Tuesday, October 13, 2009

2nd Annual Skeptics Day Parade

Today is Skeptics Day! Its true, its on the calendar.
Last year I listed a bunch of junk I didn't believe, and then you left the things you were skeptical about in the comment's section.  We called it a Skeptic's Day Parade.

Lets do it again, shall we?

So, in honor of skeptics day, here is a list of things I'm not quite sold on:

Bean-o.  I'm skeptical, what can I say?  Do I really have to expound on this?  I just can't see how it could work.  I know they try to explain the whole enzyme thing in their commercials, but I'm still not sold.

The Nobel Peace Prize.  I mean, so long as we're handing out prizes based on effort alone, then I'm expecting Betty Crocker to come knocking on my door any day now with the Bake-Off grand prize. I deserve it for all the effort I've put into getting oil and water to mix.

The Swine Flu. I don't get what we are supposed to be scared of.  And from what I hear, neither does anybody else.  In fact, people seem so convinced that they're supposed to be scared of something, that the mass majority of people I hear from have decided it makes more sense to be scared of the vaccination than the actual flu.  Why do people think they are supposed to be scared of the N1H1 "Swine Flu" virus?  I don't know, but my guess is it has something to do with  Mexico and Pigs.

The Housing Market Recovery.  Honestly, I think this is hype from starving real estate agents who want to use fear of missing out on a deal as a motivating factor for potential buyers.  The fact is there is a glut of empty homes not yet on the market which will begin going into foreclosure in massive numbers in the coming months, and people are not done walking away yet.    Once these homes have been foreclosed on, they will enter the market in similarly massive numbers.  I'm no economics expert, but I know when supply is greater than demand, prices drop. And until employment numbers improve, there's not going to be a surge in demand. (And guess what, Arizona has dropped from the 3rd best place to find work to the 84th worst place...do the math.)

And lastly "Simple" or "Simplistic"...I have become seriously skeptical of anything attached to these words.  These words used to actually mean not pretentious, sophisticated or grand, common, ordinary, lowly or plain.
I have yet to see anybody use the word "Simple" or "Simplistic" and then show me a picture of a cotton cloth. My favorite mis-use of the word "simplistic" involves hair-do's with 10 steps and three kinds of ribbon which have been baked in the oven on sticks and threaded through the hair with darning needles.  I am skeptical that this is more simple than a pony-tail.  But maybe I'm wrong, after all, skepticism is just a general disbelief, not a hard core fact of inaccuracy.

So there's my list of things I'm skeptical about.  What about you?  I'm giving you permission to leave a link to your blog in my comment's section today, so go for it, tell us what you're skeptical about, and find some new readers.

6 comments:

AW Cake! said...

Biffidous Regularous (or however you spell it). I'm sorry Jamie Lee Curtis, but I think you made that one up. Just because you wanna sell some yogurt with a little fiber in it doesn't mean you get to make up new words.

Kristina P. said...

Hey, Obama did have that Beer summit with the police officer and the professor. So, it was well deserved.

brittney said...

I don't believe ion hairdryers and flat irons do anything better than regular ones, it isn't worth the extra money.

I also don't believe the market is on the upswing, I hear people talking about how much better it will be next year. People, my county assesment of the valuve of my house is expected to drop again next year by another 35 grand. We have not hit rock bottom yet for all the foreclosure reasons you stated.

I don't believe as many people have the swine flu as claim to. I think they have the flu and thats all. You have to have a test at the hospital to confirm it and they give you tamaflu or something for it. YOu, sitting in my chair with barely a sniffle makes me skeptical. But if you do have the swine flu, what the hell are you doing at my salon infecting everyone?

Goob said...

oooh good one Wix. wish I had thought about that!

J. P. said...

In GOD we trust, everyone else gets NCIC(http://www.fas.org/irp/agency/doj/fbi/is/ncic.htm)- because:
"these aren't my pants"
"...TWO beers..."
"...these TWO DUDES..."
"I haven't smoked weed in 'a while'"
etc., etc.

YEAH, I'm a skeptic

tiburon said...

I am with you. Love it.

I am skeptical of at home tanners.

And any get rich quick or lose weight overnight scheme.