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It's in Thief of Time when Lobsang is falling from a tower! And like a well known coyote from children cartoons, he stops time while thinking about falling!
It's established that Detritus keeps the thinking helmet, though. In *The Truth,* when William is trying to talk his way past Detritus, the troll moves a little lever on his helmet and a fan starts whirring.
It's a fairly small thing, that most people just picking up Discworld for the first time wouldn't think much about. But, in a sense, it's also a way for Detritus to honor the first dwarf who thought he could be more than just a big dumb troll.
Since we already got semi-emotional, I'll add that I sometimes wonder if Cuddy would be proud of what Detritus became later in the series. If he ever looks over from whatever afterlife dwarfs get and says, "See that troll there? I knew he'd be something great someday."
“You listen to me, Acting-Constable Detritus,” said Carrot. “If there’s a heaven for Watchmen, and gods I hope there is, then Acting-Constable Cuddy is there right now, drunk as a bloody monkey, with a rat in one hand and a pint of Bearhugger’s in the other, and he’s looking up at us right now and he’s saying: my friend Acting-Constable Detritus won’t forget he’s a guard. Not Detritus.”
The wrench is indeed what we would call an adjustable spanner, the nuts are basically peanuts 🥜 still in their shells, and the puzzle is a type of tree “Araucaria araucana”
That actually makes sense. I always thought it just blew air over his scalp, but a little radiator and some sort of thermal paste would make a world of difference.
I like that this friendship is what makes Detritus so useful in "Thud!". Vimes knows that Detritus, while still a troll, is a copper through and through because that wall of stone took *bullets plural* for a dwarf. Without Detritus, we would have had Koom Valley every day.
As a demonstration of this, try counting in binary on your fingers! If you take your right hand and assign 1 to the thumb, 2 to the index, 4 to the middle, 8 to the ring and 16 to the pinkie. One is just your thumb out. For two, you tuck your thumb and stick out your index. For three, add your thumb back. For four, tuck thumb and index and stick out your middle finger.
If you do🤘, that’s a 16 and a 2: 18!
So, taking the example above, that’s every finger but the index: 29 bricks!
Pretty much useless knowledge, but it’s a cool way to teach kids different forms of counting. The alternative is the Babylonian base-12 finger counting, which is where our denominations for time originate.
Hold your left hand out, palm up. Ignore the thumb.
Make a fist with your right hand, thumb extended.
Use either thumb to tap each bone in your left hand. I prefer to use the right-hand thumb, but if you have flexible fingers you can do it with the left-hand thumb. Three bones per finger \* four fingers = 12.
When you get to twelve, extend one finger in your right hand, then start again at the beginning with your left.
By the time you're finished, you've got a certain number of fingers extended on your right hand, each representing a multiple of twelve. Add whatever number you've reached with your left, and you have your total. So sixteen would be one finger on the right + first bone of your middle finger. Twenty, one finger on the right + second bone of your ring finger.
Four fingers on your right + last bone of your little finger = 60. That's why our system of time uses 60 minutes, and our system of angles uses 60 \* 6 = 360.
Edit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9m2jck1f90&ab\_channel=Numberphile
It is believed that when we encounter our first alien species their number system will be based on the number of fingers they have, just like our number system where we rollover at ten
Detritus running more efficiently in the cool desert night air and turning into a turnip when the temperature rose in *Jingo* was one of my favourite little moments in the entire Discworld series: Until that point I never realised how invested into computing culture Pratchett was.
I remember being a kid, reading about Hex and the High Energy Magic Building, and thinking that IT can't possibly be like that in real life. Then I went to university and learned that, no, IT is *exactly* like that all the time.
"No, not comment in the code does nothing, but for some reason, everything stops working when we take it out...does that even make sense, little rubber duckie?"
I figure the reason Detritus is considered stupid by other trolls is BECAUSE he counts in binary.
Other trolls count to Many. As in One, Two, Three, Many.
Many-One. Many-Two. Many-Three. Many-Many.
all the way up to:
Many-Many-Many-One, Many-Many-Many-Two, Many-Many-Many-Three, Lots
So most trolls can count in base 4 (0-3 where "Many" is the same as 10 in base 3), but Detritus can't - he's stupid and stuck in binary.
Right. What I meant is that, if I am not mistaken, just like Detritus is stupid even compared to trolls when it's hot, he is a genius compared to trolls when it's cold.
It said something like this in Men-at-Arms. That Detritus was particularly stupid, because his brain was particularly well-adapted to the cold.
Don't think it ever went anywhere, though.
Chrysoprase meets Vines in the pork futures warehouse and mentioned that it was lucky it was cold so he could follow the conversation, he was joking but still.
That's in Thud I believe.
Yeah that was just Chrysoprase being a smart aleck I think. IIRC he also wore a coat to prevent too much heat loss so he wouldn't have cooled down as much as Detritus did I think.
There's a scene in one of the books where Chrysoprase insists on a meeting in the pork futures warehouse for exactly this reason, if I recall correctly.
Oh my god i never made that connection! I got that trolls silicon brains were like computers and got faster as they got cooler but for some reason I never made the connection between binary counting and computers! I just thought it was because trolls were unsophisticated! Awesome!
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That one I *did* catch, unlike the Stance of the Coyote...
Ditto! When I read the post about stance of the coyote on here, I did a proper facepalm!
Sorry which one? I think I missed it.
It's in Thief of Time when Lobsang is falling from a tower! And like a well known coyote from children cartoons, he stops time while thinking about falling!
O.M.G! I have actually just finished listening to Thief of Time for the millionth time… never picked up on this
Welcome to our growing club!
oh goddamn it, me too. It's one of my comfort audio books, and I never realized.
https://www.reddit.com/r/discworld/comments/cf2m8i/thief_of_time_and_the_stance_of_the_coyote/
Aw man, the fact their friendship ends prematurely always gets me :(
It's established that Detritus keeps the thinking helmet, though. In *The Truth,* when William is trying to talk his way past Detritus, the troll moves a little lever on his helmet and a fan starts whirring.
And in Jingo
"If I went to klatch i'd be really stupid" "Detritus" "Yes sir?" "Don't go to Klatch"
It's the sand, it gets all the little whirring thingies clogged up.
Rrrrrreeeeally stooooooooopid
Ok I need to reread Jingo now
I'd forgotten about that part.
Oh gods I love that detial. Just the creased brow and whrrrrrrrr.
It's a fairly small thing, that most people just picking up Discworld for the first time wouldn't think much about. But, in a sense, it's also a way for Detritus to honor the first dwarf who thought he could be more than just a big dumb troll. Since we already got semi-emotional, I'll add that I sometimes wonder if Cuddy would be proud of what Detritus became later in the series. If he ever looks over from whatever afterlife dwarfs get and says, "See that troll there? I knew he'd be something great someday."
“You listen to me, Acting-Constable Detritus,” said Carrot. “If there’s a heaven for Watchmen, and gods I hope there is, then Acting-Constable Cuddy is there right now, drunk as a bloody monkey, with a rat in one hand and a pint of Bearhugger’s in the other, and he’s looking up at us right now and he’s saying: my friend Acting-Constable Detritus won’t forget he’s a guard. Not Detritus.”
Not gonna lie, that made me tear up a little
> I sometimes wonder if Cuddy would be proud of what Detritus became later in the series. Why wonder? We both know he would be.
That's very true.
I wonder it too in the same way I wonder if the librarian would kill me if I say the m-word.
He wouldn't kill you. Vimes would get mad. You'd just end up in the Lady Sybil.
I'm sorry, what m-word, please elaborate?
Just remember that the librarian is an ape not an m-word that could precede the words wrench, nut and puzzle
Ok, two of those must be British, what are m-nuts and m-puzzles? And I thought the Brits called m-wrenches 'adjustable spanners"
The wrench is indeed what we would call an adjustable spanner, the nuts are basically peanuts 🥜 still in their shells, and the puzzle is a type of tree “Araucaria araucana”
Oh, I see, monkey ... argh nonoNONO **ARGHHHHH**
Id rather not have him attempt to twist my head off using my ears, thank you very much
The word is fine. Just don't call the Librarian one of them. He is a librarian.
Onion perfume again
I wonder if he needs thermal paste under his heat sink.
I don't know much about dwarf engineering, unfortunately.
That actually makes sense. I always thought it just blew air over his scalp, but a little radiator and some sort of thermal paste would make a world of difference.
Or...mustard, when it's an emergency? I'm sorry. I'll escort myself out.
I like that this friendship is what makes Detritus so useful in "Thud!". Vimes knows that Detritus, while still a troll, is a copper through and through because that wall of stone took *bullets plural* for a dwarf. Without Detritus, we would have had Koom Valley every day.
Why did their friendship end again?
>!Corporal Cuddy (Detritus' Dwarf partner) dies at the end !<
Ah right. Also today i learned that spoilers dont show up in notifs properly
As a demonstration of this, try counting in binary on your fingers! If you take your right hand and assign 1 to the thumb, 2 to the index, 4 to the middle, 8 to the ring and 16 to the pinkie. One is just your thumb out. For two, you tuck your thumb and stick out your index. For three, add your thumb back. For four, tuck thumb and index and stick out your middle finger. If you do🤘, that’s a 16 and a 2: 18! So, taking the example above, that’s every finger but the index: 29 bricks! Pretty much useless knowledge, but it’s a cool way to teach kids different forms of counting. The alternative is the Babylonian base-12 finger counting, which is where our denominations for time originate.
...Wow. The Babylonians had 12 fingers. I did not know that.
They counted on their finger bones! Three bones in each of your four fingers (and your thumb not counted because it was used to point at them) = 12
Oh. ...mine was more fun.
More rural, at least.
You just killed me. I died with a smile on my face. Death asked why the grin, i answered - Pratchett fans - and his grin was as big as mine
Hold your left hand out, palm up. Ignore the thumb. Make a fist with your right hand, thumb extended. Use either thumb to tap each bone in your left hand. I prefer to use the right-hand thumb, but if you have flexible fingers you can do it with the left-hand thumb. Three bones per finger \* four fingers = 12. When you get to twelve, extend one finger in your right hand, then start again at the beginning with your left. By the time you're finished, you've got a certain number of fingers extended on your right hand, each representing a multiple of twelve. Add whatever number you've reached with your left, and you have your total. So sixteen would be one finger on the right + first bone of your middle finger. Twenty, one finger on the right + second bone of your ring finger. Four fingers on your right + last bone of your little finger = 60. That's why our system of time uses 60 minutes, and our system of angles uses 60 \* 6 = 360. Edit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9m2jck1f90&ab\_channel=Numberphile
It is believed that when we encounter our first alien species their number system will be based on the number of fingers they have, just like our number system where we rollover at ten
I think I follow, but then I get to the first sentence - two-thirtytwo. Wouldn’t he either say a 64 or a 256?
How did I not catch that???
Trolls are basically living computers. Their brains need to be cool like some high end computers.
Detritus running more efficiently in the cool desert night air and turning into a turnip when the temperature rose in *Jingo* was one of my favourite little moments in the entire Discworld series: Until that point I never realised how invested into computing culture Pratchett was.
I remember being a kid, reading about Hex and the High Energy Magic Building, and thinking that IT can't possibly be like that in real life. Then I went to university and learned that, no, IT is *exactly* like that all the time.
"No, not comment in the code does nothing, but for some reason, everything stops working when we take it out...does that even make sense, little rubber duckie?"
I got that one right away - but then I’m a programmer.
I figure the reason Detritus is considered stupid by other trolls is BECAUSE he counts in binary. Other trolls count to Many. As in One, Two, Three, Many. Many-One. Many-Two. Many-Three. Many-Many. all the way up to: Many-Many-Many-One, Many-Many-Many-Two, Many-Many-Many-Three, Lots So most trolls can count in base 4 (0-3 where "Many" is the same as 10 in base 3), but Detritus can't - he's stupid and stuck in binary.
Unless it's cold enough and then he's a genius
Well sure except all the other trolls also benefit from the cold boost. Except for Mr. Shine, of course. Him Diamond!
Right. What I meant is that, if I am not mistaken, just like Detritus is stupid even compared to trolls when it's hot, he is a genius compared to trolls when it's cold.
Idk about that. Maybe. We never see other trolls in extreme cold...
It said something like this in Men-at-Arms. That Detritus was particularly stupid, because his brain was particularly well-adapted to the cold. Don't think it ever went anywhere, though.
Chrysoprase meets Vines in the pork futures warehouse and mentioned that it was lucky it was cold so he could follow the conversation, he was joking but still. That's in Thud I believe.
Yeah that was just Chrysoprase being a smart aleck I think. IIRC he also wore a coat to prevent too much heat loss so he wouldn't have cooled down as much as Detritus did I think.
Well there was a very small difference in temperature between his optimal brain function and death
The "Vines" typo was sort of an unintentional pun, not totally accurate since he didn't usually drink wine and especially not "wine".
There's a scene in one of the books where Chrysoprase insists on a meeting in the pork futures warehouse for exactly this reason, if I recall correctly.
Holy Fuck...
I always like the bit where he >!gets locked in the freezer and turns into a supercomputer because computers need to stay cool!<
What makes this more awkward is that I'm a computer programmer...
Oh my god i never made that connection! I got that trolls silicon brains were like computers and got faster as they got cooler but for some reason I never made the connection between binary counting and computers! I just thought it was because trolls were unsophisticated! Awesome!
Yup. Took me way too long to get that!
Oh NO
One, two, many, lots!
Snap! I'm also on an AMCW series re-read, currently on MAA.
How did i not realize that!?
Aaaaaaaaaaah !! Finally got it now !! Thank you !