Saturday, January 31, 2009

MasOSaiX

MacOSaiX 2.1 has been released. It is a free Mac application for creating "mosaic" images.
This is me in 315 porno images.

Pretty simple to use. It takes A LOT of images to finish a mosaic. 50 pictures left me with a bunch of empty gaps. You can save as png with transparency for the gaps, tho, and create more weird effects in editing appliations like GIMP.
You can use a Google image search if you don't have any images floating around on your hard drive. But if you don't have any images to use, you're just plain weird.
You could do some pretty obnoxious shit with this if it did video.
the app takes it's time but it's kinda fun to watch. ok, I am easily amused. It's fun to watch once, maybe.
MacOSaiX and GIMP are both freely distributed. While MacOSaiX is a Mac OSX app, GIMP runs on multiple platforms.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Springfield's Favorites

If you are sitting around thinking about your summer vacation plans and Springfield is looking like apretty good destination, here's what the locals like best in their town.
Springfield's People's Choice Winners

Bowling - Victory Lanes
One Tank Getaway - Cincinnati
Spa - The Oasis Expert Hair Color Center Salon & Spa
Sporting Goods - Dick's
Pawn Shop - Max's
Pizza - Hickory Inn
People Watch - Upper Valley Mall
Skateboard - NationalTrails Parks & Rec
Stargazing - Buck Creek State Park
Romantic Dinner - Casey's
Clothing - Kohl's
Golf - Reid Park
Drive Trhough - Ooh Ooh Drive-Thru
Tatoo - Thin Lizziy's
Local Band - Callahan
Festival - South Vienna Corn Festival
Karaoke - Murphy's Irish Pub
Pool - Backstreet Billiards
Darts - Murphy's Irish Pub
Bar - O'Conner's Irish Pub
Ice Cream - Young's Jersey Dairy
Coffee - Un Mundo Cafe
Doughnut - Schuler's Bakery
Sub - Our Hero
Barbecue - Rudy's Smokehouse
Asian - Golden Bowl (#3-Hung Lung)
Mexican - Las Mariachis
Burger - Burger King (#3-Groeber's)

Noose Son non-story here.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

oh, & by the way...
Shoveling your sidewalk is the law.
Sec. 723-57. Removal of Snow.
The owner, occupant or other person having the care of any building premises or unimproved lot of land abutting any street where there is a graded sidewalk or a sidewalk graded and paved, shall, within the first four hours after daylight after the ceasing to fall of any snow, cause the same to be removed from the paved or traveled part of such sidewalk. The provisions of this section shall also apply to the falling of snow or ice from any building onto a sidewalk.
Snow or ice shall not be moved into the gutter when the gutter has been previously cleaned, and in no event shall snow or ice from any area other than the pedestrian walk be moved into the gutter.
(C.O. 702-33; renumbered to C.M.C. 723-57, eff. Jan. 1, 1972)
Cross references: Penalty, § 723-99-I.

Granted, this does make it kinda hard on some single people who wind up working late, etc.
Seems like a real money maker, tho.
The idea that you can be sued for someone falling down on your sidewalk after you shovel is an urban myth. It is expected of a resident to know the hazards inherent in living in a region. You can be held liable if you go out and hose down your sidewalk when you know it is going to freeze.
Anyway, if you get pissed off at the shivering fleshbags slogging around in the street while you are driving by in your warm dry car with heated leather seats and a 6 terawatt stereo pumping your favorite jams outta 68 speakers, remember they could be walking on the sidewalk if folks had shown some responsibility and shoveled the damn things.
HEY METRO RIDERS !

Are the bus routes plowed ?
In the past, the city has plowed the "emergency" roads, like Hamilton and Madison but not the little loops the buses take off the major roads. This has totally screwed up bus schedules and made a joke of the bus system just when people think about using it to avoid having to drive in bad weather.

Friday, January 23, 2009

Pupstatica

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Why Did Obama Name This Guy Secretary of Agriculture ?

Obama has named Tom Vilsack Secretay of Agriculture.
From what I can see, he is a lawyer from Pittsburgh who got involved in Iowa politics after marrying an Iowess (?). His legislating seems to be big government, big business, labor and city oriented. I am not seeing any advocacy for farmers or even individual property owners.
Is his job more about school lunch programs than farming issues like land conservancy, safe growing techniques, tariffs, treaties and whatnot ?
He's no Henry Wallace.
He bred chickens, developed hybrid corn and was a relentless advocate for farmers and rural life.
Vilsack's preference for unrestricted eminent domain should make small farmers in heavily populated states like Ohio wary.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009


Lousy Ad Placement

TV ads frequently don't reflect the tone of the show they are supporting.
This'n takes the cake. I saw this over at the Occasional Superheroine's blog.
NOTE: This is the end of a Battlestar Galactica that aired around 1/16. If you have not seen it yet and intend to, this clip is a serious spoiler.
The Schoedinger Funeral Home now offers streaming webcasts of funerals. It's not open to Harold and Maude types, the family decides who can watch. It is intended for far flung families who can't make it to funerals and, especially, for service people who can't just get up and go to a funeral.
While it may smack of one of Rev Glenworthy's schemes and one might expect Jonathan Winters to walk out on screen and narrate the funeral, it actually makes sense. The technology is cheaper and simpler and the individual's access to high bandwidth internet is pretty commonplace these days. The little slideshows funeral directors have offered for years are pretty much drag and drop operations these days. Figure in people's increased mobility and international businesses and it makes perfect sense. Unlike weddings, you usually have less than a week to put a funeral together and even when you are expecting a death, it usually doesn't give much of a crap about YOUR schedule.
The Columbus Dispatch has a series about death and interviews Schoedinger. As I watched I wondered if his videos were as overproduced as the Dispatch's.

Noose Son story here.

Monday, January 19, 2009

Happy 140 !

Young's Jersey Dairy turns 140.
Young's milk is like a milkshake alone, their milkshakes ?
mmmmmmmmmmmm
Young's was one of the last dairies in Ohio to sell raw milk, til our nanny state gummint shut that down.
Young's is considered one of the top tourist type places in the Dayton area. Well, it's usually associated with Yellow Springs and is closer to Springfield than Dayton, but what the hell.
In the 70s we almost always made a pit stop at Young's after movies at the Little Art Theater in Yellow Springs. Well, if the line wasn't too long.
When you go today, note the barn to the south of the store. The little white outcropping in the front used to be the store. No, there was no Putters and Udders back then.
ok, I have now posted twice in one day about milkshakes. jeezle

Noose Son story here.
Northside celebrates the inauguration of the 44th president of the US of A with 3, count 'em, 3 events !

The Blue Ball Inauguration celebration
Presented by Cincy Rocks Obama and you!
Northside Tavern
4163 Hamilton Avenue
Tuesday, January 20, 2009 at 8 pm.
More info

AND

off the Avenue Studios
1746 Knowlton St.
9:30 am
Folks are asked to bring a potluck brunch dish
children are welcome ...
Watch the event on the widescreen, enjoy a fire in the courtyard

AND

C&D
1714 Hanfield
Bye-bye Bush Bash
Come Celebrate the Obama Inaugration
6PM
Drink Specials
Music by BJ Dunaway
Presented by CityBeat and C&D

AND

If you're still in celebration mode on Saturday (and I know all you wild eyed liberals will be)

A (Not So) Fair and Balanced Farewell to Bush
Saturday, January 24, 2009 at 7:00 pm
Cluxton Alley Coffee Roasters
4037 Hamilton Avenue
Frisch's is aiming for a younger customer base. Apparently their old customer base is dying from hypertension, diabetes, and other ailments. No, actually, they are probably pretty well preserved. Eating there every day might wind up saving money on embalming costs down the road.
One of the things I always loved about Big Boy was The Adventures of Big Boy Comics. The food is fine, this is where the chain should be looking to update their clientele.
The comic would feature a couple stories featuring Big Boy, Dolly and the pup, Nugget, some puzzles, games, jokes (so bad they were good (especially while stoned)), craft projects and a kids menu. The stories usually had some educational tidbit or focussed on some morality issue.
The concept was born in 1956 and creative chores were handled by Timely (which later became Marvel) comics with Stan Le and Bill Everett. I guess this made Big Boy a part of the Gay/Jewish Conspiracy.
riiiiiight......
Tying the comic to a website would be a good idea. They have a "Kids Corner", but there is room for a lot more integration. They have interviews, nowadays, with the likes of Brittney Spears and SpongeBob Squarepants. No reason they couldn't be expanding that to more serious people like Christine Todd Whitman. There would be less likelihood of the interviewee going haywire, like Spears.
More science and introductions to foreign language would be nice. Assuming the kid who is into comics would be into manga, an introduction to Japanese would fir real well.
Posting music files on heir website, allowing kids to manipulate ad jingles in software like GarageBand would be pretty cool.
They used to hook up pen pals. Heck, they could do that with a web based message board.
Anyway, suckin' the kids in should be a major goal. After that, the grown ups like the tradition.
Now if they could just bring back the car hop service, complete with clumsy waitresses who spill your milkshake all over the windshield of your car. Seriously, kids love that kind of thing.

Fishwrap story here (for now).

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Why You Absolutely NEED an iPhone


ok, showing the capabilities of an iPhone on a YouTube video is kinda silly in itself but this iPhone & iPod Touch application called Wobble is even sillier. For $0.99 you can jiggle boobs on photographs displayed on a teeny tiny monitor. Sure you can wobble pet heads, too, but who wants to do that.
Honestly I have yet to be tethered to a wireless phone at all, so this extra iPhone "functionality" kinda escapes me. The crazy thing is that this isn't even the only application that does this. There's competition ! Yes, the consumer is being served well.
Now, what happens when you shake the damn thing apart ?
Urbana Group Sponsors Renewable Energy Exhibition

January 20th, at Urbana University's student center, Champaign Advocates for Renewable Energy (CARE) will present an exhibit to the public featuring businesses and organizations with renewable energy solutions at 7PM.
The 20 exhibitors include the Ohio Farm Bureau, Invenergy, Dovetail Wind and Solar, Ohio Interfaith Power and Light and Pioneer Rural Electric Cooperative.
The exhibit is open to the public and allows folks to learn more about renewable energy options.

Noose Son story here.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009




Secret Agent Man RIP

Tuesday, January 13, 2009


Train Service to Return to Springfield ?

Will train service be returning to Springfield ? If it will, the resurrection of an old Big Four depot will not be part of the plan. Instead, Amtrak is thinking about an unmanned open air "bus stop" sort of place just south of High St. near the center of town. This would bring it very close to the hotel and Kuss auditorium making it convenient for visitors wanting to go to a show if the stop was located there (very near the location of the old station). It won't be a high speed connection, rains routinely have to slow down a lot to go through town which has provided a bit of inner city passenger service for stupid young men for years.
Unfortunately, it won't be of much use and won't improve the town much if stops, like in Cincinnati, are a couple days a week and between 1 and 3 AM.

Noose Son story here.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Funding Government Projects

There's always somebody calling for higher taxes. The thing is, if YOU want to give your government, local, county, state or federal, more money, YOU CAN.
How ?
Beats me.
Our governmental bodies need to make it easier for people to donate money for general stuff and for specific stuff.
In this latest presidential campaign Barack Obama and Ron Paul (albeit without Obama's overwhelming media support) raised tons of money reaching out to individuals. They made it real easy through internet forms and "Money Bomb" promotions. If the candidates can do this for their campaigns, why not implement it for their projects after they get elected ?
Then there is this option being suggested in Springfield which has been used for park systems and such using an "adoption" type of promotion.
While some people argue that the people who will benefit from Cincinnati's proposed streetcar plan should be the ones to pay for it, they have a point and a big chunk of the financing will be paid by them through TIF funds that are only usable in the communities affected. But why not try adding some other funding strategies directed at individuals who want to donate ?
Adopt a streetcar stop ?
Adopt a streetcar ? Probably more of a corporate thing, but howzabout a P&G car that would frequently have free samples of new products ?
Adopt a foot of rail ? Maybe you could get your name engraved in it ?
Our politician show a lot of skill at organization and fund raising while they are trying to get elected, they should use that skill afterwards instead of just legislating and taxing.

Saturday, January 10, 2009


In praise of the fine ethics of COAST, The NAACP & The Green Party of Southwest Ohio.
May we benefit from their wisdom for years to come.

Thursday, January 08, 2009

A recent article in CityBeat highlights the NAACP's efforts, in conjunction with COAST, of course, to throw a bureaucratic wrench into future municipal transit improvements involving a specific bit of technology, rail.
They interviewed transit experts Chris Smitherman and Jason Haap (editor of the Arkham Beacon), the latter mistakenly described as a "political activist" (he prefers "media activist"). This gives some insight to the twisted mind of Mr Smitherman.
He says, "a $200 million streetcar system is not a priority for our tax dollars when the city is facing budget problems and City Council continues to cut basic services to citizens".
This obviously misses the point that the $180,000,000 is expected to have an economic return (estimated at $1,400,000,000) creating jobs and generating tax revenue, thus employing citizens and enabling the government to provide needed services throughout the city. It also ignores the fact that construction costs are low right now making it a good time to invest. It also ignores the opportunity to take advantage of the transit-heavy economic stimulus plan being proposed by president-elect Obama.
The article states that Smitherman believes the money could be better spent elsewhere, such as in neighborhood business districts, but fails to cite any specific plans. The city has invested in neighborhoods with efforts like facade improvements in struggling neighborhoods like Northside and College Hill. There is not much money in these projects and results are there but are minimal. Not recognizing the dire straits of OTR and the potential of riverfront development and tying the two together is the typical status quo oriented thinking that continually holds the city back and the OTR neighborhood (and surrounding neighborhoods) in perennial blight.
This thought, "Streetcar systems are a risky gamble that have failed in some cities, he says, and Cincinnati’s mostly would benefit people who own property along the proposed route" is kind of contradictory. Is the plan doomed or will it benefit people ?
Apparently, if it does benefit people, it's the wrong people. Smitherman and Haap express an almost obsessive hatred for Councilman Chris Bortz.
Smitherman claims, "the mayor and City Council have been remiss in allowing Bortz to head the economic development committee". This seems to stem from the same neocon belief in an idiot-savant sort of politician that put George W Bush into office, an extension of Ronald Reagan's Hitler-like contempt of the "expert".
Smitherman, in reference to the two riverfront stadium deals, states, "They don’t have a history of being accurate with their predictions". nevermind the legislature advocating the streetcar plan was not the legislature that advocated the stadiums (different people oversaw each stadium).
It also ignores the fact that the investment in the stadia were dependent on the performance of the principals of the respective teams. That is - 2 people, while the streetcar plan depends on the performance of, literally, hundreds of residents, property owners and businesspeople. Spreading the risk, like in a mutual fund, is generally considered safer than throwing all your investment into one potentially high gain stock.
Smitherman states, "A better model of economic development would be one that doesn’t displace residents in the process".
OTR is a virtual ghost town, the Banks doesn't exist yet and nobody, AFAIK, is getting displaced in the CBD. The lack of residents in OTR is a major lure of the area for people engaged in a black market that frequently erupts into violence.
Smitherman mistakenly makes this assertion so common amongst people who have no understanding of government finance, "The problem is, there’s only one checkbook and we all put our tax dollars in that bucket".
Government bodies do have general funds, but not spending comes from that pot.
Regarding the actual ballot initiative, this statement by Haap,“These critics make a charter amendment into a bigger deal than they should. Any amendment can be revoked at a later time. So it’s not like red-light cameras, for example, will be banned forever. If a group really thinks red-light cameras can save our city, they can petition to get their issue on the ballot and change the charter.”, snarkiness aside, makes it clear the motives of these groups is to harass, stall and inflate the costs of government. This idea is straight out of Che Guevera's book, Guerilla Warfare. While I have great respect for Guevera, his success in Cuba is probably not something we want here. Havana's camel buses, anyone ?

Tuesday, January 06, 2009

TV EYE

The Stooges

The NME posts Ron Asheton's 5 Greatest Licks.

Sunday, January 04, 2009


Urbana's Monument Square to go Roundabout

Urbana, Ohio plans on changing it's central intersection, Monument Square, to a roundabout. It always kinda was given the amount of alcohol consumed and number of screaming teenage girls in the car, but traffic at the intersection of routes 68 and 36 (Main, Scioto & Miami) was always controlled by a light. Essentially, they are taking out the light and installing stop signs.
Even if it doesn't improve traffic flow (I have been in rush hour traffic jams in Urbana), the esthetics could be greatly improved by the elimination of wires and the ugly old light that looks older than the daggone statue.

Noose Son story here.

Instructions from the Urbana Engineer's office.