Get Cynical

A blog dedicated to unwanted gifts.

I came up with this idea after attending a Christmas party where we played that Dirty Santa game where everybody exchanges/steals gag gifts. Seeing all the random gifts brought back childhood memories of gifts I’d received that secretly ended up in the trash or in the back of my closet. I remember my parents coaching me about being polite when Aunt so-and-so gave me my annual dose of brown silk socks. I thought it might be a fun experiment to see if other people would be willing to share similar experiences, anonymously, with others.

The rubberband gift ball actually was one I received from a coworker a few years back and blogged about it then. The owner of Uh Thanks had the audacity to ask me if he could use it for his blog. Doesn’t he know that proper blogging etiquette is to just steal things without credit?

I’m getting a ton of hits from this post I did back in 2004 after the good people at the now defunct Christian-Forums.com did a thread on why they thought Barack Obama could in fact be the anti-christ.

Unfortunately the original thread along with the Christians Forum has been raptured but here were some of the highlights:

• People can think what they want about me, I could really give a hoot. People think that the AC is coming out of the mid-east. My personal belief is that the AC is going to rise right out of the UN, and with this guys popularity, charisma, and how he is climbing the ranks in government real fast!!!, He may be in the UN next.
• When I first heard of Barak, a few days ago, the first thing I heard is that he is a guy who came out of nowhere and now many flock to his side. When my wife and I heard this, we both thought the same thing, the anti-christ. Now I am not claiming him to be, just something that triggered that thought in both of us.
• My sister and I both feel something “spooky” about this guy, but can’t quite figure out what it is. It is odd that strangers come up to him on the street. Why would they do that, unless they were drawn to him.
• I don’t think we should directly label Obama as AC, but it is very interresting. While I was watching him, the VERY FIRST thought that came to my mind was asking the Lord if I was looking at the AC. I don’t have a big opinion either way, but man, that was pretty scary.

From Wikipedia:

Shy Tory Factor is a name given by British opinion polling companies to a phenomenon observed in the 1990s, where the share of the vote won by the Conservative Party (i.e. the ‘Tories’) in elections was substantially higher than the proportion of people in opinion polls who said they would vote for the party.

I could only look at a few before my head started throbbing.

(via J-Walk)

An entire website devoted to Rules of Thumb.

From Wikipedia:

The term Bradley effect or Wilder effect refers to a phenomenon which has led to inaccurate voter opinion polls in some American political campaigns between a white candidate and a non-white candidate.[1][2][3] Specifically, there have been instances in which statistically significant numbers of white voters tell pollsters in advance of an election that they are either genuinely undecided, or likely to vote for the non-white candidate, but those voters exhibit a different behavior when actually casting their ballots. White voters who said that they were undecided break in statistically large numbers toward the white candidate, and many of the white voters who said that they were likely to vote for the black candidate ultimately cast their ballot for the white candidate. This reluctance to give accurate polling answers has sometimes extended to post-election exit polls as well.

Researchers who have studied the issue theorize that some white voters give inaccurate responses to polling questions because of a fear that they might appear to others to be racially prejudiced. Some research has suggested that the race of the pollster conducting the interview may factor into that concern. At least one prominent researcher has suggested that with regard to pre-election polls, the discrepancy can be traced in part by the polls’ failure to account for general conservative political leanings among late-deciding voters.

Let’s open up the mailbox and see what’s inside.

Please stop posting this crap about Ron Paul it’s embarassing. Your using the propaganda of the neocons who constructed this nonsense when Dr. Paul was running for congress again. The original author is a known criminal (and got immediately fired when he wrote this stuff) who fled to mexico recently. -.-

It’s too funny btw that the New Republic posted this. (though the author already admitted that it’s just a smear and he himself doesn’t believe it a second)

This seems to be the typical Paulnut response to the New Republic’s piece on Ron Paul. If the newsletters are not legit then I would agree with the sentiment. However Ron Paul has never said that those articles were never in his newsletters, only that he didn’t write them and wasn’t aware of them. Like I said yesterday, I’d be more prone to buy that excuse if it was one or two articles but there were dozens over the years in his allegedly official newsletter. Paul won’t even say who wrote the articles or why they were in his newsletter. I’ve upgraded Ron Paul from kooky creationist to racist homophobic paranoid loony creationist for the mean time. See the cat? See the cradle?

From: Aunt Jenny (ed. note… No, I don’t have an aunt jenny)

Re: snow blowing Christmas Tree

Oh Honey! Being one prone to cynicism myself I sympathize with your reaction!

Blog your heart out if you must on this and other topics, but I recommend you get more first hand info before you do. Trust me it helps improve your life in numerous ways!

I first saw this “snowing” tree about at the nursing home in which my grandma resided. The person that set it up used grand creativity to put a display at the base that included faux ice upon which were several faux penguins, gifts, and candy canes. I was charmed.

Subsequent decor included themes of rustic nature, glamour, and Santa’s elves at recess. All contained the snow well during use. I complimented and consulted the employee responsible for the decor, being a neat-nick myself and musing over hazards and problems as I often do.

I revel in the ingenuity and cleverness of people like this woman who encouraged and coached me. I especially admire it when it is put to use for the purpose of uplifting others. Being one of those “others” in this and many things throughout my life I learned to pass along their generosity as best I can. One example being the snow blowing Christmas tree in my own home.

The mess is miniscule compared to the pleasure of it, including the gentle sound as the snow cascades. I have had live trees all my life until this one. Each kind has mess, debris, minor challenges to set them up and take them down. And each has benefits that far outweigh the work and any silly little frustrations if any should arise.

Today I find your comment simply because I am looking for a good buy on more snow! Sure we lose a little here and there, but not much. We still have plenty from our original purchase some 5 years ago, but I’m securing my desire to try a different design next year which may require more just because I’m not the greatest engineer.

So take heart dear fellow cynic-leaning thinker! To suspend judgement based solely on imagination has immense benefits! A few of these are increasing openness to simple pleasures, acceptance of personal limitations, and the appreciation of others who experience life differently than ourselves.

I ask Jehovah God to bless you with ongoing revelation of the goodness and love He brings your way to draw you into Holy Scripture and a life with Him that supercedes any existence without Him!

It is in Jesus that any hope for burying cynicism rests. And I’m here to tell ya, being LESS cynical is BY FAR a better way to experience life!!!!

Christ’s Peace, dear one.

~ Jenny

I think Jenny is referring to this post.

Comedian Patton Oswalt straps on the Famous Bowl.

The Famous Bowl has a black plastic bottom and a clear plastic top that fogs appealingly from the jungle heat of the beige glop inside. Here’s where, in a quirky indie-film moment, I’d eat a sporkfull and realize… “Hey, this is pretty good!” I had considered that reaction as I drove the Famous Bowl home. It sat on the passenger seat next to me like a sullen runaway I’d picked up on the interstate. I wanted us to bond somehow. I wanted to eat my words. I like when things work out unexpectedly.

The Famous Bowl hit my mouth like warm soda, slouched down my throat, and splayed itself across my stomach like a sun-stroked wino. It was that precise combination of things, and so many other sensations that did not go together. At all.

The gravy, which I remembered as being tangy and delicious in my youth, tasted like the idea of blandness, but burned and then salted to cover the horrid taste. The mashed potatoes defiantly stood their ground against the gravy, as if they’d read The Artist’s Way and said, “I’m going to be boring and forgetful in my own potato-y way!” The corn tasted like it had been dunked in fake-corn-flavored ointment, and the popcorn chicken, breaded to the point of parody, was like chewing a cotton sleeve that someone had used to wipe chicken grease off their chin.

There has been in our country a divorce of church and state. This follows as a natural sequence of the declaration that “governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed.” The priest was no longer a necessity. His presence was a contradiction of the principle on which the Republic was founded. He represented, not the authority of the people, but of some “Power from on High,” and to recognize this other Power was inconsistent with free government. The founders of the Republic at that time parted company with the priests, and said to them: “You may turn your attention to the other world — we will attend to the affairs of this.” Equal liberty was given to all. But the ultra theologian is not satisfied with this — he wishes to destroy the liberty of the people — he wishes a recognition of his God as the source of authority, to the end that the church may become the supreme power. But the sun will not be turned backward. The people of the United States are intelligent. They no longer believe implicitly in supernatural religion. They are losing confidence in the miracles and marvels of the Dark Ages. They know the value of the free school. They appreciate the benefits of science. They are believers in education, in the free play of thought, and there is a suspicion that the priest, the theologian, is destined to take his place with the necromancer, the astrologer, the worker of magic, and the professor of the black art.

Robert Green Ingersoll – “God in the Constitution”