I just listened to the last episode of The History of Rome.  I’ve enjoyed this podcast since I first figured out that there were people talking about stuff on the Internet.  In the almost five years since I discovered it, Michael Duncan has given me 74 hours of well-researched, well-presented, and interesting content in nice 20 to 40 minute slices.  It’s been one of the things I look forward to every Monday morning.  If you’re interested, all of the episodes are available on iTunes.

Mr. Duncan has taken us from the mythological founding of Rome to the dissolution of the Western Empire.  He took the time to not only tell us who did what to whom and when, but also to go into the intricacies of Roman society at several points in its history and how that society fit into the puzzle of Europe, Africa, and Asia.

Now, his life is changing.  He is married, going to school again, and is expecting a baby to arrive any minute now.  He is entering that part of life where hobbies die in favor of something much more fun and rewarding and I wish him luck. I also thank him for his hard work and diligence over the past five years. I hope that Mr. Duncan can someday find another subject that inspires him to record more content that fits with his new life.

All things end, podcasts and blogs included.  A lot of people I enjoyed reading stopped writing.  Some for good, some only temporarily.  Breda stopped using her original blog, took a break, and came back in a new place.  Alan shut down Vicious Circle, then came back with the Squirrel Report.

I have no plans to fold this particular tent.  I write about enough different things that I’m not that worried about burnout, and to be honest I need the pressure valve.  This little site gives me an outlet for rants, bad jokes, and those little songs that make me want to scratch the back of my cerebellum.  But eventually, I will have said what I have to say.  Until then, stay tuned.  This might get weird, but I hope it’s fun.

As you can see in the sidebar, I’m re-building my blogroll.  Basically, I’m going to bring over the blogroll I had at the old place, assuming you’ve posted since Christmas.  If you weren’t blogrolled back there and want to be here, please drop a note.  Of course, if you list me on your site, I will reciprocate.

This could take a while, but I’ll let everyone know when I think I’m done, so if I miss someone they can let me know.

Well, the move over from Blogger seems to be well under way.

There are a few things I need to do, like create a bloglist and get some other things taken care of, but all of my old posts and comments seem to have come over OK.

Hope y’all like the new digs.

Adam Yauch, otherwise known as MCA, of the group The Beastie Boys recently died.  I know rap isn’t for everyone, and a lot of the Beastie Boys’ work can’t be played in the car with the kids, but it was a part of me growing up.  There’s nothing I like more than going down the highway in the truck with the windows down and the stereo cranked with some of their music playing.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently approved new guidelines on the use of criminal background checks by employers when trying to decide whom to hire.  Basically, employers are having new restrictions imposed on them when they want to consider past criminal history during the hiring process.  The EEOC states that their goal was to make it easier for minority job seekers with a criminal record to find work.

I can understand that.  Everyone makes mistakes, and just about everyone deserves a second chance*.  But if I were to trust someone enough to let them handle my money and interact with my customers as my representative, I would definitely want to know if they have ever done something that indicates they can’t be trusted.  Part of that would be a background check that showed any convictions.   An employer shouldn’t be surprised by the history of their employees when they repeat past crimes upon the customers, inventory, or cash in the till.

Please notice that I said convictions.  If you’ve been arrested and had the charges dropped or been acquitted, you’re good.  If it’s something that happened years and years ago, we can talk about it and see if you’ve been able to get your act together.  Heck, if you just got out of prison and are looking to make a fresh start, if you’re otherwise qualified for the job, I’d probably still give you a chance to talk.

And if someone doesn’t want to submit to inquiries about convictions and a background check?  Well, then I guess they don’t want to exchange their talents and labor for my money.

But to have the government discourage business owners from even asking or considering the history of an applicant?  Yeah, that’s out of bounds.  I can see the government requiring that things that the applicant can’t help, such as race, religion, sexual orientation, or disability, be verboten for consideration.  But to discourage business owners from being able to know that the person they’re hiring doesn’t have a history that could be detrimental to business just smacks of social engineering at the expense of the part of our society that creates jobs.

*Child molesters, rapists, child pornographers, and that kind of ilk deserve to be branded under sedation so that the rest of society can know to keep them isolated from the rest of us.

Non Sequitur is one of my daily reads, and it never fails to draw at least a smile.  No, I don’t consider myself a professional blogger, but it’s becoming my main hobby.

Thank you so much for your kind email.  I am honored to know that after you just “stumbling” upon my little blog, your clients are excited to create an advertising relationship with my collection of brain droppings.  I must be doing something right if you can accidentally find my rants, musings, and bad jokes and immediately associate it with your customers advertising requirements.  

Unfortunately, I decided long ago to only put links on the blog for causes and companies with whom I have a relationship.  For example, I donate to Soldier’s Angels, so there is a link for Soldier’s Angels.  I know the proprietors of Michael’s Custom Holsters and Dragon Leatherworks, and I am a customer of those fine companies, so I put up links to their sites.  I think you get the idea.

But I draw the line at putting up advertising for companies with whom I don’t have much of a connection beyond a monthly check.  This is pretty much a hobby and self-administered catharsis for me, so I don’t put up advertising for companies I have only a slight connection to.  And to be honest, making this a commercial enterprise would create ethical issues for me.

However, if your clients wish to send me examples of their wares so that I can test them and put up a review, I’d be more than happy to do so.  Heck, I’ll even ship the product back when I’m done if they want. But I’m not interested in being paid for advertising space on the blog.

If you truly like my blog and are now reading it, you’ll see this message.  If you think we can do business on mutually agreeable terms, then please contact me again. If not, then I wish you luck in the future, but I don’t need to continue to get emails on a regular basis from you and your associated websites.

Again, good luck, and I hope to hear from you again soon.

Sincerely

Daddy J. Bear

This is a repost from April 25, 2011.  H/T to Julie over at Jigsaw’s Thoughts for reminding me of the date.

Today is ANZAC Day.  Today we commemorate the brave men of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps’s involvement in the Gallipoli campaign of World War I, which was an attempt to knock Turkey out of World War I and open the Bosphorus to Russian, British, and French shipping.  By the time that the British high command realized that the fighting at Gallipoli was going nowhere, almost 150,000 Australian, New Zealand , British, French, and Indian soldiers were dead or wounded.

As far as I know, I have no familial ties to Australia or the rest of the Commonwealth.   But I do remember my mother and her mother making ANZAC Cookies every April.  It was only later in life that I learned just what those hard, sweet cookies meant.  I did serve with some outstanding Diggers from Australia once or twice, and if their great-grandfathers were half as resourceful, professional, and friendly as the soldiers I met, then a lot of good men had their trial by fire on the shores of Gallipoli.

If you’re interested in learning a bit about the Battle of Gallipoli and the soldiers who fought on both sides, the 2005 documentary “Gallipoli” was very well done.  I also came across this poem a few months ago, and thought I’d share.  It was written by an Australian soldier who was convalescing from wounds received at Gallipoli.