A super secret mission is taking me back thru the Cool Cleveland archives where I came across this letter from the senior researcher @ the Council for Economic Opportunities in Greater Cleveland:

“You might be interested in the new figures on the depth of the job loss in metropolitan Cleveland during the recession that we remain in locally. They became available yesterday, and are posted up on the research section of the CEOGC web site. I attach a chart that adds up the bad news. As you see, Cuyahoga County has lost 7.7% of its jobs during the last three years. The raw job loss in Cuyahoga County alone was 62,403. Even the eight county Cleveland-Akron-Lorain-Elyria metro area lost 7% of its jobs, a raw job loss of 79,525. Cleveland’s job losses were more rapid than the -4.3% job loss in the entire state of Ohio, which lost 233,448 jobs. Further, Ohio’s job loss was more rapid than the -1.5% job loss in the USA as a whole. Thus, it is clear that the recession has been brutal in metropolitan Cleveland. The level of human suffering that has been caused by this massive job loss has been staggering. When we lose 8% of all our jobs, we have a massive disaster on our hands. Further, all that talk that you hear about the national recession being “mild” does not apply to Cleveland or Ohio. The recession has been severe here at the local level, and it continues to be severe right now… It is also interesting to note that although this same information has been in the possession of a very large local newspaper, they have thus far not seen fit to mention it.”

That issue was sent out exactly one month ago. I wonder if that “very large local newspaper” has done anything about it yet? On the verge of an election with major economic intiatives [not just Issue 31, but the levy to support the people’s universities too (public libraries, silly)], I would hope we be having an intelligent civic conversation [that’s right, civic. not just the 200 or so people that talk about it ALL the time] about how to get the local economic sustainable. That’s right. I didn’t say going or growing. I said sustainable. This isn’t some cycle we’re going through. This is change. Get used to it.

Via Purse Lip Square Jaw:

“Artist/curator friend Mark Soo did a piece for one of the Infest openings where he visualized the curators’ social network using balloons with people’s names printed on them as the nodes and ribbons tying them together as the edges (the data comes from “invites” he got the curators to send to one another).”

.Thanks, Anne! Click on the title to read more and view the images.

Niko says: “Thought you would find this interesting George. This summer I have to show you the secrets of making the classic, frothy, ultra refreshing, instant Greek ‘pioneered’ coffee! [kafe Frape] “Mmm! Delicioso!” …like the Italians would say my friend.”. I’m looking forward to it:

Iced instant coffee served in a water glass, the icon of 1980s cafe society, has been cold-shouldered by young Greeks lured by the smoother charms of Italian cappuccino.

According to statistics presented yesterday at the CoffeeBiz international fair in Thessaloniki, some 70 percent of young Greek coffee drinkers prefer cappuccino � which most drink iced, in a form pioneered in Greece � with only 30 percent going for the frothy �frappe� instant coffee, another Greek invention. The figures were based on a survey of 200 Athens cafes.

A few years ago, frappe accounted for 80 to 90 percent of coffee consumption at cafes frequented by younger people.

Greeks go through some 48,000 tons of ground coffee every year, while worldwide consumption reaches 6.6 million tons. According to coffee wholesalers, only 7 percent of the Greek population never drinks coffee.

Love this, the intersection of computers and creativity:

Almost everyone can and should be a hacker, according to the curators of a new exhibition on the fine art of hacking at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sof�a in Madrid, Spain.

Alongside the museum’s collection of masterpieces by Picasso and Dali, Hackers: The Art of Abstraction explores the connections between hackers, artists and anyone engaged in any kind of creative work, an idea that the curators of the show say was inspired by McKenzie Wark’s The Hacker Manifesto …

“I have been always fascinated by the invisible world of hackers and the notion of hacking as a tool to understand the world’s workings and to reconstruct it in a personal and creative way” …

“I believe that hackers are the great intellectual adventurers of our time, but in mainstream culture hacking often has negative connotations,” Sichel added. “With this show we hope to refute the negatives and make people aware that in an age of increased surveillance, hacking can be a vital countermeasure and a commendable act of self-defense.”

Emphasis added.

I’ll be at Phoenix Coffee, 2287 Lee Rd, Cleveland Heights, OH on Monday, March 1 @ 7:00PM for the Coffee meetup. Will you?

Here’s two that jump off the page at me: Chiapas coffee growers discuss fair trade at Ithaca High School

Two representatives from the Northern Chiapas Coffee Network spoke to Ithaca High School students Wednesday about the conflict in their country and their desire to set up local fair-trade coffee markets.

Miguel Gonzalez Hernandez, 50, an elementary school teacher in Chiapas, Mexico, and Angel Alvarez, 30, an agrarian engineer, told students in four different classes about how their organic coffee network operates and their involvement in the conflict in Chiapas.

and Coffee shop gives Everett Public Library a jolt

It’s become a regular habit for David Kelley and other frequenters of the Everett Public Library: Check out some books and get a cup of coffee.

“I think this is a great idea,” said Kelley, as he stood with a stack of library videos under his arm waiting for a chai-tea latte. “This used to be dead space. A museum piece that wasn’t that interesting.”

We’ve got lots of those here in Northeast Ohio - high schools, libraries, and independent coffee shops. Wouldn’t it be great if the new Morley Library they’re working on up the street from me had an espresso bar? I’d stop in more often…

On my trips around the net today, I’m noticing some sites didn’t really plan for leap year. How zen is this?:

“Default Quote Here…” - Default

Steve Goldberg lays his patent move [WWE enthusiasts will know that wrestler Goldberg calls his move the spear] on the Issue 31 debate at Cleveland Poetics. Nice work, Bagger.