The museum event has been clarified. It does indeed seem to be a Market Science-type thing, with presenters having their own tables and visual aids. Which puts me in the position of needing to produce visual aids. Sigh. I'm thinking the venerable old meteor demonstration of "Let them drop stuff in flour/sand/whatever and see the resulting crater" might be good. Potentially messy, depending on the level of drunkenness.

My rash is much less today! I even slept the entire night! It's pathetic that that's an accomplishment!

I have no particular feelings on paisleys. They don't even appeal to me much as a print. I do not understand your attraction to them.

When the heck were you at DeCongestant? What exactly happens there besides coloring paisleys?

Would the crater exercise be at all realistic if paint were somehow incorporated? So they could make something art-like? Alternatively, make a big box filled with flour so you can make it as exciting/messy as possible. Dinosaur figurines would be a plus - especially if they are to scale with the dropped thing. Would it be possible to work with other people? It's hard to manage a full booth by yourself if you have activities going on, since you have to explain stuff and also talk about your topic.

Yes, yes it is. You know something else that's pathetic? Having to ask yourself "Is this from the Soylent, or do I somehow have cholera?" I think I need to adjust my diet in some way.

How can you not like paisleys? They are so fancy and elegant and botanical. What patterns do you like if not paisleys?

This last weekend. There was a consuite and a little bit of programming and some gaming. I think there were video games in the teen room. That's about it.

I have no idea how paint could be incorporated. I know people have done the exercise with different layers of colored dirt, so you can see how the impact upset the different layers of the earth, but that's not going to create something they could take home. Dinosaur figures would definitely be a plus. I can see a big box being fun, but there's only so much learning to be gained there before it just becomes people chucking stuff and getting covered in flour.
Maybe I can ask the other grad student if she's available and would like to help. Or I could rope in an undergrad or something. Is that what you do with undergrads?

...Did it look like rice water? I think about cholera every time I make rice.

I don't get much joy from patterns in general. I prefer designs to be of something, not just decorative whatever. I guess I like mandalas.

Did you interact with people? How much did it cost? Did Dad go?

Layered dirt could only be used once, really. Maybe you could make a video with dirt layers and have a simpler version with toy dinosaurs and flour? You could have the added benefit of zen gardening to return the box to its non-cratered state. Make patterns around the dinosaur corpses. Maybe that's for the really drunk visitors.

What else could that comparison mean?

Paisleys aren't just decorative. They're leaves and seeds and things. Spirals. Botanical, as I said.

I interacted a little bit. Gaming was done. It was something like $40. Dad was a loser and stayed home.

Yeah, you're right about the layered dirt. Probably no way to reset that. ...I'm now worried that we're overestimating the level of average drunkenness at this event.

I have a lot of sympathy for you but please don't ever tell me again about your rice-water problems. Unless you're, like, dying and need to go to the hospital.

I know that paisleys have pictures in, but they're not really pictures. They're more like designs that happen to have become a seed or whatever. I still count them as non-pictorial.

You interacted?! With people you don't know?! Shock. Horror. I'm sorry I wasn't there so you could interact only with me and ignore everyone else.

The donut giver returns.

That's why you aim for multiple levels of drunkenness. You've got the video, which hopefully is on a large enough screen to draw people in and confound the very drunk. You've got the flour drop activity for the pleasantly drunk. You've got attractive and informative boards for the slightly drunk. You've got handouts for the people who are too drunk for the boards but might want to read them later. Finally, you can address people directly at whatever level their individual drunkenness calls for. It's just like Market Science, but you replace the very young with the very drunk. And it's still full of hipsters.

I don't see how rice water is a non-sharing thing. I'm going to keep sharing as I prefer.

Nope. They're stylized seeds and leaves, not the other way around. It's like how heart shapes come from cordate leaves. They obviously look nothing like hearts. Some monk wasn't doodling and decided it sort of looked like a leaf.

I was interacted with and then reciprocated. It's different.

What doughnut giver? Or are their doughnuts only spelled donut?

Ah, hipsters. The great midwestern constant. Why do they wind up learning about science? Is it an accident, because it happened to intersect with their farmers' markets and beer? Or do they plan this?

...Share what you must. If you must. I'll be over here having heebie jeebies.

I thought the heart shape had something to do with butts? Where are you getting the leaf connection?

Oh, you were interacted with. That's fine. Was it with Friendly Fandom People? What was the age range?

The KofK donut giver. The one who handed you a donut for posting that.

Hipsters want to know things before they are cool. Being the first to know something guarantees you get in before they get cool. If they ever get cool.

I had nothing left to give. Merry Christmas.

Nope. Leaves. Google it.

Yes, they were friendly. Aaron Vander Giesen is the sort of person who uses your name a lot. I played some games with Richard Tatge. Talked about fanfic with someone who goes by ImUpToNoGood on AO3. Mostly older, but I also got to watch a five year old smear cheese powder all over her own face. She was very proud of herself.

Oh. Those.

Is it cold in Ohio yet?

...So all researchers are just big ol' hipsters? I can dig it.

Was there food? Other than cheese powder, I mean.

It is not even slightly cold. I wouldn't even say it's not hot. It doesn't reach the 90s anymore, and I don't have to run the AC, but it still regularly reaches the 80s. I would still be wearing shorts if not for the CHILL OF THE GRAVE that is my office. Please tell me it's getting chilly in MN. I need to know that this isn't just climate change.

I might go to the zoo tomorrow, because fall break. Is it weird to go to the zoo by yourself? I might buy a membership, since it pays for itself in two visits.

Not all. I'm not particularly interested in being the first to know something. I just like tedium.

Yes. Bagels, mostly.

It's so cold here. The heat didn't come on in my house until yesterday, but before then I think it was literally approaching freezing in there. It didn't matter if I went outside because it was the same temperature. I'm okay in a t-shirt today, but only if I'm not standing still, and today is much warmer than the rest of the week has been.

I don't think it's weird, but are there no other grad students who would want to go with you? This is a good opportunity to cultivate socialization. Only buy a membership if the zoo doesn't suck.

At trivia yesterday, one question was what paleontologists use mass spectrometry for. I said dating. I clarified, like they use it in place of ChristianMingle. It hasn't worked so far. Ha. Dad laughed. We were laughing at you.