Author: Robert Coontz (Administrator)

Washington, D.C., Kokonvention

Continued above.

Robert says:

I’ve had a request by e-mail for a more organized and, well, educational program for a D.C. Kokonvention. So far, all I’d been planning to do was a quickish tour of my magazine (Science). But I can add other things if there’s a demand for them. I have other science-writer friends who can give tours, and of course there are loads of museums and things in Washington. I’d need a bit of advance notice, though, and it probably wouldn’t be worth planning anything for a group of fewer than four people.

So assuming something is going to happen this summer, when will it happen, and who is likely to be there?

Happy Birthday, William Shakespeare!

In honor of his birth, the blog requests
That comments on this thread should be composed
In iambs, five per line — in other words,
Pentameter. (Don’t be afraid. It’s not
That hard. We’ll give some helpful hints below.)

In honor of his birth, the blog requests
That comments on this thread should be composed
In iambs, five per line — in other words,
Pentameter. (Don’t be afraid. It’s not
That hard. We’ll give some helpful hints below.)

An iamb is a pair of syllables,
One soft, one loud. It goes like this: ta-DAH!
Iambic words include po-LICE, ar-REST,
en-JOY, de-LIGHT, pa-RADE, a-LAS — got it?
Pentameter (pronounced “pen-TA-muh-tur”)
Means five of them are stuck together, thus:
Ta-DAH, ta-DAH, ta-DAH, ta-DAH, ta-DAH.
“De-NY thy FA-ther AND re-FUSE thy NAME,
Or IF thou WILT not, BE but SWORN my LOVE,
And I’LL no LONG-er BE a CAP-u-LET.”
(In practice, you’re allowed a little grace
To fudge the stresses. Some of Juliet’s
Strong “DAHs” are really weak. But that’s okay,
As long as all the syllables add up.)

An iamb, note, is not to be confused
With “DAH-da.” That’s a trochee. Trochees go
Like “CRU-el GA-pas TOR-ture BLOG-gers.” See?

Give it a try. It’s really not so hard,
Especially to anyone who has
An ear for music. Happy birthday, Will!

RRR, v. 2007.4 (Humor/Fairytale/Fractured) – Part One

MBers have proposed that this new Round-Robin ‘Riting threat* thread be about humor, satire, and/or fractured fairytales. That’s fine with us. It’s your thread. Take it away, Musers!

NOTE: It doesn’t really get started until around Comment 60.

*It’s not really very threatening.