Sand Master

Didn't they say that the craters were built as satellite cities by the original people of Natanatan?

Granted. Time stands still for the rest of eternity, with no way to start it again. You now have all the time you need to do your homework. I wish to be a Windrunner

I was reading through Way of Kings again, and I noticed something very odd. On Kaladin's first bridge run, there is an unnamed bridgeman who says, "Talenelat'Elin, bearer of all agonies." The bearer of all agonies part interests me, because it clearly refers to the fact that he is the only Herald still being tortured in death, while all the other Heralds broke the Oathpact and are still alive. However, all of the common people believe that the Heralds won, stopped the cycle of Desolations, and chased the Voidbringers into the Tranquiline Halls. That being the case, how does this random bridgeman seem to know this information about Taln when nobody else does? Additionally, he is described as being old and leathery-faced. I don't know how much older he would be than Kaladin, but I imagine it's pretty significant, especially when you consider the physical strength and stamina needed for a bridgeman. How would such an old man have survived carrying bridges long enough to know the ins and outs of how the whole process worked? He knew enough to tell Kaladin tips for making the carrying easier, knew not to make Gaz mad, and was able to look for the signs to see that the current bridge run was "going to be a bad one". It seems odd that someone so apparently old would be strong enough to survive carrying bridges as long as he must have. The man also is the only bridgeman we see to show any kindness at all to Kaladin, while all the other bridgemen are pretty much completely dead inside. Much like Kaladin when he becomes "the wretch," they don't care about anything or anyone. So why does this bridgeman, who has clearly gone on at least a few runs before (and it seems likely that it's more than just a few), suddenly help Kaladin without any real reason to do so?

I can't say one way or another whether it's just you (but statistically, it's probably not just you), but I am curious as to what you mean by "prescribed by fantasy communities". I've never seen anyone prescribe anything like that, unless it was done jokingly.

I think the 2x or 3x enhancement of strength from pewter seems pretty accurate (when ignoring outliers like Vin of course). However, this says nothing about durability, endurance, or speed. Just pure strength. So while it may sound a little underpowered from what we've seen, it's probably about right.

Roshar would be a nice place to live? You simultaneously want to get to the end and also never want it to stop

This has always been the argument for Batman vs Superman, but it amazes me how that's where so many people stop and think that's the end of it. It's been shown that Superman has reflexes just as fast as his speed (if he didn't, how would he keep from running into things?), in addition to his super senses, namely hearing and sight. My point here is that it would be incredibly difficult for Batman to sneak up on Superman (arguably impossible), and with his reflexes and speed Superman would easily be able to quickly get far enough away to be outside of the Kryptonite's range and just heat-vision Batman to dust. Problem solved.

Well I just finished reading Calamity and thought you were using dimensional doors in that sense. And since they had such a big impact on the outcome of the story, in a way they wrote history. Not literally writing, but as in they created it. Changed it. So by using the dimensional doors, Megan wrote history. That was my thinking, anyway.

Ah, looking at the title now I can see why that would be confusing. Sorry. Also, I accidentally clicked downvote on you. If anyone knows how I can undo that...

I had no idea, but like ParadoxSpren I tend to try not to be too analytical in my reading. If something is meant to be a surprise twist, that mind-blowing shock is severely diminished if you saw it coming.

OVER 9000!

Both can be used to write history Keys are like spren

We need Windrunner Air Traffic Control

You have a point, but what is he going to crash into? There's not too many other Windrunners flying falling with style around.

I was thinking about SA the other day, and for some reason I made a connection I never had before. Kaladin = Buzz Lightyear.

Well of course they were. The Librarians wouldn't let them be published here in the Hushlands, so they had to be published in the Free Kingdoms and then brought to a library, to be quietly slipped in on the shelves. Incidentally, did you happen to have any gray bits on the pages of the ones you got?

Well no, the numbers are actually from something totally irrelevant, BUT that's such a good idea that I'm going to retroactively claim that that's EXACTLY what I was going for

So then how does one get the books in the meantime?

I'm really frustrated right now. I just started reading Alcatraz because the first two books came out electronically and I got them. Now I'm trying to get Knights of Crystallia and I can't find it ANYWHERE. How have people been buying this book if neither amazon nor Barnes and Noble have it? Makes it hard to throw my money at Brandon when his books apparently don't exist.

I don't think they ever mentioned Obliteration's weakness. As for David, it was explained that the lights and sound he saw were just ordinary things, like ceiling lights and people talking and moving things. I can understand how that's Calamity's fear, but I don't understand how that would translate to David himself. I really, really liked the book, but like a lot of other people I thought it was rushed at the end. That being said, I would be completely fine with it if we got something, even just a little short story, to explain what the didgeridoo Calamity actually was and why he was there. SPEAKING OF WHICH. WHAT WAS CALAMITY? WHY WAS HE THERE? These are all questions that I REALLY want answered. I feel like Sanderson was trying to go for the "ambiguity is better than the clarity" thing, but in almost all cases that always feels like a cop out to me. I WANT ANSWERS!!

I would still call Ruin the antagonist of MIstborn. He is, as you say, the one directly opposing the protagonists. However, there is a difference between "bad guy" and "antagonist". One implies morality, the other does not.

Maybe it was invented by Elantrians, and a Worldhopper brought the idea to Roshar?

I actually don't consider Ati/Ruin the bad guy of Mistborn. On my first read through, I did, but now it's more of a gray area. As he says, if he wasn't there, everything would be frozen as Preservation wanted. No thought, no change, no growth. Death is a natural part of life, as Ruin says. He's just playing his part in that, and so are we. "We" in this case refers to the characters in Mistborn of course. Death is natural. Everything has to end. Ruin is not wrong here. BUT that doesn't mean that we are supposed to accept it. We fight death in any way we can, because we want to live. There's no right or wrong. It's just two different parties that want different things. One wins, one loses, but there's no objective right or wrong. We just relate more with the humans in this case because we have more in common and because their characters are more important to us.

Just finished reading Secret History. I didn't even know this existed until I saw the mention at the end of Bands of Mourning, and I immediately started in on it. To give some context for what follows, I read almost exclusively on e-books. One of the reasons for this is so that I can highlight things of interest, particularly Cosmere-related things. Here's a list of everything I highlighted in Secret History, even if it's something that might not be overly important (such as this first one): "Two tiny sources of metal still glowed fiercely there to Kelsier's eyes." Obviously the beads of Lerasium. "Cephandrius" Clearly a pseudonym for Hoid "...when he rejected the rest of us..." The "he" here is Hoid. So the Shards were all normal people at one point? Hoid knew them all, and from the sounds of it, had an opportunity to become a Shardholder himself. That's not stated, just what the tone seems to imply. "It's the world of the mind" Something I highlighted before it became more clear that they were in Shadesmar/the Cognitive Realm. For any new Cosmere fans out there, they're the same place. "'You told me this was your power,' Kelsier said, gesturing again at the Well, trying to get the god back on topic. 'That it gathers here.' 'Yes, and elsewhere.'" It gathers somewhere besides the Well of Ascension?? Does it gather in the same way, in another Well? Does this have anything to do with the people on Southern Scadrial? Or something else entirely? "You're not Connected enough to me." We see more of this later, but it still seems pretty important. How does one form Connection? We know from Bands of Mourning that it can be stored in metalminds by Feruchemists/Ferrings. What purpose does it serve, aside from apparently making it possible for interaction between a Shard and a normal person? "Senna" Something Leras/Preservation said. Not really any context to describe who or what this is, but I would hazard a guess at another Shardholder's original name, maybe one Leras was close with before they Ascended. "Khriss, of Taldain" I had to look this one up, as I didn't realize she had already been talked about. For anyone else who is in the same spot, WOB says she's the most knowledgeable of anyone about what's going on in the Cosmere by a long shot "Nazh" Also had to look this one up. Apparently employed by Khriss, wrote messages on the map of Elendel and the sketch of the bridgemen's tattoos in Words of Radiance "Ruin, Preservation, Autonomy, Cultivation, Devotion..." This was Khriss explaining the situation to Kelsier. Just thought it was a good example of how in-the-know she is, since she at least knows all the Shards "'Other planets,' she repeated gently. 'Yes, there are dozens of them.'" Well there's only 16 Shards. Do some planets not have a Shard at all? Or are there Shards that watch over multiple planets? If it's the former, do these planets have humans? If so, are they important at all? If it's the latter, do the people on separate planets that share a Shard have some form of communication? "There is an original [planet], shrouded and hidden somewhere in the cosmere. I've yet to find it, but I have found stories. Anyway, there was a God. Adonalsium. I don't know if it was a force or a being, though I suspect the latter. Sixteen people, together, killed Adonalsium, ripping it apart and dividing its essence between them, becoming the first who Ascended." I don't think we'd ever had this information before. How did these 16 kill Adonalsium? What, or who, WAS Adonalsium before they did this, and how were 16 presumably normal people able to kill what is essentially the combined power of 16 Shards? As for the planet part, is this Yolen? If so, why is it "shrouded and hidden"? "'Who were they?' Kelsier said, trying to make sense of this. 'A diverse group,' she said. 'With equally diverse motives. Some wished for the power; others saw killing Adonalsium as the only good option left to them.'" We know from this that killing Adonalsium was no accident. People didn't stumble upon something that, when used, started a chain of events that killed Adonalsium or something like that. No, these people started out intending to kill Adonalsium. How did they come together in the first place? Why did some see killing Adonalsium as the only good option left to them? What was the alternative? "Adonalsium originally created the first humans..." I believe we knew this, but it does bring up some interesting questions. When did Adonalsium do this? Why? We know where the Shards came from, but did Adonalsium ever have a beginning, or was it always there? "'The power . . . distorts,' Khriss said. 'There's a person in that somewhere, directing it. Or perhaps just riding it at this point.'" We already know about Shardic influence, but I believe this is the first time it's mentioned outside of WOB. "...perhaps if I could convince the Eyree [ire] to answer my questions..." We find later that the Eyree (or Ire) is a group of Elantrians (Aon Ire actually means time or age) that are presumably led by the oldest among them (they use "ancient one" as a title, seemingly out of respect). Why do they exist? What answers do they have that Khriss, supposedly the most knowledgeable person in the cosmere about what's going on, does not? Why won't they answer her questions? "Help you? I can't even help myself, Survivor. I'm in exile..." Why is Khriss in exile, and what is she in exile from? "Threnodite" Apparently people from Threnody are clashing with those from Sel, here. "A large yellow gemstone the size of Kelsier's fist shone in the center, glowing even more brightly than the walls. That gem was surrounded by a lattice of golden metal holding it in place. All told, it was the size of a desk clock." This is particularly interesting. It sounds just like a Rosharan fabrial, one of the ones used to tell when people are near. That is what they seem to use it for, but they somehow have it tuned to people of a specific shardworld, rather than anyone at all. Furthermore, I am curious as to how fabrials can work in the Cognitive Realm. To my understanding, they are powered by spren trapped inside the gemstone. However, in the Cognitive Realm, would that spren still be trapped? It seems odd to me if it would be, but maybe since it is trapped in the Physical Realm, it has to stay that way in the Cognitive Realm as well. "'I must speak with the rest of the Ire.' As she said the word, this time Kelsier got a sense of its meaning in the language of the green plants. It meant age, and he had a sudden impression of a strange symbol made from four dots and some lines that curved, like ripples in a river." This was, for me, the hint that drove the point home. At the description of the symbol I thought it sounded like an Aon, and looked in the Ars Arcanum for Elantris. And right there, under Aon Ire, was the symbol described here. "The beings all had that same silvery skin, though two were a shade darker than the rest." More proof that these are indeed Elantrians. And the two that have darker skin, Dulas? Maybe one is Galladon? And one's name is Elrao. I wonder if that's a name Raoden chose for himself. "Vax?" For some reason Ati says this as he looks around, confused, after dying. Maybe he Ascended on Vax, lost his mind after that due to Ruin, and is now confused that he is no longer there? "They sat there together. Two friends at the edge of the world, at the end and start of time." This one is a bit odd. It really struck a chord in me, and I was distinctly reminded of the passage in Words of Radiance, where Hoid says, "Two blind men waited at the end of an era, contemplating beauty. They sat atop the world's highest cliff, overlooking the land and seeing nothing." Now, obviously neither Kelsier nor Sazed are blind, but they could be considered so if you were speaking metaphorically. They are (at the time) blind to the dangers that the other Shards (like Odium) represent, and seem to think that all the big problems are over. Of course, when Hoid says this in Words of Radiance, he is using it to teach a lesson. Still, I think it may have some significance. Well, I know that was really long. Let me know what you guys think, or if I missed something.

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/Cc751383.aspx So yeah. I never claimed it was a virus, I said it was an opening for malware. Different wording from this definition, same meaning. As for your point of being able to have a computer be infected with a virus if you do unsafe things with it, that applies to all operating systems. We were simply talking about vulnerabilities in different systems.