This post is in response to The Cincinnati Monocle's post, New Riverside Drive bike lanes vs. Pacific Coast Highway.
I rode that road from Oregon to Mexico in another time aeons ago. What I wanted to point out was that some of the native southern Californians are not the macho men the Monocle appears to think they are.
In this image we see 2 buckeyes, a couple louts from Wisconsin (who worked in printing) a goofball from France who was doing a promotional ride for Motobecane & a nut from LA. Temperatures were plummeting into the mid 50s at night in this campground near Santa Barbara. While everybody is in shorts & long sleeve shirts - note the fella in the down jacket. It's hard to see but he is also wearing these giant-ass mittens his grandma knitted for him. Sure, he might not have been a typical SoCallian - I met another who lived on Halloween chocolate bars & and airline bottles of Grand Marnier. But the guys from Wisconsin were chain smokers.
So while the Monocle might speak highly of the bravery and machotude of Californians, I am not so sure it's not just an issue of being assholes.
But, yeah, highway 1 is a pretty awesome ride. - especially where it's a sheer dropoff to hell with no guard rail & the pavement is failing & you're getting passed by fucking logging trucks…..
FWIW - The guy from France carried a ton of bicycle hardware with him. He had pedals, brakes, crank arms….. I think he had a spare chain. We asked him why he needed all that stuff & he explained that all that stuff breaks regularly. Sez a lot about French engineering. He rode up hills in this crazy jerking manner - the concept of keeping a steady cadence seemed silly to him. When he jammed down on his pedal around Malibu (where, seriously, I saw a Jaguar on blocks out in front of a house) & broke his pedal off and about killed himself, we all stood around & watched with awe as he performed what he described as a routine repair…..

Hometown Proud
yup - Bob City, folks

Which Way is the Wind Blowing Now ?
Hamilton County Commissioner Monzel has stated the county should not be in the parking business but now he states the county is counting on parking revenue to deal with it's economic woes that have only worsened under Monzel's stewardship.

SpadesBlue Ash city council has collectively called out SW Ohio's own little Golden Dawn, COA T, for their hysterical fear mongering & obsessive obstructionism.

[COA T] launched a talk radio and email campaign. In addition, residents received an anonymous letter filled with speculation. COAST’s hatred of the streetcar project seems to know no bounds.

Be nice if Cincinnati's city council could be so bold - of course 2 of Cincinnati's council are COA T lackeys - one who frequently warns council not to oppose the cabal. And it certainly would be nice to have a local paper that could have reported what happened at the Blue Ash city council meeting instead of just bowing to the terrorists and being their tacit bullhorn.

Fishwarp story here

Horror Sells - Politicians
New Hampshire gubenatorial candidate Jackie Cilley is using zombies to illustrate the brain deadedness of "pledge taking" politicians like the Norquist worshippers.

Pussy Riot Solidarity Day
August 17 is Inernational Pussy Riot Solidarity Day. 3 of the members are expected to be sentenced to 2 year prison terms today or Monday. A fitting punishment for the children whose mothers dared to sing a political song in a church that seems to be a tourist attraction as much as a church.

Moscow Times article here

Pussy Riot Live Jurnal

National news organization calls out Rebloodlicans Alex Triantafilou & Chip Gerhardt for sleazy politics. Could it be?
Story here

The Democrips appear to have nominated themselves n interesting candidate in William Smith by pretty much accident. Smith's no Dr McDreamy like the personality cult Rebloodlicans so enjoy but if he can do the populist thing, he could do well in Ohio's 2nd congressional district. Unfortunately, since he's not a Democrip insider/elitist, he probably won't get much support from the smelly Democrips and the Rebloodlican machine is wholly behind McDreamy, so…..
Maybe McDreamy can give Comboverboy some tips onpersonal presentation…..

The Windbag for Mayor ?
Cincinnati Business Courier reports that COA T endorsed Charlie Winburn is exploring the possibility of running for mayor of Cincinnati in 2013.
But, wait! In 2010 Chuck said he didn't want to be mayor and that he would support Roxanne Qualls in a mayoral race. Qualls is the only person willing to commit so far.
Is the guy senile? Drunk? A liar? A leaf on the wind?

Pornolympics
This clip was deemed soft core porn & condemned by a bunch of yahoos. It IS rushed & kinda slopped together. The clips used are largely uninspired. But I have no idea how it can be labeled pornographic unless, of course, the labelers have dirty minds. The human body in prime physical condition is pleasant to see and, as sexual creatures, of course that's going to register in our noggins, but, porn? really?
I like the pole vault clips. The way they kinda arch over the thingamabob…. If I could launch myself off the pole in the first place I'd just kinda go flyin' like a sack of potatoes. Women's volleyball is so overrated but I kinda like the shots from the net line. My favorite clip is the telephoto lens shot of the hurdle jumpers.

Fishwarp V. Hamilton County Fair 2012

Daily Grooming Contest @ 2012 Clark County FairLast day to enjoy the 2012 Hamilton County Fair. The weather is perfect - might want some sunscreen. I have bitched & moaned about the coverage of the fair by the paper of record, The Fishwarp for a few years now. So what do we have from the Warpers for this year?
Well, the filthy 4H will not be there again so the threat of swine flu can't be leveled at the Hamco crowd. Well, WLW could wrangle it probably.
We have a story from a couple days before the fair opened with the GIC saying they would double last year's attendance (which would pretty much constitute a miracle). Probably discredits the guy & hopefully in jaded Gannetland sets him up for a fall.
Thursday we get an article alleging animal cruelty & threats of protests.
A listing in "things to do"
No pictures or galleries up. Did I mention the Springfield News Sun ran over 300 pictures from the Clark County Fair?
WXIX has some minor coverage of the fair their guy's entry into the Hamilton County Fair Celebrity Demolition Derby. Wonder why the Fishwarp didn't field anybody for the Celebrity Demolition Derby? Could it be that they have just whittled their staff down to just part time interns under 16 yrs old?

UPDATE: Hamilton County Fair announces attendance up 30% over 2011

Clark County Fair Winners link

Clark County Fair Scramble link

Clark County Fair link

Rebloodlican Confusion ?As Rebloodlicans do what they can to confuse voters, The Rebloodlican Cincinnati Enquirer has chosen to declare itself a "Watchdog" through a series called "Protect Your Vote". This is also the name of a Rebloodlican organization set on maintaining the Rebloodlican gerrymandered redistricting across Ohio.
Fishwarp story here
Rebloodlican organisation site here

So Ya Wanna Be a Zombie Hunter ?
Shoot Extreme, in walking dead infested Westchester, is offering zombie hunts using the same tech the military & police use for urban combat simulations. They use real firearms (converted - you have to use theirs) including Smith & Wessons, Glocks, pump-action shotguns and AR-15s. Apparently no clubs, blades, chainsaws, flame throwers or hand grenades. The ammunition is something called Simunition made for force-on-target (not people) exercises.
Cost is $25 & includes 1 firearm & 2 10 round clips. Extra clips are $10. Dunno about extra weapons.
Shoot Extreme promotes their lanes & shoot houses as being for "the rational rest of us".

Cincinnati Business Courier article here

Four Tales of Two CitiesA Blue Ash city council meeting involving renegotiating a 6 year old deal that a big unelected central government agency threatened to screw up drew a lot of citizen input & outrage. Why anybody thought Blue Ash would give a crap with how Cincinnati intends to spend the proceeds of the sale of a fairly pointless airport remains a mystery. Perhaps it's just the way the obsessive & pathological mind works. The deal's restructuring has been set down & that's what Blue Ash agreed to but an apparently paranoid Blue Ash resident continued to rant about how the city of Cincinnati will somehow screw over Blue Ash which is actually coming out a quarter million dollars ahead on the newly structured deal. In fact, the only threat to Blue ash was made by an organization the resident frequently supports.
Three media outlets have reported on this meeting but only one mentions Blue Ash City Council speaking negatively of local media & the sociopaths at COA T. Probably not surprising the non-profit source was the only one to mention that…..

WLWT's creative coverage here

The Fishwarps's Community Press in depth coverage here

WCPO's attempt with outrageous fear mongering by Chris Smitherman here


UrbanCincy's old school coverage here

Just Wonderin'

Fishwarp story here

Fishwarp follow up that proves even the Fishwarp doesn't get it here

Will Portman Reimburse Ohio ?Ohio's senator Rob Portman has been campaigning non-stop for presidential hopeful Mitt Romany. He's off to Colorado today. Theoretically Portman is not running for office. Unfortunately we need to expect this from politicians running for re-election but Portman has actually said he would rather stay in the senate than run for vice president. Sure politicians start lying as soon as they get up in he morning but if Portman is going to focus o much effort into Mr Romnay's campaign, he owes it to Ohioans to step down from his senatoe seat or at least guve us a refund for all the time he as spent away from his duties.

Fishwarp story here.

Happy B-Day, Erzsébet


Erzsébet Bathory ws born August 7, 1560 in sunny Nyírbátor, Transylvania. Borne of a noble family, she was educated, cultured and married a war hero, Ferencz Nádasdy. After his death some, um, uh, unfortunate stuff happened and, well, yeah, folks did call her The Blood Countess…
anyway, happy B-Day, 'Bet!

Wiki here
Badass of the Week entry here
Kimberly Craft's site

In an effort to boost readership, I am instituting my version of the Page Three Girl over in the sidebar. I will not be going topless because this blog is a class act and, besides, if you don't know what a boob looks like, you should just turn your computer off & go talk to your mom. Or your dad if he's fat enough.....

Psychotic Leter of the DayThis letter from some nut in Kentucky titled (by the Fishwarp) Modern Day Pilgrims is such a complete mess & so batshit crazy, I have to take note. When he moves from history to the present "oppressive Church of the Democratic Party (CDP)", it just goes off into Fox style lunacy.
Apparently the Fishwarp print edition will carry full color comics 7 days a week but for the online edition, the LTEs seem to be as good as it gets.
Dan Hurley interviews the Fishwarp's CIC 8/5/12

How Low Can We Go ?WLWT reports that there have been people breaking into the parked cars of mourners at a couple cemeteries in Montgomery. People stealing metal & glass from monuments piss me off but this is really lame. heck, I even give drivers a pass when they come hurtling out of a cemetery & cut me off. I don't know if they're distraught or just stoned.
sheesh
WLWT story here

Preferential Treatment ?
People are claiming Cincinnati Councliman Chris Seelbach was trying to get preferential treatment when he phoned in an emergency call to the Cincinnati police after being assaulted the other night.
From the Fishwarp:

"Hyde Park resident Mark Miller is among those who dislike the impression they got when hearing Seelbach had invoked his city councilman title repeatedly during the 911 call. "If he was trying to misuse his position and the trust the voters placed in him to try to get to the head of the line, so to speak, that’s just disgusting""

The Hyde Park resident compares Mr Seelbach's being a victim of assault to committing a traffic offense. Some pretty perverse logic to be sure, but turning spin into twisting is the COA T way. I assume that's why the Fishwarp loves their bizarre-ass quotes.
No doubt the emergency care Ronald Reagan received after being shot also irks the Hyde Park resident as Reagan should have just taken his place in line at the ER like everybody else. Maybe getting shot equates to committing a hit & run…..

Ridiculous BS from the Fishwarp here.

Is Bethel "Out of Control" ?Bethel band Thin Blood organized a 'Summer Jam' primarily because of a lack of venues for live music in the area. Unfortunately, it was closed down after olice deemed it "out of control" because a few people were allegedly dinking alcohol.
Some people claim village officials & police conspired against the event because it promoted devil music. Police, belying their union thug agenda, claim they should have been hired for overtime to 'secure' the event.

Read all about it here.

Assuming that the reason there are no cars out front was to make for a better photo-op, one has to wonder what else is staged in this photo in Eastgate (Cincinnati).

Reasons to BoycottThe Fishwarp asks, Would you boycott a business over its owner's politics? .
Well, because the owner supports a Rebloodlican or a Democrip? Or because the owner hates minorities & alternative lifestyles & gives money to hate groups?
The relationship between Montgomery Inn & Mitt Romney is based more on an inability to understand the English language more than anything else. Not really a reason to boycott, but maybe a reason to offer counter protests with English teachers correcting their opponents grammar & such….

Great, Now Do That Again 3,000 More Times
Group raises 1 million dollars…..

The Freakshow

In my time, I have watched quite a few freak shows pass by, but Bourbon Street in New Orleans on a Thursday night? It's the fuckin' normal show. They try - they get drunk & hoot & holler for no apparent reason. The guys out in front of the strip clubs try to drag you in with all the conviction of a mall sales clerk…..
In the words of the immortal Krokus Behemoth, "pretty bleak".

2012 Clark County Fair Queen Profiles

8 young women vie for Clark County Fair title. Their experience, contributions & aspirations outlined. Best of luck to all.
Now, what's up with Springfield High & Catholic Central???
Savanna Kristine Compton - Greenon High School
Dara Lynn Ferryman - Greenon High School - Ohio State University
Kara Morgan Griffith - Clark Shawnee High School
Alexandria Leahann Thompson - Greenon High School - Clark State College
Sydney Alexandra Lewis - Greenon High School
Makala Jae Myers - Northwestern High School
Molly Rosalyn Parker - Northeastern High School
Madison Mackenzie Ryan - Shawnee High School

Noose Son story here

Springfield Paper story here.

Bickering Rebloodlicans
2 of the more useless Rebloodlicans to sit in elected orifices are having a pissing match over jurisdictions. Kid Monzel, who hates HATES HATES the city is having conniption fits over the wrong reverend Windbag over hiring practices. Of course, the kid has sent his florist off to Texas to help out on some tease campaign (is this on the HamCo taxpayers dime?), so maybe he's just a little frustrated…..

Fishwarp story here.

COUNTY FAIR TIME !
Starting Friday afternoon the Clark County Fair is back with more fun for EVERYONE. Rabbits, hogs, ducks, alpacas, cows, horses….. Where does it all end? Same place it starts at on 7/27. Be square and be THERE!
4H Judging photos here

Friday, July 20
9 to 11 a.m. Open exhibits brought for Hay (Youth Building)
9 a.m. to 9 p.m. JF exhibits set up (Youth Building)
9 a.m. Pee Wee and Adult Swine Showmanship (Swine Arena)
1 p.m. Open Market Hog Show (Swine Arena)
1 to 5 p.m. Open Class Rabbit Clark County Stock Check-in (Rabbit Barn)
2 to 8 p.m. JF Rabbit Check-in (Rabbit Barn)
3 to 8 p.m. Open exhibits brought to Arts and Crafts Building (through back door only)
4 to 7 p.m. Open exhibits for photography brought to Arts and Crafts Building
4 to 8 p.m. Open exhibits brought for Hay (Youth Building through back door only); Open exhibits brought for grains/vegetables/fruit (Annex through back door only)
5 to 9 p.m. JF and FFA non-livestock entries to Youth Building
6 p.m. JF You and Your Dog Awards (Dog Barn)
6 to 8 p.m. JF Poultry Check-in for Breeding, Fancy (Poultry Barn); JF Breeding Turkeys and Breeding Ducks Check-in (Barn 6); JF Rabbit Weigh-in (Rabbit Barn); JF Market Beef Weigh-in (Champions Center)
6 to 9 p.m. JF Turkey, Duck and Geese Check-in and Weigh-in (Barn 6); JF Egg Production and Fancy Breed Chicken Check-in (Poultry Barn); JF Dairy Feeder Weigh-in (Cattle Show Arena)
6 to 10 p.m. Open Class Rabbit Clark County Stock Check-in (Rabbit Barn)
7 p.m. Truck Tug-o-War (Track event)
7:30 p.m. Wyatt McCubbin (Big Tent)
7 to 9 p.m. JF Market Goat Weigh-in (Sheep Arena)
10 p.m. JF Horse Mac Barrels (Horse Arena)
Saturday, July 21, Veteran’s Day
8 a.m. JF All Sheep arrival (Sheep Barn); JF Dairy Breeding and Open Class Arrival (Dairy Barns); JF 4-H Swine Weigh-in (Swine Arena); JF Horse Arrival Deadline (Horse Barns)
8 to 8:30 a.m. Exhibits brought for Hay Show (Youth building back door); Open exhibits brought for grains/vegetables/fruit (Annex)
8 to 10 a.m. JF FFA non-livestock entries to Youth Building
8:30 a.m. Open Hay Show Judging (Youth Building)
9 a.m. Open grains/vegetables/ fruit judging (Annex); JF All Junior Sheep Weigh-in (Sheep Arena); JF Rabbit Show, starting with showmanship (Rabbit Barn); JF Dressage and Hunter Over Fences (Horse Arena)
9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Open Class Arts and Crafts Building Judging (Building closed until 1 p.m.); JF Rabbit Showmanship with show to follow (Rabbit Arena)
10 a.m. Grand Opening Ceremonies; JF Dog Obedience (Dog Barn); JF FFA Hogs Weigh-in (Swine Arena); JF FFA Grain and Vegetable Judging (Youth Building)
11 a.m. JF FFA Hay Show (Youth Building)
Noon to 1 p.m. Open Market Lamb Weigh-in (Sheep Arena)
1 p.m. Arts and Crafts Building opens to public; Sales Trailer opens (Across from Goat Barn)
2 p.m. Best Cookie in the County Celebrity Judging (Arts and Crafts Building)
3 p.m. JF Homegrown Sheep Show (Sheep Arena); Open Market Lamb Show, Crowning of Lamb and Wool Queen, Pee Wee Sheep Showmanship and Adult showmanship will follow; Wambold’s Amazing Animals (Midway)
4 p.m. JF Dairy Showmanship (Cattle Show Arena); JF Dairy Breeding Show, following showmanship (Cattle Show Arena)
6 p.m. JF Holstein and Jersey Show (Cattle Show Arena); Open Dairy Holstein and Jersey Show (Cattle Show Arena); Rib Cook Off (Arts and Crafts Building); Wambold’s Amazing Animals (Midway)
7 p.m. Gas and Diesel Truck Pull (Track event)
8 p.m. Josh Thompson (Big Tent); Wambold’s Amazing Animals (Midway); Sales trailer closes
Sunday, July 22, Junior Fair Board Day
5 a.m. K99.1 FM Live Broadcast from front of Maine’s Building
8 a.m. JF County Farrowed Show (Swine Arena); JF and Open Class Beef Feeders Arrival (Champions Center); Open Class Rabbit Out of Country Exhibitor Check-in (Rabbit Barn)
9 a.m. Non-denominational church services featuring New Carlisle Area Community Chorus (Entertainment Tent); JF Sheep Showmanship (Sheep Arena); JF Beef Showmanship (Champions Center); JF Horse English Judging Day (Horse Arena); JF Turkey Show (Cattle Show Arena) showmanship following Market Duck Show and Showmanship immediately afterwards; JF Waterfowl (Ducks and Geese) Show showmanship (Cattle Show Arena); Open Rabbit Show (Rabbit Barn)
9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Performances by New Carlisle Area Community Chorus in Entertainment Tent
11:30 a.m. JF Dog Showmanship (Dog Barn)
12:30 p.m. Clark County Lamb Cook-off (Sheep Arena)
1 p.m. JF and Open Class Beef Feeder Show (Champions Center); JF Beef Breeding Show (Champions Center); Kiddie Feeder Calf Showmanship; Clark County Fair Queen Contest (Champions Center Banquet Hall); Ladies Lead and Shepherd Class (Sheep Arena); Sheep Decorating Contest, following lead classes
2 p.m. JF Swine Showmanship (Swine Arena)
3 p.m. JF Sheep Breeding Show, following showmanship (Sheep Arena); Kiddy Tractor Pull (Champions Center); Wambold’s Amazing Animals (Midway); Sales Trailer Opens
4 p.m. JF Dairy Feeder Showmanship (Cattle Show Arena)
5 p.m. JF Poultry Show (Rabbit and Poultry Barn); showmanship follows
6 p.m. JF Horse Awards Presentation (Horse Arena); Dish of the Day Judging Cheese Dish and Youth Dish (Arts and Crafts Building); 10th Annual Farm Bureau Social Hour (Farm Bureau Building); Wambold’s Amazing Animals (Midway)
7 p.m. Northeast Ohio Dukes of Hazzard County Stunt Show (Track event); Groom and Clean Judging (Outdoor Horse Arena)
8 p.m. Sales trailer closes; Wambold’s Amazing Animals (Midway)
Monday, July 23
7 a.m. JF Alpacas and Llamas Arrival (Champions Center)
8 a.m. JF Alpacas and Llamas Show and Showmanship (Champions Center)
9 a.m. Rabbit Royalty Contest (Rabbit Barn); JF Dairy Cart, Pygmy Show with Dairy Goat Showmanship and Pee Wee and Adult Goat Showmanship following Pygmy Show (Cattle Show Arena); JF Horse Western Judging (Horse Arena); JF Market Lamb Show (Sheep Arena); JF Gilt and Breed Show (Swine Arena); JF Swine Scramble Show (Swine Arena)
11 a.m. Open Class Alpacas and Llamas in place (Champions Center)
1 p.m. Open Class Alpaca and Llama Show (Champions Center)
2 p.m. JF FFA Farm Shop Projects Judging (Youth Building)
3 p.m. Sales Trailer Opens
4 p.m. JF Dairy Feeder Show (Cattle Show Arena)
5 p.m. Wambold’s Amazing Animals (Midway)
6 p.m. Dish of the Day Judging for Pork Dish and Butterscotch Cookie Contest (Arts and Crafts Building); JF Doggy Maze, Silly Pet Tricks and Costume Contest (Dog Barn); 2010 Rabbit Scramble Winners Contest (Rabbit Barn)
8 p.m. Sales Trailer Closes; Wambold’s Amazing Animals (midway)
9 p.m. JF Horse Mac Barrels (Horse Arena)
Tuesday, July 24, Golden Wedding Day
9 a.m. JF Market Barrow Show (Swine Arena); JF Horse Performance Judging (Horse Arena)
10 a.m. County Commission Meeting (Arts and Crafts Building Stage)
11 a.m. JF Market Goat Showmanship with JF Market Goat Production Doe Show to follow (Cattle Show Arena)
11:30 a.m. Kiwanis Luncheon Meeting (Champions Center)
Noon Pie Day Judging (Arts and Crafts Building) Pies should be delivered between 10 a.m. and noon
Noon to 2 p.m. Adult Ceramics Make and Take by Patti Martin and Sandy Nixon (Arts and Crafts Building); Arts and Crafts Make and Take by the Committee (Arts and Crafts Building Home Arts Department)
1:30 p.m. Kiwanis and Elderly United Golden Wedding Party (Champions Center Banquet Room) Music begins at noon. Open for all couples in Clark County who have observed their 50th wedding anniversary (invitation only).
2 p.m. JF 4-H Lamb Quiz Bowl (Entertainment Tent)
2 to 6 p.m. JF Dog Rally O Clinic (Dog Barn)
3 p.m. Sales Trailer Opens
5 p.m. Wambold’s Amazing Animals (midway)
6 p.m. Dish of the Day Judging for Raspberry Dish and Poultry Dish (Arts and Crafts Building); Pie Auction (Entertainment Tent); Annual Bunny Scramble (Sheep Arena); JF Horse Musical Freestyle (Horse Arena)
6 to 9 p.m. JF Meat Chicken Check-in and Weigh-in (Poultry Barn)
7 p.m. OSTPA Tractor and Truck Pull (Track Event); Cheer Competition (Champions Center); JF 4-H Winners Review (Entertainment Tent)
8 p.m. Wambold’s Amazing Animals (Midway); Sales Trailer Closes
Wednesday, July 25, Kids Day
8 a.m. Sales Trailer Opens
9 a.m. JF Fancy Breeding Chicken Show with Showmanship to follow (Poultry Barn); JF Fancy Meat Chicken Show with Showmanship to follow (Poultry Barn); JF Market Lamb Auction (Sheep Arena); JF Market Beef Show (Champions Center)
9 to 11 a.m. JF Cloverbud Show-N-Tell (Youth Building)
11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Kids Make and Take by Patti Martin and Sandy Nixon (Arts and Crafts Building in the Ceramics Department); Kids Crafts Make and Take (age group 3-4 years) by the Committee (Arts and Crafts Building in the Home Arts Department)
11:30 a.m. JF Baker’s Contest Top 5 Judging and Interviews (Champions Center Banquet Hall); Kids Vegetable Sculpture Contest Judging (Produce Department in the Annex)
1 p.m. JF Market Goat Show (Cattle Show Arena); JF Baker’s Contest Auction (Sheep Arena); Dairy Milk and Dairy Feeder Auction (Sheep Arena)
1 to 3 p.m. Kids Day Games and Contests (Track Event)
1 to 6 p.m. JF Dog Agility Demonstrations (Dog Barn)
3 p.m. Wambold’s Amazing Animals (Midway)
5:30 p.m. Presentation of Creative Achievement Award (Arts and Crafts Building on stage)
6 p.m. Dish of the Day Judging for Beef Dish and Diabetic Dessert (Arts and Crafts Building); Optimist Dinner (Champions Banquet Center); Wambold’s Amazing Animals (Midway)
7 p.m. Demolition Derby (Track Event); JF Dog Fun Show (Dog Arena); JF Horse Contesting Fun Show and Mac Barrels (Horse Arena)
8 p.m. Wambold’s Amazing Animals (Midway)
Thursday, July 26, Homemakers’ Day
8 a.m. Sales Trailer Opens
9 a.m. JF Clark County Cattle Producer’s Show (Champions Center); JF Market Hog Auction (Swine Arena); JF Horse Fun Show (Horse Arena)
9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Election of Directors (Junior Fair Board Building)
10 a.m. JF County Produced Goat Show (Cattle Show Arena)
11 a.m. JF Dairy Grooming Contest (Barns 2 and 3)
1 p.m. Homemakers Style Show (Arts and Crafts Building); Rabbit Royalty Awards (Rabbit Barn)
3 p.m. Agricultural Society Annual Meeting (Champions Center)
3:30 p.m. JF Showman of Showmen Contest (Champions Center)
5 p.m. Wambold’s Amazing Animals (Midway)
6 p.m. JF Goat Fun Show (Cart Goat Ring); JF Dog Rally O Match (Dog Barn); Dish of the Day Judging for Dessert Dish (No pies and nothing chocolate) and Vegetable Dish (Arts and Crafts Building); Texaco Country Showdown (Big Tent)
6:30 p.m. Lions Club Dinner (Champions Center Banquet Room)
7 p.m. Election of Directors Closes; Truck Tug-O-War (Track Event)
8 p.m. Wambold’s Amazing Animals (Midway)
Friday, July 27
7 a.m. Sales Trailer Opens
8 a.m. JF Small Animal Auction for Rabbit, Meat Chicken, Tom Turkey, Meat Duck, Egg Production (Expo Center Banquet Hall)
9 a.m. JF Horse Walk/Trot Contesting (Horse Arena); JF Horse Mac Barrels (Horse Arena); JF Goat Auction (Cattle Show Arena)
1 p.m. JF Market Beef Auction (Champions Center)
4 p.m. JF Dog Barn Tear Down
4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Grains/Vegetables/Fruits released
5 p.m. JF All remaining Livestock released; Wambold’s Amazing Animals (Midway)
6 p.m. Dish of the Day Judging for Anything Chocolate and Appetizer (Arts and Crafts Building); Kiddie Pig Chase (Track Event)
7 p.m. Pig and Calf Scramble (Track Event); Kate Hasting Band (Big Tent)
8 p.m. Wambold’s Amazing Animals (Midway)

Frogtown Noose Son story here

I, Pet Goat

I, pet goat II from Heliofant on Vimeo.

From the Goessling Markets' FaceBook page:

"We will be having our meeting tomorrow at 2:00 {7/18}, with the SBA and the Economic Development Department for the City of Cincinnati. This is pivotal to our ability to announce the status of the Clifton project. All the Indicators point to success!"

Keep yer fingers crossed.

UPDATE: The SBA meeting was postponed a week.

Goessling's Markets

Will U.S. be the Next Greece ?

While I doubt the U.S. will share Greece's economic fate simply because of size & diversity issues, there's certainly evidence pointing to a radical fringe group like the Golden Dawn attaining power in the U.S.. It's fun to watch the antics of this nationalist nativist group of yahoos from afar but given the popularity of Limbaughs, Becks & Robertsons here, how far off can we be? Illegal migration in Greece is actually worse in Greece than in the U.S. and, besides the settlers there's a ton of transients over there, too. Approximately 90% of illegal migrants in Europe enter through Greece. The Spartans had it relatively easy at Thermopylae.
Unfortunately, the antics of these guys only serve to distract from the real issues.
Upon election, they got the ball rolling demanding "respect" from the traitorous press corps.
Temper tantrums & going after middle aged women half your size on national TV might be considered bad form but, apparently the Dawn's status improved after this kerfuffle.
Threatening natualized citizens does the party no good & harkens back to Kristalnacht krap. This comes on the heels of street violence aimed at foreigners that went unchecked by a police force sympathetic to the Dawn.
A blood bank for natives only might seem kinda nice but is also kind of insane. Blood is blood.
Laying claim to Istanbul & other cities in Turkey is a complete hoot. Sure Greeks established the town about 2,500 years ago but they haven't owned it for over 1,700 years. Maybe they should also seek reparations from Italy…..
They'll need all the help they can get given their financial problems.
But even in the U.S. we see the folks who, in spite of increasing deficits, want to wage wars & occupy foreign lands, enable government takeovers of religious institutions and continue class/race warfare on their fellow citizens. And they want it all for free! yeah, we may not be too far off.

More News
M$oft bailing on MSNBC is one thing but starting up it's own news service from scratch? The various news sources in America today are all pretty generic. Throw in the demise of print news & the decimating of broadcast news & the whole landscape looks pretty bleak. Will M$oft turn things around? Their track record doesn't offer much hope.
But could the software company partner with news agencies that have traditionally not web based & give 'em a hand with their web outlets? Might be a way to get Silverlight outta the ICU.
I would love to see Gates & Balmer reading the news.
heehee

Goggle story here

Bank of America has purchased the unfinished Kenwood Towne Place at auction. If their track record of owning foreclosed properties in the areaq is any indicator, we should expect the structure to continue to sit empty, deteriorating til it slowly transforms from eyesore to hazard.
yay

Fishwarp story here

Has Laure Quinlivan Gone Mad ?

While Cincinnati Councilwoman Laure Quinlivan's boosterism, fiscal resposibility & efforts towards job creation earn her high marks, this whole rebranding thing is kinda nuts. She's been around to have seen the folly of The Blue Chip City (which the Blue Chip Republicans haven't). This kinda thing takes time. While the temporary promotion, The City That Sings (but, apparently is too lame to compose) is fine but there is no way it's going to stick. Cities need to be * City. Like The Gem City, The Queen City, The Champion City. Does anybody remember The Sleeping Giant? I didn't think so…..

Fishwarp story here

The Gift That Keeps On Giving

Gotta love the Fishwarp

Fishwarp story was here

Ohio Slips Under Kasich's Stewardship
A recent survey by CNBC, Ohio has slipped from 23rd to 25th as a state to do business in under the so called business friendly John Kasich. Notable drops in ranking were in the categories of Transportation & Infrastructure, Quality of Life, Economy & Education. Business Friendliness & Access to Capital have improved a bit.
This does have Ohio leading it's neighboring states except for Indiana. Somehow Ohio has the next to worst workforce in the entire country - which I find hard to believe but it seems to have improved despite a crappier education ranking.
I have no doubt the transportation & infrastructure decline is primarily due to Kasich & Wray deprecating TRAC & doling out transportation dollars as political favors.

Ohio
USA

Terre Haute ?

ok, I knew Slime Warner & Incite had come to an impasse with WLWT & dropped 'em off the broadcast so when I flipped over to that charnel I was surprised to see a newscast. Channel 2? Must be Dayton, I thought. nope. Terre Haute.
C'mon guys, Columbus Indiana, Indianapolis, Columbus Ohio, Dayton Ohio, Lexington, hell, cartoons or old movies would be of more interest than that.
jeepers…..
(Thought that Olympic coverage was going to get you some leverage with a company that doesn't give a rat's ass about their customers, huh ?)
UPDATE: When the going gets weird - the weird get going. Now Terre Haute is bitching at Slime Warner about stealing their broadcasts. Thy really should have just run Bugs Bunny or Batman cartoons.....
Fishwarp story here.

WLWT story here

Cincinnati mayor, Mark Mallory, is off to Washington DC to represent the people of Cincinnati - a job congressman Steve Chabot is supposed to do but while never bringing home the bacon he has taken to sending the bacon elsewhere. Mallory says he’s lobbying DC officials to nix Chabot’s streetcar Provision.
The thing about Chabot's anti-Cincinnati streetcar amendment that bugs me is, besides his determination of the project's lack of merit having no merit of it's own, is that he singled out just one passenger rail proposal. That is, he doesn't seem to have any broader view that would lead him to believe the very concept is bad. It just seems more vindictive than anything else. Steve Chabot is supported in one area of the city & frequently refers to himself as a citizen of that neighborhood and not the city that it's a part of. His amendment won't save a dime & in fact includes billions in deficit spending.
Interestingly, the darling of the eastside GOP, Rob Portman, doesn't seem so adamant about usurping the will of local voters.
From the Fishwarp:

The Senate Appropriations Committee did not include a similar measure barring funds for the streetcar in its version of the transportation spending bill. And both of Ohio’s U.S. senators–Republican Rob Portman and Democrat Sherrod Brown—have said they have no plans to push such a proposal.

I guess COA T will have to try to pry the senator away from the Romney campaign trail into one of their dark smoky back rooms & make him a deal he can't refuse.

Fishwarp story here.

Pagans

Straight outta Clevo, maaannnnn

The Pagans

Playlist

Parks
Today marks the date for the official reopening of Washington Park in Cincinnati. Once a cemetery, it later became a popular park across from Cincinnati's Music Hall which served as an event venue & concert hall for over a hundred years. The park served for people's entertainment as well.
At one point, as the neighborhood had declined, activists established homeless shelters and a dizzying number of social services in the area as the neighborhood was deemed a haven for the homeless & destitute. This resulted in the park being overrun by loud, vulgar vagrants & beggars. The park became a public restroom & was shunned by most people.
As a wealthier population has moved into the neighborhood & the park has been closed for a year as upgrades including an underground parking garage (in an old cemetery - the mind boggles), people are hoping the park can be a more genteel place as it once was & was intended to be.
There's 2 sides to this. There's the people who want a nice place free of foul smells & pestering panhandlers as pointed out at Cincinnati Blog. Then there's the homeless advocates who would just like to have their ghetto back as reflected at The Cincinnati Beacon.
In an effort to keep the park nice, new rules have been put into place (most of which aren't that new). But do the rules go too far? There's a trend to outlaw "acts of daily living" which just sounds crazy - kinda like "free speech zones". NPR discusses the issue here.
We need to have balance. We need to be civil. The homeless advocates, in my mind, usually want the whole pie. Some of these new laws & regulations are just insane, tho. If I fall asleep in a park on a lazy Sunday afternoon, I'm illegal? You can't enjoy a glass of wine at a summer concert in the park? I can't feed the birds? I've gone on about banning amplification before here and here. This is ridiculous in the 21st century. One rule for Washington Park is "No dropping off of food or clothing". I know that has been an issue for what amount to "drive by" charities who just leave a mess after their good deeds are done. I hope they will issue permits for this kind of activity, tho.
As far as keeping the neighborhood up in the future, I think there's some good advice here by bfwissel.

Steve Chabot's Vision of Cincinnati ?

Happy 4th Y'all

4th of July in Northside !

July 4th celebrations in the land between the cemeteries, NORTHSIDE, begin Tuesday July 3rd at2:30 in Hoffner Park.
A day of music & entertainment await you at the Northside Rock 'n Roll Carnival.
MUSIC

• CLETUS ROMP
• JAKE SPEED & THE FREDDIES
• ECLIPSE
• R. RING
• TURBO FRUITS
• THE TILLERS
• YOU, YOU'RE AWESOME
• THE BIG SLEEP
• PUJOL

FIRE

INCENDIUM FIRE SHOWThe Incendium guys bring their show at 10:25 PM
The Cincinnati Comedy All Stars will be across the street at The Chameleon. Ohio Knife, Downtown Boys, Cave Girls, TEMPLE and DAAP Girls will be at The Northside Tavern.
On Wednesday, the 4th, get your grub on with Kegs & Eggs at Hoffner Park at 10AM and Red, White & Blueberry pancake breakfast at North Presbyterian Church at 9AM.
Up the street, The Comet and Northside Tavern open at 11 AM & The Comet kitchen opens at noon. NYPD Pizza will be open all day, too, serving pizza, hoagies, wings & more.
The dang parade starts at the old Ashtree Village at noon & languidly strolls down Hamilton avenue to the park.

Apcalypse NOW!
In yet another bold bid to trigger the zombie apocalypse, gas drillers want to dig under the consecrated grounds of graveyards.
Proponents claim that deep underground, locked in ancient shale formations, are lucrative quantities of natural gas.They have also targeted parks, playgrounds, churches and residential backyards.
Opponents say cemeteries are hallowed ground that shouldn't be sullied by drilling activity. Some might say it's sacrilegious but if you worship money ~ I guess, it'd be ok.

Moose Son story here

Rock 'n Roll Carnival Preview

R. Ring
Northside Rock 'n Roll Carnival Tuesday, 7/3/12 in absolute Hoffner Park, Hamilton Avenue @ Blue Rock Street
Fireworks @ 10:25

Because everything is better when animated.

Rock 'n Roll Carnival Preview

Pujol
Northside Rock 'n Roll Carnival Tuesday, 7/3/12 in absolute Hoffner Park, Hamilton Avenue @ Blue Rock Street
Fireworks @ 10:25

Rock 'n Roll Carnival Preview

The Big Sleep
Northside Rock 'n Roll Carnival Tuesday, 7/3/12 in absolute Hoffner Park, Hamilton Avenue @ Blue Rock Street
Fireworks @ 10:25

Alkaline Hydrolysis in Ohio ?
Not if the Pope has anything to say about it
Funeral Directors in Ohio are seeking legislation to add alkaline hydrolysis (liquefaction) to their line of body disposal methods. Since it wasn't defined as illegal a funeral home in Columbus offered the service til the state shut him down. Apparently you need government permission to do things not deemed illegal…..
8 other states offer the service which basically uses lye & heat to dissolve the body in a few hours. Costs are a little higher than traditional cremation & a fraction of traditional burial. Cremation is becoming a much more popular form of body disposal every year.
The fly in the ointment here in Ohio however is papists determined to impose their religious beliefs onto state law. State Rep. Ron Maag, chairman of the government and elections committee is leading opposition to legalizing the process to conform with Catholic doctrine. The notion of choice in burial seems foreign territory for religious zealots who frequently cry for religious freedom.

News Son story here.

The Ohio Beacon Journal Gets to Know It's Online Commenters
The Ohio Beacon Journal, like the Cincinnati Enquirer & other sites that allow commenting is wrestling with ways to handle online comments. The OBJ, unlike the local Fishwarp (to my knowledge) tried to get to know their audience. The title to their article was Commenters on newspaper websites may be a lonely bunch. This wasn'r exactly found through scientific research so much as it was a comment by a commenter who happens to be ill of health & primarily bed ridden. I think he might be biased. However Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron last year surveyed Plain Dealer online commenters as part of the Ohio Civility Project. They found a majority of frequent commenters are single males over 45 making more than $50K.
They found a small percentage of readers even read the comments. That small percentage is over 2M a day. While not in BIC's league, it's a decent size audience. From reading comments at the Fishwarp, it's clear that many commenters don't read the articles past the sensationalistic headlines, but that wasn't discussed. Maybe they naively believe they do read their professionally written articles. They also point out that, like the Fishwarp, their staffs don't even read the comments, let alone participate. So, why the fuck do they carry on about "civility"?
The article states they have 617 banned words including 61 variants of FUCK. I would like to see that list.
It was nice these guys reached out to their readers but they still don't get it. They are still arrogant & insulting to their readers. They still don't get that incendiary headlines & articles will result in incendiary comments.
Blogging Isn't Cool has no intention of censoring posts.

and as for the guy who just left a message on my answering machine telling me he wants his fucking sander back? sorry, wrong fucking number.

Bike Day @ College Hill Farmers Market
Thursday, Jun 28 is Bike Day at the College Hill Farmers Market from 3:00 PM to 6:30 PM at 5742 Hamilton Avenue (between the pizza joint & the church at the south end of the business district where (I think) the train station once stood).
Thrill to sight of bike trailers! Spend on bike helmets sold by Children's Hospital! Fill your head with handy bicycling tips~ Learn how to use the bike racks on Metro buses!Win a prize !

For more info porterd@cinci.rr.com

Rob Portman Leads the Fight Against Cannibalism
After a "string of events" (2?), Ohio Senator & vice presidential hopeful, Rob Portman (R) OH, has proposed legislation to outlaw "bath salts".
Great, more government & less freedom in a pandering effort to surf the wave of media hysteria. This is just the type of leadership we need & the TEAse demand.

ABC News story here

Gary Johnson in Columbus 6/29
Johnson will be at 2 fundraisers Friday, June 29
5:30 PM – 7:30 PM at the Holiday Inn, 7007 High St, Worthington, OH
tickets - $60
More info
and
8:00 PM – 10:00 PM ,4030 Easton Town Center, Suite 450, Columbus, OH
tickets - $300
More info

Bob City

you know you wanna go
From my hometown. Where else would a Quimbob come from?
I always liked these weird super narrow buildings. This place was a seedy bar with a steep step down that caused many a spill. The balls on the pool table would shake when a train went by. One night I was there, sitting next to some old geezer. He took of his hat & set it on the bar. He took off his glasses & set them on the bar. Then he took out his dentures & set them on the bar. At that point the bartender came over, inserted the teeth ino the guys mouth, set the glasses on his nose & put his hat on his head & told the guy to leave.
The place had standards after all…..

As Seen at the Cincinnati Asylum

HT to The Asylum
UPDATE:WS takes down the video, an obvious bit of parody, for "copyright issues"
UPDATE II: The video is now being privately hosted here

A Bakers Dozen of the Hottest Star Trek Chicks
As I promised, I am going to do more pointless lists this year. This list isn't so pointless, however since nobody seems to have done a list on this particular subject. With only 10 movies and 5 series with over 700 episodes, it was pretty easy to narrow it down.
In no particular order…..
Leah Brahms

A hologram the blind engineer concocted to figure out some stuff he couldn't. She had died a long rime ago so she wouldn't have been up to speed on modern stuff and he could only program what he already knew so, it didn't make much sense but she saved the day & was easy on the eyes even if you were wearing a chrome beret over your face.


The Duras SistersLursa & B'etor

Klingon chicks plotting, fighting and drinking blood wine into the wee hours? Be still my heart.


Vash

Piccard's nemesis, an Indiana Jones type chick in space. yow


Losira

Lee Meriwether telling you she's "for you"? Who cares if you die?


B'Elanna Torres

Klingon chicks…..
even if half human...


Marta

Batgirl goes green!


Ro Laren

argh The feisty Bajoran who ditched her role to languish in obscurity til she could turn Bon Temps on it's head. If Sisco only knew….


Yeoman Janice Rand

oh, man, she didn't do much but in the late 60s, who cared?


Jadzia Dax

Hot but with that staid librarian freak thing going on. Add to that she had a symbiote in her that used to be a cantankerous old gut. Seriously mixed messages for a geeky teenage boy.


Kira Nerys

The feisty little Bajoran rebel who had problems playing by the rules. The good bad girl or the bad good girl, whateever….


Lieutenant Nyota Uhura

Do I really need to say anything?


Seska

A traitorous alien spy - does it get any hotter?


Alice & Alice

ahhhh, the Alices, Harry Mudd couldn't make too many…..

If you see a pattern here, yeah, I do too. scary….
Anyway apologies to Elinor Donahue, Sally Kellerman, the chick with the competitive chef show, the young T'Pol, the chick doing the Weight Watcher ads, Joan Collins, Terri Garr, Marina Sirtis, The various Borg Queens, the chick who played a zombie, the historian chick who sold out the crew to Kahn, Sisko's girlfriend, the hot Romulan commander chick, Engineer O'Brien's wife & a gazillion others.

A Problem Street ?

There's a problem on my street. People keep crashing their cars. As we all know this is anybody's problem except the drivers' I mean it's straight - how ac anybody navigate that?
It's not flat - it slopes down to the east.
The issue is that halfway down the street the road narrows and, while parking on the north side of the narrower section is eliminated, there is parking on the south and people routinely drive east & proceed to smash into the parked cars. Straight street? Stationary objects? Talk about a recipe for disaster…..
From my perch on the southside of the street it's clear that most people driving east drive down left of the double yellow center lines to deal with the crazy roadway.
The upper western half of the road was developed in the 20s while the eastern section was largely developed in the 40s. A deep ravine appears to have been the divider. Why the development to thee east has a narrower road? beats me.
Nobody living in these homes really needs to park on the street. All the homes have driveways & garages. Of course in the 20s & 40s people didn't have fleets of cars……
One of the issues at this bottleneck - a guy in the house just past the bottleneck on the north side is a car hoarder. He uses the city street to store his fleet. He leaves them up the street in the wider stretch (the long term storage) but mainly has them clustered right at the bottleneck. Does it bother me that his are the cars most often smashed? ~not really~ The idea that he has no insurance makes it even more palatable. Most of the crashes are hit & run. Probably because the drivers don't have insurance either.
While it's usually just a sideswipe or bump (and invariably a hit & run) the last one had a car bounce off a parked car & into the path of an oncoming car. Everyone was speeding. No injuries, thankfully but the crashes are becoming more frequent.
One neighbor wants speed bumps. As a cyclist I am way opposed to that idea. The city also recommends this street to cyclists (which is also dumb since it's a residential street). Another alternative would be to widen the street to the south. That'd be BIG bucks with all the emminent domain. It makes some sense, tho since the far eastern end of the street doesn't align with the rest of the steet anyway. It jogs south at the bottom of the hill with a little bridge crossing a small stream. A lot of people drive into the stream on winter days.
My suggestion is - put some kids out there in the street. No, not real kids, just project holographic images of kids playing in the streets to slow the drivers down.
My other idea is pretty wacky, tho - make drivers education more rigorous.

A Bridge for Today or an Obstruction for Tomorow ?

As we look at spending more than $3,000,000,000 for a replacement bridge over the Ohio River, Hamilton County Commissioners are looking at ways to spend the money faster.
But what is the future usefulness of the bridge? Projections are being made of use trending along into the future the same as it has up til now. Does that make any sense? What about changes in technology? Even as you read, Volkswagen of China is working on hover cars. No longer the stuff of fantasy, we may have flying cars sometime before 4000.
Is this short sighted quick fix the answer or will the bridge just prove to be another obstacle for the flocks of flying cars that will soon fly along the Ohio River?

Hearing this reminded me of the first time I heard Miles Davis play Time After Time at Cincinnati's Music Hall. He's playing who?

Arty Northside

Giovanni Battista Guadagnini was born 6/23/1711, so what better way to celebrate than by going to arty Northside, the land between the cemeteries, and Art Out?!
From 11AM to 7PM, Art in the Park returns to level Hoffner Park. Enjoy young, hip, wacky, crafty local artists hawking their stuff.
Take a breather for some grub at one of Northside's many fine eateries like The Blue Jay, recently voted Best Diner in the Tri State. They should be, they've been at it for 45 years this year!
Swing by Building Value for some door hardware marked down 50% - one day only!
Later, check out ParProjects Symphonic Stylings fundraiser at the Bertke Electric building at 1645 Blue Rock @ 6:30PM. Music by Concert:Nova quartet of Cinti Symphony members will provide the theme for multi media fashion extravaganza featuring work by Dana Artaya Greaves, Duru Armagan’s Sloane Boutique, Susan Byrnes, Billy Colbert and NVISION owner Emily Buddendeck will be showing off fashions from the 40s to the 70s.
More about Symphonic Stylings from the Fishwarp here.

Brats on the Bus

Anybody who has had the privilege of riding Cincinnati's buses with her fine youth has probably seen or been the target of this loutish behavior. Listening to their bile while thinking about paying their tuition & bus fare can make one's blood boil. I have frequently thought of Bernard Goetz while standing in a Metro bus in the afternoons.
I propose that anybody under the age of 25 should be hooded, gagged & shackled when in public. They should be tethered and accompanied by a parent or guardian.
CBS story via the Gem City Noose here

When I was a little kid, I got a Superman Halloween costume. It was the old kind, a baggy 1 piece fire trap with a cape & red mask. But it also came with a little cartoon flyer that gave the warning that the suit would not give you super powers. Duh - Supes got his power from a yellow sun. Anyway, it pointed out that donning the costume would not make you impervious to bullets, it would not make you super fast and you would not be able to fly. Even as a kid I thought this was kinda stupid but apparently there had been kids who put on the costumes & jumped off garage roofs (like it takes a Superman costume to prompt a little boy to jump off a garage roof).
I bring this up because people are running around saying certain politicians can and do perform superhuman socioeconomic feats that they really just can't do. They can put on the suit and that's about it. I know they say they do these things but they are politicians - aka sociopathic liars.

Anarchy in Hamilton County

Sure glad the "son of the suburbs" found all those efficiencies.....
Glad he got that county administrator with all the bold new ideas.....
Fishwarp story here

Translation
ok, since 25-30% of the people who have the misfortune of finding this site are from non-English speaking countries I have added the Google Translate gadget to make your experience a tad less confusing. Of course, if you got here looking for "Britney Skye zombie", "Cleopatra hot", "XXX porno", "mother son fuck", "Ashley Bulgari", "Jenni Kohoutova", "Jana Miartusova", or "sexy pictures of Leslie Ghiz", you probably don't need it.
you're welcome

Preservation / Conservation

Count Kálnoky & The Prince of Wales discuss preservation & conservation in sunny Transylvania. Charles also discusses the over harvesting of Scotland's timber, something Haiti has become the poster child for. This is from an English Travel Charnel show, Wild Carpathia, which discusses the size, history & significance of the forested mountain range - home to 40% of Europe's bear population & lotsa wolf & lynx. You can snag a DVD of the episode (in PAL format) here.

Pieces of Shit

I'm no fan of organized religion but I don't exactly relish churches going away. They are increasingly losing population however, especially as people leave small denominational neighborhood churches for big bland megachurches which I really don't like. So kicking these small neighborhood churches when they're down is particularly disconcerting to me. With empty pews come empty coffers & the ability of these small churches to be able to deliver to their neighborhoods is negatively impacted. That's exactly what a gang of cretins is doing now, raiding churches in Northside & ripping out their metal utilities, causing thousands of dollars of damage for a pittance they can get at a scrap yard.
CAIN was created in Northside some 20 years ago to unite neighborhood churches so they could provide relief to their neighbors better. Heck, even they have been hit.
I don't have the faith some of the church members & pastors have that these thieves & vandals will pay down the road on some mythical judgement day. I'd sentence them to eternity in public service.

WXIX story here

WLWT story here

WCPO story here

The Headline reads, "Do NOT steal a car from the FBI", but, hell, why not? The agent's car (actually the taxpayer's car) was left unattended probably blocking the sidewalk and even tho the location is usually crawling with cops, almost midway between the main police station & the district 5 station and just up the street from the police unions, some dimwit made off in the damn thing. The fact that he got away with it was one thing but that it took 3 weeks to find it is the real kicker. This is America's premier law enforcement agency? With the egg on the faces of the Cincinnati police and the FBI, the county proceeded to be burned by the dimwit when he didn't show up for sentencing after being convicted.
WTF people?
Maybe the state will want to get in on the act & release him due to some bureaucratic snafu….

Community press article here

More Heartening News
This week's Kiplinger letter has some good news. It points out that people's perception of the economy - not the actual economy - will guide people in re-electing the incumbent president or making a change.
It also goes on to say that a lot of the indicators that mold people's perceptions are beyond the reach of a president anyway.
sigh…..

Centerville !

Not only is Centerville home to America's hottest dad, David George, it's a real nice place to raise your kids up!

Gretscharama !

Tonite @ The Comet, The Black Belles from sunny Nashville with Fake Hands.

The Zombie Tarot

Paul Kepple & Stacey Graham have released The Zombie Tarot: An Oracle of the Undead. It's pretty, well crafted & produced with clever packaging. It follows a retro 50s/60s motif and is pretty fun. The cards are slightly oversize but not like the Thoth deck. Given the detail, larger cards would have been nice. maybe a display of the original illustrations would be in order?
But it's still just a novelty deck.
When it comes to tarot, I'm squarely a Golden Dawn man. My favorite deck isn't the prettiest but the clear & concise Golden Dawn Magical Tarot by Chic & Tabitha Cicero. The Golden Dawn specifies some imagery, card names & color schemes. This makes interpretation at a glance pretty easy. Suit colors in the Zombie Tarot are relegated to small logos in the corner printed in muted colors that don't pertain to elements at all. The suits are typical with "Hazards" taking the place of Disks/Pentacles. Dunno why. Simple things like having 2,3,4,5 elements on the corresponding cards, like 5 skulls on the 5 of cups are ignored.
The booklet has amusing descriptions that mostly get it right. There are some zombie inspired layouts included as well as some ads for zombie apocalypse era merchandise.
I realize it's a novelty deck, but with a little more discipline, it could have been a more usable deck.

Horror Sells - Bullets ?

I don't know if you really need Hornady's special bullets to kill (rekill) zombies. As Sheriff Mclelland said, "... if you got a gun shoot 'em in the head. That's the sure way to kill 'em. If you don't - get yourself a club, beat 'em or burn 'em. They go up pretty easy.

Mozart Opera in the old Art Damage Lodge

June 9 & 10 Isaac Selya & Antoine López will conduct Mozart's Der Schauspieldirektor and Bastien und Bastienne at Hoffner Lodge, 4120 Hamilton Avenue, in jammin' Northside.

More info here.

Proper Casino Attire ?

The Clevo Horseshoe casino has posted a sign out front with some rules for behavior & dress. No word yet on what the Porkopolis casino will do along these lines. While th Fishwarp reports that 'sagging pants' will be banned, what it actually says is that pants will be worn around the waist. Theoretically, this would ban fat rednecks who wear their pants under their gut (like me) & girls with low cut pants. These aren't the groups they are planning on banning, of course. The rules also state that face coverings are not allowed. While I doubt anybody wearing a burqa is going to go drinking & gambling, it does raise the question of religious freedom. And before anybody claims it's private property - they can do what they want- no, they are there by the will of the people and are heavily taxed & regulated by the representatives of those people. We can tell 'em what to do.
Interestingly, they don't mention colors. Dunno how long you can sit before you are considered a loiterer. It would be damn nice if some local stores banned running screaming kids.
No word on busty gals lying around on the gaming tables in their utrou yet, either.

Cincinnati's budget deficit is growing primarily due to state budget cuts of over $20 million - an action supported by COA T. Earlier this week, City Manager Dohoney proposed to restore property tax rates throughout Cincinnati.
City Councilmember Smitherman has taken to the airwaves (again) to spread hysteria through the community. Monday, Smitherman took his fear mongering to 550 WKRC.
As Councilmember Smitherman said, the Enquirer's report interprets the amount of the deficit differently than he does when he says Cincinnati faces a deficit of $40.8 million. Donohey's proposed property tax rate re-institution would reduce this significantly, to a deficit of $33 million. Councilmember Smitherman fails to point out that if previous councils had not lowered the rate in a pandering effort to get votes, we would not be facing a deficit at all.
In addition to this predictable deficit, the City is underfunding its big union thug demanded pension obligations by at least $50 million every year.
Meanwhile, Mayor Mallory and the majority of a democratically elected Council continue to invest taxpayer money on the streetcar and the City Hall atrium in an attempt to raise tax revenue without raising rates.
At the same time, and in the same breath, the majority of a democratically elected Council are planning to put to a public vote a measure that would double the length of their terms! That's right, they want to go four years between elections so less financially privileged candidates can have a better chance at election. One of COA T's biggest complaints about council is that their terms are not long enough for them to see the results of their actions.
Enjoy your bloody state budget cuts, COA T.

furthermore...

17

Tried upgrading Fedora 16 to 17 using PreUpgrade. No go. While Fedora upgrades usually go amazingly well, this'n started out ok but the sucker wouldn't shut down. It just panicked & froze.
Poking around, this was a problem in test versions that Red Hat kinda just let go. I found (possible) fixes but decided to just DL the CD & nuke & pave because I'm a lazy sod.
That worked fine. The Gnome update is still the same goofy Gnome interface. KDE is no better. BUT! This thing starts up & shuts down like Mac used to. So nice not having to deal with the long ass start ups & incredibly long ass shut downs of Mac/Win.
Wonder if anybody bothered to make a driver for my dumbass, very likely to be tossed off a cliff, 6 color Epson printer?

Speaking of Engineers….

~OTOH~

The Goode Effect ?
The Constitution Party nominated Virgil Goode for their presidential nominee on April 21. Goode is probably the most electable candidate the party has ever fielded. They have no office holder on the state or Federal level. In the past the highest number of votes a presidential candidate received was under 200,000 and, since 1992 has averaged about 133,000. To contrast that, the Libertarian Party topped out with the disgraced Bob Barr with over 500,000 votes and averaged about 416,000. The Green Party has done significantly better with Ralph Nader, who received 2,883,105 in one election but without his celebrity they have only averaged about 141,000 votes.
The Libertarians & Greens have done best with better known candidates and this will be the first time the Constitution Party has had a candidate who has actually won an election before. With what party? Pick one. Goode started out as a Democrat in state politics around 1973. After a couple failed bid for the US Senate, he got himself elected to the US Congress in 96, ran as an independent in 2000 & joined the Republican party in 2002 only to join the Constitution Party in 2010.
This election both the Constitution party & Libertarian Party, with Gary Johnson, are fielding previously elected office holders for president. Both stand to get more than a few votes. Couple that with incredible dissatisfaction with both major parties and, without a ringer from the Greens, it looks like Romney has the most to lose.

CLARIFICATION: I only used numbers since 1992 when the Constitution Party started running presidential candidates. The Libertarians actuall garnered almost 1,000,000 votes for Ed Clark in 1980. I lso ignored Ross Perot's run in 1992 where he got 19,741,065 votes because he was kind of a mule in the scheme of things.

Let's Aim Higher

My latest dive into TV Science Fiction history has been Irwin Allen's Time Tunnel featuring the incomparable Lee Merriwether. In the first episode a grouchy little Senator wants to see what the taxpayer's $7.5B had returned. This got me thinking, if a time machine costs that much, why should we stop at $3.5B for a plain old bridge over the Ohio River at I-75? Why not put a little more into it and create a time traveling bridge! Sure, $7.5B in 1966 dollars is more like $500B today but it likely wouldn't be so expensive as computer junk is way faster & cheaper nowadays. Heck, you could probably run the whole thing on an iPad, today. Further, think how popular a bridge that could get you there yesterday would be. Would people pay tolls? You betcha! Would they complain about going over the bridge one at a time? Of course they would but the back up would be meaningless since you would come out on the other end before you started waiting to enter!
This is the way to go folks - and if there's a glitch here or there? Well 33,000 traffic fatalities a year doesn't seem to deter anybody from the road.
Also - a remake of Time Tunnel with Lee Merriwether as the cranky politician would be too cool.

What to Expect in Northside Today

This afternoon the Queen City Mods V. Rockers scooter & motorcycle rally will descend upon idyllic Hoffner Park. No doubt the above scene will be played out in full.
Meanwhile, over at ghastly Spring Grove Cemetery we will have antique fire trucks at the 3rd Annual National Fire Heritage Muster.
And this evening American Can will host the Hot Club of Northside featuring The Faux Frenchmen !

Fire trucks!
Motorbikes!
30s French jazz!

wheeeee!!!!!!!

Syria

What's going on in Syria these days is pretty much just insane. One wonders how people can treat their own people in such a sociopathic manner. In this video Christiane Amanpour speaks to retired Syrian General Akil Hashem about just how this can happen.