Noblehunter

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• Commented on Abolish the monarchy!
  Rome had stopped using dictators for quite awhile when Sulla adopted the term. The Republic had evolved beyond the need for dictators, probably because emergencies moved away from Rome and Italy as they expanded so there was time for the...
• Commented on Abolish the monarchy!
  I like the idea of something that elevates the profile of the Cabinet. In Canada, people can get too tied up with the Prime Minister and the rest of the government loses visibility. It'd help diminish the personal cult side...
• Commented on PSA: The Delirium Brief
  Eater of soles. I died....
• Commented on Facts of Life and Death
  If I had any real political savvy, I'd push for Canada to allow any and all migrants from the UK if things get as bad as they could. I figure the pond is enough of a barrier to keep the...
• Commented on Suspense is the key
  I get the impression that one function of the IMR advice is to prevent the author from committing a bigger mistake, wherein nothing happens in the opening pages. Sure, it has its own failure modes but at least it's not...
• Commented on Reality is broken
  It's not quite as bad as that since that list excludes the "side" novels which have been re-integrated into the main story. It's still pretty frustrating since the in-universe time has advanced by only like two months since ART despite...
• Commented on Reality is broken
  OGH's brain must be a very odd place right now. Not only does he have to satirize the current level of stupid, he needs to get ahead of any stupid that happens between now and publication....
• Commented on What are you reading this summer?
  Yep....
• Commented on What are you reading this summer?
  You know what I'm not reading, though? The Delirium Brief. sulks Tor.com just announced the acquisition. Congratulations :)...
• Commented on What are you reading this summer?
  As soon as I get home, Four Roads Cross by Max Gladstone. I'm pretty sure that's sufficient explanation but it also means we've got the five books of the Craft Sequence in chronological order. happy bounce...
• Commented on What are you reading this summer?
  The entire Laundry Files. It turns out my library's other audiobook service has them up to the Annihilation Score. Elle Newlands is fabulous, and Gideon Emery is good too. Though I'm amused to realize I'd been "hearing" Bob's voice in...
• Commented on The Nightmare Stacks: US Launch
  Oops. I'm used to a quicker turn around because the authors I follow closely tend to be late or have other delays baked in....
• Commented on The Nightmare Stacks: US Launch
  Did OGH read [i]The Fifth Season[/i] and go, "hmmmm, how can I do that?" Please note, I'm only referring to the ending. If the rest of [i]The Fifth Season[/i] has been used for inspiration, I don't want to know....
• Commented on Crib Sheet: The Annihilation Score
  I've been waiting to see how CASE NIGHTMARE GREEN shakes out since the first Laundry Files story I read (I think it was the Christmas one over at Tor.com). Now that it's here, I really wish I had the old...
• Commented on A taste of nightmares to come
  It certainly says something about the state of the world that a trip to the Laundry-verse is soothing. Well, maybe just the first chapter or two....
• Commented on A purely theoretical dilemma
  If understand the model you're using, the main distinction between interpersonal interactions and thought processes would be sheer efficiency. My construct supposes that inputs can be routed to another instance of the hive mind to avoid faulty cognitive processes. That...
• Commented on A purely theoretical dilemma
  The easiest way to conceptualize it is the typical dualism which is certainly a fonder imagining than a likely one. The problem with NLP, CT, or drugs as a methodology for corrective action is that suggest permanent changes of the...
• Commented on A purely theoretical dilemma
  Would a hive mind let you borrow other people's wet-ware though? If your brain is freaking out because of reasons, could you use someone else's brain to think with? There are times when I wish I could borrow a neurotypical...
• Commented on FAQ: The Laundry Files--series timeline
  June! Sweet! Though too soon for me to swing a trip across the pond. Damn it. Though I'm not sure I should be happy about it or not. I mean, poor Leeds. I'm also concerned that you don't consider the...
• Commented on Holding pattern (part N ...)
  My guess would be uncanny valley effect. Almost right is more jarring than completely different. I don't even blink at wormholes or energy weapons or resurrection boxes. But if you show me an elite military institution using VHS tapes I'm...
• Commented on Burnout, creativity, and the tyranny of production schedules
  I'll have to arrange for the people I know in the UK to send me copies....
• Commented on Burnout, creativity, and the tyranny of production schedules
  Sanction! Did you get Pinion and Cleave in the UK, too? [/eBear fanboy]...
• Commented on Silence this week ...
  An entire society "working towards the Furher?" Ouch. And Tanya Huff beat LKH by 2 years with Blood Price in 1991 in the Urban Fantasy with Strong Female Protagonist and Vampire Boyfriend genre....
• Commented on A world-building puzzler
  I find it hard to speculate about this since any society facing similar constraints wouldn't leave much evidence about how they coped. Almost by definition, if there's evidence then it's not applicable. Though from the examples up-thread we know they...
• Commented on Clickbait spasm: 14 gizmos I used in 2015
  Minor nuclear exchange?...
• Commented on All that is old is new again (heavy politics dance remix)
  It's been hilarious watching the UK press tiptoe around the libel and slander rules. I've never seen so much allegedly, claimed and reported in one spot....
• Commented on The present in deep history
  By "frame" I meant to imply that it was actually incorrect, especially using it in conjunction with "feudal." As you pointed out, it doesn't generalize worth shit. Even absolutist, barring its use as a reference to specific rhetoric about rulership,...
• Commented on The present in deep history
  Yeah. Chalk it up to a failure of imagination. Though I think it would be hard for a 30th century editor to avoid baking in a certain kind of superiority when talking about 19th and 20th polities. Future us will...
• Commented on The present in deep history
  Medicine. Western medicine in 1700 hadn't really changed since the medieval period. There were seeds of a proper science of medicine but it didn't show results until the big urban hospitals enabled proper empirical experience. I'm not sure the meat-eating...
• Commented on Bad puppies, no awards
  Intermittently. I mean his characters aren't totally blank slates of competence and moral rectitude (or lack thereof for his villains) but characterization is definitely not a priority. I guess they're just human enough to give the main conflict some weight...