Mark Knows It All

PLEASE VISIT MARK KNOWS IT ALL; THE WEB SITE Are you tired of computer progress? Lately, I have had a number of encounters with questionable computer program “progress” that were expensive and dangerous. Welcome to Computer Program Hell. Last night, my wife went to read her emails. She has an AOL account, and the email listings said “temporarily unavailable.” I got on line to help her out through the AOL online tech support, and was told by the tech gal that the problem was with the AOL server which was being upgraded to serve us better. She said she would report the problem, but didn’t know how long it would take to fix (24 hours). So much for serving us better. Do you like using Microsoft Office that you have to buy every time you purchase a new computer? Microsoft Word is the standard for word processing programs. The newest update that is used with Microsoft Vista has a glitch. If you save your Word document as a Word document, and email it to someone who doesn’t have the Word for ...

Please Visit Mark Knows It All, the Web Site My attention span these days can be stretched to about 30 minutes. Beyond that, I have a problem, which can cause substantial difficulties when watching hour long television programs, or worse, spending 20 bucks at a 2 ½ hour movie. Maybe my medication isn’t working, or maybe the amount of time I spend on the computer has addled my brain, or maybe it is my superior intellect falling asleep as it deals with the mediocre media that surrounds me, but I get bored very easily. One medium that solves the problem are magazines. I love reading magazines. For the most part, the stories are short and concise…maybe a page long. They deal with issues that aren’t particularly earth shattering. They usually cover a variety of subjects. The best part? You don’t really have to read them to get the gist of what they are trying to say. A quick look at the headline and the pictures w/ captions, and you’re good to go. The theology taught in my Catholic CCD cl...

Please Visit Mark Knows It All, the Web Site DID YOU KNOW? The Congressional ban on off shore drilling has to be voted on every year, and expires September 30 of this year, 5 weeks before the general election. Will they have the gall to extend the ban? DID YOU KNOW? The primary drivers of oil consumption are India and China. The increase in oil prices has no effect on the consumer in these countries as their governments subsidize oil and gasoline prices. They are driving the prices up, but the American consumer is paying the price. In my entire life, there has rarely been a time when I have been afraid for the country. This is one of those times. Once again, socialism is rearing its ugly head, and this time it may prevail. Whether you call it being green, or fighting global warming, or stewards of God’s bounty, environmentalism is providing the excuse for complete regulation of your lives, and the destruction of our way of life. You are paying for it right now at the gas pump, and ...

Please visit Mark Knows It All, the Web Site The wife of a friend of mine passed away this past week. I never met my friend’s wife, as she had been ill for most of the time that I have known him. But from the words of her family and friends at the funeral, she must have been a pretty spectacular person. Certainly she was a mother and wife in a beautiful family. My friend is a good and active member of my chorus, and we wanted to honor him and his wife by singing at the funeral. Every now and then a poignant moment happens in life, and two such moments happened at the funeral. Immediately prior to the service, we remembered that it was the birthday of one of our members. In the church hall where we were waiting to enter the sanctuary, someone suggested that we sing Happy Birthday to the individual celebrating another year. It struck me as being a bit sacrilegious at first, but then I thought…why not? In fact, what better place is there to celebrate both the lives of those living and t...

Please Visit Mark Knows It All, the Web Site My Seraphim Chorus sang a gig this past weekend. We performed for the alumni association of a local, now defunct, high school. The average age of these folks was at the high end of the 70 plus crowd, with many of the men in attendance obviously veterans of WWII or Korea. The organizer asked that we add some patriotic songs to our repertoire, and our director dutifully pulled out hymn book arrangements of America the Beautiful and The Battle Hymn of the Republic . While practicing these patriotic chestnuts before the performance, the music struck a chord in me and I became teary eyed and very sad. To make matters worse, when I got home from the concert, a friend of mine had emailed a performance of the Wilhousky Battle Hymn (think Mormon Tabernacle Choir) arrangement done recently by a local high school with a youth choir, band, and high school chorus. I am 58 years old, and I will guarantee that just about anyone my age who participated ...