A stook is a circular or rounded arrangement of swathes of cut grain stalks placed on the ground in a field. ThoughtStook.com is a collection of swathes of ideas including, culture, politics, technology, philosophy and theology; designed to provide answers that you may be looking for or to provoke your own thoughts.
24th
DEC
Silent Night!
Posted by Jonathan | Filed under Culture, Religion
I didn’t know what to write for my Christmas post, but I finally had an inspiration and offer this post as my gift to all.
19th
DEC
Juxtaprose
Posted by AdamT | Filed under Culture
It is gauche to celebrate how much you make.
It is gauche to lament how little you make.
I agree with the two statements seperately.
But I am not sure I agree with the implied conclusion of this juxtaprose.
How about you?
Popularity: 8% [?]
Tags: juxtaprose
15th
DEC
Show your College FB Spirit with Firefox Themes
Posted by Jonathan | Filed under Firefox, Sports, Themes
The 2007 college football season was one of the greatest roller-coaster sporting events that I have witnessed in my life. To give examples of the ups and downs of the season: over the course of the 8 week BCS rankings there was 12 teams that held the top 5 slots. The number 1,2 and 3 rankings changed 3,5 and 7 times respectively. Colleges like South Florida University held the number 2 position. And Michigan University was upset in week 1 by Appalachian State University and then blown out by Oregon the following week. And in the end The Ohio State University and Louisiana State University will be playing each other for the national championship.
Though I’m an Oregon ducks fan and their championship hopes ended with a knee injury to their quarterback and subsequent losses, I live in Columbus, OH and by default enjoy watching The Ohio State Buckeyes. But whether you are an OSU Buckeye or LSU Tiger fan you can show your support by running a customized Firefox team logo theme for your browser.
13th
DEC
Santa’s Swag
Posted by AdamT | Filed under Culture
I decided to follow up the lighter post of a few days ago with a list of gifts and observations that I have compiled in the last year or two of gift giving. Currently my wife and I are limited on financial resources so most gifts here will put more emphasis on the thought process and be under $40 (my how times have changed).
Three notes about giving gifts that apply to close relatives and office workers alike:
- Kosher - It is imperative that you consider the person whom you are giving the gift. Do they have allergies, what are their styles, what do they enjoy. I find many things cool (especially tech gifts) but they would be horrible gifts to some other people (especially to anyone over 50). Once again, it depends on what the recipient enjoys and can use, not what you like or think is cool or useful.
11th
DEC
Merry (to Me)
Posted by AdamT | Filed under Comedy, Websites
I have been considering, lately, what to get my in-laws for Christmas. They are puzzling; I could ponder for months and still pass them a gift card… I have decided to apply the LCD (lowest common denominator to a primary schooler). Really quite a revolutionary idea, I will make the mirth of gifts available to all of the onlookers and perhaps the humored recipient as well.
Here are some of my ideas:
Kopi Luwak Coffee- Its the bile patina that you will relish. Roasted at 98F, and sorted by men of questionable habits (savoring the wak of lewaks), this bold and tangy bean is my top choice for this seasons greeting.
20 million candle torch- If your brother in law is a poacher, he will love the ability to spot and drop animals up to 200lbs, without even firing a shot. This torch likely has the ability to illuminate and fry the liver of an endangered species at 200 yards. Also remember that no matter how big an intruder is, his retina is like shrink wrap once you spot him with this must have.
Tags: christmas, gifts, in-laws, kopi luwak, memorabilia, oil painting, torch
10th
DEC
CompUSA is Closing it’s doors.
Posted by Jonathan | Filed under Deals, Technology
After 23 years in business CompUSA is closing it’s doors. According to the WSJ, CompUSA will close or sell all of it’s remaining 103 stores in 68 markets, after the holidays. The company has been up for sale for over a year. There was no indication if they were going to go strictly to online sales, but it has not been mentioned and is highly unlikely with the tough competition from NewEgg and TigerDirect already claiming a large share of the online tech market. Be on the look out for deals as the company will be liquidating it’s entire inventory.
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Popularity: 8% [?]
7th
DEC
Slugging
Posted by AdamT | Filed under Comedy, Uncategorized
Every now and then a trend arises that is considered revolutionary. Hitchhiking in the seventies, Ride-Sharing in the nineties, and now Slugging.
When a commuter (Slug) in DC does not want to ride public transit, or to drive, they may wait at a set location where they will be propositioned by a person in a car. The driver usually wishes to get another body into the car so that they can drive in the HOV lane. The offer will be a destination only, and the commuter will get into the vehicle of the person going his way. Born of an encounter of cheapness with poor planning; this trend has risen and developed its own fratish rules.
Rule #1 Slugs do not talk.
Tags: Comedy, DC, DC Commuter, Hitch-hiking, Humor, Slug-Lines, Slugging
5th
DEC
The Anti-Hero and The Indifferent Narrator
Posted by AdamT | Filed under Culture, Philosophy
My wife and I sat down with our daughter (2) to enjoy a cartoon. Our daughter was excited by the potential of watching Caillou, which she had seen months back on PBS.
We were surprised to find that we were commenting on Caillou and his behaviour to such a point that it became a chore to watch the cartoon. The issues we found appear to be prevalent in media today: the anti-hero and the indifferent narrator.
The anti-hero:
Caillou, as with a lot of cartoons (which appear to made for adults), is more descriptive than prescriptive in terms of his behaviour. By this I mean the writers seem to relish their portrayal of him as a selfish and self absorbed child. While this may be the norm for kids his age, Caillou is a cartoon and not a child. It seems the irony of depicting a child with a tragic flaw and ignoring the tragic element escapes the writers.
The indifferent narrator:
Further reinforcing the notion that Caillou is descriptive (as opposed to prescriptive) is the narrator who interrupts only to state the fact of what has happened. My wife and I did not expect to find a good moral prescription from the narrator; but by merely stating that Caillou is “unhappy that he has to share”, without a note of reproof, the narrator avoids any semblance of a behavioural norm. It is as if the writers see Caillou’s behavior as unavoidable, or at least unaddressable.
Perhaps it is not PBS responsibility to provide a moral grounding for children. Perhaps they think morality to be a cultural preference. But the least they could do is pragmatically reinforce behaviour that will take the child farther in life than tantrums and selfishness.
Tags: anti-hero, Caillou, PBS Cartoon
2nd
DEC
Important!!!! This is not a joke.
Posted by Jonathan | Filed under Culture, E-mail, Technology
Have you received an e-mail with the above message in the subject line? I did recently and I opened it to find a warning about a phone scam that lures callers into calling certain phone numbers that look like regular U.S. area codes, but in fact they are redirect area codes to the British Virgin Islands, Dominican Republic and Jamaica. The result is that the individual is charged $2400 a minute with a final bill in the 10’s of thousands of dollars. The e-mail appears to be signed by an AT&T Field Service Manager along with a contact phone number, and is accompanied with a link to AT&T’s website describing the scam. So I decided to check out the e-mail’s claim.
I followed the link in the e-mail http://www.consumer.att.com/consumertips/areacode.html which redirected me to http://www.att.com/gen/landing-pages?pid=6456&DCMP=att_safety . The link is a legitimate AT&T webpage. I then proceeded to follow another link describing the scam. AT&T describes the scam this way,
1st
DEC
Gallery2 Uploading for Vista
Posted by Jonathan | Filed under Blogging, Gallery, Photos, Software, Technology, Vista, Websites
One of the nice features of Gallery2 is the ability to upload pictures directly to your online gallery from your hard drive by clicking the option publish this in the Explorer sidebar. However, in Vista you loose the publishing option in Explorer. But never fear! Where there is good software, there is a good programmer that finds a way to accomplish the task.
After scouring the gallery forums I found my answer. In the Gallery plugin experimental repository there is a upgrade to the WindowsXP Publish (v1.07) module called Publish XP (v1.07.1). Who knows why they didn’t just call it Windows Publish? After upgrading to the latest version of the module:
- Go to Add Items => WindowsXP => and download the registry file specifically labeled for Vista.
- After the registry file is successfully added, go into Windows Photo
Gallery and select the pictures that you want to upload to gallery.
Tags: Blogging, Gallery, Photos, Plugins, Software, Technology, Vista, Websites
Stooked Thoughts
Categories
Now Reading
Planned books:
- There is More to the Secret by Ed Gungor
- Making Your Money Count by Kenneth C. Ulmer
Current books:
-
Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church: Understanding a Movement and Its Implications by D. A. Carson
-
Lord, Teach Me to Study the Bible in 28 Days by Kay Arthur
Recent books:
None