Carnival of the Africans #5

That's right, loyal readers! We promised it, so here it is: the fifth instalment of the blog carnival celebrating science, scepticism and reason in Africa: Carnival of the Africans! Woohoo!

First I'd like to thank everyone who sent in submissions this time around. It makes hosting so much easier when the stories simply arrive in my inbox, without having to go digging for them. 

First up, we have a couple of items from James Hough over at Acinonyx Scepticus: James brings to our attention an important term in the sceptical phrasebook: Cargo Cult Science. Next, he points out how Rand Merchant Bank dropped the thinking ball in one of their advertising campaigns.

Next is our fearless leader, Michael Meadon from Ionian Enchantment. Michael explores the idea of wound licking as a plausible adaptive behaviour.

Simon Halliday from Amanuensis reviews some books of sceptical and ecomonic interest.

Doctor Spurt from Effortless Incitement explores the correlation between metaphorical language and actual experience.

Ewan McPhail from Ewan's Corner points out the bizarreness (is that a word?) of the warnings put out by local government regarding seaside religious rituals.

Michael from Irreverence highlights a list of "myths about the SA economy" published by the SA Communist Party.

Bongi from Other Things Amanzi offers us a frightening insight into the state of affairs in African medicine.

George Classen from Prometheus Unbound gives us a list of thirteen things to tell our children about life, gods and our origins.

Auke Slotegraaf from psychohistorian.org gives us a detailed account of a presentation he attended given by an astrologer.

The doctors from The Science of Sport run down the top 8 sports stories of 2008.

The Skeptic Detective relates an encounter with a tarot card reader.

And now, we have some newcomers!

Ambient Normality tackles the War on Christmas.

Jonathan Davis from Limbic Nutrition makes some comments on the news coverage of the recent riots in Greece.

Retroid Raving shares an essay on the state of science in South Africa.

Blogroll

In case you missed it, here's a concise list of all the blogs involved with the Carnival - perfect for copy/paste action (do it now!):

• 01 and the Universe
• Acinonyx Scepticus
• Amanuensis
• Ambient Normality
• Effortless Incitement
• Ewan's Corner
• Ionian Enchantment
• Irreverence
• Limbic Nutrition
• The Little Book of Capoeira
• Other Things Amanzi
• Orion Spur
• Pause and Consider
• Pickled Bushman
• Prometheus Unbound
• psychohistorian.org
• Scorched
• The Science of Sport
• Stop Danie Krugel
• Subtle Shift in Emphasis
• The Skeptic Detective
• Timbuktu Chronicles
• Yet Another Sceptic's Blog

And that about wraps it up for this month's CoA. Thanks for stopping by. And don't forget to join us at the Johannesburg Sceptics in the Pub next Monday!

UPDATE!!!!

Next month's Carnival of the Africans will be hosted over at The Skeptic Detective. Don't miss it!