iPandora

StumbleUpon is a great way to find those corners of the internet you haven’t yet discovered. Or a great way to find out how desperate affiliate marketers really are for their slice of the internet pie (hint: it’s a really REALLY small slice of pie).

Here are a few recent jewels StumbleUpon shared with me:

It started out innocently enough. I began to think at parties now and then to loosen up. Inevitably though, one thought led to another, and soon I was more than just a social thinker.

A useful tool for IT professionals to help users understand a basic yet fundamental state of their computer: ComputerPowerTest.com

I began to think alone —”to relax,” I told myself — but I knew it wasn’t true. Thinking became more and more important to me, and finally I was thinking all the time.

I began to think on the job. I knew that thinking and employment don’t mix, but I couldn’t stop myself.

See how far we've come

Things weren’t going so great at home either. One evening I had turned off the TV and asked my wife about the meaning of life. She spent that night at her mother’s.

I soon had a reputation as a heavy thinker. One day the boss called me in. He said, “Skippy, I like you, and it hurts me to say this, but your thinking has become a real problem. If you don’t stop thinking on the job, you’ll have to find another job.” This gave me a lot to think about.

I came home early after my conversation with the boss. “Honey,” I confessed … “I’ve been thinking…”

I know I’m a happy guy. I’m a very happy guy. I tend to retain a relatively rosy outlook on life, a tune on my lips (or running incessantly through my head), and spring in my step. Maybe it’s because I spend my lunch times exploring philosophical arguments for the spheres of responsibility between church and state, and discussing the finer points of social and cultural issues with friends, family, and foes alike.

NYTimes; Talk Deeply, Be Happy?

I am tempted to say it’s the deepness of the conversation that is the primary corollary between that and happiness, but it is more likely the fact you have people in your life with which you can have deep conversations. Humans, after all, are social creatures, and without friends and family and close-knit circles in which to spend our lives, we hang loose in the winds of time flailing pointlessly about.

“I know you’ve been thinking,” she said, “and I want a divorce!” “But Honey, surely it’s not that serious.”

“It is serious,” she said, lower lip aquiver. “You think as much as college professors, and college professors don’t make any money, so if you keep on thinking we won’t have any money!”

“That’s a faulty syllogism,” I said impatiently, and she began to cry. I’d had enough. “I’m going to the library,” I snarled as I stomped out the door.

I headed for the library, in the mood for some Nietzsche, with an AM station on the radio. I roared into the parking lot and ran up to the big glass doors … they didn’t open. The library was closed.

To this day, I believe that a Higher Power was looking out for me that night.

(Finish this tale here)

Groucho Marx came up at work the other day. He came up here too:

From the moment I picked up your book until I laid it down, I was convulsed with laughter. Someday I intend reading it.

I love pig.

Click to enlarge

So many people hold so stridently to such silly ideas…

A young woman was about to finish her first year of college. She considered herself to be a very liberal Democrat, but her father was a staunch Conservative.

One day she was challenging her father on his beliefs and his opposition to high taxes and welfare programs.

He stopped her and asked her, “How are you doing in school?”

She answered that she had a 4.0 GPA, but it was really tough. She had to study all the time and ever had time to go out and party. She didn’t have time for a boyfriend and didn’t really have many college friends because she was spending all her time studying. On top of that, the part-time job her father insisted she keep left absolutely no time for anything else.

He asked, “How is your friend Mary?”

She replied that Mary was barely getting by. She had a 2.0 GPA, never studied, but was very popular on campus, didn’t have a job, and went to all the parties. She was always complaining about not having any money, but didn’t want to work. Why, she often didn’t show up for classes because she was hung over.

Dad then asked his daughter why she didn’t go to the Dean’s office and request that 1.0 be taken off her 4.0 and given it to her friend who only had a 2.0. That way they would both have a respectable 3.0 GPA. Then, she could also give her friend half the money she’d earned from her job so that her friend would no longer be broke.

The daughter angrily fired back, “That wouldn’t be fair. I worked really hard for my grades and money, and Mary just loafs. Why should her laziness and irresponsibility be rewarded with half of what I’ve worked for?”

The father slowly smiled and said, “Welcome to Conservatism.”

Note, the original used “Republican” but due to resent trends “Conservative” is more appropriate.

A woman in a hot air balloon realized she was lost. She lowered her altitude and spotted a man in a boat below.

She shouted to him, “Excuse me,can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don’t know where I am.”

The man consulted his portable GPS and replied, “You’re in a hot air balloon, approximately 30 feet above a ground elevation of 2346 feet above sea level. You are at 31 degrees, 14.97 minutes north latitude and 100 degrees, 49.09 minutes west longitude.”

She rolled her eyes and said, “You must be a Republican.”

“I am,” replied the man. “How did you know?”

“Well,” answered the balloonist, “everything you told me is technically correct, but I have no idea what to do with your information, and I’m still lost. Frankly, you’ve not been much help to me.”

The man smiled and responded, “You must be a Democrat.”

“I am,” replied the balloonist. “How did you know?” “Well,” said the man, “you don’t know where you are or where you’re going. You’ve risen to where you are, due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise that you have no idea how to keep, and you expect me to solve your problem. You’re in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but, somehow, now it’s my fault.”

After reading Greg Koukl’s book Tactics, kindly sent by Neil, I’ve been listening to arguments looking for fallacies and inconsistencies which would prove the arguments false or unsustainable.

A New York-based sketch comedy group, Whitest Kids You Know, made this video which shows, humorously, the failure of Anarchist philosophy when brought face to face with human nature and need.

Enjoy.

Improv Everywhere is funny.

Mixing flashmobs and mass social comedy, they create random acts of… randomness… with the goal of brightening the lives of people around them.

From last week: I learned I’m not allowed to decide how responsible my children are and the resulting levels of freedom they can then enjoy.

And in the re-running of the classic comic For Better or For Worse, we learn that Ellie is an abusive parent, allowing and even requiring her children, and her friend’s children, to walk to the park.

She ought to have helicoptered as the current social freaks require, driving the boys to the park, catered to their every whim.

And allowed their legs to shrivel up and fall off.

As of a few days ago, Grace and I’ve been married 9 months. And our son is due to emerge into the world in 3 more months.

Marriage has settled down a little, perhaps. I feel safe and comfortable around my wife and maybe take her a little for granted, too. I’m less and less capable of imagining myself in a single state and marriage, such as my wife and I enjoy, is my default position, as it were.

As the seasons change and weather brightens, the days lengthen and warm, and the sun climbs higher in the sky, there is less of a ‘stuck’ feeling in being cooped up in the apartment together and more of an “I prefer being with her” choice.

Not to say I didn’t enjoy cuddling with my wife and enjoying her closeness and proximity during the winter, but there is something about no longer being compelled by the elements that makes marriage even better to me.

And she’s growing. Our son and his accompanying entrails and apparatus are definitely showing in Grace and we both enjoy feeling him move about. Or, I enjoy it all the time, and sometimes she doesn’t. Like when he pushes on the inside of her ribs, or when she’s trying to sit still in church. Our son really becomes active in church, it seems.

In 3 months he’s scheduled to make his grand debut, and I’m facing fatherhood.

The pregnancy website told me today I’m experiencing hormonal swings right now: testosterone levels are falling and estrogen levels are rising. So the lipstick and nail polish I’m wearing are completely understandable. It’s the high heels I can’t seem to explain away.

In a darwinian perspective, this is my body working against my darwinian male desires for independence to create a nurturing ability in me.

In a Christian perspective, I’m amazed that God made these natural systems that work just so changing the very attitudes through the chemical balance of the male to bring about a more nurturing attitude.

But all that to say: Summer is coming, life is good and getting better, I can’t wait to meet my son (I finished painting his room and we’ve nearly got all the furniture we need for him), and I (still) love my wife.

I’m truly blessed beyond all measure and thank God for His amazing work in my life heretofore.

Now for the future.

Work has been rather busy of late and it’s  been difficult to muster the brain power necessary to put on page coherent thoughts. Therefore, this admittedly incoherent thought shall have to suffice.

ShatteredChina posted this on Facebook and I thought it too hilarious not to pass up.

I thought you all might appreciate this . . . this is about my senior year of High School

RE-POST with name of high school and graduating year in the subject box.

1. Did you date someone from your school? Self love . . . no, I didn’t

2. Did you marry someone from your high school? Not yet, and hope to never

3. Did you car pool to school? Yep. “Everyone climb in the van, we are going to drive around the block.”

4. What kind of car did you have in High School? 18 Speed Human Operated Biped

5. What kind of car do you have now? Anything that is availiable

6. It’s Friday night…where were you? Reading a book.

7. It is Friday night (present day) where are you? Tired, asleep, or studying. Maybe getting together with friends/people.

8. What kind of job did you have in high school? Lawn Care (Hated it), Starbucks

9. What kind of job do you do now? Intern, Day Camp Colunteer Coordinator, Barista (as a friend said . . . once a Barista, always a Barista)

10. Were you a party animal in High School? Oh, all the way . . . The three of us had great parties all the time. Me would get anoid at I am Myself was usually just wiped out on the couch.

11. Were you considered a flirt? How about not? . . . I mean, there were slim pickings

12. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir? All three . . . infact, I was lead piano, and the only soloist

13. Were you a nerd? Um . . . how about I not answer this one? Ok Yes . . . and still am a big one (though I am not a geek . . . big difference)

14. Did you get suspended or expelled? I wish . . . get the day off school

15. Can you sing the Alma Mater? “Dear Mother, Dear Father can I take th 15 passenger out for a spin tonight?”

16. Who was/were your favorite teacher(s)? Myself . . . or Saxon.

17. Where did you sit at lunch? The Kitchen . . . I mean, where else

18. What was your school’s full name? Golden Academy for the Support of Communities Actively Support Excellence . . . No, really just Golden Academy.

19. When did you graduate? This is an impossible question for a homeshooler to answer (that and, “What grade are you in?”

20. What was your school mascot? At that time . . . it was probibly Peanut

21. If you could go back and do it again, would you? Wouldn’t trade it for anything

22. Did you have fun at Prom? Sure . . . with who?

23. Would you talk to the person you went to Prom with? I prefer to not talk to myself.

24. Are you planning on going to your next reunion? Yep . . . next time I look in the mirror, I will be sure to great the entire class.

25. Do you still talk to people from school? Who? Ryan, Matthew, Andrew, Joseph, Anna, or Merrie? Yah, I try to talk to them here and there.