Opening Ceremonies

Ingenuity 06 will launch with a spectacular Symphony for 1000 Drums on Public Square at 5:00 pm. This Symphony, composed and conducted by internationally acclaimed Halim El-Dabh will feature drums from a rainbow of cultures and ethnicities, as well as individual drummers known in the rock and jazz communities. The goal? As Halim, puts it: “The world is filled with conflict and stress. We need to create a vibration that will change the balance to health and joy." The Symphony will be followed by the all county marching band's parade to the Mainstage. You can’t miss this! Please click here for more details.

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Today's Plain Dealer has an editorial about the selection process for the new President of Case University that I find very exciting - partly because it shows great progress with Case, partly because it promotes a concept for the selection process that I initiated on realneo in March, and mostly because I agree completely with the PD position - "Lessons learned? - Case trustees' chairman is making the right moves as the search for a new president gets under way", and I support that "Linsalata also promised to allow the university community - both alumni and those on campus - ample opportunity to provide input on the search this fall."

I was saddened to hear of the untimely death of Kenneth Lay. At the young age of 64, there was so much more he could have done -- like go to prison for 20+ years. The days would have passed quickly with visits from his children and 12 grandchildren. On visits with his wife they could have reminisced (about their last $200,000 cruise). But, life is not fair. I find it difficult to feel any sympathy for Lay -- a New York Times Article and the article in the PD "Lays passing produces some mixed feelings" suggests some did feel sorry for him. Shamefully, Lay maintained his innocence and always blamed others -- rogue executives beneath him -- for the fall of Enron.  Most disturbing to me is the the self-rightiousness, bordering on insanity he reveals in this statement: "We believe that God in fact is in control, and indeed he does work all things for good for those who love the Lord," he said outside the courthouse in Houston after the verdict. Did God bless Kenneth Lay's lies? A convenient death or did God strike down Kenneth Lay? Perhaps Lay did not escape his sentence after all, perhaps he was just called before a higher judge.

I am really appreciative, this morning. After posting what was certainly the saddest news I can imagine, about the hardship my staff has suffered as a result of a lack of appreciation from my former business associate, Peter Holmes, I opened up this week's CoolCleveland and found that their crew had featured TWO postings from REALNEO. I am very touched and thankful to Thomas and his team for noticing REALNEO and taking an interest in the thoughts posted here - thank you. Please show appreciation back to CoolCleveland... if you are not a member, see what you've been missing... subscribe at CoolCleveland - all free - this is a real NEO must,  and send feedback to CoolCleveland letters at the links below, and supporting the upcoming CoolCleveland/Tech/Ingenuity party at Fat Fish Blue, July 13, and the Ingenuity Festival, as described below... but first, here's the nice write-up about REALNEO from CoolCleveland today, July 5, 2006:

The Ohio LinuxFest 2006 will take place on September 30, 2006 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. The event is free to attend. We are accepting submissions for presentations, and sponsors who wish to exhibit and show their and support for the community may sign up now as well.

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When I voted this spring, I wondered about the security of the new machines. I had heard that a paper receipt was a part of the process but there was not one available.

You may have read in the PD a few days ago that Mark Turner, Case's Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, resigned. I don't think this story has gotten as much press, but it is big news and not just to the Case community; Case has hired a new dean of undergraduate studies... CASE NAMES NEW DEAN FOR UNDERGRADUATE STUDIES

Jeffrey Wolcowitz, who served as associate dean for undergraduate education at Harvard University and as former associate dean and chief planning officer of Harvard College, has been named dean of undergraduate studies at Case Western Reserve University. He begins his new duties August 1.

"My first order of business will be to listen and learn," said Wolcowitz, who has either been a student, faculty member or administrator at Harvard for 30 years. "It is one thing to read about a university and quite another to see its processes and culture in person and begin to participate in them."

The new dean, Wolcowitz, who was a senior lecturer in economics at Harvard, also will hold the title of adjunct professor of economics at Case. To learn more about this, go to: http://blog.case.edu/case-news/2006/06/27/case_western_reserve_university_names_new_dean_for_undergraduate_studies

I just got the mail today and recieved an ebay mailing.  While this is not that big of deal the back of the flier (show above) is.

While surfing today I came accross an interesting site.  The MAFIAA... this is just too acurate to be real. (It is not by the way)  Organized crime or a legitimate organization to stop us all from ever enjoying the music and film that is produced for our entertainment?

Here are two more listings of free (public domain) images. The licenses vary from site to site, so you'll have to pay attention to any restrictions.

I just came across a recent article on C/Net's website (click here) about the possibility that online social networks are not what we might think they are. They state that they are a fad, something that will begone as quickly as it started.

Linux-Watch had an interesting article about an Australian computer reseller that has an approach for doubling their profit margins by selling computers with open source software, and ultimately the Linux operating system to computer users who are accustomed to using Windows.

(This article was written as a progress report for the East Cleveland newsletter to residents of the city,
from my role as a technology advisor to the city, and includes very exciting developments for all of Northeast Ohio) 

The City of East Cleveland is leading Northeast Ohio into the new economy by bridging the digital divide. This means the City of East Cleveland is upgrading our internal computer network and services, increasing city bandwidth to the Internet, enhancing our website services, making sure all of our residents who want and need personal computers may have them at home, providing training in some computer programs, and helping residents get access to the Internet at the lowest possible cost or for free. This all provides a "bridge" for residents to go across the "digital divide" to the "new economy". Welcome!

'Non profits are not working together', is a statement I hear almost on a daily basis.  I actually don't agree with this statement.  I think this problem has been changing in the last 5 years in NEO.  There are many non-profits who have come together (without force from funders to collaborate).  I think the non-profit community has done a bad job in highlighting these collaborations to the community at large.

I was astounded to receive the following email today from investment brokerage firm Raymond James in response to a message I sent one of their brokers...

Your email has been detected by an automated system at Raymond James as possibly
containing inappropriate wording and/or phrases. This system has deemed your email
to be inappropriate for business communication; therefore it will not be delivered
to the intended recipient as per the Raymond James corporate email policy.

If you wish to resend the message, please review it for any questionable wording to
be sure it isn't rejected again. If you feel you have received this message in
error, please contact (withheld)@RaymondJames.com. Please do not include the
original message, as it may also be rejected.

Read more...

Last week, I had a chance to catch up with Constant Systems' Aiden Audouy for a report on their progress for basing some operations of this exciting biotech company in Northeast Ohio (see scenario here). The news for Constant Systems world-wide is all great, offering incredible opportunity in the coming months and years for NEO, may we close Constant Systems. Read on...

Nicholas Negroponte, chairman of the One Laptop Per Child non profit announce gave an update recently on his initiative to produce inexpensive laptops running Linux with some form of power generation device, such as a pedal. The association hopes to distribute 5 million to 10 million of the systems to children in India, China, Brazil, Argentina, Thailand, Egypt, and Nigeria in the first quarter of 2007. For more info, visit here.

The Northeast Ohio Area Coordination Agency's (NOACA) 7th Annual Summit, "Exploring Our Region's Potential," will be held Friday, June 9, 2006. The Summit will focus on transportation, economic development, and air and water quality issues in Northeast Ohio. Lee Fisher (D) and Representative Tom Raga (R), candidates for lieutenant governor, will present their plans for economic development in Ohio and the region. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. The Summit begins at 9:30 a.m. and runs to about 2 p.m.

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At RealNEO the concepts of openness, sharing and community are realized not just in how we as a group of people interact, but also in the tools we use. The best example of one of these tools is the software used on many of the team members notebooks.

Over the past few months I've watched as my brand new IBM/Lenovo ThinkPad running Windows XP became infested with so many worms, viruses, trojan horses and adware bugs that it is worthless as a Windows Computer. Thanks to the open source world for salvation, in Linux and especially Ubuntu, and thanks to our tech wizard Phillip Williams for getting this installed on my box.

Measures have been taken to greenify the Ingenuity Festival of Art and Technology. In particular, recycling bins have been donated to us by the City of Cleveland and we are excited to be environmentally conscious in our efforts.