natininja

LOL, he sounds awesome. I agree with the turkey-for-every-meal thing, goddamn! The last bit of my turkey made its way into a pasta sauce. Turkey pasta sauce!!!

Yeah, it's going on right now. It's seriously cool. I remember my dad bringing me down there as a kid and loving it. Last year (probably this year too) they had a camera on one of the trains, and a TV on one of the walls in the lobby showing the video from the train. The coolest thing about it was how, since the models are so detailed, it looked like the train was going through a real town. Save for the gigantic people standing by, who you could also see. So the other cool thing was that kids could watch the monitor while other members of the family waved at the train cam as it went by. The lobby itself is pretty sweet, including a couple relief murals on the walls depicting the city and the river. Info on the display: http://www.duke-energy.com/community/programs/train.asp http://www.duke-energy.com/community/programs/about.asp

Say whaa?? This makes me want to chomp down on a heaping Cracker Barrel-sized portion of freedom toast in celebration of gfi...yaoming?

Kasich has already announced he is giving the buses to other states. (Just kidding!)

Yup, thanks. I'll remove it from my post since it's on tumblr now.

(Picture was here) This is from the annual holiday toy train display in downtown Cincinnati, last year. It's in the lobby of the Duke Energy building, which is a cool place in and of itself. Don't you love that little boy's face? :-) (The only thing missing from the photo is a train...oops.)

Coastal people control the media, so they control perception. Even Midwesterners think the Midwest is backwater and the coasts are progressive paradise (or alternately that the Midwest is "real America" and the coasts are some foreign land of liberal elites). The media presents a false dichotomy, people eat it up. And to some extent it becomes self-fulfilling as Midwestern progressives hightail it to the coasts.

Since we have outside attention, I will be charitable and say that Longworth probably offers the best analysis out there if you are interested in non-urban Midwest issues.

^^ Fair enough, but I sympathize in that it's really hard to churn out a product at the rate some of these guys do while consistently offering paradigm-shifting policy proposals. It's interesting to get some analysis, even without profound insight regarding "what to do about it". Maybe someone will read their work and come up with solutions. It's worth noting that a lot of people put out analysis that is just pure crap. Renn is one of the few that keep my attention. Some may not like the way he creams his pants for Indy all the time (the most common complaint I hear), but at least he has an interesting perspective, and he backs it up with information. I don't think, even on a bad day, he would dish out some crap like Longworth did in his post. And Renn is way more prolific.

Mmm-mmm, I want me summadat freedom toast! Bon apetit! Good point about Ghiz, LOL. The bike plan was passed unanimously, though. That's gotta be worth something. I think that is because no arguments were presented against it until they started adding bike lanes in Hyde Park. The nay-sayer contingent simply wasn't creative enough to come up with their own reasons not to sign on.

arenn is not a Cleveland hater. Nor is he a Detroit hater, for that matter. My bet is he would take issue with what Longworth said there. I think Longworth doesn't like Ohio in general. The contrast between Renn's and Longworth's focal points, as suggested by their blogs, highlights how the Midwest is just too big to be addressed as one entity. Longworth seems to generally focus from Chicago/Indy/Columbus(IN) west, while Renn seems to focus from Chicago east. You could probably find someone else in, say, Omaha, who claims to be a Midwest blogger and considers Chicago to be outside of their sphere akin to NYC for Renn.

Oh, in that case...I agree with you. Say whaaaaaaaaaaaaa?

^ Agreed. I was just trying to point out that raising the gas tax is not (by itself) a viable long term solution, which I think is part of what the Simpson-Bowles bill aims to be for the budget crisis. When the results of the bill are expressed in a time frame of decades, it should include more thought regarding the suggestions you've highlighted, rather than merely focusing on the short-term gains provided by raising the gas tax.

^ He's pointing out that the people up in arms about police layoffs being caused by the streetcar are sitting idly by while the city is bending over backward to give money to Toby Keith.

What we need is a mile tax!!!

Richard Longworth doesn't love Cleveland. http://globalmidwest.typepad.com/global-midwest/2010/12/beating-the-tourist-drum-too-softly.html

^ Don't you remember when we won the school money because NJ screwed up? It was in the news cycle for a good week or two, largely due to the Christie administration's blunder.

That's a creative use of the word 'infill'.

Whatever, it could happen to you. Consider it a warning.

I figured out that site is fake (kinda like the Onion), but it's funny and half-believable. The name Percy Cummings made me suspicious though.

Here we go. Man arrested after ejaculating during TSA pat-down http://www.deadseriousnews.com/?p=573

Eighth and State, have you driven through Europe? It's not that different from the US; there are highways everywhere. The idea that Europeans have chosen rail over highways is pretty silly. They simply have both. And they use both. StrapHanger, SW Europe has lots of the toll roads of which you speak. NW Europe hardly has any, if there are any. I've never seen a toll road in Denmark, Germany, or Benelux. Not sure about UK/Ireland (or Norway for that matter). Austria (and I think Switzerland) has stickers which you purchase for your windshield (like parks might have here) instead of the toll booths found in, e.g. France and Spain. Speed cameras also serve the purpose of checking if you have the proper sticker. jjacucyk's assertion that 3C is a cheaper alternative to expanding 71 is pretty spot-on. The services are very much complementary.

ink, did you check out Smith's coffeehouse? I think I would have to stop in if I were visiting Arcanum.

FTA:

Seriously awesome!!! You're my new hero.