Report on the Activities and Agenda of the Government

[Sir Alexandreu Davinescu]

Ideal PDF version: 491ActivityReportandPlans.pdf (184.99 KB)

Report on the Activities and Agenda of the Government

Prüm Ministrà
The Prime Ministry

The office of the Prime Ministry, in the persons of the Seneschal, Distain, and Duceu dal Famulaziun, has been engaged in the following projects and activities:

Project Transparency – Fixing the broken email system and creating archival email accounts to retain documents from official correspondence.  The official addresses for @talossa.com have been broken, along with the entire internal mailing system (which was sending or forwarding mail irregularly, if at all).  This system has been repaired and now appears to be fully functional.  All official email addresses have been assigned to their appropriate owners, and a system has been created to store permanent records of all mail sent to the official addresses.

Project Continuity -- Internal documents have been created to record important details, facts, and procedures.  These documents will represent something not available to any previous government: a transitional framework.  Future governments should never need to waste weeks or months seeking information they should have received on the first day.  With security concerns in mind, these documents have been set up in such a way that they can be easily and accountably transferred to new owners.

Project Infrastructure -- To overcome the awkward reliance on third-party alternatives, a dedicated bulletin board has been installed for Cabinet communications.  This allows for easy collaboration and records-keeping, and also will help in future transitions to new governments.  It has already improved Cabinet communications greatly -- in addition to normal emailing and private messaging, there are over a hundred posts about government business from the past two weeks.

The following further projects and activities are planned for the remainder of the term:

Project Retention – Working with the Royal Archivist to find a way to preserve Wittenberg in an archive.  Ongoing and unscheduled effort.

Project Standards – Establishing procedures and documentation.  Ongoing and unscheduled effort.

Project Formulation – Assist the Bureau of Immigration in fixing the immigration form and procedures.  To be completed by 20 Apr 2016.

Project Socializing – Retrieving control of official Facebook and Twitter accounts and turn control over to the Ministry of STUFF.  To be completed by 1 May 2016.

Project Domesday 2: Ensure the completion of a census by the Chancery under Lexh. C.1.1.2. Target date to begin census is 1 June, pending consultation with the Secretary of State.

Project Comunatele: Ensure the operational status of Telecomuna by the end of this term. The Prime Ministry will extend the deadline for the Chancery to obtain approval of and implement a plan for Telecomuna to 1 August.  At the same time, the Prime Ministry will work with the Ministry of Stuff to prepare a contingency plan to propose to the Ziu in the event that the Chancery's plan is not ready by the new deadline.

Ministrà dels Afaes Utphätseschti
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been engaged in the following projects and activities:

Bureau for Humanitarian Aid and International Development. We have hoppered the BHAID’s second disbursement bill hopefully under consideration in the second Clark. The Board of Governors has submitted a general request for budget allocation and is now discussing possibilities for awardees. BHAID Administrator Crova has suggested donating political party fees to charity under the auspices of the Bureau. If approved by the Board and if supported by the Government then a bill would be forthcoming. Other initiatives for BHAID: ensuring board activity; website updates. Expected project time: I expect BHAID activities described above to extend through the entire term.

Office of Structural Assistance. The Deputy FM will lead the OSA’s response to the Scotian request for assistance with drafting their nation’s constitution. I will lead the OSA’s response to the Celdonian request for assistance with drafting their nation’s constitution. The OSA is also responding to an additional request for assistance from the Celdonians concerning territoriality. Expected project time: 1 week for the territoriality review and 2-3 months for the constitutions.

The following further projects and activities are planned for the remainder of the term:

Updated Landing Sites. The Foreign Ministry would like to either establish or improve its internet sites including the new BHAID site. This will include a new site for the new Office of Structural Assistance and a general Foreign Ministry site established using Wordpress for all of the Ambassadors-General and future foreign embassies.  To be completed by 30 April 2016.

External Outreach: Last term the Foreign Ministry sent out a dozen feelers on establishment of diplomatic relations with a few promising opportunities. I plan to work with Deputy FM Schpera-Carriedo to follow up on the handful of nations which were welcoming to our invitations. As I did last term I would present information to the Cabinet before actually entering negotiations. Expected project time: I expect this to extend through the entire term

Ministrà à Sanavarh da Talossa àls Ultra-Fiovaes Folas
Ministry of STUFF

The office of the Ministry of STUFF has been engaged in the following projects and activities:

Appointing a TalossaWare Czar

Identifying links on Talossa.com which go back to kot.net, and indentifying pages which are missing on Talossa.com

Promoting the Position of Head Spammajamma

Collecting usernames and passwords for social media accounts

The following further projects and activities are planned to be completed by June 1st:

Fill the vacancy in SPAM

Identify all new pages which need to be added to Talossa.com, and identify all links on Talossa.com which go back to kingdomoftalossa.net

Fix all of the things identified in the previous step

Take kingdomoftalossa.net offline

Create regional STUFF offices where information which needs to be added to the wiki can be placed

Find a suitable service for creating TalossaWare, and determine which TalossaWare products should be made

The following further projects and activities are planned to be completed by September 1st

Go through Talossa.com and wiki.talossa to make sure everything is up to date

Consolidate social media presences and make new ones (the list of passwords and usernames has already been started)

Make TalossaWare

Ministrà dal Finançù
The Ministry of Finance

The office of the Ministry of Finance has been engaged in the following projects and activities:

Project Projects – Draft a budget.  To be completed and approved by 20 Apr 2016.

Project Paine –  Promoting stamps to the philatelist community and to Talossans, storing the proceeds in a special project fund for a second run of stamps or other initiative.  Have already had significant success; the Kingdom has sold more stamps in two weeks than were sold in the previous two years.  Unscheduled and ongoing effort.

Project Long-Awaited – Minting collectable “coins,” first getting a firm quote from a private mint and then launching a Kickstarter to fund the die costs.  Quote will be obtained by 1 May 2016 and Kickstarted will launch by 20 May 2016.

The following further projects and activities are planned for the remainder of the term:

Project Patriotism – Administering the voluntary pledge drive for funds to replace lost party fees.  Drive will begin on 1 May 2016 and will end when $60 has been collected.

Project Bulletin --  Post and make available in an easily-accessible way records of Supporters of Talossa and corporations.

Ministrà dal Xhusticia
The Ministry of Justice

The office of the Ministry of Justice has been engaged in the following projects and activities:

None yet.

The following further projects and activities are planned for the remainder of the term:

Conduct a review of el Lexhatx for provisions that should be moved to Cabinet policy or internal regulation.

Ministrà dal Cúltura
The Ministry of Culture

The office of the Ministry of Culture has been engaged in the following projects and activities:

None yet.

The following further projects and activities are planned for the remainder of the term:

Celebrating our holidays and days of observance.  The Ministry of Culture has been tasked with ensuring that National Holidays and Days of Observance are celebrated during this Cosa term.  To that end an electronic calendar system has been created which spits out notifications in advance of each these significant dates.  Public announcements shall be made by the Ministry on each of these important days.

Creating a Talossan Library and Gallery.  The Ministry of Culture with support from the Ministry of Stuff will be undertaking a project to create a Talossan Library and Gallery.  This shall be a repository for every single piece of media ever made.  At first, this sounds like a project that has already happened.  We already have websites that link to past and current publications.  However, often, the bulk of media created is lost over time or becomes increasingly difficult to locate.
An example would be the recent video that was posted by the Secretary of State with the coin flip.  That particular thread is probably going to get lost and forgotten about after it drops into the deep pages of Wittenberg.  Many audio recordings, digital artistry and citizen submitted videos are simply lost over time.  We aim to change this by creating a Talossan Library and Gallery.
Plans are in the initial stages, but a MediaWiki software will likely be the technology used.  This type of software will allow all citizens to upload their works as they are created meaning long term staffing would be limited to administrator and moderator roles rather than employing long term “media scribes”.
We plan to have the Talossan Library and Gallery built during this Cosa term with a planned grand opening during the final Clark of the Cosa.

Language promotion.  The Ministry will work with the nation's leading linguists to continue publishing resources to assist citizens in learning our national language.  Further installments of the Prüms Päçen course are planned.

Ministrà del Estericour
The Ministry of the Interior

The office of the Ministry of the Interior has been engaged in the following projects and activities:

None yet.

The following further projects and activities are planned for the remainder of the term:

El Büreu dal Inmigraziun:

Project Port-Coleíçeu -- Increase the security of the application process, by having the Minister in charge perform mandatory IP Address checks and basic screening (e.g. Google, Social Media Checks), before the prospective is introduced to the Talossan Community.  The Minister in charge, will not be able to post the applicant’s essay to Witt and/or approve a Witt account unless a Pre-Immigration Check form has been completed and submitted to the Minister of the Interior.  The aim is to cut down on immigration fraud by ensuring details supplied match those of a real person and also to make sure that the anti-fraud steps are taken, each and every time and we don’t just take people on their word.

Project Novaziun -- To have the Chairperson of the NCC report on the current status of the NCC.  To work with the NCC Chair to establish an action plan to have a more visible, proactive and functional NCC that responds to the needs and demands of New Citizens as they arise.  To produce an up-to-date “Welcome Pack” in conjunction with the NCC which will be sent to all new Citizens upon their grant of citizenship.  To be completed by the end of June.

Project Plästic -- To conduct a feasibility study into the issuance of ID Cards to all new citizens and if the conclusion of this study is positive to implement such.  To liaise with other Ministerial departments to issue ID Cards to interested current citizens.

The Büreu dels Afaes Cestoureschti

Project Avertiça -- To place a series of ads in local GTA newspapers and to start a GoogleAd/Word campaign which specifically targets Cestours living within Talossa. Such advertisements will aim to increase awareness Cestours of the Kingdom and convert them into citizens.  To be completed by early August.

El Büreu dels Afaes Inphätseschti:

TalossaFest.  The Ministry will organise TalossaFest celebrations to be held in the month of July.
The original intent for TalossaFest was to get as many Talossans together in one place at the same time.  This was a much easier goal to achieve when Talossan citizens primarily resided in the GTA.  During the 1990's, Talossan citizens would come together for meals, hold barbecues in one of our national parks, play games such as Talossan football and hold trivia quizzes . However, in the modern age, Talossan citizens reside in locations across the globe that span multiple time zones.  This makes it difficult to get as many Talossans as possible in the one place, at the same time.
This year, TalossaFest will not be a single event held on one specific day.  The Festival will span the entire month of July with multiple events taking place on various dates.  Some of these events will be internet based allowing for participation across timezones.
The festival will begin with an opening ceremony and parade, which will be followed by various events to be held both on-line and in-person.  Promotional materials and a timetable of events will be published in the weeks leading up to the opening ceremony and local organising teams for in-person events will be contacted prior to the Festival.

El Büreu dal Zefençù:

To Clark a Bill for the appointment of a new Admiral

Liaise with the Minister for Defence on reviewing the current status of the Armed Forces and implementing a number of initiatives to ensure that our Armed Forces are ready should they ever be needed.

Appointment of a new Director for PIG

Ideal PDF version: 491ActivityReportandPlans.pdf (184.99 KB)

[Dr. Txec dal Nordselvă]

Thank you for the report. I wish the Seneschal had posted it, and not the Minister of Finance/Chief of Staff, though, as apparently the role of the Chief of Staff is to provide "help and support" not "do the job" of various members of the government.

[Sir C. M. Siervicül]

Apr 19, 2016 10:32:26 GMT -6 Dr. Txec dal Nordselvă said:

Thank you for the report. I wish the Seneschal had posted it, and not the Minister of Finance/Chief of Staff, though, as apparently the role of the Chief of Staff is to provide "help and support" not "do the job" of various members of the government.

I would rather have posted it too. Unfortunately, I upgraded my computer to Windows 10 yesterday and my mouse wasn't working this morning. I don't know whether I will be able to get it working this evening and don't know whether it's possible to deal with posting attachments from my iPhone. So I relied on and appreciate the "help and support" of the Chief of Staff here.

[Sir Alexandreu Davinescu]

Apr 19, 2016 10:32:26 GMT -6 Dr. Txec dal Nordselvă said:

Thank you for the report. I wish the Seneschal had posted it, and not the Minister of Finance/Chief of Staff, though, as apparently the role of the Chief of Staff is to provide "help and support" not "do the job" of various members of the government.

"Preparing required reports" is actually one of my explicit duties, as you may have noted in response to one of your recent Terpelaziuns

The Seneschal is the chief decision-maker and arbiter of policy, and I don't think it's a particularly good use of his time to put together paperwork, particularly with computer problems in the mix. As you can see, this government will be a dramatic change of pace as we start to get things done -- indeed, I'd say it already has been -- and part of that is using good judgment about our resources. We're going to be the first government in quite a while to file all legally-required reports in order to maintain transparency for the country, and so we're going to use all of our awesome Cabinet's skills!

For example, Luc has a level head and is good with logistics, which is why he took the initiative and installed the new Cabinet forum. Breneir is a self-starter with a vision for what he wants to see, setting up and staffing new ideas. Ian P. gets right to work and isn't afraid of learning and exploring new ways of promoting the country. Etho has an amazing amount of enthusiasm and a view of what will help Talossa not just today, but for a generation. And Litz is clear and firm about responsibilities and good organization, setting up her own mini-Cabinet and working out what will be done in diverse areas. I am honoured to be able to help these folks fulfill their plans and goals in any way I can, including filing paperwork

[Eðo Grischun]

Apr 19, 2016 11:40:54 GMT -6 Sir Alexandreu Davinescu said:

Apr 19, 2016 10:32:26 GMT -6 Dr. Txec dal Nordselvă said:

Thank you for the report. I wish the Seneschal had posted it, and not the Minister of Finance/Chief of Staff, though, as apparently the role of the Chief of Staff is to provide "help and support" not "do the job" of various members of the government.

"Preparing required reports" is actually one of my explicit duties, as you may have noted in response to one of your recent Terpelaziuns

The Seneschal is the chief decision-maker and arbiter of policy, and I don't think it's a particularly good use of his time to put together paperwork, particularly with computer problems in the mix. As you can see, this government will be a dramatic change of pace as we start to get things done -- indeed, I'd say it already has been -- and part of that is using good judgment about our resources. We're going to be the first government in quite a while to file all legally-required reports in order to maintain transparency for the country, and so we're going to use all of our awesome Cabinet's skills!

For example, Luc has a level head and is good with logistics, which is why he took the initiative and installed the new Cabinet forum. Breneir is a self-starter with a vision for what he wants to see, setting up and staffing new ideas. Ian P. gets right to work and isn't afraid of learning and exploring new ways of promoting the country. Etho has an amazing amount of enthusiasm and a view of what will help Talossa not just today, but for a generation. And Litz is clear and firm about responsibilities and good organization, setting up her own mini-Cabinet and working out what will be done in diverse areas. I am honoured to be able to help these folks fulfill their plans and goals in any way I can, including filing paperwork

Don't forget yourself!

AD has a very keen eye for fine details and is a born project manager if I have ever seen one. I honestly don't worry about this government missing deadlines or dropping any balls and that's down to our Chief of Staff encouraging and guiding us in the way he has done so far. IMO, this is the best Cabinet I've seen in a long time and even if we only achieve half of what we have set out to do, we will have made outstanding progress for this country.

Huzzah!

[Miestrâ Schivâ, UrN]

That paragraph probably read better in the original Korean.

[Sir Alexandreu Davinescu]

This Government Embraces the JUCHE IDEAL of Great Power with which we will turn our enemies into a Sea of Fire!! From the age of 7, our Great Leader Sir Cresti was able to shoot an AK-47 and Fend off an Entire Attacking Army of REPUBLICANS who had come to feast upon the Flesh of Talossan Children! The Great Leader Sir Cresti has also invented a Fertilizer of Wondrous Ability with which he has been able to assist the Noble FARMERS of Talossa, improving crop yields by 4000%!!

Many times a day, Talossan peasants will Spontaneously Launch a PARADE in celebration of the GREAT LEADER Sir Cresti, the only one saving them from the ENEMY that wishes to Make us All step BAREFOOT ON LEGO BRICKS in the middle of the night! By night, the Great Leader Sir Cresti stands alone on the wall to stop the White Walkers and their SNOW-PANDAS from slaughtering all Talossans in their sleep!

All of Talossa joins together to give praise to the JUCHE IDEAL of Great Power and its guardian on this Earth, the GREAT LEADER SIR CRESTI!

[Miestrâ Schivâ, UrN]

Actual footage of the Dear Chief of Staff and Brilliant Administrator delivering on-the-spot guidance to grateful Cabinet ministers answering their Terps.

[Sir Alexandreu Davinescu]

There's actually video footage of me bugging people about paperwork.

[Eðo Grischun]

Apr 19, 2016 21:04:44 GMT -6 Sir Alexandreu Davinescu said:

There's actually video footage of me bugging people about paperwork.

Actually pretty accurate!

[Colonel Mximo Carbonèl]

That movie is the best...

;-)

Mximo