Mark Czerniec

Apollo 11: Moon walk video tapes probably erased by NASA

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 10:58:00 -0600

What happened to the original, higher-quality tapes? Apparently, they were erased and taped over, in much the way you might record over your wedding video to catch the latest installment of Dancing with the Stars. This is what NPR's Morning Edition reported today in their first-man-on-the-moon followup ("Houston, We Erased The Apollo 11 Tapes").

[Full post here]

Blogging how-to: 'The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging'

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 16:06:00 -0600

Recently, I read and reviewed ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income.

If that work is an introductory handbook to blogging as a potential home-based business — analogous to the way someone might raise chinchillas — The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging is more of a gospel of blogging, evangelizing the practice like a pseudo-religion with a lot of celebrity devotees, all ushering in a new, ecstatic world order.

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Bird watching: Cedar Waxwing circus at Kenosha's Kemper Center

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 10:57:00 -0600

The Cedar Waxwing is a striking bird, as the Cornell Lab of Ornithology notes:

... the Cedar Waxwing is a silky, shiny collection of brown, gray, and lemon-yellow, accented with a subdued crest, rakish black mask, and brilliant-red wax droplets on the wing feathers. In fall these birds gather by the hundreds to eat berries, filling the air with their high, thin, whistles. In summer you're as likely to find them flitting about over rivers in pursuit of flying insects, where they show off dazzling aeronautics for a forest bird.

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Drive-By Truckers: 'Live from Austin, TX' on 'The Righteous Path'

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 12:54:00 -0600

The clip above is from their just-released CD/DVD combo Live from Austin, TX, recorded live at that legendary Texas PBS showcase, Austin City Limits.

The package features Drive-By Truckers' entire September 26, 2008, thirteen-song performance from their Brighter Than Creation's Dark tour — over an hour of music — in both CD and DVD form.

[Full post here]

Who called us? FedEx Office? I'll take Google Voice to block

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 10:09:00 -0600

According to WhoCalled.Us, the caller was "Western Watts" (the correct spelling is actually Western Wats), which turns out to be an Orem, Utah-based market research / data collection company performing live interviewing, online surveys, automated telephony, and other misdemeanors.

Furthermore, a great many of the comments at WhoCalled.Us associated the mysterious call with recent work done by Kinko's or FedEx Kinko's (which is now FedEx Office).

[Full post here]

Links for 2009-07-08 [Digg]

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 00:00:00 PDT

United Breaks Guitars
Band writes song and posts YouTube video to get back at United Airlines for broken guitar.

4th of July video: Racine's Fourth Fest Parade 2009

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 08:35:00 -0600

There was something about this year's Fourth Fest Parade that was absolutely transcendent. Seeing so many Racinians and our guests, from all walks of life, gathering together on our charming Main Street in the Midwest — to simultaneously perform and spectate, to see and be seen, to display and witness slices of each other's humanity amidst the larger compass of America's history and its founding cornerstones of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" — was just incredibly elevating.

[Full post here]

Pet Lions at Summerfest

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 08:42:00 -0600

Here's just a very brief sample of Pet Lions' set at Summerfest. The video was recorded on our Flip Ultra HD, and clearly I'm not the Martin Scorsese of iMovie yet.

[Full post here]

Amy Czerniec and the dog that broke her heart

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:38:00 -0600

Amy called me around 12:30 on Monday afternoon. I wasn't surprised that she was crying, but I did not anticipate exactly what triggered it.

"That damn dog," she sobbed. "How do they know?"

[Full post here]

Time Warner cable online 'PayXpress' bill payment issue results in $30 bank fee

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 18:12:00 -0600

Update: I just got off the phone with Cathy Jacobs from Time Warner Cable, who was holding a copy of this blog post. We had a mutually enlightening conversation, and she deleted the $30 fee and "past due" status, about which I was complaining.

The mistake was mine, but Ms. Jacobs agreed that my complaint was valid, and that Time Warner Cable's messaging about such transactions will be reviewed. She will also work to see that there is some access to the accounts receivable department when such access is warranted.

[Full post here]

Rescuing airline miles with the incredible 5-day pizza diet

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 09:45:00 -0600

On Friday, I had pizza for breakfast, followed by pizza for lunch. Then for dinner, I had some more pizza, plus beer. Amy, by then, was already shunning pizza, leaving even more for me — including her anchovy pizza, which took on a slightly off-putting character in microwaved leftover form.

In between eating pizza and drinking beer, I was checking our Mileage Plus Dining accounts every few minutes, but seeing no reflection of our pizza purchase. What I did spot was an unsettling notice at the bottom of my account summary: "Please allow 5-10 days for miles to post." Gulp.

[Full post here]

Heat wave, power cuts, and protests in India

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 07:19:00 -0600

While American politicians bicker over whether to pass a clean energy bill, people in India are really feeling the heat these days. Today's Weather Underground forecast for New Delhi called for a high of 111° F. going up to 114° F. for Monday.

[Full post here]

Links for 2009-06-26 [Digg]

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 00:00:00 PDT

NASA climatologist James Hansen: Carbon emergency is here
Jason Kottke quotes a subscribers-only New Yorker story: "Carbon dioxide isn't just approaching dangerous levels; it is already there. Unless immediate action is taken-including the shutdown of all the world's coal plants within the next two decades-the planet will be committed to climate change on a scale society won't be able to cope with. 'This

Michael Jackson: Carving an icon

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:40:50 -0600

As death's irrevocability begins to sink in, there is next the problem of how to remember the person. Complexities and contradictions must be trimmed down into a small, neat picture — an icon — which captures that essence so we can store it in our memory and refer back to it from time to time in the future, or pass it to our posterity.

[Full post here]

Regina Spektor on Letterman, NPR with new album 'Far'

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 12:57:00 -0600

Tomorrow night (Friday, June 26), she'll perform on The Late Show with David Letterman.

Her latest album is called Far, and it's available in handy MP3 download form at Amazon.com.

[Full post here]

Links for 2009-06-24 [Digg]

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:00:00 PDT

Rock guitar: The Art of The Windmill, with Dag Juhlin
Looking to incorporate one of Pete Townshend's trademark windmills into your stage act? Here are a few important tips to help with your arm-swinging glory. (As featured at http://windmill.thewho.com )

Good day for the good old-fashioned fan

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 12:30:00 -0600

I'm a bit of an ultraconservative in some ways. What did people do before central air turned us all into delicate wimps? How did The Greatest Generation cope when temperatures soared above 80?

They flipped on a fan, is what they did. Many of them, in fact, flipped on a Vornado fan that looks almost exactly like mine.

[Full post here]

EVP Tour: Pro beach volleyball at Racine's North Beach this Saturday

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 09:08:00 -0600

North Beach is an inspiring success story, and the Extreme Volleyball Professionals Tour is its showcase event. For the last two years, the players have voted Racine the best stop on the EVP Tour (see the video at Facebook).

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Links for 2009-06-23 [Digg]

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 00:00:00 PDT

How the Food Makers Captured Our Brains
A recipe for indulging: salt, sugar and fat, mixed many ways. But we can fight it.

Book review: 'ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income'

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 17:05:00 -0600

Hoping to learn more about blogging strategies and methods, I recently purchased and read ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income at Amazon.com.

The book, published a little over a year ago, was co-written by Darren Rowse, founder of Problogger.com, and Chris Garrett, a blogging and Internet marketing consultant.

[Full post here]

Positive thinking may actually bum you out

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 09:21:00 -0600

Curmudgeons rejoice! At long last, science suggests that the forced sunniness imposed by religious evangelists, sales motivators, and self-help books from The Power of Positive Thinking to The Secret can actually make you feel worse.

[Full post here]

Links for 2009-06-21 [Digg]

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 00:00:00 PDT

Western Corporations Helped Censor Iranian Internet
The Iranian regime has developed, with the assistance of European telecommunications companies, one of the world's most sophisticated mechanisms for controlling and censoring the Internet, allowing it to examine the content of individual online communications on a massive scale.

Links for 2009-06-19 [Digg]

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 00:00:00 PDT

Swine flu wedding
Flu can't stop lovesick couple. The Chicago couple got the jarring phone message less than 48 hours before they were scheduled to walk down the aisle.

Justine Henin: Retired from tennis, she's singing, acting, cooking, and more

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 09:19:00 -0600

A little Googling reveals that back in May, Henin — known as "Juju" to many of her fans — was the subject of a reality show in her home country of Belgium called Les 12 travaux de Justine Henin — literally "the twelve travails," which some have also translated as "the twelve challenges" or "the twelve works."

Not speaking French, it's tough to make out all of the challenges, but they seem to include soccer, ski instructing, cooking, modeling, and acting in her favorite soap opera Plus belle la vie.

[Full post here]

Links for 2009-06-13 [Digg]

Sun, 14 Jun 2009 00:00:00 PDT

TV not making sense?
It's not the digital conversion. The reason you no longer get programs on your old over-the-air analog TV is that CBS, ABC, NBC and Fox all decided you've watched enough television for a while. Why don't you play outside?

James Joyce's 'Ulysses' and us, on the BBC's 'Strand'

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 11:02:00 -0600

Overnight, I caught the Thursday's episode of The Strand on the BBC World Service on WUWM.

Listen to it, if you have a chance, before it gets replaced next week. Seventeen minutes into the audio file, host Mark Coles talks to Professor Declan Kiberd about James Joyce's Ulysses, sometimes called "the most unread literary masterpiece of all time."

[Full post here]

'Top Chef Masters' premieres tonight on Bravo

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 18:02:00 -0600

A new Top Chef season premieres tonight at 9:00 Central on Bravo, Channel 70 on Time Warner Cable here in southeastern Wisconsin. However, it's not the regular Top Chef, but instead a spin-off series called Top Chef Masters.

On the positive side, instead of culinary climbers, this series features actual star chefs competing for charity — chefs like Hubert Keller, Michael Chiarello, Roy Yamaguchi, Rick Bayless, John Besh, and many more.

[Full post here]

'Morning Joe' Scarborough brews up Jon Stewart feud over Starbucks

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 14:42:00 -0600

MSNBC morning host and former Florida congressman Joe Scarborough may be the electronic media's most tolerable conservative Republican. He may even have a new book, out just yesterday, urging his party back from radical recklessness to a more moderate temperment (The Last Best Hope: Restoring Conservatism and America's Promise).

None of this, however, means that Joe Scarborough can gracefully handle a little pointed ribbing.

[Full post here]

Original Culver's restaurant monument: Sauk City, Wisconsin

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 13:56:00 -0600

Since we were near Sauk City, Wisconsin the Saturday before last, I thought it might be fun to look for the original Culver's Frozen Custard & ButterBurgers Restaurant opened by George Culver and his family in 1984.

[Full post here]

Stephen Colbert reports from Iraq this week

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 12:17:00 -0600

The Colbert Report should be especially good this week, with Stephen Colbert on location in Iraq, a trip whose exact date and destination had been kept secret until Friday, leading many to ask (and search for), "Where and when is Stephen Colbert going to the Persian Gulf?"

His first guest in Baghdad is Gen. Ray Odierno who, under videotaped orders from President Barack Obama, shaves Colbert's head.

[Full post here]

Mute Orlando Magic fan, 4, speaks: Ryan Rodriguez loves this game!

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 05:58:00 -0600

I heard this story in the wee hours this morning via ABC's World News Now. Apparently it also aired on yesterday's Good Morning America and World News with Charles Gibson:

Orlando Magic helps mute boy find his voice

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Going forward, can we please omit 'going forward'?

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 06:51:00 -0600

Somewhat like the childhood game of Musical Chairs, there's a point in the popularity arc of any cliché when it becomes so tiresome that anyone who continues to use it exposes himself as an insecure poser fabricating fake savvy.

The expression "going forward" reached that point last year, if not the year before that.

[Full post here]