One thing that sets your life apart from that of the typical real NEO resident is having farm animals - in our case, four chickens and a rooster. Besides adding the barking of a rooster to your neighborhood's timbre - at any hour of day or night (like now - 3:46 AM) - and collecting fresh eggs each morning, you find yourself shopping for very different family pets, in very different local markets... like Wilson Feed Mill.... a true gems of the region.

I previously wrote on REALNEO about "Art of the Day: Houghs Angel, by Harry Bell". Since that posting, and painting, it seems Bell's patron Abe has grown his passion for this outsider artist, as there are now many new works at the pumped-up intersection at East 55th and Cedar Road, Cleveland, Ohio, featuring Abe's gas station and Bell's art.

The two most prominent new murals - which are probably 8'x8' or so - are anti-Israel.

REALNEO is a cooperative, eternal, free, open source social network operating with the Drupal Content Management System (CMS) - it is designed to manage content for individuals, who are registered users, and who own the CMS, as a co-op, and own their individual content, as individuals. Members have traditionally used REALNEO to manage their personal thoughts and ideas, through blog postings and comments, along with events, polls, and links to the content of others. Some users use the CMS capabilities of the site more than others, adding files, photographs and video to their content.

Baby, it's cold outside. Time for Cleveland Plain Dealer Deputy Editorial Page Editor Kevin O'Brien's annual "It's snowing in Cleveland again this winter so Global Warming's a Hoax" editorial...

In compiling my list of "The 17 Worst 'Climate Killers' in Northeast Ohio", I've started with O'Brien, who everyone in real NEO well knows is one of the most outspoken critics of "Global Warming" in the world, reaching millions. As I was trying to determine if O'Brien was The Profiteer, The Disinformer, or The Drudge of Denial, in misinforming our community about the environment, I did not refer to the Cleveland Plain Dealer's portal Cleveland.com for source information on Mr. O'Brien's past writing on the environment, as I knew that it would not be at Cleveland.com.

I turned to REALNEO.

Why do citizens of Northeast Ohio pay $ millions a year in taxes to subsidize professional sports teams, exercising, entertaining and enriching few, when we are a community of so many? In Northeast Ohio, we have four spectacular seasons offering residents every imaginable sporting and recreational opportunity for the taking. We don't need to pay taxes to watch strangers having fun.

Where was this truly championship Northeast Ohio realNEO sporting event held today?

Peacemonger.org copyright on clever co-exist type made from symbols of different religions and viewpoints - except not any anti-diest symbols.

Christmas Eve, my family drove across East Cleveland (all 3 miles long) to Nela Park - The GE Lighting & Electrical Institute - to see their remarkable, historic Holiday Lighting Display and share some photos on REALNEO. While beautiful at the time, the conditions were not quite right to truly show-off the lights and season.

The conditions were perfect tonight.

One thing that makes East Cleveland unique is the annual Holiday Lighting Display at GE Lighting & Electrical Institute, at Nela Park. A tradition since 1925 - and many of the decorations seem to date from then - this holiday lighting display runs through New Year's Day.

The 2002 Canadian scientific report "Air pollution induces heritable DNA mutations" finds "Integrated steel production generates chemical pollution containing compounds that can induce genetic damage." And, the 2009 German report "Long-term exposure to traffic-related particulate matter impairs cognitive function in the elderly" finds "chronic exposure to traffic-related PM (particulate matter) may be involved in the pathogenesis of AD (Alzheimer's Disease)". 

So, who thought it was a good idea to spend $43 million of scarce government and quasi-public funding to build Tremont Pointe government-subsidized housing, located within scent and fallout of the Mittal Cleveland Works Steel mill, and other highly polluting industry of the Cleveland Flats, and directly adjacent to the I-490 freeway, planned to have increased polluting traffic through expansion as the "Opportunity Corridor"?

Average Unique Monthly Visitors for REALNEO Benchmarking Sample
November 2008 - November 2009

REALNEO/COOP members, we own this... we accomplished this... in just our fifth year of operations. Congratulations!

Original image courtesy RAG - link here.  Very dynamic image! Lots of excellent telephoto in this shot.

In reviewing REALNEO for material on the historic Cleveland U.S. Coast Guard Station, to accompany these November 25, 2009, photographs and Thanksgiving Day Pans of the Coast Guard site, I came across the May, 2006, REALNEO discussion "COAST GUARD IDEAS" about what should be done with the site... with a lengthy vision from "Citizen" Ed Hauser.

Exquisite decay.

On Thanksgiving eve, a little over a year following the death of Ed Hauser - the primary community activist for preservation of the National Historic Landmark Dyer Coast Guard Station, on Whiskey Island - I went Hauser Way to photograph this best location in the nation, to share with you on Thanksgiving day. Enjoy.

The fluid, fabric like effect of these mosaic covered concrete benches is attested to by the fact that I drove past them twice and thought that the mosaics were curing blankets placed over the concrete benches to keep in moisture while the concrete set.

 The multi bench installation is under construction now at a new community center on E116th on the inbound side of Shaker Boulevard.  

Anyone know the artist/installer?