Welcome to the Friday, April 11, 2008 of On the Moneyed Midways, where we bring your the best business and money-related blog posts from the best of the past week's business and money-related blog carnivals!

Luke, of Real World Really, committed one of the cardinal sins of hosting a blog carnival this past week. What could be so bad you ask? In one word: Haiku.

To understand why, let's return to our rant on the subject from the May 26, 2006 edition of OMM, in which we had the following to say:

We begin this week's edition of Political Calculations' weekly wrapup of all the major business, capitalist, debt-reducing, investing, marketing, personal finance and frugal-living blog carnivals, On the Moneyed Midways with a rant on how *not* to present the posts submitted in a blog carnival.

We can summarize our position in one word: Haiku. While we greatly appreciate the creativity needed to master this exquisite form of Japanese poetry, it should not, ever, be used to describe the posts that have been contributed for a blog carnival. Not ever. Never. Ever. And in case we haven't made our point clear, you may discover the many reasons why for yourself by scrolling down and visiting the Carnival of Debt Reduction for this week....

Unfortunately, we don't have to change our suggestion for discovering why Haiku is such a bad choice around which to organize a blog carnival, as this week's Carnival of Debt Reduction is once again the victim of haiku-contamination. Even worse, since we now have a repeat offender, we have to lay down the law. We will no longer feature any edition of a blog carnival that features verses of haiku, which we find to be utterly incapable of adequately communicating why we should consider clicking through on a link to a contributed post.

It wastes our time and it wastes the carnival contributors' efforts. Stop the carnage now, blog carnival hosts, don't ever do it! Not ever. Never. Ever.

Other than that, the rest of this week's blog carnivals were fine, Mrs. Lincoln. Really! Aside from the haiku disaster, this past week is one of the best of the year so far. Just keep scrolling down for the best of the week that was....

On the Moneyed Midways for April 11, 2008
Carnival	Post	Blog	Comments
Carnival of Debt Reduction	Earning More Doesn't Help If You Don't Spend Less	I've Paid Twice for This Already…	Paidtwice shares a lesson learned the hard way that you can't control your debts until you control your spending.
Carnival of Money Stories	Have You ever Had to Tell the Boss "No?"	Free Money Finance	FMF links to a WSJ story about a lawyer who had to make a quick decision to choose between work and home, using it to launch a discussion of when others have been compelled to make the choice for themselves.
Carnival of Personal Finance	The Annual Cost of Pet Ownership: Can You Afford a Furry Friend	Money Under 30	David's friend Dan adopted a couple of kittens after buying a condo, and was surprised at how much it costs to own cats. Absolutely essential reading for putting the one-time and ongoing expenses of owning a pet up front for consideration!
Carnival of Real Estate	The 24 Worst Bad MLS Photos of the Year	Reagent in CT	Is your real estate agent really working for you or against you when they take pictures of your house to put on the MLS? Athol has a don't miss listing of the worst photos uploaded to the MLS to "help" make the sale!
Carnival of Taxes	A Fistful of Dollars: the CEO Tax Dodge	SOX First	Some big company CEOs get some pretty amazing perks, but Leon Gettler is amazed that several corporate titans have deals that requires their companies pay for the income taxes that come with their use and abuse of these perks.
Carnival of Trust	The 10 Changes a CEO Needs to Make to Win Young Consumers - #10 Focus on Trust not Technology	mobileYouth	The Best Post of the Week, Anywhere! Graham Brown explains the value of trust in forging strong relationships with young consumers and established businesses, and identifies why brands such as Starbucks has credibility where others like The Gap does not.
Carnival of Trust	Carnival of Trust	True Colors Consulting	If you're a blog carnival host looking for an outstanding example of how to create a compelling blog carnival, look no further than this week's Carnival of Trust. Not one lick of haiku anywhere in The Best Carnival of the Week, Anywhere!
Cavalcade of Risk	The Bear Stearns Fallout and a Solution	SOX First	Leon Gettler compares the Fed's recent actions to "bail out" the U.S. banking indisutry with actions taken in both Japan and Korea following banking crises in those countries and comes down solidly in favor of the Korean solution in Absolutely essential reading!
Economics and Social Policy	The Difference Between Legal Tax Avoidance and Illegal Tax Evasion	Money Blue Book	Raymond describes the difference between tax avoidance (which is legal) and tax evasion (which is not), in perhaps the most timely post of the week before April 15th in the U.S.!
Festival of Frugality	How to Haggle and Pay a Lower Price	Finance Blog	Sometimes, it's as easy as asking, but the Finance Blog goes the extra mile to help you get the lowest price or a better value through the art of negotiation.
Festival of Frugality	Find IT on eBay	Pants in a Can	Pants in a Can used to buy his favorite jeans at The Gap, but they discontinued the style. Fortunately, he discovered that he could still get the jeans via eBay, brand new, and at an 85% discount!
Festival of Stocks	Why You Should Be a Lazy Trader	Trading Trainer	A.J. Brown provides an invaluable lesson in why it pays to "wait for the right set-ups before putting your hard-earned money into the market" as part of your trading discipline.
Odysseus Medal	What Do I Do Now?	BloodhoundBlog	Highly successful Phoenix-area Realtor Russell Shaw counsels a veteran agent, a new agent, and by extension all real estate agents, on how to shape their careers and overcome the problems and challenges they face. Absolutely essential reading!

Previous Editions

• OMM's Running Index for 2008
• OMM's Running Index for 2007
• The Best Blogs Found in 2006 (and our full 2006 index)!

Labels: carnival

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