It doesn't have to be one or the other it can be both but somehow Timebank was clearer. When I contacted Madison Hours members about different projects, the clarity about how much federal money would be needed was not mentioned up front. I narrowly think Madison hours, all. And well, its just not that way. But why does Timebank work that way? The transactions have a balance that comes and goes. The interaction, or the setting up the meeting time, lacks clarity. But an hour spent or an hour earned is clear. That made me question time and money. I have gone back to those thoughts.

I've been involved with Madison Hours since it started in 1996. In addition to using the currency, I've also been active as a Board Member and volunteer. Additionally, my business, Mother Fool's Coffeehouse, accepts and uses Hours. I really value the system although I often feel that there is a lot of potential that is not being realized. Obviously, the more people that get involved, the more goods and services exist in the network and the currency becomes stronger.

Happy Valentines Day and if your not doing anything at all for valentines day then join us February 15 the day after which is when me and Chris Skinner are co-hosting an Open Mic at The Mercury Lounge at 117 East Mifflin starting at 7pm

Hey if you'd rather, go see me Feb 4th at the Great Hall with the Mad Hatters & Dirty Jive (for more info E-mail Rory at rorylinnane@gmail.com)

Also starting on February 1st the voting for The MAMAs starts and I hope you go to http://www.themamas.org and vote for my CD U're The Best to win a Madison Area Music Award in the Unique CD category.

The outage *should* be brief.

We will be off-line for a short time to add better tracking of our visitors, referrers and search terms. We will also be making changes to how our urls are structured which will make "nicer" urls for search engines and for sharing with friends.

We will make a backup immediately after going off-line so any changes made this evening to your account will be preserved.

Here are some photos I took at the holiday trade fair at the High Noon while vendors were setting up. I meant to get back around but got busy at the info table and never did. Which is too bad because there were some excellent handmade ornaments made in the shape of 3D electron microscope images of viruses. We bought "Salmonella" which made a great gift! But alas, no photos of that - or many others who weren't quite set up when I made this quick photo tour.

Alan Rosenblith is a musician, currency activist and permaculture enthusiast.

His new documentary, The Money Fix, presents a strong case that our money system itself causes many of the seemingly impossible problems we face: Poverty, unemployment, debt, etc. He shows how money is created in a central bank system and then shows the ridiculousness of the debt-based system that we labor under. The film earns points for creative use of simple computer graphics. I really enjoyed watching the banks shoot money into people's heads, to site one example.

Hello Friends and 'Future, Potential, and/or Aspiring Madison Fruits and Nuts',

FYI: For those of you with interest in helping create edible neighbor'woods' in Madison, consider joining us for a planning session regarding the following:

Funding Available to Plant New Orchards Next Spring in Your Madison Neighborhood

The Grassroutes Caravan of Resilience is a bike caravan going from Madison to Detroit for the US Social Forum in June of 2010.

On November thirteenth 2009 Wisconsin Student Public Interest Research Group and Big Red Go Green invite you to march with fellow students and citizens in support of green solutions. 3 - 5 pm.

This march is intended to raise awareness about the Climate Summit in December in Copenhagen, The American Clean Energy and Security Act, and climate change.

We were having a couple issues with our website that should be resolved now.

1. Members were receiving spam email from the Contact form
2. The website was often unavailable, resulting in a blank screen or a 404 error.

Both of these issues should now be fixed. Please contact us if you experience these or other problems.