…every army needs, in key if unglamorous posts, men who can reason and
make lists and arrange for provisions and baggage wagons and, in general,
have an attention span greater than that of a duck.
— Terry Pratchett, Night Watch

Published in: on January 23, 2004 at 23:01  Comments (7)  
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7 Comments

  1. On January 24, 2004 at 00:01 zunger said:

    “The book of lists?”
    (And I believe the attention span of a duck is meant here as some sort of calibration unit – one could measure one’s students in canards, or millicanards, as the case may be…)

  2. On January 24, 2004 at 00:11 steine said:

    The book of lists.
    My sole defense in facing the insanity of house purging and preparations for moving! 🙂 Ah the wonders that $0.59 can bring!

  3. On January 24, 2004 at 00:17 zunger said:

    So how go those preparations? Is there a date planned yet for a scouting trip, or for the move itself?

  4. On January 24, 2004 at 00:42 steine said:

    The preparations go rather slowly. Got around to emailing the financial planner and updating him on the planned changes ahead. No dates for scouting, although there is a possibility of a trip out there around Feb. 19 and the semester she’s aiming for starts sometime in August.
    Right now I’m in the sort it and purge it stages of the preparations so I’ve been keeping myself exceedingly enthralled with cleaning! 🙂

  5. On January 24, 2004 at 05:22 djdigit said:

    > I’ve never attempted to engage one in a conversation!
    Well, every time I’ve tried, their eyes glaze over and they wander off. Short attention spans, indeed!

  6. On January 24, 2004 at 10:49 kaidevis said:

    You were doing it wrong; ducks only pay attention to you when you present them with a substance called “bread.” As long as you have this bread, and as long as you continue to give them small amounts of it, they will continue to pay attention to you. Somewhat like the way corporate drones only pay attention because those who want their attention give them a substance called “money” which they then use to by “bread.” Presumably so they can gain the attention of ducks.

  7. On January 24, 2004 at 12:11 jephly said:

    Quack!


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