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feedmegin posted:Which number are we using here, daily or per week? Per week, I'm assuming that daily is going to be too noisy. (Also didn't realise you could do it by day)
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Oct 15, 2020 23:14
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If you click a zone when zoomed it it gives you daily counts I think.
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Oct 15, 2020 23:15
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goddamnedtwisto posted:Sourcery is definitely in the "kid goes to wizard school" genre. I mean in the sense that 14 year old maths geniuses go to Oxford sometimes I guess. It's a bit lacking in interhouse sporting competition, jolly japes behind the teachers' backs, slap-up cream teas etc or any other element of the genre than 'kid' and 'academic environment'. I don't remember Harry icing Dumbledore in the first couple of chapters of the book for example.
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Oct 15, 2020 23:17
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goddamnedtwisto posted:Per week, I'm assuming that daily is going to be too noisy. Well Barking is at 220 and lol if this is a richer lower density area... (I'm using the search by postcode option from the second link)
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Oct 15, 2020 23:19
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feedmegin posted:I mean in the sense that 14 year old maths geniuses go to Oxford sometimes I guess. It's a bit lacking in interhouse sporting competition, jolly japes behind the teachers' backs, slap-up cream teas etc or any other element of the genre than 'kid' and 'academic environment'. I don't remember Harry icing Dumbledore in the first couple of chapters of the book for example. It'd be a much better book if he did. Also Sourcery is (IMO) easily the weakest of the books and it's still considerably better than anything Harry Potter-related.
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Oct 15, 2020 23:19
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I like sourcery. Actually to be honest I struggle to identify any of the pratchett books offhand that I would describe as weak. The first few are weird compared to the others but even they have a unique charm. It's not very much like discworld but it's still a lot of fun in its own right. I guess if I had to pick one I liked least I might say equal rites but that's because I don't remember very much happening in it and it still hasn't quite worked out the writing style. I think Esk's much more interesting in... is it I Shall Wear Midnight? Was nice to see her again. OwlFancier fucked around with this message at 23:24 on Oct 15, 2020 |
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Oct 15, 2020 23:22
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Terry pratchett isn't trying to emulate Enid blyton style kids adventure books, which harry potter definitely is. The fact that they both have wizards in educational establishments doesn't mean they are in any way similar books.
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Oct 15, 2020 23:24
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Sourcery is good, and sets up some of the later books even if it does have a few "this is about MAD get it" moments.goddamnedtwisto posted:You complained about this last time this site came up, are you sure you've not got some weird issue with your connection (or have nullrouted gov.uk to keep them from being able to connect to you OwlFancier posted:Or have you noscripted it, which flat out prevents me from using some websites if they have too many layers of cross connecting javascript. sebzilla posted:Harry Potter is Mildred Hubble with a penis
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Oct 15, 2020 23:24
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Oh look, HMS Brenda comes back from pretending to be a supercarrier in the North Sea and the naval base just loving shoots up with cases
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Oct 15, 2020 23:25
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OwlFancier posted:I like sourcery. Equal Rites was the first Pratchett I read - it had just been published and TP came to our 'science fiction reading group' to talk about it. Personally, I felt the later books started going downhill - the fatter they got, the weaker they became. I'm not sure I read anything past Hogfather, but I may have. Can't be assed to dig out a list and see. I do remember being at an Octarine con in the 1990s and TP was Guest of Honour and I was sitting next to his table at breakfast and the conversation was just so much fun and him and another fellow (might have been Robert Rankin - I know they were both GoH at one of those cons) were really sparking off each other
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Oct 15, 2020 23:26
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OwlFancier posted:I like sourcery. The last couple are pretty ropy but that's kind of understandable 
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Oct 15, 2020 23:26
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Just tested ipo.gov.uk and it works fine, definitely a that server thing rather than all gov.uk sites.
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Oct 15, 2020 23:26
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Checking the borough I work in and, yep, it's the poorer areas with the highest numbers
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Oct 15, 2020 23:28
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OwlFancier posted:I like sourcery. I didn't say it was *bad*, just not as good as the others. The first six books can basically be seen in retrospect as him finding the balance, going from wacky pastiche to semi-serious and back, until he really hits the "Tell a serious story in a ridiculous world" stride and the series goes from good to great. (Also - and I know it risks me massive amounts of nerd-cred - I actually like the mid-period books a lot more than the later "serious" ones. Night Watch is an amazing book, no debate, but it's the run from Men At Arms to Jingo that are the ones I actually go back and re-read)
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Oct 15, 2020 23:33
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True, I guess, I haven't read Raising Steam. Unseen Academicals and... the one where vimes goes on holiday felt quite... cruel? Like they felt like they were written by someone who was a lot angrier. Which was weird but yes, understandable. Re: other books esp. thick ones if you stopped at Hogfather (which isn't one of the stronger ones for my money, though the plot is pretty fun and I do like Susan) then you presumably missed out on Jingo (which is excellent) and The Fifth Elephant (which is excellent) and I also really like Thud (can you sense a theme? I like the dwarf books) and actually a lot of the ones after Hogfather have some really good plots and character bits in them I think. Certainly I think some of the most memorable if hard to read, like Night Watch are from then. Looking at the list I actually do feel like the books on the whole got better as he went on right up until you hit Unseen Academicals. But I Shall Wear Midnight is bittersweet and sorrowful, rather than angry, I really liked it when I read it. I don't know if I have the heart to read The Shepherd's Crown, cos ISWM is such a good conclusion to Tiff's story.
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Oct 15, 2020 23:35
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feedmegin posted:The last couple are pretty ropy but that's kind of understandable I actually love Unseen Academicals - it's odd because as far as I know he wasn't ever a big football fan but it somehow manages to perfectly capture the magic (not sorry) of football.
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Oct 15, 2020 23:36
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I haven't read past Snuff. I'd reached a point where I didn't want to read any more Pratchett. I still love Night Watch and so many other stories, and I wish it could have gone on longer, but I like holding the idea of "Pratchett" in my head as it were.
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Oct 15, 2020 23:37
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goddamnedtwisto posted:I didn't say it was *bad*, just not as good as the others. The first six books can basically be seen in retrospect as him finding the balance, going from wacky pastiche to semi-serious and back, until he really hits the "Tell a serious story in a ridiculous world" stride and the series goes from good to great. It might be weird but I feel like the jump from Equal Rites to Mort feels much bigger to me, like Mort feels like a discworld book to me, which is weird as they were published the same year apparently. Wholly agreed on the mid run books being great though, they are a bit less serious but the style is right there and they are wonderful fun, what I feel like makes the later books work is that they keep a lot of the levity of the earlier ones but the contrast with the more serious subjects make them stick in your mind more. They are less purely fun, though, so if you want something that's just a joy then the mid series is probably the better ones. I like Pyramids and Guards Guards and Jingo again is great. Reaper Man, Witches Abroad, all of them wonderful. goddamnedtwisto posted:I actually love Unseen Academicals - it's odd because as far as I know he wasn't ever a big football fan but it somehow manages to perfectly capture the magic (not sorry) of football. I assume it probably works better if you are more familiar with football which I am not. Josef bugman posted:I haven't read past Snuff. I'd reached a point where I didn't want to read any more Pratchett. If you read Wintersmith, the Wee Free Men, and/or Hatful of Sky, I would recommend I Shall Wear Midnight, but it might make you cry a bit. OwlFancier fucked around with this message at 23:42 on Oct 15, 2020 |
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Oct 15, 2020 23:39
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Just checked the site on my phone, doesn't work on WiFi, works on 4G. So that's definitely either a router or connection issue. But only for that site, not all .gov.uk sites. Sad lol if they've managed to get it on a malvertising list somehow.
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Oct 15, 2020 23:48
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OwlFancier posted:True, I guess, I haven't read Raising Steam. Unseen Academicals and... the one where vimes goes on holiday felt quite... cruel? Like they felt like they were written by someone who was a lot angrier. Which was weird but yes, understandable. Oh yes I did read Jingo and Fifth Element. Definitely not Thud. I do like the Night Watch / Vimes ones and the three witches - actually I'm pretty sure I know who Granny Weatherwax was modelled on (as a former frequenter of Eastercons) though I might be wrong! Nanny Og reminds me of my maternal grandmother (who died 24 years ago). So I did after all dig out a list of the Discworld series and seems I have read quite a few post Hogfather. Y-1 The Colour of Magic 1983 Rincewind 93rd in the Big Read. Y-2 The Light Fantastic 1986 Continues from The Colour of Magic Y-3 Equal Rites 1987 Witches Y-4 Mort Death 65th in the Big Read Y-5 Sourcery 1988 Rincewind Y-6 Wyrd Sisters Witches 135th in the Big Read Y-7 Pyramids 1989 Djelibeybi British Science Fiction Award winner, 1989[6] Y-8 Guards! Guards! City Watch 69th in the Big Read Y-9 Eric 1990 Rincewind Published in a larger format and fully illustrated by Josh Kirby Y-10 Moving Pictures Industrial Revolution Y-11 Reaper Man 1991 Death 126th in the Big Read Y-12 Witches Abroad Witches 197th in the Big Read Y-13 Small Gods 1992 Omnia 102nd in the Big Read Y-14 Lords and Ladies Witches Y-15 Men at Arms 1993 City Watch 148th in the Big Read Y-16 Soul Music 1994 Death 151st in the Big Read Y-17 Interesting Times Rincewind Y-18 Maskerade 1995 Witches Y-19 Feet of Clay 1996 City Watch Y-20 Hogfather Death 137th in the Big Read; British Fantasy Award nominee, 1997[7] Y-21 Jingo 1997 City Watch N-22 The Last Continent 1998 Rincewind Y-23 Carpe Jugulum Witches ?-30 The Wee Free Men 2003 Tiffany Aching (I read one with the wee free men in it, if they were in an earlier one then I haven't read this) ?-33 Going Postal Moist von Lipwig Locus and Nebula Awards nominee, 2005[13] ? (seen the 2 part series can't remember if I read it) All Not read after this. 24 The Fifth Elephant 1999 City Watch 153rd in the Big Read; Locus Fantasy Award nominee, 2000[8] 25 The Truth 2000 Industrial Revolution 193rd in the Big Read 26 Thief of Time 2001 Death 152nd in the Big Read; Locus Award nominee, 2002[9] 27 The Last Hero Rincewind Published in a larger format and fully illustrated by Paul Kidby 28 The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents Überwald A YA (young adult or children's) Discworld book; winner of the 2001 Carnegie Medal 29 Night Watch 2002 City Watch Received the Prometheus Award in 2003; came 73rd in the Big Read; Locus Award nominee, 2003[10] 31 Monstrous Regiment Industrial Revolution 2004 nominee for Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel.[11] The title is a reference to The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstruous Regiment of Women[12] 32 A Hat Full of Sky 2004 Tiffany Aching The third YA Discworld book 34 Thud! 2005 City Watch Locus Award nominee, 2006[14] 35 Wintersmith 2006 Tiffany Aching The fourth YA book. 36 Making Money 2007 Moist von Lipwig Locus Award winner, Nebula nominee, 2008[15] 37 Unseen Academicals 2009 Rincewind Locus Award Nominee, 2010 38 I Shall Wear Midnight 2010 Tiffany Aching The fifth YA book, Andre Norton winner, 2010[16] 39 Snuff 2011 City Watch The third-fastest-selling hardback adult-readership novel since records began in the UK, selling 55,000 copies in the first three days.[17] 40 Raising Steam 2013 Moist von Lipwig 41 The Shepherd's Crown Did have a spate of going to see plays in Colchester (I think it was) of his books but I got bored with those after a while. All my Pratchetts made nice rodent beds over a few winters in a parental shed while I was abroad so I only have pdfs of them now.
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Oct 15, 2020 23:48
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Jaeluni Asjil posted:?-30 The Wee Free Men 2003 Tiffany Aching (I read one with the wee free men in it, if they were in an earlier one then I haven't read this) The Nac Mac Feegle are fairly major in Carpe Jugulum and various Feegle turn up in cameos elsewhere in the series.
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Oct 15, 2020 23:52
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Guavanaut posted:Just checked the site on my phone, doesn't work on WiFi, works on 4G. So that's definitely either a router or connection issue. But only for that site, not all .gov.uk sites. My town is 'suppressed' for now so from what someone else said up there I guess that means 'very few' cases. Ed on the slightly bigger scale it's in a 10-50 area, but on maximum zoom seems all of Wales is whited out. Jaeluni Asjil fucked around with this message at 23:57 on Oct 15, 2020 |
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Oct 15, 2020 23:52
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OwlFancier posted:I don't know if I have the heart to read The Shepherd's Crown, cos ISWM is such a good conclusion to Tiff's story. I was the same, I didn't read it for at least a year or two after he died. Not wanting for the ride to end sort of thing. But it is worth it. A fitting last book imo.
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Oct 15, 2020 23:53
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Jaeluni Asjil posted:All my Pratchetts made nice rodent beds over a few winters in a parental shed while I was abroad so I only have pdfs of them now.
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Oct 15, 2020 23:55
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If you liked Equal Rites you might enjoy Monstrous Regiment, it is similarly serious and feels quite different in tone from the rest of the series and covers similar issues. I would say it is a good book but it is harder to re-read because it feels... grim... almost. Like there's levity but the plot feels sad, I feel sad for the characters reading it. If you like the witches I would absolutely recommend the tiffany aching series, again surprsingly beautiful and sad and I don't really know if I would call them YA, they feel less suitable for kids than some of the mainline books IMO. And I really think you might find Night Watch interesting given your revolutionary experience and political leanings  happyhippy posted:I was the same, I didn't read it for at least a year or two after he died. I may try it when I am less prone to bawling my eyes out at the slightest provocation, thankyou.
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Oct 15, 2020 23:55
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Bobby Deluxe posted:What does 'supressed'mean? We have a huge housing estate near us (a <50 cases area) that's just a big, eerie blank. Jaeluni Asjil posted:My town is 'suppressed' for now so from what someone else said up there I guess that means 'very few' cases. On the original map, areas with 0-2 cases aren't marked and are suppressed. The new map converts the case numbers into a rate with colour coding, but also retains the "It's only 0-2 cases and that data is hidden so we can't present it" aspect.
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Oct 15, 2020 23:57
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OwlFancier posted:If you liked Equal Rites you might enjoy Monstrous Regiment, it is similarly serious and feels quite different in tone from the rest of the series and covers similar issues. I would say it is a good book but it is harder to re-read because it feels... grim... almost. Like there's levity but the plot feels sad, I feel sad for the characters reading it. I'll dig them out* - I'm fast running out of 'bed books' (books suitably light enough both in content and physical weight) to read in bed having reread all my Agatha Christies twice this year! PDFs not mouse-piddled old paperbacks. Jaeluni Asjil fucked around with this message at 00:02 on Oct 16, 2020 |
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Oct 15, 2020 23:58
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The Truth is probably one of the best of your not read ones. The shortest spoiler free summary is that dwarves discover movable lead type, the City worries that it'll be another dungeon dimensions horror like cinema and rock music, but it turns out to be something far worse, ordinary newspapers.
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Oct 16, 2020 00:05
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Jaeluni Asjil posted:I'll dig them out* - I'm fast running out of 'bed books' (books suitably light enough both in content and physical weight) to read in bed having reread all my Agatha Christies twice this year! I know you've already mentioned him, but if you've not read any of Robert Rankin's stuff you should give it a go - basically a drunker Discworld set in Brentford.
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Oct 16, 2020 00:06
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The Truth is a good one too, yes, if you know anything about the history of the press you will enjoy the references, as is normal for any of the "new technology arrives on the disc" stories
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Oct 16, 2020 00:06
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goddamnedtwisto posted:I know you've already mentioned him, but if you've not read any of Robert Rankin's stuff you should give it a go - basically a drunker Discworld set in Brentford. I love those books. No author has made me laugh out loud like an unhinged person on day release on public transport like Robert Rankin has
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Oct 16, 2020 00:24
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*googles robert rankin* Kane not only lives, but apparently writes too.
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Oct 16, 2020 00:25
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goddamnedtwisto posted:I know you've already mentioned him, but if you've not read any of Robert Rankin's stuff you should give it a go - basically a drunker Discworld set in Brentford. Oh I have read him  I love the Brentford trilogy. Another one to dig out. In fact, when I was doing my surveying studies, we had to do a fake planning application and I used Pooley and Omally as the applicants and I can't remember the ins and outs of the application but it was to do with their environment. The lecturer gave me a high mark and said "I see you really got into this assignment" Turns out I only read the first 4 books in the 10 book trilogy  Very prescient with their olympic games stadium and the bar-coding everyone's head. Jaeluni Asjil fucked around with this message at 00:29 on Oct 16, 2020 |
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Oct 16, 2020 00:27
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This "brentford trilogy" appears to consist of twelve books, two of which are the final book.
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Oct 16, 2020 00:29
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Guavanaut posted:Can I set up a limited company, buy it through the company, and then rent it to myself to cover the mortgage payments? Sure why not. Caveat: individuals can get a mortgage that covers 90-100% of the purchase price, for a company it's more like 75% max. So... a massively larger deposit doesn't help doesn't it, not feasible if you're trying to save money It's brilliant for rich cunts though, and rich companies. Can get really good rates for high-deposit mortgages if you have the millions to spare. Yay, GDP!
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Oct 16, 2020 00:38
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forkboy84 posted:I love those books. No author has made me laugh out loud like an unhinged person on day release on public transport like Robert Rankin has A few xmases ago I nabbed the first few Brentford trilogy books, so to pay it back I bought a nice hardback copy of The Book of Ultimate Truths. Rankin does huge, apocalyptic drama set in little England very well. Ultimate Truths is incredible as an alternate reality biography of Aleister Crowley and worth it for the theories alone. I feel like the nearest American equivalent would probably be something like John Dies at the End / This Book is Full of Spiders.
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Oct 16, 2020 00:51
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Jaeluni Asjil posted:My town is 'suppressed' for now so from what someone else said up there I guess that means 'very few' cases. You can only get the max zoom data for England. I assume for some petty reason.
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Oct 16, 2020 01:01
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Man the Covid data is really... not good. At this point in the first wave we went into national lockdown. This time, we're apparently not going to lock down at all. Maybe the improved procedures and the better treatments are going to make all the difference, but I have this constant pit in my stomach that tens of thousands more people are going to die and it's probably already too late to save them. Kinda sucks.
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Oct 16, 2020 01:04
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You can only do what you can, it's not you killing them.
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Oct 16, 2020 01:06
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Pratchett is amazing at writing in his own particular insanely charismatic voice but that voice is also really cynical and kind of nihilistic, he's lib-left in the early 2000s, so he's stuck in this wierd place that he doesn't lean into maudlin GoodNEvil meaningfulness like a Gaiman or Tolkien does but also doesn't actually say anything so it's just all these books that are objectively fun but are also just completely forgettable and empty. He's by far the best British author that will hopefully be completely irrelevant in 6 years time. The only way he stays relevant is streaming services find some way to coherently monetise him and do some dogshit MCU thing, much better that he becomes an obscure stepping stone that for a few decades some nerdy kids love and it gets them Thinking About Stuff. Vitamin P fucked around with this message at 01:21 on Oct 16, 2020 |
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Oct 16, 2020 01:16
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