Month: May 2003

I’m no Trekkie, but the “Top 10 Things I Hate About Star Trek” list is pretty funny…

I know I’ve been to this site, but I guess it came around before I started blogging. In any case, I present to you the long-overdue link to the 20th anniversary Internet version of Pitfall!

See how much of a programming geek you are and visit 99 Bottles of Beer – One Program in 515 Languages. I can (happily) say that I’m not much of a programmer, although I’ve played with several languages in my time…

SimonSwears is a twist on your favorite game, Simon, and it’s even available in seven languages!

This Thursday, the entire Late Night With Conan O’Brien episode will be stop-motion claymation, an obvious “sweeps” stunt. Still, I think I’ll watch it, especially because Mr. T will be on, and also because Conan says “This may be the best show we’ve ever done … in clay.” I still contend that The Simpsons has never been the same without his writing, but I never stay up late enough to watch his show. Maybe I should…

A total lunar eclipse will be visible in the United States late this Thursday, the first for almost three years. I’m posting this to remind myself to go watch it more than anything, but you should go out and look too!

CNN reports that in order to accommodate the needs of some its mental health patients, the Oregon Department of Human Services is soliciting the services of a Klingon language interpreter. Although an official claims that “We have to provide information in all the languages our clients speak,” I just can’t see this being that pressing a requirement. And what’s next, then? Elvish and Dwarvish “interpreters” for patients who have become trapped in their own Tolkienesque worlds? Rodian interpreters in case they come across patients that think that they’re Greedo the bounty hunter? You’ve got to draw the line somewhere, and I don’t think I’m being unreasonable in suggesting that we limit ourselves to terrestrial languages that aren’t MADE UP!

Update: Thankfully, this has turned out to be somewhat of a misunderstanding, as according to kuro5hin.org, “on a lark, purchasing officials in Multnomah County, Oregon, decided to make sure that Klingon-language interpreters could be paid by the county, just in case there ever was a need for one. So Klingon was granted official status as a language for the purpose of hiring an interpreter, on par with obscure foreign languages.” The post indicates that it was all done in a humorous vein, with the Elvish language also mentioned. I guess I’m more prescient than I thought…

There is some debate as to whether a “weblog purporting to be the journal of an anonymous heiress on the run from her wealthy family” is a hoax or not. On the face of things, I tend to think it is, but I have to admit that it has fished me in as I read from the beginning. Judge for yourself…

If the Washington Times story claiming that “The French government secretly supplied fleeing Iraqi officials with passports in Syria that allowed them to escape to Europe” ends up being true, then the United States needs to stop trying to appease France and start rethinking its status as an “ally.”

The BBC reports on a rare transit of Mercury across the Sun. Mercury is somewhat larger than the Moon, but it’s amazing how small it looks compared to the Sun, as the article points out:

Its smallness impresses two things upon you: the enormous size of the Sun and the vastness of the distances between the planets. Mercury was 91 million kilometres (57 million miles) away, the Sun 150 million km (93 million miles) – scales that dwarf human imagination yet are utterly insignificant in cosmic terms.