Cleveland's Best Year Ever

What do you think would be Cleveland's best year ever?

Sports people might say 1948 or 1964.

Music fans might say when the Rock Hall opened.

It was interesting to hear what Albert Ratner, Co-Chair Emeritus of Forest City Enterprise, said was our best year at a recent program called Globalizing Cleveland at the Corporate Club at Landerhaven.

The year? 1904.

See why

St Louis Cardinals - Cleveland Indians

Unfortunately, it's yet another October that Cleveland Indians fans are watching other teams in the World Series. I thought I'd share some images of Busch Stadium, home of the National League champion St Louis Cardinals, from a fun trip we took to the Gateway of the West.

Whereas Progressive Field in Cleveland has a statue of Bob Feller, the greatest right-handed pitcher in baseball history and there are rumors that a statue will be built to honor slugger Jim Thome sometime in the future, Busch Stadium has several statues like the statue of Dizzy Dean above. They also have one larger statue of Stan 'the Man' Musial.

Casimir Pulaski Day

In 1985, The Ohio Legislature officially declared October 11th to be General Pulaski Memorial Day in honor of his contributions to Poland and the United States. The U.S. House of Representatives voted unanimously on October 8, 2009 to award citizenship posthumously to Casimir Pulaski.


Members of the Polish-American community in Cleveland gathered at the Cleveland City Hall to honor Pulaski.



After the march from City Hall to the Pulaski Cannon, Councilman Anthony Brancatelli mentioned that it was Congressman Dennis Kucinich's birthday (65th) and the group sang a chorus of Sto lat (100 years)

Great Lakes Shipping

WASHINGTON, D.C. (October 18, 2011) - The Great Lakes maritime industry today released the results of a year-long study of the economic impacts of the entire Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway navigation system. The study was commissioned by members of the marine shipping industry, in partnership with U.S. and Canadian government agencies. Martin Associates of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, a global leader in transportation economic analysis and strategic planning, was retained to conduct the study.

Some interesting results

Another Halloween Goodie

Halloween Stuff for Geeks

I always like the geek stuff from Think Geek and they have some fun stuff for Halloween this year. Check out the



and more stuff at

Irish Cultural Garden

Four new monuments were dedicated at a special ceremony at the Irish Cultural Garden on Saturday October 8, 2011. The Garden was lush with greenery and flowers thanks to Charlene Crowley and her team of volunteers. The Lennon fountain was flowing and the weather couldn't have been better.

Photos and video from the celebration

Photos of all 12 Irish cultural monuments. How many of the Irish cultural figures do you know?

River Shannon in Cleveland?

The Shannon River is closely bound up with Ireland's social, cultural, military, economic and political history. It is the longest river in Ireland at 240 miles and divides the west of Ireland from the east and south.

Cleveland, of courses, is divided into East and West by the Cuyahaoga River. But did you know that Cleveland also has a River Shannon?

See where it is in the Cleveland Photo Quiz

Hewlett Packard and the Cleveland Browns

Turnover at the top is often indicative of poor records. Just ask the Cleveland Browns.

The eras with stable head coaches (Paul Brown, Blanton Collier, Sam Rutigliano etc.) and quarterbacks (Otto Graham, Frank Ryan, Brian Sipe, Bernie Kosar) were the winning teams. It's probably both cause and effect.

Is this what Hewlett Packard, with yet another CEO change, has in its future?

Listen to the latest Minute with the Great Lakes Geek and Go Browns (and HP)

No visas for Poland?

I was at the Casimir Pulaski day celebration at Cleveland City Hall yesterday. General Casimir Pulaski was a Polish soldier who came to America and helped George Washington defeat the British in the Revolutionary War.



You may have seen Pulaski Square in what used to be Mall C in downtown Cleveland. The cannon monument got moved to near the Free Stamp when Medical Mart construction began.

During the ceremony I learned a disturbing fact. Joseph A. Drobot, Jr., the 27th President of the Polish Roman Catholic Union of America spoke about General Pulaski’s contributions to the American Revolution but then said that Poland is not included among the 36 nations that have US visa waivers. 28 of these nations are in Europe including England, France, Latvia, Estonia and Slovenia.

Poland is a member of NATO, supports US military operations, is a member of the EU and has met all standards required by the US.

So why does the process keep getting stuck in committees?

You can skip to near the end of this video if you just want to hear about this issue.

Hungarian president Pál Schmitt in Cleveland

Hungarian President Pál Schmitt visited Cleveland Ohio on September 17 and 18, 2011.

On Saturday September 17, he visited Cardinal Mindszenty Plaza and placed a wreath at the statue of Cardinal Mindszenty and at the statue of the Hungarian Freedom Fighter.

Photos and video of Hungarian president Pál Schmitt in Cleveland

On Sunday September 18, the president visited the Hungarian Cultural Garden, the statue of Lajos Kossuth, the Father of Hungarian Democracy,in University Circle and attended Mass at St Elizabeth of Hungary Church on Buckeye. He then attended a special reception at the Marriott downtown.

Ukrainian Heritage Park

The dedication of the new Ukrainian Heritage Park in Parma was September 24, 2011.

Before that there was a parade down State in Ukrainian Village.

In addition to many Ukrainian-American youth, social, religious, arts, community and dance organizations, the parade participants included five community high school bands: Parma Senior High School, Normandy High School, Valley Forge High School, Padua Franciscan High School, and Holy Name High School.

Pictures abd video from the Ukrainian Village Parade

Slovak Festival in Cleveland

The Cleveland Slovak-American community came together for the annual Slovak Festival sponsored by the Cleveland Slovak Radio Club.

Check out some of the music from the Culkar Combo and the band Fakt.

The word 'Fakt' is Slovak for "Really?" or "Are you kidding me?"

No comment needed

Wabbit Season - the people have spoken

Summer's over and so is the contest to vote for your favorite Year of the Rabbit sculpture. 19 of the 24 Rabbits received at least one vote. The Rabbit that got both the most votes and the most first place votes was Ralphie Rabbit at 1419 East 40th.

Here are the Top 5 Rabbits that you voted for:


Ralphie Rabbit at 1419 East 40th
Metallago, Heavy Metal Rabbit in Asia Plaza
Patches at East 30th
Garden Party at 3601 Chester
Blue Snow Bunnies at East 30th

You can still view most of the Rabbits in the St. Clair-Superior neighborhood. See photos of all the Rabbits and read some of the comments.

Vietnam remembered

I first met Luis Martinez when he was nominated for the Cleveland International Hall of Fame.

I didn't know he was a two-time Purple Heart Vietnam Veteran - I just knew about his great work in the Cleveland Hispanic community.

He wrote a tribute article about a young friend who died in his arms in Vietnam. He sent it to the Chicago Tribune in hopes of having it published on Memorial Day. The article did not make the paper but we thought it should be published.

It begins:


I tried to keep your son alive that night in 1970. Our Corpsman, "Doc" Coonfield, pronounced him dead but he was a MARINE. I just couldn`t accept the fact that one of us, a good guy, had been killed.

Oblivious to the growl of weapons blindly seeking revenge against an invisible enemy, I kept pumping his heart and blowing air into his mouth trying in desperation to bring him back to life. Our unit, CAP 2-7-10, operated in an isolated area, perhaps a 30 minute flight South of DaNang. We agonized what seemed an eternity for the arrival of the med-evac chopper.

In the meantime another Marine, the dog handler, snapped; he shook uncontrollably the way a person can when overcome by horror. By the time the thunderous apparition found its way to us through the hostile night air I had been overcome with rage.

As we loaded the helicopter and it lifted off, I unleashed my contempt at the perceived delay with pitched profanity and a gesture of disrespect as it disappeared into the black of night.

***
Read the rest of this gripping tribute from Luis Martinez

Ivan Bezugloff

For those of us who knew Ivan we probably knew about his life with horses (dressage) and publishing (his horse magazines). He was an early adopter of desktop publishing and was always searching for the proper font and often Cyrillic typefaces.

I met him in the Greater Cleveland PC Users Group and those are my recollections.

But he had another career before that I was just reminded of by an e-mail.

Here it is:

I was interested to find your online article about Ivan Bezugloff; just this past Saturday I bought (at an Amateur Radio "swap meet" in Adrian, MI) a voltmeter his second firm -- IB Instruments -- had made. Interestingly, it is the world of dressage that remembers him, not electronics, there having been thousands of small companies that existed only a few years in the 1960's - 1970's. But your article was a memory passed on.

The voltmeter still works.

With best regards,
Cortland Richmond
Ada, MI

***
Pretty cool. Read the profile of Ivan Bezugloff

Post any comments about Ivan that you may have and we will include them in his profile.

The Divine Comedy by Dante

What better place to hear readings from and discussion about the classic Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri than the Italian Cultural Garden?

That's what happened last week.

Dr. Paola Basile and Sculptor Sandro Bonaiuto discussed the classic and read selections in Italian and English.

Pictures and videos of Dante's Divine Comedy in the Cleveland Italian Garden.

Halloween Election Predictions

I was just working on a Halloween Virtual Store for ClevelandSeniors.Com and ClevelandWomen.Com. Lots of costume ideas, decorations, party stuff - as expected.

I looked at a previous store and saw the John McCain and Sarah Palin masks. This isn't a prez election year so I didn't expect much along those lines but there are a bunch of Obama masks such as



but there are also some that may be reflecting the current political mood a little more like this one





I recall some pretty nasty George W Bush masks too.

International Entrepreneur Awards

Award winner Stella Moga-Kennedy of Le Chaperon Rouge

The 2nd annual TiE International Entrepreneur Awards were held in a ceremony at Windows on the River. The awards were created to recognize the achievements of international entrepreneurs helping to reshape and rebuild Ohio's business landscape and to highlight how international entrepreneurs contribute to the local economy.

The stories of the finalists and winners were truly inspiring.

Photos and videos from the TiE International Entrepreneur Awards

Cloud Connectivity from CIOs

What good is having apps or data in the Cloud if you don't have good connectivity? US broadband speeds have lagged many much less technical countries. Is that a concern for Cloud computing? And what is an acceptable level of downtime for Cloud computing?

The Great Lakes Geek asked these questions to a panel of CIOs at the NEOSA CIO Symposium. Check out the interesting responses from Greg Kall, CIO of Summa Health Systems and Bill Blausey Jr., CIO of Eaton Corporation.

Ukrainian Garden

The Ukrainian Cultural Garden was the host for the 64th One World Day.

Hundreds enjoyed the beautifully refurbished Garden and the rededication of the statue of Lesya Ukrainka on its 50th anniversary and the 140th birthday of the poetess.

Postcard moment for Cleveland

The Syrian Cultural Garden was the staging ground for the Parade of Flags at the recent One World Day. The cool part was that a group of women, in various ethnic costumes, started an impromptu dance around the Garden as Syrian musicians played.

Women in costumes of Croatia, Estonia, India, Korea, Poland, Syria and more.

Check out the pics and video of the dance in the Syrian garden

Let's Roll

The 10th annual Support Our Troops Luncheon was held on September 8, 2011 at Windows on The River.

This year, which also marks the 10th Anniversary of the 9-11 attacks, the luncheon had a very special keynote speaker, Mr. David Beamer. Mr. Beamer is the father of Todd Beamer. Todd is the young man who rallied the passengers of United Flight 93 together with his cry "Are you guys ready? Let's roll!"


Mr Beamer had some very harsh warnings for us all - the enemy is out there, infiltrating our way of life.

Bob Hope's nephew (also named Bob Hope) was another speaker.

User Groups and 9-11-2001

Here is the transcript of the Great Lakes Geek one minute podcast on User Groups and 9/11.
***

I remember 10 years ago after the terrorist attacks on 9/11 that we were all looking for some way to help the victims. I received a message from a friend in New York who indicated that the emergency personnel were short on PC hardware because much was lost or damaged.

I brought this to the attention of the volunteers of Computers Assisting People (CAP) and we adapted the words of Flight 93 hero Todd Beamer and said ‘Let’s Roll.’

I sent out a message to some other user group leaders and they all wanted to assist. Bob Kwater in Dayton was ready to hop in his car. Many of us were making plans to make the trip to New York with our equipment to assist.

Then we got the word that the authorities needed to limit travel into the area and that even our shipments of PC gear would not reach their destination in a timely manner. So we called off the New York plans and spread the word to the other user groups.

We weren’t able to directly assist but the willingness of so many to drop everything to help was a great example of the ‘users helping users’ philosophy that has been the mantra of user groups since the 1970’s. Groups like CAP have extended this to the next level – ‘users helping the community.’

Hopefully we will be free of such tragedies in the future and user groups will be able to focus their volunteer efforts to helping their communities.

9-11-01

Free Windows Office 365 eBook

In case you haven’t logged on to GreatLakesGeek.Com yet today, I wanted to let you know that you can download Microsoft Office 365: Connect and Collaborate Virtually Anywhere, Anytime by Katherine Murray as a free eBook.

Haven't had a chance to read it all yet but the Table of Contents and what I've read so far is promising. Office 365 and the Cloud are a whole new approach.

The official blurb says: "Microsoft Office 365: Connect and Collaborate Virtually Anywhere, Anytime is all about cloud solutions for small businesses, focusing on the core software services (Microsoft Exchange Online, Microsoft SharePoint Online, Office Web Apps, and Microsoft Lync), and demonstrating ways you can create, manage, and lead teams effectively using the communications and collaborative online tools."

Grab it here:


Of course if you already went to GreatLakesGeek.Com or follow the Geek on Twitter or Facebook (@greatlakesgeek) you'd already have the book

Chinese Chicken Salad Recipe

This was Class 4 of a summer series by my sister Pat. It tastes great!

Chinese Chicken Salad Recipe

Kardiac Kids

Landerhaven was transformed into Browns Town on August 18 as the 1980 Kardiac Kids took the stage. Coach Sam Rutigliano and players Greg Pruitt, Mike Pruitt and Don Cockroft were led in discussion by Chanel 3's Dave Chudowsky.

They talked in depth about the 1980 season - including, of course, Red Right 88.

It's interesting to hear their opinions after so many years and their thoughts on Art Modell.

Check out the Kardiac Kids at Landerhaven

Hurricane Irene and Internet

As Hurricane Irene prepares to batter the East Coast, federal disaster officials have warned that Internet outages could force people to interact with other people for the first time in years. Residents are bracing themselves for the horror of awkward silences and unwanted eye contact.

FEMA has advised: “Be prepared. Write down possible topics to talk about in advance. Sports...the weather.

Remember, a conversation is basically a series of Facebook updates strung together.

(Just a joke of course)

Dan Coughlin Profile

Even if you haven't run into Dan Coughlin at a bar or read the hilarious stories in his book, you can tell just by looking at him that he is a fun-loving character.

The official ClevelandSeniors.Com profile of Dan Coughlin is now up.

There is also a page of photos of Dan Coughlin with people like Don King (in photo above), Lou Holtz, Mario Andretti and Clevelanders like Nev Chandler and Casey Coleman.

He has some intersting comment about Art Modell, Lebron James and modern sports in general.

One World Day

If you have never been to One World Day (this is the 64th) you have to go. Here are the details:

Enjoy the Cultural Gardens, the majestic Parade of Flags and more.

12 noon - 1:00 PM Free, Narrated tours of the Gardens

1:00-2:00 Re-dedication of the statue of Lesya Ukrainka in the Ukrainian Garden.

2:00-3:00 Entertainment in the Ukrainian Garden (Dancers, singers, etc)

2:00-3:30 Parade of Flags starting at the Syrian Garden

3:30 - 5:00 Posting of Flags, One World Day Opening Ceremony, Naturalization of new US citizens, Ethnic Kitchen

Free transportation around the Gardens by Lolley the Trolley all afternoon

Free parking along MLK Blvd.

One World Day 2010 Photos and Videos

Google Error

Error messages have always been cryptic and often useless for trouble-shooting.

I ran into an interesting Google error message the other day. A search results page did not come up. Instead a page with the Google logo came up with the following message:


502. That’s an error.
The server encountered a temporary error and could not complete your request.
Please try again in 30 seconds.
That’s all we know.

"That's all we know"? It's almost refreshing in it's honesty. Still not helpful but ...

Shared Birthday

Lots of people share their birthday (though not the year) with someone famous.

In my case, I share my birthday with the IBM PC. The IBM PC is younger though - it was introduced in 1981.

The blessing of IBM transformed the PC from a hobbyist's machine into a business machine. Soon offices all over the country would have IBM PCs on their desk, often with a screen burn in of the rows and columns of a Lotus 123 spreadsheet on the green or amber monitor.

The Great Lakes Geek reflects back in this One Minute Podcast.

Asha for Education

At the Indian Independence Day event I learned about a non-profit group called Asha for Education. Basically they collect money and volunteers work on projects to help the underprivileged in India.

It was started at UC Berkeley in 1991 and now has 12 chapters in India and 48 in US. Asha Cleveland started in 1996 and dispersed about $20,000 in 2010. It's based at CWRU. Learn more in this short video.

Glenville Parade

The annual Glenville Parade was on Saturday. It goes down East 105th from Superior to St Clair then hangs a left till 88th where the Festival begins (Sam Miller Park).

There were the usual politicians (mostly candidates for judge) but you can tell it's not a major election year because the bigwigs weren't there. They will be there next year.

Wayne Dawson was the Grand Marshall. The Shaw High School Marching Band was a highlight.

The Parade the Circle creatures (like the one in the photo) were a big hit too.

Pics and video from the Glenville Parade.

Cleveland Asian Festival

I finally posted the photos and videos from the 2011 Cleveland Asian Festival. It was a great 2 day event and over 30,000 people attended!

Great performances, food and people.

7 pages of Photos and videos from the Cleveland Asian Festival

MS-DOS turns 30

Last week MS-DOS turned 30 years old. On July 27, 1981 Microsoft bought Q-DOS from Tim Patterson for $50,000. The onetime fee, as opposed to ongoing royalties, was a brilliant business move for Microsoft

Remember the rumors about Gary Kildall flying his plane when IBM came calling for CP/M? The Geek does.

Listen to the latest Minute with the Great Lakes Geek for a trip down memory lane.

Opera in the Italian Garden

I have never really acquired the taste for Opera. Some of the popular songs are terrific (Pagliacci, Carmen, Nessun Dorma, the Three Tenors, etc.) but I can't always get into the more difficult selections.

Last Sunday at the Italian Cultural Garden over 1100 of us saw a terrific performance of about 20 opera "hits" by the artists of Opera per Tutti (opera for all). That's Mezzo-soprano Paulette Penzvalto in the photo above.

It's a perfect setting for opera and people brought wine and cheese and picnics for the event.

TV personality Jan Jones was the surprise Narrator and she did a great job with some difficult Italian pronunciations.

Here are 5 pages of photos and videos of the people and performances from the Opera in the Italian Garden

Too hot to be an Irish Wolfhound

I felt sorry for this poor Irish Wolfhound at the Cleveland Irish Cultural Festival

It's been a hot and muggy summer and all that fur didn't help.

So he did the smart thing and found a fan.

Good boy!

President Garfield Monument

I was at a function at Lake View Cemetery and a friend, from the West Side, asked me a question. He said that since he had travelled all the way over to the East Side, he wanted to visit some other areas he had heard of.

He wanted to know where Little Italy and Coventry were.

I told him to go right about 1/4 mile for Little Italy and left 1/4 mile for Coventry. He was amazed.

Often we take things for granted that we are familiar with just because we see them all the time. If you have never seen the President Garfield monument at Lake View Cemetery, it's really worth a visit. The monument is huge - 180' and the statue inside is larger than life and kind of spooky.

You can visit the actual casket of the President and his wife in the basement or go to the roof and see the Cleveland skyline.

See a video and photos of the Garfield Monument until you can get there yourself.

Ask me for directions if you need to.

A couple of kids

Happy Birthday to Cleveland Jewish News columnist Violet Spevack who was honored on her 95th birthday last week by over 800 friends and family.

Vi's husband turned 99 this past June but the couple puts other much younger couples to shame with their vitality and love of life.

Many more to both Vi and David.

See photos from Vi Spevack's 95th birthday party with special guest Rona Barrett.

Blaskapelle (Brass Band) Concert in the German Cultural Garden

Last Sunday was the annual Blaskapelle (Brass Band) Concert in the German Cultural Garden.

The Conrad Mizer/Karl Wolfram Memorial Garden Concert is an annual event. Conrad Mizer, a German emigre, promoted summer band concerts in Cleveland public parks. Karl Wolfram was one of the founders of the Cleveland's Cultural Gardens and was the first president of the Cleveland Cultural Garden Federation.

There is something really cool about hearing the oom-pah-pah of the German bands in the idyllic setting of the German Cultural Garden under the watchful eyes of the huge Goethe and Schiller monument.

See photos and videos of the German Music Concert in the German Cultural Garden.

As the profile begins...

There was a time, before the Internet, when reporters actually went looking for a story; talked to sources; did research and met deadlines. It wasn't even that long ago.

One such reporter was Cleveland's own Doris O'Donnell. She is an amazing woman with an even more amazing story to tell. It is the story of trips to Moscow, crime scenes and suspense. It is the story of her venture into a male dominated world of smoke filled rooms and back room deals.

This is one of the most interesting profiles we have done on ClevelandWomen.Com or ClevelandSeniors.com

Check out Doris O'Donnell.

Sweet Jane

Sad to hear that Jane Scott, Cleveland's Oldest Teenager, passed away on July 4, 2011 at age 92. She started working at the Plain Dealer in 1952 and continued until she retired in 2002.

Read the official profile of Jane Scott.

I remember once when she asked us about reggae at a Peter Tosh show at the old Front Row. Tosh came out smoking a spliff the size of a banana. At the intermission, Jane asked us all kinds of questions about reggae and it made her column the next day.

I ran into her at a lot of concerts and media events and she was always so eager to be part of the action. A great trait!

She was one of a kind.

I am sure she is interviewing Hendrix, Morrison, Joplin and others right now.

Kill the Irishman - the Danny Greene story

Over the summer of 1976, thirty-six bombs detonate in the heart of Cleveland while a turf war raged between Irish mobster Danny Greene and the Italian mafia.

Like many other Clevelanders, I have my own memories of Danny Greene. He was always very nice to my grandmother and other family members. I remember the green pens he would hand out and the Irish flag flying over his Collinwood home.

Lots of other memories too that I am not going to post in the blog (for now at least)

Lyndhurst Police Chief Rick Porrello wrote the book that became the movie Kill the Irishman.

Read the Rick Porrello interview

Enter the contest to win a free DVD of Kill the Irishman

Hot in Cleveland

My sister Debbie was down at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum for the big red carpet event when the cast of Hot in Cleveland visited.

She has a write-up and some terrific pictures at Hot in Cleveland on ClevelandWomen.Com

The ladies - Betty White, Valerie Bertineli, Jane Leeves and Wendy Malick (in photo above)- were greeted by enthusiastic fans and a horde of media.

I am not really the intended demographic for the TV show but when I have watched it was funny and Cleveland came out looking good.

Army Birthday

I guess I never really associated Flag Day with the birthday of the US Army but I learned better last Tuesday.

The Joint Veterans Commission of Cuyahoga County presented a special event at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.

Along with a Flag Day celebration they honored the US Army on its 236th birthday and also held a Naturalization Ceremony for new US citizens.

It was an inspiring event and the pride in the faces of the new citizens (from about 20 different countries) was evident.

Check out the Flag Day celebration and Happy Birthday Army!

I'm Baaaack - from the Hall of Fame

OK, it's been too long since I last posted. Thanks for those who checked in to see what was up.

The main reason is that we have been swamped with the 2nd induction of the Cleveland International Hall of Fame.

On May 11, 2011 we had almost 450 people in the Grand Ballroom of the Marriott at Key Center for the induction dinner ceremony.

As much as we enjoyed Sterle's last year for the inaugural induction, this event was really something.

The class was amazing. 9 diverse people who have made substantial and lasting contributions to our region.

The inductors were special and some of the pairings (Rock Hall CEO Terry Stewart inducting Polka King Tony Petkovsek, Congressman Louis Stokes inducting Rev Dr Otis Moss Jr and Sam Miller inducting Albert Ratner, for example) were described as 'delicious.'

The keynote was by Forest City Co-chairman Sam Miller. Wow.

So finally the photos and video from the Cleveland International Hall of Fame are posted on ClevelandPeople.Com.

About 12 pages so check them out when you get a chance.

And expect to see more regular postings from yours truly. Thanks for your patience.

Jellybeanville and Eggshell Land

There are two really excellent Easter displays within about 10 minutes of my house. Eggshell Land is in Lyndhurst and Jellybeanville is in Euclid.

Both displays cost a lot to create and maintain but the creators say they love to bring smiles to the faces of children and their families.

You can donate to the Bellflower Center to prevent child abuse at Jellybeanville.

Kudos to Steve Kaselak at Jellybeanville and Ron and Betty Manolio of Eggshell Land.

Both are worth a visit

Interfaith Seder

The 8th Annual AJC (American Jewish Committee) inter-faith Diplomatic Seder was held at Anshe Chesed Fairmount Temple.

Rabbi Joshua Caruso led the ceremony with enthusiasm and passion. He told how the feast of Passover was both a celebration of freedom and a memory of slavery.

Along with the readings, music and other traditions and festivities there was a time for personal stories.

Peggy Zone Fisher told of her mixed marriage - she is Catholic and her husband Lee Fisher is a Jew. She also told of how her west side family supported Carl Stokes in the 1960's and paid the price for it.

The Rev. Dr. Otis Moss Jr. gave a powerful (as always) 5 minutes on some of his experiences in the South. What an orator!

Check out the pictures and videos from the Seder.

New Tri-C Scholarship

Margaret Wong, Jerry Sue Thornton and Judy Wong


Margaret W. Wong knows first hand how important a scholarship can be to an immigrant (or child of immigrant) student. She was in that position herself when she came to the United States. Margaret used scholarships to complete her education which led to the establishment of her world-renown Margaret W. Wong & Associates law firm.

The Cuyahoga Community College Foundation announced the Margaret W. Wong Scholarship Fund at a special reception at Ms Wong's building. "The Cuyahoga Community College Foundation is pleased to announce the establishment of the Margaret W. Wong Scholarship Fund for support of immigrant students and their children. This scholarship will provide access to education for both immigrant students and students who are children of immigrants who may not be able to begin or continue their educations without additional financial assistance."

Ms Wong donated $100,000 to set up the scholarship.

Pictures and video from the event

Flipped Off

The latest One Minute Podcast from the Great Lakes Geek talks about the end of the Flip camera.


I always liked the Flip Camera. My sister had one and it fit in a pocket, had that one easy button to push and produced quality video. I also liked the built-in USB connector.

I didn’t own a Flip because I take a lot of video (last YouTube count is at 935 videos posted) and I need more storage than the Flip had.

It always seems odd to me that Cisco, the company behind the plumbing of the Internet, bought this niche business from Pure Digital for $590 million. Cisco’s earnings fell 18% in the 2nd quarter of 2011 and the Flip wasn’t really a growth product so I can see why Chambers didn’t want the brand anymore. But why not sell it?

It would have to be updated though. The iPod Nano got a camera in 2009 and Apple clearly targeted the Flip. Now most smart phones and devices have a camera for stills and video so the question is why buy a single use product when you have that functionality in a device you already own and carry?

Consider how younger people use the camera on their phones. They shoot and immediately post the photos to Facebook, Flickr, YouTube or other social media or send to their friend’s devices. You can’t do that with a Flip which has no Internet connectivity.

Cisco tried a high-end Flip but it sold for $230 and was, again, single purpose.

I just wish Cisco had sold the Flip line to a company that would upgrade it with Wi-Fi, more storage and lots of photo/video specific apps instead of killing the line.

That’s what has me Flipped Off.

Efficient use of charitable donations

Many people want to contribute to causes but with all the scams and inefficiencies of some bureaucratic behemoths, you can't be sure that your money is getting to the needy.

I was impressed by a recent tour of the Cleveland Foodbank.

They are able to provide 4 meals for every $1 they receive in donations. Give them $10 and they will make 40 meals. $100 turns into 400 meals and so on.

Currently the Harvest for Hunger campaign is going on. This is an opportunity to help feed hungry people in the community in an incredibly frugal and efficient way.

You can donate online right now.

Think like an immigrant

Ratanjit S. Sondhe is an American success story. He emigrated from India to the United States in 1968 to complete his Ph.D. studies in Polymer Chemistry. He arrived here with $8 in his pocket and two Master's degrees. He soon became an American entrepreneur, creating POLY-CARB, Inc. to add value by offering solutions to infrastructure erosion problems.

In 1980 he heard the message: The bad news is you are broke. The good news is you are in America.

He succeeded tremendously from that point and sold his company to Dow Chemical. Now he advises people and businesses on a better way of life.

For example, He told a City Club crowd that immigrants are "like fresh water in a pond." They come on their own and put themselves in survival mode and see opportunity that American born do not. He wants to convert native born to this immigrant mindset.

Ratanjit Sondhe at City Club of Cleveland

Team NEO International Business Attraction

Quick. What are the 3 countries that Team NEO does the most work with?

Germany, the Netherlands and China. With Canada coming up fast.

Team NEO markets the Cleveland Plus region collectively to site selectors, real estate consultants and targeted companies across the globe to increase awareness of Northeast Ohio’s business assets in order to increase business opportunities for the region.

Here are 3 short videos from a Team NEO forum that explains some of their efforts.

Global Cleveland

A large crowd filled the 3rd floor of 200 Public Square (soon to be renamed the Huntington Bank Building) to hear news that many thought would never be announced.

The idea to grow Cleveland by attracting and retaining migrants and immigrants has been discussed for a decade. Last year the vision began solidifying into action as Forest City's Albert Ratner, with support from the Cleveland Jewish Federation, led an initiative which has become Global Cleveland.

The tagline for Global Cleveland is "Connecting Newcomers to Opportunity and the Region." None of the numerous businesses, organizations and individuals involved in Global Cleveland is satisfied with the declining population of the region. Aggressive efforts to attract and retain people will yield increased economic opportunities and development for all.

At a press conference launch on April 5th, Global Cleveland Board Chairman Baiju Shah announced large funding sources and a location for their headquarters which will serve as a Welcoming Center.

See photos and video of Global Cleveland launch event

Benefit for Japan

Kids today. They are all lazy slackers who play video games all day, right?

Not these two. Two young high school students, Cameron Beason and Jane Tang saw the stories on the news and knew they had to do something for all the people suffering as a result of Japan's tsunami. Beason says they didn't want to just give money; they wanted to encourage other people to donate as well.

So they organized a Benefit for Japan at Asia Plaza.

Good for you Cameron and Jane!

Have to run IE6?

You know how I feel about Internet Explorer (IE) 6 - it's not as secure or feature rich as more modern browsers. (more about IE6)

But some of you have apps that have to run on Internet Explorer 6.

Microsoft IT pro evenagelist Matt Hester suggests a good workaround for you. And he shares a funny IE6 April Fool's Day story in this video with the Great Lakes Geek.

Ambulance Chasing

My sister's car was hit last week by a driver in University Circle. No injuries thankfully.

But several disturbing results.

First, the driver in the big new Dodge Durango had no insurance. She said she "was fixin' to get some soon." How do people not have insurance and get a license and drive?

The repairs will cost about $1800.

At the accident scene, the woman did not want to wait for police and her passenger got out, was very rude and when reprimanded by the driver, got back in the car and passed out! Druggie? Narcoleptic? Who knows.

Another disturbing thing happened yesterday morning. The Police Report must have been made public because beginning at 8AM my sister received a dozen phone calls in less than 20 minutes from law firms and chiropractors. The chiropractor offices wanted to help with her injuries even though no injuries were claimed. Are you sure your neck isn't sore?

It was apparent that these people would like to work with the accident victims to get money from insurance companies or others in the "system."

No wonder rates are so high!

Dad's Beers

I'm a fan of the new "Your Dad's Beer Stand" in Section 119. It will offer nostalgic brews such as Stroh's, Blatz, PBR, Rolling Rock and snacks like Beer Nuts, Pork Rinds and Andy Capp Fries.

Should be a lot of fun.

Great day for the Irish

It was a great day for the Irish - and the rest of Cleveland - as several hundred thousand people watched the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade.

We have 11 pages of photos and video of the St. Patrick's Day Parade on ClevelandPeople.Com

Clevealnd Indians and Social Media

During the 2010 season, the Cleveland Indians made Major League Baseball history with their Tribe Social Deck, a designated area of the Progressive Field stands for bloggers and social media aficionados.

The 2011 season will have even more social media interaction with fans.

At Tribe Media today I talked to Rob Campbell who tweets as @tribetalk on Twitter.

The short video is at GreatLakesGeek.Com

Some cool new ideas for bloggers and Social Media fans who are also Tribe fans.

Pl@y B@ll!

Happy Ada Lovelace Day

Tech needs Women!

It's a tragedy how few US women are in Science, Tech, Engineering and Math. We need their (your) contributions.

Programming used to be a career choice almost exclusively for Women.

Ada Lovelace is known as the first computer programmer for her work on Babbage's mechanical engine.

Though they are changing the date celebrated for Ada Lovelace Day from march 24 to October 7 in 2011, today is still a good day to think about women in tech.

Friends don't let friends run IE 6

Internet Explorer 6 is a ten year old product that has become insecure in the modern web world. The Great Lakes Geek is joining the effort to get people to upgrade to a more modern, secure browser.

Microsoft has an IE 6 Deathwatch countdown that will help Geeks like us spread the word. After all, friends don't let friends run IE6.

One minute podcast witht the Great Lakes Geek about IE 6

#ie6countdown

Marketing Cleveland

The Corporate Club at Landerhaven presented 3 heavy hitters at the March 15 event. The topic was Marketing Cleveland and moderator Chris Tye of WKYC-TV3 led a panel of David Gilbert, president and CEO of the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission and Positively Cleveland, Baiju Shah, President and CEO of BioEnterprise and Ivan Schwarz, Executive Director of the Greater Cleveland Film Commission.

As a native I was not surprised that the panelists agreed that we really need marketing Cleveland to Clevelanders more than to the rest of the world.

Marketing Cleveland

Pi Day

March 14th is Pi Day because it is 3-14 and Pi, of course, begins with 3.14159265...

Pi has amazing properties and fun facts associated with it but is also extremely useful in math, science and engineering.

Need to remember the first few numbers of Pi? “How I want a drink, alcoholic of course, after the heavy lectures involving quantum mechanics” was the classic sentence.

The latest One Minute Podcast from the Great Lakes Geek has lots of good stuff about this fascinating (irrational and transcendental) number.

Getting ready for the big day

These young ladies started celebrating early last week.

Windows 7 SP1

There have been a lot of issues with Windows 7 Service Pack 1 locking up and not installing. Seems most prevalent on HP and Dell 32bit PCs.

You may want to wait before across the board deployiong of SP1 till the bugs are out. Or do a test on a non-essential PC first.

Read part of the forum thread about a workaround

Hungarian Cowboys?

Marika Megyimori in Csikos cowboy hat

When I think of cowboys, I think of the Wild West of the United States. You know, John Wayne and the like.

But the Hungarians have cowboys too. In fact their cowboys were the theme of the 2011 Paprika Ball.

The Cleveland Hungarian Development Panel hosted the 21st annual Paprika and the theme was Cowboys and Characters of the Hungarian Plains (Puszyta).

Check out the photos and videos from Cleveland Hungarians Paprika 2011

Study from Braindumps for Cert exams

When someone posts the contents of a certification exam on the Internet, is it unethical to study from it or is all fair in Love, War and Certification Exams?

Let the Great Lakes Geek know (anonymously of course) in the latest vote.

Real Programmers Write Code

In Vino Veritas - In wine there is truth.

How about In Flat Iron Veritas?

I had lunch with Aztek CEO John Hill the other day at the venerable Flat Iron Cafe and we started talking about the lack of real programming talent in may of the web 'development' firms.

That became fodder for the latest Great Lakes Geek One Minute Podcast

A Sea of Red

I always liked the old Sammy Hagar rocker called Red.

And I think about that song every year when it's time for the annual Go Red for Women event. Heart disease is the #1 killer of women and this event helps spread awareness of that fact.

Over 900 women attended the event last Friday and 99% of them wore red!

See photos of Cleveland Women in Red. Know anybody?

Cleveland Orchestra as International Business Driver

We all know that the Cleveland Orchestra is the premier international ambassador for the city.

But did you know there are direct implications to international business?

At the Rotary Club of Cleveland event last Thursday, the Club honored Franz Welser-Most and the Cleveland Orchestra with their 2011 International Service Award.

Executive Director Gray Hanson accepted the award and gave the keynote address. It was interesting to hear the affect that music piracy has to the orchestra's bottom line.

Also interesting to learn where most of the musicians come from.

But the most interesting was the story that Hanson (no relation) told about the Emperor of Japan and business in Cleveland.

Cleveland Orchestra at the Rotary of Cleveland

Record Player Marketing

I saw a cool marketing device that gets the target to listen to your company message. A firm called Grey Vancouver devised a cardboard phonograph mailer.

The principle behind a phonograph is simple so they were able to duplicate it in and mail it out.

The cardboard folds into the proper shape and a needle is already attached. A 45 RPM record is included and it has a hole so you can put a pencil in the hole and turn the record.

Very cool. It cost them $5000 to design, produce and send the 100 mailers but they got an incredible 90% response rate.

And traffic to their website grew from 50 weekly visits to over 70,000. Wow!

Least interesting day of the century

Below is the text of the latest One Minute Podcast with the Great Lakes Geek.

A programmer in the UK fed 300 million facts into a computer program that he wrote and determined that April 11, 1954 was the least interesting day since 1900. From news and events the program determined that fewer important things happened on that day than the others in the century.

In one sense that must have been a great day. The old Chinese curse says “May you live in interesting times.” Sometimes interesting is not good. It’s nice to have boring from time to time.

But when I read about the most boring day it reminded me of an old math problem. The prof would say what is the first non-interesting integer (or real number or irrational or whatever.)

We would go through the list excluding numbers. 1 is the identity, it is of course interesting. 2 is the only even prime number. 3 is prime. 4 is a square and so on. We could find something of interest for a lot of numbers.

But eventually we got to a number that we couldn’t find anything interesting about. Let’s call it X.

So we’d tell the prof that X was the first non-interesting number.

Do you see what happens next?

By virtue of X being the first non-interesting number, it becomes interesting! And the process continues.

So there may not be a lot of major events that happened on April 11, 1954 but it just got a little more interesting in my book.

Bill Clinton has a big instrument

Last Friday night, the Honorable Lojze Peterle, Member of the European Parliament and first democratically elected Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, spoke in Cleveland at a Slovenian church in Collinwood.

The speech was in Slovenian but I did manage to pick up part of it.

Prime Minister Peterle told how US President Bill Clinton was from a big country so he played a big instrument - the saxophone.

He is from a small country, Slovenia, so he plays a small instrument - a harmonica. But both can make beautiful music.

He then played Beethoven's Joyful Joyful on the harmonica - really well.

Check out pics and the short video of Prime Minister Peterle.

National Broadband Policy

Blair Levin, principal architect of the National Broadband Plan, spoke at the City Club of Cleveland. His topic was "The New Table Stakes: Winning in the 21st Century"

He then joined a panel offering a local perspective on how Northeast Ohio is building toward a broadband future.

Moderator Lev Gonick, Vice President for Information Technology Services & CIO, Case Western Reserve University, led a panel consisting of:

Roy Church - President, Lorain County Community College
Bethany Dentler - Executive Director, Medina County Economic Development Corporation
Scot Rourke - President & CEO, OneCommunity

There are some glaring and problematic mistakes in our national broadband policy according to Mr. Levin. See what they are and more from the City Club Forum on Broadband

Snow and Ice Storm

Jim Evans suggested that we add "A hot member of the opposite sex . . . for extra body heat in the sleeping bag." to our list of snow storm travel preparations.

That reminded me of a true story.

In the blizzard of 1977, a co-worker and I left work downtown at 3PM and didn't get home till almost 11PM. We took our usual route - Chester - Euclid - Mayfield.

We must have helped 100 cars by pushing them out of drifts - we even directed traffic for awhile. All through University Circle and Little Italy. It was actually fun at times.

We both learned a lesson though in the first few hours of being cooped up in the car. In Hour 1 and 2 we looked at the other cars hoping to find cute girls. That was the #1 priority. We added looking for food around Hour 4 but by Hour 5 and beyond, our biggest concern was finding a bathroom!

After being stuck on Chester for 3 hours last month the same process played out - but much quicker!

Winter weather warning

The federal government has issued a travel warning due to the cold weather.

They suggest that anyone traveling in the current blizzard conditions should make sure they carry the following:

• Shovel


• Blankets or sleeping bag


• Extra clothing including hat and gloves


• 24 hours worth of food


• De-icer


• Rock salt


• Flashlight with spare batteries


• Road flares or reflective triangles


• Full spare gas can


• First aid kit


• Booster cables

I looked like an idiot on the bus this morning.