October 7, 2009, we began our sixth year of ongoing, expansive, free, open source content management and global knowledge sharing, community building, social networking and collaboration on REALNEO. See posting Number 1, REALNEO Development Plan, from October 7, 2004, here, for links to many source documents from the planning and development of REALNEO, since 2004.

Congratulations to all REALNEO members, from day one to today! We've come a long way, since 2004, and our outcomes run far deeper than is seen on the surface of REALNEO. Six years is an eternity, in the world of social computing - we're about 8 months younger than Facebook, and a paradigm beyond - we are Real Co-op!

Thanks to Roldo, and the Internet, the people of Northeast Ohio are finally starting to see a clearer picture of Dan Gilbert, the man betting $10s millions that more than 50% of Ohioans will risk the state's social and economic future and $ billions on him and casinos. Roldo first awoke real NEO to the "TRUTH ABOUT DAN GILBERT'S GAMBLING CHARGES", on October 19, and today Roldo brings forward first hand testimony that "STATE COP'S ARREST STORY DIFFERS FROM GILBERT'S VERSION", opening "A former Michigan state trooper tells a different story of Dan Gilbert’s arrest on operation of gambling business than the Cavs owner has been peddling to the news media." See video above for Officer Fielder's video statement.

Where is this $180,000 sculpture, who is the artist, why is it located here, how was it selected, who  paid for it, who will maintain it, what does it say, is it successful, does it represent serious problems in unreal NEO, and how may you get it to speak for you, in the future?

Welcome to REALNEO, new REAL COOP member and recent Cleveland transplant Bill Botkin. Thanks for joining our real NEO community.

Bill's REALNEO member bio reads: "I am a transplant from Columbus as of 2 years ago. My career has spanned 20 years in the copier/mfp industry and I recently made the change to the Office Supply/Furniture Industry where I discovered Sustainability. I am looking to become more involved in the Cleveland area." Bill came to the right place!

Because Bill filled out his REALNEO user profile with useful information about himself and his employer, I found reasons to learn more about Bill and spent some time visiting his employer's website - Today's Business Products - where Bill "discovered Sustainability"... and Today's Business Products seems to have a good interest in sustainability - they list many "green products".

For the next three weeks, one of the most important things the people of Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Toledo and Ohio in general may do is fight Issue 3, which changes the Ohio constitution to give a monopoly on casino gambling to Dan Gilbert, owner of Quicken Loans, LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, and other financial and gambling interests.

In an article in today's Cleveland Plan (Plain) Dealer titled "Issue 3 will hurt businesses near casinos, group of restaurants, bars says", it is written "The Ohio Licensed Beverage Association commissioned the study by four professors from Hiram College to blow holes in Issue 3, the constitutional amendment on the Nov.

Dear Cleveland Cavaliers,

As you well know, 100,000,000s of people look up to you as community leaders and role models - these are responsibilities you accept as sports and public figures who are intentionally "in the news", for profit.

Severe Particulate Matter 2.5 Hourly Reading in Cleveland at 8:00 AM on 09/23/09 - see current here

There is clear evidence the leadership of Northeast Ohio has failed to create an environment encouraging world-class monitoring, analysis, research, notification and controls of pollution created in our region of Ohio, and the consequences on residents and society. As a result, the people of this region have suffered significant health consequences, including early death, and impaired learning ability, crippling our schools and workforce, and society and the regional economy have suffered greatly. As much of our pollution is exported beyond our region, our failure to be world-class addressing pollution here causes harm world-wide.

For the 30+ years of my life spent in Northeast Ohio, in childhood and as an adult, University Circle has been at the center of my universe. What Place is at the Center of Your Universe?

The Real Coop Local Food and Info proposal submitted to Cuyahoga County, for new economic and workforce development in Northeast Ohio, is designed to create 1,000s of new jobs in Northeast Ohio in career fields as diverse as journalism, communications, engineering, building trades, farming, food processing, warehousing and transportation.

South African Boerboel and Cane Corso

My sister-in-law is studying ESL this summer in Parma, and we happened upon Sittoo's, a "faster food" branch of the Aladdin's Eatery chain, only more affordable.  We've been going there weekly (or more) all summer long and haven't been disappointed!  Full Article.  ---------> more

While I was sitting behind Food On The Move, at St. Clair and East 140th, where a friend works, I noticed a pear tree in the lot next door, full of rippening pears. While the lot is well tended, and does not appear "vacant", the lone pear tree is the only occupant. And nobody seems to notice it is there, despite its bounty of free food. There are 100s of pears on the tree - in a market, they would be worth $100s. This lot could contain dozens of pear trees - perhaps 100s - producing $10,000s in income for the owners and those who tended them.

In observing what has been planned for major infrastructure and private developments and strategic investment initiatives in the Greater Cleveland Area, with a focus on high dollar, high roller plans for downtown Cleveland and especially the lake and river fronts, when there are no current economic indicators projecting high income growth in Cleveland or the region, my only conclusion is that the "smart money" has been riding for a long time on the easy money of driving casino gambling downtown, in a big way, in the near future.

Since our founding, in 2004, REALNEO has become a groundbreaking free, open source social network of global interest – recently recognized as one of the top networks of our type in the country, by the Knight Foundation.

In 2008, the members of REALNEO.US formed REAL COOP, an Ohio legal cooperative, which now owns and operates REALNEO.US and REAL.COOP. We are unique in the world of social computing, and a global innovator in the evolution of information systems.

From the REALNEO.US homepage:

Thanks to Laura McShane for posting this morning a comment linking to Will Allen's "Good Food Manifesto" on his Growing Power blog. I, and millions of other people, became aware of Will last Sunday, when he was featured in the New York Times Sunday Magazine article "Street Fighter", but folks who follow local foods best practices surely knew of Will long before.

Over the past 20 years, I've spent most of my "professional" time as an entrepreneur, with world-class expertise conducting multi-dimensional, multi-client relational comparative data and best practice analyses of any aspects of the world's largest and best global enterprises, environments and systems, and developing and consulting on innovations and total quality improvement. This work has generated a wealth of knowledge on large general systems, with a unique expertise in information systems and telecommunications. REALNEO is a product of this highest level expertise, drawn from the best practices of the best organizations on Earth. What REALNEO has developed for Cuyahoga County - what has been generated out of the REALNEO-generated Real Cooperative - takes general systems innovation to a whole new level of making us the brightest greenest place on Earth. So, we really do have a purpose to Cuyahoga County owning the Breuer, and the vision is beautifully expressed in this great rendering above, to be REAL COOP citizen headquarters of the open source capital of this brightest greenest state of Earth.

I wrote about a wonderful local jewelry designer recently called Susan K.

 There have been some discussions recently about the integrity of my posts pertaining to my giveaways and reviews, and accusations of "spam".  If you'd like to understand my intentions, the review/giveaway process or to win prizes, read full article.

Ana, of anabananajewelryinc, is a Lakewood flight attendant who brings natural stones from around the world back to the area to create handmade statement pieces you'll love.  You can purchase Ana's pieces on Saturdays in Westlake at the North Union Farmer's Market and online at Etsy.com.  Read More.