BORG2 BULLHORN, #1, Vol. 1

[Frank Jones]

The BORG2 Bullhorn (B2B): Volume 1, No. 1 12/29/04


BORG2 Info: www.BORG2.org

BORG2 Discussion: BORG2.tribe.net

BORG2 Email List and Voter Registration:
saucer.spaceship.com/mailman/listinfo/bep

BORG2 Art Fund Donations: www.BORG2.org/Donate.html


*** HAPPY NEW YEAR! MERRY CHRISTMAS! FELIZ NAVIDAD!
HAPPY KWANZAA! ALLAH AKBAR! 5150 OR FIGHT!
TIPPECANOE AND TYLER TOO! I LIKE IKE! ***


Now that all that holiday nonsense is out of the way, let's get down to
busines. Except spelled correctly, like "business". We've talked about
this crap long enough, talked it to death really. We’ve shouted at
people, demanding that they behave and start making sense, and hit
people in the head with tiny hammers, and thrown our own feces around
the room - yes, like annoying little monkeys - with no regard for where it
might land or whose drink or what. But now we're done with the minor
leagues, and now we're about to get _serious_ about flinging crap to and
fro. Thus we bring you: ELECTION 05.

Welcome to the ELECTION ISSUE, which interestingly enough, is also the
FIRST ISSUE of the BORG2 BULLHORN. Or the JACKALOPE SPEAKS. Or the
BORG2 SCREAMING BANSHEE. We’re not really sure what to call it yet.
But nonetheless, Hello! This is your BORG2 Action Boy, otherwise known
as Frankenstein Jones, otherwise known as Orge Juggernaut, otherwise
known as . . . well we should likely stop right about there and get to
the point . . .

==================================================================
--------------------CONTENTS (aka: the point)---------------------
==================================================================


[POW!]
- DEBATE AT THE ODEON, 1/5
- WHO/WHAT/WHEN ARE WE ELECTING?
- SIGN UP TO VOTE: FUN AND EASY.
- PLATFORMS, WE GOT PLATFORMS

[ZAP!]
- A 25K CONTRIBUTION ALREADY?!? TELL ME MORE.
- END OF THE YEAR GIFT?!? GIVE TO THE BORG2 ART FUND AND HELP QUIET
YOUR INNER DEMONS, WHICH LEFT UNCHECKED MIGHT POSSIBLY RESULT IN
VIOLENCE AGAINST INNOCENT BYSTANDERS, LEAVING ASIDE FOR THE MOMENT
THAT WHOLE QUESTION OF "IS ANYONE _REALLY_ 'INNOCENT?'"

[KERBANG!]
- WHO IS THE MORON(S) RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS BULLSHIT?
*or* alternately:
- GIVE ME MORE INFORMATION PLEASE.
--> your choice.

==============================================================
-------------------------BORG2 NEWS---------------------------
==============================================================



******* DEBATE! *******

[from Chicken John's tribe.net post of 12/21; not spellchecked
whatsoever]

January 5th @7:00 at the world famous Odeon Bar

SEE! candidates for local art counsel match wits

HEAR! lies and promises they could never live up to

SMELL! the burning bullshit of mighty smear campaigns

WEEP! as you relise the sublte beauty in it all (oh wait, your
just drunk!)

Debating is a nessasary part of any democratic process. Who are these
people? What are they going to do for us? Which one will wear the fuzzy
pants? Who will pull up in an art car? Which one will embrace the issue?
Which one will buy a round on the house? Kissing babies, fingers
pointing, video montages and mooning the crowd is just the beginning in
this ridiculious display of humanity known as: The Debate.

This event is free of fee and again Pabst is $1 until 9:00. Ask Dr. Hal
show to follow. Candidates to be encouraged with drink before taking the
stage. Gorilla suits are available.
<>

******* WHO/WHAT/WHEN ARE WE ELECTING? *******

On January 15th, everyone is invited to elect the two main entities that
will run the BORG2 this year as well as enable, facilitate, pontificate,
calculate and circumnavigate art towards the playa. These entities will
heretofore be known as: The Art Council and The Guest Curators.
Explanation below, in short rhyming couplets, by Jim Mason

"ART COUNCIL- THE WORKING AND DECISION MAKING BODY OF BORG2”

We have proposed the creation and election of a 9 person Art Council to
run the BORG2. This will be the working and decision making body of the
BORG2, somewhat like a parallel LLC for the BORG2.

The Art Council will oversee art, coordination with borg1, fundraising,
logistics, legal issues, problems, opportunities, jokes, small errant
children, Seth Maxwell Malice, money dispersement, and generally be the
doing, making and buck stopping entity of the BORG2. This is a working
council, not an advisory council. They will be in charge of all things
that can't be figured out or administrated through direct voting. And we
need to admit that many details cannot be dealt with through direct
voting. We need representative democracy as well as direct democracy.

This body will be divided into proportioned slots reflecting the
demographics of the event: 6 slots will be for people from the local
region (local being defined as close enough that you are willing to
drive to meetings in sf, so in this case "local" might include LA and
Reno too), 2 slots for candidates around the nation, and 1 for someone
international.

If you are excited to figure out how all these ideas in the air might
actually work on the road and on the playa, and are willing to act to

make it happen, we encourage you to announce your candidacy and start
campaigning. But to make sure you are serious and not messing with the
people, we are suggesting a $100 donation/fee of all candidates to run,
with this fee/donation going to the BORG2 Art Fund.

Deadline for applications is Jan 5th. Elections are Jan 15th. But
campaigning starts now. So declare you candidacy today and begin making
promises to the people and smearing your opponents! Let 100 flowers
bloom! Let 1000 schools contend!"


Your candidates as of 12/27/04: (N) denotes national candidate

Michael Michael
NetworkGirl
Harriet
Dale Scott
Nesdon Booth
Peter Durand (N)
Nat the Bat (N)
Meredith
AngelA
Trey
Zachary Coffin (N)


More info at: www.borg2.org


“GUEST CURATORS/FACILITATORS/EVANGELISTS”

The Guest Curators/Facilitators/Evangelists are the cheerleaders
for the art.

The GCs are charged with going out and finding new and interesting
artists and projects, and helping to facilitate them towards the playa.
This is not a position to sit in a room and wait for proposals to
arrive. It is a position to go out and beat the bushes to generate new
proposals, ideas and artists. This position is intended for a group of
people with some track record of making things happen and a unique
vision that they can bring to the event.

The Guest Curators will be pre-jurying / preparing / packaging all art
funding applications for easy public consideration and voting. They
will work with the Art Council to decide final funding amounts after the
proposal ranking from voting, dispersement schedules, policies and
contracts (to the extent they are needed) and logistics of siting and
overseeing the BORG2 art on the playa.

If you are part of an established and capable group of creative agents,
we encourage you to apply for the BORG2 Guest Art
Curator/Facilitator/Evangelist position. Deadline for applications is
Jan 5th. Election is Jan 15th. But campaigning starts now. Proposals
will be posted in the order received.

Candidates so far, in the order received:

- Lisa Nigro and the Draka Arts Foundation
- Death Guild / Thunderdome
- Mobilization / F-Space

More info at: www.borg2.org


******* PLATFORMS, WE GOT PLATFORMS *******

Well, they’re kinda secret right now, but if you must know, take a look
at the tribe discussion at borg2.tribe.net. Most of them are in
there somewhere. Good luck finding them. Soon they will be up at
www.borg2.org, but now they are not, unfortunately.



******* HOW DO I VOTE? *******

Only those signed up on the official BORG2 listserv/announcements list
will be eligible to vote in our elections. Signing up is simple and
educational. Follow the following link and do whatever it tells you:

saucer.spaceship.com/mailman/listinfo/bep

On the allotted day, which is January 15th, there will be secure and
verified online voting to select the BORG2 Art Council and Guest
Curators. Specific voting instructions to follow just as soon as we
figure them out. But we promise it will be fun, functional, and you
will not receive a fruitcake in the mail for your efforts. Batteries
will be included.

YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS WILL NOT BE FARMED OUT TO A SPAM COMPANY, WHICH
DOES NOT MEAN THAT YOU WILL NOT GET VI*GR* ADS AND PEOPLE TELLING YOU
HOW TO INCREASE YOUR "GIRTH", YOU JUST WILL GET THEM BECAUSE OF US.
WE PROMISE.

====================================================================
-------------------HELP THE BORG2 BECOME THE BORG2------------------
====================================================================


*** DONATE! HELP THE CAUSE! ***

borg2.org/Donate.html

It's that time of year again. Yes, the time of the year when the year
is about to end. No really, it ends; the big ball drops and then we
start a new one and we do the same stupid things all over again. We
never stick to our resolutions but we always hope for the best.
Sometimes this makes us feel part of the bigger world, which is a pretty
good thing. We help people who need it when we've got a little extra to
give. So why not get out your wallet, and instead of giving some money
to Sally Struthers or Jerry Lewis or any moron with a telethon, give it
to BORG2 instead?

We promise to take your money and build incredibly mind-blowing things
with it. You'll look at these things and you'll be all like, whoa, I
helped them build that ridiculous fucking thing. Pride will seep from
your pores like the sweat of the divine and righteous.

We are offering the valuable honorific monikers for each level of BORG2
benefactorship. No, you do not get a VHS copy of Upstairs Downstairs
or the best of Masterpiece Theater, although if you ask politely I'll
draw a little picture of you riding a pony or something, or find
someone who can.

- $25 (Burner)
- $50 (Poi spinner)
- $100 (Flame thrower)
- $250 (Spontaneous combustant)
- $500 (Magnesium powder flash)
- $1000 (Lung sucking fuel-air bomb)
- $5000 (Friend of Larry)
- $10,000 and over (Friend of Smiley)

If you don’t like these titles, we'll call you whatever you want, or
knit you a delightful new sweater.

"Why donate?"

Well . . . [from the borg2 website]

The BORG2 is raising $250,000 to support a wide array of ambitious
creative work for the 2005 event. We are asking those interested in the
BORG2 artist/project funding effort to donate an additional 10% on top
of their Burning Man ticket. This money will go directly to the BORG2
Art Fund and be redistributed to artists/projects by vote of the full
BORG2 community. All donated money will go directly to artists/projects
minus 8.25% (tax in these parts) to pay the Guest Art
Curators/Facilitators/Evangelists for their time and efforts organizing
our art process.


***** A $25,000 GIFT TO START *****

We are running our fundraising effort on a challenge/match donation
model. An anonymous donor has GENEROUSLY started the effort with a
$25,000 challenge pledge to match other donations dollar for dollar. So
for every dollar you donate, this challenge pledge will match your
donation, essentially doubling your donation, until we reach $25,000.
(Extra credit for additional large donations to raise the challenge
level, of course).

You can donate to the BORG2 Art Fund with Visa/Mastercard/Paypal via the
link below. You can also mail donations to: BORG2 Art Fund, 1010 Murray
Street, Berkeley, CA 94710.

borg2.org/Donate.html


============================================================
-----------------------ETC. AND WHATNOT---------------------
============================================================


Questions? Complaints? Pie recipes? Shoot them across the ether to
Frankenstein Jones at ([email protected]).

Got an event coming up or an announcement to make? Send them in. We
can't guarantee everything submitted will appear in an issue of the b2b,
however we will make every effort to accommodate your sincere desire to
yell at the general public.

You can also sign up for the tribe.net thingy at borg2.tribe.net,
where we talk about all sorts of stuff related to BORG2. This is
probably the quickest way to receive information and inform others on
topics related to BORG2.

"Please stop sending me this malicious nonsense."

OK, OK. You don't like it. Go here:
saucer.spaceship.com/mailman/listinfo/bep

Go down the page until you see the part that begins with "To
unsubscribe". Enter your email address and that should effectively get
you out of the loop. You will no longer be eligible to vote in the
BORG2 elections after you take this step, however.


Frankenstein Jones, Ogre Juggernaut
Office of the People Without Offices
www.borg2.org

[dragonfly Jafe]

The BORG2 Bullhorn (B2B): Volume 1, No. 1 12/29/04
... The BORG2 is raising $250,000 to support a wide array of ambitious
creative work for the 2005 event..... (snip) .....All donated money will go directly to artists/projects minus 8.25% (tax in these parts) to pay the Guest Art Curators/Facilitators/Evangelists for their time and efforts organizing our art process.

I understand the tax bit (render undo to Caeser and all that stuff), but am disappointed that apparently so many people will get a paycheck as a result of this. Perhaps the statement above is poorly worded, but I had hoped that paid staff positions could be avoided or minimized. If I had known that people would be making money off this, I probably would not have donated to begin with. Sure, a few director types working full time, but at least 12 persons (the Curators) plus "Facilitators" and "Evangelists"? If 25 people get $5000 (representing appx. 100 hours of labor at $25/hour) then half the money is spent before 1 piece of Art shows up!

How much of the $250,000 goes to paychecks? Administrative costs? We know that around $20,000 is being earmarked for taxes, leaving ~$230,000 for art. How much more is this going to get whittled down before any Art is paid for?

I know that many people have assumed this is how the money would be spent (ie- not on Art), and thus want nothing to do with BORG2. I think that the BORG2 should clear this up before the rumours start flying....and the donations start drying up.

[dragonfly Jafe]

Ooops! After discussing this with a friend he pointed out that the 8.25% IS the estimated amount that will cover payroll, admin, taxes, etc. (this is from BORG2 website; http://www.borg2.org./FAQ.html under section 3.9)

So assuming $250,000 is raised, appx. $230,000 will be spent on Art, with appx. $20,000 going to other expenses....

You can now return to your daily jobs...

[geekster]

It hasn't been decided yet exactly who will get what, that will be decided by the community. What you see is an acknowledgement that it IS going to take a lot of dedicated effort to pull this off and it is going to be very difficult to get that kind of dedication for free since people don't often have that much "spare" time.

Most of the debate is on the BORG2 tribe on tribe.net

No salaries and/or other compensation has been decided on at this point and concerns such as the ones you raise are welcome there. I think you would be better off reading it as up to $20K (if they get reach their goal of $250K) could be used for compensating people for their efforts. Again, nothing has been promised to anyone at this point and all work done to date has been gratis.

Most of the BORG2 people don't hang out on eplaya much so you might get your concerns addressed quicker in the tribe than here.

[geekster]

In case Frank doesn't get a chance to post it here ...

----/ Event Description /-----------------------------------------------

Burning Man's got a new bag: Borg2.

Come on down to the Odeon Bar tonight Wedensday January 5th, 7:00 and witness candidates debate for the prestigious position of Art Council!!!!

Burning Man needs a little Woo Woo. Every Hoo Ha needs Woo Woo from time to time. Borg2 is an organization that is dedicated to seeing more and greater art in Black Rock City next year. This organization is democratic, and is holding an election. The event tonight is the debates between the potential candidates who are competing for 6 seats on a 9 seat art council.

Which candidate will come in a gorilla suit?
Which candidate will pour a beer over Jim Masons head?
Which candidate will be the newbie and be VERY enthousiastic?
Will the Operation Desert Snuggle people dose everyone's $1 Pabst and turn the whole event into a cuddle-puddle?
Who are the people flying in from all over the country?
Why do we still care about stupid Burning man?


These and other questions will be grilled, deep fried and sautaed tonight at the Borg2 debates. Wer'e putting the 'dumb' back in democracy.


Please fee free to visit www.borg2.org and sign up on our list (which gives you voting privelages) and please feel free to participate in the disaster on tribe.net (borg2 tribe)

We want to put the fun back into Burning Man but this is no joke, we are going to raise $250,000 and we are electing an art council to administrate these funds. The people behind this are not to be trifeled with and our intention is to make Burning Man about the art again. We're gonna put more Woo Woo in the Hoo Ha. Yup.

Debates start at 7:00 Moderated by Ed Holmes

Ask Dr. Hal show to Follow. Bus trip to follow that. It just doesn't stop.


Chicken John

----/ Venue Info /------------------------------------------------------

Odeon Bar
3223 Mission
SF