WARNING! Will definitely contain spoilers!
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It was funny, my mother and I were talking about Google and then I got my issue. and what do you know? it was about google!
oops. I shouldn’t have peeked.
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I liked this issue a lot. Lots of thoughts provoked; now they’re all hissing and steaming at the ears.
The Google article was fun, although nothing any self-respecting geek doesn’t know already. And the Big Bang one was amazing.
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Loved it! The big bang article was hilarious and very muserly. Big numbers make Kiki’s head asplode! The cover was cool, too. And I love those “Dear Musers” pages they have as the first page now.
what! most of us find them lacking and not as funny.
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I loved this issue! I really liked the Google article and incidentally I was wearing my Google shirt that day. The article about time was interesting. I don’t know if I agree with everything it said.
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I enjoyed the Big Bang article, the time one too. I already feel like time’s passing to quickly… I think I may be afraid of the future (not just, but well, nevermind).
And I had wanted to enter that contest. Oh well.
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I liked everything, of course, but the Big Bang article was my favorite. I also liked the Harry Potter metamorphosis, and I’m looking forward to starting the Big Bang contest.
I swear not to read any of the comments, but I luves the cover of the new mag!
Gah! Only a few days ago my older brother, mom, and me (I don’t care if that’s bad grammar!) were talking about Google, and how it searches the web by links, and whaddayano, an article about Google! I have noticed that Muse tends to publish articles frequently about subjects I have recently talked about, thought about, or learned about.
In the section about “Tips for Google”, there was one the Editors (or David) forgot: if you put a – sign in front of a word, Google will search for the keywords minus that word.
Urgent!!! No Koko sign at the end of the “Artsmart Pigeons” article! Abort! Abort!
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10-Post the spoiler warning at the top of your post!
9-NOOOBEAVONOOOPEEKING!!!!!
Great Magazine!!!!!!!
I thought the “dear reader” part was funny.
/ 
) or something pretty much EXACTLY as I wondered if it might be based on a little bit of knowledge on the subject I had previously picked up. I had drawn correct conclusions, and here it was explained in a clearer way for me to understand more! 
I LOVE Chad’s New “Search Engine”!!!!!!!! It is so cool. As soon as mostly everyone has received their issue, I will begin using it in CHAD!!!!!!!!!!!
I didn’t know that much about google! And a mere typo begins one of the strangest and coolest words in history!
The pigeon article was cool too, but I don’t know if it’s just the lack of the koko sign or not but it did seem to end abruptly. Also, near the end when they meant to say “That’s not all” something very odd happened and it says “Tha$’not all”. But beyond that part, the content was interesting.
The time article had lots of interesting random factoids! Bo’s article! But really, I have noticed time seeming to pass very quickly, compared to when I was younger (not that I’m very old now) but it can happen to Muse-aged kids!
The convergence article was another cool two-page article. So hpbs have…..converged with…..
Whoa, I actually just finished the “Making the Universe” article. About every few sentences there was either a huge number (I like those
Aha! Ruth and Andy’s first issue, right? Well, I cannot do much with my toes, but now I better understand why birds have a tingling feeling in their feet (I don’t mean because I’m a hawk, but I have read this, actually was it in another Muse? I’m confused now) when they sit on wires, but aren’t actually shocked. The electricity goes in a little, but it isn’t a shortcut to another place so they aren’t zapped (until they touch the other wire, or, like on my street when I was little, a squirrel touched the transformer and blew himself and the transformer up
)
Yay! I had wondered about the train track thing since I was little! I would often build (I had two switches!
) track loops in which a train would get stuck in one loop, and know I know how to avoid that with the handy drawings 
/ 
And I will sooo finally submit to the contest! There have been other cool ones I have missed, but not this one!!!
Oh, and the last page was interesting too! I try not to be lazy anyway, but I wouldn’t enjoy people stepping on me
So basically, this issue was packed with cool stuff. Even being shorter and smaller, it had a decent amount of information for one month!!!
End post of longness!!!!
Red-tailed HAWK
Not one of my favorite issues. Don’t know why though.
My fav was their tenth anniversary issue. This one is fine……i guess. id been waithing for my muse a long time now, and im a bit disappointed……..especially at what they did to Bo’s page.
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I got it today, and it was pretty good.
Dear Muse Reader: It’s all right. I liked the random pages that used to be there (Notscape and The Beast, for exampe) a lot more but some of the ones in this issue were at least somewhat funny.
Contents page: Like the rest of the issue, the art is pretty,but maybe just a liiiittle over the top.
Bo’s Page: Good as usual. The page is a litte boring, though – not enough color.
Muse Mail: MuseBlog got a reference AND a link! We’ll probaby get a couple newbies afte rthat.
Comic: Not the best, but still pretty good.
Google Story: Meh, nothing really astounding…I liked the info about how Google ranks and stuff, but for a front page article the WOW factor was missing. It just wasn’t an interesting enough subject, like the ones Muse usually covers. It also half-seemed like an ad for Google…
Pigeons: I still have no idea what the title of this article was. The first part of the font was too hard to read. Also, the page layout was somewhat distracting – the words are what we care about. We don’t care what whether the font is unusual, or purple.
Time Flies: Interesting, but again, sort of boring at the same time. Maybe I’m just a tougher audience than usual, but some of the recent articles sort of seemed like they were dumbed down or something. I dunno. INCREDIBLY distracting layout/page background.
Convergence: It’s all right. Not great, not horrible.
Making a Universe: Okay, now this article was cool. It really made me think a lot. But I was almost-neary bored before the end. Very cool, overall.
Q&A: Yay for Andy and Ruth! Awesome job on your first Q&A! The last part of Ruth’s is really random. xD
Ways to Lay Track (Math Page): Interesting. The math page always rocks.
Muse Mail 2: Interesting
Contest Page: Has anybody else noticed that nobody actually did a real creature? The Potter one is awesome, though. I especially like the cocoon stage.
Lying Down On The Job Increases Productivity!: A very funny subject. I like the picture the best.
Overall, pretty good. But there were nowhere near enough articles…AND THERE WAS NO THEME! Whatever happened to the game the editors played to connect all the articles together? (Referenced to in the parasites/Phineas (or however you spell his name) Gage issue) Meh…
Oh, and a random comment on Cricket (since I got that today as well, and I know at least a couple other MBers get it) the leopard story was sooooo good. But really sad too.
um,14, in case u havent noticed yet, im a newbie!!!!!!!
IMO, Muse had a peak year in 2003. I haven’t found that many stellar issues in a year since.
15-Welcome, then! -pies-
Sorry for the double post, 16 hadn’t shown up when I posted.
16-2003 was the first year I was getting Muse (My first one was the clothing issue) so I don’t really remember that far back. I liked them best a couple years ago…they were a lot more interesting when they were themed.
I’ll go look through my Muses later today to decide when the best year was. I really liked the playground/Mona Lisa/school issue, though. Beyond Plastic Turtles rocked.
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I read it last night. It was really great! My fave part was the “Space is bigger than you can ever imaginge” part.
It was also interesting to know that Google was a mispelling, like Oprah.
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19-Yeah, the Big Bang article was way cool…I liked how they put all those big numbers into perspective. What was Oprah a mispelling of?
Orpah, a woman mentioned in the Book of Ruth.
21-Oh. To tell the truth, I like the name Oprah better.
I do too. Orpah sounds like some sort of plant or drug.
What’s more, Oprah is “Harpo” in reverse.
(24) Which is also much nicer than “Hapro.”
Hmm. What is Groucho backwards? How about Chico?
Ohcuorg. Ocihc.
No, never mind. Zeppo?
Oppez.
Yup, we’ve struck gold!
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The quote went the opposite way on the contents page, it surprised me for a moment. It’s not a bad thing, just something I noticed.
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The eyes on the cover are watching me whenever I read the mag… Creepy eyes…
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The google article is very intrusting along with the”Mamoth-sicle” from Bo’s page… (This is the first time I’ve been at the site even though I’ve been a member of muse for a year).
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I didn’t really think this one was that good; lately, they’ve been kind of meh, but maybe I’m just outgrowing it.. I agree with e~a, in post 16 (and in general but that’s a different bunny.)
I was especially disappointed by the google article; it read like an advertisement, and was too generic – didn’t really tell me anything I didn’t already know or could find out by reading the wiki. I did like the pigeon article, but, like people said before, it seemed to end a bit abruptly. The time flies article was cool, although still a bit general. The convergence article, again, extremely general info; the articles that I find hte most interesting are the ones that go indepth or present a specific, perhaps different, way of looking at something.
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That was one of my top 10 mags, even though the USPS ripped it in half in the mail…
The Dear Muse Reader things are good, but I loved the Notscape & Screamazon things. Those were hilarious!
29-NEWBIE ALERT! ^_^ -pies- Welcome!
31-Which one was?
Aww, I think I missed Screamazon…what issue was it in? Notscape was really, really funny, though.
29-Hey! Look! Newbie! Get ’em! *deep dish pies despite protests* Welcome!
32-Screamazon was hilarious! It was this year, I think.
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I think that this months was pretty good but there have definately been bertter one’s in the past. I really loved the contest winners espcialy the Potter fan one.
34- that’s what I thought, it was ok, but others have been better
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30 (Lizzie)- Mm, I agree with you that the articles were very general. Lately Muse seems to be targeting itself at a younger audience than it used to; it’s presenting its articles as introductions to rather than studies of their topics. The themes have always been vague, so that doesn’t bother me very much.
In my opinion, Muse’s Golden Era was ’01-’03, though I’ve got favorite issues all across the board. This was after the magazine figured out what it wanted to do with itself but was still new and exciting.
Eh, whatever, I still like this issue.
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great issue! the google article was a bit lax. nothing about Google docs or Google software, or SaaS (Software as a service) .
17- do you pie ALL new people? *pies back*
38- yes. *takes pies from NAPOI and throws at himmer*
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i cant read the issue, im in michigan, but from what all you pplz are saying, im guessing its about google and something else.
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Why aren’t Robert and Roxanne doing the Q and A anymore?
We explained that on the blog last month.
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I noticed more typos this time. The place that Red-tailed HAWK mentioned, and another one where they used too much punctuation, I’ll have to look it up when I get home, I don’t have the magazine with me right now.
Other than that, it was good. But what else can I say? it’s Muse! I was reading it on New Year’s Eve and went right back to it after midnight.
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43-Yeah, I spotted a couple as well. I’ve never noticed any before…but oh well.
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Why does Muse deteriorate as soon as I get a subscription? Actually, there are still quite a few good ones, but I miss the depth, length, and humor of past years. The articles also seem to be less of odd, little-known subjects and more ordinary. It makes me sad.
Now for the good things. The first page was much better than the past few, although it can’t compare with the faux websites or other random things. Andy and Ruth did a very good job (
). And the Big Bang article was very amusing.
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45-Yeah, it’s always the best when they’re completely random things that you would never really think about otherwise, like cannibalism or the Tower of London.
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Did anyone else notice that the first page gave teasers for an article that wasn’t published? “A ping-pong ball as viewed by a chipmunk.” “A basketball as viewed by the average house ant” “See page 40.” I saw page 40, and it didn’t say anything about points of view.
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I noticed that, but I didn’t think it was teasers. But now that I think about it…