Carnival of the Vanities

Welcome to this week's edition of the Carnival of the Vanities.

As a summary of each piece, I'm listing each author's reason for submitting the post to the carnival (for those that submitted one) and/or a bit of the post itself as a summary -- so you readers know what to expect before you get to the post.

With that said, here we go:

E-mail Reminders: Never Miss a Due Date: "We recently bought new term life insurance policies from Lincoln Financial. Other than upping our coverage, one of the biggest differences on our end is that Lincoln Financial doesn’t allow for automatic credit card payments — rather, we need to send in a check each year. While this is somewhat of an inconvenience, it might actually be a good thing in view of our difficulties with cancelling our John Hancock term life insurance policies."

What's your five year plan?: "Before you can make any sort of financial decisions, you have to set up a long term plan."

A Review of The Millionaire Maker by Loral Langemeier: "Loral Langemeier’s new book, The Millionaire Maker, is all about setting your life up in such a way so that you can become a millionaire as quickly as possible. This isn’t your standard 'invest 10% in index funds and in 40 years, you’ll be a millionaire,' kind of book. I’m sure a lot of people will have a problem with that."

Getting In (Physical) Shape: "One of my personal goals this year — the year I’ll be reaching the big Three-Oh — is to get into better physical shape. It’s been a goal of mine for a while, but working, driving, working more, sleeping, and seeing my girlfriend always seem to take precedence and leave me with precious little time. Since I don’t get myself out of the apartment most of the time, I’ve been considering purchasing a treadmill in order to save time by exercising while cooking."

Glasses for a Three Year Old: "A few months ago, we noticed that our three year old’s eyes were crossing when he looked at things up close. Not long after that, he started crossing them at medium distances, as well. Needless to say, we decided to get him checked out. Much to our surprise, we found out that he’s far-sighted. Apparently, this is pretty common at his age, and he has a very good chance of growing out of it. But in the mean time, he needed to get glasses so he doesn’t become conditioned to crossing his eyes when looking at things up close."

Free Trading: "A look into opposing interpretations of globalization and capitalism in third world countries."

SupremeQuest: Directions for Samuel A. Alito: "A faux 'Mapquest' map and directions for Alito with both a right and left 'wing spurs' including the 'Ted Kennedy Barstool' prominatory and a '700 Club' offramp."

What is selfishness?: "The popular usage of selfishness is for a sinful adjective where one person behaves in total disregard to consequences of his/her actions on others. Such selfish person will be ever ready to do anything just to satisfy whims. But is there any positive aspect of selfishness; is it justifiable to be selfish? The answer lies in how we define selfishness."

The "Folk Psychology" of Philosophers & the Social Networks of Gossip: Example: the Mind-Body Proble: "I explain how the mind/body problem is simply an aspect of the same problem that humans are confronted with when trying to comprehend the intrinsic nature of all aspects of reality. There is no difference between the 'mind/body problem' and the quantum world/phenomenal world 'problem.' Then I account for the persistence of the 'mind/body' problem as an aspect of the professional "folk psychology" of philosophers."

Airborne Cold Remedy: Helpful, Dangerous, or Both?: "The popular cold and flu remedy, Airborne Formula, has some hidden dangers. This post highlights the danger of overdosing on various nutrients, including Vitamin A, when the supplement is taken as directed."

Relations of Humankind: "With the will of G-d, the Holy Presence should return to His Holy Nation and to the Holy Temple, may please it be built speedily and in our days: Amen."

Bear With Me: "A critical examination of the late Timothy Treadwell, soi-dise naturalist."

Can Islam Save Itself ?: "The idea that there will someday be an Islamic Reformation, and moderate Muslims will be able to 'save' their religion from its more radical followers is in some sense the basis for current American policy in Iraq."

Blog evolution meets intelligent design: "As blogs grow and evolve (you knew there would be a title tie-in there somewhere, right?) over time, your own blog undergoes various changes as well. Those differences may be the result of your intelligent design (another title reference) or from adapting to changing conditions. Those changes may be personal, business related, or simply the desire for something different."

TSRA Hunting: "Hooking the next generation of hunters."

Starfleet Command Announces New Safety Advances: "Researchers at Starfleet Research and Development (news - web site) have discovered new technology that may herald a quantum leap in the safety and reliability of Federation starships, said R&D Rear Admiral Robert Hastings last Wednesday."

Praying To The God of Wealth: "A trip to ebessan shrine in Japan to pray to the God of Wealth."

Shadegg to Run for House Majority Leader: "Whether or not the charges against Tom DeLay are valid or not, with DeLay stepping down the Republican majority in the House have an opportunity to select a new leader to hopefully move the country back in the right direction."

Just Say No: "Marx called religion 'the opiate of the masses.' Who needs religion as an opiate, when you can have actual opiates. Nothing like a mindless, strung out, drugged up electorate to follow orders from the government. It's called dope for a reason, stupid."

Surveillance - Should it be Illegal?: "I'm not exactly happy about the national security angles myself. But National Security is going to be the object of this sort of thing no matter how illegal it is."

In Jodi's Search for a Fulfilling Relationship She Gets Help from Love Coach Rinatta Paries: "Love Coach Rinatta Paries coaches a single 30 something woman who wants to attract the love of her life, live, via her blog."

Spying & Lying -- Limerick Quintet: "Five political limericks plus commentary about illegal domestic eavesdropping, Pat Robertson, Jack Abramoff, and President Bush."

Iranian Uranium: "Sanctions won't work, talking won't work. This man has a singular mission, to 'wipe Israel off the map.' We have to protect Israel; there is no compromise, there is no appeasement; we tried that in WWII. It didn't work then, and it won't work now. The only choice to support the prosperity of a Country that stands as a shining beacon of hope in the middle of a region overrun with hate."

Arnold Unleashes 'Biblical Beating' On Motorist: "California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and his 12-year-old son were involved in a motorcycle collision near their Los Angeles home this past Sunday, his spokeswoman Margita Thompson said. The former actor received a cut to his lip that required 15 stitches, while his son was treated for minor scrapes and bruises. Both of them had been wearing their helmets."

Impacted Nurse: "A short piece on my meeting with a young girl in the trauma room of our emergency department."

A Passing: "A tribute to a friend."

Speaking up for a persecuted minority: "I mean the US Postal Service."

Freedom of speech? Not exactly....: "Fear? Intimidation? Blow-hard lawyers? Corruption? Yep, that's my Congressman...."

Warfare and the expansion of evil: "When discussing the question of war, it's easy to get mired in the self-righteousness of the warhawk and the flaccid protests of the pacifist. As in many other issues, worthless emotional impressions crowd out our conceptual thinking. In such cases, it is most useful to come back to basic moral principles. So let me state the moral facts plainly."

Should Alito Run from Roe?: "If to disavow past 'indescretions' regarding Roe now would mean that the SCOTUS would have all the more chance, in the not too distant future, to get a fresh pair of eyes to look at it — Alito's eyes — then by all means, Alito, disavow away."

No Ghostwriting Here: "Recent surveys show that the majority of corporate blogs by executives are really ghostwritten. Here's why we don't do that, why we wouldn't do that...and how to solve it if your executive claims he or she is just too busy."

US army in Iraq institutionally racist, claims British officer: "A senior British officer has criticised the US army for its conduct in Iraq, accusing it of institutional racism, moral righteousness, misplaced optimism, and of being ill-suited to engage in counter-insurgency operations."

Core principles: "By striving for social justice and sustainability, liberals hope to free us all from the oppressive yoke of having to make choices."

When they don't say what you want: "A small expose on the poor journalistic practice of quoting 'around' someone."

Exacerbation: "How often we understate what really happened, even in medicine."

Free Speech For Me And Not For Thee: "From The San Francisco Chronicle we have word that pro-choicers aren't too happy: Bay Area abortion-rights activists say a Roman Catholic group's advertisements on hundreds of BART trains and in scores of stations -- attacking the Supreme Court's Roe vs. Wade decision and asking 'Abortion: Have we gone too far?' -- have gone too far in a region known for its progressive politics."

Contractions: "Japan's contracting population will have dire effects on everyone; we must begin to pay down our debts before it is too late."

The Phrase Freak: On the ground: "The Phrase Freak is all about questioning the phrases that we hear on a regular basis through the media, but somehow never question. “On the ground” is one such construction that make me mental."

Speaking Truth to Power: "Much has been made of the way that the latest Al-Qaeda tape has lifted so many of the current leftist talking points...  and it's certainly hard not to notice all the references: Bush is a liar, corruption, hegemony, war for oil, America is losing in Iraq, yadda-yadda-yadda.  Zawahiri even latched onto the 'no timetable for pullout' meme, which just kills me."

Defining the Opposition: "To gain safety for civilians and our troops, we must improve our communications with countries who claim not to sponsor terrorism, yet provide shelter to militant groups."

And before I sign off, I wanted to announce that volunteers are needed to host the Carnival of the Vanities for the weeks of February 1 and February 8.  Believe me, it's a GREAT way to see a bunch of new blogs and to drive TONS of traffic to your site. For details on how to host the carnival, visit Harshly Mellow.

Thanks for visiting the Carnival of the Vanities! If you want to know a bit more about Free Money Finance, take this quick tour of the blog I wrote when FMF was recognized by Business Week or see my posts of the week for last week.

Comments

[personal finance advice]

Thanks for putting this together. Look forward to some good reading.