Canada's Food supply: another key component of the Harper Government's "Action Plan"

Post by Danny Hunter.

Hey CSEC? NSA? Would all your "listening" have predicted Russia would invade the Ukraine?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budapest_Memorandum_on_Security_Assurances http://storify.com/yannikouts/ukraine-after-the-regime-change Where is the UN? Where is NATO? What are the US and UK doing about the agreement they signed and now see the party of the second part saying "screw you!" Hey what about them Olympics? After all is said and done, might appears to be right, who carries the biggest club, has the biggest guns, the best planes, the biggest bombs, the biggest army, the best drones.

The Kipawa River - Extrordinary Videos

Natural Heritage Kipawa River 2011 Open Boater Kipawa River 2008 Kipawa River 2005 Headwaters: Lake Kipawa

What is happening in the Ukraine? They fought authority... authority always wins!

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  Karwacki: is a Ukrainian name, except that my research reveals that my Grandparents were born in Poland and with the border change during the time of the treaty of Riga (1923) their home became Ukrainian territory. I consider myself Polish Ukrainian, covering both bases.

  
  Is this really an engineered "regional" war? 
• 
  
• I've heard that this has to do with a government that has made alliances with RUSSIA in order to fascilitate the sales of natural gas from GAZPROM while a substantial portion of parilament/ and citizens want closer alliances with Europe

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• Peter Karwacki http://www.thedailybeast.com/.../up-to-speed-what-s-going...
  

  
  

  Up to Speed: What’s Going on in Ukraine?

  www.thedailybeast.com
  

  Your cheat sheet to the complex web of money, power, and politics behind Ukraine’s violent protests.

  
  
•  Its not like the average Ukrainian can win in this if their GAS SUPPLY IS TURNED OFF BY RUSSIA. (How likely is that in reality? its happened before!

  
  
•  Why on earth are the average Ukrainians burning tires in Kiev,  Who or what is pushing them for that...?

   Knowing the history of the "USA" and their CIA/NSA penchant for destabilizing governments in order to "server their national interest" my guess is that they are involved in some way and have "engineered" as you have said, these protests. But that is such a conspiratorial point of view, people would dismiss me as "nuts" if I said that.
• Ukrainians on the West (former Polish teritory) really want to go towards EU. However, Eastern Ukrainians (former Russia) want to go towards Russia.  Janukovich negotiated a deal about joining EU in the future, and when it came to signing, he reneged.
•  I still don't know what is pushing people to burn tires - do they really feel sincerely that their government has left them out hanging to dry? Imagine what it would take in CANADA for people to get out in -10 weather, in the middle of the night, to protest like this. And further, what is their real alternative? The Ukrainian protesters want the president to resign, they want to persuade him that he has lost the trust and majority of votes, (which is not true), it is felt that there is still majority of Ukrainians in the East that miss the good old days of USSR rule. 
• 
  
• What is driving them? Possibly high ideals, the notions of  Solidarnosc, Wałęsa and others but history tells a different story.
• Janokovich came to the Ukrainians in Novemeber with real bullets. So they stand there. For a third month. It is shocking how little media coverage there is in the US.  What is pushing people to war in Syria, what has pushed people to generalized wars in the Middle East and Northern Africa, to militia wars and guerrillas to the south of the Sahel, to civil unrest.  If this sounds like a movie script: It is! The problem with revolution is that its often the "little guy" that gets crushed. If you take governmental structure away, even a bad one, you are left with Anarchy, and anarchy inevitably leads to death and destruction (maximum entropy)
• And maximum entrophy leads to "rebirth", if all systems are crushed, what will emerge from the ashes? Oh those poor Ukrainians! That's what elites seem to have difficulty understanding. http://thefreechannelenglisheducation.blogspot.ca/.../i-d...
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  THE FREE CHANNEL

  thefreechannelenglisheducation.blogspot.com

  
  
• Since November, several protesters have been taken into Polish hospitals. The opposition leader, also negotiating on the political level with Janukovich was  offered seats in the government, although these were refused!
• It seemed like the discussions were moving away from the street protests towards civilized dialogue, but it did not happen. The president used power, police, and security forces finally to secure the status quo. 
• Where is Putin in all this?. 
• Are the authorities using the umbrella of the olympic games to massacre people. There have been months of kidnapping people from hospitals, cabs, direct killings, using snipers to shoot people on Majdan. Again, shocking, that there had to be a day when 30 people were killed to make the news in Canada.
• This is really about the 10%/90% problem. I am not a religious man, but I do feel that the christian ethic, the long view, the insisting on business cases over human values /environmental values has lead us down a dangerous path of "no perogies".  History proves that for every "revolution" there is an equal and opposite "counter revolution" People get crushed, and a New World "order" emerges from the ashes. We are seeing history in the making, we are living it. My heart - I feel for the Ukrainians.
• What happened last night, is that the Ukrainians were very close to having a political deal, they almost had agreement to revert to the 2004 Ukraine constitution, which gave the Ukrainian president less power. They were about to vote, when parliament members related to Janukovich said "no".  So the protesters started their march on the parliament. 
• This is when the authorities ( remember the I fought authority introduction?) started shooting. But they also started shooting in other Ukraine cities too, which means that they were just looking for an excuse. 
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• My question is" why Ukrainians are fed up?" Their average salary is 405$, 24% below the poverty level, and yet the richest of their rich are billionaires in hard cash. The Ukrainian currency is only good for wrapping fish, and the bureaucracy and corruption makes it very difficult to investment, and have business invest in the Ukraine. A big portion of the country just wants a normal life, but they believe that moving out of the Russian influence will give it to them.405$ per month, to be completely clear all the while the prices of consumer goods are really not low - many items are cheaper when imported from Poland. 
• Vodka and cigarettes are affordable -GO FIGURE! - historically, its easier to manipulate a drunk mob. 
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• 
  

I fight authority.... authority always wins!

Written by: John Mellencamp

Oh, they like to get you in a compromising position
They like to get you there and smile in your face
Well, they think they're so cute when they got you in that condition
Well I think it's a total disgrace
And I said:

CHORUS:
I fight authority, Authority always wins
Well, I fight authority, Authority always wins
Well, I've been doing it since I was a young kid
I come out grinnin'
Well, I fight authority, Authority always wins

So I call up my preacher
I say, "Give me strength for Round 5."
He said , "You don't need no strength, you need to grow up son."
I said, "Growing up leads to growing old and then to dying"
"OO and dying to me don't sound like all that much fun."

Alternative Meeting Formats - A presentation to the PMIOVOC breakfast meeting 2014 02 12

Alternate Meeting Formats

Our role is to get the best out of our project teams.  A project’s success is achieved through its team members.
People  relating to people through written, verbal and non verbal communication is the means by which project managers achieve their goal of successfully managed projects.
How we can use the tool of  “conversation” make our project meetings more effective in our communications strategy and execution.
This is what this talk will explore

The Basics
Basic meeting preparation.

We are familiar with this:
• Meeting invitations, agendas, pre meeting handouts.
• Basic meeting conduct
• Minute takers familiar with recording  key points, issues and action items.
• The role of the project manager may be to chair the meeting but this is not always the case.


The Traditional View

Participants will talk and there will be some action taken as a result

Alternative Meetings

• World Café Format
• Talking Circle format
• Online /Remote Meetings



The World Café Format

Scepticism is normal.  Understand that you are merely establishing a different context for the meeting to facilitate conversation thereby establishing alternate methods of communication that will be useful to all.

The idea is that conversation is a core process consisting of six components:
• Reflection and Exploration
• The Gathering of collective insights
• Harvesting of discoveries
• Action planning
• Implementation
• Feedback and assessment

The meeting convener has to have faith in the process.  This may be gained by either having been a participant or by having led the process in the past.  If you, as convener do not BELIEVE in the process or at least have an open mind about it, you will likely fail in hosting an effective World Café Formatted meeting.
The World Café is a tool for creating a conversation and dialogue
The format is flexible but the purpose is collaborative dialogue, active engagement and constructive possibilities for future action
The CAFÉ format is designed to support conversations that matter both in corporations, government and community settings.
The CAFÉ format is provocative. The method is powerful as it is seen as innocuous, natural and almost invisible but will lead to sharing of collective knowledge.


Set the Container

• Organization
• Table Cloth
• Candles/ lighter
• Doodle pads/paper with colored pens
• Music
• Art piece/flowers
• Apron and towel
• Cake or baked goods with forks and plates
• Teapot with Mint tea/cups, Tea Cosey
• Poem (something inspirational such as High Flight

Set the Meeting Purpose

Establish the Purpose for the meeting and use of the world café Meeting Format
This is still a business meeting.  The format is different and has a specific purpose.
The purpose may include:
• Problem solving
• Removing blockages in process or procedure
• Team building

Create the Meeting Container

The meeting container is both safe and inviting where participants are encourage to be themselves.

 Consider how this can be achieved in

• Inviting participants to the meeting, and upon entering the meeting
• Using the container set up to create both a hospitable space which also signals things are not business as usual
• Focus initial attention on the art piece, informality
• Explain the meeting format to the participants
• Establish, and frame the question that matters
• Give the CAFÉ a name – ie Knowledge Café or Project Café
•


Frame a question that matters
The exploration of important questions may be as valuable as finding solutions.
The question optimally begins with
“What would it look like if…
The best questions
• Do not have a yes / no answer
• Energizes the group, sustaining interest, focusing on the essentials
• Thought provoking
• Open up new possibilities
• Make previously unconscious assumptions more apparent
• Focus inquiries, discovery, and advocacy where people realize they may have “something” to offer

When planning meetings it may be wise to test market potential question structure and content

Encourage participation and contribution
Ambiance

• Participants will recognize that this will not be an “ordinary” meeting
• The meeting container will provoke feelings of informality and intimacy
• This can be achieved by
• Use of natural light
• Use of small tables for four or five people arranged as though in a small cafe
• Use of candles (electric), flower vases, table cloths, use plants and greenery
• Cover table cloths with sheets of scratch paper, making colored pens available
• Encourage people to jot down their ideas right on the table paper cover
• Display art work or posters
• Provide food and refreshements/beverages and snacks to complete the café experience


Check in

Participants are asked to introduce themselves if this is a first time meeting
If this is a group who know each other, the participants do a “check-in” where they tell the group their current state of mind, their personal goals or expectations for the meeting

Facilitating Meeting Flow

The ideal set up includes four or five people per table group.
Up to 3 different “Rounds of conversation” of 20 to 30 minutes
Encourage doodling as a means of tapping into right brain/creative thinking
• Encourage participation
• Rephrase in the most positive way
• Tap into the wisdom of the group
• If multiple tables are used, encourage movement between groups
• Tap into themes, patterns and insights
• Encourage whole group conversation
• Be the keeper of the rules of engagement
• Faciliate migration of table traveling groups and table hosts

Rules for engagement

• Focus on matters of importance, avoid digression
• Contribute individual thought and experience
• Speak openly from the heart but with wisdom
• Listen first to understand, to gain insight and formulate deeper questions
• Support each person’s TRUTH as their TRUTH
• Release feelings of defensiveness, (what stands in the way)
• Link and connect ideas
• Play, Doodle, Draw – writing on the table “cloths” is encouraged
• Have fun

Gathering the collective wisdom

A graphical record with flip charts, or murals illustrate the conversation patterns
Use post-it notes to allow ideas to emerge and be reviewed. Post-it notes allow insights to be “clustered”

Connect Diverse perspectives

• Handle conflict,
• Keep the energy positive
• Reframe ideas

Listening for Insight and to share discoveries

• Be a guide
• Gently guide discussion back on track, encourage participation
• Ensure ideas are written down
• Thank people for their contributions, and call out significant contributions
Check Out

Participants are asked to describe their personal takeaway and commitments.
They tell the group their current state of mind, whether their personal goals or expectations for the meeting were met.


Talking circles

The purpose of talking circles is to establish dialogue and consensus
Many of the same techniques used in the World Café Meeting Format are used in the talking circle.
Set the Context
• Establish the Purpose of the meeting
• Set the Meeting Container
Framing a question that matters
Encouraging participation and contribution
Connection of diverse perspectives
Listening for insight and sharing of discoveries

Process and flow
The container includes a circle of chairs, with no central desk, rather a small center tribute possibly with table cloth, flower, book or piece of sculpture, perhaps a candle.
Music may be played while participants convene
Participants may require the use of a talking stick or piece to control cross flow of conversation.
Use meeting check in and checkout
The facilitator participates as well.

REMOTE MEETINGS

Communications is usually considered 7% words (content), 38% voice quality, 55% non verbal. What happens when you take away the 55%?



• FACE TO FACE
• VIDEO : Skype
• STILL VIDEO and AUDIO and text: WEBEX
• AUDIO: Teleconferencing
• TEXT: Lotus Connections/WIKI
• Email/Sametime

Can any of these ideas be applied to remote meetings? More and more meetings must be held remotely as teams are globally situated.

What would it look like if conversation and dialogue were implemented in a remote meeting format?
Recognize that language differences create nuanced problems and push buttons
Rules of Engagement are more rigid : participants are encouraged not to overreact, take anything personally, or rush to judgement
Every meeting must have a certain amount of ‘small talk’, none at all is considered RUDE
Some meetings allow visuals, many do not.
As project leader interface with participants enough outside the meeting to establish a relaxed communication style
Spend more time in preparing the meeting container
Written agendas with minutes sent in advance
Use of a check in may help: what’s going on?
FOCUS ON PURPOSE
CHECK IN: speakers identify themselves, speak slowly and clearly
Conveners summarize and confirm – they maintain control yet display thoughtfulness and courtesy/consideration that any good host would display
All participants practice active listening
The first person to the teleconference becomes the host – the role is to greet people and make them feel comfortable
Know where your mute button is: and whether it is on or off!
Set a time, or set of times that are best for the global team.

Classic Meeting Chair vrs. Convener vrs. Faciliator
Articulate
Avoid Slang, clarify accronyms
Speak slowly or at the very least at a comfortable cadence
Use a chat window to confirm in writing what you are hearing


References:

Jim De Piante http://www.pmi-nic.org/public/digitallibrary/Jim%20De%20Piante%20-%20Mute%20-%2001.pdf

www.theworldcafe.com