Scraps of cloud

[minoanmiss]

That was a really nice dream.

I wonder if I can use any of this in a story.

I was in the interactive audience for a beautiful musical about fin de siecle NYC, like _Ragtime_ but more deliberately colorful, with the icea of NYC as a "city of cities" where all these people from cities all over the world could come.

The heroine mostly enjoyed her life in this city in Act 1, unaware that while dancing with Mr. X at a party she caused him to drop his ID (n.b. I have no idea what identity documents were like then so all my subconscious had to work with was a modern ID) and someone else stole it and stole his latest shipment, and he blames her. She only finds this out at the end of Act 1, whereupon I woke up from my nap, music lingering in my ears.

Also, speaking of story elements, MM came by today to advise me on a certain appliance I want, and he told me about a mad scientist on Youtube who made a uranium crayon. I can't help but think that such a thing would be a good way to kill an artist, maybe an obnoxious anti-STEM artist, in a story...

Comments

[ororo]

I know someone who would could be considered a STEM artist.....nice visual

[minoanmiss]

I love STEM artists!

[bikergeek]

Uranium crayon sounds like one out of Putin's playbook, along with polonium tea.

[acelightning73]

Uranium, like many rare metals, can produce colored pigment and colored light. A small amount of uranium in glass gives a greenish-yellow color (but the glassware is too radioative for everyday use).

[bikergeek]

Oh yes. Original Fiestaware from the 1930s that was colored orange was finished with a glaze that contained uranium as the coloring agent. It'll set off a Geiger counter. It's okay to have it in your home as a decorative item but don't eat off of it.

[acelightning73]

Griffen has just gotten the fiesta ware that was used for everyday meals in his family when he was growing up. Better warn him not to eat off of it.

[bikergeek]

I think this is specific to the orange stuff, that was the only glaze that contained uranium. I was surprised to find out that uranium oxide was used in the glaze until 1972!

It's also only *genuine* Fiestaware..there have been tons of reproductions over the decades. One of the big periods for that was the '80s and my first set of dishes was a set of Fiestaware knockoffs. (To give you an idea how long ago this was, I bought them in the Housewares department of Bamberger's. There was a Bamberger's in Shelbyville, you see, so I tied an onion to my belt (which was the style at the time) and rode the ferry over there....)

[acelightning73]

Griffin was talking about the bright orange color. And I guess this means he was eating radioactive food until he grew up and moved away.

[bikergeek]

Yup. Not only that, uranium is a heavy metal, like lead, and will also give you heavy metal poisoning if you consume enough of it.

[acelightning73]

I know Bambergers competed with Macy's in NYC for "biggest department store", but what did the onion have to do with the ferry?

[bikergeek]

It's a Simpsons reference:

https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/so-i-tied-an-onion-to-my-belt-which-was-the-style-at-the-time

[acelightning73]

The only things I watch on TV are the Weather Channel and the fireworks in NYC for the Fourth of July and New Year's.

[bikergeek]

I haven't watched The Simpsons in about three decades. "TV watching", for me, consists mostly of binge-watching things on Netflix. The "I tied an onion to my belt" thing, however, has achieved widespread circulation on the Internet, to the point where a lot of people who've never watched The Simpsons are familiar with it.

[anna_wing]

Vaseline glass! Exquisitely beautiful. Luckily, epergnes are only for flowers.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=vaseline+glass+epergne&atb=v314-1&ia=web

[acelightning73]

The concept of "New York as a city of cities" made me think of Neil Diamond's song "Comin' To America" (which was about his grandparents). https://youtu.be/9ttDUGM-1mU

[claudia603]

I love dreams with plot! :D