Welcome to the AskPatty Blog Carnival, where we share a refreshing assortment of female friendly news and interesting automotive tidbits from around the blogosphere. Whether it's informative stories about eco-friendly people or green cars, care care tips or safety, exciting reports about amazing women in the automotive industry or female friendly car reviews, we've got something here for everyone. Have you got something to share? Halloween is just around the corner, so we scared up some especially spooky carnival items as well.  Email Ask Patty at info@askpatty.com or use the form  to include your own blog bits in next week's carnival!

Last week, NASCAR drivers helped spread Susan G. Komen for the Cure's NASCAR creed: Go Pink or Go Home! at the Bank of America 500 race at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte, N.C.  While it is uncommon to see drivers in pink during a NASCAR race, Susan G. Komen for the Cure knows these drivers and their corporate sponsors, will help will help raise awareness of breast cancer within a very important audience. "Breast cancer is the number one health concern for women and women make up about 40 percent of NASCAR fans. It makes a lot of sense for us to pursue this kind of initiative through our great partners," said Katrina McGhee, vice president of marketing for Susan G. Komen for the Cure. "We are committed to seeing a world without breast cancer and work to educate women and men everywhere about the importance of breast self-awareness and the early detection of breast cancer. Our sponsors are helping to make this possible." Want to make a donation? Virtually anyone with a mobile phone can make a "Go Pink or Go Home" $5 donation to Susan G. Komen for the Cure simply by sending the text message KOMEN to 90999.

M&M'S Brand is making a $650,000 guaranteed donation to Komen for the Cure through the sale of limited-edition dark and light pink M&M'S Chocolate Candies nationwide -- available in both Milk Chocolate and Peanut varieties. In addition, 10 percent of the sale of its My M&M'S "Promise Blend" of pink and white M&M's Milk Chocolate Candies available exclusively online at www.mymms.com and 10 percent of the sale of its co-branded merchandise at M&M'S World Stores will benefit Komen. The brand has been a Susan G. Komen for the Cure partner since 2003, raising more than $4 million to help discover the causes and cures for breast cancer.

Consumer Reports will reveal brand-new reliability data on Thursday, October 23. Their annual survey tracks 10 year's worth of reliability data and details future trends for the most and least reliable cars on the roads, while their in-depth data enables them to predict how this year's models will fare. If you're in the market for a new car, be sure to stop by Consumer Reports and do your research!

We love the folks over at The Busted Knuckle Garage! They've got a great lineup of car-related products for ladies to buy for their favorite carguys, including amazing lotions and healing salves, but in recognition of how many of us cargals are out under the hood ourselves, they've given us our own "Automotive Femineering"  cap to broadcast our automotive interests. They've altered their traditional "Busted Knuckle" logo with a nicely manicured female hand  on the side of the cap they've embroidered "No Car, No Story" so that you can tell everyone about your own personal wheels, and on the back it reads "Let A Woman Do It" -- advice to take to heart eh? The cute hat is sized for women and available in chocolate brown with pink accents, and has a slightly frayed distressed look on the bill. They say it's their "way of saying thanks to putting up with us guys hiding out in the garage and under our cars, motorcycles, trucks...."

"Change. It's such an in word these days that it's almost lost its meaning," says Toby over at Diva Marketing Blog,   in which she shares her reflections on change and how Ford's Model T can help us learn about the many changes happening today because of new social social media marketing techniques.

Looking for some - er - unusual jewelry? How about this  Oil Pendant collection?  Each inch-long handblown glass piece is sealed with recycled silver or gold and contains a drop of recycled oil. Hmm.

The economy is changing and consumers are caught in a tug of war: Car dealers, most of whom already are facing hard times, need to increase their profitability -- just as car buyers are trying to spend less. This affects the entire car-buying process, from vehicle availability to new car financing and incentives to lease deals and the price of used cars. Joanne Helperin over at Edmunds.com  shares an excellent look at what you can expect and how to best take advantage of the slow economy's impact.

Have you ever noticed that many new cars look suspiciously alike? On closer examination, you may be able to differentiate one from another - the badge, a grille, the unique hood design, etc. With auto show season upon us, another model year of new cars will soon hit the streets. In this article at the Los Angeles Times, Joni Gray discusses 12 vehicles that most influenced current popular car trends.

Situated along the 405 Freeway in Los Angeles County, this Carson car dealership's displays -- often set to the backdrop of the Carson oil refineries -- are sometimes quirky, and usually eye-grabbers. Expressing up the fiendish joy of this Halloween season, they've got four full-size mummies standing chained to a new Corvette, while skeletons straddle the hood of another Corvette suspended from the air by a crane. Creepy!

SAMACLEOD over at The Car Hangar has posted a photo of the Halloween Robo Car car he bought last Halloween. Has anybody seen whether Hot Wheels has released any special editions for this Halloween season?

If you live near Dearborn, Michigan, then you won't want  to miss this special Halloween event at The Henry Ford Museum.  Offered every half hour between from 6:30 p.m. until 9 p.m. from October 24 through 26, The Henry Ford presents a turn-of-the-20th-century Halloween activity promising frightful fun for boys and ghouls of all ages! Admission includes a free treat bag. For more information or to purchase tickets call (313) 982-6001 or visit www.thehenryford.org.

Does your little one want to dress up like his or her favorite NASCAR driver for this year's upcoming trick-or-treat outing? Your junior driver can choose from four Jeff Gordon or Dale Earnhardt, Jr costume variations. Vroom, Vroom!

It's not a trick: Nissan Motors will recall more than 204,000 U.S. vehicles from its 2007 and 2008 model years due to the possibility that a passenger side airbag could fail to deploy properly in an accident. According to a release at Yahoo! news,  the voluntary recall covers 2007 and 2008 Nissan Altima, Altima Coupe, 350Z, Murano and Rogue; and Infiniti G35 Sedan, G37 Coupe and EX35 built from March 12, 2007, to May 27, 2008.

Do you believe in ghosts? We dug up some spooky car-related videos at Youtube.com that will make you believe ghostly spirits do haunt the earth, or at least seem to hang around surveillance cameras! You can observe a ghostly girl caught on surveillance camera in a parking lot,  or watch an ethereal apparition hovering in a car impound lot.  Let us know what you think!