98th Edition of the Tar Heel Tavern

Welcome to the 98th overall and first 2007 edition of the Tar Heel Tavern. I hope that you enjoy this offering of blog posts by people who live in or who write about North Carolina. The number of submissions is small this week, but we should perhaps expect a lower than average participation with the busy season of the holidays just now behind us. However, it is clear that we need volunteer hosts for future Taverns, so please consider signing up so that we can continue to enjoy reading what our fellow Tar Heels have to offer us. There are currently no hosts on schedule beyond this week. If you would like to volunteer, please contact Bora, Laurie or me to arrange your participation.

It is easy for me to write those words of encouragement to everyone else and another thing entirely for me to find the energy and time to sit down to the reality of writing. In fact, I have to admit that I have not been able to write anything for my own blog for many weeks now. Instead, I have been fretting with and then enjoying the holidays, trying to meet social commitments with others and managing another blog carnival that I founded in June, 2006. In addition, I have volunteered to translate poetry for a friend from Chile who is quite talented and whose voice might not cross into English for some time without a helping hand. When I read his clearly talented voice, it is often easier for me to revel in it than in trying to find my own words. I hope you will be lenient with me for not contributing personally to this week’s Tavern.

Some of you have pointed out to me that I have been silent for a while on my own blog. My apologies to you for this absence, but I will be back at work in time. In the meantime, we have some friends in the Tar Heel Tavern who have been busy writing, and I am honored to feature their work this week in this summary. Please welcome each of the writers with your attention and leave them feedback in the form of comments so that they know that their work is appreciated.

First, our friend Mr. Ogre reminds us, now that we are into 2007, that time keeps ticking away, and appropriately presents us all with a device to help us measure and keep track of the time we so dearly cherish. With the turn of yet another year, some of us need to be reminded just how long a second can last…the longer we live, each one represents a smaller and smaller fraction of the overall time we have lived, so our lives feel accelerated to an insane degree. In his post, Cool Clock, Ogre shares his find with us and helps provide standard metrics for time that we can all use. It is functional and simple…and, yes, cool!

Meanwhile, Bora, founder of the Tar Heel Tavern, and owner of A Blog Around the Clock writes about the use of cloned animals in the food supply.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued three documents on the safety of animal cloning -- a draft risk assessment; a proposed risk management plan; and a draft guidance for industry.

Bora, writing at his other blog, Science and Politics also submitted a report on the North Carolina town hall meeting of December 30, 2006 in Carrboro. In his post, NC Town Hall Event Today, he presents a first-person perspective of the meeting, including links to other bloggers’ reports of the same event.

Excitement is in the air. The local businesses are quite excited about the prospect of the HQ in the neighborhood - two years of good business as campaign staff, volunteers and visitors need to eat, have their clothes cleaned, ship some mass-mailings or take a break and go see a movie, buy a book, have some coffee or go to the gym.

Billy Jones, aka the Blogging Poet, updates us on his experiences with ReviewMe.com in his post ReviewMe.com Still in Arrears.

I first wrote about ReviewMe.com back on November 15th. Big name bloggers everywhere were shouting what a wonderful opportunity this would be for even the lowliest bloggers on the planet. Write a review, post it to your blog, disclose the fact you are being paid to write that review and all would be fine and dandy. I ended that post by saying, "In a month or so I'll follow up and let you know how it works out."

Screwy Hoolie of Scrutiny Hooligans submitted a post about the new director of ground operations for the Heath Shuler’s western NC offices, Mr. Bruce Peterson. In While We're on the Subject of Congressional Staffing..., Screwy reminds our newly elected officials and their employees that we are watching them as they perform their duties and carry out their responsibilities to their constituents.

Peterson serves as Shuler’s direct tie to his constituency.

“Kind of like ground troops,” Peterson said. “We’re on the ground for him while he’s in Washington.”

Word circulating through the grapevine has it that Peterson's a bit of a luddite who doesn't know what a blog is. If that's the case, then allow us to introduce ourselves, Mr. Peterson.

We're Scrutiny Hooligans.

Just a little reminder that we are taking notes…

Laurie of Slowly She Turned… sent in a piece that shows great creativity, humor and what…intrigue? Romance? Confusion???? There is truly no real way to describe the body of the text, only the technique that produced Slowly She Turned – A Tawdry Romantic Science Fiction Mystery.

Just because I needed some giggles, here is a list of quotes I turned up when I googled “slowly she turned.” When you put them all together, they almost make sense. When you put pairs and triplets together, it gets fun.

In our last submission, Laura of Moomin Light visited one of my favorite places in Durham, the Sarah Duke Memorial Gardens. Her photographs of the garden, posted in Duke Gardens – January 6, 2007, remind that the site is special no matter what season of the year you choose to visit.

I had all sorts of inside plans today. I was going to go do aerobics and then clean and straighten. However, when I woke up, it was beautiful, warm and sunny, which was wonderful after yesterday's grey and drizzly weather. Dear husband and I ate breakfast outside, and then daughter, younger son and I went to Duke Gardens.

As one of my favorite performers once said when he saw a very small audience upon walking out on stage in Carrboro for his concert: “We are small, but we are mighty.” I am mighty thankful for the contributors to this week’s Tar Heel Tavern and hope that you are too. Please consider volunteering to host and if nothing else, please send in your best work for inclusion in next week’s edition.





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