The Culture - Biological. The Culture is a posthuman society, which originally arose when seven or eight roughly humanoid space-faring species coalesced into a quasi-collective - a "group-civilisation" - ultimately consisting of approximately thirty trillion (short scale) sentient beings. Although the Culture was originated by humanoid species, subsequent interactions with other civilisations have introduced many non-humanoid species into the Cult ...

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The Culture, The Culture - Culture citizens, The Culture - Biological, The Culture - Artificial, The Culture - The culture of the Culture, The Culture - Habitats, The Culture - Orbitals, The Culture - Air Spheres, The Culture - Rocks, The Culture - Ships, The Culture - Foreign policy and good works, The Culture - Real-world politics, The Culture - Novels, The Culture - References by other authors

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Niven is the author of numerous science fiction short stories and novels, beginning with his 1964 story "The Coldest Place" (which in the story was said to be the dark side of Mercury, which at the time the story was written was thought to be tidally locked with the Sun but which was found to rotate in a 2:3 resonance just months before the story was published). He won the Hugo Award for Best Short Story in 1967 for Neutron Star, in 1972 for Inconstant Moon, and in 1975 for The Hole Man. He won the Hugo Award for Best Novelette in ...

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Larry Niven, Larry Niven - Biography, Larry Niven - Career, Larry Niven - Miscellaneous notes, Larry Niven - Bibliography, Larry Niven - Known Space, Larry Niven - With Jerry Pournelle, Larry Niven - Dream Park with Steven Barnes, Larry Niven - Integral Tree, Larry Niven - Magic Goes Away, Larry Niven - Graphic Novels, Larry Niven - Collections, Larry Niven - Novels

Read more here: » Larry Niven: Encyclopedia II - Larry Niven - Career

Neologisms tend to occur more often in cultures which are rapidly changing, and also in situations where there is easy and fast propagation of information. They are often created by combining existing words (see compound noun and adjective) or by giving words new and unique suffixes or prefixes. Those which are portmanteaux are shortened. Neologisms can also be created through abbreviation or acronym, by intentionally rhyming with existing ...

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Neologism, Neologism - Changing culture, Neologism - Cultural acceptance, Neologism - Versions of neologisms, Neologism - Types of neologism, Neologism - Neologisms in literature, Neologism - Quotation, Neologism - Miscellaneous

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As related to the occurrences of actual events considered to be of low probability in a mathematical or statistical sense. A rationalist approach would lead to the conclusion that such matters as whether or not someone bore a victim ill will would have no bearing upon (for example) that person being hit by a loose brick falling from a decrepit building. It was only due to a remote statistical probability that a person happened to be walking past when a brick fell. In a case like this, both rationalists and spiritualists would likely say that ...

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Luck, Luck - Rational viewpoint, Luck - Social viewpoint, Luck - Spiritual viewpoint, Luck - Effects of viewpoint and beliefs, Luck - Risky lifestyles, Luck - Positive outlook, Luck - Effects, Luck - Numerology, Luck - Sayings, Luck - Items or events, Luck - Lucky, Luck - Unlucky, Luck - Luck in fiction, Luck - Song Lyrics

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Cyberpunk writers tend to use elements from the hard-boiled detective novel, film noir, and postmodernist prose to describe the often nihilistic underground side of an electronic society. The genre's dystopian world is often called the antithesis of the generally utopian visions of the future popular in the 1940s and 1950s. (Gibson defined cyberpunk's antipathy towards utopian SF in his 1981 short story "The Gernsback Continuum", which pokes fun of and, to a ce ...

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Cyberpunk, Cyberpunk - Style, Cyberpunk - Literature, Cyberpunk - Film and television, Cyberpunk - Music and fashion, Cyberpunk - Games, Cyberpunk - References and notes

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Directions within the Discworld are not given as North, South, East and West, but rather as directions relating to the disc itself: Hubward (towards the centre), Rimward (away from the centre) and to a lesser extent, turnwise and widdershins (relation to the direction of the disc's spin). There are five main continents on the Discworld. The one on which most of the books is set is unnamed, it is essentially the equivalent of Eurasia, and contains the Sto Plains and Ramtops, as well as the more Eastern European lands around Überwald.

See also:

Discworld world, Discworld world - Great A'Tuin the star turtle, Discworld world - Geography, Discworld world - The unnamed continent, Discworld world - Other continents, Discworld world - Magic, Discworld world - Populace, Discworld world - Calendar, Discworld world - Communication and travel, Discworld world - Other Discworlds

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Dyson worked as an analyst for British Bomber Command during World War II. After the war, he obtained a degree in mathematics from Cambridge University (1945) and was a Fellow at Trinity College, Cambridge from 1946 to 1949. In 1947 he moved to the US, on a fellowship at Cornell University and then joined the faculty there as a physics professor in 1951. In 1953, he took up a post at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ. In 1957, he became a n ...

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Freeman Dyson, Freeman Dyson - Career, Freeman Dyson - Concepts, Freeman Dyson - Personal

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In antimatter-matter collisions, the entire rest mass of the particles is converted to energy. The energy per unit mass is about 10 orders of magnitude greater than chemical energy, and about 2 orders of magnitude greater than nuclear energy that can be liberated today using chemical reactions or nuclear fission/fusion. The reaction of 1 kg of antimatter with 1 kg of matter would produce 1.8×1017 J (180 petajoules) of energy (by the equation E=mc²). In contrast, burning a kilogram of gasoline produces 4.2×107 ...

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Antimatter, Antimatter - History, Antimatter - Antimatter production, Antimatter - Notation, Antimatter - Antimatter as fuel, Antimatter - The Antiuniverse, Antimatter - Antimatter in popular culture

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In modern fiction, ghouls are often confused with other types of undead, usually the mindless varieties of vampires and zombies. Although modern fiction (post 1968) suggests that the latter beings share cannibalistic habits with ghouls, it is nonetheless generally believed that vampires and zombies prefer live prey. Ghoul - Literature. Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula features a ghoulish character named Renfield. Under the vampire's influence, Renfield becomes his willing slave and develops a craving to ea ...

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Ghoul, Ghoul - Ghouls in fiction, Ghoul - Literature, Ghoul - Movies and television, Ghoul - Ghouls in gaming, Ghoul - Dungeons and Dragons, Ghoul - Shadowrun, Ghoul - Vampire: The Masquerade, Ghoul - Other games

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Home town of two rival soccer teams Real Betis Balompié and Sevilla FC. Seville hosted the 7th Athletics World Championships in 1999. Seville also unsuccessfully bid for the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics, which it lost to Athens and Beijing, respectively. For political reasons, it was unable to bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics as Madrid was also interested in submitting its own bid. Seville had already shown its ability to cope with other international sport ev ...

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Seville, Seville - History, Seville - Seville the port, Seville - Modern Seville, Seville - Sights, Seville - Festivals, Seville - Sweets from Seville, Seville - Education, Seville - Trivia, Seville - Famous people born in Seville, Seville - Sports, Seville - Motto, Seville - Seville in fiction

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Scientists in 1995 succeeded in producing antiatoms of hydrogen, and also antideuterium nuclei, made out of an antiproton and an antineutron, but no antiatom more complex than antideuterium has been created yet. In principle, antiatoms of any element could be built from readily available sources of antiparticles. Such antiatoms would have exactly the same properties as their normal-matter counterparts. There is, however, no known practical or theoretical method by which ant ...

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Antimatter, Antimatter - History, Antimatter - Antimatter production, Antimatter - Notation, Antimatter - Antimatter as fuel, Antimatter - The Antiuniverse, Antimatter - Antimatter in popular culture

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Seville is known for its hot summer weather, reaching even 50.0°C (122.0°F) on August 4, 1881, the record heat for Europe. The Sevillana flamenco dance, the one most people think of when they think "flamenco" is not actually of Sevillan origin. But the folksongs called Sevillanas are authentically Sevillan, as is the four-part dance that goes with them. The Seville oranges that dot the city landscape, too sour for modern tastes, are the best for making marmalade; they are ...

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Seville, Seville - History, Seville - Seville the port, Seville - Modern Seville, Seville - Sights, Seville - Festivals, Seville - Sweets from Seville, Seville - Education, Seville - Trivia, Seville - Famous people born in Seville, Seville - Sports, Seville - Motto, Seville - Seville in fiction

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Halo was the most popular application for the Xbox console up until the release of its more ambitious sequel, Halo 2. Halo video game series - Halo: Combat Evolved. Main article: Halo: Combat Evolved When Halo began development, it was a real time strategy game that would have been released on Apple and Windows PCs. However, during its many years of development, it changed into a third person shooter and then to a first person shooter. Halo was then converted for developme ...

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Halo video game series, Halo video game series - Video games, Halo video game series - Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo video game series - Halo 2, Halo video game series - Future Video Game Releases, Halo video game series - Halo 3, Halo video game series - Halo Gizmondo/mobile, Halo video game series - Possible influences, Halo video game series - Marathon, Halo video game series - Films, Halo video game series - Known Space, Halo video game series - Historical and Mythological Facts, Halo video game series - The Culture, Halo video game series - Other Science Fiction, Halo video game series - Common culture, Halo video game series - Other, Halo video game series - Master Chief, Halo video game series - Novels, Halo video game series - Nonfiction Books, Halo video game series - Fan Fiction, Halo video game series - The Haunted Apiary, Halo video game series - Halo Machinima, Halo video game series - Time Magazine, Halo video game series - Dead or Alive 4, Halo video game series - Music

Read more here: » Halo video game series: Encyclopedia II - Halo video game series - Video games

Halo video game series - Halo 3. The cliffhanger ending of Halo 2, as well as the success of the Halo franchise, makes a sequel extremely likely. It is speculated that Halo will become a trilogy, after which Bungie may be done with the series. Sources from inside both Microsoft and Bungie have made contradictory claims regarding whether Halo 3 is currently in development. Steve Ballmer, the CEO of Microsoft, was quoted as saying that Halo 3 was in development alongside Halo 2 ...

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Halo video game series, Halo video game series - Video games, Halo video game series - Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo video game series - Halo 2, Halo video game series - Future Video Game Releases, Halo video game series - Halo 3, Halo video game series - Halo Gizmondo/mobile, Halo video game series - Possible influences, Halo video game series - Marathon, Halo video game series - Films, Halo video game series - Known Space, Halo video game series - Historical and Mythological Facts, Halo video game series - The Culture, Halo video game series - Other Science Fiction, Halo video game series - Common culture, Halo video game series - Other, Halo video game series - Master Chief, Halo video game series - Novels, Halo video game series - Nonfiction Books, Halo video game series - Fan Fiction, Halo video game series - The Haunted Apiary, Halo video game series - Halo Machinima, Halo video game series - Time Magazine, Halo video game series - Dead or Alive 4, Halo video game series - Music

Read more here: » Halo video game series: Encyclopedia II - Halo video game series - Future Video Game Releases

Superconductivity has long been a staple of science fiction. One of the first mentions of the phenomenon occurred in Robert A. Heinlein's novel Beyond This Horizon (1942). Notably, the use of a fictional room temperature superconductor was a major plot point in the Ringworld novels by Larry Niven, first published in 1970. Superconductivity is a popular device in science fiction due to the simplicity of the underlying concept - zero electrical resistance - and the rich technological possibilities. For example, superconduc ...

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Superconductivity, Superconductivity - Elementary properties of superconductors, Superconductivity - Zero electrical resistance, Superconductivity - Superconducting phase transition, Superconductivity - Meissner effect, Superconductivity - Theories of superconductivity, Superconductivity - History of superconductivity, Superconductivity - Technological applications of superconductivity, Superconductivity - Superconductors in science fiction

Read more here: » Superconductivity: Encyclopedia II - Superconductivity - Superconductors in science fiction

First editions of the early Discworld books in good condition are very valuable - the British first hardcover edition of The Colour of Magic is now worth over £2000 (4,500 copies were printed by St Martin's Press in the USA, of which 506 were sold in Britain under the Colin Smythe imprint, hence the scarcity!), while The Light Fantastic is worth £1000-1500. It is even possible to get a character in one of the future Discworld books named after yourself. Usually people appear in the books by bidding for the privilege in charity auctions. See: ...

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Terry Pratchett, Terry Pratchett - Biography, Terry Pratchett - Discworld, Terry Pratchett - Related works, Terry Pratchett - Adaptations, Terry Pratchett - Comic books, Terry Pratchett - Theatre, Terry Pratchett - Television, Terry Pratchett - Animation, Terry Pratchett - Radio, Terry Pratchett - Role-playing games, Terry Pratchett - PC and Console games, Terry Pratchett - Other non-Discworld books by Pratchett, Terry Pratchett - Other books containing contributions by Pratchett, Terry Pratchett - Works about Pratchett, Terry Pratchett - Fans, Terry Pratchett - Internet, Terry Pratchett - Influences, Terry Pratchett - Orangutans, Terry Pratchett - Trademarks, Terry Pratchett - Notes

Read more here: » Terry Pratchett: Encyclopedia II - Terry Pratchett - Fans

Pratchett's books have received a level of critical acclaim unusual for their genre. A collection of essays about his writings is compiled in the book, Terry Pratchett: Guilty of Literature?, eds. Andrew M. Butler, Edward James and Farah Mendlesohn, publish by Science Fiction Foundation in 2000. Two trivia books have been published, both compiled by David Langford. They are named The Uns ...

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Terry Pratchett, Terry Pratchett - Biography, Terry Pratchett - Discworld, Terry Pratchett - Related works, Terry Pratchett - Adaptations, Terry Pratchett - Comic books, Terry Pratchett - Theatre, Terry Pratchett - Television, Terry Pratchett - Animation, Terry Pratchett - Radio, Terry Pratchett - Role-playing games, Terry Pratchett - PC and Console games, Terry Pratchett - Other non-Discworld books by Pratchett, Terry Pratchett - Other books containing contributions by Pratchett, Terry Pratchett - Works about Pratchett, Terry Pratchett - Fans, Terry Pratchett - Internet, Terry Pratchett - Influences, Terry Pratchett - Orangutans, Terry Pratchett - Trademarks, Terry Pratchett - Notes

Read more here: » Terry Pratchett: Encyclopedia II - Terry Pratchett - Works about Pratchett

Terry Pratchett - Comic books. The Colour of Magic, The Light Fantastic, Mort and Guards! Guards! have all been adapted as graphic novels. Terry Pratchett - Theatre. Several of Pratchett's novels have been adapted as plays by Stephen Briggs and many of the scripts have been published in book form. These include: Wyrd Sisters: The Play (1996) Mort: The Play (1996) Johnny and the Dead (19 ...

See also:

Terry Pratchett, Terry Pratchett - Biography, Terry Pratchett - Discworld, Terry Pratchett - Related works, Terry Pratchett - Adaptations, Terry Pratchett - Comic books, Terry Pratchett - Theatre, Terry Pratchett - Television, Terry Pratchett - Animation, Terry Pratchett - Radio, Terry Pratchett - Role-playing games, Terry Pratchett - PC and Console games, Terry Pratchett - Other non-Discworld books by Pratchett, Terry Pratchett - Other books containing contributions by Pratchett, Terry Pratchett - Works about Pratchett, Terry Pratchett - Fans, Terry Pratchett - Internet, Terry Pratchett - Influences, Terry Pratchett - Orangutans, Terry Pratchett - Trademarks, Terry Pratchett - Notes

Read more here: » Terry Pratchett: Encyclopedia II - Terry Pratchett - Adaptations

There is also sometimes considered to be a spiritual, metphysical, or supernatural bias towards experiencing events of good or ill fortune. In this sense some believe that one's own or another's good or bad luck can be influenced through spiritual means or by performing certain rituals or by avoiding certain (from a rational viewpoint non-relevant) situations. Prayer is a religious practice in which this belief is particularly strong, although many cultures worldwide place a strong emphasis on a person's ability to influence their luckiness ...

See also:

Luck, Luck - Rational viewpoint, Luck - Social viewpoint, Luck - Spiritual viewpoint, Luck - Effects of viewpoint and beliefs, Luck - Risky lifestyles, Luck - Positive outlook, Luck - Effects, Luck - Numerology, Luck - Sayings, Luck - Items or events, Luck - Lucky, Luck - Unlucky, Luck - Luck in fiction, Luck - Song Lyrics

Read more here: » Luck: Encyclopedia II - Luck - Spiritual viewpoint

Main article : History of superconductivity Superconductivity was discovered in 1911 by Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, who was studying the resistivity of solid mercury at cryogenic temperatures using the recently-discovered liquid helium as a refrigerant. At the temperature of 4.2 K, he observed that the resistivity abruptly disappeared. For this discovery, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1913. In subsequent decades, superconductivity was found in several other materials. In 1913, lead was found to superconduct at 7 ...

See also:

Superconductivity, Superconductivity - Elementary properties of superconductors, Superconductivity - Zero electrical resistance, Superconductivity - Superconducting phase transition, Superconductivity - Meissner effect, Superconductivity - Theories of superconductivity, Superconductivity - History of superconductivity, Superconductivity - Technological applications of superconductivity, Superconductivity - Superconductors in science fiction

Read more here: » Superconductivity: Encyclopedia II - Superconductivity - History of superconductivity

Some fans believe Halo and Halo 2 were influenced by a number of other games and pop culture references, partially based on the game series own references to some of these pop culture icons. These include StarCraft, the Alien and Predator movies, the Marathon series, and Larry Niven's Known Space universe. No comment has been made about these possible influences by the developer and these ideas are only speculation.See also:

Halo video game series, Halo video game series - Video games, Halo video game series - Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo video game series - Halo 2, Halo video game series - Future Video Game Releases, Halo video game series - Halo 3, Halo video game series - Halo Gizmondo/mobile, Halo video game series - Possible influences, Halo video game series - Marathon, Halo video game series - Films, Halo video game series - Known Space, Halo video game series - Historical and Mythological Facts, Halo video game series - The Culture, Halo video game series - Other Science Fiction, Halo video game series - Common culture, Halo video game series - Other, Halo video game series - Master Chief, Halo video game series - Novels, Halo video game series - Nonfiction Books, Halo video game series - Fan Fiction, Halo video game series - The Haunted Apiary, Halo video game series - Halo Machinima, Halo video game series - Time Magazine, Halo video game series - Dead or Alive 4, Halo video game series - Music

Read more here: » Halo video game series: Encyclopedia II - Halo video game series - Possible influences

There have been many technological innovations based on superconductivity. Superconductors are used to make the most powerful electromagnets known to man, including those used in MRI machines and the beam-steering magnets used in particle accelerators. Another application is for magnetic separation where weakly magnetic particles are extracted from a background of less or non-magnetic particles (used in a large scale in pigment industries). Superconductors are also used to make SQUIDs (s ...

See also:

Superconductivity, Superconductivity - Elementary properties of superconductors, Superconductivity - Zero electrical resistance, Superconductivity - Superconducting phase transition, Superconductivity - Meissner effect, Superconductivity - Theories of superconductivity, Superconductivity - History of superconductivity, Superconductivity - Technological applications of superconductivity, Superconductivity - Superconductors in science fiction

Read more here: » Superconductivity: Encyclopedia II - Superconductivity - Technological applications of superconductivity