Alicornutopia

@jalapeno_dude: Ha, I thought the same thing at the discussion of quicksort. It's got a sort of elegance to its efficiency (even though it's actually less efficient than some O(n^2) algs for small n; the better library implementations will switch to another algorithm when n is less than 10 or so for the current sub-list) but it's hard to describe as having any "beautiful" characteristics other than its efficiency, and it is not the only O(n log(n)) sort algorithm in the world. Not that it matters to the story at all, really. I was amused/pleased that Quendi had managed to produce applied math / theoretical computer science to such an advanced degree, though.

Of course, none of that is what I came here to say. What I came here to say is:

<GIGANTIC GRIN> Gold Bellflowers!

Having gold bellflowers makes me want her to meet some peal at some point, perhaps in a different sandbox.

DanielH wrote:Also, I am catching up on some old stuff. Is Lilith supposed to be the one who summoned the living-furniture angel?

That was indeed my intent, though I have not actually cleared it with anyone.

Another piece of intent I should maybe clarify is that I would like that to turn into a thread with someone but I have not yet actually found someone to thread it with, so The Position Is Open.

"Combat only works if a commander can trust that his people - or hers, I suppose, in your world - will obey orders."

She should tell him about that new series of gender-neutral pronouns.

There's a band in the corner, playing a style of music he can recognize. Some things never change.

Jazz. Jazz never changes.

I don't see the point of using quicksort when implemented on wetware. It's not like we get benefits from an in-place sort the way a computer does, so mergesort is far more natural and just as efficient.

What if you're not implementing it on wetware? What if you're implementing it on, say, parchment, where wasting space is disrespectful to the source of your writing materials? Not that you can exactly do an in-place sort in a non-erasable medium, but you can do something close.

jalapeno_dude wrote:

There's a band in the corner, playing a style of music he can recognize. Some things never change.

Jazz. Jazz never changes.

uh the style is technically called "jizz" in other canon

but that's dumb and i'm not going to use that

Really? That seems odd. I would not have expected that particular vowel substitution to have caught on with anybody who wanted the SWEU to be taken seriously.

On an unrelated note, I like the convention used in the world turned upside down to denote untranslated English words. I first saw it (although slightly different changes) in The Hero with a Thousand Chances, and it seems like the best way to do handle the issue.

On yet a third unrelated note, do Powers have free will? Or is there any other reason to expect that Morgoth has somebody available with free will? Either Loki can demonstrate her free will by breaking an oath, or oaths don’t work correctly in Enemy-caused hallucinations. Either possibility seems like it could be useful for distinguishing such a hallucination from reality.