Blogpower Roundup --- JMB Style

Launceston Castle, Cornwall

It's a bit intimidating doing a Blogpower roundup after the sterling efforts of Ian Q_T and Matt Wardman. But to encourage others, I am going to lower the bar so that volunteers will rush forward thinking that they can do better than JMB.

Oh, there is no theme nor any particular order, so just follow the butterfly mind, with which I am equipped, as I present to you some posts which took my eye while I trolled through my BP folder in bloglines this past week, plus the one lonely nomination.

I could not resist the above image of Launceston Castle in Cornwall which the Cornish Democrat used for his post asking once again what exactly is Cornwall, a county or a duchy and why is there no definitive answer.

Now which BP post should I choose to highlight the huge news of the week for the UK people? Miss Wagstaff, a Welsh blogger, uses a billiards/pool analogy in Reds cleared. Brown pocketed. Not many balls left on the table to announce the resounding defeat of the Labour candidate by the SNP in the Glasgow East bye-election, a seat held by Labour for more than 60 years.

Tom Paine certainly gives his forthright opinion of Al Gore in The Englishman on "Saint Al. How many others hold this opinion I wonder: Al Gore may just be the most dangerous man alive. Strong words indeed, do read the rest of it.

In a very pertinent post, Gracchi considers Friendship and the Internet and the difficulties of using only the written word when in real life we rely so much on physical signals and clues to aid in communication. He concludes: internet friends ........ are harder to understand simply because the keyboard is not as subtle an instrument as the human face. Excellent post Gracchi.

While on the topic of friendship, Crushed takes the opportunity of a birthday celebration, Happy Birthday, Chimney Sweep! to highlight the longtime relationship he has with his two closest friends.

Colin Campbell shares memories of the misery outdoors in Scotland in July prompted by reading the Midge Report in Midge Ure (gone) to be Scottish Tourism Ambassador. The forecast might read like this: Extremely itchy with some light scratches. Long term outlook (wait for winter) Good.

I was truly amazed to read the Pub Philosopher's post Are black people being banned from bars in Beijing? Only during the Olympics you understand, well maybe not, as one of his links leads to an article about racism in general in China.

Thunderdragon is a serious Conservative political blogger but every now and again a more lighthearted subject shows up on his blog as it did in Newspaper Typos in which he give us some interesting examples. Lard Thatcher?

Heather Yaxley in Communicating Road Measures is Confusing muses about the partial adoption of metrification in the UK, especially the fact that they never converted to the metric system for distance and speed measurement. It makes for a very confusing system indeed. When we in Canada adopted the metric system in 1970, later than the UK, we pretty well went the whole hog with a few exceptions. 50 km equals 30 miles and 4 litres equals one gallon. One metre is 40 inches while 10cm equals 4 inches. 20 degrees Celsius equals 68 degrees Fahrenheit. Not so difficult really, even for an old lady like me. I can even do the calculation F-32 = 9/5 C, not in my head of course, but then you can get a widget to do it, you know.

Brrr! Frost on the eucalypts

Speaking of temperature, Chervil is in the midst of winter Down Under and in Frost in my Garden she shows us that Australia, her part at least, is not always a land of warmth and sunshine. Minus 8 degrees Celsius! That would be very cold for Vancouver and we have central heating which she does not. Keep well wrapped up Chervil.

Calum Carr in Lightweight Posts -- But not This One tells of some incidents which did not make him the most popular guest in his hotel during his recent vacation at Oban, that very beautiful little port in Scotland, "Gateway to the Isles", which I remember very well from my trip there in 1960. Probably a few changes in 48 years I would think, well maybe not.

Mutley, while promising an interesting read in his post with the titillating title Sex Post!!, somehow seems to spend most of the time discussing the cabbage soup diet. No wonder you have to resort to internet dating Mutley!

Jeremy Jacobs celebrated his birthday this past week, on the same day as Louise Brown the first test tube baby. 30 years of being in the limelight....... Hard to believe it's that long ago. On the other hand it seems as if it has always been an available option, since it is so common now. Jeremy is not telling which birthday he was celebrating. We would never tell, Jeremy.

Ever the crusader, Matt Wardman takes up the cause of the cartoonist Dave Walker who received a cease and desist letter threatening legal action unless he removed 75 posts from his Cartoon Church blog. Matt is keeping an eye on the situation with his post Press Room for the Dave Walker / SPCK case which he will continue to update.

George, feeling very sorry for himself

You did not think I would do a roundup without George, did you? Well Liz blogged about George getting neutered this week in At the Vets'. But did it stop him roaming? Answer: It doesn't Bode Well. But He's still gorgeous.

In Little C: The Duck Whisperer Ruthie tells of how her 3 yr old son became the Pied Piper of the Local Marsh as he persuaded a goodly number of ducks to follow him on his tricycle ride. Sceptical? There are photos over there to prove it, you know.

The Fake Consultant this week highlighted in his post entitled On Extraordinary Awards, Or, Wounded Troops, Wounded Again how the US Department of Veterans Affairs is trying to illegally revoke disability awards that veterans would otherwise be granted. He sees the fingerprints of George Bush, who nominally "supports the troops", all over this latest manoeuvre to deny awards already granted to veterans.

The Norfolk Blogger gives advice to parents for the end of the school year in Gifts for teachers - What NOT to buy. Nope, a mug with World's Greatest Teacher is just not that original folks. He does have other suggestions however.

Recently returned to the Blogpower fold, Conservative blogger Andrew Allison, in his post A three-mile round trip to get your bin emptied, highlights the extent to which some councils have no concern for the convenience of their constituents. And he can't even blame it on Labour!

Remember last week's roundup discussed the more than 6000 speed cameras located in the UK? Well this week BP's newest member, No Clue, highlights the latest service to avoid getting caught by same in "Beat jams, avoid fines and relax this summer!" sez TomTom. The "clever people" always come up with some way to get around these things, so why do they bother installing them. By the way, quiet as the grave at No Clue now.

Log Cabin at Whistler, BC

Lastly, since I am not at all reticent about including one of my own posts, in Canadian Log Cabin -- Real and Virtual I compare my rented Canadian log cabin in Second Life with the real thing, the very upscale ones I found in Whistler, BC, where the Alpine Events of the 2010 Winter Olympics will take place.

There, that should keep you busy for the rest of your Sunday. Sorry, it just grew like Topsy. Enjoy!

Crossposted at Defending the Blog and Nobody Important.