MuseBlog

HTML Practice and Typographic Tricks, v. 2008.2

Posted on July 24, 2008 by Robert Coontz (Administrator)

Time for another one of these. Continued from 2008.1.

Posted in Experiments, Fan Page / MuseBlog business | 262 Comments

The Kokonspiracy, 2008, Part 3

Posted on July 23, 2008 by Robert Coontz (Administrator)

Cabals, schemes, and machinations galore.

Continued from TK2K8P2.

Posted in Fan Page / MuseBlog business | 179 Comments

World of Piecraft, Part 2

Posted on July 23, 2008 by Robert Coontz (Administrator)

The latest pie war, begun in World of Piecraft, Part 1, continues apace.

Posted in RRRs, RPWs, and RPGs | 310 Comments

ATTENTION, Ivars Peterson Fans!

Posted on July 23, 2008 by Robert Coontz (Administrator)

He may no longer be writing for Muse, but you can still read his “Mathematical Tourist” columns on the website of his now-employer, the Mathematical Association of America.

Posted in Non-Muse news, The magazine, The Universe, Things We like | 22 Comments

Random Cool Stuff, Part 3

Posted on July 23, 2008 by Robert Coontz (Administrator)

We liked Lady Bunniful’s Musesicles so much that we’ve revived them for the third installment of this month’s random thread. Continued from Part 2.

(Users’ Manual: Obey The Rules. Consult The Guide. Have fun!)

Posted in At the Top of the Blog, Random craziness | 333 Comments

Global Warming, v. 2008.1

Posted on July 23, 2008 by Robert Coontz (Administrator)

A perpetually hot topic. Continued from version 2007.2.

Posted in Life, Non-Muse news, The Universe | 129 Comments

MuseBlog Chess, v. 2

Posted on July 20, 2008 by Robert Coontz (Administrator)

We tried team chess the first time around, and it eventually turned into one-on-one games. This time, let’s start with two-player games.

Results so far:
Purple Panda vs. TMFA: 2-0
Midnight Fiddler vs. Agrrrfishi: …
Adeia vs. Red-tailed HAWK: …
~~Taiwan Hippo Fan~~ Raynpho vs. ZVX: …
Eragon vs. Logogeo96

Board 1: Midnight Fiddler (White) vs. Agrrrfishi (Black)
###pgn###
1. a4 f5
2. c4 h5
3. Nc3 Rh6
4. b3 g5
5. a5 Nf6
6. e3 Bg7
7. a3
%%%pgn%%%

——————————

Board 2: The Man for Aeiou (White) vs. Purple Panda (Black)
Game over — Black won.
###pgn###
1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 Nc6
3. d4 e5xd4
4. Bb5 Qf6
5. O-O Bd6
6. Na3 a6
7. Bd3 Ne5
8. Re1 Nh6
9. Nxd4 Bc5
10. Nb5 a6xb5
11. Nxb5 O-O
12. Re3 Bxe3
13. f2xe3 c6
14. Nd6 Qxd6
15. Bd2 Ne5g4
16. h3 Qh2+
17. Kf1 Qh1+
18. Ke2 Qxg2+
19. Ke1 Qf2++
%%%pgn%%%

——————————

Board 3: Adeia (White) vs. Red-tailed HAWK (Black)
###pgn###
1. a4 e5
2. b3 d5
3. h3 Be7
4. d3 Nc6
5. g4 Bh4
6. Rh2 Bf6
7. f3 Bh4+
%%%pgn%%%

——————————

Board 4: Raynpho (White) vs. ZVX (Black)
###pgn###
1. e4 Nf6
2. Nc3 e5
3. d3 Bd6
4. Nf3 O-O
5. Nb5 Nc6
6. h3 a6
7. c4 Nb4
8. Bd2 c5
9. Nxd6 Nh5
10. a3 Qf6
11. Nf5 g6
12. Nh6+ Kh8
13. a3xb4 Nf4
14. b4xc5 d6
15. Ng4 d6xc5
16. g4xf6
%%%pgn%%%

——————————

Board 5: Eragon (White) vs. Logogeo96 (Black)
###pgn###
1. e4 b5
2. Nf3 Ba6
3. Qe2 b4
4. b3
%%%pgn%%%

—————————–

(For reference, the squares are coded like this:)

BLACK


a8 b8 c8 d8 e8 f8 g8 h8

a7 b7 c7 d7 e7 f7 g7 h7

a6 b6 c6 c6 e6 f6 g6 h6

a5 b5 c5 d5 e5 f5 g5 h5

a4 b4 c4 d4 e4 f4 g4 h4

a3 b3 c3 d3 e3 f3 g3 h3

a2 b2 c2 d2 e2 f2 g2 h2

a1 b1 c1 d1 e1 f1 g1 h1

WHITE

Posted in Chess, The Universe, Things We like | 331 Comments

Jobs and Careers

Posted on July 18, 2008 by Robert Coontz (Administrator)

Cat’s Meow wondered where this thread was. There wasn’t one! Now there is.

Posted in Life | 72 Comments

Movies, v. 2008.2

Posted on July 14, 2008 by Robert Coontz (Administrator)

It’s time for another one of these. Be sure to post spoiler warnings if you’re posting any.

Posted in The Universe, Things We like | 342 Comments

Random Cool Stuff, Part 2

Posted on July 11, 2008 by Rebecca Lasley (Administrator)

More cool thoughts to take our minds off the heat.

(Users’ Manual: Obey The Rules. Consult The Guide. Have fun!)

Posted in At the Top of the Blog, Random craziness | 452 Comments

Larry Gonick’s New Comic Strip

Posted on July 10, 2008 by Robert Coontz (Administrator)

It’s called “Raw Materials,” and he posts it on a blog on the Discovery Channel’s Web site. It’s like “Peanuts” for nerds. Check it out!

Posted in Non-Muse news, The Universe, Things We like | 55 Comments

Bunny Apocalypse, Part 4

Posted on July 10, 2008 by Robert Coontz (Administrator)

It’s the end of the world as we know it, and everything is turning the color of Pepto-Bismol. Can the Musers possible prevail against the magenta menace?

Continued from Part Three.

Posted in Hot-Pink Bunnies, RRRs, RPWs, and RPGs | 406 Comments

Help Needed! All Done! Thanks, Everybody!

Posted on July 10, 2008 by Robert Coontz (Administrator)

As you may know, the Muse Fan Page (MuseBlog’s parent site) keeps a list of contents of every issue of Muse. Well, most issues, anyway: we’ve fallen down on the job since April 2007.

This is an area in which MBers can be of inestimable assistance. (Translation: HELP!!!) Please get out your back issues, record what’s in them, and post the results here. We’ll most gratefully add them to the list.

Thanks,

The Administrators

Still Needed: Topics of “Dear Muse Reader” Pages for the Following Issues

May/June 2007
July/August 2007
September 2007
October 2007
November/December 2007
January 2008
February 2008
March 2008
April 2008
May/June 2008
~~July/August 2008~~

Posted in Fan Page / MuseBlog business, The magazine | 24 Comments

RRR* The Sea Roc (a.k.a. Capt. Pye & Co.) â€” Part 5

Posted on July 9, 2008 by Rebecca Lasley (Administrator)

Continued from Part 4.

*Round Robin ‘Riting

Posted in Fiction, poetry, and fanfiction | 364 Comments

Off With Their Heads! The Origins and Culture of HPBs — Part 4

Posted on July 8, 2008 by Robert Coontz (Administrator)

The unmasking of the magenta mysteries maintains its miasmal momentum.

Continued from Part Three.

WARNING: Extremely disturbing content within.

Posted in Hot-Pink Bunnies, The Musiverse | 418 Comments

Alter Ego Thread, v. 2008.5

Posted on July 8, 2008 by Robert Coontz (Administrator)

The ever-popular guessing game: Post under a false name, and try to guess who other posters are.

Continued from v. 2008.4.

NOTE: Check your posts before sending them. The Administrators will not rescue you if you accidentally submit one under your “real” blogname. Many an alter ego has fallen victim to a careless “submit” click.

Posted in Random craziness | 402 Comments

Books and Reading, 2008, Part 3

Posted on July 8, 2008 by Rebecca Lasley (Administrator)

Continued from Books and Reading, 2008, Part 2.

Posted in The Universe, Things We like | 473 Comments

Summer in Greenland

Posted on July 8, 2008 by Rosanne Spector (Administrator)

What’s up in Greenland? The sun, for one thing â€” it’s shining 24 hours a day. And two of Robert’s and Rosanne’s friends, Mary Miller and Lisa Strong-Aufhauser, have just arrived there to document life among scientists in Greenland for the Exploratorium museum in San Francisco and its Web site: http://icestories.exploratorium.edu/

Mary says “so follow along on the adventure and send me comments.” She and Lisa are armed with great curiosity about the giant calving glacier and possibly even greater curiosity about how they’ll fare in their coming battle against the mosquitoes.

How to send Mary comments: Visit her Exploratorium blog, The Accidental Scientist.

Posted in Random craziness | 20 Comments

Muse Academy Student Lounge, Part 2

Posted on July 7, 2008 by Robert Coontz (Administrator)

A place where students can relax over some strange experiment or a rousing game of Paker and meet people from other Houses.

Continued from Part One.

Posted in Muse Academy, The Musiverse | 276 Comments

Muserglyphics

Posted on July 4, 2008 by Rebecca Lasley (Administrator)

Last month conversation at the H&H turned to the subject of creative alphabets and shorthand techniques. Do you use special symbols or abbreviations when you take notes? We’ll extend the question to include alphabets, invented languages, or any idiosyncratic note-taking habits.

To start off, here’s a shorthand system created by Nora the Violist.

Posted in Ideas, Life, Nonrandom Craziness, Things We like | 41 Comments

Muse Air Magazine for Sale on Ebay

Posted on July 3, 2008 by Robert Coontz (Administrator)

Did you know that there used to be a Muse Airlines? We didn’t. A copy of one of its in-flight magazines from 1985 is for sale on Ebay (Item 270251053558).

Posted in Random craziness | 12 Comments