#pratchett — Public Fediverse posts

@datarama

All my computers in my personal network for nigh on 30 years have been named after characters from Terry Pratchett's Discworld series of novels. I'm typing this on "Vetinari". It seemed a good choice because I'm unlikely to run out of names, even considering I name network appliances and VMs.

At previous companies I managed machines and networks for, one had machines named after female singers (though I didn't start that tradition), and another used the names of solar system bodies - planets and moons, mostly.

#Discworld #Pratchett #TerryPratchett

“But there are causes worth dying for,” said Butterfly.

“No, there aren’t! Because you’ve only got one life but you can pick up another five causes on any street corner!”

“Good grief, how can you live with a philosophy like that?”

Rincewind took a deep breath.

“Continuously!”

-- Terry Pratchett, Interesting Times

#pratchett #speakhisname

https://youtu.be/vPS5Yw_YsHA

“To be the place the falling angel meets the rising ape”

#pratchett #hogfather #belief

#RUSI / Royal United Services Institute makes batshit proposal to socially engineer “nationalism” in Britain to foster “total defence” / army signups

If you’re a Pratchett (or: Mary Shelley) reader you’ll know the most dangerous people are those clever enough to uncork some tremendous power — a monster, dragon, civic unrest — yet hubristic enough to believe they can also control that power; thus comes RUSI:

“Following an increase in whole-of-society attacks, the UK government should deploy tools to encourage nationalism and total defence across society”

It gets worse. Much worse.

Source and Archive (in case it gets deleted)

Firstly, they revile at the observation that most people don’t consider themselves to be supermen who could individually impact the outcome of war:

Only 42% of respondents feel a personal responsibility to help, and less than a quarter (24%) believe that their individual actions would make a big difference in a national crisis.

Then they hold up the threat perception of the (aging, Daily-Mail-Reading) British population as reflecting objective military threats and needs:

The British public believe that the world is becoming increasingly more dangerous. The number of respondents who think a global war is likely in the next five years has increased to 43%, up from 30% from the end of 2025. Additionally, 63% feel that hostile foreign governments are more willing to harm the UK as compared to a year ago, and 64% agree that ‘ordinary people and the systems they rely on are as much at risk as soldiers on the battlefield’.

Then, they propose fomenting / socially engineering “nationalism” as being one way to invigorate people into joining a “total defence” effort — BUT (big but!) it has to be the right kind of nationalism:

Nationalism could be the missing spur to drive an increased belief in shared responsibility for, and therefore in willingness to participate in, total defence. However, the type of nationalism is important. Some examples are:

• Ethnic nationalism, which privileges the exclusivity of a shared ethnic group above shared values and other more inclusive traits. It is not only toxic, but also less effective in motivating people to participate in total defence.
• Uncritical nationalism, or supporting a country whether it is ‘right or wrong’, is similarly unhelpful in driving defence willingness. This is because uncritical nationalism is undemanding; it deters participation in democracy and other activities that could improve the country because it is built on the idea that the country does not need improving.
• Civic nationalism (or ‘inclusive’ nationalism), which is predicated upon shared citizenship, values and responsibility, is better placed to drive defence willingness. Studies have found that a sense of inclusive belonging to a nation makes people feel like they have a stake in its resilience, which drives a commitment to defend it.

When combined with the UK public’s relatively high threat perception, civic nationalism could play a critical role in driving a sense of responsibility for, and the willingness to participate in, total defence. This form of nationalism relies on core institutions, and is built around a clear national identity, which can effectively convene and foster shared values and responsibility.

…because of course political leadership is capable of shaping the right kind of nationalism for this purpose, and nothing could possibly go wrong with such a proposal, eh?

[fx: author looks over his shoulder at the people of Clacton]

And then you need to make the people the right kind of scared, too:

Civic nationalism should also be encouraged in conjunction with enhancing threat perception among the general public. The public needs the opportunity to understand the scale of the threats they face, and should be given the opportunity to participate in total defence. In sum, neither nationalism nor threat perception alone are enough to drive defence willingness; nationalism provides the drive to participate, and threat perception gives the knowledge and agency required for participation.

Then we get the “Appeal To Sweden”, because of course the British people think very much like the Swedes, and of course there is no significant race-rioting in Sweden:

Sweden is a useful case study of how civic nationalism and threat perception complement and rely upon each other to drive stronger defence willingness in a population … The pamphlet was distributed without discriminating based on language, national origin or even citizenship versus residency, and emphasised that in the event of an invasion, everyone was Swedish, and everyone had a part to play in defending the nation.

Oh, did we mention that this is all to be done with pamphlets?

Nothing wrong ever happens with Government pamphlets.

Also, by association with the Swedish example, the unstated risk to the UK is from Russia:

The pamphlets outlined the exact scale of the Russian threat and then set forth several ways for people to participate in the potential conflict with Russia. Favouring a whole-of-society approach, participation tended to fall within three categories, as noted by the pamphlet

If we’re worried about Russia there might be other ways we could help.

Summary

RUSI want the UK Government to boost nationalism – but only the right kind of nationalism, ideally the kind which you can get in flatpacks from IKEA – in order to boost willingness to join the defence forces in some specific way, so that individuals feel they can make solo impact upon specifically the Russian threat:

Total Defence in the UK

In order to engage the UK public in total defence, the government should develop a similar pamphlet which encourages inclusive nationalism and clearly communicates the threats facing the UK. If the pamphlets do not sufficiently encourage inclusive nationalism, studies suggest that people will be more likely to limit their participation in a conflict to whatever actions maximise their self-interest, rather than drawing out more robust actions to protect the nation that are based on an emotional attachment to the nation.

In addition, while Public First survey responses reflected a relatively high understanding of the threats that face the UK, reported low levels of defence willingness suggest that the British public tends to feel that threats from Russia and other malign actors are farther away than they actually are. This inhibits the public’s belief that they should step up and participate in defending the country, as the threats do not feel imminent, and it is unclear whom they are defending the country from.

…adding specifically:

As in Sweden, the pamphlets should be printed in several languages and emphasise national pride, empowering people throughout the country to join in a whole-of-society approach to defence. This approach ensures that the government’s urgent mobilisation message reaches everyone, regardless of language and access to the internet, which disproportionately affects minority communities.

So, that would be pamphlets in Welsh, Gaelic, Scots, Cornish, Hindi, Punjabi, Bengali, Urdu, Romanian and Polish — (which latter two are something like 1% spoken in the UK, more than many of the others) — all to foster “national pride” whilst somehow avoiding the fact that the “national pride” nearest London is mostly bald, sunburnt-red, thinks that St George was English and is widely detested by all of the other nations?

As debates continue about how best to fund and design a shared UK national defence, the public should be at the forefront – empowered, willing and prepared to defend their nation against rising threats.

Yeah. No.

Terry said it better:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guards!_Guards!
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fifth_Elephant
• especially: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Watch_(Pratchett_novel)

You can’t uncork anything remotely describable as nationalism and expect it to be controllable.

Instead at best you need to foster pride, and belief in something itself to be fostered and shared, rather than that we need to be protected from “reds” and “wogs” and all forms of “others”.

Puh, ey - ich hatte nur noch sehr dumpf in Erinnerung, wie ernst der 4. Teil von Tiffany Weh direkt am Anfang schon wird.
Haben mit dem Kind alle Bücher bis dahin beim Abendessen gehört. Der Anfang hat mich gerade ziemlich überraschend von den Füßen geholt. (Und führte zu weitgreifenderen Erläuterungen fürs Kind.)

#Pratchett #TerryPratchett

Terry Pratchett fut un immense auteur de fantasy !

On lui rend hommage dans notre podcast le temps de cinq conférences et interviews avec des spécialistes et ses traducteurs...

Le podcast Actusf est disponible sur toutes les plateformes d'écoutes (Deezer, Spotify...) !

Et vous, quel est votre roman préféré de Terry Pratchett ?

#terrypratchett #disquemonde #rincevent #pratchett #fantasyworld #fantasybook #fantasybooks

#fantasy

https://podcast.ausha.co/actusf/playlist/terry-pratchett-hommages

@paul_ipv6

"How did you get those coins?" asked Mort.

ɪɴ ᴘᴀɪʀs, said Death

#discworld #pratchett

GNU STP

Anyone else got half a #Pratchett book unread because they can't bring themselves to have read all of his stuff?

#LibreOffice Writer disappoints by not letting me get my inner #Pratchett out and allowing me footnotes on footnotes.

What an oversight.

Ich hab noch gar nicht erzählt, daß ich vor einigen Tagen das letzte Pratchett-Diskworld-Audoiobook zu Ende gehört hab. Ich hatte wie es sich gehört mit The Colour of Magic angefangen und dann chronologisch Spaziergang für Spaziergang durch alle Hörbücher durch. Ja, ich werde auch Rincewind vermissen, Vimes, DEATH und Susan, und vielleicht sogar Lord Vetinari, aber Tiffany, Hag o' the Hills, ist einfach großartig.

Tiffany begann mit „what would Granny do?“, aber wir sollten uns vielmehr fragen: „What would Tiffany do?“

#Pratchett #Diskworld

/etc/passwd does not contain the passwords, but /etc/group contains the groups, yet /etc/user does not exist.

This suspiciously looks like something pieced badly together by the History Monks.
#pratchett

A quotation from Terry Pratchett

They were engaged in religion. You could tell by the knives (it’s not murder if you do it for a god).

Terry Pratchett (1948-2015) English author
Discworld No. 13, Small Gods (1992)

More about this quote: wist.info/pratchett-terry/8504…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #pratchett #terrypratchett #discworld #holywar #killing #knife #murder #religion #religiousintolerance #sacrifice #truebelievers

@guilhernunes_ Death _likes_ kittens.
#Pratchett

"In the bathtub of history the truth is harder to hold than the soap, and much more difficult to find…"

From the Terry Pratchett book I'm currently re-reading. Bang on.
#speakhisname #pratchett

RE: https://mendeddrum.org/@Pratchat/116819578866981720

More interesting stuff from these good folkes.

#Pratchett #Discworld #books #reading #fantasy

#książka #Pratchett #Nacja Czytam teraz (chyba po raz trzeci) Nację Pratchetta I dochodzę do opinii, że to dla mnie jego najpiękniejsza I najbardziej poruszająca opowieść.

The first Science of Discworld book gets 4/5 stars... I think, wait let me check my math. The Science parts got 3 and the Wizard parts got 5 so if you add 'em up carry the 1, always carry the one, divide by two you get 4... I think. Unless we take into account that the Science chapters were longer than the Wizard chapters, wigheted data-points and all that, but a little lying to children is to be expected, it is #Discworld after all, the narrativum has to go somewhere.

#TerryPratchett #Pratchett #Humor #Satire #Fantasy #Comedy #Reading #Readers #ReadingCommunity #Novel #Books #Fiction #Recommendation #Bookrecommendation #Review #Bookreview #Bookwyrm #Bookstodon #FantasyBooks

(comment on Science of Discworld)

There are far too many houses like this here in the UK.

#Pratchett

What would happen if the borg tried to assimilate the Discworld?

Who would win in a fight between a hundred borg and the luggage?

#Discworld #Pratchett #books #SciFi #Fantasy

I often feel that I am a scientist *exactly* like Rincewind is a wizard. #pratchett

More Witches Abroad 😁

#books #discworld #pratchett #witchesabroad #fantasy #scifi

❤️❤️❤️

#Pratchett sketches a compelling account of the development of religion, beginning with “small gods” whispering to shepherds in the desert and competing with thousands of other minor deities for a simple altar made of stones, which they can trade up and up to a full-blown religion. You could meditate on the historical shift to monotheism by reading a weighty biography of Julian, the last non-Christian emperor. Or you could do it by reading Small Gods, which has jokes in it.

Continuing my Discworld re-read, now at book #12, Witches Abroad.

I love Nanny Ogg. 😂

#pratchett #discworld #fantasy #scifi #witchesabroad #nannyogg #grannyweatherwax #books

Thief was art.

#Thief Gold was better than that.

Thief II was good enough, I guess, the best Thief sequel that ever was.

Black Parade, a fan mod, is the best Thief game there has ever been, by far. Seriously, if you liked Thief, go download Black Parade right now and feel so lucky such a thing could ever exist. #Pratchett loved Thief and so should you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0gGqkbZQc0

But also, here's the original article that set me off.

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/it-felt-like-we-had-needed-couples-therapy-dishonored-devs-arkane-making-thief-or-blade-runner-games-sounds-ace-but-might-have-sparked-a-creative-director-scrap

Four books ahead on my reading challenge, which feels like finding unexpected money in a coat pocket. Pratchett's Small Gods holds up beautifully. #reading #Pratchett
Currently: Velleman's Making Phonology Functional (excellent), Weir's Project Hail Mary (no comment).