Our perennial promise: to answer entertainingly, or not at all.
Continued from Ask the GAPAs, No. 2.
Patience, Please
This site is under reconstruction and will look strange for a while. We regret the inconvenience.
Our perennial promise: to answer entertainingly, or not at all.
Continued from Ask the GAPAs, No. 2.
Could you please explain (in normal language, if possible) why you get a positive number when you multiply two negative numbers?
Or do you?
I am very very confused, because when mathematicians explain something, it’s hard to follow, even though it sounds like they know what they’re talking about.
1-Oh, I can explain that so the GAPAs don’t have to…
The negative also means the opposite of something, right? And when you multiply something, you count the signs in. So when you see a negative, try to think of it as “the opposite”, or maybe even say that when you say the problem. Example:
-4 x -5 = +20 because “the opposite of four (times) the opposite of five means the opposite of the opposite of the answer.
Was that helpful? *hopes*
2- It was, sort of. Kind of like double negatives, right?
3 (Alice)- Yuss, exactly.
Dear OEADs,
Where can I get some of your awesome?
Love, Penty
3-Yep, that’s it. The negative of a negative is a positive!
So when you say I never didn’t do that, i really would mean you did, but no one takes it to mean that.
GAPAs, if Mostly Harmless was successful, how do you think the world would be? (Phlethreno Musisgrate, one of my alter egos, spoke briefly about this subject, but I was wondering how you imagine it.)
Some questions:
Are you married?
Do you have kids?
Do you live in a house or an apartment?
Do you not ever never hate these questions?
I live in a house. I have three cats and one 6 1/2-year-old niece who is well on her way to being an artist/architect/astronomer. Unfortunately, she lives too far away for me to see her very often. I almost never hate questions, only sometimes I don’t like the answers.
I hate it when people say “I ain’t got no…” It means they do have whatever it is, because of double negatives. But that’s not how they mean it. And usually the type of people that talk that way do not appreciate nerds like myself correcting them.
GAPAs: What was/were your favorite subject(s) in school?
What do you guys do in your spare time? (besides MB. And don’t give me the “who has spare time?” deal because everybody’s got spare time, even if it’s generally time for sleeping. in which case you would answer “sleep” XD)
When was this website created?
10- Funny double negative scene from simpsons: Bart makes skinner write “I ain’t not a dorkus” 100 times. This of course, means he is one.
(11) Ebeth, it’s not so much a question of not having spare time as it is spare time and work time are so tightly braided together these days I can’t always tell which is which. Making art and writing are two things I do for love but also for work — and both of those are in turn inseparable from my life on MB.
I’ve just returned from an hour’s walk in the park, during which I composed a letter about one of my students and thought through some comments I’d like to post on MB. I love doing that because it’s like having good companions with me while I walk, and something about movement sets my mind free to wander and make connections more quickly, particularly in the early stages of composition. But whether that counts as spare time or work time, I couldn’t say.
Hey, did Dave Barry write that article just for Muse, and did you get to meet him?!
What’s vegemite?
How do you pick new GAPAs?
Dear GAPAs,
After spending so much time reading the uncensored words of a younger generation, what do you think of the future of the world?
(this isn’t meant to be cynical, I’m honeslty just curious)
love&wombats,
The Skipper Nancy
P.S. How do you guys feel about wombats?
I like ’em!
YAY for wombats!
18 – Oh it’s censored all right. I’m no fool. I don’t put a lot of stuff in my posts for fear of zappage.
Actually, the GAPAs let us talk about pretty much anything, don’t they?
For obvious reasons they snip parts of posts including bad curse words, and they also snip strong hatred or ridicule against something somebody likes (though they seem to make an exeption for FS).
(18),
I’d say the world is in good hands. I can’t wait for you all to start dominating it. Meanwhile, it’s a pleasure to know you. As for wombats, I’m all for them. The more wombats the better, I always say.
(17),
After a highly selective application process, young novice GAPAs-to-be must serve a decades-long apprenticeship in the Ways of the Blog. When their senseis deem them ready, they undergo an initiation ceremony involving ritual pain, humiliation, and hot-pink bunnies, and receive secret names that they never reveal to anyone. Then the newly ordained administrators are revived with chocolate, presented with golden keyboards, and sent to their computers to moderate posts.
(12),
I started the Unofficial Muse Magazine Fan Page in the summer of 2003. It was pretty rudimentary at first — I didn’t even own a scanner or graphics software — but I kept improving it little by little. It got a major makeover just before MuseBlog was launched, and the rest you can piece together from the blog.
23 – How did Rosanne Spector, Rebecca Lasely, and Paul Baker serve decades-long apprenticeships learning the ways of the blog if the blog is 1 1/2 years old?
That was pretty entertaning, though.
Oh, I thought you were talking about future GAPAs. Rosanne, Paul, and Rebecca just happened to be hanging around. But we’ve got big plans for the next generation, as you can see.
GAPAS! HOW COULD YOU!
The Writing thread is closed! The Writing thread is closed! I need someplace to vent my stories! Hellllllllllllp!
I am BEGGING you GAPAS! PLEEEASE bring back the writing thread! It is the most magical place of writing stories I have ever been! Please! If the writing thread does not return I might go mad with craziness!
Sincerely,
Agrrrfishi
27- Calm down. Try Books in Progress, Part 2. It’s even on the main page.
28- That is for talking about stories you are writing, not stories you need to randomly vent!
(27),
Never fear. The beneficent Oz, I mean GAPA, has every intention of granting your request. The thread has reopened.
15- I don’t think so, Alan Greenspan retired last year.
Hey!!! Why was my question ignored?! They always are…
(32) You mean the one about Dave Barry (15)?
The Administrators don’t know much about how the magazine is put together. Rosanne and I handle the Q&A column, but that’s usually the extent of our involvement. My guess is that the editors adapted DB’s article from something he had written for adults. I’ve never met him in person or edited him. I suspect that Rosanne, Rebecca, and Paul haven’t, either.
10-im just amused by that.what kin da music do y’alls like? (not directed at paul baker, i know what he likes lol)
30-Thank you so much!
(10),
Favorite subjects in school: I daydreamed my way through much of middle school, I think, though my report cards didn’t show it. I liked almost everything I studied in high school, though, and I learned a lot. My favorite subjects were the ones with the best teachers. Those included physics, some of my English classes, U.S. Government, and Russian. During my senior year I eased up a little, took drama, and wound up directing a play. That was fun.
33-Thanks for answering! And that’s somewhat unfortunate, no? Do you like just doing the Q&A column, or do you sometimes wish you could write some more articles?
36- You mean you can not pay attention in middle school and still be good in high school? Amazing! That means perhaps I have a better chance than I thought, even if I don’t finish all my math books.
Anyway, are any of you guys good at math?
(38),
I majored in math in college, and I tutor kids in math once a week.
Believe me, if it weren’t possible to recover from sleepwalking through middle school, the world would grind to a halt.
(37),
I used to write articles for the magazine, but I don’t have time nowadays. I do keep my oar in, though. For example, I guest-edited the January (tenth birthday) issue.
38-Ha, i didn’t learn anything in middle skool. elementary sure. high school, more than i ever wanted to know. but middle skool, nothing.
GAPA RS (too lazy to find post #) that’s really cool. i want a job where i can’t tell whether it’s spare time or not, it sounds way fun.
I fail at math. Math is my enemy.
39-What sorts of articles did you write?
I’ve posted some of them on the Fan Page. See for yourself.
I want to learn Esperanto now.
40- There’s another Muser who isn’t good at math!!! I like math (a lot, actually) but I have never really put myself into it. Hence, I’m rather bad at it. But to get a scholarship, I need to do advanced math in my freshman year (or at least that’ll make it easy for me in later years- something like that) but I’m still on seventh grade stuff. I know a lot of things in the math book though.
39,42-Kewl…I’ve heard of Esperanto, before…my dad and some of his friends were talking about it, and I was like, “What’s Esperanto?”…and they told me. Exciting, huh? Lol.
Shadowkat (37): I’m in the same boat as Robert. I just don’t have enough time to write all the articles I’d like to.
46-If you could write any article you wanted to, what would it be about?
What was your highschool life like? What did you think you’d do for a living when you were in highschool?
I believe I must be daydreaming my way through highschool (though my grades don’t show it either) I enjoy some things and learning in general but half the time I fall half asleep. I do still enjoy learning (I’m a Muser, eh?) and my classes I just don’t feel like I’m all the way there.
Do you have any questions for us?
Robert, why don’t you re-open your time capsule?
I found the LOTR songs. You can’t hide any longer.
Whether that was a question or a suggestion is up to you.
Just if Rosanne wanted to know, my mom read your answer to the question in the latest muse and decided to send it off to other members of the family with sight impediments (my aunt has no depth perception) we’ve all always known that having impaired vision is better because we can see the world 2 different ways (glasses on or off) and it’s pretty both ways.
Questions:
What clubs/organizations were you in in school?
can you play an instrument?
what information that you learned in highschool do you use currently in your jobs?
Have the GAPAs ever used a smiley in a post?
Why don’t you like to use them much (if at all)?
48 – I went ot Grammar School. It was bizarre. I had no idea what I would do for a living. I still don’t.
50 – Science club. I used to spend lunch hours and time after school trying to make experiments work that didn’t in class. They either worked or failed spectacularly. I remember a lot of unwarranted smoke, iron filings going where they shouldn’t, and compulsive hand-washing after I’d inadvertently grabbed the wrong end of the stopper for the sulphuric acid. That sort of thing.
I play lots of instruments. Mostly ones that nobody else has heard of. I play them at people for a living. Most people are pleasantly surprised. Others just back away nervously.
What did I learn that I still use? Stay away from loose women and loose ink stoppers. Don’t kiss babies unless you know they’re the right way up. The scale of C minor. Mixing random chemicals often results in noxious odours. There is more than one cheese. How to make a fox-wedged mortice and tenon joint. Equations for the vibrating frequency of a string. Will that do?
PB&J.
53 – At my school’s science fair yesterday someone built a steam engine and when he got it going it blew huge amounts of steam EVERYWHERE! It looked like something had blown up!
53- that reminds me of Uncle Tungsten by Oliver Sacks. Have you ever read it? I think you’d like it. Also, about the instruments, where would I get viol music? And what do you call the thing that they give you at the end of a meal in restaurants with the price on it?
(49),
I’ll happily reopen any thread that’s been closed. I’ve been thinking about posting another time capsule soon. It’s all a matter of locating the right box.
MUSE READERS, UNITE!!! NOT ONLY ARE THE PAGES OF MUSE SMALLER BY HALF AND INCH, THE MAGAZINE HAS BEEN SHORTENED BY A !@#$#%^&* EIGHT PAGES!!! WE NEED TO ORGANIZE SOME PROTESTS!!! SIGN UP NOW BY SENDING FLOODS OF HATE MAIL TO THE MUSE HEADQUARTERS!!!57- Please don’t use the green, it looks like a link. I don’t send hate mail unless you’re trying to close the library.
*skips the four stage of fining**fines E2MB 8 pieces of choklit*
we had a firedrill once because there was an accident in one of the science labs
The heck! All the april threads are down! Where am I supposed to post all my random thoughts for the next 2 hours!?!? Ah well, I’ll post them here.
61- Here’s an idea! (Lightbulb, not HPB.) Post constructive thoughts on our RRR! Or join the pirate one!
GAPAs is there any way to put a little counter on the front page of the blog to let people know how many other bloggers are on at any one time?
Could you invite TMBG on museblog? That would be fun.
Did some of my newbie obnoxious posts make you cringe?
I looked at the who’s here page and it said you got here last May. So I looked up May 2006. But i didn’t see any posts from you. You were obnoxious? I doubt that!
No-really!
Will the oils on my hands tarnish or polish the silver on my flute?
Where’d everybody go?
Check on a Summer reading thread (almost ALL capitals, my first post), or, even worse, some old suggestion box thread (Ooh. That was awful). *cringe*
But it is almost my one year anniversary, and I have gotten much better about politeness and such!
I couldn’t find any of your posts, but I had fun reading an old thread!
I wonder if the GAPAs think I’m a nice blogger.
[Of course not. You are annoying and mean and don’t follow the rules. All of us have considered banning you from the blog. -admin.]
69- Lol!!! My anniversary’s sometime soon, let’s see. *checks Who’s Here (again* It’s on the 22nd of this month.
Also, just to let the GAPAs know, you spelled Ptolemy “Ptoleomy”. That’s not right.
Wait the GAPAs put that in my post??? AAAH!!! THEY HATE ME!!!
[We have for almost the whole time you’ve been here. We really wish you would leave. In fact, one more problem and you will be banned for life. -lady b.]
56 – I love time capsules! Those were a really good idea. I liked the picture of you as a kid…I photoshopped it with lots of LOTR stuff around it! ‘T was funny!
71-
!:!::!::!::!::!::!::!::!:
WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING??? OH NO!!! Lady b doesn’t even like me?
[Why should I? You have been nothing but trouble. I can’t believe we both like bunnies. -Lady b.]
Sorry, Lady B is too busy dancing backstage to comment.
(70),
Ptoleomy? Where? There was a Muser who posted last year under the name Ptolomy (https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=275#comment-11) and later Ptolemy and once as Pyolomy. We dutifully recorded all of those spellings on the Who’s Here page. I don’t see a Ptoleomy, though.
(72),
Glad you liked it! There’s another one in the works. I just need to find the right box.
76- Yay! That was the funniest thing EVER!
*sigh* I wonder if the GAPAs will put something in this post.
[Well I did. Be careful what you do now; we are all on the brink of banning you. -admin]
69,71,78- Are the GAPAs actually being serious there, or is that some sort of joke?
It’s a joke. The italicized remarks were in the messages when they arrived. We could have zapped the posts, as we often do when people try to pose as Administrators, but we decided they were mostly harmless. Just to make things clear, however, Red-tailed HAWK is not in trouble with us.
76- It’s right next to my name. It says “Ptoleomy, instead of “Ptolemy”. Please fix it. If I mis-spelled the mis-spelling, search for “glassboro” and you’ll find it.
I see. It actually said “Pteolemy.” It doesn’t now.
Yup that was me. I saw that people were doing that in that old thread I was reading, but they were saying good things about themselves. I didn’t think the GAPAs would mind if I was insulting myself!
What do people mean when they put ” 0_o ” in their posts?
Why does the blog have a .com address? Are you selling something?
*runs off to the pie war thread*
Can you see what our html will look like when it gets to the blog page (i. e. can you see a smiley before you moderate the post)?
What are you doing?
Are you having a nice day?
RtH
(86) RtH, what we see is close to what you see under the heading of “your comment is waiting moderation,” with a few minor differences such as the typeface. So yes, we see the smileys and links. And the fake links, too.
I want to try something.
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
69/71/74/78- Haha, that’s RtH though and not you guys, right? Yes, it says so later.
Okay, I’ve got a question…
Do cracking your knuckles make your knuckles bigger? Because people tell me I have big knuckles because I crack them… but what do they know?
I believe the Q&A once did a similar question to this, but I think it just said why knuckle-cracking makes that sound.
[snip! We’d appreciate it if people would stop imitating the GAPAs. Enough is enough.]
WWWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTT?????????
(85),
When I was first setting up the Muse Fan Page, I asked the Web host company which kind of domain name I should buy: dot-com or dot-org. The sales representative there told me that dot-com addresses were considered way cooler, so that’s what I bought.
94- hehe, way cooler. Well, we’re neither an organization, nor selling anything so I guess it doesn’t really matter!^_^
I also own “www.museblog.com”, just to keep anyone else from “building” anything on it.
Have you ever considered giving MB a new look? I know you did it for April Fool’s Day, but that was temporary.
92 and 93 were tomfoolery. I made the fake-GAPA posting myself. :guilty grin:
Why are FAQs never actually FAQs?
Because once people read them, they no longer have to ask.
96-Really? I checked but nothing came up. But if you don’t have anything on there, I guess nothing would. But is that costing a lot of money? *worries Robert is spending a lot of money for us*
But I guess that’s a good idea though.
Lets get to the musery store and support our GAPAs!!!
94- Heehee!
Yup I think so too, in a weird sort of way!
97-NOO!!! I like how it looks now!
(101),
Don’t worry. Renting a domain name doesn’t cost much. Storing Web pages on servers is more expensive. That’s why I haven’t used museblog.com.
I’m posting that again because I didn’t write the code correctly in the last post. *hopes it works this time*
101- I intend to, as soon as I have enough money!
I’m going to buy one of the new shirts. Probably, I’m planning on it but I don’t know how much they cost.
97- There’s a list of optons to choose from for layout. They could pick a different one, but they might have to re-do the widgets(sidebars) if they did. There”s probably an option to turn that off, but I don’t know.
Besides, this layout is cool. I like the colors and design.
64- *seconds idea* Yes, please, can you? Although I think I read once that They don’t come online much to interact with fans. Something about having a fan base of freaks. I, of course, know that’s true because I’m a fan, but it doesn’t change that we could invite Them.
I apologize for this post, but it mentioned TMBG, so I had to. Really, it’s an unconscious reflex.
108- that would be supurbly awesome. Could that actually happen? because if it did, it’d be really cool.
They do seem the muserly type, don’t they?
It would be good publicity for them too.
There was an ad for NO! in one of the Muse articles, I know that much.
Robert GAPA-are you related to Robert Capa?
GAPAs- have you guys ever begun reading/ listening to/ watching something because a MBer mentioned it here? Do any of you listen to TMBG? (not necessarily because of a MBers mention for the TMBG question)
Don’t know if this has been asked, but why do birthday threads come up under the “most recent posts” column if we can’t post on them? Or is it your most recent posts?
Technicly, the threads are ‘posts’ and what we post are ‘comments.’ That’s how wordpress identifies them.
GAPAs please check GAPAmail. I sent something I would like you to post on the triangular sentences thread if it isn’t too much trouble
Where in the world did the Muse discussion thread go???
RtH, if you mean the May/June discussion, I posted a link on the Random Thread a couple of days ago. Comment #238.
–
Robert and Rosanne don’t have blog names!!! 
*trys to think of some quick*
Actual question: Have you seen Hanako?
What are the GAPAs favorite colors?
GAPAs’, please, with a hyphen after the s.
Beware! Lady Bunniful is a color expert who can spend hours delving into the fine points of shade and hue.
I like blue, myself.
Very sorry, really.
I like blue too!!! Of course you know that because you have all of the birthdays w/ fav colors somewhere deep in your GAPAland program!
The HAWK
Where are the other GAPAs???
Well, it is a holiday weekend.
So you’re the only GAPA who didn’t get to go away for the weekend???
_ 
_ 
(123) This GAPA has been out, er, roller skating. Last time I did that, Carter was president. Next time I try, probably one of you will be.
As for your earlier question, RtH, all attempts to name my favorite color somehow end up with me at the bottom of the Gorge of Eternal Peril.
“Expert” is Robert’s gallant way of saying “will bore you to tears on the subject.”
Heehee-I take it you didn’t have a very good time!
Okay. I’ll see what I can do for that color choice.
RtH
126 – LOL. Did you try it on a roller-skating rink or on the cement? Roller-skating rinks don’t hurt terribly bad.
I wonder which one of us will be president when she tries again???
(127, 128) I’m happy to report I remained vertical throughout.
A friend rented a rink for his birthday party, and actually, it was fun. Just very different from ice skating. It was kind of like trying to learn Spanish when one can’t remember anything but French — except with padded walls.
(129) Campaign promise: no matter how old and decrepit I am by then, I will find a way to go roller skating during the administration of every MBer who becomes president.
130- YAY!
(that you stayed vertical and that you will try every time one of us is prez) 
130 – Wow. Even I can’t remain vertical throughout. I usually end up being a right angle sometime or another.
Do NOT ignore me! This is important!
Huh???
120- Read the book “Eats, Shoots, and Leaves”. I know that it says to read it only if you are a stickler, which I sort of am, and would be a full fledged one if I learnt the right way, but read it anyway.
Two questions: why is the web address to the archives have the word “cat” in it???
And how do you get into the pumpkin drop thing?
Because the GAPAs are smart and know that cats are the best creatures on the planet.NOTHING IS BETTER! A quote by someone (I forget who) “If man were crossed with a cat it would improve the man but deteriorate the cat”. Go, cats! Go, ca… *is subdued by the 3 doglovers that subscribe to muse* That was in the Cat issue, I know that it went up a bit, but I’m too lazy to find the real number on the dog counter. *is pied by the tenrec lover, who may not even be on the blog* All right, tenrecs are very close to cats in greatness. But dogs are at the bottom.
I’m not saying what I like, but I think the counter broke because there were too many numbers.
The cat counter broke. I don’t think that the dog one did, though I might be mistaken.
The dog counter exploded in the November/December 2002 issue. (Note hurtling dog at right.)
You can follow some of the history of the counters on the Fan Page’s list of back issues.
No, the cat counter did not blow up. See it here
Thanks Robert!
Oh I have another question!!!
How did either of those counters go up that high??? Because you have to add the two together to get the “total” # of Musers, does that mean several trillion people get Muse??? Isn’t that more than the world population-by a long shot???
Yes, it was funny how that happened.
They were probably exaggerating. Or maybe those aliens that get the other Muse also sent in requests. (I think that was from 1998.)
ANSWER ME! WHERE’S HANAKO???
GAPAs- What is the oldest thread that is still open to comments?
146 – I don’t know, but until April 1 “Paul Baker Reports in” was open. It was the third thread on MuseBlog. I got to post on it.
Please answer the question in 146, GAPAs! Please?
PC- Not very far back. Remeber when they did that whole bunny thing, and they did something to close all of the old threads, and only re-opened the ones people asked for? I think the oldest one would be something from early March.
149 – Yea. Ever since the 4/1 episode, it’s guaranteed a very old thread is closed to comments. Before, there was a small chance.
149- I’ll check early March.
(146) We don’t know!
Please answer!
152- It doesn’t matter. My purpose has already been accomplished.
154- Uh-oh . . . What was your purpose?
154- Something to do with the kokonspiracy, perhaps?
STOP IGNORING ME!!!!!!!!!!!!! HAVE YOU SEEN HANAKO?
156- Far from it.
Drat my post disappeared. This is what it said:
What’s Hanako?
156- No I don’t think so. He won’t tell anyone anything, and I can only hope that his dastardly plan doesn’t come into effect when I’m in bed so I miss seeing it.
Oh and PC, I’ll have you know that you’re teasing.
158- Look at this.
157 – I detect weirdness and scheming.
159 – What about it? That’s the Who’s Here page.
161- It has Hanako on it. Nope, agagabagabag, haven’t seen him/her.
162- It’s a her. But i want the GAPAs to answer
(163) Hanako posted on April 6 and 7, but that’s all we’ve seen of her.
Why is hanako so important???
165- Hanako is an uncommon name, and there’s one that goes to my school, so i’m trying to see if it’s her.
PLEASE ANSWER POST 136!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh and also, why can’t we say “pwease”???
(167) Because Robert said so.
Oh, and also because it’s like fingernails on blackboards or loud knuckle-cracking.
I don’t know the answers to #136. Robert will have to answer those.
So the GAPAs just don’t like the sound of it? Oh. Then sorry for making you read it in my post!
That’s OK, RtH. You were asking about it in an informational way, which is perfectly acceptable as it doesn’t have the whiny aspect attached.
170-Okay.
ARG I SAID “POST” IN COMMENT 167!!!!!!! I CAN’T STOP SAYING POST WHEN I MEAN COMMENT!!! *dies*
It doesn’t matter. Stop dying, it’s bad for you.
146 – Probably the Living History thread.
Is, um… Lady B. moderating right now???
[/random guess {I guess}]
RtH the Random
Now I think it’s Robert!
(174, 175) Well. you’re one for two.
I thought you might be taking a much-needed nap!
(177) Nice thought. But no, just got home from work. Now for the weekend.
178-
*sends helping chocolate*
Thanks, RtH! It showed up in the form of mint chocolate chip ice cream (my favorite), which I just now polished off. Life is good.
Yay GAPA is happy!
What is this? A chatroom?
GAPAs, I think on the Hot Topics thread there should be the topic that is currently being discussed on Post 0, like the Incredible Morphing Chamelion thread so if there is a topic that someone dosn’t want to talk about/read, they don’t have to read the posts to find out. And the polling place should also have a list of polls at the top.
Why, on the Who’s Here page, does it say “Random Dark Cloud = Ravenhawk = Traggle = don’t give a damn and I can’t think of any more good names right now (11/18/06)” for me, when “don’t give a damn and I can’t think of any more good names right now” was an alter ego? I thought alter egos weren’t supposed to show up on the Who’s Here page. And are the GAPAs mad at me because I got a little bit mean on the Song Lyrics thread?
184-did you use that name posting outside of the alter-ego thread? or maybe it was just a mistake. The GAPAs don’t necessarily pay attention to what thread you’re on.
(184, 185) That’s exactly what happened this time. I mistakenly assumed Traggle was changing her name again. I’ve taken the pseudonym off the “Who’s Here” page.
Thanks.
Wow how did Traggle get THAT to happen??? I’ve been begging for YEARS (ok, I haven’t been here for years
) for the GAPAs to take that terrible “code name hahahah! 85!” off. hmm…
Who was the first MBer to post on MB after it went online? And why does “Role-Playing Writing” move so fast? It goes faster then I’d like.
(189),
The first MB poster was Ultimate Supreme Executive Chairman Grant O.
As for Role-Playing Writing, I have no idea. Museblog has no brakes.
189 – The very first post on MuseBlog can be found here.
My link doesn’t work.
But Robert posted it correctly, so I suppose it doesn’t matter.
[Fixed it! Actually, WordPress swallowed my link the first time I posted it, too. The software must be temperamental today. –Robert]
If the Ultimate Supreme Executive Chairman Grant O. is still on MB, which is unlikely, I should… I dunno. But I think I’ll pie him. *pies Grant O.* Those were the days when the MB was one big pie war. Hmmm, that gives me an idea… When was the first Pie War thread?
MB was one big pie war at the beginning because of all the welcome pies… because everyone was a newbie! Oh, and GAPAs, when is an MBer officially an “old” MBer and not a newbie? When someone else joins?
194- Actually, there were no welcome pies at the beginning of the MuseBlog. Welcome pies weren’t established for a very long time. Read Purple Panda’s very long post for newbies on the newbie thread.
(194) MB began in August 2005 and welcome pies did not officially become part of the culture until March 2006. Here’s the original posting of “On the Origin of Welcome Pies”
(193) The first pie war erupted here on the thread which became known as
Chuck NorrisWatership DownUnending Pie War.Oh, so I the only one to notice what a rip-off Firebringer was. Hmm. I wonder if the author noticed? Perhaps he was so highly influenced that he thought it was his own idea?
I mean, Oh, so I wasn’t the only one, not Oh, so I the only one.
194- When you are sufficiently settled into the blog, can listen to the complaints of old MBers without complaining, and are thought to be old by others.
The first pie war was between Chuck Norris fans and Watership Down fans? What is so… I don’t know how to say it… whatever between them? What if you like them both? I can’t believer it! Wuh.
200- Well, there was a whole thread on Chuck Norris that wasn’t being used, so Watership Downers took it over, and then the CNers retaliated, and then naturally the WDers took their revenge, and so on. It looked like a lot of fun, actually. More fun than the HPB war, but that’s probably because I was looking at it from the outside.
If you like them both, you make your own side. I’d post a link to where it started, but I don’t know. All I know is that an argument had been going on, and then one person pied another. From there, the Great Pie War began.
(202) There’s a link in comment #196.
Right. I knew that. I was just…umm…testing you. Yeah, I was being sure that you knew that you’d posted it.
I think that the pie wars should be spontanous (Alice?) Like the Wd/Cn was. Not orgainised.(Alice?)
Also, I found the first issue of Muse that I got! Twas December 2001. When did you guys start?
See the Fan Page’s Back Issues list.
I’m guessing that Robert is moderating right now.
207-It does look that way.
205-They began February 1996-1996 was the year I was born actually. What was the July 1996 issue about?
(209) The first issue was January 1997.
210-Oh. Oh, you’re right, I got confused about the year. But, I could have sworn thye fris issue was in February…?
(211) Actually, February is what I have written on my list of Muses I don’t have, but the back issues list says “January.”
205- What about me? I agree, though. Organized pie wars are no fun.
205- I can also help with spelling, you know. spontanous=spontaneous
orgainised=organized
Helpful?
214- I don’t try to correct Cinnamoon’s spelling. She’s British, so she spells things differently.
No, but those are the correct British spellings.
216- Oh.
Lady Bunniful – what do you do in the making of Muse, and how long have you been participating in the production of Muse?
216- Actually, I believe in Britain it is acceptable to use an “s” in place of a “z” in words like organized.
yep, organised. which sounds weird when you say it out loud, until you realize that it doesn’t sound much different in a british accent
(210, 211, 212) The first issue was indeed January 1997. It covered February as well, because Muse had only six issues a year in those days.
217- Also, she was asking for help.
I forgot what my question was *is embarrased* Heh heh… What was it? Oh, and I will post as “Koko du Pelle, who would like people to POST on Ships’ Logs, and Museica, for goodness sake! And Muse RPG! And PPP!” untill these dying threads are saved.
What is the “RSS Feed”???
Is it “Relatively Satisfying Sandwiches” and you get them when clicking on the link? No, I tried. No sandwiches. Ah, well.
I think RSS feed is… um, maybe RSS has something to do with email and they email you whenever an MBer posts…But then you’d get a lot of e-mails… and for the entries, they e-mail you when the GAPAs make a new thread… No. What is it, GAPAs?
“Klik” on the link under the HTML codes!!! It’s really weird…It shows all of the codes used to make the post, and more! But it doesn’t show all of the posts on teh thread. WEIRDY.
Things I have wondered about wordpress:
– why are there diamonds with question marks between names and dates
-why is there a little speech bubble to the far left ?
(228) Here’s my answer copied from another thread:
The question marks appeared fairly early in blog history when Robert removed a blank for URLs from the comment forms. At some point along the way, he declared himself fond of them, and they have remained with us to this day.
I see them as question marks in Firefox, but they show up as boxes on Internet Explorer 7.
As for the comment bubble, I don’t know its purpose, but clicking on it selects the entire comment, which is handy if you’re doing copy and paste. You can shift+click to select a consecutive series.
229 – What do you do in the production of the Muse magazine?
(229) Nothing. My involvement has been purely with MuseBlog. I started lurking from its beginning, but never dreamed I’d be an inhabitant.
One day I emailed Robert some silly graphics experiments, and he asked if I minded his posting some of them. That’s how my first appearance on MB came to be, on Bunnies Bunnies Bunnies.
(Oh, and, sorry, I forgot to get back to this when you asked before.)
231 –
You subscribe though right?
Those are cool bunnies by the way.
I don’t see this “Comment bubble”! Where is it?
ReB-How did you find teh blog???
231-That is froody! And i guess it explains the nickname Lady Bunniful. i’d always wondered exactly where that came from….
231-That is froody! And i guess it explains the nickname Lady Bunniful. i’d always wondered exactly where that came from….
(233) I will take that as a particular compliment, E2MB, considering bunnies are not your favorite. You might like my second MB creation, the Kokopollihedron.
I did sign up for a Muse subscription but, in the interest of Mostly Harmless, donated it to our town library. I may have to get my own though, since I hate waiting for the processing. In the meantime, I’ve collected about two-thirds of the back issues. The duplicates I leave out in plain view in our reception area at work, since many Muser-age persons pass by.
So, I hope my Muserly credentials pass muster.
(234) The “bubble” is to the left of the comment number, though I noticed it doesn’t appear to select in IE7 the way it does in Firefox.
As for how I knew about the blog — Robert told me.
234 – The comment bubble is right to the left of the each comment. It looks like a speech bubble from a comic strip.
237-That’s froody too!
It’s fun reading old threads. And it’s weird sort of weird to see posts that just say Rebecca lasley as the name, eithout (administrator) after it. And not green. And nothing italicized. I guess I was around before she became a GAPA, but still….
(231, 239) Thanks, etd! My pre-GAPA self looks weird to me, too.
237 – Wowwwwwww. The kokopellihedron is totally flamablamablous, in addition to being totally freakin awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *applauds* *applauds some more*
Oh yea, those little bubbles! In my IE nothing happens when you click on them.
237-great Kokopollihedron! I think my library gets Muse too, but I doubt any kids read it around here. I got Attack of the Smart Pies from my library (they had to bring it in from another branch), but nobody had stamped on the back showing they took it out, and it looked like the book had never been touched. Sad!
RtH
237- Nice Kokopellihedron!
GAPAS, does it ever get boring if nobody is posting?
Like now. *really bored*
Sorry, Cat’s Meow! I was at a party, being Bilbo. (No seriously. I got taken on an adventure I had no say in.)
Cat’s Meow (244): Not boring, exactly. But lackluster, yes.
I am bored, if you want to put it that way. I am too tired to actually do anything, so I am sitting at the computer, posting even though no one is moderating.
248-Somebody moderated!
Just a wild impulse. We can’t help ourselves sometimes.
249- Indeed.
250-
How many hours a day do you work?
Will you celebrate when MuseBlog gets its 1000th thread? We’re already in the 900s.
Why is Paul Baker’s name the only link? Why not the other GAPAs, too?
(255) Because the rest of us don’t have Web pages.
256- Oh, I see.
Fox With Drops of Rubies (253):
Usually I’m at the office about 9 hours a day during the week. Though sometimes I work a lot longer and also on weekends — especially the month before the magazine I edit (Stanford Medicine) comes out. It comes out three times a year.
Do you wish sometimes that you only worked with one magazine?And how many hours do you put into the blog?
254-I will!
We should defenatly celebrate. How?
PIE!!!
240- Ah, I remember when you wern’t an admin. You were mostly on the Visual Arts thread, but then crept into the rest of the blog, and then was swept away in the flamablamablous current of Muserness.
And then you became an Admin not to long ago, heehee. Very fun. I think I’ll go reread that thread now, actually.
(263) Ah, yes, Jadestone, and I haven’t forgotten how you were there encouraging me every step of the way to be utterly shameless and ditch any lingering remnants of my adult conduct. And now we see what that has led to.
Believe it or not, most of a year has passed since Paul and I entered our GAPAhood.
Do you ever get sick of us referring to you in the plural? I hate being lumped in with my sister as “the kids”, so do you hate being lumped in with each other as “the GAPAs”?
I don’t. I like the other GAPAs and enjoy being lumped together with them. It’s cozy.
266- Okay, good.
Then I don’t have to feel guilty about referring to you and the other GAPAs in the the plural.
264- Oh wow, you’re right. Time flies…
Oh man. I need to make a new GAPA appreciation day song, don’t I? There a 4 of you now, and it’s almost august…
(265) Personally, I kind of like it. A good crew to be lumped in with.
But our association is voluntary and does not infringe on anyone’s identity in an uninvited way — which makes it rather different from your situation.
Do any of you for any reason ever wish that you had stuck with the Gaboomba?
If the blog shut down and we went back to the Gaboomba, how many people do you think would stick with it?
What are your favorite threads to moderate?
I think the blog is much more fun than the Gaboomba was. Think of all that we’ve gained: graphics, MuseCasts, Round-Robin ‘Riting, bunny smileys…. Those things would have been hard or impossible to do under the old regime. If we had to return to the Gaboomba’s format and pacing, I think only the hardest of hardcore MBers would stick with it.
I don’t have a favorite thread to moderate. Amazingly wonderful posts can appear on any thread.
When’s GAPA apreciation day?
272-I’m not sure, but the blog was started in August 2005, so there should be a party then too. I hope there will be a 1,000th thread by then…
ALL MUSE BLOGGERS- READ THIS!! Let’s make the first week in August GAPA apreciation week. We’ll get a thread especially for it, where MB’s will post how much they love the GAPAs with tons of songs and pies and HPBs. You know, the muse thing amajig. We can even get a campeign going and nominate all four GAPAs for the GAPA of the year award, and we’ll vote for the best GAPA. We will have a contest for the best GAPA poem and a best GAPA song. We’ll call these two contests Muse Poem Idol and Muse Song Idol. Then, we’ll ask the GAPAs to judge. The GAPAs can also contribute a poem or song each, and then we as MBs will judge them! and we can call that GAPA Idol…
Yeah yeah, I hate American Idol…
But, do you guys want to? I can manage it all…
274- Except for voting for the best GAPA, sure! But all the GAPAs are great, so there’s no way we could do that.
I hope I don’t sound ignorant but what was the gaboomba?
Also, since I’m asking everyone this question this summer: What is the best (or one of them anyways) book you’ve every read?
275- Alright!
GAPAs-
One more vote and we can have our thread, right? We’ll need one now, unless you want us to take over this one, and then a new one August 1st.
Which one, GAPAs? We take over this one or you give us a new one? And if you give us this one, then we’ll put three HPBs at the begining of our post, and then that’s the signal that Admin and GAPAs can’t read it. (PLEASE, just give us a new post!)
274 – I APROVE!!!
278- thanks!
Besides your work, what is your hobby/other talent? All GAPAs please answer!
(280) I have lots of odd abilities, but none of them really counts as a hobby nowadays. When I’m not editing Science stories, writing the Q&A column for Muse, moderating MuseBlog messages, doing chores, or running errands, I spend most of my time…well, there isn’t enough time for there to be a “most” of it.
The closest thing I have to a hobby is learning to play the piano. I’m doing it from scratch, badly. Maybe in another three years I’ll be ready to perform simple tunes in public.
281-What about my questions?
You mean your questions in 276?
– The GABOOMBA (short for “GAllery + guest BOOk + Message BoArd”) is part of the Muse Fan Page. You can see it here: https://musefanpage.com/NewFiles/GABOOMBA.html . When MBers talk about it, they are usually referring to the Message Board section, which closed down when MuseBlog came on line in the summer of 2005.
– The best book I’ve read so far this summer is the page proofs for a book about air by my buddy Gabrielle Walker.
283- Thank You!
How do I call other MBers attention to a dead thread?
9- what types of cats are they and what are thier names?
this has been a mystery to me for about a month : why do soft drinks fizz so much when you pour them over ice? and…. why does the round scrolly thingy on my mouse ( between the right and left clicker thingys) only work occasionaly?
What would my name be in Elizabethan?
186-About the mouse, it probably is broken or malfunctioning, and for the soft drinks, it must be something about the rapid cooling when the coke/whatever hits the ice. My mom tried to make an ice cream soda thing at home, but when she poured the coke onto the ice cream it fizzed up really high and some jumped out of the cup!
What are the GAPAs’ favorite animals?
Random, yes, but I’m
boredcurious.this has less to do with museblog as it does to do with musemag, but WHY ARE THE ISSUES SMALLER??????
arrrrrrgh. i could mathematically figure out how much less muse/year i now get, but maybe i won’t if you give a reasonable answer.
this is actually a relevant question:
i am wondering why i’m not on the who’s here list and i know i’m kinda new so it’s ok if you just skipped over me but 4 of my comments are in the recent posts and my first post was at the end of june, but i don’t seem to exist, really.
(i sound kinda mad, but i’m not. just feeling rather left out.)
291-The GAPAs are really busy, and they don’t put new people up even a month or two later sometimes.
290-Muse was losing money, so they had to cut back something. But I agree; I wish they hadn’t.
Just thought I would answer those so the GAPAs can have more time-maybe to put people on the who’s here (not if they don’t want to though)
(290) I’d still be interested in seeing a calculation of the percentage reduction in the magazine. (As a check, you could weigh it.) And remember, if it bothers you a lot, you can send e-mail to the editors using the secret online form.
Is my “account” (dunno what else to call it) old enough to pie newbies?
If not, can I pie myself? *pies himself* 
Yes, its a random question.
Okay, heres a simplified form of the question:
How long do you have to be here to NOT be considered a newbie?
“Well, you never really know. But when they know, you know, y’know?”
–Crush, Finding Nemo
We don’t have an official criterion for non-newbie-hood, but some MBers have said that it took them about a month to feel like old hands here. That’s not so long, as such things go.
I felt very welcomed and part of the group within days. Fire_Falcon-anybody who can is welcome to pie and help out newbies. They need lots of help, so the more the merrier!
295, 296- Yay!
if the GAPAs were muses, what would they be the muses of?
298- I think Rebecca would be Digital Art, because although she does other art too, there isn’t a Muse for that kind.
299-Yup.
I will come up with some creative ones for the other GAPAs, and maybe put them on the new thread *hinthint_heehee*
Hey GAPAs, can we have a new RRR? I had an idea that whatever story it was, it would only be written in letter and diary format.
284-I’d say you aren’t considered a newbie anymore when you don’t think you are a newbie anymore. I come on in April, and I only felt like a newbie for a couple weeks.
301- Another one? *groan* Too many!
298- Paul would be the muse of either history or forgotten things.
What is notscape?
WHAT IS NOTSCAPE?? PLEASE ANSWER, IT’S DRIVING ME MAD!!
It was a parody of a Web browser that Nak wrote for the October 2004 issue.
Hmmm… Robert would be Muse of… Answers??? Would that be appropiate?
deffinitley
I thought of a question, but it’s not Muse-related at all. Why is it so hard to move your toes separately?
I think we’ll save some of these questions for the Q&A column.
I keep thinking of questions to ask here, but I forget them right away. Grr.
How old are all of the GAPAs? You can give me an approximate value.
Late 40s to early 50s — except for Paul, who must be between 400 and 500 years old, though he looks centuries younger.
Ahem. Make that MID 40s to early 50s
Beg pardon. You look centuries younger, too.
Basically, we’re probably older than most of your parents but younger than your grandparents.
Both my parents are older than you… cept Paul… lol. My parents are aged mid fifties to early sixties. My parents are old enough to be most of my friends parents’ parents.
Which makes you REALLY younger than my grandparents, early eighties to late nineties.
Of course, those numbers are by Earth reckoning. On our home planet we barely qualify as adults.
So twenty years from now you’ll be in mid-60s to early 70s. Thanks.
Silly children, inquiring the ages of us Higher Immortals.
318- For the Fanfic, I asume?
319- “Us Higher Immortals”? Implying that you are also a Higher Immortal? Somehow I don’t think so…
Of course I could be wrong. Perhaps Gwendolyn of the Eastern Seas was right all along and this is just an elaborate ploy put on by someone for my own amusement, and what Jade said was but a slip of the tongue.
…Although given that there are several different voices on the MuseCasts, that’s unlikely.
You’ll never know… Mwa ha ha ha ha.
My parents are both mid 40s, so they’re a bit younger then the GAPAs.
So, while we’re on the subject of ages; you all seem to be, how to put it, kid-like in your posts. THIS IS A COMPLIMENT!!!! But really, it’s always interesting and entertaining [not to mention informative- most of the time] to read your comments, but do you talk/act like that in “real life” as well? Or are you a bit more typical adult-ish? I was just wondering.
323- What do you mean? This IS real life!
Maybe they are kids–but they’re posing as grown-ups. Oooooh now there’s a thought!
A question for the GAPAs-who-may-or-may-not-really-be-kids:
Does your moderating program look anything like the page that comes up when you press, “Comments (RSS)”?
(323) Kidlike? Moi? Surely thou jestest.
What you’re really wondering, I suspect, is something like this: “Are these guys like this all the time? Because if they are, they probably have major problems functioning among other adults.”
To which I’d have to reply: Yes, we are, pretty much, and yes, we do. The only way we survive is through a series of maneuvers, like Jedi mind tricks, for passing through life entirely unnoticed. Disglamour, you might call it. But yes, I would have to say that we probably really are as quirky as we seem on the blog. What you see is what you get.
(325) Nope, nothing like it.
(324) Here’s a dreadful secret that I’ll probably be punished for revealing: Most adults are kids posing as grownups. There, I’ve said it. I’m doomed.
326 (in response to 324)- Well, my mother doesn’t do a very good job of disguising it. Neither do you. In fact, somehow, I’m not surprised.
(327) It’s a little more complicated than that, at least in my case. I’m working on being both more kidlike and more grownup than most adults. There may not be time to pull it off, though. I think it would take about 200 years of practice to do it properly.
328-It’s always tough when your goals outreach your lifespan.
True. People have been complaining about that for a long time. “The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne,” as Chaucer said in The Parliament of Fowles.
“We all grow older, but not all of us grow up” is a quote I heard… or something like it…
326~ No, I wasn’t thinking that you’re nuts….well, maybe I DO think that, but it’s in a good way……
I guessed that you’re interesting and funny in real life, but I wondered if you cumpulsively start speaking in Elizabeathen when you’re talking to people in person.
By the way, both my parents are pretty crazy that way too, and dealing with grownups who are totally uninterested in anything is HORRIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I guess I’ll find out about the cumpulsive-Elizebeathen-speaking thing tomorow at the Kokonvention.
(332) I don’t compulsively talk in Elizabethan (that’s Paul Baker’s specialty — or speciality, as he would say), but I can do it when the situation demands. In a pinch, I could even speak it in iambic pentameter, but there’s not much practical need for that talent.
333~ *laughs* that’s pretty reassuring.
333- I can and do speak in Elizabethan when people aren’t expecting it, but I can’t even write in iambic pentameter.
My family has told me that I was born forty-five. I’ve been doing the best I can to remedy that.
333~ Drat, I just realized that I forgot to ask you to display your iambic-pentameter-elizabeathan-speaking talents today at the Kokonvention!
Well, I had my question answered, you’re crazy. But it’s in a good way.
We all forgot. I realized that an hour ago or something. We’d also forgotten to see his bumper plate, remember? He took PP, THF, Visala and I to see it, which is when I remembered about it.
49- those were awesomely good songs
315- ACTUALY, your really close in age to ;y parents (51qnd53)
ifeel ten years older than i actualy am…. i dont act that way i just FEEL that way.
GAPAs’ this is my question: what do you see when you look in the mirror? “I, I see myself holding a thick pair of woolen socks.” yes, the mirror of erazats. What do you see when you look into it?
340: erazats? Huh? Don’t you mean Erised?
Question: Did you come up with the phrase “Your comment is awaiting moderation” or did the software come like that?
You said at the Kokonvention that you can often tell who is writing by just looking at their comments. What are some of the defining charictaristics of some of us?
WHy ARE THE GAPAs NOT ANSWERING?! Has this thread been forgotten??
343-I think they often wait till there are more questions, or they aren’t busy. Planning the next kokonvention, getting images up before people pie them…p00r GAPAs! *gives chocolate* *hopes that helps*
Yeah, I realize the GAPAs are overworked already, and with the addition of Kokonventions it’s insane. Patience has never really been my strong point, though. sorry. :blushes:
‘Tis fine. I’m bad that way as well. It is a skill of mine like getting lost.
341- yes thanks. i realized AFTER i posted…. ahwell… :blushes:
Maybe the command is, :blush: ?
Nope. What is it, GAPAs?? The command that makes those little blushing emoticons?
I haven’t checked, but I think it’s “oops”.
I have a questions that I have been puzzling over for some time…answer it when you have the time though, GAPAs. XD
Question: Person 1 is three-fourths race A and one-fourth race B. Person 2 is one-half race A and one-half race B. What would be the genetic make up of their child?
I was never good with fractions…
It is. I know that too well…
342-They can probably tell that it’s me because of my endless use of “maybe” “a bit” “probably (Which I always spell wrong)” “sometimes” and various other uncertain phrases. And my rambling on about books…
Do I annoy you sometimes?
(351) Genetics doesn’t work according to strict arithmetic rules, and “race” isn’t a very meaningful concept. If you really need a number, though, you can just count the child’s great-grandparents. Normally, the child will have had eight of them. In this case, five of them (=3+2) are of “race A,” and three of them (=1+2) are of “race B.”
(That assumes no one in the family has married a first cousin. If that has happened, the child will have fewer great-grandparents.)
What does the text on the Muse Academy bumper sticker mean?
You mean the Latin motto? “Crusto volanti noli obstare” means “don’t stand in front of a flying pie” — good advice, I can assure you.
Thanks. I wasn’t even sure if it was latin, though. I couldn’t tell if it was just something made up. *pies self*
Now you can impress others with your classical learning. Just make sure you pronounce it correctly: CROOS-to vo-LAHN-tee NO-lee ob-STAH-ray. To crank up the pedantry another notch, say volanti as if it starts with w: “wo-LAHN-tee.”
358~ It’s weird, how in Latin they say “v” as “w”. Except in church Latin, I am told. This is thoroughly confusing, GAPAs?
I also was wondering, is there any difference between a “lightning bug” and a “firefly”? I’ve noticed that some of them light up orange, and some green. Is this the difference?
Now, for something totally random, I’ll see if the command is,
Yup, it was!
354) Oh okay…hmmm…it’s an odd question but thanks all the same XD -scuttles off-
(359) I don’t know why the sound changed, but that reminds me of a story.
When I was 10, I tried to learn Latin from an old book my father had bought me in a second-hand store. I didn’t get very far, but I did learn about the vs and ws. For the school Christmas show that year, we learned “The Boar’s Head Carol,” an old song with verses in English and the choruses in Latin. (Apparently the English used to eat boars’ heads at Christmas. Yum.) The first verse goes like this: The boar’s head in hand bear I, / Bedecked with bays and rosemary, / And I pray you, my masters, be merry / Quot estis in convivio.
When we sang the last line, I told the teacher that the two vs were supposed to be pronounced like ws. He asked around and found out I was right. But he made us sing them like vs anyway. He said he was not about to make a bunch of fifth-graders sing “con-weewee-o.”
Probably a good idea…
*laughs head off* And why do you remember this?! I always thought that song was rather morbid, and not appetizing in the least. Maybe it was because the first memory I have of hearing that song was on a Veggie Tales christmas tape I used to have. Notice I said USED to have; no longer will I submit myself to such torture!! Cucumbers should remain inanimate objcts. End of story.
The only Latin I can speak fluently is Pig Latin.
That’s what I love about MuseBlog: in most places, people wouldn’t even pretend to find that story amusing.
haha, that’s great
dan’s got a shirt that says “veni vidi vultures” i have no idea what the point of it is, but i always say it “weeny weedy wultures” and it annoys all the non-latin peoples.
365- and here we find it very amuseing!
How do you request a thread? Sorry if this has already been answered (I know you have to “contact a GAPA”, but how do you do that?)
If I can do it right here (I didn’t actually read this thread, really sorry…), I would like an “english as she is spoke” thread, all about the quirks of the English language and craunching marmosets – er, phrases that you want to find the origins of (oh dear, I ended a sentence with a preposition! *horror*)
Your wish is our command. Accio… THREAD!
8D THANK YOU!!!!! *eternally grateful**feels awesomuseiful for having started a thread*
Okay, maybe it’s not so much amusing, as is the fact that a grown person would put it on the internet on a blog frequeted by a lot of kids. I guess that’s what I thought was funny.
So, another question; at the Kokonvention, were we like you thought we’d be from reding our posts?
Mainly, at least as far as I was concerned. (I don’t know about Rebecca or Rosanne.) I thought Shadowkat would be taller, probably because of her forceful online personality. At some level I suppose I expected Red-tailed HAWK to show at least a trace of talons and feathers. And, of course, I wouldn’t have believed that anyone on Earth could have hair as curly as Sobriquet’s. Apart from that, though, you all were pretty much as I imagined you. (The Wednesday group was much quieter, though. Ebeth was positively taciturn in person, if you can believe it, though not in an unfriendly way.)
(371) Of course, now that you’ve met us, such behavior shouldn’t be too surprising.
Some individuals were quieter and some were more outgoing than I would have guessed, but other than that, I’d say you were all what I expected and more. So, I can’t resist turning the question around: were we what you thought we’d be?
Hmm, yes and no. Here was my impression of the GAPAs: Robet: Tall, funny, quick to laugh, very good at making jokes, yet really interested in everything around him. Really generous. Also a very fast walker.
Rebbeca: also tall, very pretty, kind, making connections with people, like in the bookstore when nobody knew what to say, incredibly easy to talk to and fun to be around. Very caring.
Rosanne: Reassuringly not as tall! Also has the curly hair of my dreams. Interesting to talk to, energetic, interested in her surroundings and asking questions. Excited about learning things.
Actually, all of the GAPAs had these qualities, I’m sort of generalizing. It was easy to talk to all of you, funny to hear what you had to say, great to learn and share interesting stuff with you, and in all, just so much fun to meet you all. I was a bit shy, seeing as I’ve put stuff on here that not a lot of people would know about me, and BOOM, suddenly these people I’ve said so much to have a face.
It’s really easy to put a lot of your heart on here, and then you meet the people that you’ve talked to sometimes more closely than really good friends. It’s werd, I kept wondering what people thought about me, but then I forgot to be worried and it was okay.
When I was talking to you all you remembered stuff I’d posted about before, and that was really neat. Like, Rebecca remembered that my Mom and I go down to Jamestown Settlement. Also, when Robert was moderating at eh lunch table he’d read them out and the GAPAs would comment on them you could tell that the MBers are real to them, and people they care about. Anyway, I really enjoyed meeting the GAPAs, they;re a group of interesting, interested, funny, kind, generous people who I really liked. *hugs to all*
I sometimes suspect that I see reality differently from most adults, but you MuseBloggers are definitely real to me. No doubt about that.
Yeah, I had a lot of fun!
Have you ever wondered if colors are absolute, or different to different people? I mean, I see grass as green, but does everybody else call the same color “green”, or, if I could see through their eyes, would I call what they call “green” “purple?”
excactly! but everyone’s taught that that color is called “green” so they can’t tell! think about it. You may see my green as my purple, but you’ll still call it green.
huh. It’d be fascinating to meet you all in person. Am I real to you guys? (GAPAs and fellow MBers) though we’ve yet to meet? What do I seem like? (I’d probably be on the quiet side, like ebeth)
(379) Of course. Having met in person (in “meatspace,” as the Second Life people say) has nothing to do with how real you seem. In many ways, in fact, I think MuseBlog is a better way to get to know someone.
I, for one, agree with that opinion…sort of…
One reason is that here quiet people have to speak up, or they disappear.
hmmm…that is true.
widdershins (379):
I feel like I know Musebloggers who write frequently – such as you – pretty well, though I realize I’m getting to know just the MuseBlog version of the person. My impression might be very different if we met and spent much time together. I imagine anonymous forums like MuseBlog allow people to be more bold than they might be in “real” life.
Yes, they do. There’s proof of that especially on R&R. Do you feel like you know me well?
Why is double posting so wrong?
Glassboro (385):
I feel like I know your “MuseBlog” personality pretty well. You come across as fun-loving, intelligent and thoughtful. And meeting you at the Kokonvention confirmed that.
MIdnight Fiddler (359):
I did a little research on the firefly/lightning bug question after our discussion at the Kokonvention.
Here’s what I found in the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language:
lightning bug
NOUN: See firefly.
REGIONAL NOTE: Although firefly remains the literary and formal word, lightning bug is the term used by the majority of Americans for the slow-moving flying insect that flashes in the dark. Nearly 80 percent of those interviewed for the Dictionary of American Regional English volunteered lightning bug, while not quite 30 percent said firefly (including those who said both). Only in the northernmost states, especially New England, and along the Pacific coast, does firefly hold its own with lightning bug. Bug itself is nowadays an American term; since the 18th century, the British have preferred insect.
As for why some flash orange and some green, I don’t know … yet.
388- Honestly, I’ve never actually heard the term “lightning bug”. I’ve always called them fireflies. odd.
Cool, I always call the orange ones fireflies, and the green ones lighting bugs.
My friend has a random question to ask you. (this is NOT me!!) Why is our hair colored?
(389, 388, etc.) Mark Twain once said: “The difference between the best word and the second-best word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.” As an editor, I agree. I suppose musicians feel the same way about their instruments.
You mean the quality of instruments? As in a battered old thing that calls itself a musical instrument versus a strad?
Wait, it’s 11:30 where you are!? Geez, that’s dedication to the blog! I’m in central time, so the time in the bar is correct for once!
We only see the yellow-green ones here. i use both terms.
377- Yes, I’ve thought about that. It hurts my head.
We don’t have fireflies here. It’s really funny, because there’s [a very famous regional book–curse those stalkers] which was written by an easterner, and it has a passage, “I looked out at the fireflies blinking across the field”, or something like that, and everyone who’s lived here for years is just laughing hilariously. It’s so funny.
I say both “lightning bug” and “firefly.” Never know which one it will be either. I’m often confused that way.
Along the back yard of the house where I used to live stood a mass of very tall trees, which on summer nights were lit from root to crown with lightning bugs. That was amazing in itself.
But even better: on the 4th of July I could see showers of colored sparks from the city fireworks shimmering among the fireflies and the dark tree shapes. One of the most magical things I’ve witnessed on planet Earth.
Hello GAPAs
Yesterday, I tried an experiment. The Da Vinci Code, book version, claims that at least 67 words of various length, can be made, using the word planets. I found them all (there are also some names that can be made using the word).
It got me to wondering:
Do any of you know of a kid friendly website, where you can type in a word, and get back all the words that can be made using that one word.
I ask, because I’m not certain what search words to use on Google, and all websites need to be approved before us kids visit them.
I would be most appreciative if you could point me in the right direction.
Hmmmm. That would make a good thread.
We don’t rate other sites for kid-friendliness, I’m afraid. Just overseeing this one is enough responsibility. But if you search for “anagram generators,” you’ll probably find what you’re looking for.
Could we have a thread for it?
hey gapas, this is post 399. can we please have a new therd? *know that some one is making therds because the anagrams therd was just made*
opp! that should be the man for aeiou. that was for the anagram therd.