It's clear from the treacly ads that are clogging the airwaves that Valentine's Day is near. For those of us who tend to find Valentine's Day (and, even worse, that knockoff holiday Sweetest Day) annoying, it's a bad time of the year, particularly since in these parts February is the most depressing time of the year anyway. Fortunately, if you're a skeptic, another "holiday" of sorts falls on the very same date as Valentine's Day. Yes, it's yet another Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle, that blog carnival for skepticism and critical thinking. This time around, appropriately enough for Valentine's Day, Bug Girl is hosting. Her instructions for submitting entries for inclusion in the carnival are here, and the general instructions are here. Help a Bug Girl out and send her your best skeptical blogging and then join her next Thursday.
Finally, if you're interested in hosting, check out the guidelines and drop me a line at oracknows@gmail.com. I'll peruse your blog to make sure you aren't one of David Icke's lizard people, a Scientologist, a creationist, or any other of the overly credulous (or manifestations thereof), and then add you to the schedule.
Sweetums Day? They have a special day for Sweetums? He's my second favorite Muppet, right after Rowlf! That's wonderful! I never.... what?
Really?
Oh. That's very different. Never mind.
I call Valentine's Day our "national day of romantic insincerity." If you love somebody, you show it on any old Tuesday, and in ways that don't involve throwing a stack of $20 bills at a florist, just for starters.
I recommend these as a way to show your true feelings on Valentine's Day.
(I *heart* Despair, Inc)
Orac,
Hopefully, the, uh ... parts you find yourself in ("since in these parts February is the most depressing time of the year anyway") aren't anything like the cheery ol' Major Metropolitan Midwest Area I find myself in, where it's now a balmy 20 below zero with wind chill and we've had something like 30 seconds of sunlight in the last month. Honestly, I'm a confirmed anti-Valentine's Day cynic, but the idea of lit candles and a cheery restaurant are really starting to take on a new light.
So will you be celebrating Darwin Day instead?