Looking for today’s blog carnivals

After I wrote a bit about blog carnivals, my friend Chris Aldrich wondered whether I had any extant examples. I didn’t, because I hadn’t looked; I had been in pure reminiscence mode. Now I have done the work, yea unto the fifth page of search results, and I can reveal that there are indeed a few blog carnivals that seem to be alive and well

One that I hope will please Chris is the Playful Math Education Carnival (formerly “Math Teachers at Play”), which describes itself as “a monthly collection of mathy fun: tips, tidbits, games, activities, and more”. The latest edition, no. 148, is at Playful Math Education Carnival, where I learned about heptagonal numbers and centred heptagonal numbers. I also learned about another math carnival -- the aptly named Carnival of Mathematics -- with the latest edition at ThatsMaths. From that I grabbed the brilliant “can I remember the reciprocal” as a mnemonic for 1/π, which gives a much more accurate value for π than either “May I have a drink, alcoholic of course” or 22/7.¹

The others I found are no less alive, but do nothing for me. However, they might pique someone else’s interest, so here goes.

Most likely to appeal to people who happen to read this blog post is The RPG Blog Carnival organised by of Dice and Dragons. As I say, D&D does nothing for me -- I don’t even understand Stranger Things fully -- but it may be fun for someone else.

Another that might interest Chris Aldrich is offered by the Digital Rhetoric Collective. I haven’t really worked out how that one is organised or presented, really, but all the carnivals to date are linked from a summary page. This one stands out in two ways. First, carnivals seem to be much less frequent, only one or two a year, and all seem to be by members of the DRC and hosted on the DRC website. If you’re into digital rhetorics, this will be the kind of thing you are into.

Similar in some respects is the blog carnival organised by Signals, which seems to be an online magazine that offers “insiders’ perspective on the world of stem cells and regenerative medicine”. That carnival is an annual affair. Each summer, the organiser asks contributors to muse on a particular relevant topic, this year “is aging reversible?”. Not all the posts are hosted at Signals, but nor does the hosting rotate.

I’m not sure what to make of this post from the International Network for Hate Studies. It claims to be a blog carnival and says

Going beyond the headlines, six new articles published over the next few days afford an insight into new manifestations of hate crime as indeed the new spaces these are occurring.

Unfortunately, it does not provide any link to those six articles, nor can I find a search function. I hate it when that happens.

Carnival of HR “is dedicated to bringing together the best posts from the HR blogging community!” The schedule looks sadly neglected, although I did manage to dig up one recent edition. Perhaps they’ve all been too busy trying to work out how to get anything done in whatever hellish piece of HR software they’re using.²

Marginally more interesting might be Productivity & Organizing Blog Carnival. This one is a little different, in that all the carnival round-up posts are hosted by the organiser herself. Posts are often sponsored, too, by products or services that “would interest professional organizers or their clients”. I’m beyond help on that front.

I haven’t been able to figure out the Self-Confidence Blog Carnival at all. Is it a one-off? The first of a series? The site doesn’t seem to have a search function, and the carnival rules are pretty complex. But hey, it produced results that may, I hope, have boosted someone’s self confidence.