Just subtle enough for Dark Tower fans to get it and love it, yet variable enough that said hypothetical son could live without being teased over it. Calling himself Will or Bill and so on.
🌹
I know this is a fairly popular method of weight loss, but based on what I know about fasting physiology, it seems like it should be one of the WORST ways to do this. Doesn’t it take a few days or so for your body to use up all glucose and glycogen stores before ketosis really begins in earnest? It seems counterintuitive to eat normally one day, fast for just long enough to deplete stored sugars but not long enough for any significant fat burning to occur, then eat again so that you replenish your glucose at exactly the wrong time.
I know this is a simplified picture of course, and that there still must be some degree of lipopysis occurring on the fasting days in order to provide the necessary calories for bodily functions, but it still seems to be inefficient in theory.
After Roland got it back from Flagg in the Glass Palace? He used it to show his ka-tet the horrible thing that happened long ago, and then they sleepwalk about 30 miles away from the Palace toward the Borderlands, but the ball itself is never mentioned again. Did Roland somehow lose it when he showed them all that vision, or was it lost during their sleepwalking trek? Or did Flagg take it back while they were all unconscious? I suppose if he packed them a lunch and left a note, he could have taken back the Grapefruit as well. Even though nobody seemed surprised that it was gone.
I’m pretty sure they are, since the one on the right has a colorful plastron and I don’t think I’ve heard of any other species of turtle here (Okanagan Valley, BC Canada). Sadly, we’re losing our wetlands at a ridiculous rate. They were already rare since it’s so dry here, but we’ve been stuck with extreme drought since at least the last two decades. This pond is semi-artificial, but the creek that flows into it is natural.
Even with all those mountain ranges and rock formations, I can’t recall ever hearing about even a small cave in the Monashee/Columbia ranges, including the Okanagan Highland and Thompson Plateau ranges that are closest to the city. Is there simply not much limestone in the area?
This was taken in a semi-artificial pond on the valley floor of the Okanagan, BC. I say semi-artificial because the creek that flows into it is natural, and there may have been an enlargement there originally, but the pond was almost certainly expanded and shaped by people very recently.
Anyway, I think these have to be Western Painted Turtles (I’m not sure there is any other kind here), but I’m not 100% sure. 99.99% maybe, but not 💯!
Even the area burned in 2003, which I was here for, still looks mostly empty compared to how it was before. 23 years should be enough time for tree growth of moderate size. Is it just not happening because the climate is too dry now to support even dry forests?
Robin. Furth. RF. Coincidence, or ka? 😆
O’ Concordia!
When I do get to it on a trip to the Tower, I realize how much better it is than I had originally thought. It has some of the best scenes like when Roland and Eddie talk to Tower and Deepneau, and it also reveals a ton of critical world build that I love but still somehow don’t associate it with that book. It’s still definitely not my overall favorite or anything, and it does have issues that would have benefited from King having more time to write it, but it’s always much better than I think it’s going to be.
Was she the Oracle in the Gunslinger, or was she a creature of the Prim living in Fedic and connected to Susannah’s mind? Or both? Susannah guessed she was the Oracle, mixed with her personality, but later in the book I got the impression that she was different from that one.
Other than not being in the Keystone world or All-World, of course. Correct me if I’m wrong, but from what we’re told, this only seems to happen when the “death” is sudden and violent, yet you were wholly intact before. At least that’s how it is with Jake and Callahan (his first time). At first I figured that death is death, and anyone should be able to do this…but then I realized that Richard Sayre tells Callahan that giving him AIDS will “take him out of the game forever, in this world and all the others”. This seems to imply that dying from disease in general won’t open those doorways.
Has there ever been any sort of confirmation of this?
I certainly can’t.
Even though I don’t often watch the newer episodes, I still miss him. I think getting rid of him was a terrible decision and a knee-jerk reaction to the whining of a single individual who nobody even remembers. The Simpsons is a satire that has always featured stereotypes. When everyone is stereotyped, it allows for thoughtful consideration of these stereotypes and their effect on society. It’s like how South Park makes everyone a potential target, so there’s no highlighting of racial (or other) differences. Apu wasn’t even stereotyped in a negative way like Groundskeeper Willie for example usually is. All this does is teach people that stereotyping is only okay if you’re white. I know this isn’t exactly a hot take, but it really annoys me.
“Like the slick eye of a monster that grew outside God’s shadow.”
So simple, yet so evocative. King is so good at that.
It makes sense of course that his worst memory would be the day he lost Lily’s friendship. However, it seems just as likely that it could’ve been the day she was killed. Of course he wasn’t actually there to see it, but the moment he found out about it could very well have been worse for him than the memory we saw. Or else it could’ve been the memory we eventually saw when he found out that Voldemort was targeting Lily and he begged Dumbledore to protect her. It also makes sense that a memory like that would be one he absolutely had to hide from Harry at all costs in case he broke through his defenses somehow.
At least with the memory we saw, it looks to an observer like the painful part is the bullying and humiliation in front of the crowd and not the end result of it. There’s plausible deniability there. But can you imagine if Harry HAD seen his worst memory to be learning about Lily’s death? Not only would Harry and Snape have pretty much the same worst memory, it would obviously have altered the story a ridiculous amount. In fact, it would be so detrimental to the final outcome, I wouldn’t be surprised if Dumbledore had Harry Obliviated after seeing it rather than trying to explain it.
No wonder Snape was so furious with him. HE may be a perfect Occlumens, but Harry practically TRIED to connect to Voldemort mentally during his fifth year. If he’d have seen Snape so despondent over Lily’s death…. (Actually, forget the “practically”. He absolutely DID try to see into Voldemort’s mind lol)
S15E01
…if I should start with The Hobbit or not? I know it was published before the main story, but that it wasn’t fully developed until The Fellowship of the Ring. Is it still worth it to start with that one, or would it be easier to get into it if I read the main books first and then The Hobbit after that? Thanks!
Edit: Hobbit, it is! Thanks, all!
It’s pretty clear that the names for the days are different in Mid-World (at least we know one is called Sanday and that Saturday isn’t a thing since it’s a password the Tet hasn’t heard in that world. I think there’s at least one more unfamiliar day named in one or two of the books). Yet I just noticed something interesting; in WotC when Callahan is introduced in the Prologue, he says “Save it for Sunday”.
Obviously as a priest from a version of our world, it’s clear why he would say that. But it seems to imply that either Sunday is one day that IS shared between the worlds, or else Callahan managed to get them to adopt the name. Maybe he just refuses to use their name for the equivalent day of the week. Either way, it’s the only time I recall any one of the familiar days of the week being used in that world.
I know this isn’t exactly a monumental plot point, but it’s just another interesting thing I noticed during yet another trip to the Tower! There’s always something new to pick up, no matter how many times I go there.
I know it’s a common take that it jumps from the climax to the epilogue way too quickly. I’m specifically talking about exploring the effects of his demise. Does everyone believe it right away this time? What happens to the ministry? We know nothing about what happened to “Magic is Might” the next day or week or month. We don’t see what happens to the Malfoys. We don’t even see how the trio is coping. If all the books were written as children’s literature the way the first two were, going from fight to finish that quickly would be fine, but it really left a sense of being unfulfilled for me after so many years of following the series.
What would you have liked to see after the final battle?
S12E02