Brewed Fresh Daily

"Involved heavily in technology, Nemeth runs a new company called Smart Meeting Design and admits to having a penchant for communication and hooking up compatible communication and technology models. 'I like to think about blogs as being a new type of conversation,' Nemeth said."

Heat fresh water over an open campfire. Add one fist-full of coffee for each cup of water. Bring to a boil and then add a splash of cold water to settle the grounds. There is no such thing as strong coffee, only weak people."

"illustrating the article is a crucial breakdown of where the coffee dollar goes (actually, the coffee US$3.75!), provided by my dear friends at the scaa. you get the US$0.03 for the farmer; the US$0.18 for the roasters & importers; the US$0.07 for the paper cup; the US$0.40 for milk (more on that in a second!); the US$2.82 for rent, marketing, labor, investment costs; the US$0.25 for coffeeshop owner profit. but what they leave out is a crucial component: sugar. it is that omission that lies at the heart of the article -- and the industry's -- total oversight of the big picture. i love the coffee industry. but despite being the world's second most widely traded commodity, coffee people just don't seem to see the dead horse on the table. that cup of coffee: coffee, milk, sugar, which is how most people drink it. . . think carefully dear readers and you will see how it is actually the signal marker for the nation's whole agricultural policy! and how it is balanced to rip off consumers, the 'third-world,' and the coffee industry itself."

Social capital, or aggregate (connected) reputation, is a form of credit. Some formal transactions can be supported by social capital. Informal transactions are rarely underpinned by financial credit or legal agreement and instead rely entirely social capital. We all have our internal calculators keeping tacit track of who is wronging and righting, the health of the relationships and adjusting our actuarial tables according to experience."

"In researching the social software space I found that I had to get in up to my elbows. First I contacted trusted friend and advisor George Nemeth and then sat down with equally trusted Valdis Krebs (a guru in the social network space) to get the 100k view. Then, I actually started using Ryze (I had set myself up on LinkedIn and found myself wanting more). Ryze is surprisingly interesting. I think the idea of having networks for people that share at least a common interest, outside of I want to meet other people, lends itself to better introductions. By taking a 'saw your post on xyz and share your position.' lends itself to stronger possibilities of interaction than 'saw you work for such and such and you know so and so who is six friends away from me ... so, you wanna be friends?' danah boyd seems to get it right... get in there and USE it before you comment on it. I wish more 'traditional' journalists would do the same."

"I have learned more about love, selflessness and human understanding in this great adventure in the world of AIDS than I ever did in the cut-throat, competitive world in which I spent my life." - Anthony Perkins, 1932 - 1992

Over half of U.S. high school kids don�t know who the Allies fought in WWII. Allies? Huh? 18% think the Allies included the Germans. Bruce Cole sounds an alarm...

An IT engineer in India might as well be in the next cubicle, and he may soon be. The U.S. will need Indian brainpower as baby boomers retire...

You know holiday shopping is offensive and wasteful. You know Christmas "wish lists" and "gift exchanges" degrade the concept of giving. You know Christmas marketing is a scam, benefiting manufacturers, stores, and huge corporations, while driving individuals into debt. You know this annual consumer frenzy wreaks havoc on the environment, filling landfills with useless packaging and discarded gifts. Yet, every year, you cave in and go shopping. Together, we boycott Christmas Shopping, Christmas decorations, Christmas cards, and every variety of Christmas Crap. We refuse to support the Holiday Industry. We show our love for friends and family by giving our time and care, not by purchasing consumer goods. We maintain the integrity of giving by giving spontaneously and from our hearts, rather than during a specified season.

"If you're on the east side of Cleveland and want a nice warm caffeinated place to get online, the new Arabica on Lee Road, just a block or so south of Cedar-Lee, is the place to be. The network SSID is 2WIRE173; it is a closed network but they'll tell you the password at the counter. Note to Mac users: you'll need to enter the password as a 40-bit hex key, not as a plain password. Something about their security setup causes this, although neither I nor they knew exactly what that might be. I figure it's no big deal, since once you enter the information and add it to your Keychain, you'll never have to worry about it again (unless of course they change it)."

"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them." - John Fitzgerald Kennedy

The PD said yesterday Tower City now went WiFi.

Tower City Center said it will create a "WiFiCity" next month, offering free wireless Internet service. WiFi, or wireless fidelity, transmits a radio signal that gives computers and other devices a link to high-speed Internet service. The service should cover all three floors of the mall, Tower City said. It will also offer public computer terminals that use the service. The WiFi network will be one of the largest indoor wireless services in Northeast Ohio, according to a search of Internet databases. Tower City said retailers will use the service to offer special promotions. The service will block what center officials described in a news release as "undesirable" Web sites.

Networking is as old as speech. For billions of years, people have thrived thanks to their exchanges of knowledge, resources, and opportunities. Communities emerge from webs of value exchange. Networking has the greatest value when our world is unpredictable. The heart of networking is the accidental conversation where we allow ourselves enough freedom in our connectivity to surprise each other with knowledge, resources, and opportunities. The power of accidental conversations is based on the fact that we are most likely to discover unpredictable possibilities in unpredictable conversations. Networking is a social contract. It based on a mutual intention for mutual value. Networking doesn't happen or yields low returns when any participant's intention is for unilateral value. We all have all the core competencies required for networking. We know how to talk about ourselves, ask people about themselves, offer and ask for help, ask for favors and return favors.

"Cleveland biopharmaceutical company Athersys Inc. has laid off 30 employees, or roughly one-third of its staff, according to sources close to the company. Sources said Athersys, which earlier this year asked Case Western Reserve University, the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals of Cleveland to invest up to $25 million each in the company, was negotiating a partnership with a medical device manufacturer that included an estimated $40 million investment. However, the sources said negotiations for that deal fell apart."

You are given a situation. What you are determines what you see; what you see determines what you do. - Haddon Robinson (seminary professor)

When the Council on Competitiveness slouched into town with their Powerpoints and dry podium pounding, CrainTech's Chris Thompson saw them for the usual suspects they were: "mostly the same people (predominantly old, white men) who have attended similar meetings in the past." What's called for instead are interactive sessions calling on the talents of our creative sectors, "There's not enough 'unusual suspects' in the room," stated acting ED of the Council's Center for Regional Innovation. One reason for our brain drain is our negative attitude. "Everyone knows the problems [of our region] and nobody's talking about how great it is." Nobody but Cool Cleveland, apparently. See CrainTech here. See PD's version here.

"Everybody can be great because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love."- Martin Luther King, Jr, 1929 - 1968

• a speech years from now and you're explaining how you solved the problem.
• Create devoted passionate teams and encourage open and wide communication.
• Write the Advertising Brochure first (forces you to articulate features and benefits) and recruit the beneficiaries (users) to help invent the technology.
• Invent while you sleep, using lucid dreaming.

"Dogs don't bark at parked cars"

The travel segment could be a lucrative money-making area for the Wi-Fi industry at minimal cost to users and the companies who pay their bills. 20 percent of online users spend up to 25 percent of their time working away from their homes or primary offices, offering WISPs a small, but potentially lucrative opportunity.

"With 11 percent of travelers paying $150 to $200 monthly in telecom bills, and 8 percent paying $200 or more, a $30 per month fee adds only 20 percent or less to many of these bills"

While 13 percent of respondents said they would be willing to pay for wireless access through a public hotspot, only four percent of consumers reported they were willing to pay a WISP directly, indicating that hotspots will not survive as stand-along businesses except on the small-scale.

I'm at the annual meeting for Case and find myself optimistic. The words coming out are the right words. The thoughts are the right thoughts. The question remains whether CAN THE VISION BE IMPLEMENTATED? Can NE Ohio's economy transform? I hope so. The talent appears to be here. The vision appears to be here. It's ours to lose.

Church-going may be a waste of useful time, but belief in heaven and hell is an indicator for economic growth. Especially hell...

The most striking conclusion, though, is that belief in the afterlife, heaven and hell are good for economic growth. Of these, fear of hell is by far the most powerful, but all three indicators have a bigger impact on economic performance than merely turning up for church. The authors surmise, therefore, that religion works via belief, not practice.

Did the group decide what industries and geographies we should most want to hurt by taking away their business? How often are this region's companies investing in any kind of enterprises outside the region, thereby hurting the region?

The merger of 20-year-old Enterprise Development and the fledgling NEOpreneur Inc. is designed to give the region�s entrepreneurs more accessible and effective assistance. A lot of the ideas behind this new venture are modeled after Innovation Works, a similar organization in Pittsburgh, which has played an active role in starting a number of companies there. One difference is that Innovation Works receives about $7 million a year from the state, which is much more state funding than new Cleveland organization can ever expect to get out of Columbus. So local foundations and corporations will need to fill that void.

I mentioned a couple weeks ago, the Pittsburgh overreaction the "Get Fuzzy" cartoon making a joke to the effect that Pittsburgh smells -- and the overreaction by Pittsburgh natives and the civic leaders being somewhat similar to the reaction Clevelanders had to Harvey Pekar doing a comic for the New York Times.

The creator, Darby Conley, apologized -- sort of -- then proceeded to keep mocking Pittsburgh further -- much to the joy of some of my Northeast Ohio bloggers who apparently don't know the background story -- which just makes it funnier and not a little ironic given Cleveland's hypersensitivity to outside perceptions.

I have new respect for Conley, after this. This is how you deal with stupid complaints. With further and harsher mockery. Conley, whether intentionally or not (and it seems that he knew right down to the amount of money spent), fired the best blast with the new slogan strip. Sadly enough, Pittsburgh did spend $200,000 for a new "core theme."

Though there are better things to offend Pittsburghers that are funnier and closer to thetruth.

"What matters is what you say on the plane to some one who asks you where you're from."

"Tremont WiFi organizers have had to scale back their ambitious plans after efforts to secure grants to cover expenses were rejected by two different potential funders. Now, the group is hosting community fundraisers. Earlier this summer, Tremont WiFi hosted a waffle breakfast that raised $550. It's selling tickets for another breakfast scheduled from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Dec. 14 at Tremont Scoops. And it's selling tickets to raffle a basket full of technology gadgets, including a wireless PDA, donated by Texcel Inc. of Cleveland. The raffle is scheduled for Dec. 12 at 9 p.m., the same evening as the Tremont Art Walk. "

"Can Cleveland's tourist attractions, restaurants and nightclubs band together to create a 'digital tour' of downtown that visitors could access via their hand-held devices? Similarly, could area school children be given a digital device that would act as their tour guide as they visit the amazing cultural institutions at University Circle? Will building inspectors from City Hall be equipped with digital tools to be able to quickly approve or monitor construction activity? Will my RTA bus to Strongsville be WiFi enabled - thus extending my workday (not always a bad thing) and making my commute much more pleasant? Or will someone develop an amazing, unimaginable wireless application that will change the way we work and play? Because of the heavy penetration of WiFi in Cleveland, Dr. Gonick and others expect that the city will soon become a living laboratory for wireless applications and experimentation."

There are two types of people that you can learn the truth from, little kids and crazy people".

Cleveland Municipal School District has been selected by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and KnowledgeWorks Foundation to begin planning for a transformation of high school education in the district through the creation of smaller learning environments. Together, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and KnowledgeWorks Foundation have pledged more than $2 million for the continued development of the transformation plan. The grant is in addition to a preliminary planning grant and technical assistance previously awarded to Cleveland. The latest grant is intended to develop a system of small, autonomous high schools. The grant will aid in leadership development and mentoring, on-site school change coaching and instruction-related technical assistance.

Before the invention of refrigerators, icehouses were common: small barns with thick walls, no windows, and tightly sealed doors. In wintertime, blocks of ice would be cut out of frozen lakes and stored in them, covered with sawdust to help keep them from melting. The ice would often stay frozen well into the summer months, thus allowing people to preserve perishable food. A man who worked in one of these icehouses lost a very valuable pocket watch while working there one day. He quickly began searching for it, combing carefully through the sawdust. Not finding it, he recruited his fellow workers, and all gave the place a thorough investigation. In spite of their efforts, the watch remained hidden. At noon they gave up and went outside to have lunch. While they were eating, a small boy slipped into the icehouse. He emerged minutes later, proudly carrying the lost watch. The astonished workers asked how he'd been able to find it. "I closed the door, lay down in the sawdust, and kept very still," he replied. "Soon I heard the watch ticking." - Ed Rowell in Fresh Illustrations for Teaching and Preaching

The Gateway Director will develop and manage a Web site and call center for entrepreneurs. This person�s key responsibility will be to develop and manage a virtual comprehensive entrepreneurial resource and referral center. Another key function of this position will be to develop and implement methods to track requests made by entrepreneurs as well as the success of referrals made to those entrepreneurs.

The giant retailer's low prices often come with a high cost. Wal-Mart's relentless pressure can crush the companies it does business with and force them to send jobs overseas. Are we shopping our way straight to the unemployment line? What an eye-opening story... It makes you realize that Wal-mart isn�t a national retailer anymore, it�s an international wholesaler. While it's single-handedly forcing the migration of most of our manufacturing jobs overseas, there's an opportunity in every crisis.

"Remember that there is nothing stable in human affairs; therefore avoid undue elation in prosperity, or undue depression in adversity. - Socrates"

"Each deployed location has seen an immediate cost improvement of fifty percent over leased lines. County agencies estimate that they will save more than $200,000 per year, a number which is expected to greatly increase in the near future, as capacity requirements grow and more organizations are connected. The savings can be earmarked to fund important educational programs."

IdeasMatter is a �grassroots� ideation consulting firm specializing in socio-cultural issues. Our clients are organizations that realize the importance of relating better to the places where they do business. We research urban issues, help conceptualize responses and decision-making processes, and facilitate community interaction.

I noticed your wardriving post, and just wanted to give you a heads-up about the bright.net hot spot... We had some new equipment in for testing that was running out of our West 6th office. We also lit up the Gravity Games and the Cleveland Grand Prix. After some major re-engineering of the W. 6th office, we should have it up and running there again. Keep an eye out for an Orinoco hot-spot sometime soon. I'll let you know when it will be lit if I can find out...

I'd like to call your attention to an idea for the campaigns of leading Presidential candidates. I'd like them to stand up for the Internet, to say that, if elected, they will do everything they can to protect it from control of the big media companies. This is especially important because Presidential candidates in the US have a tight economic connection to the media companies. They spend hundreds of millions of dollars to buy air time, and to get their imagery and sounbites broadcast. Any candidate who is willing to stand up for the Internet against that is someone we probably can trust to represent our interests if they're elected. I'm sending this to you, with a pointer to a short essay, because I think you're a supporter of an Internet free from interference from Big Media. If you agree, please pass this idea on, link to it on your weblog, and tell people who support Dean, Clark, and the other 2004 candidates. This is an interesting place to start. We have a Two-Way Web. Perhaps it's time for a Two-Way Election? Dave PS: To be clear, I speak only for myself, not for Harvard Law School, or for the Berkman Center for the Internet & Society.

What does a person need - really need? A few pounds of food each day, heat and shelter, six feet to lie down in - and some form of working activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment. That's all - in the material sense. And we know it. But we are brainwashed by our economic system until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of time payments, mortgages, preposterous gadgetry, playthings that divert our attention from the sheer idiocy of the charade. The years thunder by. The dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in dust on the shelves of patience. Before we know it, the tomb is sealed. Where, then, lies the answer? In choice. Which shall it be: bankruptcy of purse or bankruptcy of life?

My coffee maker is perhaps the most complex device in my home, with microprocessor, display, grinding, brewing, and dumping cycles. The first practical vacuum cleaner robot is now out, but if you examine other existing appliances, they too are robots, even if not advertised by that name. Thus, my coffee maker and dishwasher are more complex than the vacuum cleaner -- and much more expensive. All of these devices require maintenance. The coffee maker works just fine, when it works � want a cup of espresso? Just push a button and the beans get ground, tamped, pre-wet, and then under high pressure, the hot water is forced through the beans under high pressure to produce a lovely cup of espresso, compete with cr�me. The used beans are then deposited in a waste container. All this is great, but the cost comes with maintenance. All this is great, but the cost comes with maintenance periodically, the entire machine has to be disassembled and cleaned. Coffee particles contaminate the gears and crevices. The waste container is, well, dirty. The water system has to be decalcified, a process that is aided by the microprocessor controls that guide the steps,. Nonetheless, the decalcification requires a special chemical, several hours, and then a cleaning cycle to get rid of the decalcification residue.

The Federal Communications Commission recently issued a landmark ruling that would allow for unprecedented national and local consolidation of electronic and print media. The National Writers Union (UAW Local 1981) opposes these recent FCC rulings, and urges you to let the FCC and your representatives know that you find these rulings unacceptable. Why Should I Care? If the recent FCC rules are not overturned, then fewer media owners will control more and more media outlets. The big companies will become even more powerful, while smaller companies will struggle to compete with these media giants. The result? Less work for independent writers, reporters and artists, as the big companies cut back jobs to maximize profits. Fewer viewpoints expressed. Less freedom of speech. We know that consolidation means downsizing, fewer jobs for creators, and fewer independent voices in the media. Companies the size of Time Warner that own more than 150 publications, plus a film company, internet provider, and book imprint are in a unique position to force unfair contracts on creators and to exploit the content they control, cutting writers out of the profit cycle. For more information on this topic, go to www.nwu.org. Under the heading, "Public Pages," click on Media Consolidation Campaign. Write your congressional representative, your senator, the FCC, and spread the word.

"To pierce the curtain of the future, to give shape and visage to mysteries still in the womb of time, is the gift of the imagination. It requires poetic sensibilities with which judges are rarely endowed and which their education does not normally develop." - Felix Frankfurter

In strong, clear language, Lewis blamed the sad condition of our town on Cleveland's lawyer-elite who have dominated local leadership for decades, and he named names: Dick Pogue, Kathy Rose � because, he said, corporate managers and lawyers are caretakers, not the kind of creative or aggressive people you need to solve problems.

While you're at a networking event, walk that fine line between working and enjoying yourself. You can make an impression while working a room by having a lot of fun yourself. Stop working so hard and start spreading the fun. It's contagious.

Earlier this year, I decided to get more involved with the Young Professionals scene when I was saddened and even somewhat tired of hearing about the city's "brain drain" as it has been dubbed. The notion, which unfortunately is fact, is that many smart, young people are leaving this city and moving to New York, Chicago, Seattle, Washington D.C and so on. You'll read in The Plain Dealer's ongoing and eye-opening "Quiet Crisis" series that this region is in trouble. So, what do we do? Close up shop? No way. In some of the more recent pieces in that series we're hearing from voices who say we need to roll up our sleeves --all of us-- and get to work. Have an idea? Don't sit on it. Let it be heard. We have a lot of Young Professional groups in town. More than I ever realized. The members of which will no doubt be our city's future leaders. So, one thing we're doing at cleveland.com is providing a place for those groups to post their events, pictures from events, group profiles, and really just a place to talk and learn more about what other groups are doing and how to get involved.

Planning a way to get public money for the arts on a Cuyahoga County ballot has had political and cultural leaders looking at all possible strategies from all possible angles since August, when the idea of providing money for the arts from a 0.25 percentage-point sales tax disintegrated along with efforts to pay for a new convention center. The soonest an arts levy could go before the public is March. The deadline for filing March ballot issues is Dec. 18. But the game board is crowded with a lot of other tax and political issues. To increase the chances that power brokers and voters alike will support an arts levy, planners are having to consider all the permutations of packaging, timing and positioning.

"The analogy is the Internet. The first time I saw a browser was 1992. It was like science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke's line, "Any good technology is indistinguishable from magic." You get the same feeling when you first use broadband wireless.

Lots of news this week on "wide-area" wireless networks being deployed in cities like Lisbon, Portugal and Nantes, France. In the US, many municipalities have given up waiting around for the cable/DSL guys to drop by; they are building their own networks and delivering wireless broadband services to their residents (see Gladstone, Michigan). Meanwhile, community volunteers such as San Francisco's Bay Area Wireless Research Network (BARWN) are busy setting up a huge free Wi-Fi network throughout the city. Here�s a wrap-up of the week�s news: Nantes launches first wireless metropolitan network in France Largest Wi-Fi network in Portugal is up and running First city-wide wireless network in the US? Wide-area free Wi-Fi network in San Francisco More municipalities become (wireless) broadband providers Gladstone, Michigan providers wireless broadband access Free Wi-Fi access picks up speed in Toronto

"Bad times, hard times, this is what people keep saying; but let us live well, and times shall be good. We are the times: Such as we are, such are the times." - St. Augustine

The always-interesting Bruce Blog takes a look at the fallout from last week�s election, particularly the defeat (pending a recount) of the West End development in Lakewood and the ouster of mayors Madeline Cain in Lakewood and Paul Oyaski of Euclid � the champions of the �smart growth� movement. On what looks like the defeat of Issue 47, the blog notes, �The outcome left some to wonder what sort of signal, if any, this sends to both developers and housing advocates. The local (alternative press) was quick to pass judgment on inner-ring suburbs such as Lakewood and Cleveland Heights offering subsidies to developers. But, isn�t that the tool they have, at least until the state levels the playing field with the far suburbs by offering an equal amount of tax revenues going into rebuilding older communities as highway building?� The blog also takes note of comments from CSU�s Levin College of Urban Affairs professor Tom Bier during a program at the Nature Center at Shaker Lakes last week. Mr. Bier sums up the problem for inner-ring suburbs this way: �The state enabled the freeways to be built and promoted as personal freedom. When Ohio opened Route 422 (extension), nobody was talking about making it easier for people to leave Cleveland Heights and Shaker Heights and still commute to Cleveland. They didn�t talk about how this was practically going to destroy your community. In fact, the opposite happened. The extra funds required to fix your aging home-rule communities are paid for locally.�

The dance cities were LA & Cleveland. It was called Kinetic Shadows.

Archiving the Avant-Garde: Preserving Digital / Media Art A Free Public/Professional Symposium Wednesday, November 12, 2003 PFA Theater, UC Berkeley Works of digital and Internet art, performance, installation, conceptual, and other variable media art represent some of the most compelling and significant artistic creations of our time. These works constitute a history of alternative artistic practice, but because of their ephemeral, technical, or otherwise variable natures, they also present significant obstacles to accurate documentation, access, and preservation. Without strategies for preservation many of these vital works - and possibly whole new genres such as early Internet art - will be lost to future generations...

As long as there is no communication, there is no insight or compassion, and you will continue to suffer. Non-veterans do not understand veterans, and they refuse to listen to you. You know the truth about war, but you have not been able to share your insight with them. You have suffered so much, but you have not been able to find ways to tell people about it, and they have not been ready to listen... When you went to war, you went for the whole nation. The whole nation was responsible for what happened there, not you alone. Your hand was the hand of the whole nation. If you made mistakes, the whole nation made mistakes. If you went to war believing you were doing something important - trying to save a people, fighting evil - it was not your thinking alone; it was the thinking of the whole nation. You were sent there to fight, destroy, kill, and die. You were not the only one responsible. We cannot just shout at you and say, "You did that!" We all did it collectively.

"Berklee College of Music, the world's largest independent music college and the premier institution for the study of contemporary music, today launched Berklee Shares, a groundbreaking new program that offers music lessons -- free under Creative Commons licenses -- and encourages musicians to share and distribute the lessons online. Berklee Shares consist of a growing catalog of MP3s, QuickTime movies, and PDF files derived from curriculum developed at the college by its world-renowned faculty. The lessons are available for download right now at the Berklee site, affiliate partner sites, and peer-to-peer networks, including Limewire."

[F]ollowing through on some of them could make it so the failure of Issue 1 is remembered as the catalyst for enlightened economic development in Ohio, rather than just another dismal step in the state�s steady decline.

Job losses in the US due to outsourcing of financial services and technology work to low cost destinations like India will be offset by new employment opportunities in emerging sectors of the American economy, says a survey conducted by leading London-based research firm Datamonitor. The report says customer relationship services will continue to be outsourced by US firms to cut costs, but its impact on the US labour market will be limited.

T"he world is wide, and I will not wast my life in friction when it could be turned into momentum." - Frances Willard

The City of Cleveland Misses you. A LOT. So please, make an effort to come downtown and spend some quality time. It's the least you can do. After all, the city only gave birth to you and helped make you what you are today. But hey, we know you're a Big Shot and have more important things to do than visit an old city, right? Right.

Scholars who study U.S. cities agree that Cleveland has probably tried harder -- and achieved more -- than any other major brain-drain city. It has substantially rebuilt its downtown, winning national attention as a "comeback city" with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as well as new complexes for professional baseball, basketball and football. The percentage of residents with high school degrees has increased and concentrated poverty has been reduced.

"This is a city that, against all odds, is getting its act together," said Katz, whose Urban Affairs Center at Brookings monitors most major U.S. cities. "I believe that if Cleveland had not tried so hard, it would look like St. Louis or Detroit."

"There is a pervasive inferiority complex in this town," said Mark A. Rosenberger, programming director of WVIZ, a public television station in Cleveland. "People are afraid to try new things. They fear they will fail." It is a cultural weakness of the city, said Peter B. Lewis, the Cleveland-born billionaire who heads the Progressive Corp., an insurance company that is the largest private employer in the area. "People leave because they are not challenged and people leave because they feel different. There are better venues than Cleveland, if you are creative. Cleveland has never been particularly good in keeping its oddballs," he said. "It was felt that there were better places to do business in a high-tech sort of way. If Cleveland can't find a way to stop this, I will be visiting my children and grandchildren in San Diego or Austin or Seattle." said Manuel Glynias, a Cleveland-born scientist and entrepreneur, who founded NetGenics. "A critical mass of money, ideas and risk-taking has not coalesced in Cleveland," said David Morgenthaler, one of the country's most eminent venture capitalists. He manages $2 billion and lives in Cleveland. Morgenthaler said he would love to invest more money in his home town. But he does not do so because the city "does not breed enough good horses to bet on." "Cleveland lives off the past, and the executives from these old industries are still the community leaders," Morgenthaler said. "The city has made progress, but it is not close to where it has to be."

We use the phrase all the time, but sometimes forget that it refers to the amount of plutonium you need before you get an atomic bomb. One minute, it's just a pile of incredibly toxic stuff. A few grams later, it's enough to blow up a small city. I thought about this as I talked with a few friends running neat internet businesses, including the mighty mighty meetup.com. Business might be good (or bad) before you reach critical mass, and then --boom-- something happens. Suddenly, large numbers of people are aware of you. Suddenly, millions have made up their minds. Suddenly, people have decided they want and need you.

Both Stewart and Caterina are, like most great bloggers, even better in person than the persona they choose to reveal on their blogs.

"Furious activity is no substitute for understanding." - H. H. Williams

"a typical 8-ounce cup of brewed coffee has between 65 and 120 milligrams of caffeine, with an average of 85. vs take out a regular coffee sample with the lowest amount was Dunkin' Donuts, with 143 milligrams of caffeine in 16 ounces. The highest was Starbucks, with 259 milligrams."

As White said in his remarks, �If there were ever a time its leadership needed to be in lockstep with one another, it is now.� The time seems right to think about a regional approach.

"Cranium posted their results for the Top 50 FUN cities in the U.S. -- Guess what? Cleveland came in at 33! (Screw you New York - #41 and New Orleans - #50!) I'm pretty excited about these results. Seems as though they've actually done some research to acquire their final stats. (ie: people who have actually VISITED the cities, not just what they "hear.") See results HERE ...Bert and his team looked at cities across the country � reviewing everything from the number of sports teams, restaurants, and dance performances to toy stores and city budget spent on recreation. You may be surprised by what he found� I TOLD you Cleveland was a fun city to live! Why does everyone complain all the time?

Gazelles: There are two kinds of entrepreneurs - the ones that do business (Mom & Pops) and the ones that grow businesses (gazelles*). While it's the Mom & Pops that offer the one-of-a-kind restaurants, brewpubs and shops that create happening places which attract entrepreneurs in the first place, it's the gazelles that account for 75% of all job growth, plus half of all innovations, two-thirds of inventions and 95% of all radical innovations created since World War II. Economic Gardening: As opposed to 'economic hunting' (the industrial age method of trying to steal companies from other cities), economic gardening seeks to create jobs by supporting companies that are already in place**. Pioneered by Chris Gibbons at the City of Littleton, CO (pop. 45,000), the program has added 12,000 jobs since the program started in 1987 - with no incentives. Check out the program's three basic elements here.