Which is why I'm saying this isn't mere embarrassment on his part.

Even if that were true, it still puts 100% of the burden of tracking and managing it on Angua. That would basically be the werewolf version of "natural" family planning, and that is pretty labor-intensive. Carrot doesn't have to do anything but not have sex with Angua when she tells him not to, and he should be doing that anyway. Let's say it IS true. It doesn't give Carrot any right to think that "unnatural" methods shouldn't exist or be used by other people.

Except that Vimes didn't criticize Carrot's Views, he merely expressed his own opinion of condoms - namely, that they have benefited Ankh-Morpork. And without filling in blanks or naming names, that is exactly typical of those types of religious/conservative groups. An opinion that isn't in line with theirs must automatically be criticism.

And that doesn't excuse Carrot's thinking. Being anti-birth control isn't a requirement for being a dwarf. The preceding sections have been all about what makes or doesn't make someone a dwarf. Cheery is dressing in feminine clothing and using she/her pronouns. She's still a dwarf. There's no reason Carrot can't bite back his disapproval of someone who manufactures condoms.

And re-reading it, it's almost worse because Carrot is almost offering up "Views" as a legitimate motive for someone to murder Sonky. People like Carrot are the reason SCOTUS decided that employers should be able to keep birth control from being covered by their insurance benefits.

After Vimes calls Sonky a national hero and points out the positive impact condoms have had on the housing shortage, here's the quote:

"People do have Views, sir," said Carrot coldly.

Yes, you do, don't you, Vimes thought. Dwarfs don't hold with that sort of thing.

And this implies that the prudishness (and judgment/shaming) is a dwarf thing, which is also hypocritical because dwarfs aren't supposed to care about how people manage their sex lives, they just don't talk about it. My reading is definitely disapproval from Carrot, not embarrassment.

So this is barely even a thing in this section, and I think that it's one of those potential character inconsistencies that Pratchett probably didn't think about, but I really don't like Carrot's disapproval of the concept of condoms in this section.

First of all, we know that Carrot's relationship with Angua is sexual. That was made very clear in Men at Arms. So if Carrot is having sex with Angua and there have presumably been no pregnancies or pregnancy scares, clearly someone is doing something preventive in nature. This makes Carrot either oblivious or a hypocrite, because if he doesn't know or care why his relationship has remained free of offspring, then Angua is taking 100% of the burden of birth control on herself, leaving Carrot free to be all stiff and disapproving about the idea of preventing pregnancy while not having to deal with the consequences himself.

I am so sick of men, fictional or otherwise, claiming or implying that women are responsible (personally, financially, morally) for every aspect of human reproduction.

I'm sure that Pratchett's conception of Carrot as The Purest Boy Scout felt like him being a prude about birth control seemed like a logical extension, but I don't like it. Vimes is completely right that exercising reproductive control helps to keep families from growing outside of the parents' ability to care for them. Yes, a side benefit of that is reducing pressure on Ankh-Morpork's housing crisis, but it's also good for the women of the city who apparently only have the options of being family women and/or "seamstresses."

Speaking of seamstresses, while there has been little if any textual acknowledgement of the idea of the use of condoms for disease prevention, that's also something that's incredibly important. So maybe cool it with the birth control shaming, Carrot.

I've always read Carpe Jugulum and other modern Omnian Discworld characters as though the events of "Small God's" had happened long outside living memory, perhaps a few hundred years. Meaning that my take on Small God's is that it takes place in the distant past.

Pbafgnoyr Ivfvg naq Erireraq Bngf frrz gb zr gb or zrzoref bs n qr-snatrq eryvtvba gung abj graqf gbjneq rinatryvfz engure guna sbepvoyr pbairefvba naq/be qrngu. Naq Bngf zragvbaf gur znal fpuvfzf gung unir bppheerq bire cbvagf bs gurbybtvpny qvfnterrzrag, ohg gur qvssrerag frpgf nera'g ng jne jvgu rnpu bgure. Va snpg, vg eneryl trgf gb gur cbvag bs orneq-chyyvat naq svfgvphssf. Bngf lrneaf sbe gur qnlf bs jung ur pbafvqref gb or "erny eryvtvba" jvgubhg ernyyl guvaxvat nobhg ubj oybbql vg jnf. Guvf gryyf zr gung gubfr ngebpvgvrf ner sne njnl va gur cnfg. Anaal unf jvgpu yber gung unf orra cnffrq qbja gb ure, ohg guvf vf gur svefg zbqrea Bzavna fur'f zrg. Fur gnxrf gur vqrn bs jvgpu-oheavat irel crefbanyyl ohg unf ab erprag hcqngrf gb jung fur jnf gnhtug jura fur jnf yrneavat jvgpupensg. Vg'f yvxr gerngvat lbhe bayl Pngubyvp npdhnvagnapr jvgu qrrc fhfcvpvba orpnhfr lbh jrer gbyq fgbevrf bs gur Vadhvfvgvba.

Gung'f fbzrguvat gung V ernyyl nccerpvngr nobhg Gur Gehgu naq Cengpurgg - guvf jne znl abg unir bssvpvnyyl unccrarq, ohg crbcyr qvrq naq vg punatrq guvatf ba gur Qvfp sbe znal, vapyhqvat Jvyyvnz naq uvf snzvyl.

We landed on it, therefore it only shines for us!

/sarcasm

Nothing compares to a dark night sky. And in the desert, if it's overcast or there's a new moon, it is incredibly dark. My boyfriend and I went to Rachel, Nevada, which is a microscopic town outside the military base people know as Area 51, and as soon as the sun went down we could see nothing. We were actually afraid to get out of the car because we thought we would lose it in the dark. And we drove very carefully, because it's all open range out there and we did not want to hit a cow.

I really love the subversion of the "ambush some locals to get clothes for disguises" trope.

I woke well before my alarm this morning. I barely slept. I don't know what to do, except say that I voted and I will vote in every single election that I can until the day I die. I'm grateful for the last eight years and will do my best to use what privilege I have to advocate for and protect those who don't.

Pont is great. Such an interesting character.