Ravy 2011 Pg. 48.

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Looks like only a few weeks left. Going end officially middle of December. I do have plans to fill out the last two weeks. Be picking up again in January.


By the way, Any Video Converter is mostly excellent addition to your video editing portfolio. It can convert just about anything to the most common formats. I have some Real Media formatted videos, and the codec packs for Windows wouldn't play them in Windows Media Player. The converter I was using before did a really crappy job on Real Media formatted files. I did a Google search and found Any Video Converter.  Tried it out and it worked fine. The free version will do what you need it to do. Even with GVI.

Addendum to Ya See It, Save It.

I had originally meant to tell this story a while ago but forgot. I could always go back into the article and add to it, but hey, I can probably stretch it out to a multi-paragraph, rambling, rabbit trailing off into unrelated nothingness of a multi-paragraph, rambling, rabbit trailing off into unrelated nothingness.

Around November of 2003, me and a bunch of guys were granted passes to go to Kuwait for about a few days of R&R. Not everybody could take leave during our little vacation in Iraq. So a drawing was held. People wrote their names on a piece of paper and put it in the platoon sergeant's hat. I didn't put my name in because I thought that the married soldiers should get the opportunity to go home. I was used to such long deployments. A few years earlier I had spent a couple of years in Korea and never took leave. Of course Korea and Iraq have a few differences, mostly in the amount of drinky-girls available to give you a lap dance.

So the drawing is held, and by total coincidence, happenstance, by shear luck itself, divine providence from God, Jesus, Allah, Buddha, Belldandy, the first name drawn was the platoon sergeant's, by the platoon sergeant. Wow, didn't see that coming.

So I get to go to the port-a-potty capitol of Operation Iraqi Liberation.

It was really nice. No weapon, got to leave that back with HQ. I had the SAW. Nice not to worry about that for a few days. A well stocked PX. Restocked on babywipes. I was down to those wet naps from the MREs. Trust me, babywipes are your friend. A real shower from a real shower. Hot water, with privacy. No PT. Sleep in, go to bed late as you want. On a real bed.

An internet cafe in which you can hook up your own laptop. Important note because remember at this time thumb drives had yet to become really available. All I had on me was a broken zip drive and my laptop. I paid my fee, plugged in and went to everybody's favorite place: Bob and George.

I had saved and read, re-read, read again, and read some more all of our favorites. It was time to update. Taco, Umiliphus, Oddball, Jailhouse Blues, and Warped Reality to name a few.

HOLD IT! Something is not right, here. Where's Warped Reality? It's not there at all? What happened? I want to know if all the other evil scientists ever managed to catch Dr. Evil.

My first instinct was to do an internet search. (I won't say a Google search because I quite frankly can't remember if I was using Google at this time.) I searched for Warped Reality and found a site called thosebeyondtime.com (don't bother it doesn't exist anymore.) Apparently Deccus decided to strike out on his own. I guess so he could do what he wanted to do without having to follow the rules set out by someone else.

That's one of the sad stories of cartooning. If you have someone else publish your work, you have a dozen other people telling you what to do. And sometimes making changes without any say so on your part.

Months and months later I'm home and go and try to find this site. All I find is a banner saying “Under Construction.” Once a month, once every two months, six, and so forth I check in until I get that “Server not found” messages. Another great web cartoonist captured by reality.

Fortunately I was smart. And saved all those new comics Deccus did. Oh, I forgot to mention in addition to Warped Reality there was another comic that Deccus had started. Ironically named “Those Beyond Time.” All about the Wily-bots adventures in time travel to put things wrong that once went right. I saved about seven of them.

That's what taught me the lesson to always save what you see. You never know if a comic, news article, Youtube video, or blog gets scrubbed out of existence.

Ravy 2011 Pg. 47.

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The last couple of weeks of comics were really fun to do. Working with the kids was a blast. Next year they really take over for awhile. Writing for them wasn't all that hard, I just had to keep my sense of humor in check. I'm dealing with characters that are between the ages of 4 and 14. Just because my parents let me read Hustler Humor at that age...

I poke fun of that. The kids sneaking into my room, finding all those black and white comic books, and getting a box of crayons to improve them. However, unlike Becky I don't go full Konata when buying manga so those are my only copies of Haruhi Suzumiya being colored in.

The next run of comics were more difficult logistically speaking. Taking dozens of pictures of that car, cutting it out, screen shots of Google Street View and getting that camera turned perfect and giving up when it won't. Forgetting what percentage of fading was used for the characters behind the glass.

That last paragraph in conjunction with this week's comics is a hint of things to come. But not next year, I still have yet to explain why Nancy needed all those rubber balls.

here.

Ravy 2011 Pg. 46.

Click Here.

It's been a couple of weeks on the new schedule. It's been trying. To getting the blog updated at the right time to getting the page uploaded so the link up there works. Then there's the fact I've forgotten a few times to even update the site. I try my best because I'm annoyed by those that don't.

Bloom County has been annoying me. It's not Berkely Breathed's fault what so ever. I got over being annoyed by him 20 years ago. It's the syndicator really. I have a paid subscription that delivers to my inbox a slew of selected comics. The one that I save is Bloom County. What annoys me is the filename. They put today's date on the comic. It gets worse because you can go to the web site that Bloom County is posted on and the filename is a long string of garbage. For about a week last month the ones I got in the mail did not have today's date. They had a generic filename. It was the same one everyday. So I had to redo the name myself.

It did get fixed.

Now the version of Bloom County over at the Seattle Times had the original date on it. I like that because I could look up that date in history and get reminded of what was going on in the world at the time. Which was influencing the comic then.

However.

That run has come to an end. At the time I write this, that page seems locked on the final comic. May be they can go to Outland, or better yet start at the beginning. Time will tell.

I gets worse. I have all the original books. I even have several copies of the album, still in the books. I have even been buying the Bloom County Anthology series. The best part of that, there are comics that were published way back when, but have been lost, protoform versions, and the occasional commentary.

I'm sure Mr. Breathed appreciates all the money that I, and originally my mom through my dad's credit card have given him.

Advice for Future Veterans.

Over the years I have had the rather dubious honor of dolling out advice to those that are considering joining the military. First of all I warn them that I am going to be brutally honest in what I tell them. I also warn them that it has been a number of years since I went through Basic and AIT.

I'm sure most of us have seen Full Metal Jacket. That was accurate back in the 60's and 70's. If want something that is more real, at least for the 90's, get Pauley Shore's In the Army Now. Yes, I do recommend it for accuracy in the Basic Training and AIT sequences. It's toned down, but it is generally spot on.

I don't talk much about Basic, what I say is that it isn't all that hard. Hell, I made it through. They really don't try and kick anybody out. The drill sergeants do everything they can to keep people in. I think even adding a push up or two when counting the PT test. I imagine it looks bad on an NCOER if they wash out too many students. I went through a class of about two hundred people. Of that about ten did not graduate with us. Most because of injuries and family emergencies. As I recall only two quit. No one was washed out.

There was this one girl from New York. She had a real thick stereotypical “New Yak” accent. She got held back because of an injury. I saw her right before I graduated AIT. I was surprised to still see her there, even more surprised to her new southern accent.

I talk at length with those wanting to join what to expect from Basic and AIT and tell them lots of stories. For this article I'll skip all that and finally get to what a new private at their new unit should do:

Start working on your promotion to sergeant first class, first sergeant, sergeant major, lieutenant, warrant officer, or what ever immediately. Pester to death your squad leader for all the Army classes you can get. Combat Life Saver, Air Assault, Airborne, Path Finder, Arms Room, Commo. Get as many correspondence courses done as possible. This stuff impresses the guys at the Pentagon when looking at promotion packets.

The immediate effect is on getting promoted to E-5 and E-6. While these are currently automatic promotions, you can get there quicker by going to promotion boards. While you're working towards that promotion board, practice on the Soldier of the Month boards. All you need to do is win one. You may even get a certificate signed by the Colonel. That makes it worth about 5 points. All that stuff I talked about before, all worth points. Badges and classes. 

Yes, you need the stinking badges.

What is also worth promotion points? College. Every semester hour is worth some points. I'm afraid I don't remember and have no real desire to fact-check it. However in my conversations, especially with my friends' kids, I really double, triple, and quadruple down on the college portion. The easiest way to get credit hours is with CLEP testing. What that is is simply the final exam. Instead of spending two or three months in a class room, you spend an hour or so. And get the credits. I CLEPed U.S. and World history. As I recall these were worth about 3 hours apiece. That was the CLEP recommendation. Go find a college that will give you more. One only gave about two, another gave about 3.5 or even 4. That's very important because remember what I said at the beginning of this paragraph?

Let's not forget all those military classes and correspondence courses. They can be translated into college hours. Even Basic and AIT.

Unfortunately there are some classes you will have to sit in. This is the time to do it. All colleges have required classes, don't wait to use your GI Bill. Let the Army by way of the Tax Payer take care of that. Get all the basic stuff out of the way first. Save your GI Bill for the more advanced and much more expensive degrees down the road.

Even if you decide that you don't want to be an SFC, or even a sergeant. You get out after four years active. At maybe the ripe old age of 22. So why even bother trying to get promoted to 1SG? Because it sets you up to be light years beyond everybody else at your school of choice. You can graduate years earlier and join the work force with a better paying job which means you will be paying more in taxes which in will turn help pay for the education opportunities of that 17 year old future veteran in the recruiter’s office right now.