This is it. My kick at the can. I knew it was bigtime when I saw the notice on Monday at BlogsCanada. So in this my edition, the seventh, of the Carvinal of Canucks, I am going to share some links to great blogs as well as some of my thoughts on blogging.

The Dislocated

I have been dislocated for most of my life but only in the most banal ways of little interest to others. As a kid, my Scots immigrant parents dressed us up in identical Marks & Sparks shorts and sent us off into new elementary school, a living hell in Sydney Mines, Cape Breton, after a move from Mississauga. MacDonalds of a various genetic strains took turns giving me and my brothers fat lips. So I have a soft spot for the dislocated. One of my daily reads is Michael Demmons, a Newf who has lived in Atlanta, George for five years. His web site Discount Blogger presents the view of a Canadian in the USA, a gay man in a fairly intolerant times and a libertarian in a world of sheep. The best thing about the place is the great debate by people with a firm understanding of their positions combined with a welcome for civilized disagreement - even allowing anyone respecting the rules to post on Sundays. While posts are largely about US politics, he quickly admits his outsider perspective when giving a position. He is moving up into the dreaded A-list zone but hopes are high that he will maintain his edge.

In the other direction is another great site for debate, for a North Country New Yorker living for years in little PEI. One of the oldest of the old school techies I know, Humblebub cares little for gurus, usability consultants and lawyers. Especially lawyers. His site is largely a homebrewed mix of local provincial politics, web techie news, and by times rude observations on life. His recent recollections about members of the older generations of his family from the counties around Adirondack State Park are his best writing yet.

My third site of the dislocated is not a place for debate but for a view of Canada's national capital through a recent arrival from PEI. Lana's photo blog's, called Place and Thyme, attracts with its clean design and views of a winter in Ottawa, where wind chills of minus 40 are not uncommon this time of year.

Ghost of a Flea from Toronto by a UK archeologist author has an a larrming amalgam of news items from digs and sites around the world combined with something of an inexplicable fixation for Kilie Minogue, who rates for me somewhere around Princess Anne.

The most important blogging Canuck must be Dean Allen, Industrialist, in France. I understand I owe my referral log code to him and thank him for the joy that brings.

Others of Note

i. The Mother Ship's Crew

I went to Kings College in Halifax which has populated the universe with graduates of its journalism crew including it would appear half the staff of CBC. A couple CBC types with interesting if intermittant blogs are Matt Rainnie, host of the drive home show on CBC Charlottetown and Donna the Existential Dishwasher who works with CBC Winnipeg. I don'y know if Matt lieks his Guinness but Donna does.

ii. Them That Rock

A few sites for me best express what it might be to be mid-twenties in the early 21st century. Mandy regrets missing Duran Duran by 20 years. Phillip Clark of Halifax is buring the candle at both ends in what appears to be a couple of bands - even when he is not sure where each end is at any given moment. A recent bar crawl post was both alarming and too familiar. I just can't figure out what a pub crawl with him and the Accordian Guy would be like...except everyone favorite organic chemical would be involved likely i nthe form, again of Guinness or vitamin G. Chumptastic writes about the bar band fan's life in Kingston Ontario and is an important source of Sarah Harmer sighting around the town.

iii. Foodies

Blork writes about what was for dinner, jobs he has held and posts photos about winter in Montreal.

#1 Dead Blog I Want Revived

Anton North, a guy working in Iqaluit, Baffin Island which is about a couple thousand kms north of here. Too many blogs are about the same topics little understood and analyzed incorrectly. If blogs are to be useful at all it is to put you in touch with someone else whose life you will never live, who you may never meet. You thrive on hubs in this hobby, folks who will link to you or post replies when you suck. Blogs like Anton's die from a lack of a hub more than anything. Go find new writers - who don't write about Iraq, rss or one of the other 14 swell topics filling 98% of blogspace - and add them to your hub.