physicskid

Schlock is great. Always has your green blob of "Adorable sociopathy"

My thoughts on Sadeas death. Warning Black/Cynical humor. https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2007-07-06 Usually, I wouldn't approve of vigilantism but I don't think what Adolin did qualifies. Vigilantism is the crime of denial of due process and Alethkar doesn't have due process. Arguably you can consider Elhokar negligent for not creating a system for administering justice to the powerful but the situation is complicated. In any event you can't be ethically liable for subverting a justice system that doesn't exist.

Powder Mage Trilogy was recommended by Brandon around here. I read it and it was as great as I expected. If you like realistic science fiction try The Expanse books. The TV show is also very good but the books are better as usual. On the fantasy side, Jim Butchers Dresden Files are a lot of fun when I just want a great adventure.

Ask a silly question. Like most of us I'll probably be up all night and may have it done in a couple of days.

Welcome to the madhouse. Don't let wayne steal your booze.

Well for slight increases in atmospheric CO2 you get carbon greening. plants don't have to open their stoma as wide to get enough CO2 so they can use water more efficiently and photosynthesize faster. But there's really no data on plants in very thick Venus like atmospheres because we haven't found any yet. One idea for maintaining a more stable temperature is to get non-solar heating on the night side. maybe instead of a planet try a moon of a relatively close gas giant. tidal locking will give the moon a day equivalent to its orbital period around the gas giant but if the orbit is eccentric tidal flexion from the gas giant will help heat the oceans. you will also get TWO types of sunrise. one is an ordinary sunrise and one is when the sun emerges from being eclipsed by the gas giant. add other moons magnetic phenomena etc until you think the visuals are spectacular enough. (the tidal flexion heat would probably manifest as volcanism so maybe work that into your magic system?)

1) if you want a short year you need to be very close to the star. This implies a cool star so you don't burn up, probably a red dwarf. This star would look pink or red to a human standing of the surface but local life would have eyes that work further toward the infrared. 2) This is basically determined by the composition of the planet, ie whatever you want it to be. I think a water world would be interesting from a story perspective (no metals framing would be interesting) and the excess water might help with temperature stability. 3) long nights means very cold nights and long days means very hot days. Temperature is stabilized by large bodies of water and thick atmospheres but it's still a problem and an atmosphere thick enough to help would ruin your sunrise. one interesting idea would be for the oceans to freeze and life to hide underwater and underground for the week long night. sunrise would be a very welcome sight indeed. 4)moons give tides and if tides are big enough they can cause geothermal heating. other than the consequences of tides/ rotational stability I can't think of any reason it matters. if you want multiple moons consider giving them resonant orbits like the Galilean moons. 5) no reason why not. bear in mind that orbits can't get too close to each other and gas giants are going to really gravitationally sculpt the system if you really want to get into mapping it though. also look up the Trappist system. red dwarf star bunch of habitable (maybe) planets. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRAPPIST-1 6)check out wolfram alpha. and if you're interested in hard Science fiction try the Atomic Rockets site. http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/ great to see someone looking at plausibility in their scenarios. have an upvote

without seeing another edge dancer we don't really know if the ability is common to them or unique to Lift. Maybe someone should ask?

I also noticed that Lift had an unusual ability to blend in with local cultures (seriously her talking with wayne about accents is my new head cannon). I have an alternative hypothesis. If lift is partly in the cognitive realm then maybe she has a blank connection and can speak local languages because she is in the cognitive realm that the language is built in?

I really like xcom 2. It is somewhat buggy but still very playable. The graphics are much better than enemy unknown. wasted a lot of time on this game. I recommend waiting for a steam sale.

Well the Sanderson avelanch strikes again. my reaction, explained by john belushi edit: oops just realized there was already a thread for this

in words of radiance they specifically talk about the change in time zone between Urithiru and the shattered plains. This seems like it should allow us to calculate how many degrees of longitude they covered in the jump und give us a data point for the size of roshar relative to the planet.

The book was much better. Actually most of my complaints about the movie are a result of having seen the book. I was indeed aware of the realities of the sandstorm as was andy weir, the author of the martian. in the words of mark twain "get your facts straight first, then twist em as you please"

Personally i loved the beginning but i couldn't help but feel they blew the end. Everything before pathfinder was great though. best line "yeah so i blew myself up"

At the end of the book wax is given an earring described as "a simple stud, with the end bent over". i suspect this is infact vins earring. I wonder why harmony wants him to have seeker abilities. So that he can look for agents of Trell perhaps?

hasn't anyone thought of the possibility that the spirit of the dead brother is a kandra doing an impersonation of the body?

Maybe we should choose Authors other than Brandon. (presumably if you're on this form you liked his work): my list of other authors: 1) Patrick Rothfus Kingkiller chronicles 2) JK Rowling 3) Charles Stross (the laundry books manage to be creepy and hilarious at the same time) 4) Isaac Asimov (hes a classic for a reason. i loved foundation) 5) Jim Butcher (Dresden files) 6) Ann Leckie (Ancillary Justice) 7) Steven Gould (jumper seiries, being a space geek i loved Exo) 8) James S. A. Corey (expanse Trilogy excellent modern space opera) 9) John Scalzi (I loved old mans war, redshirts is a good laugh) 10) Rbert Jordan (Sanderson couldn't have put such an excellent finish on it if Jordan had never created it) Note that i haven't tried to order these as to which is "best" and if i thought about it i could probably think of something i enjoyed more, these are just books I've read recently and liked. bonus: Seven Eves by Neal Stevenson

When a great webcomic you just fell in love with references unsymmetrical dimethyl hydrazine and you know exactly what that is.

"Build a man a fire and you warm him for a day. Set a man on fire and you warm him for the rest of his life" Terry Pratchet

I think it is worth noting that we are seeing increasing evidence that Gavilar is not the man Dalinar believes him to be. Most sinister are his plots with the sons of honor and his cooperation with Amaram in returning the void bringers. If his rather twisted sense of morality extended to his domestic life he could easily be the source of trauma for Jasnah. Of course this would require brandon to reuse the abusive father trope he used with Shallan, which depending on how their relationship is meant to proceed is either very likely or very unlikely.

I share your concerns about the fate of our major characters. I percieve a general consensus that Stormlight will rack up a body count similar to or greater than the mist born trilogy. Strangely i found the end of Hero of Ages to be fitting if not pleasant. There was simply no way all the main characters could survive without the feeling of a Deus ex Machina. There is a reason shakespeare mixed tragedy with his comedies.

Remember that Lopens healing arm was a result of starlight he inhaled directly, not infused into him by kaladin

You have all forgotten Rock feeding Sadeas Chull dung. “Er, yes,” Rock said. “Actually, I put this thing in his bread too. And used it as a garnish on the pork steak. And made a chutney out of it for the buttered garams. Chull dung, it has many uses, I found.” Teft laughed, his voice echoing. He fell on his side, so amused that Kaladin was afraid he’d roll right into the chasm. “Horneater,” Teft finally said, “I owe you a drink.” Rock smiled. Kaladin shook his head to himself, amazed. It suddenly made sense. “What?” Rock said, apparently noticing his expression. “This is what we need,” Kaladin said. “This! It’s the thing I’ve been missing.” Rock hesitated. “Chull dung? This is the thing you need?” Teft burst into another round of laugher.”

Hello 17th shard. I've been a bit short of reading material lately, and given that the next alloy of law books don't come out until next fall i thought it likely that some of you are in the same boat. So lets compare notes on good books to pick up. my recommendation is The Martian, by andy weir. very good hard science fiction. meticulously details the technology of a trip to mars.

I second your point about Egwene, king of nowhere. she actually becomes a lot more selfless as the series goes on. its not so much that she is less proud, more that her pride is forgivable since she has something to reasonably be proud of. she really is incredibly condescending toward mat though.