On March 19, 1901 sisters, Florence and Georgia Trader instituted a Library for the Blind in conjunction with the Cincinnati Library. It started with a collection of 100 books. There were about 400 blind people in Cincinnati. Now the library serves about 6,000 people annually in 33 counties with 400,000 books, recordings, audiobooks and the various tools to use them.
Well, they did.
That was just so 20th century, tho. In the HamCo library's bold vision for the Library of the 21st Century, they have decided to ditch the gimps & send everything up to Cleveland.
Joyce Rogers of the ACB sez that patrons of the Library of the Blind read at a rate 7 times greater than sighted patrons.
The American Council of the Blind of Ohio, Greater Cincinnati Chapter has invited the library's director, Kim Fender to address their rationale on 4/14 at the YWCA at 898 Walnut St. Oddly enough, they oppose the closing and question why we would send 400,000 items to Cleveland so they can send them back at a rate of 22,000 items a month.
This seems like one of those things Cincinnati should be heralding as a great asset and a sign of leadership nationally. Instead, we will shut it down and pay to mail materials all over the state.
Or you could just go to the Cleveland library yourself.
Since most blind people don't drive (all the screaming and honking is distracting) you will probably have to hoof it to the Clevo Library, so here's the Google walking directions.
1. Head north on Vine St toward E 9th St/OH-3/US-22
0.2 mi
2. Turn right at E Central Pkwy/US-42
Continue to follow US-42
0.8 mi
3. Slight left at Reading Rd/US-42
2.2 mi
4. Slight left to stay on Reading Rd/US-42
3.5 mi
5. Slight right to stay on Reading Rd/US-42
4.2 mi
6. Slight left to stay on Reading Rd/US-42
2.1 mi
7. Slight left to stay on Reading Rd/US-42
0.4 mi
8. Slight right to stay on Reading Rd/US-42
92 ft
9. Turn left to stay on Reading Rd/US-42
Continue to follow US-42
1.4 mi
10. Slight left at Cincinnati Columbus Rd/Lebanon Rd/E Lebanon Pike/US-42
Continue to follow US-42
7.9 mi
11. Slight right at State Route 42/US-42
Continue to follow US-42
6.7 mi
12. Slight left at S Broadway St/OH-48/US-42
Continue to follow US-42
0.6 mi
13. Turn left at Columbus Ave/US-42
Continue to follow US-42

6.7 mi
14. Slight right at N State Route 42/US-42
2.0 mi
15. Turn left at OH-73/E State Route 73
308 ft
16. Turn right at S Main St
0.4 mi
17. Turn left at North St
0.2 mi
18. Turn right at N 4th St
0.6 mi
19. Continue on Old Stage Rd
4.8 mi
20. Turn left at US-42/US Route 42
2.4 mi
21. Slight left at US-42/US Route 42 S
Continue to follow US-42
6.0 mi
22. Turn right at W Main St/US-35/US-42
0.6 mi
23. Turn left at N Columbus St/US-42
Continue to follow US-42
7.6 mi
24. Continue on E Xenia Ave
0.1 mi
25. Turn left at East St
0.1 mi
26. Turn right at US-42/US Route 42 E
4.1 mi
27. Turn right at Old Route 42 E/US-42
Continue to follow Old Route 42 E
1.1 mi
28. Continue on Old Columbus Cincinnati Rd/Old State Route 42
3.4 mi
29. Turn left toward Columbus Cincinnati Rd/US-42
390 ft
30. Turn right at Columbus Cincinnati Rd/US-42
Continue to follow US-42
4.1 mi
31. Turn left at Summerford Rd
5.5 mi
32. Turn right at London Plattsburg Rd
459 ft
33. Continue on Old Springfield Rd
331 ft
34. Turn left at Markley Rd
3.0 mi
35. Slight right at National Pike/US-40 SE
0.8 mi
36. Turn left at US-40 NW
0.8 mi
37. Turn left at National Pike/US-40 NW
1.8 mi
38. Turn left at Marysville-London Rd/OH-38/State Route 38 NW
1.6 mi
39. Turn left to stay on Marysville-London Rd/OH-38/State Route 38 NW
4.0 mi
40. Turn right at Arthur Bradley Rd
1.7 mi
41. Slight left at Lafayette-Plain City Rd
8.0 mi
42. Turn right at Perry Pike/West Ave
0.6 mi
43. Turn left at S Jefferson Ave/US-42
0.4 mi
44. Slight left to stay on S Jefferson Ave/US-42
Continue to follow US-42
15.3 mi
45. Slight left at US-42 S
0.2 mi
46. Turn left at London Rd
1.8 mi
47. Turn left at S Sandusky St
0.3 mi
48. Turn right at Wilmer St
0.2 mi
49. Turn left at S Henry St
0.3 mi
50. Turn right at US-36/E William St
Continue to follow US-36
1.0 mi
51. Turn left at Bowtown Rd
0.5 mi
52. Slight left at OH-521/State Route 521
4.8 mi
53. Turn left at N Old State Rd
2.6 mi
54. Continue on County Rd-24/Worthington-New Haven Rd
Continue to follow County Rd-24
12.9 mi
55. Slight left at US-42
0.4 mi
56. Turn right at Cardington Williamsport Rd/County Rd-110/Twp Rd 110
2.4 mi
57. Turn left at Cardington Williamsport Rd/Twp Rd 110
Continue to follow Cardington Williamsport Rd
2.5 mi
58. Slight right at US-42
19.3 mi
59. Turn right at E 1st St/OH-13/US-42
Continue to follow E 1st St/US-42
0.3 mi
60. Turn left at Hedges St/US-42
Continue to follow US-42
2.7 mi
61. Slight right at Ashland Rd/US-42
308 ft
62. Slight left to stay on Ashland Rd/US-42
Continue to follow US-42
7.3 mi
63. Slight left to stay on US-42
0.2 mi
64. Continue on Claremont Ave
2.5 mi
65. Turn right at W Washington St
0.6 mi
66. Turn left at Miller St
0.1 mi
67. Turn right at Cleveland Ave/County Rd-42B
1.6 mi
68. Turn left at US-42
6.0 mi
69. Slight left at State Route 42/US-42
Continue to follow US-42
9.7 mi
70. Turn right at Crawford Rd
0.1 mi
71. Crawford Rd turns left and becomes Lodi Rd
1.4 mi
72. Slight left at Greenwich Rd/Lafayette Rd/OH-421
Continue to follow OH-421
2.5 mi
73. Continue on Lafayette Rd/US-42
9.5 mi
74. Turn left at S Court St/OH-3/US-42
Continue to follow US-42
15.7 mi
75. Slight left at Pearl Rd/US-42
4.7 mi
76. Slight right to stay on Pearl Rd/US-42
Continue to follow Pearl Rd
4.9 mi
77. Slight right at W 25th St/OH-3/Pearl Rd/US-42
Continue to follow W 25th St/OH-3/US-42
1.8 mi
78. Slight right at Columbus Rd
0.9 mi
79. Turn right to stay on Columbus Rd
0.1 mi
80. Turn left at Old River Rd/Robert Lockwood Jr
0.1 mi
81. Turn right at W Superior Ave/Superior Hill
466 ft
82. Slight left at W Superior Ave/US-20/US-42/US-6
Continue to follow W Superior Ave/US-6
Destination will be on the left

The Springfield Arts Council has announced the Summer Arts Fair schedule of events to be held, free, in Veteran's (Cliff) Park. Productions by local mainstays, The Springfield Civic Theater and Springfield Symphony Orchestra will be joined by tribute bands and B-List pop stars.
Map

June 18
John Waite. The former Babys frontman who later fronted Bad English.

June 19
Parrots of the Caribbean, the Jimmy Buffett tribute thing.

June 20
Maureen McGovern

June 21
The Springfield Symphony Orchestra

June 24
The Eagles tribute band Hotel California

June 25
The Flying Karamazov Brothers juggling and comedy.

June 26
SignStage performs "Adventures of Dr. Doolittle" at 2 p.m.

June 26
Homegrown singer-songwriter Griffin House

June 27
Oleta Adams. The R&B singer and opening act, Down Deep.

July 2-5
Springfield Civic Theatre - The Music Man

July 7
The Jazz Ambassadors of the United States Army Field Band.

July 8
The Paragon Ragtime Orchestra will accompany silent comedy classics starring Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd.

July 9
The Yu Wei Chinese Dance Collection.

July 10
Phil Dirt and the Dozers

July 11
Irish Fest

July 12
Pic 'n' Fiddle Fest.

July 15
The Grateful Dead tribute band Dark Star Orchestra at 7 p.m.

July 16
Colin Hay

July 17-18
Beginning at 5 p.m., the Rhythm and Ribs Fest will be headlined by smooth sax player Warren Hill at 8 p.m. July 17, and the Urban Jazz Coalition at 8 p.m.July 18.

Wussy CD Release Party

Fri day 13 @ 7 PM, Wussy will be celebrating the release (pre-release) of their new CD, Wussy, at Shake It Records at 4156 Hamilton Ave.
Later, at 10, the band will appear across the street (if they don't get mowed down in the crosswalk) at the Northside Tavern, 4163 Hamilton Ave. There is no cover.
Official release date is April 20 but the CD will be available locally Mar 13.
To hear some tracks, check out the band's MySpace page.
And while you're in Northside on the dreaded Friday the 13th, NVISION will be hosting the opening of FRAMED FREAKS - ILLUSTRATIONS BY MATTHEW HAMBY at 4577 Hamilton Avenue (next to The Comet) from 6 - 10 PM.

Cemetery FUN !
As spring approaches it's time to start getting outdoors again. Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum hosts a year long schedule of events open to all warmies.
On their list of things to do are educational series' on gardening, bird watching, nature walks, "Twilight Tours" that allow you to explore the cem after dark and local history presentations. It is also the host to a couple 5k runs that raise funds for local charities.
Saturday offers both a pruning seminar and an "Owl Prowl".
While the cemetery began operations in 1845, people from older cemeteries were re-interred at Spring Grove. Many of the founders of Cincinnati are resting at Spring Grove including Israel Ludlow, whose farm sat just west of the cemetery along the north bank of the scenic Mill Creek. (actually, I think part of the cemetery might have been part of his farm.
Spring Grove is also a great place to ride a bike, free of the busy traffic that tends to intimidate a lot of folk in Cincinnati.
And, as always, a great place to stop before and after visiting the cemetery is Northside !

<enter Harlowe Wilcox mode>

Ali's Boutique
   4185 Hamilton Avenue
   513-591-2547
Art Damage Lodge
   4120 Hamilton Ave.
Banner and Ross Gallery
   3841 Spring Grove Ave.
   513-861-4333
   hrs: 8:30 AM - 8:00 PM Mon-Thurs, 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM Fri
The Blue Jay
   4154 Hamilton Ave.
   513-541-0847
   hrs: 8:00 AM - 3:30 PM Mon-Sat
Blue Rock Tavern
   4221 Hamilton Ave.
   hrs: 5:00 PM - 2:30 AM Mon-Fri, 6:00 PM - 2:30 AM Sat
Bonomi
   1677 Blue Rock Ave.
   513-541-7501
Boswell Alley
   1686 Blue Rock Ave.
   513-681-8100
   hrs: 11:00 AM - 10:00 PM Mon-Thurs, 11:00 AM - 11:00 PM Fri-Sat, Bar til 2:30 AM Mon-Sat
Bug House Video
   4170 Hamilton Avenue
   513-541-3700
   hrs: 4:00 PM - 10:00 PM Mon-Thurs, 4 - 11:00 PM Fri, noon - 11:00 PM Sat, noon - 9:00 PM Sun
Bullfishes
   4023 Hamilton Ave.
   513-79-4999
The C & D Cafe
   1714 Hanfield Ave
   513-541-9881
Club Bronz
   4029 Hamilton Ave.
   513-591-2100
Cluxton Alley Coffee Roasters
   4037 Hamilton Ave.
   513-698-2966
   hrs: Tues-Fri 9:00 Am - 2:30 PM, 8:00 AM - 6:00 PM Sat
The Comet
   4579 Hamilton Ave.
   513-541-8900
   hrs: 4:00 PM - 2:30 AM Sun-Sat
Gajah Wong West
   3937 Spring Grove Ave.
   513-591-3935
   hrs: 5:30 PM - 10:00 PM, bar open late
Ginger's Bar
   1701 Blue Rock Ave.
   hrs: til 2:30 AM
Designs by Dana
   4167 Hamilton Ave.
   513-681-8871
The Gypsy Hut
   4231 Spring Grove Ave.
   513-541-0999
   hrs: 8:00 PM - 2:30 AM
The Hideaway
   44163 Hamilton Ave.
   513-542-2444
   hrs: 11:00 AM - 2:30 PM Tues-Fri, 5:00 PM - 9:30 PM Tues-Thurs, 5:00 - 11:00 Fri-Sat, 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM Sun
Honey
   4034 Hamilton Ave.
   513-541-4300
   hrs: 11:30 AM - 9:00 PM Tues-Thurs, 11:30 AM - 10:PM Fri-Sat, 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM Sun
Junker's tavern
   4156 Langland Ave.
   513-541-5470
Marshiella's
   Hamilton Ave.
   11:30 AM - 2:00 PM Tues-Fri
Melt
   4165 Hamilton Ave.
   513-681-MELT
   hrs: 11:00 AM - 9:00 PM Mon-Thurs, 11:00 AM - 10 PM Fri-Sat
NYPD Pizza
   1566 Chase Ave.
   513-681-NYPD
   hrs: 11:00 AM - 11:00 PM Mon-Thurs, 11:00 AM midnight Fri-Sat
Northside Bar
   Hamilton Ave.
Northside Tavern
   4163 Hamilton Ave.
   513-541-3603
   hrs: 5:00v PM - 2:30 AM Mon-Fri, 8:30 PM - 2:30 AM Sat-Sun
NVISION
   4577 Hamilton Avenue
   513-542-4577
   hrs: 2:00 PM - 9:00 PM Wed-Sat
Park Chili
   4160 Hamilton Ave.
   513-541-9902
   hrs: 7:00 AM - 7:00 PM mon-Fri, 7:00 AM - 2:00 PM Sat, 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM Sun
Portofino's
   1609 Chase Ave.
   513-542-5808
   hrs: 10:00 AM - 10:00 PM Mon-Sat
Prairie
   4035 Hamilton Ave.
   513 703-5729
The Serpent
   4042 Hamilton Ave.
   513-681-6969
   hrs: 9:00 PM - 2:30 AM
Sidewainder Coffee & Tea
   4181 Hamilton Ave.
   513-542-8321
   hrs: 7:00 AM - 9:00 PM Mon-Fri, 8:00 AM - 8:00 PM Sat-Sun
Slim's
   4046 Hamilton Ave.
   513-681-6500
   hrs: 5:30 PM - til he food's gone, 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM Sun
Taco Bell/KFC
   4147 Hamilton Ave.
   513-541-7861
Take the Cake
   4137 Hamilton Ave.
   513-241-2772
White Castle
   3940 Ludlow Ave.
   513-542-7291
   hrs: 24/7

Traffic Signal

yeah, it's another one of my year & a half later movie reviews.....
This movie was hailed as some kinda great depiction of the street life of the poor in India. Well, maybe - if the street people are all clean, healthy, intelligent, articulate, mentally stable people. It seemed more like a 80s feelgood movie. Maybe a Disneyworld version of Washington Parkland. The way everybody got along and loved the guy they paid protection money to was, I am sure, spot on.
As far as an enjoyable movie goes, it was fine. It's listed as a drama but has quite a bit of humor. The breezy character development kinda sucked any drama out of it. The photography & acting are fine. The writing and direction were a bit off. The movie dragged somewhat & was kinda disjointed.
Needless to say, my crush du jour is Nitu Chandra.
yow


Probably the worst thing about this movie was that I really wanted some Indian food afterwards but, even though there are 3 or 4 restaurants nearby in Clifton, it was late and they were all closed. I need to learn how to cook that stuff.....

Deconcentrate the Rich
The City of Cincinnati has decided to right wrong thinking of the past and, in an effort to deghettoize neighborhoods like Over the Rhine by deconcentrating the poor through the deconcentration social services.
Wish 'em luck. I agree with the concept but don't know as legislation is the way to go.
In our current financial/economic meltdown, a big reason we are in the mess we are in is because of a concentration of great deal of wealth in a few people's hands. When these few people screw up, vast assets and people and businesses are screwed up. The gummint has decided to fix the problem by throwing money at it, (as usual). The problem here is that even more sums of money are being put into the hands of the few who screwed up in the first place. In fact, even fewer as some of the institutions have used their bailout money to acquire other institutions thereby concentrating even more assets into the hands of even fewer screw ups.
While these large companies are not monopolies (yet), it seems that breaking them up might be a better plan. Many smaller financial institutions are doing just fine with smaller, more manageable stores of assets.
Breaking the larger companies up would broaden the brain pool of managers, create jobs and foster creativity and competition.
An argument for deconcentrating the poor is that people who have made bad life choices shouldn't be reinforcing their ideas on one another and that by assimilating them into "good" neighborhoods the better life choices of those people might rub off on them. If it is supposed to work for the poor, it probably oughtta work ok for the rich, too.

Springfield Ranked #2

Cincinnati is manly. Portland is miserable. Springfield was edged out of being the best location in the nation for private commercial development in areas with populations between 50,000 and 200,000 by Sioux City, Iowa.
Springfield's #2 status was bestowed by Site Selection Magazine (who doesn't read this ?) in their annual Governor's Cup Awards issue. Cincinnati ranked fourth for metro areas over 1 million. Dayton ranked first for metros under 1 million and over 200,000.
It's pretty clear SW Ohio sucks when it comes to corporate realty.

Noose Son story here.

Happy Birthday, Barbie !

What's In A Name ?
HamCo Comm, D. Pepper is asking, Should we rename The Banks ?
I think it's kind of pointless.
Losantville/Porkopolis/Cincinnati's neighborhoods take on names and identities of their own over the years. Here & there neighborhoods want to change their names and I am semi ok with that.
Winton Place recently changed it's name to Spring Grove Village because they, apparently, wanted to sound like a retirement community. Over the Rhine was called The Northern Liberties at one time.

Cool ! Grandma Lives in HELLTOWN !
Up here in scenic Ludlow Station/Cumminsville/Northside there is currently an art exhibit at the Prairie Gallery called Happy Valley or Helltown" - both of which were nicknames for Ludlow Station/Cumminsville/Northside over the years.
COASTers have suggested selling the naming rights. A typically dumb idea from people who would probably just as soon sell their parents to glue factories, but, on the other hand, if Larry Flynt bought the rights - THAT could be pretty outrageous !
There used to be a "Shantytown" down there at one time but that's probably not a good choice today (From a marketing standpoint).
Might as well let whoever moves into the Banks project or it's neighbors pick a name for themselves in 2069 or so as confuse people nowadays, tho.

Permanence or Success
Michael Earl Patton brings up an interesting idea involving public projects and their "permanence" over at the Arkham Beacon.
Streetcar advocates argue that rails in the roadway promote the idea of permanence to real estate developers, merchants and others. If you are old enough, you probably remember driving over the abandoned rails of the last streetcar systems. Then, again, even though the old streetcars are gone, many of the current bus routes are nearly the same as the old streetcar routes.
Patton goes on to discount the city's Skywalk system. It was designed to separate people from traffic, provide a shelter from the elements and to build a second story of retail and services in the same geographical footprint. Then, again, if you are old enough, you remember just going into buildings and walking up the stairs to businesses on upper floors. Another goal was to recreate and compete with the suburban mall experience downtown.
I tend to wince when I hear the streetcar argument of permanence. I think the real issue is how long does something have to work to be considered a success ? One generation ? Two ? A hundred ?
The real goal of the streetcar is to recreate/rejuvenate viable neighborhoods. If that is done and lasts 30 - 40 years but the streetcar is abandoned in 20 years, it is not too permanent but it will have been a success.
But even then, if we are talking about just the idea of permanence - if potential developers and residents actually perceive something as permanent, isn't that sufficient ?.

A funny bit from the Conan O'Brien Show. I saw it over at the HCGOP blog & I was going to post a comment there but I couldn't.
Why ?
dunno
I guess the HamCoGOP doesn't want to hear from me. Guess they don't give a shit what the public has to say.
Seems like every time I hear Republicans speak nowadays they seem to be talking to aliens from outer space. They seem completely out of touh with what's going on here on Earth. Maybe because they don't listen to people who don't vomit their script back at them.
During the last primary season, the GOP presidential hopefuls all wore their religion on their sleeves and boasted about their religiousness. They all claimed the economy was AOK. The only dissenter was Ron Paul who discussed the essence of Christian morality in our foreign policy and warned of the impending economic meltdown. The other Republicans laughed at him and dismissed his ideas.
I was just reading about the 1940 political conventions. The ones that gave us Roosevelt and Willkie. The conventions were full of back stabbing double crossing hard core political dealing. But nowadays we have completely staged, boring, flaccid dog & pony shows where anybody who doesn't toe the party line is persona non grata. Like Ron Paul.
I guess that is what Alex Triantafilou wants his blog to be. It just seems to go against the spirit of what the founding fathers were after.
The cover article over at The American Conservative this month is How Radio Wrecks the Right.
It talks about how conservative talk radio lures in some dumb rednecks but does nothing to promote and actually hurts serious critical intellectual conservative conversation. Apparently Rush Limbaugh sees himself as the heir to William Buckley's mantle?!??!?!?
Locally, of course the standard bearer for conservatism on the radio is a rhetoric spewing controversialist with the delivery of a carny barker outside the freakshow.
And the party wants to field a local candidate who, as a preacher, told people they could get rich if they came to his church.....
Certainly not the Christianity of my parents.
I guess that's just how they want it.

BTW, Firing Line episodes are available at Amazon for about $9 - $10 a pop.

NEW BLOG
Well, new as last month
Northside Guerilla Farmer is three posts into a blog on growing & eating your own food.
mmmmmmm, lookit the berets on them guerillas, ma. This is sure gonna be one fine crop...
Farmer's Markets are ok, but there is nothing like walking out back, picking a cherry tomato & popping the sucker into your mouth.
Marica has also brought up the Cincinnati Farms Project spearheaded by Councilman David Crowley. The worst thing that can come from this project is probably fat deer.
Anyway, here's to a long and interesting new Cincinnati blog !

Buck Creek Project Receives Permits
Finally
The permits were only applied for in 2005.....
The project is to replace dams with "whitewater stations" in the area around Fountain Avenue west past the Springfield Art Museum and (Soldier ?) Cliff Park stage into Snyder Park near the northern terminus of Western Avenue (the big arched entrance to the park).

map here
It is at the foot of the cliff at the northern edge of the Community Mercy Health complex which is gradually getting underway. It is just south of Wittenberg University and Ferncliff Cemetery.
The area over by the Museum (the Arts Center) Has long been an eyesore and the improvements there sorely needed (especially next to a friggin Art Museum !). The replacing of the dam in Snyder Park with boulders will make for a significantly different experience audibly as well as visually. It should also make that area of the cemetery more desirable.
Now the planners just have to come up with the cash. Cost is estimated at $500 to $700 K.
These developments and the northern extension from downtown planned along Fountain will really transform this area of Springfield. Maybe, someday, I will be able to take a high speed train there from Cincinnati.
Almost makes a guy want to live.....

Noose Son story here.

PS, Snarky Frogtowners who post cheap, dumb, cynical & defeatist comments about the articles on the News-Sun website could really take some pointers from Porkopolis' bullet-head commenters at the Enqquirer. They really have nothing on the "let's curl up and die because nothing will ever work" attitude in Cincinnati.

Fish Fry !
by Big Black

- image deleted because I was informed it was just too offensive -

A couple months ago I advocated the use of Open Source solutions for our local government link.
Our pals in the UK are pushing the envelope a little harder nowadays.

Open Source has been one of the most significant cultural developments in IT and beyond over the last two decades: it has shown that individuals, working together over the Internet, can create products that rival and sometimes beat those of giant corporations; it has shown how giant corporations themselves, and Governments, can become more innovative, more agile and more cost-effective by building on the fruits of community work; and from its IT base the Open Source movement has given leadership to new thinking about intellectual property rights and the availability of information for re–use by others.

For the full story see the CIOC site
For a summary see Kable.

Speaking of Bio-Fuel

Speaking of bio-fuel, soil conservancy and American progressivism.....
Do we really want to further deplete our natural resources, so vitally important to us - the resources that give us our food - so we can maintain our sprawling car-centric lifestyle ? Is that part of a progressive agenda ?

The Vassarettes ?

baddaboom...
Criminy, what's next ? The Wellesliennes ?
sigh
This lingerie clad version of Josie & The Pussycats is actually just a walking underwear ad. Could Newport's Jockey Club have been sponsored by an underwear company ? Ads with sweaty, pasty young punks, clad only in their u-trou, diving off stages to the sounds of blaring thrash punk ?
Anyway, at least one of the chicks plays an SG, so they can't be all bad. Then, again, so does that one Jonas kid.
You, of course, can join their fan club.

The Vassarette company

Resistance is Futile

photograph by William Fischer Jr
Springfield's Healthy City Investments has purchased the Clark County Memorial Hall.
The building, erected in 1915, was purchased for $400 thousand. Restoration is estimated at $12-15 million. Since such costs are prohibitive they are planning on demolishing the building, saving the facade and incorporating it into a new building. They might want to turn it around to face north towards the new hospital.
The Memorial Hall was home to The Springfield Symphony Orchestra for many years, hosted pop concerts, and small conventions. Most of these functions are handled at the Clark State Performing Arts Center, nowadays.

For more of William Fischer's pictures of the building go to HMdb.org

Noose Son story here.

Streetcar Arguments That Make Me Wonder
Streetcars will cause congestion on the street.
Well, I guess, if nobody uses the things. If the plan works (& it has in most cities) it will take cars off the streets and relieve congestion. Ultimately, as people move from surrounding areas to the urban core to live a more car free lifestyle, both surface streets and highways will see reduced traffic. This means a savings on costs associated with maintaining & widening highways (our taxes). Less demand for gas will reduce the price of gas, benefitting everybody, including the truck drivers who deliver things to us. This will, in turn translate to lower prices at the stores.
One place that will see an increase in traffic is the sidewalk. However, this will improve people's health, improve social sustainability, reduce crime and save even more money in our efforts to improve those areas through ever more socialist means. That is, the cost and interference of government goes down.

On Monday February 23, 2009 at 7:30 PM Clifton Town Meeting will be getting together with architects from KZF at the Clifton Recreation Center on McAlpin Avenue to discuss designs for the Clifton Plaza (the vacant lot) at 333 Ludlow Avenue.
I'm thinking a gothic garden would be cool. All the Cliftonian goth kids could hang out and act morose and make cynical remarks about passers by.
naw, not really. There's about a dozen restaurants in that immediate area and nary a place to eat outside. I recommend bagging the architects and planting a tree or two and putting in a few picnic tables. There is probably a fear that picnic tables will attract undesirables and produce litter, but I say "functionality over fear".
yeah, I'm not gonna get elected to anything.....

The Ravine to Freedom
Sunday, February 22 from 3-5:30 PM there will be a hike in LaBoiteaux Woods following a route used as part of the Underground Railroad during the 1840s - 50s.
After the hike a presentation will be offered that will look at historic documents and maps.
An earlier hike at 2:30 has filled up and this later hike has just been added. It's supposed to be cold and cloudy Sunday. The terrain to be covered is described as rough. Good shoes are recommended. Still, it's only a mile and a half and afterward you can go home and watch TV. A far cry from the dangerous and exhausting trip the escaping slaves made 150 years ago weather be damned.
For more info & to make a reservation call 513-542-2909

Streetcar Arguments That Make Me Wonder
Streetcars use electric power generated by burning coal.
But the governor is dedicated to getting Ohio utility companies to reduce their coal dependency and replacing coal with wind, solar and "high technology" sources. And while it's not coal, a community with "circulator" transportation uses less gasoline as cars are used less frequently. As cars are in less demand, fewer resources are dedicated to their manufacture.
Ecological sustainability is important.

Tooleedoo Blade story here.

Streetcar Arguments that Make Me Wonder
People who don't like the proposed Cincinnati streetcar project frequently whine that the city can't do anything right. Therefore, doesn't it make sense that the city screwed up when they let the old streetcar lines get dismantled in the first place ?
hmmmmm........

In the 2/13/09 episode of NOW, David Brancaccio discusses some of the problems of the latest stimulus package in relation to mass transit particularly. Much of the show focuses on Charlotte's light rail system. It addresses the fact that federal spending in states is usually based on what the state spends money on and states usually spend on highways while cities are left to maintain mass transit, so the lion's share of federal transportation money is going to highways instead of mass transit.

"Mass transit. Cities and states, strapped for money, are cutting back on mass transit even as it becomes more popular with Americans. Meanwhile, President Obama is calling for increased mass transit as a necessary step toward energy independence."

Ironically, Obama's focus on "shovel ready" projects is that his stimulus bill actually empowers the old Bush administrations agendas.
NOW story with video here

What happens in a mix of musicians from The Champion City and The Queen City ?
Lessee, Springfield and Cincinnati both have grand Mt Auburnish cemeteries in Springfield's Ferncliff and Cincinnati's Spring Grove.
Springfield is the home of Champion Mortuary Supplies and Cincinnati is the home of Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science...

Death Metal ?
Rose Funeral is the spawn of such an unholy communion.
The band is recently signed to Metal Blade Records which has also been the home to GWAR, Slayer and (my pick for best graphics) Cannibal Corpse. They are planning a European tour later in '09.
I like all sorts of horror rock, psychobilly stuff but I just can't wrap what's left of my brain around death metal.
Anyway best of luck to these proud sons of The Buckeye State. Leave 'em bleeding.

Noose Son story here.

Use your own handwriting as a font with the YourFont online font creation tool.
The online service is OS agnostic and generates a TrueType font usable on Lin, Mac & Win.
You can use your font like any other TrueType font

And, of course, stunning video effects !

To send your documents out to friends and foes, use a word processor like Writer in OpenOffice and simply export your document with the font embedded using the Export to PDF function.
The process is pretty simple. You download a template from Yourfont, print it, enter your characters, scan it and upload it to YourFont. It processes the images to a font nd you download & install. Processing took about 2 minutes.
Placement of the letter in the template is important. As you can see, I did a horrible job. Anything in the boxes of the template is going to become part of the font, tho so you can't draw rules on the paper. I would sugget editing your scan in an image editing tool like GIMP and making sure everything is placed right using guides. This is especially important if you are trying to create a script font.
I would suggest using a hard paper or even plastic to print your template on and using a felt tip pen so you get a good smooth line. You also might want to practice some of those weird characters you don't use every day, like §s and æs and ¤s.
A whole alphabet is not neccesary, You can just make decorative capitals or scrolly embellishments.
What's really cool about this is that you don't really have to use the regular alphabet. You can make your own alchemical font or hieroglyphics or veve library. Or you can just buy professional versions at Deniart.
I imagine you could even use high contrast images of the fam.

Summer Jobs
yeah, I know it's only February, but, WPAFB is offering about 300 summer jobs this year for high school and college students who are U.S. citizens. Jobs will start in May or June and last 60-90 days. Pay is $9.74 - $18.59 per hour.
With the current economy and job market this offer from the Fairborn Air Force base is pretty decent for kids just wanting a summer job. The types of jobs are administrative, finance, contracting, human resources, science and engineering support positions.
For information go to https://wrightpattjobs.wpafb.af.mil
or
http://www.88thservices.com/humanresources.htm

Noose Son story here.

What is the role of the libertarian politician ?
Currently, in our rabidly bi-partisan country, his role is primarily to squawk in election cycles and take advantage of the publicity a race gets to spread the word of the libertarian philosophy of small government, the responsibility of the private sector, civil & property rights and such. If a libertarian were to actually get elected to some office, he would have his hands full trying to eliminate laws, regulations, taxes & stuff.
However, in the event that a majority of libertarians were elected and a utopian libertarian government was achieved, what would the politician do besides sit around and sharpen pencils (that he brought from home) ?
As most of the regulations and programs our Republican and Democrat friends have given us over the years have had some sort of reason behind them, it would make sense that these needs still exist.
The governing libertarian should look at who, in the community, be it state or municipal, has needs and who has the product or service to meet those needs and bring them together to see if something can be done. This really isn't so different from what politicians do today, they just write it into law, create new government enforcement agencies and threaten disagreeing parties with a forfeiture of money, property and freedom. My libertarian politician is more of a matchmaker.
This practice would also make a better message to campaign on as people dependent on current regulations and programs hear talk of cutting the regulations and programs react in fear of being left out in the cold. Additionally it would be a good change from the negative squawker image the libertarian currently has.

Americans Want Choice
How long has the anti-choice movement been banging it's drum in an effort to deny women reproductive rights and choices ? It has been heralded as "one of the most massive and sustained expressions of citizen participation in the history of the United States".
Why ?
Because it's been a dismal failure. People just don't agree with the radical right.
In a bi-partisan nation, only one party gives the movement any credence and the Republicans have yet to deliver. A Democrat president and legislature could unravel all the little gains the movement has made over the course of a generation in just one term.
Maybe it's time for the petty attacks, the outright terrorism and hateful rhetoric to end and proactive efforts to stem the rising tide of unwanted pregnancies from happening in the first place.

American Conservative article here.

MELT

UrbanCincy has reported that Melt is cnsidering adding a store in the Downtown,/OTR/GQ area following the success of their grub at Park & Vine
This is just the beginning, folks. Northside is going to take over Cincinnati. In the future people will assume the name Northside is a reference to being on the north side of the Ohio River.
tch - it can't happen here.....

Lux Interior R.I.P.

A great Ohioan, Lux Interior of the Cramps, died Thursday. He is survived by his wife, guitarist "Poison" Ivy Rorschach. He was 60.
Interior was the godfather of "psychobilly" or "horror rock". A master is gone but his legacy lives on in a host of newer bands like Zombina and the Skeletones.

Lux Interior, Jockey Club, Newport, KY

Inquiring minds want to know, "What Do Northsiders Want ?"
Wouldn't we all like to know.....
Weigh in here. Registration is necessary, but harmless, and your personal info will not be used for anything. Hopefully (or not) your suggestions will be.

Worley Rodehaver, the long-time publisher of the Northsider/Uptown News newspaper, has suffered a serious illness that prevents him from publishing the February issues of his various community newspapers.
Because advertising sales are his only source of income, he will lose an entire month's revenue. To help him survive his current calamity, some of his friends have established the Worley Rodehaver Fund at North Sside Bank and Trust. If you would like to help Worley get back on his feet economically and defray his February personal expenses, you can do so by making a donation to the Fund. Checks should be made out to the Worley Rodehaver Fund and sent to:
North Side Bank and Trust
4125 Hamilton Ave.
Cincinnati, OH 45223
Attention: Don Beimesche
Cash contributions can be made directly to Mr. Beimesche at the Bank.
For more information: (513) 542-0958

Keeping Up With Old Friends
Keeping up with your old friends from the Champion City just got a little easier with the addition of online radio and incident reports at the Clark County Sheriff's website.
The site, a FrontPage job, complete with frames, scrolling text and giant buttons has a host of information on it as well as videos of Knight Blaze, a band made up of Montgomery County law enforcement officers.
I guess I shouldn't be too hard on their site design, of course, since Ohio counties aren't exactly rolling in cash these days and the fact that they are adding functionality as they can is pretty cool.
When they can get pictures of jail inmates online we can see what our old pals are looking like nowadays.

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.

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.

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.

Pupstatica

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.

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.

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).

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.

Secret Agent Man RIP

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.

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.

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.

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 ?

TV EYE

The Stooges
The NME posts Ron Asheton's 5 Greatest Licks.

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.

A foolish young blogger over at Urban Cincy is under the naive impression that the "place to be" for New Year's Eve is downtown....
:-)
As everybody knows, the place to ring in the new year is obviously scenic Northside.
The Comet serves up the Blue Rock Boys.
The Northside Tavern hosts The Bad Veins.
The Gypsy Hut brings you the Rumpke Mountain Boys.
The Art Damage Lodge dishes up Sylvester Kunstvereen Familie Montex for your listening pleasure.
The C&D will be celebrating the "Alcoholidays" as only they know how.
Sidewinder will be serving coffee and tea til 10PM to keep you awake and thoroughly cranked til well into 2009.
And, unlike downtown, Northside has a WHITE CASTLE !!!!!
poor poor sad downtowners.....

The International Council of Shopping Centers reports that holiday sales at mall & shopping center stores had it's worst season since 1970.
But were sales and gift giving down ?
For the most part, on my end, it wasn't. A lot of the gifts given and most appreciated were handmade by local artists, craftsmen and family members.
For some time the "shop local" mantra has been trudging along and gaining some traction.
This article from the Noose Son describes the popularity of knitting these days. In Cincinnati there are several knitting groups including CinCity Stitch and the Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library offers a knitting program at some of it's branches.
Add to that the local galleries and craft shows/fairs in Cincinnati like the annual Holiday Arts Fair in Northside early every December and The monthly open houses in Oakley and OTR, one has to ask himself how much these individuals making and selling unique items are affecting the sales at big box stores selling generic electronics and stuff.

The animated movie, The Tale of Despereaux, was recently released after 2 years of work at the British animation and special effects house, The Framestore.
have you ever downloaded a file to your computer and you just couldn't find it ? You know you have a funny picture of a cat you would love to send to aunt Minnie, but, wherethehellizzit?
The Framestore had over 200 artists, working together to generate 90 million files taking 200TB of storage to make the movie.
One of the most cpu intensive things to render is hair but cartoon makers love furry critters so ya gotta do things like go out & buy 1,000 servers.
From The Framestore's website:

• There are 40,089 individual assets in the film
• 25 hero characters were modelled, surfaced and textured, as well as 12 secondary characters
• 60 hero environments were modelled, surfaced and textured
• There are 413,138 hairs on Despereaux's head
• he film has 126,248 frames altogether

c'mon, no polygon counts ?
The result ?
It looks kinda cheesy. But it's mice, so what the hell ?

El Reg story (a fluffed out press release of which this is a streamlined version thereof) here.

The Junky's Christmas

Part 1

Part 2
Merry Christmas !

Telstar by Evan Johns & the H-Bombs

9

From 06

Due 09

OK, I think I have found a pattern here.
The NAACP objects to a streetcar system in Cincinnati.
In the last election they fought technology to help police gather evidence against traffic crime and they proposed a return to an old voting system that they felt would be better implemented with laborious hand counting of ballots rather than using electronic mechanisms. Before that they objected to a new and improved jail.
The common thread ?
A fear of technology. A fear of progress. A fear of, ironically, advancement.
Odd.

Click To Play

The Holidays on Ludlow
12/19/08 celebrate the holidays on Ludlow Avenue in Clifton with

• Free carriage rides
• Strolling carolers
• Prizes
• The Fairview German Choir
• Crafts workshop
• Santa Claus

Parking in the merchan's lot will be free after 5 PM.
And afterwards, (you knew this was coming) head on down to Northside for even more shopping, fine food and entertainment !

Art Damage Lodge
4120 Hamilton Ave.

Banner and Ross Gallery
3841 Spring Grove Ave.
513-861-4333
hrs: 8:30 AM - 8:00 PM Mon-Thurs, 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM Fri

The Blue Jay
4154 Hamilton Ave.
513-541-0847
hrs: 8:00 AM - 3:30 PM Mon-Sat

Blue Rock Tavern
4221 Hamilton Ave.
hrs: 5:00 PM - 2:30 AM Mon-Fri, 6:00 PM - 2:30 AM Sat

Bonomi
1677 Blue Rock Ave.
513-541-7501

Boswell Alley
1686 Blue Rock Ave.
513-681-8100
hrs: 11:00 AM - 10:00 PM Mon-Thurs, 11:00 AM - 11:00 PM Fri-Sat, Bar til 2:30 AM Mon-Sat

Bug House Video
4170 Hamilton Avenue
513-541-3700
hrs: 4:00 PM - 10:00 PM Mon-Thurs, 4 - 11:00 PM Fri, noon - 11:00 PM Sat, noon - 9:00 PM Sun

Bullfishes
4023 Hamilton Ave.
513-79-4999

The C & D Cafe
1714 Hanfield Ave
513-541-9881

Club Bronz
4029 Hamilton Ave.
513-591-2100

The Comet
4579 Hamilton Ave.
513-541-8900
hrs: 4:00 PM - 2:30 AM Sun-Sat

Gajah Wong West
3937 Spring Grove Ave.
513-591-3935
hrs: 5:30 PM - 10:00 PM, bar open late

Ginger's Bar
1701 Blue Rock Ave.
hrs: til 2:30 AM

The Gypsy Hut
4231 Spring Grove Ave.
513-541-0999
hrs: 8:00 PM - 2:30 AM

The Hideaway
44163 Hamilton Ave.
513-542-2444
hrs: 5:00 PM - 9:30 PM Tues-Thurs, 5:00 - 11:00 Fri-Sat, 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM Sun

Honey
4034 Hamilton Ave.
513-541-4300
hrs: 11:30 AM - 9:00 PM Tues-Thurs, 11:30 AM - 10:PM Fri-Sat, 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM Sun

Junker's tavern
4156 Langland Ave.
513-541-5470

Marshiella's
Hamilton Ave.
11:30 AM - 2:00 PM Tues-Fri

Melt
4165 Hamilton Ave.
513-681-MELT
hrs: 11:00 AM - 9:00 PM Mon-Thurs, 11:00 AM - 10 PM Fri-Sat

NYPD Pizza
1566 Chase Ave.
513-681-NYPD
http://www.nypdpizza.com
hrs: 11:00 AM - 11:00 PM Mon-Thurs, 11:00 AM midnight Fri-Sat

Northside Bar
Hamilton Ave.

Northside Tavern
4163 Hamilton Ave.
513-541-3603
hrs: 5:00v PM - 2:30 AM Mon-Fri, 8:30 PM - 2:30 AM Sat-Sun

NVISION
4577 Hamilton Avenue
513-542-4577
hrs: 2:00 PM - 9:00 PM Wed-Sat

Park Chili
4160 Hamilton Ave.
513-541-9902
hrs: 7:00 AM - 7:00 PM mon-Fri, 7:00 AM - 2:00 PM Sat, 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM Sun

Portofino's
1609 Chase Ave.
513-542-5808
hrs: 10:00 AM - 10:00 PM Mon-Sat

The Serpent
4042 Hamilton Ave.
513-681-6969
hrs: 9:00 PM - 2:30 AM

Sidewainder Coffee & Tea
4181 Hamilton Ave.
513-542-8321
hrs: 7:00 AM - 9:00 PM Mon-Fri, 8:00 AM - 8:00 PM Sat-Sun

Slim's
4046 Hamilton Ave.
513-681-6500
hrs: 5:30 PM - til he food's gone, 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM Sun

Taco Bell/KFC
4147 Hamilton Ave.
513-541-7861

Take the Cake
4137 Hamilton Ave.
513-241-2772

White Castle
3940 Ludlow Ave.
513-542-7291
hrs: 24/7

SCIENCE !

ok, actually, uh, model making ?

The Phoenix Cafe, at 641 Walnut St, had the reputation of being the only bar to be open in Cincinnati continuously since the repeal of Prohibition in 1933. Their policy of enforcing ladylike behavior by not allowing women to sit at the bar drew the ire of the feminist movement in the 60s. It was a place where the working poor could get a longneck for a buck. It was a place a guy could squander his welfare check. It was a dive. The Cincinnati Business district used to be a welcoming place to the poor. White Castle, The Phoenix cafe, The Belmont Cafe & The Milner hotel and lounge all catered to the lower economic classes and were happy to serve the wealthy as well.
They are all gone now as the area has gradually become an exclusive playground for the affluent. The business district always had it's havens for the affluent like The Palm Court and The Maisonette. But the yuppies have decided to set the cultural tone and those places were too stuffy for them and the low class dives were not only beneath them but an affront to their sensibilities.
After finally shutting the Phoenix Cafe down after 70 plus years in business, it will be replaced with the Righteous Room, another in a chain of bars owned by a group of investors known for their yuppie frou frou establishments. I would guess that 70 years in business on the same location would merit the designation of institution. Will the Righteous Room become an institution ?
Doubt it. Probably last a few years as a trendy meatrack & then change hands, names and do it all over again and again in an endless cycle. It won't be a cycle of failure, of course, because nobody expects the places to last.
I realize that money talks, but sometimes it just steamrolls. I fear the era of institutions is coming to an end.

Springfield Stones the Crows
Springfield, has become, apparently, the Bodega of the midwest. With an increasing number of crows roosting in the city, crews have set to dealing with the growing murder problem with bangers and screamers.
I wish 'em luck. Might as well try building a "rabbit fence".
Still, crows, like all birds, are pretty much just flying shit machines, so I understand the annoyance. Watching them and listening to them usually isn't a problem and be quite entertaining, tho.
Cats might disagree.

Noose Son story here.

bye

Looking at the budget woes of Cincinnati, Hamilton County and the regional school systems, I am frequently amazed at how much money they seem to be throwing away using Windows and standardizing on other Microsoft products. Hamilton County seems particularly dependent on the buggy, bloated overpriced OS and office suite. With OS prices ranging from approx $180 - $300 and Office ranging from $300 to $400 per seat, it seems like supplying 6000 employees with computer access would be a lot cheaper paying $0 for the OS and $0 for the office software (yeah, I know they get bulk discounts). Add to that the licensing for Windows Server and Exchange Server and the customer support needed, solutions like Red Hat Enterprise probably start looking pretty good. But, still we have the slow buggy websites the various county departments post. The County Auditor's being a prime example.
In looking for web hosts, the price for Windows service usually entails a premium charge. I assume the costs of mintaining a server internally would reflect the same cost difference.
From my experience with Linux (Fedora and Yellow Dog) and Open Office as well as using Mac and Windows, the big difference between the commercial systems and the open source systems is that the commercial systems support more proprietary media and gizmos like iPods and Zunes and frequently demand newer more powerful hardware.
For some years, governments, worldwide, have pushed for and even legislated the use of open source software.
In SW Ohio we just hemorrhage more money to Washington, tho.......

Krampusnacht

December 6th is Krampusnacht. It is a Bavarian celebration commemorating St Nick's demon dude, Krampus, who gave the bad kids a good thrashing, leaving St Nick to be the good guy and leave presents and treats.
Today it is pretty much a chance for modern day folks to get weird and have a party.
Anyway, it's good enough for Cincinnati's sister city, Munich, so I say we oughtta go for it here. We have missed it this year but now is probably the time to start planning for next year.
C'mon folks, let's take some Christ out of Christmas !
I am sure the local bars and breweries wouldn't argue.

I am frequently asked, "What's going on in Northside this Saturday ?"
ok, not really, more often than not, if I'm not being asked for money and/or cigarettes, I'm being asked to leave.
This Saturday, Northside Arts hosts another Winter Art Fair featuring locally made arts and crafts just in time for your holiday shopping. Some of the folks who will be there are Mary Faith Colon, Rachel Jones, Rose K. Brenner-Schwartz, Michael Isaacs, Andrea Vetter, Anna Collins, Carol Ann Newsome, Gillian Thompson, Heather Jerolaman, Jessica Ring, Amanda Carlisle, Karen Boyhen, Bill Williams, Mary Faith Colon, Ted Jeckering, Mike Smith and Mike Newman.
Also, this Saturday, we got:

• 9AM-noon Northside to Findlay Market bike ride
• 10A Decorate (presumably) Hoffner Park for the holidays
• 11A-5P Northside Arts Winter Art Fair
• 1P-4P Local Fair Trade Holiday Boutique at the Cincinnati Family Enrichment Center
• 8P The NVISION Fashion Show

And, as usual, lotsa fine food, drink and entertainment at Honey, Take the Cake, Bonomi, Ginger's, Boswell Alley, The Northside Tavern, The Gypsy Hut, Park Chili, The Blue Jay, The Hideaway, Melt, Portofino's, The Comet, Gajah Wong West, NYPD, Sidewinder, Bronz, Bullfishes and more.

I always hate agreeing with the inmates over at the Beacon. Never know if my iron grip on reality is slipping out of it's velvet glove or if they are just good examples of the broken clock theory. I have learned to take their numbers with a grain of salt but regardless of any exact number, the Cincinnati mayoral primary is a stupid idea. Primaries make some sense, especially with the 2 party presidential races in the US. You are dealing with people and communities and industries and even cultures that can be very different from Rhode Island to Hawaii or from Alaska to Missouri. Many people in the US will never see or know anything about vast regions of the country.
In a city the geographic size of Cincinnati and with it's population of less that 400,000 and with the non-partisan nature of the mayoracy, the primary is pointless and wasteful both in time and money.
I doubt the cost of campaigning is much different.
I guess there might be something to say for the mayor's getting a larger number of votes through a 2 way race, thus giving the elected mayor a little more legitimacy, but it is just not necessary.

All I want for Christmas...

Is an Elizabeth Bathory Action Figure !
This way cool toy was released in 2004 and went under my radar til I found I shared my birthday with the forward thinking countess. I can't believe the folks at Mattel haven't come up with a Barbie Bathory playset. Lord knows a household with kids is a household with headless dolls.
McFarlane Toys
Elizabeth Bathory