Welcome to this week's "Carnival of the Vanities", and we have quite an eclectic collection (all of it worth a look) so I will waste none of your time by trying to excite your anticipation. Our tour begins:
Graham Lester starts us off by showing us what the
the Real Problem is with the United Nations and the European Union. (I especially like the soundbite about the "Coalition of the Billing".)
We next proceed to Daniel's intriguing little entry about a job search. He manages to
describe the problems with trying to get people less experienced than oneself to judge one's talent.
And if you'll all follow me to our next entry, where Andrew has
posted several comments about the short film he starred in, called
The Fallen.
The Advice Goddess has managed to collect a set of
humorous concepts she calls "Metaphysics for Dummies". (You'll have to scroll down to the May 26th entries, but it's worth the effort.)
Grasshoppa caused my wife to wonder about my sanity because of the sudden bursts of laughter, as he
gives us our HTV.
Drink alert is in effect for this one, so don't blame me for ruined monitors.
James Joyner of "Outside the Beltway" has two different submissions this week, both of them quite good. The first is about
Webonomics and how most liberals have no clue about the concepts behind Supply and Demand, and the second is about
how politics are being mis-perceived. He has shown himself to be worth an extended perusing, so feel free to take some time with his entries.
David Sims at Clubbeaux has an interesting story about
an after-light's-out chat at a girls' school.
Da Goddess tells the tale about
giving birth in the Town With No Name. Bless her and her new family.
Charyl asks the questions on everyone's lips.
Where are the WMD's, Dubya? She then proceeds to sum up some of the information that the Coalition has collected.
MommaBear of "On The Third Hand" snarls about the
problems inherent in bringing democracy to a region where theocracy has been the way of life for longer than can be easily understood.
Trish Wilson
shows that statistics are being misrepresented by father's rights groups despite the facts on hand. I guess Twain was right when he identified the three kinds of lies: Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics.
David F. skillfully expresses the despair and anger felt by all sufferers of adult acne, so
click here and sympathize. (He was also kind enough to link to me from his new site. Thanks!)
Kevin Aylward of Wizbang
finishes his series on "Smart Growth." In "Smart Growth In Loudoun County, VA (Or How To Piss Off All Of The People All Of The Time) - Part II", he covers the fallout from the implementation of "Smart Growth" in a Virginia county and how it divided the Republican party.
Acidman tells
an embarrassing story about one particular golf round. Warning, though, the embarrassing part isn't about golf, and a
drink alert is in effect.
John Q. Public has included an entry (I think he was trying to tell me something) which
links to a tutorial on MovableType. For those of us who are moving to our own domains, this would prove invaluable, but even for those of you who have been dealing with it on a daily basis, it might still teach you a thing or two.
WalterinDenver
shares a post about an anti-gun woman who takes a firearms safety course. On a dare, no less. I wish I could express how proud I am of her effort. And his.
Eric Berlin
tells us why ethanol is more wasteful than thermal depolymerization. One hopes that Senator Daschle would bother actually learning the facts, too, but I'm not going to hold my breath.
Jeff Medcalf
blogs about the possible results of the US putting pressure on Israel. A frightening scenario, to be sure, but worth reading (and pondering at length).
Solonor tells those of us who don't live in 'Tornado Alley' why "
Oklahoma City is really pretty", and explains the stuff that everyone there needs to know.
Drink alert is in effect.
Jack Cluth
gives a heart-wrenching tale of "Love, Life, and Lost Friends" on 9/11, and coming to grips with the memories of that terrible and tragic day.
Chris of "The Noble Pundit"
blogs about the Economy and the Market, in the fourth part of five. The other parts are worth reading, too, if you follow economic matters beyond your own bank account.
Tiger, in his first submission to the Carnival,
rants about something that I agree with. I just haven't felt the urge to rant about myself, because it seems as obvious to me as water is to a fish. He does a wonderful job with it, too, so pay him a visit, and maybe he'll keep coming back.
The Yeti
talks about Chivalry and Feminism, and why they are to blame for the problems between the genders. He does a good job, from both points of view.
Laura
grumbles as a "fledgling Hawk" about being a "Liberal Lost". Go and read and share the sense of confusion.
Courtney
asks us to "Remember the Bill of Rights?", and wonders why the press (which has been so gung-ho to hop on the gun control bandwagon) has completely ignored the attempted violations of the First Amendment.
In Jay's own words: "I grew up to be a social authoritarian who believed in the ability of the Church to determine the moral framework of the government and its people... I grew up with economic ideals that focused on an unsustainable socialist framework in the name of social justice... I have become a Right-wing anarchist as opposed to the communo-fascist that my Philippine upbringing taught me to be."
You can continue reading here, although you will have to scroll down to "Metamorphosis".
Chuck Simmins sends along an interesting Archie Bunker quote:
Patience is a virgin. Recommend it to all your "Not In My Name" crowd who are screaming about the lack of WMD proof in Iraq.
Suburban Blight talks about nailing that
Bigot Bastard, Eric Robert Rudolph. I was thinking that the rookie cop who nailed him deserves a
HUGE commendation from the FBI. Many of you might agree. Those that don't are welcome to walk westward until your hat floats.
James DiBenedetto, submitted not
one, not
two, but
three different submissions this week. He is obviously a big baseball fan, even though there is no love lost regarding Commissioner Bud Selig. (I can't really blame him, either.)
"The Smallest Minority" asks
an interesting question: "Is the Government Responsible for Your Protection?" You might be surprised at the answer...
John Greyhawk
talks to us about "Heat, Speed, and the Johnny Lightning Special", even though he insists it's not all about cars. He's not kidding, and I wonder when we're going back to the moon, myself.
The two co-writers for "Across the Atlantic" have managed to submit an entry each. The entry by Mandrake (the British half) can be found
here, and is an interesting 12-step program on how to write sex scenes (for those who could never get it quite right). The American entry, by Shell, is
here, and is about Right Wing Terror and Abortion, and talks about Eric Robert Rudolph.
Joe Dougherty
sends a message to the waste of oxygen who robbed his parent's home. If I were that waste of DNA, I would steer well clear of that region in the future, 'cause he wants your head. In thin slices. (Luckily, I'm not, and I would cheer him on.)
"The World According To Pete"
wonders if Dubya is a raging Power-holic. An interesting left-wing point of view, and one I might not personally agree with, but an intriguing read, nevertheless.
Saltwater has requested a mention of a few URLs in lieu of a regular entry, since she is shifting domains this week, and I am happy to oblige. The first blog, titled "Brazos Cantina", can be found at http://www.brazoscantina.com, and the second, where she is a regular contributor, is titled "Girls! Girls! Girls!", and can be found at http://www.ondragonswing.com/journal/girls. Swing by, and tell them that Drumwaster sent ya!
The Raving Atheist
examines the mischief that can arise when jurors in a death penalty case decide to consult Bibles found in their hotel rooms.
David Russell
discusses the problems that he has with the religious right complaining about President Bush. I don't blame him, and I even agree. Unfortunately, BlogSpot doesn't like permalinks (no kidding, huh?), so scroll down to "Oh, Please!" under June 2nd.
And, finishing up with this week's Carnival, Jay Solo is wonderfully kind enough to
share tips and tricks to those of us (and I'm including myself, by the way) who need to get off of the BlogSpot servers, and onto real domains (and bless him for thinking of us).
Next week's Carnival can be found at (and submissions should be sent to)
Overtaken by Events. I hope you have as much fun reading all these entries as I did, and if you have a wish to help out by hosting the Carnival of the Vanities for yourself, please feel free to contact Bigwig at bigwig (AT) nc.rr.com, and he will be happy to add you to the rotation.
Thank you all for stopping by, and have a wonderful time cruising the Carnival!