Having been to a few Cons myself (OK, a lot of Cons, but I don't own any
ears) 99.9% of the attendees are 'Normal' in everyday life, even the ones
with full Klingon battle armor.  In fact, the major complaint would be our
lives are too normal; Jobs, taxes, bills, kids. The same goes with the
Society for Creative Anachronism, a group which role plays a fantasy version
of the Middle Ages, of which I am a former member.  I have some costumes
from that time, but alas, my own middle ages have turned my tights into
EXTREMELY tights.

We were all just relatively normal people trying to add a little fun to an
otherwise mundane life.

But there is always that 1 out of 1000 that gives us a bad reputation.  I'm
happy to see the state of Oregon is trying to help these people.




-----Original Message-----
From: Arthur Frank [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Monday, May 12, 2003 10:53 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [HP3000-L] OT: Oh Brother...

I read about this in our local paper and was pretty incredulous -- I mean,
we're pretty strapped for cash out here in Oregon, aren't we?  But, as I
read further, they wouldn't pay for the interpreter unless they actually
needed to use him.  The rationale is that they already have people who think
they're Napoleon, so it's not much of a stretch to anticipate that someone
might show up thinking he's a Klingon.  After watching the documentary
Trekkies, I can see where they're coming from.

Art Frank
Manager of Information Systems
OHSU Foundation
[log in to unmask]
(503) 220-8320

>>> Tom of Bunyon <[log in to unmask]> 05/11/03 10:47PM >>>
 ....now I've heard it all:

***********

"Klingon Interpreter Sought for Mental Health Patients

May 12 2003

Position Available: Interpreter, must be fluent in Klingon.

The language created for the "Star Trek" TV series and movies is one of
about 55 needed by the office that treats mental health patients in
metropolitan Multnomah County, Oregon.

"We have to provide information in all the languages our clients speak,"
said Jerry Jelusich, a procurement specialist for the county Department of
Human Services, which serves about 60,000 mental health clients.

Although created for works of fiction, Klingon was designed to have a
consistent grammar, syntax and vocabulary.

And now Multnomah County research has found that many people - and not
just fans - consider it a complete language.

"There are some cases where we've had mental health patients where this
was all they would speak," said the county's purchasing administrator,
Franna Hathaway.

County officials said that obliges them to respond with a Klingon-English
interpreter, putting the language of starship Enterprise officer Worf and
other Klingon characters on a par with common languages such as Russian
and Vietnamese, and less common tongues including Dari and Tongan.

AP"
************

....amazing!!

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/05/11/1052591677008.html

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