Blogpower Roundup --- An Eclectic Mix

Yes, the image is from one of the posts below

most of which did not have an image to use

After the very comprehensive roundups of recent weeks, this time you will find a more relaxed compilation of the random picks of the my butterfly mind, as I cruised through the Blogpower folder on my Bloglines feed during this past week. So in no particular order, with no rhyme nor reason whatsoever, may I present this and that from some of our members.

Deejay of Age is all in the Mind is gearing up for a Charity Run of 10km in October. Well it is actually a serious athletic club run but he's decided to raise some money for the British Heart Foundation in the process. You can donate via a widget in his sidebar if so inclined.

Ellee Seymour, as her elder son stands at the beginning of his university studies in Economics, wonders How useful is a degree today? Well there is no doubt in my mind that it is much more than useful. It's not too late to add your thoughts to the comment section.

Matt the Insomniac asks How influential is the TV we watch? in his post highlighting a Belgian study on the influence of medical shows on teenage viewers. Turning them into hypochondriacs? But he is not so sure the results are all due to television.

Calum Carr, in Stefan's story, looks back on an incident in his life which obviously still haunts him to some degree. Could he have done more to help Stefan? Should he have? At the time it also inspired him to write some poetry which he included with the story.

Odiyya (or Kori Brus) of the Conscious Earth, now back in Vancouver after extensive travels shares a slideshow of places he's been, things he's seen, in 8 months of photo highlights. Enjoy the show.

Did you know that Liz has gone to Canada for her vacation? She did mention it I think before she left, once or twice. Reporting in This is really me she tells us what she has been up to so far along with her plans for the near future. In case you missed it, Liz and I met for lunch in Vancouver earlier in the week, along with Leslie, another local blogger.

After a long two years or more of run-up the Presidential election in the USA is finally getting close and blogging on the topic has heated up, especially with the controversial choice of Sarah Palin for Republican Vice Presidential nominee. In fact the topic has drawn out Hell's Handmaiden from his hiatus as he writes on the topic in a flurry of posts. One which quite shocked me was his highlighting of some spurious election practices planned by certain Republicans in Let's steal an election.

A. Tory does not mince words on the topic of McCain's choice of running mate in Sarah Palin is a joke, why can't everyone see it? You'll get no disagreement from me there Mr Tory although some of your commenters took you to task and there was quite the debate in the comment section.

Even Crushed took up the US election topic as he supports Obama and explains why he thinks it's America's chance to usher in something new .

None of us can ignore the crises which shook the very core of the financial world this past week, causing a stock market meltdown followed by a surging rebound as the USA cobbled together a dubious rescue of AIG, the world's biggest insurance company. Cityunslicker followed the week's happenings. Among his posts, Learnings from a day of chaos in which he worries about the effects on UK banks, prior to the news of AIG's rescue.

While Sacherson in his turn worries about the ramifications of the AIG solution in Not the end, as long as you and I breathe, highlighting his frequent source Karl Denninger's announcement of the potential end of America's government. Take a look at Karl's rather interesting video.

The Pub Philosopher ponders about Morgan Stanley approaching the Chinese government for a bail-out in Banks ask for state aid - any state will do. Now doesn't that boggle the mind?

In On Dodgy Minicabs MJW, observing from the Hillside, tells a personalized story of a young foreign student having been ripped off by a Croydon minicab driver who absconded with his change of 45 pounds. What kind of first impression of the UK does that give to this young man?

Instead of his usual style of humourous posts Mutley has been in a more serious frame of mind lately. No more so than in When you know it is time for a divorce... Sadly for Mutley he knows whereof he speaks so I think you can trust him on this one. Of course it is from the man's point of view.

Devonshire Dumpling of No Clue has a stream of consciousness post in Bloody Sheep as during a bout of insomnia she finds that counting sheep is not the answer.

I really admire and secretly envy people who are have a way with words. So I am enjoying the blog of BP's newest member, David Hadley at a Tangled Rope, with his fragments of prose and poetry. A snippet which I found quite meaningful was Secret Places, some thoughts that will resonate with many of us.

On occasion Jams of the Poor Mouth highlights the work of an Iranean woman poet, Forough Farrokhzad, who sadly died forty years ago aged 32 and this week he posted another called To my sister. Just a taste but please read the whole of this very powerful poem.

Seek your rights, Sister,
from those who keep you weak,
from those whose myriad tricks and schemes
keep you seated in a corner of the house.

I would like to conclude with this post from Crushed, History -It's You, one of his best posts in my opinion. In it he talks about the generation gap, comparing his own history with that of his Irish grandmother and contrasting his own experiences with an unnamed twenty three year old. As progress advances ever more rapidly the generation gap becomes apparent with a much smaller difference in age.

Yes, well it was only going to be a short roundup, but like Topsy it just grew and grew.

Crossposted at Defending the Blog and at Nobody Important.