Written by: Beck

OK, perhaps there haven't been 4,897 CotVs, but I'm not really sure what the count is, and I like my version better. Strangely, not one submission had anything to do with the Super Bowl. Clearly, the blosophere's priorities are not in the right place. So, without further ado, let's start the Carnival!

Editor's Selections:

This section is dedicated to posts which particularly caught my eye.

First of all, I'd like to take this bit of real estate to congratulate one of my favorite blogs, Protein Wisdom, on its blogiversary. If you're not reading Protein Wisdom on a daily basis, you don't know what you're missing.

Next up, we have Thag Not Grok God from The Skwib. Of course, pretty much any Heinlein reference is virtually guaranteed to get primary placement from me. If you can't understand why that is, you just don't grok.

Next up, Testing the Cultural Divide presents a thought piece on the use of language. The instant messaging e-culture of today, while a wonderful thing from a convenience standpoint, has lead to something of a slaughtering of language. I just enjoy anything which highlights the importance of clarity and concision in writing. Bloggers everywhere take note.

Then Stephen at Fearless Philosophy for Free Minds presents something which resonates personally. In it, the author answers a series of questions originally posted on Reason asking how far should a pro-war libertarian be willing to compromise in the cause of said war? Even if you don't agree with the war, or libertarian political philosophy, or Stephen's own answers, the post should prove thought provoking.

Blogging at its best is on display at The Scientific Activist, in which an animal rights protest at Oxford is reported on live, followed by volumes of analysis. A thoroughly enjoyable post, along with yet another reminder of how the scientific community is perpetually threatened by ludites of one kind or another.

The Radical Libertarian offers a post about the chains of slavery imposed by religious doctrine. A post certain to offend a great number of people, I wanted to give this one prominent billing.

Humor:

I put the humor category near the top because frankly, there isn't enough of it out there these days. That, and because it's my blog, so I do what I want with it. That, and it gives me an excuse to give a random picture from The Family Guy some prime blog real estate. So there!

First up, Madeleine Kane tried to sneak this through the political category, but I was far too alert to allow that to happen! Song parodies always get better billing than politics. My blog, my rules.

Miriam's Ideas bemoans that she doesn't have a dog. Well, not really, but read the whole thing and you'll get my point.

point2point's offering this week: limericks! Who doesn't love limericks?

Play One on TV would like to remind you that not all man are natural repairmen.

The Nose on Your Face offers up a report on the latest episode of 24. It's important that we keep close scrutiny on our nation's public officials.

Science & Technology:

This section is a fairly broad catch-all including health topics and all things even vaguely sci-tech related.

Multiple Mentality reminds you that not all old websites die. Some merely hide out for a few years waiting to be Googled.

Man versus mold: BigPictureSmallOffice has the latest update in the ancient battle. It involves dogs.

Maybe this belongs in the business-econ section, but I need something to fill out science-technology, so The Browster Blog's comments on a recent statement by Yahoo!'s CFO regarding Google gets posted here. You go read now.

Business, Economics, and Personal Finance:

Hopefully you can figure out what this category is about on your own & without further prompting.

Kirby on Finance offers his first ever submission to a CotV with his post on keeping a good credit score. Welcome to the club Kirby.

fivecentnickel has a rather interesting post on a bank refusing to finance projects which use eminent domain to obtain property. The bank, BB&T North Carolina, should be commended for their principled stand.

The title of Searchlight Crusade's submission tells you everything you need to know regarding what the post is about: "Payment, Interest Rate and Up Front Costs: Choosing a loan intelligently." Makes my job easy. And it's an excellent post, so check it out.

blueprint for financial prosperity, a finalist in the "longest blog name contest," offers a post about ChoicePoint being fined for its involvement with identity theft. A most interesting post.

Wealth Junkie reports on real estate salesmen getting creative with lures to suck in new home buyers. Free toasters always do it for me.

The Pacesetter Mortgage Company Inc. blog asks a question which is on a lot of people's minds: should home buyers hold off buying in 2006? The answer is actually quite thought provoking.

Culture:

This is another broad catch-all category for a broad range of subjects. It was either that, or have a "Miscellaneous" section. Oh wait, I do have a miscellaneous section...

Ruminating Dude ruminates on the trials and tribulations of a first-time teacher.

raising4boys.com offers a story of her 5 year old showing up at home with a girl's phone number. Naturally, the mother is proud that she is clearly raising a playah.

Adam's Blog has an intriguing post on the "blogging killer."

miriam's ideas offers a post detecting an author's age in his literature.

Philosophy and Theology:

Surprisingly, I had several posts on this subject (though one person pulled a naughty by making two submissions), so I decided to break it out into its own category.

Blog d'Elisson offers a post on obligation and responsibility. It involves a horse. Just click the link already.

Reb Chaim HaQoton's post "Abominable Relations" is all about just that: abominable relations. Brief summary: don't be gay. Unless you're a lesbian, but not Jewish. Then it's cool. No really, read the last sentence of the post. I can't make this stuff up. The Reb also has a post on worshipping idols.

Goosing the Antithesis positively argues that you can prove a negative. Some of these blurbs just write themselves.

On Blogging:

Not too many entries in this category, but the picture I found was just too good to pass up on using.

First up, The Missing Link offers his blog's first post up for submission: his declaration to the world that he's blogging now, and why. Definitely give his new blog a look.

Blog Business World has a post on organizing your blogging around a blogging calendar--a must for the blogging businessman.

I'll allow Philobiblon's summary of his post speak for itself. "How blogging can pull back the veil of time. A moment of curiosity and, two years later, an answer to the question of why a man was sentenced to death in 1692."

Politics:

I saved this category for second-to-last because quite frankly, the vast majority of readers coming here most likely already get quite a bit of politics in their daily diet. This is the longest section, so you're mostly just going to get the canned summaries that came with the post submissions. Hopefully you can handle that.

The Politics of CP (this is actually a very interesting post): "I've been independently investigating Jamaat ul-Fuqra for the last few months. I'm calling for the State Dept. to (re-)designate Jamaat ul-Fuqra as a terrorist organization. Domestic agencies and the military both view them as such, why not the State Dept?"

Resistance is futile: "Alito confirmed--world to end!"

Radioactive Liberty: "Democrats love to whine, yap, and howl about "tax cuts for the wealthy." I really don't care who the tax cuts are for, I'm in favor of them. Personally, I would like more tax cuts for everyone."

Libertarian Leanings: "With votes already tallied time showing the threat of the nuclear option was off the table, Democratic presidential hopefuls were assured of a risk free vote for filibuster."

The Liberal Wrong Wing: "A historical perspective of the Presidency of Ronald Reagan."

The Unrepentant Individual: "The Future of Liberty."

TMH's Bacon Bits: "Even though the hapless filibuster has failed, I think the piece reveals a lot about Democrats through one of their up-and-comers."

ahistoricality: "A comparison of liberal and conservative "Under Reported Stories" lists."

The People's Republic of Seabrook: "How many executions of innocent men and women is an acceptable "margin of error"?" (My answer: 42).

Dodgeblogium: "Dimmit Andrew, why didn't you include a summary with your submission? Do you have any idea how long these carnivals take to put together as it is?"

Oxford University Press Blog: "May 14, 1961 - A Greyhound bus carrying Freedom Riders is attacked and firebombed outside of Anniston, Alabama. An account of that day from Ray Arsenault's new book, Freedom Riders."

Below the Beltway: "A libertarian Republican takes a look at the proposed amendment to Virginia's constitution to ban gay marriage."

Beyond Borders Blog: "No summary to see here folks."

Miscellaneous:

Nothing at all against the posts in this section, they just couldn't be easily categorized, so they wound up here. Many of them constitute the best contributions to the Carnival, so those of you who made it this far can consider it your reward for tenacity. Oh, and the picture? It's a beer pouring robot. Naturally.

Mensa Barbie has an interesting post on "America's best loved artist," Norman Rockwell.

Generic Confusion (great blog name by the way) has a fine suggestion about the next generation of office Super Bowl pools. Hint: we're moving past that whole lame "squares" thing now.

The Library Girl offers reviews of two books: Metro Girl, and The Bone Woman. You'll have to follow the link to find out if they were any good.

Grill Maestro offers, surprise, a recipe! It involves olive oil, vegetables, and BBQ.

me-ander offers a post about her new refrigerator and her family's reaction to said refrigerator. A truly gripping account of refrigerator receipt.

Free Money Finance offers an amusing anecdote involving a seven year old and a new digital camera.

monacojerry has the very last entry in this week's carnival. As such, and as a token expression of the relief I feel at being done assembling this beast, I've decided to include monacojerry's original summary of this post in its entirety. Not coincidentally, monacojerry offered the LONGEST summary of any of the 47 submissions to this carnival.

In 379 C.E., during the late period of the Roman Empire, long after the forms of the Roman Republic had been drained of content, Ausonius, of Bordeaux wrote a letter of thanks to the emperor Gratian, who himself was not from the City of Rome but was from Pannonia. The letter was occasioned by Ausonius' appointment to the position of consul, the most important elected position in the long dead Roman Republic. Ausonius is listing all of the tribulations he has been spared by emperor Gratian's appointment of Ausonius as Consul. All of the "tribulations" he lists are those that a candidate in the Late Republic would suffer. I analyze this letter and show how even late in the Empire the Emperor was identified with Republican institutions, mainly for ideological reasons. The mob of the City was feared. The Emperor as sovereign was looked at as both the embodiment and the controller of the mob.

Take it away Porky!