Thanks, Governor Kasich

Hey, Governor Kasich issued a proclamation making May 1-7 as Public Service Appreciation Week.

That's really nice of him and totally makes up for him taking away my collective bargaining rights.

Link Click

More covers

This time, though, it's physical covers...as in the covers of cds and dvds and such.

Turns out there's a website called Coverdude that has scans of tons of cd, dvd, blu ray, wii, xbox covers - in case you lose the cover to your cd, dvd, blu ray, wii or xbox game and want to print a new one in color.

It's a niche but could turn out to be a useful one.

Could we be a bit more blatant?

I grabbed the eponymous album from Eliza Doolittle and noticed that it's just a bit similar to a couple of other Brit-pop girl signers of late.

Take a listen and tell me if you notice any similarities...







...to perhaps Lily Allen...



...or perhaps Kate Nash...



Even the cd packages have the same sort of vibe to me...

The music, the art...it's like some record executive said that they needed another Lily Allen but with the cute turned up slightly and the sort of mean/nasty/snark turned down.

Turns out it's still catchy music.

Depressing

Today's xkcd depressed me...

Alt text: The universe is probably littered with the one-planet graves of cultures which made the sensible economic decision that there's no good reason to go into space -- each discovered, studied, and remembered by the ones who made the irrational decision.

Saturday...in the park...

I think it was the thirtieth of April...

• Massive 20-module Great Ball Contraption Goes on Forever - Better because it actually works...lesser because it's not nearly as big
• Making the final journey home - touching story about a man burying his father
• Far better than 3-d - great animated gifs...particularly that second one...
• Legend of the Golden Egg Warrior - yup, only a week late here...that's about right for the blog...
• Rainbows over Cincinnati - I know those places...I saw those rainbows... 
• Michael & Pam's Farewell on 'The Office' Grounded by Airport Director - Sorry, grounded by killjoy airport director.
• Batman vs Jesus: a Masters Class on Trolling - Hilarious
• DIY Justice of the Day - That's going too far.
• Chemical-based, throwable firefighting pack - I have no idea how/if this works. 
• Explain XKCD - I'll admit to needing this from time to time.
• Because of ME - How to advertise to women using stereotypes.
• Big Unit wins D-back Legends Race - How have I not known about this for a year?
• The Big Picture: Chernobyl 25 years later - haunting
• Video shows how difficult it is to sink a raft of fire ants - Makes me think of a short story I read as a kid that has haunted me since.

Who's covering whom?

Today we look at my favorite combination cover/original versions.

They'll play back to back the first time you listen through but not after that.

1937 Flood Home Movies

Cincinnati Re-Adventure posted a YouTube home video of the 1937 flood.



I've been dwelling on thoughts of the 1937 flood lately after hearing that we've just passed into the record books as the rainiest month in Cincinnati history. The Ohio River is close to 53 feet (it crested at fifty-six feet late last week), a foot or two above flood stage. Back in January, 1937, the Ohio River crested at nearly 80 feet.

Eighty feet...I can't even comprehend that.

Epic Meal Parody

Time is tight...more content coming another day...

Thanks, DailyWh.at

Frustratingly imperfect

Here's today's challenge: win the tennis tournament without losing a point.

Not a single point in the four matches.

I can consistently win the tournament with any of the players, but I can't seem to make it through all four matches cleanly. I keep trying at Graf and Navratilova - Graf because her forehand is just awesome, Navratilova because she has the wheels to get to just about anything hit her way.

My personal best is getting through the first three matches cleanly then losing two points in the final match.

There is, of course, absolutely no way to prove that you've done it, so I'll just have to take your word for it if you make it, but let's keep it above board here, folks.

Streaming Beasties

Katydid points out that the Beasties have decided to go ahead and stream the full edition of their album since the clean version got leaked over the weekend.

Seriously? Just when I'd pretty much decided that in the name of being frugal/cheap/economical, I was gonna just borrow the cd from PLCH and grab all the tracks? They go ahead and decide to give it to me for free?

Dangit, now I'm gonna have to buy the stupid thing just because I like their style.

Go ahead...check the album on their website...

Oh, and I miss the original cover for the unreleased part one...

You can also still check a rebroadcast of the live stream from Saturday...it's kinda freaky...

Watch live streaming video from beastieboys at livestream.com

I'll admit that I didn't notice the gorilla suit the first time through. That's what I get for playing the stream in a hidden window once I realized what it was.

What one little kid can teach us

There are parts of that video that I very much enjoy.

First off, there's Brian Wilson's beard. It's pretty awesome. I'm actually thinking about growing my beard out like that and dying it a jet black like the man does.(To see what kind of weird freak he is, go searching out his appearance on the George Lopez Show.)

Secondly, there's the Giants' Seal or whatever. His dancing's pretty cool.

Third, there's the...um...the...and...ur...

The rest is pretty much atrocious.

It's atrocious enough that I went hunting down the kid with the Giants. Apparently he's Keenan Cahill, a sixteen-year old who suffers from MPS Type VI, a rare disease. I don't know what's up with the kid. I'm sure he's had a tough life and all, but I don't care about him.

All I know is that he's a weird looking kid who lip synchs really badly. I'm guessing that his disease might have something to do with it. Maybe that's why his head is oddly shaped and why his mouth moves so oddly (and probably why we don't actually hear him speaking.)

Yeah, I get it: I'm mean. I'm heartless. I'm cruel.

But, c'mon, most of us aren't interesting. Most of us don't have a hell of a lot of talent. Most of us aren't interesting.

Most of us have absolutely no reason to be filming ourselves and posting the video on the website...NONE AT ALL.

We're boring.

This kid is boring. His videos are generally pretty poorly produced. There is no reason for any of us to know that he exists.

We are all famous to a very small circle of people.

Let's focus on those people and ignore the poorly produced, stupid videos of the world.

Good new...

Good news, folks.

The Paul Reiser Show is officially off the air.

I watched both of the two aired episodes, and they were atrocious.

Feel free to join my pain by watching the two episodes.

Well, that's disappointing...

Looks like Princeton will be on the lookout for a new head boys basketball coach as Middletown announced that Josh Andrews will be their new coach.

See, the thing is...

...I'm two days into a four-day weekend. So I don't know what I'm going to be doing tonight.

Tomorrow, though, I'll be celebrating Easter with the fam.

• Who is Tonci Zonjic? A Master of Cinematic Comics - makes me want to read the comics...great review
• Bompas and Parr: Return of the Jelly Knights - Today's evidence that our society is hugely wasteful
• Password Security and Usability -Turns out safe passwords are much easier to come up with than we thought.
• Famous Movie Scenes Recreated With Easter Eggs - The first is the best.
• Every Character on The Office From Least Funny to Funniest - #1 is a little obvious.
• Movie Trailer of the Day - I don't know about two hours of this, but it's a great minute and a half.
• Wanderlust: GOOD traces the most famous trips in history - The inclusion of Journey to the Center of the Earth seems stupid.
• Black Lodge, White Lodge: Exploring the Importance of Binaries in David Lynch's Twin Peaks - the writings of Katydid
• Make Laundry Detergent - this one's liquid...try powder if you're interested
• Using play dough as a circuit - frickin' cool...
• The People vs George Lucas trailer - I am intrigued. 
• Gordon-Levitt is Not Falcone and Cotillard is Not Talia; Will Portray New Characters in 'The Dark Knight Rises' - I'm gonna have to stop paying attention to the third Batman movie updates.
• Help Us Subvert MLB Video - Those Deadspin folks sure are determined & chucklesome.
• De-3D Cinema Glasses IRL of the Day - I like this...what character is he mimicking from about 2:20 onward? It's driving me nuts that I can't come up with it.

Gay Gay Gay!

Thanks for the help for today's playlist of gay artists...

Geek Merit Badges

The outstanding and Windy City-based Katydid mentioned last week that she was hanging at a Neil Gaiman reading sitting behind a couple of guys arguing about Primer. Geek heaven right there, folks.

Her tweet naturally lead to geek merit badges.

I swear there's a connection there somewhere.

It was a connection made.

Here's what I have for the initial listing of the geek merit badges, broken down by vague categories...Add your suggestions in the comments, please...

Sci-fi/comic geek

• Attending a comic/gaming convention *
• Knowing the rules for a Magic-the-Gathering-style card game *
• Having a personal Magic-the-Gathering-style card game deck
• Cosplaying in public
• Arguing who would win: Batman or Superman (Hulk/Thor/Wolverine acceptable Marvel substitutes)
• Arguing which is better: Star Wars or Star Trek
• Owning a comic published by company other than DC & Marvel *
• Owning a comic published by company other than DC / Marvel / Dark Horse / Archie / Image *
• Having a standing pull list at a comic book store
• Owning an entire series run (4+ season) on DVD *
• Owning an entire series run (2+ season) on VHS
• Owning an entire series run (1+ season) on any format for a series not commercially available
• Owning every book by a sci-fi/fantasy author
• Owning a long box full of comics (must be bagged, not necessarily all boarded) *
• Wearing a comic t-shirt ironically
• Playing an RPG (e.g. D&D) *
• Attending ComicCon
• Owning a piece of original comic artwork

Tech geek

• Getting roped into providing IT support for family *
• Being an official beta tester
• Being the first adopter of a new technology (real world) among your circle of friends
• Being the last to abandon an old technology (real world) among your circle of friends
• Being the first adopter of a new technology (virtual world) among your circle of friends
• Being the last to abandon an old technology (virtual world) among your circle of friends
• Buying your first Apple product *
• Building a case mod for a computer
• Jailbreaking a phone/iPad/iPod
• Buying a part from Radio Shack *
• Reading xkcd *
• Choosing open-source software when you can afford not to

Music geek

• Standing in line to buy concert tickets at least 4hours before the ticket booth opens *
• Attending multiple days of a multi-day music festival
• Seeing consecutive shows by an artist in different cities
• Making a mix-tape (or modern equivalent) for someone as a romantic advance (whether overtly stated or not) *
• Having 10,000+ songs on iTunes/Zune/etc *
• Buying a concert shirt at the concert *
• Seeing an artist who is now dead *
• Buying an album on vinyl (after ~1995)
• Taping a concert for bootlegging purposes
• Buying a bootleg of a concert (cd / cassette / vinyl) *
• Downloading a bootleg of a concert *
• Owning a bootleg of a concert you attended (digital / cd / cassette / vinyl) *
• Forming a band

Movie geek

• Seeing a movie at midnight on its first day of release *
• Seeing a movie in theater before its first day of release *
• Attending a movie premier (where actors in the movie are in attendance)
  
• Dressing up in character to see a movie in the theater
• Hosting a movie-themed dinner *
• Attending an Oscar watching party (and actually watching the ceremony)
• Being accepted by friends as a suitable imdb replacement when necessary
• Buying a DVD of a movie you've never seen
• Writing movie reviews on a regular basis (2 per month for at least a year) *
• Watched at least 3 movies in a theater in one day (may stretch past midnight)
• Attending ComicCon
• Getting an actor's autograph in person
• Getting a director's autograph in person
• Seeing every best picture nominee for a given year before nominations are announced
• Driving 30+ miles to see a movie in the theater

Food geek merit badges

• Owning an autographed cook book
• Traveling to a city (1+ hr drive/flight) just to eat at a restaurant
• Eating at a restaurant with a five diamonds (Mobil Travel Guide)
• Eating at a restaurant with three stars (Michelin Guide)
• Owning a one-use kitchen utensil / small appliance *
• Actually reading On Food and Cooking (I haven't completed it yet.)
• Seeing a chef/cookbook author in a non-restaurant setting *
• Attending a cooking class
• Eating in more than one restaurant from a single chef in a day *
• Ordering spices
• Subscribing to a food/cooking magazine *
• Making all the recipes in an magazine issue/cookbook
• Taking & posting food/restaurant photos online (in a non-vacation format) *

Other possible categories

• DIY/Maker geek merit badges
• Subscribing to Maker magazine
• Soldering
• Business geek merit badges
• Getting inbox to zero (more than six months after opening account)
• Having a job where ties are dress code for men
• Band geek merit badges
• Attending band camp
• Buying an instrument because of a previous owner's fame/respect/renown

Sources...

• When pigs fly
• TuckerSpawn
• Internet Merit Badges
• Geek Merit Badges
• Wired
• Worth1000
• Science Creative Quarterly
• Nerd Merit Badges

More new Beasties

To quote from TheDailyWh.at...

Beastie Boys – “Make Some Noise”

The visual component of the first single off the trio’s eighth effort Hot Sauce Committee Part Two is actually a five-minute snippet from their Sundance-screened short Fight For Your Right Revisited, starring everybody who’s anybody.

Incidentally (or not), Fight For Your Right Revisited will have its television debut tonight at midnight on VH1, followed by an airing of the uncensored version on Comedy Central at 3AM (all times EST).

Clearly, I need friends with DVR's.

Anybody wanna step up and hit that Comedy Central time for me so I can come over this weekend and watch it?

Today in history...

2010 – Deepwater Horizon has a big s’susplosion

1999 – Columbine High School massacre



1986 – Jordan’s 63-pt playoff game
1980 – Castro announced Cuban boatlift
1972 – Carmen Electra born
1939 – Billie Holiday records the first Civil Rights song "Strange Fruit".

 

1937 – George Takei born
1923 – Tito Puente born



1916 – The Chicago Cubs play their first game at Weeghman Park (currently Wrigley Field), defeating the Cincinnati Reds 7-6 in 11 innings
1912 – Opening day for Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts
1906 – San Fran firefighters stop San Fran fire (from the earthquake)
1902 – Curie isolates radium
1889 – Adolf Hitler born



1871 – The Civil Rights Act of 1871 becomes law
1862 – Louis Pasteur and Claude Bernard complete the first pasteurization tests.
1861 – Lee resigns from Union army

Lonnieburger Baskets: Wildflower Cafe

Let's get back on this horse, ladies and gentleburgerfiends.

The best burger in the town is - according to Cincinnati Magazine - the Wildflower Cafe's eponymously named Wildflower Burger with their pretzel bunned masterpiece. Here's what the Magazine had to say about the Wildflower Cafe...

1 The World's Best Burger
Wildflower Cafe
$10
> This perfect architectural specimen of exceptionally thick and juicy grass-fed beef (from 100-percent pasture-raised cows) is seasons and cooked with steakhouse skill and tucked into a glossy toasted pretzel bun that's neither too dense nor too soft and handles the meat juices without disintegrating. No tomatoes were harmed before their time - the cozy cafe follows the seasonal intentions of chef/owner Todd Hudson. It came with oily sun dried tomatoes, crackling strips of double smoked bacon, perfectly melted provolone, and a smear of mayonnaise spiked with herbs from Wildflower's garden. Holy cow! 207 E. Main St., Mason, (513) 492-7514

Take a look at that spectacular burger that Cincinnati Magazine reviewed back a day or so ago...

That's not actually the one the Magazine reviewed. It's the one that WineMe,DineMe reviewed before the Magazine did.

The Magazine's burger was closer to being like this. At least that's what I'm assuming because it's the one on the cover of their burger issue of the Magazine.

Look at that crown and pretzel bun lid, both perched ever so rakishly on top of the burger.

It would be an absolute crime to have to eat this burger without such an outstanding bun, wouldn't it?

Wouldn't it?

So, The Girl and I first went to the Wildflower Cafe almost a year ago, just a week or so after the Cincinnati Magazine issue came out, and we were told that the demand for their burgers had been so drastically up since the Magazine's release that they couldn't serve us our hamburger on the pretzel bun back then. We had the burger in its bastardized fashion then and didn't feel like we should review the burger in such a bastardized fashion.

No worries.

I went back over Christmas Break with Calen and managed to get a pretzel-bun-topped burger but was without my camera. So The Girl and I headed to the Wildflower Cafe with a couple of friends to again try for a Wildflower Burger...with the pretzel bun of course.

'Cause without that pretzel bun, it'd just be a crime.

Keep that in mind as we head toward the numbers.

Burger

• Well, dang. There may just be something to this whole grass-fed thing, because this burger is phenomenal. There's some spice in there but nothing that overpowers the strong, almost gamey beef taste of the patty. The spices are just enough to bring out the flavor. This is a phenomenally well flavored burger. The outside could be a little crisper, but that's sort of like pointing out that the Mona Lisa has a pimple, it's just picking nits. This is a brilliant burger with juicy, flavorful wonderfulness. Burger - 9 

Toppings

• I went for the cheddar cheese which you can see is nicely melted across the burger itself. The rest is topped with thinly sliced onions, herb aioli, various field greens, two slices of hearty bacon, and sun dried tomatoes. I don't groove to the sun dried tomatoes, so I would probably order the burger without them if we go again, but the aioli is to die for, rich, creamy, perfect on top of the burger. The greens are fresh and provide a nice crunch.
  
  But we have an issue.
  
  I was clearly stupid in not taking a photo with the burger once it was all together, instead taking my snapshots with the bun top sitting upside down on the plate. But we definitely have an issue.
  
  There's no pretzel bun
  
  It's been replaced with an English muffin even though the online menu still says it's on pretzel bread. The muffin is nice enough, and it's tasty and all, but it just can't stand up to the juicy goodness of the burger. Maybe if the muffin was toasted it could do a little better, but it wasn't toasted.
  
  When I was lucky enough to get a burger on the pretzel bun, I found myself wanting to set the bottom of the bun aside so that I would have a tasty, juice-soaked snack after eating the burger itself. Not so much with the muffin.
  
  We asked our waitress what had happened to the pretzel bun, and she said she knew that the chef wanted to be as local as possible (something that's all over the menu, admittedly) and that the pretzel buns were from Germany (something I'm throwing the bullpucky flag on). She also admitted that the chef/owner is the kind of artist guy who just might have changed away from the pretzel bun because everybody was talking about how much they loved the pretzel bun. He's just a weirdo artist like that.
  
  Either way, the change away was a mistake. Toppings - 7

Fries

• And now to problem number two: they don't have fries. They have a house salad, potato salad, a cup of soup, and chips. The first three will cost you an extra buck. The last option comes free with the burger.
  
  I don't know exactly how to rate those things. They definitely aren't fries, but fries doesn't really fit into the crunch nuts and berries vibe of the Wildflower Cafe, either, so maybe that's a positive. They're all about the local, the environmentally friendly, the sustainable, so maybe it's a bonus for being consistent.
  
  Then again, they don't have fries.
  
  The Girl said she liked the fries, thought they had a nice flavor. Neither of us could tell, however, whether they were made in-house. I thought they tasted like an decently high-end kettle chip that I could buy at the store. Fries - incomplete 

Ambiance

• I mentioned the crunchy-nuts-and-berries vibe of the Wildflower Cafe. It's definitely a dirty hippie kind of place (not that it's at all dirty, it's just very much on the environmental tip). The restaurant is in a converted old house without a whole lot of converting. The dining rooms are the same sizes as each of the house's original rooms, one of which has a large chalkboard with the current menu (it changes with the shift in seasonal vegetables). Upstairs is a nice bar seating area where Calen and I had that one burger with the actual pretzel bun. The whole place has a very much lived in feeling with the floorboard's paint pleasantly worn, the windows hung with a burlap curtain from what I assume is a fair trade coffee bean sack. The only serious rehabbing that was done was to the kitchen and the large freezer that you pass if you come in through the restaurant's back door. I prefer all this to the typical sports bar thing that most of the burger places have, but it can be a bit much. They aren't pushy with the hippie vibe, but there's nothing else for them to push.
  
  There's a small seating area around a grill out back, and I'm assuming that'll be open this summer. It wasn't open on our rainy Friday evening visit.
  
  The Wildflower Cafe is the kind of place that can serve you an awesome burger but also has a curry chicken salad with kiwis, crackers, blueberries, and blue cheese on the menu. They have an eclectic menu. Ambiance - 8
  
  Photo credits from the top...365Cincinnati.com...CeliacsInTheHouse.com...CincinnatiMagazine.com... WineMeDineMeCincinnati

Cost

• You're paying for your environmentally friendly ways, folks. The burger is $12. They don't offer any soda products (other than bottled IBC root beer). They don't offer fries. That's a $12 burger with chips. In The Girl's words, "I don't think it's a $12 burger." Without the option of fries - something that's important to my burger experience - I'm inclined to agree.
  
  I'm going to have to be a little creative here. Let's assume $2 for the Diet Coke that I couldn't get. If potato salad is a $1 upcharge, the fries certainly would be, too. So, that's $15 for the mythical burger/fries/Diet Coke combo. Cost - 1 

Other Stuff 

• No fries. -1 
• No pretzel bun. -1
• Environmentally friendly place. +2

So, where do the numbers take us? The Wildflower Cafe comes in at 25 out of a possible 40. Everything else is being scored out of 50, so I'll scale this one up to that 25/40*50 would be a 31.25.

The problems with the Wildflower Cafe's burger experience are significant:

• It's expensive.
• The bun is a disappointment.
• There are no fries.

The strengths, however, are pretty solid, though:

• The burger patty is outstanding.
• The Cafe is part of a growing trend in locavore restaurants.

I don't know that I'll be going back to the Wildflower unless they reinstate the pretzel bun (seriously, it makes a huge difference), but it's a place that I'm glad is around.

• Terry's Turf Club - 45
• Cafe de Wheels - 44
• Senate - 43
• Five Guys Burgers and Fries - 36 
• Roxy's - 36
• VanZandt - 34
• Gabby's - 34 
• Oakley Pub & Grill - 34 
• Quatman's - 32 / 34.5
• Troy's - 32 
• Wildflower Cafe - 31.25 (scaled from 26/40) 
• The Pub at Rookwood Mews - 28
• Habits Cafe - 28
• Graffiti Burger - 27
• Arthur's - 26
• Sammy's - 25

Wildflower's burger deserves to be higher on the list. It's an outstanding experience that doesn't score well in my ranking system - primarily because of it's higher price (partially understandable because of the local sourcing and assumedly high quality of the beef) and total lack of fries (again, a product of the restaurant's style more than a knock against it).

I would recommend the Wildflower well above the other places in its score range, but know that you're not wandering in for a typical pub/sports bar burger and fries experience.

I love Dennis Kucinich

He's a weird little dwarf, but I love the man.

Seriously...