Ex-Cincinnati band, The Heartless Bastards are set to release a new album, Arrow, Feb 14. Give 'em your email address & you can download Parted Ways for free. They also have special packages with vinyl & other goodies for $$.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
If you're freaked out about pentacles in Washington D.C.'s street grid, you probably won't bat an eye at plans to zombify George Washington - with Lamb's blood!
Apparently, William Thornton, physician and designer of the US Capitol had such plans & Washington's request to wait 3 days before burying his body made implementation of Thornton's schemes a definite possibility.
They probably would have been better off shippin' his dead ass down to Haiti, tho.
i09 article here
Monday, January 30, 2012
In a move that should surprise nobody, the big guys prevail & the bus driver and her passengers can all go to hell.
Fishwarp story about big media & big gaming throwing Joann Searles (and her passengers) under the bus here
For years I was bombarded whit the hilarious hijinks of war by the likes of Tony Curtis, Bob Hope, Jack Benny, Danny Kaye and more. In the South Pacific, soldiers drank from coconut shells and cavorted with beautiful scantily clad native women and Nazi prison camps were nothing but a party. The Korean War raged on for 10 years as surgeons drank, chased nurses & played one practical joke after another. But as the 70s wore on the Korean war became less and less funny. Vietnam, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Grenada, Kuwait, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Iraq… For some reason - not funny. You would think some of the UN military interventions could generate some humor - at least for the other side.
Some say we lost in Vietnam. Do the Vietnamese have shelves of war comedies? Are there a zillion Afghani war comedies about Russia being considered for remakes substituting America?
Maybe it's because we don't have a draft anymore. Maybe it's the draftees who were the funny ones and our current military is made up of a bunch of David Caruso clones.
Or maybe we're just not confident in the military actions that we take nowadays.
Friday, January 27, 2012
When most of us think of the undertaker, we probably think of Digger O'Dell, the friendly undertaker we try to avoid. These guys have a unique perspective on life, tho, as they see it at it's end. As the obstetrician sees life at the beginning, we are all pretty equal but at the end, we are all over the place. Sometimes it just looks senseless. Some funeral directors have pushed for healthier lifestyles.
And recently, Detroit funeral directors have targeted violent lifestyles in a way befitting the MC.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Apparently everybody's hired but the old building has caused some remodeling delays. Owners hope to know the opening date sometime in February.
WXIX story here
Cincinnati City Council is battling itself over laws to curb the stealing of metal. People are stealing siding off of houses, copper pipes from plumbing & air conditioners and it's costing property owners thousands of dollars - frequently more than what the thieves get for selling the metal. City council is trying to regulate the sellers & buyers in the city. Problem is, we don't live in a vacuum. People just sell the scrap outside the city limits in Ohio or Kentucky. We need to address this on a state basis & even then, border towns like Cincinnati & Cleveland will need cooperation with Pennsylvania & Kentucky.
Fishwarp story here.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Springfield, Ohio was recently awarded a police car by the state. Doesn't seem like much as TV game shows frequently give away cars. This got me thinking, tho. With Cincinnati's mayor being a minor reality TV star, a councilman who is a local access cable and radio star and policewomen who are reality TV stars, why not groom city officials & employees for game shows and then have hem split the winnings with the city?
It might catch on. Cities across the nation could compete on game shows. Forbes magazine could use winners and losers for more of their goofy lists. Tourists would flock to winning and maybe even losing cities to see what the hell is going on. Political careers could be made & destroyed. Ambulance chasers could start suing TV networks instead of cities.
I think it's a plan.
Monday, January 23, 2012
Fiscally irresponsible, COA T endorsed Cincinnati Councilmen propose more big union freebies
Fishwarp story here
Fishwarp story here
The Porktown Fishwrap claims Portune has asserted that he's symathtic but I'm not so sure.
Meanwhile the county is blighting a county resident's home in the cause of automotive efficiency.
I say, Death to Symathticism !
This building had been covered with cheap grey aluminum siding & was adorned with billboards. Coupled with the owner not tending to the lawn & the ugly fencing on the corner lot, it served to blight a decent neighborhood in the vicinity of The Comet.
Recently the billboards were removed along with the siding and faint ghost signs are now visible. Can't make out anything, but.... It was apparently a store but since the siding was practically a wrap it was impossible to tell. Of course the city now has it zoned residential but that's ok as the new owner, a neighbor who bought it because he "was sick of looking at it", wants to remodel it as a residence. The difference between a neighbor owner and some absentee owner can be amazing. I imagine the people next door are ecstatic.
So how much of a snob am I for liking a painted sign over a billboard?
I don't care
NOTE:Since taking these pictures a doorway has been carved out of the wall
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Saturday, January 21, 2012
When I heard UC art students, Steve Hilton,Joshua Smith and Jake Ogelsby, had been busted for graffiti, I thought, hey, maybe they did some good work? nope - just the typical brain dead tagging you'd expect from some dumbass kid.
sheesh....
WKRC story here
Coming soon to an adult video store near you. Romeo & Juliet XXX (SFW). Seriously. And in an effort to make it more accessible to modern audiences, it will be set in present day America (Burbank?). Budget was not a concern, I am sure.
My favorite part about this flick? It's being released 2/7 - just in time for Valentine's Day.
awwwww……
Now if Romeo was a vampire & Juliet was a zombie - that's something I could go for!
Friday, January 20, 2012
With the coming World Choir Games to Cincinnati and City Council's promoting the town as, "Cincinnati - the city that sings", it seems to me that loosening up the regulations on group singing in the Queen City might be in order.
To sing as an ensemble on Cincinnati streets ain't all that easy. You can find it all in Section 909-3 Loud Noise.
First thing you have to do is decide where you want to perform & find out the zoning designation that applies to that area. You will need a tape measure & sound meter. Fortunately, Hamilton County has a handy whiz bang map with all sorts of dynamic graphic clutter to find the zoning designations. You can find out what the arcane initials mean here. Then, going back to Section 909-3 Loud Noise, you can check the tables to see when & how loud you can perform. The Sunday to Wednesday tables are identical to the Thursday tables except, apparently, public music performances are not allowed in MA (Manufacturing Agriculture) areas on Thursdays.
If the area you desire is PD, HS, UD, IDC, or HD, you need to ask Department of City Planning and Buildings.
The acceptable decibel levels for various zoning designations & times are listed in the tables. What's interesting here is that, at no time can one perform over 75db even though the generally accepted sound of traffic is around 80db meaning the sound of traffic is more acceptable to our society than music nd it is illegal to be heard over the cars that, presumably, would be on the street.
After the tables at Section 909-3 Loud Noise we get to the best part.
The performance of one or two street musicians on unamplified musical instruments between the hours of 11:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. or between the hours of 5:30 p.m. and 10:00 p.m., for no more than a single period of 90 consecutive minutes in the vicinity of a single location and not closer than any of the following: a) 20 feet to a pedestrian crosswalk; b) 20 feet to a street vendor; and c) 100 feet to an open market as such are defined in section 845-3 CMC, shall not constitute a violation of this section.So, your barbershop quartet can just go to hell. Also, if you want piano accompionment, you will have to haul your upright down to where you want to play (as long as it's not an MA designation on a Thursday) & play because your midi controller, laptop & Crate are criminal in Cincinnati - the city that sings - but only acapella and not between 1-5:30PM.
Cincinnati really needs to move into the
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Quinnipiac pollsters asked Ohioans about abortion, fracking, Kasich, Brown Mandel & Portman and lions & tigers & bears.
Brown & Portman are viewed favorably - Mandel not so much. The Ohio legislature doesn't fare too well. Kasich sucks. A strong majority don't want private ownership of exotic critters. Buckeyes see the merits of gas drilling but want the processes investigated & proven safe. Folks are pretty evenly split on abortion. As usual, the Republicans are opposed to personal rights.
Read the results here.
And these are the full results, not the interpretations the Plain Dealer, Dispatch & Daily News expect you to be happy with.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
The Fishwrap's entertainment blog reports that the Cincinnati Comic Book Expo will be expanding from one day to two this year with a preview day for VIP ticket holders. This will coincide with Oktoberfest again and the Cincinnati Reds are scheduled to play L.A. that weekend, too.
Event organizer Andrew Satterfield said attendance was up 40% in '11 over the first convention in '10. Last year, of course, comics legend Jim Steranko was the guest of honor.
The 2012 Cincinnati Comic Expo will be September 22/23 at the Duke Energy Center.
Grand Comics Database
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
The Rise of the Praetorian Class
HT to one of the best named blogs in the world, How the Hell Should I Know?
HT to one of the best named blogs in the world, How the Hell Should I Know?
Monday, January 16, 2012
"A new state law that cuts start-up costs for micro-breweries and makes it easier for a growing number of craft distilleries and brewers to sell to the public will trigger growth and expansion in the emerging industry, promote tourism, create jobs and generate tax revenues, state and industry officials say."Still, as Eric Zamonski of Oakwood notes, it is not far enough. Ohio's unwieldy fees & regulations have Ohio ranked 32nd nationally for breweries per capita.
"The law allows small breweries to serve samples and to sell their brews from tasting rooms without buying a $3,900 special permit, and it also allows more small-batch distilleries to open in Ohio and to offer samples of their craft spirits from their own tasting rooms. The legislation known as House Bill 243 sailed through both the Ohio House of Representatives and Ohio Senate with unanimous support and was signed into law by Gov. John Kasich in late December. It is scheduled to take effect March 22."
Noose Son story here
Sunday, January 15, 2012
After some false starts, the NSX is slated to be resurrected right here in Ohio around 2015.
Noose Son story here.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Friday, January 13, 2012
Thursday, January 12, 2012
While most of us are aware of the problems of heavy traffic at the Pere Lachaise cemetery with throngs of people visiting the graves of famous people like Jim Morrison, cemeteries like that or Cincinnati's Spring Grove Cemetery are pretty much set up for a good bit of traffic.
Smaller cemeteries, like Clark County, Ohio's Myers Cemetery in Pike Twp. aren't set up for heavy traffic. After the interment of Clark County Deputy Suzanne Hopper, their gravel roads haven't been able to hold up to the heavy traffic of mourners. They sought relief from the Clark County Sheriff's department and Sheriff Gene Kelly with the Clark County Engineer's office responded providing 4 truckloads of gravel that had been swept off public streets to resurface the roads in the cemetery incurring no capital costs to taxpayers.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
A reader found a library in Salem, Missouri blocked her access to sites concerning astrology, occultism & Wicca on their public computers. When she asked for permission to access the sites, the librarian told her she could allow specific sites (no blanket access to specific search terms) and that she would also be obligated to inform the police of the reader's actions.
I can get blocking some content to minors, like stuff about drinking blood & maybe sex magic, but astrology & ancient religions ?
heck, the library probably has dusty old books on these subjects sitting around that they don't even know about.
The real scary part about this is the notion that the librarian felt compelled to inform the police about somebody accessing sites about faith, spirituality & history.
The Hill blogpost here.
After extensive study, the Blogging Isn't Cool staff concludes that Jim Berns will defeat Sandra Queen Noble for the Libertarian nomination for Ohio's 1st Congressional district in March.
Stay tuned.
See and hear the candidates !
Noble
Berns
Monday, January 09, 2012
COA T's junior mule on Cincinnati City Council has proposed the city solicitor provide ethics training for council members. The solicitor already does this but what the heck…
Smitherman claims such training is common in the "professional" world. No matter that city council positions are considered part time (& pay 180% of Cincinnatians median wage). But, just as every initiative COA T proposes, his legislation is aimed at increasing spending & making government more expensive and a greater burden on the taxpayer.
Fishwrap article here
Sunday, January 08, 2012
Saturday, January 07, 2012
After inspecting the wall at Carlisle, as Severus returned to the nearest guest house not only as victor over die Caledonians but also having established a permanent peace treaty, he wondered what omen would present itself. Just then, a black soldier, who was a well-known buffoon and regarded himself as a bit of a joker, came up to him with a wreath of cypress. When Severus, thoroughly disturbed at being presented with a funeral garland and by someone of the colour associated with death, angrily ordered him to be removed from his sight, the man jocularly remarked, "You have been everything. You have conquered everything, now may the conqueror be a god." When Severus subsequently reached town, and wanted to perform a sacrifice, owing to a mistake on the part of a local soothsayer, he was first taken to the temple of the goddess of war, and then supplied with sacrificial animals that were black. He abandoned the sacrifice in disgust and retired to the local imperial residence, only to find himself, through the negligence of the temple attendants, pursued right to the door by the herd of black cows.
Historia Augusta Severus XXII. 4-7
Friday, January 06, 2012
Profile in Bankruptcy
When Chris Monzel ran for a county commission seat, he claimed the county budget could be met by finding efficiencies in the county's spending.
Since then he has suggested one time fixes of selling assets at fire sale prices which has state & county auditors raising their eyebrows. He has added new bureaucracy instead of streamlining bureaucracy. He has stomped his feet and resisted offers from the city of Cincinnati to cut costs at MSD. He has threatened lawsuits & raised MSD rates.
The guy has nothing. He offers no vision, no leadership and no ideas.
Thursday, January 05, 2012
Stateside Associates named The Cincinnati Enquirer's "Politics Extra Blog" the best local political blog for Cincinnati. But is it really a blog? Or is it more like the old newspaper "Extra" as it's name implies?
Wikipedia points out:
Although not a must, most good quality blogs are interactive, allowing visitors to leave comments and even message each other via GUI widgets on the blogs and it is this interactivity that distinguishes them from other static websites.So, technically, it's a blog, I guess, but the lack of dialogue with the authors seriously detracts from it being any kind of "best" blog bigtime. In my book, the dialogue is the most important part. The Enquirer's political blog is one of it's worst blogs along those lines. When the author just tosses out posts in an attempt to stir up the locals, it is just tantamount to Erisean trolling - not good blogging at all. Campbell & Kiesewetter respond to posters, dunno about the sports or arts guys.
Furthermore, the free exchange of thought is hampered as cincinnati.com limits participation to people who are signed up with a 3rd party service that many people don't use for political discourse.
The Cincinnati Enquirer has been able to publish "extras" forever but has opted not to. As it contracts out printing to Columbus printers, that ability will be completely gone. I certainly use the cincinnati.com Politics Extra "blog" feature for information that I post & comment on here but I routinely interact with commenters here. It's a "best practices" kinda thing. For a great example of "blog" interaction along political lines, The Cincinnati Asylum, The Daily Bellwether or, to a lesser degree, Cincinnati Blog are great examples. The Cincinnati Enquirer is still the best news source in town but their political blogging sucks big hairy wet ones.
In John Kiesewetter's blogpost, Did you see the Ch 9 News meltdown?, he mentions WCPO's Ignite system. Since the guys at cincinnati.com are hyperlink challenged, here's what he was talking about, Grass Valley Ignite.
These systems are pretty intense, you can get your mitts on some low end stuff, sans robotics, at Media Bridges if you want a taste.
As the spectre of bestial savagery & violence permeates the malls like the piped in music, law enforcement & mall security are rising to the occasion to keep the places safe for consumers.
The Interstate 675 Organized Retail Crime Group (I675ORCG) is compiling data and talking with mall security around the nation to find ways of battling the growing problem.
Are the retailers themselves to blame?
"I don’t quite understand why retailers do it this way because it does create a very dangerous environment when you get so many people lined up to purchase a pair of shoes," Miami Twp. Police Maj. John DiPietro said.Or is it the manufacturers?
DiPietro has created Power Point presentations for the I675ORCG.
Havoc hankering juveniles use high tech communication devices and state of the art satellite technology to pinpoint exact times and locations for their surreptitious attacks. Highly trained mall security specialists have had some success banning the teen terrorists outright.
But how safe are the parking lots ?
Noose Son story here
Wednesday, January 04, 2012
Some folks on Cincinnati city council want to put multilingual signage in the downtown area. A big question is - what other languages should we post? Spanish is becoming more popular around here. The current mayor has been courting China relentlessly. The city has a strong German heritage. On top of that, Cincinnati has sister cities in Zimbabwe, Japan, Ukraine, France & Taiwan. To accommodate all those languages, we're gonna need some big-ass signs.
A better idea would be to license Alien Technology® like what John Carpenter used in the hit movie, They Live so we can just put up one sign & then distribute Alien Technology® sunglasses to the foreign devils.
With any luck they can do color nowadays.
COA T's witch hunt of Cincinnati councilwoman Laure Quinlivan has netted them a cool $10,000. That is, they have drained the city's coffers of $10,000. The altruism of these guys cannot be exaggerated. What's ironic about COA T's hatred of Quinlivan is that councilwoman Quinlivan has done more to encourage entrepreneurship & create jobs than COA T's mule, councilman Charlie Winburn, who even has his own custom made "jobs committee".
What will this award mean to city services? If another tragedy occurs due to a fire station brownout, it will most assuredly be on Mark Miller's bloody hands.
What will this award mean to city services? If another tragedy occurs due to a fire station brownout, it will most assuredly be on Mark Miller's bloody hands.
As the dreaded PhaseBuch rolls out it's new Timeline feature that pretty much nobody likes, Google has decided to kill it's very nice Timeline feature. Beloved by students, teachers, sports fans & history geeks, it apparently had no value for the Google overlords.
The world has gone mad.
Tuesday, January 03, 2012
What I read last year
or - why this blog sucks....
- Over the Rhine When beer Was King
- Secret Agent 666
- Romania An Illustrated history
- Pirates of the Barbary
- Vamp - The Rise and Fall of Theda Bara
- The Rise and Fall of Downtown
- Ridgewood in the Country Club District
- Proposals for Downtown Cincinnati
- The Constitutional Origins of the American Revolution
- Johnny Comet
- Hypatia of Alexandria
- Reckless Endangerment
- Edmund Burke: A Genius Reconsidered
- The Teaching of the 12
- The Civil War in Kentucky
- The Last Frontier - The Roman Invasion of Scotland
Monday, January 02, 2012
1. - Friday
A kind of cathartic release day. It's really no different from any of the other weekdays but, it kinda is.
2. - Saturday
A whole day to yourself, except, of course, you've put a ton of things off all wek to do on the weekend so it's probably going to be filled with more work than what you did all week.
3. - Sunday
A whole day to do all the crap you didn't do Saturday.
4. - Wednesday
Hump day & I still think it's spelled funny.
5. - Monday
A fresh start to the work week.
6. - Tuesday
Has a fresh youngish, invigorated feel week after week after week….
7. - Thursday
It's almost Friday.
~This one is for the stockholders~
Sunday, January 01, 2012
CMHA wanted to spend $640,000 to renovate a uilding on Cincinnati's west side. The building has 12 units. They moved the current residents out & now the usual loudmouths are promoting the demolition of the building saying too much subsidized housing is concentrated in their community.
Nevermind this:
it [Westwood] now has about 1,100 subsidized housing units, or about 6 percent of all it's housing units. That’s less than subsidized housing’s 11.5 percent share city-wideMy question is, why does it cost so much & why move the residents around like cattle? That cost comes out to $53,000 per unit. Habitat for Humanity could build a whole house for that much. People routinely renovate their homes without moving out of them.
The Fishwrap's not very in depth article here
The Bacon's take here
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