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.

Why do citizens of Northeast Ohio pay $ millions a year in taxes to subsidize professional sports teams, exercising, entertaining and enriching few, when we are a community of so many? In Northeast Ohio, we have four spectacular seasons offering residents every imaginable sporting and recreational opportunity for the taking. We don't need to pay taxes to watch strangers having fun.

Where was this truly championship Northeast Ohio realNEO sporting event held today?

This was REALNEO, from December 16, 2008 - December 15, 2009.

Activity was significant, expanding, engaged, diverse, and global. REALNEO is a very healthy virtual community. But, who were those 277,070 absolute unique visitors attracted to our over 10,141 pages of original content on REALNEO?

Average Unique Monthly Visitors for REALNEO Benchmarking Sample
November 2008 - November 2009

REALNEO/COOP members, we own this... we accomplished this... in just our fifth year of operations. Congratulations!

Cleveland lost another one of its great historic institutions, Sunday morning, as the Lancer Steakhouse burned beyond salvage, and was demolished. Established in the mid-1950's, making it one the first restaurant’s in Cleveland owned and operated by an African American, the Lancer was for five decades at the heart of more political action, and home to more important moments and memories, than any other restautant in this region - a truly historic place in the evolution of Northeast Ohio, for the past 50 years.

And, free wifi.

Now it is gone.

One of my most valued resources for insight on health, the environment and aging is The Myth Of Alzheimer's, and I strongly recommend anyone reading this post subscribe to their e-mail updates and read that site regularly - it updates nearly daily.

The Myth Of Alzheimer's is absolutely about you, your family, your friends, and all our futures, as we all age together on this human-changing world until we die.

Reporting on the cost and environmental impact of household and government greenspace maintenance.

Fall, 2009, Attleboro and Shaker

REALNEO Naturally Header 11/21/09

Citizen Ed Hauser, Victorious In The Battle Of Whiskey Island - "Ask Not What Your Planet Can Do For You..."

It has been a year since Northeast Ohio lost our selfless civic activist "Citizen" Ed Hauser, silencing the great voice in the community saying that "The Process is Broken".

November 14, 2009 - the one-year anniversary of Ed's death - a group of family and friends came together on the beautiful Whiskey Island Ed saved, before a late Autumn setting sun, to toast a glorious man, and mourn a most cursed and horrible year in Northeast Ohio without Ed.

What does the dawn hold for this long-suffering region, in the second year without Citizen Hauser?

Public Recreation in Cleveland in 2013?

PD reports: "Visitors to Cleveland's public swimming pools -- now free -- would have to pay admission if the city enacts recommendations of a consultant submitted Tuesday."

It is not surprising, the release of "Management & Efficiency Study – Cleveland, Ohio" (download as .PDF here) by Public Finance Management seems to have Northeast Ohio leadership heads spinning. At least, that is the appearance from coverage of related news - and lack thereof - in the PD.

Exactly one week after 77% of Clevelanders made Frank Jackson mayor of Cleveland for another four years, the strongly pro-Jackson Cleveland Plain Dealer's City Hall reporter Henry Gomez posted to his blog that a "Consultant's report suggests that Cleveland must cut jobs to remain financially sound". In his article, Henry referred to a 344 page report by Public Finance Management that, beneath all attempts at silver lining, offers chilling analyses of the organization, financial management and economic prospects of the City of Cleveland.

Some highlights of the innocuously titled "Management & Efficiency Study – Cleveland, Ohio" (download as .PDF here) include: "Cleveland faces a drop of over 50 percent in its capital program funding from FY2010 to FY2011; further reductions are forecasted for FY2012 and FY2013", "the City projects a significant budget deficit in 2010 if current spending is not adjusted to match the new revenue reality", and "the City will have to scale back services to which Clevelanders have become accustomed".

Julian Stanczak - "Continuous Line + Black" 2005 - Acrylic on board, 28 panels, 16x16 inches each

Happy 81st Birthday, Julian Stanczak... born November 5, 1928. Julian is an originator and continuing master of Op Art - one of the most important and renowned artists ever - and his work is stronger now than ever.

All that is seen without doubt in 116 remarkable paintings exhibited as compositions in Julian's amazing body of expansive, precise, cohesive "Recent Work", now showing at MoCA. Grouped as three colorful masterpieces, and a series of 10 individual black and white expressions, all these paintings stand together as one conclusive, vibrant statement, that life is an amazing experience, as only Julian may know.

Real NEO's favorite librarian, Laura McShane, recently posted on REALNEO "we can agree that aerosol art can be a thing of beauty", which made me think of the graffiti above, which inspired the first novel by Tony Vigorito, Just A Couple Of Days. 

From Wikipedia, "The title Just a Couple of Days comes from a piece of graffiti which appeared on both sides of an overpass just outside of Athens, Ohio on U.S. Route 33 and remained there for over two years. The open-ended tone of the declaration is related to the plot of the book, and the way the words can mean different things to each person who sees them."

I was just observing a graphic of Issue 6 voting results, on Issue 6 sponsor site Cleveland.com, and noticed how lily-white the voting for this issue clearly was.

In 98.4% white Hunting Valley, 248 people voted for Issue 6, and 18 against... 93% for Issue 6

Where Issue 6 first festered - Mayor Bruce Akers' 89% white Pepper Pike - 83% for Issue 6.

In Issue 6 Grand Mother Rawson's 30% black Shaker Heights... 74% of voters were for Issue 6...