Note to self:

At some point I would like to start a reference topic named something like "Power Scales and Ascension rituals"

Reference material for this topic could easily be sourced from here:
http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,31168.msg1326451.html#msg1326451
http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,31168.msg1326478.html#msg1326478
DFRPG's list

GK and someone else who I forgot were doing some power scale things earlier, which might be interesting to check out.  It was all very mathematical.  Integrals were being deployed.   

Also, has anyone tried to write a little computer app or something to keep things straight?  I don't know how hard this would be, but having a sub-website-thing hosting stuff like a power calculator or a database of theories that would be searchable/sortable would be really, really awesome. 

I just handed in a huge project (worth a lot!) with literally one minute to spare. I'm not feeling it. Why the hell am I doing post-grad?! I remembered how much I hate uni last year!

Maybe it's because the professors are nicer to undergrads?  I dunno, even though we're always dying of work, I think most of my friends agree with the sentiment that college has been pretty awesome so far.  Although that might change next year, when we're no longer freshmen to be coddled. 

They ruined more PCRs than I can tell

*raises hand guiltily*  That would be me.  My PCRs and such never work out.  Last semester, I accidentally hooked up the electrophoresis machine backwards, and my DNA ran the wrong way and fell off the gel. 

Depending on the subject, long infodumps and gratuitous exposition can actually be pretty interesting.  But then again, I'm the type of reader that wonders whether or not a Dune shield would explode if you threw a lightsaber at it, so...

On "show, don't tell", if it's not important, give it a quick description and move on.  If it's vitally important, or the POV character happens to be paying very close attention for some reason, go ahead and stuff all the nuances you can into the description.  If every paragraph of a novel is like the first example, I'd get tired pretty quickly.  I'd say save it for the details that need it.

I'm running Chrome, and I kind of get the same thing- sometimes, the loading seems kind of slower than usual.  My internet is good, and my computer is pretty fast, so I don't think it's an issue on my end.  Maybe the site's just getting more traffic because of GS's recent release, and it's loading up the server?

*gigglesnort*  Harry/Mavra.  Marry.

Oh, and one more term:
AFAIK = As Far As I Know

There are a couple books that play with first/third a bit.  Both Elizabeth Bear and Patricia Briggs (and probably more that I don't know) have used a combination of first and third. 

Briggs' Dragon Blood uses first person for one main character, and third for the other.  In this case, it might be a holdover from the previous book in the duology, Dragon Bones, which had only one viewpoint character in first person- when she added the second, it would have felt strange to have the same character suddenly in third person instead.  It's a bit odd at first, but you can definitely mix it up with viewpoints, as long as you don't have fifty characters all in first person.

Bear uses first/third very well in her Promethean age and Edda of Burdens series, but it's more of a stylistic choice.  One character, after losing her name and soul, suddenly switches from third to first person narration (everybody else is third) to indicate that she no longer has a name.  Another is always in first person, present tense instead of past tense, so give an animalistic feel to the character.