Bloomington Cooperative Living is a housing cooperative in Bloomington, IN. We currently house about 36 residents in four houses. Our mission is to foster an economically, ecologically, and socially sustainable society by promoting the value of cooperation and diversity. About | What is a coop? | Calendar | Live in a coop | Membership process | Members | Facebook | Contact var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-25045698-1']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })(); Tumblr (3.0; @bloomingtoncoop)http://bloomingtoncoop.org/<p>For the ant Temnothorax curvispinosus, house-moving is one of the most challenging tasks its colony faces.</p> <p>Its future success depends on finding a home that offers the right physical environment. At the same time, choosiness must be balanced with speed. In most cases, consensus must be reached among hundreds or thousands of individuals, lest the colony should divide among multiple sites to the detriment of all. Crucially, all of this must be achieved without well-informed leaders or central control.</p> <p>When there are multiple nests, some better than others, ant colonies have been shown to make rational decisions collectively (Edwards and Pratt, 2009). The process of making the decision is similar to the honey bees described in our previous communication. Essentially, a group of ant scouts go out. Each get to experience a number of nests. Some nests are better than other ones. How good the nest is influences how persuasive the ants are at convincing other ants to go visit it. This simple process of positive feedback results in the best global nest chosen collectively.</p> <p>The reason the decision works well is because each ant has a limited number of nest options that it knows about, and the ability to influence only a portion of its nestmates. Just like bees, there’s an unusually well-distributed information and power structure among the scouting ants. But when the information and power are distributed unequally, the group decision is more likely to be irrational.</p> <p>Of course, this asymmetry of information and power doesn’t naturally occur in bees or ants, but it does occur in other organisms. And these organisms might still be attempting to make decisions collectively. Pancake Research Institute is going to hold a session this Sunday 9am to discuss and brainstorm on a simple mathematical model to study this issue. Whiteboards will be provided, as well as pancakes.</p> <p>Sunday 9am. Join.<br/> Pancake Research Institute</p> <p><a href="https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gs_nf=1&tok=cQANA3UMMcJ61SaHpBt5bg&cp=16&gs_id=d&xhr=t&q=chocolate+vegan+pancakes&biw=1135&bih=777&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.,cf.osb&ion=1&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=Y2ZIT_OzMoSWgweG9M2cDg"><img src="http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lzxgs4FCZZ1qdbkrw.png"/></a><br/> Figure caption. Recruitment behavior used in emigration by Temnothorax colonies. (a) Tandem run, in which a single ant is slowly led to a candidate site. (b) Social transport, in which a single nestmate is rapidly carried to the new site.</p>http://bloomingtoncoop.org/post/18225459325http://bloomingtoncoop.org/post/18225459325Fri, 24 Feb 2012 21:41:00 -0500<img src="http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lzuwkbZxiO1qenhyio1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>BCL has several sublet opportunities beginning now and throughout the summer.</p> <p>We are a housing cooperative - a wonderful living environment full of<br/> artistic and energetic people of all ages. We have four houses, and<br/> around 30 people. You can find out more about the coop on our website:<br/> <a href="http://bloomingtoncoop.org/">http://bloomingtoncoop.org/</a></p> <p>The rooms available include:<br/> Bagend - 1 for $525<br/> Bagend - 1 for $500<br/> Woodlawn - 2 for $485<br/> Woodlawn - 2 for $525<br/> Woodlawn - 2 for $575<br/> Woodlawn - 1 for $650<br/> Helm’s Deep - 1 for $525</p> <p>Don’t forget that the numbers above include food and utilities.</p> <p>This is a fun environment with artistic, creative people. Join the<br/> movement and eat good food all summer.</p>http://bloomingtoncoop.org/post/18135674066http://bloomingtoncoop.org/post/18135674066Thu, 23 Feb 2012 12:28:59 -0500<img src="http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lzk2etcDA41qenhyio1_500.png"/><br/><br/><p>For a honeybee swarm of many individuals, choosing a home is a momentous decision. Failing to choose a single location may cause the swarm to split. Studies over the past 60 years have shown that honeybee swarms use quorum sensing, a form of decentralized decision-making, to choose a suitable nest site, but many gaps remain in our understanding of this process.</p> <p>Basically, honeybees have created two different committees: the scouting committee and the bivouacking committee. The scouting committee is responsible for locating suitable new homes. The bivouacking committee is responsible for seeding the new house, once chosen. The scouters are usually some of the most experienced workers in the colony. Upon their return from scouting, they advertise potential locations and their qualities by performing a waggle dance straight across the bivouacking bees. Waggle dances recruit additional scouts until a quorum number is reached and the swarm prepares to move to its new home.</p> <p>Until now, this was all we thought was going on. But in a recent article, Seeley et al. (Science 6, vol 335, Jan 2012) show that there’s also an inhibitory signal between bees advocating different locations. Essentially, in the case that there is more than one good option, you have several groups of bees dancing for their preference. And every once in a while, a worker bee will stop doing its dance, and give a “vibratory head butt” to a bee that’s doing a dance for a different site, to inhibit it.</p> <p><br/> Woodlandia has traditionally consented to waggle dancing, but we haven’t discussed the use of vibratory head butting yet. We will gather on Sunday morning to discuss these new findings. In the case that we collectively decide to protest against bee coercion, we will have (vegan) pancakes ready for pouring honey all over them.</p> <p>Sunday, 9am. Join.</p>http://bloomingtoncoop.org/post/17781053718http://bloomingtoncoop.org/post/17781053718Fri, 17 Feb 2012 16:01:00 -0500<img src="http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lzfx85pLeJ1qenhyio1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>Vegan Mexican Lasagna - it’s whats for dinner.</p>http://bloomingtoncoop.org/post/17658393193http://bloomingtoncoop.org/post/17658393193Wed, 15 Feb 2012 10:19:17 -0500http://bloomingtoncoop.org/post/17654853453http://bloomingtoncoop.org/post/17654853453Wed, 15 Feb 2012 07:48:02 -0500<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lzdyow764D1qenhyio1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>Ven a Woodlandia los miércoles a comer manjares experimentales y hablar español!</p> <p>Trae poesía, películas, libros, temas de interés y mucho más!</p> <p>No es necesario ser un experto, o incluso un intermediario.</p> <p>Cena es a las 7 y español es a las 8.</p> <p>Todos están invitados.</p> <p>Participa!</p>http://bloomingtoncoop.org/post/17606202236http://bloomingtoncoop.org/post/17606202236Tue, 14 Feb 2012 08:55:44 -0500<img src="http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lzavf2pJPx1qenhyio1_250.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>“The increasing complexity of human knowledge, coupled with the escalating difficulty of those remaining questions, means that people must either work together or fail alone.” But what are the best ways to be creative in a group? What makes up a good group? </p> <p><a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/01/30/120130fa_fact_lehrer?currentPage=all">New Yorker article</a> discussing the best ways to think creatively in groups by <a href="http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/frontal-cortex/">Jonah Lehrer</a>. The article discusses why brainstorming doesn’t work. The work by psychologist <a href="http://charlannemeth.com/">Charlan Nemeth</a> on the usefulness of criticism and exposure to unfamiliar perspectives. The work by sociologist Brian Uzzi and Isaac Kohane on the ideal composition of teams.</p>http://bloomingtoncoop.org/post/17511889545http://bloomingtoncoop.org/post/17511889545Sun, 12 Feb 2012 16:52:00 -0500eduardo<img src="http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lz9gmcx1B21qenhyio1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>These pancakes will have things you’ve never had inside a pancake before.</p> <p>Subjects welcome,<br/> Pancake Research Institute.</p>http://bloomingtoncoop.org/post/17466621698http://bloomingtoncoop.org/post/17466621698Sat, 11 Feb 2012 22:35:00 -0500eduardo<img src="http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lz96cnINZH1qenhyio1_r2_500.png"/><br/><br/><p>New flyer series for 2012. Six different quotes so far. If you know of any other good quotes, let us know!</p>http://bloomingtoncoop.org/post/17454663790http://bloomingtoncoop.org/post/17454663790Sat, 11 Feb 2012 18:53:00 -0500eduardo<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lz96b8Z0yt1qenhyio1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/>http://bloomingtoncoop.org/post/17454618046http://bloomingtoncoop.org/post/17454618046Sat, 11 Feb 2012 18:52:20 -0500eduardo<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lz79d6tw5N1qzawmno1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>Danny lived in the coop for a while. He has now started building his own echo-village in Bloomington, the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/106186721458/">Dandelion Village</a>.</p>http://bloomingtoncoop.org/post/17393329895http://bloomingtoncoop.org/post/17393329895Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:36:00 -0500eduardoI’m currently studying library science and Latin America. I joined the co-op because I love all things gezellig. Every few months, I dash off to New York to visit a very special someone. I like to travel, but I also like staying home. Sometimes I wonder how I end up where I do. For example, the time a Mexican clown juggled machetes over my face.<p><img src="http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lz76ljYzM61qdbkrw.jpg"/></p>http://bloomingtoncoop.org/post/17388372604http://bloomingtoncoop.org/post/17388372604Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:04:00 -0500memberbio<p>Jeroem son of Jeroem braved the night, defied sleep and cold, as the</p> <p>cold itself defied this unseasonal second moon of the days of his<br/> father’s children.  He returned from the dark with pizza for his clan,<br/> each taking their share.</p> <p>His deeds this day will be remembered in song, and in the sacrifices<br/> of his people.  The thirteenth share will be set aside in honor of the<br/> dreadfull mother of our clan, whose Milk and Grain organs burned at<br/> birth to guarantee the unquenchable fire of her spirit. The thirteenth<br/> share will be sacrificed to the stewards of the stars.</p> <p> <br/> -Sethix, the Elder <br/>    aka “The Great Seth,” <br/>       aka “Sethalopod, the Eight Thumbed”</p> <p><br/> Wrapped in night. The fog his blanket, Jeroem went forth. I say it truly, for I too was awake at that most dreaded and loathsome 27th hour. The hour when weaker men drift, silently, mourning, in their slumber, errands incomplete and deeds of greatness not done.</p> <p>Many a minute passed in uneasy quiet. His people feared for his safety, and sanity. Thoughts of dragons, demons, and the she-devils that lurked in the mist, filled their weary minds. </p> <p>A quarter past that most God-forsaken time, that most odious of intervals, that most detested of decision-points; wounded by love, mad with the weight of his task, ravaged by imps and narmaids, our hero returned; but with naught but a hope of a slice. A crumb of a crust. A whisper of cheese on his breath. </p> <p>His song nonetheless shall remain.</p>http://bloomingtoncoop.org/post/17270024076http://bloomingtoncoop.org/post/17270024076Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:48:46 -0500<p>The community stagnates without the impulse of the individual. The<br/> impulse dies away without the sympathy of the community.</p>http://bloomingtoncoop.org/post/17210983416http://bloomingtoncoop.org/post/17210983416Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:24:18 -0500<img src="http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lyzd9mcTxt1qenhyio1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/>http://bloomingtoncoop.org/post/17157466646http://bloomingtoncoop.org/post/17157466646Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:46:34 -0500eduardo<img src="http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lyzd9456rk1qenhyio1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/>http://bloomingtoncoop.org/post/17157454829http://bloomingtoncoop.org/post/17157454829Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:46:16 -0500eduardo<img src="http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lyxzvknIHm1qenhyio1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>Woodlawndia is proud to present it’s first foster pet, Lentil.<br/> Lentil is a sweet, quiet, and very obedient dog. She loves people and<br/> is constantly following someone around the house or laying by their<br/> feet while they are studying.<br/> If you’d like to adopt Lentil, take her for a walk, or just spend some<br/> time with man’s best friend, stop by the Woodlawn house anytime!</p>http://bloomingtoncoop.org/post/17119998394http://bloomingtoncoop.org/post/17119998394Sun, 05 Feb 2012 17:59:44 -0500<img src="http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lyqepbiYfo1qenhyio1_400.jpg"/><br/><br/>http://bloomingtoncoop.org/post/16877477105http://bloomingtoncoop.org/post/16877477105Wed, 01 Feb 2012 15:39:11 -0500http://bloomingtoncoop.org/post/16768477487http://bloomingtoncoop.org/post/16768477487Mon, 30 Jan 2012 13:28:56 -0500<img src="http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lye5tnmR8b1qenhyio1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>DevCom4</p>http://bloomingtoncoop.org/post/16510645966http://bloomingtoncoop.org/post/16510645966Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:56:11 -0500eduardo