Friday, 3 May 2024

Category » Non-Muse news

Pumpkin Drop 2007, Part 3

All right, Pumpkin Droppers: time to start designing our vehicle. Robert has a few ideas but is still wrestling with practicalities, so everything is up for grabs.

(Anyone who has no idea what we’re talking about may consult Part Two, Part One, and even earlier announcements.)


Happy Autumn!

It arrived early Sunday morning, blog time. How do you like it so far?


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Pumpkin Drop 2007, Part 2

New: ATTENTION! Purple Panda and Taiwan Hippo Fan’s mother is VERY eager to involve Musers in the Pumpkin Drop and would like to hear from other potentially interested parents. Details below.

There was a flurry of interest in this event at the Kokonvention.

The sponsor, West Virginia University, has finally posted information about the drop. As feared, it takes place on a Friday, which may limit Musers’ ability to take part. Anyone possibly interested can find out all about it here (remove spaces):

http:// www. mae.cemr.wvu.edu/ news/20pumpkindrop.php

Muse fielded a team a few years ago, with results recounted in the Koko Bomb Saga.


Pumpkin Drop 2007, Part 1

The press office at West Virginia University says the 20th annual Pumpkin Drop is probably going to be held on October 26. Some Musers have said they’d like to enter this year, and we say “go for it.” To see what it’s all about, read the Koko Bomb Saga.


Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — SPOILERS ALLOWED

Once you’ve read it, all bets are off. For the sake of anyone scanning the “Recent Comments” sidebar, however, please paste the following notice at the beginning of your messages:

SPOILER WARNING: “DEATHLY HALLOWS” SPOILER WARNING.

Make sure to include the period at the end.

That should do it.


Happy Earth Day!

Keep on turning, you big old blue planet.


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Hot Topic: Virginia Tech Shootings

It looks as if we’ll be talking about this horrific event for a while. Here’s a place for it.


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Larry Gonick’s New Book

The man who draws the Muses has been working hard on another project: The Cartoon History of the Modern World, Volume 1. It’s coming out at the end of December. You can get a sneak preview on Larry’s website.


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Election Results

A thread for the day after.


Happy Equinox!

It’s on Friday or Saturday, depending on where you live.

Technically, autumn arrives in the Northern Hemisphere on Saturday, September 23, at 4:03 a.m. Universal Time (UT). That’s 5:03 in the morning British Summertime; three minutes after midnight U.S. Eastern Daylight Time; 11:03 p.m. on September 22 U.S. Central Daylight Time (=blog time); and 9:03 p.m. on September 22 on the American West Coast.

You’ll have to make adjustments if you’re in Arizona, which doesn’t observe Daylight Saving Time. And, of course, for New Zealand and the rest of the Southern Hemisphere, this is the spring equinox. Whew.


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Steve Irwin, “the Crocodile Hunter”

1962-2006. The world is a little bit darker.


Robert’s Secret Identity

Though they’d much rather spend all their time approving posts and chilling with MuseBloggers, Robert and Rosanne do have “day jobs.” As a news editor at Science, Robert has just spent the past month or so masterminding the magazine’s annual Breakthrough of the Year section. Anyone curious about Herr Administrator’s alter ego can read the section online, see a video, or listen to a podcast featuring an interview with the man himself. Bill Nye, watch out!


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Guy Fawkes Day

This quintessentially British celebration is extra-special this year: it’s the 400th anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot. Maybe Paul Baker will leave his bonfire long enough to tell us about it.


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Hurricane Katrina

Too big to ignore. Too sad to talk about? We’ll see.


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While You Were Out

News you may have missed while basking in the summer sun:

News you may have missed while basking in the summer sun:

  • Baby giant pandas were born at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. (July 9) and the San Diego Zoo in California (August 2).
  • Also on July 9, Lizzie turned 14.
  • On July 26, the space shuttle was launched for the first time since January 2003. The hull was damaged during liftoff, and now astronauts are working to make sure they can land safely.
  • On July 28, ChinTsu turned 13.
  • On July 29, three astronomers announced that they had discovered a ball of rock and ice slightly bigger than Pluto, orbiting farther from the sun. Astronomers disagree about whether to call the object a planet, or whether to lump both it and Pluto together with a swarm of thousands of rock-ice chunks found in the same chilly neighborhood.
  • On August 1, sound recordings from a wildlife refuge in Arkansas gave more evidence that the ivory-billed woodpecker was not extinct as scientists had feared for 60 years (see Muse, February 2005).
  • On August 3, after three years of nonstop work, biologists in South Korea announced that they had cloned an Afghan hound.
  • Coming up:

  • August 15: Happy birthday, Morbid! (Were all Musers born in the summer?!)
  • August 31: Deadline for the Muse contest
  • .


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    You’re Famous

    Attention, 13-year-old Musers!

    The cover story on this week’s Time magazine (August 8, 2005) is a Special Report called “Being 13,” described as “a close look inside the mysterious and often confounding world of the 13-year-old.” Guess what: you’re fascinating. Enjoy your week of fame.


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