CincyBlurg

Great Cincinnati-themed shirts!

noreply@blogger.com (CincyBlurg) — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 17:34:00 +0000

I was going back through old comments, and I found a link to these guys. They do great Cincinnati-themed shirts. I wish the comment wasn't anon, because I would love to thank the person for turning me on to the shirts.

Glad to see folks taking pride in and poking fun at the Nati at the same time. I've even seen the West Chester one out and about. I posted a few of my favorites after the break. Enjoy!

Ikea Zapatistas!

noreply@blogger.com (CincyBlurg) — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 08:00:00 +0000

Rise up Cincinnati! Don't go like sheep through the automatic sliding doors of the Ikea retail slaughterhouse. Think different! Try something... wait for it... USED!

I challenge you to post your favorite local places to buy furniture - used furniture stores, consignment shops, thrift stores, antique malls, even flea markets! And if you know of a good local shop that makes their own furniture or sells locally-made, regionally-made, or at least American-made furniture, let us know about them too! Recycle, reuse, or at least buy local.

I'll start with the first suggestion...

AHA: Ikea fans

noreply@blogger.com (CincyBlurg) — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 19:55:00 +0000

She's back with a bang - second post back and I'm already throwing an AssHat Award at someone. In fact, I'm giving out a bunch of 'em to a bunch of people!

This apparently is the MOST IMPORTANT news of the day in Cincinnati, because it was the main headline on Cincinnati.com this afternoon: "Line forms early for Ikea." You've got to f**king kidding me...

(Details and pic after the jump.)

To quote Cincinnati.com's caption for this photo:

Some very eager (and tired) shoppers are camping out today to be among the first inside Ikea's new West Chester Township store, which opens at 9 a.m. Wednesday. Here's everything you'll need to know about the grand opening.

* Video: Putting your purchase together
* A shopping primer | Store map
* How to shop at Ikea | Photos

Apparently the economy's not in the sh*tter enough if people still have the time and disposable income to take two days and nights out of productive society to spend it sitting on their asses in front of a place where they're planning on spending lots of money on crappy particle-board furniture.

Now, I'm not advocating that anyone should do a drive-by on these wastes-of-flesh or anything, but I'm sure few would miss them in the gene pool.

So AssHat Awards all around!
- To Cincinnati.com and whatever associated media that thought this was actually news - you should be ashamed.
- To everyone who's gonna cram their fat asses through the sliding doors on opening day looking like a rabid trailer-trash grandma looking for the last Cabbage Patch Kid - you're probably the same jackasses that line-up for an opening of the local chapter of the Golden Corral (or Golden Trough, as I like to call it).
- To everyone sitting there in line two days before the opening - I hope your flat-pack Crappka or Hurll chair breaks under the wait of your fat ass.

BONUS ROUND: Anyone know the reference in the last picture of the post?

I'm baaaaack...

noreply@blogger.com (CincyBlurg) — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 19:25:00 +0000

Sorry kiddies. Long time no see. Long story.

Simple version: the uptights at work found out about my blurg because of an AssHat co-worker, HR got involved, job was on the line, I dropped out of sight (and site) until things blew over or I could move to another company, I got a great new job (same industry), with a much better company, and now have a new boss that knows about the blog and doesn't care at all as long as I don't bring up anything related to work or my clients. A great new boss and a great new job. Sometimes things just work out the way they're supposed to, I guess.

Sorry again about my absence - but I had to keep the lights on, ya know? I've missed you all and have been keeping up with your blogs. I didn't comment under my own name because said AssHat was out to get me, and I couldn't take a chance that she was googling for my moniker to come up on other sites and thus expose me as not really being offline as promised. I did drop some anon comments for a while, but that got depressing, so much of this winter I've ignored the fray. But I'm back in it to win it, bitches.

So there it is, my first and last official post about work and the nastiness of the past six months. Oh yeah, one more thing - hey Cindy, go outside and play "Hide & Go F**k Yourself".

BLOG DEATH MATCH!

noreply@blogger.com (CincyBlurg) — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 14:16:00 +0000

So I noticed something the other day... two blogs have the same name, sort of. We all know Cincinnati Blog - but there's another blog using that name! The Nati (at least that was what I thought it was called) has the title: CINCINNATI BLOG on it's web page. It's not at the top of the page - yet - but just in the title bar (done via HTML). What's up with that?

Now, this could be poor coding or a simple mistake, but I'd like to think this is the beginning of a hostile takeover by Joe Hansbauer. Subtle innuendo at first, then targeted attacks combined with a carefully planned PR campaign to win the hearts and minds. Eventually the history books will be rewritten to include no mention of the former Cincinnati Blog or even Brian Griffin. And we've always been at war with Eastasia.

But I've blown the lid off your devious little plan, Mr. Hansbauer. I've shined the light under your rock. Shall you scurry away to hatch another plot - perhaps the assimilation of Cincinnati Black Blog? Or will you come out fighting? That's what I'd like to see.

So here are my terms for the battle royale: Brian and Joe must square off on Fountain Square, IN the fountain, three rounds, no holds barred, wearing only loincloths covering their nethers. And we'll broadcast it on the big screen as well as a live feed to the web via Lily Pad!

What'ya say boys?

(Well, a gurl's gotta dream any way.)

GFS: Cincy Images, others...

noreply@blogger.com (CincyBlurg) — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 23:10:00 +0000

If you haven't seen it before, it's new to you! Remember that marketing line? I think it was NBC who used it a few years ago to sell reruns of their shows during the regular season. Well, in this case, I hadn't seen this site before, and I'm letting you all know about it for the first time - or again, in case you have seen it.

Cincy Images (or Cincinnati Images - HTML title is different?) is a blog-style site with tons of photos from the Queen City in its gallery. Jayson, the site founder and primary photographer (?) also sells the images featured there - but you can browse them if you're just lookin'. He has some really great photography and a real passion for our fair city. And he's only been here since 2003!

It's nice to see someone who shares their enthusiasm for the city so openly (I won't fault him for trying to make a buck on his photos either). But I must also tip my hat to Cincinnati, As I See It and 5chw4r7z, two other great blogs that feature wonderful photography, usually daily. I visit these two almost every morning to see what beautiful new perspectives they have on the Nati.

Thanks to all of you for sharing your photos and your lives! :)

Blurg Ketchup (Lot No. 090907)

noreply@blogger.com (CincyBlurg) — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 19:28:00 +0000

Or is it catchup? Definitely not catsup. Thought I'd start a recap feature weekly or bi-weekly - a chance for me to catch up on the posts that I may have started to write, but never got around to finishing. Or sometimes just stuff that I don't have much to say about, so I throwing it in here. This was a good week to start, lots of interesting stuff happened.

Schmidt plagiarizes and was exposed by Bill over at The Daily Bellwether. Props to Sloat for a good catch!

Coulter's appearance raises $26,000 for groups she's opposed to, and her speech was described as pretty ~~tame~~ lame. So, the NeoCons blew their money on a dud and helped raise money for groups they oppose. How lovely.

There's an ongoing controversy about a potential "Wall of Buildings" to be built in the area of the Banks. I don't think that's very likely, but Cincinnati's Planning Commission approved amendments allowing developers to build up to 30 stories. The current downtown building owners aren't too happy about losing their river view, but my question is, how do cities like New York and Chicago deal with this same issue on their shorelines?

Good Sam was named the number one hospital for births, in terms of numbers of babies born, in Ohio.

Did I mention that in the last couple o' weeks I added some new features to the Blurg? See those nifty icons below each post? They're for helping you share the articles you like via some of the more popular social bookmarking networks out there. Oh, yeah, I added Space Invaders to the right column too. Enjoy.

And lastly, it's been 10 years since the first blog was born. Happy Blogiversary!

Heartless Bastards at Southgate House

noreply@blogger.com (CincyBlurg) — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 06:58:00 +0000

Saturday night some friends dragged me to to the Southgate house to see the Heartless Bastards. I say dragged in that I wasn't really up for seeing the Bastards again, but Southgate is such a great venue and I knew I'd see tons of friends at the show. Well, I wasn't disappointed, in that everywhere I turned I saw someone I knew. That was pretty cool. But the show...

It's not that I don't like the Bastards, but I guess I never really got into them. Though I seem to be in the minority, and that's what I don't understand. Everyone I know from Cincy seems to be huge fans, and I think I have some theories, but I'm not sure. My first idea is that guys like them because they think that Erika is hot (she doesn't do it for me), and her ballsy vocals project a strong, confident exterior, which is also a reason I think women like her.

Unfortunately that's exactly the reason I don't care for her singing that much. On the first album (and in every show I've seen) Erica seems to be belting out her lyrics with such force that it seems to narrow her range into almost a monotone sound. Many of my friends not familiar with the Bastards have remarked that they thought it was a guy singing when they first heard the album. I just wish she was more dynamic. It almost sounds like she's already tired from a week of singing shows and is at the end of the night, struggling to push out her parts - even on the album.

For these reasons I never bought the first album - got a rip from a friend. I tried really hard to get into them, since EVERYONE I knew was and I kept being dragged to their shows. So then the second album came out and I thought that her vocal range expanded and that she intoned a great deal more. But she never really brought that articulation to any of their stage shows. This Saturday she was a bit more dynamic, but as soon as she got to songs from the first album (which made up all of the end of the show and encore), she slipped right back into her monotone roar.

And my other bitch is that the show was $15. For someone who has seen them for years for free, it's hard to pay that much. It was a decent show, I saw a ton of friends, but I enjoyed Pearline (who opened for them and I hadn't seen in a while) much, much more.

And there was some other group called White Girls in the first opening slot - notice I didn't say band. They sucked so bad, and even though I like punk - which is what I thought they were trying to go for - I couldn't take them for much more than a few songs. I turned around to say that we should go outside for a bit and my friends had already left (about halfway through the first song) and were sitting on the porch.

Best Views of the City?

noreply@blogger.com (CincyBlurg) — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 19:31:00 +0000

So City Council commissioned a $75k report on the best views of the city, "intended to help city planners formulate development guidelines within those view corridors." The 229 page plan was put together by Human Nature, a landscape architecture firm and The Hillside Trust, an advocacy and land conservation group. If you visit the first link I have here, you also get a nice Yahoo Maps guide to great views of the city. Some of the photography is so-so, but it gives you some great starting points for a fun day trip to take your own collection.

On one hand, I like that they spent the time to study these views and that there is the intention on using this info in urban planning. But $75k seems pretty steep to me for this report (and yes, I have actually read it). I applaud The Hillside Trust and their efforts over the years. I guess I'm more skeptical of the city actually using it in their planning and future development. I just hope this money wasn't wasted and that the report comes to good use.

AHA: Thank You Ann Coulter!

noreply@blogger.com (CincyBlurg) — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 03:47:00 +0000

No, Ann Coulter is not the latest AssHatAward winner (her head's so far up her ass she can't even smell her own bullsh*t anymore) - but it's because of her that the recipients got noticed: the Xavier University College Republicans.

And thanks to the Xavier University College Republicans and Young America’s Foundation bringing Ass Coulter to speak at Xavier University on September 6th, the GLBT rights group Equality Ohio was able to raise over $25,000 so far to help support students at XU working for justice, diversity, fairness and compassion. I love it. Her ignorant, racist, fascist, conservative rhetoric is actually doing some good - it's mobilizing people against her movement, and inadvertently helping to support organizations she rails against in her speeches. Nice job!

Coulter's speaking fee is over $20,000 - that's about $5 per XU student. I can't believe any organization would give a nickel to that intentionally bulimic c*nt - even the XUCR. Many conservatives don't want anything to do with her because of her continuously vile hate speech. So if you're wondering what kind of AssHat would pay that slut to come to Cincinnati, well look no further than your local Nazi party members. Hey XU kids, if you see these wankers walking around XU, give 'em a punch in the balls from me.

If you'd like to give to Equality Ohio and have them send a thank you note to Ann on your behalf, you can do so for as little as $5! They've exceeded every goal they set yet, and they're working toward $30,000 now.

Fun side note: there are 31 entries in the Urban Dictionary for Ann Coulter. Boy, she really has a lot of fans! One of my favorites includes this entry:

"Ann Coulter is actually a former drag queen from Key West named Pudenda Shenanigans. Ms. Shenanigans was famous for her renditions of 'Dude Looks Like a Lady' 'I will Survive' and 'You Shook Me All Night Long' as well as an extensive Barbra Streisand repertoire. We who used to work with her are concerned for her as well as upset by the vile hatred she has spewed towards her former friends in the gay community. We feel that by bringing the truth to light perhaps Ann will come to grips with her past and change her wicked ways.

As Pudenda Shenanigans, she was well known on the drag circuit in Key West. Whether she actually had a full sex change or not is a matter of debate, although her adam’s apple is still visible in photos, under the appropriate light."

She does look like a post-op tranny, doesn't she? Not that that's a bad thing - unless afterwards you become a huge anti-GLBT pundit like she has. If only she really was post-op - then at least she can't breed and that'd keep her f**ked up DNA out of the gene pool.

Great theatre - for free!

noreply@blogger.com (CincyBlurg) — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 03:15:00 +0000

The University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music has announced its 2007-2008 Studio Series, which are free productions theater and opera. CityBeat's A&E Blog picked up on this the other day, I'm just passing it along.

The theater in which these shows are performed is small and intimate and even though the performers are students these kids are some of the best. And this year they're doing TWO Sondheim shows!

AHA: Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number!

noreply@blogger.com (CincyBlurg) — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 13:01:00 +0000

Been a busy week and I meant to blog this earlier. This week's AssHat is a real winner, and now that the week is over officially, I can definitely say that no one was able to top his AssHattery. Not only is he a child predator, but he's about the stupidest one I've ever heard of.

(Details and pic after the jump.)

So this genius decided to stalk someone he didn't know and supposedly met accidentally via a wrong number - even after she said she was an underage girl. I don't want to give any more away - read the article. But I can to tell you, jailarity ensues.

Definitely proof that the gene pool is mighty polluted.

BONUS ROUND: Anyone know the reference in the title of my post?

Regatta destroys OTR?

noreply@blogger.com (CincyBlurg) — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 18:04:00 +0000

The good folks over at Cincinnati Downtown Parents pointed out that this weekend's Rubber Duck Regatta will help raise money that will be funding the demolition of two historic OTR buildings so they can build a parking lot for semi trailers.

(Pics of the buildings after the jump.)

I never go to RiverFest anyway (too crowded), and have never participated in the Regatta. But I wanted to spread the word in case you're thinking of sponsoring one of those cute little ducks this weekend. I'm not saying they're satan's waterfowl, but I just wanted you to know where your money's potentially going. I think this is an important issue and the Freestore needs to be made aware of how you stand on it.

Comprehensive guide to local WiFi

noreply@blogger.com (CincyBlurg) — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 17:02:00 +0000

Is there one? One that brings together all hotspots and lists them on one page or in one database/map? I know that LilyPad has a listing of their stuff - you know how much I love LilyPad - and so does ZoomTown and you can look up the T-Mobile Hotspots on their site. But is there one local page that aggregates all that data, including independent hotspots at coffeeshops, bars, etc.? Or perhaps a larger national/international resource that has local WiFi details?

If it's not already available, is anyone interested setting it up? Or helping me set it up? Or using a resource already available (if there is one) and making sure it's up-to-date with the latest status on connectivity?

I want to make sure we have a comprehensive resource that is not only searchable by zipcode/address, but has maps and lists the details of each spot including signal quality ratings, cost/free, security, range, etc. If you're interested in helping, please contact me!

Climb the Big Mac!

noreply@blogger.com (CincyBlurg) — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 05:56:00 +0000

Frankly, I didn't know the Purple People Bridge Climb had closed, but I'm not surprised. It was way too expensive and frankly not all that thrilling of a concept. The bridge really isn't that high, nor is it especially impressive in terms of architecture.

What they need to do is setup a bridge climb on the Daniel Carter Beard Bridge, AKA the Big Mac bridge. Now THAT would be exciting. I've suggested this in conversation before but everyone always points out that because the bridge has vehicular traffic on it (interstate traffic no less), that it'd probably be out of the question. And that is when I say America get over yourself with your litigious bullsh*t and overactive safety paranoia. They do it in Down Undah!

(More about the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb, including photos, after the jump.)

The Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb is THE original bridge climb attraction - almost every other bridge climb in existence got its idea from them, including the Purple People Bridge Climb. And the Sydney bridge carries over 160,000 vehicles per day. So why can't we do a bridge climb on the Big Mac bridge?!

Just think of the view: Big Mac's the highest of all our downtown bridges and it's all the way to one end of the city, so there's a nice view of all other bridges from there. And the architecture of that bridge is far more interesting.

I say let's all grow a pair and climb away on the golden arches! I'm up for it, how about you?

Review suggestions?

noreply@blogger.com (CincyBlurg) — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 02:52:00 +0000

I'm interested in doing more reviews of local restaurants/bars, perhaps even starting a whole section of the site devoted to them. Do any of you have any suggestions on which places you'd like to see me review?

Any place that you haven't been yet that you're too timid to try yourself? Send me! I'm always up for an adventure! An establishment that you would really like to hear my take on? Wind me up and let me go!

Republican Newsletter

noreply@blogger.com (CincyBlurg) — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 06:10:00 +0000

In the Enquirer's online article about Gonzales' resignation, I noticed that six out of the seven politicians they quoted were Republican. Now we all know the Enquirer's editorial board are a bunch of conservative wankers, but guys, c'mon, try not to be so blatant about it. I mean, there's still like one or two people in the tri-state that still believe you're fair and balanced.

Also, most of the Republicans quoted praised Gonzales and denounced the Democrats for creating the situation that led to his resignation. Even though there are many Republicans that were happy to see him go, none of them were quoted.

The Enquirer could use the excuse that all those quoted were local officials, but they could have easily widened their coverage to get a more balanced look at the situation - it's not like they'd have had to do any more work: almost all senators and congressionals have press releases on their websites with official statements on major news like this.

(I was considering giving the Enquirer a BullSh*tMeter reading for this, but I decided most of you probably just see this as business as usual for the Enquirer.)

West Chester is unsafe!

noreply@blogger.com (CincyBlurg) — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 05:57:00 +0000

OMG! Run for your lives suburbanites! The Northern Suburbs are unsafe!

It's a sad state of affairs that I actually laugh when I hear about crime in northern Hamilton County, or southern Butler/Warren County. But after hearing so many people put the city down as an unsafe war zone, it brings a smile to my face to see reports of crime in the burbs.

And when I see bank heists and shootouts in West Chester, I love to generalize that all the northern suburbs are dangerous, because, well, aren't they? I mean if the Whitey McWhitersons of Lebanon and Fairfield can say the city is unsafe when they hear about a shooting in Bond Hill, or that downtown is unsafe when they hear about a murder in Over the Rhine, can't I generalize about the Wild West atmosphere of the great northern plains where Loveland gangsters and the Masonite Mafia terrorize the fragile citizenry?!

In this post I'm using the names of the burbs interchangeably and city neighborhoods interchangeably because I've heard this story told with every possible combination. No matter which burb they're from the burbians usually think that all parts of the city are the same, in terms of crime/demographics. Half the time they don't even know their way around the city enough to know the geographical difference between neighborhoods. I've actually had people who were coming to visit me in Northside say, "Now you live downtown, is it safe for me to park there?" When I explain that I'm nowhere near downtown, they say, "Well, same thing."

I'm so sick of the people in Milford and Montgomery whining about the scary Canadians they see when they visit downtown for a ball game. And I'm not talking about panhandlers - I've heard them complain when they just SEE Canucks walking our streets. They run right back to their McMansion sanctuaries as soon as they can after the game any way, but they continue to perpetuate the unsafe city image just because they're racist sh*theads.

Never mind the bandits with knives shaking down the local general store in Lily White Land. When it happens there it's an anomaly, but when it happens here it's further evidence of the city's decline. I'm sorry, but suburban crime makes me smile.

Uniform Makes the Man

noreply@blogger.com (CincyBlurg) — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 03:30:00 +0000

Saw some cops today. They looked really friendly in their summer uniforms. They should be able to wear them (or at least a variation of them) all year round.

Compared to the white 'dress' uniform they normally wear, the shorts and polo shirt really made them less intimidating. And the guys wearing it weren't bike cops, they were regular patrol officers in squad cars. I've seen this in other municipalities and I think it has a positive effect.

Plus they look kinda cute in their summer gear. I definitely like the bike cops in their shorts - when you ride around all day, especially with so much gear, you're gonna have great legs.

Anyone got any pictures of the Cinti cops in their summer uniforms? I couldn't find any on the web.

The sheriff is a Canadian!

noreply@blogger.com (CincyBlurg) — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 17:26:00 +0000

So, I was talking with some friends the other day and I discovered a very interesting new term. Well, at least new to me. 'Canadians.'

The friends I was speaking to were Black. I say Black because I think African-American is a presumptuous phrase - perhaps they were African-Bahamian or African-British or even French-African-Canadian - how would I know unless they told me directly? And, although we're friends, we've never discussed heritage, so, as I said, they were Black. (I am Caucasian, for the record, of English and French descent, and although some of my friends know that about me they don't refer to me as an English-French-American nor would I expect that.)

So the phrase they introduced me to was 'Canadians.' One of my friends is from the South (that's the Southeastern United States to be precise) and she told me that she had recently discovered that White people had been calling her Canadian.

She told me a story of when she was working in a shop in the South and she overheard some of her customers complaining that they were always waited on by a Canadian at that place. She didn't understand what they were talking about and assumed they must be talking about someone else.

After this happened several times with different patrons, she mentioned it to one of her coworkers. He told her that 'Canadian' was the new derogatory term that racist Southerners were using to describe persons they would have previously referred to as [N-word]s. And for various reasons it didn't sound at all unusual for the average backwards-ass Southerner to say things like, "Those damn Canadians," or "The problem is all those Canadians."

I was blown away and decided to put my newfound linguistic knowledge to the test. A cursory search of the Google turned up no references. I called some other Black friends and they all informed me that although they hadn't heard it themselves, they weren't surprised.

So, have you heard this phrasing used in this context? Has it made its way to Cincinnati yet (other than my friend's account)? Have I actually 'broke' this story? What other phrases have you heard used instead, to hide racist language?

By the way, if you thought the title of this post had anything to do with Si Leis, then you obviously haven't seen or forgot one of the funniest scenes in Blazing Saddles.

On my radar: spacetropic

noreply@blogger.com (CincyBlurg) — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 13:55:00 +0000

So the blog spacetropic came to my notice recently - mainly because he blogged about me and emailed me notice of the fact. I do love it when bloggers are courteous enough to let you know when they blog about you. But I would have found out eventually... I have my minions crawling the web, searching, digging [insert evil laugh here]. Oh, how I do love Google Alerts!

I have to admit I don't always email people when I blog about them. Some of my posts about others are more like shots across the bow, but emailing them about it would be a declaration of war.

So, I like spacetropic, and I would like to link to him, but currently I'm not linking to blogs/sites that don't have a specifically Cincinnati focus. I really try to stay on message. Yes there are several other blogs that I do read regularly, but I don't often post about them here or link to them. Some of them are national in nature, some are done by people I know locally, some I just like. But if they're not Cincinnati-centric in content - Michelle Lentz's My Wine Education comes to mind - I just don't see a place here where I could link them. Perhaps if/when I organize my links a bit better and do yet another face-lift on my layout I will find a space to link to other blogs I like.

Now to address the comments Brendan made about me on spacetropic. He calls me both crass AND prolific. Nice. So far, he gets it. ;) Then he says something that really cracked me up, "...it's another female blogger who writes about events of the day - or at least does so sometimes, in between the predictable self-infatuation and yipping that come with being 20s-ish."

Like us gurls online usually only write diary-like drivel without substantial content! (Okay, fine, most of the wenches out here in the blogosphere usually do.) I will admit that this blurg is definitely me-centric - but mainly Cincy-centric - however you can't forget, I'm one hot bitch. But seriously folks, I really want to be personal as much as I am political, emotional as much as I am logical, and crass as much as I am prolific. Now that last one may be hard to balance with my foul mouth, but I'm tryin.

My favorite part is his assumption that I'm 20s-ish. I wish! As you'll note from my recent comments on the whores at The Ranch, I'm no longer in my 20s. But that's all you get to know, a gurl doesn't reveal her true age after 25. I will say I've had MANY twenty-fifth birthdays.

Tarbell's Trip cut short

noreply@blogger.com (CincyBlurg) — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 19:29:00 +0000

Apparently Jim's spontaneity cost him big this time. His run for school board was over almost before it began. It's a shame, because I think he could have brought some fresh perspective to the board, although what we really need are some hard core number crunchers to iron out CPS's budget issues.

Why did they start so late? Was this really a last-minute idea or poor planning? And for people so connected in politics how could they not come up with 300 valid sigs? What do you think of what's left of the candidates for the board?

Child dies in hot car

noreply@blogger.com (CincyBlurg) — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 03:22:00 +0000

Jebus, this is a sad story, and I really hesitate to comment until we know all the facts, but I just can't keep quiet. How ever this went down, there are some startling facts and statistics brought up in this article.

"The death of the girl infant was at least the second car and heat-related death in the nation Thursday."

"...Thursday’s death was the 23rd such fatality involving a child in a vehicle this year..."

(More stats and my opinion after the jump.)

"In a matter of 10 minutes, the temperature inside the Mercedes could have reached close to 120 degrees. Jan Null, an adjunct professor of meteorology at San Francisco University, said the car’s temperature could have been in excess of 145 degrees and that objects in direct sunlight would have been much hotter."

“You see these types of stories all the time,” Lt. Scott Gaviglia of the Union Township Police Department said. “My experience is there is no class or educational boundaries. Just drive through a Kroger parking lot and see who leaves their kids in the car.”

"Last year, 29 children died after being left in hot cars. Between 1998 and 2007, there have been 344 such deaths..."

"...close to 40 percent of all children who died in a hot car were forgotten."

That last one scares the bejebus outta me. What the hell is wrong with these parents?

NOTE: I'm not pointing fingers at the lady in this current incident, as we don't know what happened.

But anyone who does forget their kids in a car needs to be locked in there too on a day like today, until they're nice and crispy. I'd really like to hear from you all on this one!

Get the latest updates from CincyBlurg delivered!

noreply@blogger.com (CincyBlurg) — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 06:07:00 +0000

I've added an RSS/Atom feed to the site. Get the latest updates delivered right to your browser, reader, or inbox!

You do this by subscribing to the site, which is simple and easy. If all of this seems confusing, let me explain feeds/RSS/Atom to you in more detail.

Did you read about what a subscription is? Good. Then you're ready to go. Hope you enjoy the regular feed!

What is a subscription?

noreply@blogger.com (CincyBlurg) — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 03:38:00 +0000

Do you want to keep up to date with the latest posts on CincyBlurg?

We have a number of ways that you can subscribe to this site and receive updates. The main one that our readers use is our RSS/Atom feed.

What is RSS/Atom?

RSS is a technology that is being used by millions of web users around the world to keep track of their favorite websites. Atom is just a new version of the same technology, with a few more features and better compatibility. Lately they are often used interchangeably.

In the ‘old days’ of the web to keep track of updates on a website you had to ‘bookmark’ websites in your browser and manually return to them on a regular basis to see what had been added.

The problems with bookmarking

You as the web surfer had to do all the work
It can get complicated when you are trying to track many websites at once
You miss information when you forget to check your bookmarks
You end up seeing the same information over and over again on sites that don’t update very often

RSS Changes Everything
What if you could tell a website to let you know every time that they update? In a sense, this is what RSS does for you.

RSS flips things around a little and is a technology that provides you with a method of getting relevant and up to date information sent to you for you to read in your own time. It saves you time and helps you to get the information you want quickly after it was published.

RSS stands for ‘Really Simple Syndication’. Many people describe it as a ‘news feed’ that you subscribe to.

The ’subscription’ description is helpful. It’s like subscribing to a magazine that is delivered to you periodically but instead of it coming in your physical mail box each month when the magazine is published it is delivered to your ‘RSS Reader’ every time your favorite website updates.

How to Use RSS
Get an RSS Reader - The first thing you’ll want to do if you’re getting into reading sites via RSS is to hook yourself up with an RSS Feed Reader.

There are many feed readers going around with a variety of approaches and features - however a good place to start is with a couple of free and easy to use web based ones like Google Reader and Bloglines. Either one will do if you’re starting out (I use Google’s Reader) - as I say there are many others to choose from but to get started either of these are fairly easy to use and will help you work out the basics of RSS.

Both of these feed readers work a little like email. As you subscribe to feeds you’ll see that unread entries from the sites you’re tracking will be marked as bold. As you click on them you’ll see the latest update and can read it right there in the feed reader. You are given the option to click through to the actual site or move onto the next unread item - marking the last one as ‘read’.

The best way to learn how to use either Google Reader or Bloglines is to simply subscribe to some feeds and give it a go. Both have good help sections to get you up and running.

Note: other options for tracking websites that you might already be familiar with include using pages like MyYahoo, MyGoogle and MyMSN.

Find Some Feeds to Subscribe to - there are two places to look for a site’s feed:

On the Site
In Your Browser

On Site Subscription

Over the last few years you may have noticed a lot of little buttons and widgets appearing on your favorite sites and blogs. Little orange buttons, ‘counters’ with how many ‘readers a blog has, links called RSS, XML, ATOM and many more.

Any time you see these buttons or anything like them it means that the site you are viewing almost certainly has a feed that you can subscribe to. In most cases it’s as simple as either copying and pasting the link associated with the button into your RSS Reader or clicking the button and following the instructions to subscribe using the feed reader of your choice.

Browser Subscription

Many internet browsers now have the ability to find and subscribe to RSS feeds built right into them.

When you surf to a site you can usually tell if it has an RSS feed by looking in the right hand side of address bar where you type in the site’s URL.

Here’s how it looks when you’re using Firefox:

See the little orange icon on the right hand side? Click that and you’ll be locating CincyBlurg’s RSS feed.

Using Safari Browser it is a blue RSS icon:

Other modern browsers will have similar icons.

To quickly and easily subscribe by clicking these icons you’ll want to set up your browser to do it with your feed reader of choice as by default they will probably subscribe you using the in-browser reader. You can do this by going to the ‘preferences’ to your browser and choosing ‘Google Reader’ or ‘Bloglines’ etc as your feed reader.

Once you’ve done this and have subscribed to a few feeds you’ll begin to see unread items in your Feed Reader and you can start reading.

Don’t want to Use an RSS Reader? Email is an Option

If the above explanation all just seems a little too complicated for you then please don’t worry. Many sites also enable you to subscribe to RSS feeds via a more familiar medium - Email.

Here at CincyBlurg we know that not everyone is into the RSS thing so below our feed link there's a link to be updated via email with a daily summary of our latest posts. You can unsubscribe at any time and your email will be kept private and not used for any other purposes than to send these daily updates.

Further Reading on RSS

(This page was adapted from a page at ProBlogger, a great resource for bloggers. Thanks!)