"What is your favorite branch of engineering and why?"

With that, I had three minutes to outline a three-minute speech. I took the prompt as I left the classroom and went into the hallway to work. I had enough time. Computer engineering would have to be my fave, of course, since I'm a computer science major. As I was practicing making impromptu speeches, I had realized that you can make anything about computers.

Computers have had a profound effect on engineering and science, and also, programming has allowed me to think more logically and analytically.

I spoke clearly, but I really wasn't sure of what I was saying. I think my hands were shaking also. I did manage to restrain myself from saying "um." I had to cut it short and bail after almost running out of time.

It took me a while to calm down after that. Right after my tech writing and speaking class, I was due to be at the Talk to Me Language Cafe, an event where speakers of several languages would teach people to say some basic phrases. (I'm starting an Esperanto club, and our faculty advisor got Esperanto to take the the place of Spanish in the program.)

It really was like a cafe. There were a few tables set up, and coffee and cookies were served. Passersby could meet with a speaker of Turkish, Italian, Czech, Chinese, Japanese, sign language, and (of course) Esperanto to learn some basic phrases. Most people I talked to hadn't heard of Esperanto but were interested in the idea. (The people who had heard of it either had a friend who was interested or had lived in Europe.) When I mentioned how popular Esperanto was around the world, people were surprised that they hadn't heard of it before. It was a great chance to plug our group.

I was there for about two and a half hours, but it didn't seem that long. Then, Mark took over for an hour while I had class, and after that, I returned for the last few minutes. We ended up giving out 24 copies of a "What Is Esperanto?" flyer and 21 copies of a flyer with basic vocabulary and grammar. Most people received one of each; a few left before I could give them any. I'd say we talked to 25-30 people.

Mark and I each got interviewed by journalism students who needed material for an assignment. One of the ones who talked to Mark later arranged an interview with me. She said she was going to cover the language cafe in general but discovered Esperanto and decided to make it the focus of her story. We talked for about 20 minutes, and I enjoyed it. She also said she'd try to get the story published. That almost certainly means she'd shoot for the widely-read Alligator (which I have decided not to write an editorial column for due to a lack of ideas).

What's next for the Esperanto Club? We're going to have a talk introducing Esperanto to anyone who's interested. But we won't be able to book a room until we're officially approved for this year... whenever that will be.

Here are some free (as in freedom) fonts listed by license and where to download them.

More and more people are using Wi-Fi in their homes nowadays. Some people like to share their connection with their neighbors, and that's where sharemywifi.com comes in. It's a geographical listing of Wi-Fi access points that their owners want to share access to.

Finally, we have 3 Controversial Maps.