Scary Stories
Requested by Dancergirl13, who says she knows a good one.
Pumpkin Drop 2007 Scrapbook, Part 1
Dark, fuzzy photos taken with a disposal camera, but they give a general idea of what it was like to be there. (Better ones are coming soon.)
Purple Panda and her father with the Team Muse pumpkin capsule: basically, a big cardboard box on the outside, a ten-pound pumpkin in a smaller cardboard box on the inside, and lots of popcorn in between.
Same shot, with Purple Panda and Robert.
After hours of waiting in cold wind and rain, the big moment arrived. On the roof of West Virginia University’s 11-story engineering building, Pan used a rake-like pusher to shove the capsule into free fall.
The capsule smacked down near the target intact, and the ground crew went to work extracting the pumpkin. For a few anxious seconds, we feared that our elaborate packaging would cause them to exceed the 30-second time limit, but they made it.
Alas, the news was bad: our pumpkin had not survived. The capsule wound up in the debris pile along with about 80 percent of the other entrants’ devices.
After a hot lunch at Applebee’s, we drove north to the fabled hamlet of Muse, Pennsylvania, where Pan filmed everything.
November/December 2007 Muse Discussion
WARNING! Will definitely contain spoilers!
To spare MBers reading the “Recent Comments” columns, please paste the following message in at the beginning of your posts:
SPOILER SPOILER NOVEMBER/DECEMBER MUSE SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
November/December 2007 Muse Roll Call
Just for letting us know when your copy arrives. NO SPOILERS, PLEASE! There’s a separate thread for discussing the issue.
Seriously Awesome Comics
Kagcomix (who else?) says:
“There are really awesome artists from North America and Europe who toil forever on seriously awesome comics. i’d just like to give them some recognition, y’know. I’m talking about comics from Oni Press and things like that, stuff that isn’t totaly branded (and there’s a lot of non-branded or little known stuff). so please GAPAs’, can we give it a try?”
There are already threads devoted to manga, so please stick to non-manga comics on this one.
Muse on the Loose
~~HPB Log, Cube Sector ff25c4~~
In October Odd-yssey, Part 3, hot-pink makeover successfully applied to employment location of GAPA RC. See report. Phase I accomplished.
Phase II. As our legions of invaders decorators swarmed into the interior to implement our plot measure the windows for draperies, encountered unknown alien force which continues to elude us.
~~HPB Log, Cube Sector ff25c4~~
In October Odd-yssey, Part 3, hot-pink makeover successfully applied to employment location of GAPA RC. See report. Phase I accomplished.
Phase II. As our legions of invaders decorators swarmed into the interior to implement our plot measure the windows for draperies, encountered unknown alien force which continues to elude us.
Date: October 22, 2007
Categories: Fan Page / MuseBlog business, Random craziness, The Universe
Classic Pie War, Part 1
MuseBlog prides itself on proffering pie-themed pandemonium for every predilection.
Here’s how Prarilius Canix describes this thread: “for those who think the old style of random pie-flinging was better than the new RPG-esque, ‘New Coke’ pie wars.”
Mostly Harmless: the Theme Park
An inspiration from the man for aeiou, aided and abetted by Prarilius Canix.
Date: October 21, 2007
Categories: Fan Page / MuseBlog business, Ideas, Nonrandom Craziness
Happy “Talk Like a Pierate” Day!
As described in Kagcomix’s cartoon.
We’re not sure how to talk like a pierate, to tell the truth.
Ships’ Logs: Beyond Museica, Part 9
Sail on! and on! and on!
Now almost 3,000 posts long, the saga continues with no end in sight.
Continued from Part Eight.
MuseBlog Book Club
By very popular demand.
Now being discussed: Coraline
His Majesty’s Dragon, by Naomi Novik
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
Coming soon:
October Odd-yssey, Part 2
The oddity of this Odyssey just keeps climbing and climbing.
Users' Manual: Obey The Rules. Consult The Guide. Have fun!
Muse Legendarium
An idea presented by Prarilius Canix.
Description: A world-building venture in the tradition of J. R. R. Tolkien and Larry Gonick. It is somewhat like an RRR, only with the tone of a scholarly text or a complete encyclopedia of this world.
More inside.
Description by Prarilius Canix:
“A world-building venture in the tradition of J. R. R. Tolkien and Larry Gonick. It is somewhat like an RRR, only with the tone of a scholarly text or a complete encyclopedia of this world.
“A note. While this is craziness, it is strictly nonrandom. If the first few posts set the tone for seriousness, do not attempt to make it silly. Conversely, if it is more in the comic vein, do not inject ill-suited seriousness. A universe of HPBs and pie throwing should not be intruded on by people with cosmic quests and pointy ears, or vice versa.
Another note: this is more like RRRiting an encyclopedic text than playing an RPG. Unlike the Musiverse threads, MBers have no participation in it as pwners, sea captains, prime musers or otherwise. And unlike most RRRs, as far as we’re using the Tolkien analogy, it’s more like the Silmarillion than LOTR and Hobbit, providing backstory instead of an actual story.”
Words & Names, v. 2007.3
Words & names you ♥ or just want to talk about. Hey, is ♥ a word?
Continued from version 2007.2.
MuseCast 7
Purple Panda and Taiwan Hippo Fan call their seventh MuseCast “Automatic Essay Grader.” It includes guest appearances by Margaret, Glassboro, and Midnight Fiddler.
All the earlier MuseCasts are still available on the blog:
MuseCast 1
MuseCast 2
MuseCast 3
MuseCast 4
MuseCast 5
MuseCast 6
Pumpkin Drop Rules
For the blog's pumpkineers. This post is just for reference -- no comments needed.
Twentieth ANNUAL PUMPKIN DROP
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2007
11:00 AM
DESIGN GOAL
The goal of the pumpkin drop competition is to design and enclosure or apparatus to protect a pumpkin from damage when dropped from the roof of the11-story high WVU Engineering Sciences Building. The surviving pumpkins that land closest to a target on the ground, and pumpkin enclosures having the best design, will be among the winning entries.
RULES
Pumpkin must be at least 10 inches in diameter or larger.
Pumpkin and protective structure weight is limited to 60 pounds.
The pumpkin container can have dimensions no greater 30 x 30 x 60 inches.
The inside of the pumpkin may not be altered (no freezing or adding chemicals).
Pumpkin must free fall (no bungee cords).
No Styrofoam peanuts or other small, non-biodegradable packaging fillers are allowed.
Package must be designed so that the pumpkin can be removed for inspection by the ground crew within 30 seconds after hitting the ground.
No electrical sources allowed.
Protective structure around the pumpkin must be designed with public safety in mind. Pumpkin enclosures that might splatter fragments or liquids toward the viewing audience will not be allowed.
Protective structure must be designed to not damage to university property.
Any entries which employ parachutes must be designed so that the parachute is dropped at the same time as the pumpkin or prior to the pumpkin, not after.
Please keep the safety of participants and observers in mind. The judges will have the final say on whether or not entries are viewed as safe to be dropped. Judges will disqualify entries with heavy, sharp, and/or protruding metal parts. These decisions by the judges will be final.
No more than two (2) members from any participating team will be allowed to carry their team’s pumpkin to the roof of the building for the drop. Entries that have children under the age of 12 must have an adult as one of the two participating team members. All other team members must stay on the ground with the other observers.
The drop order will be determined the day of the event. Teams will be assigned a drop number and go in the order that they arrive and check in.
All pumpkins must be enclosed in a package that is designed to prevent them from breaking—there will be no “Biggest Splat†contestants allowed to participate.
Due to the large number of teams participating, we strive to improve operations each year based on comments from past drops. To expedite drops, teams will drop in the order that they check-in. To keep the drop line moving efficiently, someone from the team must remain with the pumpkin structure at all times.
Participants will be limited to the first 150 pre-registered teams. There will be no walk-in registrations accepted. Pre-registration forms can be obtained by contacting the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department at (304) 293-3111. The nonrefundable entry fee is $10 per pumpkin. Pumpkins plummet rain or shine.
Muse Academy, Part 2
Planning the perfect school.
Continued from Part 1.
Date: October 6, 2007
Categories: Fan Page / MuseBlog business, Muse Academy, Nonrandom Craziness
Thanksgiving 2007
In the United States, it’s on November 22. Canadian Thanksgiving this year, however, is on Monday, October 8, and at least one Canadian MuseBlogger is desperate to talk about it. Any excuse will do for a party, we say.
Life on the Pieceful Pie Planet, Part 7
A pleasant place, where people while away their time with sports, exploration, and the making and eating of pies. (And yes, it really is spelled “pieceful.”)
Continued from Part Six.
Chronicles of Museica, Part the Sixth
If you don't know what's going on here, your only hope is to read Part the Fifth. Meanwhile, Red-tailed HAWK has drawn a new map of Muserland to keep us all on course:
If you don’t know what’s going on here, your only hope is to read Part the Fifth. Meanwhile, Red-tailed HAWK has drawn a new map of Muserland to keep us all on course:
