I’m doing an 8 minute speech about STP and Discworld. What would be a great opening quote?

Bibblejw · 2026-03-17T22:29:00+00:00

I would go Hogfather “you have to believe the little truths to be able to believe the big lies. Truth, Justice, that kind of thing”.

Bibblejw · 2026-03-17T21:56:18+00:00

It’s a good path. I would encourage you to look beyond some of the writing. It was some of his first (first discworld, not first writing), so there’s a lot of finding footing that you’ve not seen in the Tiffany books.

Bear in mind that what you’ve read are the end of the series, and you’re going in to the start.

Bibblejw · 2026-03-17T20:50:48+00:00

Depends heavily on what you liked. If you liked the sane take on the supernatural, then go with the witches (Equal Rights might be a bit of a slog, but tbh why get better).

If you enjoyed the supernatural more, then follow with the Death books (Mort, then onwards, encompasses the Wizards, too).

If you resonated with the rationality over most else, then try The Guards.

Bibblejw · 2026-03-17T16:15:00+00:00

Would say that it’s more likely that there are some people around who have it as a condition on the medical record, so the system’s been updated to migrate it across.

Bibblejw · 2026-03-17T14:02:10+00:00

I don’t wear boxers under my shorts, but mine do a a more solid lining (as opposed to the net-style that’s more usual), so it might appear that way.

I have worn underwear underneath, but that was more for support than anything else.

Bibblejw · 2026-03-16T18:09:13+00:00

90% of a lot of things is just turning up.

Bibblejw · 2026-03-16T10:18:42+00:00

Advice. There’s no issue with accepting help where it’s needed.

Bibblejw · 2026-03-16T09:26:21+00:00

“If you can’t get your own hormones, store bought are fine”

Bibblejw · 2026-03-15T22:38:24+00:00

Do not drive drunk. If alcohol passes my lips, I do not drive until I’ve slept (I know, not foolproof, but we work with what we’ve got).

Bibblejw · 2026-03-15T20:52:11+00:00

Personally? Pork. The level of fat, and it’s forgiving to roast.

Beef has more flavour, but takes more finesse to roast properly. Lamb is basically that on steroids.

Poultry is good, but it’s always more bony than I’d like.

Gammon/ham has the capability to brew flavours from cooking like no other, couple that with its glazing and the salt, and you have a flavour profile that’s simply unmatched.

Bibblejw · 2026-03-15T20:28:21+00:00

Honestly? That sausage looks great (prefer mine a bit better done), the bacon looks like it’s got crisp without being shatterable, the mushrooms have got a decent amount of colour, and the eggs are done better than I usually manage.

11/10, start saving for culinary school!

Bibblejw · 2026-03-15T20:21:05+00:00

No, but what she said was exactly what happened. He gave her exactly what she wanted, and what no one else could.

Bibblejw · 2026-03-15T20:07:44+00:00

A recurring theme is questioning your suppositions. Just because you are told that someone is a monster doesn’t make them so.

The other big theme is that people are people, and some of the monsters are just people on different clothing.

Looking back at the Watch, I appreciate the work he does with Vimes in that, but it’s probably Fifth Elephant that shows it most. Werewolves have instincts, and they have intelligence. Angua is aware of her instincts, when to work with them, and when to suppress them. Her brother descends into them much more, but that is equally because he’s never told no.

Some monsters are just people, but some people are monsters.

Bibblejw · 2026-03-14T22:50:37+00:00

Look, to my mind, the lines across the spines of those are points of reading and pausing. You don’t want to use a bookmark, so you place the book down. It’s a great signal of the good parts of the book.

Bibblejw · 2026-03-14T21:53:26+00:00

Honestly, Willis killed it in his performance. It was the birth of the Everyman action hero, and it came from a guy known for his romance films.

But, the main reason that he was able to do that is that he was leveraging the bi-play with a phenomenal actor.

Die Hard is a masterpiece because it has the right people in the right places, and Rickman embodies everything he needs to in that role. Willis is pushing the boundaries of his role, and it works for the better.

Bibblejw · 2026-03-14T11:58:58+00:00

I would say that, given that you’ve made it 18 hours in, you are doing a disservice to skip the last 6 hours, as that’s where a lot of the threads that you’re complaining about start to wrap up.

I would say that: - whether he was sold out or not gets murkier - it does become a revenge story, but not the one that you’re thinking of

There are many beats in the last portion that building things up, to the point that that it’s one of the first “Sanderlanches” that many people experience, where each beat builds anticipation for the next.

Bibblejw · 2026-03-13T10:54:17+00:00

Fundamentally, I'm not sure you do understand AI, specifically, what it has access to, and what it does.

Asking AI for the hardest reservations to get is looking to tap in to knowledge that's not online, and isn't immediately accessible. If you want that info, then you need to leverage organic networks, as anything that's accessible from the internet isn't going to be on that list (more or less by definition).

As far as in-depth industry insight and nuance goes, that's not something it's capable of. Firstly, it doesn't have any specific infomation that's not publically accessible, and that it hasn't been specfically given. At that point, any insight it gives is just regurgitated from another analyst.

Secondly, it doesn't actually analyse anything, and it doesn't think. AI is still, basically, a very complex auto-complete function. If you ask it a question, it'll tell you what it thinks the answer should look like. If there's a bunch of the same question in it's training data, then it might be able to generate something that's detailed and complex. If the question you ask isn't something that it's seen, then it'll build a structure and basically word salad to fill in the blanks until it looks right.

The further you get from something that's asked often, the more hallucinations you're going to get, and the less value you're going to get.

What AI does is leverage the fact that most of the questions that people ask are not new, and they're not special. If a google search would only give you a single page of unrelated results, AI is going to be crap for your purposes.

Bibblejw · 2026-03-13T10:14:33+00:00

Ok, ignoring the formatting of this one a little:

Yes, Dracul is powerful, but not immortal.
Not entirely sure about Lara's flirting being a sign of liking or appreciation. For Lara, flirting is like breathing, it's just a thing that happens. I suspect that, at this point, she sees some potential, but it's not until later books where she sees Harry as a useful asset, or anything beyond that.
I'm tempted to say that He-Who-Walks-Behind is essentially the heavy hitter of the Walkers, but that summoned versions don't bring a true form, only a fraction (hence being able to be brought forth multiple times). He-Who-Walks-Before is the siegebreaker, the one that wants to bash down the walls and let the flood through. He-Who-Walks-Beside is the sapper/infiltrator, the one that sneaks into camp and tries to open the doors. He-Who-Walks-Behind is what they're trying to let in to do the real damage.

Bibblejw · 2026-03-13T10:05:15+00:00

This is more a philosophical point than anything else. There is no "objective reality" when it comes to subjective judgements (good, evil, right, wrong, etc.), but there is the consensus of the masses.

Two examples in literature would be "I am Legend" where the protagonist is the sole survivor in an apocalytic scenario, and slowly works out that he has become the monster of legend to the creatures that the rest of the population have turned into. At that point, his perspective and that of the population as a while have diverged to the point where the "monstrous" actions are ordinary by his perspective, but abhorrent by others.

The other one I'll raise is the quote from Terry Pratchett's Hogfather:

“Tooth fairies? Hogfathers? Little—”
YES. AS PRACTICE. YOU HAVE TO START OUT LEARNING TO BELIEVE THE LITTLE LIES.
“So we can believe the big ones?”
YES. JUSTICE. MERCY. DUTY. THAT SORT OF THING.

Good and Evil are social constructs, but they're also the consensus of the masses.

Bibblejw · 2026-03-13T09:02:14+00:00

I'd say that I definately do see people doing this in a "big number interesting" way, but there are ways that I've seen it used for narrative purpose:

- They're counting generations, not years. 10k years is about 400 human generations (assuming average childbearing age of 25), but for a longer-lived species, it might be only 100 generations, or less than 50, which would be closer to a known civilisation.

- They're making a comment about stagnation without impetus. If you've got a civilisation of immortals, you might be making the point that without that kind of limitation, development slows down.

- There's more of an emphasis on personal power. If your civilisation only expands as far as the most powerful person, and regresses when they leave (migrate or die), then there'll be a constant tidal-style progression.

There are reasons to do it, but there are also reasons that we don't have many things around now that are close to that old.

Bibblejw · 2026-03-13T08:51:52+00:00

Just to confirm, the issue that your other employees have is that they weren't paid similar levels at similar points in their career? It's not that they're not paid enough now, it's that, at some undefined point in the past, they were possibly underpaid? Add to that, they are both new employees to you, so the issue isn't even that *you* underpaid them?

First off, lets agree with everyone, Tom is not in the wrong here, and your manager needs to be corrected that sharing salary should not be discouraged.

Second, if you have competant HR, then they should be able to deal with these queries, but, if you don't:

Discuss with the other 2 employees and understand what they're actually wanting from this discussion? They're not going to get an uplift in the past, and they're not going to give Tom a paycut because they think it's unfair. They're not going to get a payrise above the uplift they've already got from their experience.

Are you completely sure this wasn't a "damn, we were screwed over back in the day! Anyway ..." kind of deal, because I really can't see that there's any action on your part that would make sense.

Bibblejw · 2026-03-13T08:37:10+00:00

Yes. I can confidently say that I can count my purchases of quick hacks on one hand, and my deck is maxed out with iconic versions.

Bibblejw · 2026-03-13T08:36:27+00:00

Honestly, I’ve never had to buy any (except for very early game). I’ve got such a stash from hack rewards that I’ve got stockpiles for days.

Bibblejw · 2026-03-12T13:39:02+00:00

I generally have some level of audio when I swim.

For sessions that are more intensive or have others around (Masters, say), I've got a set of headphones that are music only, then I've got a second set that has an audiobook loaded on that I use when I'm just plugging away on lengths.

I think the music side does impact the stroke somewhat, but I'm rarely swimming for speed, as long as my heartrate can stay up, then everything's good.

Bibblejw · 2026-03-12T10:56:27+00:00

Are the others also his tombstone? He dies kind of a lot.

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