The questions just keep coming.
Continued from Ask the GAPAs, No. 3.
Patience, Please
This site is under reconstruction and will look strange for a while. We regret the inconvenience.
Ask the GAPAs, No. 4
This entry was posted in Fan Page / MuseBlog business, Life, Nonrandom Craziness, The Universe. Bookmark the permalink.
What kind of books do you like to read, o GAPAs?
When are your birthdays?
Hey Rob do you ever secretly play video games when your spossed to be working???
I read a lot of different kinds of books, cappy. Here’s a rundown from now back to the beginning of July.
Lately I’m reading a biography of Samuel Pepys and a collection of mindbending short stories by Jorge Luis Borges. Earlier in the month I read a few Regency novels — enjoyable fluff. Before them I re-read Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and then read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (yay!! I loved it!!!) At the beginning of July I read Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan. It’s about where our food comes from. It was very interesting and well written. It’s definitely influenced how I eat.
why did you found this site?
You’ll find an answer in the Fan Page FAQs. Of course, there may be other answers.
were are the old fraterd fairy tales that cricket talks about here:
http://www.cricketmag.com/activity_display.asp?id=1301
That looks like the January 2005 issue — and it’s Muse, not Cricket. Wow, it’s been a while since they updated that page, hasn’t it? They should get a blog.
8- o.k. I’ll walk you though it.
1. click the link
2.look down at the intro
3. did you get any and were are they?
4- TOD is a very good book.
9- Just click the link you posted in 7 and scroll down. That’s them.
(10, 9) Yes, and two others were published on the contest page of the January 2005 issue.
Will you check your e-mail?
Alice, I don’t want to publish my birthday on the Internet. I’m not sure why.
12-What did you send in? Maybe the GAPAs are busy right now…they never seem to have any time for doing fun things…
13-For someone with a real name up, a real birthday might not be a great thing…
Maybe for the birthday threads you could just say “GAPA has a birthday today,” and nobody would know which GAPA’s birthday it was. So basically, you would have 4 birthdays a year!
What email do I use to send the GAPAs a photo from my vacation and how do I convey that I have my parents’ permission?
(12, 14) agagabagabag sent the first chapter of his philosophy book. I’ve posted it on the writing thread.
(16) You can send photos to gapa @ musefanpage.com . (Every time we post it as a linked e-mail address, we get an avalanche of spam.) Parents convey their permission.
Wow, Robert. You wouldn’t have been allowed on the blog in February 2000. You thought that 42 was introduced in Life, the Universe, and Everything. You should be ashamed of yourself.
I wrote that column while getting ready to move from Wisconsin to Virginia. All my books were packed, so I answered that question from memory — always a risky thing to do.
Just wanted to say thanks for answering my question on the last thread. I’ll try it out sometime.
what religon are you?
how do you edit long posts?
whats the busyist time of day?
how do you chose what therds to put up?
Do you ever become provoked by posts on HT that counter your views on the issue at hand? How do you keep yourself from stating your opinions?
The Muse Roll Call thread is numbered 998. I suggest a celebration when we reach 1000.
23- yeah! for 1000!
*new hot topics? :d
I mean
The thread hath been created! Upon my wish… *assumes look of imagined importance*
Red-tailed HAWK of the Irrelevant Pompousness Society
GAPAs-
Suppose you are driving to West Virginia. All of a sudden, a turkey dashes out from the woods on the side of the road, and you accidentally hit it. You go out to check on the little guy, and shortly after you poke it with a stick, it springs up and starts exhibiting Latin dance moves. What would your reaction be?
Paul- Do you ever give public performances?
Because if you do I want to come and see one.
(28, 29) Paul’s traveling in the U.S. right now, Lady CMoO, so he probably won’t see your question. His web site lists performances, although right now there’s nothing specified after mid-August.
15- OR they could add all the dates up and average them and the number of the months up and average them and then on that day of whatever month they could say GAPAs Birthday. or is that too complicated? heres an example using my families Bdays:
16 of october (10) 16+16+27+16= 75
16 of october(10) 75/4=18.75 but we’ll round up to 19
27 of november(11)
16 of december(12) 10+10+11+12= 43
43/4= 10.75 but we’l round to 11
Kagy’s Family’s birthday is the 19 of november.
4-Specks reads REGENCY NOVELS? *brain explodes*
30-i love that…CMoO…
(33) Yeah, so do I.
Maan, I can’t find the camera cord. Must…download…photos…
Let’s see. My family’s birthday…
10 April (4)
16 May (5)
29 August (8)
19 December (12)
19 July. Cool.
uhmmm…Let’s see, how do i begin a Request letter….
OH GREAT AND MIGHTY GAPAS!
How pleased I am to type on your revered Museblog, how humble i sit before the electronic screen! Oh the joy to be among the fellows of Muse! O, what grace is this!
Mighty GAPAS, I stand before you in humble service to ask a simple thing: I would like an Ultracondensed Movies-and-Books thread(ultracondensed books presented in the July-August issue of Muse in 2006). I would be of much joy to try to wte an ulracondensed story, as I beleive many of my fellow bloggers might.
Consider my humble request, Gapas.
MBers posted a lot of ultracondensed books on the still-active thread Muser Parodies: Things They Made Us Read in School.
A few of you also ultracondensed some songs. This one by Beavo may be my favorite:
Fergalicious by Fergie
Fergie: I’m tasty.
Everyone Else: Yes, you are.
The End
Says it all, doesn’t it?
beavo is so funy.
Umm, let’s see, what questions do I have for you…. *ponders*
Robert~ Where in Wisconsin?
Why is dial up so slow for downloading videos? [I’m experiencing difficulty downloading the Kokon vidieos….]
39-get a good computer and set the qulitey to low. that helps.
here’s an email I got, I wondered if this was true and, if so, where in the sky is Mars going to be? Will it really be as big as the Moon?
“Planet Mars will be the brightest in the night sky starting August.
It will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye. This will
cultivate on Aug. 27 when Mars comes within 34.65M miles of earth. Be
sure to watch the sky on Aug. 27, 12:30 am. It will look like the
earth has 2 moons. The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287.”
Thanks, I was wondering.
40~ The joys of dial-up…..
So, anything about Mars?
Anyone who goes outside expecting to see two moons will be disappointed. Mars is about twice as wide as the moon, so to appear the same size it would have to be only twice as far away. In fact, it never comes closer than about 140 times as far.
I’ve seen close approaches of Mars before. It’s bright, but not big. Still pretty enough to be worth looking for, though.
Where will it be in the sky?
I’m not sure it will be, but I’ll check. Meanwhile, the invaluable Snopes.com shoots down what turns out to be a silly, and outdated, hoax. Mars’s next perigee (close approach to Earth) won’t be until December, and it will still be millions of miles farther away than it was during its perigee four years ago.
Yes, Mars is up there — in the Hyades cluster in the constellation Taurus. That should be pretty.
Meanwhile, something else is afoot in the sky: a total eclipse of the moon just before dawn on Tuesday, the 28th.
Thanks!
Wow! Two things right in a row?! I read an article about these things, but I had forgoten when they were. Thanks for the reminder!
And I didn’t think it sounded right that it would be as big as the moon…
I remember a time when mars was bright, but that was in the cold months, so it must have been december or so…
Hey! Do they mean mars will be as big as the moon because the moon will be in an eclipse?
(jk)
Der Wachtelschlag Fliegender (32):
Yes, Regency romances. Shocking, I know. One of my favorites is Friday’s Child by Georgette Heyer. Some of the repartee reminds me strongly of the banter of Bertie and accomplices in the world of Wodehouse.
GAPAs- What did you all go to College for/?(If you already answered that sorry)
What do you prefer Halpeno and Cucumber Gelato or Chocolate Marshmallow ice cream (Note the latter is from a farm)?
Also how many sharpies do you own( if any)? And if more than 10, what is your favriote color( of sharpie)?
(50) ::DAW::
1) B.A. in studio art (my fifth and final major); M.F.A. in creative writing (poetry)
2) haven’t tried either one, but don’t much care for marshmallows
3) no idea how many sharpies I have, though definitely more than ten; as Robert mentioned elsewhere, it’s futile and possibly dangerous to ask my favorite color (even when limiting the choice to sharpies)
49-GEORGETTE HEYER? No kidding. Seriously? Wow. I wouldn’t have guessed that. Huh.
Do either of the GAPAs play a musical instrument?
GAPAs, to continue on the college questions, where did you go? and what degrees did you get where?
GAPAs who haven’t said anything about books; please tell us! I’m curious too…
52- well, paul plays bagpipes and robert plays the piano. thats all I know of, but there have got to play more.
Doesn’t Paul also play the Hurdy Gurdy? And the recorder, I’m pretty sure about that. Robert plays the concertina too.
…and the shawm and cornett and god knows what else…
(52, 54) It would be more accurate to say that I plague the piano, but I’m working on it. I no longer make the mistakes that Purple Panda thoughtfully cut out of the Kokonvention video. I’ve moved on to more sophisticated mistakes. Piano is my big extracurricular project of the moment. Rebecca plays it much better than I do.
I also play some folk-style banjo, guitar, and concertina, but I’m ‘way out of practice. I tried to teach myself to fiddle once but hit a brick wall that didn’t go away with practice. I have the utmost respect for violinists. That instrument is hard.
(53) B.A., mathematics, Swarthmore. M.S., hydrogeology, Stanford. Graduate certificate, science communication, University of California, Santa Cruz. (I planned to become an environmental engineer, but the allure of science journalism proved too strong.) Miscellaneous courses at most of the universities in or near Washington, D.C., and a couple of community colleges. For a long time I took a smorgasbord approach to education instead of racking up degrees. Maybe I’d do things differently a second time around; maybe not.
WHEEEEE!!!!!!!! I love bizzare and obscure historical instruments that most people have never heard of. It’s just fun. Actually, it’s kind of sad, how many people can’t identify any instruments other than the most common ones we see and hear all the time. One time someone actually mistook my Mom’s cello for a violin. (!)
Hmm, questions for the GAPAs, do you like food from ther countries, and, if so where?
57~ You’re not that bad. I attemted the piano, at my Mom’s urging, suffice it to say that it didn’t work out very well. I can bang out “When the Saints Go Marching In”, very badly. Thus is my pianistic skill.
I’ve never really had too much trouble with the violin, or fiddle, as most of my musical friends call it. I’ve also played around with dad’s upright bass, and found it pretty easy. However, I can’t begin to fathom the flute, all those keys! I’m sure I have enough hot air, but I’m a bit more apt at talking than making lovely sounds….
have any of the GAPAs ever blown up a potato?
Oh, flute’s not too hard once you get to be able to play. It’s making a sound that takes people time.
Yeah? I have attempted it. I made a noise. That’s all I can call it, a noise. But figuring out how to hold the blasted thing was a challenge.
So, what about the potatos? Anyone? My Dad was telling us at dinner about how he exploded one once. [can ya tell? We had potatos for dinner.]
(60) You mean, with a firecracker, or by pumping one full of compressed air, or by some secret tweak to potato chemistry that makes them spontaneously explode? Hm. I think I can honestly say that I have never knowingly blown up a potato.
Before I was a vegetarian, I was at a friend’s house, and we exploded/enlarged marshmallows in the microwave (fun!). But it must be different with potatoes…
57-violin’s not bad, but getting it in tune is crazy. even just getting the notes right, move it about a millimeter and it’s out of tune. half of why i quit, actually.
65- ach, yeah tuning’s horrible especially when your violin is always going out of tune and has no fine pegs. I’ve played piano (’tis alright, i”m not the best at it though), violin (my favorite! I love to play it but I didn’t get very far when my parents switched me to piano) and flute (not so hard to play, it just wasn’t fun. I prefer violin) So yeah, I’ve played all three…
63~ I ment blowing it up by neglecting to poke holes in it before you cook it. However, the ways you mentioned sound just as interesting….
64~ I’ve done that. With peeps, in the Microwave. You stick toothpicks in them and see whose peep stabs the other’s. It’s entertaining.
65-66~ Yup, tuning is evil. Particularly when you’re camping out at a living history event and it’s been raining all week. And you have no fine tuners. And your bow hair is going all limp every 3 minutes. It’s such fun. I am constantly asking myself why, why, did I want to do this?!
Oh yeah, I’ve blown up potatoes. And sweet potatoes too.
Der Wachtelschlag Fliegender (52)
As Elizabeth Bennet answers in the screen version of Pride and Prejudice (and maybe the book too, but don’t have that handy to check):
“Aye, but very ill indeed.”
I play the piano very ill and the oboe very very ill. I might play less ill if I actually practiced. But I haven’t in decades.
The ideal version of me would be an extraordinary harpist.
GAPAs,
If you were given a choice between having to watch HPB animation reels nonstop for the rest of your life OR moderating the more useless, stupid, and obnoxious comments on the blog for eternity, which would you choose?
Anything but the bunnies. Brrr.
59- Flute is so much fun. And once you memorize what keys to press for each note, it’s a lot easier. I had most of them (besides the 6-lines-above-the-staff-and-over) ones memorized by the end of 6th grade (started in 5th).
Though I aparently have something called ‘natural tone,’which is odd because my family has a history of being horrid musicians (and worse singers).
62- As BD said, once you figure out where te heck to blow it’s all downhill.
Well, and for the first year you get dizzy from playing because half your air goes nowhere X/
63- /putting it in the oven without pokeing holes in it ≥.≤
I’ve heard you can put Peeps (those little marshmallow things, usually found around Easter) in the Microwave and they’ll wiggle around, but I’ve never tried it.
It would be fun to put a pink-bunny-peep in the microwave
57 (Robert) – I thought you did a good job on the Piano! At least you were having fun!
Rebecca – if you can’t think of a favorite color, do you have a favorite *name* of a color? There are some pretty strange Crayola Crayon names…
Dear GAPAs’,
have you read any comics and if so, which ones?
yours forever because this blog is adicting,
Kagy
73- Good! This will keep her away from colors like 003366 perhaps.
Have you ever thought that the MB was a waste of time, or wished that you didn’t have to worry about all the comments thst need to be moderated?
Do your friends/co-workers/family know about your work on MB, and what do they think about it?
Would you organize another Kokonvention?
Would you be interested in meeting any of the MBers?
How often do the GAPAs keep in touch off the MB?
Were you really motivated in school, with an idea of what you wanted to do? (In other words, is there hope for an academic sandbag like me?)
Why don’t you post more instead of just lurking? I like hearing from you all.
have I asked too many questions? [yes]
Oh, I thought of another one, do you ever get annoyed by really long posts? Do you have a favorite thread to moderate?
(75) O Cruel Jadestone! But 003366 is a very nice shade of slate blue.
(73, 75) One of my favorite paint names to say is “benzimidazolone” which refers to a group of pigments in the yellow-orange-red part of the spectrum. “Phthalocyanine” is one of my favorite paint names to spell. Maybe not as romantic as “seafoam misty morning” or “mourning dove lilac” or some such but much more informative.
(76) On second thought, I think I’ll answer those in a separate comment.
78- I wouldn’t call them more informative, exactly, but I’m only an inexperienced player-around-with-photoshop. Certainly less cheesy.
78- Yes, I rather like it actually. Along with 003399, 000099, and 3300CC from the blues.
But I have acess to a color chart where I can see both the numbers and the shades so I know that, but no one else here probably knows what we’re talking about.
78 again- Hahaha, I’m using one os those names on the next quiz thing I have to fill out like that.
(79) To a painter the names are very informative. The chemical name can tell me about hue, consistency, transparency, covering properties, lightfastness, permanence, all sorts of things, even relative price. Made-up names (even less cheesy ones) don’t even tell much about hue. One manufacturer’s “ruby red” almost certainly doesn’t match another’s.
Dedicated paint geeks should check out http:// handprint.com/HP/WCL/water.html which has tons of information about the technical aspects of painting, from materials to techniques, to the science of color theory (as opposed to the mythology). The materials sections refer only to watercolor, but there’s plenty of useful info no matter your medium.
The number names tell me things. I don’t necessarily know exactly what they look like but it’s more exact than other things and I can guess. For example, 003399 is a blue with more green in it than 000099 which is a pure blue.
(76, 77) Midnight Fiddler, first I’ll answer the questions about the blog:
Many things that distract me from MB seem like a waste of time; never, ever MB itself.
Many of my friends/co-workers/family do know about MuseBlog, but they gave up on me long before it took over my life.
Once we’re sufficiently recovered from the last Kokonvention….
Some of us email most every day, but we all touch base pretty often.
The blog is your party, not ours, so we loiter along the sidelines for the most part. Of course, we can’t resist joining in — but often that is constrained by offblog demands (see first answer, above).
Who’s counting questions?
Long posts bother me only when they’re written as one continuous paragraph, simply because they are difficult for my eyes to track.
Not really any favorite threads to moderate. My favorite comments are those that surprise me or else strike me as especially characteristic of the writer. I love seeing people act like themselves.
not
one
consistent
paragraph!
is that good enough?
78 – Ha! I googled “003366” on images, and found a company called “Muse Advertising Design.” Do you actually memorize what numbers correspond to which colors? Or is there an easier way to remember them? (Such as, the 0s are all blue, 1s are red, and so on)
Benzimidazolone sounds fun to say! Definitely a mouthful, though. Same with Phthalocyanine. Is that some kind of green? Because I know there is a green called “Phthalo green.” Seafoam Misty Morning sounds too Mary-Sue-ish to me. I’d much prefer Phthalocyanine!
83 – I couldn’t disagree more when you said “The blog is your party, not ours.” I enjoy the GAPAs’ comments just as much as the other MuseBloggers, and wish I could see you post more often. I think you’re part of the group just as much as the rest of us, and really enjoy it when you join in on the conversation
Oh! And I broke up my post above so you can read it more easily!
can you plelse answer post 21?
85- the first two are red, the second two are green, the third two are blue. the numbers are hexidecimal and refer to the amount of the colour. the higher the numbers (or es and fs in the letters which are numbers too; hexidecimal goes 0123456789abcdef a representing ten, b eleven and so on) the brighter and more intense the colors. yeah.
“I couldn’t disagree more when you said “The blog is your party, not ours.” I enjoy the GAPAs’ comments just as much as the other MuseBloggers, and wish I could see you post more often. I think you’re part of the group just as much as the rest of us, and really enjoy it when you join in on the conversation”
completely agreed. I love to see you guys talk to us too! Just because you are the ones running the blog doesn’t mean that us bloggers don’t appreciate your thoughts! Post! Post! hehe… ^_^
83~ I really love hearing from the GAPAs, all of you. It’s fun, informative, entertaining and refreshing to know that there are some really cool adults out there!!
Any other angles on the million questions I asked?
Yes, GAPAs, you should post more! You’re very fun and kid-like, and I love it when you post.
Yes, I really like reading GAPA-posts! You’re some of the most interesting adults/kids at heart I’ve ever “met”. Post more, please!
Where in Wisconsin was Paul playing? If it was anywhere near Milwaukee I’m going to kill myself because I wasn’t there. Well, maybe I won’t kill myself, I’ll just be mad.
Another one: What is your first reaction to this, =[|} A. Sqint and try to figure out what it’s supposed to be, or B. Duck!
Hm… Is it Homer Simpson?
92: Dessert!
Kagcomix (74):
Comics I’ve read:
I recently read the first few issues of Fruits Basket. I’d like to read more but I haven’t had a chance yet. That’s the only manga I’ve read.
As for American-style comics — I used to be a big fan of X-Men and loved a short-lived comic book called “Dazzler.” Now Dazzler is in New Excalibur but I’ve never read any of those books. I don’t know if it’s as good.
I also enjoy reading the occasional underground comic. American Splendor by Harvey Pekar is one of my favorite series. It shows the humor and tragedy in everyday life. And for a while I was obsessed with Zippy the Pinhead but I’m mostly over that now.
And what about graphic novels? Do they count? Two of the best I’ve read are Maus and Maus II by Art Spiegelman.
And then there are comics like you find in the funny pages of newspapers. I love them, even the bad ones — because they’re so bizarre sometimes.
93~ You’d better wipe the pie off your face so you can see clearly. Rosanne had it right.
Do any of the GAPAs like Calvin and Hobbes? That’s my favorite comic.
Calvin and Hobbes was brilliant. So were Pogo, King Aroo, Little Nemo in Slumberland, and Krazy Kat. (The last three were before my time.)
97- is the muse clock fast? or is mine slow? it is 5:52 and your comment is 5:54.
At Christmas my niece, who had just turned six, read strip after strip of Calvin and Hobbes out loud to me. It was a very proud moment. I was downright teary-eyed to witness such refined taste in one so young.
The newspaper comics pages pretty much died for me when Calvin and Hobbes left the scene.
I wish it could be there while I read the newspapers…same with bloom county…
We have the last Calvin & Hobbes comic strip (clipped from the newspaper) taped to our refrigerator – I read it every day
Calvin & Hobbes is definitely my favorite…but I also like Foxtrot and Bizarro. THF has 4 Foxtrot books that I’m slowly working my way through. Along with the Calvin and Hobbes ones, though I’ve read them all many times.
When was the last issue where Aeiou axctually spoke?
It was the first or second issue — I’m not sure which. She hasn’t said a word since.
Is one of the requirements for being a GAPA liking your dessert, “on the fly”?
Yes, it’s a requirement for all MuseBloggers.
THF’s going to enter an apple-pie contest (if you didn’t know, she’s recently become obsessed with cooking), so I have the feeling that we’ll be eating a lot of pie in the next few months…
Though, she may not be happy if we make it fly before she gets to see if her recipe worked…
I too love Calvin and Hobbes.
Ha, I was mostly joking about the =[|} thing a few posts back.
Calvin and Hobbes is the all time best, in my not so humble opinion. Zits is pretty funny too.
I like Frazz, not least because of the slight references to H2G2 that have been made in it
Also, non-sequitur.
Favorite flavor of ice cream? You can invent your own for this question.
I like to try new flavors of ice cream, but I keep coming back to mint chocolate chip.
What is the thing with towels? I think that happened before I was regularly on MB, so I never got the entire story…do you mind explaining? Merci.
Oh, and Carrot Cake ice cream is really good!
(111) Towels play a prominent role in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (H2G2) books. The Guide instructs spacefarers never to go anywhere without a towel.
At the Kokonvention, you will recall, Lady Bunniful demonstrated how to turn napkins into bunny puppets. For fanfictional purposes, I decided that future Muse cultists might carry hot-pink “towels” with them to honor H2G2 and make bunnies as needed.
113-“A towel is the most useful object an interstellar hitchhiker can have.”
Oh, okay. I guess it’s because I’ve never read those books. I hope that doesn’t condem me as a bad muser.
Yes, I remember the bunny puppets, I’ve been making them every time I find and napkins. I’ve found some red and pink ones, too! (not hot pink, though.)
My favorite ice cream (or favorite just about anything) varies from moment to moment. Right now it’s hazelnut because I just had some a few days ago and it was so GOOD.
But if I haven’t had any ice cream for a while, my mind tends to return to thoughts of the cantaloupe ice cream made by a shop I’ve visited a few times in Düren, Germany.
115- condems you!
117~ Thanks, I feel so loved.
I usually mix up my vanilla and choolate ice ceam into a lovely, gloppy, custardy piece of heaven. Does anyone else do this, or do they think it’s discusting?
*disgusting, sorry.
118- tht sounds good, but I have never had choklit and vanillla at the same time.
120~ You must try it. It is wonderful!!
Speaking of ice cream mixtures — I like ice cream sodas made of Coke and vanilla ice cream (sometimes called a “brown cow.”) Both are fine on their own but when they combine they create a new, caramely flavor.
I’ll have to try that vanilla/chocolate melange, Midnight Fiddler!
28 – Yes, I know 28 is WAY back up the list, but I’ve just got back from swanning around Wisconsin and I’m trying to catch up while fighting off jetlag. It’s futile,. but I’ll do my best.
Yes, I do play at people in public. The day before I left I was wandering round Stow on the Wold (no, it’s not a myth), playing bagpipes at anyone who couldn’t get out of the way. I’m doing Georgian stuff next weekend at a posh house in Birmingham (yes, there are some posh houses in Birmingham). Mostly I play to private parties or schools, but there’s a sprinkling of public events in the diary, most of which I forget to announce on my website because I’m terminally absent-minded and people keep distracting me by bribing me to make hurdy-gurdies.
Sorry, what was the question? Oh – er – yes.
Where in WI? I could soot myself, we were visiting relative in the same state those dates on your website. *pies self* Grrr.
I like Hurdy-gurdies, even though most people have never heard of them. *sigh* they don’t know what they’re missing.
50 – I’m not sure what I went to college for. The heady social calendar, perhaps. Maybe because they had an observatory. And squirrels. They had squirrels. And a big underground recording studio with a pair of VCS3s and a couple of Akai open-reel decks.
Re ice cream – I haven’t tried either of the substances mentioned. But in recent days, I have been introduced to corn on the cob eaten half an hour after it was picked. Also corn dogs, root beer, proper maple syrup, unpasteurised Wisconsin cheese (yum!) and sundy Norwegian and Vietnamese delicacies, all of which were delightful. I have to say, though, I can take or leave buffalo jerky.
I have lots of sharpies. All black. If you mean the pens, not the boats. I don’t have any of them, just a radical one-man dinghy. Well, I say dinghy. It’s really a bilgekeel raft, with a front-mounted rudder and a windsurfer sail. It’s very odd, like me. But it does have a cupholder, so that’s OK.
Oh, lookit! R-r-r-raoul’s back! When did he get back?
125- sounds like you’ve been traveling around rural Wisconsin, fresh corn on the cob is a must for this time of year, we grow a whole lot of it and we’ve been having it every single night, as you said, picked just minutes before being cooked. I don’t live in Wisconsin, actually New York, but this time of year the way fresh food is eaten is the same in rural areas everywhere.
Real maple syrup is delicious, but you havent gotten the full experience until you help tap trees, collect gallons and gallons of sap, and watch it boil down to a tenth of the liquid you collected, all the while chopping wood to keep the fire going. it sounds like tons of hard work and it is, but it’s also kind of fun, in an exhausting way.
Unpasteurized cheese, deffinately good though there is a lot of controversy going on about it. any dairy product that is raw is under lots of scrutiny, and in many states it’s illegal to sell it. I’ve had only milk straight from the cow my entire life, but that’s only possible becuse I live on a farm, and I can count the number of days of school I’ve missed for being sick on one hand, a lot of research shows that unpasteurized dairy products are immensely more healthy than pasteurized ones
127 – Yes, I did a quick tour of rural Wisconsin. Well, a return trip up the interstate from Madison to Minneapolis, anyway.
Did you know that the highest point in Wisconsin is a badger’s bum?
I’d be very sad if the health police clamped down on unpasteurised cheese. I’m not sure what sort it was, and I couldn’t bring it back because of import regulations, but it was like nothing I’ve ever tasted before. It looked like normal cheese, and I don’t think it had any additives, but it tasted dark brown and nutty. Utterly scrumptious.
Now I have to go and find a maple tree so I can tap it.
53-55 – See 56. That about answers it.
60 – Yep. All it takes is a potato and a microwave oven. Simply forget to stab the potato before you put it in. It depends on the potato, though. Most of them have their own gas outlet, adn they just hiss. Occasionally, one is sufficiently thivk-skinned and sealed to do something dramatic.
91 – Oh, I wasn’t playing. It wouldn’t be easy – have you ever tried taking a hiurdy-gurdy on a plane? Sometimes, I take holidays. Since most Brits head for the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas or Florida, I decided to tour the north midwest, where no-one ever goes. It was BRILLIANT.
124 – I refer the honourable gentleman to the reply I gave some moments ago.
123- Please please please put up the next time you are playing in public so I can beg my parents to let me come and watch!
133 – Next performance is this Sunday, 11:30 am to 4 pm at Soho House, Birmingham. The next one after that is at Hardwick Hall on 22nd adn 23rd September.
I’ve updated the future performances page. I’m having server troubles at the mo, but the new version should be up today.
I will probably come to the Selly manor one.
132~ Scuse? Am I mistaken, or did you call me an honerable gentleman? If so, I’m a girl.
135~ lucky.
Hello? Anybody there?
Aye, one of us is. Not for long, though. It’s an early-to-bed night here in my part of Virginia.
I’m still wondering if I got called a gentleman.
Hmm, I can’t really think of any questions at the moment.
135 – Make yourself known, and I will ensure you get an extra mince pie. Or a special Christmassy tune.
139 – I did indeed refer to you as a gentleman. I apologise. I should have said “honourable and honorary gentleman.” Have a crundle bandage in compensation.
139 – Actually, I’d better explain properly. I drew that ponpous phrase from the Houses of Parliament – specifically, from “Prime Minister’s Question time”, a weekly session where MPs get the chance to ask the Prime Minister awkward or sycophantic questions, depending which party they belong to. They’ve senibly stopped using it now, but until a few years ago, every questioner had to begin by asking some pointless question about the Prime Minister’s engagements, which he’d already covered in the first question. Then they got to ask a secondary question, which was their real question. So every time the PM answered, he’d stand up, say “I refer the honourable gentleman/lady to the reply I gave some moments ago.”, then he’d sit down. Then the questioner would ask the real question, and he’d stand up again. Unlike me, he didn’t get his genders mixed. But then, I’m not Prime minister. Thankfully.
141-2~ don’t worry, I was just a bit surprised. I haven’t been mistaken for a boy since I was around 8, I’m not as used to it anymore…. However, you can say that the confusion arose due to my playing a most unladylike instrument. (In the 18th century, at least)
It would help Mostly Harmless a lot if you were the Prime Minister….
143 – If I were Prime Minister, I strongly suspect I would cease to be mostly harmless.
144~ Ah well, maybe it is a good thing that you’re not then…..
What do the GAPAs’ do as their day time job?/ what do you do durring the day?
146- the aswered that on the last one or the one before that one.
146 – I’m a Tudor musician. I also make instruments, create websites, design interactive displays for museums, and write silly articles for Muse.
148- I wish you would write more!
149~ Agreed!
another question, do ant of you play Farkle?
149, 150 – Well, that’s up to the editors at Muse Central, really. Of course, if you wrote to them, using words like “pweeeease”….
140- If my mother agrees to come to that one, which she almost definatly will unless it is the advent workshop on that day, which might not even make much difference, I will be there. And I will wear a HPB sweatshirt. And Urania T-Shirt.
I’ve been meaning to wirte to Muse for ages. Not that I ever have, of course. I started to one time too, never finished it, though.
Hmm, technical question. Why does it tell me that I can only post every 15 seconds? It seemed like longer than that!
154- I wrote to Muse. I haven’t received a reply yet, and I can only hope that means they’re going to put it in the mag.
152- They didn’t publish that letter.
GAPAs, could you please tell me what issue had the article with lots of nonfiction book reviews? There was Seven Years in Tibet, and No Picnic on Mount Kenya, and many others that i can’t remember.
140- What’s that- Mince PIES you say? Hmmm…
*plots and plans*
158 – I don’t think they’d appreciate you throwing the pies, dear. Not in Minworth Greaves. They’re a bit fussy about that sort of thing. Pie degrades the medieval plaster, apparently.
159- What? But surely there have been pies thrown at the plaster before! Wasn’t that what they loaded their trebuchets with?
what do the GAPAs’ do durring the day when they aren’t maderating?
(161) Hm. Think about moderating?
160 – Oh, no. Pie was pretty scarce in the medieval period. You wouldn’t waste it on the enemy. Ammo was more like odd bits of rock and dead dogs. They might have made a dead dog pie if it was a special festival, like Trebuchet Day.
162- do you not have daily jobs? are you guys freelance writers or something?
(164) Oh, yeah, jobs. We fit those in as best we can. Robert and Rosanne are both editors; he’s at Science and she’s at Stanford Medicine. Paul listed his various endeavors above in comment 148. I work part-time as director of a small, early 19th-century house museum while trying to establish myself as an artist and graphics person. From time to time, I teach watercolor painting.
165- that’s pretty cool actualy. have you gotten any of your art published anywhere/ have you been discovered and reacher fame and glory? because your art is seriously awesome.
(166) Thanks, Kagy, I think your work is awesome, too.
I’ve done odds and ends over the years, but I was too distracted by other interests to stay focused and build on my successes. A few years, however, ago I decided to get serious about an art career. Mostly I’ve been building up my portfolio, though I’ve sold a few watercolors and am working on some graphics projects.
Funny thing — when I started working consistently, I totally fell in love with art, in a way I never did before. Now I even feel like an artist, not just someone who does art.
Strange But True Story:
In between rounds of grad school, I worked at a picture-framing shop. I earned extra money doing calligraphy and adding decorative elements to matting. One day, as a shop piece, I framed a Beatrix Potter poster and added little watercolor rabbits to the mat corners.
A customer bought the picture almost immediately, so I made another one. And then another. Soon we were taking orders for them. I reached the point where I never wanted to see another bunny again….
Oh, well. Who am I to argue with fate?
l’m a computer artist to. Did you get my picture?
Sorry. Check your e-mail!
(168) You mean the HPB? Yes, we got it. I can add it to the previous thread of bunny art, or since that one has slipped down the page, perhaps you’d prefer to wait until the next round.
159- You’re sure? I’ve got good aim.
Oh well. I suppose it will have to be posed then.
Even controlled pie-ing at close range can result in unexpected splatter, as Rosanne and I demonstrated at the Kokonvention.
171 – There’s also a littel matter of one’s aim being thrown off by candlelight. If one is not used to it.
GAPAs’ how long each day do you spend moderating?
165- ooh I want to learn from you.
What’s the average number of posts made in a single 24 hrs?
Do you get annoyed when people use you in Muse fanfictions without your consent, even though they ask other MBers for permission?
Have you ever done Living history?
If you copuld choose, would you meet a MBer that you met before, or one you hadn’t met yet?
(175) An average would be a bit under 200 posts per day. September, being one of the slower months, has thus far hovered just above 100, though today we’re over 150 as I write this. If I remember correctly, the most I ever counted for a single day was 600-something.
(176) Not at all. It’s fun, really. I love to see what you guys come up with. Plus I’m looking forward to being co-ruler of “a peaceful republic comprising Scandinavia, Iceland and the United Kingdom.”
(177) I haven’t done Living History on the scale you have. Our museum doesn’t have the resources. Just small scale participation in specific events.
As to your second question, I would choose that I wouldn’t have to choose.
Rebecca –
I can definitely see how September is one of the slower months. With everyone swamped with school stuff and such. What is the busiest month?
Also, (I thought of this when reading MF’s question about meeting MBers), were there any MuseBloggers that you met at the Kokonvention that were exactly opposite of what you imagined? (Or exactly the same as you imagined, etc.)
(177) MF,
I spent two summers doing Living History as a seasonal park ranger on the C&O Canal in Georgetown. I operated locks, drove mules pulling a 75-foot-long replica of a canal boat, steered the boat, played the banjo, and told stories of the year 1876. I’ve never worked harder or had more fun. One time the Department of the Interior sent a stress-reduction expert around to identify sources of tension on our jobs. I told her there weren’t any.
180~ That sounds so neat. *is jealous*
What would the GPAPs say about mini-Kokonventions of MBers that met at the “official” ones?
*GAPAs, how awful, I misspelled it! My eternal apologies.
Hi GAPAs! How do you get your birthday on a birthday list thinggy???????????????
ls it ga|pas or G.A.P.A.s?
What are your religious views?
183-Tell them your b-day and favorite color on the birthday thread for this month…
181-Now why would that question come up?
/ 
180-Fun!
Red-tailed HAWK
185~ Gee, I don’t know!
*wink, wink*
Hmm. Do the GAPAs ever see things and think to themselves, “Hmm, I think [enternameofmuser] would like that.”?
(186) All the time.
177 – I sort of make my living doing living history. It’s a nice way to live.
188~ Yes, I am in awe. I’d love to go to one of your performances. Of course,t than owuld take a LOT of wheedling the parents, since we’re a bit more than a hop skip and jump away….
I can’t think of any questions at the moment. Sorry.
Is it possible to put links in your name if those links lead to other parts of MuseBlog?
190- see my name.
nope.
That’s a pity. Maybe if you do it like this? Though I doubt it.
I did something weird to my name. I hope I haven’t ruptured the fabric of space and time.
(194) I’m still here and the cats haven’t budged. Guess we’re safe.
Of course, I haven’t tried to go outside….
195- If the cats don’t want to go outside, you’d better not go outside either. Felines are particularly sensitive to spacetime disturbances. Of course, viverrids like mongooses (mongeese? If that’s not the right plural, it should be) are too, but that’s gotten far less publicity.
(196) Then again, it’s possible they noticed something but didn’t think it important enough in the general scheme of cat priorities to rouse from their naps.
197- If the world was ending, cats would keep on sleeping. They’re perfectly secure in their knowledge that death will only take them to the feline afterlife.
What?
the world has not ended here.
Prarilius Canix!! How could you!!
My entire city has been blasted into oblivion!!
Of course, I’m a ghost now, so I can type from my ghostly computer.
Sorry, Robert, I might be a bit more transparent at the Pumpkin Drop than I had originally intended to be.
Just don’t go walking through walls where the rest of us can’t follow.
I’m signing off for the night now. I think Rebecca has already gone to bed. Paul and Rosanne are on European time, so there probably will be no more moderation until morning.
201- What state are you in?
202- what? Rosanne’s in Europe? Where?
187- examples? Though really, I don’t really remember any of the times that I’ve thought of a random MBer/GAPA. Maybe the GAPAs have better memorys than I do…?
(204) She’s in Germany, but she’ll back in a few days. She stopped by the blog briefly yesterday morning.
As for your second question — when you ask, it’s hard to think of specific examples, though any mention of Charles de Lint reminds me of you. Yesterday, some bird behavior made me think of RtH. And at work I’m careful to be historically correct lest Midnight Fiddler disapprove.
I doubt memory is the issue. Maybe it’s because we check in so often throughout the day. There’s also an immediacy about the messages in the queue, all jumbled together from different threads, that imparts an extra measure of liveliness to your voices; it’s as if a party breaks out on my computer screen. Sometimes I’m afraid passersby will overhear….
205-Ooooh, what were the birds doing? Could you identify them? *Gets excited*
It would be funny reading posts from different threads all at once. Of course I am contributing right now!
Question: is the comment number that is in the web address when you click on a comment from recent comments approximately the number of comments submitted up to that point? If so, yours was 150,762! Whoa!
Red-tailed HAWK of 150,763 (probably higher by now)
(206) Yesterday they were bluebirds. I never saw so many at one time. About eight or ten or so were perched along one of the railings over the dam, almost evenly spaced, a couple of feet apart.
As I walked toward them, the one closest to me flew off, then returned and moved to the end of the line. Then the next one did the same, the next, and so on until they were about out of railing. At that point, they all flew away.
The dam is in a park across the street from where I work, so it’s a convenient place to walk in the afternoons. Among the great satisfactions of being a nature watcher is there is always something new to see and new observations train you to notice still more things. It’s sad, though, to see how low the lake is, roughly 68% capacity last I read, 35″ below normal, the lowest it’s ever been.
Yesterday was the first time I’ve ever seen bluebirds there before. Swallows I’ve seen often. They fly in and out through the openings in the concrete below the walkway. Herons make occasional appearances, and I especially enjoy watching them.
I used to see hawks occasionally flying above the treetops but not lately. At least that’s what I suppose they were; I don’t know my silhouettes as well as I should and certainly not as well as you do.
As for the comment numbers: the internal counter just reached 130,000 as of Shadowkat’s 12:08 post on Hot Topics. Maybe the 20,000+ difference is zappage and spam? (And, yes, this comment pushed the counter to 130,001.)
Odd: clicking on “Recent Comments” for Rebecca’s last comment gives a Web address of https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=995#comment-150796 . To go directly to her comment, though, the correct address is https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=995#comment-207.
208-Yeah, it’s weird how recent comments assigns different numbers than the thread…I guess it’s so we can keep track of the number of posts!
207-Wow! That sounds like a neat place! Yup, we have a drought here. The town launched a water-saving program, and that saved close to a million gallons in a month I think. But then the fire happened, more than making up for the improvements…
Red-tailed HAWK
cool!
Whoa, there was no christmas/other things thread last year? I like the title of the old one, and there is room, so could you please re-open it?
Erp, here’s the link too: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=130
I can’t believe it. We haven’t even bought our pumpkin yet and I’m already in the christmas spirit! Well, I’ll save it for the proper thread…
Red-tailed HAWK
(211) Maybe it’s a reaction to the endless summer. Today is the first day that actually looked like autumn here.
Anyway, the thread is open should you need to indulge some wintry thoughts.
Noooo please no. We’lll have to start learning to songs for band soon, I want to enjoy Halloween and not-slushy-peppy days for as long as I can.
Not untill December at the earliest.
212-You’re probably right, it just got cold here and it is pouring. I’m emptying the rain barrels into buckets and they are still overflowing! *sends people still in a drought some rain water*
Also, because of the drought, there was never a pretty foliage period. Phooey!
Red-tailed HAWK
GAPAs – when did you first find out about Muse? How did you get involved in the Musiverse?
(215) I found out about Muse before it started publishing. In the mid-1990s, I was working in Manhattan as an editor at a now-defunct magazine called The Sciences, published by the New York Academy of Sciences. The Caruses came to town and invited a bunch of editors and publishers to look over their idea for a new kids’ magazine. I liked it at first sight and have been involved with Muse in various ways ever since.
216 – I thought some of you might have known about it from the beginning. And you basically started the musiverse
I did coin the word and get the ball rolling, but you MBers have taken the concept to places that I couldn’t have imagined.
It’s odd that the magazine’s editors and publisher have taken so little interest in things Musiversal, but I’m sure they’ll come around eventually.
218- They ought to do an article on the internet community of Musers.
But that would seem a little self-glorifying, wouldn’t it?
You should get she-who-must-not-be-named over here. does she know she has a title?
also, what happened to your nicknames on the front page? where they list everybody off? those were good things.
Where is the word “musiverse” first mentioned?
On MuseBlog, “Musiverse” first pops up in an anonymous GAPA message posted on March 5, 2006. I haven’t checked whether it ever appeared on the Gaboomba, but I don’t think so. I’m pretty sure, though, that we Administrators were using it in discussions among ourselves for a while before we unleashed it on the blog.
[Later: I’ve checked the Gaboomba. It’s not there.]
Oh dear. I might not get to see Paul play this winter. I’m trying to go to this german course for four days the week before the weekend that I was going to go see him play, and my parents say that it’s too much driving. Maybe in the spring.
GAPAs, have you read MAximum Ride? And [if you read my posts, you know i feel strongly on this order] will you make a maxride thread? What is the gamboomba? and is Pwt a boy or girl? I know it says gender isn’t much of an issue, but I need to know, cuz then when I talk about he/s, I can say ‘he’ or ‘she’, and not he/s. And when did the hot pink bunnyrabbits come into the Musiverse???
How do you post pictures on MB?
Oh, great and powerful GAPAS! *bows* Do you favor any muse over another? Or is that too biased for the others? I like Aeiou.
226~ No, really?!
205 (Rebecca)~ Lest I disaprove? I hope I don’t come across as a bratty, bossy, insufferable know-it-all. Do I? *hopes not*
Hmm, questions, I admit, I am horribly uninspired at the moment..
226- That was redundant. You just said, “Oh great and powerful great and powerful administrators”
(227) Not at all, Midnight Fiddler. “Twas said in jest.
(228) Some redundancies are more pleasant than others.
229~ Whew. Thanks. I do sometimes worry…..
Hmm, a question: Ice cream, in bowls or right out of the container?
It depends on whether I’m sharing it.
Not really. Generally I’ll scoop it into bowls even if I’m eating it alone, except for the stray spoonful now and then. When I go out for ice cream, I like it in cones, preferably old-fashioned sugar cones. One kid-sized scoop is usually enough for me.
*gasp* Only one kid-sized scoop?!?!
One time my Mom was crusading to have me use a bowl, so I took a scoop, put in in the bowl, ate it, and repeated the process. For some reason she wasn’t pleased……
Why has the calendar, links and recent comments all gone to the bottom of the page? Am I experiencing the weirdness?
Hmm, now it’s fixed itself. Strange.
(230) I ate way too much when indulging in the direct method, so now I, too, generally go by the bowl…for the first servings off the top, anyway. Once there’s a safe amount left, I figure why dirty a dish?
And here I thought there was hope for you all. *sigh* It’s better out of the container. And what do you mean, “way to much” ice cream?!?! No such thing.
Another question, this one’s for Robert- Where did you get your concertina, and what should I look for in one?
I bought mine from a man who sold them out of his apartment in Washington, D.C. That was a long time ago, though.
I don’t have much advice to offer. If it feels good to your fingers and sounds good to your ears, it probably is good.
GAPAs, I have a cool idea for a thread. It could be called, “Everything Super”, and it would be about superheroes, superpowers, the supernatural, etc. I think it’s a good idea, but you guys be the juge.
(please?)
Hmm, I’m looking at getting one from the House of Musical Traditions. I’m still considering, tenor or soprano…..
I like my tenor, but then, I am a tenor.
238- One might wish to try the suggestion box thread.
Yeah, I’m a second soprano or first alto. I was thinking aobut the tambre, as well. It sounds higher, because it’s a more direct sound. But, I’ve heard that the lower reeds aren’t as quick to respond.
Why do i feel everyone is ignoring me? *feels shunned*
ooh i have a question! can you add “Remebrance Day(Nov.11)” to the callender? please you mustnt forget your canadian friends. and then when the day rolls around can we have a thread?
243 – Thour’t not shun’d, chlid. Patience, the gode felowes as frequent this Blog will answer thee in time. For thy Questions, I praye thee apply thy Mouse to the grene box with the cypher HG2MB, as lyeth at the top of eche Page. For therin are manie answers. Regarding Maximum Ride, I have not; for I take but lytel accompt of horses, thinking them flighty and unreliable creatures. A mans leggs are gode enough. Though if thou takest such grete delighte therin, mayhap Master Robert wyl make thee a thread. Likewise pourtraytes and Immages of al kindes are putt up heere only after much pleading with them as have governance of the Blogg.
Can you do a thread on….. hmm….. on Latin! favorite Latin quotes than can be incorporated in everyday Muse Life.
Can we have a thread about strange holidays that no one knows about ? I was born on National Pancake Day! (no joke
)
I have a science question: How do glow-in-the-dark things work? I was thinking about that last night when I was looking at the hands on my watch which are glow-in-the-dark. Is it some sort of charged particle or element or something, which makes it glow? How does it glow just because it has been exposed to light?
btw, thanks. me hasn’t said it yet! but i realy mean it.
240-Well, you would then, wouldn’t you?
YES, YOU WOULD.what is latain for power?
it is for my NaNo.
246- Cogito ergo consume (hehehe…)
251- Power,power, power… Heh. I forget. I’ll get back to you on that one.
I ask again now that the thought has gained a slight bit more popularity, can we plz plz plz have a thread on how to include random Latin phrases into our daily life??? it could be helpful for…um culture….. and um……. (fill in idea here) and um…… it would be interesting
251 – potentia
No, potestas, right?
Whattabout my posting pictures question?
(225, 258) To post pictures, you e-mail them to us (gapa @ musefanpage.com), and eventually we either do or do not add them to the blog. Usually we do, but sometimes it takes longer than others.
What is your favorite Muse magazine edition you have ever seen? Mine was the languages one because I speak 3 endangered languages (S’Klallam, Tlingit, Lushootseed)
Lepus rufus palidus est potestas.
Excuse my awful Latin, but I think someone might be able to get the gist of it.
261- is that “GAPA” in latin?
No. It is “pale red hare is power,” which is the closest I could come to “pink bunny.”
pale red hare??? hehehe…
My fave muse is te one with the grasshopper on the front. I think it was Nov. 2006. I liked the contest winners in the back.
Hello GAPA’s how do I get my name on the Who’s here part of this blog?
Yeah 265, mee too.
265-266- wait. the GAPAS are busy with all the posting.
265/266- the GAPAs’ do all the work around here so it usualy takes a while to get your name on whos here. i know i had to wait several months but that’s okay because it’s really not that important. so don’t get too fussed the GAPAs’ are amazing and will get around to it sooner or later. have faith.
erm… I hate to ask such a bothersome question but did the GAPAs’ reciev the last installments of the peace saga (the one about the bunny)? because i would like to know if I need to resend it.
The GAPAs need to get their heads in the game!
Oh yeah GAPA’s thank you for putting my name on the who’s here, BUT, my name is not listed as Cliff Eagle Teh Pwnage. It is listed as Cliff eagle, and I would wish to be called by my proper name. thank you
270- “Teh Pwnage” is a discription, not a name. if I added ” the greastet musebloger” to my name, it would not show up.
271 (TMFA) – Well, Teh Pwnage is still part of his name, so of course it would go in Who’s Here. If your name was the man for aeiou the greatest museblogger, it would probably all be on the page, because it’s your name.
gracias.
272-Hmm.
GAPAs, could we have an RRS (Round Robin Smiley)? See the SSSS for details…
If I email you my NaNo on Dec. 1, will you post it as you did for Ebeth?
(276) How we do it may depend on how many we get, but we’ll make it available one way or another.
277- Thankz.
277 (Rebecca) – You could do it like you did the Script Frenzy scripts, that seemed to work relatively well.
Also, what are you going to do with novels with footnotes? Because my novel has several footnotes.
(279) Thanks for reminding me, Purple Panda. For some reason, Script Frenzy keeps slipping from my mind.
The easiest thing to do with footnotes would be to make them endnotes. Or else we can try to make them as unobtrusive as possible within the text. Maybe put them in brackets at the end of the appropriate paragraph.
I was checking out the Script Frenzy site a while ago. It looks interesting, at least. I might sign up.
GAPAs, how long have you guys been on MuseBlog?
(281) Robert started it, of course, in August 2005, and Rosanne became a moderator that September, though she’d already made guest appearances, most notably in the now legendary Utterly Clueless Video.
Paul and I became GAPAs almost exactly a year later, on September 22, 2006 — oddly enough, our entrance sparked a pie war. We, too, had been on the blog previously. In fact, Paul had his own thread in the very first week of MuseBlog’s existence. I began lurking that first month, but didn’t show up on the blog until Robert posted my first HPB graphics.
So, one way or another we’ve all been hanging out in the vicinity since that very first month.
280 (Rebecca) – Either one will work, I think. They both have their good and bad parts–end-notes would mean they would have to scroll to the bottom every once and awhile, and brackets might cause confusion. Ah, well…I’ll test them both out in a separate document.
282 (Rebecca) – I remember the Utterly Clueless Video, it was really funny :D. I also remember when you and Paul came. Rosanne was in Europe at that time, right? I loved your HPB graphics, they were flamablamablous!!
I remember I first met Rebecca in Spareparts, Chad. She approached me and asked if I needed someone aboard the Black-footed Ferret, my new ship, for its maiden voyage. I accepted her as cook. She vanished after the first few voyages, but she unexpectedly returned not long ago, I hope to stay.
What do you honestly think of us? are we just silly little kids, equals, something completely different? What makes us special?
285-if we were silly little kids, i doubt the MB would exist…or at least the GAPAs wouldn’t obsess over it (that’s a compliment btw, not an insult :D)
what did you do with the script frenzy scripts? i don’t remember ever reading any of those…but that was the month my computer died, so maybe i just wasn’t on
(285) The fact that you’re here at all makes you unusual almost by definition. Beyond that, I’m not sure your question has a simple answer. It would be odd if all of us thought of all of you in the same way all the time. But I can say that you’re very good company.
Do any of you GAPAs have a Wii?
Not I.
Nor I. Though I’d like to play around with one to see what all the excitement’s about.
they’re kinda fun. I was saving up…but it was taking so long…I think I’ll squander it all on warhammer40k…sigh…
this is a semi-pointless test!(please don’t fine me. I had no where else to post!)
oops
oh wait…sorry. too many posts. plus it didn’t work…*sigh* sorry.
It’s that time of year again….what are your favorite Christmas carols?
Out of curiosity which GAPA moderates most of the time? I get the feeling it’s robert but i’m not sure.
296~ I also think it’s Robert, since he can moderate anywhere. (And does. All the time.) But the others are on a lot too. Paul is probably the least, I’m not sure if I’ve ever been on at the same time as him.
If they would all post more we might be able to see……
290-WEATHER. Go to the menu, the weather, and then click globe and it’s like google earth except you can spin it around and it’s fuuun! WHEEEEEEEEEEEE (or rather, WIIIIIIIIII)
297- Paul occasionaly drops by the ask the GAPAs’ thread. has any muser actualy met Paul Baker? I was convinced for months he was a literary device but now i’m pretty sure he’s real.
299~ Oh, I’m sure he’s real, but I’m not sure that anyone on here has ever met him. Check out his website by clicking on his name in any of his posts. or, http://www.diabolus.org- if the GAPAs allow it.
Surreal, I’d say.
299 – I’ve met him. He’s a strange fellow, but then he’s British, which explains a lot. He plays all sorts of weird instruments, and people actually pay him to do it. He drops in to MuseBlog occasionally, then disappears for weeks for no apparent reason. He’s very odd.
302- hI paul!
I think that paul should have a column in muse every month.
302~ Oh, really?
303~ I beleive there have been others that share that opinion. I find all his articles very amusing and interesting.
GAPAs! can you tell us how much you have made off of the musery loves company?
It would be a negative number. Because we have to rent our “storefront” from CafePress, MLC actually loses money for us. It’s not a lot — just a few dollars a month — but it is going out rather than coming in. That could change if that lazybones Kokopelli would get off his spiky duff and start campaigning for President, but as usual he expects everyone else to do all the work for him.
306- I would order a shirt, but I doubt my parents would see it as a good investment. (I thought about telling them that it would guarantee my status in the new world order after Mostly Harmless, but on reflection I didn’t think they’d buy that.)
Robert (306): I would buy the entire store if I had enough money. Unfortunately, THF and I have only scrounged enough to buy a t-shirt and a sweatshirt. I feel more Musery goods coming our way come the Holidays, though.
306- I have a mostly harmless 3/4 shirt, and I think I am getting more this year.
By the way, Lady Bunniful and I are thinking about adding some new designs, including an edgier variation on the “classic bunny.” They should appear fairly quickly once we work out the details.
299- I’m working on it… *Plots* *Plans*. My parents actually said I could go and watch him play last weekend, but then I left it too late. And my mom had a cold. She said definatley in the spring, though.
310-
Whee. I’m getting the Muse academy/signature hoodie for christmas, I’m pretty sure we already got it though.
302- by the way i have an important question for you. in the article you recently did in muse about the garden, is that you in the reflection with the camera? because i can’t tell if that person is taking a picture of putting film in his camera. it’s probably a stupid question but i’d like to know.
306- i have two muse shirts and hope for many more. hmm…. mabe one with Robert Coontz on the front and “absolutely awesome” on the back would sell. i for one would own it.
GAPAs’ I do have a question. actualy this is mostly for Robert, when did [fill in name] decide to put wierd nicknames (which can be quite funny) in everyone’s names at the beggining of each issue of muse? i always see them and i always laugh? i was just wondering where they come from.
(313) A magazine’s “cast list” is called its masthead. I’m not sure which former staff member came up with the inspired idea of putting funny nicknames in Muse‘s masthead. It was probably Diana Lutz but may have been Agnieszka Biskup or even Lawrence Schorsch. Maybe some old-timers here will flip through their back issues and see when the practice started.
is that happening again? didn’t it stop for a while?
306~ I got some stuff for Christmas, but I’m supposed to forget about it…..
Robert (310): Is it the one you were talking about at the Pumpkin Drop? ::excited::
(317) I don’t remember what I was talking about, but let’s try to avoid spoilers, shall we?
318~ When will it come out? *sad puppy dog eyes*
306- My signature mousepad burnt up. Perhaps it’s time to ask for a new one.
Robert (318): Yes, that’s why I didn’t say any specifics. ::still excited::
303, 304 – Ta for the accolades. I now need to wear a neck brace, because my head has swelled beyond the support capacity of my neck. It also glows a delicate shade of pink. It’s not a pretty sight.
320 – a burning mousepad is often a sign of an overheating mouse. Stop feeding it chillies. Mice don’t need chillies. Trust me. Just because they call them chillies doesn’t mean they are.
Paul (323): I think her burnt mousepad is the result of a larger problem, say, for example, her entire house burning along with it. However, I do think the chillies have been fed to one of the mice in our house. It decided to be mean and go crazy. I wonder if there is a remedy for that sort of thing…
322~ Are you okay? Sounds rough, I hope you’re better soon.
Paul (322): Well, if you want to look on the bright side, all you will need to do to scare the entire world is grow some long, hot-pink ears and you’ll be the spitting image of a Hot Pink Bunny!
But in the meantime, I hope you feel better and eat lots of ear-growing foods, and when you feel like getting weird looks, talk to your neck brace!
::health waves::
323- I almost want to feed the mouse chillies. Not MY mouse, but my father’s mouse that doesn’t have right-click. No one likes it. And it might enjoy the chillies.
322- That sounds unpleasant. *good wishes and chocolate*
OK, this is mostly directed at Rob, Rosanne and Paul.
What is a typical day working for Muse like?
We have no idea. When we work for Muse, we do it hundreds or thousands of miles away from the magazine’s offices. The nuclear reactor that is Carus Publishing remains a mystery to us. That probably helps preserve our sanity, such as it is.
How many administrators are there? I thought there were 2, but then Mrs. Lansley showed up on my screen and then this guy called Paul Baker! Wazzup?
330- OK. There are three administrators. Robert, Rebecca and Rosanne. Ms. Lasley is Rebecca btw. Paul baker is a mysterious swarm of letters that appears here sometimes.
Paul Baker (sometimes known as “pb&j”) is also an Administrator, with full powers to moderate posts. He hasn’t been around much lately because he’s busy updating his band for the 18th century.
Rebecca Lasley is also called “Lady Bunniful,” for reasons that will become apparent if you delve into the blog’s history.
How do you make your name appear in bold letters? HTML doesn’t seem to work.
Testing hypothesis- Posts vanish if HTML is present in name.
Hypothesis disproved. Conclusion: HTML in name does not work. Apologies for possible triple post.
(333) You don’t.
336- But someone named Kokopelli has appeared with his name in bold. That confirms that he is not a Muser, which leaves two possibilities.
A) he is a GAPA
B) he is the actual Muse Kokopelli.
A is the far more likely choice.
(337) No, he wasn’t one of us. Those posts came from Larry Gonick’s personal domain (larrygonick.com) and gave every indication of being the genuine article. Other Muses have posted on the blog from time to time, too. It’s rare, but it happens.
338- Either Larry’s been on the blog or I’ll have to seriously revise my notions about the universe.
Oh, I do that at least once a week. It’s good exercise.
There were some notable visitations in 2006 on the MEET THE MUSES thread and on February Phantasmagoria.
I wouldn’t doubt a minute that the GAPAs have a sock puppet MBer they created so that they can talk to us without revealing themselves.
Now let’s see, which one of us is it……
Nope. No shills. We don’t do that.
341- why?
341- why would they do that? they aren’t pedifiles.
344) You tell me.
How bad are you allowed to cuss on Museblog? I’m wondering because I noticed some appearances of **** on some really old threads.
343, 344) Actually, technically all I’m saying is that I can’t doubt it for a minute. I could doubt it for a day, a week, a month, a year, maybe the rest of my life, but not a minute.
345- On the older threads there weren’t young people, just ones that could handle “grown-up” things like swearing. As far as I can tell, you can say damn and crap at this point. Sometimes.
Apparently you aren’t allowed to say **** anymore, because it was edited out of my comment.
Hey! Where did my other post go?
[I have attained GAPA status on the blog. Surrender to me or face dire consequences. –
KokAnonymous](348) The Administrators find themselves becoming more and more fastidious with advancing age. Not only do we not allow ****, but $%&!, @#~?, and —- are out of the picture, too. Apart from maintaining an atmosphere of civility and decorum, we think it’s good mental exercise to describe your feelings precisely rather than rely on shortcuts.
348- Bonobo?
“Bonobo” is once again allowed.
340- *sighs* Why is it that all the exciting things happened before I came here?
(353) Oh, we’re simply recovering from the excitement of your arrival. Don’t worry, you never know when new exciting things will happen.
(351, 352) Unless it gets out of hand again….
354, 352, 351- Did I miss something?
Something weird is happening. I’ve been trying and trying to warn you about [snip], but my posts keep getting zapped!
[354- Quite right. I assume my gradual takeover of the blog will be somewhat exciting. By the way, I’m coming after Robert’s Treo next. Warn him. -Anonymous]
356- Methinks [snip] has taken over the Blog.
256, 257) Ha, ha, very funny. I know [snip]
355) A very long time ago, some people went crazy because of bonobos. Type bonobo into the search box and you’ll see what I mean.
This is getting very, very confusing.
::brain collapse::
I do have a GAPA question, though: do you have a favorite thread, or type of thread on MuseBlog?
359- Purple Panda, we’re trying to say that [snip] has taken over the Blog! Oh, whatever. [snip] will probably snip this too.
358- I remember. I wasn’t around back then, but I once found a thread at the height of the Bonobo Era.
So, is this part of the plan that Prarillius Canix had where you substituted his posts with an answer? *suspicious*
Stupid Senseless Smiley Stories. They are a uniquely MuseBloggian art form.
362- Believe me, that plan is our only hope now. Only [snip snippety-snip.] can save us from [snipariffic. I don’t know why I’m letting these posts by. Probably just to tantalize and confuse. That’s my job, ain’t it? -Anonymous]
Robert (363): I love SSSS! I make them in the margins of my notebooks when class gets especially dull
Are people just putting snips in their own posts? Because I think that borders on GAPA-impersonations. ::brain completely explodes:: Oh darn, I hate it when that happens. ::cleans up brains::
365- Kokopelli! Kokopelli! It’s Kokopelli who’s making the snips! He’s trying to take over the Blog!
365- No! You have to believe me, PP. This is [Blah de blah de blah. Boo hoo. Etc, etc. Snippage. -Anonymous]
I wish we could have another Meet the Muses thread.
366- Wow, he didn’t snip it! [Of course he didn’t. Kokopelli never shows up on the Blog anymore! And he most certainly didn’t take over or anything. Stop this silly pretending, PC. -Anonymous] [P.S. *pies* Bwahahahaha.]
Prarilius Canix (368): Yes, that would be flamablamablous! I think another time capsule would be spiffy too. *hint, hint*
*chants* We want a Meet the Muses thread!
We want a Meet the Muses thread!
We want a Meet the Muses thread!
We want a Meet the Muses thread!
We want a Meet the Muses thread!
Pllleeeeaaaasssseeee!
350~ Oh. So, would you snip it if I mentioned one of my relatives as the Cousin From Hell? ‘Cause that’s not a shortcut, that’s the truth.
Oh, no it wan’t snipped. Hmm.
So, another question, why have the question marks suddenly turned into little boxes in the posts?
(373) It’s just how your browser interprets them. In Firefox they’re still question marks.
follow up- why are they there?
We have internet explorer still, but a newer version. Weird.
Is it possible for us to make our font different colors then green? I’ve seen you use orange and red font before.
Let’s see what happens here.
How about this?
HOW DID YOU DO IT? is it something we can do?
378~ HOW?!?!?!?! I’m amazed, I haven’t seen that on MB before. Could you show us?
(379, 380) Sorry, the HTML is stripped out when you submit a comment. It can only be effected backstage, as it were.
378- cool. hot pink.
(382) Yeah, just a random color choice.
381~ Oh. *sniff* Why? This is, after all, a thread for asking questions!
Yes, and you can ask more of them on Ask the GAPAs, No. 5.