The Isochronism

So firstly... yes this is an "Ask Me Anything" thread, and yes the title could be said to be the "forum" equivalent of clickbait. But the point is, I'm tired of every AMA thread having the same title, and so this one has a much more unique and interesting title. You're welcome. Also I saw that a lot of people did one of these for their 100th post, so that's why I'm making it my 99th. So go ahead, ask me anything. But before you do: I am a homeschooler, and before you ask here are your answers. 1. Yes, sometimes in my pajamas. 2. Yes, I sometimes sleep in. 3. Yes, I have tests. 4. Yes, I leave the house. 5. Yes, I have friends. 6. Yes, I am learning. 7. Yes, I can play sports and join clubs. 8. Yes, I can eat at my desk and talk without raising my hand. 9. Yes, you can talk to me. 10. No, I do not wish I went to school. Now that that's out of the way, have at it! I'll make you 3 guarantees. #1 my answer will be knowledgeable and 100% correct 100% of the time. I will never mislead you by telling you lies like the sky is blue. #2 My answers will always appear within 26.532 seconds of your question. #3 I will never use sarcasm as a form of humor. #5 Shoot me a question when you're bored, and I'll always be willing to trade you for a question of my own or a joke, your choice. I'm sure the result will be internment for all. And yes, questions and jokes are absolutely a viable online currency. So the real question is, why are you wasting time reading this if you're not going to Ask Me Anything! Gambler's philosophy/sunk cost syndrome is my favorite! Now the moment you've all been waiting for...

What's the most recent text you send your girlfriend, szeth? I've always preferred the one that can fly personally.

I appreciate it, I'll send it to you.

Portal Portal 2

Yes, that is correct it's not for a few weeks. Sorry for the confusion!

I'm giving a talk in church in a little bit, and I was wondering if y'all would be willing to help me out. My draft of my talk is pretty rough, so if anybody would like to help my out PM me and I'll send it to you. I know y'all are busy, but any help is appreciated!

I have someone I'd love to add: @Robin Sedai Is so friendly to new members. She was my first follower, even though I did nothing to earn it, and she has welcomed every new member that joined the shard since 2021. She's committed to making sure everyone feels included in the community, and I'll be forever grateful for her making me feel welcome here.

I prefer the blue, it makes the whole thing feel more dreamlike and mythical, less like it's what is actually being seen and more like it's just Kaladin seeing it. Holy freaking COW it's awesome though. Both of them are. I would totally make that thing my email background or something, I just love looking at it. 10/10

Ah, everybody needs I favorite pun. I have so many! Here's a free one for you that's pretty good. Person In Interrogation Room: "I'm not speaking without my lawyer present!" Cop: "But you are the lawyer..." Person In Interrogation Room: "So where's my present?" Now I can feel like I've done some good in the world today. And your question? If you could permanently switch accounts with anyone on the shard, who would you choose? You may not tell anyone what happened, (Although the person you switched with will know) and you may not update their profile in any way. (Profile picture, description, signature etc.) Note: it should be someone who's tone/activity you can match pretty well.

If you could have any silent letter added to the front of your first name, which would you chose?

Well actually, since Tennessine consists mostly of Iron, we've always known about it in our hearts. Sporks are useless because they make terrible spoons.

Hold up, I already thought about that, this isn't duplication, just division. Still probably illegal, because it does feel kind of illegal, but we could get into some very interesting definition battles here. For example, if I take one thing off the sandwich (say lettuce) and leave the others, it is still (for all intents and purposes) still a complete sandwich. I'm curious where you draw the line. As much as I love debating definitions, you're probably correct here, so I'm asking purley to know your opinion on the deep philosophical questions above, not to start a debate about legality. I grab another pair of tweezers, and use them to stab all the nearby spren.

I extract 5.17543% of the sandwich with tweezers. If all the tools I could have used, tweezers are by far the scariest. I pocket the sandwich portion, but keep my tweezers at the ready.

Is it even possible to abbreviate a name as awesome as "Wizards of Antarctica?" Like what would you even call them! Definitely more than 2.

Sometimes I wish I was a generous guy.

You know, I've wanted to before. However it seems like it'd be hard to learn all the rules and stuff, and I also don't have tons of time on my hands to waste on the forums, as I'm often trying to write novels and such. It's quite a time-consuming hobby. Still maybe I will sometime if I decide to actually learn what the heck I'm doing.

Oh okay. Sorry you had to waste your 555th post on that dumb question haha.

Hold up... you can run out of rep?

I just read the Screwtape Letters. Awesome book--- if a bit preachy at times. The concept is actually hilarious, for Christians and non-christians alike.

^^^Exactly!

I'm a bondsmith. We make WAR. I think. My mother is the coolest person in the world though, and it means twice as much coming from me due to the fact that I'm a dumb teenager.

I love the Saratoga Springs temple. I'm also surprised y'all live so close to me.

Scientist: My scientific discoveries are useless if taken out of context! The Media: "Scientist claim their discoveries are useless."

Hahaha can we address how unfair it is that the argument threads are the only ones that get a billion replies so exceedingly fast? I admit, this is my fault as much as anyone else's, we (especially myself) can get so toxic online, even though I know y'all are super cool people. Maybe it's because it's really hard to tell someone's tone when you're just reading stuff. At least for me it tends to make me take offense more when I feel like someone's insulting me when really they're just disagreeing with me or whatever. But anyway, that's beside the point. I want to talk about writing, so y'all can just ignore this if you'd like, because it's less interesting than an argument for sure. As reading through this thread, there are some really interesting things I was seeing, because it's obvious that y'all are really intelligent people, and I like talking so I wanted to talk about some of it. I won't speak to whether or not this fight scene is the only fight scene where one person is much more powerful than the other, because I'm a lot more interested in what makes this fight scene great (and whichever others we collectively agree are massively one-sided, I didn't read through the whole thing so I'm not sure which specifically, although Kaladin v.s. Amaram I think we agreed on also.) Anyway, why is a fight so much more interesting when all odds are against someone? I think what it comes down to is "Imbalances." It's a concept that isn't exactly the same as one person being overpowered, it has a lot more to do with powers that are complementary. (Again, this was discussed briefly in this thread, but it wasn't exactly the point of the thread, so I'm talking about it now.) One of the most interesting things about this debate, is that we agree on many of the broader concepts, we only disagree on the specifics. Frustration brought up the fact that Miles and Wax were evenly matched, because neither could hurt the other. (Again, I'm not arguing the point, merely using it as an example.) That's because their power was Imbalanced. In one sense it's even, and in another it's vastly uneven. So perhaps it's not the difference in power-level that makes a fight interesting, but the intrinsic differences with how the powers can influence the world. The fight between Wax and Dumad is awesome, and that's because their levels of power are different, but so are the powers themselves. And Sanderson expertly highlights the difference, by giving Dumad two abilities that match with Wax's. It's like a venn diagram, where the overlap in power is what's boring, and everything else is interesting. And I'll include that it is Wax's experiences that make him able to beat Dumad, those are part of the venn diagram. Advantages Wax has that Dumad doesn't. Marvel has long been criticized for the same v.s. same battles that often conclude their movies, and it's because there is perfect balance, but no imbalance. We can't test the limits of a hero's power, because they're both being pushed to the exact same place. I love Sanderson's ability to take a magic system somewhere entirely new. He sets up the rules, then exploits them like a DnD player who wants to become overpowered. He pushes every system to its limits, using imbalances of power. You never know for sure which hero/villain holds more power (hence the discussion) because their power is not measured by a number, or a level. It's measured by its application. Think of the final fight in "Dr. Strange." It's not a straight out battle between sorcerers, it's a character forced to use whatever advantages he has that his enemy does not. Is Doormomoo more powerful from a "number" perspective? Maybe. We could probably have a 3 page argument about it regardless. But Doormomoo's ability to kill doesn't help him escape. Therefore the climax is interesting. Does that make any sense? If anybody has thoughts I'd love to hear them, or if I offended anyone's honor please yell at me! Obviously Frustration has a good reason to love this scene, and from what I'm seeing most of us agree! So I'd love to hear anybody talking about from a writing perspective what makes this scene so great. Y'all are awesome, thanks Frustration for creating the thread, and know that I will always have your back when it comes to discussing what makes something Sanderson has written great.