Fantasist's Scroll

You can help save endangered languages.

Okay, so this isn’t exactlly a conlang thing, but most of us who are into conlangs are into unusual languages and language issues. So, toward that end, I give you The Endangered Language Fund and The Endangered Language Query Rooms . Two great resources for languages on the edge of extinction. And, possibly, inspiration for a conlang or two.

Okay, this may not seem like “fun” to everyone…

But, this article on Slashdot about rail guns got me. Apparently, the US Navy plans to have rail guns installed by 2011. That’s not all that far away.
For those of you not familiar, rail guns are basically high-speed catapults driven by very, very powerful electromagnets. Very science-fiction stuff. And, the Navy plans on having working rail guns on actual ships by 2011.

Cool.

Is it the most elaborate hoax ever?

Well, according to this article from Scientific American, it very well could be. In fact, it might be the most famous con, too. Experts have analyzed this manuscript, found by Wilfrid Voynich, an American rare-book dealer, in 1912, but haven’t been able to come up with either the code or language in which the book is written. One theory is that English adventurer Edward Kelley may have created the document to defraud the Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolph II who reportedly paid a sum of 600 ducats (about $50,000 today) for the manuscript.)
The article goes into the details, but it seems quite plausable. So, I guess conlanging can be profitable after all!

Notice that I’ve been a little behind in posting?

Well, for that one person who reads this blog, I’ve been busy! As I mentioned in my other blog I’ve changed jobs which has been a little stressful. And, I’ve been Google spammed, so that’s been taking up a bunch of time. But, I hope the new job will allow me more time, thanks to less travel-time on my commute, to write, so it’ll be worth it. I hope. But, I do promise to do better on keeping this blog up to date.

I figure fuel-efficiency is a good trade off.

For speed, that is. Mostly, I don’t want to go anywhere in that much of a hurry. Which is good, because, according to this article on Wired News, hybrids don’t help save gas if you have a lead foot. But, it also isn’t effective if you’re too slow, either. A happy medium is the key to taking advantage of the battery power that makes the hybrid cars so effecient, but accelerating too quickly or slowly degrades that efficiency. So, all this time, the way Coach taught me to drive really was more fuel efficient!

In any case, it’s sort of an interesting article about the new hybrid cars. So, go check it out.

Speaking of drugs…

Okay, no, it’s not the crazy hydroponics ads from High Times! Though, it’s pretty close. According to this article on Wired News, there’s an underground garden in Indiana somewhere that’s going to let researchers grow their pharmacologically enhanced plants without worring about contaminating the general populace. First, I think it’s a good idea to isolate the plants being tested. We have no idea what might happen if these things get loose in the wild, and I’d rather not find out. Second, I also think it’s great that someone has found a way to keep the research going, because it’s important.

Anyway, it’s a great article, so check it out.

“Evercrack”, indeed!

I rarely make social commentary on this blog, but in this case, I’ll make an exception. Wired News ran an article recently about on-line game players and addiction. It seems that there are a number of games that include character boosting “drugs” that players can use to get more points in their respective games. These drugs work like real drugs, with side-effects. Like, for instance, they give you the boost, but eventually require higher doses. Eventually, requiring doses so high that they can kill your character. But, even knowing this, people still use them.

Wow. What does this say about our society? First, it’s interesting that the game designers would put drugs into the game. Especially drugs that have consequences. Second, that people who know better, or should know better, still use them speaks to something fundamentally flawed in our society. Has life become so cheap? Even virtual life? What’s next?
More importantly, how many good stories are there in the discussion of what this all means and what might be coming? Go, write them. Make us think!

Okay, this is kind of self-referential, but…

According to this article on AustralianIT, the fine people who make the Opera web browser, are making a blog browser. Sort of an interesting idea, I thought, considering how popular blogs are getting these days.
But, when I read the details it turns out that what they’re doing is incorporating Really Simple Syndication, or RSS, into their web browser so that users can have new items from blog RSS feeds that they subscribe to come in as individual messages in Opera’s mail client, which is packaged with the browser. Which is still not a bad idea. Interesting article, anyway.

(And, yes, this first appeared at my other blog!)