Preceding the random links this week: a random photo from Stock.xchng and a few Scottish jokes… just because.

• A Scottish boy came home from school and told his mother he had been given a part in the school play. “Wonderful,” says the mother, “What part is it?” The boy says “I play the part of the Scottish husband!” The mother scowls and says: “Go back and tell your teacher you want a speaking part.”
• When Jock moved to London he constantly annoyed his English acquaintances by boasting about how great Scotland was. Finally, in exasperation, one said, “Well, if Scotland’s so marvelous, how come you didn’t stay there?” “Well,” explained Jock “they’re all so clever up there I had to come down here to have any chance of making it at all
• Jock was traveling by train seated next to a stern-faced clergyman. As Jock pulled out a bottle of whisky from his pocket the clergyman glared and said reprovingly, “Look here, I am sixty-five and I have never tasted whisky in my life!” “Dinna worry, Minister,” smiled Jock, pouring himself a dram. “There’s no risk of you starting now!”
• A very popular scotsman dies in glasgow and his old widow wishes to tell all his friends at once so she goes to the newspaper and says “I’d like tae place an obituary fur ma late husband” The man at the desk says “OK, how much money dae ye have?” The old woman replies “£5” to which the man says “You wont get many words for that but write something and we’ll see if it’s ok” so the old woman writes something and hands it over the counter and the man reads “Peter Reid, fae Parkheid, deid.” He feels guilty at the abruptness of the statement and encourages the old woman to write a few more things. The old woman ponders and then adds a few more words and hand the paper over the counter again. The man then reads “Peter Reid, fae Parkheid deid. Ford Escort for sale”
• Sandy was drinking at a pub all night. When he got up to leave, he fell flat on his face. He tried to stand again, but to no avail, falling flat on his face. He decided to crawl outside and get some fresh air to see whether that would sober him up. Once outside, he stood up and, sure enough, fell flat on his face. So, being a practical Scot, he crawled all the way home. When he got to the door, he stood up yet again, but fell flat on his face. He crawled through the door into his bedroom. When he reached his bed, he tried once more to stand upright. This time he managed to pull himself to his feet but fell into bed. He was sound asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. He woke the next morning to his wife shaking him and shouting, “So, ye’ve been oot drinkin’ as usual!” “Why would ye say that?” he complained innocently.
  “Because the pub called an’ ye left yer wheelchair there again!”

Now that you’re primed, on with the customary selection of links from the past week of browsing.

1. It seems as though if you don’t quit eating all the stuff that’s bad for you, eventually someone will explain how it’s better than the alternatives. But I was still surprised about this one… Lard: After decades of trying, its moment is finally here
2. Having a spat? Get a crowdsourced ruling at SideTaker.com.
3. David Crowder Band Rockumentary YouTube
4. Jim Martin: Learn to Get Intentional About Time
5. ChristianAudio.com’s Free Audiobook Download of the Month for June is Eugene Peterson’s Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places: A Conversation in Spiritual Theology
6. LA Times: Bitterness as mental illness? (via)
   

   You know them. I know them. And, increasingly, psychiatrists know them. People who feel they have been wronged by someone and are so bitter they can barely function other than to ruminate about their circumstances. This behavior is so common — and so deeply destructive — that some psychiatrists are urging it be identified as a mental illness under the name post-traumatic embitterment disorder.

   Interesting to say the least. One wants to be skeptical of the number of new things that can be labeled a clinical disorder… but once you’ve seen the destruction of lives caused by people wounded by and now embittered against the church, you start to wonder. The article quotes the psychiatrist who named the disorder as saying, that affected people are “almost treatment resistant”. I don’t think they’ll come up with a drug for this, but I think we can make a few assertions about what it takes to overcome the disorder… as difficult as it may be.

7. The Utility of Twitter Explained
8. Of Obama’s Cairo Speech, Tony Jones nominates Andrew Sullivan’s comments for “Quote of the Day:”
   

   At its heart, the speech sprang, it seemed to me, a spiritual conviction that human differences, if openly acknowledged, need not remain crippling. It was a deeply Christian – and not Christianist – address; seeking to lead by example and patience rather than seeking to impose from certainty.

   Note the word “Christianist”, related to the previously-mentioned term “Christianism” — which I suggest makes the pair an official addition to the lexicon. Sadly, istm we need these terms.

9. I can’t remember — did I mention Lee Grady’s assertion that “The charismatic movement as we know it has ended”? What do you think — can this only be a good thing, or what? Are the Charismatics catching up to the Post-Charismatics? (Probably too much to hope for.)
10. The number of feeds in my RSS reader alone make this a challenge: Information Deprivation vs. Information Overload — but for those of us aspiring mavens who need to stay “tuned in” occupationally, we wish not for fewer sources, but for better filters.
11. The quote from Nassim Nicholas Taleb about Umberto Eco’s library in “In Praise of Wreckless and Wanton Book-Buying” is a must-read for anyone who has seen my library (and for those who haven’t) — the quote is from Taleb’s The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable, which I have (fittingly) added to my library not long ago but not yet gotten to reading. (Probably over the summer sometime after I finish The Whuffie Factor: Using the Power of Social Networks to Build Your Business)
12. WinReligion — I figure “GPL Religion for Linux” is much cleaner…
13. Jamie Howison in conversation with Robert Farrar Capon — the audio quality isn’t stellar, but the conversation is definitely worth tuning in.
14. Good Will Hinton Interviews Paste Magazine
15. Was sad to see Jamie Arpin Ricci’s announcement that The Dusty Cover is closing, but I wonder what’s next that he’s hinting at?
16. A new plan for world peace: get the world’s military to standardize on Windows Vista, eventually crippling all of them.

And there it be. Don’t forget to tune in next week for another exciting episode of Random Acts of Linkage…