Scatter Your Ashes ?

Want your ashes scattered? >Mesoloft REALLY scatter your ashes - like - from space!
And they record video, too.

There's a RIOT Goin' On !

March 28, 1884 pissed off Porkopitans commenced rioting & eventually torched the court house & law library. They couldn't be satiated til militias from Bob City & Cow Town came to town & opened up some whup ass on 'em with a gatling gun. In the end, over 50 people lost their lives & many more were injured.
and nothing was solved

Read more in this collection of articles compiled by Pat Olvey.

In the Penal Colony - the Movie

On the liner notes for the Mothers of Invention album, We're Only in it for The Money, Frank sez to read Franz Kafka's story, In the Penal Colony, first. Kinda nuts for a teenager into comic books, but Franz became one of my faves instantly. I actually took a page from The Hunger Artist at my last job but it didn't seem to shame the sales staff...
Anyway, I think this is a pretty good no budget short.
I really think the device would be good for taggers.
YMMV

The Ramones in Columbus 1980

This was mentioned earlier here.

Vril Society

WEED

Some crazy music, maaaaannnnn.....

More Birthdays

I've still got your hatchet & tea towels with owls & calendars on 'em.

Happy birthday Ivy!

Poison Ivy Rorshach - 1953

Central Parkway Protected Bike Path

At about the 1:00;00 mark, the Johnsons, who have run Robin Imaging for over 30 years on Central Parkway & live nearby, point out all the crap I kept pointing out before the thing was implemented.
Putting the fastes stuff in the middle of the road with slower stuff to the curbside is the way we used roads for thousands of years. Parking cars along the curbs goes back to the invention of the auto & even the wagon.
Rearranging the traffic pattern to protect people from a collision that just isn't that common is BULLSHIT
While ridership is up, there's still not a lot. There seems to be some confusion over the number of car accidents. Bicycle / automobile accidents are reported up.
One thing promoters of this silly scheme promised was that the bike lane would be cleared of snow in the winter. There was no clearing and if the snow plow guys had a small plow, they seem to have not received the memo.
Mr Johnson also brings up that debris is not cleared either, resulting blocking cyclists trapped between the curb & parked cars.
About half the bollards have been creamed by zombie motorists (@ $50 apiece) and the Johnsons have lost 1 car. Robin Imaging does photography, art reproductions & framing. That is, people load & unload some valuable stuff on Central Parkway. That being said, they do have a parking lot.
On the bright side, when not careening into parked cars, motorists have not been slowed dowm. Even when slaughtering bollards.

You can see a better version of the WKRC segment here

The Need for Speed

While politicians work to raise speed limits Tesla CEO predicts driving cars will ultimately become illegal because it's too dangerous to leave it up to people.

Speed Governance

Back in 1923 the city of Cincinnati proposed a referendum to put governing devices on motor vehicles to limit their top speed to 25 MPH. It made sense in a way as roadway deaths had escalated from less than 500 a year in 1900 to over 15,000 nationwide in 1923.
But it also made little sense for inter city travel although that could be done at higher speeds & more safely by train. Still, trains didn't get you to Hooterville. Wait - they did...
Anyway, the referendum failed due to intense lobbying by the automobile lobby. Now we have around 35,000 roadway fatalities per year.
But, while it was impractical 92 years ago, with modern technology, would it be practical today?
With wifi & cars being rolling computers, could we have a sort of dynamic broadcast governor today that would change from street to street depending on the speed limit? That could adjust for school hours & road construction zones? That could 'assist' in stopping at stop signs?
It seems feasible. It would cost some money & the automobile lobby would scream bloody murder but it would be much more practical than the draconian "one size fits all" plan suggested in Cincinnati in 1923.

Summer Arts Festival

or Tribute Bandalooza
The Springfield Summer Arts Fesiival schedule is out.
Romeo & Juliet will be the theatrical performance. Festival staple Phil Dirt & the Dozers returns, at least 7 tribute bands, Livingston Taylor, Griffin House, and Jefferson Starship will perform.

Info & full line up here.

Happy Pi Day

π

Northside Second Saturday Pi Day Edition

Barrio Tequileria - 1/2 price wine all night long on glasses & bottles, plus live music by Cliff Adams
Bistro Grace - Stop in and ask for the chef's special
C & D Cafe - Art exhibit featuring work by Sandi Bruns
Casablanca Vintage - See how lucky you are and draw from a Leprechaun’s hat an instant coupon to be applied toward your purchase
Chameleon - a special art opening by Northside resident Daniel Baker plus Vinyl Night with Hook & Ladder featuring Margaret Darling of the Seedy Seeds
Cincinnati Family Enrichment Center - Parents Night Out, leave the kiddos in good hands while you go out on the town
The Comet - Shake your booty at Reggae Night with Queen City Imperial Soundsystem in the Comet basement
Craft Village - Felted Shamrock Brooches or Barrettes Workshop: Come in anytime during shop hours and needle-felt your own shamrock
Django Western Taco - Enjoy lunch or dinner with featured drinks & desserts
Galaxie Skateshop - Art exhibit featuring new work by Doug Korfhagen
Happy Chicks Bakery - Go for vegan-friendly brunch or lunch and get a free drink
The Kitchen Factory - Dine-in dinner menu 5pm-9pm; then late night pizza window open 'til 3am
The Listing Loon - Wine tasting featuring 5 wines for $12, plus a complimentary charcuterie board from Picnic & Pantry
The Littlefield - Celebrate Pi Day (get it, 3.14 ? ) with an all pie menu, plus a featured drink special that benefits ThunderSky Inc.
Market Side Mercantile - Find unique gifts, up-cycled housewares, and handmade items
Northside Grange Pet & Urban Farm Supply - Pick up some dog & cat treats for 20% off
NVISION - Enjoy a special art exhibit of Newspaper Aphorisms, plus 20% off all fashion accessories
Ruth’s Parkside Cafe - Stop in to see the exhibit of new photographs by Brad Smith, and ask for the featured dinner & drink special, or try the bar bites menu
Sidewinder Coffee - Art exhibit featuring the masks of David Earl Johnson, plus Happy Hour drink prices
Spun Bicycles - 2nd anniversary all day party, including pizza, cake and discounts
Tillie's Lounge - Check out Northside's newest bar, in the former Serpent space, with Happy Hour drink prices
Visionaries + Voices - Art opening for CON[TEXT], a word-based art exhibition

Please visit the Northside Second Saturdays Facebook page to learn about these and future events
Check out The Northside Map of Awesomeness

Springfield Gets One Right

Photo by Tim AyersIn all the demolitions in Springfield, OH, this was the one needed for decades. The Crowell Collier printing company closed in the mid 50s and the building sat, like an albatross for over half a century. It was a stark reminder of the thousands of layoffs just before Christmas that year and marked the end of the city's once proud manufacturing heritage.
It was used for a number of things over the years, it's where I first registered to vote, but was just a crumbling warehouse for a guy who was pretty much a pack rat in the past couple decades.
While the city tore down it's Veterans' Memorial concert hall, it's arcade, it's schools, it's bridges, it's train stations and it's entire fucking downtown, this leviathan stood resolute, a decrepit hulk, a rotting stinking corpse.
This should have been the first to go.
Hopefully someone can develop the site. Maybe recreate a downtown now that the mall is pretty much dead.

iZombie

This adaptation of a comic book smooshes up a number of zombie elements, probably the most interesting of which is the intelligent zombie trying to fit into the world of warmies & balancing her divergent interests. It's on the CW so you know it will be good. No, seriously, since it doesn't have love lorn vampires, it might actually be fun. It does appear to have about every other damn cliche going on.
Debuts March 17

OTR - 24 Years

A couple videos of Cincinnati's Over the Rhine neighborhood. One shot in 1990 as the videographer was stalking a young mother and one on 2014 by an obnoxious guy from Toledo.
One of the Toledoans comments that mused me was his joy over the Kroger supermarket on Vine Street that locals love to complain about to the point of not even acknowledging it's existence. He points out Toledoans would LOVE to have something like that.
The 1990 video leaves me wondering what became of the kid in the stroller...
OTR - 1990


OTR - 2014

Why The Reptilians Need Your children's Blood

They need children's blood to maintain their human forms - DUH...

Infrastructure

This skit/routine goes on kind of long but it brings up the idea of selling infrastructure maintenance with, if not horror, ham fisted drama.
Cloverfield might have approaced the subject but that was kinda more along the lines of "leave it alone, man, who the fuck knows what's down there".
And then there's C.H.U.D. ...
Maybe this is a subject that needs to be sold with sex. Maybe with hot robot chicks in wet tank tops crawling around in the sewere. Might work.

Robear ?

Yes, leave granny alone with a robot modeled after a human eating carnivore.
I am sure the folks with dementia will absolutely love having one of these things standing in the corner of their room at night.

More at CNet

Redefining the Chili Experience

A new boss at Gold Star Chili says he wants to redefine the 'chili experience' but not do anything revolutionary
I say, go ahead & be revolutionary because there's not much to redefine. I mean, Cincinnati chili does kinda redefine chili so whatha going to do?
Serve it on mashed potatoes? Make a borscht version? Add kale? Maybe switch to Coke?

Hiding in plain sight

Need more proof the aliens walk amongst us? Look in your wallet at the images created more than a hundred years ago when Venus worshipping freemasons founded The United States of America using alien texts & quill pens.