Carnival of the Vanities #204 - The Last Free-for-All

Welcome to the last unruly version of the Carnival of the Vanities. Beginning with the next edition, there will be a new set of submission guidelines designed to make each Carnival fresh and compelling. But not this week! It's the Houston Texas zoning code circa 1982 - anything goes!!

For you perusing convenience, I have loosely grouped submitted posts into 5 categories:

• Strong Opinions Strongly Stated - Polemics
• A Word to the Wise - Advice
• Let's Crunch the Numbers - Financial Analysis
• Watch It, Pal - Analysis
• Mmm...Chicken Soup! - Inspiration and Humor

Entries in each category are listed in order of submission.



Strong Opinions Strongly Stated

Francois Tremblay presents The Radical Libertarian: Accountability : What's it good for ? posted at The Radical Libertarian. Classic libertarian polemic on the dangers of monopolies!

Francois Tremblay presents Piece of Propaganda #1: Ann Graham Lotz. posted at Francois Tremblay. This entry is the very embodiment of the title of this category! Two scoops of Francois this week; that'll be a no-no in the future.

James Allen presents Why I am no longer a christian posted at The Allen Almanac. Says James: "It's basically a bullet list of reasons why I left the christian faith followed by an interesting discussion between believers and non-believers that somehow has managed to stay civil even 300+ posts in." Says me: "I wish all religious discourse could be so civil."

Stephen Littau at Fearless Philosophy for Free Minds presents Serious Times He's not happy with some people's unserious approach to our serious times!

Jack Yoest presents What's Charmaine doin' with AmericaBlog's John Aravosis? posted at Jack Yoest. Possibly should have been filed under Watch It, Pal!.

Peter Kua presents A simple question stumping the physics grandmaster posted at RadicalHop.com: Grow with Passion. Even though I'm writing a book called "Moonshots and Tsunamis", I'm with Peter on this one.

Jon Swift at Jon Swift presents Lieberman Refuses To Cut and Run After Primary Loss . Says Jon: "When Joe Lieberman lost the Connecticut primary last week, he didn't cut and run as Ned Lamont and other Democrats might have done."

Adam Graham presents Wheel Of Allegations posted at Adam's Blog. Game show political satire at it's finest! I wrestled with deciding if this post went here or in the "Mmm...Chicken Soup" category (probably depends on your political leanings).

Random Yak of The Random Yak presents Your Results May Vary, in which he flays CNN's sloppy statistical work in their polling. I could honestly have put this entry into any one of the categories!





A Word to the Wise

[Some other] Mike presents The Secret to Weight Loss (Part 1) (1-5 of 10 steps) posted at OnlyOneMike.com. Says Mike: "This is part 1 of a 2 part series that outlines what I've done to lose weight thus far. I've lost 50 pounds now, in 4 months. This is my favorite topic as I want to help others lose weight." Says me: "Some interesting tips and techniques here."

Steve Faber presents There's a Storm Coming posted at Debt Free. Disasters come in man forms; Steve offers preparedness advice!

Flower Enthusiast at Serenata Flowers Blog presents Vaseology: the science of choosing the right vase for your flowers As someone with very little aesthetic taste, I really appreciated this entry!

jldude at my search for meaning, money... presents A Dude's Recipe for Impressing Your Babe Says jldude: "Here's a simple Japanese dinner you can make in under 30 minutes and wow your honey." Says me: "Note to geeks (like me): This post and the vaseology one make for a powerful one-two combo!"

Paul at Paul's Tips presents Understanding the games people play in which he discusses the book "Games People Play" by Dr. Eric Berne, the creator of the theory of transactional analysis. As Paul says, "The use of the word "games" should not give the impression that such activities are necessarily fun or played light-heartedly. Often the outcomes, though predictable, can be very damaging and distressing."

Aparna at Beauty & Personality Grooming presents Dandruff-Home remedies Some of these could be fun...

nickel at fivecentnickel.com presents The Danger of No-Interest, Same-as-Cash Purchases. Almost a "Let's Crunch the Numbers" item, but good advice for furniture shoppers.

Money Matador at Money Matador presents 5 reasons why some beggars earn more money than you Robert Cialdini would enjoy this one!

Mike Buckley at Mine Your Own Business presents Waiting for Things to Get Better Sad but true.

Bull Jones presents 1st Day of School - Time for a Warning posted at The Bull Speaks!. Sadly, he's absolutely right about vigilence in protecting our kids.






Let's Crunch the Numbers

Free Money Finance at Free Money Finance presents Are Tankless Water Heaters a Good Deal? I didn't even know there was such a thing!

Dan Melson at Searchlight Crusade presents Option ARMs and Cash Flow Once again, who knew? But thanks for the warning.

Ian Anderson at MyQuo.com presents The Arguments Against Prepayments. Your mileage may vary, but a good illustration.

A Samuel at Overseas Property Investment Blog presents Pound strong against dollar and euro, buying property abroad a good bet? Rule Brittania!





Watch It, Pal!

Trent presents Stock Market Beat » Blog Archive » Hewitt (Part 1) - What They Do posted at Stock Market Beat, in which he discusses the various facets of the global HR outsourcing and consulting giant.

dad at raising4boys.com presents Catholic Church Urges More Kids in India. Says Dad in the post: "While I’m (obviously) not against having kids, I hardly think it’s a good idea to push people to have kids out of a sense of obligation." I'm guessing Dad didn't go to Catholic schools.

The Monk presents ABC Sports, RIP posted at The Key Monk. The wide world of sports may now belong to ESPN, but I'll never forget that crashing ski jumper!.

Vihar Sheth at VIHAR SHETH.NET presents Get On The Boat, Yeah, Banana Boat, Yeah. Chiquita shows how corporate responsibility is good for business!

Leslie Carbone at LeslieCarbone presents THANK YOU!, does something refreshing: "Since I criticize when warranted, I should commend when warranted. This is one of those times."

Alan K. Henderson at Alan K. Henderson's Weblog presents From Mexico To Lebanon, in which he draws an interesting analogy between the situation in Lebanon to the Mexican Civil War.

Stephen Hopkins at Buggyinfo Buggy Blog presents Thunder Motorsports threatens BuggyNews.com and California competition who question CARB certification. Legal battles in the world of motorsport! Again, who knew?

Wayne Hurlbut at Blog Business World presents Brand Royalty by Matt Haig - Book Review. Perhaps I'll need to check it out and see if I can't punch up the Spooky Action brand!





Mmm...Chicken Soup!

Avant News at Avant News - Tomorrow's news today presents Effort Underway to Improve Short Attention Spans of AmericansYour tax dollars at work!

Garoth Thorp at Forest Of Thought presents In Joyous Loss Thought-provoking reflection on the value of not always winning.

No catblogging today, since they have a Carnival of their own, but we've got something even better - ducks! Mama Duck at Lil Duck Duck presents The Continuing Adventures of a Toddler and his Duck

From ducks to alien abduction, we've got it all! Timi at Open Diary presents Abducted Please note that this material is R rated.

Monica Bielanko presents I Just Gave Up My Womanhood posted at The Girl Who. I was sorely tempted to put this in the advice section, for women who want to impress their men. Despite the title, it's PG material.

Village Smitty at Hippo Campy presents TSA Dictates Passengers to Evacuate Bladders Before Boarding Smitty, please don't give the TSA any bright ideas!

"If your husband ever invites you to join him on a business trip, be sure to ask him these questions:

1. Will you ever get to see him while he is not -- technically -- asleep?
2. What will he do, if you accidentally lock yourself out of your hotel room in the middle of the night while you are not -- technically -- dressed?"

Madeleine Begun Kane at Mad Kane's Humor Blog answers these questions in A Traveler's Net Woes.

Lastly, I present a motivational poster from hell. Those things are everywhere!


Thanks to all the contributors to this week's Carnival! Please check the Carnival of the Vanities site for the new submission rules and other carnival information. And the carnival needs hosts! It's fun; it's easy! (If I can do it, all of you can, too!!)

And feel free to poke around here at Spooky Action as long as you like, and come back often!

[UPDATE] CotV #205 is now up at Dodgeblogium, featuring Cthulhu!