Vinicio lived in New Jersey, where his parents and a brother still live, so he has excellent English, a big help to me. I am trying, but it is hard to rememlber the words. Italian from 50 years ago is coming back, which is understandable; and then they correct me.

As to  my own costs, I just went to a nursery and bought 11 plants for around $22. They included a small lime tree, rosemary, lavender, calla lily, pansy, dill.

antiguaguatemala.unwireme.com/antigua-guatemala-cost-of-living-update-fruits-and-veggies/

 Although my apartment is furnished, I still need some furniture. I can't afford the furniture in many shops, "antiques". But I was walking down the street the other day and saw beautiful furniture inside. 

 The other day I went to El Carmen, where people go to offer their hand crafted goods for sale, giving more opportunity to spread out than at the main, huge market.

It was getting dark and closing time, so the vendors really bargained with me, offering even bigger discounts if I would buy one more piece. 

 I arranged for a vet to come to my home, pick up my dog, groom him and bring him back. The cost was the equivalent of about $30. When he return Brody, he told me that everyone there loved my dog. 

Brody gets walked three times a day and has lost weight and regained his waist. He runs up to everyone, begging for attention and petting. The guards at the entrance of this gated community will call him over and pick him up to pet him.

 Back home again, rented first floor apt. for $450 a mo, two bedrooms, one bath, totally furnished, even four place settings, blender, microwave, coffee maker, free wi-fi, cable, maid for a little over $6 a day.

People are very friendly, health care 1/3 the price of here, US trained, speak English. In fact they have "medical tourism."

 This is my front door.

October 17-21, 2012, members of IAPMA and Friends of Dard Hunter will join together for a 5-day international conference hosted by The Morgan Art of Papermaking Conservatory and Education Foundation.

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SF Gate, home of the San Francisco Chronicle, May 23, 2012: The Iranian Navy is said to have rescued the U.S.-flagged US-flagged Maersk Texas, which was beseigned by several pirate ships in the GUlf of Oman, coming to its rescue after hearing its distress signal. The pirates fled as soon as they saw the warship appear.

The Maersk's corporate offices, however, denied it, saying the Iranian Navy was the first to respond after sending the distress signal but weren't helped by them, instead Iran's navy provided guidance to the crew of the Maersk Texas by radio.

I'm always happy to hear from eternal real NEO activist Max Eternity and see his fascinating work - whether his art or his commentary on the art or others, Max Eternity is unique... and is always exploring "What is Art"?

What Is Art is a new podcast series that I'm making available on Youtube.  In this first installment, I critique a rather peculiar doll I stumbled across on the sidewalk, while on a trip back from a nearby grocery store.

The Other Night I Remembered A Dream - And I Never Remember Dreams. This Was Serious.

Evelyn and I were sitting in the foyer of our home talking, at night, when gunmen in black masks suddenly rushed through our front door. We dove to the ground and lay there wondering what would happen. Suddenly there was a nine millimeter pushing forcefully against my forehead.

Then, I felt a numbing pain in my back and I could feel something was sucking the life out of my spine - and thank God I awoke.

Now I have been stabbed in the back so many times by so many people in Cleveland it is made of steel. I'm in the middle of showdowns with liars and cheaters all over town and the country - no big deal. No - this was near and dear. Big surprise to find out the chairman of realNEO Jeff Buster has been in hyper-back-stab mode and trying to destroy My realNEO. Your realNEO!

I'm Proud of My Wife and My realNEO for Educating Over 200,000 People About Healthier, Happier Childbirth, to-date... and the traffic is increasing with time. While most of the traffic has been direct to YouTube, I never would have bothered to save a clip or post it if I wasn't active with realNEO. realNEO equipped and incented me to share this moment, like I have shared so much in life here.

And Clara's birth will be here, on realNEO, forever.... and has been viewed 1,000s of times here, alone, in a year.

Most interesting, if you view the charts below, from YouTube Insight, this video is especially popular in the Middle-East and Asia (outside the USA) - its relative popularity by top country is in the following order:

IntraCom/UCANX Update: GROHIO Sprouting - States of Emergencies - On the road again - BTWs

1. Ohio-based Board members have spent lots of time this week meeting and discussing options for development of the cannabis industries in Ohio - dozens of emails a day - and we have made various outreaches in our own ways. We'll compile a report for the board.

   In brief, while we agree Ohio is a perfect place to base the hemp industries, and it looks the same for MMJ, assuming Lewis' campaign is successful, the politics of Northeast Ohio have been and still are so corrupt, corrupting so much here, we are not confident leaders here will make good decisions. We have certainly not thrown in the towel - we have been focused on Cuyahoga County, VC-types, and the broader community... which is very receptive. Next week, we will expand our focus away from Northeast Ohio, to a broader state-wide exploration.

   Feel free to start reaching out in your states as well, as I can't guarantee Ohio leadership will make the right decisions, and we need to be prepared for serious action ahead.

realNEO Matters - April 2011 web statistics of primary economic development portals in Northeast Ohio

Since the 1990s, my personal professional mission has been "To Optimize Information Technology for All".

I've helped the world's greatest organizations optimize IT for all their stakeholders, as a consultant working around the globe, and I am enabling Ohio and the world to optimize IT for all citizens, as an information technology innovator in my home of Northeast Ohio. One important expression of my mission to optimize IT for all is realNEO.US - Regional Economic Action Links for North East Ohio - which I founded in 2004, moved into the dysfunctional but living Real Coop co-operative owned structure a few years later, and have since used to transform the information, technology, insight and action of the people of the world interested in Northeast Ohio, and the world.

I recently received an email from Bill Densmore, co-director of Journalism That Matters, inviting me to "Create or Die 2", offering a nice global opportunity to share the realNEO story more broadly. Journalism That Matters is "an evolving collaboration of individuals supporting the pioneers who are shaping the emerging news and information ecosystem" - Create or Die 2 is about "Disrupting the Status Quo with Journalism Innovation and Entrepreneurship" - and I can't imagine initiatives that fit better with realNEO and my mission.

Vote Hemp President Eric Steenstra, Ron Paul and Vote Hemp lobbyist Ben Droz pose for the record on new hemp farming bill.

May 18, 2011 IntraCom UCANX Board Update: Vote Hemp - Finding Roots - Board Building - Energy Building

A few updates to the board, in brief.

1. Vote Hemp

Congratulations to everyone involved with the successful efforts of the Hemp Industry Association and Vote Hemp supporting the introduction of the "The Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2011, To amend the Controlled Substances Act to exclude hemp from the definition of marijuana, and for other purposes", signed by its sponsor, US House Representative of the 14th District of Texas Ron Paul, around 1 PM, May 11, 2011, and introduced to the US House of Representatives to be enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 112th US Congress.

As I posted on realNEO, last Wednesday:

A Profound Moment for American Marijuana

May 16, 2011 By Chris Goldstein 

Photo by David Sygall

The spring of 2011 has brought tension to the air for everyone involved with cannabis in the United States. Federal authorities have unleashed a coordinated attack on political efforts to tax marijuana and they have made war on medical marijuana programs. This has been matched by additional states changing local laws, putting more skin into the game than ever.

The bets are now in for the biggest cannabis policy showdown in our generation – right in Washington DC. The Schedule I status of marijuana in the federal Controlled Substances Act will either be re-affirmed or changed, likely over the next 24 months.

Marijuana prohibition has become the most refined and serious states’ rights issue of the 21st Century.  Millions of Americans are now participating in a multi-billion dollar medical cannabis economy.

In December, 2010, a Congressional Research Study on Hemp as an Agricultural Commodity was released, finding: "Some estimate that the global market for hemp consists of more than 25,000 products. It can be grown as a fiber, seed, or other dual-purpose crop. The Industrial Hemp Farming Act would amend Section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802(16)) to specify that the term “marijuana” does not include industrial hemp, which the bill would define based on its content of delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), marijuana’s primary psychoactive chemical. Such a change could remove low-THC hemp from being covered by the CSA as a controlled substance and subject to DEA regulation, thus allowing for industrial hemp to be grown and processed under some state laws. This legislation, or other legislation related to hemp cultivation, could be introduced in the 112th Congress."

Since this Congressional Research Report came out, just this past December, 2010, Ron Paul has introduced "The Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2011, To amend the Controlled Substances Act to exclude hemp from the definition of marihuana, and for other purposes", as I reported on realNEO:

Of all the places I've lived around Cleveland, Hessler was my favorite neighborhood... just a few blocks from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Steffanie Coble Roulet, our daughter Grace and I lived in the amazing historic Tudor townhouses at the corner of Hessler Street and Hessler Court... a massive brick landmark certainly built for Case professors and their families, right along with the original university, right on Case campus... Hessler Street is paved in brick and Hessler Court in wood blocks... and it all is intact as Cleveland's first Historic District thanks to a bunch of Hippies back in the 1960s, some of whom are still around today. They formed the Hessler Neighborhood Association (HNA) and fought to protect buildings on the street from demolition, and to designate the street an Historic Landmark District, and they started what became The Food Co-op, still operating on Euclid Avenue, and they organized the first Hessler Street Fairs, formally established in 1969, to fund doing all their good deeds.

Coal Pile at FirstENergy Lakeshore Plant, in Cleveland, Ohio, which is scheduled to Move Beyond Coal

This Tuesday in Akron is our chance to help move First Energy Beyond Coal.

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Bike to Work Day—Who’s In?

Posted on May 13th, 2011 - 12:00 PM

By Aaron Ferster

I’ve been working—and commuting—in Washington, DC since 1996 when I moved to the area from the Bronx for a job writing interpretive signs at the National Zoo.

My wife and I lived just behind the back entrance to the park. It was a five-minute ride to work, but 15-minutes home because of the big hill standing between my office and our apartment. If the traffic light at the bottom of our street was green, I could make it in without a single pedal stroke.

At that time, the notion of partaking in official “Bike to Work Day” festivities seemed almost comical. “It would take me longer to get to the event than it would to actually ride to work,” I bragged. Then a colleague told me about the t-shirts and free coffee.

I’ve been hooked ever since.

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Ron Paul's signature on hemp paper version of the Industrial Hemp Farming Act.

realNEO readers are among the first to see "The Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2011, To amend the Controlled Substances Act to exclude hemp from the definition of marijuana, and for other purposes", signed by its sponsor, US House Representative of the 14th District of Texas Ron Paul, around 1 PM today, May 11, 2011, and introduced to the US House of Representatives to be enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 112th US Congress.

As Paul previously concluded, in a a statement for Hemp History Week: "The federal government should change the law to allow American farmers to grow this profitable crop as American farmers have through most of our nation's history.  I plan to reintroduce the Industrial Hemp Farming Act next week."

Paul clearly is a man of his word. Above is "The Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2011"... on hemp paper, and below is Ron Paul signing the bill. 

Vote Hemp got the word earlier today that the Industrial Hemp Farming Act will be introduced in the U.S. House tomorrow. So far there are 19 original cosponsors, plus Ron Paul! Your phone calls and emails are helping a lot. If you have not called or emailed yet please do so now online at http://bit.ly/CapWiz or here on Facebook at http://bit.ly/Hemp

Please Call Your Representatives in Congress Ask them to become an original cosponsor of the Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2011

US veterans and their friends and families turned out by the 100s for the 2011 Cleveland Medical Marijuana Rally

I can't ever remember enjoying converging with 1,000 or so amazingly diverse Clevelanders so much as I did Saturday afternoon, May 7, as Northeast Ohio held the 2011 Cleveland Medical Marijuana March and Jobs, Peace and Freedom Rally. The crowd created the buzz of a perfect championship game day - Cleveland was in the World Series again.

At the 2011 Cleveland Medical Marijuana Rally, medical patients experienced an historic moment of personal freedom and liberty, in peace, and went home healthier - we all saw Cleveland may actually win the world championship, for the first time in our lives - as Ohio... an agricultural, healthcare, industrial and education powerhouse... realizes we must take our rightful place in the Cannabis Economy!

Undersecretary Says USDA Will Continue to Expand Alternative Fuels

Tonsager says the search continues for new feedstocks for biofuel production.

Compiled by staff 

Published: May 10, 2011

The Department of Agriculture is looking at going beyond corn to make alternative fuels.  The Undersecretary for Rural Development, Dallas Tonsager, is promoting the use of other crops and materials for ethanol production.

Tonsager says the Department can help operations get started with grants, loans and loan guarantees.

"These second and third generation biofuels, we can help finance those," Tonsager said. "They are generally very, very expensive projects, so we are interested in working with anybody who is interested in developing those kind of ventures and we are interested in getting into almost any kind of material that might be used for biofuel."

USDA Reminds Public of Deadline for Biomass Crop Assistance Program Proposals

 

WASHINGTON, May 3, 2011 – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today reminded farmers, ranchers and forest landowners that the deadline for submitting project area proposals for the Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP) is May 27, 2011.
 

“We know that viable solutions to combat high gas prices can be found in rural America,” said Vilsack. “America’s farmers, ranchers, rural businesses and communities are already important partners in helping to build a more secure, sustainable energy supply. The Biomass Crop Assistance Program provides incentives to producers of the materials needed to fuel the new clean energy economy and provide rural jobs.”
 

BCAP, which was authorized in the 2008 Farm Bill, provides incentives to eligible farmers, ranchers and forest landowners for the establishment and production of biomass crops for heat, power, bio-based products and biofuels. BCAP project areas are specific geographical areas where producers may enroll land to grow eligible biomass crops. Enrolled program participants may be eligible to receive financial and technical assistance as well as annual payments to establish these crops.

Entrance to Press Briefing Room and media facilities at the White House (seen in the distance)

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