Hmm. Does anyone know the Schwarzschild radius for a pumpkin?

OH MY GOD!!!

Well, hopefully you don't teach anything science-related at a major university, is all I can say.

You missed Quinto also playing original timeline Young Spock. :P Hey, why not?

It tied together well for me when I read the book. The Radch weren't just expansionist, they were obsessed with the idea that they were the most civilized — in fact, the only truly civilized — human culture. Their vanity and arrogance fit in well with that. Tea has a long history of being associated with…

And I couldn't tell why anyone wanted to make a movie out of that entirely mediocre Ender's Game book, or what the big deal was about Starship Troopers. Meh.

This is one of the reasons that "sex" and "gender" should be two different words with two different meanings, despite all protest against it. Breq/One Esk/Justice of Toren is perfectly capable of distinguishing the sexes apart — in fact, near the very start of the book, she easily identifies that someone is physically…

Having read both "Fire Upon the Deep" and this book, I have a lot of trouble seeing how they deal with "the same issues." Both good sci-fi books, and they do both take us into a non-human mind's perspective on things, but... I don't see all that many other obvious parallels.

I have to admit the last semester of your class sounds pretty awesome. :)

So... The Drow are supposed to be a female-dominated culture, but instead of, say, taking the lead and just asking Newman out on a date, Gwen still feels the need to hint at her feelings for him obscurely while waiting for him to make the first move, and even sets up a traditional fake "rescue" for herself to make…

So that's why constructing the "Pyramids of Giza" great wonder in Civilization III puts a granary in all your cities... I honestly would not be surprised if it was put into the game specifically as a subtle reference to this obsolete theory. :P

I think there's so many caveats there that Marcel's comment still holds true. "If he puts a ton of work into scrubbing his online identity from existence, then maybe, someday, he can eventually get some sort of job, just not in his field." That... may not be quite "ruined forever and ever," but it's fairly close,…

Your proofreaders are excellent — couldn't find any grammatical errors or insults in your post. :P

Fair enough, sir or madam, fair enough.

I read the first book quite a bit after it was reviewed on io9, but I'm very glad that I did get to it in the end. It was a very lovely book, with a very unique, but quite believable and well crafted, protagonist, and some very interesting ideas. It felt personal, more than anything, in a very pleasing way — you…

As a tea-lover, I have zero problems with tea being prominent in the books. :P

I didn't get that impression at all. For a start, the "cold planet" and the "planet with alien structures" were, uh, the same planet. Which just by itself sort of undermines your point. Then there was the planet where most of the action in Breq's past took place, where we saw a lot of variety just in one city, with…

Hmm, I want to dismiss fratboy's (appropriate name! :P) post, but promote yours... Dang. I wonder if Kinja will handle that?

I wonder how many people would fully agree with your statement about the military, but would at the same time scream "sexism!" at this article? :P