Christmas Podcast

Here is the much anticipated Unwilted Christmas Podcast. My regret is that the last song is not the original John Denver version. I used to have that version, but somehow I no longer do. Almost without exception, I hate modern versions of Christmas songs. So this is heavy on the traditional (and edited to have a traditional sound).

I actually have a political post in me -- I just watched the Power of Nightmares series from BBC 2 by Adam Curtis. But nobody wants politics right now. But if you do, or if you read this after Christmas, then I'd recommend the download (legal even) at the internet archive.

Pump You Up!

Some patriotic country music along with inspirational quotes from our President on today's podcast.

Guilty Pleasures from the 1980s

This podcast started with a theme of the worst songs from the 1980s. The truth is that these songs are not the worst. They are hits, and they are catchy. But they are embarassing. They are guilty pleasures. Featured in this podcast are the likes of Lionel Ritchie and Michael Bolton. Listen on your headphones, and if anybody asks, tell them you are listening to Young Jeezy. But wait, that is also an embarassment (unless you are really from the hood).

VOIP

[2009 Edit:  Company went belly up and left a bunch of people in a bad situation with very little notice.  Have since moved on to Vonage and am happy enough with them.]

I've been using Sunrocket now for about a month, and have been almost completely happy. Sound quality is consistently good. One or two occasions where there was a lost packet or something and the voice was garbled. Another occasion where I sounded fine but the other party sounded a bit like he was in a large auditorium (he was not). But overall fine. Worth the minor problems with the low price and abundant features.

There are no setup charges, and they even send you a cordless phone system (if you click on the phone under the bird on the homepage). They promise to refund any of the unused yearly fee ($199) if you cancel, and they even sent a pre-paid return label if I wanted to return the equipment after first trying it out. Overall, a good, clean, no BS service.

I had one experience with customer service, which was good. I had not signed up for the free additional phone number at first. Then I couldn't see how to do it on the website. Instead of calling, I opted to chat with a customer service representative. Other than the fact that he seemed to be an amazingly slow typer, he was helpful and it all worked out fine with no problems.

One other strange thing that I discovered. When I call a number (I was calling our current home phone) and hang up, the ringing continues for a long time. This could be annoying if I ever call somebody, and they see it is me and decide not to pick it up. It would keep ringingn and ringingn for them.

So, I'm going to cancel our normal land line. Will save around $40 a month by doing that (including long distance charges, fees, taxes, etc.). We are lucky enough to have broadband without DSL, so we don't need the phone line (or need to pay extra for naked DSL).

I make no money by writing this -- just a good product, and I hope the company does well. If you are a reader who knows my email address, let me know if you want to sign up and I can get some sort of credit for doing a referral.

Corruption

A break from the podcasts for a moment. I'm shocked that almost nobody has heard about the Republican Congressman (Randy "Duke" Cunningham) who just resigned and admitted to taking $2.4 million in bribes. Shouldn't this be a big deal? The Washington Post seems to be reporting it on the front page, and also gave a good analysis of corruption generally also on the front page. However, I've been listening to Fox for the last hour, and no mention of it. CNN has not been much better. Bottom line is that most Americans who pay only a little attention to the news will have no idea that an important Congressman took millions in bribes and just resigned. What do they hear about instead? The Fox website is currently headlining a new panda bear at the National Zoo, and does not even mention the bribery resignation in its current headlines. Media Matters has a more detailed analysis of the lack of coverage.

Podcast for Satan

This podcast is dedicated to Satan. You're doing a heck of a job. For those of you listening, don't bother unless you plan on turning up the volume.

Country Podcast

A continuing subject of interest to me are the changes in country music through the years. Essentially, it is transforming into family-friendly fare for Republicans. Not always, but little by little. The theme of this podcast is religion in country music. Religion was an important part of country music for a long time. Then there came the cultural revolution of the 1960s and 1970s. Kris Kristofferson, one of my favorite artists of all genres, is included with his "Sunday Morning Coming Down." Then on to the modern, retro religious cool with Allison Krauss, whose voice almost makes me wish I were still religious.

Podcast by Popular Demand

The demand for another podcast has been overwhelming. If you consider one request overwhelming. Maybe not overwhelming, but sufficient. So here you go!

Veterans Day

A special podcast for Veterans Day. A forgotten holiday for most, but less so these days.

Podcast

The premiere of the new Unwilted podcast. Episode 1. Enjoy.

In My Ears

For today, in my ear are the sweet sounds of Russian pseudo-lesbo pop from t.A.T.u. The new album is Dangerous and Moving. That's right, I'm hardcore.

In My Ears

Not particularly brilliant, but I'm currently listening to HIM's latest album Dark Light. Because I just can't get enough Love-Goth Metal from Finland. I actually saw them in concert back in 2003, but I really don't remember it.

Upcoming Concerts

I'm seeing Franz Ferdinand in a few days, and Bright Eyes in a few weeks. As a sample, I'd suggest you listen to Franz Ferdinand's "You Could Have It So Much Better" from the new album with the same name. And Bright Eyes with "Road to Joy" from I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning.

Best Album -- Pretty Hate Machine

Although there have been many favorite albums through the years, I keep coming back to Pretty Hate Machine from Nine Inch Nails. I have not loved subsequent NIN albums -- they are okay but often just too much noise. Pretty Hate Machine is a bit more quiet, a bit more electronic, and much more tense. And the emotion is intense. It is hard to pick a single song because they all work well together.

Nothing To Say -- So Here's Some Music

Nothing for me to say right now. So I'm going to post some of the best songs that I know. First off, Nick Cave and The Bad Seed's "Into My Arms" from The Boatman's Call. This song capures the feel of the album -- quiet, thoughtful, sincere. Among my top ten albums.

Desert Mountain Climb

View from a mountain I climed. Kicked my ass. If you can figure out where it is, good for you. If you can't, then you don't have a need to know.

Kermit and Piggy

Kermit and Piggy for your enjoyment.

Technorati Tags

Testing the technorati tags ads for the greasemonkey firefox extension.

Kicsi the dog. She is a poodle.

Nature and Children

Looks like the latest fad is bringing children back to nature. I happened to catch Brat Camp on tee vee tonight. Not sure if that program is the solution for those kids, but it probably can't hurt for them to get dirty and breathe some cold air. I'm also reading Richard Louv's Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder.

Although I've not read all of it, the essential and common sense idea is that kids need to get outside and get away from the tee vee and video games. The book laments the fact that we may have been the last generation to have a significant first hand experience with nature. We used to be able to play in the woods or even a vacant lot without supervision. Kids today require constant supervision. If they are not watching tee vee, we organize them into soccer leagues. The spontaneity is gone. And that's a shame.

I wouldn't think that you'd need a whole book to make such a common sense point, but most parents today seem not to have that common sense. Therfore, stuff like brat camp.

Drinkin' and Cheating?

Salon.com had a story about how Faith Hill and country music in general seem to be moving back to all things redneck. Crossover to pop music is out, and embracing your inner redneck is in. There's something there. But more important is a trend away from the drinkin' and cheatin' and heartache that country music used to be about. Today's country is family friendly.

More and more, country is becoming the soundtrack for the pickup-driving office worker who has a fat wife at home, three (or more) kids, and who attends evangelical protestant church services weekly. He lives on a half acre spread outside of town and calls it "the ranch."

Musicians such as pot-smoking Willie Nelson are tolerated -- honored to a degree -- but are no longer the mainstream of country music. The last time I saw Willie Nelson, he was singing with Jessica Simpson.

The first time I took note of the new family friendly country music trend was Lonestar's "My Front Porch Looking In." Hearing about a "carrot top" (his redhead kid) with a "sippy cup" made me stop in my tracks. Maybe the sippy cup at least has beer in it.

Even songs that may seem to be about drinking have been tamed down. Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffett's "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere" comes to mind as an example. Would Johnny Cash have even felt the need to justify drinking before five o'clock? I think of Kris Kristofferson's "Sunday Morning Coming Down," which was also performed by Johnny Cash: "The beer I had for breakfast wasn't bad / so I had one more for dessert." In the new country world, drinking is something you do on vaction (i.e. "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere" and Toby Keith's "Stays in Mexico"). These days, you are at church Sunday morning, not coming down.

At first, I thought that Toby Keith and Willie Nelson's "Beer for My Horses" was a sign of hope. But even that song reflects Toby Kieth's typical braindead nuke them all worldview. And it is a song about how things used to be. Toby probably does not even own horses, much less give them beer.

I could go on and on. The only source of hope (and this is digging deep) is how Brett Michaels (formerly the girly lead singer of the hair metal band Poison) was one of the judges on the latest season of Nashville Star. Country music needs somebody who has slept with Pamela Anderson.

Sexy Iranian Singles!

Somehow all my google ads on this blog are for muslim singles sites lately. Not sure what content causes the all knowing google search engines to associate a white Idahoan's writings with sexy singles from Iran. I suppose such a thing existed, but the thought had not crossed my mind. Of course, this post won't help. The unwilted blog . . . all the latest news an info for sexy muslim singles.

Summer Schmaltz

My entry in the Salon.com summer soundtrack contest. All downloads are legal and free.

1. "Summer Tapes," by Morning Recordings from "Music for Places."

2. "Kite," by Mascott from "Dreamer's Book."

3. "You Can Never Leave," by Crooked Fingers from "Red Devil Dawn."

4. "Such A Lovely Thing," by Devotchka from "How It Ends."

5. "Remember," by Ten Mile Tide from "Flow."

6. "July," by Onelinedrawing from "Always New."

7. "Silence," by The Autumn Defense from "Circles."

8. "Meet Me by the Water," by Saturday Looks Good to Me from "All Your Summer Songs."

9. "Candyflossdays Are Over," by Maus from "Ghostsongs."

10. "Good for No One," by Herman Düne from "Not on Top."

11. "The Summer," by Yo La Tengo from "Fakebook."

12. "New Zong," by Persil from "Duotone."

13. "Toy Soldiers," by Carbon Leaf from "Echo Echo."

Road Trip

Off on another great American road trip. Will take the side roads and take it slow, at least for one direction. Armed with the ipod and car adaptor. The intent is to avoid all Taco Bells and other chain establishments. Eat breakfast at the Say You Say Me Cafe -- if it still exists. While stuff like that still exists.

99 degrees today. Wish I were here instead. 

Iran is Next

Watched (and recorded for the record) a propaganda hour on Foxnews tonight about Iran. Essentially, it was a bunch of fat men sitting around telling us what a grave danger Iran is (as if they think we'd forget about the Iraq lies this quickly). Then those same fat men discussed our military options. Planting the seed, just like they did with Iraq.

Another Spring

Hot already here in the desert. Another April is gone. If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it at all.

Blogger Eats A Post

Hmm... Blogger ate a post of mine from August. Not sure where it went. Censorship? Probably not because they have better things to be doing. I hope. Need to back this up myself.

Hot New Look

Unwilted has a hot new look. Enjoy!

War of Words

This is circulating in DoD channels via email.  Let's see if the Administration and/or puppets like Fox News start following these suggestions.  Just like they did with the personal versus private accounts for social security.

TrueSpeak Institute
Jim Guirard, President
1129 Cameron Road
Alexandria, Virginia 22308
703-768-0957 Justcauses@aol.com 


Possible CENTCOM, SOCOM, PSYOP, IO, PD & PA (and others)
Action Items in the "War of Words" and "War of Ideas"


1 Seek a modest change in the current DoD Guidance which advises that we
avoid almost all Islamic religious words -- modified merely so as to

a) avoid parroting the false word "Jihad" (holy war) and begin
substituting for it the word for word "Hirabah" -- pronounced hee-RAH-bah and meaning "unholy war" and forbidden "war against society," instead;

b) avoid the words "mujahiddin" (holy warriors) and "shahiddin" (martyrs)and "fedayeen" (those willing to die for, to be martyred for) and begin calling these assassins and suicide mass murderers the "mufsidoon" (evildoers) they really are;

c) allow making the point that according to Islam those "mufsidoon" who
will not cease their evildoing -- and earnestly seek and receive
forgiveness from Allah for their sinful ways -- are almost surely destined not for "Jinnah" (Paradise) but for "Jahannam" (eternal Hellfire), instead.

2 Avoid repeating al Sadr's self-sanctifying "Mahdi Army" label, because
the Mahdi is Allah Himself -- in the Redeemer and Messiah roles -- on
Judgment Day

3 Avoid being demonized by the "death squads" label, by proactively and
pre-emptively referring to the "al Qaeda Death Squads," the "al-Zarqawi
Death Squads," the "al-Sadr Death Squads" and other assorted mufsidoon
(evildoers) by both of these terms

4 Avoid the careless and gratuitous terms "invasion," "war" and "war on
Iraq" and use, instead, such correct terms as the recent "liberation of
Iraq," the ongoing "democratization of Iraq" and the current "peacekeeping" and "reconstruction" missions in Iraq -- all of which are
dangerous and life-threatening but not per se WAR or per se OCCUPATION,
either

5 Shed the negative "occupiers" and "occupation force" labels by
officially renaming the US and Coalition forces -- whose legal status has changed, now that there is an elected Interim Iraqi Government -- and by calling them the International
o "Force For Peace and Stability" (Quwwat al-Salaam wa al-Istiqrar), or
the
o "Force for Peace and Justice" (Quwwat al-Salaam wa al-'Adl), or the
o "Force For Peace and Freedom" (Quwwat al-Salaam wa al-Hurriah)

6 Place the "war of words" issue, even in small ways, on every possible
agenda and in every possible panel discussion and every anti-terrorism
conference, without which it will seldom be seriously discussed at all

7 In due course, organize and schedule a major Public Affairs, Civil
Affairs, Public Diplomacy, PsyOp and Information Operations conference on "war of words" and related "War of Ideas" matters only, or at least
primarily so

8 Create small, highly focused "war of words" working groups within each
of these DoD agencies and disciplines -- and establish an inter-agency
coordination, as well

9 Select only half a dozen principal Arabic and Islamic words (including
the three explained above: Hirabah by mufsidoon destined for Jahannam) on which to focus initially, with other "approved" words and tactics to be prudently added in due course

10 Help to recruit additional scholars and Muslim clerics to contribute
their words of wisdom and truth-in-Islam to the "Hirabah" thesis
work-in-progress compendium previously provided. Current contributors who now number about 25 should be doubled by mid-year, and doubled again by year's end

11 Help to instigate and evaluate the "Hirabah versus Jihad" Q & A format previously provided, in form of a big-prize, high rewards essay contest in selected venues -- probably best in relatively quiet and moderate Muslim World university cities -- with the basic questions to be answered as follows:

o What is going on here --Godly Jihad (holy war) or un-Godly Hirabah
(unholy war)?

o Who are these killers -- mujahiddin (holy warriors) & martyrs or
mufsidoom (evildoers)?

o Where are they headed -- to Allah's Jinnah (Paradise) or Satan's
Jahannam (Hellfire)?

o Are they promoting Sharia (Allah's Law) or Tajdeef Shaitaniyah (Satanic Blasphemy)?

o Finally, provide correct answers to whatever other good-versus-evil
questions in Islam which would strengthen the rationale for the
truth-in-language and truth-in-Islam answers that the contestant has
posited

Black Sun

"What now is the aim of my life? To sit on a rock in the desert and stare at the sun until the sun goes black." --Edward Abbey

Fun with Firefox

I'm having plenty of good clean geek fun going through Firefox Extensions. Really cool, with lots of potential is the stumbleupon extension. I went to a half dozen sites that I like a lot, told it that I like them a lot, and now it is already coming up with suggested sites that pretty much killed my whole evening. I'm sure the spammers will find a way to pollute this, but for now it's a great tool to wade through all the BS on the net and discover new things.

So, You Support the Troops?

I've driven over 3000 miles in the last few weeks over the holidays. And a stereotype has developed. There are a lot of people with ribbon sickers on their cars (usually SUVs) about supporting the troops. Sometimes yellow. Sometimes red, white, and blue.

Typically, the drivers are pricks. They pass in the right lane, they tailgate, they drive while talking on cell phones.

You assholes are not part of the team, not part of the effort. You are the weakest of the weak. You are the sycophants. You want to be part of something bigger than yourselves. You wrap yourselves in the flag without thinking. Yea, troops! Go USA! How exactly are you supporting the troops? Did the three dollar magnet you bought (you don't want to actualy stick something to your car) even help a soldier?

If you really supported us, those stickers would say bring our sons and daughters home. We didn't elect him President, but John Kerry was right 30 years ago when he asked: "How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake."

Iraq was a mistake. Bush is a mistake. Support the troops, fuck the war. If you love Bush too much to actually oppose the war, give some money to the USO rather than buy a bumper sticker. True, you won't have any public recognition of the fact that you supported the troops. But this never was about YOU anyway, was it?