Weird News

Now and then I come across a fantastic news story. Is the news getting more weird or am I just noticing it more? Here are a few samples from the weird news file:
1. Ms. Pan Alying, a schoolteacher in China's Shandong province, had her purse snatched (containing her mobile phone, bank cards and cash) and decided to try pleading with the thief by sending text messages to her stolen phone. According to Xinhau new agency, she patiently sent 21 sympathetic notes to the man, with no answer. The day after the last one, she found a package at her door containing her purse and all its contents intact, with a note, "I'm sorry. ... I'll correct my ways and be an upright person."
2. Surgeons at London's Great Ormond Street Children's Hopsital, recognizing the similarities between a hospital operation and a car race, asked a team of mechanics from Ferrari's Formula 1 racing group to critique their procedures for moving patients from the operating room to intensive-care units. The Ferrari team took notes and devised a protocol that smoothes the process and minimizes chances that a piece of needed equipment or a vital message is overlooked. Doctors say the new protocol, which includes changes like banning nonessential chatter and disconnecting wires in a specific order, has already reduced hospital errors.
3. Jyrki Kasvi, an incumbent parliamentary candidate in Finland, has launched a new version of his campaign website, written entirely in the Star-Trek language Klingon.
My question: Is the website in Klingon as we heard it on the original Star Trek show, or has it first been translated to a Finnish dialect of Klingon? And how do we know Mr. Kasvi is actually from Finland and not Klingon?

Sanjaya Libre

I still cannot post photos on the blogspot, but would like to direct attention to my most recent masterpiece on my Flickr, a Photoshop creation I sent to Sherman this morning in celebration of the less-than-timely release of Sanjaya. Sherman has been one of the spoilers voting for Sanjaya, no doubt to irritate and annoy any and all who watch American Idol. I don't know which I will miss less, hearing Sanjaya sing or receiving Sherman's gloating phone call after the Wednesday results show. Life is good.

Holy Trinity, Blythburgh

My dad has been looking for a particular photo album in his room, which has lead to the discovery of several albums which were not what he was looking for but which turned out to be of some interest. They appear to contain photos and postcards put together by my grandmother, Edith Snowling Allen. The problem is that there are pages and pages of photos with no names, dates, or any other notations. There are also several pages of postcards. Apparently 100 years ago, when one sent a postcard, it was normal not to write anything but the recipient's address on the back. Nor did the publisher of the postcard feel inclined to give a description on the back of where the picture was taken. Some of the cards, however, are marked - and come from places as varied as "Beaverhead County High School, Dillon, Montana," "St. John's Bridge, Portland, Oregon," and "Market Place and High Street, Southwold." Some dates can still be made out from the cancellation stamps. But the one that really got me excited was a postcard sent to my grandmother in 1905. The picture on the front is of the inside of a church. The writing across the top of the picture says (helpfully) "This is the interior. Write soon. Hannah." At the bottom of the picture the same hand wrote, "Best wishes and Much love from HS." Aunt Hannah was my grandmother's younger sister, who was probably around 2-3 years old when my grandmother left England in the 1890's. The card is addressed to Mrs. Allen, 830 First Street, Salt Lake City, Utah: U.S.A. and posted with a One Penny stamp from Southwold. I looked more closely at the photo and felt I had seen the church before. So I got out the album of pictures I had taken on my trip to England 3 years ago - and there it was! The very first church at which we stopped after our arrival in England was Holy Trinity, Blythburgh. There was no particular reason to stop at this church, except that it has a really lovely Norman tower and the flowers in the churchyard were just beginning to bloom. Imagine my surprise when I realized a photo of the same church had been sent to my grandmother 100 years prior to my random stop there on my way to Lowestoft! I will post some of my photos on my flicker, but if anyone is interested I recommend the website www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/Blythburgh.htm. Makes me want to go back!

Eiffel Moon

Check out the Astronomy Picture of the Day by clicking the link in my "Favorite Websites" box below. Today's picture is a beautiful shot of the moon in phases of the total lunar eclipse earlier this month, with the Eiffel Tower in the foreground. Spectacular! If you miss it today you can find it in their archives.

Game On

We have been looking forward to the completion of a new meetinghouse in our stake since the groundbreaking nearly two years ago. Here in CA there are all kinds of hoops to jump through before you can even move a shovel of dirt. We had to wait for environmental impact reports and endangered birds to fly away. The latest drama came last week when the finished building didn't pass fire inspection. The inspector noted that the chapel and cultural hall should be treated as one big room instead of two because the partition that separates them does not close automatically in the event of fire. Therefore, the ceiling sprinklers had to be rewired and some conduit installed in the attic (AKA: Mezzanine!). Why do I care? I am the media specialist on the stake public affairs counsel, so I was concerned that my stories to the local papers last month would be in error if the open house was postponed. Also, I made the invitation cards that have been passed out like handbills by members all over the stake. I'd rather not redo them and there is no way to contact all the people who have been invited. So today, there is great rejoicing in the land as we have received the green light from the inspectors and can proceed with the open house next weekend. The bad news? I need to put together a slideshow, contact the Chinese Branch for translation notes, nag at one of the papers that didn't print my article, look into the tri-fold brochure that should have gone to the printer last week, and begin writing more media releases for post-production. The good news is we will have a new meetinghouse with a bit more elbow room, and we have not displaced a single Least Tern.

Useless Information

As taken from "Sizesaurus" by Stephen Strauss (1995): It would take 27,800,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 Big Macs to equal the weight of the earth. From the same source, it would take 140,000,000,000 Big Mac patties to cover one square mile. The problem with the first number is that I don't know how to say it, so there is no chance of dropping it into polite conversation. My problem with the second stat is the trick it plays on my mind, trying to imagine all those round patties covering a square mile. I guess this is just another good reason to celebrate pi day every day.

To infinity and beyond!

I can't believe I beat Clark to the punch on wishing everyone a happy pi day. I was considering waiting until 1:59PM, but thought that might be taking the thing a bit too far. Nevertheless, I am considering what kind of pie to make for dessert tonight and wondering if pizza is in order. Soon Hallmark will be making warm meaningful commercials about Pi Day so we will all feel obliged to exchange Pi cards and perhaps dress for the occasion. But until then, I am a little surprised Marie Callender has not hopped on board. Maybe they need me in marketing. I do hope your day is infinitely lovely, not terribly random, and if at all possible, ala mode.