IT Annotations (spoiler)
Jeanette
Since Leo asked for possible annotations for IT;
****** ****** ****** * * ****** ******
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****** ****** * * * * **** *****
* * * * * * * * *
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(For those who don't read the subject line!)
This is a compilation of all the possible annotations for IT that I have
seem posted to afp. Some of them are a bit muddled and don't really have
answers, or page numbers (I borrowed the book from a library, and have
taken it back now).
I would be interested in anyones ideas on these and other, yet-un-annotated
items.
The bits following a '>' are my ideas (there aren't many of them!).
':' are other peoples
# p265 'The butterfly turned. Its multi-faceted eyes glinted green for a
moment and then it flapped its wings experimentally.'
cf. TCOM where Rincewind rescues a frog with green eyes.
The frog that Rincewind rescues in TCOM turns out to be connected to The
Lady ("a frog that magically turns into a frog"), which suggests that the
butterfly is as well.
# p113/114 "Bruce the Hoon"
Hoon is New Zealand slang for a lout or hooligan.
# p152 "Intelligent life evolving from arts graduates"
Since the Discworld only has one University, and that only offers degrees
in the magical arts, this is just Pterry having a go!
# p187, 189 The painter & the plate
This scene can be found on dinner plates in many English households.
This is a morphically resonant willow pattern plate.
(Separate postings)
> Isn't blue on white specifically connected to one type of 'dinner plates',
etc - Wedgewood. Or am I barking up the wrong tree?
# p24 The Dean snaps "That's not magic! That's just...enginering!".
Didn't Arthur C. Clarke say;
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
# p281 "The quill pen scritched and blotted its way over a fresh sheet of
paper and drew, for no good reason, a calendar for the year
surmounted by a rather angular picture of a beagle, standing on its
hind legs."
: In the old days of Line printers we used to produce 'artwork' of a sort
: using text, one favourite was a calender with a picture of Snoopy above it.
: Apparently a common thing for early multi-user systems to print out, were
: calendars with ASCII representations of Snoopy on them
:
: The entry I could find went:
: chemist: n. [Cambridge] Someone who wastes computer time
: on {number-crunching} when you'd far rather the machine were
: doing something more productive, such as working out anagrams of
: your name or printing Snoopy calendars or running {life}
: patterns. May or may not refer to someone who actually studies
: chemistry. [ Jargon File 3.1.0 ]
(2 separate postings)
# p37. "Only the other day Adrian Turnipseed had typed in 'Why?'"
> There were several possibilities put forward for this one:
* Amiga-users have had that command as part of the OS since 1985.
It gives useful hints about like why a shell-launched program crashed,
like:
Last command failed because : Error 102
* An episode of Doctor Who, way back when (William Hartnell?) The Doctor,
being an awfully clever chap, asks the evil computer "Why?", and it
makes with the BBC pyrotechnics and smoke machine, and blows up.
* This was used in the cult sixties t.v. drama called 'The Prisoner'. The
story was something like there was some huge all powerful computer that
could answer any question that you would care to put to it (as well as
spending its spare time subconciously brain-washing people) and this
Prisoner makes it blow up by asking it the question 'why?'. In doing
this, he saved the entire human race from extinction (probably).
The episode was "The General" (the code name of the computer) and the
Prisoner in question is much more of a metaphor than a James Bond action
hero. The point of the series (and the specific episode) was to present
the rather tired contrast between the individual and society in a (for
the 60's) new way, making the Village a metaphor for human society and
#6 (all prisoners refered to as numbers...individuality quashed by an
uncaring techno-system style of thing) the individual trying to reconcile
his individuality to the crush of his "responsibility" as a member of
society....
It was in the final episode of 'The Prisoner' and was done to enable
Patrick McGoohan (sp?) escape from The Village.
(3 separate postings)
: There is also a UL regarding Oxford exams here, where reputedly people
: were asked the question `why' in the exam, the correct answer being
: either `because' or `why not?' according to local myth!
# Why is War's daughter called Clancy?
Perhaps because the novelist Tom Clancy writes war stories?
# The Art of War
Is this an actual book written by Sun Tzu. (It was marketed back in the
late eighties as a management text. Theoretically the same principals used
in war could be used for success in bussiness.)
: Also a computer game called The Ancient Art of War.
# DMH-Dibhala is describing the concept of paper money to Rincewind
The terms he uses to describe the individual notes are 'olde' cockney terms
for the notes.
From PTerry himself:
"Actually, they're random terms, but you've got the right idea."
# The dragons teeth thrown on the ground to become warriors
A typical Greek mythological concept.
: This comes from classical Greek myth: The legend of Cadmus was that he slew
: the dragon that guarded the well of Ares. The teeth once sown produced a
: host of warriors who turned and slew each other all except for five who
: became the ancestors of the Thebans. The teeth that Cadmus did not sow
: passed down to the King of Colchis who set the hero Jason the task of
: first sowing the teeth and then killing the warriors that arose from them.
: The film JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS features a slightly distorted version of
: this with beautifully animated skeletons done by Ray Harryhausen.
# The concept of an army rising out of the ground
Pretty common one within fantasy/mythological books/films/whatever
: A large Terracotta Army found in an ancient Chinese ruler's tomb in the
: '80s, ready to go to war. Compare and contrast with a large army,
: red-brick in colour, found in the Agatean Empire, all set for battle.
# p36 "The aquarium had been lowered ... so the operator would have
something to watch"
Sounds very like the After Dark screensaver, and many others.
# p36 "A mouse had built a nest in the middle of it all"
: Very dubious annotation; a few months ago there was a photo in Ariel (the
: BBC magazine) of a mouse that had done just that. The computer worked
: fine, the operator only noticed when a brown liquid started leaking from
: it..
--
* Jeanette Pink * ma...@csv.warwick.ac.uk * BOO! *
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
* "It's bloody second-hand" - Terry Pratchett, Warwick Uni (10.11.94) *
Rob Furr
FORRESTER) wrote:
> Don't think so. 'The General' was just another episode.
> The final one was the weird stuff with the gorilla mask and the truck
> and the jury with the robes and masks.. etc.
>
> Did -anyone- understand the space rocket?
Nope.
It's s'posed to be metaphor, but I think it was just that they had this
rocket footage lying around and some drunken editor decided to toss it in.
Rob
Corruption
: Since Leo asked for possible annotations for IT;
: ****** ****** ****** * * ****** ******
: * * * * * * * * * *
: ****** ****** * * * * **** *****
: * * * * * * * * *
: ****** * ****** * ****** ****** * *
: (For those who don't read the subject line!)
: # p37. "Only the other day Adrian Turnipseed had typed in 'Why?'"
: > There were several possibilities put forward for this one:
An Isaac Asimov (dont ask for the book or story title) had a huge computer
called AC. As it evolved over time varias generations of people asked the
question "what is the meaning of the universe?" and the computer didnt know
until the end of the universe, when it did know, but there was noone to tell.
: # p36 "A mouse had built a nest in the middle of it all"
: : Very dubious annotation; a few months ago there was a photo in Ariel (the
: : BBC magazine) of a mouse that had done just that. The computer worked
: : fine, the operator only noticed when a brown liquid started leaking from
: : it..
Sun work stations etc die really badly if the mouse/keyboard is removed.
p43 Two Fire Herb says "We must storm the winter palace" to which the reply
is "excuse me, Two Fire Herb, but it is june". "Then we can storm the summer
palace" replies Two Fire Herb
I think that this referes to the diliberate destruction and pillage of the
fabled 'Summer palace' of the chinese royal family. It was burnt buy British
and French troops under the command of lord Elgin(<-not sure on this). This
was as a punishment to the chinese royalty for the ill treatment on murder of
the British and French emmissaries to the royal court in Peking. The prisoners
were subjected to the wire mesh jacket/death of a thousand cuts and binding of
the wrists and ankles which caused the putrefaction of the hands an feet. As
'diplomacy' meant that the true perpetrators-Chinese noble-would be found and
punished the britsh and french decided to very publicly humiliate the emporer
by burning the summer palace. This was a tremendous slap in the face, as it
showed that the emporer was not invincible. The destruction was said at the
time to be the worst act of vandalism of all time, and it greived the
commanding officers greatly to do it.
This took place in 1860 during the Taiping rebellion, the second bloodiest
war of all time in which 20-30 million chinese, mainly civilans died.
It was started by a clerk who had a vision, and went on from there. The french
and british became involved to protect their trade in opium, as the armies of
both chinese sides were prevting ships trvelling down the rivers to the see
ports. Thus armies were sent to pursued the chinese authorities to agree terms,
but the emmisaries were taken hostage. After some decive victories for the
French and British, the Chinese were forced to acquiess to their demands.
************************************************
* You Can't Teach An Old Dog New-clear Physics *
************************************************
Dont Believe Me... Even I Dont Believe Me!!!!!
Daniel Barlow
ph...@csv.warwick.ac.uk (Corruption) writes:
>Jeanette (ma...@csv.warwick.ac.uk) wrote:
>An Isaac Asimov (dont ask for the book or story title) had a huge computer
>called AC. As it evolved over time varias generations of people asked the
>question "what is the meaning of the universe?" and the computer didnt know
>until the end of the universe, when it did know, but there was noone to tell.
As I recall, they were asking `How can we reverse entropy', so when
the computer found out it did, and created a new universe with people
in it, to tell the answer to.
>: # p36 "A mouse had built a nest in the middle of it all"
>Sun work stations etc die really badly if the mouse/keyboard is removed.
Untrue actually (at least for the mouse), according to all the
responses I got when I asked on alt.folklore.computers about this.
Daniel
--
xu...@csv.warwick.ac.uk // Daniel Barlow // daniel...@sjc.ox.ac.uk
``Our single posting of 6,000 was a drop in a huge bucket''
-- Canter & Siegel, to the Tenessee Bar
Terry Pratchett
cbuc...@tcd.ie "Colm Buckley" writes:
>
> I think it's just a joke; the storming of the winter palace in the
> Russian Revolution is far more ingrained into people's "white
> knowledge".
You're both right. I had 'storming the winter palace' in mind because, yes,
the events of the Russian revolution are more familiar to us -- and then I came
across the storming of the summer palace while reading up on Chinese
torture. It took me some effort not to find some joke about the Taiping
Rebellion, I have to say...and as for the Boxer Rising...
Terry Pratchett
Nick Gibbins
ma...@csv.warwick.ac.uk (Jeanette) writes:
This is a compilation of all the possible annotations for IT that I have
seem posted to afp. Some of them are a bit muddled and don't really have
answers, or page numbers (I borrowed the book from a library, and have
taken it back now).
# p37. "Only the other day Adrian Turnipseed had typed in 'Why?'"
* This was used in the cult sixties t.v. drama called 'The
Prisoner'. The story was something like there was some huge all
powerful computer that could answer any question that you would
care to put to it (as well as spending its spare time
subconciously brain-washing people) and this Prisoner makes it
blow up by asking it the question 'why?'. In doing this, he
saved the entire human race from extinction (probably).
The episode was "The General" (the code name of the computer)
and the Prisoner in question is much more of a metaphor than a
James Bond action hero. The point of the series (and the
specific episode) was to present the rather tired contrast
between the individual and society in a (for the 60's) new way,
making the Village a metaphor for human society and #6 (all
prisoners refered to as numbers...individuality quashed by an
uncaring techno-system style of thing) the individual trying to
reconcile his individuality to the crush of his "responsibility"
as a member of society....
It was in the final episode of 'The Prisoner' and was done to
enable Patrick McGoohan (sp?) escape from The Village.
The episode in which the above happened was not the final episode of
the series, which was 'Fall-Out'.
--
Nick Gibbins gib...@cpd.ntc.nokia.com
J W Grimmett
>In article <3hiu89$k...@cumin.csv.warwick.ac.uk>,
> ph...@csv.warwick.ac.uk (Corruption) writes:
>>Jeanette (ma...@csv.warwick.ac.uk) wrote:
>>An Isaac Asimov (dont ask for the book or story title) had a huge computer
>>called AC. As it evolved over time varias generations of people asked the
>>question "what is the meaning of the universe?" and the computer didnt know
>>until the end of the universe, when it did know, but there was noone to tell.
>
>As I recall, they were asking `How can we reverse entropy', so when
>the computer found out it did, and created a new universe with people
>in it, to tell the answer to.
>
Yes ... this is a brilliant book, they ask the Planetary AC how to stop the
sun from burning out and the question gets passed on from one generation
of supercomputer to the next. At last when all of the universe that is left
is the universal AC it finds the answer and says ...
"Let there be light."
wow. spooky.
I think it was called 'The Question' or 'The Answer' im not sure which.
+---------------+------------------------------------------------+
| ### ### # # | James Grimmett : ma3...@bath.ac.uk |
| # # ## ## | |
| # # # # # | Beware the Jabberwock my Son ! |
| ## ### # # | - Alice through the Looking Glass |
+---------------+------------------------------------------------+
Rob Furr
> In the referenced article, xu...@csv.warwick.ac.uk (Daniel Barlow) writes:
> >In article <3hiu89$k...@cumin.csv.warwick.ac.uk>,
> Yes ... this is a brilliant book, they ask the Planetary AC how to stop the
> sun from burning out and the question gets passed on from one generation
> of supercomputer to the next. At last when all of the universe that is left
> is the universal AC it finds the answer and says ...
> "Let there be light.
> wow. spooky.
> I think it was called 'The Question' or 'The Answer' im not sure which.
"The Last Question," by Asimov. It was (if memory serves) his favorite
short story (not a book,) of the millions that he'd written. Like many
Asimov stories, its strength lies more in concept than style, but it's
still a very powerful story. It's in _The Best of Isaac Asimov_, among
other places.
Rob F.
Dan Staines
>
> Jeanette (ma...@csv.warwick.ac.uk) wrote:
>
> : Since Leo asked for possible annotations for IT;
>
>
> : ****** ****** ****** * * ****** ******
> : * * * * * * * * * *
> : ****** ****** * * * * **** *****
> : * * * * * * * * *
> : ****** * ****** * ****** ****** * *
>
> : (For those who don't read the subject line!)
(compsci bits removed)
> p43 Two Fire Herb says "We must storm the winter palace" to which the reply
> is "excuse me, Two Fire Herb, but it is june". "Then we can storm the summer
> palace" replies Two Fire Herb
(very erudite treatise on the Taiping rebellion removed for safety's sake)
Lovely summing up there - fits in nicely with my 19th century world history
as-gleaned-from-Flashman knowledge, but to be honest, I think the main
level of this one is as a pun on the storming of the Winter Palace during
the Bolshevik Revolution - could be wrong though....
By the way, what about the annotations for the scene where Rincewind
controls the terracotta army by use of little pictograms, a la Lemmings?
Sorry, can't remember any more...
From: Dan '4 Line Sig' Staines Tel: (0223) 333666
Dept. of Biochemistry Fax: (0223) 333345
University of Cambridge e-mail: d...@bioc.cam.ac.uk
Cambridge CB4 1BZ http://www.bio.cam.ac.uk/~dms/
John Elliott
: Since Leo asked for possible annotations for IT;
: ****** ****** ****** * * ****** ******
: * * * * * * * * * *
: ****** ****** * * * * **** *****
: * * * * * * * * *
: ****** * ****** * ****** ****** * *
: (For those who don't read the subject line!)
I notice that, after "IMHO" appeared in M@A, that we get a "ROTFL" in IT.
(where the 5 warlords are discussing the revolution).
--
John Elliott
elliott....@physics.oxford.ac.uk
----------------------------------------------------
BLOODNOK: "But why have you got such a long face?"
SEAGOON: "Heavy dentures, Sir!"
- The Goon Show
:--------------------------------------------------)
vicki jean merriman
>
>
># p152 "Intelligent life evolving from arts graduates"
>
>Since the Discworld only has one University, and that only offers degrees
>in the magical arts, this is just Pterry having a go!
Well yes, but he is not having a go on the magical arts, just on the
typical terran liberal arts degree.
># p36 "A mouse had built a nest in the middle of it all"
>
>: Very dubious annotation; a few months ago there was a photo in Ariel (the
>: BBC magazine) of a mouse that had done just that. The computer worked
>: fine, the operator only noticed when a brown liquid started leaking from
>: it..
No, I would say it is from the Robert Burn's poem "To a wee mousie" [that
might not be the correct title, which I can't seem to find even with the
book in front of me right now]. At any rate, a mouse had built a home in
the middle Of RB's field and he turns the whole thing up with his plow,
destroying the home. "The best laid schemes O mice and men aft gane
aglay".
--
Vicki Merriman - vmer...@indiana.edu
"It's safe to assume that if there is any similarity between anything in one
of my books and anything in a book written by someone else some time later,
I nicked it from that guy" Terry Pratchett
IAN!
> >As I recall, they were asking `How can we reverse entropy', so when
> >the computer found out it did, and created a new universe with people
> >in it, to tell the answer to.
> >
>
> Yes ... this is a brilliant book, they ask the Planetary AC how to stop the
> sun from burning out and the question gets passed on from one generation
> of supercomputer to the next. At last when all of the universe that is left
> is the universal AC it finds the answer and says ...
>
> "Let there be light."
>
> wow. spooky.
>
> I think it was called 'The Question' or 'The Answer' im not sure which.
I'll find out. My housemate has it, I think it was a short story tho'.
Cheers,
IAN
*:-)> <---- Lovely beard. Shame it's ginger...
------X<------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you want it, Go and get it,
If you need it, I don't care...
Lovely friendly lyrics from those nice Freak of Nature chappies.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
^ Place roadkill here
DISCLAIMER:- The use of the word Random has NO significance whatsoever,
and any offence taken by the reader of this message was not
intended and I apologise most humbly.
If you want it, Go and get it,
I am never going to be your slave.
Plip!
If you've scrolled down here just to read this then you're going to be
very disappointed!
IAN!
> that was unusual) - it turns up in quite a number of his self-selected
> anthologies. Try "The Best Science Fiction of Isaac Asimov", I'm pretty
> sure it's in there.
Damn! Beaten to it again.
IAN!
> Plip!
>
> If you've scrolled down here just to read this then you're going to be
> very disappointed!
>
You're mad.
IAN!
> [Very big hacking job]
>
> > Plip!
> >
> > If you've scrolled down here just to read this then you're going to be
> > very disappointed!
> >
>
> You're mad.
>
No I'm not.
Cheers,
IAN
*:-)> <------ Nice beard. Shame it's ginger.
.sig file disqualified for breach of EC file length regulation 142.57c.
IAN!
| On Wed, 15 Feb 1995, IAN! wrote:
|
|> [Very big hacking job]
|>
|> > Plip!
|> >
|> > If you've scrolled down here just to read this then you're going to be
|> > very disappointed!
|> >
|>
|> You're mad.
| No I'm not.
|
Ooh, you fibber.
IAN!
\ On Wed, 15 Feb 1995, IAN! wrote:
\
\ | On Wed, 15 Feb 1995, IAN! wrote:
\ |
\ |> [Very big hacking job]
\ |>
\ |> > Plip!
\ |> >
\ |> > If you've scrolled down here just to read this then you're going to be
\ |> > very disappointed!
\ |> >
\ |>
\ |> You're mad.
\ | No I'm not.
\ |
\ Ooh, you fibber.
I resent the reference to me being a person who would tell untruths to you.
Richard Kettlewell
IAN! <Ian....@durham.ac.uk> wrote:
>> You're mad.
>> No I'm not.
>Ooh, you fibber.
>I resent the reference to me being a person who would tell untruths
>to you.
I don't believe you.
--
Richard Kettlewell
rjk...@hermes.cam.ac.uk
http://www.chu.cam.ac.uk/home/rjk1002/home.html