Daily Dose of Common Sense

If it’s between this and flowers for Valentine’s Day… FLOWERS! Dear god, let it be flowers.

[Via MomLogic]

“Groundhog Day” is one of my favorite movies. Besides showcasing the brilliant Bill Murray and a great cast of supporting actors (Stephen Tobolowsky, anyone?), it also highlights an animal who doesn’t get much air time outside of February 2nd. Where else but America would we have a famous groundhog like Punxsutawney Phil, the preeminent rodent who predicts the weather each year?

If you haven’t seen the movie to explain it, here’s who we’re talking about:

Every Feb. 2, Phil is the honored guest at an early-morning party at Gobbler’s Knob, a wooded area outside of town where thousands of tourists watch Phil issue his annual weather forecast. As per legend, if Phil sees his shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter; if he does not, there will be an early spring.

Well, PETA wants Phil replaced with an animatronic groundhog. A RoboHog, if you will.

The letter calls it “cruel” to keep groundhogs on display year-round, adding that groundhogs are shy creatures that become stressed when handled by humans or facing large crowds.

Besides being not very practical, the idea is ridiculous. Phil probably has it better than you and I do. He works ONE day a year, and the rest of the time he lazes about getting fat and watching TV (probably…that’s what I’d be doing, anyway). He lives in a pen with three other groundhogs that is heated in the winter and air-conditioned in the summer.

Does PETA think this publicity really makes anyone take them more seriously? For me, it just confirms my suspicions that they are publicity-hound crackpots.

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On August 28th,1963, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C., Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered one of the most powerful speeches in modern history. Commonly referred to as the “I have a dream” speech, King spoke bravely and wisely, and called for an end to discrimination.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, celebrated every third Monday in January, honors his birthday, which is January 15th. The day is one of only four United States federal holidays which commemorate an individual.

So, on this third Monday of January 2010, take a moment to listen again to (or reread) his iconic words spoken 47 years ago. The words are just as relevant and important now as they were then.

Read it

Listen to it

Photo: The U.S. National Archives

How stupid do you need to be in order to shoot bullets into the air for fun? Even if you’ve never heard of Newton or his Law of Gravity, you know if you throw an orange in the air that it will fall back down to the ground. Well, shockingly, bullets work just like oranges. If they go up, they eventually come down. And sometimes innocent people get hurt.

This past NYE in Atlanta, a 4-year old boy was killed at 12:30 AM while sitting in church with his mother. (The fact that a 4-year old was out at 12:30 AM and not home in bed is surely the topic of an upcoming DDOCS post, but I digress….) A gun (likely an AK-47 rifle) had been fired into the air within a 3-mile radius of the church and the boy was a tragic casualty.

Sadly, this incident is not the only example of stray bullets falling from the sky and doing harm. You have to wonder what these shooters are thinking. Do they believe that the bullets will disappear? Or, perhaps be absorbed in the clouds like in a Bugs Bunny cartoon?

I learned about gravity as a kid, mostly through this video. (Another reason why taking Schoolhouse Rock off the air has made future generations less smart.)

Down, down, down, down, down….gravity.

Well, it’s the time of year for top 10 lists. So, why shouldn’t we jump on that bandwagon, too? Here is a list of the top 10 DDOCS posts from 2009 as picked by the number of readers each post received.

Please read, share and enjoy. Here’s to a 2010 filled with more common sense. Happy new year!

DDOCS 2009 Top 10 Posts

• Wait for the Beep…And Keep Waiting
• How to Lose Friends on Facebook
• Is Science on the Ropes?
• Kick Your Butt
• The Danger of Alternative Medicine
• Flim-flam: Magic Massage Bra
• How to Get Girls: Clean and Cook
• The False Safety of Floaties
• Study on Natural Childbirth Classes
• Oasis Criticizes Fans for Taking Up Refund Offer

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The answer is almost always do NOT regift. If you don’t want it, what makes you think someone else will? But, times are tight so many people may be desperate to cover all their gift bases. If you MUST regift, consider these helpful hints:

How is the condition? Only new, unopened gifts in good condition should be considered for regifting. Never give partially used gift cards. Don’t give items that you have owned for a long time. A general rule of thumb: if you have to dust it off, it is not regiftable. 

Is this going to work? Successful regifters use common sense. If you are going to regift, be sure you know who gave you the item, so you don’t return something to the original giver. Only regift items to people who are not likely to see the original giver.

Do you have good intentions? Don’t just give a gift to give a gift. Be sure that the recipient will appreciate the item. Remember, if you feel that an item is undesirable, the recipient probably will too. If you are regifting simply because you ran out of time, gift cards are simple to obtain and always well received.

The smarter thing to do with unwanted gifts is to give them to a charitable organization. Visit this information page by the Better Business Bureau for ideas.

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Some residents of Big Spring, Texas didn’t appreciate one man’s holiday decorations. The man has a statue of Michelangelo’s David in his front lawn. For laughs and holiday cheer, he dressed David up in a Santa hat and beard, which caused some parents to complain. They claim their kids were asking “Why is Santa naked?”

After complaints, the homeowner covered the statue’s bait and tackle with boxer shorts, which you can see here in this photo.

Parents can’t explain to kids that it’s not really Santa and that it’s a replica of a famous statue? Come on, people! Lighten up.

You know, living in a place called BIG SPRING, these townspeople should have appreciated the joke.

[Via PatsPapers.com]

Photo: BETSY BLANEY/The Associated Press

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

Some people had common sense.

• The owners of this house.
• Anyone who bet the farm on Susan Boyle’s first album. But, her success isn’t really much of a surprise considering the world’s response to her appearance on Britain’s Got Talent. We’ve been rooting for her since we heard her first note.
• Despite complaints, a Connecticut elementary school principal maintains his ban on religious symbols in his public school’s classrooms. Hooray for the separation of church and state!

And, some did not.

• An employee of the Arizona school district is accused of using school computers to search for the existence of alien life. It will take over $1 million to fix the problems in the computer system. Can the aliens chip in on this one?
• Anyone who buys apparel from White Castle, especially something that looks disturbingly close to a muumuu. Do your dignity a (smaller) favor and buy a Snuggie instead. [Thanks, Consumerist!]
• TV viewers tuning into Steven Seagal Lawman who aren’t just gawking at the incredibly absurd. Is it me, or does it seem like someone is going to get inappropriately injured here?

With the holidays upon us, many of you will be at cocktail parties, office gatherings, and seasonal shindigs. It’s a time for seeing old friends as well as meeting new ones. Or, as I like to call it, the Season of Mindless Chit Chat.

If you’re not hugging the wall, chances are you’ll be mingling and chatting people up at these parties. It’s usually fairly easy to tell whether someone is interested in what you have to say or not. (If someone pulls the old “Oh, look at the time” routine, that’s usually a pretty good indicator that you’re not exactly a witty conversationalist.)

However, there are some people who really do seem clueless. To make sure you’re not one of the boring ones, check out this list by Gretchen Rubin at Psychology Today.

Her tips to know if you’re boring include:

Repeated, perfunctory responses. A person who repeats, “Oh really? Wow. Oh really? Interesting.” isn’t particularly engaged.

Simple questions. People who are bored ask simple questions. “When did you move?” “Where did you go?” People who are interested ask more complicated questions that show curiosity, not mere politeness.

Interruption. Although it sounds rude, interruption is actually a good sign, I think. It means a person is bursting to say something, and that shows interest.

Body position. People with a good connection generally turn to face each other. A person who is partially turned away isn’t fully embracing the conversation.

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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!