Log
Board Meeting
Oct 23, 2005

Session Start: Sun Oct 23 17:56:06 2005
(Roger) This October meeting of the Board of Directors of Troubled Times, Inc. is hereby called to order.
(Roger) The first item on the agenda is the minutes of the last meeting. Are there any questions/comments?
(Nancy) None here.
(Gerard) None here
(Roger) Then let the minutes stand as correct and ratified.
(Roger) The next agenda item is the Project review.
(Roger) The primary project is the CD/Booklet distribution.
(Roger) We have been having a steady stream of orders since the last meeting. The average is 4 per week. I have shipped an average of 4 per month internationally (including Canada).
(Nancy) Inventory holding steady?
(Roger) The stock is holding well at this pace. When I open the last box of booklets, I will begin the bid process for reprinting again.
(Nancy) I perceive our next move on this to be when it is clear that either a reprinting of the booklet or burning another batch of CD's is required.
(Roger) Kinkos is no owned by FedEx and their rates are different.
(Nancy) Good, I have about $1,500 in the checking account. All major annual expenses have been paid, the Delaware Rep, etc.
(Nancy) Something we should change before the next reprinting is the PO Box 249 on the cover and the 800 number.
(Roger) I obtained a debit card from Paypal that is tied to the account. When my postage fund depleted, I began using this card for postage and for shipping supplies. The Paypal transaction logs show these purchases.
(Gerard) Was there any increase in orders , since the online radio shows started?
(Nancy) If we remove this, then we can drop the 249 PO box, switching to PO Box 10 here in North Freedom, alone.
(Nancy) I can use mail forwarding to PO 10 which will last for a year.
(Roger) Yes Gerard, I was overloaded at first, now it has settled in to between 4 and 6 orders per week.
(Nancy) Hardly any mail comes to PO 249, folks are using PayPal and PO 10 on the web as the places to send orders.
(Gerard) And that is still good i guess
(Roger) I also have the addendum of errors that should be incorporated in the next printing.
(Nancy) Rog, I will send you a new Adobe Reader copy of the back cover, as a replacement, on my to-do list.
(Roger) Is Box 10 an official TT, Inc. address?
(Nancy) Yes, we got the 249 as we were anticipating a flood of people swarming into North Freedom, my small town, but this never happened.
(Roger) I have the pro edition of Adobe so I can edit the pdf's and make these corrections, unless it would be easier for you to edit in the original format and reproduce the pdf's?
(Nancy) So, for a couple years now, we have been pointing to PO 10 and North Freedom on the web, and still, no influx of mobs.
(Nancy) So, lets drop the 249 in nearby town of Baraboo.
(Nancy) It was only used for the back of the booklet. The official is PO Box 10 in North Freedom.
(Roger) Okay, I'll change the return address to Box 10. What is the zip?
(Nancy) Oh no, if you can edit, that's great! Change to PO Box 10, North Freedom, WI 53951
(Nancy) Also, just remove the 800 number as it does not exist.
(Roger) Will do.
(Roger) For the record, the Paypal balance is $1204.07
(Nancy) This gives us $2,700 to play with, for the reprint.
(Nancy) CD inventory plush?
(Roger) The CD inventory is holding well too.
(Nancy) So we can reprint booklets, and hold off on CD's until more are sold, to build up the cash balance, right?
(Roger) I need to recount to be sure, but the records show we have shipped 990 booklets and 380 cd's to date.
(Nancy) OK, that leaves over 600 CD's to go, not bad.
(Gerard) That sounds ok
(Nancy) We had burned 1,000
(Roger) That means we should have about 600 cd's and 600 booklets remaining
(Nancy) Oh! But each CD is part of a set, right? So this is only 300 twinsets?
(Nancy) I know that almost all orders seem to be combos, wanting a twinset and a booklet, both.
(Roger) There may be 1100 booklets (I don't remember how many we printed back then).
(Nancy) It almost seems we have more booklets than CD's!
(Roger) I count the twinsets and one unit--we have ~600 of both the PDF and html version.
(Nancy) Good! (phew) but more booklets than CD twinsets. Really, an ample amount of both!
(Roger) That is my perception.
(Roger) End of report unless Nancy has anything more to add?
(Nancy) If things really get active, the Earth changes pushing matters, I expect help to arrive, corporations offering their printing services, etc.
(Nancy) So, if we are ample for the current demand, we are in good shape, my feeling.
(Roger) Oh, by the way, Gerard told me he has heard my PSA on the blog...
(Nancy) Nothing further to discuss, no.
(Nancy) Cool! And it will be on this Wednesday too, at the end of Mike's hour.
(Roger) The next project is the seed project. There have been no changes for me to report...Nancy?
(Nancy) The Blog may also start running 'ads' during the regular broadcasts, getting the shows in the habit of allowing space for radio add time, and the Bog owner wants to run ads for each other.
(Nancy) So, we may get more coverage that way, although my radio show are so far above everyone else in popularity.
(Nancy) Like put everyone else together, they don't equal 1/2 of mine or even lower, that's a fact.
(Roger) Nancy, do you have anything to report for the Seed Project?
(Nancy) Just that I did a germination test this year in my garden.
(Nancy) The corn harvested in 2000 is still about 95% good, if not more.
(Nancy) The Japanese Diakon radish was also 95% good, or better.
(Nancy) Tomato seed harvested that year, way up there, at least 95%.
(Nancy) My only shock was Amaranth, but I'm wondering if the drought we had was too harsh for those tiny seeds.
(Nancy) I watered, but they were so close to the surface, and we really had a drought here for 2 months.
(Nancy) 0% germination, on seed we had purchased, so I doubt this result.
(Nancy) So, the stock that I have holds steady.
(Nancy) End of my report.
(Nancy) Oh, I also grew out some Spinach seed, which had a lower germination, more like 65%, but got a lot of fresh seed as a result.
(Roger) That's good news. I should do a germination test on my stock here...
(Roger) The next project is the Server... I have re-arranged my home network to accommodate the server and will be setting it up very soon. I had to figure out how to configure a DMZ so as to not compromise my network's security.
(Nancy) Good news!
(Gerard) That is good news, any idea when the server will be up and running?
(Nancy) Mike was asking if the server might be used to provide the CD contents for those wanting to burn a CD, corporations, etc, or print a booklet.
(Roger) My current file server died last night (power supply), I now have a nice place under my desk for the TT server. :-)
(Nancy) As fate would have it ...
(Roger) Of course, I will have it configured as an ftp server. Mike can upload and distribute the content.
(Nancy) Super!
(Gerard) That is a nice idea... that people can download info there and so ..
(Nancy) You're cooking!
(Roger) The DMZ will be the only access for an external agent to reach my network. My router is set to not allow contact originated from WAN to reach my LAN. The TT server will be given the DMZ IP address and it will be isolated from shares within my LAN.
(Gerard) Sounds good :)
(Roger) It seems the best configuration with the least amount of headache.
(Nancy) Plus, with data like this, not likely to be hacked.
(Roger) Now I just need to get the OS working on it...
(Nancy) Not cutting edge, not something to be silenced, like Alex Jones website.
(Roger) All a hacker could do is crash the TT server, I'll back it up regularly and if it fails, well we'll address that here.
(Roger) End of report, any other questions?
(Roger) or comments?
(Nancy) None here, good show, Rog!
(Gerard) no comments yet... :)
(Roger) Great, and thanks for the patience... The next project is the BLOG radio project--Nancy?
(Nancy) The Blog as a website only came into view in March, born then.
(Nancy) Since then it has risen phenomenally in rank.
(Nancy) Alex, built on spyware but at least an apples to apples comparison, has C2C at about rank 7,000, Rense too.
(Nancy) I am usually about 75,000, but lately at 45,000, this with 1.5 million hits per month on my primary website, not including the mirrors.
(Nancy) Places like Bad Astronomy had been at 500,000 rank, with of course 1 being the top.
(Nancy) I checked on weatherunderground.com at is is quite high, in popular use.
(Roger) Excellent!
(Nancy) So, anyway, my The Connection hour is the big hit on the Blog internet radio, lowest 258 listeners and up to 1,200 one night, most other shows getting more like 2-30, though I think Fred Bell, the grandson of Alexander Bell, who also worked with the Military on projects, is much higher than that, and Jim Hicks with UFO reports was strong also.
(Nancy) I have 2 hours a night, and have tended to give the Wednesday night to survival issues, with guests.
(Nancy) Covered raising chickens, making knives and blacksmithing, basic survival from a Fort Bragg instructor, and now electricity with Mike from the tt-forum.
(Roger) How are the guests? Do our favorite detractors show up?
(Nancy) The Blog is also positioning to market their content to AM/FM stations, by market I mean offer, as it is not looking to get rich and does not charge, etc.
(Nancy) Also, looking to put together a TV series and is talking to others of like mind.
(Nancy) This holds great promise for the future.
(Nancy) End of report.
(Nancy) http://www.bloginservice.com
(Nancy) The Radio station is called Blogin Broadcasting Service, BBS, I think.
(Roger) It is certainly a new twist on the information sharing idea we were working out a few years back (has it really been more than 8 years?).
(Gerard) Yes. BBS
(Nancy) I think they are also doing podcasting. We now have an 888 number and I will at some point switch to live shows, but right now am doing heavy content shows.
(Gerard) I remember we talked about radio on the past... for what i remember
(Nancy) And it's time has come!
(Roger) It is really awesome and very timely!
(Gerard) I have to agree
(Nancy) Things come together. Angels at work.
(Roger) The next agenda item is our usual discussion about this time of year. Do we want to try to have a meeting in December or do we push it to January/February?
(Nancy) In view of the adequate inventory, I think we can wait.
(Gerard) Yes i think so too.. Jan/Feb would be be better
(Nancy) We will all be busy with our projects, and no need to have a meeting unless business needs to be attended to, my thinking.
(Roger) We can always have an email "meeting" if needed.
(Nancy) Quite so.
(Gerard) And i am not sure what this few weeks months will bring... maybe we will be so busy next year that..
(Nancy) Yes, but we are posturing for that, and the monthly meeting is not needed at present.
(Nancy) We are all getting ready, on the side, with our projects.
(Roger) Then I will poll for a meeting date in January and hope we can get it done.
(Gerard) Sounds good roger
(Nancy) I move we adjourn.
(Roger) cool. Is there any other business?
(Nancy) None here.
(Gerard) None here
(Roger) Gerard, care to second Nancy's motion to adjourn?
(Gerard) I second
(Roger) Then I hereby adjourn this meeting! Have a great remainder of your day...
Session Close: Sun Oct 23 19:00:59 2005