Cartoon: Calvin & Hobbes

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WB-ED Murder Mystery 2010: Part One

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The Inn at Death's Door - Chapter 1

You are in an open carriage, on your way from the airfield at Zurich. A vista opens up before you and there it is, nestled in the woods just ahead - the alpine inn where you'll be spending the night. It resembles a Swiss chalet, which is not surprising. You are, after all, in Switzerland, traveling on a rocky road that meanders within sight of the Rhine River in the frozen valley below.

But this is no chalet of fairy tale imaginings. The white of the gingerbread porches is the color of soot. The windows stare out like blackened eyes. And as the driver clicks his tongue and the horse pulls you onto an icy wooden bridge spanning a deep ravine, you realize something curious and unsettling. The driver is blind.

"Dobbin knows the way," he says, perhaps sensing your concern. You scold yourself for not having noticed this sooner. You are a private investigator, being paid to do nothing more than keep your eyes and ears open. This is not a good start.

You're the fifth guest to arrive, he tells you. A British officer, Colonel Mustard, showed up this morning feeling a little under the weather and taking his meals in his room. Three more arrived on the westbound train, having hired a motorcar taxi to bring them from the station. The others are expected tomorrow.

Dobbin pulls to a halt. The blind driver eases himself down from his seat and fumbles for your luggage. You grab it yourself and lead the way into the chalet. His name, you discover, is Fritz, and he's the innkeeper as well. The sightless man manages the entire inn with the assistance of one woman, his cousin, Bertha.

"It's not so bad," he says as he slips behind the desk and pushes the guest register your way. "Our guests are few. Mr. Ian Masque." He says the name with a shiver in his voice. "He provides most of our business." Fritz points out the window towards a craggy peak. "When people are coming and going to his chateau on the mountain."

This you know. In fact, it's the reason you're all here, arriving from the four corners of Europe. Ian Masque, the mysterious millionaire, the builder and owner of that fantastical chateau perched on an alpine ledge, has invited an assortment of guests to this remote corner of Switzerland to stay in his architectural masterpiece and usher in the new year. An assortment of guests plus you, a private investigator hired by mail, with no job but to mingle and remain alert and careful. What a way to celebrate New Year's Eve!

You sign the register and eye today's date at the top of the page. December 30, 1938.

A gentle dusting of snow falls through the dusky twilight, but the inn's main lounge is bright and cozy. Two of the guests sit by a corner window, chatting in hushed tones. Although the innkeeper's cousin is a sour, unpleasant woman, she's observant and loves to gossip. From Bertha's description, the man in the corner must be Calvin Fox, an American cabaret performer now living in Vienna. The woman so deeply in conversation with him is Marina Popov, a beautiful Russian expatriate who doesn't tip and seems captivated by the "black arts."

"She hypnotizes people and she knows things," Bertha told you, crossing herself like a good Catholic.

"Communicating with the dead is a sense, like smell." Marina is speaking English. "Their spirits speaks to your spirit. Perhaps you have such skills yourself. Would you like me to hypnotize you, Mr. Fox?"

"No, thanks," Fox chuckles. He's a large, ordinary looking man with a nervous tick that now and then twitches his left eye. "Are you a friend of Masque's? Is that why he invited you to his New Year's bash?"

"I've never met him," Marina replies. "An invitation arrived by post.

The vibrations were fascinating. And of course I've heard rumors about his extraordinary chateau. I'm not sure any of us knows our host personally."

"I've met him," a voice calls out.

Striding into the room is a cheerful gentleman with an impressive mustache and Vandyke beard. This must be Martin Urfe, an English aristocrat (according to Bertha). You take this opportunity to join the group and introduce yourself.

"I met Ian Masque at a party in London," claims Urfe. "Like you, Mr. Fox, I'm an entertainer, albeit an amateur." A closer examination of Urfe's clothing reveals a certain shabbiness. Stylish but frayed. "My passion is magic," he continues. "Masque saw me perform a few illusions for friends and immediately asked for my card. I'm afraid this is going to be a working party for me. My invitation came with a request to provide the New Year's Eve diversion."

"Mine, too," Fox laughs. "I tell you what, Urfe. You do us a magic trick and I'll sing you a song. It'll do us both good to practice."

It's all quickly arranged. Five minutes later and you're gathered in the library. Even Bertha and the blind Fritz are seated and ready to be entertained. Urfe wheels on a large box decorated with stars and moons, and begins his patter by asking for a volunteer. Fox jumps up, eager to help.

You've seen this trick before. Everyone has. The volunteer is placed inside and the lid is closed. Swords are stabbed through from every angle, their sharp tips emerging from the opposite sides. The box is then spun around again and opened with a flourish. And the volunteer has vanished.

You applaud and yell bravo. Then you watch as it's done in reverse. Swords are removed. The box is spun again. Urfe, you have to admit, has a nice dramatic flair. He swings the lid open and gestures for his volunteer to emerge. And this is where the trick is different.

Fox is still gone. The box is empty.

It takes everyone a full minute to realize that the magician is more baffled than anyone else. Martin Urfe checks the box's secret door, then checks behind the screen where everyone assumed Fox had been hiding. When he pulls the screen aside, you see that the cabaret artist has disappeared.

"Fox!" Urfe is shouting between clenched teeth. "Thank you for ruining the illusion. Fox, where are you?"

It must be a joke, of course. You wander through the inn's shadowy rooms, calling the missing man's name, but he doesn't answer. He's not in his room, not in any of the public rooms and you haven't a clue how he could have dematerialized without anyone catching a glimpse.

The good humor of the evening fades and a pall of unease, perhaps even dread settles over the small group. "He's still alive," whispers Marina Popov, her eyes closed in meditation. "Nearby. But I can't see where."

Your job, it seems, has already started. This is definitely something that needs to be observed by a trained investigator. You make another tour of the inn, then go outside and circle the perimeter. The thin crust of icy snow surrounding the building has not been disturbed.

"He's obviously still in the chalet," you inform the others. "Tomorrow we'll search again. It'll be easier in the daylight." Then you climb the creaky stairs and retire to your room on the third floor.

That night, December 30, the penultimate night of 1938, you sleep fitfully. A chorus of metallic clanks and ghostly moans seem to seep up through the vents. You tell yourself it must be the old chalet, groaning in the cold, its ancient boiler straining to provide heat. These tortured sounds are perfectly natural.

But you know, deep down, they're not.

Now it is time to proceed to The Inn at Death's Door - Chapter 2.

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The 2009 Stella Awards

It's time again for the annual 'Stella Awards'!

For those unfamiliar with these awards, they are named after 81-year-old Stella Liebeck who spilled hot coffee on herself and successfully sued the McDonald's in New Mexico , where she purchased coffee... You remember, she took the lid off the coffee and put it between her knees while she was driving. Who would ever think one could get burned doing that, right? That' s right; these are awards for the most outlandish lawsuits and verdicts in the U.S. You know, the kinds of cases that make you scratch your head. So keep your head scratcher handy.

Here are the Stellas for the past year:

* SEVENTH PLACE *

Kathleen Robertson of Austin, Texas was awarded $80,000 by a jury of her peers after breaking her ankle tripping over a toddler who was running inside a furniture store. The store owners were understandably surprised by the verdict, considering the running toddler was her own son.
Start scratching!

* SIXTH PLACE *

Carl Truman, 19, of Los Angeles, California won $74,000 plus medical expenses when his neighbor ran over his hand with a Honda Accord. Truman apparently didn't notice there was someone at the wheel of the car when he was trying to steal his neighbor's hubcaps.
Scratch some more....

* FIFTH PLACE *

Terrence Dickson, of Bristol, Pennsylvania, who was leaving a house he had just burglarized by way of the garage. Unfortunately for Dickson, the automatic garage door opener malfunctioned and he could not get the garage door to open. Worse, he couldn't re-enter the house because the door connecting the garage to the house locked when Dickson pulled it shut. Forced to sit for eight, count 'em, EIGHT days and survive on a case of Pepsi and a large bag of dry dog food, he sued the homeowner's insurance company claiming undue mental Anguish. Amazingly, the jury said the insurance company must pay Dickson $500,000 for his anguish. We should all have this kind of anguish. Keep scratching. There are more...

Double hand scratching after this one...

* FOURTH PLACE *

Jerry Williams, of Little Rock, Arkansas, garnered 4th Place in the Stella's when he was awarded $14,500 plus medical expenses after being bitten on the butt by his next door neighbor's beagle - even though the beagle was on a chain in its owner's fenced yard.. Williams did not get as much as he asked for because the jury believed the beagle might have been provoked at the time of the butt bite because Williams had climbed over the fence into the yard and repeatedly shot the dog with a pellet gun.

Pick a new spot to scratch, you're getting a bald spot..

* THIRD PLACE *

Amber Carson of Lancaster, Pennsylvania because a jury ordered a Philadelphia restaurant to pay her $113,500 after she slipped on a spilled soft drink and broke her tail bone. The reason the soft drink was on the floor: Ms. Carson had thrown it at her boyfriend 30 seconds earlier during an argument. What ever happened to people being responsible for their own actions?

Only two more so ease up on the scratching....

* SECOND PLACE *

Kara Walton, of Claymont, Delaware sued the owner of a night club in a nearby city because she fell from the bathroom window to the floor, knocking out her two front teeth. Even though Ms. Walton was trying to sneak through the ladies room window to avoid paying the $3.50 cover charge, the jury said the night club had to pay her $12,000.....oh, yeah, plus dental expenses. Go figure.

Ok. Here we go!!

* FIRST PLACE *

This year's runaway First Place Stella Award winner was: Mrs. Merv Grazinski, of Oklahoma City , Oklahoma , who purchased new 32-foot Winnebago motor home. On her first trip home, from an OU football game, having driven on to the freeway, she set the cruise control at 70 mph and calmly left the driver's seat to go to the back of the Winnebago to make herself a sandwich. Not surprisingly, the motor home left the freeway, crashed and overturned. Also not surprisingly, Mrs. Grazinski sued Winnebago for not putting in the owner's manual that she couldn't actually leave the driver's seat while the cruise control was set. The Oklahoma jury awarded her, are you sitting down?

...$1,750,000 PLUS a new motor home. Winnebago actually changed their manuals as a result of this suit, just in case Mrs. Grazinski has any relatives who might also buy a motor home.

This is INTERNET FRAUD No.3

Oh! I seem to have won the lottery...

The Desk of Foreign International Remittance Department HSBC Bank Of London Remittance/Credit Manager: Mr. Van Bruce

Attention: Mr.Sanjay Khosla

How are you today?. Note that your total prize claim of £1,350,000.00{One Million Three Hundred and Fifty Thousand Pounds Only). has been insured to the real value and as such cannot be deducted from. This is in accordance with section 13(1)(n) of the national gambling act as adopted in 1993 and amended on 3RD July 1996 by the constitutional assembly.

Your transfer has been processed and we are only waiting confirmation of the payment, but due to the fact that we would keep your money on hold for more than 24 hours, I advice you that you can pay to an agent’s account in India so as to facilitate the immediate transfer of the fund before the end of the day.

The account is thus:

BANK NAME: ICICI BANK INDIA,
S/B ACCOUNT NAME:J.LAL MAL SAWMI
ACCOUNT NUMBERS: 007101522406
BRANCE CODE: NEW DELHI

We hope to make the transfer as soon as we have confirm the receipt of the payment within 48 hours time frame. Send to us the proof of payment as soon as the payment has been made so that we shall make your transfer.

Accept of modest congratulations.

Yours faithfully,
Mr.Van Bruce
(Remittance/Credit Manager)

Just about everybody's received one of these, right? How can you tell it's a fraud? Thoughts and opinions in the COMMENTS below please.

This is INTERNET FRAUD No.2

Take a look at this one.

Dear Friend,

URGENT BUSINESS PROPOSAL

It is my great pleasure in writing you this letter on behalf of my colleagues. Your particulars were given to me by a member of the South Africa Export Promotion Council (S.E.P.C) [NOTE 1] who was with the federal government delegation to your country during a trade exhibition. I have decided to seek a confidential co-operation with you in the execution of the deal described hereunder for the benefit of all parties and hope you will keep it as top secret [NOTE 2] because of the nature of this business.

I am ENGR. PAUL MABUZA [NOTE 3]. Director Of Project Implementation, South Africa Department of Minerals & Energy I am making this contact with you, based on the committee's need for an individual/company who is willing to assist us in the execution of this business. Within the Department of Minerals & Energy, where I work as a Director of the Project Implementation and with the good co-operation of four other top officials, we have in our possession as over due payment bills, totaling Twenty One Million, Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars (US$21,500,000) [NOTE 4]. Which we want to transfer abroad with the assistance and co-operation of A Foreign Company/individual to receive the said funds on our behalf. More so, we are handicap in these circumstances, as the South African Civil Services code of conduct does not allow us to operate an offshore account. Hence your importance in this transaction.

This amount $21.5Million represents the balance of the total contract value executed on behalf of my ministry by a Foreign Contracting Firm, which we the Officials over invoiced deliberately. Though the actual contract cost has been paid to the original contractor, leaving the balance in the tune of the said amount, which we have in principles gotten approval to remit by Key Tested Telegraphic Transfer (K.T.T). to any Foreign Bank Account you will provide by filing an Application through the Ministry Of Justice here in South Africa, for the transfer of rights and privileges of the former contractor to you. [NOTE 5]

I have the Authority of my partners involved to propose that you should be willing to assist us in this transaction, your share of the sum is 30% of the $21.5Million, 60% for us and 5% for taxation and miscellaneous expenses and remaining 5% will be for charity organization. The transaction itself is 100% safe, on your part provided you treats it with utmost secrecy and confidentiality. Also, your area of specialization is not a hindrance to the successful execution of this transaction. I have reposed my confidence in you and hope that you will not disappoint me. I want to assure you that my partner and myself are in the position to make the payment of this claim possible, provided that you can give us a very strong assurance and guarantee that the funds will be secured and please, remember to treat this matter very confidential, because we will not comprehend with any form of exposure as we are still in active Government service.

Please, reply me on my confidential email address: mabuza_p07adb@yanoo.com [NOTE 6] or call / fax your response directly to my. Tel: 27-73-714080 OR Fax No.:27-11-507 6944.
Once again, remember that time is of great essence in this transaction . I wait in anticipation of your fullest co-operation.

Thank you for your co-operation.
Yours Faithfully, ENGR. PAUL MABUZA

• NOTE 1: They seem to think that these bracketed initials will impress, and use them often.

• NOTE 2: He does not want you to talk to a friend who might know all about these scams.

• NOTE 3: They like to give themselves a title! Engr., Barrister, Pastor, Dr., are favourites.

• NOTE 4: About average for a fraud e-mail.

• NOTE 5: It all sounds very straightforward, but once the bait is taken the scam becomes more convoluted and the victim will be asked to send money for "legal fees" or "insurance" to a newly introduced fictitious firm. This is the advance fee, hence "the Advance Fee Scam". Western Union will be the criminal's money transfer agency of choic

• NOTE 6: So confidential that he has mailed it to potential victims around the world!

Have you ever received an e-mail like this one? Tell us about it in the COMMENTS below.

This is INTERNET FRAUD No.1

I got this in my e-mail InBox today...

Dear Customer,

Due to recent account takeovers and unauthorized listings, St.George is requesting a new account verification procedure. From time to time, randomly selected accounts (seller and/or buyer) are placed under an advanced updating process based on merchant relationsand on-file credit cards. St.George may also request in an email message scanned/faxed copies of one or more photo ID's. Your account confirmation may go wrong if your credit card has expired, or if you have changed/replaced your credit card without letting us know about the change.

Your account is not suspended, but if in 36 hours after you receive this message your account is not confirmed we reserve the right to terminate your St.George subscription.

If you received this notice and you are not an authorized St.George account holder, please be aware that it is in violation of St.George policy to represent oneself as an St.George user. Such action may also be in violation of local, national, and/or international law.

To confirm your identity with us click HERE … http://xxx

This mail is generated by an automated service.
St.George Limited ABN 92 055 513 070 AFS Licence No. 240997

St.George sent this e-mail to you because your Notification Preferences indicate that you want to receive information about Special Events & Promotions.St.George will request personal data (password, credit card numbers) only on our home site, wich is securely incrypted with SLL.

Replies to this mail are not read by St.George customer service or technical support.

What are your thoughts on this? Have you ever received something like this? What did you do?

Use the COMMENTS below to share your experience.

What is the Green Map organisation?

This is a follow up on the article below about the Borobudur Green Map programme which could have an impact on up to 20 villages in the vicinity of the old Buddhist temple and famous tourist attraction.



You can find out about Green Map here.

This is their mission statement...

Engaging communities worldwide to chart a sustainable future - for all of us!

Green Map System empowers a diverse global movement mapping green living, nature, social and cultural resources in cities, villages and neighborhoods in over 50 countries.

Developing local sustainability networks, we expand the demand for healthier, more vibrant communities with our adaptable mapmaking tools and universal icons, multi-lingual participatory websites, workshops and regional hubs.

Working collaboratively since 1995, Green Maps bring people of all ages together to discover, share and care for their communities. Get involved and support this award-winning perspective-changing movement.

Miss Indonesia 2009 promises "I will learn Indonesian"

Beauty pageant winner’s answer in English has caused controversy in her "native" Indonesia.

The winner of the Miss Indonesia beauty contest has pledged to brush up on her Indonesian language skills after raising eyebrows for answering the pageant judges' questions in English.

Kerenina Sunny Halim, a 22-year-old teacher who has an American mother and an Indonesian father, beat 32 other contestants to be crowned Miss Indonesia last week.
Her brother, TV star Yusuf Iman, told reporters that she could not speak Bahasa Indonesia fluently because she was schooled at home and had few chances to practice.

"Weird, how come Miss Indonesia missed Indonesian?" said a blogger named Coro on Kompas.com, the website of one of the country's biggest newspapers.

"This is truly a tasteless joke!" wrote another blogger on the Web site of the Jakarta Post newspaper. "How on earth do the pitiful judges of this laughable beauty pageant justify their foolish decision? Imagine a Chinese beauty contestant who does not speak Chinese... Shame on the judges!"

Halim has promised to improve her Indonesian, saying it was an easy language to learn for those who are willing.

"It's been hard for me to speak Indonesian, because I use English every day," she was quoted by the Jakarta Post newspaper as saying. "But I will learn."

In 2006, the winner of the Indonesian leg of the Miss Universe contest, Nadine Chandrawinata, an Indonesian of German descent, was lambasted by the public and the media after struggling to answer the judges' questions in English.

Liliana Tanoesoedibjo, head of the judges panel, said Halim's English language skills would help Indonesia's chances in the Miss World contest in Johannesberg. "She can speak Indonesian, but has a bit of an American accent. But her Indonesian is good enough," Tanoesoedibjo said.

In the last decade, many Indonesians have been trying to improve their English skills and many English words have seeped into the local language.

Some bloggers expressed sympathy with Halim, saying foreign language skills were key to succeeding in today's world.

"For Bahasa Indonesia you need enough to get by. But these days, you need to be fluent in a foreign language, English at least," Memen Suprietmen said on a posting on Kompas.com.

Various versions of this story, or comments about it, can be found...

here at this news site, [click with your mouse]

here on a blog by a disappointed Indonesian man,

and here on this blog by an Indonesian woman.

What do YOU feel about this? Tell us in the COMMENTS below.

Yogyakarta in the national eye... part 3

Borobudur Green Map Launched

Wed, 06/10/2009 1:01 PM

YOGYAKARTA: Borobudur Green Map was launched Monday in an effort to preserve the old Buddhist temple and its surrounding area.

Green Map program coordinator Kristanti Wisnu Aji Wardani revealed the map described the geographical site of the temple and social conditions around the tourist destination.

"So far tourists only visit the temple and back home. Actually, there are so many interesting things in villages around the temple," Kristanti said after the launch ceremony at Ngaran hamlet, Borobudur village, Magelang regency.

She said 20 hamlets around the temple had tourism potential.

"Many of the tourists don't know about the hamlets."

Any thoughts from anyone?

Today's Top Stories - according to the BBC

BBC NEWS
02:16 GMT, Wednesday, 10 June 2009 03:16 UK

Suicide attack on Pakistani hotel
At least 11 people are reported to have been killed in a suicide bomb attack on a luxury hotel in the Pakistani city of Peshawar.

Court opens way for Chrysler sale
The US Supreme Court removes a stay on Fiat's plan to buy up part of the bankrupt carmaker Chrysler.

UK to consider new voting system
PM Gordon Brown is set to announce plans to examine a new system of voting MPs to the House of Commons.

Today's Top Stories - according to the BBC

BBC NEWS
11:47 GMT, Tuesday, 9 June 2009 12:47 UK

Guantanamo detainee sent to NY for trial
The first Guantanamo detainee to face a US civilian trial arrives in New York and is to appear in court later.

Shell settles Nigeria deaths case
Oil firm Shell agrees to pay $15.5m to families of a group of Nigerian activists executed in 1995, but accepts no liability.

France 'freezer baby' case begins
The trial begins in France of a woman accused of killing three of her babies and hiding two of them in a freezer.

To read any of the stories in full, click on the blue text headlines.

The Day's Top Stories - according to the BBC

BBC NEWS
02:02 GMT, Monday, 8 June 2009 03:02 UK

European voters punish the left
Centre-right parties have done well in EU elections at the expense of the left, with far-right groups also making gains.

US-backed bloc 'wins Lebanon poll'
The leader of Lebanon's governing pro-Western coalition claims victory over the Hezbollah-led bloc in a tight election.

'More bodies found' from lost jet
A total of 17 bodies from the crashed Air France flight have now been recovered from the Atlantic, officials say.

Click on the headlines to read the story in full on the BBC web site.

What is Esperanto?

Following up on Brian's comment on the Disappearing Languages post...

What is Esperanto?

Esperanto is a language, but not of any country or ethnic group: it is a neutral, international language.

Origins

The basic rules and words of Esperanto were proposed by L. L. Zamenhof at the end of the 19th century. Within a few years, people started learning it and formed a worldwide community. Since then, Esperanto has been in use (and freely evolving) just like any other language.

Characteristics

Esperanto has a very regular structure. Words are often made from many other roots, and in this way the number of words which one must memorise is made much smaller. The language is phonetic, and the rules of pronunciation are very simple, so that everyone knows how to pronounce a written worde and vice-versa. All this make the learning of the language relatively easy.

Most Esperanto roots are similar to words from Romance, Germanic or Slavic languages. However, Esperanto is not merely a "pot-pourri" of those languages, but a true and independent language in itself - structurally more similar, furthermore, to non-European languages than to European ones.

Using Esperanto

Esperanto is most useful for neutral communication. That means that communication through Esperanto does not give advantages to the members of any particular people or culture, but provides an ethos of equality of rights, tolerance and true internationalism. This can be seen in many diverse situations: international meetings, books, magazines, music, the Internet of course, and often also in private and family life.

Young people can have very meaningful experiences through Esperanto: being hosted free of charge in the homes of people in other countries and making contact with their culture without barriers; enjoying international festivals and training at interesting seminars; becoming acquainted with and learning more foreign languages; and becoming active and taking an interest in TEJO, as the case should arise.

An extract from the Christian Bible translated into Esperanto.

This article has been 'taken' from here. Check out the rest of that web site.

Please also check out those links provided by Brian.

Disappearing Languages - follow up

Here is an article from a Japanese newspaper (Asahi Shimbun) about endangered languages in Japan.

With only 15 speakers left, the Ainu language is “critically endangered” while seven other languages in Japan are also at risk of disappearing, according to a UNESCO report.

These eight languages in Japan are among about 2,500 around the world that have become or could become extinct, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s report said.

UNESCO’s Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger listed eight languages in Japan, such as the Ainu language, as independent tongues under international standards rather than indigenous dialects, an official with Paris-based UNESCO said.

In addition to Hokkaido, the Ainu language used to be widely spoken in Russia’s Sakhalin as well as the Chishima island chain off the coast of Hokkaido, including the Northern Territories. But the speakers there have died out.

“Few people speak Ainu in everyday life,” said the Sapporo-based Foundation for Research and Promotion of Ainu Culture.

The seven other endangered languages in Japan are Yaeyama, Yonaguni, Okinawa, Kunigami, Miyako in Okinawa Prefecture, Amami in Kagoshima Prefecture, and Hachijo in Tokyo. The first six languages are spoken on the Nansei island chain, which stretches from north of Taiwan and south of Kyushu, and Hachijo in Tokyo’s Hachijojima island and nearby islets.

UNESCO described the Yaeyama and Yonaguni languages as “severely endangered,” while the other five were “definitely endangered.”

Osamu Sakiyama, professor emeritus of linguistics at the National Museum of Ethnology, welcomed UNESCO’s approach, saying a dialect should be treated as an independent language if its speakers have a distinct culture.

“Coupled with the myth that Japan is ethnically homogenous, people tend to think that one language is spoken in Japan. But I want people to know there is quite a diversity,” Sakiyama said.

The Atlas of the World Languages in Danger released Thursday is the third. It conducted similar research in 1996 and 2001.

More than 30 linguists covered about 6,000 languages around the world, making the survey one of unprecedented scale.

The 2,500 endangered languages were put into five different categories: unsafe; definitely endangered; severely endangered; critically endangered; and extinct.

The number of “critically endangered” languages stood at 538, including 199 with 10 or fewer speakers. There were 502 “severely endangered” languages, 632 “definitely endangered,” and 607 were deemed “unsafe.”

Many of these languages are spoken in sub-Saharan Africa, South America and Melanesia.

Since 1950, 219 languages have become extinct, according to the report. The latest language to disappear is Eyak in Alaska, with the death of the remaining speaker, the report said.

Ryoji Kikuchi, an official with the Hachijo board of education, welcomed UNESCO’s citation as a good opportunity to keep record of the disappearing language.

“We have wanted to do something about the language because the number of people who speak it is decreasing due to the aging of society,” Kikuchi said.

Kikuchi said local officials are considering uploading a recording of the Hachijo language, taped several decades ago, on the town’s website.

Feel free to COMMENT on this post below.