Tassie Dave’s Comments (group member since Mar 27, 2011)

Tassie Dave’s comments from the The Sword and Laser group.

Rob wrote: "Trike wrote: "Rob wrote: "TBH, I don't care."

This is why the clockists win."

I'm a programmer. If I had my way I'd not only end DST, but everyone in the world would use UTC. Converting date/time..."

Try living in a country that has 5 time zones ;-)

Rick says, essentially, what I said 5+ years ago. We, the long time, posters try to not spoil, and use the spoiler tags, but newer members, and even some older members, will forget from time to time.

It is easier to change your own habits, than to change a whole group. Manually going to the S&L Goodreads page and steering clear of the book discussion section is the easiest way to avoid spoilers.

While you get continue to get the digest email, seeing spoilers is going to be a risk you have to manage.

No shocks on the Sword side of the brackets. They were the 2 standout books of those 8.

I'd be happy to read any of the 4 books still left.

Seth wrote: "Just got the advanced reader for the new Murderbot novel (it's good) and the cover says that Tor is planning an All Systems Red giveaway to promote it. I don't see it mentioned anywhere on Tor.com ..."

They've already given it away for free once, so a second time wouldn't surprise. Another reason to be on their book club newsletter.

https://ebookclub.tor.com/

Richard wrote: "I like the following one. The government had a plan to introduce hippos into the bayou, what if it worked? Kind of like the city that tried to remove a whale with explosives.
River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey for $1.99 at Amazon Link."

I love Trike's review of it:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

My review of Trike's review:
I laughed, I cried, I guffawed at his floccinaucinihilipilificative descriptions of its shortcomings
5 Stars

I finished the book pick, which I enjoyed.

I'm now reading Autonomous by Annalee Newitz which is a book I've been meaning to read since they were interviewed on the show a few years ago.

It's fun so far. How could it not be with pirates and robots ;-)

Trike wrote: "Tassie Dave wrote: "Happy 60th Trike :-)"

You ain’t far off, whippersnapper."

June of 2022 for me :-? Which is way, way too close.

Pretty much. They left a bit out which may be explored later, like the back story of the Locke family's ancestors and the origin of the keys.

But they finished the main storyline from the comics.

You can't be a lord or a baron. You live in a classless society.

Like us aussies, all you Americans have no class ;-)

The fact you are telling us it's your birthday leads me to believe it's a big one.

Happy 60th Trike :-)



Because you are "obviously" older than me :-P

That's why I added that my analogies weren't perfect.

Even illegal immigrants in the US have basic humanitarian rights, including emergency medical aid, which the Ghouls don't have.

I know that illegals here, in the US and Europe aren't always afforded those basic humanitarian rights, but they at least have the facade of rights, and people fighting for their rights, which the ghouls don't.

Big Six (used to be 7) are the mega multi-national companies that run the earth and have replaced governments.

A Ghoul is a stateless individual living on the fringe of society. They aren't residents or citizens of the country they live in and have none of the inherent rights of citizenship.

A resident has limited rights to medical treatment and to work in a country.

A citizen has full rights.

If you had to use modern day US analogies (These are not perfect, but close):
A ghoul is an illegal immigrant.
A resident is an immigrant with a Green card.
A citizen is what we'd class a citizen today. Full rights.

Without any foreknowledge of spoilers mentioned in this thread. The first confirmation that Dietz is female doesn't come until the last chapter, at about 98%

Lee wrote: "I hate to be the dumb American in the group but you guys are really missing the magic of the real March madness it's unlike anything else in sports American or global, yes it undermines the regular..."

The Brits do have a similar contest. The FA cup is a knockout like March Madness.

It is open to 736 teams, through 10 Levels of Soccer. It is unusual for it not to be won by a team in the top division (now called Premier League), but it has happened a few times.

There have been some massive upsets in FA cup history. Little known clubs beating the over paid professionals from the big end of town.

It's only 7 years since Wigan Athletic won the FA cup. In a year they finished 18th in the Premier League and got relegated back to the next lower division.

Comparing The Witcher to Xena is a bit harsh. It's slightly better than that.

Hey Ciri ;-)

I am surprised that didn't set my iPad off. It's weird what she responds too.

I like the simplicity of the brackets. Preferential voting is great for deciding political elections, but is too complicated for a fun little way to decide which book we read ;-)

If there was an earlier reveal in the book, I missed it. I'm 61% in and there hasn't been a reveal yet, and I'm looking for it.

Phil On The Hill wrote: "I think we should have a Sensible September, where voting has rounds, but just kicks the bottom two off. I so hate this process. I appreciate it is some bizarre US sport league/voting system (bit l..."

I liken it to any knockout sporting contest. The brackets work the same as the last 16 of The World Cup, The FA cup, Wimbledon, etc Either win or go home ;-)

Iain wrote: "Molly wrote: "I read a physical copy and didn’t know the gender of the author. I was leaning male at first just because she mentioned playing rugby, which is a pretty male-dominated sport. And mili..."

Women's rugby is also big in Australia. The girls don't get the TV coverage the boys get, but it is becoming more popular. Especially Rugby Sevens which has a world tour and is also an Olympic sport.

I prefer women's aussie rules, which has blown up in the last 3 years and has much more TV coverage and press than women's rugby.

Iain wrote: "I saw the spoiler on the feeds before it became an issue.... Grrrr"

I was "spoiled" the same way, but I don't mind being spoiled on that, as her gender hasn't been relevant to the story, so far (I'm 35% in).

Is the fact that Dietz's gender isn't mentioned early on, then is revealed she is female supposed to be a plot twist? Which I doubt, as we have male and female recruits. Male and female squad leaders and males and females in every major role in the book.

We've had bisexual protagonists before.

Aster in An Unkindness of Ghosts is both bisexual and intersex.

Patricia in All the Birds in the Sky is bisexual. Charlie Jane Anders in interviews wishes she had made that clearer in the book.

I'm sure I've missed 1 or 2. I know one of the main POV characters from Cloud Atlas was bisexual and the society of The Traitor Baru Cormorant were polygamous and bisexual. I can't remember if the main protagonist was or not.