What does GNU stand for Pratchett?
In Terry Pratchett’s Going Postal, the operators of the clacks tower use “GNU” as a code to mean the message should be passed onto every tower. An article on wiki-Lspace says that “The G in the code means to send it on the U at the end means to turn the message around at the end of the line and the N means not logged.”
What is Terry Pratchett writing style?
Pratchett’s writing style is economical, elegant and adventurous. In The Truth, he takes the same approach to chapters as Joyce takes to punctuation in the final chapter of Ulysses (1918): he doesn’t use any.
What is an GNU?
gnu, (genus Connochaetes), also called wildebeest, either of two species of large African antelopes of the family Bovidae in the tribe Alcelaphini. They are among the most specialized and successful of African herbivores and are dominant in plains ecosystems.
What are the clacks in Going Postal?
The Clacks is the informal nickname for the semaphore system that is the fastest means of non-magical communication on the Discworld. It was first seen in The Fifth Elephant, and featured heavily in Going Postal. The system was invented by Robert Dearheart, and later run by the Grand Trunk Semaphore Company.
Who invented the clacks?
Robert Dearheart
The Clacks is the informal nickname for the semaphore system that is the fastest means of non-magical communication on the Discworld. It was first seen in The Fifth Elephant, and featured heavily in Going Postal. The system was invented by Robert Dearheart, and later run by the Grand Trunk Semaphore Company.
What makes Discworld so good?
The books may have begun as a clever deconstruction of the clichés of fantasy fiction, but they soon became something better: satisfying and witty moral comedies about human society and its frailties. Which is why Pratchett counts among his fans the novelist of ideas par excellence A.S. Byatt.
How can I write like Terry Pratchett?
Write first, plan second While Terry Pratchett would have a rough plan, it was usually only loose in nature and he didn’t let that stop him from putting pen to paper. I just let it run, because you can always rewrite, check things, find the right way to say things. If you sit and plan, you get stuck in the planning.
What is GNU used for?
GNU is a Unix-like operating system. That means it is a collection of many programs: applications, libraries, developer tools, even games. The development of GNU, started in January 1984, is known as the GNU Project.
What is GNU Terry Pratchett?
GNU Terry Pratchett. In Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, the clacks are a series of semaphore towers loosely based on the concept of the telegraph. Invented by an artificer named Robert Dearheart, the towers could send messages “at the speed of light” using standardized codes. Three of these codes are of particular import:
Is Terry Pratchett’s tribute to his work fan graffiti?
GNU Terry Pratchett is not fan graffiti, plastering the author’s name all over the public-facing internet – the tribute is invisible unless you know how to look (“view source” on a browser). For a digital literary monument, it’s surely much better to avoid the kitsch of a Facebook memorial page.
Can I embed Terry Pratchett’s code on my website?
Reddit users have designed a code that anyone with basic webcoding knowledge can embed into their own websites (anyone without basic webcoding knowledge can use the plugins for WordPress and other platforms ). The code is called the XClacksOverhead, and it sets a header reading “GNU Terry Pratchett”.
Why is there a GNU in front of the clacks?
When Dearheart’s son John died due to an accident while working on a clacks tower, Dearheart inserted John’s name into the overhead of the clacks with a “GNU” in front of it as a way to memorialize his son forever (or for at least as long as the clacks are standing.) “A man is not dead while his name is still spoken.”