I’m re-posting this blog entry from 2010, after the recent passing of Sid Krofft. I’m also updating many of the links, which have expired in the sixteen years hence. The recent passing of H.R. Pufnstuf puppeteer Van Snowden brings a tinge of sadness. I was fortunate to interview him in 2008, as part of an…
Read MoreI wish we had songbirds
Back when I was in a relationship, I would help my girlfriend take care of the many beautiful songbirds that visited her backyard garden. I would purchase hot chili bird seed (squirrels hate it, but birds love it), and the feeder would be packed with visiting goldfinches and blue jays and cardinals and nuthatches and…
Read MoreThe 50-year old latch hook, update
A few weeks ago, I worked on my newest latch hook rug project. This canvas was originally sold as part of a 1977 kit by Bernat; yarn skeins and tools for trimming the yarn were all sold separately. And rather than source the original colors from 1977, I went with modern colors and skeins. At…
Read MoreWhere are the cars?
With sunnier weather in the forecast, I wanted to test out the new custom-cut Kolari filters for my Nikon Df infrared modified camera. Some time ago, I asked Kolari to modify a set of internal filters for my Zodiak 180-degree lens (a lens originally set for my Pentacon Six TL). Now it’s time to take…
Read MoreThe Saturday Blogroll Recap, April 11 2026
Springtime is here, and that means spring cleaning. Time to neaten everything up, make the necessary deposits and disposals, and create a better plan for your life. I need to do this as well. But before I undertake a spring cleaning chore, I’ll take care of something equally as important – recapping the blog posts…
Read MoreThe incredibly complicated legacy of Afrika Bambaataa
I was truly unprepared for the news. Back in the 1980’s, I played Afrika Bambaataa and the SoulSonic Force’s records on my college radio station, WHCL, in heavy rotation. The songs were extremely popular in that insular upstate New York region; the songs burst through that burgeoning hip-hop culture from the Bronx with power and…
Read MoreA latch hook rug 50 years in the making
This is a bit of a project. But understand where I’m coming from on this one. I wanted to craft another latch hook rug, so that I could enter two different rugs in two different competitions this year, and then flip the rugs to enter them in the other respective competitions. I already had my…
Read MoreThe greatest wrestling match you’ve NEVER seen… and never WILL see
In a college music theory class, I learned that avant-garde composer John Cage once crafted something called 4’33”, a performance that featured no instruments. Just silence. For four minutes and thirty-three seconds. And I initially thought … that’s a bit of a cop-out. Like telling your teacher that you wrote your homework on invisible ink.…
Read MoreThe Big Boy Project … beginning to start the initial planning stage
The more I think about this Union Pacific 4014 “Big Boy” crossing into New York State for America’s 250th birthday, the more motivated I am in preparing to photograph the train. Now I could do a dedicated “chase the train from here to there” run, but I’m not thinking that way today. If I get…
Read MoreNature at 8¢ per bottle
Yes, I go through a lot of soda bottles. Diet colas, Sugar Free Red Bulls, I’m guilty and unashamed. And like a good New Yorker, once my recycle bin is full, I bag up the empties and take them to the Mohawk Hudson Humane Society in Menands. Let me explain. Originally I would take the…
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Chuck The Writer 
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