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QFT. The delay has been long enough that I skipped over mentioning it by name. Black Magick is/was also very good, but also dragging along at a snails pace.

Lazarus is really good, but it’s currently on hiatus.

I wouldn't waste time worrying on behalf of mega millionaires and billionnaires. If they aren't financially savvy enough to manage the liquidity of their own investment portfolio they certainly pay people who are. The tax liability is all very predictable manageable for anyone who actually has a clue.

None of these countries or groups got their hands on any sanctioned tech without someone in the countries that produce it, or legally trade it being the point of origin. A US made chip can only have the USA as a point of origin. So perhaps people who worry about such things should be thinking about their own citizens flagrantly violating international law and not giving a crap about "our" norms and conventions. Not that I'm putting this forward as an actual conspiracy, but I can imagine rationale whereby the US and some of its allies would prefer to have black market trade in chips and other high tech weapons stuff made by them because if they keep some track of that illicit trade they have quite a good idea about how many high tech weapons these rogue entities and enemies have. If they were to completely starve even the black market trade (assuming it's even possible), the concern might be that they could start creating their own manufacturing infrastructure for own chips and other tech, then the US would completely lose track of what these entities have.

If Jaqen was planning to kill Ned en route to the Wall, being locked in a wagon is not the way to go about it. Simply join up - they'll take anybody. Then either poison Ned and make it look natural, or stab him, slip away, and change faces. Or kill him secretly, hang around, and leave Yoren with a mystery. And why would Baelish care what Ned might say in the distant North, as opposed to everyone else on the scene, some of whom, like Barristan and the Hound, may not like him much.

Have you watched the YouTubes by 'Michael Talks About Stuff'? He's a terrific 'new kid on the block'. He has this well-developed and explained theory that The Wall is built over and linking a chain of weirwood trees with sacrificed men (> Others) pinned to them, still living like the seers in Bloodraven's cage, and needing blood sacrifices to replenish them. It could be the Others have revived not to cross the Wall in order to invade the South, but to demolish the Wall and free their 'ancestors'.

Big oil might have known from a corporate knowledge perspective since only the 1960s, but IIRC scientists working in the fossil fuel sector had surmised things about global warming since before WWI.

That raises an intriguing thought I've never seen before - What if what Bran saw in his vision wasn't what he thought he saw? He thought he saw a COTF stuck a piece of dragonglass in the man - hard, sharp, black. What if it was actually a shard of oily black stone?

Great idea for a thread - theories that I think are wrong but I would love to be correct! For me....I'd have to say the parentage of the Lannister children is tops. There's decent cases and evidence that either Tyrion or Jaime/Cercie are half Targ. I don't think any of them are....I can't imagine Tywin, as proud as he is, tolerating that level of betrayal. So, no, I don't think any of his children are secret Targs. It's a great idea though, and if GRRM were to include it and explain it....i'd be on-board.

I finally watched Michael Mann’s Manhunter for the first time last night. Good stuff. I think William Peterson was probably the best Will Graham out of the three actors that portrayed him. Tom Noonan also made a great Francis Dolarhyde, too. His size alone made the character that much more imposing. I’ve seen people say the film is a bit dated, but I actually really liked the 80’s synth music, and the atmosphere overall.

Interesting thread! I love the idea. Arys Oakheart swapping Myrcella with Rosamund before dying. The girl that was attacked by Darkstar was not Myrcella, but Rosamund. I like this theory a lot, but I don't know what it would do for the overall plot. Real or not, tales of Myrcella's injury have already spread.

I haven't watched LML in a few years. Great insights on his part, just....eh. I won't get into it, that's not for here. Interesting that he had similar ideas tho. I suppose, in the end, it boils down to WHY the others were created. They appear to exist prior to dragons. What were they designed to fight, if not the army of the Bloodstone Emperor? A mystery, i suppose.

That's EXACTLY right. Sorry to keep you waiting. Well done.

I didn't mean to imply he'd solve the entire continent's issues....clearly he cant. But if he takes control of King's Landing and releases the stored food, he could at least alleviate the suffering of that one city. The one city that Dany dearly wants to be in charge of.

I....don't think so. If anything, Benjen might be re-discovering what the Night's Watch was originally for, making him the opposite of a deserter. Love me some Order of the Green Hand theorizing.....they tend to step a bit out of the norm and field some of the wilder theories. That's really good....very useful. I think mostly they're wrong....but they have introduced a lot of good stuff to get people talking.

There have been reports like this already, saying Big Oil knew this since the 1960's. Nobody's paid attention even when on the WaPo. Quite like Big Tobacco.

Don't know how's that possible with the Lannisters and Euron still running amok and the North being its own separate theater. Young G ascension will not stop any wars, unless plot, it'd simply mean new alliances are made, whatever the Riverlands are still burning either way. I simply do not know why people sincerely believe Aegon has the capability to solve Westeros' huge problems by himself.

My favorite reference is definitely GRRM's allusion to the Others as "like the Sidhe." That's a very interesting reference. In Irish myth, after an invasion of humans, the Sidhe agreed to a pact with humans....to go underground. In ASoIaF, the Children signed a pact with the humans and appear to live underground, in the caves and root systems of the Weirwoods. The Sidhe were spirits of the trees. I think it's likely that's exactly what the Others are too....only given physical form via warg-sacrifice against a Weirwood.

No. He waited for too long to take action. Now Arianne has all but dragged Dorne into war with her Queen Myrcella plot. If he wanted revenge, he should have joined earlier when Robb rose against the Lannisters. If anything, removing them from power would have prepared the realm for a returning Targ, be it Dany or Young Griff. His plans just do not seem to work. Arianne is way over her head and Quentyn failed. Unless George has something planned that we do not know about, I cannot see Martells winning.

This is probably the most confusing topic in the entire series. Bran becoming king is confirmed by GRRM.....but....king of what? King of Westeros? Or the new Night's King? King of Winter? It would be very much GRRM's style to say Bran becomes king....but leave out what he is King of. For that matter...even if Bran did become the new Night's King....does that make Bran bad? We don't know, because we don't know why the Others came back in the first place. We don't know why they came into being either. Clearly they are meant to fight something.....but is that dragons? Or was it the Bloodstone Emperor? Maybe Euron's birth (3 years prior to the tragedy at summerhall) woke them? Euron mirrors the Bloodstone Emperor in his actions... We just don't know.

There's knowing and knowing. It's one thing to believe Big Oil has been systematically hindering any progress on climate change, and it's another to have a treasure trove of documents that prove it, detailing internal positions and strategies, curtesy of the US Congress. There's also a few names being named in there... The final sentence isn't surprising in itself, but it is a bit surprising to see it in a congressional report: I don't know how far this'll go. Maybe the Republicans burry the whole thing next year.

In those fields one develops expertise in things that can potentially make major contributions in that speciality as one grows in knowledge and experience. Entering politics at 18 as a career only makes you become expert in being a politician. I would rather our best and brightest do anything other than politics for their early adult life. Not to gain life experience, but to contribute to the progress of society in a myriad far better ways than becoming a full time politician.

On another site, a now-deceased poster - a former astrophysicist - mentioned how he'd worked out the mechanics of greenhouse gasses back i the 60s.

No. Doran thinks he's clever but his ENTIRE plan is just to marry into the Targaryen family....which is about to experience another civil war, between Dany and Faegon. I suspect Faegon will be....displeased....when he finds out that Doran is playing both sides. I suspect Dany will be....displeased....when she finds out that Doran is playing both sides. Basically, Doran is just....not very smart. His entire schtick is to hedge his bets, play both sides, and try to ride on the coat-tails of the powerful. All he does is wait....and he always waits too long. He waited too long to tell his daughter his plans, so she made her own and Princess Myrcella got f'd up as a result. He waited too long to send his son to Dany....and she was already betrothed once he arrived. To make up for his father's failure, Quentyn tried to woo Dany by interacting with her dragons without permission, and now he's extra crispy. Doran is exactly what the sandsnakes think he is. He hasn't had a single plan work. His most successful machination was with his brother. Oberyn died, and the Lannister family was destabilized...but by that point, Varys and Illyrio had already identified the fact that Viserys was insane, rendering Doran's planned marriage of Arianne/Viserys moot. Doran had no idea about Young Griff. Now he'll try to take advantage of THAT....except the people behind Young Griff already know Doran is incompetent. Basically the dude thinks he's super clever but he's got no idea about any higher-level stuff going on because he doesn't have any kind of reliable spy network. All he does is wait.

So Rowling and Musk are the source of the gametes large (or small) to shut-down the discussion as to who is what and why?