French president Sarkozy is blaming txting for the imminent demise of the French language (link).
quote:
Last March, Sarkozy, an avid texteur, was caught messaging while awaiting an audience with the Pope, and later in a meeting with Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao. His advisors were apparently so concerned with Sarko's disregard for protocol that they warned him to curtail his habit in preparation for a meeting with Queen Elizabeth II, herself an avid mobile phone user.
I associate the university with two things: (1) the first web browser which I used (in late 1994), Mosaic (link) from the NCSA at the UIUC, and (2) the linguistics department there (link). OK, maybe three things, but the other one is from a work of fiction and not necessarily associated with the university.
quote:
Good afternoon, gentlemen. I am a HAL 9000 computer. I became operational at the H.A.L. plant in Urbana, Illinois on the 12th of January 1992.
Oh, I am sorry. Now there'll always be three (or four) things I think of when I read a reference to it. (Come to think of it, there is one more thing: irrationally I think of cremant made in the city, but that's just silly.)
