So I recently finished The Way of Kings for the first time. As a background, I've read Elantris, Warbreaker, Mistborn 1st Era, and The Emperor's Soul. I also read Wheel of Time last year, and I agree that in some ways, Stormlight Archive is the spiritual successor of it.
What I don't like
- In general, I think the book will be so much better, stronger, and heavy hitting if it's trimmed down to around 700-800 pages. Some chapters end in pretty inconsequential and uneventful note, they lack the page-turning factor I really enjoyed from Mistborn trilogy.
- Pacing and writing-wise, I feel WoK falls to the same trappings of WoT: repetitive writing and character tics. There are around 70 occurrences of raised eyebrows. Dalinar's chapters can be repetitive as well with the same mullings and broodings every time to 'unite them.'
- Characters kinda reserve the vital information until it's almost too late. Adolin, Dalinar, Navani mean to talk with each other but it's always, "There's no time now, let's talk about this later." It can be frustrating to read. Elhokar's trust issues in Dalinar can be solved half book faster if Dalinar being much more straightforward regarding his plans and intentions. Shallan starts seeing the geometric headed beings from Shadesmare even before she steals the Soulcaster, she should've talked about it sooner with Jasnah.
- Battle scenes in Dalinar's chapters are also repetitive. Dalinar and Adolin go to battle, go mad with their Shardblades, burn some eyes, leave the battle with their Plates cracking and leaking stormlight. Rinse and repeat. Even during the climax it's pretty much the same action save for Kaladin's acrobatics.
What I'm unsure about/mixed feelings
- Since the settings of the story are really stationary, it gave the illusion of static/slow plot progression. I know it isn't really the case but it's my reading experience. On other hand, it's an interesting writing choice from Sanderson's part.
- Dalinar's visions gives me Wheel of Time throwbacks during Mat's chapters. Sometimes it's interesting, but some other times it's not really.
- With everyone saying "fuck Moash" everywhere in reddit, I couldn't trust him from his very appearance.
- Interludes. Some of them have really fascinating bits of worldbuilding, but in general I failed to see their relevance in the bigger narrative. Perhaps in later books?
- Wit/Hoid being witty can be cringy. He's so much better when he's not trying to be a smar
Sam recently tweeted out this video response to Joe Rogan recently having Dr. Peter McCoullough on
https://twitter.com/SamHarrisOrg/status/1471991180233625602?t=5_eigUeXvx6aOUOh8RXzvg&s=197
What a difference a day makes. The Fed releases minutes saying exactly what everyone expectedβ they're going to slow their mad money printing in 2022 (analysts already wrote publicly about an expected 3 rate hikes so no surprise there.)
And *boom* the markets tank. Why? Risk-off.
Big money read that move as bad for the US economy (rates go up, borrowing becomes more expensive, growth slows.) That can mean company profits get squeezed because of slowing demand. So they all pull out of what are now considered riskier assets (stocks) and rush to the bond and treasury markets.
Note: this isn't a sure bet. The economy may do just fine without the Fed liquidity pumping non-stop. Consumers are sitting on piles of cash because they've mostly been stuck home due to Covid and not traveling as much, eating out, etc.
Turns out crypto gets sucked into that downward vortex too, even though institutions don't play nearly as large a role as they do in traditional financial markets.
And he we are as fear clenches its icy hold over crypto for another day.
I'm steadfast against any kind of price prediction because I'm not a time traveler and I have no idea what will happen in the future. So let's put that aside. But what is interesting is the continued strong correlation between traditional financial markets and crypto.
Either it's the same group of people investing and when the risk-off siren sounds all the money scampers off to their hidey holes and "safer" assets, or, crypto is way too "centralized" in dominant wallets that continue to manipulate the market.
There's just no way the average crypto investor cares that much about Fed policy, so I'm hanging on to the dominant wallets theory.
Unfortunately there's not much anyone can do about it in the short term. Until crypto has enough mainstream support for retail investors to significantly dilute the power of these big players we're all at their whim. One thing is for sure, those stock market crypto derivatives aren't looking so good right now.
Hang in there folks, it's going to be a wild ride. . .
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Just saw this CoinDesk article that might be of interest (related to note above)
Edit: There are TWO versions of this band that currently exist, OG Antidote and Antidote NYHC, the band involved in this incident was OG Antidote.
Edit #2: The rest of the tour is canceled and their singer is no longer in the band.
TL;DR OG member of Antidote called a young showgoer the n-word in Milwaukee
Antidote played in Milwaukee tonight, and tensions were high when the opening band called them out onstage and asked them to not play "Foreign Job Lot," a song with some shitty, xenophobic lyrics. One of the OG members was really confrontational about it, and it came to a head outside the club when a kid was walking out the door and didn't hold the door for said OG guy. Dude comes up to him and calls him a py and a n*r. The kid, who is a POC, socks the old dude in the face. Show got canceled and the band cleared out. Their excuse? "We've been in the van for a long time and are really stressed out." Fuck Antidote, don't go to their shows on this tour.
The Christian Quaker is itself a question and answer of the theological discussions of the day: Saved by Grace/works, etc. The Law and Grace, etc. raised by Stephen Scandrett's book.
The same concepts are laid out even in the SAME ORDER on the page in BOTH BOOKS with regards to Alma 39-42. (even the Alma chapters preceding this with Alma and Amulek's preaching. Straight from the same Q and A between Penn and Scandrett's book).
Start with Penn's book on page 421 (433 digital) where Penn elaborates on "The Prodigal Son" and then go back and read Alma 39-42 where Alma's son Corianton is THE PRODIGAL SON.
Basically Alma 39-42 is Joseph Smith copying/borrowing the exact same treatises from Penn, IN THE SAME ORDER, saying the same things Penn is saying.
They are parallels. The 1830 work CLEARLY being based on Penn's 1824 book.
IOW, Alma is borrowing from Penn.
It's not limited to just Alma either.
From Penn:
>"Wherein also he contradicts divers of his eminent brethren,- who say, "that Christ could not satisfy divine justice as man simply, by temporal death and suffering, because infinite justice must be answered with an infinite satisfaction, price, or payment for man's redemption;."
Sounds like an "infinite atonement"
If you want the full mind blowing experience, start reading in "The Christian Quaker" on page 385 and read that whole section to page 445.
Then go read Alma 32 through 42.
These scriptures:
>28 Now, we will compare the word unto a seed. Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselvesβIt must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea,
... keep reading on reddit β‘Other races are terrified because any poison is treated as a spice for humanity, any venom actually makes them feel better, and any toxic atmosphere is just shrugged off.
Meanwhile any other race would have died a million times over. Yet our planet has dealt with so many viruses, toxin plants and animals, bio weapons and even assassination attempts on ourselves that we accidentally became immune to nearly every type of poison in the universe
It's becoming more and more obvious that the matrix itself is fear. The matrix is encoded light on a super low vibration. A vibration so low that the light is fear. The matrix is also layers and layers of low vibratoinal programs to try to limit us as much as it can. It has to be fear because love doesn't try to control people. Love doesn't do control and domination. Only fear does.
Love can't be used for nefarious purposes. And even if someone tried to use it for such purposes they either wouldn't be able to or it would degrade into fear. So the matrix is entirely based on fear. So the antidote to the matrix is love. We need to raise our vibration as much as we can and work together to spread the energy of love all over the place.
I know from experience that love repels negative entities. I've used it to repel them in the astral. It's like sunlight to a vampire to them. So what we need to do is work together and generate as much love as we can. If we overwhelm the matrix with love it's vibration will go up and it's fear based programs will start to degrade.
It will take a lot of love but if we can generate an overwhelming amount of love we can raise the vibration of the matrix and demolish it's fear based programs. We can repel the demiurge and his henchmen with love make love the dominant force on the planet. When the balance shifts from fear to love the matrix will come to an end. And we will have paradise.
Basically, what happened was I was looking for my My Little Pony mask and the only place I hadn't checked was my brother's bedroom. Usually I never go in there as I don't want to catch Covid (responsible citizen here!!) and be exposed to his Russian misinformation and MAGA propaganda. I remembered though that I did have to pop in there the other day to "borrow" money off him after I hit my overdraft after paying for more masks and hand sanitizer. I bulk buy so it's pretty expensive.
Anyway, the chud coughed up the cash (which I used to buy Reddit coins) and though I didn't remember leaving my MLP mask in there I thought I'd better check anyway. Perhaps it had slipped off without me noticing (I always wear AT LEAST ten masks at a time). Well, I opened the door and there he was, kneeling on the floor, bent over, unmasked mouth cupped open in a big 'O' like a surprised goldfish, his fat fireman's hose aiming upwards and spraying a gallon of piss into it.
He was GULPING it down, and when he finished weeing he crawled towards a saucer on the floor that had a yellowy pool of piss in it that stank of Ivermectin horse-paste and he began lapping it up like a thirsty cat. PARCHED AS FUCK, HE WAS, BOYS. I was stood rigid in the doorway, my face-shield fogging up in second-hand shame and embarrassment, fighting the urge to face-palm (I had just touched his door knob and I'm not risking catching the Omicron variant; surface spread is very real and very dangerous).
He was just about finished slurping up the last of his urine when he noticed me out of the corner of his eye. He froze on all fours, droplets of piss spitting down from his chin. His head cocked to the side ever so slightly, his piss soaked jowls aquiver with fear and humiliation, a glint of desperation and self-loathing in his eyes. I could tell he was mortified. An awkward beat of silence passed between us.
"Don't tell Reddit--" he begged, clambering clumsily towards me on all fours, his jeans around his ankles, his tiny, spent cock shrivelling up like a turtle's head retreating back into its shell, his trembling hand grasping for my phone as I slammed the door on him.
I can't believe I'm related to such a Qanon retard.
Long time reader, first time caller...
There were a couple of real gems on my ATL-MSP flight tonight. Dude couldn't keep his mask up and was asked politely (twice) before him and his lady friend got the business and were asked if they wanted to return to the gate.
I watched her chatting on the Delta app most of the flight while pretty much daring the crew to do anything. They got some banter from their neighbors and shaped up. :)
After deplaning they rushed the counter to tattle on the crewmember who "threatened" them.
Is it worth trying to do anything to support the crewmember? Is it necessary? I'm assuming they are pros at dealing with this sort of Neanderthal nonsense by this point, but the idea that somebody might have anything negative occur β beyond having to deal with this trash β isn't sitting well.
It's 12:05 AM where I'm at, I was just about to go to sleep but decided to check out Reddit before I hit the haystack, and I saw the wonderful news.
Pest is finally sentenced to jail. He's away from anyone. He can't hurt anyone else now. I hope jail treats him nice.
Besides that, I wanna make this post to congratulate to the people who kept carrying on, knowing this trial could and would bring up trauma and PTSD. You kept on, wanting to see how it all would end. Well, it's over. High five yourselves, pat yourself on the back, and here's an internet hug from me. You survivors definitely deserve this.
To counterattack something so ugly in the world, all the snarkers came together today and donated to child protection services. I'm proud of r/DuggarSnark, coming together and not letting something like that take over our communities we live in.
Personally for me, I am not a survivor of sexual assault, but coming onto this sub to learn updates and hearing the story of Josh's arrest to being handcuffed out of the courthouse, reading all of these strong people who went through something so horrible and dehumanizing, I am sorry that happened to you. I wish I could take the pain and memory away, but unfortunately, I can't. Just know that some random snarker on the internet is willing to knock out some teeth for you guys.
I hope you are healed from your trauma, and you have found peace and happiness. This is a good day for all the survivors who never got their justice. I'm rooting for you.
I finished antidote by Wu Zhe about 2 years ago and every once in a while I will be thinking about the story and characters as Iβm spacing out. It was the first time I ever read a novel that felt so real. No OP MC and ML, no cold face gong that is only doting of the Shou while treating other people like garbage. Just 2 guys doing their best for each other while also doing their best for those around them. This is what makes me love this novel so much, the characters are so well-written and real.
Itβs so hard to find a similar novel that have such raw characters (with a similar trope and minimal dog food preferably!!) If anyone know something similar please recommend! (´°Μ₯Μ₯Μ₯Μ₯Μ₯Μ₯Μ₯Μ₯ΟΒ°Μ₯Μ₯Μ₯Μ₯Μ₯Μ₯Μ₯Μ₯ο½)
P.s. Iβm reading SaYe by Wu Zhe and itβs really good too!
I hear many people talking about escaping to the metaverse, away from the troubles that plague them in real life...
This idea of solving real-life problems by escaping to the metaverse is a problem itself.
While you're in the metaverse (virtual reality world) your body is somewhere, vulnerable to all kinds of attacks. And when you come out, you'll have to face the reality you're running away from.
The metaverse is not a safe haven from reality. Using it as such will only increase the real problems and threats.
The metaverse should be used for entertainment, enjoyment, and business. It shouldn't be used as an escape from or replacement for the reality of the real world.
My father has started spending a fair bit of time on NextDoor and is convinced that crime is up like 6000% in their neighborhood (it is not, there are statistics + anecdotes, plus my mom rolls her eyes whenever he starts into it. It's a small enough burb where I'd rather not share the name).
I'm trying to explain to him that he's hearing more about things like teenager joyrides in stolen cars which wouldn't have gotten news articles, but...any resources for this??
