Personification

For the record, my headcanon on the letters is that they are all delivered by the same guy, and he is basically the exact same character as the delivery guy in Good Omens.

Yay, my thing got chosen! And you guys liked it.

14 minutes ago, _Edge_ said:

Nice... I’m actually glad it’s not so overwhelmingly purple.

SACRILEGE!

8 hours ago, Snorkel said:

Yes.  Needs more purple.

Why is there no upvote function on news comments?

I kind of like it, but not as much as the first one for two main reasons:

1. The first one had lots of purple, purple is objectively subjectively the best color.
2. This design feels more juvenile. It kind of reminds me of covers for Magic Tree House and A to Z mysteries. I think I would have preferred something closer to the original cover, with Spensa in the center, but with her hair flowing outwards to represent anti-gravity-ness and the window behind her.

I have never played MTG, but have been interested in it for a long time. When I learned that an upcoming set of cards and a book would contain Davriel, I finally decided that I should at least start looking at the story. And by start looking at the story I mean archive binge the entire history of the Gatewatch (starting with the Magic: Origins stories). I am almost done with the Zendikar debacle arc, and even before they were officially a group the Gatewatch seems to perfectly fit Colton's description of them as [paraphrased] "a group of planeswalkers who try to help everyone and invariably fail miserably." This should be fun to follow.

On the subject of the Shin invasion, while the Shin do seem peaceful and probably have a lower population, remember that the most feared warriors and most successful conquerors on Earth (before the age of exploration) were the Mongols, horsepeople from the plains (which we know exist in Shinovar) who just showed up in small numbers and literally slayed. At one point they even sent a threatening letter to the Pope.

Also, I would like to point out that the clues for the first Who's That Cosmere Character work shockingly well for Hoid in drag on a horse.

Okay, for some reason I thought they had been transcribed in December or something. *Shrug*

I also like the WoB episodes, and there actually are more, since the Atlanta signing wasn't transcribed until after episode three or something, and its WoBs (including mine) didn't get analyzed.

Also, I am feeling really smug because I got Oroden almost immediately after the clue 5 reveal.

Thoughts:

First of all, I feel your pain Evgeni. I too have a non-Anglicized name, and I too have problems with people reading it. I will even pronounce it for someone multiple times and still have them mess it up. I have multiple classes where, even late in the school year, I don't say "here" during attendance, but instead just say "actually, it's pronounced ___." And this is for non substitute teachers.

Anyway, relevant thoughts:

• Copper says "Steals mental fortitude, memory, and intelligence". The comma between memory and intelligence, at least for me, removes any doubt about the fact that they are three distinct properties being listed. (Go Oxford Comma!)
• I agree with what @hoiditthroughthegrapevine said earlier about impurities from the geodes possibly needing refinement.
• I think that the fact that lerasium is the only one that says "abilities" and not "powers" means that they are actually distinct. Maybe the "abilities" are the ones that go into the blessings (e.g. strength senses, mental fortitude, emotional fortitude, etc.). This also contrasts nicely with atium, which steals powers, but not abilities, and deepens the kandra/inquisitor dichotomy. The most useful spike for an inquisitor is atium, which it can use to steal any allomantic power, "ruining" that alomancy and giving itself more strength. The best spike for a kandra, however, would be lerasium, because it would allow it to "preserve" the entire suite of the donor's human abilities, and then use it to create a kandra that would have all four blessings and only one or two spikes.
• The conversation about different hemalurgic abilities for godmetals made me wonder if maybe Raysium (AKA Odi-yum-yum) steals cognitive shadows, which would (a) allow it to kill spren, and (b) explain how Vyre's knife works.

I haven't finished yet, but I want to make the following comments before I forget them:

Firstly, the dragon discussion reminded me of two Terry Pratchett quotes:

"Anyway, what is a fantasy map but a space beyond which There Be Dragons? On the Discworld we know that There Be Dragons Everywhere. They might not all have scales and forked tongues, but they Be Here all right, grinning and jostling and trying to sell you souvenirs. ” -The Color of Magic

and

"This is where the dragons went. They lie… Not dead, not asleep. Not waiting, because waiting implies expectation. Possibly the word we’re looking for here is… …dormant. And although the space they occupy isn’t like normal space, nevertheless they are packed in tightly. Not a cubic inch there but is filled by a claw, a talon, a scale, the tip of a tail, so the effect is like one of those trick drawings and your eyeballs eventually realize that the space between each dragon is, in fact, another dragon. They could put you in mind of a can of sardines, if you thought sardines were huge and scaly and proud and arrogant. And presumably, somewhere, there’s the key." -Guards! Guards!: A Novel of Discworld (p. 1)

Also, listening to the discussion I realized that the Girl Who Looked Up is, in fact, Ash. Think about it, she is the namesake and patron herald of Shallan, so there is that nice literary connection, she feels guilty for the entire situation, and she would have been a baby when they got to Roshar, and therefore been one of the first kids to grow up with no memory of why they left and why they can't leave Shinovar (and therefore a group more likely to try to break out of the region).

EDIT: in response to Eric's math comments a little bit after the Great WoB:

2 minutes ago, Ark1002 said:

I've submitted an who's that cosmere character, but I'm not sure if it is the right email. Is [email protected] correct?

I will second a request for confirmation (could you put it in the text of the post and/or on screen at the end of the episode in the future?

I for one, would love both a Children of the Nameless cast and a Tolkiencast. Also, I would like to pedantically point out that while "met" doesn't always mean "for the first time" it is strongly implied when someone says "This year I met X person," in an excited way.

16 hours ago, thegatorgirl00 said:

Don't worry, I'm really not that productive or accomplished. It's all just a carefully maintained illusion. 

I feel like this is true of everyone. The trick is accidentally being productive as a byproduct of maintaining the illusion.

The Seduction Vector will definitely be a Malcolm Gladwell book about weird phenomena related to dating. Also, my headcanon is that Lin Davar always had anger issues and an explosive temper, but under normal circumstances that just would have made him a kind of irritable person prone to explosions when provoked. Certainly not a good or peaceful person, but also not what he was post-Shallan's-matricide. However, after the cover-up he was basically being bombarded on all sides by hatred and accusation, while at the same time harboring a terrible secret that was eating him up and probably terrified that he might provoke Shallan to kill him too (which turned out to be a valid fear). This brought out the worst in him, which was already worse than most other people's worsts, 24/7, which further validated the hatred and accusation, which in turn exacerbated his misanthropy, etc.

On ‎11‎/‎15‎/‎2018 at 4:19 PM, Singer said:

I'm particularly proud of that WTCC, great job on guessing that one so fast!

My random thoughts:

NO LOVE TRIANGLE! YAY!

I want M-Bot to be voiced by Alan Tudyk.

On ‎11‎/‎16‎/‎2018 at 0:25 AM, Ookla the Stationery said:

I didn't know I needed this until now.

 

I know, right?

Also, does anyone else think that Hurl's name (Hudiya) sounds Hebrew?

I agreed with @FeatherWriter the most, except for one thing: foci is pronounced with a hard c and the i is pronounced like the ie in piece. This is because it is borrowed from Latin, in which all cs are hard cs. If you want to Anglicize it, you would actually get focuses, because the only reason that us --> i is that that is how the word is pluralized in Latin, English doesn't function that way normally. Focuses and foci are both fine, but foe-sy is inconsistent.

Also, I am shocked that nobody guessed Hoid for the first WTCC, because he literally fit every clue.

I feel that both of these xkcds are relevant to the discussion.

2 hours ago, Naurock said:

I look forward to Queen Jasnah, as someone brought up, that she will have to accept what her Subject Matter Experts bring her. As someone that has devoted her entire life to one cause she will have to find a way to accept the details as given, make a judgement and move on. She can no longer pore over one topic, burning the candle at both ends, for months or even years on end towards her goals. If she doesn't learn to do this, she could be known as a tyrant that bends her entire nation with an iron fist to her ends. 

I look forward to the point when, doing my reread for book seven, I get to the point in WoK where Elhokar is introduced and think, "oh yeah, Jasnah wasn't queen back then, that is so weird and funny."

Board if you spaced out the podcasts. I would get bored because I don't have I'd have no podcast to listen to for two weeks.

Nale is Nah-lay