en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/12450192 Comments by Delta1212 http://markreads.net/reviews/2018/02/mark-reads-night-watch-part-8/#IDComment1058818935 I looked into this recently, and the US had a homicide rate several times higher than most developed countries, so I'm not sure how true this actually is. Fri, 23 Feb 2018 23:30:05 +0000 http://markreads.net/reviews/2018/02/mark-reads-night-watch-part-8/#IDComment1058818935 http://markreads.net/reviews/2018/02/mark-reads-night-watch-part-5/#IDComment1058436063 One teaches evil. The other teaches good men to do nothing. Thu, 15 Feb 2018 15:47:38 +0000 http://markreads.net/reviews/2018/02/mark-reads-night-watch-part-5/#IDComment1058436063 http://markreads.net/reviews/2017/05/mark-reads-the-truth-part-6/#IDComment1044448374 Same as above, as a child my experience with the word was that it was a signifier of weakness, with maybe a slight connotation of being associated with femininity. It wasn't until I was much older that I stumbled upon the association with being gay. If anything, it has always seemed closer to "effeminate" in meaning to me, although when it comes to insults those two qualities are linked up pretty frequently. Wed, 31 May 2017 16:21:26 +0000 http://markreads.net/reviews/2017/05/mark-reads-the-truth-part-6/#IDComment1044448374 http://markreads.net/reviews/2017/05/mark-reads-the-truth-part-4/#IDComment1044164963 This brought an involuntary —ing tear to my eye. Thu, 25 May 2017 19:47:32 +0000 http://markreads.net/reviews/2017/05/mark-reads-the-truth-part-4/#IDComment1044164963 http://markreads.net/reviews/2017/04/mark-reads-the-fifth-elephant-part-7/#IDComment1042064582 I'm pretty sure that has been brought up before, but I can't think of when specifically. Tue, 11 Apr 2017 19:19:42 +0000 http://markreads.net/reviews/2017/04/mark-reads-the-fifth-elephant-part-7/#IDComment1042064582 http://markreads.net/reviews/2017/01/mark-reads-the-last-continent-part-15/#IDComment1037352654 I have never understood the hate for pineapple on pizza. Not my go-to by any means, but if someone is offering, damn straight I'm taking a slice. It's delicious. Mon, 16 Jan 2017 19:05:43 +0000 http://markreads.net/reviews/2017/01/mark-reads-the-last-continent-part-15/#IDComment1037352654 http://markreads.net/reviews/2016/12/mark-reads-jingo-part-22/#IDComment1034660514 I think Carrot would make a good king, but I don't think he would be a great ruler. He's very obviously more world-wise than he lets on, the naivete is not entirely an act, and we've directly seen how difficult it is for Carrot to be outright duplicitous. Also, while he does have a strong tendency to bring out people's better natures and convince them to work with them, it's not a magical ability and it doesn't work universally and on everyone. Carrot sees the best in everyone. Vetinari, by contrast, sees people precisely as they are. He doesn't appeal to their better natures. He just appeals to their natures. Just look at the difference between how Vetinari and Carrot handled the situation in Jingo. Carrot was exceedingly effective leader, and displayed a variety of very rare virtues that are admirable in any leader. But Vetinari managed to wrap the situation up with very minimal loss of life and no damage done to Ankh Morpork. And the way he did it is something that would never have occurred to Carrot to even try. Carrot can make water run uphill. Vetinari looks at the geography and finds the spot where if things were tweaked just a little bit, the river would flow down a different path entirely. Reality bends around Carrot slightly and makes some things that seem like they should be impossible become possible. Vetinari works more of a social judo and pivots just enough to allow the existing momentum of events to carry things along in the direction he prefers them to go. Carrot's ability in this respect is remarkable, but it's a brute force approach, even if, in this case, it's relying on the strength of his character rather than his physical strength. Inevitably, he runs into situations that are too weighty even for him to force into another direction. Vetinari's method uses the weight of events instead of resisting them, so he winds up getting the best possible outcome in any situation regardless of who or what is lined up against him. If Carrot was king when Leshp rose out of the sea and Vetinari wasn't in the picture, I think there is a very strong chance everyone would be dead by the end of Jingo. Fri, 2 Dec 2016 16:38:18 +0000 http://markreads.net/reviews/2016/12/mark-reads-jingo-part-22/#IDComment1034660514 http://markreads.net/reviews/2016/11/mark-reads-jingo-part-21/#IDComment1034548542 I saw Lawrence of Arabia when I was fairly young, and "The trick is not minding that it hurts" was my favorite line in the movie. Stuck with me ever since. Wed, 30 Nov 2016 16:26:23 +0000 http://markreads.net/reviews/2016/11/mark-reads-jingo-part-21/#IDComment1034548542 http://markreads.net/reviews/2016/11/mark-reads-jingo-part-20/#IDComment1034501665 You might say Charles I was a... *sunglasses* sovereign citizen. Tue, 29 Nov 2016 18:22:33 +0000 http://markreads.net/reviews/2016/11/mark-reads-jingo-part-20/#IDComment1034501665 http://markreads.net/reviews/2016/11/mark-reads-jingo-part-15/#IDComment1033723791 I'm literally having a debate with someone right now who said, in consecutive sentences, that he has lived under the same rules and been given nothing that everybody else didn't get, and that his parents sent him to a private school and he was able to attend college because his father worked at one. Consecutive sentences. Mon, 14 Nov 2016 17:25:37 +0000 http://markreads.net/reviews/2016/11/mark-reads-jingo-part-15/#IDComment1033723791 http://markreads.net/reviews/2016/11/mark-reads-the-wizards-dilemma-chapter-14/#IDComment1033473042 Thanks. I think my last one was either A Wizard Alone or Wizard's Holiday. I don't think I read Wizards at War, but there's an outside chance I picked it up. Definitely haven't read anything later than that. They're all sort of jumbled together in my head, so I don't remember what was in which book, and there is some stuff I just outright don't remember. I might need to do a quick re-read to catch up if I can find the time. Wed, 9 Nov 2016 23:09:09 +0000 http://markreads.net/reviews/2016/11/mark-reads-the-wizards-dilemma-chapter-14/#IDComment1033473042 http://markreads.net/reviews/2016/11/mark-reads-the-wizards-dilemma-chapter-14/#IDComment1033470965 I might. That could be fun, actually. I'll have to see what's going on with me when it gets to that point. Actually, I have to figure out when that point would even be. I don't remember what the last book I read even was, although I definitely remember having this and I think at least the next one. Wed, 9 Nov 2016 22:12:45 +0000 http://markreads.net/reviews/2016/11/mark-reads-the-wizards-dilemma-chapter-14/#IDComment1033470965 http://markreads.net/reviews/2016/11/mark-reads-the-wizards-dilemma-chapter-14/#IDComment1033453729 Genuinely don't think I slept at all either. Wed, 9 Nov 2016 14:03:33 +0000 http://markreads.net/reviews/2016/11/mark-reads-the-wizards-dilemma-chapter-14/#IDComment1033453729 http://markreads.net/reviews/2016/11/mark-reads-the-wizards-dilemma-chapter-14/#IDComment1033453646 Likewise. Haven't been following Young Wizards even though I loved it as a kid, but today is just... I'm currently sitting on a train heading into work and dreading it because I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to say to my boss, who is a black, Muslim non-citizen woman married to an American who is Hispanic. I just... I can't even imagine, and my imagination has been given a good expansion over the last day. Wed, 9 Nov 2016 14:01:32 +0000 http://markreads.net/reviews/2016/11/mark-reads-the-wizards-dilemma-chapter-14/#IDComment1033453646 http://markreads.net/reviews/2016/10/mark-reads-jingo-part-3/#IDComment1031753534 I think one of the things Vimes represents as a character is the conflict that is eternally present within any policing force between the ideal of protecting and serving the community and the thing that it is so easy to become when a mere human is handed the power of a badge and then regularly exposed to all the terrible things people do to each other and a lot of political and cultural pressure from various areas to just get things done without regard to how. On the Disc, Vimes' ideals consistently seem to win out against both the external pressures and the internal struggle with his own... rougher edges and baser impulses. Unfortunately, that's not always how it works out in the real world. And while the Watch represents what the police are supposed to be like, it's very easy, when there aren't people like Vimes taking the rudder and steering things toward that ideal, for the opposite line of thinking and behavior to become the entrenched culture. I've gone through a lot of "favorite characters" in these books at different times, especially Death, but the past year has gotten me to think about certain things a lot more, and I've come to the conclusion that Vimes is probably the best role model in the entire series. Carrot is great, but he's someone for whom doing the right thing almost always seems to come naturally. He makes it look easy. For Vimes it's rarely easy. Every day feels like a struggle for him, and he has a much more outwardly cynical view of the world. And in spite of that struggle, he pushes himself to live up to those ideals that he sincerely believes in. Discworld runs on belief. It's a real force that shapes the world, and I think that the way the Watch operates, as a flawed but ultimately idealized police force, may be down in large part to how fervently Vimes believes that that is what a police force is supposed to be. Harkening back a bit to Hogfather, Vimes believes in the "lie" of Policing, and I think a lot of real world problems result when people, most especially the police themselves, stop believing in it. Because Policing in that sense is maintaining a community, whereas what we have right now, by contrast, is mostly Law Enforcement. The real world would be a much better place if there were more people with the strength of Vimes's convictions and the quality of his ideals. Tue, 11 Oct 2016 13:14:47 +0000 http://markreads.net/reviews/2016/10/mark-reads-jingo-part-3/#IDComment1031753534 http://markreads.net/reviews/2016/10/mark-reads-jingo-part-2/#IDComment1031525467 What makes you say that? I interpreted it as originating with Carrot. Fri, 7 Oct 2016 18:56:07 +0000 http://markreads.net/reviews/2016/10/mark-reads-jingo-part-2/#IDComment1031525467 http://markreads.net/reviews/2016/10/mark-reads-jingo-part-2/#IDComment1031520616 What age group, out of curiosity? I'm pretty sure I would have picked someone else's history around the age that I started high school. By the end of high school, I think I probably would have picked something from US history. Fri, 7 Oct 2016 17:16:15 +0000 http://markreads.net/reviews/2016/10/mark-reads-jingo-part-2/#IDComment1031520616 http://markreads.net/reviews/2016/09/mark-reads-hogfather-part-17/#IDComment1031222669 If no one, human or otherwise, believed in justice, had a sense of fair play or otherwise acted to make justice happen, would it exist? As a concept, justice only has power in the world because people treat it as if it does. If no one cared, it would cease to exist, either entirely as a concept or else in the way that dragons and unicorns are ideas that we're aware of but don't have any other real existence. The big ones are the things that don't have any power in the world except the power granted by us because we believe they are things that should have power. Mon, 3 Oct 2016 13:45:29 +0000 http://markreads.net/reviews/2016/09/mark-reads-hogfather-part-17/#IDComment1031222669 http://markreads.net/reviews/2016/09/mark-reads-hogfather-part-12/#IDComment1030162238 I just realized while looking at this screencap that my mental image of Albert is basically Michael Caine. Thu, 15 Sep 2016 15:13:35 +0000 http://markreads.net/reviews/2016/09/mark-reads-hogfather-part-12/#IDComment1030162238 http://markreads.net/reviews/2016/04/mark-reads-so-you-want-to-be-a-wizard-chapter-2-part-i/#IDComment1018143465 That it's a myth is also a semi-myth. There really haven't been studies done on the effects of reading in low-lighting, so nobody really knows whether it has any effect on your eyesight or not. Reading generally might contribute to nearsightedness, though. There's some indication that doing a lot of activities where you are focusing on things up close (books, screens, whatever) can have a detrimental long-term effect on your distance vision. Fri, 1 Apr 2016 20:59:18 +0000 http://markreads.net/reviews/2016/04/mark-reads-so-you-want-to-be-a-wizard-chapter-2-part-i/#IDComment1018143465