go_go_gragdet

Thank you all for the confirmation, the WOB and added nuance.

I tried searching the forums for a discussion on this, but didn't find anything. Maybe it's obvious (I am due for another read through, after all).

It's from chapter 30 or RoW (emphasis mine):

Quote

 

“These Radiants won’t do what those of the past did,” Adolin said. “Look, for thousands of years before the Recreance, spren and humans got along. Will we let one event wipe that all out?”

“One event?” Notum said. “One event that caused eight genocides, Prince Adolin. Pause and think on that. Nearly every honorspren was bound, and those were all killed. Can you imagine the betrayal? The pain of being murdered by the person you trusted with your life? Your very soul? Men die, and their souls travel to the Spiritual Realm to meld with deity. But what of us?”

 

I'm assuming he's referring to eight types of Radiant spren, and that one of the remaining two is highspren. If so, which type is the other one? The Bondsmith spren (I don't know what they're called, collectively), probably?

Thanks.

See if you can work out the answer to your question using this explanation (you really have everything you need, in there, except for the answer!): http://mathforum.org/dr.math/faq/faq.birthdayprob.html

The author does put aside the objections I made earlier to make the problem more manageable: 

Quote

Let's forget about leap year when we solve this problem (no February 29 birthdays!) This way, we can assume that a year is always 365 days long.

Also, let's assume that a person has an equal chance of being born on any day of the year, even though some birthdays may be slightly more likely than others. That will simpify the math, without changing the result signficantly.

1 hour ago, revelryintheart said:

That's a great song!

It is! I mentioned it because it is used in a famous scene featuring a boombox (in the movie Say Anything...).

Don't forget about leaplings, lol: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_29

Also, some food for thought: http://thedailyviz.com/2016/09/17/how-common-is-your-birthday-dailyviz/

@hoiditthroughthegrapevine Oh yes, Dalida's French version of this song was/is very popular (Le temps des fleurs); hadn't heard the Italian version, but it is very good. Thanks

(Speaking of boomboxes, for a minute there I thought you would link me to Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes".)

On 22/09/2020 at 3:53 PM, Bliev said:

And I do find it a bit interesting that Kal so easily dismisses Maya as if she is unimportant, even after spending all that time around her in Shadesmar. Yes, she's "dead" but the spren screamed all the time, and even fought for Adolin! Unless he missed that part? Seems weird that Kaladin, of all people, would be so callous and dismissive of Adolin's connection with her.

I plan to do a re-read of the Shadesmar section of OB to gather evidence of Kaladin noticing (or not noticing) Maya physically defending Adolin during the fight with the Fused. It would indeed seem cold of Kaladin to dismiss her like this if he did notice her intervention (and even more so if Adolin told him about what happened during the battle of Thaylen Field (i.e.: the sword telling Adolin her name, him summoning her in fewer than ten heartbeats, her seemingly warning him of danger despite being a "dead" spren, etc.).  In the meantime, I choose to chalk Kaladin's response up to him being used to hanging out with extremely eager proto-Windrunners who feel horribly socially excluded when unable to draw stormlight or bond a spren. It could make sense for Kaladin to think Adolin might feel the same way as the bridgemen (and Adolin did feel this way, at least for a while, as he told Shallan on at least two occasions that he felt somewhat "beneath" Radiants). Thus, Kaladin's reaction was to explain away Adolin's "failure" to bond a spren by blaming not a personal shortcoming, but his insistance on keeping his shardblade.

I'm trying my best to make it make sense, ha ha ha!

3 hours ago, Karger said:

Yes.  I realized that afterward.  I can't find any references at all to the journal of trauma and dissociation which worries me a bit but your preferences tot avoid a heated argument on this sensitive subject should be noted by everyone(including me).

I have no dog in this fight, but here are a few leads, if you "seek the truth, wherever it may be, whoever may hold it":

It is this organization's official journal.

Here's the wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Society_for_the_Study_of_Trauma_and_Dissociation.

See this page for the editor's bio and editorial board members: https://www.isst-d.org/publications/journal-of-trauma-dissociation/

There's also this page from the publisher (see the menu on the left to get more information on the journal): https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?show=aimsScope&journalCode=wjtd20

Here is a Google Scholar list of papers citing the "Guidelines for treating dissociative identity disorder in adults, third revision" discussed above :  https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=8514000691239885248&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en

This list would be a start to see who cited the guidelines, for what purpose; were the guidelines approved, criticized, etc.

See also: a Google Scholar list of related articles: https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=related:wJnIAoXOJ3YJ:scholar.google.com/&scioq=&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5

About Veil's claim that Shallan has a lower alcohol tolerance than she does, it reminded me of this theory I'd heard of, a few years ago (I suppose more research will have been done since...): drug tolerance is apparently context dependent, and people can "overdose" on their usual dose if it is taken in an unfamiliar setting (setting/context is considered very broadly, here, and can include such things as the environment in which the drug is taken, or the actions performed in taking it). Here's a short article on the subject if you want to get a few leads:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2000/10/001012074704.htm

Quote

[...] [A] person consuming a drug in a setting where he or she usually consumes the drug or even expects to consume it will be less likely to feel the full effects of the drug, he says

[...]

Cepeda-Benito says this could possibly explain some drug overdoses in which the person didn't take a greater amount of the drug, but instead, took the drug in an unfamiliar setting, making the term "overdose" a misnomer.

If this is true, it seems believable that Veil and Shallan, despite sharing a body, could have very different tolerances to alcohol, as some contexts may be familiar to Veil, but not to Shallan. By drinking the same amount, Veil could indeed be less affected by it than Shallan (though I suppose Shallan is safe from "overdosing", so to speak, by her radiant powers). From the same article:

Quote

"These are physiological changes mediated by psychological aspects," he says.

In addition to environments and actions, I'm wondering if a different mindset, emotional state, (or a straight up "different personality") could count as an unfamiliar setting...

@hoiditthroughthegrapevine

Thanks for the recommendations, they are all very good! My favorite Edith Piaf song is L'hymne a l'amour (which isn't too far from the top 3). I realize I have a type for my favorite songs.

If you're of age and in a place where you can drink it, you could go the Wax way and use alcohol, LOL. Goldschlager has real gold flakes in it which you can actually drink (I have, on many occasions, and I am still here to tell the tale): https://www.sazerac.com/our-brands/sazerac-brands/goldschlager.html I have no idea how it would really look in a vial, but here it is in a bottle:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nq3O9d0xQEE

To all the kids out there: don't drink alcohol. To everyone else, please drink responsibly.

1. Roberta Flack - "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face"

2. Michel Legrand - "Les moulins de mon coeur"

3. Ennio Morricone - "Once Upon A Time In The West" (singer is Edda Dell'Orso)

1 hour ago, Subvisual Haze said:

That's true, I'm not sure how I forgot the presence of beards when the infused gems in them played an important part in WoK's ending.

That still feels a little unusual to me.  The general pattern I had assumed was very little dimorphism with the specific exception of mateform.

To be fair the part I quoted does imply that there is very little dimorphism save for the beards: it did take Dalinar some careful, upclose observation to notice any other difference (like average height and facial bone structure), and that was years into the war.

If it had not been a custom for malen Parshendi to let their beards grow, perhaps Dalinar would never have noticed the absence of stubble in some Parshendi, or any other sex characteristic. That's the thing with beards; they can be easily shaved. Some other sex characteristics (genitals, bone structure, etc.) are not so easily done away with. And maybe this is why Kaladin automatically assumes a singer without a visible beard is femalen; there is little else to go by, to his human eyes.

I found the passages I was looking for, in TWoK and OB.

Turns out it was Dalinar who reflected on sexual dimorphism in Parshendi (chapter 56 of TWoK):

Quote

The Parshendi force was regrouping. As always, the two-person teams were the focus of their strategy. Each pair would have different weapons, and often one was clean-shaven while the other had a beard woven with gemstones. His scholars had suggested this was some kind of primitive apprenticeship.

Dalinar inspected the clean-shaven ones for signs of any stubble. There was none, and more than a few had a faintly feminine shape to their faces. Could the ones without beards all be women? They didn’t appear to have much in the way of breasts, and their builds were like those of men, but the stranger Parshendi armor could be masking things. The beardless ones did seem smaller by a few fingers, and the shapes of the faces… studying them, it seemed possible. Could the pairs be husbands and wives fighting together? That struck him as strangely fascinating. Was it possible that, despite six years of war, nobody had taken the time to investigate the genders of those they fought?

And from chapter 54 of Oathbringer, first the part where Moash recognizes Leshwi's patterns:

Quote

“Wait,”Moash said, cold. “When I killed you?”

She regarded him, unblinking, with those ruby eyes.

“You’re the same one?” Moash asked. That pattern of marbled skin… he realized. It’s the same as the one I fought. But the features were different.

“This is a new body offered to me in sacrifice,” Leshwi said. “To bond and make my own, as I have none.”

Note that Leshwi’s colors and patterns are apparently quite striking, as earlier in this chapter, Moash notices:

Quote

Leshwi, the other had called her. She had a face that was all three Parshendi colors: white, red, and black, marbled like paint swirled together. He had rarely seen someone who was all three colors before, and this was one of the most transfixing patterns he’d seen, almost liquid in its effect, her eyes like pools around which the colors ran.

I'll find chapters eventually, but I think there was a bit about how slight sexual dimorphism was among singers. I think it's in Way of Kings. One of the characters (Kaladin? Dalinar? Adolin?) was wondering why the parshendi fought in pairs, and then he noticed slight differences within pairs, which he attributed to sexual dimorphism.

As for recognizing Leshwi, I think there's a part in Oathbringer where Moash (a human) differentiates her from others by recognizing the patterns and the colors on her body (which we know Fused can keep even when they get a new body).

On 9/10/2020 at 11:59 AM, Ailvara said:

TBH, I don't see Kal as surgeon anymore. His character arc is directed towards finding ways to protect people without making him kill other people.

I agree.

As an aside, I thought it was interesting that Dalinar suggested he could be an ambassador. I think Kaladin would find a lot of fulfilment in diplomacy. Not saying he'd never fight again; but it seems deep down, at the moment, he does not see singers, and even some Fused as enemies; or at least not completely.

It was most obvious during the fight between the wall guards and the singers in Kholinar, where Kaladin recognized Sah and Khen; you could see he has gone to respect Leshwi and see honor in her.

I don't know exatly how this will happen, but you can tell Kaladin has a unique experience that allows him to connect all of these people; to unite them, so to speak. I think he can build bridges (wink wink) between groups where Dalinar couldn't.

It seems interesting, too, that Kaladin wanted to help the singers gain independence by teaching them things, while he was their "prisoner". He seemed to have a lot of the same goals as Venli does now. Just one more argument for the Kaladin X Venli shippers, I guess. I can see this bridging happening in this way.

I don't know how flexible his "role" as a Windrunner is, as the role of ambassador seems more Willshaper-y or Bondsmith-y to me. But who knows what can be done in that regard. With Renarin bonding a "corrupted" spren, Venli seemingly having bonded a spren and a voidspren, Nale being both a Herald and a Knight Radiant, I have to be open to some weird combinations.

3 hours ago, Invocation said:

Eh. Tin being pronounced in a semi-French accent just sounds like tin with a lot of phlegm behind it. Not like Hoid, which would end up being pronounced like Wad, more or less, which...uh...yeah that's strange.

Or "Wah", like the ending of "froid" (cold)... unless they add an umlaut on the "i" (which the French sometimes do for words like polaroid or celluloid, lest someone pronounce them polar-wah or cellul-wah); in this case Hoid would sound much closer to the English pronunciation (but without the H): 'o-eed

I was wondering: do people from the Central Dominance pronounce "tin" differently than an American would?

17 hours ago, Voidspawn said:

 I'd like it if people could give me links to some interesting forums, so I can get in on all of the conversation! Thanks! 

Welcome!

There's a bunch of Brandon/Cosmere subreddits on Reddit (r/Stormlight_Archive, r/Cosmere, r/brandonsanderson... oh, and r/cremposting). Brandon also posts on Reddit under /u/mistborn.

3 hours ago, Harold said:

It appears to be ~26 characters that are presented on the front page

 

"Spoiler Alert - " takes up 16 characters, so I guess if something is so unavoidable that you can't not write a spoiler, the OP could start with that and attempt to write a spoilerless 10 characters afterwards.

"Spoiler Alert for front page - " Would also completely obscure the title for the front page.

Good idea - that would certainly be the considerate thing to do in the circumstances.

Thanks! No one is bound to do what is impossible.

Some thoughts on determining which titles are spoilery and which aren't: perhaps it is a function of screen resolution, but only the beginning of titles are visible on the main forum page. So if I open with a spoiler, everyone will see it, but if I start with something innocuous and end with a spoiler, it might be fine.

Hi!

When we open the main forum page, the latest thread with activity on it, for each board, has its title displayed next ot the board's link

The Rhythm of War spoiler board is a part of the Stormlight Archive board, and if the latest thread with activity is from that part of the board, its title will be displayed on the main page, next to the Stormlight Archive board link.

I humbly suggest that thread titles from this spoiler board should not be displayed on the main forum page, as they are spoilery. If not possible, maybe advising users to keep spoilery information out of titles, maybe?

Thanks!

27 minutes ago, Kuram said:

Very different people though.  Pretty sure Brandon has said Kelsier would have liked Kaladin, but Kaladin would not have liked Kelsier (though Kelsier also would've been fine with that).

To complete the picture, I'd say Kelsier likes Kelsier, and Kaladin doesn't like Kaladin.

I think nuances could be made and evidence to the contrary could be presented, but as a general rule, Kaladin is an incredibly harsh self-critic (hating himself for not saving everyone, even though he already went far above and beyond) whereas catastrophes have to happen before Kelsier starts to realize that maybe he was reckless. Both kind of need external voices to fight their tendencies (Dockson, Sazed, Marsh or Vin, for Kelsier; Syl, Bridge 4 members, Wit, Adolin, etc. for Kaladin).

Welcome!

(RIP Sureblood, btw, I'm still not over it.)

Chemoash