We are approaching the first anniversary of the demolition of Frank Giglio's house on W. 14th. I read through the posts here on realneo, and continue to have more questions than answers. A common theme is that of outrage of the situation and the desire to help somehow. How can we help Frank? To the best of my knowledge, I have never met Frank, but many of you have. Would Frank welcome help? What is the best help at this moment? Is it to raise some money now to prevent foreclosure on the property so that some options can be tossed around later?

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?

The House passed an historic health care bill - how did your Representative vote? Find out and contact them here: http://is.gd/4PTXs

Allison Kilkenney - Rolando Ruiz is the man featured in yet another taser video making the rounds on Youtube. Ruiz was in police custody after being arrested by a Minneapolis police officer for reportedly throwing a brick at an officer’s vehicle.

Ruiz, who is 18-years-old, is seen in the video with his hands on the car before the officer appears to hold the taser to the back of Ruiz’s neck for 15 seconds.

We have had discussions on REALNEO about the antitrust of Microsoft, and the harm that has caused the world, but few people remember back to 1999, when the antitrust case United States vs. Microsoft determined Microsoft's dominance of the Intel-based personal computer operating systems market constituted a monopoly, and that Microsoft had taken actions to crush threats to that monopoly, including Apple, Java, Netscape, Lotus Notes, Real Networks, Linux, and others. The court's conclusion was Microsoft must be broken into two separate units, one to produce the operating system, and one to produce other software components... a decision weakened on appeal (see below).

A decade later, we have the opportunity to explore related antitrust in the computer industry further, and put Microsoft antitrust in new perspective, as the November 4, 2009, New York Times reports "Cuomo Files Intel Antitrust Suit" - "Following the lead of foreign regulators, New York's attorney general, Andrew M. Cuomo, filed a federal antitrust lawsuit Wednesday against Intel, the world's largest chip maker."

Why VoIP?

Communication is very important for us. Since the development of the internet, it has made communication faster and more efficient, so researchers and developers invented VoIP (Voice over IP) communication protocol. VoIP is changing the telephony world, so regular voice calls are sent over a computer network instead of traditional phone lines.

For those of us that use Skype we have enjoyed a service that has opened the doors of communication to countries and neighbors alike.  Being able to chat, talk, or video chat from PC to PC has been wonderful!  There are plenty of programs that do this as well (i.e.

Max Eternity - As the scientific community continues to publish reports that indicate the very real possibility of a cell phone = brain cancer link, for those unable or unwilling to part with daily cell phone use, one should at least consider purchasing and using a cell phone that will emit low radiation.

Where is this $180,000 sculpture, who is the artist, why is it located here, how was it selected, who  paid for it, who will maintain it, what does it say, is it successful, does it represent serious problems in unreal NEO, and how may you get it to speak for you, in the future?

Confessions of a bibliophile:  I read the Plain Dealer every Sunday for the book section and I am so grateful that the Plain Dealer understands the extreme regional importance of the BOOK.

Follow Karen Long here and please note that the PD has twitterized their site for the readers, so you will have to register to become a follower :)

Here are some places where you too can check out the wonderful world of Open Source software. This stuff runs on MS PC's, some on Mac's and most on Linux. Weither you use it on a corporate network, a small business setup, classroom or personal use, you can't go wrong, but you can be mis-informed. And I might add, if you tried this stuff out in the past, Open Source software is being upgraded and updated and improved everyday.

www.schoolforge.net/  classroom applications

I have noticed, in the reader comments at Cleveland.com to their coverage about the great "Crisis at FirstEnergy" Lightbulb rip-off scheme, that many people in Northeast Ohio don't quite grasp this is an example of extreme monopoly corporate corruption of government - big, bad corporation using corrupt lawyers, lobbyists and politicians to steal $ millions from hard working citizens. That is not the work of Tree Huggers. Yet, the tone of Plain Dealer readers is to shoot the environmentalists, and Obama.

I realize there are many people of NEO who will blame even the worse corporate corruption, like this, on the most innocent people, like environmentalists, and have wondered why.

An anthem for Real NEO today, from the day - vintage Gang of Four performing Anthrax in 1980 - my first year in college - one of the great bands and songs of then and all time. I think the love many of us may feel for this corrosive, punk town is like a case of Anthrax, and that's something I don't want to catch. Read the lyrics below from our context in NEO... concluding "I don't think we're saying there's anything wrong with love, we just don't think that what goes on between two people should be shrouded with mystery." That's REALNEO! Listen, read, and surprise yourself with great music.

Gang of Four: Anthrax

To turn the Titanic with an oar is the best way to describe making the existing Grid energy system green. Ones leaving the ship before the port is reached are regarded as mutinous rather than taking a smaller ship.

The Real News - Paul Jay speaks to Jessy Tolkan at the Tides Foundations' Momentum conference in San Francisco. They speak about Tolkan's coalition on climate change fighting Obama to establish a moratorium on all coal mining.

Since June, 2003, bio-defense industry world-leader Ronald B. (Ronn) Richard has served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Cleveland Foundation, the nation's oldest community foundation. Since January, 2005, Richard has also served as a Director of Emergent BioSolutions Inc., a leading biopharmaceutical company whose marketed product is BioThrax(R) (Anthrax Vaccine Adsorbed), the only FDA-licensed vaccine available for pre-exposure protection against anthrax infection - www.emergentbiosolutions.com.

Linuxville is a virtual place among Linux users here in NEO and I am a guide (haven't reached guru status!) Get your Linux Live-CD off the net, introduce yourself to and explore the sights and sounds and wonders. When you shut down, Linux is removed without changing your PC, you however are changed for ever. Whither you like it or no, you are changed forever. You might even install it next to MS Windows or instead of MS Windows.

A song for the day to our failed and disgraced leadership of Northeast Ohio, and those who want to be... "The Dope Show", by Canton native-son Marilyn Manson:

There's lots of pretty, pretty ones
Who want to get you high
But all the pretty, pretty ones
Will leave you low
And blow your mind