A short rant about stumbling

I was reading a newspaper today and stumbled on an interesting article.

I doubt that anyone cares about whatever stupid article I wanted to read (Okay, it was in the food section and I found out the mole sauce is not made with actual moles). My point is to note the irony in how people use the word "random" and kids, in particular, go to places like stumbleupon to find out about so-called random things.

Not meaning to sound like an old fogey here, but stumble upon is  a kind of literal saying. You're looking for something and literally (sometimes) stumble upon something else. Back in the day, if you were looking for the definition of implant (sorry, just saw a video with Britney Spears) you couldn't help but also learn about the word implode, just because it was proximate to implant in the dictionary. That might lead me to find information on imploding buildings (which is done because it's preferable to having them explode).

Today, searching for things is far more directed, and it just amuses me that people have to make a real effort to stumble upon something. And although it amuses me, it's kind of sad too. Genuine randomness, as opposed to "that was random" randomness, which is absolutely nothing like actual randomness, is always exciting and scary and is often where the best experiences are to be had.