Daily Dose of Common Sense

From the Huffington Post, here are 15 toys to avoid for your kids this holiday. Some of them are weird, some disturbing, and some just plain wrong.

Enjoy!

It was recently announced that “unfriend” was Oxford Dictionary’s 2009 “Word of the Year.” (Don’t those Facebook holdouts feel stupid right about now?) If you’ve used Facebook to any large degree, you know why this word is so popular. It’s occasionally necessary to separate the “friends” from the “unfriends” on your list.

Some are bolder about weeding out than others. In fact, we heard of this status update on Thanksgiving Day:

“Time to slim down the facebook friend herd. Check back in an hour to see if you made the cut.”

Ouch. You can be thankful you weren’t that guy’s friend.

If you need to whittle down your friend list, we put together a quick guide to help you determine who should go. Here are eight reasons to unfriend someone:

#8: Anyone who announces they’re cutting their friend list and then asks you to check back to see if you’re still a friend. No thanks, ass-clown. UNFRIEND.

#7: Someone who habitually leaves inappropriate comments on your updates/links/photos. Usually someone you don’t know very well, he or she assumes they are witty. They’re not. UNFRIEND.

#6: Along the same lines, someone who habitually tags you in inappropriate photos. Yes, the “untag” button is helpful. But there’s a good chance mutual connections could still see it. UNFRIEND.

#5: Anyone who posts marketing messages (or SPAM) on your wall. This is becoming more and more prevalent as people use social media for business. Leave the business to LinkedIn or Twitter. Facebook should be about friends, not the weekend marketing seminar you’re trying to book. UNFRIEND.

#4: People who can’t be bothered with a real status update. “Jodi is” is not a status update. If you have nothing to say, don’t bother updating your status. Also in this category are the jokers who say, “Jodi is XYDFDKALJC” as a status update. Mashing your keyboard is NOT a status update. UNFRIEND.

#3: Those people who relentlessly send you invites to FB games. One word: Farmville. UNFRIEND.

#2: Anyone over thirty who continually brags about how drunk they were the night before or how hard they party. Maybe we’re just bitter because we have lives and responsibilities, but we DON’T want to hear about it. Besides, your mom is probably on FB, too. She definitely doesn’t want to hear about it. (Unless you were partying WITH her, in which case…ewwww.) UNFRIEND.

#1 reason to unfriend someone on Facebook: you can’t remember who the hell they are.

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Turkey gets a bad reputation as the cause of post-Thanksgiving “food comas.” This is where you’re so sleepy that you can barely function once the last bite of pumpkin pie has been swallowed. A myth has long been perpetrated about tryptophan, an enzyme in turkey, as being the cause for sleepiness. Well, that is just plain wrong.

Yes, tryptophan can cause sleepiness. But, here’s how it does it.

Tryptophan also can be metabolized into serotonin and melatonin, neurotransmitters that exert a calming effect and regulates sleep. However, L-tryptophan needs to be taken on an empty stomach and without any other amino acids or protein in order to make you drowsy. There’s lots of protein in a serving of turkey and it’s probably not the only food on the table.

Also, the concentration of tryptophan in turkey is the same as the amount found in beef and chicken, and even more tryptophan is contained in cheese and pork.

So, why are you so sleepy after all that turkey dinner?

Overeating is the culprit in this myth. Ingesting an excess of food can slow blood flow and oxygenation, which makes you feel tired. Many people are led to believe it’s the turkey that specifically makes them long for their pillow, but in reality, it’s just the quantity of dinner.

Don’t blame the turkey if you have to go to bed early tonight.

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Are you planning on getting up at the crack of dawn on Friday to snag some sales? The stores hope you will. The name “Black Friday” refers to the fact that retailers generally move into the black (in other words profitable) on that day. But, look deeper into the fine print on the sale items and you may decide to stay home instead.

Many stores pull some sleazy shenanigans to get customers in the door. Here are some things to look out for.

Limited quantities
Yes, those deals on the flat-screen tvs look too good to be true. The sales are real, but only for the first few people who can grab one. The stores knowingly limit the amount of items for sale–and there are NO rain checks. So, if there are four tvs available for the deal price and you are number five…so sad, too bad.

Sears has not officially revealed its Black Friday sales. However, the company confirmed to CNNMoney.com that two of its post-Thanksgiving deals include a Samsung 40-inch 1080p LCD HDTV for $599.99, “Only while quantities last, minimum three per store, no rainchecks.”

“Sure, you probably have more, but how do you put out a circular to millions of households and only have three?,” Dworsky asked.

Taking advantage of not-so-tech-savvy consumers
Stores knowingly offer the killer deals on lower-quality products, especially electronics, because consumers won’t know the difference. These have far less features than the standard models in a product line.

Dworsky cautions that retailers usually don’t advertise these models as derivatives. “There’s no way the average consumer will know that the TV model they are buying is not the standard one unless they are savvy enough to compare their model numbers,” he said.

The risk
A Black Friday stampede at Wal-Mart last year resulted in the death of an employee. This year, some stores have changed their policies to avoid chaos, either staying open throughout Thanksgiving night or giving numbers to those in early morning lines. However, not all stores have revised the “winner-take-all” atmosphere of Friday morning. If you’re in the market for one of the hot items, be prepared to hold your own against the masses.

Also, you risk getting up at THE CRACK OF DAWN to come home empty handed. Talk about presentus interruptus. That would be too depressing for words.

Me, I’ll be in bed at 5AM on Friday. I’ll wait for the Cyber Monday deals and shop in my pajamas.

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I’m all for supporting local zoos, but reindeer poop necklaces?

The enterprising “gem”ologists at Miller Park Zoo now are offering necklace pendants from dried reindeer droppings, joining the explosively popular ornaments that debuted last year.

The necklaces go on sale this Friday for $15 each. So, get ‘em while they’re, er, steaming.

[Via PatsPapers.com]

Not everyone relishes the quality family time provided by the holidays. If you dread the upcoming moments with your kin like a Michael Jackson seance, here are some tips to get through it all in one sane piece.

At family gatherings, don’t talk about:

• religion
• politics
• the lack of seasoning in the food
• your lesbian experiment in college
• the inheritance

More tips:

Don’t expect to share a bedroom with your boyfriend/girlfriend if your hosts are conservative in this area. Just accept that you’re sleeping apart for a few days in exchange for some free grub. Better yet, offer to stay in a hotel nearby.

Just smile and nod any time your mother picks on comments on your _________________ (insert most sensitive topic here). Because she WILL mention it.

Make sure to keep taking your medication. Whether it’s Prozac, Ambien, Johnny Walker or chocolate cake, don’t try to go cold turkey around Turkey Day.

Pack a bag with snacks. That way, if you don’t like the food, you can sneak away for a Snickers bar later.

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Here are some of our favorite brief Web stories from this week.

Some people had common sense.

• A University of Minnesota professor uses superheroes to teach physics. I never understood physics, but maybe I would have if it had been this exciting.
• There were some big changes in women’s health this week. Recommendations for mammograms and pap smears were adjusted and women everywhere were confused. We thought this write-up from NBC’s Dr. Nancy Snyderman did a nice job of putting it all into perspective.
• Over privacy concerns, the Grinches at the USPS called a halt to the “Dear Santa” letter program with the residents of North Pole, Alaska this week. But, according to one of the Alaska Senators on Friday, the USPS has agreed to resume the program. Some new security measures will be put in place, and Santa’s letters will continue to be opened and responded to by the Alaskan volunteers. Childhood everywhere rejoices!

And, some did not.

• A North Carolina dad packed McDonald’s for his eighth-grade daughter’s lunch in a brown paper bag, and she ended up suspended. My dad used to pack me HoHos, Hostess Fruit Pies, or Hostess Cupcakes in my lunch. Would I be kicked out of school now?
• A 19-year old man was arrested in Texas after selling pot door-to-door. (What, is pot Amway, now?) His luck turned south when he knocked on the door of an off-duty policeman. Dude.
• Kate Moss, a well-known waif model, has become the poster girl for other girls who are trying not to eat. Moss recently said, “nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.” Girls aspiring to be super (dangerously) thin now use this quote on their own web sites as inspiration not to eat. NOT TO EAT. Someone should slap Moss upside the head with a double Quarter Pounder with Cheese for this comment. (To be fair, the model’s rep says the line was taken out of context. Sure, it was.)

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Two college students in Pennsylvania experienced terrible service at a local pub. They did what almost anyone who gets bad service would do: they didn’t pay the tip. The problem is the students were with other friends, and the restaurant automatically adds an 18% added to any large party’s tab.

So, the restaurant called the police and the two tip skippers were later arrested. With handcuffs. Court date to come.

So, let’s look at both sides. First, how bad was the service? Here is what the two students told the media.

They had to find their own napkins and cutlery while their waitress caught a smoke, had to ask the bar for soda refills, and had to wait over an hour for salad and wings, they told NBC10.

Sounds pretty lousy. I wouldn’t tip either.

The restaurant, on the other hand, believes this was a violation of their policy.

The menu clearly states, “18 percent gratuity added to check of parties of 6 of more,” and a similar message is printed on receipts, a pub employee said this morning.

So, the police treated this as a theft. A theft of $16.35.

First, if you have ever waited tables, you know when you’re giving lousy service. I waited tables for years, and I knew that I was a horrible server. It’s not hard to figure it out based on your tips, guest comments, and your own common sense. This waitress went out to have smokes and let people wait an hour for food? She KNEW she didn’t deserve the tip, but thought she was entitled to it anyway. Guess what? Gratuities are given for good service.

Second, the restaurant risks bad PR and the ire of every college student in town over a lousy $16? It’s mind-boggling. Seems like these students are their bread and butter (forgive the food pun) and the restaurant should treat them a little better. It’s been a few years since I’ve been on a campus, but if I remember anything, it’s that all college students are just itching for a good protest. I smell a boycott brewing in Bethlehem.

Third, the police have nothing better to do than get involved in this case? What real crimes were being committed while these non-tippers were being booked? You would think one of the officers would show a little common sense, throw down a $20 and call it a day.

If you want to fight an automatic gratuity, talk to the manager. Explain your situation and make your case. Most times (as it happened with me a few times), the manager will remove the automatic gratuity from your bill and instead leave the tip to your discretion. If the manager isn’t there, or doesn’t agree with you, pay the tip and then talk to the owner later. Believe me, these people care about how their customers are treated. You might find a free dinner or gift certificate coming your way.

If that doesn’t work, there’s always the Fox Problem Solvers.

[Via PatsPapers.com]

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We’ve all heard joke versions of “there’s two kinds of people in the world”. Those who get Seinfeld, and those who don’t, etc.

But in the computer business, it’s for real, and it breaks down to those who have already experienced a hard drive failure, and those who will. Because unless you are unfortunate enough to die shortly after first using a computer, there sure as shit isn’t anyone who will escape.

Google is an interesting source of data on this because they run their computer infrastructure not by buying less of the higher-quality, expensive business equipment, but by buying more consumer-grade gear and linking it up smartly so the failures get taken care of automatically (key point – I’ll come back to it in a bit).

Their data shows that, on average, there is roughly a 20% chance of a hard drive failing in the first 3 years. Now, I’m no statistics guru, but I think no matter how you slice and dice those odds, it shows that almost everyone reading these words is at least due–if not long overdue–for a drive failure.

But here’s where we run smack dab into one of the biggest quirks of human nature. That sub-conscious pattern-matching faculty in our brain that we call intuition is, very frequently, lousy at correctly perceiving risk. In the case of data loss, even if we soberly judge the odds, we tend not to appreciate how disastrous the consequences can be.

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