Do you have overdue books at the public library of Worcester, Massachusetts? You can fork over your cash. But during March, the library will also accept photos of cats. The program is called March Meowness. The program is part of a calendar of events to celebrate Cat Month.

The library is showcasing books about cats, teaching you how to make cat eye makeup, staging a cat petting event, conducting a talk by a cat behaviorist, and providing a screening of the film Cats. This is a great opportunity for library patrons and staff to remember who's really in charge for the other eleven months of the year, too.

-via My Modern Met

As our world becomes increasingly interconnected, many languages used by small populations are dying out. The Endangered Language Alliance, which is headquartered in New York City, is committed to preserving as many of them as it can.

During its work, the organization has found that many of these endangered languages can be found in New York City itself. For example, Seke, which is used by about 700 people, originates in a few villages in Nepal. But because everyone eventually comes to New York City, about 150 Seke speakers live in two particular apartment buildings in Brooklyn.

The New York Times reports on the presence of endangered languages in the City. The article is paywalled, but you can find a long excerpt at Languagehat. It says that there are at least 41 endangered languages in Manhattan alone. The article also addresses what makes a language endangered and the characteristics unique to endangered languages, such as the absence of formal greetings. Seke has no word or phrase for "hello" because it is rare for a Seke-speaking person to encounter a stranger who also speaks Seke.

-via Nag on the Lake | Photo: ELA event celebrating the Galifuna language

I'd never heard of it, and it's fantastic.

Above all, it explains how Palpatine somehow survived: with Cerveza Cristal. https://t.co/JtNd4jOE3e pic.twitter.com/kuX3Cn0Ls8

— The Spaceshipper 🚀 (@TheSpaceshipper) March 3, 2024

According to internet rumor, the first three Star Wars films were broadcast in Chile in 2003. In order to avoid losing audience attention through commercial breaks, the broadcaster integrated beer commercials into the films themselves.

I would really enjoy watching a version of Star Wars that tried to cram in as many beer commercials as possible. How far can we take this concept?

Winchester plan for £100,000 Jane Austen statue triggers ‘Disneyfication’ fears https://t.co/Ks1LvK89Vf

— Guardian news (@guardiannews) March 1, 2024

Acclaimed British author Jane Austen died over two hundred years ago, yet still retains legions of fans around the world. I am not one of them, although, in my wild bachelor days, I once read Pride and Prejudice in order to impress a girl (it worked).

The earthly remains of Jane Austen are buried inside Winchester Cathedral. There is a plan underway to erect a statue near that site to honor her life and work. Many of her fans, The Guardian reports, strenuously object.

These fans argue that Austen was an intensely private person and would prefer not to be regarded this way. Furthermore, they are concerned about the "Disneyfication" of Austen's grave if fans travel there to take selfies with the statue. Worse, the statue may attract even more American tourists to the area than is the norm.

Sculptor Martin Jennings responds to these complaints by arguing that now, after her death, Austen belongs to the whole world. Her reserved nature in life need not be endured now by the living.

-via Marginal Revolution

Redditor /u/PattonPending and their friends taught their commanding officer, a captain in the US Army, how to play Dungeons & Dragons. They wanted to schedule a campaign, but there were multiple scheduling conflicts. So the officer simply ordered the players to attend. Now playing Dungeons & Dragons wasn't simply an opportunity for them; it was a requirement under Article 92 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

Twitter user Harry Jeffries shares this image of a map that his grandfather made of Scotland using rocks from that nation over the past 30 years. He's an amateur geologist and this map is geologically accurate, as the rocks are gathered from the locations on the map.

The 1993 video game Doom is an icon of the gaming world. Since its debut, fans have attempted to run the game on very non-standard consoles, including pregnancy tests and refrigerators, powering Doom with potatoes, controlling the character with a rotary phone, and displaying the game on E. coli bacteria.

Soon, you will be able to play Doom on a lawnmower. Husqvarna, the Swedish manufacturer of outdoor cultivation equipment, announced that the next software update to its robotic lawnmower will permit it users to play Doom.

Call me paranoid, but I'm skeptical that it's a good idea to teach self-controlled robots with powerful blades to roam through an area and kill everything that they see.

-via Dave Barry

Many ordinary objects could be turned into weapons or otherwise misused by people with ingenuity and nothing to lose. That's why, as we've noted in the past, there's an entire industry that produces ordinary household and office products for prison environments.

This includes computers. Zephray Wenting purchased a prison laptop named the Justice Tech Solutions Securebook 5 on eBay. The laptop is encased in a transparent plastic shell. It has no hard drive or USB port. When turned on, the laptop asks for a password. Wenting opened the case and partially disassembled the machine, but has had no luck so far hacking the password.

You can read a complete exploration on Twitter or a detailed and informed summary on Hack-A-Day.

突然のスマホ落下から顔面を守る装置を作りました！ pic.twitter.com/S7zCAvpMiN

— カズヤシバタ(KAZUYA SHIBATA) (@seevua) October 13, 2023

I keep reading news stories and commentary about how excessive cell phone usage is harming us. I was confused until I saw this video by Japanese inventor Kazuya Shibata. Now I understand the concern: it's easy to drop a cell phone on your face if you use it while lying down. And we have a solution from Shibata: the automatic face shield.

The build video is in Japanese, but I gather that this 3D printed machine automatically deploys the shield when an object passes through motion sensors. It's the kind of genius innovation that we've come to expect from Shibata, who previously changed modern life with his automatic shirt flapper.

-via Science Girl

Modern gaming consoles, such as Xboxes and Playstations, allow for playing DVDs. But the Atari 2600, which debuted in 1977, long predates the DVD and almost predates consumer use of VHS tapes. Nonetheless, it is possible to play movies on an Atari 2600.

The MovieCart adapter processes video from a micro SD card into the cartridge reader. The kit comes with Night of the Living Dead, which is in the public domain, preloaded on a micro SD card. Use a joystick to navigate the menu options and start watching.

There's no high definition video available, though. The screen resolution is a mere 80x192 pixels. That's just enough to figure out what's being displayed on the screen.

-via Hack-A-Day

The French fashion design house Jacquemus has partnered with Nike to produce a handbag inspired by the brand's iconic swoosh logo. This leather bag goes on sale on Monday for €420, which is about $455. You can use yours to store, um, swooshes, I suppose. Or, as Instagram user @yaminansari puts it, "My lipgloss and one tampon are so excited for this."

-via Toxel

When a Hooters restaurant is erected in your town, it is cause for celebration. Similarly, we heave our bosoms in sadness when one closes. Truly, there is a time for every purpose under heaven.

Last night, the people of Kanawha, West Virginia gathered to hold a candlelight vigil to mourn the scheduled demolition of the metropolis's solitary Hooters on Tuesday. WOWK TV reports that it is to be replaced with a gas station. Nothing beside remains round the decay of that colossal wreck.

Participants in the vigil, in addition to processing their grief, raised money for a local woman to travel to California for specialized medical treatment.

-via Dave Barry | Photo: WOWK TV

Atlas Obscura informs us that a museum focused on alligators exists. Where is it? You guessed correctly: New Orleans.

On April 8, North America will be exposed to a solar eclipse. You can see the path projected by NASA here. It will be the last solar eclipse visible from the 48 contiguous states until 2044.

If don't live in the path, you may have to travel to reach it and view the event. UPI reports that Delta Airlines is offering a special flight which will show passengers the eclipse. Delta flight 1218 will consist of an Airbus 220-300, which has large windows by jetliner norms. Passengers should wear protective glasses where viewing the sun during the flight.

-via Instapundit | Photo: Callan Carpenter

What's a good word for being drunk? According to an article in The Guardian, this type of word is a drunkonym. A healthy, robust language has many of them to refer to particular types, styles, and means of being intoxicated with alcohol.

Just as the Sámi of northern Scandinavia have many words for snow and we Texans have many words for tortillas, the people of Albion can experience a vast variety of intoxicated states. British English has at least 546 of these words.

Depending upon when, what, and how a Brition drinks, he may become gazeboed, rubbered, mullered, zombied, bladdered, or stewed. Consider trying all of these states, but not on the same day.

-via Dave Barry | Photo: mail.andrewpinter