Catymology

Speaking up, speaking out. Musing, pondering, ruminating. Actually thinking. Instructing. Reminiscing. Provoking. Questioning. The entries in COTV #193 read like a thesaurus entry on human communication. There were so many new ideas and familiar ones expressed in provocative new ways that I had to ask amanuensis to help me categorize them.


Our picks: they made us laugh; they made us think; they made us want to jump up and do something.

Fasten your seatbelts and brush up on your Ga (the national language of Ghana) as Koranteng leads us on a guided tour of The Books of Nima at Koranteng's Toli: "Some call it globalization; I know it as the Mosquito Principle."

Attila at Pillage Idiot offers a photo-comic with an explosively funny punchline: Bush consults the Chief of Control. (If you're too young to remember Get Smart, the TV series, we envy you.)

Mark A. Rayner takes note of a potential cultural shift in the blogosphere: pondering on things instead of musing about them posted at the skwib. We wish we'd thought of that.

Elisa Camahort at the hip & zen pen, who supports PETA (as long as their actions are legal), poses the question Why be vocal about your ethical beliefs? That's really getting to the heart of the matter.

If you've ever wanted to bash the TV, Jim "Suldog" Sullivan at Suldog-O-Rama does it for you in You Are Reading SULDOG-O-RAMA.

Working

Most of us have been laid off at one time or another. (Well, not me, but, hey, I'm a cat.) Big Picture Guy at Big Picture, Small Office gives us a mordant glimpse of how it looks from the executive suite in Postmortem.

Looking to raise your bottom line? Jon at An Ordinary Guy's Path to Success. . .Again suggests you consider becoming a Schwan's Guy--or Girl.

Maybe both management and workers would benefit from the suggestions in The first day of the rest of your life posted at Career Intensity Blog - David V. Lorenzo.

On the other hand, if you just had a little more cash, maybe you wouldn't need to work so hard; check out the Free Money Finance Guide to Making More Money.

And on the other other hand, Don Surber explains how not to make money in Married to the mob.

International news and commentary

Speaking of free speech, Andrew Ian Dodge of Dodgeblogium passed along a pithy comment by Jon P of LibertyCadre.net: Boris defends the right to say silly things in a most sensible way.

Giraldus Cambrensis at Western Resistance exposes numerous recent attacks on young Pakistani women Pakistan: Muslim Honor Killings Confronted?

A Samuel at New Developments Blog fills us in on Resort development in Budapest. But, I wonder, will Budapest soon look just like the Mall of America? And is that good or bad?

The inimitable Miriam at miriam's ideas has a unique solution to Russia's population problem.

Politics: USA

Let's play analogies: G.W. Bush is to the Presidency as BLANK is to the NFL? Find the answer as Jack Cluth of The People's Republic of Seabrook presents This week's sign that the Apocalypse is upon us.

Miriam's ideas sums up the Republicans vs. Democrats thing.

If the above political posts seem a bit cynical, try this corrective: "viewed through a historical lens, politics today are no different than politics throughout history. And there's an important lesson in that," says Brad Warbiany at The Liberty Papers in Are Politics Getting Nasty?

From the moderate right, John Bambenek at Part-Time Pundit supports an old-fashioned fiscal conservative in Wictory Wednesday has Returned.

Smilerz adds value to the current debate on immigration in Curing the Symptom, Ignoring the Disease posted at Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of ....

Francois Tremblay delivers a much-needed Canadian perspective on Immigration Bullshit vs Reality at The Radical Libertarian.

Another contrarian view: John wrestles with the thesis Why we are not at war at Hell's Handmaiden.

The Cranky Insomniac feels nostalgic for the days of The Great Communicator in Isolation Chamber.

Brian J. at Musings from Brian J. Noggle suggests that a certain fabled 70s rock star might be the answer to Republicans' prayers in Nugent 2012.

It may have been a slow news day, or something more sinister, says AmericanSage, commenting on Washington Post Publishes The Hillary Catechism: "Clinton Is A Politician Not Easily Defined"

Environment

James ruminates with scientific precision on Cleaning up coal-fired Power Plants at Ruminating Dude.

Entertainment

Josh Cohen at Multiple Mentality has a few harsh things to say about 24 and some of our other TV favorites at Josh Cohen's Look Ahead at the 2006 TV Season. Tell us, Josh, what do you really think?

Brian Benzinger at SinkMyShip Blog invites everyone to log on and play the new Ajax Battleship Game. I would, Brian--I really would--but I am still hung up on "catch the mouse."

Jon Swift at Jon Swift presents 50 More Conservative Rock Songs

Advice

House hunters, take note: nickel at fivecentnickel.com explains All About Title Insurance in one succinct post. And David A. Porter presents Ask Dave: Do I have to sign form 4506 at my mortgage closing? posted at Pacesetter Mortgage Blog.

JLP asks for our feedback on his new College Tuition Estimator Online Calculator posted at AllThingsFinancial.

Public Speaking for All has some good reminders about jokes that work and jokes that don't.

Listen up, parents! Here's some stuff you won't learn from Heloise: mom at raising4boys.com shares Motherly Wisdom.

Wayne Hubert at Blog Business World urges us to smarten up and invest in knowledge. As a cat with a large personal library, I say "Amen!" to that.

Philosophy and ethics

Francois Tremblay at Goosing the Antithesis argues in The Morality Disconnect part 1 that even atheists have trouble with a fact-based worldview.

And Hell's Handmaiden returns with a lecture On proving a negative.

Economics

Trent presents You Read it Here First - Chip Inventories Pose Threat posted at Stock Market Beat. We thought this was going to be humorous until we got to the punch line. He's not kidding!

Miscellany

Here's an outrage about which I can personally speak up: Catnabbit! has the skinny on What one rich jerk did when his Jag needed a new leaper.

Ahistoricality tries out some new techniques and finds that Insects are Pretty Cool, but Photographing them is Hard. (We can't ever get a picture of a bug: I tend to eat them first.)

Meanwhile, the voluble muse at me-ander urgently needs answers to a Digital Question, remarks upon a bad way to start the day, celebrates The big 6 and the big S, and is overcome by nostalgia for New York's Penn Station.

And with respect to obeying the teachings of one's religion, Isaac Schrdinger has trouble accepting 8.3% Goodness.

Thanks to everyone who contributed. Next week's COTV will be at: Punny Money.

Update: Thanks to Mark Rayner for pointing out some broken links. We think we've fixed them all, but please let us know if we missed any.