the realNEO Thinker is free

David Thomas (and Rocket From The Tombs) soundcheck - Beachland Ballroom 2006

The first time I saw Pere Ubu was over 30 years ago - 1978 - celebrating their first album, which they will feature again March 5th, to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the Beachland Ballroom - Modern Dance.

Location

(photo credit Kylie) - The Great Billboard logger... I love the rat

"Forever Young"

May God bless and keep you always
May your wishes all come true
May you always do for others
And let others do for you
May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young.

Welcome to East Cleveland: Home of One of the World's Fastest Computers, now optimized with CrossfireX dual GPU solutions, exclusively running ICEarth Linux.

My Nexus One Google Smart/Super Phone keeps freaking me out.

Sunday, I entered an address into the map feature to get directions to somewhere in Painesville. A few  G3+wifi+1 Gh+HD moments later... bingo. Turn by turn - map with arrows - click on the stick figure and you have streetview photo panoramas that are amazing. Click another button and BETA - Google Navigation - a lady says "Drive 1000 feet to Euclid and turn right."

realNEO visitors have probably noticed the "Who's Online/Online Users" block in the left-hand column of the REALNEO.US homepage, indicating the people who are online and logged in at realNEO at a particular time. Ever wonder about all those people, always on realNEO... who they are, where they are, and why they are visiting here...?

I attended an excellent Software Freedom Day event in Toronto in 2006, which I introduced on REALNEO here, and covered on REALNEO here - I actually needed a copy of Ubuntu that day, so it came in very handy.

I'd like to see Northeast Ohio celebrate Software Freedom Day 2010 in a BIG WAY - Saturday, September 18 - and follow the model I saw in use in Toronto, which included active, friendly engagement on a busy street, with workshops and light training/Q&A offered inside a receptive place. Of course, the Linux Penguin was out-front to draw attention to the event... we definitely need a penguin.

Transforming the economy of Northeast Ohio - real NEO - will take incredible guts, new creations, a commitment to real openness, and 1,000s of Big Bangs.

real NEO, say hello to your little friend - ICEarth Big Bang 1. Created and Manufactured in Old Brooklyn - that's in Cleveland, Ohio, Earth.

It has been exciting to watch, over the past week, as this beautiful video clip of my beautiful wife Evelyn giving birth to our beautiful daughter Clara has been viewed by nearly 6,000 people on YouTube - a companion video clip of my wife in hypno-birth, water-birth labor has received nearly as much global attention... in a week. In a week, those two clips attracted around 10,000 unique viewers... about as many unique viewers as come to our REALNEO community, in a week. The value of sharing these videos on YouTube is obvious - that is a good distribution channel to teach people about childbirth. So is REALNEO.

There is a very disturbing article in today's Cleveland Plain Dealer, written by their urban-planning-master-in-training at Cleveland State University, that is so full of conflicts-of-interests and halftruths it will take weeks to dismantle the mess.

ACORN has been deducting $10 from my checking account for a few years now.  In November, 2009 I attempted to contact ACORN to stop the deductions but I have not been able to contact the organization by telephone and my emails have gone unanswered.  The $10 deduction has continued since November and it was again deducted from my checking account this month, February.  So since November, ACORN as deducted $40 from my account against my will.  I even contacted the Better Business Bureau in an attempt to get the deduction stopped, to no avail. 

Women in labor under hypnobirth

This High Definition ambient film clip is of an expert hypnobirthing mother, during her third naturally-wonderful, perfect hypnobirth, January 31, 2010, in hard labor, fully dilated - no medications or medical intervantion, other than a midwife breaking her water, later - one hour and 10 minutes before the baby was delivered - where she falls asleep between strong contractions that are less than 2 minutes apart. She has been up the entire night before tiling a bathroom, has not slept, and was stressed until she began focusing on her hypnobirthing.

Clara Evelyn Roulet, 1 minute old

I was so busy yesterday having a beautiful baby girl (by waterbirth - by hypnobirth - amazing photos and video to come), I didn't have a chance to thank Ronn Richard and the Board of the Cleveland Foundation for a second great gift that day, showing they recognized the need to transform our regional redevelopment and transformation efforts at the core, after many years supporting and funding what we now have. I believe this opens up new world's of opportunity for our region, just when they are needed most.

Even with the wind chill from the north wind coming across from Canada being way below zero - the birds seemed completely oblivious.  Swimming, sitting on the ice, and flying around with joy, there are thousands of birds in this image - but too small to see.   As in the Artic with penguins, what's with all the avian activity when it is so damn cold?  

Mural my Neighborhood 2006    M.

Computer design and computer lift controls have allowed a vast increase in lifting capacity/height in mobile hydraulic cranes over the last two or three decades.  The German made Liebherr telescopic crane in the header image is a bit smaller (has fewer telescopic sections) than this Liebherr model LTM 1130-5.1.  

Photo credit: Kieth Winston

realNEO header image of a Northeast Ohio-based band of international importance... for many reasons. Video to follow.

I met an old friend for drinks at Nighttown, the other night. Nighttown is definitely one of my old real NEO friends' favorite East Side places to gather, and has been for decades, for many good reasons... starting with a great owner (in the video above) and staff, excellent, consistent food, and the world's best jazz. Open every day, from 11 AM-2AM, the ambiance is as good as it gets, as well... for a club inspired by the Red Light District of Dublin.

Interesting, Nighttown is also the home of The Press Club of Cleveland, The Press Club's Hall of Fame and Visual Archives... lots of related information is linked here... the video above introduces the Press Club Hall of Fame, hosted at Nighttown, which includes our own new media idol Roldo... since 2004.

One thing that sets your life apart from that of the typical real NEO resident is having farm animals - in our case, four chickens and a rooster. Besides adding the barking of a rooster to your neighborhood's timbre - at any hour of day or night (like now - 3:46 AM) - and collecting fresh eggs each morning, you find yourself shopping for very different family pets, in very different local markets... like Wilson Feed Mill.... a true gems of the region.

I previously wrote on REALNEO about "Art of the Day: Houghs Angel, by Harry Bell". Since that posting, and painting, it seems Bell's patron Abe has grown his passion for this outsider artist, as there are now many new works at the pumped-up intersection at East 55th and Cedar Road, Cleveland, Ohio, featuring Abe's gas station and Bell's art.

The two most prominent new murals - which are probably 8'x8' or so - are anti-Israel.

REALNEO is a cooperative, eternal, free, open source social network operating with the Drupal Content Management System (CMS) - it is designed to manage content for individuals, who are registered users, and who own the CMS, as a co-op, and own their individual content, as individuals. Members have traditionally used REALNEO to manage their personal thoughts and ideas, through blog postings and comments, along with events, polls, and links to the content of others. Some users use the CMS capabilities of the site more than others, adding files, photographs and video to their content.

Baby, it's cold outside. Time for Cleveland Plain Dealer Deputy Editorial Page Editor Kevin O'Brien's annual "It's snowing in Cleveland again this winter so Global Warming's a Hoax" editorial...

In compiling my list of "The 17 Worst 'Climate Killers' in Northeast Ohio", I've started with O'Brien, who everyone in real NEO well knows is one of the most outspoken critics of "Global Warming" in the world, reaching millions. As I was trying to determine if O'Brien was The Profiteer, The Disinformer, or The Drudge of Denial, in misinforming our community about the environment, I did not refer to the Cleveland Plain Dealer's portal Cleveland.com for source information on Mr. O'Brien's past writing on the environment, as I knew that it would not be at Cleveland.com.

I turned to REALNEO.