According to the Cambridge (Mass, USA) City Council that is. Their peace council went off to Israel to harass the Israeli military and praise Hamas. Do Cambridge Mass. taxpayers really want their money being spent on this sort of meddling? Surely their roads are more important?

read more | digg story

Some pay tribute by sacrificing virgins, other by deflowering them. Others prefer confectionary to make their tribute. You can eat cake and still pay tribute.

Via: Feorag

They have released another rant against “binge drinking”. Now to most of us that means getting absolutely wrecked but not to these pinheads. It seems they have now declared that you are binge drinking if you have two pints in an evening. Yes anything over 1.5 pints is binge drinking in their daft world. For women it is even less.

So if you share a bottle of champers with your beloved tonight you are a binge drinker…

Do these people not realise that if they are so unrealistic no one will pay a blind bit of notice?

Welcome to the December 31, 2007 edition of best of me symphony.

Hopeful Spirit presents Stop Perpetuating Harmful Stereotypes! | On the Horizon posted at On the Horizon, saying, “Promoting stereotypical notions about the roles of men and women is not only old-fashioned and out of step with the realities of life in the twenty-first century, but harmful, as Hopeful Spirit explains.”

Louise Manning presents Paper-chains posted at Make-Up posted at Everyone Needs Therapy, saying, “We see what you don’t see.”

Hopeful Spirit presents The Letter (Part One) posted at Mixed Metaphor.net, saying, “A fictional story about a woman coming to grips with the choices she made in her youth, the state of her life, and the direction she wants the remainder of her journey on earth to take.”

Jenn presents The Letter (Part One) posted at Mixed Metaphor.net, saying, “A fictional story about a woman coming to grips with the choices she made in her youth, the state of her life, and the direction she wants the remainder of her journey on earth to take.”

Tali presents Novel excerpts: Lies – Novel Excerpts – Helium – by Tali posted at Helium – Where Knowledge Rules, saying, “It’s a short story in the works. (If you have any comments, please contact me at http://www.helium.com/user/show/342435)”

Tali presents Grandma’s Statue posted at Helium – Where Knowledge Rules, saying, “The story is based partly on reality, but aren’t they all ;)”

Alex Blackwell presents Ask for What You Want posted at The Next 45 Years.

blue skelton presents Production Blog: DIY Film Equipment List posted at Blue Skelton Publications, saying, “Here is a list of sites that show you how to build your own film production equipment from easily accessible items and some tools. I have actually used several of these sites to build and improvise my own equipment.”

Jon Swift presents The Mean Girl Faces of Islamo-Fascism posted at Jon Swift, saying, “Is Western Civilization prepared to fight an army of Muslim Heathers?”

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of best of me symphony using our carnival submission form.

Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

There is a Britblog round-up as well.

Technorati tags:

best of me symphony, blog carnival.

Its been an interesting year for me with both great highs and lows, what with getting married in May; having a great Honeymoon in Cancun complete with tropical storm. But alas, things got rather dire in the last quarter of the year when i was diagnosed with colon cancer and had post operative complications that almost killed me. You may think I am being melodramatic maybe? You will be able to decide when you read my account of it all which I am planning to write in 2008.

British politics were depressing as hell this year with the Conservatives doing their best to completely distance themselves from anything that could resemble being a Conservative. They have become, thanks to Cameron and Zak, fully paid up members of the Gore cult. The fact that the chief priest of this cult has never voted Conservative; instead voting for quasi-marxists Green, and now has a seat is beyond parody.

Now I have to say that the panic in the Lib-Dems was rather fun to watch. It was especially amusing when there was a poll that suggested the Lib-Dems would have no MPs after the next election. It was not long after that when they ditched the ole man and had a new leadership contest. Of course, they have a new leader now who managed a majority of 500+. Not exactly a blistering endorsement eh?

Brown has just admitted that the British economy might have a few problems in the next year. No kidding there mate? What tipped you off?

Now American politics are getting really interesting for those of us interested in such things. Its a dead heat in Iowa for the Dems and pretty durn close for the Republicans as well. Anyone who is completely sure who is going to get the nominations for either party is talking out of their hats. What is making it even more interesting, except maybe in Iowa, is the death of Benazir Bhutto. Foreign policy has been blown up to the top of the issues. Experience is going to be more important in the campaign; which will hurt the Democrats and some Republican candidates quite a bit.

The person I most admire in 2007 is John Smeaton; the man who rose to the challenge and kicked Islamist terrorist arse. He is an inspiration to us all that one man can make a difference in the fight against terrorism.

In 2008 I plan to produce more music, learn to play the acoustic guitar, get through the chemo and release an EP with my wife.

As you may or may not already be aware, members of the Watcher’s Council hold a vote every week on what they consider to be the most link-worthy pieces of writing around… per the Watcher’s instructions, I am submitting one of my own posts for consideration in the upcoming nominations process.

Here is the most recent winning council post, here is the most recent winning non-council post, here is the list of results for the latest vote, and here is the initial posting of all the nominees that were voted on.

And as a result they are planning a rally in World of Warcraft. Now you would expect this sort of thing in Second Life; but not the fantasy mmorpg WoW. It seems they are marching from one of the major strongholds on the “good” side. They are not Horde which is a shame. I am sure there will be shots of this rally online. It will be most amusing to see.

Here is the video of the event.

Besides going through chemo for the next six months to hopefully prevent a repeat of my colon cancer I plan to use my time to do creative things in the forthcoming months. My first task is to write a book about my experience of getting cancer and the resulting surgery plus post-complications. Hopefully it will be cathartic and help me to fill in some of the blanks from those 14 days in hospital. I rather hope it might raise some money as well; as my costs were somewhat substantial especially as I had no US medical insurance and am now going to be in debt for some time. Should you be moved at any time to donate to the cause of my medical expenses I would be most appreciative.

Other than that I plan to teach myself guitar with the help of my DVD instructor. Might as well use the time mostly stuck at home for something useful and creative eh?

This is the latest in dog body armour. Especially useful if you live near Michael Vick and his mates.

And if your squirrels have a problem with terriers coming after them. You can buy them these.

Kylie Minogue has gotten an O.B.E. from the Queen for surviving cancer? I have survived cancer and I got squot. And isn’t Kylie a freaking Aussie? You know the country that is about to ditch the Queen as their head of state.

Surely Kylie should be stuck in the Tower for producing some of the most dire music the planet has ever known?

John O’Sullivan has written a witty plea for the Anglosphere in today’s Telegraph. Now I am a fully convinced proponent of the Anglosphere; but those yet to convinced could do far worse than read O’Sullivan’s excellent piece.

Some nutter in the Wisconsin State Senate wants to tax video games to pay for 17 year old criminals in the adult criminal justice system. This cretin wants to charge law-abiding children (well he thinks that children are the only ones who play games) to pay for the evil ones. Go read the whole thing and wonder how drunk this dolt was when he came up with the idea.

For those of us that are not as insular as many in Iowa; including incompetent debate hosts, the events in Pakistan will hopefully remind American primary voters that foreign affairs is an important issue. With any luck this will further hole Huckebee’s run for the nomination. The man not only has no experience he clearly shows incompetence when it comes to matters other than domestic.

These events might also affect Obama who is likewise fairly naive when it comes to foreign affairs. Not, of course, that any of the major candidates for the Democratic nomination are experienced in foreign matters. Hilary Clinton being the wife of the President does not really count not matter how much she claims it does.

For an English perspective; Dan Hamilton has written his take on the first in the nation primaries.

I am not surprised to hear that she has been killed. However its a great shame the Islamists managed the deed after so many attempts. It will be interesting to see what happens in Pakistan now. How will her followers react to this crime?

That was a quick answer…by rioting.

Most of us have had RSS feeds for quite a long time; especially if you are using one of the more advanced blogging systems. Once you have an RSS feed it can sometimes be a bit of bugger to get people to actually subscribe to it. Well rssHugger is one of those methods for getting people to discover your feed and content.

Its easy to sign up and there is even a free method for getting listed. The fee method is not that expensive being $20 for lifetime; which can be paid via paypal. The site is easy to use and fairly straightforward to get round; something which is not as common as one might suspect. Well recommended whether you are a seasoned blogger or just getting started.

As we quickly rush towards the two first primaries in the US; its time to being thinking again about who you want to win the nomination. I have been writing about a few pieces about Republican candidates I am not keen on. Its about time I reminded you who I support in the primaries. I am one of those who thinks that Fred Thompson would be the best bet for the Republicans. That is why I am happy to participate in the Blogburst for Fred.

Welcome to the December 27, 2007 edition of carnival of the vanities.

Madeleine Begun Kane presents I Won’t Graciously Submit To Mike Huckabee posted at Mad Kane’s Political Madness.

Daniel Kretschmer presents Learning Art posted at vince’s ear, saying, “Learning about art doesn’t have to be a chore as this post explains.”

Alvaro Fernandez presents Brain Training: No Magic Bullet, Yet Useful Tool. Interview with Elizabeth Zelinski posted at SharpBrains, saying, “Here goes an interview with a leading scientist on lifelong learning and cognitive training. Happy Holidays!”

Carole G. McKay presents Life and Death posted at McKay Today, saying, “”Living” without the death penalty and how it serves the best of humankind.”

GrrlScientist presents ScienceDebate2008: In Search of a Science-literate Leader posted at Living the Scientific Life, saying, “While our elected officials have been distracted with petty bickering over non-issues such as the Terri Schiavo fiasco and the teaching of evolution in public schools, they have been waving their hands helplessly in the face of Hurricane Katrina, and the suffering of many Americans has been needlessly prolonged and ignored. In short, we need a science-literate president.”

Aparna presents 11 things you can do with olive oil posted at Beauty and Personality Grooming, saying, “Besides lemon, milk, sugar, aloe, turmeric, sandalwood and honey, olive oil is another household item that has multifarious uses as a beauty aid. It is a mild, non-irritant, antibacterial oil that is rich in antioxidants; hence is ideal for the skin. Here are a few things that you could do with olive oil.”

GrrlScientist presents ScienceDebate2008: What Is It? posted at Living the Scientific Life, saying, “I have spoken with quite a few people from CraigsList and other places regarding the logistics and goals for ScienceDebate2008, and have found that there are plenty of misperceptions as to what scientists wish to accomplish. In short; ScienceDebate2008 is not a “science pop-quiz” that demands that the presidential candidates regurgitate a bunch of scientific theories and formulae on television.”

GrrlScientist presents Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted): ScienceDebate2008: The Future of Science in America posted at Living the Scientific Life, saying, “There are plenty of debates for presidential candidates on all sorts of topics, but have you noticed that none of these debates include any discussion about science and research? [...] In fact, it would be great if there could be a presidential debate that specifically focuses on clarifying each candidate’s position regarding research in science, technology and the environment so they cannot dodge these subjects and so these important issues are emphasized in the public’s consciousness.”

Mark A. Rayner presents Excruciating Album Cover Art ? Tijuana Picnic posted at The Skwib.

Fred Black presents Follow Your Heart posted at Fred Black: Internet Business Blog..

chris presents DropKick MonKey » Blog Archive » Mercator: Never Trust A Man posted at DropKick MonKey, saying, “Excellant undercover commercial that says a alot about men.”

Dana presents More on UT mom threatened with jail posted at Principled Discovery.

Helene Zemel presents The Shame of the American Health Care System posted at Health Plans Plus, saying, “Over 47,000,000 Americans have no health insurancemore than 15 % of the population. With the exception of the United States, most developed countries have a National health system which benefits all of its citizens both rich and poor. Although the United States is a first world country, for the more than 47 million uninsured, medical care is third world.”

Kilroy_60 presents A Blog Carnival That’s Out Of This World! My Blogiversary Bash!! posted at Fear And Loathing – The Gonzo Papers, saying, “I think the text that makes up this carnival works rather well…and makes it adventure to see those who joined in my Blogiversary Bash!!”

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of carnival of the vanitiesusing ourcarnival submission form.
Past posts and future hosts can be found on ourblog carnival index page.

Technorati tags:

carnival of the vanities, blog carnival.

I feel for all the teenagers who have been promised a next gen machine for Christmas this year only to wake up tomorrow to find that their parents have got them a Wii. Now the Wii is a great machine if you have small children but there is not much of use for anyone over about 13. Never mind the fact that they Wii’s games are bloody expensive and they tend to only have lame stuff like Mario sports in bundles with the console.

One day my cousin showed up with these lyrics about DamnYoko™ and wanted some help putting them to music. So I said sure, went off somewhere and returned a few days later with the body of the song. (I believe we both worked on the bridge.)

Although my cousin was much more proficient than me in almost any aspect of music, he was just starting to write his own songs. I’d been doing it from the start. I suppose it is somewhat a matter of focus; a songwriter sees the song as the target and the music as part of the puzzle getting there; a good musician is more interested in the journey, and the nuts and bolts of the jalopy we’re riding in. If I may mangle a metaphor or two.

My cousin wasn’t exactly Noel Coward when it came to writing lyrics, but no nevermind. Obviously a good song with good lyrics is preferable to a good song with bad lyrics (or—and I know, having written many examples of the genre—a bad song with bad lyrics), but I’ve never considered lyrics as a pivotal element of the song; rather as a framework to hang the vocals (which I do consider essential) on.

This was the first time my cousin added backing vocals. Also a few ad-libs aimed at cracking me up.

Note: I usually keep the volume of my computer speakers low, and listen to these (or anything else) with headphones. If you can, I’d recommend doing the same for this song, at least. There’s a truism that you should listen to music at around the same level that it was recorded at. As this would be inconvenient for most rock music (not to mention for your neighbors), producers use compression and equalization to make the record sound smoother at lower volumes. In part because we still hadn’t figured out how to record acoustic guitars, they sound jumbled and undifferentiated unless you crank up the sound somewhat. If the boss starts bitchin’, you can point out this highly scientific explanation.

Since I’ll be busy for the next few days, I’ll just take this occasion to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I’ll try to be back by next week, but I’m not promisin’ nuttin’.

—>

Welcome to the December 24, 2007 edition of best of me symphony.

SJ Yee presents 10 Secrets to Happiness I learnt from Andrew Matthews posted at >Personal Development for the Book Smart.

isabella mori presents blog action day: interdependence with the environment posted at change therapy, saying, “this post wonders whether humanity needs to go through more emotional development before it truly grasps the dire necessity to be environmentally conscious – but do we have enough time for that?”

Don Morrison presents Still Cherry Picking Your Leads? posted at Discount Shopping Card, saying, “Merry Christmas!”

Tupelo Kenyon presents How to Live the Life of Your Dreams Through Intuition posted at Tupelo Kenyon, saying, “Intuition feels good. That should be enough of a clue it’s something that can be trusted. But, our culture has done a thorough job of instilling doubt about the wisdom of following our instincts. Instead, we are taught to think things through and be logical. These mental tools are important, but they were never intended to be used instead of intuition. They work better when used in conjunction with intuition. If we are open to it, we get nudges and insights to move us in the direction of our greatest joys, our most valuable contributions, and our most satisfying life. Those quiet whispers and gentle taps on the shoulder are examples of inner guidance in action intuition. (Enjoy soothing instrumental music as you read plus songs with lyrics related to each article all free.”

Edith presents The Last Day of My Life posted at Edith Yeung.Com: Dream. Think. Act..

Joshua C. Karlin presents How Should We Give? posted at Marketing & Fundraising Ideas.

Madeleine Begun Kane presents No Sweat Divorce posted at Mad Kane’s Humor Blog.

200motels presents Have An Asterisk, Son! We’re GIVING Them Away! posted at 200motels.net.

Mike Remer presents Wish Exercise wasnt so Hard? | My Path To Fitness Blog posted at My Path To Fitness Blog.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of best of me symphony using our carnival submission form.

Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags:

best of me symphony, blog carnival.

Also check out the Witanagemot and Britblog round-ups.

Free Mark Steyn is a new site dedicated to the ongoing spat between ROPMA in Canada and Mark Steyn. Shockingly Islam in Canada wants to limit someone’s right to free expression and squelch any criticism. I found this via Dean.

In a brief history of the season over at Witchology.com. What is Yule? Bits include the real meaning of Christmas. The page includes a free e-book on the season to download for further reading.

Oh yes and it seems that Italian scholars ”>have discovered that Christmas had pagan origins. Took them a while to admit that one.

Some enviro-loon has taken those of us who play massively multiplayer online games to task for being beastly to the planet. Massively questions whether if one wants to be good to the planet if playing games or having a computer is a good idea? Is there no place these envirofascists won’t stick their green noses in to make a nuisance of themselves?

I frankly could give a damn how much enviromental impact my playing a game allegedly has. I just wish these annoying enviro-fascists would take after other doomsday cults and sod off to the boonies somewhere to wait for armageddon.

As you may or may not already be aware, members of the Watcher’s Council hold a vote every week on what they consider to be the most link-worthy pieces of writing around… per the Watcher’s instructions, I am submitting one of my own posts for consideration in the upcoming nominations process.

Here is the most recent winning council post, here is the most recent winning non-council post, here is the list of results for the latest vote, and here is the initial posting of all the nominees that were voted on.

And promptly loses any support I might have had for him. It seems he wants to deny adults the right to play the video games they want and wants to jail those who sell games and videos he disapproves of. As Allahpundit rightly points out any of these idiotic proposals will not stand up in court; however its disappointing to see Romney going down the crypto-fascist route. He is still better than the happy-clappy loon Huckebee; but he is losing his edge quite rapidly.

Update: It seems Clinton is not so liberal either in her views on this subject.

It seems the State of Florida realises what a boon the game industry is to the state and moving to disbar one of the cultural fascists who constantly sues game companies.

Former PM Tony Blair has betrayed the Church of England and become a Catholic. He did the deed yesterday. He has followed the loathsome Ann Wittecombe to the Catholic Church. Somehow I think its appropriate for those two to be Catholics. Then again Blair selling out his heritage is nothing new now is it?

Then again the Arsebishop Williams led CofE is not really worth much. They seem to spend more time sucking up to Islamists than caring for their flock.

The very camp Priest on Fox seems to think Blair did this because of his belief. However I think Blair who wants “a role in Europe” realises that Catholics run the joint. He wants to make sure that he is off the faith as the vast majority of those that control Europe. Lets face it Protestants aren’t that common in mainland Europe. The EU is a Catholic dream.

On a recent visit to Cuba, Vladimir Putin found that most Cubans’ shoes have holes in them, and so he asked Fidel, “Oye chico, how is this possible after 40 years of ‘progress’?”

Annoyed, Fidel answers, “And what about Russia? Have you done any better?”

Putin says, “Ombe, when you want I’ll invite you to Russia and if you find a single person with ripped-up shoes you have permission to kill him. No problems.”

They got on Putin’s plane and went to Russia. As soon as Fidel got off the plane, the first thing he saw was someone whose shoes were all ripped up, and so he grabbed his pistol and BOOM! killed him.

Book review: The Bumper Book of Government Waste 2008 by Matthew Elliot & Lee Rotherham

It seems Rowan Williams, the Arsebishop of Canterbury, is doing is base to undermine the Christian and Jewish case for the Holy Land. This time he is trying to undermine the reality of the three Magi/Kings in the Jesus story. Simon wonders aloud if Rowan actually prays to Mecca in secret in some back room.

Like Laurence I wonder why Williams isn’t questioning some of the more outlandish Muslim myths? Oh yes because he is a sycophantic arse who is a coward who only makes such statements about religions who wont kill him.

It turns out the three UK “residents” who were recently released from Gitmo have bugger all to do with the UK (well besides wanting to blow it up and over-throw the government). The DT wonders why UK cares about the scumbag terrorist three. One of them has loads of children living in the UK right now. What you bet the are on the public purse? At least they were arrested but alas they were all bailed when they returned to the UK.

Its amazing no matter how bad these people are they can always find anglo saps to plead their case.

Artist David Mach discovers a use for those wire things that multiply spontaneously in the closet. There’s only so many cars that need unlocking, y’know.

the blog québécois