Strong hands, strong backs and strong minds needed to fix crumbling water infrastructure in Great Lakes region.  Immigrants encouraged to apply.

I suggest realNEO members consider the developments surfaced in the Guardian article highlighted below. One of the world's top Journalism prizes - The George Polk Award - was awarded to an anonymous bystander who captured a death in Iran on a cell phone and uploaded it to the Internet. The 40 second video is the most disturbing I have ever seen, by a long shot, and I do not embed it here, nor include even a still frame, nor do I recommend anyone viewing it - if you do you will see a person die, close-up, in a very bloody and graphic way.

Why I post about this on realNEO is that, as the Guardian writes, the "New 'videography' category reflects rising professional use of user-created content". Further: "This award celebrates the fact that, in today's world, a brave bystander with a cellphone camera can use video-sharing and social networking sites to deliver news," said the New York Times' John Darnton, the curator of the Polk Awards.

realNEO visitors have probably noticed the "Who's Online/Online Users" block in the left-hand column of the REALNEO.US homepage, indicating the people who are online and logged in at realNEO at a particular time. Ever wonder about all those people, always on realNEO... who they are, where they are, and why they are visiting here...?

Standards for the Management of Coal Combustion Residues Generated by Commercial Electric Power Producers – Proposed Rule – Expected in the near future

Props to Jeff Shuler, realNEO's tech administrator. He has been implementing an anti-spam strategy that seems to be working... meaning admins don't have to block a dozen spammers and delete their lame links, each day....! Thank you Jeff S!

If you are a real realNEO user and you have any trouble with accessing or posting to the site, it is not because an admin hates you - there is software now analyzing all the content posted to the site and running tests to rate how likely it is that the content is spam, and Jeff is adjusting settings to try and block out the spam, without impacting real users. The system must learn - a type of "artificial intelligence" - and it is learning - and it seems to be working. IF YOU ARE BLOCKED FOR ANY REASON AND SHOULD NOT BE BLOCKED, GO TO THE CONTACT LINK IN THE MENU BAR ABOVE AND LET US KNOW!

I attended an excellent Software Freedom Day event in Toronto in 2006, which I introduced on REALNEO here, and covered on REALNEO here - I actually needed a copy of Ubuntu that day, so it came in very handy.

I'd like to see Northeast Ohio celebrate Software Freedom Day 2010 in a BIG WAY - Saturday, September 18 - and follow the model I saw in use in Toronto, which included active, friendly engagement on a busy street, with workshops and light training/Q&A offered inside a receptive place. Of course, the Linux Penguin was out-front to draw attention to the event... we definitely need a penguin.

Transforming the economy of Northeast Ohio - real NEO - will take incredible guts, new creations, a commitment to real openness, and 1,000s of Big Bangs.

real NEO, say hello to your little friend - ICEarth Big Bang 1. Created and Manufactured in Old Brooklyn - that's in Cleveland, Ohio, Earth.

Play the job lotto, it's easy. Post your resume on the net, apply for every job where the shoe fits and wait for your number to be called. Some employers will post all sorts of contact info and yet say "no phone calls please". Some are required to collect so many applicants to be a sample pool, but the boss's nephew is singled out already. The fresh faced youth's first job is so important for his success. What, he has few job specific skills, no training, no experience, but he is a crony.

It has been exciting to watch, over the past week, as this beautiful video clip of my beautiful wife Evelyn giving birth to our beautiful daughter Clara has been viewed by nearly 6,000 people on YouTube - a companion video clip of my wife in hypno-birth, water-birth labor has received nearly as much global attention... in a week. In a week, those two clips attracted around 10,000 unique viewers... about as many unique viewers as come to our REALNEO community, in a week. The value of sharing these videos on YouTube is obvious - that is a good distribution channel to teach people about childbirth. So is REALNEO.

There is a very disturbing article in today's Cleveland Plain Dealer, written by their urban-planning-master-in-training at Cleveland State University, that is so full of conflicts-of-interests and halftruths it will take weeks to dismantle the mess.

I just received this email for cat lovers, from Iams Cats - the Iams cat lovers email newsletter - and thought I would share these tips with the community. Obviously, there are product promotions here - perhaps some useful information as well. This is not an endorsement of Iams, although I endorse their use of the Internet to serve their customers well... a best performer with ICE - Internet Communications Excellence.

Winter Weather Tips For Cat Owners

Winter is here - and so are snow, ice, and a biting wind. And even though your cat might not go outside, some do. So here are things people do to insure their cat’s safe and warm out there. Read on to learn more.

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Herman co-wrote the provocative new book, Immigrant Inc.--Why Immigrant Entrepreneurs Are Driving the New Economy, with Plain Dealer reporter Robert L. Smith.  Published by John Wiley & Sons, the book urges struggling communities like Cleveland and Akron to recall the immigrant energy that made their cities great.

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From SingingForOurLife's Channel on YouTube

In light of the recent decision by the John Carroll University administration to not specifically include the protection of Lesbians, Gays, Bi-Sexuals, Transgendered, and Questioning students in its Anti-Discrimination Statement, we, the students, faculty, and alumni of John Carroll University choose to voice our support for those the university leaves without protection.

On the second Tuesday of each month you can benefit Cleveland Peace Action, Women Speak Out for Peace & Justice and InterReligious Task Force, simply by doing something we all have to do. Grocery shopping. The Coop will generously donate a portion of your total to the three organizations. All you need to do is mention one of the organizations to the cashier when you check out.

The Food Co-op is located at 11702 Euclid Avenue in Cleveland. Hours are Monday - Saturday 9am-8pm & Sunday 10am-6pm.

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Expert hypnobirthing mother, during her third naturally-wonderful, perfect hypnobirth, January 31, 2010, delivering and receiving her baby - no medications or medical intervention - one hour and 10 minutes after she falls asleep between strong contractions here.

Notice the complete lack of screaming, scalpels, doctors, pain and gore... not one drop of blood in the water - observe the natural joy and beauty, and the smile on the mother's face just moments after childbirth... the baby immediately comforted in her arms.

The midwife is heard saying "Not a small child" - she was right... 8 pounds 13 ounces.

Women in labor under hypnobirth

This High Definition ambient film clip is of an expert hypnobirthing mother, during her third naturally-wonderful, perfect hypnobirth, January 31, 2010, in hard labor, fully dilated - no medications or medical intervantion, other than a midwife breaking her water, later - one hour and 10 minutes before the baby was delivered - where she falls asleep between strong contractions that are less than 2 minutes apart. She has been up the entire night before tiling a bathroom, has not slept, and was stressed until she began focusing on her hypnobirthing.

posts that deal with Cleveland and the foreclosure crisis

On Monday at the Localfood Cleveland meeting (So you want to be a farmer), Darwin Kelsey, of the Cuyahoga Valley Countryside Conservancy, noted that farming in the future is gonna be largely women's work - women he said are just doing it more than men are.

Clara Evelyn Roulet, 1 minute old

I was so busy yesterday having a beautiful baby girl (by waterbirth - by hypnobirth - amazing photos and video to come), I didn't have a chance to thank Ronn Richard and the Board of the Cleveland Foundation for a second great gift that day, showing they recognized the need to transform our regional redevelopment and transformation efforts at the core, after many years supporting and funding what we now have. I believe this opens up new world's of opportunity for our region, just when they are needed most.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (January 27, 2010) – The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission today issued new interpretive guidance that clarifies what publicly-traded companies need to disclose to investors in terms of climate-related 'material' effects on business operations, whether from new emissions management policies, the physical impacts of changing weather or business opportunities associated with the growing clean energy economy.

I've been thinking lead poisoning victims should send letters containing lead dust samples to the homes of people who clearly don't consider lead poisoning a serious matter. What do you think? Anything wrong with sending a perfectly legal substance that is spewed upon the public by Mittal and Cleveland Thermal to the families of the CEOs of the companies and enterprises that buy dirty power and steel from them?

How about sending lead to the politicians who vote for dirty coal burning, like the Cleveland City Council members who voted for AMP?

Authorized bootleg recording of Deyora jamming in Parma, Cleveland-area, realNEO, Ohio.

Deyora is:

I saw the following Fan Club posting for BENNY ORZECHOWSKI/BEN ORR, of Parma, of the Cars - on Craig's List (which I thought was interesting) - and I figured folks on realNEO may be interested and able to help out... and enjoy the early 1960s Cleveland roots rock classic posted below (nice guitar).