Bing Using Google Ads?

This afternoon I was astonished to find an ad for Bing in the Google Adsense Ads on my website.











When Microsoft launched Bing its search engine the target was clear. Bing is Microsoft's attempt to take some of Google huge share of the search market. It would seem like a conflict of interest for Google to take ads from its direct competitor, but I just saw one myself on this very site.

This may be a cagey move by Microsoft to use Google's own product against them. It's certainly not a strategy I have ever seen before. If instead of tech companies we were talking about entertainment this would be like Coke placing ads on Pepsi Cans or CBS shows being advertised on Fox.

I will try to update this story if I get more information.

Image Credit: erdov.com logos are property of Google and Microsoft respectively

Homemade Beer

If you can make tea, read a thermometer, or a book you can brew beer.

When I first heard of homebrewing it was from a bio-chemist and I mistakenly assumed that it was some complex and technical undertaking that only the truely dedicated could bring off. Not so. Beer is almost as fun and easy to make as it is to drink.

Beer is made out of:
-Water
-Malt (a kind of sugar)
-Hops (a bitter plant)
-Yeast (the fungus that makes bread rise)
-Grain (barley, wheat, or something else)

Besides being easy its also rewarding.

You get a lot more than a buzz out of making your own beer:
-Its cheaper than buying the fine, exotic beers
-After a couple batches you'll be making beer on par with or better than anything you can buy
-Homebrewing teaches you a lot about beer
-It makes a personal gift
-It's a hobby you can have for life

My beers usually take a month or two to completely ferment and finish the brewing process. It's explained in depth here.

My home brews take about 10 steps:
1. Heat a couple gallons of water
2. Add the grains, malt and hops (these ingredients will go in at different tempatures depending on the recipe and your preference)
3. Boil
4. Cool the mixture (this liquid is often called the tea or the wort)
5. Add to three gallons of room temperature water
6. Wait a couple weeks
7. Add some finishing sugar
8. Bottle
9. Wait another week
10. Drink up!

Check this blog tomorrow for recipes I have used in batches I am brewing/drinking right now.

Photo Credit: Marie Pavlich (my cousin!)

"From Chicago and Proud of It"

Darius Dennis is an artist for Novem Studios and Chicago.

This my second interview with a someone who has worked in graffiti and graphic design, our first was with Chicago artist Peter Chavez.

Photo Credit: Sam Adams (This photo comes from the cover of The Chicago Reader)

Coming Soon NorthandClark.net

Good morning, this is Casey Brazeal for North and Clark. I am pleased to announce that this site is moving to a new URL at NorthandClark.net. I am still trying to figure out Wordpress and it is by no means complete, but that is the site that I hope to use for the long hall.

Until I get the new site completely figured out I will continue to maintain this website. You will never miss anything if you keep coming by here, when I finally do abandon blogger I will put a redirect on this site.

In the meantime if anyone has any advice or thoughts for about moving to wordpress please leave them below.

Clean Renewable Energy You've Never Heard Of

Heat capture is a technology that uses waste heat to generate power. Its a little used and in many places little known technology, but it could have wide reaching effects on carbon emissions, climate change, and industry in United States.

Our interview subject today, Ken Pavlich, is a friend of the site. When he last spoke to North and Clark he was talking about the goldmine he managed.

photo by: Crystalline Radical

Music and Poetry

Ian Randall talks about why poems should be read aloud and the music of words.

Ian Randall's August 24, 2004

Ian Randall's full interview will be up tomorrow.

Indego Africa and Social Enterprise

Indego Africa provides jobs and fair trade wages for Rwandan women. They are not just a non-profit organization, but also a social enterprise, meaning that they make a lot of the money that supports their organization not from donations, but through the work they do. Joshua Lebowitz heads Indego Africa's board here in Chicago his interview follows below.

If this interview has peaked your interest please join Josh and I at Angel's and Kings Thursday, August 27 for Who Gives a Shot. All the night's proceeds will be donated Indego Africa.

Chaos: How One Chicago Cop Survived the Riots of 1968

1968 saw the assassination of Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. In Chicago 1968 was the year of The Democratic Convention. Officer Wayne Wiberg was there and he gives us the rare perspective of a policeman in the middle of a "police riot."

Download here

Photo by: Oscar Arriola

Running A Goldmine

Ken Pavlich, former general manager at a Nevada Gold mine, walks us through the process of getting Gold out of the ground and into the market.  Ken oversaw the entire process from scouting out and founding new mine sites to the final refinement.  Today he sits down with North and Clark to talk about what it's like to pull gold out of the ground in the middle of the desert.

Download here

Photos by: Lachlan Hardy and Milena Mihaylova