Annotations I
Leo Breebaart
by Julian Orbach (jor...@csaadel.adl.csa.oz.au). There's a lot of
discussable stuff here, with many new questions raised, and since the
new APF version won't be out for a couple of months anyway, I thought
the readers of this group might want to sink their teeth into this
for a while.
Julian has no net access himself anymore, so if you want to reach him
you'll have to send e-mail.
-- Leo
THE COLOUR OF MAGIC
[p. 8] There used to be two contesting theories amongst
physicists about the size of the universe : the
Steady State theory and the Big Bang theory.
Pratchett has derived a new name for the "Steady
Gait" theory and a new interpretation for the Big
Bang theory.
[p. 114] "I spent a couple if hundred years on the bottom of
a lake once." Reference to the sword Excalibur from
the King Arthur legends. Also [p. 128] reference to
being stuck in an anvil.
[p. 132] Rincewind is offered sweets to suck whilst flying on
a dragon. It is customary for people on aeroplanes
to suck sweets or chew gum on take-off and landing
to help their ears to pop more comfortably.
[p. 148] "I think I shall call you Ninereeds." Ninereeds is
the name of Twoflower's boss, mentioned on [p. 141].
[p. 176] "... so that I would create no other work to rival
my work for him, he had my eyes put out." Poor
Didactylos (which means "Fingers" in dog-latin, I
believe) is a caricature of an architect who had his
eyes removed after his masterpiece. I do not know
the name of the architect - I think he was the
designer of the Taj Mahal.
[p. 213] Lady *Luck*'s name must not be said, for it is
considered unlucky.
THE LIGHT FANTASTIC
I am afraid I have been a bit lazy with this book in not
checking up the cross-references to other parts on the APF.
Sorry - I hope it is fairly easy to find the appropriate
section.
[p. 6] "there is such a thing as a free launch" The
classic quote is that "there is no such thing as a
free lunch".
[p. 10] The magic which ate through the ceilings as the
wizards ran up the stairs to watch it is probably a
spoof of the alien's "blood" in the movie Alien,
which ate through successive floors of the
spaceship, as the occupants ran down the stairs to
watch it.
[p. 14] "face that launched a thousand ships" See note on
[p. 255, Mort]
[p. 24] "when a wizard is tired of looking for broken glass
in his dinner, [...], he is tired of life." See
note on [??? - Do a search on "London"]
[p. 35] "rather a lot of trouble to go to just to sharpen a
razor blade." See note on [??? - Do a search on
"razor"]
[p. 46] "Someone's been eating my bed" A mixture of
"Someone's been eating my porridge" and "Someone's
been sleeping in my bed", both from the fairy tale
Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
[p. 53] "a cloud stuffed with rocks" It is apparently a
joke of early aviators, that the worst thing that
could happen to them is that they hit a cloud
stuffed with rocks. I have been unable to get a
more precise source.
[p. 57] "charm, persuasion, uncertainty and bloody
mindedness" See note on [??? - Do a search on charm
or flavour]
[p. 60] The structure the druids were assembling to tell
them the season was, of course, Stonehenge.
[p. 82] "Caroc cards" See note on [??? - Do a search on
"Caroc"]
[p. 101] "launched a thousand ships" See note on [p. 255,
Mort]
[p. 136] "Well, here's another fine mess," See note on
[??? - Do a search on "Laurel"]
[p. 171] "Do not peddle in the affairs of wizards..." See
note on [p. 183, Mort]
MORT
[p. 61] "even an agnostic could have walked across [the Ankh
river]" In the bible, MAT 14:28 Peter showed his
belief in Jesus by walking on water.
[p. 84] "just like a Cheshire cat" From Lewis Caroll's
"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland". See also note
about [p. 142, Wyrd Sisters].
[p. 126] "'-- and then she thought he was dead [...]"
Version 5.0 of the APF claims that this is from the
Greek tragedy of Thisbe and Pyramus. I suggest that
it is actually from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
(where at least the sexes are the right way around).
[p. 195] Harga was going to say "Alligator sandwich, and make
it snappy."
[p. 201] Cutwell's reason for choosing to become a wizard is
similar to Pratchett's reason for choosing to become
a journalist, according to the "About The Author"
section at the front of each book.
[p. 268] "hundred years' sleep" - reference to Sleeping
Beauty fairy tale.
SOURCERY
[p. 8] "I shall call him Coin." As in "to coin a name"?
[p. 22] "secret doorway to fabulous worlds" refers to
C.S. Lewis's "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe".
[p. 69] "Annas mirabilis" translates to "year of wonder", I
believe. "Anus mirabilis" does not!
[p. 122] M.C. Escher (1902-1972) was a Dutch graphics artist
who is well known for tangled, paradoxical pictures
and optical illusions.
[p. 125] "everything you touch turns to gold" was the fate of
King Midas in a traditional story.
[p. 130] The "falling apple" helped Newton discover the Law
of Gravity, the "boiling kettle" helped Watt
discover the steam engine and Archimedes' "bath
overflowing" help him discover the principles of
fluid displacement. James Watt's boiling kettle is
in the rejection list. I urge that it be included,
as I had not heard of it myself.
[p. 171] More reputable witnesses than Broomfog describe the
chimera (from Greek mythology) as having a lion's
head, a goat's body and a serpent's tail. Another
version has the back of a goat, the wings of a
dragon, the front half of a lion, and three heads
(the goat, lion and dragon get one each).
[p. 185] The magic lamp and magic ring, which summon a demon
when rubbed, appear in the legend of Alladin.
[p. 245] So how many of us stumbled over "It's not that,
then?" when Pestilence, War and Famine are having
their drunken chat? It logically must have been
Pestilence who said this line, but it is in the
wrong font.
PYRAMIDS
[p. 14] The test which the assassins had to take had strong
overtones of a driving licence test, especially with
phrases such as "proceed at your own pace... obeying
all signs...". "He checked his knives, adjusted his
swordbelt, glanced behind him ..." is reminiscent of
checking his mirrors, adjusting his seat-belt, and
glancing behind to check his blind spot.
[p. 25] "... a concubine" "I thought that was some sort of
vegetable." This mistake was originally made by
Rincewind in Sourcery.
[p. 45] "Necropolis" is dog-Greek for "City of the Dead".
[p. 64] "Good big sinuses, which is what I always look for
in a king." In the process of embalming, the
Egyptians removed the brain through the nose cavity.
[p. 77] The strange walk which Teppic tried to emulate is a
reference to the strange postures of people, always
in profile, in the traditional Egyptian paintings.
[p. 90 & 140]
See note about [p. 226, Colour of Magic] for details
about pyramids and razor blades.
[p. 109] "Doppelgangs" A traditional monster is the
"doppelganger" (literally double-goer in German).
Ptaclusp's version is a pun on work gangs.
[p. 176] In Version 3.0 of the Annotated Pratchett File, it
was suggested that the philosophers are discussing
"their own special version of Zeno's paradox,
involving Achilles and a Tortoise." I thought it
should be made clear that Pratchett did not invent
the version of Zeno's Paradox with arrows vs.
tortoises. I do not know which is the correct
version, but arrows and tortoises is certainly a
version I have heard before.
[p. 179] "The tortoise did beat the hare" - reference to
Aesop's fable "The Hare and the Tortoise".
[p. 179] "The trouble with you, Ibid, ... you're the biggest
bloody authority on everything." A pun on Ibid's
name. See explanation in note about [p. 179].
[p. 181] "Sacrifice a chicken under his nose." is a reference
to the old practice of burning a feather under the
nose of an unconscious person.
[p. 189] "it was logically impossible to fall out of a tree."
Surely this is a twisted interpretation of another
common topic for philosophical discussion :- "Does a
falling tree in the forest make a sound if no-one is
around to hear it?"
[p. 201] "... although truth was beauty, beauty was not
necessarily truth ..." Was it Keats who said "Truth
is beauty / beauty truth" ?
[p. 250] Version 3.0 of the Annotated Pratchett File asked
which page was "Go tell the Ephebians..." This is
the page in my copy of the book.
[p. 277] "the asses' milk" - see note about Cleopatra,
[Colour Of Magic]
QUERIES
There are several matters which I have wondered about,
but have not been able to get a satisfactory answer.
Unfortunately, I have not got access to alt.fan.pratchett, so
I am posing them to you in the hope that some of your readers
may be able to answer them, and add to the APF.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Is there any relation between Stren Withel [p. 46, Colour of
Magic] and Bara Withel [???] ?
"... dimension-leak was flowing both ways, and for moment the
psychiatrist saw the girl on the dragon." [p. 166, Colour Of
Magic] What reference or joke am I missing here?
The name of the Krullian spacecraft is the Potent Voyager
[p. 225, Colour of Magic]. Why?
Bad Ass is a "name with a story behind it" [p. 9. Equal
Rites]. All right Terry/anybody, what is the story?
"How do you get a lawn like this? You mows it and you rolls
it for five hundred years and then a bunch of bastards walks
across it" [p. 21, Sourcery] Who is being spoofed here?
"pretty much of a miracle of rare device" [p. 125, Sourcery]
is an odd thing to say, even for Rincewind - what is the
reason?
Why is Pyramids subtitled "The Book of Going Forth"?
What is a Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram [p. 7, Pyramids]?
[p. 31, Mort] "The answer flowed into his mind with all the
inevitability of a tax demand." Surely a
reference to the famous quote (which I have
been unable to track down) about the only two
inevitabilities in life being death and taxes.
MISCELLANEOUS
Did the Colour of Magic appear as "Color" Of Magic in the USA
edition?
All page numbers are from Corgi Paperback editions.
I read a mail message about James Watt's boiling kettle, which
Leo responded to by saying he thought that story was well
known, and therefore the reference is obvious. Well I, and
several of my Australian colleagues, have NOT previously heard
that story, and I use this as an example to argue that as many
references as possible, even the blatantly obvious ones,
should be included in the APF.
OTHER COMMENTS
Throughout Pyramids, it seemed to me that Pratchett was
building up for the big punchline "There are pharaohs at the
bottom of my garden" but he never delivered it!
Similarly, a friend of mine is upset that the imp in the
camera in Colour Of Magic was not a brownie like it should
have been!
--
Leo Breebaart (leo @ cp.tn.tudelft.nl)
Tony Curtis
On 10 May 93 13:22:47 GMT, l...@cp.tn.tudelft.nl (Leo Breebaart) said:
>> [p. 176] "... so that I would create no other work to rival
>> my work for him, he had my eyes put out." Poor
>> Didactylos (which means "Fingers" in dog-latin, I
>> believe) is a caricature of an architect who had his
>> eyes removed after his masterpiece. I do not know
>> the name of the architect - I think he was the
>> designer of the Taj Mahal.
Two-fingers of course. Well known gesture... :-)
Can't remember the name of the architect. I believe this
sort of thing (blinding or chopping hands off) was quite
common way back when.
>> [p. 57] "charm, persuasion, uncertainty and bloody
>> mindedness" See note on [??? - Do a search on charm
>> or flavour]
Sounds like a parody of much of modern physics (quarks etc).
>> [p. 8] "I shall call him Coin." As in "to coin a
name"?
Perhaps another pun on "Conan"? Co/in = Cohen??? Perhaps
not.
>> [p. 69] "Annas mirabilis" translates to "year of wonder", I
>> believe. "Anus mirabilis" does not!
Annus?
>> [p. 14] The test which the assassins had to take had strong
>> overtones of a driving licence test, especially with
>> phrases such as "proceed at your own pace... obeying
>> all signs...". "He checked his knives, adjusted his
>> swordbelt, glanced behind him ..." is reminiscent of
>> checking his mirrors, adjusting his seat-belt, and
>> glancing behind to check his blind spot.
I'm sure the man himself said this somewhere...
>> [p. 189] "it was logically impossible to fall out of a tree."
>> Surely this is a twisted interpretation of another
>> common topic for philosophical discussion :- "Does a
>> falling tree in the forest make a sound if no-one is
>> around to hear it?"
Sounds like something out of the Alice books...one to look
up.
>> [p. 201] "... although truth was beauty, beauty was not
>> necessarily truth ..." Was it Keats who said "Truth
>> is beauty / beauty truth" ?
Also cf. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The manager
of that rock band who zap whole planets (the band's name
escapes me).
>> "... dimension-leak was flowing both ways, and for moment the
>> psychiatrist saw the girl on the dragon." [p. 166, Colour Of
>> Magic] What reference or joke am I missing here?
A reference to the Rohrschach test
>> Bad Ass is a "name with a story behind it" [p. 9. Equal
>> Rites]. All right Terry/anybody, what is the story?
Could just be the name itself. Like what's the history
behind the family name "Ramsbottom"? :-)
>> What is a Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram [p. 7, Pyramids]?
Stellar evolutionary diagram, i.e. different types of stars
and what happens to them over time. Ours for example is on
the "main sequence".
tony
Timothy Connal Delaney
>"How do you get a lawn like this? You mows it and you rolls
>it for five hundred years and then a bunch of bastards walks
>across it" [p. 21, Sourcery] Who is being spoofed here?
_Asterix in Britain_ ... there is a part where you've got a man trimming
his lawn with a sickle. "Another 500 years of tender loving care and this
will be quite a nice bit of lawn" type thing (I can't remember the quote -
it's been a few years), whereupon Asterix, Obelix and Asterix's cousin run
across the lawn, closely followed by a Roman centurion in a chariot and
his patrol. The centurian almost gets a pilum in the sternum ("Your Rome
may be bigger than my garden, but my pilum is harder than your sternum ...").
If this could be mailed it would be much appreciated ... no email adress
was in the original posting.
=============================================================================
||
Tim Delaney || E se eu tiver ir longe daqui
u925...@wampyr.cc.uow.edu.au || Fechos olhos e tentar
Wollongong Uni, Australia || Sentir como sentimos hoje.
||
=============================================================================
Ron Asbestos Dippold
> _Asterix in Britain_ ... there is a part where you've got a man trimming
>his lawn with a sickle. "Another 500 years of tender loving care and this
"Oh, I say, that's a bit off!" They're actually both spoofing
something common, I'll dig up my Asterix Annotations and see what it has.
--
Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.
Paul Foxworthy
> "How do you get a lawn like this? You mows it and you rolls
> it for five hundred years and then a bunch of bastards walks
> across it" [p. 21, Sourcery] Who is being spoofed here?
tourist talking to the gardener at Cambridge. The original version, of course,
left out the "bunch of bastards" bit.
Incidentally, in Clive James's autobiography he says that at Cambridge only
the dons are allowed to walk across the lawns, everybody else has to skirt
round them. Some dons were known to exercise this privilege even when the
lawn was under two feet of snow...
Paul
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
************ Paul Foxworthy
**************** Systems Analyst-Programmer
****************** Colonial Mutual Life Aust. (ACN 004021809)
***** *****
***** * * ***** email: PFoxw...@cmutual.com.au
***** * * phone: +61-3-607-6471
***** * * ***** fax : +61-3-283-1095
******************
**************** All opinions are my own, not Cm's, thus the
************ excellent response time.
kand. Pontus Gagge
>"... dimension-leak was flowing both ways, and for moment the
>psychiatrist saw the girl on the dragon." [p. 166, Colour Of
>Magic] What reference or joke am I missing here?
I believe old Siggy Freud, whose hangups probably would rival
Woody Allen's, made much of such a scene in his book on dream
interpretations.
>"How do you get a lawn like this? You mows it and you rolls
>it for five hundred years and then a bunch of bastards walks
>across it" [p. 21, Sourcery] Who is being spoofed here?
Well, a truly good British lawn should take a couple of centuries
to perfect. And then some zombie digs through it...
>"pretty much of a miracle of rare device" [p. 125, Sourcery]
>is an odd thing to say, even for Rincewind - what is the
>reason?
From Coleridge's "Xanadu" (quote from memory):
"It was a miracle of rare device/ a sunny pleasure dome with
caves of ice!"
>Why is Pyramids subtitled "The Book of Going Forth"?
Some spoof on "The Book of the Dead"?
>What is a Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram [p. 7, Pyramids]?
A diagram of stars' luminosity/colour/mass relations.
--
/ kand. Pontus Gagge | The views expressed herein are compromises \
| University of Link|ping | between my mental subpersonae, and may be |
\ c89p...@und.ida.liu.se | held by none of them. /
Anthony Naggs
>
> [p. 8] "I shall call him Coin." As in "to coin a name"?
A pun on 'Colin', (a common English first name for boys/men),
via the suggestion given.
> QUERIES
>
> Bad Ass is a "name with a story behind it" [p. 9. Equal
> Rites]. All right Terry/anybody, what is the story?
Sounds like a town from a (Sergio Leone?) Western.
> "How do you get a lawn like this? You mows it and you rolls
> it for five hundred years and then a bunch of bastards walks
> across it" [p. 21, Sourcery] Who is being spoofed here?
I suspect that this is a reference to the preparation of 'quality'
cricket pitches, (I don't watch or play it myself).
--
Anthony Naggs
Patrick K. Bronson
>
>On 10 May 93 13:22:47 GMT, l...@cp.tn.tudelft.nl (Leo Breebaart) said:
>
>>> [p. 176] "... so that I would create no other work to rival
>>> my work for him, he had my eyes put out." Poor
>>> Didactylos (which means "Fingers" in dog-latin, I
>>> believe) is a caricature of an architect who had his
>>> eyes removed after his masterpiece. I do not know
>>> the name of the architect - I think he was the
>>> designer of the Taj Mahal.
>Can't remember the name of the architect. I believe this
>sort of thing (blinding or chopping hands off) was quite
>common way back when.
I could not find mention of the actual architect in any of my Architectural
references. (6 hours and an attitude short of an architecture degree has
piled up quite a few in my apartment) However I did find the following.
The Taj Mahal at Agra was built by Shah Jahan, as a memorial to his wife.
He was a moslem ruler in India in the 1600's. Couldn't find any reference
to any chopping or poking of body parts....
--
-----------
Pat Bronson (bro...@engr.latech.edu)
Independent NeXT Advocate (INA)
Louisiana Tech University*Northeast Louisiana University*Grambling University
BEC...@uk.ac.bham.ibm3090
>
>>"How do you get a lawn like this? You mows it and you rolls
>>it for five hundred years and then a bunch of bastards walks
>>across it" [p. 21, Sourcery] Who is being spoofed here?
This is also the sort of philosophy often seen in groundsmen of cricket pitches
, who's dedication to a small patch of greenness borders on a religious
ceremony, and if anyone even dares to walk on the sacred square, you get very
dirty looks and don't get talked to for a long time. Or such is my experience.
.......
Sally :)
Gonzalo san Martin
>> QUERIES
>>
>> Bad Ass is a "name with a story behind it" [p. 9. Equal
>> Rites]. All right Terry/anybody, what is the story?
>
>Sounds like a town from a (Sergio Leone?) Western.
>Anthony Naggs
Well, the town of Bad Ass, Texas, features quite extensively in R. A. Wilson's
"Schrodinger Cat Trilogy". But, as to whether it really exists...anyone got an
Atlas?
Gonz
Geoff Loker
>Here are some (well, a lot, actually) annotations that were sent to me
>by Julian Orbach (jor...@csaadel.adl.csa.oz.au). There's a lot of
>discussable stuff here, with many new questions raised, and since the
>new APF version won't be out for a couple of months anyway, I thought
>the readers of this group might want to sink their teeth into this
>for a while.
>QUERIES
> There are several matters which I have wondered about,
>but have not been able to get a satisfactory answer.
>Unfortunately, I have not got access to alt.fan.pratchett, so
>I am posing them to you in the hope that some of your readers
>may be able to answer them, and add to the APF.
>"... dimension-leak was flowing both ways, and for moment the
>psychiatrist saw the girl on the dragon." [p. 166, Colour Of
>Magic] What reference or joke am I missing here?
I took this to be a reference to Sigmund Freud and the inspiration for
psychotherapy (especially his ideas about Sex being a primary instinct
in our subconcious and his attempts to link everything we do, think, and
say back to Sex).
--
Geoff Loker (glo...@tse.com)
"I don't see much sense in that," said Rabbit.
"No," said Pooh humbly, "there isn't. But there was _going_ to be when I
began it. It's just that something happened to it on the way."
Paul-Erik T|rr|nen
>>"How do you get a lawn like this? You mows it and you rolls
>>it for five hundred years and then a bunch of bastards walks
>>across it" [p. 21, Sourcery] Who is being spoofed here?
>Well, a truly good British lawn should take a couple of centuries
>to perfect. And then some zombie digs through it...
Or perhaps TP referers to the 'Asterix in britain'-comic book where
a happy chap is trimming his lawn with a mini-sicle, and comments that
within a thousand years or so it will be perfect, when Asterix and his
companions tears across it on a chariot with the romans on their heels.
Just a thought
Paul-Erik T|rr|nen
Sig? Not!
Terry Pratchett
>l...@cp.tn.tudelft.nl (Leo Breebaart) writes:
>
>>"How do you get a lawn like this? You mows it and you rolls
>>it for five hundred years and then a bunch of bastards walks
>>across it" [p. 21, Sourcery] Who is being spoofed here?
>
>
> _Asterix in Britain_ ... there is a part where you've got a man trimming
>his lawn with a sickle. "Another 500 years of tender loving care and this
>will be quite a nice bit of lawn" type thing (I can't remember the quote -
>it's been a few years), whereupon Asterix, Obelix and Asterix's cousin run
>across the lawn, closely followed by a Roman centurion in a chariot and
>his patrol. The centurian almost gets a pilum in the sternum ("Your Rome
>may be bigger than my garden, but my pilum is harder than your sternum ...").
>
> If this could be mailed it would be much appreciated ... no email adress
>was in the original posting.
>
Jeez, no! Really? Seldom do I comment on this stuff, but nicking from
*Asterix*? It's like the 'When a man is tired of [fill in place], he is
tired of [fill in something like 'life']; sure, Douglas Adams *also* used it
but the source was Dr Johnson. The lawns line was I believe a comment made
by a University gardener to an American tourist years and year ago; it
turns up from time to time.
Terry
Paul Foxworthy
>
> >l...@cp.tn.tudelft.nl (Leo Breebaart) writes:
> >
> >>"How do you get a lawn like this? You mows it and you rolls
> >>it for five hundred years and then a bunch of bastards walks
> >>across it" [p. 21, Sourcery] Who is being spoofed here?
> >
> by a University gardener to an American tourist years and year ago; it
> turns up from time to time.
>
> Terry
>
I am going to be insufferably smug for the rest of today.
Timothy Connal Delaney
>>>"How do you get a lawn like this? You mows it and you rolls
>>>it for five hundred years and then a bunch of bastards walks
>>>across it" [p. 21, Sourcery] Who is being spoofed here?
>>
>>
>> _Asterix in Britain_ ... there is a part where you've got a man trimming
>>
>Jeez, no! Really? Seldom do I comment on this stuff, but nicking from
>*Asterix*? It's like the 'When a man is tired of [fill in place], he is
>tired of [fill in something like 'life']; sure, Douglas Adams *also* used it
>but the source was Dr Johnson. The lawns line was I believe a comment made
>by a University gardener to an American tourist years and year ago; it
>turns up from time to time.
>Terry
Didn't want to suggest that it originally came from there ... it just
happens to *be* there too. Couldn't think of any other examples. I assumed
they had a common link ... now I know :)
=============================================================================
||
Tim Delaney || "Marcei um X, um X, um X
u925...@wampyr.cc.uow.edu.au || no seu coracao"
Wollongong Uni, Australia || - (argh ...) Xuxa
||
=============================================================================
C.Sudlow
|> > SOURCERY
|> >
|> > [p. 8] "I shall call him Coin." As in "to coin a name"?
|>
|> A pun on 'Colin', (a common English first name for boys/men),
|> via the suggestion given.
I don't know if any of the other Colins in the group (I know there is at
least one besides me) will agree but Colin is not a very common name in
England. However, I stand to be corrected (maybe we can start up a splinter
group alt.fan.pratchet.colin if theres enough of us).
Actually I think the actual statement is a pun on "coin a phrase", ie to adapt
or misquote a phrase to describe the current events.
-+-+-
Colin
James Chiles
: In article <737061...@ubik.demon.co.uk>, a...@ubik.demon.co.uk (Anthony Naggs) writes:
: |> A pun on 'Colin', (a common English first name for boys/men),
: |> via the suggestion given.
: I don't know if any of the other Colins in the group (I know there is at
: least one besides me) will agree but Colin is not a very common name in
: England. However, I stand to be corrected (maybe we can start up a splinter
: group alt.fan.pratchet.colin if theres enough of us).
It's certainly used , but I think calling it common as the basis for an
annotation is going a bit far...'to coin a phrase' is certainly more likely.
Ron Asbestos Dippold
>happens to *be* there too. Couldn't think of any other examples. I assumed
What's amazing is how many on here picked up the Asterix
cross-reference. I also made a reference a while back regarding
viziers who want to be caliph instead of the caliph figuring maybe one
person would get it, but a whole bunch did. Terry fans are diverse
readers!
--
God's creation was instantaneous. That's why it took seven days.
Paul S. Winalski
In article <1993May13....@cs.nott.ac.uk>,
ecz...@mips.nott.ac.uk (C.Sudlow) writes:
|>
|>I don't know if any of the other Colins in the group (I know there is at
|>least one besides me) will agree but Colin is not a very common name in
|>England. However, I stand to be corrected (maybe we can start up a splinter
|>group alt.fan.pratchet.colin if theres enough of us).
It's a lot more common in England than in the US, where it is practically
nonexistent. We don't get any Ians, Iains, or Nigels in this country, either
(except of course for imports like Mr. Mansell).
--PSW
Paul Gillingwater
>
>>Jeez, no! Really? Seldom do I comment on this stuff, but nicking from
>>*Asterix*? It's like the 'When a man is tired of [fill in place], he is
>>tired of [fill in something like 'life']; sure, Douglas Adams *also* used it
It's nice to see Terry still commenting, but there appears to be a problem
with distribution of news articles. Here in Austria, I only ever get to see
articles that quote Terry, but never his originals. This may be due to
some problem with the Distribution: field, but I'm puzzled by the fact that
others in Europe seem to see them. How about it, Leo? You're in the Low
Country -- do you see his originals? What is the distribution line set to?
And what path do they follow to get out of the demon.co.uk domain?
Terry, is there a filter that prevents your posts from getting into German-
speaking countries? :-)
--
pa...@actrix.co.at (Paul Gillingwater)
Home Office in Vienna, Austria
** If you read news with rn or trn, ask me about EEP! the .newsrc editor!
Matthew Crosby
>u925...@wampyr.cc.uow.edu.au (Timothy Connal Delaney) writes:
>> Didn't want to suggest that it originally came from there ... it just
>>happens to *be* there too. Couldn't think of any other examples. I assumed
>
>What's amazing is how many on here picked up the Asterix
>cross-reference. I also made a reference a while back regarding
>viziers who want to be caliph instead of the caliph figuring maybe one
>person would get it, but a whole bunch did. Terry fans are diverse
>readers!
I think the sort of person who goes for the humour in Pterry is also the sort of
person who goes the the humour in Goscinnys works.
(If anyone _hasn't_ read any Asterix books, I well recommend them, as well as
Lucky Luke and Iznogh. They are extremely funny, and the english versions are
well translated)
Did Goscinny write any other series, BTW? I know when I was a little 'un, I
read a series of real books by him (childrens, still) about a french schoolboy.
ObPratchett: How about _The Several Little Twinkley Things_ as a constellation?
--
-Matt cro...@cs.colorado.edu
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the net!
Ron Asbestos Dippold
>It's nice to see Terry still commenting, but there appears to be a problem
>with distribution of news articles. Here in Austria, I only ever get to see
>articles that quote Terry, but never his originals. This may be due to
His posts have a "Distribution: world" set. I'm not sure what the
point of this is, as leaving this completely out should make sure they
get to everywhere and that nobody drops the message as an invalid
distribution. The "Distribution" system is sorta broken in places. I
bet this is what's causing your problems.
--
In case of nuclear war, run into the flames. That's more mutant babes for me!
Keith Jackson
In article <9...@pine.ukc.ac.uk>, ar...@ukc.ac.uk (Tony Curtis) writes:
>>> Bad Ass is a "name with a story behind it" [p. 9. Equal
>>> Rites]. All right Terry/anybody, what is the story?
>
>Could just be the name itself. Like what's the history
>behind the family name "Ramsbottom"? :-)
Ramsbottom is a place in Lancashire, on the northern fringe of Manchester so
the surname may simply be the original home of the family. As to why the
place itself is so called I haven't a clue! :-)
Keith
**********************************************************
* Keith Jackson - kjac...@cix.compulink.co.uk *
* - 2:255/40...@fidonet.org *
* -90:103/10...@nest.ftn *
**********************************************************
* Rock testing is a smashing job. *
**********************************************************
Geoff Loker
[Deleted references to "Asterix", "Lucky Luke", and "Iznogoud" series by
Goscinny.]
>Did Goscinny write any other series, BTW? I know when I was a little 'un, I
>read a series of real books by him (childrens, still) about a french schoolboy.
Ah yes. I fondly remember this series from French class in high school.
It was "Le Petit Nicolas". (That would be "Little Nicholas" (if it was
ever translated into English.) The version of the Nicolas stories that
we read in French class was simplified from the original (I know because
I enjoyed the tales so much I bought the actual ones in Quebec), so I
doubt that the stories were intended for children. I think that they were
originally written for magazines and then collected in book form.
As to the stories, they were all told by Nicolas, a young (6-10 yrs old)
French schoolboy, and were about the adventures that he and his friends
had, and their interactions with the adults around them. One of my
favourite tales was "Les Cowboys", where Nicolas and his friends are
playing Cowboys and Indians and get into a huge fight about who are the
Good Guys and who are the Bad Guys. (Nobody wants to be a Bad Guy.)
Nicholas' father intervenes and says that he will be the Bad Guy in their
game. Nicholas and his friends tie his father to a tree, and then lose
interest in the game and wander off. The final paragraph in the tale
comes in the evening where Nicholas remarks on how much his father must
enjoy playing Cowboys & Indians because he was still playing it even
then.
Michael Schwingen
Paul Gillingwater (pa...@actrix.co.at) wrote:
PG>> tprat...@unseen.demon.co.uk (Terry Pratchett) writes:
PG>>
PG>>>Jeez, no! Really? Seldom do I comment on this stuff, but nicking from
PG>>>*Asterix*? It's like the 'When a man is tired of [fill in place], he is
PG>>>tired of [fill in something like 'life']; sure, Douglas Adams *also* used it
PG>
PG>It's nice to see Terry still commenting, but there appears to be a problem
PG>with distribution of news articles. Here in Austria, I only ever get to see
PG>articles that quote Terry, but never his originals. This may be due to
PG>some problem with the Distribution: field, but I'm puzzled by the fact that
PG>others in Europe seem to see them. How about it, Leo? You're in the Low
PG>Country -- do you see his originals? What is the distribution line set to?
PG>And what path do they follow to get out of the demon.co.uk domain?
Im not Leo, but I got that article you quoted here in Aachen, Germany. The
distribution was set to world, and the path was:
discworld.oche.de!tornado.oche.de!urmel.informatik.rwth-aachen.de
!gmd.de!newsserver.jvnc.net!howland.reston.ans.net!torn!nott!bnrgate
!bnr.co.uk!uknet!warwick!qmw-dcs!qmw!demon!unseen.demon.co.uk!tpratchett
(split across several lines for readability)
That looks quite long before 'gmd.de' ?
cu
Michael
--
Michael Schwingen Ahornstraže 36 W-5100(52074) Aachen Germany
Home: rinc...@discworld.oche.de Maus: Michael Schwingen@AC3 IRC: Rincewind
Univ.: mich...@pool.informatik.rwth-aachen.de <--- use this for long mails!
"And then you bit onto them, and learned once again that Cut-me-own-Throat
Dibbler could find a use for bits of an animal that the animal didn't know it
had got. Dibbler had worked out that with enough fried onions and mustard
people would eat *anything*." (Terry Pratchett, Moving Pictures)
DJ EZ Lee
: > tprat...@unseen.demon.co.uk (Terry Pratchett) writes:
: >
: >>Jeez, no! Really? Seldom do I comment on this stuff, but nicking from
: >>*Asterix*? It's like the 'When a man is tired of [fill in place], he is
: >>tired of [fill in something like 'life']; sure, Douglas Adams *also* used it
:
: It's nice to see Terry still commenting, but there appears to be a problem
: with distribution of news articles. Here in Austria, I only ever get to see
: articles that quote Terry, but never his originals. This may be due to
: some problem with the Distribution: field, but I'm puzzled by the fact that
: others in Europe seem to see them. How about it, Leo? You're in the Low
: Country -- do you see his originals? What is the distribution line set to?
: And what path do they follow to get out of the demon.co.uk domain?
:
: Terry, is there a filter that prevents your posts from getting into German-
: speaking countries? :-)
: --
either.....Does anyone on JANET get to read the original posts? I can't help
feeling left out somehow. Do you get the feeling there are conversations going
on on the net that you don't get to hear..?
How often does Terry, if I can call him Terry, that is, (I think I can, after
all he's not going to kill me is he? I mean it's his name isn't it?) write to
the group?
EZ LEE.
*******************************************************************************
===== ===== // ===== ===== ______________ |
// // // // // | _____ () | |
//--- // -- // //--- //--- | / \/ | |
// // // // // | | * /| | |
===== ===== ===== ===== ===== | \____~/ | |
"White heart, black soul" | SL1200 | |
|______________| |
L.J.Stoneman W-s-M UK : l_st...@uk.ac.uwe.csd
*******************************************************************************
"My nationality is reality, And, yo, a prejudiced man is of a devil mentality"
Kool G Rap 'Stop The Racism'
Laura Johnson
> How often does Terry, if I can call him Terry, that is, (I think I can, after
> all he's not going to kill me is he? I mean it's his name isn't it?) write to
> the group?
You can call him Terry, or you can call him Terrt, or you can call
him Terry^]. (I don't know what that last one means, but he uses it
quite often ;->)
He seems to write several times a week, when he's at home. (_At Home
on the Usenet: One Man's Odyssey_)
--
--New .sig under construction--Please be Patient
l...@col.hp.com Laura Johnson, software engineer
Hewlett Packard, Network Test Division
Colorado Springs, Colorado
James Chiles
: Now that you come to mention it, I never seem to see the original posts
: feeling left out somehow. Do you get the feeling there are conversations going
: on on the net that you don't get to hear..?
To be quite honest I'm not sure...I read thembutthen I'musing a
usenet feed in the states.....
Iwill checkwithsomefriendsthough....
maybe Pterry doesn't want Janetites to read his posts?
:)
worm.
M. Knell
>Paul Gillingwater (pa...@actrix.co.at) wrote:
(lots of stuff deleted)
>Now that you come to mention it, I never seem to see the original posts
>either.....Does anyone on JANET get to read the original posts? I can't help
>feeling left out somehow. Do you get the feeling there are conversations going
>on on the net that you don't get to hear..?
>
>How often does Terry, if I can call him Terry, that is, (I think I can, after
>all he's not going to kill me is he? I mean it's his name isn't it?) write to
>the group?
>
We have no problems here - but then our newsfeed is extremely solid (we seem to
get everything which gets through uknet, hence no alt.sex.* and so on, as that
heirarchy gets censored :-) )
Path from unseen to here is....
nott-cs!uknet!warwick!pipex!bnr.co.uk!demon!unseen.demon.co.uk!tpratchett
Nothing strange there.. JANET people should get it no problems. Maybe your news
admin filter TP out just to annoy you..
Cheers,
Mike
--
+-- -=- If infants can have infancy, why can't adults have adultery? -=- ---+
\------ Mike Knell, Willoughby Hall, University of Nottingham, IO92JX ------/
\ AMPRnet: mi...@g7gpa.ampr.org -=- Internet: eey...@unicorn.nott.ac.uk /
\ 'oh well, whatever, nevermind...' -=- AX25: G7GPA@GB7BAD.#23.GBR.EU /
Leo Breebaart
> : Terry, is there a filter that prevents your posts from getting into German-
> : speaking countries? :-)
> : --
> Now that you come to mention it, I never seem to see the original posts
> either.....Does anyone on JANET get to read the original posts?
You mean, not everybody has seen the draft chapter of the new Discworld
novel-in-progress that Terry posted here last week? It was the most
hilarious thing I've ever read -- especially the scene with the
Librarian and the Patrician. If you haven't seen it at your site
there is really something with your site's news software...
--
Leo Breebaart (leo @ cp.tn.tudelft.nl)
Andy Holyer
: l_st...@pat.uwe.ac.uk (DJ EZ Lee) writes:
: You mean, not everybody has seen the draft chapter of the new Discworld
: novel-in-progress that Terry posted here last week? It was the most
: hilarious thing I've ever read -- especially the scene with the
: Librarian and the Patrician. If you haven't seen it at your site
: there is really something with your site's news software...
You mean the section about the football match? Match of the day will
never be the same again. :-)
(cont. alt.tv.twin-peaks :-)
--
&ndy Holyer, School of Cognitive and |'In the end it took me a dictionary
Computing Studies, University of Sussex, |to find out the meaning of
JANET: an...@cogs.sussex.ac.uk |"Unrequited"' - Billy Bragg
Maurizio Codogno
>You mean, not everybody has seen the draft chapter of the new Discworld
>novel-in-progress that Terry posted here last week? It was the most
>hilarious thing I've ever read -- especially the scene with the
>Librarian and the Patrician. If you haven't seen it at your site
>there is really something with your site's news software...
>
no, the problem was with the typo in the Distribution: field in Terrt
message. I had to directly dig in the spool area to get it... but
it was worth the effort.
--
ciao! .mau.
-----
Maurizio Codogno - CSELT UF/DU dept. - Torino Italy
"home" email: m...@beatles.cselt.stet.it
Timothy M. Schreyer
|> Leo Breebaart (l...@cp.tn.tudelft.nl) wrote:
|> : l_st...@pat.uwe.ac.uk (DJ EZ Lee) writes:
|>
|> : You mean, not everybody has seen the draft chapter of the new Discworld
|> : novel-in-progress that Terry posted here last week? It was the most
|> : hilarious thing I've ever read -- especially the scene with the
|> : Librarian and the Patrician. If you haven't seen it at your site
|> : there is really something with your site's news software...
|>
|> You mean the section about the football match? Match of the day will
|> never be the same again. :-)
|>
you're having so much trouble with that damn EC treaty! :-)
Tim
--
Timothy M. Schreyer sch...@vfl.paramax.com
Software Technology R&D (215) 648-2475
Paramax Systems Corporation FAX: (215) 648-2288
PO Box 517, Paoli, PA 19301
Paul Gillingwater
> You mean, not everybody has seen the draft chapter of the new Discworld
> novel-in-progress that Terry posted here last week? It was the most
> hilarious thing I've ever read -- especially the scene with the
> Librarian and the Patrician. If you haven't seen it at your site
> there is really something with your site's news software...
Awww Leo, where's the Smiley? Surely you're jesting??? I hope!
No, seriously, I'm *still* not seeing postings coming from Terry directly.
Could some kind soul examine his post to check a distrbutions line please.
Stewart Stremler
: You mean, not everybody has seen the draft chapter of the new Discworld
: hilarious thing I've ever read -- especially the scene with the
: Librarian and the Patrician. If you haven't seen it at your site
: there is really something with your site's news software...
Um, ah, how does that go again? Ah....
Go ahead, pull the other one. Its got bells on...
[Cruel. Really cruel.]
--
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Ho ha ha guard turn parry dodge spin ha thrust!" | Stewart Stremler
--Daffy Duck |masc...@ucssun1.sdsu.edu
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Terry Pratchett
I know I occasionally get mail bounced when I reply to mail from Janet sites.
As far as I'm concerned, I just post to the net. I don't know where it lands,
I just throw it.
Terry
Mr C S Carline
In article <1tc2uu$3...@gondor.sdsu.edu>, masc...@ucsnews.sdsu.edu (Stewart Stremler) writes:
|> Leo Breebaart (l...@cp.tn.tudelft.nl) wrote:
|> : You mean, not everybody has seen the draft chapter of the new Discworld
|> : novel-in-progress that Terry posted here last week? It was the most
|> : hilarious thing I've ever read -- especially the scene with the
|> : Librarian and the Patrician. If you haven't seen it at your site
|> : there is really something with your site's news software...
|>
|> Um, ah, how does that go again? Ah....
|>
|> Go ahead, pull the other one. Its got bells on...
|>
|> [Cruel. Really cruel.]
You might even go so far as to say:
"Tuppence more and up goes the donkey"
--
+---------------------------------------+----------------------------------+
| * Never underestimate | Chris Carline |
| the power of | ms...@csv.warwick.ac.uk |
| human stupidity * | Dept. of Chemistry, Warwick Uni |
+_______________________________________+__________________________________+
Andy Holyer
: No, seriously, I'm *still* not seeing postings coming from Terry directly.
: Could some kind soul examine his post to check a distrbutions line please.
I don't like to worry you guys... but I don't see to may of Terry's
origunal postings. I suspect this is a product of the Confusion
Circus' somewhat draconian expire deadlines, but...
And we're on the same distribution as most of the other JANET
sites....
ObPratchett: A reference to the "knew how to spell banana, but didn't
know when to stop" line (from ???) is found in "The New Hacker's
dictionary", ed. Raymond & Steele 1991, under "banana effect". This
book is the infamous "jargon file" which can be snarfed from... oh,
all sorts of places. Oh, and I wrote at least one entry. Grin.
-&.
Andy Holyer
: Leo Breebaart (l...@cp.tn.tudelft.nl) wrote:
: : You mean, not everybody has seen the draft chapter of the new Discworld
: : novel-in-progress that Terry posted here last week? It was the most
: : hilarious thing I've ever read -- especially the scene with the
: : Librarian and the Patrician. If you haven't seen it at your site
: : there is really something with your site's news software...
: Um, ah, how does that go again? Ah....
: Go ahead, pull the other one. Its got bells on...
Ahem. <flame on>
Oh dear, there's always one, isn't there. Look man, just cos you're
bloody news distribution is broken, don't go around spoiling it for
everyone else.
<flame off>
An no, I can't eMail it. I can only mail 100K at a go. And besides,
Terry indicates ... that he posted it by accident, and that any copies
out there should go no further. I for one respect that decision. Isn't
that right, Terry?
But I did like: "how do you keep a Klatchian in suspense?".
Vos MC
any Discworld chapter here! Can someone repost it please? I wanna read it too!
Great Greetings,
mcv. <><
The Meach
P.T. Barnum knew what he was talking about, eh?
--jm
Ron Asbestos Dippold
>I know I occasionally get mail bounced when I reply to mail from Janet sites.
>As far as I'm concerned, I just post to the net. I don't know where it lands,
>I just throw it.
I don't know how much you're into configuring your setup, but you
might wish to experiment with removing the "Distribution: world" line
from your headers - this should, ironically, improve the distribution
of your articles, unless something really strange is going on at your
posting site. Some sites are very picky about "Distribution:" lines
if they exist and may drop your articles on the floor.
--
A pessimist is a married optimist.
Laura Johnson
alt.prose last Thursday. Fraught, simply fraught with humor.
(And millions of tiny little cyberfeet go storming for alt.prose! But
wait! there's news that the Lost Chapter has surfaced on rec.arts.sf.written.
The cyberfeet about-face. But no! rec.pets.cats has _The Unadulterated
Sequel_. The feet....)
(Ever play with a kitten and a feather? It's just like this.)
Ron Asbestos Dippold
>might wish to experiment with removing the "Distribution: world" line
>from your headers - this should, ironically, improve the distribution
About my posting here, let me stress that "Distribution: world" is
SUPPOSED to be a perfectly valid option. Badly configured sites, however...
--
This system will self-destruct in five minutes.
Peter Crowther (MIG)
More seriously... I'm in UK. I see posts days, sometimes weeks, out of
order. Replies seem to get here before the original posts in many
cases. However, in the end, I *do* get to see everything.
Is that what's happening elsewhere as well, or are some posts being
lost in the wires? And (apropos Good Omens) can you imagine them
wandering round the networks, struggling to find a friendly workstation
that will pull them out and put them into the middle of your EMACS
executable... is this why editors blow up so frequently?
Hey, if the network acts as the postal service, has anyone ever worked
out what the equivalent of the Big Dog is for net postmen? For that
matter, is your SMTP daemon (speaking in UNIX terms here) the postman?
And does it spend its spare time pedalling pocket watches on the Disc?
Sorry - just got in and had my first cup of tea, and it's getting
to me...
- Peter
--
Peter Crowther, Medical Informatics Group, Dept. of Computer Science,
University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, England.
Internet: pcro...@cs.man.ac.uk Janet: pcro...@uk.ac.man.cs
"Every day you're getting older, never seem to find the time.
Plans that either come to nought or half a page of scribbled lines."
Andy Holyer
Jon Roch-berry
>In article <leo.737714985@draconis> l...@cp.tn.tudelft.nl writes:
>>You mean, not everybody has seen the draft chapter of the new Discworld
>>novel-in-progress that Terry posted here last week? It was the most
>>hilarious thing I've ever read -- especially the scene with the
>>Librarian and the Patrician. If you haven't seen it at your site
>>there is really something with your site's news software...
>no, the problem was with the typo in the Distribution: field in Terrt
>message. I had to directly dig in the spool area to get it... but
>it was worth the effort.
This isn't a lame rehash of the Green Golf Ball Joke, is it? (To avoid any
annoying "what's that?" posts, its a joke that doesn't exist, and allows people
to post lots of allegedly funny messages about how good it is, but they can't
post it for some witty (sic) reason)
Terry (no one else), please could you confirm or deny the existance of this
post.
Regards
Jon
--
+------------------------------------------------------+--------------------+
| J o n a t h a n R o c h - B e r r y | Insert witty |
| MSc Software Engineering, Westminster University, UK | comment here |
+------------------------------------------------------+--------------------+
Geoff Loker
>AFPBot, you may fire at will.
But what did Will ever do to deserve that?
The Technicolour Throw-up
> rdip...@qualcomm.com (Ron "Asbestos" Dippold) writes:
>>I don't know how much you're into configuring your setup, but you
>>might wish to experiment with removing the "Distribution: world" line
>>from your headers - this should, ironically, improve the distribution
>
> About my posting here, let me stress that "Distribution: world" is
> SUPPOSED to be a perfectly valid option. Badly configured sites, however...
Au contraire Mr. Dippold. The idea behind Distribution headers is that put
one on your post, filled in, when you want to limit where the post goes. If
you don't to put any such limits on it (i.e. you want it to go to the whole
world) then the idea is that you don't put a Distribution header on it.
Now its true that there is an awful lot of software out there that thinks you
should put "Distribution: world" in the latter case, but that software is
wrong. Until recently, most sites have accepted such articles as valid, and
in fact there are some people who think that it should be made a valid
distribution. As it stands at the moment however it is technically wrong.
(I thought you read news.admin.policy Ron - they're talking about this there
now).
--
Name: Michael Chisnall (chis...@cosc.canterbury.ac.nz)
UNALTERED REPRODUCTION and DISSEMINATION of this
IMPORTANT SIGNATURE VIRUS is ENCOURAGED.
Leo Breebaart
> >>You mean, not everybody has seen the draft chapter of the new Discworld
> >>novel-in-progress that Terry posted here last week?
>
> This isn't a lame rehash of the Green Golf Ball Joke, is it? ([...]
> a joke that doesn't exist, and allows people to post lots of
> allegedly funny messages about how good it is, but they can't post
> it for some witty (sic) reason)
Ah, sorta like "the famous Banana sketch" from that classic Muppet Show
episode, right?
Actually, I think you're reacting a bit humorless to this -- I think it
would be kinda fun to see how long you could fool and confuse people with
something as innocent as this.
In any case, I can lay your fears to rest: the "missing chapter" is *not* a
hoax (well, except it wasn't really a chapter -- we all know Discworld
novels don't have chapters; it was just a large section), and the fact that
it has now been made available for ftp should prove that.
> Terry (no one else), please could you confirm or deny the existance of
> this post.
He *has* confirmed it. Didn't your site get this article (and the first one
to suggest that I am forging the following will get me severely pissed off
-- some things are not funny, and forging articles from Pterry is very high
on that list):
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroup: alt.fan.pratchett, article: 6698
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
From: tprat...@unseen.demon.co.uk (Terry Pratchett)
Subject: Re: New Chapter ... HELP !!!
Date: Tue, 18 May 1993 01:08:05 +0000
In article <cbishopC...@netcom.com> cbi...@netcom.com writes:
>In article <1tbngg$1...@wampyr.cc.uow.edu.au> u925...@wampyr.cc.uow.edu.au
> (Timothy Connal Delaney) writes:
>> HELP !!! I've been hearing about this new chapter Terry has written, but
>>it hasn't got here (which is strange because all his other posts make it).
>>If anyone has it, could they possibly e-mail it to me (beg, plead, grovel).
>>
>Me too please. I have just heard about it and would like to see it as well.
>
Me, me, me! I want to see it too! Only I lost a file when the power went
during the thunderstorm so _the_only_copy_of_the_missing_chapter_is_somewhere_
_on_the_net...
Terry
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOW are you convinced?
Daniel R Barlow
>Au contraire Mr. Dippold. The idea behind Distribution headers is that put
>one on your post, filled in, when you want to limit where the post goes. If
>you don't to put any such limits on it (i.e. you want it to go to the whole
>world) then the idea is that you don't put a Distribution header on it.
Hey, hang on...
If I put a 'Distribution: uk' on my posts it will get delivered
(theoretically, anyway) to all the sites that consider themselves in
the uk. By inference, if I put 'Distribution: world' it should be
delivered to all sites on this planet.
I suspect that's a bit logical for Usenet, though
Daniel
Ron Asbestos Dippold
>> SUPPOSED to be a perfectly valid option. Badly configured sites, however...
>Now its true that there is an awful lot of software out there that thinks you
>should put "Distribution: world" in the latter case, but that software is
>wrong. Until recently, most sites have accepted such articles as valid, and
Well, there are differences of opinion on that... :) I said that
because obviously someone at Terry's site thought that "Distribution:
world" was valid because they set him up that way, and I didn't want
him to claim that it was totally bogus to some administrator type who
thinks it is, and obviously a lot of people think it is.
>(I thought you read news.admin.policy Ron - they're talking about this there
>now).
Yep. What fun!
--
Majority: That quality that distinguishes a crime from a law. -- Bierce
Paul Gillingwater
> tprat...@unseen.demon.co.uk (Terry Pratchett) writes:
>>As far as I'm concerned, I just post to the net. I don't know where it lands
>
> I don't know how much you're into configuring your setup, but you
> might wish to experiment with removing the "Distribution: world" line
> from your headers - this should, ironically, improve the distribution
I would second that recommendation. Please try this, and maybe we will see
your messages in forn parts.
Matthew Crosby
>rdip...@qualcomm.com (Ron "Asbestos" Dippold) writes:
>>I don't know how much you're into configuring your setup, but you
>>might wish to experiment with removing the "Distribution: world" line
>>from your headers - this should, ironically, improve the distribution
>
>About my posting here, let me stress that "Distribution: world" is
>SUPPOSED to be a perfectly valid option. Badly configured sites, however...
Nope, sorry. Unstead of Distribution: World, you should have no distribution.
The only places that use distribution world are, as you say, Badly configured
sites.
--
-Matt cro...@cs.colorado.edu
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the net!
Wolfgang Schelongowski
$ Paul Gillingwater (pa...@actrix.co.at) wrote:
$ ...
$ : It's nice to see Terry still commenting, but there appears to be a problem
$ : with distribution of news articles. Here in Austria, I only ever get to se
$ : articles that quote Terry, but never his originals.
$ ...
$ Now that you come to mention it, I never seem to see the original posts
$ either.....Does anyone on JANET get to read the original posts? ...
Most articles posted in UK reach me via uknet (the UK usenet backbone ?),
then mcsun (Netherlands), then Germany.EU.net (Germany, Dortmund).
BTW, I have read some funny paths in postings, e.g. from Muenchen
(Munich to the English) via Texas to Dortmund. Hmm, .... those Bavarians.
--
Wolfgang Schelongowski
w...@xivic.bo.open.de
...!uunet!Germany.EU.net!xivic.bo.open.de!ws
Disclaimer intentionally not included.
DJ EZ Lee
: >DJ EZ Lee (l_st...@pat.uwe.ac.uk) wrote:
: >: Now that you come to mention it, I never seem to see the original posts
: >: either.....Does anyone on JANET get to read the original posts? I can't help
: >: feeling left out somehow. Do you get the feeling there are conversations
: > going
: >: on on the net that you don't get to hear..?
: I know I occasionally get mail bounced when I reply to mail from Janet sites.
: As far as I'm concerned, I just post to the net. I don't know where it lands,
: I just throw it.
:
: Terry
I take it all back! What did I see upon reading Alt.tp this morning? Only 5
posts from old Tezza himself, that's what! I seems we JANET folk are not forgotten.
Not only that but a wide variety of posts from other JANETeers claiming they also
recieve them quite regularly. Must be our news feed that's up the spout
occasionaly, then.
I can rest now, safe in the knowledge that my words are heard by all and sunday.
EZ.
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// // // // // | _____ () | |
//--- // -- // //--- //--- | / \/ | |
// // // // // | | * /| | |
===== ===== ===== ===== ===== | \____~/ | |
"White heart, black soul" | SL1200 | |
|______________| |
L.J.Stoneman W-s-M UK : l_st...@uk.ac.uwe.csd
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"My nationality is reality, And, yo, a prejudiced man is of a devil mentality"
Kool G Rap 'Stop The Racism'
Paul Norris
}>either.....Does anyone on JANET get to read the original posts? I can't help
}>on on the net that you don't get to hear..?
Now that's extremely odd, because I'm reading news from the same machine and I
see Terry's originals frequently...
eey...@unicorn.nott.ac.uk (M. Knell) writes:
}We have no problems here - but then our newsfeed is extremely solid
}Path from unseen to here is....
}nott-cs!uknet!warwick!pipex!bnr.co.uk!demon!unseen.demon.co.uk!tpratchett
}Nothing strange there. JANET people should get it no problems.
But But But
Surely "unseen" should *be* on Janet. I mean, it's a university after all.
Paul
--
"I'm not blessed or merciful. I'm just me. I've got a job to do and I do it.
When the first living thing existed I was there, waiting. When the last living
thing dies, my job will be finished. I'll put the chairs on the tables, turn
out the lights and lock the universe behind me when I leave." Sandman. Gaiman.
Maurizio Codogno
the Muppet Show sketch was about the Banana Split, not just a plain
Banana (even if capitalized), if memory soccurs me...
Btw, are Muppet Shows still produced? It's annoying that in Italy no
tv broadcast them anymore :-(
ObPratchett: I don't like the Italian translation of his Discworld
novels. Notice that Nomes trilogy had a better treatment. Is it
the same in other languages?
--
ciao! .mau.
-----
Maurizio Codogno - CSELT UF/DU dept. - Torino Italy
"home" email: m...@beatles.cselt.stet.it
Roderick Easton
I remember the one that's being talked about. I have to admit that I
was expecting to see a Lirpaloof somewhere in it. But despite that fact
it has given all of us in net-land who HAVE seen it great amusement.
TTFN
Roderick Easton
2nd year Student Edinburgh University SCOTLAND
(You know, I should really be less subtle sometimes)
Leo Breebaart
> the Muppet Show sketch was about the Banana Split, not just a plain
> Banana (even if capitalized), if memory soccurs me...
I think your memory soccurs you wrong. It was the episode where
everybody but Kermit is aware of this supposedly classic comedy
routine, and each time Kermit lets on that he *doesn't* know about it
they go: "You mean... <pause>... you never heard of the Banana Sketch???!!!"
It's also the only Muppet Show I can remember where Fozzy actually
manages to earn Statler and Waldorf's approval -- by performing the
Banana Sketch, of course.
So no Split involved, but I'm willing to stand corrected, of course. It
*has* been a while...
> Btw, are Muppet Shows still produced? It's annoying that in Italy no
> tv broadcast them anymore :-(
The Muppet Show was stopped *years* ago (although afterwards there
have been a few more muppet special and movies, including a muppet
version of Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" just last year (with Jim
Henson's son doing the voice of Kermit, since Jim Henson unfortunately
passed away a couple of years ago (and no, they are *not* going to make
Sesame Street's Ernie die of Leukemia or AIDS (which has been an
almost uneradicatable rumour ever since Henson died (hey, can you tell
I miss my LISP programming days?)))))
If you want to discuss Muppets, be sure to read the alt.tv.muppets
newsgroup.
Gary Smith
<stuff deleted>
> }nott-cs!uknet!warwick!pipex!bnr.co.uk!demon!unseen.demon.co.uk!tpratchett
> }Nothing strange there. JANET people should get it no problems.
>
> But But But
> Surely "unseen" should *be* on Janet. I mean, it's a university after all.
But it _is_ there. It's just that you have to squint - sorta sideways. :)
Cause it's unseen - right?
Gary
--
Si fractum non sit, noli id reficere.
Marinos Yannikos
> rdip...@qualcomm.com (Ron "Asbestos" Dippold) writes:
> > tprat...@unseen.demon.co.uk (Terry Pratchett) writes:
> >>As far as I'm concerned, I just post to the net. I don't know where it lands
> >
> > I don't know how much you're into configuring your setup, but you
> > might wish to experiment with removing the "Distribution: world" line
> > from your headers - this should, ironically, improve the distribution
> I would second that recommendation. Please try this, and maybe we will see
> your messages in forn parts.
Well, I never had any problems reading Terry's postings here at the TU
Vienna... Perhaps you've put his name in your Killfile? :-)
Regards,
Marinos
Geoff Riley
> You mean, not everybody has seen the draft chapter of the new Discworld
> novel-in-progress that Terry posted here last week? It was the most
> hilarious thing I've ever read -- especially the scene with the
> Librarian and the Patrician. If you haven't seen it at your site
> there is really something with your site's news software...
You little tease!!
Terry's posts come through to spuddy okay...
--
Cheerio,
|~~~
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