Mulk

ah, okay, misunderstood. The stuff from the original Avengers forward probably matters the most. Me...I only get to watch one or two movies a week so I'd never get that whole thing done in time to see the movie in the theater

Thor 3, Homecoming, and Black Panther all fit right in front of Infinity War. From a standpoint of catching up to the storyline right now, they probably matter more than Iron Man 2 or the Incredible Hulk, fwiw

This happened a couple of months ago. It sounds like an internet meme or something but this actually happened: Hey, my computer won't come on Oh, sorry about that, what happens when you try? Nothing, screen is dark, won't do anything. That sounds bad. Would you double check the power cord is plugged all the way in? Hard to tell, it's dark in here. ...what? You have no power? No. Is that why it won't turn on? SIGH

Following on Leyrann's post, on Earth the stone age is largely considered to be something like 8000 to 2000 BC or thereabouts. It was therefore around 3800 years from the end of the Stone Age until chemistry became a thing on Earth. What we know of what Roshar is like after a Desolations suggests a reversion to Stone Age tech or thereabouts, not to mention the depopulation that goes with it and the reverting to subsistence farming - survival being far more important than development. So the fact that we are 4500 years ish after the last desolation means that we're not that far out of bounds from what happened on Earth, particularly in light of the probable lack of a mass extinction event at 2000 BC on Earth, which would put them a few hundred years ahead of Roshar in terms of development and recovery. So no, I don't really find the lack of chemistry advancement all that odd.

Just wait. It gets worse. /waves from the far side of 40

character nickname from World of Warcraft. Not my first character, but my second and the one I spent by far the most time on, for raiding, pvping and RPing. I know a fair number of people outside the game from that now and they mostly just call me Mulk even though they know my name, even when we're face to face.

This is still three months off, and it is also stressful in and of itself, but also really exciting given where we started from and how far we have all come. My oldest is graduating in June! Something like fifteen years ago my oldest was diagnosed with autism. He didn't speak, just some single syllables he made do with for everything he wanted to say (Ba was a particular favorite). Massive meltdowns. Didn't learn or do anything like his peers. Sweet as anything, and unlike a lot of autistic people, overly empathetic, to the point that tears in another would make him break down. No ability to connect cause and effect. The list goes on and on. My wife and I cried a lot then and since, because there is no road map for this - no two autistic people are alike, their treatment regimens can be wildly different and there is a whole lot of just spitballing stuff and just sheer repetition until something sticks. Fast forward to now, he's 18, set to graduate high school on time and the semester he completed in December was probably the best overall report card he's ever had. I still don't know what's in the future for him, he doesn't usually handle stress very well of the sort you'd get in college, there are less than a handful of programs for young adults like him in the whole state as far as schooling goes, but I want to kind of step back from that and just say OMG WE MADE IT. He's going to walk. For the longest time we didn't know if that was possible, and I didn't really allow myself to hope we'd ever really get here till I saw his first semester grades. Particularly thinking of @Calderis and @RShara with this. There's hope, somewhere in the middle of all of that mess. I'll probably post again along those lines as we get closer...and if I remember.

my thoughts are in blue in the spoiler tags.

saw it Saturday night. Worth every penny, even for the overpriced drinks and popcorn.

lol - it would take me far longer to come up with all the things you come up with so I don't think that counts. I just find that in the theorizing of cosmere stuff I tend to think like you do.

@Calderis I've kinda slid back into lurking, in part because every time I think I have something to say or a good response, you've already made it I do have to say the the night you and I and...I think it was R'Shara (but could be wrong - my memory has been wonky since my concussion last fall) were sharing/commiserating and more on autistic children was wonderfully freeing for me. It's a hard space to be in and sometimes I just kinda have to know I'm not in it alone, you know? Cheers, good sir, and since I am a minister, prayers as well. The site content is good. Who you are, I'd venture to say, is better. It's good to know you, even at a distance. It's one of the most amazing parts of the internet, imo.

any spare hugs lying around? I'm in need of them. Without writing a dissertation (which is what I would need to detail the stresses and depression I'm dealing with) I'll just say monetary issues are eating me alive, most immediately regarding repairs needed after Hurricane Harvey blew through and did a number on my roof. Work's busy which is a good thing, but it's becoming overly busy because the agency I work with runs everything on a shoestring unless it's a pet project of the COO. My three kids...just too much there. Driving me nuts. I need solitude to recharge but am not getting anything like enough. I have depression exhaustion right now - the sort of depression that makes me so tired I struggle for the energy to do anything. And lots more.

I have a five year old computer I put together myself, AMD 4300 chip I think, DDR3 RAM, a gaming mobo (mostly cause I seem to have bad luck with lower end mobos) and a 1060 graphics card. This computer was chugging and struggling for anything more than youtube (and had some trouble with HD in youtube) before I gave it more RAM and a new video card - my old one was a GeForce 750. This computer, save for the RAM and the video card is five years old and can run ESO and other online games at decent graphic settings (meaning a hard core gamer would find it unplayable/awful but anyone else shouldn't have any trouble). I have no idea how it would handle video rendering but this core is doing just fine at five years for all of the other casual stuff you mention, which is great cause I can't afford to replace it anytime soon. What you have in mind ought to do fine, assuming you give her enough CPU/RAM to do the video editing. A casual user, honestly, doesn't really notice the difference in performance unless something is REALLY slow or REALLY fast. I'm not a professional computer builder but I do work in IT for a living and deal with a lot of end users who range from highly sophisticated users to where's the start button (literally). Most folks just don't notice or don't care enough about the milliseconds of difference to raise a fuss either way. I spent more on my mobo. Others have done fine with them, but I've had sockets fail, RAM slots die, random other crap, so I just stay away from those. The rest of it - honestly, as long as you get enough storage space and some good raw power from your CPU you ought to be fine; don't sweat it too much.

the multiple people in his head - the finns filled all the holes in his memory with the battle memories of pretty much every general who lived from...like the Trolloc Wars to after Hawkwing aside from Hawkwing himself. His battle sense has little to nothing to do with luck. His luck appears to be a Talent, a gift of the Pattern if you will, so that far beyond the tugging of chance a tav'eren has he can usually alter chance in his favor just by being present. Something about his trip through the redstone ter'angreal seems to have amplified and focused it, but beyond that, there's not much documentation on it. He can win when he needs to and lose when he needs to.

I was given Shadows of Self and Bands of Mourning, the last two Sanderson cosmere books I didn't own. Already through Shadows of Self. There was quite a bit more, but for this board it's the most relevant

The Recreance also happened because according to the Stormfather, Honor was raving at that point, dying. So, your deity is going nuts and telling you you're going to blow everything up, plus all the rest...yeah. I think they thought they were preventing the destruction of Roshar.

they aren't equal. Ta'veren tugging generally causes chance to go crazy in roughly equal amounts, but there is nothing that says the amount of overall bad and good events are equal or have to be. The purpose of their pulling is generally to put the Pattern back into line and while the Pattern itself isn't good or evil, part of the ongoing purpose knit into the Pattern is keeping the Dark One locked away. Rand/Lews Therin has lived and died hundreds of times, probably in the world of WoT. His death never has caused the death of the Dark One. Nor has it freed him. Nor has it incapacitated him. He's just the one the Pattern chooses to fight the Dark One and lock him away. Because the Dark One is continually trying to break free and trying to warp the Pattern to allow it, there is nothing that says the Light must always win. Some day, the Dark One may win. The Light may continue to win. Or the Dark One might one day break free.

New Spring is...well, I didn't read it until...gosh, probably 8 or more books in. It's not necessary to get any of the plot in Eye of the World, so basically it comes down to when you want to get around to it.

Hilarious. I'm of the opinion that cats are ennuispren

you might find this discussion interesting. It lies fallow a while then perks back up some. Not sure if anything final will come from it but it piqued my interest.

I hear you. For myself, all I ask is they not pop up transaction stuff all over the game and that anything related to player stats and power and the like actually be available in game without paying - otherwise it actually does become pay to win. You can't have the best gear and weapons gated behind a pay wall. What's sad about this is people will just complain. It's too hard - too many can't do it. It's too easy, there's no challenge. There's too much choice (yes, it happens), too little choice, too many/few instances/bosses, etc etc etc. People generally focus on what they don't like rather than on what they do, particularly since people are more likely to complain than to praise.

This one has to be slide in there at some point: It's one of the most haunting, lingering, and lovely pieces of music I've ever heard.

Nice. So you missed a couple of huge lore bombs and reworks then...were you playing when Second Dream and all that came out? That was all kinds of cool. The new open zone on Earth is pretty amazing. I've only been in a couple of times, but had a blast doing it.

From Dalinar's perspective, we already have in book proof that he has no trouble taking someone who tried to kill him on. We saw him do that in a flashback. That he would take a look at what Szeth is doing now, hear Szeth's words for himself and it would be good enough is probably the least surprising thing. Really, the Alethi as a whole care about one thing - are you on our side when you fight? If you are, good enough. And they saw him lay waste to Fused and soldiers alike at Thaylen City, very nearly at the cost of his own life. That Lift can vouch for him helps. That Dalinar is larger than life and people have trouble standing up to him is going to suppress the displeasure even further, particularly that he can now give Stormlight like he's the Almighty. Fen isn't going to complain, Szeth just helped save her city. Lift will likely talk the Azish Prime around. I assume (and will probably look forward to with dark trepidation) Taravangian will try to use this to undermine Dalinar, but I think it's inadvertently going to help again as I think Cultivation spiked the Diagram. For the other major players in Urithiru - Jasnah's a pragmatist. What was more out of character for her was sparing Renarin, not accepting Szeth into the fold. I don't object to that plot point though because it shows Jasnah can love, can be merciful, can be touched, and can allow her relationships to sway her actions. She was very close to swinging the sword though. Adolin likely will fall in line with his dad, though he'll probably be harboring doubts. Shallan has too many problems (and joys - marriage!) of her own to spare much time or thought for it. Kaladin is who will likely have the hardest time with it, but he's already off again. Bridge 4 likely will hold their approval or lack thereof pending Kaladin's. Given that Szeth is likely going questing in Shinovar fairly soon, he may not be around long enough to matter all that much. What I want to see is Dalinar questioning him about what else Taravangian had him do. That will pull the covers of just how bad a dude he is. Mr T has some hard choices to make ahead of him.

I was always amazed at how clean and generally smooth that game is. I've been playing it off and on since very early on, before there was any lore at all and there were only like 3-4 frames available. I can't believe how far it has come. I don't play it a ton anymore, but it's still great if I just want to spend 10-15 crushing a couple of levels with a friend or two.