I don't know what Bigwig was thinking when he handed hosting duties for Carnival of the Vanities #11 to me, but here it is. It's a good mix this week with everything from peace, love and understanding to drunken bloggers to hardcore Santa. No, not hardcore like that.
I had a lot of fun doing this, I highly recommend it to everyone. I read a lot, I learned a lot and I laughed a lot. I cried, too - you'll figure that one out soon enough. If I forgot anyone's entry - missed an email or anything - please feel free to send me a reminder and kick my ass.
Now, go read them all. I mean all of them. The posts are excerpted; click on the title to visit the author's site and read the whole thing. There will be a pop quiz later on, so read for comprehension! Don't skim! Bonus question will be: Who is hosting the Carnival next week? Answer at the end. Pencils ready, and....go!
Northwest Notes: The Meat Market
Whole Fryers $1.99/lb.
Spiral Cut Ham
GIFT CERTIFICATES AVAILIABLEThe last one appeared in two locations. The extra ?i? had been added to each as a squeezed-in afterthought, instantly giving the word a new syllable. If only an old sign painter would come out of retirement and paint the signs the way they?re supposed to look, and the owner could throw away his collection of markers?.
If you stop right now, and take a piece of paper, and write down the three moments in your life that most defined you — that delimited your aspirations — you will likely have three short stories, a tryptich that tells much more about you than a comparable set of three happy scenes, the birth of a child, a favorite vacation, the moment you first fell in love.
Fragments From Floyd: UFO In Floyd County!
Monday morning began bright and brisk, with a low silver sun, calm, peaceful as ever. Sitting at the computer waiting for the muse to visit and move my fingers on the keys, I became aware that I was hearing sounds unnatural out my window. I got up from my chair and stood at the open front door in my robe and slippers. Whatever it was, it was circling back and forth between our valley and the neighbors.
Chuck Simmons: One Step Forward
I see people devote hours each week to other volunteer jobs, Scouting, childrens' sports, candystripers. That's super. God bless you all. But, don't you ever feel the urge to stand between your loved ones and evil? One day, out of the blue, evil comes to call. Some folks run forward, towards the danger. Others don't.
Everything Must Go: They Made Me a Criminal
Driving to work this past Sunday evening, I was pulled over by a cop for failing to stop at a stop sign. I'll say upfront I'm guilty as charged, but I didn't admit it to the officer. I plan to fight the ticket. It's a libertarian thing. I've thought about it for several days, and the more I think about it, the more I realize I was entrapped, and the police had no business spying on me and wasting my time, in order to raise funds for the city.
Greeblie Blog: Adopt a Blogger!
It's time to introduce you to my adopted BlogChildren (AKA the Axis of Greeblie). I took in some people to my domain because I was in the giving mood, the people I took in had terrible Blogger service and I had a little extra space and bandwidth on my web server account. Hopefully I can do my part to make sure they have a great experience here.
Solonor's Ink Well: Feel The Power
ME: Ooh, this looks like a rowdy bunch.
THEM: *nervous laughter* Who is this creep?
ME: Um, I guess that's what I get for not putting a picture on my blog.
THEM: Oh, THAT creep!
Heretical Ideas: They're Getting More Antsy All The Time
Looking at Islam specifically, it's impossible to claim, like Robertson and others, that it is a religion that openly advocates violence against unbelievers. If that were true, than a great majority of Muslims would be, well, employing violence against unbelievers. But that is obviously not the case. What is the case, however, is that the Islamic sect of Wahabbism does openly advocate violence. But it's important to remember that Wahabbism is still, by far, a minority sect, despite the best efforts of the Saudis.
In these days of robot-generated text, Mad Libs seem a bit archaic. But just because a concept's outlived its entertainment value doesn't mean we won't use it here at the Gadabout. Without further ado, we offer our first poli-blog Web Libs:
Article comments
1 - Eric Olsen
Ooh, cool logos and stuff. It just keeps getting better. Hey, the UFO moves!!
2 - Laurence Simon
I've been slowly working on my campaign to animate every one of my 350 icons, and I figure I will increase the load time of my archive pages five-fold with such a move.
MWAHAHAHAHAHAH!