traceria

It's pretty awesome how many Civ V people there are on 17S. Anyone tried the new Civ in Space (that's what we call it anyway)? I have to admit, I haven't played but one game of the new one and it's been a few months since my last game of Civ 5. I've been too hooked on The Talos Principle, which is what you'd probably see I'm playing if I'm on Steam.

That almost makes me want to change my plans and go, but I have an important appointment the next morning I really can't miss even if it meant being snowed in and learning all the secrets of the Cosmere. :\ So, all you 17th Sharders going, are you going to wear badges or something to identify one another (you know, besides TItan Arum who will have Nightblood and make it obvious who he is)? Because I was thinking that if the merch for 17th Shard ever gets made (there's a thread somewhere around here), we all should do this at future signings. My husband was at a Star Wars card tournament on Saturday and talked up this site and the signing (despite the fact we're not going to make it) to one of the other tournament participants who he learned was a Sanderfan. I wonder if the guy will be there as a result...maybe not because of the weather and how far the guy would have to drive.

Heh. I will have to tell him someone asked. He'd definitely be able to riff on that with another announcer.

I could totally see that. *nods *

I'm glad you mentioned this book. I picked it up at the store for Brandon's Philly WoR signing last year, and thought the first book was so-so. I actually told friends who are my usual reading buddies (similar taste and shared favorite authors) that I'd let them know how the series continued before recommending they read the first one. Definitely let us know what you think come the end of book 2!

That's as a good a description as I would be able to come up with myself. It's very hit or miss with him for me, too. I loved the Enderverse books (except for maybe the most recent ones), Enchantment, Lost Boys, Invasive Procedures and Pastwatch were just fine, Sarah and Rachel & Leah (haven't read Rebekah), Empire (still haven't read Hidden Empire), but felt "eh" about the Homecoming Series, Alvin Maker, Worthing and Wyrms. I still have to read anything but the first Pathfinder and Lost Gate books, but I liked the first installments well enough to plan to finish those. Most of his stuff falls in the love it or not so excited about it (I wouldn't say hate) categories, though.

It's good to see you even if it's a brief visit. I made it through the audiobooks of Alvin Maker up through Journeyman but not beyond. If he'd finish that last book, maybe I'd reread and finish the series, too! Let us know how Heartfire is.

Upvote for Aquabats!

Thanks for sharing! It's nice to hear there are people in Phoenix right now who are not exclusively crazy football fans. (FIL works there and is staying in his out of state home for the next couple weeks until the Super Bowl is history.)

LeftVash, are you back?!?!?!?

I totally fell asleep last night pondering this question. I don't think my slumbering self managed to think up anything new, or if I did, I just can't recall it!

That's a shame, but maybe you'll be fortunate enough to find someone who has it and would teach you. He/she would likely have several decks put together. It's super fun! You solve problems instead of fighting your opponent! (We're not really big spenders with anything except games, so we make an exception for those with the budget.)

Sub? Substitute? Submarine? Perhaps in my retirement I will actively try training to lucid dream better. It's been a little while since I had one, but I tend to remember my dreams a lot without effort, just can't control them beyond steering the plot where I want. On the drowning note, I almost drowned in a dream I had as a teenager, but someone saved me at the last moment.

I'm pretty sure there's a Sanderson missionary page somewhere....under a completely different topic name, though. I will see if I can find it. Edit: Here it is!!! (Though it is specific to the Stormlight Archive and is in that section of the forum.)

JTolman, do you play the collectible card game, by chance? The first time my husband bought cards at the local store, he was sitting there with them on a nearby table when this serious Magic/StarWars/Etc. card game player guy (that's the technical term, by the way. ) walks up and demands, "Whose cards are these?!" This guy has tough guy written all over him - shaved head, tattoos all up both arms (I think he's got all the mana symbols as tattoos). My husband knows him, though, and decides to sheepishly admit the Pony cards are his. As soon as he does, this dude is like, "Are you going to come play on Thursday nights with us?!" He then proceeds to gush about the game and the show. Bronies come in all shapes and sizes.

I've lived in places where a lot of people called it pop or called everything designated as a soda coke, etc., etc. I've got to say, this is one of the strangest phenomenon of regional terms, in my opinion. Call a big truck that transports things in a trailer an 18-wheeler, big rig, Mack truck, or tracker trailer; those all make plenty of sense. Maybe it's just because I grew up in a region where if you ordered a drink marketed under the name of Coke, you called it Coke. Or if it was Sprite, Sprite. Or if it was Mellow Yellow, Mellow Yellow. *shrug * We should all just start drinking tea.... On the Tia/Epic note, I would think her weakness would be not having enough Coke.

I'm glad I read through all three pages of comments, because I was also thinking it had something to do with probability and bad odds back on page 1 and it looks like several of you have also started to think that way. Responding to the poke thing: My husband plays poker, and he says it's more skill and less about luck, so I can see how Prof would be fine with playing poker but dead-set against a slot machine or drawing, which is total luck. So, whether it's something to do with Luck or Prof being weakened due to a low probability of success, I agree that it's likely along those lines. As mentioned by others, Prof and the Reckoners (David aside) plan things carefully and often have multiple contingency plans. Just look at the plan to kill Steelheart. While Prof was the distraction, knowing he could survive in the meantime, the other Reckoners had multiple plans of attack to discover which theory about Steelheart's weakness was correct. They were stacking the odds, which would have theoretically preserved Prof's powers if his weakness does indeed have something to do with luck or probability.

So, funny related story: I was reading the book-book while my husband listened to the audiobook, and I got ahead and finished first. Were were talking about questions we'd ask Brandon at a signing, and his was, "Did you mean to call all the bad similes made by David metaphors?" So when I got close to the end and Megan makes that comment, I had to bite my tongue while laughing so as not to give it away to him before he finished the book. This also sparked a whole conversation about the differences between similes, metaphors and analogies. English grammar is not my strong point; I was always a math/science nerd who just happened to love reading. Fortunately, my hubby is a good writer and understands these things.

That's rather cool! I definitely talk in my sleep. My husband recounted a conversation I had with him just last night when he came into bed. While totally asleep, I asked him about tupperware, he answered me and I responded again. I do this every now and then and don't ever seem to recall those conversations. I somethings think I'm aware of the real world while sleeping (usually napping), but when I fully wake up, I realize I had more of a waking dream/sleep paralysis like episode instead. What has clued me into the difference between those times and knowing I'm in the real world is that sometimes I think people are there that couldn't possibly be, like an old roommate who lives in another state. While sleeping, will think she walked by to go into the kitchen or something. Dreaming and sleep are definitely fascinating things.

That's very cute. I can only imagine how much your 3-year-old loves it! Our friends' 4-year-old son thought the parasprite episode was hilarious, but he was laughing at completely different things than the adults. He loved Pinkie Pie's antics, too!

Short people tend to have smaller feet, and so at least for women, it would become easier to find your size of the shoes you like.

Alera: Yeah, definitely regular fantasy. The thing about sexual content with that series is that, while it's off screen, if you're at all sensitive to even mention of it or one character ribbing another about it, there are probably other series that are cleaner that would be a better read. (I just happen to know a lot of people that are really sensitive to sexual content in books, and I know I would not recommend this series to those particular people.) If, like me, that stuff doesn't bother you, then they are great books. I'm a big Jim Butcher fan, particularly of Dresden, and I really, really liked Codex Alera. When I first read them, the first few books were already out. I second Briar King's assessment that the first one is the toughest to get through, but the concept of magic and nature and, after book 1, the obvious Roman overtones is very cool. I can totally see the Pokemon thing being part of the writing challenge to Butcher, though my original comparison in my own mind was to Avatar: The Last Airbender, probably because I watched it around the same time as reading those books.

Maybe he blows things up through an app on his smartphone?

When you already own the books and yet you still ask the librarian if they have copies of them, if only to make sure they're available for any library goers who have not yet been converted to Sanderson. (I actually don't do this because I'm in an off part of the relationship with our local library, but I do loan out my copies to friends a lot.)

http://www.foxnews.com/science/2015/01/20/ever-wake-up-and-think-see-ghost-here-what-happening/?intcmp=features So, stumbled upon this. It's not Lucid Dreaming, but somewhere (must not have been this site but another I'm on) I was part of a conversation about Sleep Paralysis. Interesting and yet freak to experience.