DanJW

Oh dear

Was it "toblix"?

That sucks. I wondered why you changed your name to "c4$h". Any idea how your account got hijacked? The other week someone tried to get my username and password by posing as an automated steam message (here's a hit for that dumbass: automated steam messages asking for your password don't appear in chat windows with the automated text at the top that says "never give out your password"). So anyway I reported him and hopefully he now has one fewer steam accounts rather than one more.

You'll like this then. Lots of hints and easter eggs. Including my favourite bit

Yeah, I've not seen this before either. It reminds me slightly of Ecco the Dolphin. That is by no means a bad thing.

I was thinking about why people wouldn't like the Half Life series. It struck me that the early parts of Half Life 1 are more like a survival horror than a shooter. What with the surprise-attack headcrabs and slow zombies, there's no actual gunplay until you meet the alien slaves. Half Life 2 saves the horror for Ravenholme, but the start is still all about escape and evasion rather than shoot-outs. Still, I fail to see how people can not like it. Ah well

All findings into the causes and effects are good (or were you expecting a headline saying something like "ALZHEIMER'S CURED!!!!!!OMG")? Also, don't let my meagre 3 minutes of searching stand for the whole field. If you really want to know, go do some research yourself. Now stop hijacking this lovely thread about Pratchett.

Yay! I made it, along with the first version of that fansite, around ten years ago. Somehow that webspace still exists.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7071576.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7058564.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/medical_notes/1079432.stm

Yeah but that's because they are little bitches

Carpe Jugulum, the Witches book after Maskerade, is very different, almost harrowing in places. It marks another shift towards a darker and more political tone. Night Watch and Thud proved that the Watch books definitely aren't running out of steam either. In my opinion Pterry continues to get better and better over time - another reason why the bad news is, well, so bad.

I think that concludes our little piece of theatre. We hope you all enjoyed it immensely. Thank you and good night!

Actually, two know less of one. Since he's in the other thread, Pratchett's equation is thus: "the collective IQ of a crowd is the IQ of the least intelligent member divided by the number of members ".

Perhaps one like the desktop icon on this page?

Nappi, as with Wrestle, I recommend Small Gods. Eric is OK, but not my favourite of the Rincewind series. Since you've read Interesting Times it would perhaps make sense to carry on to Last Continent (especially if you like jokes about Australia). The Science of Discworld books are, despite the title, actually about real science in our world. However they use the magic-based reality of Discworld as a means to compare and contrast with our physics based universe, and every other chapter is part of a discworld story that kind of illustrates the ideas. The first book is about the creation of the universe, the Earth, and Life. The Second book is about Human evolution and the rise of civilisation. And the third book is, I believe about Evolution in general. Wrestle, I like all the books, obviously, but I think on the whole the City Watch series is the one I find the most... satisfying? Something like that. Sam Vimes is a great character. And Death has a cameo in every single book, I think.

It should be noted that each series has its own tone as well, so people tend to have a favourite group. It may help you choose where you want to start. The Death books are quite philosophical, as tend towards, guess what, contemplation of death and mortality and humans place in the world. The Witches books tend to borrow from Shakespeare, as well as British folklore and rural life, and are about personal struggle, power, and doing what's right. The Rincewind novels are about lampooning fantasy clichés, and also about travel to foreign cultures and the nature of heroism. The City Watch books are based on Film Noire and detective stories, but are also about politics and how cities develop, and battling personal demons.

That's what I said! Interesting to see that they have classed the remaining novels into "industrial revolution". I guess that is kind of a running theme. And I've seen the "ancient civilisations" ones classed as the "Gods Novels" as well. Those groups have very little continuity though.

Yeah, you can read them in any order. Pretty much. There are some books that follow certain groups of characters, and those ones have a natural order, but it is by no means mandatory. They are: The Rincewind Books Colour of Magic Light Fantastic Sourcery Eric Interesting Times The Last Continent The Last Hero (also the Science of Discworld books, kind of) The Death Books Mort Reaper Man Soul Music Hogfather Thief of Time The Witches Books Equal Rites (kind of) Wyrd Sisters Witches Abroad Lords and Ladies Maskerade Carpe Jugulum (also the Tiffany Aching series, kind of) The City Watch Books Guards! Guards! Men at Arms Feet of Clay Jingo The Fifth Elephant Night Watch Thud The rest pretty much stand alone (although the latest, Making Money, follows on from Going Postal). Man, I know far too much about Discworld.

An excellent idea. Yufster, please stop pestering me. I need my privacy.

It is both. Like a baby with red eyes and horns.

Egad, Ginger talking sense!

OK, you weren't naked or wet, although I do have that effect on most women, and also the door was open. And I did tell you before I came up the stairs. But you did actually answer the door in a towel, even though it could have been anybody. Anybody at all. Even Ginger. Then you would have been in real trouble. I'm pretty sure I saw tentacles moving underneath the towel though.

Most people hated Xen. I loved it, although I admit the change in gameplay wasn't great. What I liked was the depiction of an utterly alien dimension, something that could feasibly melt your brain. I've yet to see much like it in a game before or since.

I guess I mean that Half-life 2 has a a certain slickness to it, and totally buys into it's own fiction (without losing all sense of humour). It takes itself seriously, in a good way, making it more consistant. Most other FPS games seem clumsy in comparison. And Cheesy. The game-ness is more apparent. It's the difference between a really excellent movie and a hammer horror B-movie. If you're used to cheesyness then entertainment of actual merit can be difficult to adjust to. I'm not sure how to explain it really.

Come back when you are prepared to not patronise me, Greenpeace.