Cleveland Guiness World Record Holder

Cleveland Senior Tom Eakin (above with Hank Aaron) has led a fascinating life. Tom is in the Guinness Book of World Records with the record for the longest biography in Who's Who in America.

A "Thomas C. Eakin" Day has been instituted in over 300 cities throughout both the United States and Canada. He is the only Ohioan on record as having a day named for him in every one Ohio's eighty-eight counties.

Read about the amazing life of Tom Eakin and see lots of pictures with Tom and athletes and politicians.

Airplane in the Chest

That has to hurt!

No, the plane didn't really land in the chest of a bystander. He is just holding his radio controlled plane at that angle.

The radio airplane clubs were out in full force at the Cleveland National Air Show.

See some pics and vide from the Labor Day Cleveland National Air Show

Mona Lisa head on Oktoberfest Body

Lots of fun stuff at Oktoberfest last week - German music, food and beer, of course. But also sand sculpture, shopping, Euclid Beach memorabilia and the wiener dog races.

Something new this year was the Chalk Art. Two Cleveland Women came up with this great mix of classic art and Oktoberfest fun. More photos.

Cleveland Blues

Back in my rugby days, there were a few Cleveland club rugby teams like the Cleveland Blues and Cleveland Grays.

Until this week, I didn't know there was a vintage baseball team called the Cleveland Blues.

In Vintage Baseball, they play the game with uniforms, equipment and rules of 1860's era baseball. That means no gloves or mitts, no calling of balls and strikes and if you catch the ball on one bounce it is an out. Lots of other interesting rules too.

The language is fun too. "Well struck, sir" may come from both benches after a player hits a long ball.

The game Saturday was at historic League Park at 66th and Lexington in Cleveland.




Check out more of the Cleveland Blues and Vintage Baseball.

Funky August

Almost missed my Hardware SIG meeting yesterday because it takes place on the 3rd Saturday of the month.

2010 has a funky August calendar. This August has 5 Sundays, 5 Mondays, 5 Tuesdays.

Supposedly this only happens every 823 years.

Intel Buys McAfee

In Andy Grove's book Only the Paranoid Survive, he told the story of how Intel started and how they were a memory chip company.

They, of course, evolved into CPUs but were always a silicon chip company.

So why spend $7.68 billion for McAfee? Sure security is increasingly more important but Intel makes chips - better than anyone else - and should focus on that IMO.

Cleveland Browns Schedule

There are some good and some bad things about the 2010 Cleveland Browns schedule. All of the regular season games are Sundays at 1PM. That's good. This team doesn't need too much national exposure yet. And Sunday at 1PM is the perfect time for NFL football.

The Ravens come in the day after Christmas and the Steelers end the season the day after New Years. You will see a lot of college kids in place of us regular season ticket holders for those games probably.

Exhibition games stink but the 2 this year are interesting. Tomorrow night there will be fireworks after the rams game. That should be fun.

The other home pre-season game is Chicago but the cool thing i that it's Saturday night of the Air Show and the pilots always go wild during browns games showing off above the stadium. Can't wait for that one.

2010 Brown football schedule

Woof!

Now that's a kiss

Everyone has seen the famous Life Magazine photo of the sailor kissing a nurse in Times Square when victory in Japan was announced, ending World War II.

It's a classic, iconic shot.

To celebrate the 65th anniversary of V-J Day (and to 'Keep the Spirit of '45 Alive) there were several recreations of the famous kiss, including one in downtown Cleveland on the USS Cod.

They had Forties music, costumes and several veterans of World War II to remember and celebrate.

Check out the photos and videos of the big kiss and the other festivities.

USS Cod

The USS Cod is one of those things that Clevelanders take for granted.

As the Oxford Museum Press says, "The USS Cod is the last remaining WWII submarine left completely in its original condition. It is a national landmark and a very important piece of our naval and historical heritage."

Don't let the tourists be the only ones who visit this cool piece of history.

See photos of the Cod and a video from a WWII Navy submarine veteran

Terminal Tower Observation Deck

I had never been to the Terminal Tower Observation Deck. When I was working construction back in the day we were pretty high up on the roof of Stouffers In on the Square but I never did the touristy trip to the Observation Deck.

Then the Deck, like many of its peers, closed after 9-11-2001.

It reopened this summer for limited viewing and I finally got up there. I was there for a private party with the Irish Sorpanos! But that's a story for another day.

I took a bunch of photos and shot a video from the Observation Deck and I think they came out great!

We were fortunate that day to have a huge rainbow appear over the Cleveland skyline below. It's now one of my favorite photos.

Check out the rainbow photo and other photos and a video from the Terminal Tower Observation Deck.

If you've never been up there, it's worth the effort.

Cascading Style Sheets

Dave Skorepa is the Chief Creative Officer at Aztek, a terrific Web design, development, searching and hosting firm based in Cleveland Ohio.

It's his job to keep current on the latest web technologies and innovations so he can incorporate them in the designs Aztek creates for their customers. So he was a no-brainer choice to ask about what's new in the web world like HTML 5, CSS, jQuery, mobile development and the like.

Check out the first in a series of vidcasts and podcasts - this one is on Cascading Style Sheets and CSS 3

Happy SysAdmin Day

Today - July 30, 2010 (Last Friday Of July) - is the 11th Annual System Administrator Appreciation Day.

Have you hugged your SysAdmin today?

Happy Birthday Harry Potter!

Happy Birthday Harry Potter!

Thanks for getting so many young people hooked on reading.

Spinal Tap?

No, that's some of the Ohio.net team at the House of Blues.

But I did win an Ohio.net golf shirt at the VOIP Road Show at the House of Blues on Thursday because I knew the name of the band that turns their amps up to 11. Spinal Tap, of course.

I also learned about the latest VOIP fatures and technologies.

Details at GreatLakesGeek.Com

Move from Miami to Cleveland

Did you hear about the superstar who left Miami and came to Cleveland? No, I don't have it backwards.

Dr. Berkman left Miami and is now the president of Cleveland State University. Cleveland State University is crucial to the health of the city. As an urban university it has particular challenges and opportunities.

Dr. Berkman addressed these in a presentation at Corporate Club at Landerhaven.

The Great Lakes Geek asked Dr. Berkman about the proposed International Welcome Center at 18th and Euclid. You will also learn about the exciting new international degree being offered.

Listen and read about Dr. Berkman and CSU

Mini-Olympics at JCU

The Greater Cleveland Sports Commission hosted its fifth annual Continental Cup, now known as Cleveland Clinic Sports Health International Youth Sports Festival.

The opening ceremony was like a mini-Olympics with thousands of young athletes from about 20 countries marching in.

Photos and videos from the 5th annual Continental Cup

Best ever quarter for Intel

"Strong demand from corporate customers for our most advanced microprocessors helped Intel achieve the best quarter in the company's 42-year history," said Intel President and CEO Paul Otellini.

"Our process technology lead plus compelling architectural designs increasingly differentiate Intel-based products in the marketplace. The PC and server segments are healthy and the demand for leading-edge technology will continue to increase for the foreseeable future."

Russian Spy at Microsoft

Apparently one of the Russian spies worked as a software tester at Microsoft.

Insert your own joke here.

"The man, Alexey Karetnikov, entered the United States in October and was living in the Seattle area, where he worked at Microsoft, according to federal officials and the company. Karetnikov, a Russian citizen in his early-to-mid-20s, had been held on immigration violations because there was insufficient evidence to charge him with a crime, the government officials said."

Lou Gellos, a Microsoft spokesman, confirmed that Karetnikov had worked at the company for about nine months as a software tester."

The Washington Post article

Joke of the Week (Year? Decade?)

Loyalty - what a concept

How do you spell Anamika?

Cleveland has a world champion. No matter what LeBron James decides, we can celebrate the 2010 Scripps National Spelling Bee champion Anamika Veeramani.

14 year old Anamika lives in North Royalton and goes to school at Incarnate Word Academy in Parma Heights.

People who never imagined they would watch a spelling bee found themselves nervously pacing the floor as Anamika and the others competed that Friday night. We all seemed much more nervous than Anamika. Congrats to Anamika, her family and teachers.

Photos and videos of Anamika Veeramani at the FICA tribute dinner at the Saffron patch.


Mahima Venkatesh and Anamika Veeramani

BACtrack Personal Breathalyzer

On a hot day like we've been experiencing, a lot of people will grab a few cold ones to try and cool off.

Of course, when your summer drinks include alcohol, you have to be careful. Drinking and driving is bad, wrong and stupid. So is trying to beat the system. But that's not what BACtrack is all about.

BACtrack is a personal breathalyzer that quickly estimates your blood alcohol content (BAC).

Besides trying the BACtrack on my own (I wonder if I can write off that beer purchase), I brought it to a picnic and to a volleyball game. See what happened at GreatLakesGeek.com.

Gene Simmons of KISS - Happy Independence Day

Happy Independence Day!

Gene Simmons of KISS knows how to thank the troops!

---

Dirty Pretty Things Jewelry

We covered the Dirty Pretty Things Jewelry fashion event at a Warehouse District club for ClevelandWomen.Com

That's a whole 'nother world from the Great Lakes Geek!

Dirty Pretty Things Jewelry fashion event

Microsoft Office 2010

If you are still in the Clippy era and using an old version of Office like Office 2003, then the upgrade to Office 2010 will introduce you to the Ribbon interface, XML formats and more.

But what does Office 2010 bring to the party if you are already using office 2007?

That's what I asked Microsoft IT Evangelist Matt Hester in this recent vidcast.



You can see more vidcasts with Matt Hester at GreatLakesGeek.Com

Year of the Tiger

The Chinese Year of the Tiger began with the new moon on February 14, 2010. The St. Clair Superior Development Corporation (SCSDC) has installed 25 fiberglass tiger sculptures featuring unique designs created and applied by Northeast Ohio artists/organizations.

Check out pictures of the Tigers and then vote on your favorite.

The Geek likes the Cleveland: The Tiger of Champions which includes images of Jesse Owens, Lou Groza, Bob Feller, Jim Brown and LeBron James.

This Fire Tiger is also pretty cool.

Apple iPhone 4 woes

An interesting quote from the EE Times newsletter:

Uh-oh. All is not well in Apple World. Users of iPhone 4 are experiencing reception problems that at least one analyst attributes to Apple's novel use of the smartphone's frame as an antenna.

A design flaw of this magnitude might pose a huge problem for other companies, but not Apple. The throngs of Apple Nation will likely brush it off, hold their phone in the manner prescribed by their Supreme Leader and get back to downloading apps like Sexy Girl Talk and showing off their photos to random strangers they meet on the train.

Regina Brett book

A friend in Louisville, KY forwarded me the first copy. She said, 'You have to read these life lessons written by an 90 year old woman."

I quickly scanned them and noted the name, Regina Brett, of the author.

Yes, it was the same Regina Brett who writes a column in the Cleveland Plain Dealer. I replied to my friend that yes the lessons were terrific but there was no way the author was 90 years old.

Brett has turned her 50 life lessons into a terrific book.

Read the review of God Never Blinks - 50 Lessons for Life's Little Detours

Shaping University Circle

"What's good for University Circle is good for all of the Cleveland area." said Chris Ronayne.

So began the Corporate Club at Landerhaven panel discussion on "Shaping University Circle." With more than two billion dollars worth of construction going on right now in the University Circle area, this is not an area of if-come or hope-to-see. It is a vibrant growing part of what-is in Cleveland.

More from Shaping University Circle

Parade the Circle

This isn't the typical parade. With floats decorated by University Circle institutions and participants tapping into their vast creativity, Parade the Circle is as unique as the neighborhood it travels through.





These two got married earlier that morning and then marched in the parade. Those 4 acrobats were actually mounted to a frame that the groom supported with his back.


See lots of photos and videos from the Parade on ClevelandSeniors.Com or at
ClevelandWomen.Com or at
ClevelandPeople.Com

Fat Suit Sumo Wrestling

I had a blast at the first annual Cleveland Asian Festival.

So did the 10,000 others who showed up.

See lots of photos and videos from the Asian Festival at ClevelandPeople.Com

This one video cracks me up every time. They had fat suits so people could try sumo wrestling and it was hilarious to watch.

Italian American Summer Festival

Win free tickets to the Italian American Summer Festival at the Berea Fairgrounds this weekedn June 11-13.

Congratulations Anamika Veeramani

Congratulations to Anamika Veeramani who won the 2010 National Spelling Bee last night!

Here is a short video of when Anamika was honored by FICA earlier this year. (Anamkia is near the end of the video)

Iconoclast Engineer

Tony Sumodi is a brilliant engineer - and quite a character. Read the official profile of Tony Sumodi and be sure to watch the short video where Tony shares his philosophy.

I like his idea for 4PM on Saturdays!

Cleveland Public Library gets huge donation from Slovenia

The Rotary Club of Maribor Park, Slovenia presented the Cleveland Public Library a gift of over six thousand books in Slovenian!

The Rotary donated the books in an act of friendship and in an effort to promote the Slovenian language in the Cleveland area. There are more Slovenians in Cleveland than any other place in the world, with the exception of Ljubljana, the capital city of Slovenia.

Pictures and videos from the event.

Girl of my dreams

There's something special about this girl that no Geek can resist.

Mike Brown statement

“The past 5 years have been an exceptional experience. I have been very fortunate to lead a group of men who I respect and thoroughly enjoyed coaching on a daily basis. At the same time, I was able to work alongside a terrific coaching staff and with Danny Ferry and a basketball operations team, all of whom I have a profound respect for.

We partnered in creating a culture and a standard that I am, and will continue to be, very proud of. None of which would be possible without the dedication and support of Dan Gilbert. I am thankful for the opportunity that he gave to me and my family.

We have a deep appreciation for Northeast Ohio, the Cleveland Cavaliers organization, and the people in this community, and have enjoyed making this our home." - Mike Brown

Class (and smart) act. He will be head coach somewhere else very soon.

Albert Ratner - What Cleveland needs to do

Forest City co-chairman Albert Ratner was the keynote speaker at the Cleveland International Hall of Fame inductions. He was very clear on what steps Cleveland needs to take in order to survive.

Watch the video highlights of Al Ratner's keynote.

Cavs Coach Mike Brown fired

It was inevitable

CLEVELAND – The Cleveland Cavaliers have announced that Mike Brown has been relieved of his duties as head coach, Cavaliers General Manager Danny Ferry announced today from Cleveland Clinic Courts.
“I have truly enjoyed working with Mike Brown. Mike has played a huge role in turning around the Cavs organization,” Ferry said. “Over the past five years, Mike established a work ethic, defensive identity and culture of winning that was not here previously.”
Brown was hired as the 17th coach in franchise history on June 2, 2005. In five seasons with the Cavs, he compiled a record of 272-138 (.663). Brown was named the 2009 NBA Coach of the Year by members of the media.
“Mike Brown is a class act. On behalf of the entire Cavaliers organization, there is only gratitude and appreciation for Mike's accomplishments over the past five years," stated Cavaliers Majority Owner Dan Gilbert. "I think it is clear that Mike Brown has been instrumental in contributing to the growth and progress we have experienced in recent years. We wish Mike and his family the best of luck in any future challenges that Mike chooses to accept going forward.”
“After a long and deep analysis of all of the factors that led to the disappointing early ends to our playoff runs over the past two seasons, we concluded that it was time for the Cavaliers to move in a different direction," Gilbert added. "The expectations of this organization are very high and, although change always carries an element of risk, there are times when that risk must be taken in an attempt to break through to new, higher levels of accomplishment. This is one of those times.”
Brown compiled a postseason record with the Cavs of 42-29 (.592). He led the team to at least the second round of the postseason in each of his five seasons, including Cleveland’s first trip to the NBA Finals in 2007.

Howard Rheingold at CWRU Collabtech

Howard Rheingold coined the phrase "Virtual Communities" in an article he wrote in 1987 - way before Facebook or MySpace were even dreamed about.

He is now using social media techniques in education with his Social Media Classroom project at Berkeley and Stanford.

For those of us who have been around for awhile, it was good to hear Rheingold pay respect to the Cleveland Freenet. And also to say that the concept of Digital Natives - where young people know all the tech by osmosis - is a myth.

Hear his thoughts on digital natives and social media from a keynote at CWRU's Collabtech Summit 2010.

I love Cleveland in the springtime

I love Cleveland in the springtime - Watch this great video clip from last night's Cleveland International Hall of Fame inductions. Imagine the 300+ people singing along with Hall of Fame inductee Paramjit Singh.

More photos and videoes from the Cleveland International Hall of Fame coming soon

Cleveland International Hall of Fame

We are pysched for the Cleveland International Hall of Fame inductions tonight. The event is Sold Out with 300 people attending with almost 200 more on waiting list.

That's a tribute to both the quality of the inductees and a testament to how ripe Cleveland is for international growth and welcoming.

Details on the Cleveland International Hall of Fame.

There will be a lot of videos and photos posted at ClevelandPeople.Com after the event in the next week or so.

Crazy little cars

I was at both Polish Constitution Day parades last Sunday (Parma and Slavic Village) and one of the most interesting units was the mini cars. As I watched, I wondered what possessed these guys to get into such a hobby.

I have to admit, it looks like a lot of fun.

eBooks, Audio Books, DRM and more

Steve Potash has been working in the eBook space since the mid-1980's. Now OverDrive is one of the world's most important companies in the world of eBooks, audio books and more.

In this podcast/vidcast with Steve Potash, Steve brings us up to date about OverDrive, Digital Rights Management (DRM) and talks about how the Amazon Kindle (and then smartphones, the iPad, etc) have changed things.

And there's something cool in the OverDrive offices that catches the Geek's attention. Onward to Encodia!

Cozad-Bates House

I drive by it (twice!) almost every day but never stopped to read the marker.

The Cozad-Bates House is really a historical site that needs to be preserved.

Read about the Cozad-Bates House.

Windows Home Server

I am a big fan of Windows Home Server. It makes so much sense for homes and for small offices. There is now a public beta for Wiondows Home Server V 2 which has been called by the code name Vail. This YouTube video gives the basics:

Chemistry add-in for Word

There is a new (beta) add in for Microsoft Word that will interest those who use chemical info in their documents.

The Chemistry Add-in for Word makes it easier for students, chemists, and researchers to insert and modify chemical information, such as labels, formulas and 2-D depictions, from within Microsoft Office Word.

In addition to authoring functionality, Chem4Word enables user denotation of inline “chemical zones,” the rendering of high-quality and print-ready visual depictions of chemical structures, and the ability to store and expose semantic-rich chemical information in a semantically rich manner.

Details and downlaod link for the free Chemistry Add-in for Word

Turban and Beard = Terrorist?

We all remember the photos of Osama Bin Laden with turban and beard and brown skin after the September 11th attack.

Unfortunately, those photos have been devastating to the Sikh community in the US.

99% of the people wearing turbans in the US are Sikhs from India.

As is often the case, some education goes a long way in dispelling fear and even hatred. A special program on Sikhism at the City Club addressed this.

As you can hear in a short video, the 3 main pillars of Sikhism should be acceptable to almost anyone.

Take a few moments to learn about Sikhs from my posting on the City Club event.

And next time you see someone point to someone with a beard in a turban and call him a terrorist, tell them that they are Sikhs, members of a peaceful faith.

Cleveland Polonia mourns tragedy

“Ohio’s Polish American community joins Polish people around the world in mourning the untimely death of Poland’s President Lech Kaczynski.,” said John Borkowski, president of the Polish American Congress-Ohio Division.

People from many local Polish groups gathered at St John Cantius Church in Tremont this morning.

Pictures and videos from St John Cantius

Are you fan enough for the Fan Cave?

Along with this fun new Fan Cave at Progressive Field, maybe they should come up with a Geek Cave. It could be loaded with Jolt and Mountain Dew and have servers, routers and all kinds of hardware and software to play with - between innings of course.



See more of the Fan Cave.

Go Tribe!

Rock, Paper, Scissors for 20,000 people

Cavaliers fans attending the Friday, April 9th game vs. the Indiana Pacers will be the first in the NBA to experience a new level of fan interaction with the debut of “CrowdWave,”­ a game system designed specifically to allow fans to play together simply by moving their arms.

The CrowdWave game platform is a mass-participation technology that uses the collective movement of a crowd to control the video games that will appear on Q-Tube, Quicken Loans Arena’s video scoreboard.

The Cavaliers CrowdWave launch line-up will include five applications (two games and three polls) including Rock, Paper, Scissors pits one lucky fan against the entire crowd. The crowd votes for rock, paper or scissors by moving their body in a particular direction as the player reveals his or her choice. The quick nature of this game allows for a tournament style multiple rounds over the course of the evening.

More on CrowdWave at the Cleveland Cavs game.

Electronic Shirt

OK, I've heard of wearing your heart on your sleeve but broadcasting the amount of e-mail in your inbox on your shirt? That's what Chris Ball does.

Chris Ball is a free software developer who lives in Boston and works as Lead Software Engineer for One Laptop Per Child. On a recent free day he got some free electronics to mess with and came up with his new shirt. He made a t-shirt that displays how much unread e-mail he has using an Arduino Lilypad and Bluetooth dongle. An Android phone sends the number of unread mails to the shirt.



Of course, until I clean out my in-box, the shirt will be useless to me as I will quickly surpass the 128 message limit.

April Fool's Pranks

What is it about geeks and April Fool’s Day? Manipulating hardware and software for fun and pranks has long been a favorite geek pastime so when society dedicates a whole day to it, what else did you expect?

Some of the old-time pranks will still work, especially with newbies, but are getting boring. I mean how many times can you rename one of those open the CD/DVD drive door files and send to a co-worker? So the drive jumps open. Oh boy.

There are a bunch of pranks for smart phones but since many are device specific, I’ll let you search for them.

I posted 4 easy pranks that you can try on your pals on the 1st.

Just be prepared for revenge – and they may not wait till next April 1st.

Security Quiz

Can you figure out which is the real site and which is the phising site when you see them side-by-side? It's not as easy as you may think.

The site is created by Verisign who wants to sell you high-end certificate services but it does a good job and may open some eyes.

Try the quiz

We're # 43!

Not sure if I should be happy or sad that Cleveland was ranked #43 (out of 50) in the Norton Top 10 Riskiest Online Cities Report.

Is it because we are safe or that we have low access and usage like #50 Detroit?

Seeing as the Top Ten has tech hubs, I think it's not good news to be 43rd.

1. Seattle
2. Boston
3. Washington, D.C.
4. San Francisco
5. Raleigh, N.C.
6. Atlanta
7. Minneapolis
8. Denver
9. Austin, Texas
10. Portland, Ore.

The Great Lakes Geek reports more.

New Nun Shoes?

I don't know why I got a kick out of this but I did.

I was walking across the street for some fried rice for lunch. A nun was crossing the street (Payne) next to me - coming from Dave's.

She was up there in years and wore the traditional habit. Good for her. But then I noticed that instead of the basic black shoes that I remember all sisters wearing, she had on a pair of black Crocs.

Probably a lot more comfortable than the old sensible boats they had to wear but the incongruity of the situation gave me a laugh.

Saint Patrick on Saint Patrick's

Last year I attended Mass at St. Colman's on St. Patrick's Day. St. Colman's was scheduled to shut down and merge with other nearby churches.

Fortunately, the Bishop reconsidered and St. Colman's is still open.

Yesterday I attended Mass at Saint Patrick Church in West Park. It is scheduled to close this spring and merge with 2 other churches. Maybe they will get lucky as St. Colman's did.

St. Patrick parish was founded on March 17, 1848. It is the oldest Catholic parish in Cuyahoga County.

Check out photos and videos from St. Patrick parish and St. Patrick parishioners at the St. Patrick's day Parade.

Pi Day

March 14th is Pi Day and the real celebration is at 1:59:26 p.m.

At that time, the numbers will be 31415926 and of course Pi starts off as 3.1415926.

If that's not geeky enough for you, here is how PI starts off so you can memorize and amaze/annoy your fellow geeky friends.

3.1415926535897932384626433832795028
841971693993751058209749
4459230781640628620899862
80348253421170679 8214
808651328230664709
38446095505822317253
594081284811174502841
0270193852110555964462294
895493038196 442
8810975665933446128475
6482337867831652712019091
45648566923460348610454
3266482133936072602491
41273 72458700660
63155881748815209
20962829254091715364367
8925903600113305305
48820466521384146951941511609...

More info including a mnemonic sentence tool to memorize the first digits of pi

Win free International Film Fest Tickets

ClevelandPeople.Com is proud to be a media sponsor of the 2010 Cleveland International Film Festival.

We have a bunch of tickets to give away to the film of your choice.

Enter the contest and in the Age field, type in Blog and we will give you an extra few chances to win.

Top Tech Titans in Town

So how do you come up with a list of the Top Tech Titans in Town? That's what I did for my March column in Inside Business magazine. The January issue listed the most powerful Business people in town and I thought Tech needed its own list.

Read and hear the rationale behind some of the selections and the categories. By popular request I also publish the Top Ten in the the popular vote.

And I include the Up and Comers category which got cut from the magazine version.

Alice in Wonderland

I have always been a fan of Alice in Wonderland - but maybe for different reasons than most. In college I was exposed to the mathematics of Charles Dodgson, aka Lewis Carroll.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass are loaded with logical puzzles. So are the the poems "The Hunting of the Snark" and "Jabberwocky."

Dodgson was a pretty good mathematician, and not just in logic. He also did good work in geometry and matrix algebra.

A professor at King's College in Pennsylvania has just published a chapter asking if Alice is a good role model for young women.

I don't have an answer for that but the upcoming movie looks interesting and Dodgson/Carroll's mathematics was robust.

And how can you not like Jabberwocky? Especially when it has been so brillig lately.

There's always one in every photo

For whatever reason, I get a big kick out of this (doctored) photo.

Irish Famine isn't funny

Brunswick, Ohio. As the Ohio State Board President of the largest Irish American organization in the United States, I am writing to demand that Denny's immediately cease airing their advertisement concerning the promotion for foods referencing the "Irish Famine".

The "Potato Famine", as it is sometimes called, was actually a forced hunger which took place in Ireland between 1845 and 1852. It killed over one and a half million of its people and forced millions of others to immigrate. This starvation, or as it is called in Ireland, "An Gorta Mor", which means the "Great Hunger", was man made by English absentee landlords who, with very few exceptions, did nothing to alleviate the suffering of the people.

It is well-documented history that while the Irish people starved for lack of their staple crop, mutton, beef, vegetables, corn and other foods were raised or harvested and exported to England under guard where they were sold for profit. Interestingly, Ireland was not the only country where fungus destroyed the potato crop. It began in N. America and spread to Europe yet no other country had a famine.

Denny's has the audacity to make fun of the those who died of starvation and disease that was much worse than any genocide ever recorded in history so they can sell their product on the back of our dead ancestors. We are appalled at their ad, as are all Irish and Irish Americans. We are not the only Irish American organization in the United States who have ready to let Denny's know how we feel about our
ancestors' defamation so they can sell a product and make a profit.

We ask that they immediately cease and desist from airing this vile and disrespectful advertisement.


Joseph Casey
President, Ohio State Board

Pepi le Pew

Every year it's a struggle to keep my dog away from the local skunks. For the last 16 years I've had black labs and they fearlessly go after the smelly creatures.

I thought I had some time before worrying about them this year until I read what the Humane Society posted.

"Humans aren’t the only ones with romance on their minds for Valentine’s Day. Amorous male skunks are busy playing the dating game as well. February through March is mating season for skunks, and people shouldn’t be surprised to suddenly smell that distinctly unpleasant foul odor. According to The Humane Society of the United States, this is a female skunk’s way of warding off unwanted suitors. Fortunately, skunk romance only lasts a short time. "

Yeah, but a sprayed dog stays smelly a long time.

More details on skunks.

Microsoft Money

No, not the product that attempted to dethrone Quicken.

It's no secret that Microsoft makes most of its money on Windows and Office.

This chart from BusinessInsider.Com shows it clearly.

Still think it's a coincidence that Google is targeting Windows and Office?

Click the 'Test me' Button

Visit the Electronic Frontier Foundation webpage and check out their Panopticlick.

Panopticlick tests your browser to see how unique it is based on the information it will share with sites it visits.

Click the Test me button and you will be given a uniqueness score, letting you see how easily identifiable you might be as you surf the web.

They only collect anonymous data. See the results from my sample PC.

Vancouver Winter Olympics

I have to admit, I prefer the Summer Olympics. I love the track and field, the volleyball and the basketball in particular.

But I am eager to get into the Vancouver Winter Olympics which start Friday. I wonder how they will pull off the Opening Ceremonies inside the BC? It's the first time the ceremony will be held indoors.

I don't follow skating but we were fortunate to get a preview of who to watch from two skating legends at the Greater Cleveland Sports Awards last week.

Carol Heiss Jenkins won the Silver Medal in 1956 and between 1957 and 1960, Carol Heiss dominated women's figure skating like nobody since Sonja Henie. She was U.S. and World Champion every year, and at the 1960 Winter Olympics Heiss captured the gold medal, being ranked first by all nine judges.

Her student and 1996 United States silver medalist and a three-time World team member Tonia Kwiatkowski also told us what to watch for.

Check out the 2 short video clips and enjoy the Games!

I could coach this basketball team

Even I could win a gold medal as coach of this team.

USA Basketball revealed today 27 players who have been named to the 2010-2012 USA Men's National Team program.

Returning to the USA National Team for 2010-12 are 2008 Olympic gold medalists Carmelo Anthony (Denver Nuggets); Carlos Boozer (Utah Jazz); Chris Bosh (Toronto Raptors); Kobe Bryant (Los Angeles Lakers); Dwight Howard (Orlando Magic); LeBron James (Cleveland Cavaliers); Chris Paul (New Orleans Hornets); Dwyane Wade (Miami Heat); and Deron Williams (Utah Jazz). Rounding out the list of Olympians on the national squad roster are 2004 Olympic bronze medalists Lamar Odom (Los Angeles Lakers) and Amar'e Stoudemire (Phoenix Suns).

Completing the list of National Team players are LaMarcus Aldridge (Portland Trail Blazers); Chauncey Billups (Denver Nuggets); Kevin Durant (Oklahoma City Thunder); Rudy Gay (Memphis Grizzlies); Eric Gordon (Los Angeles Clippers); Danny Granger (Indiana Pacers); Andre Iguodala (Philadelphia 76ers); Al Jefferson (Minnesota Timberwolves); David Lee (New York Knicks); Brook Lopez (New Jersey Nets); Kevin Love (Minnesota Timberwolves); O.J. Mayo (Memphis Grizzlies); Kendrick Perkins (Boston Celtics); Derrick Rose (Chicago Bulls); Gerald Wallace (Charlotte Bobcats) and Russell Westbrook (Oklahoma City Thunder).

Actually with that group, I could play on the team and we would win gold.

Early deduction for Haiti relief donations

A law signed by President Obama on January 22 lets you take an early tax deduction for contributions you make for earthquake relief to Haiti. And if you use your cell phone to donate via a text message, the new law gives you an easier method for substantiating your contribution.

If you itemize deductions on your tax return, you may elect to take a charitable deduction on your 2009 return for Haiti contributions made after January 11, 2010, and before March 1, 2010. Claiming a 2010 contribution on your 2009 return will give you an earlier tax benefit, though you may also wait until you file your 2010 return to take the deduction.

Here are other important details.


The contributions must be made specifically for relief related to the January 12, 2010, earthquake in Haiti.


The contributions must be made to qualified charities, rather than to specific individuals.


Only cash contributions qualify for the earlier 2009 deduction option; contributions of property or goods do not qualify.
Contributions made to foreign charities generally don't qualify.


You'll need records to substantiate any deductible donations you make. But a special easing of the rules will allow you to use your telephone bill as substantiation for donations made by text message. The phone bill must show the name of the organization receiving your donation, the date of the contribution, and the amount you gave. For other donation methods, you'll need a bank record or written communication from the charity.


If you claim a Haiti relief deduction on your 2009 return, you may not also claim the same donation on your 2010 return (which you'll be filing in 2011). To decide whether to take the deduction on your 2009 or 2010 return, run the numbers to see which year will give you the bigger tax savings. For 2009, higher-income taxpayers have a limit on their total itemized deductions. This limit is eliminated for 2010, so the deduction could actually provide a bigger tax break if taken on your 2010 tax return.

Cleveland Sports

No, this isn't going to be a depressing post about the Drive or Fumble or Shot or our lack of Super Bowl appearances.

The Cleveland Sports Awards was held last Wednesday (February 3, 2010) at the Renaissance Hotel Ballroom and it reinforced how many tremendous athletes we have in the area and that sports goes beyond the NBA, NFL and MLB.

Sure, the professional sports were on the agenda with LeBron James winning best Pro Athlete over his teammate Mo Williams and Browns Pro Bowler Joe Thomas.

But a lot of fun was interacting with the amateur and school athletes. Olympians such as Carol Heiss, Hayes Jenkins, Dominique Moceanu, Diana Munz, Tonia Kwiatkowski and Bill Kerslake attended as did school and amateur athletes such as CSU's J'Nathan Bullock, Elyria HS' Tess Sito and Euclid's (now Texas A&M's) Jessica Beard.

There are some great photos and videos from the event (like Bob Feller with the Captains mascot!) at GreatLakesGeek.Com

Win free tickets to Great Big Home & Garden Expo

There are 2, count 'em 2, home and garden shows this year. The original moved to Euclid and was held last week. A new one, Great Big Home & Garden Expo, is going to be at the I-X Center next week.

Ty Pennigton and Cheryl Tiegs (whatever happened to that poster on my wall?) are the biggest named celebs at the show.

You can enter to win free tickets at ClevelandSeniors.Com or ClevelandWomen.Com

What's the word? Thunderbird

One of my all time favorite bands is the Fabulous Thunderbirds.

E-mal cient Thunderbird 3 is now out but I can't rate it as fabulous. I have used Eudora as my main e-mail client for many years. It's no longer being supported and many recommend a move to Thunderbird.

Thunderbird 3 is now out and the Mozilla folks have some cool features. One is for the situation where you promise to attach a file to a message and then forget to attach. Thunderbird 3 will scan your message for words like 'attachment' and then prompt you if you don't actually attach anything.

The tabbed model, a la their web browser Firefox is also cool. But they still don't have a separate line for CC or BCC when you create an e-mail. Any addresses go to the To field by default and then you have to move to CC or BCC. That's too kludgy.

I wonder about the future of e-mail clients when so many seem to be going to the cloud (gmail, etc) for their mail.

More Jerry Stiller

We just added some terrific sound bites from the Jerry Stiller interview.

Listen to him talk about the Browns moving from Cleveland, his family excursions (with wife Anne Meara, son Ben Stiller and daughter Amy), Cain Park, Alpine Village, Kenley Players and more Cleveland stuff.

He even calls Cleveland the Catskills of the Midwest! Take a listen.

Jerry Stiller and Cleveland

Watching Seinfeld or King of Queens you would think that Jerry Stiller, who played George Costanza's father and Dough Heffernan's father-in-law, would be a loud, obnoxious boor.

Actually he is a soft-spoken fascinating man with a font of stories from the glory days of comedy up through the present.

My sister Debbie interviewed him last week about his current role in Hallmark's Ice Dreams and they started talking about his memories of Cleveland and the good old days.

Read about Jerry Stiller and Cleveland and much more.

Happy belated Festivus, Jerry!

99 cent software - one day only

WinPatrol Plus has always been a pretty good security program. Now, as an experiment, they are offering a lifetime license for the grand sum of 99 cents.

This is a one-day only experiment starting at midnight EST on Jan 29th and will last 24 hours. It will be available at WinPatrol.com.

It normally sells for $29.95 and the 99 cent license will be good for life.

Get more details at GreatLakesGeek.com

Jerry Stiller - Love him or hate him?

I don't know of anyone who is indifferent about Jerry Stiller. In recent years he is of course best known for his roles as George Costanza's father on Seinfeld and as Arthur Spooner on King of Queens.

My sister did an interview with him this week (will be posted soon) about his new Hallmark movie called Ice Dreams



But mention his name and some people will recoil with "I can't stand him!" while others gush "He's hilarious!"

However you feel, it's a fascinating story of a relatively minor comic (teaming up with his wife Anne Meara) who hit the big time on TV.

He does a great job on the Hallmark Ice Dreams special too.

He has some Cleveland connections which will be exposed in the upcoming interview.

So, what do you think of the actor?

Empty Sky?

What happens when you point the Hubble Space Telescope at a seemingly blank patch of sky?

It's not so empty. Watch the results of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field 3D project.




Our puniness (is that a word?) is further exemplified in these planet and solar system models.

Elder Abuse

I heard on the news today about some punks who are targeting the elderly. One pretends to shovel their snow and the other goes through their house and grabs anything of value. What punks!

Targeting the helpless - seniors, kids, disabled, etc - is particularly vile and disgusting. Unfortunately we hear these news stories too often. But there is much that we never hear.

It's not just criminals. Sometimes elder abuse comes at the hands of caretakers and even family members.

The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland published a great article on Elder Abuse in their newsletter and let us reprint it on ClevelandSeniors.Com.

One of the sad things was when I was searching for books on the subject, I found 361 on Amazon alone. It's really a shame how prevalent this problem is.

Health Care system with IBM CEO Sam Palmisano

In these days of Web 2.0, Google and Twitter it is easy to forget that the largest computer company in the world is Big Blue, IBM.

Sam Palmisano was keynote speaker at the annual Cleveland Clinic Medical Innovation Summit on October 6, 2009. He used the occasion to introduce IBM's new Personal DNA Sequencer Project.



He also spoke about the health care system and the 4 essential qualities of any reliable system.

And IBM knows systems!

Palmisano's best line? The health care system isn't broken... because it's not really a system!

See more and watch video snippets of Sam Palmisano's keynote

Gumby creator dies

Gumby animator Art Clokey died yesterday in California at age 89.

Clokey first molded Gumby for a surreal student project at the University of Southern California called "Gumbasia." That led to his making shorts for the "Howdy Doody Show" and several series through the years.

Clokey had said he modeled Gumby's funky sweeping head on his father's hairdo.

Gumby's reaction to the passing? He was... wait for it... bent out of shape.

Google Tax in France

Andreas Pouros, COO of Greenlight wrote today that France’s “Google tax” – Sounds like protectionism - and I agree.

Porous says "A report has been made public proposing that France begins taxing the likes of Google to subsidise its own creative industry. The authors of the report suggest that this new taxation could raise up to the equivalent of $28 million, which in the grand scheme of things isn’t much money at all.

The suggestion that the tax will help France subsidize music artists and book publishers doesn’t therefore sound like the sole objective here, given that this amount of money won’t make much of a difference if it’s spread so thinly across France’s creative community.

On this basis it feels like protectionism of the worst sort – instead of collaborating with successful, innovative companies, or creating an environment that promotes innovation domestically, France appears to want to give its own industries an unfair commercial advantage by taking money from non-French firms.

More on France's Google Tax and Pouros' comments.

Toughest American

I was fortunate. Too young for Vietnam and tool old for Iraq. But I really respect the brave men and women who defended and still protect us.

My Dad, like many of his era, lied about his age so he could enlist in the Army at age 17. He was a tough dude.

I just came across the story of Colonel Robert Howard who died last year from cancer and he was probably the toughest of them all.

As you can watch in this short video news report from NBC's Brian Williams, Howard was nominated for the Medal of Honor an astounding 3 times! You can only win this ultimate award once in a lifetime but maybe he deserved more than one.

He earned 8 Purple Hearts and numerous other decorations - watch the video for the details.

Cancer finally claimed Bob Howard but what a great American and tough dude. We need to hear more about heroes like him.

Door chalk on the Epiphany

Have you ever noticed that soem Catholics homes have a few numbers and letters written in chalk above one of their doorways?

That's a reminder to ask God to bless the house.

Each year at the Epiphany, it's a good time to update and re-inscribe for the new year.

Details of what to write, do and why in the Catholic section of ClevelandPeople.Com

CAP Volunteer - Plain Dealer Hero

Dan Davenport is featured on the front page of this morning's Plain Dealer as a Local Hero. Dan is a super volunteer and is well deserving of the honor.

You can read the article online here.

You can learn more about Dan Davenport the man in his profile on ClevelandSeniors.Com

Lime Ribbon Launch Party

The Great Lakes Geek was on hand at the LimeRibbon.Com launch at the Cool Cleveland party at Crop Bistro.

LimeRibbon.Com is the result of a group of local entrepreneurs who challenged themselves to exploit the growth of social media by tying it to a shopping platform.

Details and photos from the LimeRibbon Launch


Tech Czar Michael DeAloia and Franchise King Joel Libava

Newspaper wars - Cleveland Press vs Plain Dealer

If you are too young to remember June 17, 1982 then you probably won't understand what all the fuss is about.

Likewise if you grew up getting your news from the Internet or Cable TV or even the Daily Show on Comedy Central, you can never fully understand what the golden era of newspapers was like.

In the 50's through 70's (the time frame of Gimme Rewrite, Sweetheart: Tales from the Last Glory Days of Cleveland Newspapers Told by the Men and Women Who Reported the News ) there was real competition between the morning Plain Dealer and the afternoon Cleveland Press.

And believe it or not, Cleveland was big enough for 2 daily newspapers.

This book is a collection of stories from 54 Cleveland reporters, editors and photographers that John Tidyman interviewed.



You will recognize a lot of the names and the stories will bring you back to a time that seems ancient (manual typewriters, smoky newsrooms, boozing reporters, etc) but is really not that far off.

Read my review of Gimme Rewrite, Sweetheart

Steal this Book!

According to the New York Times, this is the most shoplifted book in the modern era:

The Virgin Suicides: A Novel




Lots of teens sure get into death and goth and the macabre. Cheer up! Wait till you become an adult. Then you can complain (grin)

Here's a blurb from Publishers Weekly

Eugenides's tantalizing, macabre first novel begins with a suicide, the first of the five bizarre deaths of the teenage daughters in the Lisbon family; the rest of the work, set in the author's native Michigan in the early 1970s, is a backward-looking quest as the male narrator and his nosy, horny pals describe how they strove to understand the odd clan of this first chapter, which appeared in the Paris Review , where it won the 1991 Aga Khan Prize for fiction.

Santa has a big night coming up

Shhhh!

Let them sleep. Santa has a busy night coming up

More Christmas pictures

Cavs Dance Team, Tsingtao Dancers and beer!

Sometimes I love my job.

Last Monday I got to witness history as Tsingtao Brewery Co. signed a multi-year agreement with the NBA Cleveland Cavaliers to become the exclusive Chinese beer of Quicken Loans Arena.

The partnership is the first between Tsingtao (pronounced CHING dow), China’s most popular beer company, and an NBA team and arena in the United States.

Of course, as I explain in my postings at greatlakesgeek.com this is much more than a contract to sell beer. It opens Cleveland up to China and China up to NE Ohio.

There are a lot of photos and videos, including Cavs players and the Cavs Dance team and award-winning Tsingtao Dancers so be sure and check it out.

To top it off, free Tsingtao beer was available to everyone!

Cleveland Cavaliers Christmas

Sometimes you are lucky and sometimes not so much.

I was frustrated last year when I had an equipment failure during my interview with former HP CEO Carly Fiorina. Of all times for a breakdown!

But I got lucky with a photo of Cleveland Cavs center Anderson Varejao. I was at the Cavs and Monsters Christmas event at the Q last Monday.

I shot a lot of pics and video and posted the best on ClevelandWomen.Com.

Andy Varejao was a popular player to pose with so I shot a lot of pics of him with kids. This one picture of him with a tiny baby is a classic IMHO.

Classic Christmas Song

To me, the classic Christmas song is Silent Night. Sure, I love Run Run Rudolph by Chuck Berry (and the Keith Richards version) but Silent Night is the best.

It was great to hear the song sung, in German, at a party held by the German American Business Association on Monday.

In German, Silent Night is Stille Nacht.

Check out the short video and photos/videos of other German Christmas traditions such as cutting the stollen with a sword at ClevelandPeople.Com

Win Jim Brickman CDs

Jim Brickman was born in Cleveland and began playing piano at the age of five. He lived here until he was 28 and he says "he loved it."

He attended Shaker Heights High School after which he simultaneously took music classes at Cleveland Institute of Music and business classes at Case Western Reserve.

ClevelandWomen.Com has a contest for free Jim Brickman CDs including and autographed copy of Beautiful World.

Enter to win Jim Brickman CDs

Santa must be Polish

A classic Bobby Vinton song for the holidays

Listen here

Get invited to the Party

What began as the secret Tin Fu group has evolved into an annual lunch event hosted by the Great Lakes Geek. It's strict invite only and an eclectic group of business people, techies, sports figures, media types and others make up the annual mix.

If you want to be invited, we are raffling off 2 invitations to people who purchase the Cleveland Cooks cookbook at the special $10 holiday price (normally $15).

Proceeds from the cookbook go to Computers Assisting People (CAP).

Check out and order the cookbook in the next few days for a chance to be invited to next Thursday's bash.

Thanksgiving Miracle

I'm not sure if the miracle is getting the dog and cat in those clothes or to have them pose like that.

Either way, Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours

Enjoy these Thanksgiving recipes, facts, history and advice.

MSNBC used our content sans permission

I am used to small websites taking content from one of ours and posting without authorization or credit. What can you do? But it always irritates me when one of the big players does.

MSNBC took direct quotes from our profile of Paige Palmer and posted it on their site without any credit to us.

That’s just wrong.

Do your own work! Or at least ask for permission (we would have given) or give credit.

When the NY Times quoted our Dante Lavelli story, they gave proper credit.
But MSNBC is far from the NY Times.

Paige Palmer

Television Pioneer, First Lady of Fitness and Fashionista Paige Palmer passed away in her sleep early Saturday (11/21) morning.

She was a true pioneer and legend and a very classy lady. I only met her a few times but she was always very gracious. My sister Debbie met her many more times and wrote her story and they had a close relationship.

Paige was one of a kind and will be missed

Paige Palmer profile

Cat Scratch Fever

IBM scientists, using an ultra-powerful supercomputer, have just replicated the cerebral cortex of the average house cat. The simulated cat brain uses 147,000 CPUs.

Insert your own cat joke here.

More details on the IBM cat

Raffle for Macy's gift bags

Friday at 6PM is your last chance to enter the raffle for one of three gift bags from Macy's. The bags are loaded with fragrances and other products from Calvin Klein, Giorgio Armani, Ralph Lauren and more.

As a reader of this blog, enter the following code ATFF6 in the Secret Code field to increase your chances.

Good luck.

Sandy Alomar's back

The Cleveland Indians and Manager Manny Acta today announced the hiring of Sandy Alomar Jr. as First Base Coach.

Alomar, 43, spent eleven (11) seasons catching with the Cleveland Indians from 1990-2000 where he was a six-time All-Star selection and last summer was the 33rd player to be inducted into the Indians Hall of Fame.

During his tenure with the Indians, Alomar hit .277 (944-3409) with 194 doubles, 92 home runs and 453 RBI in 985 games and was the Tribe's field leader behind the plate on club's that won five (5) American League Central Division titles and two (2) American League Pennants.

Welcome back Sandy

No recession at Fab Food Show

Recession? What recession? People were spending like sailors on leave at the Fabulous Food Show this weekend.

And the celebrity chefs (Bobby Flay, Michael Symon, Sandra Lee (in photo above), Tyler Florence, Guy Fieri, etc.) were treated like rock stars!

Photos and more from the Fabulous Food Show