2026, Art, Science, space, Uncategorized

Nerdy Merch

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Me being a bit of nerd is nothing new here.  At Blevins on Sunday we talked about Neil deGrasse Tyson and his book The Pluto Files.  I’ve always thought that he was one of the smartest folks out there but he’s funny about it, which makes him almost a hero in my eyes.

So I suppose it won’t surprise you that I have NdGT merch.  Of course not!   My first purchase was a t-shirt with a funny physics phrase (well, I think it’s funny anyway):

About a year after I got the t-shirt, I saw a solar system bracelet on an NdGT site and I really liked it a lot.  I don’t do a ton of jewelry but I do like to wear bracelets when I get “dressed up”.  But the bracelet had a $35 price tag on it and it didn’t have Pluto – two strikes are enough for an out in my world. 

So I did the next best thing – I made my own.  I started with a very cheap ($4) solar system bracelet that I found on line.  This had beads that I liked for most of the planets.

Then I supplemented it at my local Bead Hive and also used a coil bracelet wire (another $6).  I like the coil style because it’s comfortable, easy to put on and let’s you use way more beads!  It’s really hard to tell in the photo but I put all the planets in order after the sun and even put a star between Mars and Jupiter to represent the asteroid belt.  And, of course, I added Pluto.  Sorry to all the other dwarf planets for leaving them out.  I filled in the spaces between the planets with little black beads and more stars – not to scale obviously.

This is probably my favorite bracelet – I can wear it with just about everything except maybe an outfit all of pale pink and it only cost me $10 to make to my exact specifications.   Luckily I don’t have any all pale pink outfits, so I’m good on all fronts?

Do you wear t-shirts?  Any good slogans?  Ever made jewelry for yourself?

40 thoughts on “Nerdy Merch”

  1. My favorite T-shirt is:
    Bad Spellers of the World…Untie!!
    Black with white lettering.
    Another is:
    Make America Grape Again…More Whine!!

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  2. I wear Black T-shirts that I have purchased, and anything else I get for free. I have a couple from the neighborhood association that I got at Dumpster Day, I have one from the Mural Festiival that happens in town, because I donated to making it happen, and one from Colorado that someone brought back for me from a visit. Yesterday I got one from the City Clerk, because I’m an election worker. I’ll wear that when I do my duty next Tuesday.

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  3. i only wear t shirts to the health club for workouts and they are usually freebies i pick up along the way at start up week or minnestar events. otherwise im a hawaiian shirt style come summer and a button down collar with sports coat on the other 265 days a year.
    i took jewelry making class and made a free form gold ring using lost wax. i liked it. i lost it. im not a jewelry guy in real life but i enjoy the art.
    love the bracelet vs

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  4. Rise and Shine, Baboons,

    Every time I work a Master Gardener shift I wear a tshirt and my name badge because it is required. Otherwise I wear tshirts sometimes. My favorite is the Dale Chihuly tshirts I purchased at his Seattle gallery in 2015. I tried jewelry making but I did not like all the tiny parts involved.

    I have had a busy several days. Yesterday was a doctor day and today is a Lewy Body Event. They are starting this think at 8 am. Don’t they know this is for a lot of sick old people who are not able to get moving in the morning? We will be late.

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  5. I don’t wear t-shirts except as pajama tops. It’s just one of my sartorial quirks. Consequently, I don’t wear shirts with mottoes though I wouldn’t in any case. Shirts imprinted with some amusing or declarative statement and, for that matter, bumper stickers, both seem to me like borrowed wit. I would rather supply my own from whatever limited supply I possess rather than having to buy it from the wit purveyors.

    My oldest granddaughter wears mottoed t-shirts almost daily. One of her favorite ones is a shirt that says, “My favorite people call me Grandpa”. Strangely, that shirt with that motto was available in women’s and children’s sizes.

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  6. Love the bracelet VS.

    I too am a fan of NdGT, and while I will concede he is technically right about Pluto, as a planet, he is in all other ways very wrong about it. Do not ask me to defend that point of view or debate it, because I won’t.

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  7. I have t-shirts from volunteering for various things – a couple of Frozen River Film Festival. Also one from Kinstone (megalithic garden, Wisconsin’s answer to Stonehenge)… our UU Fellowship… I wear them occasionally.

    Will finish later…

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  8. I wear tshirts all the time. Only one has printing on it. Duluth Trading Company. It was on sale for a very cheap price.
    I don’t wear jewelry. It irritates me. Not even my wedding ring, sad to say.
    Had my annual wellness check yesterday. Everything was very good. But it did not include my eyes. I have three appointments in next ten days, two in St. Cloud. None for my eyes. Today they are working.
    Clyde

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  11. Nice bracelet, VS, though I’ll admit the significance of the beads in the order of the planets would be completely lost on me. Knowledge of our solar system is not my strong suit.

    I made jewelry while in college and taking classes in metalsmithing. I cast a few gold rings, and lots of what I would call art jewelry: pieces that were not really meant to be worn but demonstrated the mastery of various metalsmithing techniques.

    Class assignments would often specify two or three techniques that should be included in each piece. This often resulted in pieces that were large, and uncomfortable to wear, but were impressive on a display model. I still have a couple of those.

    I did make a fair amount of earrings for pierced ears from annealed copper wire. They have all somehow mysteriously disappeared over the years.

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    1. Don’t worry about the order of the planets not speaking to you. This bracelet is solely for my own entertainment. I wear it often and have never once said to anyone “oh, would you like to look at my bracelet with the planets of our solar system in the correct order”. I swear. And no one has ever asked me about it either!

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      1. It’s not that they don’t speak to me, I would just be completely oblivious to the fact that something more than meets the eye is going on. Now that I know, have the inside scoop, if you will, I’d want to take a closer look at your bracelet. I love the idea of you celebrating your passions in this way.

        I think some tattoos are like that, they carry a message that is meaningful to the wearer that casual observers are just not cognizant of.

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  12. I am a Tee shirt wearer. In fact, most of my tops are short or long sleeve crew necks. I have never liked button down or even polo style shirts.

    UPDATE: I have been at the Acute Rehab Center on the West Bank of the U for almost a week – lots of intense therapy. Speech signed off because I am on a regular diet now and hope the feeding tube will be pulled today. OT has me preparing food in the kitchen, folding laundry, and other everyday chores. I got the OK to use the bathroom by myself (instead of calling an aide to turn off the bed alarm and stand by to help). I do have an assisted living apartment lined up as of August 4th. This will be a stepping stone to getting home. I can finally see a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel!

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    3. My goodness, K-Two, this sounds way more serious than I realized. Is the prognosis that you will recover completely over time? I sure hope so.

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  13. I have lots of T-shirts. but I only wear them at home or when I’m feeling very casual. Course half of them have the sleeves cut off and the neck’s cut open.
    And I want my pocket/s and they’re hard to find in T-shirts. Yes, most were freebies / swag.
    And I don’t like black ones; too hot, and dandruff issues. (if I’m bald, why do I still have to deal with that??)

    I’m made some earings… Does linking the glow sticks together to make a necklace count?

    Nice job on the bracelet!

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  14. I learned at some point (from son Joel’s girlfriend?) how to buy my own ear wires and attach dangly things to them, so I have pairs of home-made earrings. Joel gave me a set of special tools (mostly small pliers) for the task…

    More t-shirts that I recall: Folk dance logo, one with a map of the Driftless Area, and a gift t-shirt with a cartoonish bird saying “Excuse me, the squirrels have eaten all the bird seed.”

    I’ve seen something that says “Lord, please let me be the person my dog thinks I am.” There are some other great ones if only I could remember them…

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      1. Clyde here. My body length is all in my trunk. I need extra long tshirts or my belly fat shows. Freebies are never long enough. Duluth Trading and Carhartt sell shirts that work for me. I wait for sales. They both make nice shirts.

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    2. I’d had a T-shirt in college, a long sleeve one that I liked a lot. It had two fried eggs strategically placed on the front. Drove my dad crazy but since he wasn’t going to censor my books, I guess he wasn’t gonna censor my shirts either.

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  16. Here are some funny ones… My favorites so far are: “I don’t always roll a joint, but when I do, it’s my ankle.”
    and
    “Wish I lacked critical thinking skills – y’all seem so happy!”
    https://www.etsy.com/market/funny_sayings_shirt?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=shirts_b&utm_campaign=Search_US_DSA_BNG_ENG_Clothing_Categories_All&utm_ag=Shirts&utm_custom1=_k_6da7cb2c0fc217f1d901a14526c97d5e_k_&utm_content=bing_412804681_1296324571810913_81020360334312_dat-2332820076892501%3Aloc-190_c_&utm_custom2=412804681&msclkid=6da7cb2c0fc217f1d901a14526c97d5e

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  17. I have an over-abundance of t-shirts. I have a plastic tote full of 35 years of Rock Bend t-shirts, as well as some from various other organizations that I’ve volunteered for. I’m a sucker for t-shirts with cute knitting or music slogans. I like to wear them under a blazer, cardigan, or flannel shirt when the weather is cooler. I wear them constantly at home.

    The best Rock Bend t-shirt slogan is, “A festival which has never been coerced, co-opted, or besmirched by the proliferating greed of commercialism.”

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  19. The Onion markets T-shirts with some of their headlines. A lot of them are pretty funny, though I haven’t actually bought any. Some of the choices:

    Supreme Court Overturns Right v, Wrong
    DOJ Removes All Mentions of Justice from Website
    Bald Eagle Tired of Everyone Just Assuming It Supports War

    Some Onion headlines are a little too long to put on a T-shirt – if an observer can’t read the whole thing without actually stopping to examine it, it has the potential to become awkward.

    The bracelet is really cool.

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