Today's Plain Dealer has an editorial about the selection process for the new President of Case University that I find very exciting - partly because it shows great progress with Case, partly because it promotes a concept for the selection process that I initiated on realneo in March, and mostly because I agree completely with the PD position - "Lessons learned? - Case trustees' chairman is making the right moves as the search for a new president gets under way", and I support that "Linsalata also promised to allow the university community - both alumni and those on campus - ample opportunity to provide input on the search this fall."

I saw the following article in the PD "Colleges React to Drug Needs"
and it got me thinking about how the increasing number of people now taking psychiatric medications is effecting our water supply here in NEO. I read something a few years ago about concern in England because psychiatric medications are making there way into the drinking water (there too a huge percentage of the population takes prescription drugs for mental health). What have you heard about these chemicals and their effects on our water supply? Has Lake Erie been tested? Is there a way to filter out such chemicals? Please post your comments and concerns.

I was driving my 6 year old daughter on 490 past ISG and she said it stank and wanted to roll up the windows... and the air the past few days has been oppressive in general. Is ISG just the obvious problem and not a big deal, as we are led to believe... is air pollution a big deal in NEO at all? I don't see big Ozone alerts around town so I assume we're doing great, but on this, I am uninformed. Who really knows the truth, day in and day out, on whether our air is safe or not, and where it is safest? Is it getting better or worse? I'm checking the web to see what I can learn - anyone else know anything about this that they can share?

My teen daughter asked me the question "Is it safe to drink water from a hose?" from a section of Seventeen Magazine called "don't get sick this summer". Do you know the answer, and why?

Over the past few months I've watched as my brand new IBM/Lenovo ThinkPad running Windows XP became infested with so many worms, viruses, trojan horses and adware bugs that it is worthless as a Windows Computer. Thanks to the open source world for salvation, in Linux and especially Ubuntu, and thanks to our tech wizard Phillip Williams for getting this installed on my box.

Memorial Day was the first Ozone Action Day of 2006 - today, May 30, 2006, is the second, and you can feel the weight in your chest. How many more will we have this summer? How many people will die as a result? How many will need to die before other people get really concerned and take action? Are you already taking action, and what? And, bottom line, what did you do this Memorial Day and was it good or bad for the Ozone conditions in NEO today?

I lucked out and was asked by primo local purist "film" maker Robert Banks to help out on a project with one of his students - as he said, if I'm gonna talk about the media arts I should see it from all sides. It couldn't be more fun - we're shooting a 3-D B&W 40s Sci-Fi trailer short - hard to imagine what the end result will look like but we'll sho it at an upcoming roundtable. Here are a few snapshots from shooting last night - note the cop in the backround, wondering what the hell we're doing with guns in the middle of the street...

I was shocked yesterday when I asked my 70-something mom if she was planning to replace her aging car anytime soon, and she said she'd like to get a hybrid. She is also interested to move from a large house in Shaker to a smaller condo in University Circle, so she can live near what she values most in the community. She wants to minimize her ecological footprint on Earth, while she is still here to help. While mom is a progressive, she has not previously been nearly so concerned about her individual impact on the environment. This is progress!

We need better environmentalist role models in the community, including 70-something grandmothers. And we must make examples of high-profile ecological offenders, from individual GEM employees, managers, executives and shareholders who just contaminated the region, to the Hummer driver with the "ENVYME" license plate who is so offensive to all man-woman-and-childkind. The media and ecological frontlines are great places to begin - community leaders should investigate their negative impact on our environment, champion social responsibility, change behavior when appropriate, and step forward as positive role models, if they may.

There is an easy way for folks to benchmark social responsibility, by measuring your ecological footprint on Earth... go to http://myfootprint.org/ and complete a two minute, 15 question quiz (share your results as comments here). The results tell you how many of the Earth's biologically productive acres of land are required to support your consumption of resources, and how many planet Earths would be required to sustain the world if everyone lived like you. Read on...

The best selling novel by Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code has gotten a lot of press lately. On Sunday The Plain Dealer ran several stories about the book/movie because the movie based on the book is coming to Cleveland area theaters in a few days.  But have YOU read the book?

I commented, in a posting about an event at the Cleveland Playhouse, "I hate going to anything at the Cleveland Playhouse/MOCA complex - my last choice of venue for anything in NEO - which makes me sad, since I like good theater and they have the only significant Philip Johnson building in town".

 Much is being done to develop wind as a source for alternative energy in NEO - proponents hope to see an economically viable model develop for a large windfarm along Lake Erie - 50 or more huge turbines, looking very much like the one pictured below, lining the coast perhaps a half mile out - to me this offers power and a massive work of public art, and I am certain this will be a global attraction benefiting NEO in many ways. What do you think?

Now that Spring has really set in - and a beauty at that - who wants to sit in stuffy offices, meeting rooms, or anywhere else we've been holed up for the past six months. My first nice spring outdoor office choice for 2006 was Whiskey Island - I've already stopped by a few times this year, and can't wait for Bourbon Street to open, and the wind to blow a bit warmer. See you there.

Do you know this famous Cleveland-area company? When was the last time you saw someone using some of their lip gloss?

Concern for the environment and the long term health of my family has inspired me to seek out alternatives to tupperware, plastic wrap, plastic bags, etc. Do you have similar concerns? What have you come up with for some of the situations where people typically use plastic (food storage in the refrigerator and freezer, cups and bowls for babies and small children, etc)? Please post your thoughts and any interesting links.

What is your favorite piece of public art? Clevelanders are very fortunate to have world class art all around them; abstract metal sculptures, naturalistic bronzes, witty pop art, neon and lights on buildings and bridges, murals and mosaics. Public art is an important part of any city. Art can create a gathering place or a sanctuary or inspire and transform the energy of a space. Take time today to notice the art around you. Post your thoughts. Make others aware of what works inspire and interest you.

I am working on a partnership agreement for my Movie Studio. Someone suggested I should get investors instead. My new partners would have a financial stake in the business, but they would also have input into the operations. Investors typically have no input into operations.

How does one get a project funded in this town when there is a small amount of risk-takers willing to fund something new?