Mardi Gras's Over, Here Come the Carnivals!

It's that time of the month, apparently:

Carnival of the Liberals #7 is hosted by a video blog, so the host has paired each post with a video clip. I'll have to wait until I'm on the ethernet connection, not the dial-up, to get the most out of that one. Looks like they've covered a lot of ground, though.

Carnival of the Vanities #180 is at one of the usual right-wing hosting sites, and the crop looks like the usual conservative overkill. There's a fine line between succinct and taciturn, and I think they've crossed the wrong way this time. Still, could be a few things to pique your interest, if you go look. I haven't clicked through to anything terribly interesting yet, but I've just sampled.

Animalcules is a Carnival of Microorganisms! It's bigger than you think.... Seriously, "Mike the Mad Biologist" has the best posts: comparison of toilet water and ice at fast food restaraunts and a good commentary on anti-biotic resistance and simple solutions (or at least delaying tactics)

Alhamedi isn't a carnival, but he reminds us that today is the anniversary of the Taliban's destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas. Anne Zook proposes a new rule: "From now on, no one in the world is allowed to start a fracas over anything that happened more than 50 years ago." On a lighter note, eb found some disturbing public art [NSFW, if you're a librarian]. This is all a teaser: the actual History Carnival should be up here shortly.

And Here it is! Best piece on first skim: when bad science and bad history collide.... The list of Ten Worst New Zealanders is pretty educational, and the Top Ten Lizzie Borden Mysteries is a good introduction to the odd world of real-crime history buffs.

A New Offshoot of the History Carnival is the Biblical Studies Carnival. I doubt I'll be a regular reader, but the archaeological stuff is fascinating: important bible-confirming artifacts, and Chris Heard's excellent review of archaeological finds as listed in various "most important finds" lists (it's a five part series; I've linked to part 5 which includes links to the other four).