He was a great man.
Sir Terry Pratchett has died
221–230 of 234 posts
Re: Sir Terry Pratchett has died
#222[deleted]
Re: Sir Terry Pratchett has died
#223RIP Sir Terry
Re: Sir Terry Pratchett has died
#224I hope "embuggerance" is accepted as an new word this year, in honour of one of the greatest English writers.
Embuggerance is already in the Macquarie Dictionary.
Re: Sir Terry Pratchett has died
#225The first celebrity death that hit me hard. I've read all fourty Discworld novels, some of them 4 or 5 times. His books taught me to approach the world with a twinkle in my eye and a smile quick to come out -- a good change from the cynicism of my teens. So many memories... he wrote amazing characters. Dorfl, a Golem who figured out how to program himself (via writing his own scrolls to feed into his head). His firep…
> His books taught me to approach the world with a twinkle in my eye and a smile quick to come out -- a good change from the cynicism of my teens.
I know what you mean. I think you'll enjoy Diana Wynne Jones then, who along with Brian Jacques and Terry Pratchett helped me through some depressing times, with their charming worlds and characters who were refreshingly devoid of malicious cruelty even when playing the villain.
Re: Sir Terry Pratchett has died
#226The first celebrity death that hit me hard. I've read all fourty Discworld novels, some of them 4 or 5 times. His books taught me to approach the world with a twinkle in my eye and a smile quick to come out -- a good change from the cynicism of my teens. So many memories... he wrote amazing characters. Dorfl, a Golem who figured out how to program himself (via writing his own scrolls to feed into his head). His firep…
> THERE IS NO JUSTICE, THERE IS JUST US I don't think that's a Pratchett original. It was a Ruthless Rap Assassins track before Reaper Man, and I suspect it wasn't original then either. If anybody knows where it originates I would like to know.
> THERE IS NO JUSTICE, THERE IS JUST US
That quote was used in the Discworld novel Mort in 1986, when death was talking to his apprentice. According to Wikipedia, Ruthless Rap Assassins' first album was in 1990 and Reaper Man came out in 1991. I'm sure you are right that other's likely have said it previously.
Re: Sir Terry Pratchett has died
#227Earlier quoted context omitted.
He died of a form of Alzheimer's disease. Even if cryonics worked, which it doesn't, that would still be unrecoverable.
It's not clear to me if the dementia was a direct cause of death here. Some losses that could not be truly recovered, yes, depending on the extent of cell death. But much of the symptoms in Alzheimer's disease seems to be due to loss of function in the systems that, roughly speaking, drive the management of memories rather than those that store the memories themselves (hence, for example, possibility for relief of th…
[deleted]
Re: Sir Terry Pratchett has died
#228I met him once.
He came to talk at UNiversity of Cape Town here in South Africa.
I was never really a fan (not for any reason apart from my infatuation with Gibson which kept me more in Chiba City than in Discworld) but I went with a friend who got his copy of Mort signed.
Sir Pratchett gave a great talk and made a funny (yet by todays standards perfectly hideous) comment about fat goth girls.
Just a memory that a total random holds of the man. For what it's worth.
Re: Sir Terry Pratchett has died
#229Earlier quoted context omitted.
Never mind "bis später", what about "auf wiedersehen"... and "à bientôt" - see you soon. Strangely, I don't really say "goodbye" all that often - it's either "later" or "'til next time.".
I think "auf wiedersehen" is the same as au revoir, no? re-voir is to "re-see". I'm familiar with this contraction from Italian arrivederci - a (to/towards) ri- (again) veder (to see) ci (we) - "till we see eachother again".
Yeah, that was my point!
Re: Sir Terry Pratchett has died
#230I resent this! :,-(