Welcome to the 178th Carnival of the Vanities at A Financial Revolution. Let me take a moment to thank Zuesswood at Harshly Mellow for managing the Carnival of the Vanities. I had a great time reading the posts and hope you enjoy them too.

While you're here, feel free to explore A Financial Revolution. The most popular posts help you select the right cash-back credit card for you (details, calculator) and explore nontraditional investments (going private transactions, preferred stocks, real estate trusts, and royalty trusts.)
Now, onto the carnival...

Host's Top Pick
Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted) tells the story of a group of scientists on their recent expedition in western New Guinea. The scientists found numerous new and forgotten species. They also proved that there still are (or should I say "were"?) pristine places on earth where no human has set foot. Where do I sign up for the next trip?

Business & Finance
Steven at Scatterbox takes issue with Wal-Mart's creation of a senior-level Director of Stakeholder Engagement. He asks: "Is this a classic PR strategy to align with critical interest groups by adopting the inflated phraseology of the Corporate Social Responsibility movement?"

David at Pacesetter Mortgage informs us that loan prepayments are slowing and he suggests refinancing your mortgage if you have an ARM and plan to stay in your home more than 3 years.

Blueprint for Financial Prosperity offers some advice on buying a car on eBay and recommends not relying on the buyer protection policy. As someone who bought a 35 year old car on the web, I agree with BFP's advice.

Free Money Finance shares some advice on setting limits for children's extracurricular activities and saving some money to boot. This is good advice that I hope to follow.

Dan at Searchlight Crusade educates us on annuities in his post Debunking the Ignorant Press.

Jack Yoest shares his experience doing business in India and the benefits of understanding cultural differences in Culture, Capitalism, and Google.

Nickel, one of my favorite personal finance bloggers, of Five Cent Nickel calculates the weight of one million dollars. Is this is the blog equivalent of CBS' hit show Numb3rs?

Retire at 30 explains why a Roth 401(k) is better than a traditional 401(k) for people who max out their account. I would add a caveat: company's generally don't provide matching contributions to the Roth 401(k); make sure you're not giving away free money by selecting only a Roth 401(k).

Josh of Multiple Mentality explores the new podfading trend. While I've toyed with the idea of sharing my silky voice with the MP3-toting public, this post has helped me decide to better use my time taking Blog Business World's advice to learn a new trick (see below)

Bora of Science and Politics provides a helpful list of Proper Procedures for Shutting Down a Blog. I'd add one more to his list: turn off comments to avoid spam comments.

Scott from The Browster Blog explains why the search toolbars are big business and why Google had to ink a deal with Dell.

Science
Ruminating Dude discusses a recent NY Times article about Gerald Schatten - a scientist involved in the human cloning paper - and the ethical issues that don't make it into the newspapers.

Medicine
Considerettes discusses a "cutting edge" proposal in the UK to give free, clean razor blades and bandages to folks who enjoy mutilating themselves. Hmmm, and to think that I had to pay $15 for that 10 pack of Gillette cartridges.

Barry at The Other Bloke's Blog discusses some recent research about links between the ABCs - Alzheimers, bilingualism, and creativity - of the brain.

Blog Business World shows us that it's never too late to learn something new. This is a nice complement to TOBB's post about brainware ABC.

Religion & Philosophy
OK, this one isn't really about structured religion, but if you worship the caffeinated gods, The Library Girl offers a great idea for blending the pleasures of coffee/tea and a good book.

Reb Chaim HaQoton explores Jewish history and teachings to answer the question whether it's OK to sin when faced with death.

Goosing the Antithesis explores the meaning of beliefs as part of a series on The Immorality of Belief.

Politics & International
Early Riser explains why he's a Republican. He does a nice job of justifying his position, but we'll just have to agree to disagree.

The Radical Libertarian explores the relationship between governments and war, including "perpetual" wars, such as the war on drugs.

Guido at Dodgeblogium provides a nicely articulated post about the protests in Britain over the Danish cartoons, and the British government's response.

Dubious Profundity (nice name for a blog) explains that the Muslim outrage to the Danish cartoons is easier to understand if you look to Islamic teachings.

Mensa Barbie Welcomes You looks to the future of Palestine - the children. What will be the consequences?

Everyman Chronicles posts about a speech by Julian Bond, chairman of the NAACP, and how it promotes hatred and racism.

Jack at The People's Republic of Seabrook discusses why these three words should scare you: President Sam Brownback.

Forward Biased highlights a recent jury verdict in Greenville, SC on eminent domain. The city government wasn't quite ready for this one.

Tom at Libertarian Leanings takes issue with the Washington Post's accusations about Bush Administration cherry picking of evidence to support the war.

The Conservative Cat offers up some homemade conservative children's stories.

Gullyborg of Resistance if Futile! posts pictures and commentary of the matricula consular registration event at the University of Oregon to help aliens get government benefits.

I'll let Elisson from Blog d'Ellison describe his Cartoon Jihad post: "When Muslims offended by cartoons of Muhammad start a jihad, eventually the cartoons themselves get involved."

Miriam shares her ideas about Bush's approach to the cartoon protestors.

Random Yak closes the discussion about the Danish cartoons with a discussion of Prophet Muhammad Syndrome.

Amka of Testing the Cultural Divide offers us a way to take action to reduce poverty in Africa.

Et tu Bloge explains why radical Islamists seek out the weakest societies or governments - in this case, Europe - to expand their influence.

Family
Mom at Raising 4 Boys shares her thoughts on spending a day with the kids watching TV and playing video games.

FMF's post (see above) got me thinking about spending time with family and the pressures of modern life. I put virtual pen to virtual paper (or is it finger to keyboard?) to share some ideas for creating quality time with your family (and saving a buck or two.)

Humor
Joan at Mamacita presents the nominations for infomercial of the year. My money's on the Meatball Magic.

In This Boxing Fan is Outraged Over the Muhammad Cartoon, Buckley of The Nose on Your Face shares his disapproval of the caricature.

OK, one more post about the Danish cartoon. Radioactive Liberty demonstrates how short attention spans can make the world's problems go away.

Avant News reports that Grover Norquist drowned in his tub. The site claims to have tomorrow's news today. I wonder if Mr. Norquist knows this will happen tomorrow?

Alan Henderson shares the history of less-than-attractive Olympic logos.

Keeping with the Olympic theme, Mark of The Skwib fame shares his ideas for making Olympic sports a bit more exciting.

Brian of Musings from Brian J Noggle shares the secret of lust for the long haul.

Mad Kane shares her Limerick about The VP's hunting prowess.

Adam's Blog introduces us to his new business - Political Funerals R Us.

Joe of Play One on TV presents today's Top Ten list: Top Ten Changes in Olympic Figure Skating.

And Finally... The Unanswerable Question
The Grill Maestro poses the question: Why would anyone want a steak well done?