HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: eaobrien@vax1.tcd.ie
Subject: Villains in DW (was re: Douglas vs Terry)
Organization: Trinity College Dublin
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 13:56:39 GMT

In article <1992Nov5.200248.10046@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu>, mcrosby@nyx.cs.du.edu (Matthew Crosby) writes:

 
>>  As and for 'Bored of the Rings', well .. just takes your breakfast away.
> Hmm.  I didn't think it was THAT bad...it was amusing the first time I read
> it  (of corse, I can see where many people would be offended by the pokes at
> The Great One)
   
  Three days bread and water and 39 lashes for referring to
  Someone Else as the Great One ;->

  Setting the record straight.. I don't find BotR or parodies of
  JRRT offensive. What got me about BotR was how puerile it was.  
 

>>   The other reason why I prefer Terry to Douglas is that Terry's
>>   universe is basically a happy place. OK, so some of the funniest passages
>>   rely on confusion and misunderstandings, but the DW books do have a very
>>   cheerful tone. Even the villains are all either misguided (Coin) or not
>>   quite sane (Felmet), with the possible exception of Vorbis.(I haven't
>>   read Lords & Ladies yet..)

> How about The Mall Lifeform?  That is pretty evil!  Or the Dutchess.
> 
      The Mall Lifeform I would not consider evil, for the same
      reason that for example the creature in 'Alien' is not evil:
      it is just carrying out it's *natural* life-cycle, which happens
      to be that of a parasite.

       As and for the Duchess.. well, she is a paranoid megalomaniac,
       so I think 'not quite sane' covers that ;-)

       And Terry did say (addressing Dublin University SF Society, spring 
       1991) something to the effect that he didn't write a really
       evil character until Small Gods..

                    --Emmet
        
    
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
From: peter@NeoSoft.com (Peter da Silva)
Subject: Re: Good Omens
Organization: NeoSoft Communications Services -- (713) 684-5900
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1992 03:53:40 GMT

In article <1992Nov3.203333.2262@organpipe.uug.arizona.edu> corleyj@helium.gas.uug.arizona.edu (Jason D Corley ) writes:
> I was VERY unsatisfied with the way Newt and Anathema survived
> the hurricaine and felt equally cheated with the way Newt
> shut down the computers.

But he didn't.

Read it again.
-- 
Peter da Silva.  <peter@sugar.neosoft.com>.
 `-_-'   "Meglelted mr ma a farkasodat ?"
  'U`    "Zure otsoa besarkatu al duzu gaur?"
Das kann nicht mein Zimmer sein, denn ich atme kein Ammoniak.
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
From: xtifr@netcom.com (Chris Waters)
Subject: Elephant legs
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest) 
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1992 04:28:32 GMT

In <1992Nov4.162303.4044@Princeton.EDU> tao@ginger.princeton.edu (Terry Tao) writes:

>Has anyone sorted out the quote about the elephant ducking his legs yet?

Ok, here's the relevant quote (from pg. 1 of Wyrd Sisters):

  "A tiny sun and moon spin about them on a complicated orbit to induce
                                          ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  seasons, so probably nowhere else in the multiverse is it sometimes

  necessary for an elephant to cock a leg to allow the sun to go past."

So, it's definitely the sun.  Further comment to the person who
mentioned that the *center* of the Disc would recieve more sunlight, and
should actually be warmer than the rim.  Perhaps these "complicated"
orbits can explain why the rim is tropical, while Dunmanifestin is
arctic?

One possibility:  the sun comes very close to the rim.  Along the entire
rim, there is a stip of material which is very good conductor of heat,
allowing the sun's heat to be distributed evenly along the rim (more or
less).  I'm not going to bother with any mathematical modelling right
now, but it seems that this could help us understand the Revealed
Truthes.  :-)
-- 
Chris Waters    | the insane don't | "Don't you boys know NICE songs?"
xtifr@netcom.COM| need disclaimers |                 -- Joe's mama
From: car-a@minster.york.ac.uk
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
Subject: Films of the books...
Date: 8 Nov 92 16:09:40 GMT
Organization: Department of Computer Science, University of York, England

I think the best way to implement Terry Pratchett in the big screen
would be as an animation.  The only hang up with this being that it
may limit how seriously people take it - how many kids watch the
Simpsons without actually grasping the true comedy behind it ?

Then again - do we really want anyone to take it SERIOUSLY ?

If I annoy you that much - mail me.

"Relax, no doubt the Universe is unfolding as it should be",
							Evan Dando
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
From: spschure@cs.ruu.nl (Sjoerd Schurer)
Subject: Re: Death in general
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 15:18:31 GMT
Organization: Utrecht University, Dept. of Computer Science

In <1992Nov11.212410.581@vela.acs.oakland.edu> mwlucas@vela.acs.oakland.edu ( ) writes:
>
>	The idea has been around since the Middle Ages at the latest.
>I recall some medieval poetry (which escapes me) which speaks of gaming
>with Death for one's life.

Like S.T. Coleridge's "The Rime of the ancient Mariner"?
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
From: jf@decuk.uvo.dec.com (Jason Flowers)
Subject: Thanks and a question....
Reply-To: jf@decuk.uvo.dec.com (Jason Flowers)
Organization: Digital Equipment Co. Ltd. CSC/UK
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 17:24:49 GMT




	Although it doesn't seem to be the 'done' thing in this newsgroup
	to express any form of hero worship....I'm going to. (Well not
	actually hero worship more of an amiable pat on the back.)

	Thanks Terry for helping to pass some of my time in a very pleasant
	and enjoyable way, I guess I owe you a beer.

	Secondly, the Question.

	Where was the photograph taken that adorns the back of 'Good Omens'?
	(The hardcopy version, the one of Neil and yourself, wearing a 
	dapper suit, outside of what looks to be some sort of ancient and
	mysterious crypt.)

	Cheers,

	J

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Jason Flowers             | jf@decuk.uvo.dec.com                            |
| Digital Equipment Co.     | jf@decuk.enet.dec.com                           |
| Customer Support Centre   |                                                 |
| Jays Close,               | All opinions expressed are my own...            |
| Basingstoke, Hampshire,   |                                                 |
| England.                  | "Life's too short for all that shit." D.Gilmour |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
From: mbeattie@black.ox.ac.uk (Malcolm Beattie)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
Subject: Re: Good Omens (error?)
Date: 11 Nov 92 09:03:55 GMT
Organization: Oxford University Computing Service, 13 Banbury Rd, Oxford, U
Originator: mbeattie@black

In article <1992Nov10.003455.10129@rdg.dec.com> ggoodman@theraj.enet.dec.com (Graham Goodman) writes:
>
>Richard Dalton writes...
>>[...about an extra `lucky' in `I should be so lucky'] 
>
>Hmmm, the phrase 'Nothing better to do with your time' comes to mind...  But
>then, you were expecting that, weren't you...  :*)
>
>But, yes, there were only 4 Luckys in the song not 5, but then again, I'd be
>surprised if Miss Minogue can count that far anyway...  See, he should've
>stuck to the Queen songs. Nobody can ever remember how many Bismilahs there
>were...

Or, of course, that well-known line
   Beelzebub has a devil for a sideboard...
(vintage Carrott (Jasper, that is), nineteen-eighty-something :-)

--Malcolm

>
>Graham.
>********************************************************************************
>*DISCLAIMER - These are not necessarily the views held by Mr.Graham Goodman.   *
>*	      He's probably just talking through a hole in his head again...   *
>*                                                                              *
>*  Graham Goodman :-  ggoodman@theraj.enet.dec.com                             *
>*                     Digital Equipment Scotland Ltd - Sth.Queensferry         *
>*		      Tel 044 31 331 8436                                      *
>********************************************************************************

-- 
Malcolm Beattie <mbeattie@black.ox.ac.uk> | I'm not a kernel hacker
Oxford University Computing Services      | I'm a kernel hacker's mate
13 Banbury Road, Oxford, OX2 6NN (U.K.)   | And I'm only hacking kernels
Tel: +44 865 273232 Fax: +44 865 273275   | 'Cos the kernel hacker's late
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
From: uhschreg@cip.informatik.uni-erlangen.de (Ulrich Schreglmann)
Subject: Re: New Topic? 
Organization: Student Pool, CSD, University of Erlangen, Germany
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 08:16:01 GMT

ins534z@aurora.cc.monash.edu.au (Quetzal) writes:

>Yeah just imagine Arnold Schwarzenegger (I assume that's who you *mean* by
>"Arnie" :) ) as Death:
>(To be said with the proper accent)

>     THERE'S NO JUSTICE.  JUST ME.  AND THIS ROCKET LAUNCHER I PICKED
>     UP FOR A BARGAIN FROM A VERY NICE FELLOW IN THE SHADES.

>It just wouldn't work, would it?

Admittedly he's got the jawbones I imagined Death would have. And the
shining teeth! But aside from that, don't you think he's -- erm, how
shall I put it -- not reedy enough?
Nevertheless he actually DID feature sort of a skellington once: In the
last minutes of "The Terminator."
Maybe he COULD play Death like that, after all.

I AM AN "ASTORG." ORGANIC TISSUE OVER AN ASTRAL ENDOSKELLINGTON.

I'LL BE DORSAL VERTEBRAE! 

Of course the world seen through Death's eyes would have to be blue, not
red. And all the writing on his inner vision screen would have to be
gothic:

TARGET IDENTIFIED.
TARGET LOCKED.
READY TO SCYTHE TARGET.
HOURGLASS PARAMETERS COUNTDOWN.


May the T-800 Be with You!

(C)OOL mcmxcii
From: jmm25@po.CWRU.Edu (Jessica M. Mcgeary)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
Subject: Re: Blues Brothers
Date: 10 Nov 1992 14:30:11 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (USA)
NNTP-Posting-Host: thor.ins.cwru.edu


You got it exactly right. I have a poster hanging on my wall here that
has the whole mantra on it... plus there is a .WAV file around here somewhere
of Elwood saying "It's 106 miles to Chicago", etc. Also, there's a videotape
of the movie that agrees... so I don't think there'll be a version problem.
Could be wrong, though.
-- 
"In place of your dream of an omniscient automaton, accept the fact that
any knowledge man acquires is acquired by his own will and effort, and that
_that_ is his distinction in the universe, _that_ is his nature, his 
morality, his glory."  --Atlas Shrugged, p. 1058
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
From: leo@ph.tn.tudelft.nl (Leo Breebaart)
Subject: Re: lots o' questions&annotations for Mort
Reply-To: leo@ph.tn.tudelft.nl
Organization: Delft University of Technology
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1992 08:48:02 GMT

thompsmr@uhura.aston.ac.uk (Mark Thompson) writes:

> 	Title "Reaper Man" - play on "Repo Man", a film by Alex Cox.

This used to be mentioned in earlier versions of the APF, but was
removed after people pointed out to me that is just the opposite:
*'Repo Man'* is a pun on the phrase 'reaper man', which apparantly has
been around for quite a while...

> 	Where the kettle boils over and distracts Ned Simnal while he's looking
> for a way to power his combination harvester : This is what caused Watt to 
> come up with the idea for the steam engine 

Yeah, I have resisted putting this one in so far, 'cause the anecdote
about how Watt invented the steam engine is so universally well known
that I thought readers should at least be able to figure out this one
by themselves. Explaining references is nice and fun. Explaining each
and every bloody joke that is not *immediately* obvious sometimes gets
very much on my nerves.

But you're right, this one should realy be added in the next version.
The only other alternative is to only include the references that *I*
like or couldn't figure out myself -- and that would not be very
fruitful either.

> 	Where various characters say "Ole", and somebody replies "With milk?":
> 
> 	Ole is spanish for "Ta Da" (basically), and Au Lait if French for
> "With milk", as in Cafe au lait. They are pronounced the same way (o lay).

This has the same problem as the steam engine annotation. Translating
dog-Latin is one thing, because Terry can perfectly well say that he
intends that to be understood by people who don't know Latin, but this
is simply not always the case. But explaining the blindingly obvious
au lait pun is something that I just couldn't set myself down to do,
so far.

But again I must say that I *did* already think of it myself, so I suppose
that yes, it will make the next version of the APF. Thanks for causing
me to make my mind up.

> 	And in Wyrd Sisters, The Droit de segnier: The right that a medieval
> lord could claim to sleep with the bride of any of his subjects upon their
> wedding night - thus all sorts of refernces to exercising big hairy things,
> which the new king takes to mean a dog.

And this is of course an example of a *good* reference, that I will gladly
add to the APF. Anybody willing to write up a nice paragraph about
origins and history of this phrase for me?

-- 
Leo Breebaart  (leo @ ph.tn.tudelft.nl)
Organisation: European Space Technology Centre (E.S.T.E.C)
Date: Monday, 9 Nov 1992 18:20:12 CET
From: <JBURTON@ESTEC.BITNET>
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
Subject: Re: Douglas vs Terry (etc. etc....)
 <1992Nov5.104424.1@vax1.tcd.ie> <1992Nov5.135640.5611@syma.sussex.ac.uk>
 <1992Nov5.185715.13712@udel.edu>

Here Here,
   There's no point in bitching at each other over who's the best writer, or
who is the better paid of the two. Both authors have had a string of
successful books + TV series ALL of which have been most enjoyable.

   I agree that the HH books lacked something in comparison with the DW
series because it was initially a radio script, but D.A. has proved himself
a competent author with the two Dirk Gently books. Anyone who does not
understand them should reread em, cos they're a lot better the second time
around.

  I have not yet read Mostly Harmless or Last chance to see, but I have no
doubt that they'll have me giggling on the plane as usual.

  Whilst on the subject of DA. I was banned from having a copy of
'THE MEANING OF LIFF' in the office cos I laughed so much reading it.

  As for the TP novels, they just keep getting better & better. Witches Abroad
had me in stitches from page one and kept me laughing to the very end. Keep
churning 'em out Terry cos we can't get enough of 'em.

  As for Lindap & Roddi, they should get together. They seem perfectly matched.
to me.

  I have to share an office with the person who started this damn discussion.
He is a git and enjoys getting people to spout endlessly opinions which only
really matter to the person in question. Don't fall for it, stick to reading
the books & making life awkward for TP by picking out the inconsistencies.
The only problem being that each novel will take longer to write than the
last, as he will have to cross reference it with its predecessors.

  In the final attempt to get me flamed all the way down to the bowels of
the Earth :- Everyone has their own opinion of whom a character in the novel
could relate to or what they look like (I was really disappointed when I went
to get the DW model of Rincewind, cos it was nothing like I imagined). For a
net which has such an expansive amount of raw material to discuss, the main
contributions are really quite mundane (less of the favourite thespians
please).

Alstublieft

     Spike.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hope you make it to the Space agency Terry - Monday mornings best

VM users do it VIRTUALLY all the time.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
From: n9146070@henson.cc.wwu.edu (Jacob C Kesinger)
Subject: Actors
Organization: Western Washington University
Distribution: alt.fan.pratchett
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 18:49:09 GMT

Did anyone see Patrick Stweart as Hamlet's uncle in the Derek Jacobi 
Hamlet?  (Claudius?)  

He's shown that he can play the role of a murdering brother, now
can anyone think of any other murdering brothers in the discworld?
 
FELMET!



Jake Kesinger
n9146070@Henson.cc.wwu.edu
From: sonix@schunix.uucp (Duane Morin)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
Subject: Re: lots o' questions&annotations for Mort
Date: 13 Nov 92 18:14:51 GMT
Organization: SCHUNIX Public Access Unix for Worcester County, Massachusetts, USA

In article <leo.721570582@galaxy> leo@ph.tn.tudelft.nl writes:
>
>> p.110-111...Ysabell here lists off a fair number of tragic romances,
>> some of which sounds familiar.  In particular, "And then she thought
>> he was dead, and she killed herself, and then he woke up and so he
>> did kill himself" seems to be a sort of reversed Romeo and Juliet.
>
>It's an older, Greek tragedy (that Shakespeare couldn't come up with an 
>original plot idea if his life depended on it :-).
>
>The actual names of the protagonists escape me at the moment (Thisbe and
>Pallisander, I think), but *she* escapes from a lion by throwing it
>her scarf and fainting. *He* sees the lion with the scarf and her lying
>there and thinks she's dead and kills himselfs. And then *she* wakes
>up, sees him, takes the knife, and kils herself as well.

The Tragedy of Pyramus and Thisbe, if I remember my Midsummer Night's 
Dream correctly...

>
>Interesting factlet: this play is performed as play-within-a-play in
>Shakespeare's "Midsummernight's Dream", which in turn gets royally
>spoofed in "Lords and Ladies", *including* the play-within-a-play. But
>I digress.

Duane Morin
Walker Sonix, Inc.
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
From: andyh@syma.sussex.ac.uk (Andrew Holyer)
Subject: Re: Douglas vs Terry (etc. etc....)
Organization: University of Sussex
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1992 13:56:40 GMT

In article <1992Nov5.104424.1@vax1.tcd.ie> eaobrien@vax1.tcd.ie writes:
>In article <1992Nov3.224027.29400@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu>, mcrosby@nyx.cs.du.edu (Matthew Crosby) writes:
>> In article <roddi.720758602@bruce.cs.monash.edu.au> roddi@cs.monash.edu.au (Roddi Walker) writes:
>>>lindap@bruce.cs.monash.edu.au (Linda Penington) writes:
>>>
>>>> 
>>>> > IBRUNTON@ESTEC.BITNET () writes:
>>>> > :   Will someone out there nail their colours to the mast and admit to liking
>>>> > : Craig Shaw Gardiner, or preferring Douglas Adams. What about 'Bored of the
>>>> > : Rings'?.
>
>  Craig Shaw Gardner ! The man makes me long for the cool clear lucid prose
>  of L.Ron Hubbard ;->
>  As and for 'Bored of the Rings', well .. just takes your breakfast away.
>  Now, if we could find a Robert Rankin fan..
>
(... lots deleted....)

Folks, I know they're really nothing like the  discworld, (not better,
not  worse, dist...  different),  but what do   people think about the
"Myth" books? Aspirin's got a totally different  style,  but I do have
the feeling that they're somehow worthy of note. Gleep, in particular,
still usually makes me giggle. And the UK editions actually have worse
covers than the discworld books.....

&.



-- 
&ndy Holyer, School of Cognitive and     |"Boy, they were big on
Computing Studies, University of Sussex, |  crematoriums, weren't they?"
JANET: andyh@cogs.sussex.ac.uk           | - George Bush while touring
                                         |   Auschwitz, Sept. 1987
From: ken@minster.york.ac.uk
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
Subject: Re: Death in general
Date: 12 Nov 92 13:03:44 GMT
Organization: Department of Computer Science, University of York, England

Simon Stirley (gaspode@dcs.warwick.ac.uk) wrote:
: >whole variety of board games, and I was just wondering which came first, or if it
: >was just parallel evolution???
: 
: A sound question, and one that I have thought of myself. I think they were 
: released around the same time, so it must just be coincidence. Terry ?
: BTW I particluarly liked the Battleships (You've sunk my battleship!)
: and Twister.

There is a very long history of Death playing games for people's lives. E.g.
Death playing Chess in Bergman's gothic classic film. So no, not parallel
evolution. Parallel plagiarism.
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
From: eyvind@Lise.Unit.NO (Eyvind Bernhardsen)
Subject: Re: lots o' questions&annotations for Mort
Organization: Norwegian Institute of Technology
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 92 18:06:59 GMT

In article <1drrbhINNql0@cat.cis.Brown.EDU>, ST102315@brownvm.brown.edu () writes:

 > p.86..."They could pee through a dozen mattresses..."  Albert here mangles
 >   a fairy tale.  Unfortunately, I can't remember how it goes.  Anyone?
 >   Anyone?

H.C Andersen (I think); it's about a girl claiming to be a princess - she's tested
by seeing if she's comfortable on a bed a dozen mattresses with a single pea
underneath the bottom one (so it should be 'feel a pea...').

 > p.168..."When a man is tired of Ankh-Morpork, he is tired of ankle-
 >   deep slurry."  Something or someplace has a motto, "When you're
 >   tired of ____, you're tired of life" or some such.

'The Restaurant at the End of the Universe', referring to Ursa Minor Beta (I
think), the planet the Guide is based on (Playbeing magazine printed a headline:
'when you're tired of UM Beta, you're tired of life', and the suicide rate
tripled overnight).

 > Well, that's all of them.
 > 
 > A newbie,
 > jwgh

Huh.  I explained *two*.  Hardly worth posting, but what the hell :)

-Eyvind

-- 
     //|                             | DISCLAIMER: I don't HAVE opinions.
    // |                             | I just repeat what everyone else says!
\\ //--|miga: There can be only one. |
 \X/   |         eyvind@lise.unit.no | Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!  Ackpth!
From: winalski@adserv.enet.dec.com (Paul S. Winalski)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
Subject: Re: Wolfman reference
Date: 11 Nov 92 02:49:08 GMT
Reply-To: winalski@adserv.enet.dec.com (Paul S. Winalski)
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation, Nashua NH


In article <1992Nov9.160549.20513@ugle.unit.no>,
ep@donald.ktek.sintef.no (Elizabeth Passano) writes:
|>
|>From "The Annotated Pratchett File, v4.0, part 1 of 2"
|>posted Nov 5, 1992 by Leo Breebaart (leo@ph.tn.tudelft.nl)
|>
|>> + [p. 97] "Every full moon I turn into a wolfman. The rest of the time
|>>   I'm just a ... wolf."
|>>   There is a fantasy short story by a famous author [somehow Larry Niven
|>>   comes to mind. Anybody?] that has exactly the same idea for a punchline.
|>
|>
|>Ursula K. LeGuin has a short story on this theme, told from the point of
|>view of the (wolf)wife; "The Wife's Story" in the collection "The Compass Rose"
|>first published July 1988, Bantam paperback '83.

There is also a Larry Niven story with this concept.  I think it's called
"Shortly Before The End".  It is part of his "Warlock" series, collected in the
book "The Magic Goes Away".  The premise of these stories is that in the
distant past the world was filled by magic, and the gods and magical beings
such as elves, centaurs, and dragons were alive and walked the earth.  Magic
operates by the expenditure of "magical energy" called "mana", just as physical
work requires the expenditure of energy.  Unfortunately, while the energy of
the earth is replenished by solar radiation, mana is not so replenished, and
Niven's stories deal with the time when magicians discover that the supply of
magic on the earth is not limitless, and the magic (mana) is indeed going away.

In Niven's "Warlock" stories, werewolves are magical creatures who require mana
to assume wolf form.  They revert to human form in the absence of mana.  Thus,
in today's mana-depleted world, they only can assume wolf form in the presence
of mana radiation from the full moon (the moon, since it was not inhabited by
magicians and magical creatures, has not had its mana used up).  One of the
characters in "Shortly Before The End" is a wolwere rather than a werewolf--he
is human in the presence of a strong mana field and reverts to wolf form in
the absence of mana.

Terry Pratchett explicitly uses the term "mana" for magical engery in at least
one of the Discworld books (The Colour of Magic, I think).

--PSW