Weird-ass lava lamp business

Every other time I turn it on, it does this, and then stays like this no matter how long I leave it on. It's made some very odd shapes--I hadn't managed to catch it on video before, since it happens a while after it's turned on. What I don't get is why it doesn't eventually melt down and do the normal lava lamp thing if I just leave it on after this happens. It has to be turned off and cooled down before it will work.

A joke

I gather this is something of a classic, but I hadn't heard it when Mike told it to me just now, and it cracked me up:

René Descartes walks into a bar. The bartender asks if he would like a drink. Descartes says, "I think not," and vanishes.