The Bull Speaks!

Welcome to the One Hundred and Ninety Ninth Carnival of the Vanities! This is also The Bull’s very first attempt at hosting such an event. I’ll not ask you to take it easy on me. In fact, let me know where I screwed up so that I will learn from my mistakes. While this is the first, I don’t intend for it to be my last hosting of a Carnival. Who knows? Perhaps I’ll be to Political/Conservative/Backwoods/whatever for this Carnival, but that’s the wonder of the Blogosphere: There is plenty of everything out here for those who seek.

I made up my mind that I would not post this Carnival until I had personally visited each site and read each post in its entirety. I’ve got to tell you all the Truth, (as I try to do with every post on The Bull Speaks!). I really had no idea of the vast assortment of topics that folks feel so strongly about. It is a good thing to get out of ones comfort zone occasionally just to see where on the scale of Humanity one falls. Heck, one might even find information out there that will change ones opinion on a given topic.

As I begin this job it is 1835 hours Central Time. The Gods alone only know what time it will be when I complete the task at hand. I’ve got no idea at all of the best way to proceed. I’ll just have to read the post offered and go from there. Let us begin…

The Bull has always been one to prefer getting Business out of the way right off, freeing as much time for Life’s other mysteries, problems, and enjoyments as is possible. On that front we’ve got advice on a myriad of business topics. First up is Nickel at FiveCentNickel.com who presents a Money Saving Tip: Live Next to Someone Who’s Moving. Hey, use every resource at hand! “Money saved is Money Earnedâ€??. That is called a Truism. Another inescapable Truism is that land (Real Estate) is Wealth. On that topic we’ve got a couple of entries. The first is from David A. Porter at Pacesetter Mortgage who answers the question: How much do I have to tell a mortgage broker about my stated income?. His answer is short and sweet – and a fact! The Bull worked as a Property Manager for over fifteen years. Same thing hold true in the Rental market. Samuel over at Nubricks Real Estate Investment Blog gives us Invest in Bulgarian Property good or bad idea?. Quite honestly, a subject above the limits of this Bull’s hay bale, but perhaps just the thing some of you are looking for as an investment. Something definitely worth a look-see.

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Continuing along the Business thread, Victor Fam at Towards Better Life presents Guide Towards Better Life. This blog he list as being about “Financial Independence, Personal Growth, Motivation, Career, Goals, Wealth, Health, Success…�?. These are all good things. Before you can get these things, assuming you were not born with the ol’ silver spoon in your mouth, you will eventually need a job. Hell, I miss mine! Well, FMF at Free Money Finance has some great tips on How to Answer Tricky Interview Questions. You’re going to need these. Pay attention!
Right on his heels, though, comes Pete with How to Avoid Greed? posted at My Financial Awareness. Yeah, so it isn’t exactly a business post. It seemed to fit perfectly in that spot though. One must keep a level head.

Peter Kua chimes in with After Innovation: Sustaining It posted at RadicalHop.com: Grow with Passion. Good advice, especially in this day and age of rapid innovation in every field. You know, I grew up hearing and reading about the Industrial Revolution. IMNSHO, that period in our history can’t hold a candle to today. We’ve just become used to new inventions and improvements to old ones coming at us at warp speed. Take, for example, these computers we’ve saddled ourselves with these days – and the Internet. Speaking thereof, Barry Welford at BPWrap – Internet Marketing From A Different Point Of View points out some good-to-know pointers on Google search results with his post Google Supplemental Results – A Word To The Wise. I swear, I learn something new everyday. Finally, I give you Big Picture Guy’s Code Sniper at Big Picture, Small Office. A nice post about the irritants we face everyday in the name of computer security and (possibly) the honesty of Man, (or lack thereof…).

The last “pureâ€?? business post I have to offer in this issue is Chuck Russell’s line on Bad Credit Car Tips posted at buyanauto. Look, it can happen to anyone. I myself went through a not-so-nice divorce with an ex-wife that loved to spend more than she liked telling me about it and then almost instantly found myself with a collapsed spinal column. Three and a half years passed before I saw my next penny – and that as a permanent disability check, (i.e.: not much.).

As I read Pamela Slim’s post entitled How can you find great mentors? at her blog Escape from Cubicle Nation, I nearly moved it into position in this Carnival. Why? Simply put, mentors are a huge part in a person’s success in all facets of Life – not just in Business. Reading the post The Bull thought back to his mentors, some long since having crossed through the Veil. “Mad�? Jack, Jon “FireDancer�? Wilson, Tom Harbin, and Grandpa Homer, just to name a few. I liked this post. Period.

Faith is probably a subject left to my “betters�?. There are those that have devoted every waking minute of every day to the Mysteries, and those that have given just as much time towards denying those same Mysteries. Perhaps all matters of Faith, or the lack thereof, should be left to those folks. Not! Faith is far too personal for that. (Besides, it seems to me that when such things were the established norms a lot of people got burned at the stake.)Yes, The Bull is an Ordained Minister. Twice over. The Bull is also a confirmed Pagan. Not a “Christian-gone-Pagan�?, not “satanist�?, just “Pagan�?. It says so right over there in my bio. Just because I’ve never been a Christian doesn’t mean I don’t understand Faith. Though I’m not an athiest doesn’t mean I can’t see how silly devout Faith can seem. The good news is that I’m not here to preach. I’m here to point the way to many a good post out there on the Web, and whether I feel as they is meaningless. To quote myself. “…one might even find information out there that will change ones opinion on a given topic�?. On to the post!

Ahistoricality starts us off with New Sadducees posted at Ahistoricality concerning, as he put it, “…the true dividing lines in modern Judaismâ€??. Thanks. I learned something! Next up is Francois Tremblay who presents Goosing the Antithesis: Subjectivity of the Divine Will part 1 posted at Goosing the Antithesis. The Bull looks forward to reading the continuation of this posting. (Just as soon as I’m done with this Carnival.) Finally, on this subject is a posting from Jack Cluth at The People’s Republic of Seabrook who shows us just how “Out Thereâ€?? folks can get on matters of Faith in From the “Completely devoid of human decency” department. Not to mention how the reaction could just endanger our Freedoms as Americans. (Lady Beth will never believe how polite The Bull was on the topic of Fred Phelps…)

The Environment. It is supremely important to us all. It doesn’t matter if we wish to believe so or not. Loose clean air, clean water, we die. Simple. So I was actually surprised that there were not more postings on the topic. However, Riversider came through with Mudflats and Salt Marsh: vital habitats, and Effective Flood Defense posted at Save The Ribble!. In the UK or here in Mobile, Alabama, the facts are the same. I’ve seen first hand what damage can be done by flooding. Even more so since moving to the Gulf Coast and being visited by “Ivan�? and “Katrina�?.

We Humans are a real piece of work, aren’t we? We alone can alter our natural environment for the better or for the worse. We are indeed the Top of the Food Chain. No beast on the planet is any longer our “natural enemyâ€??. Yet there is an enemy of sorts that can bring us low – our own mind. Dr. Deborah Serani wrote for us The Black-and-White Of Low Self-Esteem posted at Dr. Deborah Serani. I fought this myself during my childhood years and still occasionally wonder if I really have a grip on it. Wayne Hurlbert who writes over at Business World speaks to us about Happiness Roundup posted at Business of Life. Let me quote a line she herself quotes: “Perhaps the most profound study Gilbert cites is about the disabled, showing that those who are permanently injured say they’d be willing to pay far less to undo their injuries than able-bodied people say they’d pay to prevent them.â€?? As a Disabled American myself, I have to admit that this is true. No matter how much I’ve bellowed about it in the past. Peter Kua tackles what is likely the toughest subject for us as a species: How Not to Fear Death: Part 4: Peaceful Death posted at RadicalHop.com by Peter Kua: Light Speed Personal Development. You can catch Part 5 here. Paul at Paul’s Tips speaks of a never-ending Human need in The number-one most important fact to understand if you want to get things done

The Treacherous Land of Politics & World Events:
Geez! If there is anywhere where I can dig a big enough hole to bury a Bull in it is here. Further, if there is a topic that can firmly end any hope of me hosting this Carnival in the future, it is this subject. You might say that I’m a tad hard-headed. Hence, the name. Like my namesake, once I take a stand I can be like a force of Nature if you should wish to move me. The Carnival of the Vanities is an open carnival with entries on this side of the fence, on that side of the fence, and those entries with a fence post firmly embedded between the gluteus maximus. Since discretion is the better part of valor I have decided that I will simply post the links to all of these fine posts without comment. Sue me.

Here we go!
Trent presents Stock Market Beat » Blog Archive » Pierced Perc Purveyors Unite! posted at Stock Market Beat.

Dad at raising4boys.com presents From the Mouths of Babes: Made in China. (You’ve gotta love kids. Oops, sorry…)

Adam Graham presents Jerry Brady’s Good Paying Jobs posted at Adam’s Blog.

Doug Mataconis at Below The Beltway presents Getting Government Out Of The Marriage Business.

Muse at Shiloh Musings presents A bissel ointment on the gangrene.

DL at TMH’s Bacon Bits presents The Press Has No “Rightâ€?? to Endanger Us All . (Must… not… cheer…)

Junior “TRUE” Williams at Everything True @ York U presents A Tenuous Society is the Trouble.

Peace Moonbeam presents Doing Disney posted at The Peace Moonbeam Chronicles.

Francois Tremblay presents The Radical Libertarian: Keep up the Special Pleading, Statists! posted at The Radical Libertarian.

Don Surber at Don Surber presents Why porn stars are Republicans . (Hell, she might just win!)

Andrew Ian Dodge at Dodgeblogium presents Reflecting on 7/7.

Jack Yoest presents My Wife Flew off with Bono and Branson; Bombed in London 7.7.05 posted at Jack Yoest.

Buckley F. Williams at The Nose On Your Face presents North Korean President To Face Super-Animal Wrath.

Starling David Hunter presents Communist Chic, Capitalist Geek posted at The Business of America is Business.

Madeleine Begun Kane at Mad Kane’s Notables presents Coulter Heist. (…)

Whew! I made it! Now, on to the other stuff…

Occasionally one comes across a post somewhere on the Web that will make you read it twice. A posting that really makes you think. That’s what happened when I read Brandon Peele’s Is Cosmology for Quacks? posted at GT. Thanks for the brain-twister, Brandon! I liked it very much.

Then come the entries that are perhaps my favorites overall. The posts about Life. You know, the things that occur as we go about our silly little lives. Our stories. Among these we have Friends Today, Enemies Tomorrow on Koranteng’s Toli. Magazine Man at Somewhere On The Masthead charged me up with a series of post concerning a dog. One of these is In Which We Review The Butcher’s Bill. If you read this blog then you know we operate a Rescue here for Exotic Animals. Real suckers softies for critters, we are! Miriam at Miriam’s Ideas gave us Discouraged Librarian Wants New Job. Miriam, we’ve all had bosses somewhere off the deep end. Somehow, I don’t miss that part of working! Finally I present my favorite entry in this weeks Carnival: necks.htmlâ€??>When You Want To Wring Their Necks at Lemons and Lollipops. I laughed until I hurt! The Bull has six kids with age ranging from 19 to a set of four year old twin boys. I feel your pain!

As a last note I’ll ask you, Dear Reader, to take a moment to check out my post on this blog about our American Heroes in the United States Coast Guard here. These guys are Heroes whether we are at war or not. Let’s face facts, if you are in a marine environment and it all goes bad, those big white boats with the red stripes can look mighty good. Not to mention those blaze orange and white choppers! Even if we discount the work the Coast Guard does everyday protecting our coastlines and ports from the terrorist threat and the poison they keep from reaching our kids, The Bull imagines that the most jaded Blogger must acknowledge the everyday heroism of the USCG.

That raps up the Carnival of the Vanities #199. Feel free to flame me as you wish in the comments. (Just read the Rules first…)

Bull, out.

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