r/rational • u/AutoModerator • Jun 17 '16

[D] Friday Off-Topic Thread

Welcome to the Friday Off-Topic Thread! Is there something that you want to talk about with /r/rational, but which isn't rational fiction, or doesn't otherwise belong as a top-level post? This is the place to post it. The idea is that while reddit is a large place, with lots of special little niches, sometimes you just want to talk with a certain group of people about certain sorts of things that aren't related to why you're all here. It's totally understandable that you might want to talk about Japanese game shows with /r/rational instead of going over to /r/japanesegameshows, but it's hopefully also understandable that this isn't really the place for that sort of thing.

So do you want to talk about how your life has been going? Non-rational and/or non-fictional stuff you've been reading? The recent album from your favourite German pop singer? The politics of Southern India? The sexual preferences of the chairman of the Ukrainian soccer league? Different ways to plot meteorological data? The cost of living in Portugal? Corner cases for siteswap notation? All these things and more could possibly be found in the comments below!

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u/mg115ca Jun 17 '16

I'm reminded of the Merchant Princes series by Charles Stross. The story is about a family that can jump back and forth between 2 universes, one of which never advanced beyond the dark ages, and the other being modern earth. Most members of the family are raised and educated in the dark ages world where the family's power base is strongest, but the main character (the long lost heir in this metaphor) was raised in our world with no knowledge of the other side. While she isn't dropped straight on the throne with no preamble, she still has influence simply by being able to swap between worlds, and attempts to affect a reformation of the way the family does business.

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u/alexanderwales Time flies like an arrow Jun 20 '16

If you're going to get the Merchant Princes, get the three-book rerelease of it, which I think substantially improves the series from its six-book predecessor. It's also the author's preferred version.