We’re still calling these random links foobles, right? Right? Cool.

Hi there Sunday readers, and welcome to that thing I do every Sunday, which is shovel whatever links I have kicking around at you in lieu of coherent content.

I call them “foobles” to make the whole thing seem cute.

And speaking of cute, I have recently discovered a webcomic I would love to share with you. It’s called Housepets and I have been going through the whole archive of it lately, and having a great old time.

But confessions first : for the most part, it’s more charming than funny. This is not the strip you go to expecting razor sharp cutting edge pointy comedy. It’s not that kind of comic. It is a different kind.

And try not to hurt your brain trying to figures out how their particular funny animals type universe “works”. Yes, it appears to be a world where humans keep animals as pets even though said animals walk, talk, and use tools just like human beings do. And the human beings can hear them talk too, none of the Garfield dodge. Sure, by rights, that opens a whole universe of awkward questions, but come on, the comic is fun, just roll with it.

Caveats aside, it is just plain wonderful. It has a big cast of adorable, lovable characters with their own personalities and quirks who get into a lot of pretty creative situations and in general, reading the strip is like wandering around a fun, silly universe with a bunch of fuzzy little friends.

Next, some left over science stuff : coming as no surprise to me, researchers find link between creative genius and mental illness.

I could quibble about the methodology of the study, but I won’t. I can dig it. To me, the link between creativity and insanity is intuitively obvious.

After all, to be creative, you have to listen very closely to your own inner voices and be willing to have ideas and solutions burst into your head, seemingly out of nowhere, and then follow those visions wherever they lead.

That already sounds half crazy from word one, doesn’t it?

And honestly, sometimes my own creativity and insight feels a little like insanity. I am always carrying around a non-stop madcap circus-laboratory of incandescent creativity in this here battered old noggin of mine, and while I would not trade it away for the world as it is the wild and chaotic reactor core to the whole merry mad machine that is me. I get a lot of out my untamed intelligence and chaotic creativity, but it takes a lot out of me in the process, and while I would never want to be rid of it, there are times I dearly wish this crazy clunky contraption of mine had an OFF switch.

Part of the problem is that, for both good and bad, creativity lets a person simply see through and hence ignore or bypass the sorts of narrow intellectual constrictions that both keep less creative people from growing or learning, but also keep them sane.

It is cold and lonely outside the box.

Lastly, we have me nattering on about Google Plus.

For those who do not know, Google Plus (or, more properly, Google+) is a new social network service from the fine people at Google.

It is obviously meant to be a Facebook killer, something to give people the same core functionality without all the chaos and noise drowning out the signal over at the FB.

Right now, it is invite-only, and still under testing and adjustment, so being in on it is not exactly a thrillfest quite yet.

Still, I like what I see so far. You make “circles” of contacts and then you can share links, images, videos, and so on with said circles.

It is all very simple and clean and effective, which means it is pretty much like Facebook was back when it started, before things got way too crazy.

Judging by the reports of the network’s explosive growth over the last few days (and that is WITH the limiting factor of being invite-only, it’s going to be a success.

After all, people have been wondering what is the thing that will do to Facebook what Facebook did to Myspace for a long time now. Discontent with Facebook has been growing increasingly stiff and strident lately, and the time seems right to try to launch a successor. And if anyone can do it, Google the Mighty can do it.

If you want an invite or want to connect on Google+, drop me a line.