MuseBlog

Continuing our remembrance of favorite Muse issues and articles past, the GAPAs dedicate the March random thread to “The Murder (Maybe) of Napoleon” — blurbed as “Was Napoleon Killed by His Wallpaper?” on the cover of the January 2003 issue. The nautical-themed number also included articles about shipworms and Captain Kidd, step-by-step instructions on how to plunder a galleon, and a chapter from Hornblower and the “Atropos”, the fifth book in C. S. Forester’s celebrated Horatio Hornblower saga. In a landlubberly aside, Ivars Peterson’s Math Page gave tips on winning at Monopoly. A fine issue indeed, me hearties!

Ideas for future random threads are still welcome.

Users’ Manual: Obey The Rules. Consult The Guide. Have fun!

If you’re new on the blog, please stop by this thread and say pie — er hi.

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Piggy asked to see the Q&A column from the September 2011 issue, which answered one of his questions but was published after his subscription to Muse had expired. As it happens, both questions in that column had MuseBlog connections. We’re a bit late in posting them, so, without further ado…

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Known Muser birthdays this month*:

03-01 Cat’s Meow’s birthday (1995)
03-03 Adeliae’s birthday (1997)
03-25 Sans Orchestre’s birthday (1993)
03-26 Shadowkat’s birthday (1991)
03-26 Clare de Lune’s birthday (1996)
03-27 ~Cskia’s birthday (1996)
03-29 Luna the Lovely’s birthday (1990)
03-30 gradster’s birthday (1993)

You turn 5,000 days old this month if you were born between June 24 and July 24, 1999.
You turn 6,000 days old this month if you were born between September 27 and October 27, 1996.
You turn 7,000 days old this month if you were born between January 1 and January 31, 1994.
You turn 8,000 days old this month if you were born between April 7 and May 7, 1991.

*Note: Listed MBers who have been inactive for several months won’t appear on next year’s birthday calendar unless they show up again.

Tell us when your magazine arrives and/or what you think about it.
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Robert writes:

I haven’t mentioned it on the blog until now, but apparently word got out through other channels that my father died on January 26. Much to my surprise — well, no; very little that MuseBloggers do surprises me anymore. But I was touched and moved to receive by email a sympathy card that several of you jointly designed and created.

I’ll tell you more about my father soon and will try to post Time Capsules of some of his proto-proto-Muserly boyhood papers. Although Dad probably never saw MuseBlog (he developed dementia and stopped using computers about the time I started experimenting with WordPress), he contributed to it in important ways, both by helping to make me the person I am and by inventing some of the cornerstones of MB culture. For example, the useful gender-neutral pronoun “en” was his idea, and he would have been delighted to see how it has taken root and flourished on our threads.

I’ll paste in the card itself after the jump. Spoiler alert: it involves space squids. For a naval captain who loved science-fiction, I can think of no more fitting totem animal to guide him on his final voyage.

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Both were born on February 12, 1809. Both changed the world.

A place for careful, clear, respectful discussions of difficult topics. No flame wars, please. This isn’t the rest of the Internet (as you may have noticed).

Advice and support for those applying for internships, trying to figure out what to do with their lives, and generally groping to find their way.

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If you’re new on the blog, please stop by this thread and say pie — er hi.

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We haven’t started a new edition of this thread since 2010. It’s high time, wouldn’t you say?

Known Muser birthdays and “K Days” this month*:

02-01 Keiffer’s birthday (1997)
02-02 Groundhog22’s birthday (1989)
02-03 Ambystoma Maculatum’s 6K Day
02-08 Birthday of Cerulean Pyros (1996)
02-08 Lawson’s birthday (year?)
02-09 Drama Llama’s 5K Day
02-14 Beetles’s 5K Day
02-16 cromwell’s birthday (1996)
02-18 Shadowkat’s 8K Day
02-26 KaiYves’s birthday (1993)
02-26 Kai D.’s birthday (2001)

You turn 5,000 days old this month if you were born between May 27 and June 23, 1999.
You turn 6,000 days old this month if you were born between August 30 and September 26, 1996.
You turn 7,000 days old this month if you were born between December 4 and December 31, 1993.
You turn 8,000 days old this month if you were born between March 10 and April 6, 1991.

Or perhaps “Back to the Future”?

Requested by KaiYves, who described it thus:

dedicated to our discoveries of older MB posts that take on a new meaning, comic, sad, or otherwise, in light of later events (Robert’s prediction that Michael Jackson would be president, me writing an essay similar to “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” before it was published, etc.).

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Tell us when your magazine arrives and/or what you think about it.
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Kai D. requested

a funny acronyms thread where all you do is post funny acronyms, what they stand for, and comment on what you think about others’ acronyms

Here it is!

Sometimes a little mayhem is just the thing to clear away the cobwebs and banish the winter doldrums. And to put you in the mood, Robert has written a new marching song to a tune we’re sure you all know:

Can you hear the music swell with a quasi-martial sound?
Hear the shouting and the laughter as the Musers rally ‘round?
When the sloshing in your guts echoes the splatting of our tins,
There will be chaos on the blog when the fight begins!

You must agree the world can see how sick to death you are
Of endless woes on Rants and Plaints and maudlin R&R,
So join our ranks and bid your angst au revoir!

In our stain-resistant suits, with our weapons raised on high,
We are indomitable warriors who are not afraid to pie!
See the ballistic pastry soar, hear how it whistles as it spins –
There will be filling everywhere when the fight begins!

[reprise]
We are fairly well-behaved and convinced that war is wrong,
But we know that we’ll go crazy if we put it off too long.
Though it makes a royal mess, and it’s hard to say who wins,
It will be such a big relief when the fight begins!

New year, new thread. The original Coping thread described its purpose thus:

Coping with difficult situations, disappointment, depression, boredom, whatever unpleasantness life deals out. What tricks have you learned? What works for you?

J. R. R. Tolkien, if he were alive, would be 121 years old today.

Ai! laurië lantar lassi súrinen,
yéni únótimë ve rámar aldaron!
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In honor of Rebecca’s birthday, would all Muse Academy students and alumni please rise and sing the Lasley House song:

Take my soul,
Take my mind,
Leave me not a scrap behind.
I don’t care,
I’ll still be
Loyal to my House, Lasleeee.

I’ll return
Home and free,
Led by serendipity.
You can’t take my House from me!

By popular request (well, Piggy’s request, and he’s certainly popular), here’s a new edition of the thread for practicing foreign and/or archaic forms of communication.

The 2012 thread included some possibly useful letters decorated with diacritical marks.

The original Coy Woodnesse thread, launched in 2005, explains the name, sort of.

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If you’re new on the blog, please stop by this thread and say pie — er hi.

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Known Muser birthdays and “K Days” this month*:

01-01 Jadestone’s birthday (1992)
01-03 SilverLeopard’s birthday (1998)
01-03 Armada’s 6K Day
01-03 Lady Bunniful’s birthday
01-16 Cello-Playing Mathematician’s 7K Day
01-23 Kittymine’s birthday (1993)
01-25 Dodecahedron’s 7K Day
01-26 Glassboro’s birthday (1995)
01-29 Errata’s 6K Day

You turn 5,000 days old this month if you were born between April 26 and May 26, 1999.
You turn 6,000 days old this month if you were born between July 30 and August 29, 1996.
You turn 7,000 days old this month if you were born between November 3 and December 3, 1993.
You turn 8,000 days old this month if you were born between February 7 and March 9, 1991.

*Note: Listed MBers who have been inactive for several months won’t appear on next year’s birthday calendar unless they show up again.

With the New Year nipping at our heels, the GAPAs have been planning a theme for 2013’s random threads. We’ve decided to get back to our Muserly roots by devoting each month to a different memorable article or issue of Muse. Your comments on the blog make it clear that some of them linger in your minds and undoubtedly played a role in warping shaping your characters.

Of course, to do this effectively, we’ll need to know just which issues and/or articles those are. So… suggestions, anybody?

(That reminds us: the Muse Contents page needs updating. Any help from current subscribers will be most welcome.)