IntenseDebate - eruonna

6 years ago @ Mark Reads - Mark Reads 'Night Watc... · 1 reply · +12 points

"Carcer" is Latin for prison. It is also the name of a sign in divinatory geomancy. Here is a description from Wikipedia. I don't think it is particularly a spoiler, but rot13 anyway, just to be cautious.

Gur svther vf gur bhgyvar bs na rapybfher, n yvax va n punva, be cevfba pryy. Vg vf hfhnyyl onq va fvghngvbaf naq qrabgrf qrynlf, frgonpxf, be ovaqvatf. Nfgebybtvpnyyl vg vf nffbpvngrq jvgu Pncevpbea naq Fnghea ergebtenqr; vgf vaare naq bhgre ryrzrag vf rnegu. Vg ersref gb vzzbovyvgl, naq nyfb gurerol fgeratgu. Qrcraqvat ba gur dhrfgvba vg pbhyq vaqvpngr n erfgevpgvba be n fbhepr bs jvyycbjre. Vg vf trarenyyl hasnibhenoyr, ohg pna or snibhenoyr va dhrfgvbaf vaibyivat fgnovyvgl be frphevgl. Vgf cynargnel vagryyvtrapr vf Ntvry naq vgf fcvevg vf Mnmry; vg vf nffbpvngrq jvgu gur qrvgvrf Fnrgheahf naq Irfgn, naq gur natryf Pnffvry naq Unanry. Vg vf nffbpvngrq jvgu gur xarrf naq fxryrgny flfgrz bs gur obql.

Various other interpretations are available on the web, with various levels of applicability to the book.

6 years ago @ Mark Reads - Mark Reads 'The Scienc... · 0 replies · +6 points

I think it would be accurate to say that the primary cause of the tides is a second-order effect of the moon's gravity.

6 years ago @ Mark Reads - Mark Reads 'The Scienc... · 0 replies · +6 points

All of Mark's videos have low volume for me (I have to turn it up all the way to hear). But this one seems even quieter than usual.

8 years ago @ Mark Reads - Mark Reads 'Lords and ... · 4 replies · +9 points

"'I was young and foolish then.'"

"'Well? You're old and foolish now.'"

Calls to mind the lines from They Might Be Giants' Lucky Ball and Chain: "I was young and foolish then / I feel old and foolish now."

Possibly not notable, but there is another possible TMBG annotation in Reaper Man. (Azrael's clock has a millennium hand.)

Sbhy Byr Eba jvyy ersrerapr gung yngre. Naq gurer jvyy or n ersrerapr va Fbhy Zhfvp.

8 years ago @ Mark Reads - Mark Reads 'Lords and ... · 2 replies · +13 points

I don't know. I feel like anyone who was reading a lot of sf at the time this book came out (and not necessarily folklore or mythology) would be generally familiar with the trope of elves/fairies as alien and inimical to humans. The Tolkienian elf tropes were/are active enough that it reads as a subversion, but not an unfamiliar one. Even in Tolkien the elves can appear sinister. Look at the behavior of the wood-elves in The Hobbit or the stories the Rohirrim tell about Lothlorien and Galadriel.

8 years ago @ Mark Reads - Mark Reads 'Lords and ... · 0 replies · +8 points

I know. This was my first Witches book, and when the sign was mentioned, I figured it was something introduced in one of the earlier books. It just seems to fit.

8 years ago @ Mark Reads - Mark Reads 'Lords and ... · 0 replies · +8 points

[This book] Vg vf fhttrfgrq ng gur raq, jvgu gur havpbea, gung nygubhtu Wnfba unf gb fubr nalguvat ur vf oebhtug, gung qbrfa'g rkgraq gb npghnyyl unezvat gur navzny.

8 years ago @ Mark Reads - Mark Reads 'Small Gods... · 0 replies · +1 points

Your second paragraph is very much what I wanted to say.

8 years ago @ Mark Reads - Mark Reads 'Small Gods... · 0 replies · +9 points

Re: 512 commandments. [this book] Vg'f n cbjre bs gjb, fb unf rnpu cebcurg qbhoyrq gur ahzore? V guvax gur ahzoref jbex bhg vs Bffbel yrsg gjb.

8 years ago @ Mark Reads - Mark Reads 'Witches Ab... · 0 replies · +12 points

Apparently its use in the modern sense only dates back to the early 20th century. (It's from an Old English word referring to any relative.)

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