If you’re a Terry Pratchett fan then you probably already know that a) today would have been his 76th birthday and b) his estate mark the day as Terry Pratchett Day and this year have decided “Starting in the Wrong Place” is the theme.
This makes perfect sense to me as, like so many other fans of Terry’s work, I didn’t start my journey through the Discworld with the first book published in the…
Granny Weatherwax and Sam Vimes wouldn’t get on at all, and they’d never admit why, but it’s because they’re too similar. They both have an internal morality more sturdy and unmovable than a mountain, they both know they contain the capacity for great evil, but keep themselves in line with self discipline the likes of which most people couldn’t dream of. They both know about the importance of choice, and of truth, and of autonomy. If either of them were able to look past their aversion to seeing their own reflection, and worked together, they’d be fucking unstoppable.
Something about two of the main Discworld series being focused on these intensely determined, stubbornly moral people just really means a lot to me. You’ve got Moist using his criminal mind to help people, and the wizards doing whatever wizards do, and Death showing kindness to people in their most vulnerable moments. And you’ve got these two, making the world a better place whether it likes it or not. It will get better, or else, they say. Or else you’ll have me to deal with.
I'm re-reading the Discworld series for reasons, and honestly the most relatable part of reading these as an adult is how many of the protagonists start out being tired, used to their little routine and vaguely disgruntled by the interruption of the Plot. Sam Vimes wants to lie drunk in a gutter and absolutely doesn't want to be arresting dragons. Rincewind is yanked into every situation he's ever encountered, though he'd much rather be lying in a gutter too. (Minus the alcohol. Plus regretting everything he's ever done said witnessed or even heard about fourth-hand in his whole life.) Granny Weatherwax is deeply suspicious of foreign parts and that includes the next town over; Nanny has leaned into the armor of "nothing ever happens to jolly grannies who terrorize their daughters-in-law and make Saucy Jokes"
Only the young people don't seem to have picked up on this---and that's fortunate, because someone has to run around making things happen, if only so Vimes and Granny and Rincewind have a reason to get up (complaining bitterly the whole time) and put it all to rights. Without Carrot, Margrat, Eric, etc. these characters don't have that reason; they're likely to stay in the metaphorical gutter and keep wondering where it all went wrong or why anything has to change.
............well, that's not quite true. You get the sense that Vetinari knows how much certain people hate the Plot. And as the person sitting behind the metaphorical lighting board of Ankh-Morpork, he takes no small pleasure in forcing the Plot-haters specifically to stand up, and say some lines.
Y'all, the world is sleeping on what NASA just pulled off with Voyager 1
The probe has been sending gibberish science data back to Earth, and scientists feared it was just the probe finally dying. You know, after working for 50 GODDAMN YEARS and LEAVING THE GODDAMN SOLAR SYSTEM and STILL CHURNING OUT GODDAMN DATA.
So they analyzed the gibberish and realized that in it was a total readout of EVERYTHING ON THE PROBE. Data, the programming, hardware specs and status, everything. They realized that one of the chips was malfunctioning.
So what do you do when your probe is 22 Billion km away and needs a fix? Why, you just REPROGRAM THAT ENTIRE GODDAMN THING. Told it to avoid the bad chip, store the data elsewhere.
Sent the new code on April 18th. Got a response on April 20th - yeah, it's so far away that it took that long just to transmit.
And the probe is working again.
From a programmer's perspective, that may be the most fucking impressive thing I have ever heard.
never let anyone tell you that trawling through mediocre victorian poetry isn't worth it. we just happened upon an absolute BANGER of a worm poem. go read it or else 🪱🪱🪱
HOW TO SEW SLEEVES WITHOUT WANTING TO MURDER EVERYTHING: A TUTORIAL
Someone asked that this be rebloggable so HURR YOU GO
Patterns are really dumb in telling you to finish the body of an outfit, then finish the sleeve, then attach a circle to a circle. It’s possible to do, don’t get me wrong, but unless you have a lot of experience it’s sometimes very aggravating trying to evenly distribute the sleeve around the “hole” cut out for it and match up the seams under the armpit!
(Please note…some patterns, especially to achieve tailored looks, require you to do it the traditional way. Don’t use this method for fashion school assignments or super-complex garments as it will probably screw up the way it ends up fitting in the end. This is mostly for the use of cosplayers to make their job a little easier.)
Ah yes, the combined “only the opinions of the people who don’t like me count” and “if I can do it, it can’t be difficult” curse strikes again.
Tiffany Aching was so real for lamenting how she wasn't a real witch because the wannabe witches were mean to her while simultaneously astral projecting because she didn't have a mirror handy.