MuseBlog

After spending more than a month trying to get MuseBlog’s slideshow app to work, I’ve given up and decided just to post the pictures I took at the Science March. Here are some to start with; captions and more photos will follow later.

I marched with a throng of paleontologists:

Other marches may have been bigger or slicker than the March for Science, but the scientists had the best hats. Good costumes, too:

We mustered on the Washington Monument grounds and then marched down Constitution Avenue toward the Capitol amid intermittent rain:

Most of the signs were homemade, and not all of them were equally water-repellent. Some of my favorites:

And, of course, the obligatory steely-jawed selfie:

Free to a Good Home!

Robert saith:

This Aroma Mi Three-Cup Rice Cooker is by far the cutest household appliance I’ve ever owned. It also works perfectly and is easy to use. Unfortunately, using it just once revealed that it actually makes just two cups of rice. (The “cups” in its name refer to a roughly 6-ounce or 175-milliliter measuring cup that comes with the cooker.) That’s not quite enough for my household.

My loss can be your gain. The first MBer to send ens address to me at “thegapas [at] gmail.com” will receive this little gem in the mail absolutely free of charge. How’s that for a deal?

(This offer applies only within the continental United States. That’s all the postage I can afford. Sorry, farther-flung friends!)

Since the responses on the Random thread seemed positive, I decided to reboot these threads.

Shiny new rule: No nesties! The conversation will meander from topic to topic anyhow. Also, it adds to the retro vibe.

The last October Incredible Morphing Chameleon thread I found was from 2008. So I purloined the image and the first topic from that month’s random thread. Incidentally, this was also the month I first stumbled upon MuseBlog.

Unlike the random thread, this discussion thread stays on topic until the topic changes or the month ends.

Newcomers should read The Rules and The Guide before plunging in.

Current topic:
Online media: Post-truth cesspit or literal hellhole?
The election and its aftermath
Halloween

Suggested topics: 

Have fun!

By popular request, here’s an antidote to the Rants and Complaints thread: a place to talk about things you’re happy about. We could all use a little good news.

Continued from the original thread.

Ar-har, mateys! ‘Tis the most wonderful time of the year again!

I’m sure I’m not alone in saying that MuseBlog has been a hugely positive formative influence on me. But, as I am a scientist at heart, it wasn’t enough for me to just say “I’m sure I’m not alone.” So I asked some of my friends how they felt about having had MuseBlog in their life for ten years.

Also, I (Dodecahedron) baked an honorary cake with Fern. Julia also baked a cake. Then, with the cake-baking fervor going around, Jadestone made some cupcakes. Pics below the fold.

Read more »

Many happy returns of the day to all you hoopy froods who know where your towels are.

We think one of your lines says it all:

What fools these mortals be!

And the rest is silence.

It’s 3/14/15 according to the American date-writing convention, and this thread is set to go live at 9:26. At some point between 53 and 54 seconds later, the world will experience (or will have experienced, depending on when you read this) Pi Moment.

And there was much rejoicing!

DON’T THINK OF IT AS DYING, said Death. JUST THINK OF IT AS LEAVING EARLY TO AVOID THE RUSH.

-Terry Pratchett, 1948-2015

In my heart
Is the seed of the tree
Which will be me.
Nourished by understanding
Warmed by friends
Fed by loved ones
Matured by wisdom
Tempered by tears.

–Leonard Nimoy (1931-2015)
Read more »

Things to do:

1. Check the original Lists thread.
2. Find out what it’s all about and how to do it.
3. Return here.
4. Make lists.

Listening, playing, performing, composing.

Continued from v. 2014

Robert writes:

Rosanne is in town visiting her parents, so naturally I jumped at the chance to see them all yesterday. We ate rugelach and strange chocolate laced with hot peppers and Pop Rocks, and then Rosanne and I posed for a photos with a little ceramic Kokopelli trivet.

At first, we had trouble sitting still.

Our faces were the last things to settle down.

Finally the picture fell into place.

Remember to post spoiler warnings, please!

Continued rather belatedly from Movies, v.2013.

The creation of this thread has absolutely nothing to do with bookgirl_me just having seen “The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies”.

Anyone WriMo’ing this year?

*National Novel Writing Month

Who decides these things, anyway? Congress? Maybe this is one of those rare cases in which ignorance really is bliss.

(By the way, National Oatmeal Day is tomorrow, October 29.)

Fiddler: In celebration of Fireh and Fiddler kokonvening, here is a picture to prove that it happened and (as evidenced by our big smiles) is great fun! ((Also proof that the both of us are Real Human Beings as opposed to robotic music nerds spamming the lot of you from somewhere in the cybernets-fireh))

And for those dying to know the itinerary of this kokon, it was a meet up at the Chocolate Lounge last night, and then attending one of Fiddler’s classes (Appalachian Music and Dance, appropriately). Next up: anything goes. Probably involving food and giggling.

Fireh: Last night meeting Fiddler for the first time was awesome; she was easy to spot as she was wearing bright orange shorts in the Muserly tradition of being unique and mildly eccentric. She got a Pumpkin Spice Creme Brule (SP? I don’t really care) ((Fiddler: “IT HAS TWO Es”)) and I of course made the obligatory comment about blowtorches and the appropriate white-girl-stereotype jokes. I got a cold chocolate drink with coconut milk, which was awesome. Like hot chocolate, but NOT! My chalumeau/pocket clarinet got here right before I left TN, so I had the entire car ride to mess with it and play with it so of course I figured out how to play “What Do You Do With An Errant Muser” as sung by the massive Kokon of a few years ago in preparation for this. I played it for Fiddler. It was glorious.

Fiddler: Also, it’s SUPER DUPER FUN explaining “hello this is my friend from the internet” to your roommates and professors. I’m not sure what it says about me that I’m fairly used to it by now though. (I think it means that MB is the best and I’m very lucky. We’ll go with that one.)

Continued from v. 2009.

Continued from v. 2012.

Continued from v. 2013.

Continued from v. 2013.

Don Pedro. Your silence most offends me, and to be merry best becomes you, for out o’ question you were born in a merry hour.

Beatrice. No, sure, my lord, my mother cried, but then there was a star danced, and under that was I born. — Cousins, God give you joy!

—Much Ado About Nothing

Also (and actually) born today: Optimatum and Rós þyrnir. Joy to all!

Robert writes:

Polly Shulman came down from New York yesterday for the retirement party of our friend and frequent editee, the renowned geoscience writer Richard Kerr. Here’s a picture of Polly, Dick, and me in Dick’s strangely bare and reverberant office.

Polly was her usual ebullient self. Her latest book in the Grimm Legacy series has just gone off to her editor, and she’s pondering new projects — maybe something a little different. More news as it becomes available…

Continued from v. 4.0.