I Found A Knife

Willie & Frank--
Shakespeare?
In Nano-Time

Willie, Frank & 500 Words (Chapter 2)

The mice were named Willie and Frank. I got to name them.

Big fat hairy deal.

Actually, little fat hairy deal, two of them. They're named after William Shakespeare and Francis Bacon. It made sense, given the goal of the research project, but I don't think the research team ever got the reference. Doesn't matter. I think if you aren't using words that sound like they came off a medicine bottle, those guys aren't listening anyway.

First thing that morning Willie and Frank were settled into their new high tech home. I should probably give you some details on how it worked.

Warning: Unless you're into geek toys, some of this is kind of boring. (Hey, I understand. Even my mom skipped ahead.)

I set a large monitor up next to the cage. Whatever the mice tapped out came up on the monitor, in really large type. Did you know that mice are near sighted? Me neither. The monitor was connected to a kickin' fast computer that also had another keyboard attached to it, so that I could enter the system commands. The only other thing connected to the computer, besides the floor-touch pad, was a data wire that ran to a monitor in the lab upstairs. No games, no internet. Not even Minesweeper. That sucked, and I said so, but they said the computer was for the project, not for me. They said, if I was bored, I should talk to the mice.

The floor-touch pad came out perfectly. Just like planned, the mice walk across it, and words appear on the screen. Their weight was just enough to depress the floor of the cage and activate the contacts underneath their feet. Each contact related to a different word.

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Something like half of everything ever put in print in the English language is made up of less than 250 words. No kidding. 500 words gets you almost everything ever written. You can take my word for it and skip over the list.

Shakespeare, It Ain't

Or, here; See for yourself:

The List of Words