Welcome, welcome, welcome, to the 129th edition of Bigwig's Carnival of the Vanities, where bloggers from all around the blogosphere submit their own under-appreciated postings, rather than waiting for others to notice them.

As your host, I hope you stop by again some time and check out my regular postings. Don't be put off by the "A View New" banner - I've been toying with a blog name change, so I suppose you'd call it a marketing test. This blog's name is still "Solomonia." After over two years, old habits die hard. If you don't like the color-scheme, Firefox users can change stylesheets, while others can use the style picking page linked in the right side-bar.

If I left out your post, I assure you it was nothing personal, just an error. Leave a comment and I'll hook you up ASAP. Please also inform me of any broken links.

Now, ladies and germs, without further ado...I give you...the Carnival...of...the...Vanities!!!! hhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[Update: (I missed this one, so I'm adding it at the top.) True Ancestor's David Gottlieb waxes poetic and spiritual over his choice of vehicle in The Hybrid. Me, I don't sweat my purchase of an SUV. After all, my model runs on environmentally friendly, clean-burning whale oil. Besides, my wife made me buy it. Read David's take.]

Benjamin Baeker of Dear Editor... is alarmed at "the Man's" over-reaction to some common sense on marijuana laws in When the ends will never justify the means. I nominate Ben for the next Taco Bell run.

Brian Goettl of The Conservative Edge harshes our new-found mellow with a call for courage on Social Security reform in Wavering in the face of The Greatest Social Challenge of Our Generation...but no pressure man. Hold me.

Israpundit's Joseph Alexander Norland (not to be confused with other three-name stars Sarah Michelle Gellar, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio or Jan Michael Vincent) shines the spotlight on another kind of resistance - the resistance to Ariel Sharon's evacuation plan in Resistance News. (Don't you people understand I'm just trying to relax and get this bag of Dorito's eaten? Sorry, still stuck on the first post.) He'd also like us not to miss this very important Interview with Prof Paul Charles Merkley concerning the WCC divestment decision.

El Capitan of Baboon Pirates shares his thoughts about burying his grandmother in a heart-felt piece Planting Grandma. Ummm, OK, no joke there.

Mr. Snitch of the aptly named Mr. Snitch! finds new ways for super-rich nerds to spend their money in Bill Gates changing name to 'The Gates'. I guess it beats the hell out of multiple nose-jobs, and maybe he just digs orange. Or is that really Yellow.../cue T-Zone music...

Fransisco Blanco blogs in a language foreign to me in Nuevo RoadMap de Intel. According to the Google translation, it's either something about Intel's new technology or an ad for a new tapas bar. Either way...yum.

Note to self: Do not send Elisson of Blog d'Elisson any pointers to online petitions. In An Open Letter, Elisson returns more than a signature on the issue of School Prayer. Ummm...can I get Mistress of Sarcasm's phone number?

Timothy Lee of Land of Opportunity performs his community service obligation with an essay on Web Site Accessibility Design for Business Blogs. Next time, leave the liquor store owners alone Timothy! Seriously (must I?), some interesting tips in there.

amba of AmbivaBlog explores birthday coincidences and teaches us a new word: "Optimystics" in Significant (?) Coincidence.[Edit: Doh! Left out the link to the post! Sorry, there it is!] She'd like to hear some more from you. Everyone knows the death-day coincidence of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson dying on the same day - the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1826, but how many also knew that was the same day that Stephen Foster, composer of Oh! Susannah! was born?! Spooky! Oh, I also found another coincidence. Amba was in the theater world at Harvard back in the 60's. I've gone to SEE theater at Harvard back in the 80's and 90's. I even performed a scene as Mac the Knife from Threepenny Opera at...a Harvard theater! Spooky x2!

Jack Cluth of The People's Republic of Seabrook hips us to the fact that it doesn't take a study to figure out that many NFL players are disgusting fat-bodies in News Flash!! Jack thinks it may be time for an intervention.

John Moore of Useful Fools has a plan for those stinking Iranian tunnels in Iranian Tunnels - Why is this a Problem?. I say give me the 4th ID and a few truck-loads of shovels.

Blog Business World's Wayne Hurlbert conveys a load of info for anyone with a web site in Search engines and directories: Knowing the difference. I'm all set, though, cause I paid some dude $99.99 to submit my site to over 600 search engines! No, really. Maybe I should've read his post.

Jeffrey S. Haemer of A Mentsh Trakht (Gazundhite!) says that there are Differences Among Women and is glad he's not President of Harvard. I hear the pay is pretty good, though.

Twisty's TJ wants to see what Martha will be up to next. No chants of Attica! Attica! Attica! here. (I hear the window treatments were just horrendous!) TJ's rallying cry: Free Martha!

Ferdinand T. Cat at The Conservative Cat writes about some guy named Reynolds who's being forced to give it all up due to a lack of proper attire in Blogger Outcry Topples Instapundit.

Jill Fallon at Legacy Matters has a serious post on not giving up on life while debating the right to die in The Resistance, Not Dead Yet.

The Examining Room of Dr. Charles is open to us in Look at Me, Damn It. An annoying lack of interpersonal skills becomes a real-life medical mystery.

Andrew Ian Dodge (not to be confused with Joseph Alexander Norland, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio or Jan Michael Vincent) of Dodgeblogium sucks down free sushi and fences with clipboard Nazis in Norwegian 100th Anniversary gig pre-party. Damn that free sushi sucker!

Zendo Deb of TFS Magnum judges the wimin-folk of The Lord of the Rings and finds them...wanting...in The one thing I hate about Lord of the Rings. I find myself strangely focused on the female characters of the films, myself, but for different reasons. Arwen was the ultimate trophy wife, btw.

Darleen Click of Darleen's Place gives us the Bottom line on Terri Shiavo.

Melinama of Pratie Place muses that blogs, like musical groups, come and go, so appreciate what you got in You never miss the water...

INCITE's Beck is screaming for accountability in Accountability? We don't need no stinking accountability. Follow the money.

John at Discriminations questions why racially-based scholarships continue to be awarded long after they've been declared unconstitutional in Is The University of Virginia a Racial Scofflaw? Answer: No, UVA is a racial "Ne'er do well."

Jay Allen at The Zero Boss notices that those "Get Rich Slow" people somehow all seem to have found the "Get Rich Fast" formula for themselves in Automatic for the People. I have a new formula for saving loads of cash: Don't eat food. Sleep under a bridge. That'll be $29.95 please.

Technogypsy's Kevin notes that "liberals" are a humorless bunch, much like certain other humorless groups throughout history in Red State, Blue State and Humor.

Madeleine Begun Kane (No longer confused with Andrew Ian Dodge, Joseph Alexander Norland, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio or Jan Michael Vincent) of Mad Kane's Notables suggests "home town blogging" in Friday Hometown Blogging ... Since I Don't Have A Cat: A Baysider's Ode To Queens. If only I had a home...gosh this bridge is lonely.

Joe Dougherty at Attaboy has some humorous romance suggestions in Girls, go get that man. Warning Attention: Post contains the word "panties."

Riding Sun's Gaijin Biker (Damn Foreigners!) riffs on what the stock market can teach the Bush critics in The Bush short squeeze. I'll have to read this post closely. My last three stock purchases: Lucent, Planet Hollywood and WorldCom. Ridin' high on GWB, though.

Karol at Alarming News has a warning about trusting the testimony of irresponsible, reckless, anti-American, anti-Western, Italian Communist reporters in No proof? No problem.

I enjoyed this one. Respectful Insolence's Orac relates the various species of questioners that turn up at the mic following a scientific or medical talk. Many of these are the same types that show up for all sorts of talks, particularly the political variety less the Moonbat, the Freakazoid and the Cantabrigian. Reminds me of that old board game, Cosmic Encounter. Read this important contribution to the scientific literature in A field guide to biomedical meeting creatures, part 1: Any questions?

The Libertarian Librarian, Nick Weber, hips us to the fact that there's more open support for Ward Churchill on his campus than for Larry Summers. Well knock me over with a feather! Ask Charles Jacobs about how many of the Columbia professors who agreed with the theme of Columbia Unbecoming - some who thought it was mild, if anything - would agree to appear on camera to challenge campus and departmental orthodoxy. Read about Nick's efforts to defend Summers in Oh THAT Ivory Tower: Churchill vs. Summers, part I.

I'm familiar with the concept of Jail Bait, but "Oscar Bait?" Josh Cohen of Multiple Mentality explains in Million Dollar Bullshit. I can confidently say I didn't see any of the Oscar nominated films save The Incredibles. I can also confiently say that Hillary Swank is totally legal.

The Watcher at Watcher of Weasles thinks M. Night Shamalamadingdong's latest cinematic offering deserved more props than it got. Read it in It Takes a Village to Raise Expectations.

Valleri Cartwright at The Green Lantern gets all philosophical on yo ass with a deep-thoughts riff on Mario (yeah, that Mario!) and the nature and limits of free-will in Free Will & Illusion: Save Mario, Not The Princess. Personally, I'm still searching for the secret passage and hidden coin-vault, and I'll continue to madly manipulate my joystick until I find it!

Who knew coyotes could type so much? I know...dictaphones. Anyway, Coyote Blog pings with a long and thought-out essay on the high-stakes game of Judicial nominations. Well worth a shufty: Why judge nominations are suddenly so high stakes.

Right Makes Right! understands a basic truism: Even the "Arab Street" prefers freedom to slavery: The "Arab Street" would rather be free.

John Ray of Dissecting Leftism points to a Tuesday Roundup of his own best stuff from the past week including " stories about an intolerant and uncompassionate peacenik church; about a huge Greenie blunder over depleted uranium munitions; about the decay of the British police force; about American versus British medicine and much more besides." I think this is Vanity squared!

Wicked Thoughts, a keen observer of daily life, lists some of those Things Found Only In America.

Nick of Conservative Dialysis let's us in on a personal and life-changing event that occured to him One Year Ago.... Fortunately, this one has a happy ending. Dr. G will have to wait.

The Flaming Duck's VARepublicMan notes how some supposed "intellectuals" have an almost uncanny ability to conveniently "find" evidence to support their pre-determined decisions in Selective Cites (Take 2).

Soccer Dad notes that the New York Times has adopted the terminology and perspective of the terrorists in See no terror. Butbutbut...I thought the NYT was run by a bunch of Zionist Jeeeews? Let this be a lesson to you - if you refuse to call terror by its name, and refuse to call the terrorists what they are, you are automatically doing the terrorists' work for them.

Pietro at The Smarter Cop points out that youngsters are getting away with murder now - thank you Supremes! - in A Gentle Reminder to the Men in Black. Some of the women in black ain't no great shakes, either.

Laurence Simon at This Blog Is Full Of Crap is puzzled by the training methods displayed by some Palestinian Arab police recruits. Looks like the Funky Chicken to me. Anyway, he's got a transcript of How Jerusalem Fell.

Rick Moran at Rightwing Nuthouse wonders if the blogosphere is blowing FEC Commissioner Smith's comments out of proportion...and maybe that's not such a bad thing in WHY MAKING A MOUNTAIN OUT OF A MOLEHILL IS SOMETIMES A GOOD THING (damnit). If only someone cared enough to blow my words out of proportion. Then I'll know I've really arrived.

Peaktalk's Pieter posts that In Europe, Terror Pays. Hell dude, in Europe, terror is on the dole.

Kevin B. at Title of Liberty comes in with another long and thoughtful post on the conflict conflict between pacifistic Christian teaching and support for the war in Christianity, "Just War" and Islamic Jihad. A lot of effort went into this one. Click it, yo!

The Key Monk is gettin' all Shaolin on John McCain's ass in John McCain Hates Free Speech Part 26. Another warning on the dangers of abridging political speech that's well worth a look.

The Speculist's Phil Bowermaster tells us "Mice are now being genetically altered to include human brain cells. Should we make mice as smart as people? Is it something that your typical mouse would want?" See The Smart Mouse Conundrum. I think one of the most frightening things about making a human-intelligence level mouse is that they would suddenly have the ability to understand they only have about three years to live. Squeek!

What's fun about the blogosphere and the internet generally these days is that very often, the subject of the discussion may just stop by to participate. That's what happened when Nick of blogborygmi wrote about a book speculating that America has benefited from a "higher concentration of bipolars (manic-depressives) and thus, also a lot of "hypomanics" who are functional but have mild mania" taking risks and pushing progress. Interesting discussion here: Driven.

Vik Rubenfeld of The Big Picture points out that if felons vote, felons become a voting bloc in Criminals Like to Vote Democratic. The Response of the Left? Let More Criminals Vote! If criminals can vote, only voters will be criminals! No wait, that's not right. Anyway, read his post.

Jay Dean, otherwise known as The Radical Centrist notes...get ready...Here's a Shocker, People Get Political News From the Web! He attaches some pretty cogent analysis in there, too. Like manufacturers with new products to sell, the information producers will learn to use we opinion leaders, not fear us. We are the "early adopters" of new memes, so make 'em good before you release them MSM, or we'll be exposing your weaknesses pronto.

The Tomo Report thinks Kos ain't really helpin' the Democrats much. DailyKos 5th Column Dooming Dems to Defeat? I'd say there's quite a bit of evidence to back that assertion. I'd say sites like Kos are really more of a group-therapy thing.

Interested-Participant has methodological concerns with a New York City homeless survey in...ummm...well, New York Homeless Survey.

Harvey at IMAO (now a group blog) reminds me of my old Live-Action Role-Playing days with Totally True Tidbits About Knights. As someone who actually made his own armor, making me an expert in history, I can confirm to you that Harvey's list is completely accurate.

He's here, He's queer, Get used to him! The always interesting Eric Sheie of Classical Values fame is none-too-impressed with recent efforts to dredge up the past in History as a business expense? Philly and New York firms may be required to dredge up their pasts and see if they benefited from slavery...all in the name of "the politics of shame." Give it a read and find out why all of us, black and white, may end up paying more for products in order to satisfy the latest "reparations trend."

Jay Dean again, this time at The Bloginators backing Ahnold's efforts in Redistricting is a critical reform. Interesting stuff on an imortant and under-understood issue.

I'm now noting down the email addresses of all the physicians submitting entries to the Carnival. Next time I have an ache, you guys are gonna be in for a consult. Thomas P. Boyle, M.D. of CodeBlueBlog has some fascinating analysis on what may really be bothering ex-President Clinton - CSI MEDBLOGS: DOES BILL CLINTON HAVE AIDS OR CANCER?

James Hamilton takes on the worldviews of Left and Right in a lengthy and worthwhile piece, Lillian Rubin in Dissent Magazine: the failure of the American Left. Lillian doesn't seem to "get" the "Red State" voter. A common malady.

Well, ththththththat's all folks!

A few thoughts after putting this thing together:

• It takes a lot of time to actually read or even skim most of the posts and think of something for each of them.
• There's a lot of good writing out there, and a lot of so-so writing. Even the best writing won't be read if the web design is terrible, and appealing design can make even a so-so writer seem more interesting than they really are.
• The Carnival is a good chance to get your blog looked at for the first time by new people. I don't understand why anyone would submit what's obviously a throw-away post and it strikes me as unfair to the people who put real effort into their submissions and get buried. C'mon, put your best foot forward, or people won't be back!

Next week's Carnival will be at Bird's Eye View. Have a great week.