty ? config.macros.tiddlersBar.onTabSave : config.macros.tiddlersBar.onTabClose,"tabButton");
				c.setAttribute("tiddler", title);
				if (place.childNodes) {
					place.insertBefore(document.createTextNode(" "),place.firstChild); // to allow break line here when many tiddlers are open
					place.insertBefore(d,place.firstChild); 
				}
				else place.appendChild(d);
			})
	}, 
	refresh: function(place,params){
		removeChildren(place);
		config.macros.tiddlersBar.handler(place,"tiddlersBar",params);
		if (config.macros.tiddlersBar.previousState!=config.macros.tiddlersBar.isShown()) {
			story.refreshAllTiddlers();
			if (config.macros.tiddlersBar.previousState) story.forEachTiddler(function(t,e){e.style.display="";});
			config.macros.tiddlersBar.previousState = !config.macros.tiddlersBar.previousState;
		}
	},
	isShown : function(){
		if (config.options.chkDisableTabsBar) return false;
		if (!config.options.chkHideTabsBarWhenSingleTab) return true;
		var cpt=0;
		story.forEachTiddler(function(){cpt++});
		return (cpt>1);
	},
	selectNextTab : function(){  //used when the current tab is closed (to select another tab)
		var previous="";
		story.forEachTiddler(function(title){
			if (!config.macros.tiddlersBar.currentTiddler) {
				story.displayTiddler(null,title);
				return;
			}
			if (title==config.macros.tiddlersBar.currentTiddler) {
				if (previous) {
					story.displayTiddler(null,previous);
					return;
				}
				else config.macros.tiddlersBar.currentTiddler=""; 	// so next tab will be selected
			}
			else previous=title;
			});		
	},
	onSelectTab : function(e){
		var t = this.getAttribute("tiddler");
		if (t) story.displayTiddler(null,t);
		return false;
	},
	onTabClose : function(e){
		var t = this.getAttribute("tiddler");
		if (t) {
			if(story.hasChanges(t) && !readOnly) {
				if(!confirm(config.commands.cancelTiddler.warning.format([t])))
				return false;
			}
			story.closeTiddler(t);
		}
		return false;
	},
	onTabSave : function(e) {
		var t = this.getAttribute("tiddler");
		if (!e) e=window.event;
		if (t) config.commands.saveTiddler.handler(e,null,t);
		return false;
	},
	onSelectedTabButtonClick : function(event,src,title) {
		var t = this.getAttribute("tiddler");
		if (!event) event=window.event;
		if (t && config.options.txtSelectedTiddlerTabButton && config.commands[config.options.txtSelectedTiddlerTabButton])
			config.commands[config.options.txtSelectedTiddlerTabButton].handler(event, src, t);
		return false;
	},
	onTiddlersBarAction: function(event) {
		var source = event.target ? event.target.id : event.srcElement.id; // FF uses target and IE uses srcElement;
		if (source=="tiddlersBar") story.displayTiddler(null,'New Tiddler',DEFAULT_EDIT_TEMPLATE,false,null,null);
	},
	createActiveTabButton : function(place,title) {
		if (config.options.txtSelectedTiddlerTabButton && config.commands[config.options.txtSelectedTiddlerTabButton]) {
			var btn = createTiddlyButton(place, title, config.commands[config.options.txtSelectedTiddlerTabButton].tooltip ,config.macros.tiddlersBar.onSelectedTabButtonClick);
			btn.setAttribute("tiddler", title);
		}
		else
			createTiddlyText(place,title);
	}
}

story.coreCloseTiddler = story.coreCloseTiddler? story.coreCloseTiddler : story.closeTiddler;
story.coreDisplayTiddler = story.coreDisplayTiddler ? story.coreDisplayTiddler : story.displayTiddler;

story.closeTiddler = function(title,animate,unused) {
	if (title==config.macros.tiddlersBar.currentTiddler)
		config.macros.tiddlersBar.selectNextTab();
	story.coreCloseTiddler(title,false,unused); //disable animation to get it closed before calling tiddlersBar.refresh
	var e=document.getElementById("tiddlersBar");
	if (e) config.macros.tiddlersBar.refresh(e,null);
}

story.displayTiddler = function(srcElement,tiddler,template,animate,unused,customFields,toggle){
	story.coreDisplayTiddler(config.macros.tiddlersBar.tabsAnimationSource,tiddler,template,animate,unused,customFields,toggle);
	var title = (tiddler instanceof Tiddler)? tiddler.title : tiddler;  
	if (config.macros.tiddlersBar.isShown()) {
		story.forEachTiddler(function(t,e){
			if (t!=title) e.style.display="none";
			else e.style.display="";
		})
		config.macros.tiddlersBar.currentTiddler=title;
	}
	var e=document.getElementById("tiddlersBar");
	if (e) config.macros.tiddlersBar.refresh(e,null);
}

var coreRefreshPageTemplate = coreRefreshPageTemplate ? coreRefreshPageTemplate : refreshPageTemplate;
refreshPageTemplate = function(title) {
	coreRefreshPageTemplate(title);
	if (config.macros.tiddlersBar) config.macros.tiddlersBar.refresh(document.getElementById("tiddlersBar"));
}

ensureVisible=function (e) {return 0} //disable bottom scrolling (not useful now)

config.shadowTiddlers.StyleSheetTiddlersBar = "/*{{{*/\n";
config.shadowTiddlers.StyleSheetTiddlersBar += "#tiddlersBar .button {border:0}\n";
config.shadowTiddlers.StyleSheetTiddlersBar += "#tiddlersBar .tab {white-space:nowrap}\n";
config.shadowTiddlers.StyleSheetTiddlersBar += "#tiddlersBar {padding : 1em 0.5em 2px 0.5em}\n";
config.shadowTiddlers.StyleSheetTiddlersBar += ".tabUnselected .tabButton, .tabSelected .tabButton {padding : 0 2px 0 2px; margin: 0 0 0 4px;}\n";
config.shadowTiddlers.StyleSheetTiddlersBar += ".tiddler, .tabContents {border:1px [[ColorPalette::TertiaryPale]] solid;}\n";
config.shadowTiddlers.StyleSheetTiddlersBar +="/*}}}*/";
store.addNotification("StyleSheetTiddlersBar", refreshStyles);

config.refreshers.none = function(){return true;}
config.shadowTiddlers.PageTemplate=config.shadowTiddlers.PageTemplate.replace(/<div id='tiddlerDisplay'><\/div>/m,"<div id='tiddlersBar' refresh='none' ondblclick='config.macros.tiddlersBar.onTiddlersBarAction(event)'></div>\n<div id='tiddlerDisplay'></div>");