Cherry Picking ?
At the Windbag's special council meeting, rookie councilman Wayne Lippert accused city manager Dohoney of cherry picking his streetcar comparisons. Lippert cited the most obvious comparison as being the Detroit people Mover. Does this look like the Cincinnati plan? Apparently Wayne thinks so.




When the guy said he had an open mind about the streetcar, I was thinking of something different.

For Lux

Cincinnati's Bizarro GOP
So, the Republicans on Cincinnati city council call a special meeting at the last minute to discuss transportation infrastructure but the topic they wanted to cover had already been scheduled weeks earlier for a report in the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee meeting to be held the day before. None of the Republicans attended the meeting. Wendell Young, a Democrat, attended although he is not on the committee.
In fact none of the Republicans are on the committee. Transportation and infrastructure are incredibly important to commerce, industry, safety and the quality of life in the city. Why is nobody in the supposedly pro-business Republican party on the committee?
No, in Cincinnati the GOP is too busy kissing labor union asses.
Is this why the Republican state legislature hates Cincinnati?

Streetcar Already Driving Economic Development

Due to the unprecedented success of this blog - nary a week goes by that somebody hits the site looking for pictures of Ashley Bulgari or some guy in Bwangi Ghanghi shows up hitting "Next Blog" or some Eurotrash lands here looking for some 70s rock music shit - I have started a new blog, Fiendish Dreaming.
Yes, it is just my dreams. Yes, the name is taken from one time Cincinnatian, Winsor McCay's cartoon strip. Yes, if you already thought I was mentally unstable these glimpses into my dream world should clinch it. Yes, I will censor (a recent visit to a whore house has some missing parts). Yes, names will be named.
Yes ~in summary~ it is EVERYTHING you ever wanted to waste your time reading online!

13 Pages of Local History Gold

The cover contrasted with a current Google Earth rendering
Back in 1940 the Urban Land Institute, a construct of the National Association of Real Estate Boards, concocted a set of proposals to strengthen the "downtown" areas of large cities across America that had suffered from the decentralization of their residents & businesses. I found the summary for Cincinnati at the Hamco Library. At 13 whole pages, it took more time to get it than to read it. but it's full of goodies.
The introduction:

Cincinnati has a distinct character which individualizes it among American cities, Because of the high calibre of its citizens this community has built exceptional ideals, not only in its governmental. industrial and. business life, but likewise in its pursuit of educational and cultural objectives. Among cities it stands high as a comment in which to live and. to do business it likewise deserves its enviable reputation for good government and financial stability Nevertheless, It Is quite
apparent that Cincinnati now stands at the crossroads as between becoming a static or retrogressive community, or, by forward looking action, becoming the great focal point for a large surrounding territory, The time is here when the citizens must decide what the City has the capacity to become, and. what they desire it to "be in the way of a City.
Quite obviously the citizens of this metropolitan area do not wish to see Cincinnati retrogress There has been a long period during which the City has done little else but endeavor to meet the pressing problems which have confronted it from year to year. The time is at hand when the City must adopt a constructive long range program leading to systematic procedure over a period of time and the taking of those steps and the making of those improvements necessary to arrest decline and to assure progress.

Other tids:

• Population: 452,852
• 90% of the population was born locally.
• 10% of the population is colored.
• During the past decade there haB been a loss of approximately 6% of the substantial population, which has been supplanted, by negroes, migrants from the Kentucky and Tennessee mountains, and persons seeking the relief bounty of the City.
• The central business district bounded by Plum, Central Parkway, 3rd Street and Broadway contains:
  
  • 230 specialty shops
  • 38 hotels
  • 30 office buildings
  • 19 banks
  • 14 theaters
  • 12 department stores
  • 9 five & dimes
  • 6 apartment hotels
  
  
• Office building vacancy: 15.8% (down from 1933's 28.9%)
• Single family residence vacancy <1%
• Since 1922 266 buildings razed - 24 built
• Debt: $35,774,917
• 1 car / 4.29 persons

There are a number of recommendations including eliminating on street parking in the CBD, build parking under the streets, build traffic bypasses, widen Liberty, Harrison & Gilbert, construct a crosstown artery using the Rapid Transit ROW from Oakley to Central Parkway, save Music Hall….
Seriously, good geek fun.

Happy Free Comic Book Day

Some comic book stores in the Cincinnati area:

Up Up and Away
4016 Harrison Avenue
Rockin' Rooster Comics & Games
5000 Glenway Avenue
Clifton Comics
3234 Jefferson Avenue
Comic Book World
7130 Turfway Road
Queen City Comic and Card
6101 Montgomery Road (@ Ridge)

Boycott Fayette County

Come on, Cincinnati, quit screwing around. Just institute a pay per bag yard waste pickup system like everybody else in Hamilton County has.

Spring Grove Cemetery Summer Hours in Effect

Spring Grove Cemetery's regular visitor hours (8A - 6P) are extended on Monday & Thursdays to 8P from now to September.
This means you can catch the evening sun on the blossoming flora 2 nights a week.
yay!
NOTE: the southern gate closes before the northern gate (pictured), so don't freak out (too much) if you think you are locked in.

The Greatest Story Ever Told

I really need to just move to Japan.....

MoBo Bike Sale
Interested in bicycling but don't want to make a huge investment? Interested in bicycling but can't make a huge investment? In a world where "entry level" bikes are $400 - $600, it can seem daunting.
Living in Cincinnati has advantages, tho. MoBo Bicycle CoOp is having a sale 4/30 from 11AM to 5PM with refurbished used bicycles that will get you where you need to go without busting your wallet. Most bikes are priced from $40 - $100.
Head on down to 1415 Knowlton Avenue in scenic Northside & put some steel between your legs and feel the wind across your face!

Congratulations to the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge

NASA Astro Picture of the Day

A Kasich Kasino

Resurrections

It's not every day a ghost sign comes back to life. Back in December, I noted The Old Timber Inn had painted over their old mural that was pretty much a ghost sign at the time. Happily, it's back.
Now, will the people in the windows return?

Are You an Addict ?

Are You an Addict ?
Do you avoid going places because you can't smoke there?
Do you avoid going places because you can't drink there?
Do you avoid going places because you can't park a car there?

Cincinnati Streetcar Attracts Families

The goal of the Cincinnati streetcar is to facilitate & enable people to live in an area of the city that is not terribly amenable to an auto-centric lifestyle. While auto addicts call it an amusement park ride for elitists, one can clearly see from this video it is a boon for families. Herding kids in and out of buses & minivans can be a nightmare and on buses, a parent has to contend with impatient fellow passengers as well. The ease of entry & exit can help the harried urban parent immeasurably. Anybody who has ridden a bus knows the inconvenience of baby carriages. Modern streetcars with wider, lower doors and open space inside, make using a baby carriage a snap.
The allure of urban living for single YPs is ok but attracting more solid families is what the urban core needs.

CDC Predicts Smoking Bans in All 50 States by 2020
Fortunately, Ohio has John Kasich at the helm, who will deregulate us to prosperity. He knows the businessman needs freedom to choose whether to let people smoke in his establishment. Kasich, a hero of the TEAse, will give us smaller less intrusive government & get these onerous anti-smoking laws off our backs and out of our bars. States he wants to emulate, Texas and Mississippi, don't have smoking bans. Soon, Ohio will be on that list, too.
God save Kasich.

WCPO story here.

Flippity Floppity
Every year local liquor sales permits are reviewed by the city and recommendations are made by the city to the state as to objections for license renewal. Cincinnati has over 1,000 licenses and usually fewer than 20 merit objections each year (contrary to what the local media might have you think, most people are AOK). The state of Ohio makes the final decisions.
What flags establishments are frequent police runs and complaints from neighborhood groups, institutions or individual citizens.
This year, nutjob Chas Winburn has decided that the process is flawed, subject to a lawsuit & he wants to have a review of all the local licenses every year. This desire to burden the city with needless paperwork is probably why COA T endorsed the dumbass. If nobody's complaining, why bother?
What's strange is that last year Winburn wanted to implement a policy where, if anybody was shot in or around a licensed establishment they would receive an automatic license objection. Now he feels such incidents are being judged unfairly? Once again, he has wetted his finger & thrust it into the air to see which way his political fortunes blow.
Councilmember Wendell Young is concerned about who gets new licenses. Laketa's staff could have surely told him this.
An applicant for a liquor sales license submits paperwork to the state, provides personal info including criminal convictions & financial viability. He agrees to background checks and the state informs the local government, law enforcement & nearby institutions of the application. Other than law enforcement, they have 30 days to file an objection. In Cincinnati, the neighborhood community councils are informed, the applicant is urged to meet with the councils and city councilmembers can certainly arrange to attend those meetings.
The community councils' opinions weigh heavily on objections.
If the police see problems emerging with an existing permit holder, they work with the establishment to keep it open. I think there is some room for corruption there but I don't know There has been some strong arming of some places, The Phoenix Cafe immediately springs to mind. Some objections are frivolous & are usually tossed out.
Councilwoman Amy Murray summed it up nicely, that it is a subjective process but counclilmembers have to do their best. Winburn's concepts of introducing science are laughable. Laketa Cole's "matrix" idea was kinda helpful but poorly implemented by the police. It certainly wasn't science, tho.
Winburn's tergiversation & kooky ideas waste time, money hurt morale & slow the business of the city down. I see no evidence of success of his custom made Jobs Creation committee. The man should step down now.

How to apply for a liquor license here.

Refurbished Macs for $39

Media Bridges is offering up some of their old Apple computers with a starting price of just $39. They will install Office for another $35 (Neo Office is free). They have iMacs, eMacs & G4x2 MTs.
An iMac G3 is, essentially, a doorstop. It might be fun to smash with a sledgehammer like the guy in the video is doing. You might use it as an iTunes computer but you will probably still want another drive if you have any kind of library.....
Forget about watching funny pet videos on YouTube.
Proceeds will go to fund their low power radio station WVQC @ 95.7 FM, which, if you don't live next door, you can listen to on your computer - like your new old iMac G3.
Media Bridges is at the NW corner of Race & Central parkway.

Ya Wanna Buy a Prison ?

Lately, people in Ohio have thought they had "done deals" with the state only to find it's "new sheriff" has decided to change the rules midstream. Will John Kasich's rewriting the contract with casino operators give pause to any private entity interested in taking over Ohio prisons? I would think so.
There are pitfalls in privatization to be avoided and a recent study indicates savings through privatizing 2 other Ohio prisons might not have actually occurred. If, after a couple years, Kasich decides he wants more, how likely is it he will toss out his contract & just concoct another?
Private prison operators (and I know you guys read this blog), take my advice - have an army of lawyers on hand if you do business with this guy.

I live on a street that slopes down to the east. Around this time of year (and in another 6 months) the morning sun will shine in all my east facing windows. It also reflects off my western neighbor's windows & shines in through my western windows. With all the little sunny spots on the floor, I can only imagine the confusion this conundrum would cause a cat.

Keller's to Reopen

Keller's IGA, in Clifton, will reopen by fall under new ownership & possibly with a new name. Being Cincinnati, the name Keller's will probably still be used for years to come. The new owner, Steve Goessling intends to remodel the store & shift focus a bit. The last owner wanted to do pretty much the same but lacked funds. Goessling, with other IGAs under his belt, appears to be on sounder financial footing.
This store can't open soon enough.
Fishwrap story here.

New Documentary - TSA - Your Ass is in Our Hands

ok, it's not a documentary. It's a Hustler porn movie. But who better than Hustler to mock heavy handed civil rights violations for your protection?
I am assuming all the best stuff is in the trailer.

Selling a Streetcar
Today and tomorrow, April 12 & 13 there will be an open house at city hall promoting the Cincinnati Streetcar. Having lost almost $52 million dollars in federal transit money through back room dealings by state level GOP extremists and the one sided and ill informed local media, one might think the plan was dead. Hell, WLWT even teased that it was before telling a snippet of truth.
While the open house may be informative and might even sway some skeptics, they won't go, so it won't matter. The media, on this issue, has been dominated by opponents. How certain people get all the quotes and others are completely ignored is beyond me. If I knew maybe more people than the 5 or 6 people from India hitting "next blog" every day would read this thing.
At a recent meeting in Columbus, Christ Hospital testified they had planned on a $352 development on the streetcar route if built. Proponents repeatedly cite that private investment along the route would dwarf the city's infrastructure investment. This one development was almost 3 times the public investment. Sibcy Cline testified that home owners in the area were interested & it was driving up values. Nobody reported on this. Even WVXU, an NPR affiliate - the right's pariah, ignored it choosing, instead, to report the antics of an Anderson Township comedian & the delusional fantasies of a guy too far gone to attend the meeting himself. TV stations interviewed Chris Smitherman but ignored any number of coherent supporters like John Schneider, Brad Thomas, Randy Simes, Jake Mecklenborg, Bob Richardson.... Are they just hoping to catch some crazy out of Smitherman? Are they hoping Finney will go off on another foul mouthed rant? Are they just gambling on catching something sensational like Evel Knievel breaking every bone in his body?
ONE local media host actually takes a serious & objective look at things. Unfortunately he doesn't deal in soundbites & catchphrases like "boondoggle" and "choo choo". So who wants to watch that?
Newsmakers
The streetcar isn't an easy thing to grasp & can't be explained in a catchword (that I can think of). People will not research on their own. People want to have info spoon fed to them in pre masticated bites and they want them when they want them. The vast majority of people will not go to an open house or watch a boring presentation at a city council committee meeting. The see the morning news, They listen to the radio in their car to and from work. They might catch the evening news & probably catch some of the late news. If streetcar proponents cannot get their message into these venues (or anybody else) all the polite, genteel informative discourse is pointless.
It's not wether the plan is good or bad, it's just advertising.
PS- hey Atherton! It's the Gateway Quarter not Corridor!

Smitherman Announces Run
The Fishwrap reports that Chris Smitherman, cable TV & radio superstar, president of the local NAACP, master financial planner and prior 1 term city councilman is planning to run for council in 2012 but his imminent election will not preclude him from running for mayor in 2013 - another sure win.
Smitherman's clear mind & level head will give us the bold leadership & vision that the city needs. His broad support from the FOP, COA T, NAACP, the Greens & Westwood Concern will make for a real Can Do city! His productive relationship with Cincinnati Public Schools is just the plus we need to turn the city around.

Ridgewood in the Country Club District

Tuesday April 12, Tamara K. Dallenbach will sign her new book Ridgewood in the Country Club District from 5 to 6:30 PM at the Clark County Heritage Center in Springfield, OH.
The Ridgewood neighborhood grew Springfield northward in the 1910s & was the brainchild of Harry S. Kissell. Kissel, a Wittenberg College graduate, civic leader & 33rd degree Mason, saw the need for better financing options to increase home ownership which he was convinced was the cornerstone to better communities. Standard home loans required 50% down & a 3-5 year payoff. Kissell worked with the feds to reform banking through the National Housing Act of 1934. He helped to establish the National Real Estate Boards, the Ohio Real Estate Board & Springfield Real Estate Board of which he served as president as well. He also worked to establish zoning regulations that would protect the homeowner's investment.

Kissell right of Theodore Roosevelt & the president of Wittenberg College on the far left
Ridgewood is an almost textbook example of what planners saw as the ideal suburban community. To make it work, Kissell needed to ensure the entrance was a grand and stately boulevard. To do this, he needed the zoning regulations to guarantee the setback of the houses. One of the best examples of the windy streets with staggered houses is probably Brighton between Sunnyside and Harding Rd.

Corner of Pythian and Brighton
People thought Kissell was nuts & the development doomed to failure but he persevered & ultimately moved the "millionaire's mile" from East High St. to North Fountain Blvd.

Kissell's house on Fountain Blvd 1927


another house on Fountain Blvd 1926


Ridgewood Elementary School
Access to the Ridgewood neighborhood required a streetcar and the gazebo type stops still exist altho the wooden seats have been replaced with metal seats. They were popular gathering spots for degenerate teenagers in the 60s & 70s.
The Kissell Company gradually moved away from real estate sales & development and into mortgage loans. It eventually became one of the largest financial institutions of it's kind. It was the first mortgage loan company to computerize mortgage accounting, escrow control, tax analysis & insurance records in the 60s. Eventually Pittsburgh National Bank bought the company and spun off the real estate division. It was purchased by Robert Christol, also a Springfield Real Estate Board president, who renamed the company eponymously. That company dissolved in 1991 after his death.
Kissell died in Cincinnati in 1946 where he was serving as Ohio Real Estate Board president.
The book isn't on Amazon, the Ohio Book Store isn't big on Orange Frazier, but the book is available at the Heritage Center & on Orange Frazier's website (with an outrageous shipping fee).

Noose Son story here.
UPDATE: Noose Son adds photo gallery including a rendering of aforementioned streetcar stops.

Remembering Riots
About 10 years ago Cincinnati was semi-rocked by rioting. While the cause cited is a young black guy getting shot while playing hide-n-seek with the police, the inability of the police to notify his next of kin, his mother, seems to have been the real catalyst.
Why had the police failed to inform his mom? She went by a number of names & aliases and her acquaintances were reluctant to help police find her. She blamed police.
Why was the guy shot? He had accumulated a string of arrests & warrants in just 19 years that most people don't achieve in lifetimes 3 times as long. When he fled from a policeman who recognized him & asked him to talk, a chase was on and the other officers joining in did not know the extent of his crimes. With just the number of offenses they assumed they were looking at trouble. When he & an officer surprised one another in the dark maze of alleys Thomas was using for his game of cat & mouse, shots were fired. Most of Thomas' offenses were related to driving & his not facing up to his legal obligations. A tragic waste.
A big issue brought up was the number of Blacks who had been killed by police officers in Cincinnati over the years. All the casualties racked up by the police had been black. Of 15 only a couple were questionable. Frequently the police were just returning fire. This was routinely glossed over. Article
I remember my white co-workers in Over the Rhine being almost terrified to come to work. The night shift workers needed letters citing their good reason for being out and about after the curfew. One guy was almost crying about how he couldn't risk his life there because he had a wife and children. Meanwhile I went out and stood at the bus stop looking down Findlay at an armed police line a block away. When the bus arrived it had a cracked window. The black woman sitting behind it looked tense but confident. Race relations on the bus were fine. Later, at the grocery, the mood was pretty upbeat. The clientele being about half black / half white generally had the attitude of people planning for a snowstorm or a Superbowl. People were preparing for the curfew buying soda, beer, chips, pizza, junk / comfort food, etc. The lines at the check out were long and chatty. That evening I sat on the front porch and enjoyed the quiet. My middle aged ass kinda liked this curfew thing.
Images of the riots & protests were interesting. The black people under 30 including teens & preteens seemed to look like what wealthy white college students would call a spring break. Unorganized vandalism & looting... The Over the Rhine Credit Union, established to fill the void left by traditional banks and to offer financial help to the neighborhood residents, was trashed. Meanwhile the black folks over 30 tended to march in an organized way protesting fairly specific issues. People traveling to Cincinnati to participate in something they knew nothing about? Priceless.
In the aftermath, the Collaborative Agreement was hatched. Mayors and ex-mayors from Boston & San Francisco offered to give Mayor Charlie Luken advice as they had dealt with similar issues in the past. They had claimed that dealing with socio-economic issues along racial lines would be a failure & that socio-economic issues need to be addressed as socio-economic issues (!). Luken, in typical Cincinnati form, said he would deal with it himself - as a race issue. The Collaborative Agreement was so called because it dealt with a number of Black advocacy groups that debatably even represented anybody and had various agendas. Too many chiefs? yup. Within a few years, Luken tried to end the whole thing because egos & interests of the Black citizens groups had led to their disolution, lack of cohesiveness & coherence.
A police monitoring system was established to find out if police were engaged in racial profiling. The surveying method was ill-conceived and when results were analyzed by the pros at UC, they claimed they couldn't really draw any conclusions since the surveys didn't ask the right questions.
A citizens complaint panel was established that finds 99.9% of complaints against police unwarranted.
To assume that all the police reforms of the last 10 years are the direct result of the Collaborative Agreement would be naive. Police policies were already changing in 2001 and continually evolve.
The biggest impact was probably the police slowdown in Over the Rhine. This allowed criminal activity to flourish in the area and provide a base to grow throughout the entire city. When Sheriff's deputies showed up, the area immediately changed for the better. We are still cleaning up.
A number of Black advocacy groups have engaged in establishing expensive & business crushing rules & quotas on various government projects. Liberal white apologists see this as a positive thing. The advocacy groups engaging their constituents & helping them better their lot as conservatives would prefer isn't happening much, but when groups like COA T, with their anti-government agenda can count on groups like the NAACP to help them antagonize government, it's unlikely to hear them speak up.
Another result was the "Boycott of Cincinnati". Among other things, black performers, after contracting to do shows, reneged & cancelled their contracts. In the case of Whoopi Goldberg, this unprofessional conduct mainly hurt local non-profit organizations.
What's changed? The biggest change in police work since 2001 has been a policy to "work smarter", video recording of stops & the use of tasers, non-lethal when used on relatively healthy people. The "black community" seems to be a little more cooperative with police in recent years. That's seems to be about it. The riots did reinforce the stereotype of the uncontrollably violent negro in the minds of many predisposed Whites.
Most people aren't exactly "where they want to be". They can blame others for their lot in life. They can blame classes defined by race, sex, religion, region.....
It's normal.
When others enable them to believe their prejudice a snowball effect ensues. Some people say we need to chat & dwell on past slights. It won't work. I cannot hate the Italians who tormented my ancestors. I cannot hate the crimes and oppression of Africans, English, Catholics, Swedes.... - that's about as far back as I can go - on my ancestors. Sorry. At some point you have to move on.

Did the Ohio Democrats Grow Some Balls ?
Not really. State legislators are crafting legislation that would allow for recall elections for members of the state government including the governor. Currently there is no such mechanism. Unfortunately, since Ohio is in the grip of single party rule, any such bill would be defeated, if not in the legislature then with an executive veto. Of course it would never make it through the legislature on the best of days. This is something that needs to be done by the citizens on their own. Maybe the Dem legislators can spark some interest in the voters, tho. NAH, that would be leadership.....

Noose Son article here.

Kasich's Alcohol Problem
If Ohio's governor, John Kasich, really wanted to make the state a leaner, more business friendly place, a really good place to start would have been it's draconian liquor laws.
Ohio directly controls hard liquor sales & through a maze of laws & price controls manages to screw up beer and wine sales, too. While the state "allows" entrepreneurs to sell alcohol in retail outlets, everything up to that point is under strict control.
Kasich's hints at TEAism might have led one to believe he would want to embrace free markets and reduce government regulation, making it easier for Ohio entrepreneurs to realize the American dream. But, no, Kasich has decided to keep the cash cow under soviet-style state control and lease it to his semi-private, oversight-free JobsOhio outfit to fund their statist venture capitalist adventures.
The mandatory price markups will stay in place. The uncompetitive wholesale purchasing will go on - continuing to give Ohioans higher prices and fewer choices. The uncompetitiveness may not be an issue in Dayton & Columbus but border communities that must compete with the free markets in other states, especially Kentucky, are hit hard by these anti-competetive policies. Apparently, promoting competition & free markets seems pointless to Kasich's JobsOhio guru, Mark Kvamme & Ohio TEA doesn't seem to have a problem, either. Given TEA's constituency, they might prefer prohibition, anyway.
Ohio's path to corporatism marches on. Unfortunately, the trains won't be running on time.

Tooleedoo Blade article here.

Clevo Pain Dealer article here.

Buying a Bridge
Politicians are lining up with ideas to pay the $3 BILLION price tag for a new I-75/I-71/I-74 bridge over the Ohio river. The talk of tolls has got people freaked out. Proponents say bridge traffic will increase significantly but with higher gas prices, and stagnant to shrinking populations in Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio & Michigan, that doesn't seem likely. To pay for the bridge in tolls, it would cost about $1.75 a trip to pay the thing off in 30 years, at which time it's estimated it will be in need of replacement. Dunno if a toll can be applied to an interstate but we need to be creative here.
First thing that comes to mind is advertising. Naming rights would be obvious. What company wouldn't want their name associated with traffic jams and bottlenecks? Billboards over the roadway & off to the sides might be tacky but these things don't pay for themselves. I'm thinking a metal structure could also be used as an antenna to broadcast radio ads at the cars while they are on the bridge. It could jam the entire frequency range for the limited area to guarantee listenership.
With the use of tolls, most commuters & professional drivers would use electronic "EZPass" type doohickies but a good number of people would have to stop & pay. We could rent out spaces around the waiting area to mobile vendors selling hot dogs, t-shirts, pizza, commemorative banners & such.
Random prizes could be awarded - a sort of lottery system. Poor people would drive back and forth all day long. Go Go dancers in cages along the bridge might bring in some repeat business, too.
Of course a reality TV show could promote the use of the bridge. D.O.T. Apprentice, anyone?
We are overlooking the obvious here, of course. Why even build a bridge? I am sure our local idea man, the illustrious Chuck Windbag is already working on a plan to use rubber floater pontoon ferries, operated by boy scouts, to transport cars across the river following a colored rope drawn from shore to shore.

Previously

Fishwrap article here.

New Jesus Due by End of Year !

I swear, these guys have the buffest vision of Jesus I have ever seen.
51' woot!
Noose Son story here.

Government Efficiency Tip
Politicians constantly cite the need to roll up their sleeves & get to work.
Save time - wear T-Shirts.

A First Look at Wayne Lippert

Outgoing Cincinnati Councilman Jeff Berding named Wayne Lippert his replacement. Berding stressed the three Is of his decision making process.

• Integrity
• Intelligence
• Independence

In an interview with Dan Hurley, Lippert claimed to not remember the third I - Independence. Not surprising as he has voted straight party line since his appointment.
He is apparently supporting Chas Winburn's effort to take the streetcar off the table even tho, in the same Newsmaker's interview he couldn't come up with a valid reason to oppose streetcar development & furthermore went on to say that "nothing" was off the table. The Integrity I appears to be faltering.
Hurley asked Lippert about a number of issues that have been burbling about for some time & Lippert replied repeatedly that he would have to study the issues. Seems that if you actually want to serve it would be because you care enough to know what is behind these issues. I don't know if this falls under the I of Integrity or Intelligence. Maybe in George W Bush's idiot savant theory he thinks ignorance makes for a good representative.
Berding quipped that a major factor in his choice of a replacement was finding someone who would be a thorn in the mayor's backside. Maybe this is where Lippert will excel.

Fishwrap story here.

A Google search for berding, intelligence, independence, integrity here

Great Minds
While the Dove World Outreach Center's "trial & execution" of a C'oranne was juvenile at best, it also harkened back to the good old witch trials. At least they didn't hurt anybody this time. This, of course, set a gaggle of peace loving Moslems into another murderous frenzy. Because of Terry Jones' heresy (burning paper) a mob in Afghanistan stormed a UN headquarters & slaughtered, maimed and injured people. In typical riot efficiency, no Floridians fell victim. No Americans were killed. Does that matter to these kill crazed loons? Probably not.
These folks resent their country being occupied by the US. Lessee, why are the bastard Americans there? um, oh yeah, the Afghanistan people were harboring and supporting a terrorist organization that had murdered THOUSANDS of people around the world..
The bloodthirsty rioters have called for justice & want the Floridians to be punished to the full extent of the law. I agree. The pertinent law would probably have something to do with burning trash without a permit.

Florida Courier article here.

Time Capsule Found !
Well, apparently no singing frogs but a 96 year old time capsule has been found in the Clark County Veterans Memorial Hall cornerstone. It was unexpected, so partially damaged, but, otherwise, the contents are described as in excellent condition.
The Clark County Historical Society plans on exhibiting the contents as soon as possible.
Noose Son story here.

Creating Jobs & Eliminating National Debt Made Easy
To hell with all the pansy-ass hand wringing liberals & "cut it and they will come" neo-cons, here's how we fix Amerika.
Foreign debt? Easy & step 1 - tell 'em we aren't paying. Done. If they don't like it, we bomb 'em. Since they will either not do business with us because their nations are nuclear wastelands or they just don't like us not paying them, we will have to start making our own stuff. Necessity is the mother of invention doncha know? Our manufacturing base will take off overnight & we will have jobs & a booming economy again. raw materials? We just take 'em. The rest of the world will think we are so bat shit crazy-violent, they will let us take whatever we need. Problem solved - Amerika is proud and strong again.

ok, so when the Libyan rebels take Tripoli & begin slaughtering the local defense & anybody connected to KaDaffy's regime, how fast will NATO be able to switch it's military humanitarian aid over to the other side?

Fools There Were

Le Vampire
We seem to have lost something along the way. Back in the early 1900s, the picture, above, by Philip Burne-Jones, inspired Rudyard Kipling to write this poem.

The Vampire
A fool there was and he made his prayer
(Even as you or I!)
To a rag and a bone and a hank of hair,
(We called her the woman who did not care),
But the fool he called her his lady fair--
(Even as you or I!)

Oh, the years we waste and the tears we waste,
And the work of our head and hand
Belong to the woman who did not know
(And now we know that she never could know)
And did not understand!

A fool there was and his goods he spent,
(Even as you or I!)
Honour and faith and a sure intent
(And it wasn't the least what the lady meant),
But a fool must follow his natural bent
(Even as you or I!)

Oh, the toil we lost and the spoil we lost
And the excellent things we planned
Belong to the woman who didn't know why
(And now we know that she never knew why)
And did not understand!

The fool was stripped to his foolish hide,
(Even as you or I!)
Which she might have seen when she threw him aside--
(But it isn't on record the lady tried)
So some of him lived but the most of him died--
(Even as you or I!)

``And it isn't the shame and it isn't the blame
That stings like a white-hot brand--
It's coming to know that she never knew why
(Seeing, at last, she could never know why)
And never could understand!''

This inspired Porter Emerson Browne to write a play, A Fool There Was, which was later made into a movie of the same name.
Nowadays we have books & comic books made into movies. Toys are made of cartoons and cartoons are made of toys. In our modern society, plays, poems and paintings have pretty much mothing in common. OK, their first letters... There is a creative & complementary cross discipline thing going on there, but that doesn't exist in converting an "asset" from one media to another. That's pretty much just "re-purposing". It's not exactly on the same intellectual plane.
Do teachers in schools promote this kind of exercise? It seems we are slaves to motion & dialogue. Have we become John Schuyler?
You can D/L A Fool There Was here.

Ault Park Turns 100 !

Buy my crap
The Fishwrap reports that Ault Park will be turning 100 this year.
When I first moved to Cincinnati, I lived in Oakley. This place was nearby & only saw real action in the summer. The pavilion was a wreck, the picnic tables broken & rotted & the road wasn't doing too well. Perfect for somebody like me. People talk about the place being overrun with biker gangs but I never saw that. They had a great 4th of July festival but it was kind of crowded. It was also only a few blocks away from a Taco Casa. Many taco salads were consumed there.
If you want to show your pride & celebrate the park & buying a motorcycle ain't in the budget, get my cool Ault Park junk from CafePress. Shirts, aprons, mousepads, mugs, you name it!

File Under: WTF ?

Happy 80, dude, maybe in another 80 years you can finally live this one down. Live long & prosper...

Happy Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Day

100 years ago today a fire broke out in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York. Poor emergency preparation resulted in the deaths of 146 seamstresses on the 8th to 10th floors. Firefighters ladders could not reach the trapped women. Emergency workers could only watch as they were consumed by fire or as they jumped to their deaths.
This event is used to support the value of unions as the workers had only weeks before been fighting for better and safer working conditions. With or without a union, this should never have happened and should not be forgotten.

Fixing Potholes

Councilwoman Amy Murray is vowing to have 10,000 potholes fixed in 3 weeks. Can it be done?
Murray runs a company called The Japan Consulting Group & has been involved with Japanese business for a while. She has obviously seen the dismal failure in Japanese passenger rail & is fighting tirelessly to save Porkopolis from the same fate. But can she get some Japanese road repair savvy in Cincinnati? Hamilton Avenue is turning into a lifetime career for some local road workers, but in Japan major repairs have taken place since their recent earthquake & tsunami. If these guys can do this, road widening & pot holes should be a cinch.

HT to the Cincinnati Blog

Meanwhile, in COA Tland...

BARSOOM !

I have accepted the fact that Hollywood is incapable of original thought. Remakes of remakes of adaptations seems to be the best they can do. That they don't even pick good crap to adapt.....
Hugo Chavez bringing up the topic of life on Mars on World Water Day made me think of Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter on Mars pulp series & why the hell doesn't anybody do that on film (or pixels).
Lo & behold! A film adaptation is due in 2012 which will mark the 100th anniversary of the character's introduction to the pulp world.
It will probably suck but you would need today's special effects tech to do the story.

HT to The Pagan Temple for Chavez' latest lunacy.

Party to Save the Pool!
The city of Cincinnati Recreation Department has decided to not open several pools this summer due to budget restraints.
Northside's pool is one of them. Efforts are underway to raise the approximately $45,000 needed to keep the pool open this summer.
Working Families' Movement of Northside will be hosting a fundraiser Thursday, March 24 at the McKie Recreation Center at 1655 Chase Avenue from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Local hip hop artists from Elementz and the Northside Drill Team will bring the party and Happen will be there to provide programming for the kids.

For more information, call 513-807-3898
or visit the FaceBook page.

Additionally, there is more info on the pool & how you can donate directly to the fund to keep it open here.

What Happens When Auto-Cultists Willingly Sail Through Intersections

The faith of the road warrior must be mighty indeed to sustain him while blindly whizzing around in a death dealing 2 ton rolling bomb.

Come Again, Willie ?
Back when John McCain was running against Barak O'Bama for president, Cincinnati's bombastic radio fool, WLW's Willie Cunningham, predicted that if O'Bama was elected he would soon be sitting around singing Kumbaya with Islamo-terrorists who wanted to kill us all.

It appears the "Great American" was a little off.
While O'Bama continues 2 wars against predominantly Muslim States, he has just engaged in a third. Meanwhile, Ohio governor, John DICK Kasich has upped Ohio's support for school vouchers. This lets Ohio parents divert money from the public school system & give it to charter schools & private schools. In Ohio and the nation one of the fastest growing segments of charter schools is Islamic oriented. That is, madrassas. Ohio is alredy up to 19. Is that where John DICK Kasich's beloved heartland wants to invest it's education dollars?
It seems the one most likely to be sitting around singing Kumbaya with Al Quaeda won't be O'Bama but John DICK Kasich.

Gaga is a hoot

Does Size Matter ?
These numbers aren't terribly accurate, they are rounded off, too, but they are close enough to get some kinda point across.
Back when Cincinnati began it was just a few square miles along the river. Around 1810 there were about 2,000 people and policing was pretty much a volunteer night watch thing. A police force didn't happen till 1828 which resulted in a force of about 7 men. The population in 1830 was about 25,000.
In 1850 the city annexed the rest of "the basin" boosting the city's area to about 6 square miles. The population was about 115,000. A police chief system was established in 1852.
Throughout the 1800s police got around on foot or on horseback. In the later decades they added horse drawn wagons to the mix.
Cincinnati began annexing nearby villages. Cumminsville was added in 1873. At the time of the courthouse riots of 1884, Cincinnati had a police force of 300. By 1900 the city had a population of about 325,000 & covered about 50 square miles. This would have given the city about 6 officers per square mile that they would traverse by foot or on horseback.
The police established a telegraph network as early as 1866 with "call boxes" & updated it to telephony by 1880. Prior to that the patrolling officer was pretty much out on his own. Cincinnati's was actually the first police department to adopt the telephone.
In 1904 the first motorized
police wagon" was introduced. In 1911 the police force adopted motorcycles and in 1912 patrol cars were introduced giving the officers a greater range & faster response times. Theoretically. Tires of that era were of notoriously poor quality & flats were commonplace.
The city ceased it's annexation campaign around 1914 when it had grown to just under 80 square miles.
By the 1950s Cincinnati's population peaked at over 500,000. Police cars had become specialty vehicles with powerful engines and advanced suspensions. Later, the call boxes were replaced with radio communications. If you were around in the 1960s you probably remember seeing the old call boxes. Through better communications & transportation the police were well equipped to handle the area and population.
By 2011 the population of Cincinnati has shrunk to just under 300,000. It has not grown it's area for almost 100 years. The police officers are aided with computer networks in addition to their better radios & an array of weaponry, the latest additions primarily being non-lethal.
The police force, at around 1,000 officers added another 100 around 2006. This gives Cincinnati approximately 13 officers, with damn near Batman-like technology, per square mile. This is more than twice the police per square mile of 120 years ago when we had roughly the same size population, only a slightly smaller footprint & police were running around on foot & communicating with stationary phones. Do all the high tech advances count for nothing? Seems like we should need fewer police, not more.

ICANN OKs .XXX

ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) has okd the use of the .xxx top level domain. They did not approve .gay.
Not everybody was pleased. Somehow some people posting adult content think it will be good for their businesses. Porn traditionally spoofs popular names, titles & stuff. Will people get rich with urls like IBM.xxx or marthastewart.xxx ?
It will certainly make it easier for ISPs & governments to block the sites. This actually appeals to some adult content sites. One of their big problems is dealing with minors stealing their parents credit cards & accessing adult sites by lying about heir age. Parents are frequently less tolerant of the sites that have to deal with canceling charges than they are of their lying, thieving pervo-brats.
It won't bode well in authoritarian countries or in first amendment challenged Hamilton County with it's obsessive morals police like Simon Lies, Phil Burress & their minions in the CCV & OCA not to mention the local throng of Gothardites.
Fox News predicts it will bring an onslaught of porn to the internet. uh, guys? Have you looked at the internet lately? I have no idea why established sites would want to change their addresses or why non adult sites would choose the domain given it's likely banning in a number of markets.
We shall see. The phrase, "Be careful what you wish for" comes to mind.

Politico story here.

CSO a Sell Out ?

photo by Rack Photo
The Enquirer is wondering why the Cincinnati Symphony is selling out it's shows.
Back in '07 I copied and pasted an article from The Cincinnati Post about attendance & auditorium size at Music Hall. Glad I did as it gathered a lot of good info & The Post ain't there anymore. Thank bog for crappy blogging.
Music Hall is one of the largest auditoriums and Cincinnati is not one of the largest markets around. It wasn't coming close to selling out in 07. Compared to the larger markets and audience sizes in other cities though, Cincinnati wasn't doing bad at all then. Now it's just smokin'.
11/24/07 article here.

HT to Cincinnati Blog

3CDC v. Neighborhoods ?
A recent article in SoapBox describes how some enterprising guys built up a following an Northside's Take the Cake and decided to launch out on their own with an Italian trattoria, A Tavola. With the following they had built up, they naturally went shopping for a space in Northside. 3CDC got involved & sold the new business on a space in OTR's booming Gateway Quarter.
So How do the neighborhoods of Cincinnati compete with the money & organization of a local juggernaut like 3CDC?
Sure, the neighborhoods have business associations, but they are like college student protestors compared to 3CDC's Xe. I'm all for a healthy city center and Northside needs another restaurant like it needs a hole in it's collective head but is the lopsided competition in the greater city's best interest?

Can it Happen Here?
With the recent earthquake & tsunami in Japan, we have to wonder if it could happen here. The 100LB gorilla in the midwest, of course, is the New Madrid seismic zone which will mark the 200th anniversary of it's last shift this winter.
From December 1811 to February 1812 There were several strong quakes - the strongest recorded in the midwest and a number of smaller shakes. Minor shakes continued on til March of 1813. Near the epicenter New Madrid was flattened, earth liquified, geysers of earth and water erupted & 15-20 foot waves were reported on the Mississippi. Vibrations were felt in Michigan and in Boston where the shaking caused bells to ring.

This map uses the Modified Mercali Scale. It doesn't really measure anything it just kinda codifies the reported effects.
For all the power of the quakes they didn't do a whole lot of damage because there just wasn't a whole lot to damage. As late as 1830 Frances Trollope described Memphis as a few wooden buildings carved out of the forest on a bluff overlooking the river. Cincinnati only had a population of a little over 2,300. The city consisted of just over 1,000 structures in an area that would roughly be the central business district and Queensgate today. The structures were primarily 1 & 2 story wood buildings about a quarter of the buildings were brick and there were about 2 dozen buildings made of stone. The brickwork was about the only thing to suffer in Cincinnati. Cracks in walls were reported, some chimneys toppled & a bucket of water fell over. Light was obtained from candles and oil lamps but apparently this caused no problem.
Modern experts on buildings & seismology tell us that modern buildings in Cincinnati, which have added steel to the construction mix, should be structurally adequate for another quake from that region. The problem would be what the buildings are built on. Landslides on Cincinnati's soft hillsides would be a major problem. Of course since 1811 we have also networked ourselves with electric lines, phone lines, water lines, gas lines & bridges. Ruptures of gas lines & downed power lines could result in fires, Ruptured water lines and collapsed roadways could severely hamper emergency crews.
Quakes in the New Madrid area have happened before around 900, & 1500. Following this pattern we should have had another around the second half of the 20th century. The quakes in 1811 were preceded by intense flooding near the epicenter. Maybe modern river management has abated the potential for a major quake along the Mississippi?
There was a quake in Anna, Ohio in March after the flooding of the Ohio & Mississippi rivers in 1937 but Anna was nowhere near the rivers.
The earthquake of 1811 was also preceded by a comet visible in Cincinnati in September and strange solar activity noted by Dr Daniel Drake. He also noted in the days prior to the quake, a darkening of the sky.
What is scary, now, in Japan is the damage at it's nuclear power plants. In southern Ohio a nuclear plant would likely be built along the Ohio river. Drake pointed out tremors were more severe along the river bed. Would modern building techniques be strong enough to weather an 1811 strength quake? I would hope so. I certainly wouldn't build a plant anywhere near New Madrid, tho. Of course people have......

Natural and Statistical View, or a Picture of Cincinnati and the Miami Country by Daniel Drake
Cincinnati Magazine article 10/08

HT to Losantville

Also in Drake's treatise he also mentions the fate of the county courthouse that preceded the courthouse destroyed in 1884. It was burned down in a mishap in 1812. I'd love to see the insurance policy on the latest courthouse. :-)

Navistar hires back 180 laid off workers & begins production of 3 new truck models. This will provide good and much needed jobs in Springfield. Kasich will probably take credit for the restoration of these union jobs but this has been in the works for awhile.

Noose Son story here.

A Trip to South Cumminsville
Siezing the nice day by the face, I pedalled over to South Cumminsville for a visit. I was looking for the old "Lucky Circus Grounds" mentioned by Sparky09 in the comments in this article about the circus poster exhibit at the Cincinnati Art Museum.
Cumminsville was established around 1800 and extended west along the northern banks of the Mill Creek westward to where it ran down along the western banks of the Mill Creek. Train tracks crossed the town and the area to the north was sometimes called Northside and south of the tracks was sometimes called Southside. Cincinnati annexed Cumminsville in 1873. More roadways cut through between the regions and sometime or other, when Cincinnati started to recognize official neighborhoods (1960s ?) the separated community was named Cumminsville and South Cumminsville. In the early 80s Cumminsville changed it's name to Northside.
Obviously, the center of the neighborhood wound up in Northside and along with weird new traffic patterns connecting to South Cumminsville got more and more obnoxious. South Cumminsville was mostly residential and the blighted areas along the highways & ramps gave way to factories, warehouses & parking lots. The residential areas are just kinda "what's left". Some new housing went in in the early 2000s. Dunno how that's working out. To get an idea of how things have changed, check out this "interactive" map contrasting the area in 1869 & now.
I entered S Cumminsville along the clusterfuck intersection where Spring Grove meets Elberon & Colerain.

Leaving Northside - an old Crosley plant
Then I entered an industrial wasteland.
Sparky09 said he lived in a house at the end of Roll Avenue and across the street were the fairgrounds. Roll is amazing. It was probably lined with houses along the whole 2 block stretch. Maybe 30-50 houses. Now there are about 6. You can see lot after lot with steps, retaining walls & foundations but only a few houses. At the end there is a dip and the Lucky Circus Grounds are now the Carl F Hille Memorial Field.


Sgt. Hille was a Cincinnati police officer in 1942. He was an avid baseball player and organized numerous sports activities in the police department but his life was cut short when he died in an explosion in the line of duty.

The last house on the right
Dunno if this is the house Sparky09 lived in but it sits at a high point with the field below it in the front and the west fork of the Mill Creek behind it. A circus in the field below in the summer at night would have to have been magical for a kid. Like everything else around there, tho, it was all pretty dilapidated.

This house is for sale
The next street over, Dawson, with a junkyard at the end, was a little more populated. This 5 bedroom, 120 year old gem at 3620 can be had for a cool $20,000.
Oddly enough there was a posting on South Cumminsville almost exactly a year ago on the cincinnati.com blog, 52 Neighborhoods.
It references a Building Cincinnati post from 2007. That post discusses eminent domain in revitalizing the neighborhood. From what I saw, buying up some of the abandoned industrial property might be kind of lucrative.
Anyway, here's some more pics. Click on the thumbs to see a larger image in a new window.

Ya Want a Riot ?

While we approach the 10th anniversary of the 2001 riots of Cincinnati, we also approach the 127th anniversary of the 1884 riots. Compared to the 1884 riots, 2001's was like Spring Break. While 2001's had to do with police shootings that were frequently totally justified, 1884's was more about an alarming murder rate & the inability of a justice system to deal with the problem. In 1883 there were 96 murders compared to 2010's 72.
A Cincinnati Enquirer article titled "The College of Murder" stated:

"Laxity of laws gives the Queen City of the West its crimson record. Pre-eminence in art, science, and industry avail nothing where murder is rampant and the lives of citizens are unsafe even in broad daylight."

Cincinnati wasn't involved in prohibition back then. Unlike today, innocent people were at high risk.
As we look at our homicide rate & police force today, we can compare it to 1883.
The population of the city is fairly stagnant at about 333,000. Between 1880 & 1890 the population rose from 255.000 to 296,000. With over 1,000 police officers today armed with networked computers & phones / radios & cars that can cruise at 100 MPH, the police force of 1884 was comprised of 300 officers who had whistles an a few wagons. More than tripling the manpower & adding all the hardware has reduced homicide by about 25%. Maybe it's not the police - maybe it's prohibition.
Anyway, 12/24/1883 2 guys brutally murdered their boss & dumped him in the Mill Creek. They were caught & pretty much confessed immediately. Pretty cut & dried. One guy was mulatto & the other white. in March of 1884 the white guy was tried & sentenced to 20 years for manslaughter. People were outraged. A. - the laxity on the white guy and B. - the unfairness that the mulatto was likely going to get hanged (he was) sparked anger in the citizenry. Urged on by the Enquirer, folks met at Music Hall on March 28 & then marched on the courthouse to mete out the justice the murderers deserved. Police & the Sheriff's department stalwartly defended the courthouse & jail. Sheriff Morton Hawkins refused to use deadly force on the rioters (which was basically all they had). The small band of law enforcement officers was no match for the 10,000 rioters, however. National Guard was called in from Columbus, Dayton & Springfield. The guys from Dayton said, forget it. Columbus & Springfield forces had no qualms about using deadly force. Columbus brought a daggone gatling gun! Somewhere in the chaos attorney & militia captain, William Desmond, was shot and killed by a National Guardsman while he tried to defend the courthouse. That's his statue in the lobby of the current courthouse. In the end 56 people were killed and the courthouse burned including countless county records and a renowned law library.
There weren't any radio or TV stations back then - no helicopters to follow the white Bronco, so the papers published "extras" to keep people up to date. Joan Asche compiled a bunch into one document to tell the story. PDF
There aree certainly better articles on this subject. What inspired this post, however, was finding a mess of pics of the burnt courthouse at the Cincinnati Historical Society's website. These guys are so secretive & require so many oaths & vows, you'd think the History Channel & Alex Jones would be doing shows on 'em constantly. Anyway, ALL PHOTOS IN THIS POSTING COME FROM THE CINCINNATI HISTORICAL SOCIETY'S ONLINE PHOTO ARCHIVE located here their keywords are pretty wack, of course.

The Law Library

Hallway

Court of Common Pleas

Barricade with cool effect in the sky from a damaged negative


Article by Mark Painter in a 2003 Fishwrap here.

Wikipedia article here.

This Old House Honors Springfield
This Old House Magazine has listed Soringfield, Ohio's South Fountain Avenue in it's Best Old Neighborhoods for 2011 issue.
The area is already on the National Register of Historic Places.
I previously posted on the neighborhood here (with pictures!)
The South Fountain website appears to have disappeared. great timing....

Noose Son story here.

A Blog Eat Blog World
On March 4 Randy Simes @ UrbanCincy posted an article, The Blogification of the Cincinnati Enquirer. He points to the Enquirer's employing local blogs at some compensation (Reds tickets?) including Wine Me Dine Me.
On March 7, UrbanCincy's Jenny Kessler reported the closing of Grammer's bar. The Enquirer reported on the story the next day. Or so I thought. In reality it was just the Wine Me Dine Me blog picking up Ms Kessler's original article.
Unlike Blogging Isn't Cool, which compensates it's legion of staff with top union wages and lavish pensions, Simes' UrbanCincy sweatshop compensates staff so poorly they are freezing to death in their apartments.
Even if all Wine Me Dine Me gets is the fabulous ad revenue that gives "Julie" a seat with the Bilderberg Group, it is certainly enhanced by the Enquirer's links that could have gone to the original article.
The laws and rules in the blogosphere are few and far between. I hope this doesn't result in bloodshed. Downtowners & all.....

Creepy Sunday Afternoon Everybody !

Debt & Leadership
After World War II, Romania found itself under the fist of Russia again, this time in the form of the Soviet Union. A proud Leninist, Marxist, Stainist, Nicolae Ceausescu entered the government as Secretary of Agriculture. He quickly rose up through the ranks of government & politics and took the helm of the south eastern European nation in the 60s. Ceausescu liked Stalin's move toward industrialization & guided Romania along the same route. Things went relatively well but the USSR wanted Romania to follow agrarian pursuits. Ceausescu felt that would make his country too reliant on his Ruskie overlords so he looked to the west to fund his industrial expansion plans. England and the USA welcomed Ceausescu with open arms due to his defiance of the Soviets and happily lent him all kinds of money.
Ceausescu outlawed abortion for women under 42 and deemed any woman with 10 or more children "heroine mothers". This put quite a strain on the country's orphanages.
Things went generally ok although there were a few bumps in the road. Soon people took notice of Romania's debt issues. Ceausescu vowed to eliminate the debt. And he did! But in doing so, unemployment went through the roof, there were food shortages, power outages and people died of exposure in their homes. Romainia's HIV/AIDS population was disproportionately high.
In 1989 people had had enough. After a large protest in Timisoara, the people laid siege to Ceausescu's palace in Bucharest. He bungled an escape & was captured, tried in a kangaroo court and summarily executed.
This marked the end of communism in Romania but I think we can see that austerity measures have consequences.
You might recall that Timisoara was also the site of what was the largest peasant revolt of the time back in 1514 as well.
Hungarian nobility had been very harsh with the peasantry that did most of the labor. Gyorgy Dozsa led a revolt against the nobility and even had had a few successes. Istvan Bathory was called in & squared off with Dozsa & his men. Dozsa was roundly defeated & captured. For his punishment, Dozsa was placed in a metal chair in a bed of coals where he was cooked alive. When he was looking good, his captors tore at his skin with tongs and forced his followers to bite into the wounds and eat of their leader's flesh. The peasants who complied were set free (albeit with some psychological issues) and the peasants who refused were "cut up".
Istvan Bathory might ring a bell, too. Other than the fact there was more than a baker's dozen of them, he was grand dad or great uncle of Elizabeth Bathory AKA the Blood Countess. Every goth boy's wet dream, Beth was the chick who allegedly tortured and killed 600 peasant maidens and bathed in their blood.
The things our modern American leaders could learn from SE Europeans in history...

To Sequel or not to Sequel
Is there really any need to tap into the Blade Runner universe again? Seems like a fairly generic thing if you just go off of the time period created by Philip K. Dick & Ridley Scott. If you drag characters out of the original story it would just be kind of sucky.
Anyway, that's what Alcon Entertainment wants to do. I say, save your money & make something on your own. Or try another franchise. Grendel is screaming for movie adaptations & could cover any number of worlds or settings.

Guardian story here.

Cincinnati, well, Ohio recently lost another great one. I had only known of Robert Howe as a historian and kid's textbook author. I had been told he was an educator and just assumed he was an elementary school educator. I had no idea what all he had done. I'm still wondering if I used his book in Ohio History when I was a kid.....
From his Enquirer obituary:
Robert Howe graduated from Hughes High School, the University of Cincinnati College of Engineering, and received a PhD from Purdue University.
He served in the Navy with the Seabees in World War II.
His career at UC began as an engineering lecturer and concluded as a full professor. Howe taught soil mechanics, highway design, traffic engineering, and surveying. With no computer to analyze his dissertation data, he used the floor model at an IBM sales office in downtown Cincinnati, where he attracted curious bystanders. He taught UC's first course on computer programming and served as a student advisor.
Howe was actively engaged in civic affairs. Serving as a long-time member of the Charter Committee, he ran unsuccessfully for City Council and served on the SORTA board.
He gave talks and tours about Cincinnati history. He wrote Ohio history textbooks for fourth graders and seventh graders and co-authored a history of the ancient and medieval world with his wife, Helen. His manuscript on "How Cincinnati Became Greater" examined the development of the 9-county OKI region.

Cincinnati Enquirer full obituary

Knowlton's at the Corner from the Cincnnati Historical Society Bulletin Fall 1975

Wright Pat Shows Off It's New Computer

Wright Patterson Air Force Base, outside historic Dayton, OH, will show off it's new Cray "Raptor" system Friday. Cray Computer is probably best known for supplying Batman with his Batcave computer system.
The liquid cooled Raptor with petascale technologies checks in with virtually 89,805 gigabytes of memory and can scale to over 1,000,000 cores using AMD multi-core processors. The lucky bastards intend to use this Linux box for weapon systems design, modeling and simulation studies.
For more info on this beast click here.

Noose Son story here.

Alternative Casino Design

image by Anjil119
Utilizing Romanian anti-grav technology, a casino with traditional old school architecture could hover over Broadway Commons while preserving the current ambience of the neighborhood and preserving the parking facilities as well.

The Reason We Absolutely Should NOT Build a Streetcar in Cincinnati !

The Altar of the Twelve Gods was built by hippies about 2,500 years ago & marked the center of Athens. Now it is covered by IPAS rail lines and as upgrades progress, elitist archaeologists want to pause construction to study what has been unearthed. This is expected to have a negative impact on commuting OU students.
The northern part of the proposed streetcar route has a vast network of underground temples dedicated to The Sausage Queen that were built thousands of years ago by nomadic Indo Germanic tribes and have all sorts of strange curses on them that could invite plague and worse if new tracks are laid into the roadbed.
Stop the madness NOW !