IDEA: Media Subscription

[tadpole256]

I am currently deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, I am a huge fan of all the Revision3 products, but especially Diggnation. Unfortunately, due to severe bandwidth restrictions and the fact that they block so much stuff here, I am unable to download even the podcast. I have as many of the podcasts as I could get on my 60 GB Ipod Photo, but that doesn't let me see the video. So here is my question, have you guys ever considered offering some sort of a media subscription? Like perhaps selling the entire previous year's worth of Podcasts and/or videocasts in a DVD set. I know I would be willing to buy a set, especially while deployed. My only option right now is to write home to my friends and have them send me the missing episodes on CD. It's just a thought, not sure if anyone else is interested, but I know you guys have a lot of fans who are currently deployed over here, and we all wish we could get the latest episodes, and not everyone has someone at home who can DL them and put them on CDs.

[Klitzy]

Wow, over in the middle east and you are not even able to watch Diggnation...I doubt they have a plan to put them in a DVD collection but Ill bet that someone on here would put one together for you. I can't because it's Sunday and I have homework etc but if you give me a week, meaning this next weekend than I would be willing to put it together for you.

Thanks for serving our country.

[tadpole256]

Thanks for the support!

I have to say, it's almost funny, that one of the unforeseen consquences of my deployment here has been the detriment of my 'Tech Life'. It sucks, my internet access is limited, and my access to any new technology is even further limited, not that I really have the room for much over here. Tech moves so fast these days that I feel like the world is passing me by while I am over here. Things that were still fresh when I deployed are now common, things that were only theories or rumors are now out on the market. It's amazing. I will tell you this, it has given me a new appreciation for all that we have and I sincerely can not wait to get home.

If anyone is at all interested in reading about my deployment so far, you can check out my 'War Blog' where I have been chronicalling my experiences, thoughts and opinions. http://www.armysailor.com

[Klitzy]

Wow, awesome site....Quite a piece of history

Awesome to see...

[tadpole256]

Thank you.

I am doing my best to maintain it, which is hard from over here, especially as they get more and more restrictive with the network, I keep having to find ways to get my posts up. The hardest part is getting the images posted sometimes, and preventing the comment spam.

I am working on my next post which should include some images of battle damage we took to our vehicle last week. I hope to have it up ASAP.

Again, thanks for the support.

[phatlip12]

Sweet site tad. Thanks for your service! :)

[tadpole256]

Thank you for the support.

Now in all honesty, I really don't want this thread to just appear to be a Spam for my blog, I dislike spam as much as anyone else...

Is there anyone else who would potentially be interested in being able to purchase Diggnattion or any of the other programs on a CD or DVD?

Does anyone else have trouble getting the latest updates of shows? If you do how do you get around it?

Aside from me and my comrades who are deployed with the military, I also have a friend who is in Africa with the Peace Corps who is unable to get the shows to the prohibitive size of the files. It seems to me that this must be a fairly common problem for a lot of fans, I suppose the real question is whether or not it is a big enough problem to warrant being addressed.

If it turns out that it is not that big of a problem, I am assuming that Revision3 does not have any particular beef with friends mailing their material on CDs or DVDs so long as it is not-for-profit, would that be a true statement?

[AdamZX]

Thanks for the support!

I have to say, it's almost funny, that one of the unforeseen consquences of my deployment here has been the detriment of my 'Tech Life'. It sucks, my internet access is limited, and my access to any new technology is even further limited, not that I really have the room for much over here. Tech moves so fast these days that I feel like the world is passing me by while I am over here. Things that were still fresh when I deployed are now common, things that were only theories or rumors are now out on the market. It's amazing. I will tell you this, it has given me a new appreciation for all that we have and I sincerely can not wait to get home.

If anyone is at all interested in reading about my deployment so far, you can check out my 'War Blog' where I have been chronicalling my experiences, thoughts and opinions. http://www.armysailor.com

cool tadpole, thats really great! Thanks for serving our country. I would be glad to help you but I don't have a DVD Burner :(
Surely someone else has one that would do it for you, come on guys lets help him out!

[Klitzy]

Yup I plan on doing it this weekend. Anyone know what format it has to be in though? Or not "has" but "should."

[Ramzi's hairy chest]

I'm sure people here are nice enough to send you Rev3 stuff.

[tadpole256]

Well, for me personally I can read DVD R/RW+ or, of course CDs. If anyone wants to send the Rev3 Stuff (especially Diggnation, Systm & the Broken) and maybe TWiT, I could easily replace or reimburse any CDs or DVDs, and I'd be happy to make copies for the other guys I know here in Afghanistan who are fans.

I just want to be sure that there's no sort of legal issue, Kevin Rose and Rev3 are not people I want to be on the bad side of. (Not because they are overly scary, but because I admire them and what they do)

Perhaps I could start an online support group when I get back. There are lots of groups that send care packages, perhaps I could set up a group to send troops podcasts and video casts... it's an idea...

[Hellfighter]

They don't have a problem with sharing their stuff. Even when people first started distributing Diggnation ahead of their public release, they stated on their show that they're fine with people sharing the video; especially if it is because they just can't afford to join the site.

Along those lines, I think your situation would be not only excusable, but valid along their stated stance on it.

[rabidbadger]

After reading your post earlier this morning I got to thinking that maybe Rev3 and/or us forumfolk could join forces to basically "adopt a soidier."

Mainly, those of us lucky folks in the states, or elsewhere, who aren't at risk of being shot at or bombed at any given moment, could download, burn and mail a CD/DVD of the shows that the "adopted" military guy or girl wants...
and not neccesarily just Rev3 shows, anything these brave soilders want to enjoy in the few hours that they have to relax, (ask a ninja, tikibar...etc) whatever it is that the military censors allow(I assume everything is censored to some degree.)

We would need a way to organize this, both here and in the warzones. I hate to ask Rev3 to take on the task of hosting a new "digg a troop" site, but maybe other podcaster type sites could join together to pull this off.

Not only would it be a great way to support the troops but would be good PR for the companies and organizations that get involved.

What do we think?

[tadpole256]

I have to tell you that I for one love the idea, granted I am a little biased, but I only have about 5 months left over here, I'd love to work on such a project to help support those who relieve me.

When I leave here i will have been in country for over one year, that is a long time to be away from all your favorite entertainment. Granted, I did get to take 2 weeks of leave, and while I was home I did Download as many of the my missing podcasts as I could, but now I have 5 months left and that is a lot of shows I'll be missing.

The military does not 'censor' what we get per sei, but they have issued what is call General Order 1A, which among other provisions does forbid the posession or Pornography (the result of being in an Islamic country). Now keep in mind that just about everyone over here has porn, you just can't get caught with it, but in that vain I'd suggest that such an effort refrain from sending porn, so that it does not draw the ire of the DoD, and thus get prevented from helping the troops.

I think this is a great opportunity, and I'd be more than happy to even pay for the hosting for such a site. What do you think the best site format would be? Forums? I wonder if we could actually get some official sponsorship or at least a good mention and a link from Rev3. Would anyone else support this idea?

[bman]

I'd for sure try to help as much as I could.

[kyro]

Hey Tadpole,

First and foremost, thanks for doing what you do.

Secondly, where do you plan on watching the shows? On a DVD player, on a pc, a mac, iPod, etc. I'm asking because it'll help whomever is going to send you these episodes to decide which format to convert the video to.

-kyro.

[popltree2]

Hey Tadpole,

My question to you is are you going to want these to be viewable on a set top DVD player or just on the computer?

[tadpole256]

I'd be watching these on my PC Laptop. It has a DVD + R/RW Drive in it. I have Quicktime installed, and of course WMV formats are always fine.

I think it's awesome that so many people have stepped up and are willing to help, I'd like to be able to start a web site to be able to bring such support to a broader audience, of soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, Peace Corps volunteers and other such people stationed around the world who have limited internet access and even further limited bandwidth.

[popltree2]

I'd be watching these on my PC Laptop. It has a DVD + R/RW Drive in it. I have Quicktime installed, and of course WMV formats are always fine.

I think it's awesome that so many people have stepped up and are willing to help, I'd like to be able to start a web site to be able to bring such support to a broader audience, of soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, Peace Corps volunteers and other such people stationed around the world who have limited internet access and even further limited bandwidth.

Cool! That makes it easy. You could use ConvertXtoDVD if you needed playback for a set top player, but just burning a xvid or m4v to a DVD or even a CD and sending it your way would be easy!

[tadpole256]

I figured a data format would be better anyway because you can fit way more onto one disc. The only time I'd be watching these is when I was on a FOB and not out on a mission, when I'm on the FOB I have my laptop. It would be a great distraction, and a good way to keep up with what is going on in the world of tech. Not to Mention the shows always seem to cheer me up. I have several buddies I've told about this and they are all very excited. There are a lot of deployed fans.

[bman]

Well then yea, any format would work then. .xvid maybe.

[drseuss9311]

Great site/blog tadpole!

[tadpole256]

OK... I want to thank everyone who has offered to help me out. If you want to mail something to me you can do so at the following address...

A. McCloskey
CJTF76 CJ9
APO AE 09354

If you want to write a letter, those are always welcome too! If you want to e-mail me, I can be reached at gmail, same user name as here. Please, especially shoot me an e-mail if you may be interested in contributing to a website to help deployed soldiers and Peace Corps volunteers to get the podcasts / videocasts they love.

If you have a chance and you want to know what how bad it can get over here... please read this...
http://www.tadpolenet.com/warblogs/index.php?title=afghanistan_wants_me_dead&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

[bman]

I'll probably hit you up and email when I get a chance.

[tadpole256]

I appreciate it.

I wonder how long of an archive Rev3 intends to keep available online... It seems to me that the storage space will become cost prohibitive, unless they just keep an off line archive, and depend solely on bit torrent for distribution?

[bman]

They can probably have enough of them online, but yea that seems logical.

[g33k0ft3ch]

Well I would think they would have the space to keep them online. But if not maybe they could start a download mirror.

[Klitzy]

Now....This is a pretty cool thread

[rabidbadger]

Step One: domain name.



Tadpole should have the final word as to the name, but we all might wanna contribute ideas.

After ideas are submitted, maybe start a Poll thread? Once again, tadpole gets veto power.

Get it through GoDaddy, of course...


Step Two: Hosting.

Find a hosting service with lots of options and good price.


I reccomend http://www.micfo.com/. Not affiliated, but friends with a music site highly praise it, and I will switch to them when my current hosting expires. Easy installation of tons of options, good prices, and first month free, so we could start there and change later if we don't like it.

Find better offers.


Step three: Site creation.


Gather the talents of the rev3 fans to create something new and cool, or

Use prefab stuff through : FANTASTICO - FREE Pre-installed scripts to save time and get this sucker up.


Step four: Hype.


Blogs, like Tadpoles. Political blogs from both sides (despite the spin, we all want you safe and as happy as possible) IPTV blogs, forums, stuff.

Other Podcasts, even those not affiliated with rev3, or tech at all: get Ninja and Tiki and Hope/emo and zeFrank etc to build a mention into thier shows...

Get Kevin and Jay on board. They have great influence in this genre and could get results with just a phone call.


Step five: Community.


The hype will get people on board, community will keep it going for more than a month or two.

Match up citizens with soilders. "Penpal" type friendships will keep the civilians sending discs.

Forum. Let the civilians and soilders mingle, even if they aren't your "adopted" penpal.

Surprises. Slip a little something extra in the package for the troops, something they can share with other soilders to let them know it's not just the tech geek troops who we want to help.


Those are my thoughts right now. Add to them.

Let's roll!

[rabidbadger]

Bumping this cause I would like to see it happen and to make sure tadpole is OK. You there dude?

I worry. Maternal instincts kicking in in my old age.;)

[chrismcq]

Has anyone sent anything so when I start burning and shipping, I know it's not a duplicate?

What shows are wanted again?
diggnation
TWiT
Ask a Ninja
Tiki Bar Tv(you're getting this whether you like it or not)
thebroken?
Infected?

Also, do you need DVDs to burn in order to send them to fellow soldiers overseas? I can send blanks along with the original copies. I think I remember you saying R/W on your DVD drive.

It would also help to know what episodes you already have so that space can be saved for other episodes.

Thanks for your service, I'll help anyone who defends my country.

[tadpole256]

Step One: domain name.



Tadpole should have the final word as to the name, but we all might wanna contribute ideas.

After ideas are submitted, maybe start a Poll thread? Once again, tadpole gets veto power.

Get it through GoDaddy, of course...


Step Two: Hosting.

Find a hosting service with lots of options and good price.


I reccomend http://www.micfo.com/. Not affiliated, but friends with a music site highly praise it, and I will switch to them when my current hosting expires. Easy installation of tons of options, good prices, and first month free, so we could start there and change later if we don't like it.

Find better offers.


Step three: Site creation.


Gather the talents of the rev3 fans to create something new and cool, or

Use prefab stuff through : FANTASTICO - FREE Pre-installed scripts to save time and get this sucker up.


Step four: Hype.


Blogs, like Tadpoles. Political blogs from both sides (despite the spin, we all want you safe and as happy as possible) IPTV blogs, forums, stuff.

Other Podcasts, even those not affiliated with rev3, or tech at all: get Ninja and Tiki and Hope/emo and zeFrank etc to build a mention into thier shows...

Get Kevin and Jay on board. They have great influence in this genre and could get results with just a phone call.


Step five: Community.


The hype will get people on board, community will keep it going for more than a month or two.

Match up citizens with soilders. "Penpal" type friendships will keep the civilians sending discs.

Forum. Let the civilians and soilders mingle, even if they aren't your "adopted" penpal.

Surprises. Slip a little something extra in the package for the troops, something they can share with other soilders to let them know it's not just the tech geek troops who we want to help.


Those are my thoughts right now. Add to them.

Let's roll!


I am here, I am alive and kicking, despite the best efforts of the Taliban. It's been a rough couple of days...

I read through your proposal, and I have to admit, I love the idea. I was thinking about something like 'www.troopcasting.com' or something to that effect.

I think you've hit the nail right on the head and it's a great idea.

[tadpole256]

Has anyone sent anything so when I start burning and shipping, I know it's not a duplicate?

What shows are wanted again?
diggnation
TWiT
Ask a Ninja
Tiki Bar Tv(you're getting this whether you like it or not)
thebroken?
Infected?

Also, do you need DVDs to burn in order to send them to fellow soldiers overseas? I can send blanks along with the original copies. I think I remember you saying R/W on your DVD drive.

It would also help to know what episodes you already have so that space can be saved for other episodes.

Thanks for your service, I'll help anyone who defends my country.

I have the podcasts of all the Diggnations and TWiTs up to 01 August 06. All those shows would be great to have, and please feel free to include anything else that's worth seeing. We really don't have a lot of ways to pass free time over here, and I can only spend so much time in the gym, cleaning rifles and coming up with pranks to play on friends...

If you can get me copies of the shows, I have a good source of blank discs over here. And the guys I know, I can copy a lot of the files straight to their machine.

You guys are great, I never imagined I'd get such a huge response. Thank you all for your support and consideration. You guys are awesome.

[rabidbadger]

I love troopcasting.com and according to godaddy it is available. Unless someone has a better name soon I think we should scoop it up before some squatter snags it. I'd do it myself right now but my economic situation is pretty dire these days, I'll have to offer services instead of cash for this project for now.

[markhowson999]

Ok guys, this sounds great. I'm the manager of TheMacNurse and have the server space e.t.c. to make this all happen, very quickly. The best way to set something like this up (at least in my opinion) is to get:


Volunteers to handle the burning and shipping of the content
PR from various podcasts
Donations from the public to pay for burning and shipping
An easy (bandwidth efficient) way for troops to add there name to the list to receive content, and choose what content they want


Crucially, remember that any creative commons podcast (excluding anything pornographic) can be legally distributed. So, we can get a great selection of stuff for people to choose from.

Tadpole, thanks for serving your country. Everyone else, what do you think, and when shall I start making a very basic first site to get the ball rolling?

[rabidbadger]

Cool. That would be a money saver, having the hosting covered.

Sometimes I think we should just jump on this, because I'm guessing tadpole can't get online that often. What do you think we should do next while waiting for his go ahead.

[markhowson999]

I think you should PM me an msn or iChat so we can talk about this without waiting 5 hours all the time

[bman]

I think you should PM me an msn or iChat so we can talk about this without waiting 5 hours all the time

yea lol, that's a good Idea.

[markhowson999]

Indeed it is. How would we live without iChat? :D

[tadpole256]

All right guys, I really appreciate all the support and enthusiasm. Here's the deal, I have purchased troopcasting.com, and a hosting plan. No big deal, I got them cheap. In the next few days, you should start to see some basics begin to appear. I am going to use Drupal to host the site, and I'll have some forums. From there, we'll be able to discuss where to take the site, that way I won't feel so bad about using the rev3 forums to discuss this idea. If you guys have any ideas, please feel free to e-mail me at gmail.com (user name the same as it is here).

Again, I appreciate everything. If you guys can help me drum up some support, and good ideas, I am sure we can get this thing off the ground pretty quickly.

I should be back in the states in February, so from there I will be able to dedicate much more of my time to the endeavor.

Thank you all, and thanks to my friends at www.defendingthetruth.com who are helping me with this also.

[rabidbadger]

Cool. That's great. Still think we should post some here to, drum up some more rev 3 support/awareness. It is mostly rev3 shows you want anyway.

In the meantime, I'll put a disc together for you over the next day or two.
PM me with a list of exactly what you want, format preferred, and how to get it to you. (address, best way to package it, etc.)

As far as format I'm on a mac, so quicktime compatible would be easiest cause I already have latest ten or twelve diggnation large h264 on my drive.
and twit mp3.

Lookin forward to troopcasting.

[rabidbadger]

Just to let you know, I'm working on a nice preliminary troopcasting logo tonight. Nothing extravagant. Just a nice type treatment...
something to put up til I can spend more time on it.

[kirkio]

Tadpole,
Do your bandwidth restrictions prevent you from playing diggnation in the new flash player?If you could host flash versions of videos, that may be a plausible way to get around the bandwidth restrictions.

Thank you for all that you do for our country.

[kirkio]

Hey Guys,
I sent Leo Laporte an email about this asking if he could give it a mention on the show and here's what he had to say:
That's a fantastic idea. I'd love to promote it. Thanks for letting me know!
If this gets mentioned on TWiT I think it could mean really good things.

[tadpole256]

Just to let you know, I'm working on a nice preliminary troopcasting logo tonight. Nothing extravagant. Just a nice type treatment...
something to put up til I can spend more time on it.

Hey thank you so much man!

I see you already joined...

[tadpole256]

Tadpole,
Do your bandwidth restrictions prevent you from playing diggnation in the new flash player?If you could host flash versions of videos, that may be a plausible way to get around the bandwidth restrictions.

Thank you for all that you do for our country.

Thank you for the idea, unfortuneately, the bandwidth here is super low, and we have lots of users. All streaming media is blocked.

[tadpole256]

Hey Guys,
I sent Leo Laporte an email about this asking if he could give it a mention on the show and here's what he had to say:

If this gets mentioned on TWiT I think it could mean really good things.

Wow... That's awesome, is Leo's e-mail address something that's publically available? I'd love to e-mail him about this myself, him and Kevin Rose are some of my heros.

I have the revision 3 address, and I was going to write them a letter. But if I could contact Leo, that'd be amazing.

[tadpole256]

Just so everyone knows, http://www.troopcasting.com has gone live. It's still very very rudimentary, but it will progress quickly. I am going to be installing forums soon.

If anyone has any ideas, please let me know. Also, please feel free to head over there, and sign up.

[kirkio]

Wow... That's awesome, is Leo's e-mail address something that's publically available? I'd love to e-mail him about this myself, him and Kevin Rose are some of my heros.

Leo's email address can be found on his website in various places. One is :http://leoville.com/Main/Resume

I think emailing diggnationfans at gmail or sending a letter in the mail to Kevin Rose would be the best way to talk to him.

[jcroft74]

I spend most of my time in the geekdrome forum, but happened over this way today. I think that what you all have set up is great.

I posted a link in the geekdrome forum for this thread and the site. Maybe we can be of some support (Note: I don't speak for the drome nation, I just hope that the dromies and dromettes find this as cool as I do). Good luck to all.

[harlo]

Bravo. I salute all of you who have stepped up like this. I think it's great when people jump on a cause like this. If providing an entertaining outlet is the very least we at home can do then it is our duty to do that. And in this case it's so much easier because all we have to do is find ways to facilitate the already vast amounts of great work out there. I suggest we try and get any/all friends of Rev3, TWiT, etc to band in. I'm sure you guys in the desert could go for a little Lala to make the days shorter.

[rabidbadger]

Wow. So much activity here today.

Kirkio: That is so cool you took the bull by the horns and emailed Leo. Thanks. And, Jcroft, that was great to post in the other forum about this thread. And I love the thread title: "Tech support the troops!" That should totally be the slogan, catch phrase, subtitle, and headline in promos.

In fact I have been wondering if we could/should ask the Moderators to either move this thread to the "General Discussion" forum, or maybe put a short sticky / closed post in all the forums pointing to this one, and troopcasting.com.

Also, maybe if anyone here frequents forums of the other podcasts beyond Rev3 they could mention it, also. I think if I did it, not being known at those forums, they might consider it spam.

Also, Tadpole, what is the best way to let other military folk know that there are folks who want to "adopt" them. (Is "adopt" a good term? Is it concesending, maybe? Should we come up with something else?")

Speaking of adopting: Dibs on Tadpole!!! ;)

[rabidbadger]

Another Idea: In the near future, when the site is fully functional (or functional enough), and we have major podcasters involved, maybe we should organize a kickoff day/week, where all the major podcasts start or end their podcasts with an all out Troopcasting Rollout....

Something like that might even get national mainstream media attention, like when all the comic strips do a "theme" day.

Also, fellow enthusiastic folks here, please don't submit Troopcasting.com to Digg yet. It would really suck if interested people got there and found themselves unable to pitch in, never to come back again. Some things need pre-hype, but I think it would hurt our cause if tons of people commented negatively before it is fully functional.

I'm sure Tadpole will let us know when it's ready.

[kirkio]

Also, fellow enthusiastic folks here, please don't submit Troopcasting.com to Digg yet. It would really suck if interested people got there and found themselves unable to pitch in, never to come back again. Some things need pre-hype, but I think it would hurt our cause if tons of people commented negatively before it is fully functional.

I completely agree. When the time is right and everything is very organized, we can digg it to the front page (I'm sure there is enough support in this forum to do it alone). If we digg a page that does nothing, people will forget about it.

One of the things I was worried about when I emailed Leo is that if he promotes it, say on next week's show, if people went to the site they wouldn't get much out of it and they'd just forget about it, but I think that in the end, TWiT is a good place to "get the ball rolling" if you will and generate more support so that it can be further developed.

[rabidbadger]

Communication is a two way street. I asked Tadpole about getting the word out to the troops that this is available. It would also be bad for thousands of generous civilians to want to join in only to find 3 whole troops available...

[rabidbadger]

Hey Guys,
I sent Leo Laporte an email about this asking if he could give it a mention on the show and here's what he had to say:

If this gets mentioned on TWiT I think it could mean really good things.

Hmmm. Maybe you could write him back, Or Tadpole could mention in his letter, that we are looking for help putting it together, not that it is a Live thing yet. Leo is a very enthusiastic guy about things he appreciates, and he might not fully realize where the project is at this point if he mentions it on a show real soon.

[tadpole256]

Bravo. I salute all of you who have stepped up like this. I think it's great when people jump on a cause like this. If providing an entertaining outlet is the very least we at home can do then it is our duty to do that. And in this case it's so much easier because all we have to do is find ways to facilitate the already vast amounts of great work out there. I suggest we try and get any/all friends of Rev3, TWiT, etc to band in. I'm sure you guys in the desert could go for a little Lala to make the days shorter.

We could use any form of entertainment available!

You can only spend so much time cleaning rifles, in the gym, and playing the same old games...

[tadpole256]

Wow. So much activity here today.

Kirkio: That is so cool you took the bull by the horns and emailed Leo. Thanks. And, Jcroft, that was great to post in the other forum about this thread. And I love the thread title: "Tech support the troops!" That should totally be the slogan, catch phrase, subtitle, and headline in promos.

In fact I have been wondering if we could/should ask the Moderators to either move this thread to the "General Discussion" forum, or maybe put a short sticky / closed post in all the forums pointing to this one, and troopcasting.com.

Also, maybe if anyone here frequents forums of the other podcasts beyond Rev3 they could mention it, also. I think if I did it, not being known at those forums, they might consider it spam.

Also, Tadpole, what is the best way to let other military folk know that there are folks who want to "adopt" them. (Is "adopt" a good term? Is it concesending, maybe? Should we come up with something else?")

Speaking of adopting: Dibs on Tadpole!!! ;)

I want to again thank everyone for their support! We have a basic site up and running, now featuring forums! Now all we need is users. If you guys can get the word out to the civilians, I will do my best to get the word out to the Military. I intend to basically send out some e-mails to the right people, and hope it spreads from there.

I am also going to try to contact the USO, and some other organizations that are already established in supporting the troops to drum up some support for this effort.

I have also e-mailed Leo Laporte... I am eagerly awaiting his response...

[tadpole256]

I completely agree. When the time is right and everything is very organized, we can digg it to the front page (I'm sure there is enough support in this forum to do it alone). If we digg a page that does nothing, people will forget about it.

One of the things I was worried about when I emailed Leo is that if he promotes it, say on next week's show, if people went to the site they wouldn't get much out of it and they'd just forget about it, but I think that in the end, TWiT is a good place to "get the ball rolling" if you will and generate more support so that it can be further developed.

I agree, and I am doing all I can, with the help of friends at Defending the Truth (http://www.defendingthetruth.com) to get the site as functional as can be. What I can really use right now are ideas, and technical experience. Please take a look at the site and let me know what you think!

Please feel free to e-mail me at gmail, the same user name as I have here...

[jcroft74]

Something to keep in mind about trying to get a mention from Leo is that he probably get lots of similiar requests. They may not all be as noble as this, but this project could easily get lost in the mix.

Additionally as the TWiT brand is getting more big time, it might be a good idea to be very specific in your requests and provide as much information as possible. This should include contact information, etc., especially if he or someone on the staff would be doing some verification. Someone with a big audience would not want to lead their listeners in the wrong direction.

I have also noticed that things that get mentions tend to be up and running and at least an initial track record. So it might be good to make sure that he is aware of it, but I would not push for a mention until the site is cleaner, more complete and gaining traction.

I hate to be the one suggesting more work, but I do want this project to be successful. There are two more things that I wish to mention. First there needs to be a system set up to work these exchanges of data/mail packages. And second a clear statement of what the scope of the project is. It needs to be a simple/refined idea and a clear easy to use site.

I don't mean anything that I have written as criticism. I think that it is a great idea and a worthy cause. I just worry that if it is not done right it could all go south. If things go well, it could expand into other things.

Good luck to all.

[tadpole256]

Something to keep in mind about trying to get a mention from Leo is that he probably get lots of similiar requests. They may not all be as noble as this, but this project could easily get lost in the mix.

Additionally as the TWiT brand is getting more big time, it might be a good idea to be very specific in your requests and provide as much information as possible. This should include contact information, etc., especially if he or someone on the staff would be doing some verification. Someone with a big audience would not want to lead their listeners in the wrong direction.

I have also noticed that things that get mentions tend to be up and running and at least an initial track record. So it might be good to make sure that he is aware of it, but I would not push for a mention until the site is cleaner, more complete and gaining traction.

I hate to be the one suggesting more work, but I do want this project to be successful. There are two more things that I wish to mention. First there needs to be a system set up to work these exchanges of data/mail packages. And second a clear statement of what the scope of the project is. It needs to be a simple/refined idea and a clear easy to use site.

I don't mean anything that I have written as criticism. I think that it is a great idea and a worthy cause. I just worry that if it is not done right it could all go south. If things go well, it could expand into other things.

Good luck to all.

Completely agreed, and this is the sort of criticism I need at this stage. Please, any ideas are welcomed. My initial idea, was to simply have soldiers e-mail me their contact information, and I could pair them up with a civilian, or they could share information in the forums (not prefered due to OPSEC).

Is anyone familiar with a better way to share the information?

I have a friend named Boatsie, who runs an organization called Boatsie's Boxes (http://www.boatsie.org) that supports the troops. I was going to ask her what her method was, and see if I could get troop contacts and backbone support from her.

[kirkio]

Here is how I invision the site being set up:

-Users can sign up as being a Troop or adoptor
-An extensive list of podcasts will be set up in the website database with their respective RSS feeds. Popular pod(net)casts will be already in the database and you can add others custom RSS feeds if you like. Although we can make high quality feeds availible, I think the smaller 'iPod/PSP friendly' versions of video podcasts would be more realistic (they are half the size of high quality videos).
-The troops then can select their wanted podcasts on the website, they will be associated with the podcasts in the database.
-Adopters must sign up and say what capabilities they have for writing (DVD, CD) and Troops must say what capabilities they have for reading (CD, DVD, as well as video formats they support) so that compatible pairs may be matched.
- All CDs could also include a standard package codecs for reading and playing the files [ie Include a player such as VLC which plays nearly everything I know of]
-Adopters can either choose a random troop to support (based on when the troop signed up for the service, it should be made availible to troops on a first come, first serve basis), and if there is an excess of donors, they can be put on a queue and sent an email when they have someone to adopt. Another way for adoptors to look for 'compatible' troops is by choosing the podcasts or number of podcasts that the troop wants downloaded. Additionally, it can group Troops who want the same podcasts together so that if the adopter wants, he or she can adopt multiple troops, but not have to download a variety of podcasts; he or she will only have to burn multiple copies of the same disk.
-When adopters adopt troops, the website aggregates all of the podcasts and gives the adoptor links to the podcasts in a nice, clean, and easy to follow page so that they can download them quickly and easily. One thing to consider here is how long podcasts keep their download links active for so that adoptors know how often they need to download the episodes.
-Once an adoptor has downloaded a podcast, he or she can mark it as being downloaded.
-The application should be able to print shipping labels using a standard label.
-Users should be able to purchase a standard type of CD envelopes, similar to the ones that Netflix uses, to lower shipping costs.
-Once the user ships it, he or she can change the status on the latest "podcast care package" to 'shipped'. The Troop can go online to see the status of his or her package as well as which episodes of which podcasts are on the disk that will be arriving.
-Paypal donation should be availible to keep the site up and running.

I realize that it will take quite a bit of time to implement this, but it is important to have a plan and an idea of where we want to go. If anyone else has any other ideas, please submit them.

Additionally, it would be great if some programmers (PHP would probably the best in my opinion ;)) could step in and help with the development of this program.

[thefast]

-The troops then can select their wanted podcasts on the website, they will be associated with the podcasts in the database.
-Adopters must sign up and say what capabilities they have for writing (DVD, CD) and Troops must say what capabilities they have for reading (CD, DVD, as well as video formats they support) so that compatible pairs may be matched.
- All CDs could also include a standard package codecs for reading and playing the files [ie Include a player such as VLC which plays nearly everything I know of]


-Is there also some sort of way to automatically generate templates for burning programs based off of what soldiers are requesting? Like if they want Diggnation episodes 40-60 in XVID format, then some sort of script would make a template that had a "Codecs" folder, depdending on whether or not they already had an XVID codec, and a "Video" folder that had "Diggnation" in its subdirectory, which would then have a folder for every single episode titled something like "Episode 40", "Episode 41", "Episode 42" etc, where you would drag each episode into in whatever burning program you're using. That seems like it would keep things organized for whoever's going to be viewing it, and make it really simple for anyone who wouldn't organize the files otherwise.

[rabidbadger]

Funny you should mention Netflix. I just was thinking of how to mail disks and saw a netflix envelope on my desk and...

One idea led to another... that also relates to your post. I bet they would love to get involved. They got the access, they got the process, they got the distribution methods, they got the envelopes, they got the coders... I started wondering if they could use us as a promotional vehicle. Instead of us doing all the heavy code work, what if Netflix jumped in... (tax break for them-especially if troopcasting could become Not for Profit, somehow)?


I mean basically that takes the "grassroots" out of it, but they could get something up and running in a few days, instead of our weeks/months... We, the civilians could donate the price of burning and shipping, be the official adoptee of a specific troop....


Maybe they could toss in a DVD, to boot.
Eh, just thinking out loud.

[tadpole256]

Wow... these are some great ideas. I am saving them as I get them. This is all great stuff to work towards.

If any of you has any of the requisite experience to build anything like what has been discussed, and you have the time to help, please let me know. Otherwise, I will start working on it in my freetime.

For now I want to get a basic site going (it's up now, but having some hiccups). In the early stages I can likely use very simple methods (information exchange via e-mail), but as our user base grows we will grow the site. Naturally this will take time.

I will be home in February and I will be able to dedicate much more time to the project then.

In the mean time, I'd encourage everyone to sign up in our new forums...

http://www.troppcasting.com/forums

Thanks again. Kirkio, those are FANTASTIC ideas. I am gonna star researching some of them.

[tadpole256]

Funny you should mention Netflix. I just was thinking of how to mail disks and saw a netflix envelope on my desk and...

One idea led to another... that also relates to your post. I bet they would love to get involved. They got the access, they got the process, they got the distribution methods, they got the envelopes, they got the coders... I started wondering if they could use us as a promotional vehicle. Instead of us doing all the heavy code work, what if Netflix jumped in... (tax break for them-especially if troopcasting could become Not for Profit, somehow)?


I mean basically that takes the "grassroots" out of it, but they could get something up and running in a few days, instead of our weeks/months... We, the civilians could donate the price of burning and shipping, be the official adoptee of a specific troop....


Maybe they could toss in a DVD, to boot.
Eh, just thinking out loud.


I am gonna see what kind of contact I can make at NetFlix to get some info. I will keep you all abreast.

[rabidbadger]

I am gonna see what kind of contact I can make at NetFlix to get some info. I will keep you all abreast.

An Idea I had at work today, what if someone, maybe me, perhaps, made a downloadable PDF of a cut-and-fold-on-the-dotted-line mailer that everyone could print out and mail to warzones, etc...

And stupid me. I friggen work for a small mailhouse. (bulk mail mass addressing, shipping, etc...) And the owner is a huge, and I mean HUGE, supporter of not-for-profits, charities, etc... I bet she would totally let me run mass labels, envelopes, whatever, on my off hours for this. Who knows? it might be cheaper to bulk this thing out, have all the envelopes come to me, and between our software and the USPS, save mad crazy bucks on shipping.

Also, I have been doing some freelance work with a great guy who has mad crazy multiple CD/DVD burning capabilities. I could try to sweet talk him into helping out at minimal cost. (He is crazy busy, but it's worth an ask.)

See ya on the troopcasting forums.

Joel

yes, I said "mad crazy" twice, and I meant it twice.

[tadpole256]

An Idea I had at work today, what if someone, maybe me, perhaps, made a downloadable PDF of a cut-and-fold-on-the-dotted-line mailer that everyone could print out and mail to warzones, etc...

And stupid me. I friggen work for a small mailhouse. (bulk mail mass addressing, shipping, etc...) And the owner is a huge, and I mean HUGE, supporter of not-for-profits, charities, etc... I bet she would totally let me run mass labels, envelopes, whatever, on my off hours for this. Who knows? it might be cheaper to bulk this thing out, have all the envelopes come to me, and between our software and the USPS, save mad crazy bucks on shipping.

Also, I have been doing some freelance work with a great guy who has mad crazy multiple CD/DVD burning capabilities. I could try to sweet talk him into helping out at minimal cost. (He is crazy busy, but it's worth an ask.)

See ya on the troopcasting forums.

Joel

yes, I said "mad crazy" twice, and I meant it twice.



That sounds awesome. It'd be great if we could get your boss on board.

I am going to contact several other Troop support groups and see what kind of support I can drum up, and they can help get the word out to the troops too.

[Klitzy]

I don't know how I missed all of this but I am here now. I have my contribution...This week, I made a DVD collection of all the diggnation episodes. I actually made a few copies. So yeah....I am a member now.

[rabidbadger]

Tadpole: Every time a day goes by without seeing you here, at troopcasting.com, or at defendingthetruth.com I start to worry. Especially after having read your blog...

I know you don't have internet access all the time. ..

Still. I feel I know you now, and just ... worry...

Be safe, young man, and always let your buddies drag you off the perch.

PS: Love the new vehicles. Makes me feel a little better about your predicament.

[vhalkirian666]

Let me know how I can get involved, I can also burn media to DVD...
Might also want to include something like the K-lite codecs etc...

[kirkio]

Might also want to include something like the K-lite codecs etc...
I think VLC might be able to do it all. It's cross platform and the only thing it can't do is Real Media (and who uses that anyway?)

[tadpole256]

Anyone who wants to get involved can sign-up at troopcasting.com

If you sign up, please be sure to give a mailing address.

I think the best player to include would be VLC, it's pretty robust, seems to play everything.

I wrote to Leo, but still have not heard back. I am debating writing again. I don't want to become a pest, or seem annoying... Is two e-mails being a pest?

[tadpole256]

Tadpole: Every time a day goes by without seeing you here, at troopcasting.com, or at defendingthetruth.com I start to worry. Especially after having read your blog...

I know you don't have internet access all the time. ..

Still. I feel I know you now, and just ... worry...

Be safe, young man, and always let your buddies drag you off the perch.

PS: Love the new vehicles. Makes me feel a little better about your predicament.

Thanks buddy. A lot of people have been very supportive, and actually this is one of the ways that modern tech is a little bad... People get used to hearing from you everyday, and they are forced to assume the worst when they don't. I am ok. I've been working pretty hard over here. It's kind of funny how it works over here, we might go for weeks, with nothing... then all of a sudden everything is a crisis, and there are like 300 missions... Ugghhh...

In any case, I truly appreciate the concern. I think I am almost ready to go public with the site, and post it on Digg... I just hope that when we do we can get it to the front page.

[vhalkirian666]

Anyone who wants to get involved can sign-up at troopcasting.com

If you sign up, please be sure to give a mailing address.

I think the best player to include would be VLC, it's pretty robust, seems to play everything.

I wrote to Leo, but still have not heard back. I am debating writing again. I don't want to become a pest, or seem annoying... Is two e-mails being a pest?

Something is wrong with the sign-up form...Once I enter the info...did not see a way to "submit" the info....

[Klitzy]

Thanks buddy. A lot of people have been very supportive, and actually this is one of the ways that modern tech is a little bad... People get used to hearing from you everyday, and they are forced to assume the worst when they don't. I am ok. I've been working pretty hard over here. It's kind of funny how it works over here, we might go for weeks, with nothing... then all of a sudden everything is a crisis, and there are like 300 missions... Ugghhh...

In any case, I truly appreciate the concern. I think I am almost ready to go public with the site, and post it on Digg... I just hope that when we do we can get it to the front page.

Can't wait...Glad to hear from you

[mgoblue5453]

Hey guys,

THis is an absolute great cause. Im a podcaster myself an plane on announcing this in all of my shows. We need to give back to all of our soldiers and this is the way techies do it!!

Kyle Kavanagh
CEO Intech Podcasts
www.theintechpodcast.com
intechfans@gmail.com

[kirkio]

I think I am almost ready to go public with the site, and post it on Digg... I just hope that when we do we can get it to the front page.
Because the digg algorithm promotes partially due to how fast the story gets diggs, it'd be best to plan an exact time to submit it and post that so that we can all digg it. I think with the support you have here, promoting it to front page won't be a problem.

[tadpole256]

Something is wrong with the sign-up form...Once I enter the info...did not see a way to "submit" the info....

Please try again. When you have filled out the form, simply press the 'Send E-mail' Button at the bottom of the page.

It has been working fine.

[tadpole256]

Hey guys,

THis is an absolute great cause. Im a podcaster myself an plane on announcing this in all of my shows. We need to give back to all of our soldiers and this is the way techies do it!!

Kyle Kavanagh
CEO Intech Podcasts
www.theintechpodcast.com
intechfans@gmail.com

Thank you!

[tadpole256]

Because the digg algorithm promotes partially due to how fast the story gets diggs, it'd be best to plan an exact time to submit it and post that so that we can all digg it. I think with the support you have here, promoting it to front page won't be a problem.

Agreed. I think I will be ready to go public (on Digg) this week. I just have a few more details to work out. It has been slow going since I can only work on the project when I am not on missions...

[vhalkirian666]

Please try again. When you have filled out the form, simply press the 'Send E-mail' Button at the bottom of the page.

It has been working fine.

Right...I cannot click on the Send E-mail...it is in the middle of the "text area", so when I place my cursor over it, it turns into a "select text" cursor. Like this
"I"
Anyway I have added a screenshot of what it looks like for me. I am using the lastest release of Firefox.
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h152/vhalkirian/Misc%20Pics/troopcasting.jpg

[tadpole256]

Right...I cannot click on the Send E-mail...it is in the middle of the "text area", so when I place my cursor over it, it turns into a "select text" cursor. Like this
"I"
Anyway I have added a screenshot of what it looks like for me. I am using the lastest release of Firefox.
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h152/vhalkirian/Misc%20Pics/troopcasting.jpg

Ahhh... yes... I got another report of this problem. The issue seems to be an incompatibility with firefox. It works in IE. I don't know if the problem is with Drupal or the particular skin I am using, but I am working on getting it fixed. Firefox is my favorite browser, but we can't use it here in Afghanistan. For some reason it is blocked. I have no idea why, and I am not really sure how... So why I am here I am using IE7. I apologize for the trouble.

If anyone has any ideas how to fix this I'd love to hear them.

[tadpole256]

I think I am ready to submit TroopCasting to Digg...


Would someone like to do the honors? Rabidbadger? Kirkio?

How should we go about this?

[rabidbadger]

Are you sure? I check it everyday (as you can tell from the wonderful forums), but what I don't see on the main page is a way to actually connect with the adopted troop. Sure you can sign up. But there is no way for anyone to know what happens afterward....

I signed up and never got an automated email, or anything that said, "here is the soldier for you" or "please wait, a soldier will be contacting you soon" or anything like that...

Is there an invisible database behind the scenes or something?

If we submit it to Digg now, it should most probably be an "asking for help" thing, in which case you should put up a new post at the top of the main page.


Basically, I am wondering if it is ready for primetime. Have you been able to get the message out to the troops that this is available?

Don't wanna burst your bubble, and I know your "window" for working on this is both short and sporadic, (for Damn good reason) but maybe another week or so? One of the "hype" moments was to get TWIT onboard, and Leo will be on the GeekCruise for a while. That puts a hold on a major kickoff, and also, do we have any one else onboard?

(Jay, I'm talkin' to you ;) )

[sugarsickness]

I would be interested in sending guys some shows but I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to afford the shipping costs. Half the time I dont even know where train fare is coming from (Which is how i get to class and everything) ><. I checked the site but I cant find a detailed explanation of how sending and everything will work.

[rabidbadger]

dude, Tadpole. Holy shit.

Your latest blog brought me to tears...

I don't even really "know" you but I greatly respect you and hope you can concentrate on what really matters right now. That being, your NOW. The Now you are in. If you are not in your Now you put yourself at risk. The important and loving thoughts you are having are great and true, but they can wait. You can wonder what becomes of your war buddies later...on the flight home. They want you safe and home as much as you do. But you can not have fleeting moments of angst at the wrong times. You can't dwell on that yet.

Remember the guys who pulled you down into the Humvee in the nick of time. Could they have done that if they were not in their own "Now?" Which of your friends might you save if you stay focused?

When you are on the flight home you can sleep, wake, think, pray...

...And remember the downtime when you wished you had some friggen entertainment. THEN is when to think of the future of your brothers in arms. And the way you can still help them. By focusing on Troopcasting.

And a way to send them a small, comforting piece of home.

[rabidbadger]

So. Did I start enough sentences with "and" in that last post? :p

[rabidbadger]

I would be interested in sending guys some shows but I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to afford the shipping costs. Half the time I dont even know where train fare is coming from (Which is how i get to class and everything) ><. I checked the site but I cant find a detailed explanation of how sending and everything will work.

Ahh. Just in the last two days the forums of troopcasting.com started talking about the ins and outs of mailing stuff to odd overseas military addresses. Check there once in a while (New topics about this have been added.) The details will emerge over time. I'm sure there will be inexpensive ways to send a disk to the warzones . Thanks for your interest.

In fact it just inspired an idea.

Groups of people could adopt a single troop. You and some friends could sign up as SugarsickClan or something. You could each combine your downloads into one disk and send it to a troop. Each pitch in buck or two a month to mail it. Shouldn't be too much of a sacrifice that way.

[sugarsickness]

Ok, I'll keep an eye out for the details to flesh out.

Also, I read through most of the pages of this thread, but if it hasn't been mentioned www.hak5.org does a pretty nice Tech podcast (Monthly). I can't remember any more right now but if I come across more I'll post. I figure the more shows we come up with the better. Unfortunately it's mostly tech related shows, I'd love to find some other non-tech podcasts for them.

[lefrenzy]

I'm in Afghanistan too, as a civilian though.

I teach french at the CCFK (Centre Culturel Francais de Kaboul), and I have a column at Newsvine, where I've pretty much become a "Senior Foreign Correspondent", writing articles and posting photos about my days here.

I also share our friend's bandwidth limitation when it comes to Diggnation. What I end up doing is download the MP3 version using Download Accelerator, I download at 2KB/sec, and I pause every now and then. After a few days, I get my diggnation, I throw it on my iPod, and I listen to it later on.

I got to agree with him, getting new content is a *****, and expensive here. I've been wanting home (Ohio) to send me a "care package", but even sending a small box can cost $150+ to Kabul. It sucks. =/

-Zaki
zaki.newsvine.com

[tadpole256]

I suppose that is one big advantage to being in the military... Getting mail to us costs only the price of shipping to Florida, it's an in country shipping price and is pretty cheap.

If you sign up on troopcasting.com and the forums we should be able to see if we can get something to you somehow.

Do you ever make it to Bagram? Or the ISAF Compound?

[tadpole256]

Are you sure? I check it everyday (as you can tell from the wonderful forums), but what I don't see on the main page is a way to actually connect with the adopted troop. Sure you can sign up. But there is no way for anyone to know what happens afterward....

I signed up and never got an automated email, or anything that said, "here is the soldier for you" or "please wait, a soldier will be contacting you soon" or anything like that...

Is there an invisible database behind the scenes or something?

If we submit it to Digg now, it should most probably be an "asking for help" thing, in which case you should put up a new post at the top of the main page.


Basically, I am wondering if it is ready for primetime. Have you been able to get the message out to the troops that this is available?

Don't wanna burst your bubble, and I know your "window" for working on this is both short and sporadic, (for Damn good reason) but maybe another week or so? One of the "hype" moments was to get TWIT onboard, and Leo will be on the GeekCruise for a while. That puts a hold on a major kickoff, and also, do we have any one else onboard?

(Jay, I'm talkin' to you ;) )

All excellent points. You may be right. What concerns me is that you didn't get an e-mail? I was pretty sure I responded to everyone who has signed up...

I will double check that and work on it.

I do need to get the word to more troops still... Perhaps we should hold off a bit, until we can get the site a bit more ready. I do have a few troops ready to be paired up...

I guess what I really need is some ideas of how to improve the site, and what more we can do...

[tadpole256]

dude, Tadpole. Holy shit.

Your latest blog brought me to tears...

I don't even really "know" you but I greatly respect you and hope you can concentrate on what really matters right now. That being, your NOW. The Now you are in. If you are not in your Now you put yourself at risk. The important and loving thoughts you are having are great and true, but they can wait. You can wonder what becomes of your war buddies later...on the flight home. They want you safe and home as much as you do. But you can not have fleeting moments of angst at the wrong times. You can't dwell on that yet.

Remember the guys who pulled you down into the Humvee in the nick of time. Could they have done that if they were not in their own "Now?" Which of your friends might you save if you stay focused?

When you are on the flight home you can sleep, wake, think, pray...

...And remember the downtime when you wished you had some friggen entertainment. THEN is when to think of the future of your brothers in arms. And the way you can still help them. By focusing on Troopcasting.

And a way to send them a small, comforting piece of home.


Thank you for the concern, and for reading the blog. You are absolutely right about having to stay in the 'now'. As a professional operator, I always strive to keep my head in the game. It does get tricky sometimes... especially as the time gets shorter. With each mission I go on I can't help but wonder if this one will be my last, and how silly it will be if I get killed this close to the time I go home. But at the same time I know I have friends here counting on me, I have an obligation to fufill and I have to pull my own weight. It can be emotionally trying to say the least.

Thank you so much for the support.

If you keep reading, I'll keep writing.

[tadpole256]

Ahh. Just in the last two days the forums of troopcasting.com started talking about the ins and outs of mailing stuff to odd overseas military addresses. Check there once in a while (New topics about this have been added.) The details will emerge over time. I'm sure there will be inexpensive ways to send a disk to the warzones . Thanks for your interest.

In fact it just inspired an idea.

Groups of people could adopt a single troop. You and some friends could sign up as SugarsickClan or something. You could each combine your downloads into one disk and send it to a troop. Each pitch in buck or two a month to mail it. Shouldn't be too much of a sacrifice that way.

Awesome Idea rabidbadger!

[lefrenzy]

I suppose that is one big advantage to being in the military... Getting mail to us costs only the price of shipping to Florida, it's an in country shipping price and is pretty cheap.

If you sign up on troopcasting.com and the forums we should be able to see if we can get something to you somehow.

Do you ever make it to Bagram? Or the ISAF Compound?

I've yet to go to Bagram, but I do go to the ISAF Compound and even Camp Phoenix.

I'll have to sign up and check out TroopCasting. Try to msg me on AIM, I teach during the day, but in the evening, I mostly spend my time writing.

[tadpole256]

I don't have access to AIM (it's blocked). But if you have any friends on Phoenix or the ISAF Compound, I am sure we could get discs to you as well.

[rabidbadger]

Thinking of our buddy Tadpole, and all the other troops, on veterans day.

Sucks about your books being all trashed in the rain. Sending you a troopcast disc Monday. Promise.

Joel

[slimbilly]

email me a snail mail addy and i'll gladly send everything to you on my dime. let me know what you want.

[rabidbadger]

email me a snail mail addy and i'll gladly send everything to you on my dime. let me know what you want.

Tadpole put his address up on the first page of this thread, it is:

A. McCloskey
CJTF76 CJ9
APO AE 09354

Now to find out specifically what he wants (books, music, podcasts, etc...) we can email him at his "same username as here" (at) gmail.com

[lefrenzy]

were you at Camp Phoenix for thanksgiving? I was!

[tadpole256]

I was not fortunate enough to be at camp Phoenix for Thanksgiving. However, I still had as good of a Thanksgiving as I could expect here in Afghanistan I suppose.

I want to again thank everyone for the continued support.

I have been missing in action from here ang from TroopCasting for a while due to operattional requirements and an inury, but I am back in the swing of things now. It has been everything I could do to keep up with my blog...

Right now I am trying to get rid of a bunch of spam on TroopCasting. Luckily I will be heading home in a few months and I will be able to give it more of my attention, to help the next wave of guys who have to put up with this hell over here.

Again, thank you all.

[rabidbadger]

Back from your blog again.

You really really should think about publishing a book of your photos when you get back. They are absolutely stunning. Maybe tie it into Troopcasting somehow, as a way to offset costs, etc...

I don't know what kind of camera, equipment, etc you are using... I guess just a standard point and shoot, but a good one. But the quality is great, at least on the web, and i suppose they are compressed for uploading purposes so the originals are most probably a lot better. Maybe, with a little photoshop work, print ready?

And you have a wonderful eye for composition, in fact one of your shots is my desktop photo right now. It is beautiful.

You also seem to have a way to "see" a shot before you take it. You seem to know how to catch the real world around you without the world "posing" for you. You have a gift here.

When you get back safely (you will get back safely) I would really like to see you pursue this.

Stay safe and sane, friend.

Joel

[rabidbadger]

I mean this is Puitzer stuff, dude. I can't help wondering what is going on in this mans' mind...

http://tadpolenet.com/pics/afghanistan/ArmyNavy/PB074149.JPG

[lefrenzy]

if you're interested in seeing more photos from Afghanistan, you ought to check out my column, I've been writing articles bout my stay here in Kabul (it's been almost 3months now).

@tadpole

sorry you missed thanksgiving over there. Hope your injury heals asap. How busy are you this week? I fly out of Kabul in less than a dozen days to return to Ohio. I wanted to talk to someone about Camp Phoenix to tell us his story "in his own words" about life as an american soldier in Kabul, and write an article about it on my column.

[samureye]

lefrenzy and tadpole, please don't just vanish from these forums! Keep posting here!

[rabidbadger]

lefrenzy and tadpole, please don't just vanish from these forums! Keep posting here!

I get worried when Tadpole doesn't post here often, but I check his blog, (recently mentioned at NYT and his local Philly newspaper) and I read new stuff all the time. I guess he doesn't have the time to post to all the forums and such the few times when he can get online, and I'm sure his blog takes most of the time/bandwidth he has access to.

PS: Troopcasting.com is slowly but surely working out nicely. Check it out and join in the forums there. That is where the action is for now if you want to pitch in.

Thanks,
Joel

[NoxDineen]

That sucks pretty hardcore.

My ex was deployed to Afghanistan 3 times, and I was fortunate enough to work with a lot of veterans (http://thememoryproject.com/digital%2Darchive/) (spanning a few living First World War vets right up to currently serving Middle East guys), as much as I disagree with the reasons given for being over there I have a lot of respect for the men and women who are actually serving.

Assuming Revision3 doesn't have a problem with it, I'd be happy to burn stuff onto DVD and ship it to you.

[yourFNmother]

hey tadpole do you still need some media?

i would be more than happy to help

[rabidbadger]

I mean this is Puitzer stuff, dude. I can't help wondering what is going on in this mans' mind...


I also love this one.

http://tadpolenet.com/pics/afghanistan/kids/DSCF0032-1.JPG

Dude, when you get back, lets put a book together. Really. Your experiences and photos, my graphic skills...

Got a ton of ideas: Pop-Up Afghanistan!!!



(just kidding)

Joel

[rabidbadger]

Bumped for good reason.

YAY! Tadpole is home! Safe and sound.

See his blog: War in the Sandbox. (http://www.tadpolenet.com/warblogs/index.php)

[tadpole256]

Hey everyone... I wanted to thank everyone from the forums here who have given me so much support during my deployment. It really helped. As a few of you already noticed I am indeed back at home now and re-settling into my normal life.

Now that I am at home, with a proper internet connection and some free time, I have been working hard to get TroopCasting off the ground. You all have helped me a great deal the the creation of this idea, and I am hoping I can count on continued support from this community.

I want to go public with TroopCasting as soon as possible. I'd really appreciate it if you guys would take a look and tell me what you think, and how we can improve. Your own contributions would be greatly appreciated as well.

Again, thank you all so much for your support and consideration. I hope we can successfully bring great Podcasts like Diggnation to our deployed troops around the world.

Semper Fortis,
Anthony (Tadpole256)

http://www.troopcasting.com

[rabidbadger]

Dude, welcome home, and I mean home...

and welcome back to rev3. missed you, though I check your sites once in a while. Good job, and I'll get back involved when some personal issues are resolved.

Joel

[acidburn]

Welcome back. Thank you for your service. I have been reading your blog off and on. Your pictures are striking.

[magunwarrior]

Welcome back. Thank you for your service.

My name is Karl Potter, and I approve this statement.

[tadpole256]

Thanks for all the support guys, and thanks for reading the blog! I intend to continue making updates about the stuff I saw, how I feel about it all and lots more photos.

The Army recently made a rule that basically makes it next to impossible for Soldiers to maintain a blog, I am sure it won't be long before the Navy tries to follow suit... But I'm gonna keep blogging and keep fighting for my right to do so until they drag me under!

By the way, thank you all again for the welcome back messages... It' is amazing to be home... Words can not do the feeling justice.

[TechChic]

Hey everyone... I wanted to thank everyone from the forums here who have given me so much support during my deployment. It really helped. As a few of you already noticed I am indeed back at home now and re-settling into my normal life.

Now that I am at home, with a proper internet connection and some free time, I have been working hard to get TroopCasting off the ground. You all have helped me a great deal the the creation of this idea, and I am hoping I can count on continued support from this community.

I want to go public with TroopCasting as soon as possible. I'd really appreciate it if you guys would take a look and tell me what you think, and how we can improve. Your own contributions would be greatly appreciated as well.

Again, thank you all so much for your support and consideration. I hope we can successfully bring great Podcasts like Diggnation to our deployed troops around the world.

Semper Fortis,
Anthony (Tadpole256)

http://www.troopcasting.com

:D Wow. To be honest, I found this by accident. I have been watching Diggnation for ages, but just recently started to check out the forums on a regular basis. Today I was just checking out topics and I found this thread and all the communication's between you and fellow Rev3 members. I read them back to October of last year. Even tho it is late, welcome home. I too, want to thank you for your service and even more so for bringing some of us civilians more understanding of what is and has been going on.

I read your blog and checked out TroopCasting. Great stuff and I look to join TC soon. I think it is a great idea! I did have a suggestion tho, forgive me if it is not what you are looking for...When I get to the TroopCasting site, the forums are the main part of the page...Could there be, or is there and I just did not see it, a short 'About This Site' or something?

Thank you. I want to make sure I understand what TC does when I tell friends and family about it.Keep up the good work!