An eclipse view from Whiskey Island, c/o @deepvoodoo

 

Damn... can just a bit of metal on metal make the worst of sound.

 

I was riding back downtown Chicago from Evanston and in a rush to do it under an hour since it was dark.  I was on Howard moving at about 25 mph (not the safest place).  I have a damaged disk brake out of alignment and the blocks are gone and have ground the rotor badly. Well I hit a bump and my u-lock falls just as I was passing under the El viaduct. I slam on the brakes and I swear it sounded like a train stopping. 

 

It wasn't some wussy rim brake squeal, but a deep sounding screech from hell amplified by the viaduct.  It was enough to startle the people posting it up near the station entrance since I had disrupted complete silence. 

 

I'll miss that sound when it's repaired. It scares people when they try to jaywalk in front of me since they think it's coming from a truck.

Record it so you can play it back as needed, in place of a more conventional device like a bell.

 

I once had an ordinary caliper brake that was misadjusted. The lightest touch made it squeal like all hell was breaking loose. That had much the same effect; casual strollers who took up more than their share of the greenway thought an out-of-control cyclist was trying to make a panic stop behind them.

One time me an a buddy were riding up a hill in NW D.C. on our BMXs. It was a pretty long one, and I started getting real tired. He was riding behind me and was yelling something about my brake. I'm like, "aggghhh this is just a really tough hill, that's all" even though I could hear a noise. We get to the top of the hill and I am done. Sure enough, my brake pad had spun 90 degrees and was rubbing again the tire badly. We had to dip in to a bar so that I could recover for an hour with a beer.

Bleh. Killer throat infection, went to the doctors, it's viral so nothing to do but wait to get better....

Bleh. Killer throat infection, went to the doctors, it's viral so nothing to do but wait to get better....

 

Man, I could go so many places with this.... but I'm going to give you a pass.  LOL  LOL

I'm not going to reveal who, but a person of very high importance that lives behind me called the cops on some friends of a resident of our building. Coincidentally, they were smoking weed in the alley.  I guess it wasn't so much the smoking but the late night loud talking that amplifies between two tall buildings. However he worded the call to the operator...or I guess his status got 3 cop cars there in a hurry. It was apparently structured like a gang bust on a busy corner...but of course turned out nothing more than kids smoking. They received infractions and were asked to go back in the building.

 

 

....and I know MTS is going to say my building is nothing but trouble

....and I know MTS is going to say my building is nothing but trouble

No.  I thinking, you and you friends are trouble!  HA!! :P :P

The spiders have completed webs in every one of my windows which means summer has officially begun in Chicago. If I ever find a bug in my apartment, I toss them to the spiders lol

Totally random question, but does anyone know if the City of Cincinnati (or Hamilton County) keeps blueprints for projects like a condo conversions of a historic buildings?  XUMelanie and I would like to put in a gas fireplace like some of our neighbors have, but we're not sure if a gas line was run behind the wall or not.  We're hoping they just ran the line and capped it when the previous owner decided not to have a fireplace as part of his finishings.  I've searched CAGIS as well as the Hamilton County Auditor site for permits, but could find nothing other than generic "reset inspections" and "certificate of occupancy" documents.

Lesson learned through a friend this morning: When giving an update about your career on social networking sites one should be very cognizant of the difference between re-signed and resigned.  Your family will freak out over the difference.

Damn.  We have this familiar homeless person in our neighborhood.  He wears everything he owns, I'm not kidding.  He looks like a hockey player.  Problem is he's never taken a shower....at least so its rumored.  People have given him stuff, but I guess he doesn't want to go to the shelters.

 

Well anyway, today the stench went from bad to horrific.  Very early this morning I was riding my bike towards him.  The wind was blowing at my back.  And he was crossing the street in front of me.  I could smell the wretched stench from 100 feet.  One Hundred Feet away before I even got near....and with the wind blowing toward him, not away  This is not an exaggeration.  I was floored that a single human is capable of stenching up an entire city block.  Yeah...skunks can outdo that, but we're talking humans.  There must be a level where poor hygiene reaches lethal levels. Usually ammonia from sweat is quickly broken down, but all those layers of clothing I'm certain don't help. 

 

This guy really needs help, but I don't blame people for being afraid of getting to close.  It's hard to believe I far away and gagging from the smell.

Missing person! Lives in Gordon Square, works far west (Avon/Lorain):

 

http://chronicle.northcoastnow.com/2012/06/06/coworkers-looking-for-man-who-disappeared-from-avon-job/

So I'm in Youngstown this afternoon for some meetings, and I walked past this little guy stuck to a light post in Federal Plaza

 

woo!

^ aaaand appropriately on the heels of rnr!

 

 

 

metal bands (known to us clevelanders as me-tal bands  :laugh:  ) per 100k residents and other strange maps:

 

 

 

 

 

best observation of the world me-tal data?  :banger:

 

"[5] Really? No metal band called Heart of Darkness in the Democratic Republic of the Congo?

Well - apparently there is one (1) metal band in the DRC."

 

 

http://bigthink.com/ideas/560-a-world-map-of-heavy-metal-density?page=all

 

 

what the heck one more.

a simplified map of london:

 

 

What's the me-tal all about???

What's the me-tal all about???

 

enjoy!  :banger:  :laugh:

 

http://www.metalunderground.com/news/details.cfm?newsid=74390

 

 

^ aaaand appropriately on the heels of rnr!

 

 

 

metal bands (known to us clevelanders as me-tal bands  :laugh:  ) per 100k residents and other strange maps:

 

 

 

 

 

best observation of the world me-tal data?  :banger:

 

"[5] Really? No metal band called Heart of Darkness in the Democratic Republic of the Congo?

Well - apparently there is one (1) metal band in the DRC."

 

 

http://bigthink.com/ideas/560-a-world-map-of-heavy-metal-density?page=all

 

If that map was made in 1981 England would be bright red.

The vocals should be turned down on that track. I almost never say that (I hate when the music drowns out vocals). If they were lower, the guy could sing louder and he might sound more like a metal singer than a punk singer.

Love me some Swedish Death Metal when the mood is right.

Man, really digging the Alternate Reality track. There's a couple bands besides them up in Cleveland doing the retro NWOBHM http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nwobhm (New Wave of British Heavy Metal) sound with its lo-fi production, horses-and-castles lyrics, standard metal song structures and guitar harmonies. What I dig about the video is that everything around them is over the top despite the band's understated look.

 

They'll never get that big with lawyers in the band, though. Too hard for the record companies to screw them over. (cue MTS)

well they did win yahoo's worst video of 2011 award -

 

aaaand yet its seriously mesmerizing i love it!

 

me-tal!

 

re-al-i-ty!

Hahaha YES!!!

 

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120611/SPORTS0201/206110381

 

-----Runs and hides------

That is just dumb on the Peppers.  It's fine to have a silly allegiance to a football team or whatever but it's kinda unclassy to do that AT an actual university that is clearly a historical rival.  It'd be as silly as O.A.R. going to some bar in Ann Arbor and playing "Hang On Sloopy" after the set is over.  Just idiotic.

 

But then again, it's the RHCP.  It'd be like asking for class from Melissa Rivers and Don Rickles.

That is just dumb on the Peppers.  It's fine to have a silly allegiance to a football team or whatever but it's kinda unclassy to do that AT an actual university that is clearly a historical rival.  It'd be as silly as O.A.R. going to some bar in Ann Arbor and playing "Hang On Sloopy" after the set is over.  Just idiotic.

 

But then again, it's the RHCP.  It'd be like asking for class from Melissa Rivers and Don Rickles.

 

You realize the folks in Ann Arbor would just stare and not say anything. 

I forgot, they are deprogrammed robots.

My roommate is from NEO and a Michigan fan. He starts grad school at OSU in the fall. I bet he'll have some explaining to do around campus when the talk turns to football.

Nah, he can use that fancy book learnin' to confuse them state school types. We don't like thinkin' round these parts!

 

What do I know, I went to Syracuse. Q: How many SU students does it take to screw in a light bulb? A: Beer pong!!

He's going to be doing East European Studies, so people will probably more interested in talking about soccer and F1 anyway. Month-long World Cup party at our house in 2014, with Eurodisco during breaks and people smoking cigarettes with pictures of tumors on the packs!

Man, the covers on el cheapo DVDs from the dollar store are hilarious. I just got "The Pride of Jesse Hallam", the 1981 Johnny Cash movie where he moves to Cincinnati. Of course, when they made the cover, they just Google Image Searched a picture of Cincinnati and Photoshopped a still of Johnny Cash from the movie onto it. So you've got a 1981 picture of Johnny next to Great American Ballpark and the Freedom Center.

What's the me-tal all about???

 

enjoy!  :banger:  :laugh:

 

http://www.metalunderground.com/news/details.cfm?newsid=74390

 

 

 

OK, I've been listening to metal since I was little. Now all of sudden after this discussion I've found myself saying "Me-tal" too. This "Me-tal" talk is about how people in Cleveland say "Me-tal" rather than pronouncing it "Meddle" like folks downstate do and I always did before. Just need to listen to more All Sides with Ann Fisher to really tune in my Cleveland accent.

Some geniuses working for Shell marketing thought it would be a good idea to let people on the internet make their own "Arctic Ready" - pro Arctic drilling billboards.  Hilarity ensues.

 

So go have a good laugh at Shell's expense before the IT guys have a chance to delete the photos.  I'm sure bloggers are furiously archiving but still.

 

http://arcticready.com/social/gallery?sort_by=value&sort_order=DESC

The ad generator is "Down for Maintenance while they address some issues"

 

Take a look at the Just for Kids section. Regardless of your stance on climate change, who in their right mind would think a game for kids promoting melting ice caps was a good idea.

 

Quoted from the site:

Right now, the polar ice caps of our planet are melting.

 

That's bad—but it's also good!

 

That's right! It's bad because our planet needs ice at the poles. But it's good because when the polar ice melts, we at Shell can go up there to get more oil, which can do a whole lot of things. Thanks to oil:

•Mommy and Daddy can drive to the store to buy you new toys.

•Companies like Mattel™ can build new toys.

•Engineers can drive to work to design new, better toys that are even more fun to play with.

•When you're done with your toys, trucks can take them away to dispose of.

 

 

 

There's no way this is legit, right? It's a satirical website. I mean 'mommy & daddy can drive to the store'?? This is like something a villain might say on Captain Planet...or in a Steven Seagal movie during the late 90's when he wanted to be an Eskimo.

 

Edit: I just googled 'arctic ready spoof' and came up with this

 

http://o.canada.com/2012/07/16/spoof-campaign-attacks-shell/

I'm back!!! I missed this site so much. Gotta get back into my urban-loving, photo-shooting, urban-ohio state of mind! haha

^ Where have you been??

 

^^^^

I love this one:

Edit: Thanks CDM but I still had to fix what you did. :P

 

Ahh, a real keyboard. Tablets certainly have their limitations. (At some point I will probably do a Pet Peeves post on tablet frustrations...haven't passed the threshold just yet. Or maybe when I have passed the threshold I am far too annoyed to attempt a post.)

Helped ;)

^ Where have you been??

 

^^^^

I love this one:

 

Busy... Had a rough month in April, and I haven't been shooting that much. Finishing up school (due to graduate on August 4th) and now I'm finally coming back to my senses.

 

And I just caught wind of those ads today. Hilarious.

I just opened my bill, and my AC is costing a ton.  I'm basically paying $1 to run it for 10 hours.  It's easy to figure out since my landlord pays all utilities except air conditioning.  The unit is from the 1970's.  I'm led to believe it's very inefficient.

 

I need a new AC unit to condition a 700 square foot apartment, but really only benefit a 300 square foot zone.  And it must be quiet!!!  Any recommendations?

I just opened my bill, and my AC is costing a ton.  I'm basically paying $1 to run it for 10 hours.  It's easy to figure out since my landlord pays all utilities except air conditioning.  The unit is from the 1970's.  I'm led to believe it's very inefficient.

 

I need a new AC unit to condition a 700 square foot apartment, but really only benefit a 300 square foot zone.  And it must be quiet!!!  Any recommendations?

 

I'm surprised a unit that old still is running. Efficiencies have improved a lot just in the past 10-15 years, but sometimes just servicing an old unit will perk it up considerably. If it's low on freon and/or the condenser is clogged with dust and dirt, it's functioning way below its design rating. Accumulated moisture in the evaporator and drain pan and a clogged condensate drain can impede efficiency and contribute to mold growth, an air-quality and health hazard.

 

Compact, quiet portable units on casters vent the condenser air through a nearby window via flex duct. They can easily be moved from room to room, or even a different part of a room, for efficient localized cooling. The capacity you're looking for can be bought for around $300. They operate on 110V AC and can be plugged into a normal wall outlet.

Alright off topic minions... gotta question for you.

 

While I was at Great Northern Mall shopping today, I noticed something I've never seen before. As I was parking there was a goofy looking Scion driving around with stereoscopic cameras sticking out of the rear seat windows. As I watched the Scion went up and down each row, apparently recording everyone's license plates. Googling such things gives scant information beyond some lame 'locate my car' app. I figure they are collecting and mining data about demographics and distances traveled to get to the mall, right?

I just opened my bill, and my AC is costing a ton.  I'm basically paying $1 to run it for 10 hours.  It's easy to figure out since my landlord pays all utilities except air conditioning.  The unit is from the 1970's.  I'm led to believe it's very inefficient.

 

I need a new AC unit to condition a 700 square foot apartment, but really only benefit a 300 square foot zone.  And it must be quiet!!!  Any recommendations?

 

I'm surprised a unit that old still is running. Efficiencies have improved a lot just in the past 10-15 years, but sometimes just servicing an old unit will perk it up considerably. If it's low on freon and/or the condenser is clogged with dust and dirt, it's functioning way below its design rating. Accumulated moisture in the evaporator and drain pan and a clogged condensate drain can impede efficiency and contribute to mold growth, an air-quality and health hazard.

 

Compact, quiet portable units on casters vent the condenser air through a nearby window via flex duct. They can easily be moved from room to room, or even a different part of a room, for efficient localized cooling. The capacity you're looking for can be bought for around $300. They operate on 110V AC and can be plugged into a normal wall outlet.

 

My landlord gave me a story today about how everything new in the world is junk, and buying a new one will just be junk.  Then something about installing a new window  And then followed by brick tuckpoints and restoring a cornice on another building.  My mind started wandering.  I don't think they'll let me replace the unit.

Alright off topic minions... gotta question for you.

 

While I was at Great Northern Mall shopping today, I noticed something I've never seen before. As I was parking there was a goofy looking Scion driving around with stereoscopic cameras sticking out of the rear seat windows. As I watched the Scion went up and down each row, apparently recording everyone's license plates. Googling such things gives scant information beyond some lame 'locate my car' app. I figure they are collecting and mining data about demographics and distances traveled to get to the mall, right?

 

That's interesting, though it would seem kind of expensive to do all that for an app.

 

I think we're overdue for massive improvements in streetview where buildings will appear more hi def or possibly in 3D.  Many shopping centers and mall complexes have approved of these vehicles to photograph their property since existing images tend to be farther away and blurry which don't do justice from a marketing standpoint. 

 

I was extremely excited when I got a close up view of a car outfitted with six high end nikon cameras all clicking away as it drove.  Imagine seeing this kind of image quality.

 

Ok, I too have been a lax UO member lately. I'll try to do better.

 

Question,  there is probably a foreclosure thread on here somewhere and this indirectly related but I thought I'd ask here. Why would Freddie Mac being buying a house at auction right now?

 

My neighbors has their house foreclosed on and have finally moved  out, without being evicted. Really sad story. Husband goes on disability starts drinking too much, marriage on the rocks, she loses her job, they split up, she finds out she has cancer. I couldn't make up what this poor women and kids have gone through.

 

Anyway, she finally finishes chemo and moves out into an apartment with the kids. I knew the house was in foreclosure, and I knew they weren't evicted so I started researching their case on the county site. Turns out the house was sold at auction in June to Freddie Mac, but the mortage was held by a reputable local bank. Why would they be buying the property? Decent house on a great street, they bought it at about 50k below market value.

thats a very sad story to hear. i think part of the mission of freddie mac is to buy up foreclosed homes to take them off lenders hands so that they have more money to lend, at least theoretically or ideally. in other words , they dont just help out homeowners, they help out lenders as well. at least thats how i understand it from a mortgage guy friend.

 

***

 

on a much much lighter note -- a bit of only in ny comedy:

 

 

 

HOME > NEWS > NYC LOCAL > MANHATTAN

 

City officials pull the plug on vibrator giveaway, leaving thousands dissatisfied

 

By AMBER SUTHERLAND, JENNIFER BAIN and TODD VENEZIA

Last Updated: 8:20 AM, August 9, 2012

 

 

They must have rubbed Mayor Bloomberg the wrong way.

City officials pulled the plug on a vibrator giveaway by the Trojan condom company yesterday, disappointing potentially thousands of pleasure-seeking women who hoped to get their hands on some no-cost sex toys.

“I’m 57 years old. I should be able to get a vibrator!” declared Linda Postell, who was among hundreds of women (and men!) waiting in the heat on Pearl Street only to be left unsatisfied. “I have a problem with the smoking ban, and the soda ban — and now this!”

 

 

http://m.nypost.com/f/mobile/news/local/manhattan/city_kos_good_vibrations_Rtc8Up7hrIGqlC63E3J1fK

 

There was a small discussion on the Cincinnati Streetcar thread yesterday about going off-topic too much. The current thread has 601 pages of posts. Is there any other topic that has this many posts? I can't even seem to find a topic with half that number...

Ryan, it is the most epic thread ever and no other thread will ever touch it.