BiC Year in Review

Readership has declined, interest in posting has declined. There has been a mass exodus of staff after the incident at the Xmas party in the Muncie Holiday Inn...
Regardless the remaining crew at the relatively empty offices here will continue to bring you the hardest hitting blogulations on the intertubes.
We might have to move out of our offices in Shagrila, but that's no biggie. We are getting offers from the underground space aliens and we think that merging the high tech blogger platform with the alien mind control rays could really turn out to be something big.

Happy Birthday Patti Smith

Autonomous Cars & Class

What will the effect of autonomous cars on the socio-economic strata be?
The tech in the average car has fairly eliminated the shade tree mechanic already. The driverless car will just hammer that home even more.
But for some people, graduating from high school & buying a car is a big deal. More educated & affluent people just take those accomplishments as being mundane. The less affluent will likely be less able to afford a high tech driverless car.
But what will ownership look like? Without the 'driving experience', who will buy a car, people will probably opt out & rent. Perhaps people will rent a la carte or subscribe to businesses offering fleets with specific amenities. Whatever, the underclass will lose one of their revered rites of passage and could result in social tensions. The poor would likely hang on to their traditional cars & bitch about wealthier people and their 'toys'.
Add to that, the autonomous cars will be less prone to fender benders than traditional cars & their wetware which will cause tensions.
This issue will only be exacerbated when cash strapped county governments adopt artificial intelligence systems to replace costly judges & their personnel in the court houses.
Eventually, traditional cars will be banned from the roads much like people & beasts of burden have been today. The difference then will likely be more along the lines of people using autonomous vehicles versus people traveling through tubes. Of course interaction at that point will be relegated to making faces & obscene gestures through the plexiglass & the Socio-economic stratification will only be more acute.

Target - Too Many Dimensions

I'm not sure what the idea is behind the 3D animation in this season's Target Xmas ads is but, OK.
I generally like Target ads with the flat white & red graphics. They are usually mixed with live actors & that weird dog. The problem with the 3D animated ads is that even the logo has now gone 3D
I'm not so sure I like this. If they keep it up, I might have to stop shopping at Tarfet.
oh wait, I already don't...

Daniel Drake - Zombie Hunter

Ok, Hollywood, here's another idea. In the vein of the Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, Noah & some other faux history crap, Daniel Drake - Zombie Hunter.
Drake lived from the late 1700s to the mid 1800s. He lived primarily in the Ohio River Valley. He was a frontier physician, being one of the first diplomaed doctors west of The Alleghenies.
He dabbled in many sciences, social reforms, started medical schools, an insane asylum, worked in epidemiology (cholera) and he even went to a school called Transylvania!
He documented the effects of the New Madrid earthquakes on 1911/12.
So, epidemics (zombiee virus), lunacy, disasters in the lush 19th century midwest...
A perfect setting for a zombie apocalypse if I ever saw one.
Add that he was a decent looking guy and I think you've got one kick ass hero. heck, you could even work in a Van Helsing character with the Transylvania U . angle.
So, go for it, Hollywood!
you are welcome

National Cat Herders Day

Let's hear it for those plucky guys out there keeping all the cats in line.

War on Xmas

Best Buy's "Win Xmas" by buying the coolest gizmos is seriously callous - and I don't really celebrate Xmas....

Hamilton County & The Kitchen Sink

Hamilton County is being asked for improvements to their football stadium. Hamilton County has an abysmal crime lab. Hamilton County commissioner Hartmann said, 60 days ago, he'd have a solution to the crime lab in 30 days. Hamilton County can't afford it's Sheriff's department.
These are the clowns who want to run the water & sewers?

Fuck Sycamore Township

fuck Sycamore Township in Hamilton County, Ohio, USA for shutting down The Zombie Nativity.
Township officials claim his creche has an accessory structure on it, but it is not. It is a temporary prop.
Fuck Sycamore Township and their war on Xmas.

BUY MY SHIT

See, you can avoid this fuckery & get more badass shit at the same time if you BUY MY SHIT
BUY NOW !

BUY MY SHIT!

You can camp out at Target, beat the shit out of your neighbors at WalMart, get murdered by C.H.U.D. downtown like all the other lemmings ~OR~ you can put on you jammies & get real cool stuff online.
Where else can you get a cocktail shaker emblazoned with the crest of Erzsebet Bathory? To Serve Man BBQ aprons? Seal of Mercury keepsake boxes? Simbi ornaments? Ault Park shopping bags? Music Hall & Union Terminal clocks?
WHERE ?
I'll tell you where - NOWHERE
From 80s midwestern punk rock to obscure 70s San Francisco acid rock - from futuristic man eating aliens to 16th century serial killers - from John Dee to Marie LeVeau - BLOGGING ISN'T COOL HAS WHAT YOU NEED !!
That's right folks, from the sandy beaches of Lake Erie to the white cliffs of Dover, all your holiday shopping needs are at your fingertips RIGHT NOW! If you can't decide what you want - just get one of everything. While nothing is guaranteed, your satisfaction is imminent.
Your next mouseclick could be the most important twitch in your life.

• The Bathory Crest collection
• To Serve Man collection
• The Jockey Club collection
• The Ault Park collection
• The Knowlton's Corner collection
• The Music Hall collection
• The Union Terminal Clock collection
• The Union Terminal Queen collection
• Caduceus Corner
• The Tree of Life collection
• The Jack Therion Deluxe collection
• Halloween Witch Shop
• The Loa Simbi collection
• The Sigil of Saturn collection
• The Seal of Mercury collection
• The Kabbalistic Hexagram collection
• The 'You Gotta Ride' collection

Happy Thanksgiving

The Doughnut Nazi

The owner of Schuler's Bakery in The Champion City, Springfield, OH has decided to put his paranoia on the front page.
He has decided to put signs up in his store windows saying

Notice: This store is politically incorrect, We say Merry Christmas, God Bless America, We Salute our Flag and give thanks to our Troops, Police Officers and Fire Fighters. If this offends you, you are welcome to leave. In God We Trust, Schuler’s Bakery, Trent A. Schuler, CEO/Owner.

This goes beyond "Black Owned". Dunno if he thinks this will keep radicalized Islamic terrorists out but he has obviously been severely persecuted and feels he has to lash out at his oppressors.
Schuler's Bakery is an institution in Springfield, being family owned for multiple generations. The city has lost population & wealth and various stores have left town over the years. Macy's, Penney's, Target B Dalton, Walden Books have all left and the Upper Valley Mall was just sold at auction for $2.65M.
Over the years, Schuler's has had to streamline their product line but now they are fed up & have decided that if you don't like saying "Merry Christmas" well, then, fuck you, asshole, we don't need your fuckin' business.
My dad was a business owner, was active civically, politically & religiously but he kept his business neutral - said it was more professional. He was also fairly secure in his beliefs & felt no need to crow about it.
The thing is, people demanding "Merry Christmas" over "Happy Holidays" are not being politically incorrect, they are just fanatics who want to impose their own political correctness on everybody else. Kinda like ISIS?
Well, here's hoping Mr Schuler doesn't start beheading infidels in his shop on Sunday mornings (the day of rest).

Hamilton County GOP Scrambles to find a Replacement for Greg Hartmann

HamCo County commissioner Greg Hartmann has decided not to run for re-election.
Who should replace him?
I think the local GOP should think out of the box on this one.
Perhaps a doll that says random phrases when you pull the string on the doll's back. The RNC could come up with some of their stock catch phrases & answers. If it works, they can use the dolls for all sorts of elected offices.
The problem with this is that the dolls wouldn't be so good at fund raising. So maybe sexbots would be a better way to go. They can ~ahem~ provide favors for ~ahem~ donations.
Then, of course they could go supernatural. Perhaps Charlie Winburn could channel a dead goat. Charlie might not care for playing second fiddle to a rotting carcass, but with some cash, I think he'd be fine.
Another option would be shape shifting insectoid reptillian space aliens. So far this has been spectacular for Cincinnati with it's first shape shifting insectoid reptillian space alien mayor.
All in all, this could provide the GOP with a real shot in the arm and be a pivotal point in their race to the bottom.

Northside !

Wind & buses, aside, sunny Northside, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, Earth, Milky Way 45223
Video by Half Moon Productions for Comey Shepherd

Cutting the Cable

As folks move away from the one size fits all cable TV model, the networks are delivering their content through their websites. That's great. They have different ways of doing it. Some make you wait a week to view online. Some let you view immediately but take down older shows. Some sites work OK with one browser but not with another. Fine, it's weird but I get it - we're still figuring it out. There's still advertising but, that's ok, the sponsors are the ones paying the bills.
BUTWhile most networks stream their content ok - Fox is about the worst, some of the advertisers are streaming from Mac IIs through a modem.
Witness the snippet of an ad that takes about 5 minutes to play - if it doesn't crash your browser of completely lose the connection. Watching a 1 hour show (that's less than an hour) can take up to an hour & forty five minutes with an ad like this playing at every commercial break. Ironically, it's the tech companies that are the worst. The candy companies ads are fine.
Fox gives you the option of watching one ad or just watch with regular ads throughout the show. Except that doesn't work - you still get the ads...
The ads on Fox & The CW (you can tell what we watch in the BiC breakroom) are the worst.
Thing is, this ruins the user experience and I'm guessing most people don't realize it's different companies streaming ads & shows. Unless they are doing this on purpose for the cable companies, they really need to set some standards on their advertisers.

Bond, James Bond

When I looked at an article about The Evolution of the Bond Girl, I realized I didn't recognize the majority of them and I pondered how long had it been since I saw a Bond movie.
For me, Sean Connery was James Bond.
But I don't think new Bonds was the turn off. No, I think the issue was that James Bond never evolved - pretty much the same thing with the Bond Girl...
While Jim might have dealt with some kinda Voodoo mumbo jumbo, he never dealt with a zombie apocalypse, he never dealt with killer robots like Ultron, he never dealt with subterranean insectoid space aliens, demon channeling occult masters, sexbots...
How can the character be sustained with such a stunted plot?

Fare Thee Well

Dia De los Muertos

BiC Endorsements

Issue  1 - yes
Issue  2 - no
Issue  3 - meh
Issue 22 - no
Issue 23 - yes
Issue 24 - meh
School Board - meh