Comment: The owner of the Owner's Manual has some bon mots for the French employers supporting a new labor law that would allow for two-year probationary employment contracts: this is not how it's done.

Description: HH waxes the philosophical, literally, about the importance of studying philosophy,a topic most close to my heart. I quote: "Philosophers puzzle over the things which do truly control our lives– politics, religion,society, culture, science, law. People have lost sight of that, thinking instead that the hard sciences have taken that role. If that were true, our modern world would be very different."

Description: if you've ever had trouble getting a newly bought item of of its wrapping, you are not alone. General Kang explains.

Francois Tremblay of "The Radical Libertarian" takes aim at arguments for "Social Justice" and, in my humble opinion, hits the bull's eye.

Francois Tremblay(again) discusses a "most unfortunate compartmentalization in most people's thinking", i.e. "the natural cleavage between daily truths and eternal white lies."

Josh takes issues with conventional wisdom on the perils of maintaining too high of a body weight and has some words of advice for those of us carrying a too few extra pounds. "If you’re fat, don’t beat yourself up too much. Just change your diet and exercise habits not to lose weight, but to maintain the weight you’re at. Then, if you manage that, try to lose a little weight, but know that you’re basically stuck where you are. Put your energy toward the next generation. It’s a much better use of it."

Comments:I knew I would like John's blog when I read is lead "I am a reasonable conservative who likes to write about politics and culture. Since the media is biased I get all my news from Fox News, Rush Limbaugh and Jay Leno monologues." I am not fooled, of course by his claim to rely solely on these three news sources. After all who would use all three when any one alone would do?! In his post he argues that before beginning a new war with Iran, the US should first refight and win and old one.

Comment: Nehring has a long and detailed review of the Star Wars series and explains some of their lasting influence on American popular culture.

Comment: I've read Adam's blog off and on for the last year and am always impressed with his dedication and progress as a blogger. His offering for this week's carnival is the fifth installment of a series about the Constitution's stance on "majority rule with respect for minority rights." In all there are eight parts and I was impressed by the thoughtfulness with which Adam fashioned his responses to some "rowdy" critics.

Comment:FiveCent Nickel has some practical advice for people who struggle to "come up with sufficient funds for a downpayment in order to qualify for a mortgage on the home they want to purchase." I am going to bookmark this for the day when I no longer have free faculty housing.

Comment:Not that I ever gave the matter of catblogging much thought, mind you, but during the few seconds that I actually did, I rapidly concluded that there was only one subject of catblogging- cats!. Turns out there are actually four. I guess I am not the deep thinker I thought I was!

Comment: If you had asked me in advance, I would not have thought you could write about orthdontics and armpits in the same blog post without that post actually being something appearing on the kind of sites that are the scourge of the internet, the kind that someone raising four boys probably wishes weren't around. As it turns out, I had it wrong. Not only does "Raising4Boys" combine these things in the same post, it does so with considerable humor, as well.

Excerpt: The award for the most irreverent entry in this week's Carnival goes to Avant News. "The most extensive analysis yet undertaken of the structure and contents of the universe conclusively proves the universe was created not by a single entity, as as has been widely suggested, but by "a fractious and disorganized committee or committees given to groupthink and petty infighting", according to Drs. Karl Pootle and Yumble Frick, co-authors of the study. The analysis is expected to have profound implications on the theoretical underpinnings of many popular religions." Now word yet from the KGB, i.e. the Kansas Guild of Bloggers.