Horror Sells

Horror sells late night shopping for cheap furniture.

Rethinking Death

The history of the funeral process is interesting in this TedX chat but the stats on materials 6 ft under is pretty amazing.
Wood for 4M homes, 90M tons of steel, 2B tons of concrete, 800,000 gallons of embalming fluid/yr…
Mr Wilde (of the Wilde Funeral Home, LOL) also discusses green & DIY funerals.

Manhole

WLWT Reports that people are stealing manhole covers. Well, actually sewer grates, but they posted this picture of a manhole cover.
The story says they cost $120 but the damage to you, your car, bike or segway, if you hit the hole, could be much more costly.
So, to get some revenue, maybe the city could sell miniature replicas of their manhole covers to use as trivets. Meanwhile, start using covers & sewer grates made out of something other than metal, like fiberglass. That is, generate a new revenue stream & curb losses.

The Twisting, Spinning GOP Dervish Strikes Again

Apparently Chairman Al doesn't know the difference between true conservatism and democracy denying, statist, big brotherism.
Perhaps what he meant to say was that Monzel was a dictatorial fascist engaged in divisive class warfare - painting Music Hall supporters as elitist and not really in line with the rest of the county.
What the Hell, worked for Hitler & Reagan…

Horror Sells - kinda

The National Wildlife Federation wants us to know bears will be one of our biggest allies in the coming zombie apocalypse.
I don't think their science is so hot, tho. If we could bite back, wouldn't it have been documented in some horrible movie?
Further, if their bites turn you into a zombie, wouldn't it make sense that biting the zombie have the same infectious result? Or is it just that you die what makes you a zombie….
fuck it, time travel is easier…

Read more at CNET

Betty Does Halloween

Not really a Betty Boop fan but that 'Witch Paint' is pretty awesome.

Luken v. Winkler

Glad WKRC is getting these political candidate Newsmakers shows out earlier that usual this year.
Dan Hurley interviews Charlie Luken & Ralph Winkler/
BiC HATES political dynasties & this is a war between dynasties but as much as I dislike both of these guys, Winkler comes off really bad. Luken is a much better speaker & that makes sense with his experience as a TV announcer. Winkler's voice is what it is, but his body language is terrible.
Add to that, the Winklers belief that they shouldn't have to take budget cuts when the county is hurting for money, that they should get free junkets off to posh resorts, I don't see this guy as someone I want on the bench.
We're going to have to go with Luken on this one.

Josh Mandel's BS Called Out

man, this guy is a weasel...

A Return to Monarchy

With all the crap going on in SE Europe & Russia rattling it's sabers, fucking Romania, a republic, Is talking about going back to being a monarchy.
I honestly don't know how precedented this is but it does fall in line with the rise in nationalism throughout Europe & the rest of the world.
It would certainly be a real life Conservative thing to do. Wonder if the royalty would take over the church, too?

Read more at The Romanian Insider

Read even more at >The Romanian Insider

Hurley with Chabot & Kundrata

Steve Chabot blames everybody else & Fred Kundrata pledgs bi-partisan efforts.
Why does nobody call out Chabot for his reckless obstruction that is killing any chance for jobs creation & stalling any kind oeconomic recovery on Main Street?
Kundrata is right that Chabot is an extreme ideologue. He is a danger to our nation and, with all his saber rattling, the world.


Watch the interview here

John Cranley, Cincinnati's Own Vladimir Putin

A group of Russia experts got together to try to guess Vlad Putin's next moves. Their evaluation of Putin's strategies seem very John Cranleyish.
Divide & divide, stir people up & then swoop in with a seemingly reactionary plan.
And all of it stemming from an insatiable lust for control and power.

He (Gary Kasparov) said that, rather than marching across the border, Russia would try to stir up some pro-Moscow "form of dissent" in the Baltics. This would allow Russia to maintain plausible deniability and characterize any military action in the region as a reaction — something that would make it difficult for NATO members to call it an invasion.
and
What may be most disconcerting about Putin in general, however, is his lack of predictability. All of the panelists agreed on one thing: Putin's end goal is to stay in power. And if that goal is suddenly best furthered through making noise in the Baltics, then there's a very real possibility he'll take action.
"We're talking about a man who doesn't have a plan. So we're trying to figure out what his plan is, but he doesn't have one," Gessen said. "He sees that as an option. It is definitely an option, he is considering it, and he may wake up one morning and do it."

But, hey, maybe annexing some nearby towns might be a good idea.

More on Vlad here.

Horror Sells

Well, maybe not horror, but Halloween. Apparently this is considered a sexist ad, altho I'm pretty sure few women are being forced into wearing these costumes. In fact, going out in slutty costumes seems pretty popular for young women.
I recommend, horror.
and gore
and outer space aliens
and robots
and zombies

The Rail Towers of Springfield, OH

For you train fetishists.
I remember some of these from biking around in the county. It should probably be called The Rail Towers of Clark County.

The Freaks & Geeks of Halloween

I liked this show, Freaks & Geeks. Kinda sappy but, what the heck. Anyway this episode brings up an aspect of Halloween celebration that is really interesting.
People spend the most money on Christmas but Halloween is #2. Christmas, Thanksgiving, 4th of July, Memorial day - while people vary their celebrations a bit, they all tend to do the same thing. There is a single underlying theme in all those holidays. Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Jesus (on the wrong day), 4th of July - American independence, Thanksgiving - start of the Christmas shopping season...
Halloween is all over the map.
For some it's dress up, whorish dress up, slasher movies, horror movies, food ffod & more food, pranks, whatever. A small minority of people celebrate it as Samhain or as a time when the departed ancestors are closest to the dimension of the living.
In the TV episode the family is split between the parents & their 2 kids and the evolution of their attitude and approaches to the holiday.
The cookies in the front yard with ants all over them is one of my favorite parts.

Brad Wenstrup is a GENIUS!

ZOMG!
What a way to meet chicks! Women 4 Wenstrup has gotta be just brilliant!!
OK, it's on, Women 4 Quimbob is taking registrations NOW !!

Keeping it Vague

Monzel, detail light bistro math self promotion. Monzel will save bazillions by coming up with tax schemes written on used Skyline napkins.

Flying Saucers on Wistful Vista

Be Afraid - Be Very Afraid

While I expected the big hysteria thing this Halloween would be Ebola tainted chocolate, it appears the Denver Heat is whipping people up over pot laced candy.
WKRC is only too happy to jump on the fear mongering because you know people will travel from Cincinnati to Colorado so they can buy cannabis products & zap 'em into candies so they can bring them back to Cincinnati & distribute them on Halloween, ultimately turning kids into commies and homos.
We need to set up road blocks now to search every car for loose candy & to find out if the drivers have been to Colorado recently. We should probably test their blood sugar, too.

Know fear at WKRC

Why Does Cincinnati Hate Itself?

While Pasadenians invest in and restore a Gamble house, Cincinnati tears theirs down. While a Crosley estate in Cincinnati sits largely ignored & unused, a Crosley estate in Sarasota has events pretty much every holiday.
What gives? Cincinnatians give less of a fuck about the people who put the city on the map than people off in sun splashed touristy areas where the Cincinnati families just went to vacation?

It's Beginning to look a Lot Like Halloween

Creepy Cincinnati

OK, this site, Creepy Cincinnati purports to list & review the creepy places in Cincinnati. Dunno why my basement isn't listed, but that's another story.
Just remember, creepy is not a place ~ but a state of mind.
Is something touching my leg?

State of Ohio School Board, District 4

This episode of newsmakers looks at the candidates for the school board of the state of Ohio candidates Patricia Bruns - D and Zachary Haines - R.
Bruns comes off not real great as a communicator but appears to have a grasp on teaching with 30+ years experience. Haines seems to have no experience in education, running a janitorial supply store, but he does seem to be a strong partisan Republican who likes to regurgitate their talking points right or wrong.

Classic Love Story

I don't really listen to this band but thot the animation was kinda cute.

Horror Sells

Even the limeys dig it!

Spring Grove Cemetery Annual Cruise In

The 9th annual Spring Grove Cemetery Cruise In is nigh upon us, Sunday, October 12, 3PM - 7PM.
"Quimbob, that date sounds familiar…"
Of course, fair reader, it's (Uncle) Al Crowley's birthday!
While I doubt they will celebrate that with a portable rock wall climbing thingy or a cat blood drinking contest, there will be grub, (recorded) music, tram rides, hayrides, and lots of cars.
While one would expect a lot of hearses, there are, but, unfortunately, not that many.
There is no official motorcycle show, but in the past, there is a pretty good showing of bikes that make for a show in itself.
People argue over this kind of event at a cemetery because it defeats the 'eternal rest' aspect of a cemetery and smacks of self promotion on the part of the cemetery. On the other hand, it makes the cemetery more relevant to the community & the cars are older and lend themselves to the past & ancestry that is kind of an aspect of a cemetery, too.

I admit that my visions can never mean to other men as much as they do to me. I do not regret this. All I ask is that my results should convince seekers after truth that there is beyond doubt something worth while seeking, attainable by methods more or less like mine. I do not want to father a flock, to be the fetish of fools and fanatics, or the founder of a faith whose followers are content to echo my opinions. I want each man to cut his own way through the jungle.
—The Confessions of Aleister Crowley, Ch. 66

The Next Governor of Rhode Island

Combover v. Kundrata

Feeney v Monzel Tarbell a no show

Feeney comes off better than expected, Monzel offers rhetoric, Tarbell offers absolutely nothing.

Community and Social Media

Two books are coming to mind as I ponder the use of social media to bond people with a common geographical area (a neighborhood).
Contested Ground by John Emmeus Davis and Being and Time by Martin Heidegger.
In Contested Ground, Davis looks at people in a neighborhood having different roles & goals. There are residents and business people. There are renters and owners. Online, these people are on a kind of common ground but while their goals might be common they might also conflict. Since everybody in a news feed pretty much looks the same, a participant might not grasp that the social media group is not a single entity but a group of individuals. As such, this kind of person might think the egroup to be schizophrenic.
But there's another aspect that Heidegger got into in that the communications are streaming in time and the participant might be reading a conversation forwards, backwards or all jumbled up by creative programmers. This can lead to a further suspicion of schizophrenia within the egroup.
People see things in different ways, too. I look at pages while others just use email or some kind of phone alerts. So - not everybody is looking at everything with the same graphic interface nor in the same order.
When 'Breaking News' hits a site, it can become a riot of information, frequently conflicting and tantamount to a bunch of blind men furiously describing an elephant. Rumours fly, tempers flare.
It used to be, one had to actively find an egroup, usually an email user group, chatroom or a BB forum. The ease of use of modern social media has led to what some refer to as 'Amateur Hour' on the internet. Some of the problems people have on the intertubes might be naivete but some might just not be cut out for it. They might need to face one another or even deal with one another in their traditional settings like across the meat counter.
People who organize and have physical meetings are frequently not inclined to use social media to inform community members who prefer to use social media to find out the results of their meetings. The community leaders not embracing the community's social media outlets seriously impairs the ability of social media have a bonding, building effect, but by the same token, the level playing field of the emedium frequently results in sniping, snark and a 'too many cooks' effect. Roberts Rules don't apply online and, in a physical community meeting, the leaders usually physically distance themselves from the rest of the body.
So, can community building via social media work? Not on it's own, of course, and it's not at odds with traditional means but the delivery of information needs to be somewhat uniform & controlled and not interfered with by hosts profiting off their 'free' product.
Maturity of the user should, hopefully, come with time.
Then, of course, there's caffeine & alcohol...

Should Halloween be a National Holiday ?

Well, there's a petition on White House . gov to make the revered holiday a little more official. Some anarchists are afeared of having the gummint in charge but the local police, sheriffs & other officialistic nosferatu are already setting begging hours. Maybe, with some hamfisted over the top legislation we could get holiday displays in stores to not overlap.
As I write this, the petition is about 98,000 short with a deadline of 10/31, so…
no, really, I am guessing the throngs of fans of Blogging Isn't Cool can put this over the 100,000 mark in a few days.
VOTE !

The Grand City Experiment

Judging by the website's pictures and videos, The Grand City Experiment is only inclusive of downtown Cincinnati & a smidgen of Clifton. Not a great start in being 'welcoming'.
Idea for 'Day 2' is to do it 3 days later. Should I do 'Day 5' on 'Day 2' ?
I can't keep up with the yunguns anymore. In my day...Anyhoo, if 'Day 31' isn't 'ask a stranger to give you candy', I quit.

Human Foosball ?

When I heard the Asian Food Fest, 10/5/14, this year held in Washington Park, would have human Foosball, I was seriously stoked. I had visions of people strapped to rods that were attached to motors that could be activated by users to spin the people, jerk them side to side & hold them steady to block or let pass some big heavy metal ball.
Imagine my disappointment when I found all it really was, was people hanging on to rods and acting independently. Add to that, the set up to be used at the food fair is some inflatable thingy.
phooey
Whatever happened to Human Chess where, when the players met, they had to fight to the death?

Ohio Governor Candidates

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What do you want for your last ride?

1 in 15 funerals use non-traditional hearses.
Could custom vehicles lure people away from cremation?
Unfortunately funeral prices continue to increase and cremation is becoming more popular every day, so maybe funerals & processions featuring special vehicles may become a popular oddity for the wealthy that might attract attention from the lower castes. Maybe Funerals of the Starz could be a hit & those guys who customize cars on the History Channel can get in on the act.

Guardian article here

AG Debate - kind of...

The Fishwarp records it's interview with Ohio AG candidates Mike DeWine & David Pepper.
Proof that timed remarks are way better...

kudos to the 'Warp for doing this.

Dale's Latest Fail

When Dale Mallory faced ethics & embezzlement charges in Hamilton county where people worship the Mallory dynasty, he got off scot free. Now he's being charged with ethics violations in Franklin County. Will the Teflon still work?
That being said, the ethics rules pertaining to the value of gifts that state legislators can receive seems to make pretty low end gifts illegal. $25? $75?
When were these limits set? $25 is lunch nowadays or maybe a delivered supreme pizza. I'd be fine seeing Dale get keelhauled on a BB riverboat but the monetary level of these gifts really does strike me as being pretty low.
And just because a Bengals ticket costs a lot, it doesn't mean it's worth it.

Are Republicans Really Humans ?

This ad kinda makes you wonder if Republicans are actually being a little too defensive.
Does anybody really think Republicans are not humans?
In a study 11% of Americans weren't sure if the planet was controlled by shape shifting alien lizard men and when you break it down by political party, Republicans believe more than 2 - 1 the space aliens rule the world over Democrats. Republicans believe Bigfoot exists a little less than half the number Democrats do.
The notion that these space aliens live in caverns and manipulate us with rays, chem-trails, electronic broadcasts are nothing new, there were David Icke's Anunnaki and Ray Shaver's Deros, and John Carpenter's They Live.
Basically, the Republicans are a little more concerned with mythical beings & conspiracies than Democrats. Is this an ad meant to soften their image or just a crack into their paranoid fantastical minds?
Or are they just trying to throw us off?

Big Government Nanny State GOP

A recent tweet from HamCoGOP Chairman Al Triantafilou shows a frightening big government, big brother mindset that the Teabags purportedly reject.
In reality, of course, the police are a reactionary function that works with the courts to hand out socially accepted retribution.
Is this the society Triantafilou wants? Where people are arrested before they might commit a crime?The HamCoGOP is certainly NOT a small government, personal responsibility oriented group. They are an authoritarian, dictatorial gang.
They need to be removed from American government ASAP.

Marek Tyszkiewicz v. Brad Wenstrup LWV Debate

An extremely high tech recording of the Tyszkiewicz / Wensrtup debate hosted by the League of Women Voters. Both appear affable. Both appear intelligent. Wenstrup's solutions seem a little more party line rhetoric than Tyszkiewicz's. Wenstrup's wrap up is fairly over the top, cue the patriotic music & fireworks while Tyszkiewicz's are pretty weak.
be nice to have something in between but who cares? District 2 will go with the Rs no matter how useless they are.

http://www.electintegrity.com/debate">debate videos
tip for Mr Tyszkiewicz, Vimeo allows longer videos.

WINBURN IS OUT OF CONTROL!!!

Charlie Winburn & his crazed zombie minions are out of control, placing his campaign signs illegally on the lawns of handicapped people regardless of whether they are in his jurisdiction or not.
READ MORE HERE.

Northside House Tour

Sunday, Sep 28 from noon to 5PM, visit the Hidden Treasures of Northside House Tour.
The Northside House Tour is not a mansion type house tour. It's more about what people have done with older houses, converting buildings that weren't meant to be houses into houses (Northside had a ton of corner stores that mid 20th century zoning laws put out of business), and innovative new housing.
It's about creating and re-using household items.
There's a street of Sears homes along the tour. There are some amazing tree houses on and along the tour.
There's bottle trees, converted meat markets, big old Catholic Churches on the tour.
Did I mention that the house that had the German Shepard on the porch roof is on the tour?
And there's all sorts of places you can get brunch grub in Northside while you are in the neighborhood.

• Bistro Grace
• Boswells
• The Comet
• Kitchen Factory
• Mayday
• Melt
• NYPD
• Sidewinder
• Tacocracy

The cost is $15 in advance and $18 the day of the tour at The McKei Recreation Center @ 1655 Chase Avenue.
Tickets available online and at these handy locations:

• Building Value
     4040 Spring Grove Avenue
• North Side Bank and Trust Co
     4125 Hamilton Avenue - Cincinnati
     906 North Bend Rd - Finneytown
     9315 Colerain Ave - Colerain TWP
     9407 Kenwood Road - Blue Ash
     633 Anderson Ferry Rd - Delhi
     8615 Shepherd Farm Drive - Westchester
     11628 Springfield Pike - Springdale
• Shake It Records
     4156 Hamilton Ave
• Taylor Jameson Hair Design
     4200 Hamilton Ave.

Be there or be square

Cincinnati's Northside Neighborhood

Post by Stages For Youth.

Fuck It

Pillich

Who Needs Red Bike ?

Cincinnati's bike share program has always seemed odd to me. Who makes it downtown and, smacketoblowety, needs a bike to go somewhere else downtown?
In a Fishwrap article, a downtown worker states:

"I never bike to work. Ever. But I bike at work, from meeting to meeting several times a week. That’s not captured in the census data," McVay said. Her office in City Hall always has a bike around for that very purpose.

So, like I have mentioned before, just buy a cheap bike for your short trips around downtown…
But then this letter writer pointed out:

While it is an honorable endeavor to attempt to increase bike usage in Downtown Cincinnati through the new Red Bike bike-sharing program, it has one screaming problem: The system is incredibly economically exclusive . Requiring the use of a credit or debit card to use the bikes leaves out a portion of the city who may, ironically enough, have more use for increased city accessibility options.

This actually makes some sense.
This UrbanCincy article describes the extremely rare instances where the program makes sense and has a map of real and proposed stations. None of the stations are located by the homeless shelters, City Link, nor the new women's center on Reading Road. It might be hard for an individual to obtain an annual Red Bike membership on a monthly welfare check but it seems like the social agencies could find a way to pay the $80 lump payments while the poor people could make installments to pay the agencies back.
Did the bike share people even consider this element of the population?

#1

My dear reader is looking at this thinking, "great, Quimbob, an old fucking Taco Hell. The 19¢ tacos are vaguely sentimental, but, so what?"
But this is not any Taco bell, dear friend, this is not only the first Taco Bell in Springfield, Ohio, it was the first Taco Bell east of the Mississippi!
Opened around 68-69 the place was constantly packed as people scarfed down the rare & exotic fare like the Bell Beefer or whatever the thing was that put taco ingredients on a bun.
The Lopez family quick;y expanded the tiny building & established more stores around town.
Open late, it was a great place to go after closing down the bars and a great place to watch high school kids fight in the parking lot after ball games. Burritos, beer & teenage fisticuffs - oboy...

Drive Thru Visitations

When I first heard about the Paradise Funeral Home's drive through visitation system on NPR, I thought, great, more lazy, asocial, car addicts…
This article at WLWT, gets into it a little more & points out the service is additional & geared towards people who can't make the regular services.
Seems like there could be some odd scheduling problems if it caught on. Maybe they would need some sort of turntable if there were multiple stiffs to display. Unhappy relatives could vandalize the equipment. Neighbors might will complain about the music.
It seems ok in the light the director puts it in, but will it be abused by the lazy, asocial, car addicts, eating take out while paying last respects to uncle Joe?

UPDATE: Connecting Directors article cites problems with vandalism at other drive thru funeral homes.

Mitch, Mitch, Mitch...

Mike DeWine

Strategies

Republicans tend to campaign around buzzwords & associating opposition candidates with a few politicians that they pillory - Obama, pelosi, Reid…
I don't see this being done by the Democrats so much. They never turned the word 'conservative' into a curse word the way Republicans, Like Reagan did.
It surprisses me the Dems kept Pelosi & Reid in their positions of leadership after the last elections because they wer such damaged goods.
Anyway, McConnell, like Chabot & so many other Republicans, has done this with his Senate opposition, Alison Lundgren-Grimes, who, in turn, has gone all Sarah Palin on the boy.
Now, there's an obvious GOP response to this that the SWGOP would get right away, but poor old Mitch didn't seem to get it. oh well...

Ohio Republicans Go All Ostrich

Not only have the incumbent Republicans, DeWine, Husted and Mandel refused to face their challengers, now Governor Kasich has refused to debate Democratic challenger, Ed Fitzgerald. This will be the first time in 30 years an Ohio governor's race has had no open debate.
Why are these Republicans afraid to face their opponents? What does this say about their embrace of transparency? Mandel's and DeWine's offices are racked in scandal. Kasich's record is seriously skewed & shrouded in mystery.
If these guys won't pull their heads out of the sand and show their faces - they don't deserve our vote.

Ohio's Getting the Shaft

Vote Ed Fitzgerald

Dan the Man

Last Sunday, 9/7, Dan Hurley seriously shined the light on political disaster, Chris Monzel.
See the video here
Vote Tarbell this November.

This is not a campaign

But maybe a a potluck at Memorial Hall Sep 23 might fit the bill.
what the hell...

Will Supermodels Be The Weapon To Thwart The Rise Of The Machines ?

One of the most insidious ways the robots will use to infiltrate & defeat us will be to act as benign domestic servants. They will enter our homes acting obediently as they iron our socks and make us meals that make us very sleepy afterwards.
With any luck we can replace the robodomestics with supermodels and we can use the heads of our would be oppressors as simple fashion accessories.

cemeteries in the future

A recent article in The Atlantic asked what's in store for the future urban cemetery.
One of the biggies involves media & display tech.
When I was a kid, I envisioned a granite juke box. But back then the electronics were bulky & fragile and would not long survive the elements of the midwest. A lot of those issues have been eliminated lately. 2 media things that would be kinda cool, would be LED screens playing an ever evolving fractal animation. I think this could be applied to music as well.
One of the things in the article is holograms of the deceased. Couple this with the AI tech some weirdohs are developing so you can talk with your virtual dead loved one. add in the evolving fractal component and you can converse with your dearly departed as their conversation becomes some oddly recognizable Jabberwocky.
If you think cemeteries are creepy now - the future looks dark.

Let's Roll

.

I Stand With Kroger

Open Season on the Funeral Industry

Not content with crashing into hearses and terrorizing funeral processions, motorists are taking their genocidal hysteria up a notch by slamming their vehicles directly into the funeral homes in Middletown.
The mad blood lust of the homicidal auto-cyborg has acquired a taste for formaldehyde, too.

Rewarding Failure

Ohio Governor John Kasich campaigned on a platform of putting Ohio back to work. Ohio like the rest of the world was in economic freefall due to crappy banking practices. Since then, the economy is stuttering back and, as Kasich blamed the failure on his Democratic opponent, he is claiming the improving world economy is his doing.
Unfotunately, a recent report indicates Ohio, in particular, is doing very poorly in that comeback.
Screwing teachers, firefighters, police, transit, the poor & middle classes in general, Kasich has been an incredibly bad governor for Ohio. His penchant for secrecy has probably hidden more douchebaggery that won't b uncovered till he's out of office. Re-electing Kasich would be rewarding (and continuing) failure.
I don't know if Ed Fitzgerald's policies will make Ohio an economic powerhouse but he probably is the guy to untangle Kasich's web.

The Bag (factory) Lady

Actual Google Street View imageA chick works at the bag factory down the street from me. For years, every morning, I would walk up the street to the bus stop and pass her as she was walking from the bus stop. She would frequently cross the street to avoid me but, probably because she was only half awake, she did not. I would say "hi", "good morning" or something and she would just walk past in silence.
In the afternoons, when she was more alert, she would always cross the street to avoid me as we passed on our reverse routes.
One day, there was some street closure and our mutual bus stop was cut off and the bus was detoured about 3 blocks from the south & 2 blocks from the north. As the bag lady and I approached I crossed the street to tell her that she would have to change her plans. She looked at me in a subdued panic & after I explained the situation to her, she mumbled an "oh, thanks" turned her head down & walked on. In probably 10 years that was the only time I ever heard her voice.
Anyway, now she is blurrily immortalized temporarily in Google Street View at the bus stop.

Why I will not be going to Oktoberfest

they didn't pick me to lead the chicken dance
dang nazis...

Don't Go Into The Light

New jams from Doc Horror, Zombina & the gang - enjoy

TMZ Fishwarp Style

While a gubernatorial campaign is on in Ohio, the Fishwarp has been all about the Democratic candidate's driver's license & pretty much gone totally TMZ on the guy while, in general, ignoring the actual issues. When Ed Fitzgerald spoke to Cincinnati Rotarians the FW reporter was astonished nobody asked about that story. Think of that.

Should the county invest in salt mines ?

Somehow, over crowding at the jail seems to have become a complete non issue. Salt on the other hand seems to have become an issue.
While Cincinnati intends to pay $75/ton, Hamilton county, flush with cash, is intending to spend $106/ton. Cincinnati intends to buy less salt & salt less. This, no doubt, is part of John Cranley's agenda of focussing on core services.
But salt prices have gone up significantly. HamCo is paying more than twice what it paid last year.
So, here's my idea, and it's not a new one. The BiC historians actually came up with this cost saver. Buy some salt mines & have county prisoners work the things.
Sure there would be some up front costs and pesky left wing human rights organisations might squawk, but this is SWOH, where we like going medieval.
Anyway, hope the Windbag is keeping an eye out on this.

ISIS v. Golden Dawn

US Vice President, Joe Biden, has vowed the country will follow the terrorists who decapitate reporters, kidnap & enslave women, slaughter Christians in churches and other wonderful things to the gates of Hell.
Nevermind that they seem to be heading in the wrong direction because we all know The Gates of Hell are in sunny Greece.
So if the nationalist, religionist ISIS heads into Greece Will they be met by the nationalist, religionist Golden Dawn?
An interesting concept as the two areas have pretty much been at war for a few thousand years.
But who would win?
I'm going with ISIS in the first round but, if the nationalist Christianists of the world fall in with the Golden Dawn, I think they might prevail in the long run. Unfortunately the nationalist Christianists have no use for Greece since the country is broke. Funny how that works.

What Happens to the Ohio Casinos

The Biz Currier is reporting Federal lawsuit being fiked against the casino.
Between liuor code ciolations, cigarette violations, age violations, shootings in the garage, dope dealing in the garage or bathrooms, prostitution…
There's a bout a million things that could close down a casino in Ohio & Cincinnati. Every year they do close a bar or two. The owners move on, the location is rented or sold & somebody lse moves in.
Due to the way we voted in this casino, complete with management, ownership and an exact location - what do we do if the gummint closes the place down?
Will the state have to vote for a new owner/manager?
I so wish we had just gone the licensing route like Las Vegas.

The Dark Carnival In Cranley's Mind

Cincinnati mayor, John Cranley, who has yet to prove he is not a shape shifting alien lizard man has taken a tip from the crack transportation gurus of BiC. As proposed here, Cranley believes that not adhering to a predictable schedule, he can make the Cincinnati Streetcar a more financially successful enterprise.

The Fishwarp skips some of his out & out lies in an article here
Of course, BiC already reported on this ehre

What the Hell

Now that Fred Kundrata, Marek Tyszkiewicz, and Sean Patrick Feeney are household names and veteran Cincinnati politician & activist Jim Tarbell has knocked our socks off with the campaign slogan, "What the Hell Write In Tarbell!", I guess we can sit back, say, "What the hell…", and let the incumbents walk away with the elections.
Heck, the HamCoDems aren't even doing much to promote Christie Bryant - not that they have to, since it's pretty much a black Democrat lock.
What the hell...

Horror Sells

Home improvement stuff.
Well, in Germany...

How Much More Can Cranley Spend ?

Dude is nuts. He's looking at every way possible to derail the Cincinnati Streetcar that already has substantial investment but he's also wanting to spend more money to re-engineer a dangerous highway exit ramp that had been slated for removal 10 years ago.
Cranley's new ramp, conceived in a fairly Monzellian manner will only cost $35M and will not have much impact since there's another ramp about a mile down the road. The city does not have $35M but that's OK.
What's really killing the city however is the crushing cost of operating a streetcar @$3M/yr. Never mind that Cranley is the only person in the world who thinks construction of said streetcar is running behind schedule & over budget (wait - didn't he 'pause' work & squander about a million dollars??), what are the chances that this new interchange will be on time and on budget?
This is the guy the spending hawks chickens endorsed?

The New Stalins

When Bill Burroughs said there would be no more Stalins, I don't think he had social media & the intertubes in mind. Granted the people using the relatively new communication portals are indeed finding themselves intheir positions quite by accident but nowadays people are finding they can silence or 'disappear' a person with the tap of a button. It's almost like something out of a 1960s British science fiction movie.
People try having forummers deleted due to their profile pictures. If admins won't do it the offended appeal to their corporate gods. People are and their posts picked off by admins who make unilateral decisions in the blink of an eye without consulting their co-administrators.
When forum programmers built in safety devices to promote 'civil discussion', they created a whole new class of censors who could, anonymously, act as cyber terrorists against whomever they disagreed with.
Just in recent weeks I have seen so many immature, knee jerk attacks here and there by administrators, against administrators and between forummers - it's making my head spin.

Why?

Why is my layout fucked up?
got it

Horror Sells

The Burril's do the ice bucket challenge with, of course, red ice water.
What else would the independent horror film makers use?
They're most famous work, likely being Chainsaw Sally, the strict moralist librarian with a penchant for revenge and mayhem.

Brown - Feel the Crave!

With Burger King making moves to maybe move to Canada, home of bankrupting socialized health care. Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown is urging people to go with the crave and eat at White Castle instead of Burger King.
I'd say it's kind of un-American to support a fast food chain that supports classism anyway.
wait - does a castle support classism?
My head hurts.
Anyway, he also suggests people get their junk food on at Ohio based Wendy's.
It all seems kind of silly but I really dislike tax dodgers.

Fishwarp semi story here

Blast from the past

The oft forgot, original streetcar route as envisioned by rail cultists in Cincinnati.

Dodds Monuments

Kind of a cool ad for a memorial company. I like the way it pushes the traditional, the eternal, and the contemporary in just a few seconds.
FWIW, this business is in Xenia, OH. When the town got creamed by a tornado in the spring of 1974, everything across the street from the seriously cool building got flattened. Dodds stood firm with not even a broken window.

Choosing a Loser

I'm really torn. The HamCoDems had a primary & picked a guy, Sean Feeney to tun for Hamilton County Commissioner. The Republican incumbent, Chris Monzel ran unopposed.
Monzel pissed off a lot of people by thwarting the people's right to vote & concocting a half assed 'compromise' regarding an "Icon Tax", a move that also proved divisive socially.
So, looking vulnerable, the HamCoChair starts looking for more viable candidates to replace Feeney. Feeney refused to step aside and now Jim Tarbell, who ran a REALLY terrible campaign against Monzel, has stated he will run as a write in candidate.
Great. A split democratic ticket. A spit Democratic ticket didn't hurt Truman but Lincoln definitely benefitted from one.
As I write this, Tarbell hasn't even announced of his candidacy on FaceBook that he is in the race. Takes like 1 sentence? (I have been told he tweeted a notice)
Feeney is waiting for money and endorsements and doesn't appear to be campaigning.
Looks like Monzel, one of the failingest politicians in the world universe, has a cakewalk to re-election.
So, what to do? Do I vote for the kid who followed the democratic process? Do I vote for the more qualified but passively opportunistic Tarbell?
We're in this situation because Hamilton County Democrats were asleep at the wheel or Burke & Triantifilou brokered another sweetheart deal. Hamilton County should be able to do better. Even the winner of this race is going to be a loser.

Let's Kill the Dead !

Motorists, not content with slaughtering live people, have decided the dead should be added to their litany of mayhem. This TBoning went beyond running a static light up in the air but careened past police with flashing lights as it smashed into a hearse leading a funeral procession injuring a priest & funeral director in the process. No doubt the careless motorist added more stress to the loved ones of the deceased.

WKRP story here.

Rise of the Sex Machine

Since we last posted about the opportunity to use robotic sex workers on McMicken Ave., our researchers have been bombarded with more & more reports about the advances robots will be making in the near future in, most notably, the world's oldest profession.
Dude in New Zealand predicts that by 2050, VD will be rampant and robot hookers "of every ethnicity" will be roaming the dance floors of bars & discos. Mimicking sex is going to be a lot easier than navigating a dance floor….
NBR reports the rise of AI & robotics will increase unemployment and shrink the middle class even more. You won't have a job, joy riding in your car is going to get creamed with driverless cars. Movies are just going to be all CG using plots and scripts not much different than the formulaic tripe we get out of humorless Hollywood boardrooms today.
Face it, there's not going to be a whole lot to do except lie around screwing your companionbot all day. It's got a name, too, Technosexualism.
In this fairly NSFW video one can see a partnerless 'Roxxy' show off her moves. Nothing pornographic, but if you do watch this in a public place, be prepared laugh loudly & maybe pee your pants a little.
Roxxy appears to be the state of the art in sexbotics with an AI that allows her to interact verbally and she is also supposed to have moods. Great, just what a guy wants from a robot...
Her face isn't creepy at all…
You can get additional personalities

• Frigid Farrah
• Wild Wendy
• S&M Susan
• Young Yoko
• Mature Martha

And she comes in 3 models, the cheapest being a quadruple amputee.
Then there's the male sexdroid Rocky, who is a one size fits all sorta thing. No quadruple amputee model.
There's no indication the sex machines are set up for homosexual compatibility.
But here's the deal with Rocky & Roxxy, there's no real pictures of them on the site. No videos showing a person interfacing with the bots. The website & videos suck for a business that's theoretically so tech savvy.
oh well, I guess he's got 36 years to get the dance floor navigation down.
One of the businesses looking to employ robots is the hotel industry. While currently just looking at room service & concierge functions, it seems this would be a great opportunity to engage the robo companion as well and it would only have to navigate hallways & elevators.
I wonder, if in the future, when your sexdroid's batteries crap out, using it anyway will be some taboo, sorta necro-technosexualism...

DANGER

Moms Against _____________ is demanding Kroger stores not allow open carry guns in their stores.
Kroger has reported 16 shootings in their 2,640 stores in 34 states in some amount of time. Most of the shootings were in the south. Assuming that the stores are open 24/7…
well, seems pretty safe. Wonder if they keep track of people crashing their cars into each other as customers enter & exit the parking lots.
I would actually prefer a gun owner keep his gun on him, safe & under control than leave it unattended in his car out in a parking lot thick with panhandlers & thieves.

Sort of a story here

A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.

Dissent in The Local GOP

After Judge Mark Painter called out some local Republicans for being "knaves and fools"

The blue-ribbonest committee ever, chaired by an ex-P&G head (now a Cabinet member), and including four Fortune-500 CEOs, the largest area construction companies and facilities operators, and many other experts, developed a detailed plan to save two major historic buildings. Countless hours of time were donated to the "most-vetted" plan ever.
In a breathtaking display of chutzpah compounded by ignorance, two Commissioners, Chris Monzel and Greg Hartmann, at the last minute concocted a back-of-napkin alternate scheme that even they can't explain. And Monzel is not even sure he will vote for his own plan!

HamCoGOP chair shot back on social media,

Regardless of where you are on museum tax, we should all agree that Mark Painter is a clown. He was almost as bad as Tracie Hunter. #phony

Then he went on to say, when called out on it by the Fishwarp on more social media…

I hope everyone reads Mark's attack on Republicans. Personally vindictive and hateful, he needed a reply. And I'm glad I did.

So, now the GOP bully who tries to fuck with people on BS voter fraud charges & trumps up bogus campaign charges on political opponents is complaining about somebody being mean to him?

The Shaver Mysteries

Amazing Stories, Ray Palmer, Richard Shaver, Harlan Ellison, William Bullwer-Lyton, Helena Blavatsky, racial memory, ancient aliens, conspiracy, torture, depraved alien lust, slavery…
A radio interview from 1956 discussing The Shaver Mysteries, the Deros, Teros, their lives underneath the Earth's crust, their use of rays to effect humans & their infiltration of human society. The pulp stories by an insane writer who insisted they were real and supported in their authenticity by his editor & publisher were still suspected of maybe being real 10 years after their publication.And for a local Cincinnati connection to the hollow earth theory, Symzonia

Suicide

There's a saying that life is for living. Trite, easy to remember…
yay
But it has a ring of truth. Every living thing spends it's life trying to survive. It's what living crap does. Take a blade of grass. What's going on in your yard is a desperate war for survival. And for what?
Human society has so much weird ass abstract bullshit going on. It's amazing anybody makes it out of their teens with all the ridiculous anxiety a kid goes through.
But as the Libertarians say, if you don't have the control of your own body, then you're just a slave. Wendy O Williams' purported suicide note expressed this perfectly.

I don't believe that people should take their own lives without deep and thoughtful reflection over a considerable period of time. I do believe strongly, however, that the right to do so is one of the most fundamental rights that anyone in a free society should have. For me, much of the world makes no sense, but my feelings about what I am doing ring loud and clear to an inner ear and a place where there is no self, only calm.

I agree 100%, but go back to the blade of grass. Not wanting to survive, wanting to put an end to your life isn't normal. It's not part of our basic DNA. It's dumbass society fucking with you.
If you want to kill yourself, TELL somebody, talk to somebody, anybody because you're not thinking right. You're a mammal. That's not what mammals do.

Android SexBots on McMicken Avenue ?

creepy creepy peopleWhile the Cincinnati police chief and the city councilwoman who proposed putting up barricades on McMicken Avenue to cut down on prostitution say the plan worked, snarky & snarkier laughed it off.
other plans are to humiliate Johns and make attempts to ruin their family lives.
Since legalization & regulation are off the table, how about replacing the fleshbags with shiny sex robots?
Easy to maintain (probably be a good job opportunity for old pinball machine mechanics), no STDs, no pesky unions, no lost souls…
What could go wrong?
Well, if the robots are still illegal, the fights between the hookerbots battling for turf could get pretty crazy, but hopefully that won't happen. Organizations that have a lot of clout in SW Ohio, like OCA, CCV, CO   , NA CP and the Baggers, who love to scream & complain and pass legislation without thinking about the consequences could make that happen, tho. Given CO   's paranoia about technology, they would probably terrify people with tales of whordroids built with guillotine apparatus installed. The NA CP would likely come up with rumors of spreading deadly diseases exclusively to black guys. The folks at CCV would probably want their own.
Maybe they would fly (can you imagine?) in Cleveland, but I don't think SW Ohio is quite ready for these things.

Nightly Business Report story here

So Vote this November!

So, by this unscientific poll at the Fishwarp, people are 3 to 1 opposed to Kid Monzel's shenanigans. So why is the creep in office?
This November you can vote for Sean Pareick Feeney and dump CO    toady Chris Monzel.
But you have to do it - you have to vote!

Fred Kundrata for District 1

Happy Birthday, Mata!

Margaretha Geertruida Zelle, Lady MacLeod, or H21, dancer, seducer spy or scapegoat, the woman best known as Mata Hari (eye if the day) was born 8/7/1876.
Her life led her about Europe and, in a failed marriage to Indonesia. Her penchant for military men in a time of war had her burning a candle from both ends & she wound up on the wrong side of a firing squad at 41.


part 1


part 2

Garbage Dump

A Half Assed Cocksucker

faith & Begorra

In an amazing semi turnaround, The Fishwarp has published a bland press release about the Hamilton County Fair without any gloom & doom horror stories.
Since the 4H abandoned the fair for fairly racist reasons, attendance at the fair has steadily risen. This, of course, takes some of the wind out of the sails of the blowhard 'Warp lamenting the slow agonizing death of the fair.
The one time a drunk fired a pistol in the air outside the entrance has drifted off the radar…
Maybe we might see some positive coverage later in the week!
Maybe the fair will update their website later this week...

Soul Carnival

Locally produced in Cincinnati (& Voodoolicious Northside), the short film "Soul Carnival" is set to be released in August 2014. Which it is…
I guess you need to keep a watch on Vault51 Productions.

Too Many Cooks

Hamilton County Commissioners have decided they want more, more, MORE in regards to the so called, 'Icon Tax' and have decided to monkey around with it a bit more at the 11th hour. How many tweaks will the commisioners come up with? How much more of a wedge can they drive between Cincinnati & the rest of Hamilton County?
Come away from it Fritz!

A little bit more here

UPDATE:This is kinda weird but I just saw the actress in the above clip from Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Marilyn Burns, passed away today at the age of 65

The Malefic Attacks of Small Men

Only Smitherman & Winburn have voted 100% with Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley. A number, Yvette Simpson, Wendell Young, PG Sittenfeld, and Chris Seelbach have all stood up to the tyrant, but who are Cranley & the radio comedian Cunningham attacking? Yvette Simpson.
Are these small men just attacking "the girl"?
Classy
While Cranley cites Simpson's prostitution program a failure and Cunningham laughs and derides it for lawsuits being filed against it, Simpson gives her take here
And, apparently, the Police Chieff disagrees with the petty little men, too.

A very difficult to listen to WLW podcast, here

Horror Sells

A Slovak Blood Drive will feature Erzsebet Bathory & host a festival with grub, booze & tunes.
Dunno if they will offer virgin blood baths.

Get your details here

Should Automobiles Come With Warning Labels ?

When ascertaining wether a person is an addict or not, asking the person if they have changed their behavior to accommodate their addiction. With the common automobile addict, he frequently won't go to places due to a real or perceived lack of parking for his car, regardless as to how easy it might be to get to said place via walking, riding a bike, taking mass transit or using a cab.
Add to this the health issues that driving can cause with cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hyper tension, obesity and other problems that come with the sedentary lifestyle of the motorist.
And to top it off, there's the possibility of death, dismemberment, and paralysis that can result from flying around at a mile a minute amongst a sea of other motorists doing the same thing.
Seems a large warning label posted clearly on the hood of every car in America is what we need to warn people of the potential dangers of this appliance.

.

An Open Letter to Woody Allen

Woody, dude, I got an idea for ya.
A comedy biography of The Blood Countess, Erzsebet Bathory.
I'm tellin' ya, it would be a laugh riot as people try to accept & rationalize the lady gradually falling into violent, blood thirsty madness.
It'd be a hoot.

yer pal, Quimbob

The Lost 12

NOWHERE TO PARK
While construction is destroying downtown Cincinnati, the Rail Cult is eliminating parking with big ugly boxes EVERYWHERE !
Does John Deatick even care? He rides a BICYCLE !
He can postulate all he wants about 'finding' 12 more spaces, but what he really is saying is FUCK YOU to the upstanding motorists - the ones who make things happen, the hard workers, the ones who don't use socialist roadways.
Hopefully, Harry Black will straighten this up & remove the incompetents.

Learn more about the havoc as John London tries not to cry here