About 97% of the world’s people speak about 4% of the world’s languages; conversely, about 96% of the world’s languages are spoken by about 3% of the world’s people…. Even languages with many thousands of speakers are no longer being acquired by children; at least 50% of the world’s more than six thousand languages are losing speakers. We estimate that about 90% of all languages may be replaced by dominant languages by the end of the 21st century. -UNESCO Ad Hoc Expert Group on Endangered Languages, “Language Vitality and Endangerment”-

Always go to other people’s funerals, otherwise they won’t go to yours. -Yogi Bera-

The Lord’s Supper: it’s not about the menu, but about the guest list. -Fr. Phil Smith-

Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us. -Calvin, “Calvin & Hobbes”-

Liberals encourage diversity of opinions and beliefs, if they’re pretty much the same opinions and beliefs already held by liberals. -Daniel Walker-

Fifteen men on the dead man’s chest — Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum! Drink and the devil had done for the rest — Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum! -Robert Louis Stevenson-

BIBLE: Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth

You can always count on the Americans to do the right thing — after they have tried everything else. -Winston Churchill-

Man is the best computer we can put aboard a spacecraft — and the only one that can be mass produced with unskilled labor. -Wernher von Braun-

One way to make sure crime doesn’t pay would be to let the government run it. -Ronald Reagan-