Blaze1616

Well, that is until Calamity comes out in February. And by that point we might be half way through the next day

I concur...

Okay, I must have somehow missed mention of "Blackthorn", given your trivia in the Chicago thread. Well then, anyone who attended the Chicago signing know how to/have the ability to edit a .wav file?

In case you folks haven't seen yet, I asked Brandon at his signing in Lansing if he could tell me something about Oregon's Destruction. He said that not only was Night's Sorrow in Oregon, but is the one who destroyed it too. Also, my apologies for not posting in a while. Some IRL things are eating up my time. I promise I'm trying to find time to write up a post.

Yes, the reading is there, as well as Brandon's talk. The thing is, given the vague description of the excerpt read at Chicago, the one he read in Lansing was different, so I don't know which excerpts he read where.

Hey, not a problem! Oh, and because I haven't posted it yet, my new most prized possession: I'm thinking of framing it and hanging it on my wall.

Mm, you are correct, I'll edit the post to make my thoughts more clear. My comment was referencing that since the metalmind was filled with Identity, the investiture within could possibly be what's interfering, but his response clearly showed he thought my use of investiture meant that the metalmind was actually stored investiture, implying a nicrosilmind.

Yeah I'm going to check it out again to see if Brandon's participation continues or if he was a one time guy.

I've begun to for the past couple of weeks, and now that the 10th anniversary is out I'll probably give Elantris a reread, which will help. It excites me to know that Brandon's very first book still holds secrets we've yet to uncover. My main issue is that I lack a home computer that's of any use, as it's slow as all get out and runs on Vista...Most of my Sharding occurs at work during short breaks. Last night was one of the few times I sucked it up and used my home computer to type up the report because work was too hectic to get on long enough to type that yesterday. Thanks for the advice though, I'll try looking into it. Is there a website where you can edit .wav files without having to download anything? I've editted the report post above with addition things that surfaced in my memory after I made the post last night. Just a heads up for those who may have already read it.

All right. Sorry Maxal, but I'm reclaiming my thread in all its glory. To begin, the signing was awesome. Aside from meeting Brandon, I felt like a bit of a celebrity myself considering about 5 different people approached me across the night with "Are you Blaze?" and "Thanks for the Perfect State pages on the Coppermind!" I was the only Sharder there aside from the wonderful ReesaB and a handful of lurkers, as well as one knowledgeable young lady who isn't a Sharder, but is a part of #Sanderson'sArmy. The downside of being the only actively contributing Sharder, though, is that I'm pretty much the only one who asked juicy questions. One of the aforementioned lurkers asked an interesting question in the hopes of furthering one of his theories, and aside from that it was just me. One other woman asked a Cosmere based question, but it was one we already knew the answer to. Aside from small parts of the pre-signing and about the first 10 minutes of the signing itself, I was able to hear every question, since my seat was within 5 feet of Brandon. So here's what you're all wanting to know: Status of the Recording: I recorded all of it. Literally from before the first pre-signing question until I left the signing area as Brandon walked off, I recorded everything. Unfortunately, that means there's two periods of silence during waiting periods, and it's all one big file. I don't know how to separate and cut up the file, so until I figure that out, or until the signing tour is over, I will not be sharing the recording. The other downside is that during the shuffle of the table top between his reading and the signing, my phone got shuffled to the opposite end of the table as Brandon, and the side of the table that the phone wound up on was occupied by one of the staffers who not only spoke louder than Brandon, but often spoke at the same time as Brandon as he tried sorting out the next person in line's books for personalizations. This means that the recording might be useless. I have not given it a listen to, and don't plan to for a while as I don't have time. But it does exist. (un)Luckily, as I said, I'm fairly confident I was the only one asking juicy questions, so if the recording is useless, we'll still have all the information in a paraphrased format (my memory is good, but not that good). The only times where a particularly interesting question could have been asked without me hearing was during the times mentioned before: parts of the pre-signing while I socialized in-between taking people's picture with the man, and during the first 5-10 minutes of the actual signing line while I ran out to my car. Highlights: I'm going to format the highlights in the Theoryland style, but know that everything below is paraphrased. If I update it with the verbatim question and answers I'll update this statement as well, or at least mark the updated questions/answers. I'll leave my comments upon reflection in red for easy removal. All in all, nothing Earth-shattering, but some useful insight and tidbits. I asked most of my questions revolving around the books of mine he was signing at the time, and of the list in the OP, the only one I didn't ask was about kandra mating with humans, as well as the Paalm question, but Argent got an answer for that one in Chicago. Secondary Highlights: I'm adding these in because they resurfaced into my brain after I posted the rest of this. These are less important than the main highlights above, but I'm adding them in case someone finds them fun or important, or perhaps we never got official word. I'm not going to bother placing these in approximate order of when they occurred during the night like I did above. I think I touched on everything I wanted to touch on. The whole experience was awesome. I'm going to end with a shout out to all the wonderful people I met there whom I encouraged to join and actively participate on 17th Shard. I hope to see all of you posting soon! Edit: I added the Secondary Highlights section for the little things I remember as time passes. I also fixed up the original Highlight section to actually mimic Theoryland, since I said I would and then didn't...whoops.

Fun fact: Many Godzilla movies feature humans summoning Godzilla from whatever stasis they left him in last so that he can aid them against whatever new kaiju is attacking them. I too am a communist at heart. But, given greed is a thing, I know it'll never work in reality. So I simply call myself a socialist. Extra emphasis mine. Don't take this the wrong way, but it shows, as you've ignored what is, in my opinion, the most important argument coming from the liberal side: statistics. Statistics taken from various studies, as well as real life cases across the globe, prove that limiting gun ownership greatly decreases the occurrences of gun violence in both micro (household) and macro (massacres) situations. In addition, you've failed to point out that the liberal side of the issue does not want to ban guns completely. Sure, there might be some members of the liberal community who want this (myself included), but the current discussions mostly involve merely making it more difficult for guns to be obtained. Stricter background checks (or in some cases, adding background checks), required schooling, etc. Even though I am someone who wishes gun ownership to be illegal in the States, I know it's too large of a jump, so simply increasing the difficulty of obtaining guns is all I, and the majority of liberals discussing this topic, ask for.

He never says Dragon. At least not during that episode. The picture he posted on his website was taken at some point later, and isn't actual footage from the show. He was attempting to mimic the Aliens meme, including the face and hands position.

Awesome! I'll try to find you. I'll be the overweight, middle eastern looking man with a goatee, and I'll be wearing all blue; Blue overshirt, blue Stormlight Archive T-Shirt, and blue jeans. I too have no friends who enjoy reading what I do. As for questions, I suggest doing as Weiry said and looking in the Ultimate Questions thread, but if not you can always snag one of mine, as I'm sure I'll be able to think of something on the spot if needed

No ill will perceived, my friend. I was merely worried that things might be getting to you given your recent status update. As for what anarchy means, I provided the definition. Perhaps it is not the meaning you are intending, but anarchy means as I said, the state of disorder due to the absence or nonrecognition of authority. That does not specify moral authority, nor human authority, but authority, period. Following any form of laws, be they just or unjust, highly structured or simple social contracts, is no longer anarchy. Anyways, I do feel sorry for you, being forced to live in a society you disagree with. It seems that the only option given to you is to leave. Though I am curious, do you realize what all you lose if you don't pay taxes? Since it sounds like you might actually be interested, somewhere in one of the east coast states, I believe, is a study about anarchy, where volunteers are being allowed to live in such a society as I'm understanding you to desire. It was done once before and deemed a failure, but they are trying it again. Quick searches for it provided me no fruit, but I can dig a bit more and get back to you with details if you'd like. I heard about it in a discussion about anarchy that I had a month or so ago, as one of my friends feels very similarly to you.

Okay Kobold. First, take a deep breath. Everything is going to be okay. Second, ignoring the fact that I am a "pro-government arguer", I never stated anarchy cannot work. Merely that what was being described wasn't anarchy. Though I do believe anarchy to be an irreparably flawed system, I also believe government to be an irreparably flawed system. In the end, we must choose the lesser of two evils. Now, I would argue that there really isn't a decision, as anarchy inevitably leads to the creation of government, but that wasn't the point of this discussion. Should you like to have said discussion, I'd be happy to partake. Third, to offer a response of some kind, governments are usually created with the expectation that the just and logical would rule. That is why our government places the decision of rulership on the people. But we are not a democracy, we are a republic. Why does this distinction matter? Because it allows the just and logical minds that inhabit the electoral college to make the decision that is best for the country, should the people be so vastly misguided. Now, saying that, I feel comfortable with my assumption that you disagree with our founding fathers, and I must say I disagree as well, since the members of the electoral college aren't guaranteed to be just or logical. We both have differing solutions, and I'm again confident in my assumption that my solution goes in the opposite direction as yours. But that's the beauty of our society; we're allowed to have different opinions. Smile Kobold. The world isn't going to end today

You know, they could simply not be replacing you? Maybe they've noticed how busy it is, and how many people you often have on hold, so they decided to hire someone else to help you? Not that I'm saying this is definitely the case, but it's not exactly healthy to just assume the worst, you know? This happened to me a few years back, and it turned out that my management had been given the go ahead to hire another person, and they weren't replacing me at all.

As I said, the WoB is in the group of Firefight tours, which have not all been added to theoryland. The one problem with Theoryland is that someone has to actually go in and add new WoBs, as robots who can add them for us don't exist yet.

I fell in love with the book, and was super stoked for the movie, which I also enjoyed. Though I enjoyed the book more than the movie, as I told my father, the movie was as good as they could make it, given the constraints of the medium. The book had far more science in it, and of the science they did include in the movie, much was left out due to the time constraint on movies. For example: The book was the better experience, but it's not like the movie was bad, or even mediocre. It was a great movie, based on a great book.

Thing is, you have to wonder if what you're describing is anarchy? Anarchy is defined as the state of disorder due to the absence or nonrecognition of authority. But what you've described does feature authority, in the form of social contracts. In what you've described, non-stated social contracts would govern in the place of actual laws. I assume that in your described society, you expect people to not murder or steal. How do you deal with someone who does, though? If you were truly anarchical, then you cannot take action against the perpetrator, because they've done nothing wrong, by definition of the anarchy system. In the end, what you and Kobold are wanting is a society where every member is good and pure. Should such a society arise, I'd argue that whether they be anarchist or communist, it wouldn't matter, as everyone is good and pure, and the flaws you've described with our current system wouldn't exist.

In addition to this, I'm very curious as to why the Skaze are so organized? Seons seem completely individual, loners if you will, but that section seemed to imply that the Skaze aren't.

It was also the WoB that asked if Hoid was the most knowledgeable person in the Cosmere, and Brandon replied that he's not the most knowledgeable, but he's up there, and that Nazh and Khriss were also up there. That got the Nahz and Khriss buzz going, though I think there was some Khriss buzz prior to that too? I don't really know as that predates my entrance into the fandom.

First came this: source Then came this: source Given those two together, we know it's someone of the Seventeenth Shard, and everyone's most popular theory was a gal named Khriss. Then, earlier this year during the Firefight tour, someone asked him if Khriss was the author, yet again, and he finally caved and said yes. I'm not hunting through the Firefight tour threads to find it though (sorry, but I don't have time).

The time that Lift has occupied the Featured slot is still less than the time Hallandren occupied it prior to Lift. The Featured page is generally an article under the classification of "exemplary", which offers what, 11 options, most of which are from the Stormlight Archive? I'd say that if you want a new Featured article, write up a new exemplary article to offer some variety

The first thing you need to do is what Twi has suggested. Figure out why you're losing your faith. Next, you need to truly understand that it is okay to lose your faith. It is okay to not believe in a religion period. Not having faith does not make you a lesser person. Once you've done that, it's a simple matter of being true to yourself. That's of course a lot easier said than done, but in the end if you do not believe in the sect of Christianity that your mother practices, then you should not be forced into practicing it. Perhaps you find yourself agreeing with a different sect. Perhaps you find yourself believing in a completely different religion. Perhaps you find yourself an agnostic or an atheist. Regardless, if your conclusions are that you do not believe in the sect you're currently practicing, then you have the right to stop. In regards to telling your mother, the best thing to do is probably to just lay it out for her. Be upfront about it. If she pays attention, she'll eventually notice the change in your attitude and mannerism on her own, so you might as well save her the long drawn out pain and just tell her. In the end, you'll likely feel better getting to be the real you, to the point that no matter the change in your relationship with your mother, it'll likely be worth it. Another thing to realize is that she's your mother. She loves you. Considering she had children with a man who wasn't very religious, you not being religious won't be the end to that love. There might be a rough patch where she comes to terms with the change, but she'll come around. Good luck, and if you need someone to listen, just shoot me a PM. As a Christian turned atheist, I understand some of what you're going through. Why do you feel it's socially acceptable to hate police? Even given the recent events of the past year, I don't think that it's acceptable to hate police. I think it's acceptable to hate racists, and I know some have taken the protests of the past year to an extreme, but I definitely don't think it's socially acceptable to hate the police, any more than it was back in the 70s and 80s. If your opinion on this is being informed by the news, you might find comfort in the fact that violence against police has actually gone down in the past year, and that it's only the news that purports the violence against police has gone up. I'd like to take the usually traveled trail for issues like this and blame Fox News, since they're the ones who began the "war on police" nonsense, but it's unfortunately not just them. In the end, talking about a "war on police" is beneficial in terms of ratings, and our news programs, including paper and e-formats, are all about ratings. Unfortunately, we don't seem to learn from past mistakes. The September 11th attacks resulted in a large percentage of our populace thinking that the beliefs of the radical terrorists were the beliefs of all Muslims. Let's not repeat that same mistake here, even on a much smaller scale. If anything this "social acceptance" is more an issue of misinformation taken to the extreme.

First and foremost, because this is an error I see all the time on this forum and it drives me crazy. It's "Iyatil" not "Lyatil." The first letter is a capital i, because it's a name. That's not a lowercase L. Iyatil is a character from the Stormlight Archive. Some detail in the spoilers: Something to keep in mind, this here is Sanderson's Official Fansite. As such, our discussions of the novels will delve deep. I do not think a lack of Cosmere knowledge should have hindered your enjoyment of the book. Had you not come here to see our discussions, I'd hope it would have never crossed your mind. Being knowledgeable about the Cosmere will enhance your understanding, and potentially your enjoyment, of any of the books though, not just SoS. WoR, for example, has three major scenes where being Cosmere aware tremendously benefits you. Warbreaker has a handful of very minor details where being Cosmere aware would a helpful. The level of extra depth gained by being Cosmere aware does change per book, but I'd say it's there for all of them.