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Well, no.

People just don't actually understand value and quality.

They will spend a dollar a week for a thing, instead of 20 dollars a year.

The second thing is people can't afford cheaper higher quality.

https://wiki.lspace.org/mediaw...

*lol*

Remeinds me of Granny Weatherwax with the "generic foreign language".

In case anyone's wondering...

Sam Vimes Theory of Economic Injustice
The Sam Vimes "Boots" Theory of Economic Injustice runs thus:

At the time of Men at Arms, Samuel Vimes earned thirty-eight dollars a month as a Captain of the Watch, plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots, the sort that would last years and years, cost fifty dollars. This was beyond his pocket and the most he could hope for was an affordable pair of boots costing ten dollars, which might with luck last a year or so before he would need to resort to makeshift cardboard insoles so as to prolong the moment of shelling out another ten dollars.

Therefore over a period of ten years, he might have paid out a hundred dollars on boots, twice as much as the man who could afford fifty dollars up front ten years before. And he would still have wet feet.

Without any special rancour, Vimes stretched this theory to explain why Sybil Ramkin lived twice as comfortably as he did by spending about half as much every month.

In case anyone's wondering...

Sam Vimes Theory of Economic Injustice
The Sam Vimes "Boots" Theory of Economic Injustice runs thus:

At the time of Men at Arms, Samuel Vimes earned thirty-eight dollars a month as a Captain of the Watch, plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots, the sort that would last years and years, cost fifty dollars. This was beyond his pocket and the most he could hope for was an affordable pair of boots costing ten dollars, which might with luck last a year or so before he would need to resort to makeshift cardboard insoles so as to prolong the moment of shelling out another ten dollars.

Therefore over a period of ten years, he might have paid out a hundred dollars on boots, twice as much as the man who could afford fifty dollars up front ten years before. And he would still have wet feet.

Without any special rancour, Vimes stretched this theory to explain why Sybil Ramkin lived twice as comfortably as he did by spending about half as much every month.

Why isn't she in jail?

Because you do not seem to live in Bugarup:

Government officials in Bugarup are elected by the people and then put into prison to save time.

If only this could be done in the USA! The coming election is the best time ever.

Why not join the Klatchian Foreign Legion ?

From the L-Space Wiki - http://wiki.lspace.org/mediawi...

"The Klatchian Foreign Legion is an army of expatriates operating in the desert of Klatch (continent). The official purpose of the legion is to guard the rather vague border against neighboring countries as well as the D'regs. It is most commonly joined by people who are trying to put their past behind them as after a short time most people who join have forgotten almost everything, including their names and ranks and the names and ranks of everything and everyone around them, in fact the only thing they seem to reliably remember is the sand. Death tried this once, it didn't last. They also have a famous marching song which goes, 'Er . . .'. "

But even that's not a good as Proper Dwarf Bread.

He created nouvelle (which consisted of a string bean, a couple of peas and a paper-thin slice of chicken), D-Plan dieting and various foods that contained no actual nutrition whatsoever. He enjoys the paradox permitted by modern food technology: that people can eat "foodstuffs" which look, smell, and taste like food, yet contain precisely zero on any scale of nutritive value. Obesity entertains him: the concept that people can eat far too much and yet still die of food-related disorders

http://wiki.lspace.org/mediawi...

China? Tempests on the other side of the world?

It's clearly a quantum weather butterfly

Nor to be confused with the Scone of Stone, the famous dwarf bread upon which rests the authority of the Low King.

Furthermore, in some books the million-to-one-chance even has an embodiment of sorts as "The Lady", one of the Discworld Gods http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D...

But yeah, Pratchett was mostly poking fun at the heroes in stories alway succeeding against all odds.
Another Discworld example would be a group of people being hesitant to attack a single guy if the guy looks harmless and smiles or if he shows characteristics in line with being a story's hero - because everybody just knows ta a vastly outnumbered hero always wins the fight.

Making fun of or playing with such story cliches is something that Practhett does a lot - to a point that such cliches have become something like a natural law and an (al)chemical element (Narrative causality / Narrativium) on the Discworld.

Some characters like the witches are even very aware of it and try to manipulate the narrative (e.g. Witches Abroad is a lot about stories (not) running their "natural" course).

Give them jobs as librarians? If an orang-utan can do it, why not a chimp?

And yet there is a better political system: that of Bugarup.

Government officials in Bugarup are elected by the people and then put into prison to save time.

One can only hope the current system evolves into that.

They should have just gone to Discworld and talked to this guy:

http://wiki.lspace.org/mediawiki/index.php/Death_of_Rats

Nah, that's simply Hex. Useful if he wants to be, but disturbingly sentient at times.

Lie down? You are doing it exactly wrong. It's not thinking too hard but a classic example of hangunder. Go get a drink.

No, it's not.
You know, if you read a book or two and try really hard, some day you might acquire something akin to real wit.

In my opinion, you can't have a decent quality of life without large doses of humour on a regular basis.

I have never found a better writer than Sir Terry Pratchett for dry, engaging wit, and the occasional turn of phrase that will still leave you chuckling days later. His Discworld series also provides concise and often cutting criticisms of society and some of our more inane foibles, camouflaged behind the general fantasy setting (the Campaign for Equal Heights movement for Dwarves, for example). His characters are engaging and his situational comedy is absolutely stellar!

Please don't be thrown just because it is situated in a world that is shaped like a disc, perched atop four elephants who in turn are standing on a giant turtle swimming through the deeps of space :) Yes, it's set in a 'silly' world, and populated with fantastic creatures, but the challenges and triumphs his characters face are usually very applicable to this here modern, mundane world. I heartily recommend all of his works, but the Discworld books in particular.

Happy hunting!

in the anti-pint glass the vortex rotates in the opposite direction, causing an upward flow of fluid and bubbles near the wall of the glass

Just don't drink too many anti-pints of beer. I tried it once and woke up with a hell of a hangunder.

Hangin out on the Disc again? Bugarup. Millenium hand and shrimp, I says! :)

and tabletop role playing game issues

I put on my robe and wizard hat...

Sing with me: "A Wizard's staff has a knob on the end...."

This level of quality exists for almost anything you would care to buy. These items costs a bit more and they don't carry them at Walmart, but that doesn't mean they don't exist.

Congratulations, you've just discovered the Sam Vimes' Boots theory of wealth.

TL;DR: Only the rich can afford to save money.

Anybody else read that and immediately think Leshp? Or do I read too many discworld books for my own good?

It could be Octarine. Not sure if being able to do or at least see magic is considered superpower, but it could have interesting applications. In any case, is better than seeing infra-black.

Let's build him a statue. Say, a small wheeled elephant being stomped by a giant cockroach.

Today is also the Glorious 25th of May for Discworld/Terry Pratchett fans and the anniversary of the original theatrical release of Star Wars.

Yep. See also The Sam Vimes "Boots" Theory of Economic Injustice: http://wiki.lspace.org/wiki/Sam_Vimes_Theory_of_Economic_Injustice

You've obviously never come across Dwarf Bread before!

Poor people can only afford junk food.

Just like poor people can only afford the $10 boots. It's a deliciously unhealthy self-fulfilling prophecy.

I think it means you should stop shagging hedgehogs.

But I thought the hedgehog can't never be buggered at all?

The supercomputer Hex. Only at the Unseen University. "Anthill Inside"!

To win his bet, he will loads of Narrativium. And, of course, be the hero of the (hi)story and not the comic relief. The universe don't need to behave in such way to make him win the bet, things will happen, just because he said so. But if you win,don't forget to name your grand granddaughter Teela.

This is otherwise known as the Sam Vimes "Boots" Theory of Economic Injustice.

I'm pretty sure there's almost nothing Terry Pratchett hasn't written about at one point or another.

This just seems like an argument for why credit is important to have if used appropriately.

This is otherwise known as the Sam Vimes "Boots" Theory of Economic Injustice.

I'm pretty sure there's almost nothing Terry Pratchett hasn't written about at one point or another.

Real literary analysis shouldn't be about bullshit, it should be about understanding the context in which things are written. For example, the Annotated Pratchett website gives tons of information regarding the obscure references Sir Terry makes, which I'd never have figured out on my own.

And I'd venture to say that (for Pratchett fans at least) it's incredibly interesting stuff. Much more interesting than vague personal interpretations.

Reminds me a bit of this: http://wiki.lspace.org/wiki/Firefighters'_Guild

You're going to put a soldering iron (or god forbid, a torch) in the hands of a child way before she's eight? Something (or someone) is going to end up getting burned. Speaking as the parent of a seven year old, I can't help but think this is a really bad idea.

Heck, I learned to solder around 3rd grade, in an after-school class no less, which would have made me what, 10 or so. And yes, someone did end up getting burned (me) -- in a couple different ways -- and I learned from it. :)

I'm reminded of a scene in the live-action Hogfather movie (available for streaming on Netflix, actually quite good indeed), where Death is filling in for the missing Hogfather (Discworld's Santa Claus) and makes an appearance at a department store. A little girl comes in with her mother, and when Death asks her what she wants for Hogswatch (Christmas), the mother interrupts with requests for frilly things until Death freezes her, at which point the girl asks for a castle and a sword (and a few other things I forget). Death *does* give her a real sword:

Susan: “You can’t give her that for Hogswatch! It’s a real sword!”

Death: “IT IS WHAT THE CHILD REQUESTED. THINK OF IT AS A LEARNING EXPERIENCE.”

Susan: “She might hurt herself!”

Death: “THEN IT WILL BE A VALUABLE LESSON.”

I'm not advocating that we hand out claymores to children. But I do think that US society has gone a bit too far off the deep end when it comes to "safety" -- past a certain point, protection becomes actively harmful by keeping people from learning what is actually bad for them.

Cheers,

Why should mantid shrimps be the ones to get the really cool visual systems?

Plus, can I get an octarine option?

Actually they happen quite frequently. Million to one chances succeed nine times out of ten.

Ook!

OOK!

The Glooper!

The Annotated Pratchett File has also interesting resources to help grasp to more obscure jokes.

That sounds like as much fun as if everything you touch turns to Glod.

Ronald? Is that you?

This page (the Discworld Reading Order Guides) might be useful to anyone who wants to read the Discworld books, but doesn't know where to begin.

The quote, of course, is on the L-space web.

- Speaking of movies, what happened to the plans for a movie based on Mort?

"A production company was put together and there was US and Scandinavian and European involvement, and I wrote a couple of script drafts which went down well and everything was looking fine and then the US people said "Hey, we've been doing market research in Power Cable, Nebraska, and other centres of culture, and the Death/skeleton bit doesn't work for us, it's a bit of a downer, we have a prarm with it, so lose the skeleton". The rest of the consortium said, did you read the script? The Americans said: sure, we LOVE it, it's GREAT, it's HIGH CONCEPT. Just lose the Death angle, guys.

Whereupon, I'm happy to say, they were told to keep on with the medication and come back in a hundred years."

"The person also said that Americans "weren't ready for the treatment of Death as an amusing and sympathetic character". This was about 18 months/2 years before Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey."

"Currently, since the amount of money available for making movies in Europe is about sixpence, the consortium is looking for some more intelligent Americans in the film business. This may prove difficult.

It could have been worse. I've heard what Good Omens was looking like by the time Sovereign's option mercifully ran out -- set in America, no Four Horsemen... oh god."

"What you have to remember is that in the movies there are two types of people 1) the directors, artists, actors and so on who have to do things and are often quite human and 2) the other lifeforms. Unfortunately you have to deal with the other lifeforms first. It is impossible to exaggerate their baleful stupidity."

By and large, the only skill the alchemists of Ankh-Morpork had discovered so far was the ability to turn gold into less gold.

- Terry Pratchett, Moving Pictures

Cut out the middle man, get yourself the personality you've always wanted: Retrophrenology

Much like the Guild of Firefighters, who used to wander around people's houses remarking about how flammable it was and what a pity it would be if it happened to burn down... ;)

According to L-Space, it's Jingo, page 181.