Tar Heel Tavern #84

Wow, it's been a while since I last hosted the Tar Heel Tavern. This will be the first time since Erin took over the reins of this carnival and the first time since I moved my blog here to Seed's ScienceBlogs (please look around and check out my SciBlings while you are here). In the meantime, Erin has performed a nice makeover of the carnival's homepage and archives so go take a look.

I am happy to see a number of great entries this week. Still, I added a couple of "Editor's Choices" at the end. Let's start...

For the geeks out there, Melissa of Mel's Kitchen has discovered a cookbook with Doctor Who recipes for your costume party...

Mr.R of Evolving Education is constantly evolving and now needs your help. Do you know much about the oceanography of the North Carolina Coast so he can teach it to the Classroom Guests?

Laura of Mooming Light disspells some myths about Columbus.

Erin of Poetic Acceptance writes about kids' glasses, motion sickness and other stuff. She got written up in the local newspaper as well: Guided by a Star.

Billy The Blogging Poet is a poet so he sent in, what else - a poem: A Big Fuss Over Nothing.

Kenneth Corn of Colonel Corn's Camera is proud of his brother-in-law Jimmy who is In The Navy now.

Laurie has moved from her blogspot blog to a brand new wordpress blog (adjust your bookmarks). She is starting up with a series of unusually (for her) personal posts: Assumptions Part I, Assumptions Part II and Assumptions Part III.

Jude of Iddybud reports on the talk by Bishop Desmond Tutu at the Clinton Global Initiative meeting.

The mother-daughter blogging team of Melinama and Melina sent one entry each. First, Melinama, on her telenovela site Caray! Caray! reviews the September 25 episode of Barrera de Amor. Melina, on Pratie Place wrote about Things I Do Not Like To Read in Online Personals, which is both funny and insightful.

Ogre starts his car with a Mini Key - you have to click to see the picture. He promises more soon.

Screwy Hoolie of Scrutiny Hooligans sent Sen. Max Cleland (D-GA) meets Screwy Hoolie. He explains:

This is from a Veterans rally last Thursday. In the clip, once my tired ass quits talking, Senator Cleland told me to "put this on your blog"..."When you pray, move your feet." Never mind that he doesn't have any feet. Or notice and rejoice in the poignance.

Added late: Laurie of A Sort Of Notebook has had a tough day and a rough year so far: Love the People You Love

Now to Editor's Choices - some NC blogs I've been reading lately...

Back To The Woom is a husband-and-wife blog. Kate recently wrote Sad and her hubby wrote Perpetual War and the Pussycat Dolls.

Dave and Greta are my SciBlings here. Don't be afraid - they explain cognitive science in ways that everyone understands and enjoys. Check out what they say about these studies on the way people remember faces (and impications for recognition of criminals in line-ups), the unconscious effects of smells on behavior (and how to make your kids more tidy) and an unusual disorder of cortical blindness in which the patient perceives only one (e.g., right or left) side of the visual field.

Abel of Terra Sigillata takes a break from blogging about medicine, cancer, herbal remedies and science education to write, every Friday, about wine.

James is in Saluda, close to Asheville, living on the Island Of Doubt, doubting everything, from neurotheology to intelligently designed lyrics of popular songs.

Raleigh scored big when Reed moved from Georgia to North Carolina. Reed runs his personal blog De Rerum Natura as well as one of the most popular science blogs in the world - whose server is now at NCSU so it is all ours! - Panda's Thumb, a group blog dedicated to quality biology education and to fighting against efforts to replace the science curricula with various forms of Creationism.

Is there a Zoo in the world in which the Director blogs every day? Only in North Carolina - check out Russlings.

TOP 10 Ways To Get a Photo of an Ivory-billed Woodpecker - a Letterman list by Cyberthrush.

Mindy, one of several bright bloggers on NC Conservation Network asks:

Other organizations often accuse environmentalists of using scare tactics to push our agenda. But at what point does stating facts and alerting citizens become a "scare tactic?" How can we as environmentalists provide important, science-based, yet often hard-to-hear information without being seen as "fish scammers," for instance? Do ordinary citizens believe we want to scare everyone or is that just a view held up by anti-environmentalists?

How much wildlife can you see during just one day in Maine if you know where to look for it? And how to grow a mushroom. From Northwestern NC.

Josh Wilson is one of science librarians at NCSU. On his blog Science! he comments on the history and current changes in peer-review.

Anton, Brian, Paul and I are organizing 2007 Triangle Science Blogging Conference on January 20th so register and come if you can.

I will see many of you in two weeks at ConvergeSouth, the beyond-blogging unconference in Greensboro. I'll see some of you before and after at our regular meetups as well. And we'll also meet in cyberspace next weekend, when the Tar Heel Tavern will be hosted by My Blue Puzzle Piece.