Friday, December 31, 2010

2010 - A Year in Uncool Blogging

Looking at this site's stats, I am frequntly wracked with anguish over the poor souls who land here looking for enlightenment & solid information they can use to better society & the planet in general. That they wind up here with nothing but psychotic ravings really saddens me.
ok, so looking over my stats I see the top search terms to land people here this year have been:
  • Grace Slick
  • Iggy Pop
  • Sun Maid Girl
  • Monica Crowley
  • Janice Rule
  • Captain Lust
  • Danzig
  • Alyce Andrece
  • Brittney Skye
  • Minase Yashiro

2 of these people are dead. Brittney Skye, a porn star, portrays a zombie hooker in the post where I use her image but say nothing about her, the Monica Crowley article suggests she is actually a soft core comic book character & the Sun Maid Girl isn't real. Conclusion, most people don't come here to read anything, just to gawk at celebrities, frequently porn stars.
Where did these unfortunate people come from?
  • Cincinnati, Ohio
  • Springfield, Ohio
  • London, United Kingdom
  • Batavia, Ohio
  • Phoenix, Arizona
  • New York, New York
  • Portland, Oregon
  • Chico, California
  • San Francisco, California
  • Málaga, Spain

For what I would consider a fairly Cincinnati oriented blog only 22% of hits are from Cincinnati. Virtually none of the search terms really have anything to do with Porktown other than musicians who have played here. I'm getting more hits from England than Dayton or Urbana. sheesh
My most popular pages?

Movies, celebrities, porn, junk food.
How do most people get here?
Google, Yahoo, Next Blog gets a ton of credit, the locations seem to rotate around the world. Sometimes the Next Blog hits are all in India, sometimes in Spain. Google has a strange sense of humor.
Where do people go when they leave?
The Laughing Noodle, my Cincinnati Iconography page (which hasn't generated 1 sale), Entertainment Earth, Sun Maid, a Pizza Strip company & The Springfield News Sun. While I frequently link to Cincinnati Enquirer articles, nobody seems to follow those links. Maybe referencing those guys kills my credibility. hm.....
What's it all mean? ~beats me~ Should I cater to my "audience"? There's way better sources for that material than what I offer.
Should I make more hysterical commentary & wild accusations of politicians? Should I use more cartoony images in an effort to ridicule my social opponents? Not really interested in being another COA T-USA or Cincinnati Asylum.
sigh
Guess I will just dispense more wisdom & intrigue. Thanx to the Blogging Isn't Cool staff. You guys rock!
PS - Favorite search term of the last 4 months - "sexy pictures of Leslie Ghiz".
A Good Start

Kid Monzel, the do nothing Cincinnati city councilman, has sworn in as a Hamilton county commissioner. His first act, in an effort to shrink government, balance the budget & adhere to "Tea Party Values" was to hire a full time florist to help him in his mission.
I am sure the commissioner's chambers will be lovely.
Fishwrap story here.

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

The Fishwrap Speaks Up

After weeks of contentious bitching from the public sector unions over the city's budget, the Enquirer, which frequently dwells in the real world, finally spoke up.
"One good measure of the extremism taking center stage in this debate was a comment by Diana Frey, president of Cincinnati Organized and Dedicated Employees (CODE), that she’d “rather be a laid-off municipal employee than a private sector worker.”
It appeared to signal that the unions would rather see hundreds of their members jobless than give any ground - or compromise, in the best American tradition - on the power they have accumulated.
And it seemed to epitomize the contempt that some in the privileged and pampered public sector feel toward those who actually make the economy run and supply the tax dollars for their ever-expanding demands."

The Cincinnati Enquirer has felt the sting of shifting technologies & lack of revenue due, in part, to the slagging global economy. They have had a part in contributing to the more than twice the normal rate of unemployment we suffer today.
If people are not working and if they, and the people who are in fear for their jobs are not buying, the government's revenue stream of income & sales taxes is going to dwindle. The municipalities of Ohio are required by state law to have balanced budgets from year to year. Unlike a private company that can take on debt to maintain operations in the red while waiting on better days, the city can not.
Why the city's labor unions cannot grasp these simple economic realities is bizarre. The FOP president was hauled out of City Council's chambers screaming and hollering by a policeman that she apparently represented. Kathy Harrell is certainly not a good spokesperson for the Cincinnati Police and her boorish behavior is not doing their reputation well in the public eye.
Councilwoman Laure Quinlivan pointed out that the only city in Ohio paying more for police than Cincinnati was Columbus and that the citizens of that community had voted to raise taxes to keep their safety personnel intact. Nothing is stopping Cincinnatians from putting a similar measure on the ballot. She also pointed out that municipalities that had laid off safety personnel had usually hired them back as economies had improved. Harrell never got to hear that part as she had been evicted from the meeting for her childish temper tantrum.

Fishwrap story here.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Is Pat Happy ?

After Haiti was hit by an earthquake about a year ago, Pat Robertson told us a "true story", that the reason for all Haiti's ills are due to a "pact with the devil" made by Haitian leaders to throw off the French yoke. In fact their bad luck started when they got enslaved in Africa & hauled off to Haiti.
Anyway, his message has gotten through & since a cholera outbreak, people have blamed the Vodun & lynched over 45 in recent weeks.
When missionary work doesn't do the job...
I doubt that Robertson wants to see people lynched (not 100%) any more than Scott Lively wanted to see a death penalty for homosexuals in Uganda.
Dumbass, insular, loud mouth Americans just don't understand that different cultures will see their message differently than their native culture will.
hm.... Maybe I oughtta block this blog from foreign countries.

Monday, December 27, 2010

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Navistar Gets More Nimble

A new contract, a new manager & a new strategy will determine the direction of Springfield's Navistar plant in 2011. They expect a 25% uptick in production & the plant will now work on a number of different truck models, requiring more diversity from the workers.
Noose Son story here.

Saturday, December 25, 2010

COOKIES !

My first & quite possibly last attempt at making cookies.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Things To Come

This movie doesn't really have anything to do with Christmas other than the beginning taking place on Christmas Eve 1940. But that's good enough for me. Are there any science fiction movies about Christmas? oh, right, Santa Claus v. the Martians. that sucker is too weird even for me.
This movie, based on a story by HG Wells (who was also involved in the production), was made in England in the mid 30s while Nazi Germany was rattling chains & building a war machine. It foretells of the imminent world war but in the movie, the world gets creamed & reduced to barbarism. A new futuristic society emerges out of the middle east & 100 years later the world is.....
Well, kinda the same.
The horse drawn cars are one of my favorite parts.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Cincinnati's Mill Creek

1 quibble. I read that the Mill Creek never flooded til settlers came along & deforested the surrounding area. oh well, seems like the junk artists would want to be all over this resource.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

The CPS Theme
The Knitters

Monday, December 20, 2010

We're #6!

Ohio ranks 6th in Worst States to Retire In.
Great. We don't need yer groaning, soiled ass anyway.
I gotta pee
help me
waitress
gnuuuhhhh
sound of drooling
help me

Missing in the criteria were the use of burial vaults & marksmanship. When people are near death they need to start planning for the afterlife as nosferatu & getting out of that coffin & dodging potential head shots is a prime concern. Of course burial costs weren't mentioned either.
I would think a passenger rail line from Cincinnati to Clevo would help Ohio's standing.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Is Municipal Recreation Worth It? ?

Back in the 20s the notion that unorganized recreation could circumvent juvenile delinquency was put forth & widely accepted. Cities built recreation centers & pools. The pools were happily greeted since it also gave kids a chance to cool off. The unorganized aspect forced the kids to organize among themselves. This was aimed at building a better community. The recreation facilities were not intended as luxuries but as crime deterrents.
Of course in the 20s there was no air conditioning, cars weren't ubiquitous, there was no TV, internet or game stations. Are theses resources still effective in their intended purpose?
Recreation centers also serve as community centers for neighborhood councils & organizations. These events could be held in schools or libraries, tho.
Northside, looking at a new rec center & school, urged city & school leaders to combine the 2 into one building which would have cut operational costs & met kids up with the neighborhood adults in a positive way thus building a better community. CPS, of course, wouldn't hear of it.
As the city is faced with a budget shortfall, evaluating the usefulness of our pools & recreation centers & finding efficiencies with consolidation is a necessity.
source

Thursday, December 16, 2010

End of The Art Damage Lodge

2010 marks the 25th anniversary of Art Damage. Friday & Saturday night will mark their last weekend at their location in the old Jacob Hoffner Lodge at 4120 Hamilton Avenue. Their 25th anniversary gift? Leather - as in the boot.
Back in the 80s when I was working 3rd shift these guys saved my life with a show on WAIF. While the principals have changed the mission to bring strange new music o the ears of Cincinnati has not. Well, kinda.
Anyway, the current guys intend to carry on but have yet to find a new venue. This is an art institution Cincinnati should be very proud of.
The end of the lodge location will include a "garage sale" tonight starting at 9 PM & a final show Saturday night at midnight.
The scoop:
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 17th
Uncle Dave Lewis
Stare Case (Nate Young and John Olson from Wolf Eyes)
Hearts of Palm
Pete Fosco/ Chris Adams/ Kevin Bruce Trio

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 18th
Ryan Jewell/ Andrew Scott Young/ Ryley Walker
The Gospel of Luthor the Geek
California Girls
Thriftstore Boritorium
Solace Media Antics

$5 each night/ 9pm/ all ages

Ciry Beat article by Dave Lewis here.
Observations On the Last Budget Hearing

The last Finance Committee Budget Hearing was Thursday, 12/15/10 in Clifton. I didn't record it & I am not inclined to. Aside from the drone of rhetoric from the union guys who don't seem to understand how city finances work and are, apparently, completely unaware of the massive job losses in the private sector that has led to the current budget shortfall, there were a few highlights.
Everybody loved the most emotional, pointlessly showy speakers. Children received wild applause. Tom Luken's inane ranting & complete incompetence concerning council rules was very well received. I am fairly convinced he has been looking for a photo op of police carrying his ass out of one of these hearings McCrackin. Dan La Botz was very well received. cracked me up I imagine most of the attendees voted for him in the last election.
right.....
Gwenn Marshall got points for insulting the streetcar but applause was halting when she started calling for higher taxes. Mary Kuhl, who has been advocating for the city to embroil itself in years of legal wrangling circumventing personal property rights and tying up hundreds of thousands & probably millions of dollars in one of her pet projects, pointed out that the city should restrict itself to essential services. Justin Jeffre, (I have no idea why Qualls can't get his name right) who repeatedly cites the Charter Committee reforms of 1927 as excellence in government, condemned one of the most important parts of those reforms, the adoption of a city manager form of government. Kathy Harrell couldn't figure out how to fill out a speakers card.
A couple people cried. John Boehner, what hast thou wrought?
Melissa English and a few others commended the city for moving forward with recycling, saving the city money in landfill fees but advocated for a volume based fee system for garbage. Chris Moran & a number of other people including one fire fighter lauded the city for moving forward with the streetcar plan. They pointed out how it should improve tax revenues & compliment safety. The fire fighter labeled it's use as a political wedge issue by opponents framing it as a job killer, a red herring.
Nobody with any possible cuts had more than a couple million dollars worth of savings.
One really good question a few people brought up was: why was the firefighters contract ok'd when it obviously wasn't ok.
While the naivete of the children was ok, it didn't look that good on adults who should know better and the disingenuous hypocrisy of some others was a downright disgrace.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

What Do the Police Cost ?

A couple weeks ago the Enquirer posted an article about what citizens pay for the police force. They framed it as police per citizen. One of the commenters stated that police per crime was a better comparison, so I hacked together this handy chart using City-Data & the figures the Fishwrap reported.
What Cincinnati Columbus Cleveland Dayton Youngstown
Murders per 100,000 16.5 10.9 20.0 25.5 30.6
Raoes per 100,000 70.5 75.6 86.9 59.5 56.9
Robberies per 100,000 681.1 447.1 828.2 503.4 440.2
Assaults per 100,000 423.9 169.6 450.4 419.7 661.0
Burglaries per 100,000 1884.8 1920.4 2149.4 2120.7 2896.9
Thefts per 100,000 3751.3 3956.3 2532.6 3224.3 2423.3
City-data crime index 697.8 587.1 777.0 651.4 719.8
Residents per officer 301 402 277 394 444
Spending per resident $308.40 $344.58 $403.36 $289.25 $251.29

As you can see, you pretty much get what you pay for. I used incidents per 100,00 & ignored the raw numbers. That would probably not sit well with the Fishwrap commenter but nothing much seems to sit well with the average colicky Fishwrap commenter.
The weirdest thing about City-Data's numbers is the very low number of assaults in Columbus. Many robberies involve assault, rape is an assault by definition, so maybe Columbus just looks at the other charge & finds a separate assault charge superfluous? Rape seems kinda high in Columbus but it is the seat of the state government, so.....
Youngstown seems to be doing things on the cheap & it doesn't look like it's paying off. Cleveland pays through the nose, however & it doesn't seem to be doing them much better.
Of the City-Data "crime index", they say higher means more crime with the U.S. average being 319.2. Ohio's large cities are averaging 686.2.
Dunno if this gives a better view of things or not.

Monday, December 13, 2010


Explorer Vampire Blood Moon

I want one. I don't need it. I don't even particularly like it. I just like the name.
NEW PRODUCTS !

Just in time for your last minute online shopping needs!
hope you like Cooper...
Show your colors & harangue your transitphobic friends & family with "Are You an Addict?" bumper stickers!

Only $4.00 !!

Folks, at a measly $4 you won't need to fix the trunk latch, just use these stickers!!
Melting acid fever been streaking through the mind lately?

Sail out into the grasshopper night & assume a righteous poison in a T-Shirt or sweatshirt with the Doktor's prime directive!
You Gotta Ride !!

Be cool - Buy My Stuff !
Seriously, the soybeans didn't do too well this year.

Thursday, December 09, 2010

I Hate Christmas

The parents & grandparents are no longer with us. Of my generation only one sister bred. Her "kids" are middle aged now & neither of them have bred, so no little kids either. Without this span of generations, festivities are just a gathering of middle aged schmucks grousing about politics, jobs & TV.
The 2 sisters absolutely hate each other, the next generation is prone to shift work & working holidays, so scheduling / planning is a complete PITA.
If you give somebody a gift any other day of the year, people think you're weird but you HAVE to give gifts on Christmas & then it turns into bargaining as what Larry gave Curly is worth more than what Moe gave Larry and.....
You start looking at the gizmos in the Think Geek catalog & then you hear stories about people too poor to give gifts & the neato gag gifts start losing their luster.
And it brings out the best in all of us. Christmas music. Doesn't it seem kinda Clockwork Oranginan to force prisoners in an Arizona jail to listen to Christmas Music 12 hours a day? Of course there's radio stations that play the stuff all day, too.
Then there's the whole "reason for the season" crew boycotting business and condemning people for wishing people Happy Holidays instead of wishing them Merry Christmas or the Atheists who mock a religion in it's high holy days and the whole argument over Christmas being Pagan or Christian.



Isis and Horus

Look, I really don't care how you celebrate Christmas. You can paint yourself purple, wave a Jolly Roger & scat sing Wagner's operas in August. Knock yourself out, just keep your purple paint off of me.

Sunday, December 05, 2010

Procol Harum Down Under 1970

Friday, December 03, 2010

It's All Happening on the Avenue

Northside Holiday Art Sale

Something tells me Hamilton Avenue is hopping, so hop on that 17 & get festive!
Northside Holiday Art Sale
Saturday, December 4 from 10AM to 3PM
North Presbyterian Church
4222 Hamilton AvenueOver 50 artists !
Knot Only Knitting
Saturday, Dec 4 @ 2 PM at the Cumminsville Branch Library right across the street from the Northside Holiday Art Sale.
Wrapping Paper
Down on the corner of Chase & Hamilton at Happen Inc. from 10 AM to 5 PM.
If the street life isn't for you - go plant some bushes in the woods!
Parkers Woods Spice Bush Planting
10:30 Am in Parkers Woods
Meanwhile, up the hill there's a PARADE !!
Holiday on the Hill

Saturday December 4 at 11 AM
From Larch Field to Hamilton & on to Elkton
So, here's the plan - Wear yourself out in Northside, get caffeinated at Sidewinders & run up Hamilton to College Hill. Knock yourself out there & re-caffeinate at College Hill Coffee then cartwheel back down the hill to Northside for tunes, grub & caffeine antidotes!

Thursday, December 02, 2010

Razing Texas

City workers want to avoid layoffs. Their union reps don't want pay cuts & demotions.
Their solutions? Nothing worthwhile. Since the casino should increase crime, using a portion of it's proceeds for the police department would make sense but that's down the road & the city of Cincinnati needs to balance it's budget from year to year. It's not a business that can operate in the red.
Labor unions, public employees & the vocal NAACP prez have known about this budget shortfall since the last budget process.
Revenues are down due to a recession. The cost of running the city has not gone down - it's pretty static. The solution is simple. People who can afford the cash need to pay more. That's right - A TAX HIKE. Will councilmembers do it? notachance (although they could have been more austere last year & laid people off requiring fewer layoffs this year).
However the unions & organizations that tell us just how important it is to keep these public employees working could and should do it. I mean, put your money where your mouth is. The NAACP is good at, if nothing else, ballot initiatives. Upon knowing about the greater shortfall for this year's budget, they should have put together some kind of tax plan to pay for these services that we could have voted for in November. The bellyachin', theatrics & half baked solutions are just noise.

Fishwrap story here.