Over the past 48 hours I have received 17 immigration applications. This is more than I usually receive in an entire month.

One has to think that we got a big boost of publicity from somewhere, but I can't tell from where. I have combed through the applications to see if there is any commonality but I didn't find one. Perhaps we will find out once I approve all of their accounts.

All this to say, all hands on deck! Please welcome them as best you can.

All,

Under Lex.F.40, the Government of the Kingdom of Talossa is entitled to award various Honors to worthy citizens. At the Living Cosa on November 20th, I was pleased to announce that several Talossans were receiving such Honors. While @King John will make the official announcement as soon as he is able, I wanted to let everyone know who is receiving what.

Order of the Flag to @Dr. Txec dal Nordselvă, GST
Order of the Flag to @Lüc da Schir
Order of the Purple Tongue to @Marcel Eðo Pairescu Tafial
Seneschal's Medal of Culture to @Glüc da Dhi S.H.  (for years of work running the TMT20)
Seneschal's Medal of Science to @Ián Tamorán S.H. (for many contributions to Talossan academia)
Seneschal's Medal of Merit to @Viteu Marcianüs (for establishing a working Talossan Bar Exam)

Congratulations to all the recipients!

I hereby declare December 2022 a month of recess.

Ian Plätschisch
Seneschal

Quote from: Eiric S. Bornatfiglheu on November 19, 2022, 07:19:21 PM

Quote from: Baron Alexandreu Davinescu on November 14, 2022, 08:20:31 PMI've looked this over a few times, and I can't see anything jumping out at me to change.

@Ian Plätschisch and @Breneir Tzaracomprada , please be aware that you'll be provided the opportunity to make brief speeches, should you so choose.  Three to five minutes would probably be respectful of everyone's time, if you're looking for a guideline.

@Eiric S. Bornatfiglheu , I was thinking it might be appropriate to have you make apologies for any senators who can't make it, if you're willing, as Mencei?  And then party leaders ( @Dr. Txec dal Nordselvă, GST and @Breneir Tzaracomprada and @Mic'haglh Autófil, MC EiP  ) would make apologies for their own.  That all sound good to everyone?

@Eiric S. Bornatfiglheu , I was also hoping you would be Doorkeeper and Sergeant at Arms?

I will invite His Majesty to attend, and ask him to serve as Chaplain to deliver the invocation and/or address the Living Cosa with general remarks as sovereign.

Estimat Tuis,

Please forgive the intrusion onto the Cosa floor, but I'll keep it quick.

Very Sorry.  For some reason this thread did not ping me as being spoken to.

I am willing to serve as doorkeeper/sgt at arms.  Also, I am willing to address the body w/ Senatorial regrets.

I have, at this point, sent the Zoom invite via EMAIL to all of the email addresses I was provided (essentially all FreeDem).  If other party leaders want to shoot contacts my way, I can send it over as well.  If there is a closed forum somewhere, I am also willing to post there.

To confirm, we are looking at 11am Eastern Time, 11/20.

I believe it is noon Eastern (11am TST)

Good news, I will be able to make it. Now I just have to think of something to say in my speech...

I can confirm that I have been working closely with the rest of the cabinet since soon after S:reu Ursüm's resignation. Expect an announcement from the Ministry of Culture soon.

Have we figured out a time? I will try my best to be there but I have some family obligations later in the day.

That could work. If the terms of the Assembly don't coincide with national elections, we could avoid confusion over which GGS is entitled to break a tie in a Senate election

I appoint @Lüc to the Electoral Commission and thank him for his service.

Azul all,

The Google Ad campaign promoting immigration to Talossa has spent the budgeted amount of $50 (in fact, it spent a total of $53.97, but I will spot the unauthorized $3.97). It was running for just over a month, from the beginning of October until when I paused it a few minutes ago.

The campaign had 1,690 impressions (that is, it was shown 1,690 times), which resulted in 54 clicks. This means we are paying just about $1 per click. The ad looked like this:


For 49 of the 54 people who clicked the ad, Google is showing me the term they were searching for when they saw the ad. 18 of them had just searched "micronation" and the rest included a term specifically about Talossa. Advertising to the latter group obviously wouldn't be as impactful (since they were searching for Talossa already), although the cost per click for that group was lower.
-Average cost per click for the 18 people who searched "micronation" = $1.25
-Average cost per click for the 31 people who were searching for Talossa = $0.70

However, the most important metric is, of course, how many more applications we got because of the ads. During the campaign period, there was one applicant that indicated he had heard about Talossa via Google Ad (Emmanuel Olusan).

Perhaps the sample size is still too small, but spending $50 to get one application is not exactly a great return on investment.

I have declared a Living Cosa for the 20th.

Azul all,

This is notice that a Living Cosa will be held Sunday, November 20th. Additional details about time and method to come.

Given that I employ an A-Xh to advise me on these matters, and that she was the one who proposed the bill in question, I would be a fool not to heed her advice.

That sounds fine, just let me know when you would like me to say it is happening.

See below.

Azul all,

The logic of my Prime Dictate to hold the Living Cosa for the November Clark in December (during a month of recess) went like this:
-Org.IV.11 states "The Cosa may set and hold Living Cosas (live parliamentary meetings) to coincide with a Clark as described by law." This seems to indicate that there is some legislative leeway as to what it means for a Living Cosa session to "coincide" with a Clark, and that it could include times outside of the traditional window for a Clark.
-Lex.H.20 seems to expand on this, saying "The Seneschál may, if events warrant, issue a PD authorizing a Living Cosâ in the following calendar month." Note that this provision does not state that the PD must authorize a Living Cosa for the following Clark.
-With regard to holding a Living Cosa during a month of recess, Org.IV.9 describes a month of recess as a month "in which no Clark is published." If we held the Living Cosa in December, there would still have been no Clark published in December, because it would have been published in November.

I realize there are a few issues with this reasoning, but I was hoping it was good enough that we could all agree to go with it. Apparently not. In the immortal words of Justice Lauriéir, "[P]ractice, in the Talossan context, is all too frequently defined by what one can get away with without triggering any objections." I did not get away with it.

I have no interest in litigating this, so I have withdrawn my Prime Dictate. Given the circumstances I believe it best not to have a Living Cosa this term. I have been reliably informed that, because the bill enabling the Living Cosa was a Sense of the Ziu, it is not technically binding.

There has been some grumbling that I did not start planning the Living Cosa soon enough. I thought it would be inappropriate to begin the process before the enabling legislation passed (on October 21st), although I now admit that wasn't a good idea.