Here it is! The long-awaited and anticipated Tarheel Tavern #27 is here!

This is the blog carnival of North Carolina bloggers -- it features posts by or about the Tarheel state. This week's "theme" was Memories. So let's see where our memories take us for this week:

First up is a rather current memory, Justin Thibault at The View From the Cheap Seats. He brings us Politics
in an Odd-Numbered Year XVI: The Musical -- a post including great song lyrics that highlight North Carolina bureaucracy in action. A sample (sung to the tune of Y.M.C.A.):

They build across the state, projects are always late
But you can work your magic hard...

You gotta call
NC-D-O-T
You gotta call
NC-D-O-T

Next up is Phin of Phin's Blog (Phin is in NC? Geez, I need to pay more attention). He submits A new level of geekness. He describes some encounters with O/S 2 Warp (Is that an actual O/S still?). I'm not sure how that fits in with the "Memories" theme, but that's okay. Are there people who really don't know what O/S Warp is? Oh yeah, I *AM* a geek.

Another entry is from one of my favorite blog layouts, Poetic Acceptance. Erin submits I remember... do you?.

Her entry talks about a naked 2-year old watching TV. She remembers a time lost (read her entry for more), but as a matter of fact, I'm watching TV in the buff right now. Oh wait, was that TMI? Sorry.

Next up in the Tavern is Lenslinger at Viewfinder Blues with Bad Boys, Bad Boys. He's got a great story of a time in the past when he was, like most of us have at one time or another, surviving on Ramen Noodles.

If you have never lived off Ramen Noodles, you have really missed an experience. Seriously. Heck, I STILL like to eat them now and then -- they really are good, if you ask me!

Finally, Bora Zivkovic of Science and Politics, the primary driver behind this wonderful Tarheel Tavern, provides us with the back room of the Tavern with a spin around North Carolina and even MORE NC Bloggers and what they're doing!

Yes, there really ARE more people than just me blogging from North Carolina, quite a few doing a MUCH better job at writing than I am. I bet I've had more writings rejected by publishers than anyone else in North Carolina -- including professional journals. Maybe I should ask Bora for tips on getting published there...

So thanks for stopping along! Head over and read some of these wonderful submissions from around North Carolina -- you will NOT regret it.

Also appearing in TTLB's Ubercarnival page.

Posted by: Ogre at 07:30 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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1 Good roundup. NC is a beautiful state.

Posted by: Jay at August 29, 2005 08:36 AM (2FcUc)

2 haha thanks Ogre! I can't take a bit of credit for the layout - a friend of mine (also named Erin) did it for me, calls herself a Paint Shop Pro Idiot Savant. (She's at http://mostlygood.net.) Great carnival - it might have even been on time if your car was something other than hamster powered! (try giving them steroids! They're environmentally safe too and they'll raise your top mph (miles per hamster of course) a bit) ~Erin

Posted by: Erin Monahan at August 29, 2005 09:40 AM (0Ea9a)

3 Hey! It runs on self-winding rubber bands, not hamsters! (Makes it more environmentally friendly).

Posted by: Ogre at August 29, 2005 11:13 AM (/k+l4)

4 Ogre, thanks! This is my first carninval, actually. So, it was cool to be "the headliner". Sorry I missed the whole "Memories theme" and compelled you to force that "recent memory" in. I'll get it right next time!

Posted by: Justin Thibault at August 29, 2005 01:11 PM (FWvKf)

5 Absolutely glad to have you! And don't worry about the theme -- that was just an idea for those who didn't have anything to blog about to submit to the Tavern. Sometimes the host suggests a theme, most of the time they don't -- and feel free to sign up to host it too, if you like!

Posted by: Ogre at August 29, 2005 02:14 PM (L0IGK)

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The Charlotte Observer continues to be consistent in it's total support of socialism. They really, honestly do not like capitalism or freedom at all. At issue here is the grossly expensive "Teapot Museum" that I mentioned previously.

The museum will cost at least $10 million. And it will have teapots. That's about it. And you are paying for it, as there is apparently going to be federal funding for it as well. But the Observer continues to support it. Why? Because it is

one of the finest collections of teapots in the world

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I'm a little late today with my New Neighbor post. But it's here! This is the weekly feature where I link to and describe one of my neighbors from the Evangelical Blogroll (way down there on the left side). Be sure to head on over and visit -- what else did you have to do right now?

This week's neighbor is

There's not much on Dr. Steve's About Me Page, but he's married with 4 boys (WOW!) and appears to be a professor in the Arts. His posts are far from regular at the moment, but perhaps we'll see more soon. He does have some really good posts about the war in Iraq. And many other excellent posts about fatherhood.

So, good readers, head on over to visit him and encourage him to continue blogging! He's been blogging on and off for over a year now, so get him to continue in this madness!

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Since I'm at the beach this weekend, hopefully without rain, this morning I'll point you to the Wednesday Funnies over at One Happy Dog Speaks from this past week.

If you missed them, head on over and check them out.

The usual New Neighbor Feature will appear late tonight, and the Tarheel Tavern will be up Monday morning.

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If you're here today looking for the Tarheel Tavern, you're going to have to come back later! Yes, I am hosting the wonderful Tavern this week, but I'm at the North Carolina Beach (Holden Beach, near Southport) today, so the tavern won't be posted until Monday mid-morning. Of course, this means you still have time to make submissions to the carnival -- the email is in the upper right corner.

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I'm at the beach today, so there's not much to see here, sorry.

Head on over to Tammi's World -- she almost always has a question for Saturdays.

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Apparently Wisconsin has decided to compete with North Carolina to see which state can give more money to active criminals. They are now giving money to illegals for mortgages. And of course, it's taxpayer money.

Why do we have laws at all? Apparently Democrats (primarily, but most certainly many Republicans) do not want there to be any borders to our country. They continue to entice illegals to come to this country, and they take money from the hard-working citizens and GIVE it to those who break the law.

Congress, get off your damn lazy rears and defend our damn borders. Start arresting people who are not citizens who have BROKEN THE LAW and get them the hell out of my country!

Posted by: Ogre at 10:21 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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1 maybe I should have committed a crime before applying for my mortgage

Posted by: William Teach at August 27, 2005 08:22 PM (IRsCk)

2 It could only help -- just claim you're a non-citizen and North Carolina will love you.

Posted by: Ogre at August 28, 2005 08:07 PM (L0IGK)

3 i will agree to that ...

Posted by: gina at August 28, 2005 11:30 PM (ESp0d)

4 Committing a crime or defending our borders?

Posted by: Ogre at August 28, 2005 11:34 PM (L0IGK)

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President Bush, August 24, 2005:

"So long as I'm the president, we will stay, we will fight, and we will win the war on terror."

Awesome.

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Great. Now you can't even trust the damn Red Cross. It used to be a reputable organization, and in wartime you would always avoid the Red Cross, because you knew they were the good guys and not actively working against anyone. Now all that has changed.

It seems the Red Cross, in cooperation with the Italian government, operated upon, healed, and released to kill again, terrorists who were and are killing Americans. Nice.

So soldiers, when you see the Red Cross now, you have to assume they're terrorists because if they're not, they are clearly actively supporting them.

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My most favorite holiday of the year is coming up!

September 19th (it be Monday this yearrrr), is Talk Like a Pirate Day! ARrrr!

Since it is a Monday, most of my good readers will be able to participate at work! This should cause many opportunities for enjoyment of staff meetings and the like (pirate hats are optional).

Some good phrases to prepare:

"Shiver me timbers!" - like saying "oh My!" like my legs are shaking

"Skuttle me Skippers" - Making a mistake and being judged for/by it.

"Avast ye varmint" - Stop right there young man because you're in big trouble.

"Weigh anchor!" - Let's go!

"Yarr." - I agree.

And if you don't have a pirate name yet, you can get one here! My first attempt at a name was Bloody Tom Read. That one stinks, so I'm getting a new one...

(Hat tip to Pirate's Cove who else?)

Posted by: Ogre at 11:33 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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I wonder how many extra google hits I'm going to get from that post title? I tried to word it in a way that would generate the least, but no one really knows how Google searches, hits, and ordering show up (darn private companies and their trade secrets).

That is, however, the topic of this week's Christian Views Symposium. For those who haven't seen this before, the Christian Views Symposium is a weekly question on a current topic. Everyone is encouraged to answer the questions proposed, either on their own blog, or in the comments to the question. Feel free to join in, whether you're Christian or not.

This week the focus is on the recent rejection of the triple-x domain name ending (in place of .com, .org, etc.). The questions this week:

Should ICANN approve the .XXX domain?
Will approval of this domain legitimize pornographers?
Will this have any affect on how families protect themselves and their children on the Internet?

Posted by: Ogre at 09:30 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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The North Carolina Legislature has officially decided that your vote absolutely does not matter in this state. The voter may have elected a Republican for North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction last November (2004), but with a simple majority vote, the Legislature decided that they would rather have a Democrat, so they threw out the election results and replaced them with their own decision.

To review, there were over 3.3 million votes cast for the office of public instruction. After the votes were counted by Democrat-controlled boards of elections, the Democrat candidate had a lead of 8,535 votes. However, at least 11,000 votes, primarily in heavily Democrat areas were cast illegally. The State Supreme Court agreed that those votes were completely, 100% illegal according to the Constitution, and they should not be counted.

However, the Democrat-controlled legislature did not like being told that they have to obey the Constitution. So they passed a law in February that would change the rules for the PREVIOUS election (yes, that's illegal, too). They then decided that they would simply take a vote and agree the 11,000 votes, despite being absolutely and unquestionably illegal, would be valid.

The Democrats completely ignored the Constitution and voting laws and just decided with a majority, party-line vote, that the people did not know who to vote for. I'm not sure why we need to have elections any more, as the legislature now has given itself absolute power to change any election result they do not like (and that's honestly not an exaggeration).

Of course, if we haven't had a Superintendent for Public Instruction for the past 9 months, I'm not so sure we need one at all now...

Posted by: Ogre at 08:04 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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It's pretty much official for the year -- the Lottery has failed to pass in North Carolina, at least until next May. The Charlotte Observer continues to whine incessantly that people of North Carolina will not be able to give more of their money to the state to spend.

There are various reasons to oppose the lottery, and I'm pretty much in agreement with most of them. It IS a harmful situation. It is bad for society. It's also NOT a function of government -- it is simply something the government should not be doing. Finally, if gambling is such a good idea, why should the state be the only one allowed to do it? If it's going to be legal, why can't individuals run a system, too?

But the socialists at the Charlotte Observer complain and complain because anything that puts more money in the hands of Those Who Know Better (Democrat Legislators) makes the Observer happy. They don't care how more money gets taken from those who work, they just want more. The current article actually bemoans the fact that people who live in NC have to use gas money to gamble in South Carolina!

Hey idiots, if you don't want to spend the gas money, stay at home and don't gamble!

Posted by: Ogre at 05:03 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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Now there's geeks and there's geeks. Some people know they're geeks, and that's cool (these days). But there's others, like the fellow that I saw with this license plate last week:

Now me, I AM a geek, but I know it. Since Mu.nu went down, I decided to go buy a new car. With the gas prices and all, I decided to trade in my Ford Ranger (12-15mpg) for an economy car (30mpg). So here's what I ended up with:

Excuse me, I need to go for a drive.

Posted by: Ogre at 06:49 PM | Comments (20) | Add Comment
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1 I know this is off topic but....TAG! http://blog.thetrenchcoat.com/archives/358-Ive-been-tagged.html

Posted by: Trench at August 25, 2005 08:59 PM (GG13q)

2 No way. Your big body doesn't fit in that car!!! That car is made for hobbit sized people like me!

Posted by: Bou at August 25, 2005 09:02 PM (5JHEt)

3 Typical female response to the above picture: awwwwwwwww it's CUUUUTE! hahaha The ogre drives a cute car the ogre drives a cute car!!!

Posted by: Erin Monahan at August 25, 2005 10:05 PM (0Ea9a)

4 Gawd, I hope you're joking ...

Posted by: Jo at August 26, 2005 05:44 AM (TDzJM)

5 Damn tags...grumble...Ok, I'll get to it Trench! And Bou, that's what I thought, too. At 6'1" and 200#, I thought there'd be no way I could fit in there. German engineering really comes through, I fit with PLENTY of room to spare! I can recline, sit up, and still there's room for the seat to go further back...just don't try and fit me in the back seat! Erin -- stop it! Just stop it! (deep voice) It gets 30mpg, so I got it for the gas mileage. (Was that believable?) Jo...well...have you seen the gas prices lately?

Posted by: Ogre at August 26, 2005 06:00 AM (L0IGK)

6 Your ranger only get 12-15 mpg... what the hell did you do to it? My ranger was getting 20-25 mpg. Hell my truck now with the V8 6.0 liter engine gets 10-14 mpg. BTW... that's a chic car. Sorry, I had to tell you. You're driving a car that only girls want.

Posted by: Contagion at August 26, 2005 08:37 AM (Q5WxB)

7 Well, I do have a little bit of a lead foot...and the Ranger had the V6, so that didn't help. And you're on to my strategy...if the chics want it, they will, by transferrance, want me, right? RIGHT? No, wait, it's for the gas mileage! The gas mileage I tell you!

Posted by: Ogre at August 26, 2005 09:11 AM (/k+l4)

8 12-15 mpg? My 6 cyl F-150 4.2L gets 19 on the highway. That sounds really low. What size engine was in that?

Posted by: tomslick at August 26, 2005 09:18 AM (xNjHI)

9 It was a V6, I THINK it was a 2.4liter, but I'm not positive. I'm pretty sure on the mileage, because when filling it up, I'd always do the math in my head for 15mpg and it would almost always fall a little short.

Posted by: Ogre at August 26, 2005 09:32 AM (/k+l4)

10 That's horrible. My Sonoma with the high-output 4.3L V-6 gets about 23 MPG. It is a 2WD though.

Posted by: Echo Zoe at August 26, 2005 09:49 AM (K+h36)

11 That's true, I may not have mentioned that the Ranger was a 4WD.

Posted by: Ogre at August 26, 2005 09:54 AM (/k+l4)

12 Well.... if I did not have kids, I'd buy something for the mileage. Until I was pregnant with my 2nd child, I drove around in a manual drive Mazda 323, roll up windows, no automatic steering, no extras other than my cassette AM/FM. That baby got 32-34 mpg. I loved that thing. Alas, it was not a family car. I miss that car... especially now. (I'm all about functionality.) And yes, I have a feeling that your car is going to be a chick magnet! If enough of the wimmen folk aren't throwing themselves at your 6'1 200# frame now, you'll stand out in that mini and they will start! ;-)

Posted by: Bou at August 26, 2005 09:56 AM (5JHEt)

13 Hehe. And that picture is pretty much an exact match for the one I've got with colors and options and stuff. The roof rack isn't on because I wanted at least a little place to put stuff, but they didn't have one in stock so I get that later. And at 70mph on the interstate (on the way into work today) the computer was showing 40mpg. Sweeeeet.

Posted by: Ogre at August 26, 2005 09:58 AM (/k+l4)

14 An Ogre in a chickie car ... so sad. (And no - they will want your car and/or think you are teh gay ... either way, you don't really win) OTOH - this is the right way to cruise: http://img367.imageshack.us/img367/1853/dscn16416lf.jpg ... I might be able to drive over your car ... although, yes, my 60 mile-per-day commute does not like the 13mpg /TJ PS - JK, Minis are decent enough. You might even have a longer wheelbase than me!

Posted by: TJ at August 26, 2005 11:06 AM (/0bzs)

15 Of course, if they think I'm gay, they'll think I'm "safe," and they'll FLOCK to me, right?

Posted by: Ogre at August 26, 2005 11:11 AM (/k+l4)

16 Hey it's a wind up car!

Posted by: Machelle at August 26, 2005 01:36 PM (ZAyoW)

17 If the wayward comment from the "French continue to hate" post is anyway related to your new sled, I would see about getting the ranger back.

Posted by: tomslick at August 26, 2005 02:33 PM (xNjHI)

18 She's beautiful. I'm totally jealous. (*)>

Posted by: birdwoman at August 26, 2005 08:49 PM (Sc2Wh)

19 Are you gonna get the brush guard to put on the front? Then it would totally be a chic magnet, not to mention you could push those pesky SUV drivers out of the way.

Posted by: phin at August 28, 2005 02:04 PM (DGPlf)

20 Machelle, you don't have to wind it up, the rubber band is self-winding! Tomslick, I blame Bush. (30MPG...Actually got about 32mpg this weekend driving to the beach!) Birdwoman, thank you! Come on over and you can have a drive! Phin, the thing weighs less than 1500 lbs. It has trouble pushing love bugs out of the way when driving...

Posted by: Ogre at August 28, 2005 07:09 PM (L0IGK)

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The French continue to hate America. I know this isn't news to most people. In this case, the French are mad because an American, the amazing Lance Armstrong, won the French bike race so many times.

Tour de France director Jean-Marie Leblanc is claiming that Lance was using illegal drugs when he won the first championship in 1999. A look at the details does beg some questions -- Jean is basing his claims on an "anonymous" sample, claiming to have matched the sample up with Mr. Armstrong. If the sample was anonymous, how in the world did it get matched to Mr. Armstrong? Lance Armstrong himself questions how those results were leaked to newspapers and how they were matching himself.

In addition, Jean shows his French bias and misunderstanding of reality when he claims that Armstrong owes it to the world to explain "Why, How, By Whom?" You see, Mr. Marie, the onus is actually on YOU to prove your allegations first. To claim that "someone" has shown you he was doping is meaningless. That would be akin to me claiming that Mr. Marie had a banana up his rear during the last meeting of the Tour de France committee, and it was up to HIM to prove he didn't.

Finally, he showed his Frenchness by speaking with Lance Armstrong for 30 minutes by telephone and never once made any allegations or suggestions to Mr. Armstrong that there were any problems. He only made his accusations through the press. Typical two-faced idiot.

People of France, this is how you're perceived around the world because this is the type of person that makes your national press. Are you proud?

Posted by: Ogre at 03:02 PM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
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I imagine most of my good readers have not heard of the Silver Ring Thing, unless you have teenagers in your house. The Silver Ring Thing is

Real life questions and answers about sex. Silver Ring Thing uses sketch comedy and music videos to make the abstinence point. Don't worry. We'll help you get our point! Our program features high-tech club-style lighting, videos and, of course, a sweet sound system.

The ACLU sued to stop funding of this group that was trying to help teenagers. Not because there were Bibles or any conversions, or even the now-evil mention of the name "Jesus." The ACLU sued because "it derives from a Christian ministry."

And of course, they're winning the battle in the federal courts. Apparently nothing can derive from a Christian ministry. We seriously need to hurry up and get those laws against murder off the books.

And what do the founders of the Silver Ring Thing say is the history of the group?

Silver Ring Thing (SRT) sexual abstinence program was created by Denny Pattyn and the Youth FORUM Southwest leadership team in 1995. The program was designed to attract the attention of the typical 21st century teenager and offer them protection from the destructive effects of America's sex obsessed culture.

This was a production of Stop The ACLU blogburst. Almost 100 blogs already on board. If you want to join us go to our portal and register. Its very simple. We will add you to the mailing list and send you the rest of the info at that point

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Have I mentioned yet that I'll be hosting the blog carnival for North Carolina bloggers, The Tarheel Tavern? Well, I am.

If you're blogging in, from, or about North Carolina, be sure and send your carnival posts along to me (email in upper right corner there) this week! This week's suggested topic (if you don't have one of your own) is "Memories." Please feel free to join in if you meet those conditions above.

A note: I just decided to head to the beaches of North Carolina for the weekend, so the actual Tavern will be posted either Sunday night or Monday morning -- I'm leaning towards Monday morning for the greater exposure potential, but we'll see.

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If you live in Hawaii, I hope you've got a fuel efficient car or a bicycle. Your state has decided that you don't need any gasoline, so they are doing all they can to reduce the supply of gasoline to the islands. How? It's called price controls.

I did mention some time ago that Hawaii was considering these price controls. I had hoped that the economists there would talk some sense into the government officials. Clearly they did not.

Starting September 1, wholesalers may not charge more than $2.74 a gallon (including taxes) in Honolulu. Strangely enough, there's no cap on the retailer's profits -- so the retailer could, in theory, charge whatever they want for the actual sale to the consumer. It will be very interesting to see how the wholesalers respond to this -- I anticipate various truck unloading fees, dock fees, road fees, etc., so the retailer ends up with the same current cost.

The law is intended to force Hawaii's two refiners to charge less. The legislators claim "refiners were taking advantage of the small, isolated market to charge exorbitant prices." Apparently the legislators have never heard of a free market economy. The ONLY logical result will be supply shortages. I estimate by Labor day CNN will start carrying stories about gas lines and shortages in Hawaii.

The only good I can see coming of this will be that other states will see a horrible failure here and they will not try it in my state. Then again, the legislators in North Carolina can be rather dense when it comes to reality. Heck, the governor thinks it's cheaper to borrow money and pay it back with interest than to spend money you already have.

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News reports indicate that the base realignment and closure committee wants to close Walter Reed medical center. Ok, that's fine, I don't care about which bases are open and which are closed, as long as it's efficient and we're protected. Supposedly, that's what this group is all about: "combining their strengths rather than working separately."

However, this seems quite odd to me. The report says:

One-time costs, including construction and renovations, would total $989 million.

The Pentagon would save $301 million over 20 years

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Is it possible? Have there been tax cuts in North Carolina? No, not really. The legislature did pass some tax credits, though! That sounds good, doesn't it? Tax credits to give people back some of their massive tax burden? Well, sorry, those tax credits are not for you.

The tax credits that just passed will cost the state between $2 and $5 million. They only apply to aviation fuel used by airplane and NASCAR racing. Yes, if you're just a regular person, you get incredible tax increases (including brand new taxes on candy, cable TV, satellite TV, services, newspapers, and other things), but if you're a NASCAR team or an airline, you get a reduction in taxes.

I heard a caller on a local radio show yesterday ask a question, and I never heard anyone give a good answer. Other than the weather, what reason is there for anyone to move to Charlotte, NC? Most newcomers move there because they're transferred for work. Most people who have been there more than a few years have left. I just wonder why more people don't just up and leave the state completely.

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