Riding the wave

Today I got a large envelope in the mail from Russia. I had no idea what it was until I opened it and saw some familiar words. It contained two issues of La Ondo de Esperanto ("The Wave of Esperanto"), a magazine I had subscribed to a few months ago. I've read a little bit of it, and it seems pretty interesting. It includes news about the Esperanto movement, interviews, letters, and original fiction.

I've been studying and using Esperanto since the end of May, which, I am surprised to find out, was a whole ten months ago. Since finishing my book, Teach Yourself Esperanto, I've been continuing my education mainly by reading news sites such as Ĝangalo. I've also listened a bit to Ĉi Tie Nun, a podcast that covers weird news from around the world. Most importantly, however, I've been trying to think in the language. I constantly try to translate what I think and hear in English. I should probably try thinking straight in Esperanto, though. That will take a little more work. Also on the agenda is improving writing, speaking, and my vocabulary. Hopefully I'll be able to achieve a good level of fluency eventually.

Yesterday I had what could be the best ice cream in the world. It was a flavor called Cappuccino Fudge Blitz. I love coffee-flavored ice cream, and I love fudge, so you can just imagine the goodness. And what a blitz it was. That stuff could conquer Poland any day.

And now, three Ask Jordons.

Luke: What was on the All Your Base Are Belong to Us page? Also: do you heart library scientists?

The All Your Base Are Belong to Us page had a few images badly photoshopped to include the phrase. Also: not especially.

catherine: Do you know any single men between the ages of 18-23?

No.

ng: what is the longest word that can be typed with only 1 row

To find relevant QWERTY statistics, I did a little research and found that the longest words typed on a single row are "perpetuity," "proprietor," "repertoire," and "typewriter," all 10 letters long. I tried going through the Dvorak list manually, but it was so long that I gave up. Instead I wrote a quick (ha!) and dirty program to do all the work. It determined that "instantaneous" (13 letters) is the longest. That word also describes how long it took the program to figure out the answer. I love computers and they rule the world.

Here's a gallery of aerial photographs of Mexico City, one of the world's largest cities.

And here's how to fold paper into a secret note square. According to the page, "some people have trouble opening this type of note, so it's perfect for passing secret notes to your friends." If they can open it, that is.

One year ago: "Once you have a good set of filters, it's truly amazing to see the Internet in a whole new light -- and it's much more fun than simply avoiding sites that have annoying ads."