Happy 144th Birthday, William Butler Yeats!

The Irishman had a way with words.

The girl goes dancing there
On the leaf-sown, new-mown, smooth
Grass plot of the garden;
Escaped from bitter youth,
Escaped out of her crowd,
Or out of her black cloud.
Ah, dancer, ah, sweet dancer!

If strange men come from the house
To lead her away, do not say
That she is happy being crazy;
Lead them gently astray;
Let her finish her dance,
Let her finish her dance.
Ah, dancer, ah, sweet dancer!

Writers’ Notebook

A writer should always have on hand a place to jot down ideas for plots, characters, settings, images, and other random literary elements as they come to mind. This thread is a place to jot down similar sorts of notions, with the difference that these are the ideas you doubt you’ll ever use yourself.

JJjetplane-girlw/cats made the suggestion:

You know it would be awesome to have a thread where we just come up with ideas for other people (if we don’t have time, or get inspiration if we’re stuck). I know that I get random ideas in my head all the time, and being able to tell everyone about them means they at least get a chance. Plus, if anyone is stuck on a topic for their story, they can read up for inspiration.

New Way to Play Chess on the Blog

We’ve found some software that lets you enter moves with your mouse, directly on the board. Just click on the piece you want to move, and then on the square to which you want to move it. Easy, no? Try it!
 
 

[Event “Test Game, Chad vs. Urania”]
[Site “MuseBlog”]
[Date “2009.06.05”]
[White “Chad”]
[Black “Urania”]
[CBBWhiteId “*”]
[CBBBlackId “*”]
[Result "0-1"]
1.e4 b6 2.Bc4 Nc6 3.Qf3 e5 4. Resigns

 
This board won’t save your moves for other people to see. (At least, the documentation says it won’t. We can’t tell.) To make it do that, you need a MuseBlog chessplayer’s account with a password. Then you could log in and play your opponent without having to post your moves for an Administrator to enter. We can make those accounts if there’s enough interest. Note that a valid email address is required.

What do you think? Comments, please:

Logomania Unleashed!

The title of the June Random Thread (from the Greek words logos, “word,” and mania, “madness,” used as a suffix meaning “an infatuation with or passion for something”) celebrates words and language in all their giddy vertiginous kaleidoscopic splendiferous wonderfulness. Continue reading “Logomania Unleashed!”