It’s a good thing Yours Truly Restaurant in Mentor has WiFi and is open.

I struggled with a post for Memorial Day, and finally decided not to post it. Instead I offer something that Jack and I talked about the other day:

“In constructive living, we don’t work on ‘relationships.’ Such an amorphous,abstract concept evades our effort for improvement.” - David Reynolds

While I don’t have many positive things to say about the Cleveland Plain Dealer, I will heap praise on one reporter - Laura DeMarco.

I have to thank Colin Toke for mentioning my name to her next time I see him online.

Anyway, I think Laura did an excellent job researching the story, talking to the contacts I suggested, coming to the mixer and talking to people there, and getting the lowdown from experts and analysts. I’d even go so far as to suggest she used Ryze to contact Scott Allen, but that’s just conjecture on my part.

Hopefully, Laura will come to the next Ryze mixer too. I’m working on having it on the roof at the Velvet Dog. Maybe that will attract more of the successful, young, and hip.

I also want to thank Laura for referring to me as a ‘web activist’. How cool is that?

One last thing, I had no idea this would be front page news on a Sunday.

When you get the chance, stop by Smart Meeting Design by clicking on the title of this post. Jack has done some serious work on re-organizing the wiki. I’m also pleased to announce that Adele DiMarco Kious is leading her energy to helping us create space for new conversations.

Speaking of which, Adele has started a blog called Sicilian Soulfood. We’re hosting it on the SMD webserver, so the link above is not the permanent link. When the DNS finishes transferring the URL will be http://www.siciliansoulfood.com

If Adele’s first post is any indication of the themes she’ll be writing on, it’ll be a powerful read. She jumps right in to the paradox of the intimate and the infinite, and the importance of being rooted locally to be effective globally.

Needless to say, I’m looking forward to working with her and Jack, and reading her blog.

Dave Bayless writes:

Last week, I interviewed Mark Solon of Highway 12 Ventures.  I was struck by how conscious Mark is of his firm’s role in building bridges among the nascent entrepreneurial technology community in Boise, Idaho, the Intermountain West region, and the rest of the country.  The bridges are grounded in an understanding of (a) the lifestyle that attracts and holds area entrepreneurs and (b) the challenges growing companies face in the region…

You’ll have to click through for his bulletpoints.

To me, it raises the question of who’s doing the same thing in Northeast Ohio [notice I’m not saying Cleveland here]? For that matter, who’s connecting Cleveland to Northeast Ohio to the freakin’ STATE of Ohio to the rest of the country?! Next question: who are they/aren’t they working with and why?

The language Dave uses reminds me of the way the Charleston Digital Cooridor describes their mission as being a passageway from the old economy to one built on knowledge-based firms.

My favorite new band from the Scooter show yesterday:

The PRIESTS are a quartet based in Rochester, NY that believes in the myths of rock and roll whole-heartedly. The larger-than-life imagery and dark, sexual, seedy characters that embody a rock and roll show are what the PRIESTS come to expect. Their music reflects their beliefs. It�s primitive and has it�s roots in r&b, punk and garage. Inspirations are usually derived from bad relationships, bad movies and bad drugs. While none of the PRIESTS are virtuosos in their own right, the band as a whole really shines when together and their onstage performances are full of a weird kind of energy that is both offensive and attractive.

When I bought a CD from Rob the bassist/organist, I asked him what there influences where. First band out of his mouth - perennial BFD favorite The Cramps. The inspiration is obvious when they’re on stage. Rob said they got to open for them last year when they came to Rochester. Here’s an FT for ya, that link that you didn’t click yet is a post by Cory Doctorow where he comments, “the greatest sludge-a-billy act of all time. It’s expecially keen to hear this old, unironic rockabilly version performed, and realize that this was indeed ‘bad music for bad people.’” Yet another reason Cory rocks.

Or is it kilts for casual Americans. Either way, I ordered one in black. To match my Chuck Taylors.

I spent the day down in the Flats at the Cool Cleveland booth. It was a great show with lots of cool vendors and great bands. I expect that the crowds will be huge as this event gains popularity. Hopefully, I’ll win the scooter giveaway.

Talk about WorldChanging, but the thing I like the most is Alex raises a better question: “While this is all a pretty smart idea (except for the privacy invasion part), it’s still a one-to-many approach. Why not figure out ways of encouraging the spread of distributed turnout tools among young folks’ peers, creating peer-to-peer voter networks?”

What’s up with Steve calling himself a passive pundit? The only thing passive about him is infrequent posting to his blog.

He raises an interesting point. If VC’s are looking for bankable, serial experience, why doesn’t corporate experience count? It’s not like these days you don’t have to be entrepreneurial in Corporate America these days.

Angie McKaig responds to a recent report from the UK that says entrepreneurs there need skilss

“I’m in a position where I now speak almost daily to small-biz entrepreneurs, and I can tell you that a dismaying number of them have no training in how to run a business or how to do things online. Which basically means they’re floating along… I honestly believe that reading is the thing. Read blogs, web sites, magazines, books, everything and anything you can get your hands on about how businesses succeed. Take notes, remind yourself, and know that no matter how much you know, you still have a long way to go. In my opinion, that’s the only way to not stand still - to succeed.”

Good advice, Angie!

Yes! Bill Callahan asks the question:

“Exactly what economic development goal would it serve for the city to subsidize the location of one or more Wal-Marts (or Targets, which run their business pretty much the same way) in Cleveland?…

If most of the spending in the new retail cluster goes to a multinational company that sends its profits out of town, and pays lousy wages while displacing other local job opportunities — and turns the neighborhood into a never-ending traffic jam — who is “capturing” whom?

So why even think about chasing and subsidizing this kind of business in city locations? Who — except for some real estate developers and maybe a couple of trash haulers and landscaping companies — stands to gain?

With all the talk about smarter economic development, it would be nice if somebody — maybe one of her foundation travel funders — would ask Mayor Campbell this question before she boards the plane to another retailers’ convention.

I’m so glad he posted this. I had the same conversation with Ed Morrison the other day. File this under WTF?

After a couple of weeks away, I’m back for Afternoons@Cafe AhRoma. Speaking of, I got email from Anita Campbell:

I am on the CITE Board at Akron University. I am serving as a reader/sponsor of a project for graduate student Ryan Marimon. Dr. Kahai is the faculty advisor.

The project is to conduct an online survey of small and midsize businesses about their WiFi usage. They have asked my help to get the survey in front of small businesses. I have invited Ryan to attend Entrepreneur Friday at Caf� Ah Roma on June 4th, after our lunch meeting. I thought Ryan would find it very valuable to talk with your �crew� there, all the while seeing first-hand a number of small business owners using WiFi in an entrepreneurial environment. I wanted to give you a heads up � and also give you some information in advance:

They want to give the survey to Northeast Ohio small and midsize businesses.
100 completed surveys is the target. It will be an online survey.
The University licenses a survey tool and will be putting together a survey to be administered sometime at the end of June.

One of the things they need help with, in addition to general background information, is access to email addresses of small businesses to take the survey. Barring something unforeseen, Ryan is planning to be [at Cafe AhRoma] on the 4th.

So if you’re a small business and use WiFi, please stop by.

Lori Richardson quotes:

“Constantly talking isn’t necessarily communicating.” - Jim Carrey

Stephanie Strong of Entrepreneurs for Sustainability informs my post on trucking and sustainable practice:

Ohio’s Office of Energy Efficiency is involved with a multi-state collaboration to add electric and alternative fuel connections to truck stops. The first effort is focusing on major highway arteries like the industry corridor that runs from Toledo to Cincinnati, I think it’s I-75. It’s generally referred to as the truck stop electrification project and would reduce the diesel emissions from truck stop idling but it’s also increasing the conversation about alternative fuels like compressed natural gas, biodiesel and hydrogen within the trucking industry. Here in Northeast Ohio there are a few fleets voluntarily using alt fuels, FedEx is supposed to begin using shortly, if not already, cleaner engine technology in their local fleet and Earth Day Coalition’s Clean Fuels Program is constantly working to engage the industry further.

Let me take this opportunity to thank her, and all of you BFD readers that comment.

This posting at Smart Mobs encapsulates nicely one of the reasons I’m excited about fuel cells, nanotechnology, and sustainable energy:

Let’s face it. Our computing devices are going faster year after year. But our laptop batteries don’t show the same performance improvement. They still work only for a few hours, just a little bit more than ten years ago. Several companies want to change this, according to this UPI report, “Nanotechnology improving energy options.” For example, mPhase Technologies plans to introduce smart batteries based on millions of silicon nanotube electrodes. These nanobatteries, to be introduced before the end of 2005, will last longer than traditional ones — and be “greener” too.

No need to be a fly on the wall when there’s a blogger in the room:

I’m sitting in on some sessions with large vendors at my current client. We are primarily looking at content management systems, but when asked about “the future of KM” one of them talked about syndication and another talked about weblogs as a new directions in corporate KM.

File this under WTF?

Over the past twenty years, Wal-Mart has received over $1 billion in subsidies from economic development organizations. According to the report, the largest numbers of deals were in Missouri, Illinois, Texas, California and Mississippi.

Click through to Ed Morrison’s EDPro blog for a link to the article and report. I just can’t understand why someone would incentivize the largest company in the nation. What are your thoughts?