thisiswhatyoushalldo

Setting A Musical Mood,
Each And Every Day

For fun and frolic, here is a link to download a different public domain MP3 every day of the year. Some really, really odd stuff here. What the guy does it takes those old use records you see for sale at thrift stores, used books stores and even garage sales, finds some gold and then burns them to an MP3 and uploads them. Hilarity ensues. It is inspired. The link for today comes from from a Paul Winchell and Jerry Mahoney Album of the 1960s entitled “Chips of Wisdom.” Winchell was a very popular ventriloquist and Mahoney was his wooden dummy – the chip of wisdom. You will recognize the voices as he does lots of commercials and cartoon voice dubbing. After that, go to the archives section and have fun.

World War 2.5

Here is a flash animation presentation/game scenario that tries to explain, using dark edged humor, the war in Iraq (I refuse to refer to this as a sterile operation – it is a war) and the probable outcomes our our involvement in initiating the war, based on historical, geographical and psycho-social analysis. Make sure to check out the “Ashcraft Online” link on the same page. Hysterical.

Gulf War 2 (aka World War 2.5)

Dogs of War

“That plan’s just crazy enough to work.”

The Washington Monthly has put out a piece on the reasons why we are at war. Vaguely similar to the piece posted earlier that appeared in the March Esquire, this piece in The Washington Monthly is darker and is much more ominous in tone. Chaos and war in the Middle East is the overall goal, according its author. I can’t vouch for any of that but it does strike me as probable that after Iraq, the dogs of war will point their tales at Iran, Syria and other pesky non democratic neighbors who aren’t willing to play ball by the United States rules.

Rook Takes Pawn

Good Lord! The chess bug is outta control. I currently have six games in progress in the email chess engine Red Hot Pawn. It’s free and simple. So if you haven’t gotten on the bandwagon, RABNurse is Sage, Miasma is Jenn, Beaker is Mark, Kevin is Lono and I am majikwah. Sign up and play. A low key way to game that uses your brain not your Nintendo thumb.

The Word Is Official

I guess I should make this an official announcement.
I have a job.
I have secured work.
I have retained a position.
On March 20 I started at Finali Corporation. Located right in the heart of nowhere, on the outskirts of Westminster. I am officially an eSpecialist for an outsourced customer contact center.
I know, I know, I said that I would do anything first before going back into customer service, but things being what they are, a boy can’t be too picky.
And unlike Teletech, these guys actually seem to know what they are doing. I am a three month temp to hire and hopefully will be a full time employee by June. It is a rather small company with about 110 employees, but has contracts and sales growth projecting them to be at 550 employees by year’s end.
So far so good. The company has a very relaxed, open and honest company culture and a chance at rapid promotion and development. With my Nextel experience, I am looking forward to really making a contribution. It is a bit exciting in these times to be a part of a dot com startup that actually had the wherewithal to ride out the post 9/11 bust.
I will be working on their newest accounts for Western Union and Bidpay.com. Primarily the work will be email and chat with a little bit of phone work.

I am sure I will develop an annoying play by play at my blog as this develops, but in the meantime I thought I would drop a note and let you folks know I am alive and well and back to being a contributing member of society.

The Bombs Bursting In Air

It is day three of the war in Iraq and I have already tired of the constant television coverage. As talking heads guess what is going on thousands of miles away, with images of bombs exploding in glowing technicolor behind their heads, we are quickly learning that the information being given is premature and sometimes often inaccurate. Is Suddam dead? Is he alive? Was the speech recorded? Is it a double? And on and on. I find myself quickly looking for more accurate and thoughtful sources concerning the aggression. Some resources can be found here:

Metafilter.com, of course

Careful discussion of most everything going on

and

Cyberjournalist.net

A blog of sources for gulf war coverage, including some blogging from embedded journalists.

and

How to watch the war on TV

Marriage Is All In The Family

This was too offbeat not to share with other folks:

English Hillbillies?

Getting Off On The War Effort

I am not pro war. In fact in simpler times and at a younger age I would have filed for some sort of conscientious objector status rather than kill villagers in the desert. I am an honorably discharged veteran of the United States Army, serving in the peace time forces of the 1980s overseas. I have no solutions to offer the world. Saddam Hussein is a very bad man and needs to go away. He does indeed have some chemical and biological weapons and has shown in the past that he is not afraid to use them. With that said, I am scared about what a national doctrine of pre-emptive military action means. It sounds way too much like a state of perpetual war foreseen by George Orwell in “1984.” But now that the war is on and we have soldiers, sailors, marines and pilots out in the desert fighting, I will support them and wish them well. But I feel I have to express my dismay for the war. That is why Masturbate For Peace is such a great cause for me. It can only be seen as a win/win situation. Just trying to do my part.