TheRtRevKaiser's recent activity

  1. Comment on Book recommendation request: Fantasy book about university similar to The Name of the Wind? in ~books

    TheRtRevKaiser
    Link Parent
    I hope this doesn't come across as rude, but HPMoR is the most infuriatingly smug thing I've read since The Fountainhead. It's reasonably well written for a fanfic but I've rarely read anything...

    I hope this doesn't come across as rude, but HPMoR is the most infuriatingly smug thing I've read since The Fountainhead. It's reasonably well written for a fanfic but I've rarely read anything that made me actively dislike the narrator more. 😅

    1 vote

  2. Comment on Book recommendation request: Fantasy book about university similar to The Name of the Wind? in ~books

    TheRtRevKaiser
    Link Parent
    Oh Man, I had forgotten about the Robert Asprin books. How do they hold up? I read them ages ago around the same age I was reading Piers Anthony, and I think most of us know how those books aged...

    Oh Man, I had forgotten about the Robert Asprin books. How do they hold up? I read them ages ago around the same age I was reading Piers Anthony, and I think most of us know how those books aged...

  3. Comment on Book recommendation request: Fantasy book about university similar to The Name of the Wind? in ~books

    TheRtRevKaiser
    Link Parent
    WoT also dumps the "magic school" vibes fairly quickly (well...quickly for WoT) so if that's the primary thing OP is looking for I'm not sure WoT is really going to scratch the itch. I do think...

    You won't hit the White Tower stuff in earnest until book 2.

    WoT also dumps the "magic school" vibes fairly quickly (well...quickly for WoT) so if that's the primary thing OP is looking for I'm not sure WoT is really going to scratch the itch. I do think it's a series that any fan of Fantasy should at least make an attempt to finish, though.

    3 votes

  4. Comment on Book recommendation request: Fantasy book about university similar to The Name of the Wind? in ~books

    TheRtRevKaiser
    Link Parent
    I love Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrel, but I've found it to be a surprisingly divisive book. My mom and sister are both voracious readers and have read a lot of SFF, and both bounced off of this...

    I love Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrel, but I've found it to be a surprisingly divisive book. My mom and sister are both voracious readers and have read a lot of SFF, and both bounced off of this book so hard. On the other hand, I've read a lot of the same stuff as them but I agree with you, I think it's one of the best fantasy books ever written.

    1 vote

  5. Comment on Book recommendation request: Fantasy book about university similar to The Name of the Wind? in ~books

    TheRtRevKaiser
    Link Parent
    Ah, I knew I was missing something. Mother of Learning is pretty cool, I agree.

    Ah, I knew I was missing something. Mother of Learning is pretty cool, I agree.

  6. Comment on Book recommendation request: Fantasy book about university similar to The Name of the Wind? in ~books

    TheRtRevKaiser
    Link Parent
    Can't disagree with your take on The Magicians. There are things I appreciated about those books, but god DAMN were they depressing and miserable to read.

    Can't disagree with your take on The Magicians. There are things I appreciated about those books, but god DAMN were they depressing and miserable to read.

    4 votes

  7. Comment on Book recommendation request: Fantasy book about university similar to The Name of the Wind? in ~books

    TheRtRevKaiser
    Link Parent
    Too late, my thunder has been stolen and I'm devastated. /s My memory of the Valdemar books is very fuzzy. I did reread the first trilogy, a lot of which also takes place at the Collegium, about a...

    Too late, my thunder has been stolen and I'm devastated. /s

    My memory of the Valdemar books is very fuzzy. I did reread the first trilogy, a lot of which also takes place at the Collegium, about a year ago and I made it through the books but it was a slog, the gender/sexual politics in those books get pretty deeply weird at times. My sister has a lot of fondness for them, though, so I wanted to reread some of them. I didn't make it any further than the first three this time around, so later books might be better, maybe?

    2 votes

  8. Comment on Book recommendation request: Fantasy book about university similar to The Name of the Wind? in ~books

    TheRtRevKaiser
    (edited )
    Link
    A few possibilities: A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin - This isn't exclusively about a magical university, but a large part of the book takes place at one, and it's one of the...

    A few possibilities:

    1. A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin - This isn't exclusively about a magical university, but a large part of the book takes place at one, and it's one of the foundational works of the modern Fantasy genre.
    2. The Magicians by Lev Grossman - This is probably only going to work for you if you've got a reasonable tolerance for nihilism/dark stuff. It gets fairly bleak at times. There's a lot of Magic College stuff, but it's a bit of a deconstruction of the whole "magic school" trope along with other fantasy tropes, so it may not have the same feeling. Still a very good series if those things don't bother you.
    3. The "Unseen University" books by Terry Pratchett - These are silly but shouldn't be seen as just comedy. Pratchett has a way of creating compelling narratives and grappling with big issues while keeping things fun and funny. The books in the Unseen University series are: The Colour of Magic, The Light Fantastic, Sourcery, Eric, Interesting Times, The Last Continent and Unseen Academicals. These aren't the very best of Pratchett in my opinion, but that still means they're better than 98% of fantasy out there.
    4. Mage Errant series by John Bierce - If you liked Arcane Ascension I can just about guarantee you'll like these, and the series just wrapped up last year so it's complete. This is in the same sort of progression fantasy/litRPG subgenre as AA but IMO Bierce is a more compelling writer. The first book is called Into the Labyrinth.

    I know there are others that I'm missing - I think a lot of Mercedes Lackey's books take place at the Collegium, which is the magical college in her Valdemar setting, but IMO those books have not aged particularly well. If I think of any others I'll edit this comment.

    8 votes

  9. Comment on "Americans get screwed because they can’t read" in ~society

    TheRtRevKaiser
    Link Parent
    So this is probably a result of a common style of writing in news journalism called the "Inverted Pyramid" where you frontload the most important information (the "who, what, where, when, and why)...

    I always feel bad about not finishing news articles, but they drift off on tangents, I have things to do, and I lose patience.

    So this is probably a result of a common style of writing in news journalism called the "Inverted Pyramid" where you frontload the most important information (the "who, what, where, when, and why) in the opening paragraphs of the article, follow with details of the story, and end with background. It means that less critical information can be placed below the fold (in the days of actual newspapers) or edited out for space if needed. So it's not all that odd that you might lose interest in a news story written in this style before you get to the end, because you've probably gotten all of the pertinent info already (unless the writer has "buried the lede", i.e. placed the most critical piece of information further down the story).

    13 votes

  10. Comment on Where does your username come from? (Following up on last year's thread) in ~tildes

    TheRtRevKaiser
    Link
    I started using a version of this username (but with numbers at the end, because it was the late 90s) when I was playing Breath of Fire 3. I thought the Kaiser dragon form was the coolest and so I...

    I started using a version of this username (but with numbers at the end, because it was the late 90s) when I was playing Breath of Fire 3. I thought the Kaiser dragon form was the coolest and so I used it on an IRC server that I would hang out with friends on. It stuck, and probably decade ago I decided I wanted to use something that didn't have any numbers but would still be unique and easy to register on new sites. I decided to use a Style to make it less likely to be taken, and settled on "The Right Reverend", which is the form of address used by bishops in Anglican (and Catholic, I think) churches, because I thought it was funny.

    3 votes

  11. Comment on Where does your username come from? (Following up on last year's thread) in ~tildes

    TheRtRevKaiser
    Link Parent
    Is yours difficult to get on new sites? Seems like it would be.

    Is yours difficult to get on new sites? Seems like it would be.

  12. Comment on What are some good YouTube channels/shows/series related to travel? in ~travel

    TheRtRevKaiser
    Link
    My personal fav is GeoWizard. He plays a lot of Geoguesser on his channel, but the best videos are his travel videos. He has a few series, like his How Not to Travel where he hitchhikes his way...

    My personal fav is GeoWizard. He plays a lot of Geoguesser on his channel, but the best videos are his travel videos. He has a few series, like his How Not to Travel where he hitchhikes his way around various places, his "straight line missions" where he attempts to walk across various regions in a perfectly straight line, and my personal favorite his "Tenner in my Pocket" videos, where he sets out with ten pounds in his pocket and hikes across the English countryside he runs out of money, relying on foraging (he's not bear grylls) or just random encounters with strangers. In most of his videos he puts a lot of focus on interacting with people, and there are a lot of surprisingly fun and charming encounters.

    2 votes

  13. Comment on The US has a cloned sheep contraband problem in ~science

    TheRtRevKaiser
    Link Parent
    Oh wow, yeah that's really messed up. I grew up around hunters - never really got the appeal myself though - but none of them were really the trophy hunting type. Mostly seemed to be an excuse to...

    Oh wow, yeah that's really messed up. I grew up around hunters - never really got the appeal myself though - but none of them were really the trophy hunting type. Mostly seemed to be an excuse to get outside (and spend money on gear) and maybe occasionally put some meat in the freezer.

    3 votes

  14. Comment on The US has a cloned sheep contraband problem in ~science

    TheRtRevKaiser
    Link Parent
    Huh, I'm curious why there's a market for breeding white-tailed deer. They're not exactly rare, at least not where I'm from...

    Huh, I'm curious why there's a market for breeding white-tailed deer. They're not exactly rare, at least not where I'm from...

    4 votes

  15. Comment on Dwayne Johnson became the world’s biggest movie star. Now he’s trying to disappear. in ~movies

    TheRtRevKaiser
    Link Parent
    He definitely wasn't always a heel, he had both heel and face turns, but he was absolutely at his best as a heel, which is what makes it kind of strange that he refuses to play villains. He's...

    He definitely wasn't always a heel, he had both heel and face turns, but he was absolutely at his best as a heel, which is what makes it kind of strange that he refuses to play villains. He's really good at playing the cocky, charming asshole.

    11 votes

  16. Comment on Elon Musk now says it's 'pointless' to build a $25,000 Tesla for human drivers in ~transport

    TheRtRevKaiser
    Link Parent
    The rate at which techbros keep accidentally inventing trains but worse has been a source of amusement to me for a while now.

    This almost always comes back to "if one lane of the freeway was some kind of rail, it'd be better"

    The rate at which techbros keep accidentally inventing trains but worse has been a source of amusement to me for a while now.

    19 votes

  17. Comment on A proposal for fixing the US healthcare system - discussion in ~health

    TheRtRevKaiser
    Link Parent
    A huge number of other types of practices are being bought by or are merging into larger for profit firms, too. I read this article a while back about private equity in Anesthesiology, and I...

    A huge number of other types of practices are being bought by or are merging into larger for profit firms, too. I read this article a while back about private equity in Anesthesiology, and I believe it's also happening elsewhere.

    1 vote

  18. Comment on Recommend some new(ish) metal bands in ~music

    TheRtRevKaiser
    Link Parent
    Beartooth is awesome, but if OP didn't like like mid-aughts *core then I suspect they're not going to vibe with Beartooth. Although I guess it probably depends on what kinds of core bands turned...

    Beartooth is awesome, but if OP didn't like like mid-aughts *core then I suspect they're not going to vibe with Beartooth. Although I guess it probably depends on what kinds of core bands turned them off in the first place, it wasn't exactly a monolithic genre even then.

    3 votes

  19. Comment on Georgia voter cancellation site in ~society

    TheRtRevKaiser
    Link Parent
    Thats...not how I'm reading that law. It just says that a write-in candidate has to file their intention to run as a write-in before 7 days after the end of the qualifying period. So you couldn't...

    Thats...not how I'm reading that law. It just says that a write-in candidate has to file their intention to run as a write-in before 7 days after the end of the qualifying period. So you couldn't elect someone via write-in who hadn't filed, but someone who is running a write-in campaign is fine. Although it looks like they don't allow a candidate who ran in a primary to file as a write-in candidate in the general election, so that would exclude something like Lisa Murkowski's write-in campaign in 2010.

    11 votes

  20. Comment on What small questions do you have that aren’t worth a full topic on their own? in ~talk

    TheRtRevKaiser
    Link Parent
    Just make sure you don't mix the two up...

    Just make sure you don't mix the two up...

    1 vote