I bet no one had managed to connect train-spotters, fertility symbols, and Eskimos together until the newsgroup alt.fan.pratchett managed to do it in May 1994. They took an honest mistake about the meaning of the word Ankh and turned it (via said train-spotters, fertility symbols, and Eskimos) into the design for the ultimate piece of internet jewelry, the Holy Anorankh.

It's obvious to even the casual observer that serendipity is a way of life for alt.fan.pratchett. All it takes is one chance remark and the inmates leap forward to produce a stream of facts and ideas that, in the cold light of morning, makes you wonder what they were on.

For the stout-hearted, the full Anorankh thread can be found in the Terry Pratchett archives at ftp.lspace.org/pub/pratchett/words/misc/holy-anorankh but for the mildly curious, an Anorankh is an ankh, the Egyptian symbol for life, wearing an anorak, the Eskimo symbol for keeping out the cold and a popular UK term for train-spotters, computer enthusiasts, and their ilk. When I needed a node name for my internet account, anorankh somehow seemed the natural choice.

The idea of the Holy Anorankh finally became reality when Terry Pratchett persuaded the artisans behind the Discworld miniatures, Clarecraft, to produce pewter and silver Anorankhs in a wearable size, and lo, Anorankhs now populate the earth (and for the keen of eye, even make an appearance on the Discworld).