Terry Pratchett's Self-Made Meteorite Sword

Re:It's made of magic by Culture20 · 2010-09-21 02:17 · Score: 2, Funny

Pratchett has stored the sword in a secret location, apparently concerned about the authorities taking an interest in it.

Knife Crime.

Of all the author's out there by Pojut · 2010-09-21 02:20 · Score: 2, Insightful

I'm the least surprised that it was Terry Pratchett that made himself a sword.

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Living With a Nerd

Original Article by bjorniac · 2010-09-21 02:21 · Score: 5, Informative

The article on which this news story seems to be based, complete with picture of Sir pTerry and his sword is at
http://www.paulkidby.com/news/apr2010.html

Re:Original Article by fast+turtle · 2010-09-21 02:39 · Score: 4, Informative

It appears to be in the Gladius Style (Roman Legion) and is a Short Sword. Keep in mind, this isn't the size of Excalibur or what Conan would use. Instead it's based on a practical design developed by the roman legions for use by Centurions in their shield wall formation. Practical and short enough not to interfere with your neigbors sword.

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Mod me up/Mod me down: I wont frown as I've no crown
Re:Original Article by somersault · 2010-09-21 02:52 · Score: 2, Interesting

You mean that article dated "April 1st"? :s Though he's a very smart guy, I'm sure he would be perfectly capable of making his own sword were he so inclined :)

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which is totally what she said
Re:Original Article by L4t3r4lu5 · 2010-09-21 03:01 · Score: 4, Informative

Partly correct. The Gladius was favoured by the Legions because it was short enough for the scabbard to be hung on the same side as the wielding hand. This prevents the act of drawing the sword from taking any more room than one man standing upright, maintaining their tight shield wall formation.

Clever buggers, they were.

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Re:Original Article by Anonymous Coward · 2010-09-21 03:04 · Score: 2, Insightful

Somehow, I don't think he wrote an article largely about the death of his mother and his thoughts on assisted suicide as a prank.
Re:Original Article by Saint+Fnordius · 2010-09-21 03:09 · Score: 2, Interesting

See also the "Katzbalger" sword carried by the Landsknecht mercenaries in the German provinces of the Holy Roman Empire (16th century). It also served the same purpose - a short blade for close combat when there no longer was room to swing pikes or the big two-handed jobbers. The hilt reminds me of some Frankish swords, though, so to me it looks like a modern version of an 11th century blade.
But yeah, it's an infantry blade, not a cavalry one. Also looks like it has just the right centre of gravity for actual fencing.
Re:Original Article by HungryHobo · 2010-09-21 03:35 · Score: 2, Informative

Well he was talking about this at the last DWcon so I'd say it's true.
Re:Original Article by Rogerborg · 2010-09-21 03:59 · Score: 4, Insightful

You might want to try that before spouting it as fact.
First, if you don't have room to draw a sword, how are you throwing the pilum that proceeds drawing it?
Second, you can draw a sword from the left hip, point down, raise your hand overhead, then either stab straight from there or rotate it point up without changing your grip. You can do this in the tightest close order shieldwall, with a sword in excess of the length of a gladius. Been there, reenacted that, many times.
Third, try drawing from your right hip. Go on, stand up and try it. If you draw in the natural orientation (thumb down), where does your elbow go? <Morbo>JOINTS DO NOT WORK THAT WAY</Morbo>. Alternatively, you can draw with your thumb up and then have to juggle the sword to flip it over. It's always a more awkward draw, under any circumstances, and never takes less room than drawing across your body.
Where this myth came from, I have no idea, but I've yet to see any real world evidence that it's anything other than a myth, and that includes demonstrations from Roman reenactors trying desperately (and often hilariously) to justify it.

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Re:Original Article by Colonel+Korn · 2010-09-21 04:21 · Score: 4, Informative

Where this myth came from, I have no idea, but I've yet to see any real world evidence that it's anything other than a myth, and that includes demonstrations from Roman reenactors trying desperately (and often hilariously) to justify it.
Ignoring the argument of why the Romans wore their scabbards on the right, there's plenty of conclusive evidence that they in fact did so.
Roman art is, as usual, our best source of information on Roman culture.
Look at this, for instance: http://www.romanarmy.net/images/Pages/articles/artweapons/artwep2.jpg.

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"I zero-index my hamsters" - Willtor (147206)
Re:Original Article by Swarley · 2010-09-21 05:05 · Score: 3, Interesting

Not that I'm any expert, but it was alway my understanding that the Roman Legion favored short swords because they spent so much time fighting the Gauls and other barbarian tribes around Europe who favored long and heavy weapons that needed to be swung for momentum or brought down from overhead, which left them extremely vulnerable to someone who closed in fast with a short blade. I thought the Gauls also favored chain mail armor, which is easier to punch through with a small blade than to chop through with a heavy one. But the main reason was the first one, that it's almost impossible to actually use something like a claymore against someone who's less than two arm's lengths from you despite what it looked like in Braveheart.
Re:Original Article by Caerdwyn · 2010-09-21 06:10 · Score: 4, Informative

It's as much metallurgy as anything else. Until pattern-welding became widespread around 800AD, blades much longer than 24" just didn't have the strength needed in combat, particularly for swords intended for slashing motions.
There are some excellent websites for smiths doing reproduction historical swords with well-researched historical techniques which make for a fascinating read (to nerds like myself anyway). Start with Patrick Barta at www.templ.net and Jim Hrisoulas at www.atar.com, then move on to www.myarmoury.com for hands-on reviews and photos.

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Everybody gets what the majority deserves.
Re:Original Article by wanax · 2010-09-21 07:43 · Score: 4, Informative

It depends on your definition of phalanx.. is the key factor the overlapping shields, many ranks deep with close order, fighting in a single line or using spears? In the classical hoplite phalanx met all four criteria, with everybody fully armored in bronze, each soldier had a spear (~10ft) and short thrusting sword, and were typically arranged between 6 and 24 men deep with the most experienced soldiers in the front and the back rows (to prevent less experienced soldiers from fleeing). Battles were typically decided by whose front rank broke first, which was more a function of pushing from behind than individual skill up front. It was not uncommon for bodies to be wedged upright from the pressure until one side broke. The spears were essentially double tipped, which would give you two shots if you're spear broke, which was fairly common. The hoplite was named for his shield, the hoplon, which was large, and and designed to overlap with his neighbors, making a shield wall. As the Greek empires expanded into Thrace and Asia minor, where most of the soldiers were likely to be professional rather than land-owning citizens, the amount of armor was decreased while the spear grew in length. This made the formation cheaper and more maneuverable, but these phalanxes had to be supported by sling and javelin equipped auxiliary troops since there armor wasn't sufficient to protect against ranged attack.
That eventually evolved into the Macedonian phalanx (by way of Thebes), where professional, drilled soldiers wearing breastplates and chain skirts, who carried ~18ft pikes and short swords in an 8-deep formation. They were drilled to not let opposing infantry close under their pikes, and as long as they could do this, they were extremely effective. However, due to the size of their spears, they used much smaller shields, which did not fully overlap (so fit 3 of the 4 possible criteria). Back rank soldiers holding their pikes upright or at an angle also served to break up incoming missile fire. The problem with these formations was they were not very maneuverable, and their cohesion could be broken up by rough terrain. This was fine for the Macedonians, who used phalanxes to hold enemy infantry in place while their cavalry flanked it, but ran into problems when they were used by Greek armies without excellent cavalry or skirmisher support.
The early roman legions were essentially an evolution against phalanx and shield wall formations employed by the Italian tribes. Originally legions were arranged into three cohorts: hastati (poorest, youngest and least experienced, with usually without full armor), principes (prime troops, usually equipped with chain mail) and triarii (veteran solders, all excellently equipped). Prior to the Polybian reforms, all these troops fought with hastae (short spears, ~7ft) and the gladius short swords. The main difference was the organization: instead of having one line of phalanx, the Roman formation was organized into three lines (hastati, principes, triarii) in which each line was further subdivided into 60 or 120 man units who fought as shallow (6 ranks) phalanxes, with large overlapping 'scuta' shields (this also fits 3 of the 4 criteria). The enemy would first have to fight through the hastati, who retired behind the principes, and then if necessary the triarii. The main advantage of this formation was that the front-line of troops didn't have to fight throughout the battle, and it was easier to keep small units together while maneuvering. These formations turned out to be ineffective against Macedonian and Carthaginian phalanxes, so Polybius reformed them so that the hastati and principes carried several pilums (throwing javelins) rather than thrusting spears, which could break up the Macedonian phalanxes from beyond the range of their pikes and allow the shallow Roman formations to close quickly, or flank as required. The Triarii still fought as a traditional phalanx. This essentially replaced the pike with a longer ranged weapon, without changing the essence of the close order form

Presumably by Finallyjoined!!! · 2010-09-21 02:26 · Score: 2, Funny

As he

the author dug up 81kg of ore and smelted it

He'll need at least one old lady, dressed in black, to carry it for him...

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If I had an Ass, I'd call it Fanny Bottom, then I could slap my Ass; Fanny Bottom, on the Arse.

Re:Presumably by nospam007 · 2010-09-21 03:42 · Score: 2, Funny

I wouldn't care about gender, age and dress color, as long as I don't have to haul the stuff.

Advance Australia Fair by Kupfernigk · 2010-09-21 02:27 · Score: 3, Informative

From TFA: " Wiltshire, west of London..." I know we are a very small country and Australia is a very big one, but not everything in this country has to be defined by reference to London. Wiltshire, from where I am posting this, is in the South of England. London is East of Wiltshire, and nothing whatever to do with this story, which is about a (very) English author who lives (sensibly) in Wiltshire.

For the benefit of the rest of the world, Wiltshire is East of Redmond and West of Moscow...rant over.

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From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."

Energy density of 'damp sheep manure' by zrbyte · 2010-09-21 02:31 · Score: 3, Funny

If I'm not mistaken coal is used in blacksmiths kilns to melt iron, at about 1500 Celsius. I'm wondering how he got those kind of temperatures with sheep manure. Maybe the manure had an octarine glow to it ;)

Re:Energy density of 'damp sheep manure' by confused+one · 2010-09-21 02:49 · Score: 4, Informative

Coal is a convenience. Long before coal was widely available, they used to use wood, charcoal, and peat. In a pinch you could use anything that will burn. The trick is to add oxygen (air) with a bellows, without which it's hard to melt iron even with anthracite coal.
Re:Energy density of 'damp sheep manure' by WolfWithoutAClause · 2010-09-21 03:41 · Score: 2, Funny

Oh no. I'm saying that the sword can easily fuck your shit up, too.

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-WolfWithoutAClause
"Gravity is only a theory, not a fact!"
Re:Energy density of 'damp sheep manure' by jd · 2010-09-21 04:25 · Score: 2, Informative

Small-enough wood chippings and a decent pair of bellows can make a brilliant Iron-Age blast furnace. Indeed, this is how early metalwork and baked ceramic work was done. It is highly plausible that Sir Pratchett has refined the basic approach or obtained information from the excellent living history and archaeological communities that showed how to make such refinements. I am much impressed. Now, whether the iron was truly meteoric - that's a tougher question. Mind you, one could argue that it hardly matters. A home-made sword is a home-made sword. That is no mean feat in itself and would take a lot out of a healthy blacksmith in the olden days, if done right. (Even for Viking-era swords, when the skill was better-understood, there is a major variation between them and some have suggested that particularly good sword-makers would use brand-names.)
My guess on the manure is that it follows the same logic as the wood chippings - the greater the surface area of the burning material, the faster you can burn it and therefore the hotter the immediate temperature. The total quantity of heat produced doesn't change, but you squish the timeframe down to make the heat produced per unit time much greater. You could potentially use almost anything flammable as fuel with this approach, provided the granularity is fine enough, the oxygen flow is sufficient, and you can replace the used fuel fast enough. (NB: Whilst some Slashdot posts are indeed flammable, they are not useful as fuel.)

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It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
Re:Energy density of 'damp sheep manure' by fishbowl · 2010-09-21 07:35 · Score: 2, Interesting

I had a very talented blacksmith living in my house for a year. He never had enough money to pay rent, but I happily allowed him to pay in trade. From a forge that he setup in my backyard with little besides found objects and salvaged material, he built kitchen pot racks, stair railings, many artistic objects, and two very well crafted swords (one blued!) that are not only highly prized possessions to this day, but are made in such a way that they could be used for live steel swordfighting. (Personally I was happy for him to take the edges off and mount them as display pieces, but they do have a full tang, are quite well balanced, and when sharpened, were the real deal.)
If he'd actually paid rent, the money would have been wasted on booze.

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-fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.

Wow by iONiUM · 2010-09-21 02:31 · Score: 2, Interesting

Sounds like he just made a real life Thunderfury.

Re:Alzheimer by Amarantine · 2010-09-21 02:33 · Score: 5, Informative

Actually, the man himself told us during the recent Discworld convention that he did this. As for the alzheimer: he seemed remarkably strong and clear, and fortunately in much better (mental) shape than i expected him to be.

Re:It's made of magic by xaxa · 2010-09-21 02:35 · Score: 2, Informative

Pratchett has stored the sword in a secret location, apparently concerned about the authorities taking an interest in it.

Owning a sword isn't illegal, though carrying one in public usually is.

Re:Alzheimer by VJ42 · 2010-09-21 02:35 · Score: 5, Insightful

This story is a complete fantasy. Pratchett has advanced Alzheimer

No, he's got a rare form of early onset Alzheimer's; it's still in it's relatively early stages so he's still quite in control of all his faculties & capable of making a sword - as evidenced by the fact that he had not one, but two books published this very year. However as Alzheimer's is degenerative how long he will remain free of dementia is not something that's been made public knowledge (if his doctors have even been able to give him a reliable estimate).

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If I have nothing to hide, you have no reason to search me

Authors love forging swords and knives by Sedated2000 · 2010-09-21 02:37 · Score: 2, Insightful

I've read countless interviews from authors (especially fantasy authors) who make a habit of forging swords, knives and making bows and arrows. I suppose it goes along with the territory. Even Paolini who wrote the Eragon books has tried his hand at making weapons.

Re:Alzheimer by VJ42 · 2010-09-21 02:46 · Score: 2, Informative

in much better (mental) shape than i expected him to be.

Alzheimer's is degenerative & he's only been relatively recently diagnosed; he's had Unseen Academicals and I shall wear midnight both published this year - if you can have two books published you're bound to still be in good mental shape - it's when he stops publishing that we'll know his Alzheimer's has got his mind.

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If I have nothing to hide, you have no reason to search me

fire is cool by digitalsushi · 2010-09-21 02:46 · Score: 5, Funny

This past weekend I put a huge steel ninja sword I got for 12 bucks into a campfire we were having, and it glowed red after a short few minutes. I easily bent it into a full U shape.

This simple, moronic drunken act made me feel connected to countless other drunken, moronic ancestors before me, all equally intruigued by how fire is able to temporarily confuse physics. I suppose this is why alchemy makes sense, since some form of math has to work inside of a fire. Still, I felt very enlightened to hold one of the four elements so close to my will and desires.

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slashdot: where everyone yells sarcastic metaphors to themselves to understand the issue

Re:Alzheimer by dnahelicase · 2010-09-21 02:50 · Score: 2, Interesting

My Organic Chemistry professor had a similar diagnosis when I was in college. He was still fully able to function to the point of lecturing and running a lab, he simply could not answer any questions. As long as he had a day to prepare his notes, look off his notes, and not get interrupted he was normal. When people asked questions mid-lecture (or any time) he would get off-track and get confused. He lasted for two years like this before he had to stop teaching.

It was particularly sad, because he knew what was going on - he still knew his chemistry and left to himself could still function, research, etc. It was mostly bad in any social setting where long lengths of time aren't given to wrap your head around a particular thought or go through a problem several times before giving an answer. He could still cook quite well on his own, but if you asked him what the ingredients were or what he was doing while he was cooking, it would throw him off course and he would be confused for a while until he could retrace his steps to figure out what he was doing.

Re:It's made of magic by L4t3r4lu5 · 2010-09-21 02:52 · Score: 2, Informative

With a sword you need to be able to chop

Wrong

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Re:Alzheimer by somersault · 2010-09-21 02:55 · Score: 4, Funny

I don't think he'll need to stop publishing, he can just start writing some books from the point of view of the Bursar* :)

*no offence meant, I'm as sad about the situation as anyone else here..

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which is totally what she said

Re:It's made of magic by Thanshin · 2010-09-21 02:55 · Score: 4, Informative

Owning a sword isn't illegal, though carrying one in public usually is.

In Spain, carrying a sword in public is legal if it's not concealed. But you've got to have a reason to be carrying it, like "I just bought it and I'm taking it home", "I'm going to my bastard sword class" or "I'm going to the woods to take pictures of my sword collection".

You can also carry a non concealed hunting knife of any size or form, including two bladed.

What you can't carry is any pocket/concealed weapon over 11cm, two bladed or with an automatic aperture system based on internally stored force (mass, for gravity or inertial automatics is ok).

Re:Alzheimer by dkf · 2010-09-21 02:58 · Score: 3, Informative

Alzheimer's is degenerative & he's only been relatively recently diagnosed; he's had Unseen Academicals and I shall wear midnight both published this year - if you can have two books published you're bound to still be in good mental shape - it's when he stops publishing that we'll know his Alzheimer's has got his mind.

Not just that, but it seems to be mainly progressing in parts of his brain that aren't needed for producing stories. (Before watching a TV programme about TP's Alzheimers, I didn't know that it could differentially affect different areas of the brain. Just goes to show that TV can be educational after all.)

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"Little does he know, but there is no 'I' in 'Idiot'!"

Re:It's made of magic by Azarael · 2010-09-21 03:00 · Score: 2, Informative

It looks like a gladius to me http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gladius

Re:Of all the authors out there by tophermeyer · 2010-09-21 03:00 · Score: 5, Funny

Apostrophes.

Elegant weapons for a more civilized time.

Re:Alzheimer by L4t3r4lu5 · 2010-09-21 03:03 · Score: 2, Interesting

He didn't make the sword; He contacted a swordsmith. He did smelt the unrefined ore into bars himself, though, using techniques from a friend with an interest in ancient smithing arts.

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Re:It's made of magic by lxs · 2010-09-21 03:03 · Score: 5, Funny

Is "I'm looking for the man who killed my father" a valid reason in Spain?

Re:Alzheimer by MozeeToby · 2010-09-21 03:08 · Score: 3, Interesting

Careful reading of his more recent works, not just the two you mentioned but going back 5-10 years, you do notice some things in his works degrading; not enough to hurt the overall quality of the book, but enough that you can tell something is happening. The largest change is a reduction in vocabulary, but there is also the fact that tend to be more straightforward, with less metaphors and colorful language.

Like I said, the ideas are all still sound, the humor is fun and entertaining, there are no gaping plot holes left unfilled, but I suspect that you could make a pretty interesting study on the effects of Alzheimer's on language by studying his books. And you'd certainly have a good sample of his writing (what is he up to now, 30 books? 40?

Re:It's made of magic by balbord · 2010-09-21 03:20 · Score: 5, Funny

That reason is inconceivable.

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"If I have been able to see so far, It is because I went out and bought a damn binoculars" - Ze da Esquina

Re:It's made of magic by Crudely_Indecent · 2010-09-21 03:21 · Score: 2, Informative

So by your way of thinking, the rapier and foil aren't swords either.

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"Lame" - Galaxar

Meteorite? by AnotherAnonymousUser · 2010-09-21 03:23 · Score: 2, Insightful

Looking through the article, I'm seeing that he dug up iron ore; was the deposit meteoric in nature, or was there just nothing meteoric about it at all? Where do the meteorites come into play here? 81kg of meteorite is a hefty chunk of material...

Re:Meteorite? by JasterBobaMereel · 2010-09-21 04:34 · Score: 2, Informative

His website says ...
"made from iron ore he collected on Salisbury Plain (with the addition of a little bit of ‘thunderbolt iron’ from the Sikhote Alin meteorite to give it that special extra-terrestrial ‘something’),"

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Puteulanus fenestra mortis

Re:Alzheimer by kaiidth · 2010-09-21 03:56 · Score: 2, Interesting

Yeah, he looked good. Says that the condition is progressing very slowly -- slower than expected, or words to that effect. Aside from the fact that he no longer reads out the bedtime story (part of an unreleased book) at the Discworld Convention himself (Rob, his PA, did that), he seemed, if anything, much more cheerful than he was in 2008. Which is awesome.

MozeeToby's comment later in the thread, suggesting that someone make "a pretty interesting study on the effects of Alzheimer's on language by studying his books," reminds me of Pratchett's comment that he throws away drafts for fear of what English Literature researchers might theorise in future. Although I am now strongly inclined to test the hypothesis by comparing actual vocabulary used over time, because it does not seem to me that there has been a marked reduction in the complexity of language used. That said, there may very well be changes in structure due to using dictation software and so forth, as well as in punctuation and in the use of concrete poetry/structural games, footnotes, etc.

The Black Sword of Nargothrond rises again!!! by SengirV · 2010-09-21 03:59 · Score: 2, Funny

Three cheers for Anglachel!!!

Sorry about your sister though, was she good?

--

Prof. Farnsworth - "Oh a lesson in not changing history from Mr I'm-My-Own-Grandpa!"

Re:It's made of magic by Thanshin · 2010-09-21 03:59 · Score: 3, Informative

Not familiar with the terminology, are you referring to something like a switchblade?

Yes.

It's a shame that a lot of places have banned those, because I find that they are VERY useful. I have one and it became my favorite knife to use while working in places where my hands are occupied. I can get it in my hand, disengage the safety and open it with my thumb, do the work, and then close it again easier than a typical lockback knife.

There are other kinds of folding knives that can be opened with one hand, the only difference is whether they'll stab something on the opening movement, which is not justifiable for a tool, thus the internally stored force limit that includes springs and even bullet cartidges (without the bullet).

A typical folding knife can be nice, but I hate how loose the ones with blades you can open with one hand are.

A good knive can have a perfectly firm and locked blade that you can open with one hand. They may be expensive, though.

The awesome thing about a spring loaded knife is that the spring keeps positive pressure on the blade (even after you release the lock to close it) This positive pressure, combined with a dull 'back' to the blade (not double sided) lets you do the following:

To close the knife:

1. Hold the release to unlock the blade
2. push the back of the blade against a convenient surface
3. It locks in place, re-engage the safety.

With a typical folding knife, once you release the lock on the open blade, the sharp side is free to move and, in my opinion, is slightly harder to manipulate in a safe way, especially with one hand. If you have ever had the chance to use a quality switch blade (Not double edged), they are damned useful tools.

I own several Benchmades, Spidercos, etc and I've never had a problem handling them with one hand but I think what you want is a fireman's folding knife, made to be opened with one heavy gloved hand. You may want to lock into CRKT's kind of assisted opening.

Having said that, I'd use a fixed blade if at all possible.

Re:It's made of magic by thoromyr · 2010-09-21 04:07 · Score: 5, Informative

Some rapiers were *very* stylized (the ridiculous blade lengths that became popular among courtiers, for example). But "deep bellied" or "broad bladed tip" designs are not the only form for effectual swords and chopping is not very efficient for defeating armor, thrusting is. And for thrusting a triangular blade is desired.

One place to start educating yourself about swords and the various types is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oakeshott_typology

You will notice that Type X "taper toward the tip" rather than becoming broader. Or the Type XII which is improved for thrusting. Or the Type XIII which, while not especially adapted for thrusting, fails to have the "broad toward the tip" design you aver is the only functional sword type. Note when and how common this sword type was.

In fact, you won't find much in the way of sword blade types meeting those limited criteria.

Re:Alzheimer by YourExperiment · 2010-09-21 04:23 · Score: 2, Interesting

Actually, I've noticed a similar kind of degradation over the careers of many authors, without (as far as I am aware) any degenerative mental disease. Which is not to say that you're wrong about Pratchett's work; I'm not familiar enough with it to say, having only read a handful of his books.

I certainly don't disagree that this would be an interesting area to study, I'm just not convinced that you can necessarily attribute such changes in his work to the disease.

NO, NO AND NO by SmallFurryCreature · 2010-09-21 04:42 · Score: 2, Funny

NO absolutely NOT under NO circumstance,

Signed, the man who killed your father.

--

MMO Quests are like orgasms:

You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

Re:It's made of magic by Oligonicella · 2010-09-21 04:47 · Score: 3, Informative

You do not know what you're talking about. A good sword balances an inch or so forward of the quillons. What you're referring to were early swords, based on the designs of Bronze Age swords, which had thickened blades to sustain damage, not for hacking needs. Furthermore, the favored tactic of Romans was to block upwards with the shield and jab into the enemies unprotected midsection. Even before Rome fell, those designs had disappeared.

Re:It's made of magic by mcvos · 2010-09-21 04:55 · Score: 3, Informative

How do you want the balance to be? For a well-balanced sword, the center of gravity is near the cross guard. It has to be, if you want to swing it around easily. And swords are just not intended for chopping through armour. When people started wearing more and more armour, knights started using axes, maces and warhammers, and foot soldiers started using halberds and various other polearms.

Personally I don't see what's wrong with the balance of Sir Terry's sword (as if you could tell what the balance is like just from looking at it). It's certainly a bit of an odd design, and probably not the most effective sword ever, but it definitely counts as sword. It even looks properly double edged (which is what used to distinguish swords from long knives and sabres in medieval Europe, though not in other parts of the world).

Short swords in the Shield Wall by Tetsujin · 2010-09-21 05:00 · Score: 2, Funny

Partly correct. The Gladius was favoured by the Legions because it was short enough for the scabbard to be hung on the same side as the wielding hand. This prevents the act of drawing the sword from taking any more room than one man standing upright, maintaining their tight shield wall formation.

Clever buggers, they were.

It's not that they were clever, so much, as the fact that they'd learned from their mistakes.

Prior to adopting the shorter swords, there was a fair chance that each man drawing his sword in the shield wall formation would kill the man to his left... And so the entire formation could be reduced to one man in the space of seconds. This only happened eight or nine times before they decided to rethink their approach.

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Bow-ties are cool.

Knife Crime by WED+Fan · 2010-09-21 05:01 · Score: 2, Informative

Yeah, in Seattle, if you're a homeless woodcarving man of the First Nations, hard of hearing, and you have a PERFECTLY LEGAL folding knife if your hand, some cop will shoot you to death within 40 SECONDS of stopping his car. Nevermind you weren't using the knife for anything other than carving and there were no citizens who were being threatened. You are sitting on the curb, some jackbooted thug with a badge pulls up, and you are dead and talking with your ancestors.

Knife Crime.

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Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong fix.

Re:Knife Crime by phantomfive · 2010-09-21 18:40 · Score: 2, Informative

Uh, according to some witnesses the story went like this:

The man allegedly got up, walked towards the officer, ignored multiple commands to drop the weapon and then lunged, at which point witnesses say they heard up to four gun shots.
If you are approaching police with a weapon, you're going to be shot, and honestly, if the choice is between a cop dying and a wannabe cop-killer dying, the cop-killer is the one who should die.

Now, another witness said something different happened, and if that is the case, that cop should be brought to justice.

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Qxe4

Re:Alzheimer by Tetsujin · 2010-09-21 05:05 · Score: 2, Funny

He didn't make the sword; He contacted a swordsmith. He did smelt the unrefined ore into bars himself, though

He who smelt it, dealt it...

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Bow-ties are cool.

Re:It's made of magic by Maxo-Texas · 2010-09-21 05:29 · Score: 2, Informative

Actually, it varies.

Swords don't just "randomly look different ways to look cool"

The cross section and the shape of the blade reflect the intended usage.

Some swords are piercing, some are slashing, some are stabbing, some are chopping.

It depends on your size, what kind of armor you are going to be wearing (plate guy with a rapier won't be very effective) and the type of armor your opponent will be wearing, and your likely fighting environment (are you surrounded by trees and bushes or out in the grass or in tight streets? Look... I'm on a wall!

The cross section varies from a wedge + rectangle backing, to a football, to a rounded wedge, etc.
Terry's sword (wonder what he will name it?), looks like a foot soldier's sword and looks like a stabbing weapon tho I'm sure it has a cutting edge, it lacks weight along the entire back and/or near the tip to give the blade inertia to chop through something. It's not long enough to use from horseback effectively.

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She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.

Re:Alzheimer by VJ42 · 2010-09-21 05:45 · Score: 3, Informative

Careful reading of his more recent works, not just the two you mentioned but going back 5-10 years, you do notice some things in his works degrading; not enough to hurt the overall quality of the book, but enough that you can tell something is happening. The largest change is a reduction in vocabulary, but there is also the fact that tend to be more straightforward, with less metaphors and colorful language.

Like I said, the ideas are all still sound, the humor is fun and entertaining, there are no gaping plot holes left unfilled, but I suspect that you could make a pretty interesting study on the effects of Alzheimer's on language by studying his books. And you'd certainly have a good sample of his writing (what is he up to now, 30 books? 40?

38 Discworld Novels alone, multiple Discworld spin-offs (I can recommend the three "Science of Discworld" books as fun pop-sci books, they're hard science mixed with a story about the Wizards "roundworld" project in alternate chapters, they're not like the "Science of star-trek" type books), he's done quite a bit of non-Discworld stuff as well IMO the best being Good Omens with Neil Gaiman.

Has his work gone down hill? I'm not so sure, his style has defiantly changed, but I think a lot of it was him maturing as a writer. Both Thud! and Night Watch are far better pieces of writing than The colour of magic ever will be. having said that my favourite is actually one of the older books - Guards! Guards!

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If I have nothing to hide, you have no reason to search me

Re:Alzheimer by Flipao · 2010-09-21 05:53 · Score: 3, Funny

This story is a complete fantasy. Pratchett has advanced Alzheimer and is not capable of making anything.

I'm not sure if this story is generated by his publisher to get a last moment of fame and sell more books, or that someone is playing a cruel joke on Terry.

Leave the man be, he has enough worries.

Aw I'll bite!

I just saw him in an interview on the BBC and he seemed pretty clear headed to me. Plus of course there's the fact that he is still publishing bestsellers while all you can do is post anonymously in Slashdot.

Pratchett with Alzheimers > You.

Re:It's made of magic by phantomfive · 2010-09-21 06:09 · Score: 4, Funny

Best quote from the article:

"It annoys me that knights aren't allowed to carry their swords. That would be knife crime."

Indeed, if knight-authors were allowed to carry swords, the world would be a much better place.

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Qxe4

Re:It's made of magic by Muros · 2010-09-21 08:25 · Score: 2, Informative

Most weapons are specialised for a certain way of fighting, or as a response to the fighting styles of others. Plate armour can be seen largely as a response to the greatswords used by the Celts, Picts and Saxons, which could cut right through a man from shoulder to opposite hip. When Knights began wearing plate, people didn't bother trying to hit them with swords; you used a crossbow to punch straight through or used a hooked polearm to get them on the ground and bash their head in with a hammer.

You could go on for hours about the tactics for use of different weapons in different situations, but all weapons still fit one or more of 5 descriptions; sharp things, pointy things, heavy things, fast things, or things that go boom.

Slashdot Mirror

Terry Pratchett's Self-Made Meteorite Sword

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