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.
Clearly, Napoleon wasn’t wary enough of the Ides of March.
Well, I’m officially in four orchestras.
There was the school orchestra, which I’m stuck in until the end of the year; and I was drafted from that into the symphonic orchestra that our district is starting; and there’s the one orchestra that I actually auditioned for and absolutely love; and now the pit orchestra for my school’s production of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.
Help.
The good news is that my journalism teacher told me about a journalism summer camp at which you get to learn from reporters for the biggest newspaper around here, stay at a nearby university for two weeks, and put together a really professional paper and take a class in video journalism- and it’s free. Basically, it sounds like my dream camp.
I haven’t slept in two days and I’m wearing yesterday’s sweater as a hat, but things are going well! How are all of you?
Happy Derpy Day, for those of you that know what that means! If you don’t, then just have a fantastic day anyway!
Golly, I should buy some back issues. This one sounds interesting.
I just crocheted a small cephalopod. It didn’t even take very long, so I think I will crochet about fifty million more and give them to people.
I think we may have to create a permanent record of “Things you only hear on MuseBlog”. it should definitely include “I just crocheted a small cephalopod.”
It’s the fifty million more that makes me twitchy.
(KaiYves)
“Should we kiss you?”
“What, you mean I haven’t won the flamethrower yet? *launches into full-on squid dance*”
-Cskia
“I think life would be a lot less stressful if we all had cuddly pet giraffes. (The miniature kind)” ~Choklit Orange
Do you have a pattern? Or photos? *wants to crochet a cephalopod too*
Well, I’m officially a knitter andd probably couldn’t write out an official patteren. However, I would be willing to try, or to put together some sort of photo tutorial, if enough people were interested.
(Speaking of photos, GAPAs, when will the NC Kokon photos be up?)
Agent Lightning:
I’d like to see the NC Kokon pictures, too. We have permission to post them, but I don’t think anybody has sent us any yet. Did they arrive when I wasn’t looking?
I think Randomosity and Rebecca both took photos and were planning to send them in.
IT IS A BEAUTIFUL DAY
IT HAS BEEN A BEAUTIFUL WEEK
NO RAIN IN 5 DAYS (I am pretty sure this technically qualifies as a “drought” here)
GONNA GO OUTSIDE AND WANDER IN THE SUNSHINE AND SEE IF I CAN GET TO THE CITY THROUGH THE FOREST PARK (though there are 2 sections of river in the way, idk if there’s bridges in the park-part) AND YAY
also I did pretty well at archery today!! Got shots in the gold twice and in the red (just outside the middle gold section) several times and in general am doing much better at aiming. I shot barebow today (as I did wednesday), more for convenience based on availible bows than a dislike of using a sight, but I think I did pretty well for second time trying it. Might stick with it, might not depending on availability of bows still XD
That was a great issue! I can’t believe it was more than a decade ago!
Man, that was such a fantastic issue. I can’t believe I forgot that the wallpaper article was in the same issue as Horatio Hornblower.
As I recall, the editor’s Muser-aged daughter was going through a Hornblower craze at the time and had a big impact on the magazine’s content.
Top Ten Signs You’ve Been Studying Too Much & Too Late:
10) You can’t remember when or what you ate last, but you’re sure it was unhealthy.
9) You randomly took a study break on the kitchen floor because it was there.
8) Your dog looks confused and somewhat frightened by your attempts at study-break fraternization.
7) You’ve started to listen to french showtunes to keep you awake.
6) You know all the words to aforementioned french showtunes.
5) You’re having trouble remembering which of the “you(‘)r(e)s” to use
4) You refer to your cup of black tea as “the Holy Grail”.
3) You’ve defined all letters as commutative because you can’t even remember spelling.
3) You have this eerie sense of deja vu about certain proofs, only to find out that they’re have nothing to do with anything you’ve ever heard of before.
2) When you close your eyes, you see vs, us, ƒs, µs, with indices and indices of indices…
1) You start a proof and then you reach the conclusion, get a contradiction, despair, then realize that you were trying to prove the opposite anyway so everythings… what were you just doing?
I’m sorry. *strength-and-peace-of-mind vibes*
I HAD to come to this thread for no reason other than the name.
Arsenic! Arsenic!
Insanity runs in the family, practically gallops!
Really? How unfortunate. Insanity does NOT run in my family. It strolls along at a comfortable pace, getting to know everybody personally.
Bibliophile, there’s a great article on marine bioluminescence in the March issue of Smithsonian that I got today that I thought was fascinating, and I think you’d really enjoy it, too.
It’s online here, but I don’t know if it’s as complete as it was in the magazine: http://www. smithsonianmag. com/science-nature/Bioluminescence-Light-is-Much-Better-Down-Where-its-Wetter-192132481. html
The work. It never ends! I am going to be so busy this weekend, you have no idea…don’t expect much from me. If I am on Museblog, I am procrastinating and kindly but firmly remind me to get back to work. I have two exams right before spring break, in my two worst subjects, and a couple of papers and one article to write. All before Monday. And I also want to go and see the Vagina Monologues tomorrow, it’s the only showing I’m able to go to and one of my friends is in. Another one of my friends was in it last year, but I didn’t make it and I really want to make it this year. And the MSA is holding an event on Sunday.
On the other hand, I spent most of my evening playing DnD. So maybe I shouldn’t complain that hard.
Ok, back to work! I will ignore the unwritten rant about philosophy and the questions I want to ask at the polling place for now.
Hello! I was really busy the past few days/week and couldn’t drop in. I loved that issue!
It’s disjointed rambling time!
I’m at tech rehearsal for The Tempest, but there’s absolutely nothing for me to do. I’m helping out backstage, but all they’re doing is lights. Buh. So I’m just kind of awkwardly here.
Last night I played music out at the fire, which was fun. Normally I just hide from everyone, but one of my roommates convinced me to socialize.
BALD EAGLE
I SAW ONE
AND AN OSPREY
On a less happy note, I was working a booth at a nature festival today, and there were lots of little kits wearing yarn hats shaped like animal heads, and one of them was a hot pink bunny. Really hot pink. That thing was highly disturbing.
Today I heard a recording of Allosaur’s voice and realized how much I missed it. Which makes me think that sending prerecorded messages to your friends instead of typing messages would be a wonderful thing. I wonder if there’s a way I could engineer that? Maybe a network like email, except all in MP3’s. It’d be like phone conversations without everything I hate about talking on the phone.
Skype lets you do that.
The only option I can find requires video, too.
You can actually buy microphones that connect to your computer via USB port. Then you can record MP3’s that can be opened on any computer.
I don’t know how much they cost, unfortunately.
If you install the free/open source software Audacity, you can connect whatever microphone you happen to have lying around to your computer and record mp3s. I’ve used it with both a USB microphone and the kind that connects via a microphone port (do those still exist? my computer has one port for headphones and microphone but I don’t know how common that is?)
DRAGON DOCKED TO THE ISS! Three times in a year! That’s pretty swanky!
Theeeeeeeeeeeeere’s…
ANTIMONYARSENICALUMINUMSELENIUM
ANDHYDROGENANDOXYGENANDNITROGENANDRHENIUM
Have you seen the “Milo Thatch Sings The Elements” video? It’s the best.
Did somebody say m’name?
BUT STILL IN MATERS CHEMICAL, SCIENTIFICAL, AND STOICHIOMETRICALI AM THE VERY MODEL OF A TABLE PERIODICAAAAAAAL
Unrelated to your post: Your icon is awesome!
Antimony! *giggles quietly to self* I LOVE the periodic table of the elements.
The video of Daniel Radcliffe singing that song makes me love him forever.
Robert, you wouldn’t happen to have X-Men #17 in your collection, would you?
I’m afraid not, KaiYves. I have numbers 16 and 18, but number 17 must have sold out before I could buy a copy. From a plot summary I found online, I don’t remember having read it. I vaguely remember looking in vain for that all-red cover…
But you do have 18, then?
Yes. It’s actually in better condition than most of my comics.
It would be interesting to see scans of the part dealing with the high-altitude balloon, just to see to what extent Stan Lee was drawing on relatively-recent history.
I’ll scan those panels when I get a chance. They’re not Jack Kirby’s finest work, but he did show the balloon from a few different angles.
The idea of destroying your enemies by hoisting them into the stratosphere attached to a balloon, of course, was a clear violation of the Evil Overlord List, and I’m sure Magneto regretted it later.
Maybe this is why the X-Men don’t take vacuum exposure seriously enough to wear pressure suits when flying in SR-71s (that get destroyed all the caking time)?
Hello all, ’tis Fireh! I’ve decided to undergo a name change. I have these past three days been on a school trip in the fine city of Boston, which is now officially my favorite place ever. As soon as I’m old enough, I’m moving to New England. It has been decided. All the history and beautiful architecture.. *drools*
Anyway. I do apologize for the fact that I’ve been on extended hiatus for a while; I’ve been lurking a bit but haven’t had much time to post. I’ll be making a conscious effort to comment more from now on, though. I love the Random Thread title, by the way! It’s quite flamabulous.
Welcome back, daughter dear! *huggles* So, what do we call you now?
You can still refer to me as Fireh if you want to haha, I just got tired of being “fireandhemlock1996” because that’s not really me anymore.
Welcome back!
I live less than two hours away from Boston but I’ve never actually been there for some reason. I always drive by it, I have relatives that live near it, but when it comes time to go to a city I always end up in New York.
New England is pretty nice. Vermont is all-over beautiful, parts of Maine are lovely, New Hampshire is sort of happy and peaceful, Massachusetts is very historic and comfortable, Rhode Island is…small, and Connecticut (represent) is pretty much just Yale and Sikorsky and Pez and lots of companies and education and retirement stuff.
Relatives are here. It is time to go socialize *shudder* and eat.
Hey, don’t forget Mystic Aquarium and Mystic Seaport or the submarine base in Groton…
I always forget about those. Haven’t been to any of them for years though.
I did sleep in the aquarium once, though! Under the shark tank.
*lurk*
Where did you ever get the idea that my state is “happy and peaceful”. As far as I can tell, half the population is hiding in their trailers with some shotguns waiting for someone to just try and make them pay for education.
Glassboro (That’s what they go by here, yeah?) and I had a car ride in which everything other than the car was Yale. EVERYTHING. (Yale crossing, Yale Street, University of Yale…)
Welcome back, Fireh! Good to see you again!
…How would you make a nickname out of this new name? None of the parts is really good as a title, even though it works all together.
I suppose one could refer to me ironically as “UH”?
I’m so happy to see you here again person-who-I-still-think-of-as-fireandhemlock-but-will-now-refer-to-as-hardcore-if-that’s-all-right.
You’re back! I’ve missed you. It’s really good to see you.
Fireh! I missed you! Welcome back! (exclamation point! Exclamation point!)
…I think I’ll still refer to you as Fireh, unless you prefer “hardcore” or something else?
Haha. That’s totally fine.
Welcome back, Fireh!
My dad laid out my home school work i have to do for this week today…
and it’s all…
JUST READ A FEW ARTICLES OF MUSE MAGAZINE!
thank you GAPAS and everyone else who made muse this educational (And homework this fun)
am i overeacting to some people?
I don’t think you’re overreacting, and I’ll bet Elizabeth Preston (who reads MuseBlog) agrees.
Today in Earth Science, the professor asked if we could name the first people to climb Mount Everest.
My hand shot up so fast that somebody in the back laughed.
(I said Hillary and Norgay, because those are the first two we can be certain of, but as my previous experiences have shown, this means proof Mallory was first may emerge tomorrow…)
It’s the registration part of the year for my high school again! This year I pretty much have most of the required classes done, so I have a couple electives to fill and I don’t know what I want to take…
So far my (planned) schedule looks like this:
-AP English 12
-AP Gov/AP Econ
-AP Psychology
-AP Biology
And the choices I’m considering, of which I need to select two, include:
-AP Physics
-Marine Biology
-Creative Writing (not a college-prep class)
Since I already have 4 APs on my agenda (same as what I have this year, but one this year is AP Studio Art, which was pretty relaxing), I was hoping to be able to add some more relaxing classes. However, I don’t think there’s anything as lax as I would wish for, haha… 5 APs shouldn’t be too bad, actually, as long as they’re not subjects that bore me (like Calculus).
One good thing is that since I took all possible high math courses available to me already, I have no math next year! (I never enjoyed math, though I suppose I’m not too bad at it.) This makes me reconsider taking AP Physics, which appears to be constructed around mathy things; I have Honors Physics this year, which isn’t bad but isn’t very interesting either. I guess I would be more interested in the theoretical possibilities presented by certain physics-related ideas than in formulas and how to use them… Which reminds me, my school doesn’t offer Astronomy. I wish it did, because I’d actually take that course. We don’t have Philosophy either, otherwise I’d have that too.
Marine biology definitely sounds interesting, but I haven’t talked to anyone who has taken the course so I know nothing about it. I’ll have to ask how in-depth the course goes and how the teachers are.
Creative writing is wonderful, but it’s not a credited course at my school. That doesn’t really bother me, I guess, but I don’t know if I want to have another English-related class when I already have some difficulty with one. It’s a new course at my school next year, so who knows how it would work…
My mom thinks I should consider AP Chemistry, but beyond the fact that I don’t want to be stuffed full of science classes, the AP Chem teacher at my school is (notoriously) bad at teaching. I switched out after a week of it this year. My mom also suggested something related to Business (which I have zero interest in), something related to computers (which I also do not think I’d enjoy), and Weight Training (which I hope was a joke).
This is far longer than I intended, sorry! But I guess rambling helped me put my ideas and feelings down…any advice?
Unfortunately, you seem to have reached the point in your life (senior year I’m guessing? I thought you were only a junior next year, oops) where the courses you take in high school actually have some impact on your future. The good news is that the only way they affect your future is that the AP credits you get might place you out of some freshman college requirements, depending on what you take and where you end up going. The bad news is that everyone is going to act like it’s a BIG DEAL!!! and YOUR FUTURE!!! and etc.
I think you should try taking courses in something you’re considering majoring in in college — that way you can learn if you absolutely hate it before you’re a year or two into studying it. But if the teachers have a bad reputation or the courses aren’t offered (although for the latter you can look at local colleges with bridge programs), don’t worry about it, and take something you think will be fun and not too stressful. You’ll have enough stress in your life senior year with applications/waiting for acceptances.
*Cskia! *glomps*
Um, I’m dealing with a different school and applying-to-uni system, so I can’t advise on that. And I don’t think our academic interests are similar enough that I could offer advice based on that– like last year, I’m doing relatively well with my 2 math and 2 science classes, one of them physics, as well as the standard-for-my-school-and-compulsory English and (Catholic) religion.
But Dodec’s advice sounds good. Good luck in whatever you decide.
I would reconsider the computer science course–it is actually extremely helpful to have even a basic knowledge of a programming language if you want to pursue a science. And it’s actually pretty fun, because you are the architect of each project–no two answers are the same! It’s also satisfying when you get the program to work after a lot of going back and fixing things. Mostly I made games (tic-tac-toe, hangman) in my intro class.
I was going to say something like this
but then I thought
“no, just because you’re obsessed with computers doesn’t mean that everyone has to learn to program, it is okay to do liberal arts”
(even though I believe that in a society such as ours literacy with the machines that control our every action is not just a good thing but a necessary thing)
so, thanks, CPM for being someone other than me who thinks computer science is useful
Halfway through mocks! *collapses* I apologise for the sort-of hiatus this week, six exams in four days does that to you.
On the way to New York for my last three grad school auditions… I’m already planning my swath of destruction through the Jewish delis.
Good luck, but most importantly, have fun!
Belated trip update, now that I’ve been home and resting for the past two days:
The people I was staying with had a scale in their bathroom. First day: 104lb. Last day: 107. Trip successful.
(for the record, 2nd ave deli is better than Katz’s)
So last week and the one before that I was doing an acting workshop led by a guy who graduated from my school a few years ago. He’s someone I really look up to both as an actor and as a person, so it was a lot of fun to do this workshop.
Yesterday, he texted me telling me that he’s been struggling with some acting theory for a while, but something I said during a session cleared it up for him, going on to say that “honestly it’s currently the most important reference point for my investigation of physical acting.” I just sort of sat there for a minute going ohgodohgod how do I reply to that.
People I really admire thanking me for basically being myself is…kind of overwhelming. But also kind of great.
Museblog: providing contact with the Actual Best People on the Planet since 2005
(AKA as Fern is emotional and loves all of you more than words have capacity to explain.)
<3 <3 <3! We love you too!
*Catches waves of affection and goodwill* *Grins* *Sends some to you*
Love you too, Fern!
Fiddler:
Your enormous capacity for love and joy will see you through anything life throws at you. I’d bet the blog on it.
gotta write 1500 words on “the role of GIS in society” by tomorrow morning
Have about 45 min left of this afternoon and then basically busy until 10pm so this will be interesting >.<
At least I have several articles/textbooks pulled up and have at least glaced over all of them? Have a list of helpful quotes from them as well, but there's nothing specifically dealing with this topic really so it's gonna be kind of out there. My outline is pretty scattered, and I've only written about 300 words so far and I'm not entirely sure where I'm going with all of it, but hopefully I can find a reasonable order for things later…
ACTUALLY HANG ON A SEC
is there any online link to the article that was in Muse about the dude using maps to detect Cholera outbreaks (around wells and stuff)? We talked about it in class but I need to cite from articles/papers not our power points… I could probably find another paper talking about it online, but, it’s not as cool as the possibility of citing something from Muse for school
I think that was in Cricket? But his name was John Snow and there’s a book about him called “The Ghost Map” that the NY Times reviewed a few years ago.
I don’t know if the article about the Broad Street pump cholera epidemic is online (although I do recommend The Ghost Map), but I know that GIS is very important in epidemiology.
That was the first issue I ever recieved! It has strong sentimental value.
If you Google “broad street pump john mack”, there’s an interesting article on using GIS to analyze the original map of the cholera epidemic.
That was my favorite issue. Ever.
I think we have another candidate for a random thread sometime this year.
I have another nomination related to what I’m studying right now. Does anyone remember what issue had fractals in it? I think it was something about fractals in Jackson Pollock’s paintings.
This is relevant because in my geology class we were discussing dendritic fractals, which are found all over nature, and in my seminar a guest speaker is actually going to give us an entire lecture about them next week. And I first learned about fractals and their prevalence in nature from Muse, and I’ve been thinking a lot about that. I mean, this isn’t new information for me; thanks to Muse, I learned about it when I was like, 11 or 12, if not younger.
Muse: informing me about all kinds of things ages before I learned about them in school. I really do appreciate that boost to my knowledge.
I’m not sure which issue that was. Maybe March 2005?
Good luck! Google Earth is probably the widest-used GIS by the general public, if that helps.
Wasn’t there a short article in Muse once about Google Earth? There was some military installation in China that turned out to be a scale replica of one disputed border region or something like that.
I heard about something like that, but I don’t remember if it was in Muse or somewhere else.
I definitely read about both of these things in Muse. The Broad Street pump article was in July/August 2007, and the Google Earth one was November/December 2006.
(Dear heavens, these are from six years ago, says a voice in the back of my head…)
The Broad Street Pump issue. That was my first. Wait, six years? Age 11 to 16… oh, okay, almost six in this case. I’ve been reading Muse for six years.
And I hope your work turned out well, Jade.
Announcement over the stage mic to the green room:
“Hey could someone please tell Hale that the light he’s using backstage is showing? The one he’s using to…knit? Or something?”
I just found out that I was accepted into U of M’s music program.
Dreams coming true all over the place…
That’s fantastic! Well done!
Congrats! That’s a really competitive program to get into.
Congratulations, agrrrfishi!
Congratulations!
Thank you guys all so much, I love you heaps and heaps!
So, after several weeks of studying the Parthenon Marbles case in class, today we wrapped it up (we’ll have a debate after Spring Break), and I told the professor that my conclusion was…
“If it were simple, people wouldn’t have been arguing about it for 200 years!”
This is really late, but a year or two ago, people were talking here about China banning the portrayal of time travel in fiction (which no one contradicted), and I just wanted to mention that I just found out that that was apparently based on a bad translation. What actually happened was that inaccurate portrayal of historical figures was officially discouraged; it’s likely that this would cause some works involving time travel to be banned for that reason, but Harry Potter, for instance, is apparently allowed.
…Because apparently I have to correct comments that were made literally years ago on unrelated threads. But yeah.
Yesterday our band went to pre-festival and my section (trombones) got a ton of compliments on judge tapes and from the clinician, even though there are only 3 of us.
Congratulations! That’s great!
I have never seen the phrase “Fuzzy Red Object” on an astronomy website.
Then again, I’ve never seen 31 scallops on a impossibly cramped piece of seafloor.
I’ve never seen a purple cow.
I never hope to see one, but I can tell you anyhow, I’d rather see than be one!Is there a context for your statements, or were they just random observations?No, they’re from the “citizen science” project list in this month’s issue. I have to say, they are pretty cool.
I have never found traditional “comfort food” all that comforting (though it is often delicious), and fuzzy socks are the single most uncomfortable article of clothing I have ever had the displeasure to try on (I am extremely sensitive to touch, and anything that brushes against my skin just drives me up a proverbial wall).
However; edemame, home-cooked fries (I know, weird combo, but this is me I’m talking about), the best dark chocolate hot chocolate I’ve ever had, and a few pantry-designated goodies, plus an hour’s worth of Doctor Who queued up on my computer (any more than an hour at a time, and my computer can’t cope), and the March issue of Muse next to me.
This is TRUE comfort.
I eat garlic while listening to either “Quiet” from Matilda the Musical or “Anyone Can Whistle” from Anyone Can Whistle, depending on the situation that caused me to need comfort, over and over. (If neither song feels relevant, I reread Gifts by Ursula K. LeGuin).
…I like familiarity. And musicals and garlic and good fantasy novels.
I must try this!
With those songs/book/food in particular, or just the general strategy of listening to/reading/watching/eating something that’s familiar and resonates with your situation (if possible) for an extended period?
The second one, specifically with garlic. I love garlic.
Just to clarify, I didn’t actually need comforting. But as far as I’m concerned, that’s no hindrance.
I got a new harp! It looks beautiful and it sounds magnificent!
That’s excellent! *feels obliged to try to reword “Congratulations! That’s great!” because I said the exact same thing to AL a few seconds ago, but the sentiment is the same*
Thank you!
Ohh, neat!!
My roommate plays harp. What kind do you play? She does lever harp (Irish harp), though has taken lessons on pedal. It sounds so pretty when she plays. Harps are awesome.
Harps are very awesome! I play lever harp.
Awesome! My friend is a part-time lever harpist. She plays a flute now. Flutes are cool.
Great for you!
Just bought a bunch of fleece fabric! The colors are a bit limited, but they’re just what I need…hmmm, should it be a Gulpin plush first, or a Snorlax pillow, or a Shroomish, Bonsly, or
those secret things I have in mindMunchlax?Nothing will ever beat my plush Swalot, though. He’s currently playing with my squid plush/scarf. Magical things to do with faaaaaaaabric~
Just watched the first episode of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, “11 Days to Zero”, with my Dad– yeah, the special effects are kind of tacky (that squid attack was still scary, though), but I did enjoy it, it was suspenseful and tense, especially the climax in the Arctic! I was wrong about Dr. Wilson, though– I thought he was a spy for the Evil Brotherhood of Bald Guys, but he was actually totally decent, just a bit antisocial.
(That Evil Brotherhood of Bald Guys definitely violated the Evil Overlord List by not checking to see if the people they shot at were dead… But if they hadn’t been dumb, millions of people would have died, so thank goodness they didn’t go back to check!)
Maybe if they didn’t have such arbitrary admissions criteria as baldness (which would severely limit the pool of possible members), they wouldn’t have such trouble finding competent members.
I don’t know that they required all members to be bald, but every one we saw was.
It just seems unlikely that all of the best-qualified people with their aims just happened not to have hair, especially since baldness gets associated with evil in fiction. It’s probably just the creators not thinking about the implications of having all the villains be bald, but in-universe, it seems like it must have been a deliberate choice.
…Here I go overanalyzing shows I don’t even watch again.
Maybe the leader just liked the bald + goatee look and mandates that his employees shave their heads.
I recently changed the brand of contacts I wear, and I’ve noticed that this type is less comfortable than the previous type. Namely, my eyes start itching or burning or generally feeling the side effects of keeping in contacts too long after twelvish hours. I don’t recall this happening last year with my old contacts, so I’m guessing it’s due to the brand change.
I wonder if I should do something about this. Yes, I usually am awake for more than twelve hours at a time, but at night I can always switch them for my glasses. It’s just less convenient. And, I mean as long as I’m taking them off I don’t have to really worry about any nasty side effects, it’s just…less comfortable. Yeah. And I bought a year’s supply, and contact lenses are expensive, so replacing them isn’t practical at all. I guess next year I’ll ask to switch the brand again though.
Is it possible to exchange them if they’re unopened? Ask your doctor and/or whoever filled your subscription if this is normal for these lenses or if there’s something you can do to make them more comfortable. Speaking as someone who has worn a variety of lenses since I was a teen, twelve hours seems an awfully short wearing time to be having problems.
Applying copious amounts of eye drops helps, but only for a short time. The real problem with returning them/asking my optometrist for help is that I got them from a place at home, in Michigan, and I’m in Georgia and won’t be going back till the summer.
I’m glad that this isn’t supposed to be normal though. I only started wearing contacts last year and just because I didn’t notice anything then didn’t mean that i could rule out the possibility.
Is there any way you can get a quick eye checkup? I once developed similar symptoms (without the contact switch) because of a mild eye infection. I do think it’s more likely that the new contacts have something to do with it, but if there’s some easy/inexpensive way to check your eyes, it probably wouldn’t hurt. </has only heard horror stories about US healthcare
So against all odds, The Tempest is going really well. Pretty much everyone on campus is talking about how much they loved the production.
Last night was the cast party, so of course today I’m trying to do homework and study for a midterm I’m not ready for tomorrow and trying to ignore the sleep deprivation. (Seriously, daylight savings time should not have happened on the same night as a party. I was up until 3, except that it was actually 4. I think. I don’t know when I actually went to bed, but the last time I looked at a clock was around 4.)
But it was a lot of fun anyway.
In unrelated news, I think I’ve finally made peace with hearing recordings of myself singing. I used to hate it with a passion, but I’ve largely gotten over the shock of “oh gross that’s nothing like what I thought I sounded like how can people stand hearing me?! For my vocal harmony class our weekly homework is to get together in groups and record songs. It’s the greatest thing.
Great for you, and good luck with your schoolwork!
I sent in the pictures from the NC Kokon recently. GAPAs, I hope they were received properly?
Can I use the sentence “The result looked like a patchwork of marmalade and blood slowly leaking out of a petri dish” in my lab report?
Guys, in case you’ve not already seen it, you should go look at today’s google doodle.
Hint: Don’t Panic!
The door is also motion-activated.
Yesss.
I don’t really watch out for my exact blogoversary ever, but it struck me recently that I’ve now been on MB for 7 years, roughly a third of my life.
WEIRD YO
(but in a good way :D)
I made up a secret code I can use to communicate with my friends. Now I’m just waiting for Erin to confirm that she got the photos of the code-key that I texted her, so we can start using it.
SFTDP, but it is a new day…
Did anyone else do Scholastic’s Spy University book club when they were younger? I’m re-reading my old books and remembering how much fun it was (I’ve lost most of the gadgets in the intervening ten years, though…)
It’s funny that in the decade since, two of the historical events covered in the “Spy Tales” section at the end of every book have been the subject of movies– “Robert Hanssen, FBI Mole” as “Breach” and “Escape from Iran” as “Argo”.
last night i dreamed i kokoned with Agrrrfishi and Dodecahedron.
and they were both boys.
but there was also this 20 year old lady with us that treated us like we were kindergarteners
I am not a boy! (Aggrifishi isn’t either)
It’s okay though, you can dream whatever you want.
it is kinda hard to destinguish -i KNOW that is spelled wrong- wether someone is a girl or boy over the internet.
i also dreamed once that Princess Zelda had a really fat head and a tiny face
dreams can be weird.
I’ve also had weird Kokon dreams. Once I was with Bookgirl and she loved cheese, and her house was on a floating island.And we also went to the mall.
But I do love cheese!Okay definitely writing a satirical paper for Tempest practicum.
Because let’s be real here, my entire involvement was a joke. Seriously, write 600 words about my contribution (I would have contributed had my purpose of being in the production not been entirely cut out of it), my challenges (um, maybe ending up stuck in a production in which I had no purpose?), what I learned (maybe that in the future I should be more cautious when making theater a priority or that sometimes everything goes to hell and there’s nothing you can do about it), and how I will apply those lessons to other places of my life (even when everything goes to hell things can still be salvaged. Kind of. Also I now know how to rattle thundersheets. Valuable life skills right thur.).
This is probably a terrible, terrible idea, but you know what? I don’t care. I think Candy is giving me an incomplete grade anyway, and I’ll just be in the next production and this practicum credit will go for that. Ugh.
Cut back the sarcasm. Focused on positives, but retained a bit of facetious drivel about my thundersheet skills.
I’m still never sure whether I’m actually a decent writer or whether I come off as a pretentious jerk.
Just stayed up the entire night, again… Stress just drives my procrastination tendencies out of control. Fortunately this’ll all be over in a week. And then I can work on my cosplay for this April!
AND DOCTOR WHO
Guess whose family I just ran into at NC State?
Whose?
Koppars! ^_^
Nuralagus Rex. Look it up. And then tremble in fear.
There I was, scrolling innocently down my dash, when I found a paragraph on “Minorcan Giant Lagomorph • an endemic insular giant rabbit from the Neogene of Minorca” just staring at me.
Obviously the first thing I had to do was share the news of giant fossil bunnies with Museblog. Be glad they’re extinct. They also apparently had no natural predators, which was a function of them living on an island…or was it?
Extinct? Maybe. All I know is, I’m not taking any vacations on Minorca.
Yay, MB is up and running again!
GAPAs,
is there a special thread for posting stories or can i post one on the RT (Random Thread) ?
Because i am writing a story and i want to share it with MB and it’s kinda long.
There have been various threads for the purpose. Try under ‘Writing’ or ‘Books in Progress’.
Not sure there’s been one recently, though.
I’m pretty sure we have a writing thread; try searching for it with the sidebar. If it’s long enough, the GAPAs might make a new thread for it.
Or you could look under “Categories” for Fiction, poetry, and fanfiction. But Errata is right: we probably do need a new thread for 2013.
Pretending to be a Project Excelsior mission scientist makes calculating atmospheric temperature lapse rates for Earth Science homework much more enjoyable.
(I am beyond hope.)
Homestuck is confuzzling.
Don’t quit! It gets better. But even more confuzzling. In a good way. Just wait till you reach Act 5.
You are not allowed to quit until you have finished Act 2.
You are not allowed to skip acts 1 and 2.
(If you need to talk about Homestuck to someone please confide in me! None of my IRL friends read it and I’m going crazy.)
((I have the tendency to go all over prospective Homestucks and go ‘oh my marshmallows! homestuck! read it read it read it!!!’ and then they get fed up and quit.))
Don’t skip the Intermission either!
(AL, I’m more than willing to talk about Homestuck, if you need someone to gab about upd8s with or whatever.)
I would love to particip8 in the talks about upd8s.
Shoot *a8out
You sound like my High School’s 2008 yearbook…
Perhaps a thread entitled “Homestuck Support Group” is in order? >:] I dunno, I just think it would be a cool name for a thread.
(You guys are the best! I’ve had nobody to talk with this about for ages.)
There was a bit of discussion of Homestuck on the Seriously Awesome Comics thread a while back. Maybe we could take it there.
The thread’s closed! NOOO
It was kind of weird reading pre-cascade comments.
I’ve reopened it, and it should have nested comments now.
Yay, thank you!
I am a high school freshman with a very limited knowledge of music theory. So it seems like a great idea for me to compose a film score. For a movie. That I’m acting in.
Today I was given lunch detention for “sassiness.”
(It’s been a good day.)
Not for the last time, I suspect.
Nice one!
At last week’s ‘parents’ meeting’ attended however without my parents: when I mentioned an interest in politics to one of my history teachers, he remarked that ‘yes, I can see that, you’re certainly very political’ – I think it was a euphemism for something.
He just can’t deal with your overwhelmingly diplomatic sass, I think (seriously, though, you’re awesome and political indeed).
We should make badges: ‘Being Facetious is Fun’.
The Roman History essay I was writing before bed got to me– I dreamed I found an Epic Rap Battles of History episode where Cicero was one of the rappers. (I don’t remember who his opponent was, but Catalina had a pop-up cameo wearing a tinfoil hat and waving a sign– and thus a conspiracy theorist, that’s a pretty good gag.)
And then it said the next battle would be Wernher von Braun vs Gerald Bull, which would be interesting to see but probably too nerdy for them to ever do. (The only scientist battles so far have been Einstein vs Hawking and Tesla vs Edison, who are all extremely well-known.)
Thought some of you might like to know that the Book of Kells has become available to view online. The whole thing.
Isn’t it amazing? The web site is free, but there’s also a lovely iPad app that offers a more in-depth look. Pricey as apps go ($12.99); it’s well done, with magnified views of select pages, motif galleries, and background information. Both are priceless offerings for anyone interested in Celtic design or related fields — or who just love gaping at ancient documents. (And since it’s digital, you can drool all you like without damaging the pages.)
It’s gorgeous. And now I want to see The Secret of Kells again.
I had the same thought.
I LOVE THAT MOVIE SO MUCH
I listen to the music a lot. Esspecially when I’m working, or trying to fall asleep/relax. I did too much of the latter so it is maybe not the best working music anymore XD
That studio is coming out with another movie–involving selkies! I am very excited.
Great! Do you have any idea when it’s supposed to come out? “The Secret of Kells” was delightful at every turn. I especially loved the animation style; it suited the subject perfectly.
April 2014–it’s called Song of the Sea!
And yes, I ADORE how Cartoon Saloon did it. The wonderful water-colored and celtic-knotwork illustrations like an illuminated manuscript and just GFDUISJNK YES
*marks calendar* *paces impatiently* Ooooh, I just saw the conceptual trailer on the CS web site! ♥ ♥ ♥
And the one for “Puffins Rock” ♥ ♥ ♥ (Would that more pre-school offerings reached for that level instead of sinking to the level of sugar-products marketing and such.)
Did you ever see the “Samurai Jack” series? Its animation has a somewhat similar feel.
Yesss, I’ve also seen some screenshots from supposedly deleted scenes–they are STUNING and I can’t imagine why they’re not included because they’re so beautiful, but, I haven’t seen it yet so I can’t actually judge…
And yes! The Puffins Rock was really cute ^^
I never really saw much Samurai Jack, but looking it up, the artwork is very reminiscent!
Selkies! I can’t wait. And that reminds me there’s a new “book” on Bad Machinery that I haven’t read yet.
Yes! I keep going back to swoon a little. Have you noticed how, when you zoom in on most (or maybe all) instances of embellished letters and vignettes, the figures are outlined with tiny, delicate dots? And lookit that precise swirliness. And the symmetrical pairs of creatures with different expressions. And so on.
…I really need to see The Secret of Kells, don’t I?
Notice: I shall temporarily change my name to “Agent Lightning should be composing right now”, sort of like people do during NaNoWriMo, because I am determined to write this film score if it kills me. (So far I have the beginnings of a main character’s theme and half of an opening title theme. Updates to follow.)
Good luck! I find composing (it’s 30% of my Music grade) to be challenging but also rewarding on the rare moments I produce something decent.
Good luck, AL!
There was a Spring Ball tonight for our year with a local boys’ school. Loud music, alcohol, etc, in other words not my scene at all. I spent most of the evening taking care of an inebriated friend in the loo. It’s essentially the first time I’ve been in a situation like it and I will admit it was very scary. Seeing most of my peers like that, I probably have some sort of abnormal gene impairing the need to consume copious amounts of alcohol.
I pied it because I’m the same way, not because I don’t appreciate how frightened you were.
Oh, that would be scary. I’ve actually never been to anything like that, but I sympathise. And I’d rather it wasn’t so abnormal, but I’ve very glad you don’t have that… need.
Logic problems break my brain.
You know, the kind that goes: “Everybody is infinitely logical, and this is what they’re trying to figure out, based on barely enough information.”
Yep. Not usually in a good way. Although I love it if/when everything becomes clear. *finished reading a long-article-length introduction to decision theory earlier today*
I just realized that Abbey Road is an amazing album. All the songs fit together perfectly when they’re played in the right order.
Of course, before, I had been shuffling my entire iTunes library, so I didn’t know, and half the songs cut off awkwardly before the next completely random song played.
This whole thing is really weird because I owned the album on CD before I got iTunes/an iPod–I must have listened to it the entire way through at some point, right? Maybe I just forgot…? Or, I just had a thought, I usually had my CD player on shuffle, so maybe I never actually listened to the album the correct way. Which is really sad.
Abbey Road is definitely on my list of “albums that are classics because they really are that good”. This also includes Who’s Next, In The Court Of The Crimson King, Rumours, and London Calling.
Have you heard of Pure Combinations Work? Combine Radiohead’s Ok Computer with In Rainbows (albums released 10 years apart), by playing alternating songs with a 10 second crossfade, but follow Karma Police with Fitter Happier. The title is an anagram of the two other titles, which both have ten letters.
In that same vein, I don’t see much in Dark Side of the Rainbow, but there’s a pretty nice “Seventeen Years” & “Pink Elephants” sync on Youtube.
Last Thursday I tried to do this with the They Might Be Giants albums Apollo 18 and Nanobots; it didn’t work, but it didn’t not work either, some of the song titles juxtaposed pretty well.
Also once I used Youtube Doubler on Bad Romance and Do the Whirlwind by Architecture in Helsinki — it didn’t sync at all no matter how hard I tried, but I remain convinced that a mashup of them would be amazing.
But to stay on topic: In Rainbows is such a great album, and I liked OK Computer too, and I love putting things together that don’t belong together (see also: Thai food pizza), so there’s no reason why I haven’t done this yet.
Wait… *looks up Doubler* Why didn’t I know about this before? I’d tried mash-ups, but only by having the videos in separate tabs… This looks much easier.
I’ve listened to it, yeah, although it was under the name 0110. Some songs work better than others (15 Step and Airbag are particularly satisfying), but I thought it was really interesting overall. Still on the fence about whether it was intentional or not.
I JUST ACCIDENTALLY ADDED CUMIN TO MY HOT CHOCOLATE INSTEAD OF CINNAMON AND IT IS TOO LATE TO TAKE THIS BACK WHAT DO I DO
okay I am going to try adding the nutmeg and cinnamon and marshmallows anyway and maybe it’ll be okay I mean, I like mexican hot chocolate, even though this tastes nothing like that so far…
I regret everything
This is the best comment thread I’ve ever seen.
(My sympathies though. I hope your next hot chocolate tastes better)
I once accidentally made cookies from piecrust dough. They were delicious.
(I wish you the best of luck in your future hot-chocolate-making endeavors)
Eeeee, I’m sorry that happened to your hot chocolate…
This reminds me of the time I mistook vegetable oil for honey.
Putting soy sauce on salad instead of vinegar is also…interesting.
i LOVE putting 2 cups of salt instead of 2 cups of sugar in my cookies
My sister once put two cups of lemon juice in a cake instead of two tablespoons. It tasted…interesting as well.
With that much extra liquid, did it even rise to the level of anything resembling cake?
(No pun intended, I swear.)
Not very much. It was very dense. And also lemony. I only had a bite before I decided it was enough.
I almost always put soy sauce, or hot sauce on my salad .
*leans precariously over keyboard laughing* Uh… I hope the next thing you drank/ate was better.
STFP: I’m writing a paper for music history right now, and I’ve discovered that I regularly unintentionally use alliteration. This is a good sign for a future writing career perhaps? But that’s a pipe dream.
“Unintentionally use”
Guess who owns an autographed drumstick from They Might Be Giants
aaaaaaaaaaaaaah
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah
Their concert in my area (well, an hour+ south of here, but I’m going) is this upcoming Thursday, and I am so excited that I have been making dream setlists and looking to see which songs they’re playing at other shows and every time I hear a TMBG song I consider how likely it is that I will hear it live and how much I care about hearing it live (oh, for a brass band accompaniment…..)
Nanobots has been out for about two weeks and I’m pretty sure I’ve listened to it at least once per day since March 5; it may be overtaking John Henry/Factory Showroom as one of my favorite albums.
Very cool!
…John Green? Matt Smith? Robert Coontz? WHO COULD IT BE
I saw this list of names in the Recent Comments bar and thought that you were suggesting actors for the Twelfth Doctor (not sure why Matt Smith would be in there again, but). I’d just like to voice my opinion that Robert would be a really, really good choice for the job.
OH, YESYESYES.
Would you use a British accent or your own?
Scottish, I think. That would require some explaining, though.
Go on.
If it happens, I’m sure the scriptwriters will think of something.
I read somewhere that the explanation for the Tenth Doctor’s accent was that he imprinted on Rose’s accent. Maybe Eleven had been travelling with yet another Scottish companion when he regenerated.
On second thought, rather than compete with David Tennant, I suppose I’d have to stick with my own accent. Mid-Atlantic American must sound exotic to somebody.
“Lots of planets have a Mid-Atlantic.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“Is it really? The Atlanteans got everywhere. Statistically, some people were bound to name oceans after them. Continents, too.”
Oh, I thought you meant you had an explanation. It might be worth noting that I haven’t seen any of the Tenth Doctor yet..
Then where are you at!?
(Jelly Baby?)
I didn’t mean to imply that I was going to see it any time soon, although I do plan to eventually. As a matter of fact, while I think it was a few months ago that I started watching Doctor Who, I’ve only seen about 4 episodes, and I’m going in chronological order from the very beginning, so it’ll likely be several months from now at least before I get to that point because I’ve been really preoccupied, although I may at some point skip ahead.
Will catch up on posts later, but I’m home, for the first time in half a year.
I spent the weekend at a timeline living history event and it was glorious. I saw lots of old friends that I’ve been missing, met new friends, and had a generally grand time. It wasn’t near long enough or sufficient, but it was still so good. It’s really nice to spend time surrounded by people you adore.
Just watched AVPSY!!! It was actually really good! I will say that I’m glad it didn’t get a real show because it feels a lot more heartfelt as a read-through. I don’t know.
Okay.
Must breathe.
I found a black wool trenchcoat in the back of my closet.
Like from “The Empty Child”
And tomorrow is Time Machine day at my school.
???
Trenchcoats are the best.
Paul, here’s another thing to add to your “Thinks you only hear on MB” book
That’s not too weird, it’s a legitimate fashion opinion.
Well. it’s the first time i heard it.
I love the majesty of fleas in summer
Me, too!
Hopefully you’ll be nice and warm.
Wear the trenchcoat. Be the child.Yess now all you need is a gas mask. You can make one from black and white duct tape.
Oops, further reascerarch confirms that it’s a greatcoat. Google it.
Greatcoats are awesome, too.
I have found sheet music for “I Am the Doctor.” Repeat, I have found sheet music for “I Am the Doctor.”
… Does anyone have an orchestra I can borrow?
MUSEBLOG INSTRUMENTALISTS, ASSEMBLE!!
I’m pretty sure there are enough of us that we could put together recordings to make a recording.
Oh, I remember when we attempted to do that a while ago. It got really complicated.
Could you agree on variables, record separately, and layer the components into a single piece?
Generally the way it’s done is that there is one standard sound file of a metronome, with all the specific count offs/tempo changes needed. Everyone gets this sound file and plays their instrument with this metronome thing on headphones, pressing start on their recording equipment at the same time as the metronome in their ears. Then the recordings can all be sent to one person who lays them all on top of each other syncing them up with computer magic. I think that’s how it’s done.
I’d jump back on board with this, but I’ve quit orchestra and I’m scared of what sort of horrible noises would result if I picked up my viola again after almost a year. (Are there any other violists on the ‘blog?)
I don’t think it would work for “I Am The Doctor,” because what I have is the first page of the piano music, and my plan is just to extrapolate what I should play from that (you have to order the actual music from somewhere). HOWEVER. I really, really still want to do the MuseBlog orchestra thing! Please! I started making album art for that when we first began it, and it’s still half-finished.
UPDATE.
Okay. I know I said it wouldn’t work, but I really want this to happen, to the point that I spent math today writing out a short version of the violin, cello, and piano parts. There are a lot of partial orchestra scores online, and if you tweak them somewhat, they come out pretty close to the original.
I don’t want to say that I will get all the scores done, because when I say I’ll do things I tend to not get them done. But I’m working on it!
SFTDP: To the thread?
Somehow my computer opened the pie button image png file in another window just now. The file was called “314 up”. XD
And the squid image file is called “314 down.” Huh.
So the pie image name contains the same digits as the beginning of the approximation of Pi– coincidence?
I think so. They were thumbs-up and thumbs-down symbols in the original icon set (hence the “up” and “down” in the names).
Just finished a concert of St John Passion with Eton – standing for all that time is quite tiring, but the sound was amazing. Eton being Eton they’d hired a professional orchestra and soloists, so I think it was a successful performance!
Did I mention that tomorrow is Twin Day at my school and a friend and I are cosplaying as Oswin Oswald?
Tomorrow I am flying home, at long last! For the first time in about six months, so I’m super excited. I’ve really missed HK.
Yay for you!
60- Yes, your common sense inhibitor gene must be inhibited.
63, 63.1.1- I’ll just add more squids.
65- Nice!
68.1- Yes.
70- Nice.
70.1.1.1- So squids equate to downvotes? Are squids a bad thing?
73- HK = Hong Kong? If so, awesome! That’s #1 on my list of places to visit.
Squids aren’t bad or negative, and they don’t mean the same thing as “thumbs down” symbols. The blog software came with thumbs. We hacked it to change not just the symbols, but their significance as well.
Generally speaking, pies are for expressing agreement or gladness, while squids are for distress or sadness.
Or sympathy. That’s how they’ve evolved, but we didn’t define them to have those (or any) particular meanings.
If they don’t have any particular meanings, then why do they exist.
Wait. if we are going by that particular logic, then how can most people still talk?
They have meanings. We gave them meanings.
We define what words mean through our usage. It’s a mighty power. Use it for good.
By which I mean: Enough with the utter disregard of grammar, people! This is your language we’re talking about!
Hong Kong is wonderful. Come visit!
Just got back from TWO WHOLE days at my grandma’s and i just gotta say one thing…
HOUSE, I MISSED YOU! GIMMIE HUG!
Spring break just started for me… and I will spend it in the library, studying. Eh, at least it’s interesting. But at least the summer semester is shaping up better thus far.
Anyway, the main reason for this post was to re-iterate a suggestion I posted a little while back (I know, thread hijacking, bad bad bookgirl): What say you to a thread about posting about certain goals/successes we set ourselves/achieve?
The catalyst for this is a bet I made with a classmate: he wagered I couldn’t pass the Cooper’s Test (a fitness test: run as far as you can in 12 minutes). I’d been thinking of getting back into shape for a while, but it never really clicked until now. It’s just so much easier to be motivated when you’re doing something with friends- sort of like NaNoWriMo, except in my case with running (I actually did “NaNoRuMo” or whatever I called it a few years back when I ran a total of 50 kilometers or so in a month but I can’t find the thread).
Anyhow, I know most MBers are pretty determined/high achievers: it doesn’t have to be about fitness, just setting yourself a not-that-easy goal and working towards it (together). Anyone with me?
I think that would probably fall under the purview of World Domination 101. It’s not exactly the same concept, but wouldn’t it be close enough?
Oh, and I think the thread you’re looking for is “MuBloWriMo”.
Yes, but WD101 was sort of about internships and that sort of “real-world”, short-term effort kind of thing. I’m talking about something à la MuBloWriMo/NaNoWriMo (mine was supposed to be a RunningMonth, hence the changes) where you take little steps every day to work towards a goal (which would probably end up spamming the heck out of that thread).
Hm, what would you call it? “Self-Improvement” sounds accurate but a bit earnest for MB.
The Pamplemousse Experiment? Or Pamplemousse’s Wager?
Or how about simply GOOOOOAAAAAL!!!!!!!
Hm… What is this “Pamplemousse” whereof you speak?
Well, for starters, she is no ordinary grapefruit.
Crushing your inner caketoppingI like “Pamplemousse’s Wager”.National Novel Running Month?I’m sure there are some good novels about running, although none come to mind at the moment…
I meant NaNo (Writing) & RuMo (I originally wanted to write as well).
So maybe that would be National Noveling and Running Month.
Maybe? Which usually seems to end up as a “no”, but at the moment not a definite “no”.
I remember you doing that!
I had two “Holy Cake, 2003 was half my life ago!” moments today. First in The Contested Past when the professor showed a slide of looting of the Iraq Museum and said it was a decade ago, and then reading my Earth Science textbook (the one that had the Concorde on the atmospheric diagram) when I saw that it included information about Hurricane Isabel.
I know, I know, 20 isn’t old… But it can feel that way.
I wonder if the GAPAs approve each others comments on the blog? do they have GAPA administrators. Or are the GAPAs so cool and awesome that they don’t NEED administration.
Choosing supervisors that don’t need supervising is sort of the point of choosing supervisors.
Perhaps she thinks we need monitoring.
To what end? Preventing debates about grapefruit? I shudder at the thought. It’d be Studge Academy all over again.
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Mwa-hahahaha!
((Don’t worry, Errata, grapefruit are always welcome here.))
Perhaps we do. But who would do it? We don’t want responsible adults interfering with MuseBlog.
OH HECK NO!
Huh. I appear to have missed my bloggiversary once again. Hard to believe I’ve been posting on here for 7 years. I kinda miss all the great times I used to have on here, but vet school eats up so much of my time…..
Love you guys.
LUNA! *glomp*
Lu the Lo! i am not sure you remember me or not. im kind of still a n00b on museblog. and it has been 1 year since my first evah post on here
Happy anniversary!
I do remember you, actually. Happy blogiversary!
Luna! Happy late blogiversary.
Happy first blogiversary, Catwings.
Happy blogiversary, Luna!
(And Catwings!)
I’m back in Hong Kong and I can’t imagine how I managed to spend 6 months away from this place. I love this city!
Welcome home! *Throws welcome home pie*
Isn’t it great to come home for break?
A thousand times yes.
Thank you, Catwings! Kai – yes, it is thoroughly great! I’m glad to have at least left the English weather (see Paul’s post, 81). March, to me, should not equal rain and snow!
Now get to reading all those books in your room that you missed while you were away, because breaks have a way of flying by. (If you’re like me, you’ll have a few.)
Also if your like me you will have one favorite book that you read nonstop for 49 weeks straight withougt stopping until you leave for a bit and then you cry because you can’t read it at least once more time to cherish the memory
What book is that? I want to read it, if I haven’t already.
the Legend of Zelda books. I believe they are the best manga i have ever read
For those of you hankering to visit Britain – it’s just past the equinox, so it’s now officialy Spring. The snowdrops have already flowered, the crocuses are in bloom, the early daffodils are appearing, the frogs have largely finshed their annual noisy and unmentionable activites, and there are patches of spawn appearing in the ponds.
So, as we emerge from winter’s perpetual greyness, and look forward to weeks of increasing sunshine and warmth – there is torrential rain, parts of Wales and the South are flooded, and snow is causing wdespread disruption to transport. The economy is decidedly shaky, and the scones in my local cake shop are just a trifle below par.
This sort of thing happens in Britain. Be warned. Luckily, the tea supply usually holds up pretty well.
I call shenanigans. There was “more rain than usual” and flooding when I was there a few months ago. I’m pretty sure you lot as a country are in denial about how much it rains and are trying to act surprised just to take us all in.
When I visited London when I was four, I told my Dad that if I was drawing a map of the world where every country was an appropriate shape, I would draw England as shaped like a raindrop.
The sun does shine here occasionally, honest. It’s just playing silly games this year. I suspect well have a drought by April.
I was amazingly lucky both times I was in England (12 and 9 years ago), as it was warm and sunny beautiful days. When I was there in 2001, I don’t think there was a single rainy day the whole week we were in England. And our day trip to wales was sunny and beautiful as well. Scotland, though, poured rain most if the week we were there. Torrential downpour and Edinburgh castle and umbrellas being blown inside our all over. Good times. I’d love to make a visit back across the pond again sometime
Why does the National Geographic online store have two sets of the same documentaries with different packaging with a 60 dollar difference in price?
Intelligence test?
Hmmm… Could be.
Collectability?
Wow, time does fly! The Dragon capsule that docked to the space station a few weeks ago is due to come home on Tuesday!
I am having an awesome adventury weekend in Connemara! Today I eased through more mud than I have ever been a part of before (as in, generally the level of submersion was between knees and upper chest, with some places requiring swimming). I have had a shower and several hours but I may never escape the feel of bog.
After that we had a FREEZING gorge walk in a stream.
In the afternoon, I did some high ropes and a zip line.
Yesterday I read the entirety of REady Player One, and I have worked my way through a substantial part of The Night Circus tonight.
Sitting in a room with some people all doing their own various things (while a dilabce party gies ob in the room next door) now, thinking about circuses and select evenings in my past.
I loved Ready Player One so much when I read it! I hope you enjoyed it!
(this post has been edited from its original format, which was “aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah ready player one is so good”)
I got it because you gave it such a good recomendation in fact! I really liked it a lot. Virtual Realities is I e of the things I have a hard time not loving, no matter how badly written, and this was well written so it was AWESOME
It’s the truth, but writing– “Actually, I like artists and not bands, ‘Clocks’, ‘Speed of Sound’, and ‘Viva la Vida’ are the only Coldplay songs I can name off the top of my head.” — on another site makes me feel dumb.
SONGS and not bands. SONGS. Artists and not bands is just nonsensical.
Unless the artists you like aren’t affiliated with bands.
Anyway, I’m the same way. The above is true of me, too, for the most part. You certainly aren’t dumb.
It’s after nine hours of newspaper layout that you suddenly feel the beauty of things that are not beige walls and swivel-chairs.
(It’s during nine hours of newspaper layout that you discover that prolonged access to a swivel-chair and open space turns you into a six-year-old.)
So today I visited my old high school for the first time in six months. It was…strange. It felt really good to be back, and all of it, the whole routine, seemed so normal and oddly right. I still think I made the right choice in going to England, but it reminded me of all the things I miss while I’m over there. It’s almost like they’re two separate worlds, and I’ve suddenly been thrown back into one. It was fantastic to see all my friends again, and a few of my former teachers. I may go again in a few weeks’ time after their spring break.
I spent a lovely standing alone (forevver alone XD) at a middle school band fundraiser swing dance. I didn’t actually have to dance, though. I am grateful for that. Also, I re-discovered how annoying certain middle schoolers can be, and spent a futile twenty minutes with a smart mouth seventh grader trying to wrestle a colored pencil out of my sister’s tuba.
Next year I’m bringing friends. With any luck, one of them will have a trombone snake on en. I really could have used one of those. Also, dancing skills and a dancing partner. Those could have been useful, too.
Dragon made it, hurrah! SpaceX is three for three– three launches of their Dragon capsule to the International Space Station and three successful recoveries!
And now the new Soyuz crew is already in orbit and will dock in a few hours! This is a great week for space station fans!
mhmmm…
So… i just witnessed my neighbor’s cats jumping off my neighbor’s rooftop and landing a perfect bulls-eye onto a rat, who was unfortunately (For him) walking under that very spot at the right time. The cat (who was a pretty gray color BTW) killed the rat. But i wonder what that cat was doing? Jumping off the roof onto the rat? couldnt he have just climbed down the side of the house first THEN stalked the rat until the rat met his doom under claws of epic death-ness? or was the cat aware that the rat would have time to escape because of that delay?
My brethren are weird
Maybe jumping off roofs isn’t such a big deal to cats? It seems remarkable to us, but we generally can’t do it without getting hurt, and cats are different.
“Tomorrow I stalk.
Today I’m a hawk.”
I think the cat pounced for fun.
“Birds can fly
so should I”
-Cat bed
“If pretty little bluebirds fly, then why oh, why, oh, why, oh, why…”
Caaaant I?
For a few days there I basically felt happy and relieved, except for the ocassional nagging this-is-temporary feeling. This weekend I got in an hour and a half of driving practice. The sunset on Saturday put a golden glow in the air, and I was confident enough to actually drive in it. I read a huge number of posts and comments in one of the sequences on an extrabloggian site. I listened to some awesome new music while I was at it. I got some other nagging tasks out of the way on Monday and Tuesday.
I did homework and a few other school things, but blew off assignments and studying for Tuesday’s math test. No regrets – it’s possible I managed full marks, that’s how well it went. Oh yeah, having a life and acing math.
There’s a girl… year 11, in my chemistry class. I’ve barely spoken to her, but it seems we have a few things in common… No, hormones, I’ve had it with unattainable crushes. I’m looking for friendship or something, and don’t really like or want to like anyone romantically right now. When I do get to mingle with
fresh meatthe geekier students from other schools I want to be unattached.Then last night my mum got angry at my dad, I’m not sure how much he deserves it, and then she became convinced I’d failed to do a particular thing out of malice or whatever. Luckily, staying calm and ignoring everything is actually the easier option for me, and the most useful. Because it’s uncommon for me to get worked up about anything now, and in this state I can reduce it to the background stress level.
Um, and I was feeling really pretty? I’m not sure I should let myself become too hung up on looks, for various reasons, but enjoying it seems more fun. I mean, look at that hull! Perfectly framed by the beams, and two random people in spacesuits make the perfect accessory.
Figured out the chorus to “City Hall” by Vienna Teng on my new harp (♥) today!
All superior ratings at concert festival for band, and now I’m on spring break! *does happy dance*
I found myself saying “I swear to cake I never heard that before!” earlier today.
“Cake!” has become a regular part of my vocablulary lately.
i wonder why “Cake” is a substitute for curse words on the blog? Cake is usually, generally sweet.
Unless of course it’s my ex-moms cake. She is on a special diet that she doesnt really need (but she THINKS she does) So whenever she makes cake, she forgets one thing; Sugar.
So instead we should all say; Oh, Cat’s Moms Cake!” (Or CMC if you prefer)
Because we like pie.
Because we can have our curse words and eat them, too.
It’s because cake is the opposite of pie.
I can imagine that sort of cake as being the kind we mean when we use it as a swear.
I found this quiz online called, “Drug or Pokemon?”. It gives you a name and then asks you whether it is a drug or Pokemon. For someone not familiar with the series, they both sound very, very similar. I did terribly. I’m sure some other Musers who actually play Pokemon would do better.
It’s just amusing how the pharmaceutical companies and whoever designs Pokemon apparently use similar naming trends.
I just took it, and I got 24 out of 40.
Slightly better than I did; I got 21/40. To be honest i just guessed on most of them. The only one I knew for sure was Vulpix. I would probably do about as well if I just guessed that all of them were pokemon. There’s a 50/50 percent chance, after all…
A 50/50 percent chance? Wouldn’t that technically mean a 1 percent chance? Or since you no doubt meant 50/50 as a ratio instead of a fraction (in which case that would be a probability of .5)… a .5 percent chance?The only ones I knew were Umbrion and Flareon.
I meant that I had a 50% chance of getting a drug and a 50% chance of getting a pokemon? (Probability of .5 each multiplied by 100) Come to think of it, I don’t actually know if that is the correct probability. I’d need to know how many drugs and how many Pokemon are in the database. I assumed there was an algorithm or something in place to keep the likelihood of getting either one the same , because otherwise it would be too easy to just guess one answer for all of them and still get a higher score.I actually knew what you meant; I was just being pedantic about the phrasing. Sorry it was unclear.Haha, I’ve seen it before. I don’t play Pokemon but I’m a Pokemon dork, so I got the full score, but I still had to pause momentarily for some of the names. T’was amusing.
(Imagine Swalot as a drug.)
40/40. Of course.
Me too. I can’t tell if I’m happy or very, very sad.
22/40. Wow.
24/40. I don’t know many Pokemon beyond the first generation.
I got 37/40, and I wouldn’t expect myself to know 4th-generation Pokemon anyways!
20/40. I don’t know any Pokemon whatsoever, but I had thought perhaps I would be familiar with the drug names…but few of them were something I’d ever heard of despite two blocks of pharm. Probably because most of them likely weren’t the chemical name but human market brand names….or at least that’s what I’m gonna keep telling myself, lol.
19/40. I thought I’d do better.
Academically I failed every class that had any sort of assignment today, but I had fun! My real life friends are wondrous.
This year I ended up with four birthday cakes. Star baked me one last week when she came to sleepover, my friend group chipped together and bought a large cheesecake for me (which we devoured at lunch today), my mom bought a really choklitty fudgy cake that is deliciously creamy, and Swalot gave me a cute choklitty fudgy cake I’ll have to deal with tomorrow since cake is pretty much most of what I ate today. I also got cookies, candies, and…apple juice? I swear my friends are conspiring to make me chubbier…
I also now have a stuffed husky that is very fuzzy (from GuyWithoutNickname), a large mug and an adorable little teddy bear hugging a blanket squeeeee (from Swalot), and an octopus pendant necklace (my mom knows me well!).
…I think I may have eaten too much sugary cake. Good night.
Apparently Swalot’s mom has the same birthday as I do, haha…
Happy birthday!
Had my last day of classes for the semester yesterday. I have a 3000 word essay due on the 8th, one on the 15th, and an exam on May 7th.
Ireland be crazy
I’m sorry about all the work.
The article in this week’s TIME Magazine about the possibility of life on Europa is very good and a full two-page spread.
Hi.
Glassboro and I are coincidentally hanging out.
It was very surprising to find out that they know me from here.
Also my life is good.
Love you guys.
Love you too, Justice! Glad to see you back here. Stay a while?
Perhaps.
Spent the evening baking, eating, and playing Magic with a friend. Now, I’m listing the themes from the LotR scores and she’s singing them from memory (I am looking off a list–I am not as good at this as she, I recognize most but don’t know the names).
I already showed her, and we sang, Robert’s LotR-themed songs
(https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=557, for those of you who missed it when it was first posted or weren’t around. The first time capsule and perhaps my favorite…)
Sounds dreamy! I have a lot of people in my house that were previously playing Magic.
So there’s a story that allegedly there was an attempted axe murder one time in the dorm that I live in, and one of my friends just texted me saying she heard it was in my room. I don’t put a huge amount of stock in campus stories like that, because I feel like they’re mainly hearsay and until I hear things from reliable sources I tend to partially dismiss them (kind of like the story that one of the other dorms was designed by a prison architect).
But it’s interesting that apparently the attempted murder happened right here in my room. It lends a nice grisly touch to the weird creaking and knocking that the building makes, and the whole doors-opening-themselves thing that happens when the air pressure in the hall changes.
Oh okay, so apparently my friend heard it from my other friend who heard if from the woman who tackled the would-be murderer from the class of 1956.
My roommate and I are simultaneously impressed with ourselves for having such an infamous room and also maybe going to sleep with the lights on because while neither of us believe in ghosts or actually think that any ghost would haunt this wreck of a dorm, it’s still kind of terrifying. And having the lights on TOTALLY scares away any sort of negative energies that might be lingering.
SO THAT’S A THING.
Wouldn’t the murder have to have succeeded for there to be ghosts?
Yeah, there would. One of my suitemates has often mentioned “weird vibes” about my room when no one else was around, and another one time mentioned having felt an very strong but undefinable presence at times. Upstairs and down the hall a little bit one of my friends is entirely convinced that her room/suite has something weird going on in it, and says she’s seen pictures and other things fly off of the wall, straight out and then down, instead of falling directly, and others in her room and suite have had weird and inexplicable feelings of uneasiness or strange things happening.
More info on the would-be murderer and victim: apparently the former was sent away to a mental hospital where she presumably died or remains, and the latter became a mute and is still living. Again, I don’t know how much stock I’d put into that (especially the mute part), but it’s interesting.
So despite the fact that no one actually died here, one could assume that because of the trauma and intense crazy that happened in this room there might be lingering weird energies or vibes, if they believed in that sort of thing.
Which I’m pretty sure none of us in my suite don’t really believe in, but it’s still kind of fascinating and scary in a similar way to feeling like somehow you’ll stop being able to hold on to the surface of Earth, and end up plummeting through space forever.
That sounds creepy! Just remember who to call if things get scary…
………………GHOSTBUSTERS!
Or, um, random weird-vibes-busters? Doesn’t have quite the same ring.
I mean, you call them if it goes beyond weird vibes and you see actual ghosts, okay? You know, if things get weird and they don’t look good?
Book of Kells book of Kells book of Kells book of Kells book of Kells!!!!
I’m playing a Doctor Who themed 20 Questions online. My thought was “an apple”. It’s guesses, in order, were: The Doctor’s glasses, Rose’s flag t-shirt, edible ball bearings, banana, apple.
What the cake?
I think the Doctor talked about edible ball bearings once, in wonder and puzzlement. I’m not sure if they’re as much of a thing in the US as in Britain.
I remember them from when I was little. I don’t k is if they’re a “big thing” but I remember the little silver sugar balls on a lot of stuff when I was a kid. I loved ’em.
I had never heard them referred to as “edible ball bearings,” but I’ve had a fair amount of cupcakes with them as a decoration. I’m not sure what people call them over here.
I ate my fair share of those! They were pretty tiny, so I don’t think that counts.
Cinnamoon is right, he does mention edible ball bearings, twice in one episode if I recall correctly. It was the tenth doctor, I believe it was the episode “Fear Her”, in season 3, with the young girl who drew pictures that entrapped the people she drew in the drawings.
He means those metallic cake decorations that look like pearls but are somehow still edible (I feel like they have a proper name).
Re:ball bearing sprinkles: they have them in the grocery store I go to in Galway! I will get them someday for the reference and to figure out how they taste.
When I was little I would go to holiday parties/events/whatever where the pastries had those things and I would always stay away from them because I was confused as to whether or not I was allowed to eat them.
They’re called dragées, although that’s really a term for any small sweets with hard shells on the outside.
Incidentally, while they’re classified as food in Britain, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration requires that in the U.S., the ones with metal coating (as opposed to, say, pearly or colorful coating) are sold with a warning not to eat them. In California, they’re actually banned.
Good lord, I’ve been breaking the law for years.
I’m not sure, but I think it’s selling them that’s actually against the law there. Wikipedia wasn’t very clear…
Oh. Wow. I don’t remember that from the episode at all. I guess I’ll have to re-watch it! Also, Food Network refers to them as “pearls”.
SFTDP. I re-watched the episode, and I saw what you guys were talking about. Thanks for reminding me!
You should all go read Nimona. It is excellent. It is a webcomic.
So got a bunch of awesome stuff for my birthday (can’t believe I’m 23….scary. When did I stop being a teenager?). Pretty much all Doctor Who stuff. A doctor who 50th anniversary poster, a figurine of K-9, a dalek keychain light (red), an exploding TARDIS throw blanket, a license plate frame that says “doctor who: my other car is a TARDIS”, and a full size cardboard cut out dalek (bronze-ish color). And a fillet of smoked salmon to take back with me.
So super awesome cool. Good end to what’s been a week of “what can go wrong will go wrong” (computer that started having serious issues (probably going to end up getting a new one, blech), then first cavity ever, and a schedule for clinical rotations for the next two years that is super messed up and which I have to get a bunch of rescheduled, and just a whole bunch of school work. So rough week, but it’s looking up. Sadly though just in time to have to end spring break and go back to school….)
But yay, very doctor who birthday.
I HAVE THE SAME LICENSE PLATE FRAME AS YOU DO
I do too! Although in Oregon the stickers are on the bottom of the plate and it’s illegal to cover them even halfway, so I can’t use it.
Someone help me figure out when to take North Korea seriously?
Same.
Agreed.
I just rolled down the Hill of Tara
I have the suite to myself today, so that means it’s a day for listening to Great Big Sea really loudly and doing a massive cleaning of my room.
So far I’ve sorted out the clothes that I was getting rid of and got them to the free pile (and off my floor!), put away various other clothing items (I swear to god everything I own is clothes yet still I only wear the same four garments ever it’s awful clearly I’ve not gotten rid of enough yet but I’ve made a pretty good start I think!).
I’ve also marveled at my mold-growing skills and the diversity of what various food products turn into when left in tupperware or bowls. Oops.
There are actually visible bits of my desk now, too, and I’m putting laundry in on my way to brunch.
I think next will be dusting, sweeping and vacuuming and such; maybe if I get really brave I’ll venture into the terrifying wilds of under the bed. :/ The “kitchen” needs spiffing up, and then just organizing sundries and my room will look like it’s actually inhabited by a human! Which is super exciting.
MY ROOM IS SO CLEAN. I bleached every surface in the bathroom and no longer have fingerprints.
So, my closet is still kind of a wreck, and the desk is not organized and there’s not a lot of open space on it, but there is some, and the chair is functional as a chair now instead of a coatrack.
And the floor is clear and clean, and the rugs aren’t really gnarly. It just feels so much better now, and it’s glorious.
There’s an extremely brown banana in our fridge. It was my roommate’s and I don’t want to throw it out.
~dilemma~
Make banana bread! It is best with “overripe” bananas. And your roommate probably won’t complain about the presence of banana bread?
I make this stuff. Normally takes 3 to 4 mushy brown bananas. Sprinkle some sugar on top.
BANANAS ARE GOOD.
Well there’s only one banana. And it’s been in there since November.
also it’s too late now but I will take this opportunity to yell about MOLD WARS
it is where you take all the mold growing on the food you forgot about and put it into a single airtight jar with a spritz of water to facilitate growing
and wait a week/few weeks/however to see which mold wins. After the food they’re growing on runs out, they have to eat each other, if one doesn’t take over all of the resources before then.
to this day none of my roommates have given me approval for mold wars despite it is often their food going moldy too. PERHAPS NEXT YEAR. I just want to see what happens!
potential downsides to mold wars: your roommates might think it is gross; you might forget about the jar and accidentally open it someday; the accidental creation of a supermold capable of devouring the earth
THAT IS THE GREATEST IDEA. When I inevitably end up with moldy tupperware again I will definitely do that.
Also if I have enough molds, I could combine a few, and then the triumphant ones I could combine again and…..okay no that’s probably a really really really bad idea but still oh so tempting.
Also you need to get better roommates if they think that mold wars are a Not Brilliant Idea. (By which I mean come live with me forever I’m not even kidding.)
Also I start too many sentences with the world also. Whoops.
TOURNAMENTS WERE IN THE ORIGINAL MOLD-WARS PLAN
but the prospect of MANY jars of mold was for some reason EVEN WORSE than the prospect of one
bookgirl–LET ME KNOW WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DO!!
I feel like Bibliophile might also like this? And I feel like another Muser actually did something like this in the past (was it Purple Panda and THF? I could see that maybe)
*even worse a prospect to those living with/near me, I should clarify.
I know what I’m doing as soon as I move out…
SFTDP. During a family trip today, we drove down Random Street.
It’s killing me to try and figure out exactly what POSOC and Jadestone have in common.
They’re oldbies and awesome beyond words?
I am curious about the unnamed musers who “will become apparent” soon….
The reasons will become apparent. And different reasons may apply to different people.
SO CRYPTIC.
It’s one of his skillz.
You would warn me if the reason it appeals to Jadestone would be that the blog would feature squid photos or something like that, right?
HEE HEE HEE HEE
SUCH SUSPENSE.
I will be on a band trip tomorrow! And all of this week…
Hopefully I’ll find a way to drop in for April 1st, though!
*dances around in anticipation* I can’t wait for tomorrow!
I wonder what April Fools jokes the usual suspects will come up with tomorrow? Astronomy Picture of the Day has come up with some great ones, as has YouTube, and Google and Virgin are always reliable for great ones…
?!???¡??¿¿¿¿??¿???!¿¡?
the further realization that I have to wait an extra approximately six hours to find this out!! More total since I think traditionally it starts in the morning versus at midnight (though I missed last years, I believe, sadly), but still! Sigh.
Alas, indeed, you won’t see anything unusual until morning (blog time).
Weirdly, Google already has its prank out. Does it always happen this way?
It must go by time zone, because all I can see is Google’s artwork for Cesar Chavez’s birthday.
I FOUND IT.
Have you tried Google Maps? You might find some treasure there.
Or the big one, Google Nose?
The thing about having a lot of work to do is that whenever you get dead-ended on one project you can just move to another and work on that for a while. You’re extremely productive, but you still finish nothing.
Being that one Eastern Orthodox kid when all your friends of other denominations are out celebrating Easter and yours isn’t for several weeks.
I’m in China and today I passed by a shop called ‘Big and Enjoyable Drugstore.’ I kid not. It’s possibly the most upfront marketing I can remember seeing for a while.
In other news, everything here is blocked and it’s mildly tiresome being restricted like this at the whim of the Chinese government (if you don’t hear from me for a while, I’ve probably been arrested for saying that) – but I’m just glad you’re allowed past the Great Firewall.