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posts_small.xml
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posts_small.xml
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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<posts>
<row Id="1" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-11T20:45:08.070" Score="16" ViewCount="835" Body="<p>I've got <a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1558612467" rel="nofollow">Native Tongue</a> on my shelf, which is notable for having a language embedded in the story that can be spoken. What else should I add to my reading list? I'm in particularly looking for books with developed languages, not just a few exotic place and character names added for flavor.</p>

<p><strong>UPDATE:</strong> A language is well developed when it has a dictionary (or reasonably complete glossary) and reference grammar--or more likely--a few pages outlining how to string the words together. </p>

<p>(This question is copied verbatum from the Example Questions on Area 51)</p>

<p>This is now community wiki, I'm sure there will be more than one question that could be marked as the answer.</p>
" OwnerUserId="10" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-17T02:53:44.243" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T13:02:02.600" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-11T20:54:27.723" ClosedDate="2011-01-20T16:28:59.467" Title="What science fiction novels have well developed alien languages?" Tags="<list><novel><languages>" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="2" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="232" CreationDate="2011-01-11T20:47:13.640" Score="9" ViewCount="215" Body="<p>In Lois McMaster Bujold's Barrayar series, I can't recall any mention of Barrayar having a moon or there being any other planets in its solar system. Are there any references to them in the books?</p>
" OwnerUserId="27" LastEditorUserId="1271" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-24T07:41:31.693" LastActivityDate="2012-01-24T07:41:31.693" Title="What other celestial bodies are in Barrayar's solar system" Tags="<vorkosigan-saga><lois-mcmaster-bujold>" AnswerCount="1" />
<row Id="3" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2775" CreationDate="2011-01-11T20:49:52.980" Score="15" ViewCount="309" Body="<p>The plot of the TV series Total Recall 2070 implies that there are a variety of different types of androids. </p>

<blockquote class="spoiler">
 <p> Hume's partner, Ian Farve, is secretly a type of android called an 'Alpha'</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Almost all of the workers are called 'Deltas'.</p>

<p>Does the series or any of the supporting materials mention any other types of androids?</p>
" OwnerUserId="35" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-01T17:46:12.873" LastActivityDate="2011-04-07T07:07:36.783" Title="Other than Alpha and Delta, were there any other types of androids in Total Recall 2070?" Tags="<philip-k-dick>" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="4" />
<row Id="4" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-11T20:50:49.627" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I guess that depends on your definition of well developed. These three are particularly well developed in my opinion:</p>

<p><a href="http://dune.wikia.com/wiki/Fremen_language" rel="nofollow">Fremen</a>, from Dune</p>

<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sindarin" rel="nofollow">Sindarin</a>, from The Lord of the Rings (yes, I know, not sci-fi)</p>

<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klingon_language" rel="nofollow">Klingon</a>, from Star Trek</p>
" OwnerUserId="31" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T20:50:49.627" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-11T20:54:27.723" CommentCount="4" />
<row Id="5" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-11T20:52:46.753" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I'm not sure of a book specifically that's heavy in klingon, but the klingon language itself is pretty much a full fledged language which was designed by an actual linguist. I don't know of any star trek books that make a lot of use of it, other then the klingon dictionary.</p>
" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T20:52:46.753" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-11T20:54:27.723" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="6" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="12" CreationDate="2011-01-11T20:53:41.560" Score="33" ViewCount="904" Body="<p>In the Star Trek reboot of '09, since Nero and his crew traveled back in time, why didn't they just take off and warn their homeworld of it's imminent destruction? The ship had warp drive, did it not?</p>
" OwnerUserId="40" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-27T17:06:34.280" LastActivityDate="2011-09-28T00:44:50.710" Title="Why didn't Nero visit his homeworld to warn of its destruction?" Tags="<star-trek><movie>" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="0" />
<row Id="8" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="116" CreationDate="2011-01-11T20:57:40.340" Score="18" ViewCount="3545" Body="<p>My googling says that the catastrophe in "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road_%282009_film%29" rel="nofollow">The Road</a>" is unexplained.</p>

<p>Given what we can see on screen, can anyone come up with a better explanation for how the world got that way?</p>
" OwnerUserId="10" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-14T19:09:25.553" LastActivityDate="2012-06-07T21:10:10.773" Title="What was the catastrophe that happened in "The Road"?" Tags="<the-road>" AnswerCount="8" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="11" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="19" CreationDate="2011-01-11T21:02:44.203" Score="24" ViewCount="495" Body="<p>I recently finished watching the great series "Total Recall 2070" that was based on Philip K. Dick's universe. Philip K. Dick's absurdist blendings of philosophical problems with Sci-Fi has a unique flavor, so I'm looking for any TV or film works based on his writings.</p>

<p>I've already seen "Total Recall" and "Blade Runner".</p>
" OwnerUserId="35" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-14T19:05:27.743" LastActivityDate="2012-01-14T19:06:14.107" ClosedDate="2012-03-06T00:10:04.277" Title="What are the different works for Film and Television based on the works of Philip K. Dick?" Tags="<movie><tv><philip-k-dick>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="5" />
<row Id="12" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6" CreationDate="2011-01-11T21:03:30.583" Score="29" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Nero was <a href="http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Nero#Arrival_in_the_23rd_century">captured by the Klingons</a> and tortured for almost 25 years. My guess is it drove him insane, leaving nothing but revenge in his mind.</p>
" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="366" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-09-23T21:23:54.703" LastActivityDate="2011-09-23T21:23:54.703" CommentCount="4" />
<row Id="14" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8" CreationDate="2011-01-11T21:05:56.110" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="<p>As I remember, it was unexplained but had something to do with massive fire(s). The movie somewhat shows this, but the book talks about grey skies, dead plant life, earthquakes, et cetera. Since it happened suddenly, I'm kind of assuming some kind of natural planetary disaster, like a meteor or comet strike(s).</p>

<p>It's interesting to think about and discuss from a science point-of-view, but totally unnecessary for the human drama... other than the creation of a hostile environment.</p>
" OwnerUserId="9" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-14T19:10:22.667" LastActivityDate="2012-01-14T19:10:22.667" CommentCount="4" />
<row Id="15" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5694" CreationDate="2011-01-11T21:12:59.670" Score="30" ViewCount="1841" Body="<p>How may different Enterprises were there?</p>

<p>How many were featured in TV or film?</p>

<p>The last I heard there was a 'J' in the show 'Enterprise'.</p>
" OwnerUserId="35" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-14T19:01:59.197" LastActivityDate="2012-02-06T21:17:21.697" Title="How many different Enterprises were there?" Tags="<star-trek><enterprise>" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="10" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="16" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6" CreationDate="2011-01-11T21:13:22.080" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Maybe he tried and nobody believed or he didn't try because nobody would have believed him anyway.</p>

<p>Of course, he has very advanced technology to prove he's from the future, but in a tyrannical government that tightly control the information he's likely to be seized and jailed forever or killed while the government keeps the technology to advance the empire.</p>

<p>Another issue with warning his home-world is that he might have drived himself and his wife out of existence. He wanted revenge on Spock, not to save his people, specially when it might not only not save his wife, but totally erase her.</p>
" OwnerUserId="55" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T21:13:22.080" />
<row Id="17" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="39" CreationDate="2011-01-11T21:15:29.193" Score="13" ViewCount="914" Body="<p>I've only seen the film <em>The Road</em>, I haven't read the books. Perhaps I missed it, but what was going on with the people missing their thumbs?</p>
" OwnerUserId="55" LastEditorUserId="1027" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-05-07T14:30:35.423" LastActivityDate="2012-05-07T14:30:35.423" Title="What's with the missing thumbs in "The Road"?" Tags="<the-road>" AnswerCount="1" />
<row Id="18" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="199" CreationDate="2011-01-11T21:16:21.393" Score="11" ViewCount="452" Body="<p>I understand that Bob somehow possessed Leland Palmer, but what exactly was he and what was his relationship to the Black Lodge? What was his origin?</p>
" OwnerUserId="43" LastEditorUserId="931" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-02-08T14:57:44.093" LastActivityDate="2012-02-08T14:57:44.093" Title="What was "Bob" in Twin Peaks?" Tags="<tv-series>" AnswerCount="2" />
<row Id="19" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11" CreationDate="2011-01-11T21:16:50.893" Score="30" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I have seen all of these other than Confessions d'un Barjo as it is French and really hard to find. You've already seen the really good ones, I'm afraid. Screamers and Imposter are good bad-movies, Next is fun. The rest are kinda blah.</p>

<ul>
<li>Blade Runner - Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep</li>
<li>Screamers - Second Variety</li>
<li>Total Recall - We Can Remember It For You Wholesale</li>
<li>Confessions d'un Barjo - Confessions of a Crap Artist</li>
<li>Imposter - Impostor</li>
<li>Minority Report - The Minority Report</li>
<li>Paycheck - Paycheck</li>
<li>A Scanner Darkly - A Scanner Darkly</li>
<li>Next - The Golden Man</li>
<li><a href="http://www.theadjustmentbureau.com/">The Adjustment Bureau</a> - The Adjustment Team</li>
</ul>

<p><strong>Soon To Come</strong></p>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_of_the_Elves">King of the Elves</a> - King of the Elves</li>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Free_Albemuth_%28film%29">Valis</a> - Radio Free Albemuth (Maybe, supposedly it has been done for a while and even shown; go find it, support it, and DEMAND they make the sequel! It would be based on the book Valis!!!)</li>
</ul>

<p>Total Recall, however, is about as loosely based a movie can get. There is a clinic that does what the Recall Clinic in the movie does, and a vague mention of about 1 paragraph for the rest of the film. The real story consists of a magic wand, aliens, and a promise to prevent the end of the world. Really. I know.</p>
" OwnerUserId="51" LastEditorUserId="2403" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-07-15T01:55:11.323" LastActivityDate="2011-07-15T01:55:11.323" CommentCount="9" />
<row Id="20" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="11" CreationDate="2011-01-11T21:17:00.947" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Here are the ones I know about:</p>

<ul>
<li>Blade Runner</li>
<li>Minority Report</li>
<li>Paycheck</li>
<li>Imposter</li>
<li>A Scanner Darkly</li>
<li>Next</li>
</ul>
" OwnerUserId="58" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T21:17:00.947" />
<row Id="21" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="29" CreationDate="2011-01-11T21:18:02.940" Score="34" ViewCount="1147" Body="<p>While I think the Star Trek (2009) movie was pretty cool looking, it's storyline wreaks total havoc with all the existing post original series content.</p>

<p>I know that Gene Roddenberry was very strict about what was considered canon in the past, basically anything he didn't like well (like the animated series). But now, since his death, it seems like all the later series are considered canon.</p>

<p>Is the latest Star Trek (2009) considered canon?</p>
" OwnerUserId="35" LastEditorUserId="30" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-25T02:18:39.240" LastActivityDate="2011-11-05T02:18:54.710" Title="Is the Star Trek (2009) movie considered canon?" Tags="<star-trek><movie><canon><gene-roddenberry>" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="23" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="347" CreationDate="2011-01-11T21:19:08.020" Score="7" ViewCount="194" Body="<p>I've recently re-watched the pilot episode for <a href="http://www.pioneerone.tv/" rel="nofollow">Pioneer One</a> with a friend before watching the episode 2. I was really confused as the pilot episode that I had to re-download was changed. Specially the initial scenes at a radio-telescope were totally missing and instead we see a pilot and a couple witnessing the <em>falling object</em>.</p>

<p>What happened? Why were they changed?</p>
" OwnerUserId="55" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T01:09:01.907" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T01:09:01.907" Title="Why were some scenes changed in Pioneer One?" Tags="<pioneer-one>" AnswerCount="1" />
<row Id="24" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15" CreationDate="2011-01-11T21:19:44.917" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starship_Enterprise" rel="nofollow">Wikipedia</a> mentions 8 + 4 from alternative timelines.</p>
" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T21:19:44.917" />
<row Id="25" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="45" CreationDate="2011-01-11T21:20:02.840" Score="34" ViewCount="1444" Body="<p>I've been meaning to read the Foundation series but haven't quite been able to figure out which book to read first. Does anyone know the correct chronological order of the books in the series? Are there any drawbacks to reading the Foundation series in the chronological order (possible Star Wars like spoilers)?</p>
" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="1583" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-09-12T13:11:10.940" LastActivityDate="2012-01-14T19:00:01.120" Title="What is the chronological order of the novels in Asimov's Foundation series?" Tags="<novel><isaac-asimov><foundation><chronological-order>" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="8" />
<row Id="26" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15" CreationDate="2011-01-11T21:22:03.713" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="<p>There were a total of 8 Enterprises in Film and on TV. 7 if you count both versions of the first one as the same ship. (TOS and the new Reboot)</p>

<p>At least I think that's right...</p>
" OwnerUserId="51" LastEditorUserId="51" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-11T23:01:36.413" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T23:01:36.413" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="27" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21" CreationDate="2011-01-11T21:23:17.103" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Being an "official" product, and given the fact that Gene has passed -- Yeah, I would consider it canon. </p>

<p>Like it or hate it (I enjoyed it myself) it does conveniently "reboot" the timeline in a manner that lets it remain canon without making any of the previous films inaccurate to the new storyline.</p>
" OwnerUserId="36" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T21:23:17.103" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="28" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="386" CreationDate="2011-01-11T21:23:43.837" Score="11" ViewCount="229" Body="<p>And other than public domain science fiction, how can I track down Creative Commons science fiction that is safe for re-mixing, i.e. fan fic?</p>
" OwnerUserId="10" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-14T18:56:36.710" LastActivityDate="2012-01-14T18:56:36.710" Title="Where can I find Creative Commons science fiction suitable for use in fanfic?" Tags="<fanfic>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="29" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21" CreationDate="2011-01-11T21:24:27.967" Score="34" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Since the events of the 2009 movie take place in an alternate timeline to that of the original series, there is no logical problem with it being canon. </p>

<p>The hows and whys are detailed here: <a href="http://trekmovie.com/2008/12/11/bob-orci-explains-how-the-new-star-trek-movie-fits-with-trek-canon-and-real-science/">Bob Orci Explains How The New Star Trek Movie Fits With Trek Canon (and Real Science)</a> </p>
" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-11-05T02:18:54.710" LastActivityDate="2011-11-05T02:18:54.710" CommentCount="8" />
<row Id="30" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-11T21:24:35.667" Score="24" ViewCount="1102" Body="<p>While watching some commentary on Babylon 5, I heard them talk about "the thing", or "the prop" which was passed around and included somewhere in many Sci-Fi movies. It seems to be an inside joke in Hollywood. I've been looking for it, but I can't figure out what it is.</p>

<p>Anyone know?</p>
" OwnerUserId="58" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-18T16:46:16.183" LastActivityDate="2012-02-27T17:00:49.100" Title="What is "the prop" used in many Sci-Fi movies?" Tags="<movie><props><hollywood>" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="3" />
<row Id="31" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="338" CreationDate="2011-01-11T21:27:40.980" Score="12" ViewCount="218" Body="<p>I've heard recently that a 90% reduced Fat version of the Exegesis was going to come out in print. However, I would really like to get a hold of a full copy. They aren't supposed to exist, however, years hence perhaps they will.</p>

<p>So greetings future people. Please grace me with a means to read this no-doubt fascinating romp down the rabbit-hole of religiously-fueled psychobabble.</p>
" OwnerUserId="51" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T17:03:04.583" Title="Where can I find a full copy of Philip K Dick's Exegesis?" Tags="<philip-k-dick>" AnswerCount="1" />
<row Id="33" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1113" CreationDate="2011-01-11T21:31:01.883" Score="13" ViewCount="1189" Body="<p>I've just read this on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starship_Enterprise">Wikipedia article for spaceships named Enterprise</a>:</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>The main setting for the films Star
 Trek: First Contact (1996), Star Trek:
 Insurrection (1998), and Star Trek
 Nemesis (2002).<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starship_Enterprise">1</a>[6] According to
 Star Trek: Countdown (2009), <strong>Data
 assumed command of the Enterprise
 after Captain Picard retired</strong> from
 Starfleet to become the Ambassador to
 Vulcan.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>(emphasis added by me)</p>

<p>I haven't read Star Trek: Countdown, but looking at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek%3a_Countdown">its Wikipedia page</a> I read this:</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>The comic came about because Anthony
 Pascale, editor of TrekMovie.com, kept
 requesting to the film's co-writer
 Roberto Orci a way of having The Next
 Generation characters "pass the baton"
 back to the originals. When asked
 whether the filmmakers' involvement in
 the comic <strong>made it canonical, Orci
 stated he was in no position to
 declare whether it was</strong>, though he felt
 it could easily remain as such unless
 it was contradicted in a future
 film.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>(emphasis added by me)</p>

<p>How could that ever be canon if Data sacrifices himself during <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek%3a_Nemesis">Star Trek: Nemesis</a> while saving Picard, still captain of the Enterprise?</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>Data arrives with a single use personal transporter and has the captain beamed back to the Enterprise before ultimately <strong>sacrificing himself</strong> to shut down the weapon and destroy the ship.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Am I missing something? Was Data revived? Was Star Trek: Nemesis un-canonized? Was Data of Star Trek: Countdown really B4?</p>
" OwnerUserId="55" LastEditorUserId="143" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T06:59:54.040" LastActivityDate="2011-12-29T21:25:59.377" Title="How can Star Trek: Countdown ever be considered canon?" Tags="<star-trek><canon><star-trek-data>" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="36" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="30" CreationDate="2011-01-11T21:33:03.803" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Humans. Humans are in almost all sci-fi. Why? I honestly don't know.</p>
" OwnerUserId="51" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T21:33:03.803" CommentCount="10" />
<row Id="38" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="41" CreationDate="2011-01-11T21:36:47.080" Score="12" ViewCount="269" Body="<p>How to keep suspension of disbelief when reading/watching science fiction works written quite some time ago which are happening in what was future then, but is present or even past now? </p>

<p>The things people imagined then that would exist in future may not really exist now, or even be completely ridiculous starting from funny clothes, all the way to flying automobiles. </p>

<p>One example: </p>

<ul>
<li>It's 2011 now and Jupiter didn't explode into becoming a star Lucifer. And Soviet Union doesn't exist anymore like in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_%28film%29">the famous film</a>.</li>
</ul>
" OwnerUserId="52" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-07-30T17:24:39.050" LastActivityDate="2012-01-14T18:54:51.687" Title="How to keep suspension of disbelief with older works?" Tags="<literary-analysis>" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="39" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="17" CreationDate="2011-01-11T21:37:51.723" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="<p><a href="http://thephoenix.com/BLOGS/outsidetheframe/archive/2009/11/24/interview-with-john-hillcoat-part-2.aspx" rel="nofollow">According to the director</a> (who's paraphrasing the author of the book) it's "open to interpretation, I think some kind of primitive punishment..."</p>
" OwnerUserId="63" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T21:37:51.723" />
<row Id="41" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="38" CreationDate="2011-01-11T21:39:49.213" Score="21" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Old science fiction can be considered an alternate history. </p>

<p>I just re-watched "Blade Runner", which feels like an alternative history where computer, TV and screen technology had been been stalled in 1980, but by 2020, all other technologies had zoomed way ahead of anything we are likely to see in ten years.</p>
" OwnerUserId="10" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-14T18:54:51.687" LastActivityDate="2012-01-14T18:54:51.687" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="42" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="30" CreationDate="2011-01-11T21:40:10.053" Score="21" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I think they are talking about the teddy bear.</p>

<p>The story goes something like that, J. Michael Straczynski, creator of Babylon 5, hates cute things. He promised there were going to be no children or androids in Babylon 5 (maybe in response to Wesley Crusher and Data). Eventually, someone gave him a teddy bear. A writer. And the saga begins.</p>

<p>JMS promised to get revenge and a paraphrase "by fucking up his script". It's somewhere on Babylon 5: Artifacts from Beyond the Rim. The teddy bear was pictured on a Babylon 5 episode when they open a merchandising store:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCbOmYJ7IU0">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCbOmYJ7IU0</a></p>

<p>The writer then wrote a Star Trek episode, or some other series, where the teddy bear appears, in space, and one of the characters says:</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>Who would space a teddy bear?</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Some more about it: <a href="http://www.eeggs.com/items/25040.html">http://www.eeggs.com/items/25040.html</a></p>
" OwnerUserId="55" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-08-22T22:16:20.400" LastActivityDate="2011-08-22T22:16:20.400" CommentCount="5" />
<row Id="43" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="414" CreationDate="2011-01-11T21:43:29.663" Score="52" ViewCount="2514" Body="<p>I wonder whether anyone has written a novel set in a universe where <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P_versus_NP_problem"><code>P=NP</code></a>.</p>
" OwnerUserId="50" LastEditorUserId="3267" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-31T00:31:29.327" LastActivityDate="2012-01-31T00:31:29.327" ClosedDate="2012-07-26T19:50:27.150" Title="Any novels set in universes where P=NP?" Tags="<novel><math><hard-sci-fi>" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="11" FavoriteCount="11" />
<row Id="44" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25" CreationDate="2011-01-11T21:45:51.143" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="<p>This is the <strong>chronological</strong> order of the main 7 books:</p>

<ol>
<li>Prelude to Foundation</li>
<li>Forward the Foundation</li>
<li>Foundation</li>
<li>Foundation and Empire</li>
<li>Second Foundation</li>
<li>Foundation's Edge</li>
<li>Foundation and Earth</li>
</ol>

<p>but do yourself a favor and read them in <strong>publication</strong> order</p>

<ol>
<li>Foundation</li>
<li>Foundation and Empire</li>
<li>Second Foundation</li>
<li>Foundation's Edge</li>
<li>Foundation and Earth</li>
<li>Prelude to Foundation</li>
<li>Forward the Foundation</li>
</ol>

<p><strong>Spoiler</strong>:</p>

<blockquote class="spoiler">
 <p> now, the Foundation series is really the same as the Empire and Robot series including Caves of Steel and even some other books out there, like "The End of Eternity", but the continuity is not that big of a deal there.</p>
</blockquote>
" OwnerUserId="55" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-14T18:59:13.133" LastActivityDate="2012-01-14T18:59:13.133" />
<row Id="45" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25" CreationDate="2011-01-11T21:47:23.530" Score="24" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The <strong>chronological</strong> order is:</p>

<ul>
<li>Prelude to Foundation</li>
<li>Forward the Foundation</li>
<li>Foundation</li>
<li>Foundation and Empire</li>
<li>Second Foundation</li>
<li>Foundation's Edge</li>
<li>Foundation and Earth</li>
</ul>

<p>The <strong>publication</strong> order is:</p>

<ul>
<li>Foundation (1951)</li>
<li>Foundation and Empire (1952)</li>
<li>Second Foundation (1953)</li>
<li>Foundation's Edge (1982)</li>
<li>Foundation and Earth (1986)</li>
<li>Prelude to Foundation (1988)</li>
<li>Forward the Foundation (1993)</li>
</ul>

<p>I don't think there are spoilers if you read it in chronological order. However, I would recommend reading the Robot Series of Asimov first.</p>
" OwnerUserId="37" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-14T18:58:44.647" LastActivityDate="2012-01-14T18:58:44.647" CommentCount="4" />
<row Id="48" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="266" CreationDate="2011-01-11T21:54:44.923" Score="28" ViewCount="2808" Body="<p>I loved the series and all the movies, and I even watched '<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crusade_%28TV_series%29" rel="nofollow">Crusade</a>' which was awesome. But it's been a while since I've heard of any <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylon_5#Television_movies" rel="nofollow">new Babylon 5 movies</a>. On the other hand, the series creator <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Michael_Straczynski" rel="nofollow">Michael Straczynski</a> may have some additional clout from receiving a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Academy_of_Film_and_Television_Arts" rel="nofollow">BAFTA</a> award nomination for the script of <em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Changeling_%28film%29" rel="nofollow">Changeling</a></em> and after writing the script for the blockbuster<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thor_%28film%29" rel="nofollow"><em>Thor</em></a>. </p>

<p>Are there any plans for new Straczynski-driven <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylon_5" rel="nofollow">Babylon 5</a> works?</p>

<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremiah_%28TV_series%29" rel="nofollow"><img src="http://i.stack.imgur.com/Moio5.png" width="120" height="160"></a></p>
" OwnerUserId="35" LastEditorUserId="931" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-02-08T14:56:43.097" LastActivityDate="2012-02-08T14:56:43.097" Title="Are there any plans for a new Babylon 5 series or movies?" Tags="<movie><tv-series><babylon-5>" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="3" />
<row Id="52" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="38" CreationDate="2011-01-11T21:58:50.873" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I don't know about suspending disbelief. I usually am aware that a novel written in 1950 is going to have 1950's viewpoints and ideas about The Future. When the book was written is just one more thing to take into account when reading a book, in addition to who wrote it and where they wrote it. </p>
" OwnerUserId="73" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T21:58:50.873" />
<row Id="53" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="48" CreationDate="2011-01-11T22:00:31.870" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="<p>As far as I know there aren't any plans. All rumors I've heard have been unconfirmed. J. Michael Straczynski some years ago got into the Hollywood A-list so he got to produce Babylon 5: The lost tales but I think it was so unsuccessful there are no other plans for anything in the Babylon 5 universe. Quite unfortunate.</p>
" OwnerUserId="55" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T22:00:31.870" />
<row Id="54" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-11T22:01:18.163" Score="25" ViewCount="294" Body="<p>Is there a reasonably complete online database of sf works?</p>

<ul>
<li>For written sf: the <a href="http://www.isfdb.org/" rel="nofollow">Internet Speculative Fiction Database</a></li>
<li>For movies: the <a href="http://imdb.com/" rel="nofollow">Internet Movie Database</a></li>
</ul>

<p>What about other media, such as comics, and radio programs?</p>

<p>(SF as in speculative fiction: science fiction, alternate history, fantasy… Note that I'm looking for a database aiming at exhaustivity in its domain, not a selection based on notability or tastes.)</p>
" OwnerUserId="56" LastEditorUserId="56" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T19:33:16.227" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T19:33:16.227" Title="Is there a reasonably complete online database of sf works?" Tags="<online-resources>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="3" />
<row Id="55" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="60" CreationDate="2011-01-11T22:01:53.897" Score="31" ViewCount="2090" Body="<p>Obi-wan left Anakin for dead, and one movie later (in a New Hope) he was saying Anakin had been killed by Darth Vader.</p>

<p>What exactly did Obiwan know about Anakin and Darth Vader before a New Hope started?</p>
" OwnerUserId="10" LastEditorUserId="1693" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-12-21T01:33:48.213" LastActivityDate="2012-01-14T18:44:22.043" Title="When did Obi-wan Kenobi learn that Anakin was "dead"?" Tags="<star-wars>" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="58" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-11T22:04:03.583" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="<p>What about well-developed english-like languages? I'm thinking of Neal Stephensen's <a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0061694940" rel="nofollow">Anathem</a>, which has a very well-developed language that is mostly english, but many of the names of objects are made up.</p>
" OwnerUserId="74" LastEditorUserId="240" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T18:55:21.780" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T18:55:21.780" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-11T22:04:03.583" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="60" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="55" CreationDate="2011-01-11T22:05:38.933" Score="33" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Obi-wan was lying to Luke. He knew full-well that Vader was Anakin. You can see this by their chat during their duel later in the movie.</p>

<p>(And Luke calls him out on it in the last movie. But the sly devil twists the words around to sound like he wasn't lying.)</p>
" OwnerUserId="51" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T22:05:38.933" CommentCount="11" />
<row Id="62" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="55" CreationDate="2011-01-11T22:06:16.033" Score="26" ViewCount="" Body="<p>He knew that Anakin was consumed by the Dark Side of the Force. I think he was speaking metaphorically. Certainly he knew that Darth Vader was not literally dead, but Anakin Skywalker was.</p>
" OwnerUserId="63" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T22:06:16.033" CommentCount="4" />
<row Id="63" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-11T22:06:54.163" Score="26" ViewCount="799" Body="<p>In the ringworld-novels of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Niven" rel="nofollow">Larry Niven</a> the author uses a giant ring around the sun as setting. The concept that is going more extrem in this direction is a Sphere around a sun. That concept is called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyson_Sphere" rel="nofollow">Dyson Sphere</a>. Does a work of SF explores this concept?</p>
" OwnerUserId="71" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-18T05:51:10.820" LastActivityDate="2012-04-22T09:12:55.770" Title="Is there a novel using a Dyson Sphere as setting?" Tags="<setting>" AnswerCount="11" FavoriteCount="2" />
<row Id="64" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="21" CreationDate="2011-01-11T22:07:20.247" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="<p>It's probably best to think of it as "new" canon. They rewrote history so continuity with the old series doesn't matter. Which lets them play with those tensions, of course--those of us who know the old material can enjoy the changes to the universe, a sort of meta-level of writing for the "in crowd".</p>
" OwnerUserId="14" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T22:07:20.247" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="69" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="63" CreationDate="2011-01-11T22:10:39.043" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Bob Shaw's Orbitsville novels:</p>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0575070986">Orbitsville</a></li>
<li><a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0671698311">Orbitsville Departure</a></li>
<li><a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0575045515">Orbitsville Judgement</a></li>
</ul>
" OwnerUserId="27" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T22:10:39.043" />
<row Id="70" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="63" CreationDate="2011-01-11T22:10:59.947" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="<p>If you don't count just the written word, one of the episodes of Star Trek: TNG does. The episode is called "Relics."</p>

<p>This episode was also <a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0671864769" rel="nofollow">novelized</a> by Michael Jan Friedman, and a sequel novel named <a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0671541730" rel="nofollow"><em>Dyson Sphere</em></a> was written by Charles Pellegrino and George Zebrowski.</p>
" OwnerUserId="51" LastEditorUserId="3844" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-04-22T09:12:55.770" LastActivityDate="2012-04-22T09:12:55.770" />
<row Id="71" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="63" CreationDate="2011-01-11T22:11:29.040" Score="28" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Yes, there's a list of them at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyson_spheres_in_popular_culture" rel="nofollow">Dyson spheres in popular culture</a>. The idea originated in a novel called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Maker" rel="nofollow">Star Maker</a>.</p>
" OwnerUserId="63" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T22:11:29.040" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="78" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-11T22:13:47.860" Score="17" ViewCount="567" Body="<p>What's Steampunk? I've heard the term tossed around but I'm not sure what it means.</p>

<p>I've seen some Steampunk websites and pictures of costumes at SF conventions but I don't get what the movement is about. Can someone explain what it is and which books/movies/shows are Steampunk?</p>
" OwnerUserId="73" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-18T18:06:18.280" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T19:31:58.533" Title="What is the precise definition of 'Steampunk'?" Tags="<steampunk>" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="79" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="63" CreationDate="2011-01-11T22:13:50.933" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The Halo universe has Dyson Spheres. The setting of Halo:Wars was a Dyson Sphere.</p>
" OwnerUserId="32" LastEditorUserId="32" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-12T20:04:40.797" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T20:04:40.797" />
<row Id="84" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="78" CreationDate="2011-01-11T22:17:25.017" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Steampunk is pretty much about extrapolating a future from a victorian point of view. So, you'll see lots of steam (obviously) powered devices, often the social structure of victorian Britain is preserved in one way or another.</p>

<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk" rel="nofollow">Wikipedia</a> explain it rather well ;)</p>
" OwnerUserId="83" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T22:17:25.017" />
<row Id="88" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="138" CreationDate="2011-01-11T22:20:50.987" Score="17" ViewCount="343" Body="<p>Is there one person or creator cited as the inventor of cyberpunk?</p>
" OwnerUserId="78" LastEditorUserId="383" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T03:00:24.727" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T17:03:03.770" Title="Who is the inventor of cyberpunk?" Tags="<cyberpunk>" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="0" />
<row Id="91" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="88" CreationDate="2011-01-11T22:22:53.403" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="<p>If you mean who invented it, William Gibson invented the term and what it is.</p>
" OwnerUserId="55" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T22:22:53.403" CommentCount="8" />
<row Id="96" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="102" CreationDate="2011-01-11T22:25:22.773" Score="15" ViewCount="2091" Body="<p>Now that Star Trek has had a successful movie and assuming the next film's makers don't totally blow it, could there be a new series anytime soon?</p>

<p>Is there any information on what a new series would look like and it's setting?</p>
" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T22:27:37.160" Title="Are there any plans for a new Star Trek TV series?" Tags="<star-trek><tv>" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="98" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="78" CreationDate="2011-01-11T22:26:41.797" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Steampunk, the term jokingly coined in 1987 by science fiction writer K. W. Jeter to describe the brand of “Victorian fantasies” written by himself and his contemporaries has since blossomed not only into a literary subgenre but into a whole subculture. While originally a sly nod to the cyberpunk subgenre in vogue at the time, steampunk has taken on its own lease of life and as such has aroused many a debate as to what steampunk actually is.</p>
" OwnerUserId="78" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T22:26:41.797" />
<row Id="102" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="96" CreationDate="2011-01-11T22:27:37.160" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="<p>No, there are some plans for more movies, but none for TV Series that are public.</p>
" OwnerUserId="55" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T22:27:37.160" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="103" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="283" CreationDate="2011-01-11T22:27:50.267" Score="9" ViewCount="318" Body="<p>I really want to read Metro 2033, by Dmitry Glukhovsky. I'm having a hard time finding it. To be more precise, I'm having a hard time finding legal copies - there appear to be bootleg English translations on the web.</p>

<p>Amazon's US site (amazon.com) is showing either just the German translation, or they have it marked as not released yet. If there are bootleg translations, it seems that it must be legally released somewhere.</p>
" OwnerUserId="10" LastEditorUserId="1234" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-02-28T16:41:34.870" LastActivityDate="2012-02-28T16:41:34.870" Title="Is Metro 2033 even released in English anywhere in the English speaking world?" Tags="<books><metro-2033>" AnswerCount="1" />
<row Id="113" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="140" CreationDate="2011-01-11T22:37:47.047" Score="15" ViewCount="464" Body="<p>I heard that Arthur C. Clarke was the inventor of the idea of the satellites.</p>

<p>If that's true, can you please tell me in where or in what work he presents the idea of satellite?</p>
" OwnerUserId="78" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-14T18:41:20.643" LastActivityDate="2012-01-14T18:41:20.643" Title="Did Arthur C. Clarke really invent the idea of the satellite?" Tags="<arthur-c-clarke><prediction>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="4" />
<row Id="114" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="38" CreationDate="2011-01-11T22:38:29.050" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I kind of like how Enterprise handled this problem (although I didn't much like Enterprise). Where possible, they tried to retcon stories that could be retconned. Where not possible, they assumed that Enterprise lived in a slightly (or somewhat) alternate version of our current history.</p>

<p>In my mind, alternate, counterfactual versions of our universe (especially when written in our past) are just as interesting as attempts to guess the future.</p>
" OwnerUserId="24" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T22:38:29.050" />
<row Id="115" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="113" CreationDate="2011-01-11T22:40:38.527" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="<p>He published the proposal in <a href="http://lakdiva.org/clarke/1945ww/" rel="nofollow">Wireless World magazine in 1945</a>.</p>
" OwnerUserId="63" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T22:40:38.527" />
<row Id="116" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="8" CreationDate="2011-01-11T22:43:03.333" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I haven't read the book - just saw the movie. I still feel lucky any time I drink a can of coke now from watching that movie :)</p>

<p>I've wondered what it might have been that caused the world to go to hell. From the movie, as Rodger's <a href="http://scifi.stackexchange.com/a/14/976">answer</a> mentioned, it looks like there are fires and earthquakes, not to mention what looks like much colder weather. </p>

<p>The only things I can think of that would cause fires AND earthquakes would be either a meteor hit, or some massive volcanic eruption. </p>

<p>I don't think I've read anything showing that a massive eruption would lead to long-lasting aftershocks (quakes). I'm not sure if a meteor hit would do that either. I'd think if a meteor hit would do that, there wouldn't be any life left on earth from an impact that big. Both of them can lead to cooler weather from ash blocking sunlight. I don't remember - was there any acid rain in the road? If so, I think that's more of an indicator of a volcano than a meteor.</p>
" OwnerUserId="39" LastEditorUserId="3267" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-21T20:03:29.207" LastActivityDate="2012-01-21T20:03:29.207" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="121" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="10119" CreationDate="2011-01-11T22:49:21.507" Score="18" ViewCount="576" Body="<p>As you one may or may not know TNG's Data was an andriod created by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noonien_Soong#Noonien_Soong">Noonien Soong</a>, who was the Albert Einstein of robots. He was a busy guy and I think I can count about 4 total robots.</p>

<p>Does anyone know all of the Data-style robots that were mentioned in the series?</p>
" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2012-02-01T15:43:00.620" Title="How many different Soong robots were there?" Tags="<star-trek><star-trek-data><robots><star-trek-tng>" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="3" />
<row Id="125" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="127" CreationDate="2011-01-11T22:51:28.290" Score="36" ViewCount="4876" Body="<p>The series that start's with <em>Ender's Game</em> has a parallel series that starts with <em>Ender's Shadow</em>. The graph of the timeline is... well... complicated.</p>

<p><img src="http://i.stack.imgur.com/Fp0Tc.png" alt="Ender Series Timeline"></p>

<p>Does it make more sense if you read them in the order they were first published, or if you try to read them in the chronological order of the story?</p>

<p>Image Reference: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ender%27s_Game_%28series%29" rel="nofollow">Ender's Game (series)</a></p>
" OwnerUserId="63" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T13:51:40.760" LastActivityDate="2012-01-28T01:43:32.077" Title="What's the recommend reading order of the Ender Wiggin books?" Tags="<books><suggested-order><orson-scott-card><enders-game>" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="5" />
<row Id="126" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="121" CreationDate="2011-01-11T22:52:32.220" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Four. From Wikipedia:</p>

<p>Noonian Soong: Human cyberneticist who created Data, played by Brent Spiner, who also plays the role of Data. Soong has created four complete androids in the known Star Trek universe, Data, Lore, and B-4 (all three of the same design), and a replica of his dead wife Juliana, which is technically superior to his previous models. Early in Dr. Soong's career he was widely hailed as Earth's foremost robotic scientist, but he became a recluse after apparently failing to create a positronic brain and was thought to have been killed with other colonists on Omicron Theta. The scientist actually settled on Terlina III and summoned Data there to fit him with his final invention, an emotion chip. He inadvertently also summoned Data's brother, Lore, who killed him after obtaining the chip.</p>
" OwnerUserId="74" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T22:52:32.220" />
<row Id="127" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="125" CreationDate="2011-01-11T22:55:10.907" Score="27" ViewCount="" Body="<p>As someone who has read every book I think the publishing order is the best order to read them in because it is the order the author added to the universe. They each build on everything published before them and if you read them in a different order you don't get the same build-up and sense of discovery you would get by having things you may have wondered about in earlier books be revealed in later ones.</p>
" OwnerUserId="38" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T22:55:10.907" CommentCount="9" />
<row Id="128" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-11T22:55:20.003" Score="18" ViewCount="582" Body="<p><em>DISCLAIMER</em>: this is most definitely subjective and argumentative, but I've always wanted a place to ask this question, and now finally there is one. </p>

<p>Also, this is one of the example questions I submitted during the definition phase, and it got upvoted <em>quite</em> a bit as on-topic :-)</p>

<hr>

<p>Psychohistory looks very much like a scientific evolution of Marx's Historical Materialism: social and economic forces shape the history, and the action of single persons just can't affect so much its outcome, even if that person is the Emperor of the Galaxy himself; this is of course presented not as a mere historical analysis, but as a strong mathematical theory... nevertheless, the basic concept is pretty much the same: there are strong forces that direct the evolution of every human society, and no single action can actually divert them from their path (unless some mutant guy with psychic powers gets involved). Killing Hitler wouldn't have avoided WWII, because it was just bound to happen anyway.</p>

<p>But then, The End of Eternity presents the exact opposite view: every single action is important, every single moment could become the point of divergence of an alternate history; killing Hitler would have avoided WWII, or at least directed it in a <em>very</em> different direction.</p>

<p>...or maybe, we are trying to make sense of all this, while we are actually just all in the hands of Stupidity, against which, as everyone knows, <code>"the Gods themselves fight in vain"</code>.</p>

<p>Back to the question: those two views of history are, of course, mutually exclusive... or are they? What did Asimov really think about this? Or was he just speculating in a direction just as in the other one? Are there other works (or other materials) from him that could clarify this issue?</p>
" OwnerUserId="89" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-14T18:39:45.043" LastActivityDate="2012-01-14T18:39:45.043" Title="What was Isaac Asimov's view of history?" Tags="<isaac-asimov>" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
<row Id="135" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33" CreationDate="2011-01-11T23:01:38.440" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="<p>They did have his mentally challenged 'brother'. Remember he tried transferring some of himself to him - and at the end he starts whistling or whatever it was that he did that sort of hinted that maybe the transfer had some effect? Maybe they'll say he 'cloned' himself onto his 'brother'. </p>

<p>Or maybe they'll realize how bad that whole story was and just pretend it didn't happen :)</p>
" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T23:01:38.440" CommentCount="6" />
<row Id="138" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="88" CreationDate="2011-01-11T23:02:50.417" Score="28" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The term "cyberpunk" is almost universally associated with William Gibson and, to a lesser extent, to some other authors; but Gibson didn't create this literary genre, end he even didn't create its <em>name</em>, which was first used by Bruce Bethke as a title for one of his short stories.</p>

<p>Cyberpunk (the genre, not the name) wasn't actually invented by any single person, but emerged from the works of various authors who contributed to its definition and evolution; Gibson was indeed one of its greatest expressions.</p>

<p>More info, as usual, here: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberpunk" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberpunk</a>.</p>
" OwnerUserId="89" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T23:02:50.417" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="140" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="113" CreationDate="2011-01-11T23:04:08.797" Score="24" ViewCount="" Body="<p>He wasn't the original source for the idea/actual inventor of the concept but starting with the article mentioned by Bill and later ones he was a big proponent of the uses you could put geostationary satellites to. Especially the concept of communications and it's impact on society. Not surprising as he was an instructor at a Radio School and a radar specialist during World War II (see <a href="http://www.arthurcclarke.net/?scifi=2" rel="nofollow">ArthurCClarke.net</a>).</p>

<p>His impact is recognised by the fact that the geostationary orbit 36000km about the equator is called a "Clarke Orbit" and it is recognised by the <a href="http://www.iau.org/" rel="nofollow">International Astronomical Union</a>.</p>

<p>The idea originally was published by Herman Potočnik in 1928 and translated to English in Science Wonder Stories in 1929. (<a href="http://noordung.vesolje.net/vsebina/index.htm" rel="nofollow">More here.</a>)</p>
" OwnerUserId="92" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T23:04:08.797" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="141" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="125" CreationDate="2011-01-11T23:04:42.523" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I would recommend either reading them in the publish order, or reading the Ender's series books first followed by the Shadow series. It doesn't hurt to occasionally switch books to be chronological either, but in general...</p>
" OwnerUserId="98" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T23:04:42.523" />
<row Id="142" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-11T23:05:15.690" Score="13" ViewCount="210" Body="<p>I've been <em>slowly</em> working my way through Reza Negarastani's fantastic <em><a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0980544009" rel="nofollow">Cyclonopedia</a></em> the past few weeks, and while I'm thoroughly enjoying it, I can't help but think there's substantial material that's going over my head.</p>

<p>I know it's been pointed out to me that reading Deluze and Guattari's <a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0816614024" rel="nofollow"><em>Thousand Plateaus</em></a> would be a good start (and I've ordered it), but surely with a work of this density it's not the only reference I can draw on.</p>

<p>Better yet, is there some sort of reference list or 'readers companion' that I could pair with <em>Cyclonopedia</em> to get the most out of it?</p>

<p>Edit: Further research has also brought me to Negarastani's excellent <a href="http://blog.urbanomic.com/cyclon/" rel="nofollow">blog</a>, which is providing me with a ton of links to further explore.</p>
" OwnerUserId="87" LastEditorUserId="99" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-02-19T19:15:52.550" LastActivityDate="2012-02-19T19:15:52.550" Title="What else should I be reading to make better sense of Cyclonopedia?" Tags="<books>" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="148" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-11T23:15:45.390" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The Na'vi Language (that was used by AVATAR's aliens) which developed by Dr. Paul Frommera, The language has a vocabulary of about 1000 words, with some 30 having been invented by Cameron ..</p>
" OwnerUserId="78" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T23:15:45.390" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-11T23:15:45.390" />
<row Id="151" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="128" CreationDate="2011-01-11T23:18:28.603" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Not sure if this is an answer, as I haven't found anything he's said about the issue, but he was a scientist. I assume since he wrote a book on Physics that he was also familiar with Uncertainty Principle, which would probably jive more with your first idea, Psychohistory, since it deals mostly with probabilities.</p>

<p>Yeah, I know this is a stretch... but likely. If anyone finds anything about Asimov, please post.</p>
" OwnerUserId="9" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T23:18:28.603" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="161" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-11T23:25:10.003" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>It's not a separate (or alien) language, but the slang used in <a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0393312836" rel="nofollow">A Clockwork Orange</a> is very well developed.</p>

<hr>

<p><strong>UPDATE</strong>: The language building is not terribly surprising for Burgess who was, among other things, a linguist (who authored 2 linguistics books "Language Made Plain" and "A Mouthful of Air")</p>

<hr>

<p><strong>UPDATE</strong>: More details for "Nadsat" (Clockwork's slang language), including the language name origin, can be found in:</p>

<ul>
<li><p><a href="http://www.soomka.com/nadsat.html" rel="nofollow">Nadsat Dictionary</a></p></li>
<li><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadsat" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadsat</a></p>

<blockquote>
 <p>Nadsat is basically English with some borrowed words from Russian. It also contains influences from Cockney rhyming slang and the King James Bible, the German language, some words of unclear origin, and some that Burgess invented. The word nadsat itself is the suffix of Russian numerals from 11 to 19 (-надцать). </p>
</blockquote></li>
<li><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Clockwork_Orange#Use_of_slang" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Clockwork_Orange#Use_of_slang</a></p>

<blockquote>
 <p>The book, narrated by Alex, contains many words in a slang argot which Burgess invented for the book, called Nadsat. It is a mix of modified Slavic words, rhyming slang, derived Russian (like "baboochka"), and words invented by Burgess himself. For instance, these terms have the following meanings in Nadsat- 'droog' means 'friend' ; 'korova' means 'cow'; 'risp' is a shirt; 'golova' (gulliver) means 'head'; 'malchick' or 'malchickiwick' means 'boy'; 'soomka' means 'sack' or 'bag'; 'Bog' means 'God'; 'khorosho' (horrorshow) means 'good', 'prestoopnick' means 'criminal'; 'rooka' (rooker) is 'hand', 'cal' is 'crap', 'veck' ('chelloveck') is 'man' or 'guy'; 'litso' is 'face'; 'malenky' is 'little'; and so on. One of Alex's doctors explains the language to a colleague as "Odd bits of old rhyming slang; a bit of gypsy talk, too. But most of the roots are Slav propaganda. Subliminal penetration." </p>
</blockquote></li>
</ul>

<hr>
" OwnerUserId="63" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-20T13:02:02.600" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T13:02:02.600" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-11T23:25:10.003" CommentCount="7" />
<row Id="164" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="174" CreationDate="2011-01-11T23:27:02.033" Score="27" ViewCount="1185" Body="<p>I've never quite understood this about the series. They have space travel, but most other things about their universe seem primitive compared to ours.</p>
" OwnerUserId="98" LastEditorUserId="119" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-12T12:59:33.773" LastActivityDate="2012-06-11T22:11:54.947" Title="In the Dune series, why are they not using computers and programming related technologies?" Tags="<dune><computers>" AnswerCount="7" FavoriteCount="2" />
<row Id="165" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-11T23:28:04.560" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="<p>There's quite a vocabulary of <a href="http://www.yog-sothoth.com/wiki/index.php/R%27lyehian" rel="nofollow">R'lyehian</a> built up in Lovecraft's Cthulu mythos.</p>
" OwnerUserId="63" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T23:28:04.560" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-11T23:28:04.560" />
<row Id="166" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="178" CreationDate="2011-01-11T23:28:27.727" Score="32" ViewCount="2024" Body="<p>The one big question I've always had remaining about the firefly series was, what was Shepard Book's past? It's obvious he wasn't always a preacher, but what was he?</p>
" OwnerUserId="98" LastEditorUserId="98" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-04-08T04:51:59.950" LastActivityDate="2011-08-30T20:13:19.317" Title="What was Shepard Book's past in Firefly?" Tags="<tv><firefly><joss-whedon>" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
<row Id="171" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="164" CreationDate="2011-01-11T23:29:50.620" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Spoilers ahead, hover to see them:</p>

<blockquote>
 <blockquote class="spoiler">
 <p> Because machines that think were extinguished during Butlerian Jihad because they represent a perverted imitation of human mind. They use mentats (human computers) instead. However, if I'm not mistaken, Ixians break this rule, and other worlds tolerate this mostly because they need their technology.</p>
 </blockquote>
</blockquote>
" OwnerUserId="52" LastEditorUserId="52" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-12-13T20:43:55.460" LastActivityDate="2011-12-13T20:43:55.460" />
<row Id="174" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="164" CreationDate="2011-01-11T23:30:41.423" Score="59" ViewCount="" Body="<p>It is connected to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butlerian_Jihad" rel="nofollow">Buthlerian Jihad</a> - the crusade against computers and AI technologies that left them universally banned. The specific command prohibiting it is: <em>Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind.</em> The punishment for violation is death.</p>
" OwnerUserId="53" LastEditorUserId="366" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-16T15:13:23.193" LastActivityDate="2011-03-16T15:13:23.193" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="176" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="164" CreationDate="2011-01-11T23:31:06.537" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="<p>From what I remember there was a computer revolt prior to the time of Paul Atredies so they started training people to be human computers or Mentats.</p>
" OwnerUserId="64" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T23:31:06.537" />
<row Id="177" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="183" CreationDate="2011-01-11T23:32:45.663" Score="25" ViewCount="498" Body="<p>So, in the book in 2001, it says the monolith is around Saturn, and in the movie, it says it's around Jupiter. Also, in 2010, they both agree that it's around Jupiter. Why is that?</p>
" OwnerUserId="98" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T14:13:25.017" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T19:11:49.333" Title="Why is the destination of the Discovery in 2001: A Space Odyssey Saturn in the book and Jupiter in the movie?" Tags="<arthur-c-clarke><2001>" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="178" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="166" CreationDate="2011-01-11T23:34:14.383" Score="24" ViewCount="" Body="<p>If you like comics you can read his history in <a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1595825614" rel="nofollow">Serenity: The Shepherd's Tale</a>.</p>
" OwnerUserId="63" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T23:34:14.383" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="183" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="177" CreationDate="2011-01-11T23:36:27.830" Score="24" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The book and the film were written at the same time. The original plot was for both to go to Saturn. At the time, they didn't have suitable pictures of Saturn's rings to use for the film. The rings are very much a part of Saturn's image to the public, and they look very different when viewed at the close angles that a moon of Saturn would have. To use Jupiter, they could use a telesope to photograph the planet well enough, and one wouldn't be able to tell the difference in where it was shot.</p>

<p>As for 2010, Authur C. Clark liked the idea of Europa possibly having life, as had been recently identified by the Viking Missions, that he decided to stage both the book and the movie at Jupiter.</p>
" OwnerUserId="98" LastEditorUserId="98" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-19T19:11:49.333" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T19:11:49.333" CommentCount="5" />
<row Id="186" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="164" CreationDate="2011-01-11T23:38:18.987" Score="18" ViewCount="" Body="<p>One of the prequel books by Herbert's son: <a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/076530158X" rel="nofollow">Machine Crusade</a>, fills in the past where computers took over the early planets settled by humanity. The uprising to overthrow the computer/cybernetic/robot civilization was called the Butlerian Jihad (one of the final battles involved glassing and sterilizing Earth). It was so traumatic that following the destruction of the computers, having computers, or even machines that worked like human minds, were forbidden. </p>
" OwnerUserId="99" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T23:38:18.987" />
<row Id="187" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="177" CreationDate="2011-01-11T23:40:31.980" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Stanley Kubrick knew that if he tried to fabricate images of what Saturn <em>might</em> look like his film would be badly dated in only a few years. He wisely chose to use recent NASA images of Jupiter instead.</p>
" OwnerUserId="63" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T23:40:31.980" />
<row Id="194" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="128" CreationDate="2011-01-11T23:46:16.480" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The Empire in his Foundation series was based on the Chinese imperial system. Skilled people (including barbarians like Marco Polo) who could pass the civil service exams could enter the bureaucracy. This lead to a bureaucracy so massive and powerful (more powerful than the hereditary aristocracy) that the inertia would prevent even the emperor from making changes. </p>
" OwnerUserId="99" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T23:46:16.480" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="199" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="18" CreationDate="2011-01-11T23:52:39.587" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="<p>He originated from The Black Lodge, which was a place of evil in another dimension. He was described as 'a demonic being' who feeds on pain and suffering.</p>

<p>I think that at some point he was human, and a serial killer.</p>
" OwnerUserId="74" LastActivityDate="2011-01-11T23:52:39.587" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="213" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1323" CreationDate="2011-01-12T00:33:00.993" Score="13" ViewCount="170" Body="<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Bester" rel="nofollow">Alfred Bester</a>'s novel <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Demolished_Man" rel="nofollow"><em>The Demolished Man</em></a> was initially published (in <em>Galaxy</em> magazine) with such character names as “T8”, <a href="http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/3857/jackson-son-pun-or-topical-reference">“$$son”</a>, “@kins” and “¼maine” (a precursor to SMS-speak). The subsequent book publication greatly toned down the use of such abbreviations. Short of locating old issues of <em>Galaxy</em>, is the original version available somewhere?</p>

<p><a href="http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?2122" rel="nofollow">ISFDB</a> does not mention any differing versions.
My source for the existence of the original version is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randall_Garrett" rel="nofollow">Randall Garrett</a>'s review in verse in <em>Takeoff!</em>.</p>
" OwnerUserId="56" LastActivityDate="2012-06-28T07:01:12.760" Title="Versions of The Demolished Man" Tags="<written>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" />
<row Id="232" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2" CreationDate="2011-01-12T01:37:32.813" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Barrayar had two satellites, according to <a href="http://www.dendarii.com/bujold_faq.html#barr-moon" rel="nofollow">this source</a>.</p>
" OwnerUserId="53" LastEditorUserId="108" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-09-29T00:48:06.187" LastActivityDate="2011-09-29T00:48:06.187" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="235" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="63" CreationDate="2011-01-12T02:05:21.693" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="<p>In <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerando_%28novel%29" rel="nofollow">Accelerando</a>, civilizations that advance past the technological singularity tend to build concentric Dyson swarms of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computronium" rel="nofollow">computronium</a> around their stars, a construction known as a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matrioshka_brain" rel="nofollow">matrioshka brain</a>.</p>
" OwnerUserId="30" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T02:05:21.693" />
<row Id="236" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="237" CreationDate="2011-01-12T02:23:03.577" Score="12" ViewCount="713" Body="<p>I once saw a reference to a specific artificial world and never managed to track down the actual story, wondering if anyone can help id this. The world in question was a flat disk with a sun at the center, sort of like if Saturn's rings were solid and Saturn itself were a star. Every point on the surface would be in a state of perpetual sunrise/sunset. I've no idea if this was a short story, a novel, or what.</p>
" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-14T05:59:30.417" LastActivityDate="2011-09-29T01:11:35.573" Title="What story contained this peculiar artificial world?" Tags="<story-identification>" AnswerCount="5" />
<row Id="237" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="236" CreationDate="2011-01-12T02:27:57.303" Score="20" ViewCount="" Body="<p>This is an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alderson_disk" rel="nofollow">Alderson Disk</a> and has been featured in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwheel" rel="nofollow">Godwheel</a>. Enjoy.</p>
" OwnerUserId="51" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T02:27:57.303" />
<row Id="255" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-12T05:04:57.370" Score="13" ViewCount="592" Body="<p>Star Trek has a long history of introducing new technology.</p>

<p>TOS &amp; TNG introduced us with new technologies, who got adopted like the communicator as mobile phone.
When watching Star Trek (2009) i noticed the computers and consoles have been changed drastically.</p>

<p>However, I didn't notice anything special or new.
Of course there was this fancy transparent screen, but we know them at least since Star Gate and they are semi reality (microsoft surface exists, transparent screens exist)</p>

<p>Which technologies and device were introduced into the Star Trek universe through this movie?<br>
Is there any new tech prediction?</p>

<p><strong>Clarification</strong>:<br>
I am looking for those unexplained gadgets used by the redskirts.<br>
Explanations for what they could be would be interesting too.<br>
Since I found at one example (which I don't know the real purpose of) I think there has to be more.
Thoughts on their purpose give extra points :)</p>
" OwnerUserId="109" LastEditorUserId="30" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-25T02:17:39.680" LastActivityDate="2011-11-17T09:29:29.017" Title="Which technology was introduced through Star Trek (2009)?" Tags="<star-trek><movie><technology><prediction>" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="262" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="275" CreationDate="2011-01-12T06:12:45.223" Score="14" ViewCount="426" Body="<p>A couple of years ago I read a review of an interesting novel, but I lost the details and have never read the book.</p>

<p>The background premise was that genetic engineering had progressed to the point where those who could afford it were "improving" their children. Many of these children had no need of sleep, with the abilty to be active 24 hours a day. </p>

<p>The story itself was set some 18-20 years later, when these children were entering adulthood and dealing with the bigotry and prejudice that arose when the "rest of us" started to realise what a competitive advantage the non-sleepers have.</p>

<p>Anyone recognise the novel?</p>
" OwnerUserId="113" LastEditorUserId="56" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-12T08:19:57.397" LastActivityDate="2012-06-21T11:43:25.657" Title="Novel about genetically engineered children who don't need to sleep" Tags="<novel><story-identification>" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="266" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="48" CreationDate="2011-01-12T06:29:02.660" Score="25" ViewCount="" Body="<p>It appears that there are no current plans to continue:</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>On July 13, 2008, Straczynski revealed that he had no plans to continue The Lost Tales. He said that although the studio was interested in another disc, they wanted to budget the next installment similarly to the first. Citing his disappointment with the first release due to the low budget, Straczynski said he did not want to dilute Babylon 5's legacy with further sub-par stories. He stated that he would only return to the Babylon 5 universe if Warner Bros. wanted to do a large-budgeted cinema release.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>-- <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylon_5%3a_The_Lost_Tales" rel="nofollow">Babylon 5: The Lost Tales @ Wikipedia</a></p>

<p>Like many other fans, I'd love to see more Babylon 5 tales - but, equally, I'd hate to see the canon troubled by low quality (low budget) additions.</p>
" OwnerUserId="113" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T06:29:02.660" />
<row Id="268" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-12T06:58:26.470" Score="13" ViewCount="293" Body="<p>The main focus of Lovecraft's works are indeed... <em>aliens</em>. Lots and lots of aliens. Some visited Earth and lived on it. Some battled between themselves. Some built cities. Some destroyed cities. Some created civilizations (some of which collapsed and left ruins behind them). Some left, some are sleeping, some are well awake. Some are good, some are evil, some are neutral. Some are physical beings, some... well, not exactly.</p>

<p>H.P.L. was indeed one of the first writers to write about alien beings. He wrote about them so early, in fact, that "proper" sci-fi didn't even <em>exist</em> yet... so he was considered an horror writer; but... wouldn't you actually feel horrified if reading about hostile alien beings lurking everywwhere, when nobody had yet bothered considering them a pseudo-scientific issue?</p>

<p>Stories like "The Whisperer in the Darkness" or "At the Mountains of Madness" don't have anything even remotely <em>magical</em> in them, "only" aliens; and, by the way, is well known that <em>"any sufficiently advanced technology can't be distinguished from magic"</em></p>

<p>So can Lovecraft be considered a science fiction writer? Did later SF writers recognize him as a father of the genre?</p>
" OwnerUserId="89" LastEditorUserId="56" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-06-21T17:40:31.367" LastActivityDate="2012-06-21T17:40:36.297" Title="What influence did H.P. Lovecraft have on science fiction?" Tags="<horror><h-p-lovecraft><authors><cthulhu-mythos><history-of>" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="271" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="274" CreationDate="2011-01-12T07:26:04.867" Score="16" ViewCount="704" Body="<p>I couldn't figure this one out. Has anyone? I know it's about anti-matter and some kind of reactor, but what is it supposed to be doing?</p>
" OwnerUserId="115" LastEditorUserId="2935" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-10-14T19:13:56.577" LastActivityDate="2011-10-14T19:13:56.577" Title="How is the FTL drive supposed to work in Star Trek?" Tags="<star-trek><ftl-drive>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="4" />
<row Id="273" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="268" CreationDate="2011-01-12T07:42:01.697" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I think writers like Lovecraft are the genre 's forefathers, but his works have a different perspective than most sci-fi works. Different elements get in the mix that result in a story primarily of the horror kind. His work was, in my opinion, instrumental in exploring the ways in which aliens and arcane rituals can be used to evoke different emotional responses, but what makes him an Horror writer primarily is that he strives for that in his more mature works.</p>
" OwnerUserId="115" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T07:42:01.697" CommentCount="5" />
<row Id="274" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="271" CreationDate="2011-01-12T07:56:43.667" Score="24" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The matter-antimatter reaction is just the energy source for the work it has to do. The energy created by the reactor is used by the warp gondolas to build the warp field: this deforms the space-time-continuum.</p>

<p>So the spaceship itself isn't accelerating; the warp field makes the ship "falling" into the direction it should go. This has some side-effects, as moving in a direction other than straight forward is highly discouraged because of the damage done to the ship's hull.</p>

<p>You may picture it as if there would be a strong gravitational force in front of the spaceship which drags it through the room.</p>

<p><img src="http://images.wikia.com/memoryalpha/de/images/9/97/USS_Enterprise_NX-01_und_USS_Columbia_NX-02.jpg" alt="Image of the NX-01s warpfield"></p>

<p>As you can see, the time-space-continuum in the front of the ship is compressed, where in the back it is stretched. In the light gray area the normal room isn't altered. As a side-effect a observer outside of the warp field sees the ship stretched (like at the end of the intros).</p>
" OwnerUserId="109" LastEditorUserId="108" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-09-29T01:07:44.283" LastActivityDate="2011-09-29T01:07:44.283" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="275" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="262" CreationDate="2011-01-12T08:23:10.083" Score="17" ViewCount="" Body="<p>That sounds like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beggars_in_Spain" rel="nofollow"><code>Beggars in Spain</code></a> by <a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0380718774" rel="nofollow">Nancy Kress</a>, which was originally published as a novella in 1991 and then expanded into a novel in 1993.</p>
" OwnerUserId="23" LastEditorUserId="3804" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-06-21T11:43:25.657" LastActivityDate="2012-06-21T11:43:25.657" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="283" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="103" CreationDate="2011-01-12T09:46:19.230" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>There is a UK translation of Metro 2033 in Amazon's German site.</p>

<p>Here you can take a look directly: <a href="http://www.amazon.de/Metro-2033-Dmitry-Glukhovsky/dp/0575086246/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books-intl-de&amp;qid=1294825312&amp;sr=1-1#reader_0575086246" rel="nofollow">Metro 2033 English</a></p>
" OwnerUserId="119" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-14T18:42:50.983" LastActivityDate="2012-01-14T18:42:50.983" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="284" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="55" CreationDate="2011-01-12T09:53:32.203" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="<p>It isn't explicitly mentioned in the films. But I think the implication is there that Obi-wan, Yoda, Bail Organa, et. al. all knew the full truth about what happened.</p>

<p>In <em>Star Wars: A New Hope</em>, Obi-wan's lie about Anakin being "killed" by Vader certainly implies that he explicitly knows that Anakin became Darth Vader. If, at that stage in his life, he'd believed that him leaving Anakin for dead had killed him, he'd have said that.</p>

<p>In other words, at some point between him leaving Anakin half dead and Luke finding him on Tattooine, he (and presumably Yoda and his other allies) discovered Anakin's fate.</p>
" OwnerUserId="122" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-14T18:44:22.043" LastActivityDate="2012-01-14T18:44:22.043" />
<row Id="285" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="38" CreationDate="2011-01-12T09:57:11.623" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I think it's important to keep the era in which the work was written in mind when reading/watching it. A near-future novel set in 2001 but written in the 1960s should be considered to be set in "1960s plus 30-40 years" rather than "9 years before today".</p>
" OwnerUserId="122" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T09:57:11.623" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="286" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="164" CreationDate="2011-01-12T10:14:36.680" Score="17" ViewCount="" Body="<p>They are using <strong>mentats</strong>, the human equivalent of a computer, which came with analytical capabilities - the equivalent of programming, and with mnemonic abilities - the equivalent of computer data storage (databases). </p>

<p>For space travel they are using <strong>navigators</strong>, which are also an equivalent for a specialized navigation and prediction computer.</p>
" OwnerUserId="125" LastEditorUserId="125" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-12T11:28:22.090" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T11:28:22.090" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="292" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="596" CreationDate="2011-01-12T11:12:37.247" Score="3" ViewCount="240" Body="<p>Could there be a sequel to <a href="http://anobii.com/contributors/Daniel_Suarez/1128804/" rel="nofollow">Daniel Suarez</a>'s <a href="http://anobii.com/books/Freedom/9780525951575/017da2fd0155182119/" rel="nofollow">Freedom™</a>? What open issues are left to solve or explore?</p>
" OwnerUserId="55" LastActivityDate="2011-06-06T19:27:55.307" Title="Could there be a sequel to Freedom™?" Tags="<sequel>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="301" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="304" CreationDate="2011-01-12T12:37:54.053" Score="17" ViewCount="717" Body="<p>It is stated that Star Trek characters can talk freely with aliens using the universal translators, later built-in their com badges; but is it also mentioned somewhere how this device is supposed to work?</p>
" OwnerUserId="48" LastEditorUserId="143" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-10-21T07:10:47.467" LastActivityDate="2011-10-23T23:22:15.890" Title="How is the universal translator device in Star Trek supposed to work?" Tags="<star-trek><movie><languages>" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
<row Id="302" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="301" CreationDate="2011-01-12T12:41:25.970" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="<p>You might as well just think of it as magic. Like many other devices in Star Trek (e.g. the transporter), it's there for plot reasons rather than being based on any kind of scientific or technological extrapolation. In the case of the universal translator, it's so that they don't have to spend the first half of every episode with aliens on basic language lessons.</p>
" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T12:41:25.970" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="304" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="301" CreationDate="2011-01-12T12:44:24.037" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="<p>it isn't consistent. The existence of this tech is almost always a way to explain away the problem of inter-species communication. One ST:TNG episode, <em>Darmok</em> goes deeper. And I would watch that one if you are interested in a deeper understanding on inter-species communication. And it is the one episode that explains, in detail, what the universal translator really does. It sees patterns in language and identifies the other words that the alien words mean. However it doesn't understand metaphor.</p>

<p>It is basically magic.</p>

<p>Like Mike Scott says, the alternative is every episode being about learning a new language. The show would have been about language, not what the show is about now.</p>
" OwnerUserId="51" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T12:44:24.037" CommentCount="6" />
<row Id="305" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="301" CreationDate="2011-01-12T12:44:36.730" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="<p>In the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darmok">Darmok</a> episode of TNG, we get an insight into how it works.</p>

<p>Essentially, when encountering a new language, the universal translator takes samples of the new language and compares to known languages, and slowly builds up a database of words and phrases. In the episode linked, the UT has trouble understanding the alien language because they speak mostly in metaphors.</p>

<p>See also <a href="http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Universal_translator">Universal translator</a> for a more in-depth explanation, and more examples of episodes which feature the UT.</p>
" OwnerUserId="122" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T12:44:36.730" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="306" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25" CreationDate="2011-01-12T13:31:04.113" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I read the in the Foundation series in the chronological order and I would <strong>not recommend this order</strong> for 2 reason.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>There is some small thing, I would not call all of them spoiler, I could call them big clues, but some of them are so big that the guess is almost oblivious. I read them about 5 year ago, but still have a bad taste in the mouth of some punch that have been cut down by those clues.</p></li>
<li><p>The quality of the <em>prequels</em> (Prelude to Foundation and Forward the Foundation) is significantly lower the the main series. It just a motivation thing, but I was wondering why this series was so praised before I reach the Foundation book (the 1951 one).</p></li>
</ol>

<p>As it's said <a href="http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/25/chronological-order-of-foundation-series/45#45">here</a> it's better to read the Robot Series of Asimov because there is <em>genuine spoilers</em> of them in the Foundation series. </p>
" OwnerUserId="45" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T13:31:04.113" />
<row Id="310" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="311" CreationDate="2011-01-12T13:56:25.437" Score="72" ViewCount="2146" Body="<p>Star Trek often refers to 47 and Star Trek made a sport out of finding real or imagined references to 47. Why did Douglas Adams pick 42 as the ultimate answer in the Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy? </p>
" OwnerUserId="132" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-21T02:06:22.687" LastActivityDate="2011-06-20T11:35:26.183" Title="Why did Douglas Adams pick 42 as the ultimate answer?" Tags="<douglas-adams><hitchhikers-guide>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="5" />
<row Id="311" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="310" CreationDate="2011-01-12T13:59:50.223" Score="92" ViewCount="" Body="<p>According to Douglas Adams himself:</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>The answer to this is very simple. It was a joke. It had to be a number, an ordinary, smallish number, and I chose that one. Binary representations, base thirteen, Tibetan monks are all complete nonsense. I sat at my desk, stared into the garden and thought '42 will do'. I typed it out. End of story.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Source: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Answer_to_the_Ultimate_Question_of_Life,_the_Universe,_and_Everything#Answer_to_the_Ultimate_Question_of_Life.2C_the_Universe_and_Everything_.2842.29" rel="nofollow">Wikipedia article</a></p>
" OwnerUserId="52" LastEditorUserId="52" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-14T18:23:48.273" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T18:23:48.273" CommentCount="13" />
<row Id="312" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="255" CreationDate="2011-01-12T14:00:50.413" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="<p>None, the movie was built in an almost Fantasy setting compared to how technical Star Trek can be in some episodes.</p>
" OwnerUserId="35" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-12T14:29:49.407" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T14:29:49.407" CommentCount="4" />
<row Id="313" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="310" CreationDate="2011-01-12T14:10:19.003" Score="26" ViewCount="" Body="<blockquote>
 <p>Narrator: There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.<br>
 There is another theory which states that this has already happened. </p>
</blockquote>

<p>according to <code>The Original Hitchhiker Radio Scripts, 1985</code></p>

<p>I prefer not the test the other theory, therefore I refuse to answer your question.</p>
" OwnerUserId="109" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T14:10:19.003" CommentCount="6" />
<row Id="314" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28" CreationDate="2011-01-12T14:14:13.007" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I created a universe a while back called Time Bridge. This was before CC existed or was at least popular. It was a world building effort centered around a few periods of time all focused on a big time machine in space. The machine functioned on crap science, however everything else in the world was meant to be Hard SF.</p>

<p>I don't know if any of it still exists. It wasn't very popular and aside from a few role-players and artists, I was the only person working on it. Still, remnants should be out there still, maybe via the wayback machine. Who knows.</p>

<p>I can try to dig it up and re-post it somewhere if anyone wants. Say if I get 20 upvotes on a comment I add to this answer.</p>
" OwnerUserId="51" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T14:14:13.007" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="316" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="320" CreationDate="2011-01-12T14:33:51.173" Score="13" ViewCount="296" Body="<p>How likely is it both scientifically and medically that Frank Poole could have been found in space and revived as in <em>3001: The Final Odyssey</em>, 1000 years after Hal jettisoned his body from the Discovery?</p>
" OwnerUserId="40" LastEditorUserId="40" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-12T14:44:51.547" LastActivityDate="2011-07-28T17:37:42.323" Title="How likely that Frank Poole could be revived after 1000 years in space" Tags="<movie><arthur-c-clarke>" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" />
<row Id="319" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="316" CreationDate="2011-01-12T15:10:34.287" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Scientifically and medically, Frank Poole had no chance of survival. Space is not a cryogenic freezer. In fact due to the vacuum your body would start <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum#Outgassing" rel="nofollow">outgassing</a>, and your cells would be frozen in a crystalline structure that would do massive damage both as they froze and as they thawed. Even if you are in a space suit, you would eventually be subject to these issues - you would just survive a little longer until the suit's batteries/electronics/seals failed.</p>
" OwnerUserId="17" LastEditorUserId="1774" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-07-28T17:37:42.323" LastActivityDate="2011-07-28T17:37:42.323" />
<row Id="320" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="316" CreationDate="2011-01-12T15:35:06.480" Score="17" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Actually, it is worse than what Zypher said. Space doesn't have anything for your body to lose heat through, so you only lose heat slowly through radiation. The core body temperature of Frank would have been sufficient for long enough for the bacteria in his gut to have ate their way through most of his body. Spreading outward and consuming his body. He would swell, then release a stream of putrid fluid into space.</p>

<p>He would have shot around like a water balloon with the end untied. This destabilization would have likely lead him out of any chart-able orbit, which would have been tenuous anyway, as he probably would have floated along with the ship and burned up in Jupiter's atmosphere. Or would have been slingshot into the sun or out of the solar system as a meat version of the Voyager probe.</p>

<p>Only harder to find, since his trajectory would be incalculable. So it would be a sphere around the solar system of roughly 500,000,000,000 miles. (If Jupiter didn't impart any additional speed to his body, and Discovery was traveling at roughly 50,000 MPH.)</p>

<p>EDIT</p>

<p>I had way too much fun writing that.</p>
" OwnerUserId="51" LastEditorUserId="51" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-12T15:40:07.177" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T15:40:07.177" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="321" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-12T15:41:28.523" Score="13" ViewCount="556" Body="<p>I believe the question speaks for itself, but to elaborate, I cannot think of any video games based on an existing IP that are actually considered canonical. For example, there exists a large library of Star Wars novels that are considered canon by Lucasfilms, but I know of no games - even when the writing is exceptional.</p>

<p>Does anyone know of any games that are considered canon either by the original IP's creator or the fan community at large? It seems like an obvious way to connect with gamers and build a loyal fanbase.</p>
" OwnerUserId="133" LastActivityDate="2012-02-13T04:47:41.027" ClosedDate="2012-02-23T20:18:31.357" Title="Are any Sci-Fi video games considered canon?" Tags="<canon><video-games>" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="4" />
<row Id="322" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="321" CreationDate="2011-01-12T15:45:00.137" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Most giant canon machines are based around older media. Games are typically viewed as marketing. So you see games that appear in these worlds, but normally as advertising for the world.</p>

<p>If you want to find games that generate canon for a universe, you almost have to look for worlds that started with games. Like Halo.</p>
" OwnerUserId="51" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T15:45:00.137" CommentCount="4" />
<row Id="323" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25" CreationDate="2011-01-12T15:49:57.247" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="<p>My own advice would be to read "<em>Foundation</em>", "<em>Foundation and Empire</em>" and "<em>Second Foundation</em>", in that order, and then stop. The newer ones are nothing like as good. </p>

<p>If you still want more, then Donald Kingsbury's "<em><a href="http://www.donaldkingsbury.com/PsychoCrisis/PsychoCrisis.html" rel="nofollow">Psychohistorical Crisis</a></em>" is better than any of the "official" ones.</p>
" OwnerUserId="23" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-14T19:00:01.120" LastActivityDate="2012-01-14T19:00:01.120" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="326" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="321" CreationDate="2011-01-12T15:58:33.210" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="<p>According to <a href="http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Canon#Canon_and_games" rel="nofollow">Wookieepedia</a>:</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>In mission and quest solving, canon is assumed to be the fullest and best outcome possible of each mission/quest available as given in the briefing or scenario. Kyle Katarn, Keyan Farlander, Maarek Stele, Jaden Korr, etc. never failed their quests.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>In addition to that:</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>In side-choosing games such as the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic series and Dark Forces saga where the player has the choice between light side and dark side, as of yet, the light side ending has been verified as canonical by Lucasfilm in all games.</p>
</blockquote>
" OwnerUserId="63" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T15:58:33.210" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="328" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="331" CreationDate="2011-01-12T16:07:43.957" Score="41" ViewCount="2095" Body="<p>I can think of 3 kinds of big. </p>

<ul>
<li>By volume</li>
<li>By a linear measure</li>
<li>By mass or weight</li>
</ul>

<p>Bonus points for all three. Extra bonus points for the object being realistic in construction.</p>

<p>Let's add to it that it not be naturally occurring.</p>
" OwnerUserId="51" LastEditorUserId="1080" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-08-06T05:03:29.220" LastActivityDate="2012-03-03T23:48:54.160" Title="What is the largest (engineered) physical object dreamed of in science fiction?" Tags="<technology><engineering>" AnswerCount="26" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="7" />
<row Id="329" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="316" CreationDate="2011-01-12T16:08:21.270" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="<p>In such a time the body would be scattered into pieces through numerous collisions with micrometeoroids, and the DNA would degrade due to space radiation.</p>
" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T16:08:21.270" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="330" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="328" CreationDate="2011-01-12T16:08:26.933" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ringworld" rel="nofollow">Ringworld</a> However, I know you guys can do better! It is roughly 300 million miles in circumference and about 1 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomical_unit" rel="nofollow">AU</a> in radius (i.e., 93 million miles). It is composed of material with a tensile strength close to that of the strong nuclear force. It is roughly as massive as all the planets in a star system.</p>
" OwnerUserId="51" LastEditorUserId="33" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T01:03:56.837" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T01:03:56.837" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="331" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="328" CreationDate="2011-01-12T16:16:08.630" Score="45" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The biggest in terms of volume would probably be a Matrioshka brain.</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>A <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matrioshka_brain" rel="nofollow">Matrioshka brain</a> is a collection of multiple Concentric Dyson Spheres which make use of different wavelengths of light.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Here's the list from Wikipedia's article on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megastructure#Theoretical_megastructures" rel="nofollow">Megastructures</a> where I found it:</p>

<blockquote>
 <ul>
 <li>The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alderson_disk" rel="nofollow">Alderson disk</a> is a theoretical structure in the shape of a disk, where the outer radius is equivalent to the orbit of Mars or Jupiter and the thickness is several thousand miles. A civilization could live on either side, held by the gravity of the disk and still receive sunlight from a star bobbing up and down in the middle of the disk.</li>
 <li>A <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyson_sphere" rel="nofollow">Dyson sphere</a> (also known as a Dyson Shell) refers to a structure or mass of orbiting objects that completely surrounds a star to make full use of its solar energy.</li>
 <li>Larry Niven's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ringworld" rel="nofollow">Ringworld</a> is an artificial ring with a radius roughly equal to the radius of the Earth's orbit. A star is present in the center and the ring spins to provide artificial gravity.</li>
 <li>A <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matrioshka_brain" rel="nofollow">Matrioshka brain</a> is a collection of multiple Concentric Dyson Spheres which make use of different wavelengths of light.</li>
 <li>A <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_engine" rel="nofollow">Stellar engine</a> either uses the temperature difference between a star and interstellar space to extract energy or serves as a Shkadov thruster.</li>
 <li>A <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_engine#Class_A_.28Shkadov_thruster.29" rel="nofollow">Shkadov thruster</a> accelerates an entire star through space by selectively reflecting or absorbing light on one side of it.</li>
 <li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topopolis" rel="nofollow">Topopolis</a> (also known as Cosmic Spaghetti) is a large tube that rotates to provide artificial gravity.</li>
 </ul>
</blockquote>

<p>A couple of the others that move entire stars around would probably be considered bigger in terms of mass <em>if</em> you count the mass of the star.</p>
" OwnerUserId="63" LastEditorUserId="63" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-12T16:26:42.197" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T16:26:42.197" CommentCount="6" />
<row Id="334" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="328" CreationDate="2011-01-12T16:33:07.817" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Isn't there a space-opera series where an (obviously) disappeared alien race litteraly carved a galaxy ? I even remember there are some kind of tourists visiting this galaxy ... No in fact, i remember, it's not a galaxy, it's a chain of stars, linked each one to the other by ... a typical Ancient Disappeared Race means. Accordint to timday's excellent comment, it's the kiimt homeworld in Night's Dawn hyper-huge trilogy of Peter F Hamilton.</p>
" OwnerUserId="118" LastEditorUserId="118" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T10:54:10.913" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T10:54:10.913" CommentCount="4" />
<row Id="335" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="328" CreationDate="2011-01-12T16:41:07.267" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="<p>in <a href="http://theinfosphere.org/Time_Keeps_on_Slippin%27" rel="nofollow">Time Keeps on Slippin</a>, an episode of Futurama, Fry uses a <a href="http://theinfosphere.org/Bad-Ass_Gravity_Pump" rel="nofollow">Bad-Ass Gravity Pump</a> to move a whole mess of stars to spell out a message to Leela. The message reads: "I Love You, Leela."</p>
" OwnerUserId="51" LastEditorUserId="51" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-19T16:15:23.233" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T16:15:23.233" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="336" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="353" CreationDate="2011-01-12T16:46:39.817" Score="18" ViewCount="1260" Body="<p>I just finished Surface Detail by Iain M. Banks....I'm hooked and have a couple of questions on the Culture novels:</p>

<ul>
<li>Is there an order to the novels (preferred or otherwise) ? </li>
<li>What is the timeline of the novels ? </li>
</ul>
" OwnerUserId="82" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-13T00:55:46.920" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T12:16:36.860" Title="What is the order/timeline for Iain M. Banks "Culture" novels?" Tags="<iain-m-banks><the-culture>" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
<row Id="337" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="328" CreationDate="2011-01-12T16:49:19.833" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="<p>In <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Galaxy_Railways" rel="nofollow">The Galaxy Railways</a> there is a galactic size interstellar railway system. (This is the same universe as the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlock_Saga" rel="nofollow">Harlock Saga</a>, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galaxy_Express_999" rel="nofollow">Galaxy Express 999</a>)</p>
" OwnerUserId="51" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T16:49:19.833" />
<row Id="338" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="31" CreationDate="2011-01-12T17:03:04.583" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="<p>From the information on the <a href="http://www.philipkdick.com/new_exegesis.html">Philip K. Dick Exegesis page</a>....</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>Although Philip K. Dick's In the
 Pursuit of VALIS: Selections from the
 Exegesis was published in the year
 1991, there remain thousands of
 unpublished pages from this mostly
 handwritten journal. It contains
 autobiographical material,
 philosophical speculation and analysis
 of his own fiction. Due to the
 continuing interest in these
 unpublished pages, the Philip K. Dick
 Trust will be releasing additional
 volumes from the vast collection.
 <strong>These writings will be exclusive to
 PhilipKDick.com</strong>. Please visit
 regularly to see the most recent
 releases.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>....It does not look like a full copy of Exegesis will be published. Rats.</p>
" OwnerUserId="82" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T17:03:04.583" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="342" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="328" CreationDate="2011-01-12T17:33:54.107" Score="31" ViewCount="" Body="<p>In Greg Egan's <em>Diaspora</em>, the manufactured objects at the end of the characters' journey are inconceivably vast in terms of our universe. Each sub-atomic particle contains an entire universe, each sub-atomic particle of which contains an entire universe, then iterate millions of times until you get to our universe.</p>

<p>Nothing else in SF comes within trillions of orders of magnitude of being as large.</p>
" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T17:33:54.107" CommentCount="7" />
<row Id="347" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="23" CreationDate="2011-01-12T18:08:23.650" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The Creators appear to have deleted some scenes, but they plan to add them back in a new release.
At least, according to <a href="http://gigaom.com/video/pioneer-one-trailblazes-a-new-path-to-tvs/" rel="nofollow">this article here on November 15, 2010</a>. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hN49juALYgI" rel="nofollow">This YouTube video</a> has the deleted scenes, which appear to be scenes 2 and 3 from the original pilot.</p>
" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T18:08:23.650" />
<row Id="348" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="350" CreationDate="2011-01-12T18:11:03.193" Score="25" ViewCount="453" Body="<p>I'm thinking of some sort of visual timeline to show the relative relationships of all these time-based events.</p>
" OwnerUserId="74" LastActivityDate="2011-06-26T11:36:25.087" Title="Has anyone tried to map out all the Star Trek time travel?" Tags="<star-trek><time-travel>" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="4" />
<row Id="349" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="371" CreationDate="2011-01-12T18:16:38.883" Score="11" ViewCount="253" Body="<p>What do the moravecs (humanoid machines from the Jovian system) look like in Dan Simmons' <em>Ilium</em>?</p>

<p>I am halfway through the book and haven't seen a good description yet as to their appearance.</p>
" OwnerUserId="40" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-14T22:00:38.587" LastActivityDate="2012-01-14T22:00:38.587" Title="What do the moravecs look like in "Ilium" by Dan Simmons?" Tags="<books><dan-simmons>" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="350" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="348" CreationDate="2011-01-12T18:20:26.533" Score="20" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Check out <a href="http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/timelines/" rel="nofollow">Information is Beautiful - Timelines: Time travel in popular films and tv</a></p>

<p>There are a lot of other Sci-Fi time travelers listed on there along with the Star Trek crews.</p>
" OwnerUserId="63" LastEditorUserId="63" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-12T18:34:01.643" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T18:34:01.643" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="353" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="336" CreationDate="2011-01-12T18:43:34.323" Score="17" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I think the internal chronology roughly matches the publication order. But there's not much canonical information about this, most books don't contain a date. The <a href="http://www.iainbanksfaq.haddonstuff.co.uk/" rel="nofollow">Iain Banks FAQ</a> has a (tentative, not up-to-date) <a href="http://www.iainbanksfaq.haddonstuff.co.uk/#What_timescale_in_Earth_terms_do_the_Culture_novels_cover0" rel="nofollow">timeline</a>.</p>

<p>The novels are self-contained. You can read them in any order. You might want to read the first novel first (<em>Consider Phlebas</em>) as an introduction to the Culture, but it's not strictly necessary.</p>
" OwnerUserId="56" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T18:43:34.323" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="355" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="328" CreationDate="2011-01-12T18:50:46.703" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I voted for the dyson sphere as being the biggest realistic. If you want something that's not as big but maybe more realistic - then the culture ships from the iain banks books. Ships that are miles long, housing millions of people, other ships and capable of building other ships.</p>
" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T18:50:46.703" CommentCount="5" />
<row Id="356" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="328" CreationDate="2011-01-12T18:52:18.933" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>In mass this might not be very big, but in terms of the scale of distance it covers, it's HUGE - the stargate's in the stargate series. A series of wormhole transports that span not only this galaxy, but connect over to another (Andromeda) galaxy. </p>
" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T18:52:18.933" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="357" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="316" CreationDate="2011-01-12T19:09:38.507" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Given what the others have said, i still think it would be possible to revive him, assuming you could find his body and it was relatively intact.</p>

<p>In a thousand years from now, assuming there isn't some huge mega-disaster that sets us back to the stone-age, think how far we will have progressed. Just consider nano-technology alone. </p>

<p>Even if the dna in his body is badly degraded, you could take bits and pieces of it and then assemble a whole. Using nano-robots you could either have them physically go in and repair each dna strand, and then repair each cell. Or, using the whole dna strand, grow a new body. The real question is the brain. I know the brain cells would all be trashed - destroyed by freezing and then desiccated. But maybe that's not that important, as long as you can still map out the individual connections. I'm not sure how likely that would be since when the cells freeze and dry out, i'm sure some/all of those connections are going to be broken and it might not be possible to piece them back together.</p>

<p>So to me, his body/dna is almost irrelevant. I'm thinking we could repair it and/or grow him a new one pretty easily by that point in the future. To me it all comes down to the brain. 
<a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2742633/" rel="nofollow">http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2742633/</a>
That doesn't really answer the question although it does lend some evidence that structures in the brain can be preserved after death. </p>

<p><a href="http://www.alcor.org/Library/html/braincryopreservation1.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.alcor.org/Library/html/braincryopreservation1.html</a>
And that one is even more encouraging, although of course that's talking about freezing under controlled and optimal conditions. But it at least lends some support that it's possible to freeze the brain and maintain the structures. A 1000 years in the future i dont think it'll matter if the cells themselves are all basically destroyed. You can use nano-robots to repair them. I think it just matters if you can still map out the individual neural connections. If you can do that, then i think you could revive him.</p>
" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T19:09:38.507" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="365" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-12T19:55:13.337" Score="9" ViewCount="1049" Body="<p>In "The Windup Girl," there is frequent talk about kink-spring devices. Googling kink-springs doesn't turn up anything. Is this a real technology or has it been made up or is this just the same as the torsion spring in a plastic wind up toy? e.g. <a href="http://www.damninteresting.com/why-not-a-wind-up-car" rel="nofollow">http://www.damninteresting.com/why-not-a-wind-up-car</a> </p>

<p>The part that throws me is the word "kink", it makes it sound like there is something being referenced in the real world.</p>

<p>EDIT: And I'm under no illusion that The Windup Girl is a non-fiction textbook about mechanical engineering. Many people seem to think I'm asking for the answer "'The Windup Girl' is a work of fiction"</p>
" OwnerUserId="10" LastEditorUserId="10" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-02-17T14:09:10.667" LastActivityDate="2012-02-17T14:09:10.667" Title="In Paolo Bacigalupi's The Windup Girl, what real world device does a kink spring correspond to?" Tags="<technology>" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="366" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="328" CreationDate="2011-01-12T19:55:50.787" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Not as big as an universe, but the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"'s planet-builders are impressive and fascinating.</p>

<p><img src="http://i.stack.imgur.com/9MLKr.jpg" alt="alt text"></p>

<p>Unfortunately, the planets <em>would</em> be naturally occurring, but, who knows at the end...</p>
" OwnerUserId="57" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T19:55:50.787" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="367" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="365" CreationDate="2011-01-12T19:59:46.200" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="<p>It's made-up technology that is not actually possible in the real world (or rather, cannot be made capable of storing useful amounts of energy). Bacigalupi has no understanding of thermodynamics, and just puts stuff in his books if it seems cool.</p>
" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T19:59:46.200" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="369" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="365" CreationDate="2011-01-12T20:05:16.717" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I'd say the closest we have to that now would be a using a flywheel. It doesn't use a spring. Rather, you spin a heavy object, effectively storing energy in it. When you need the energy back, you use the wheel to turn 'whatever' - or maybe you lower some coils around it and turn it into a giant electro-magnet and use it to generate electricity. I think you get the idea.</p>

<p>The kink springs in that story are basically doing the same thing, except instead of spinning a wheel, you're tightening a spring. Except i don't know of any springs that are capable of storing useful amounts of energy.</p>
" OwnerUserId="39" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T20:05:16.717" />
<row Id="371" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="349" CreationDate="2011-01-12T20:16:38.490" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="<p>As you noticed, the novel is a bit short on specific descriptions. Little bits here and there. For the two main moravec characters:</p>

<ul>
<li>Mahnmut is a small humanoid analog...sometimes.</li>
<li>Orphu is a horseshoe crab...sorta.</li>
</ul>

<blockquote>
 <p>The moravec was not designed for
 walking — his role was mostly to sit
 in an exploration submersible,
 sometimes to swim — and when he grew
 tired of being a biped, he altered the
 workings of his joints and spine and
 padded along like a dog for a while.</p>
 
 <p><em>- Ilium, Chapter 22</em></p>
</blockquote>

<p>These images might be a start... </p>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://lostro.deviantart.com/art/Orphu-and-Mahnmut-158219297" rel="nofollow">Orphu and Mahnmut</a> </li>
<li><a href="http://sicknarsh.deviantart.com/art/Hamlet-meets-the-dark-lady-75414040?q=sort%3Atime+favby%3AMidnight-King&amp;qo=1" rel="nofollow">Hamlet meets the dark lady</a></li>
<li><a href="http://m0ai.deviantart.com/art/Mahnmut-etc-71924658" rel="nofollow">Mahnmut, etc.</a></li>
</ul>

<p>Ultimately they look like almost anything your imagination can come up with :)</p>
" OwnerUserId="82" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T20:16:38.490" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="373" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="379" CreationDate="2011-01-12T20:34:14.750" Score="36" ViewCount="621" Body="<p>Was Philip K. Dick able to watch a complete version of "<em>Blade Runner</em>" before his death or just unedited material?</p>

<p>The "<em>Blade Runner</em>" release date according to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blade_Runner">Wikipedia</a> and IMDB was 25 June, 1982. Philip Dick died a few months before, on March 2, 1982.</p>
" OwnerUserId="137" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-14T22:02:56.057" LastActivityDate="2012-01-14T22:02:56.057" Title="Did Philip Dick watch Blade Runner before his death?" Tags="<philip-k-dick><blade-runner>" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="3" />
<row Id="374" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="377" CreationDate="2011-01-12T20:34:21.303" Score="7" ViewCount="384" Body="<p>I remember reading what I believe is a short story about a brother and sister who somehow come into possession of some toys which turn out to be from aliens. Through playing with them they develop a language their parents can't understand and start to develop mentally far faster than any human. </p>

<p>Does anyone recognize this story, or remember who wrote it or what it's called? </p>
" OwnerUserId="74" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-14T22:03:40.313" LastActivityDate="2012-01-14T22:04:32.090" Title="Story about earth children playing with alien toys. Who wrote it?" Tags="<story-identification><languages><children>" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="376" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="255" CreationDate="2011-01-12T20:45:56.987" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I noticed the hover bike in the scene where the police chases young Kirk. While the concept of hover bike itself is not new, I believe it is new to the Star Trek universe.</p>
" OwnerUserId="32" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T20:45:56.987" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="377" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="374" CreationDate="2011-01-12T21:01:23.007" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Aha! I found it! It's called <a href="http://mimsyweretheborogoves.webs.com/index.htm" rel="nofollow">"Mimsy Were the Borogoves"</a> by Lewis Padgett (pseudoynm). It's even cooler sounding than I remembered!</p>

<p>Wikipedia: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimsy_Were_the_Borogoves" rel="nofollow">Mimsy Were the Borogoves</a></p>
" OwnerUserId="74" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-14T22:04:32.090" LastActivityDate="2012-01-14T22:04:32.090" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="379" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="373" CreationDate="2011-01-12T21:24:51.960" Score="34" ViewCount="" Body="<p>No, he never saw the completed film, but he thought highly of the excerpts that he did see. There's a copy <a href="http://www.philipkdick.com/new_letters-laddcompany.html" rel="nofollow">here</a> of a letter that he sent to the production company.</p>
" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T21:24:51.960" />
<row Id="382" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="349" CreationDate="2011-01-12T22:12:31.013" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="<p>If I remember rightly they're named Moravec's in honour of <a href="http://www.frc.ri.cmu.edu/~hpm/" rel="nofollow">Hans Moravec</a> a researcher at the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, who has published various books about the future directions of robotics, transcendence and other related stuff.</p>
" OwnerUserId="140" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T22:12:31.013" />
<row Id="386" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="28" CreationDate="2011-01-12T22:39:41.227" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Have a look at Cory Doctorow's website <a href="http://craphound.com/">Craphound</a> he releases all of his stories under Creative Commons Licenses, for instance "<a href="http://craphound.com/walh/e-book/browse-all-versions">With a Little Help</a>" is released under <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">(CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)</a>.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/index.html">Charles Stross</a> has also released some of his work under similar terms, there are details <a href="http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/fiction/online-fiction-by-charles-stro.html">here</a>.</p>
" OwnerUserId="140" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T22:39:41.227" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="391" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="321" CreationDate="2011-01-12T23:12:18.827" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I have been informed by a co-worker that the game Star Trek: 25th Anniversary is actually considered canon by Alex Kurtzmann and Roberto Orci.</p>
" OwnerUserId="133" LastEditorUserId="108" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-09-29T01:01:54.980" LastActivityDate="2011-09-29T01:01:54.980" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="392" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="398" CreationDate="2011-01-12T23:14:07.500" Score="12" ViewCount="324" Body="<p>Where does the phrase "on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gripping_Hand" rel="nofollow">the gripping hand</a>" come from and what does it mean in the context of that work?</p>

<p>I'll add that I just finished reading <em>The Mote in God's Eye</em> and this is not the origin of the phrase, as I had suspected.</p>
" OwnerUserId="63" LastEditorUserId="3804" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-06-21T16:39:02.873" LastActivityDate="2012-06-21T16:39:02.873" Title="What is the origin of the phrase "on the gripping hand?"" Tags="<history-of><etymology>" AnswerCount="3" />
<row Id="396" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="392" CreationDate="2011-01-12T23:25:03.683" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="<p>A crucial plot element of the book is the idiom "on the gripping hand", a three-armed variation of the idiom "On one hand X, on the other hand Y." The saying is native to the alien Moties, who have three arms, one of which is stronger but possesses less finesse. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_gripping_hand_%28idiom%29" rel="nofollow">link text</a></p>
" OwnerUserId="141" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T23:25:03.683" />
<row Id="397" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="392" CreationDate="2011-01-12T23:29:15.200" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="<p>This comes from "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gripping_Hand" title="Wikipedia page">The Gripping Hand</a>", the sequel to "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mote_in_God%27s_Eye" title="Wikipedia page">The Mote in God's Eye</a>". In the story, the humans have contact with aliens known as Moties. The Moties have three arms: two dexterous right arms and a strong muscular left arm. The left hand is the literal "gripping hand".</p>

<p>The expression "<a href="http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/O/on-the-gripping-hand.html" title="Jargon file entry">on the gripping hand</a>" is used to enumerate the last of three possible choices, following the structure "on one hand X, on the other hand Y, on the gripping hand Z".</p>

<blockquote class="spoiler">
 <p> In the book the humans provide three choices to the Moties:
 on one hand extermination; on the other hand forceful confinement
 to their home system; and on the gripping hand a genetic modification
 that slows down their explosive reproduction rate and allows them to share
 the galaxy with humans</p>
</blockquote>
" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="30" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-12T23:50:38.637" LastActivityDate="2011-01-12T23:50:38.637" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="398" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="392" CreationDate="2011-01-12T23:39:10.690" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The way I understand the history, the concept of a “gripping hand” did originate in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mote_in_God%27s_Eye"><em>The Mote in God's Eye</em></a> (published in 1974). This novel features aliens who have three hands, one of them significantly stronger than the other two and most useful for gripping.</p>

<p>But the expression “on the gripping hand” came later, coined by people who'd read the book. The earliest reference on <a href="http://www.google.com/search?tbs=bks:1,cdr:1,cd_min%3aJan%203_2%201,cd_max%3aDec%2031_2%201992&amp;tbo=p&amp;q=%22on+the+gripping+hand%22&amp;num=10">Google Books</a> is a <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=V2JVAAAAMAAJ&amp;q=%22on+the+gripping+hand%22&amp;dq=%22on+the+gripping+hand%22&amp;hl=en&amp;ei=BDkuTe6IPIbOhAeag5WVCQ&amp;sa=X&amp;oi=book_result&amp;ct=result&amp;resnum=2&amp;ved=0CCwQ6AEwAQ"><em>Byte</em> magazine article from 1986</a>. Google Books also finds a result in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playgrounds_of_the_Mind"><em>Playgrounds of the Mind</em></a> (a <a href="http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?PLYGRNDSFT1991">short story collection</a> published in 1991). And only then does the expression become a plot point in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gripping_Hand"><em>The Gripping Hand</em></a> (1993).</p>
" OwnerUserId="56" LastEditorUserId="56" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-21T22:49:27.973" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T22:49:27.973" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="401" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="402" CreationDate="2011-01-12T23:51:28.357" Score="27" ViewCount="1823" Body="<p>I assume it was the pilot of the derelict ship who sent the SOS that set the plot in motion, but <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078748/">Alien</a> only gives us a brief glimpse and not many clues (at least none so overt that I picked up on them).</p>

<p><img src="http://i.stack.imgur.com/H3kO0.jpg" alt="Alien derelict ship captain"></p>

<p>So who or what is that? Do we know anything about him? Do any of the other movies or books go back and fill in any of his back story?</p>
" OwnerUserId="63" LastEditorUserId="45" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-04T17:28:42.637" LastActivityDate="2012-06-21T17:48:55.250" Title="Who sent the distress signal in Alien?" Tags="<movie><aliens><alien-franchise><alien-1979>" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="402" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="401" CreationDate="2011-01-13T00:05:25.763" Score="20" ViewCount="" Body="<p>That is "<a href="http://aliens.wikia.com/wiki/Space_Jockey" rel="nofollow">the space jockey</a>." The upcoming movie is supposed to go into detail about this race and how the badguys spread around the universe. </p>
" OwnerUserId="99" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T00:05:25.763" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="403" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="405" CreationDate="2011-01-13T00:22:08.863" Score="7" ViewCount="203" Body="<p>Whilst not asking for spoilers, are the Rama sequels worth reading for answers to the questions posed in the original?</p>

<p>In particular is the nature and purpose of the unseen aliens explained?</p>
" OwnerUserId="120" LastEditorUserId="108" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-09-29T00:57:01.947" LastActivityDate="2011-09-29T00:57:01.947" Title="Are any of the questions in Rendezvous with Rama answered in the sequels" Tags="<arthur-c-clarke><rendezvous-with-rama>" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="404" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="268" CreationDate="2011-01-13T00:22:37.990" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="<p>In Lovecraft's universe, the universe is a dark and scary place, with things that human minds can't comprehend; and that humanity will <em>never</em> learn enough to push back all the darkness. Charles Stross wrote an interesting bit in the back of one of his books (probably Atrocity Archives) claiming that the heir to Lovecraft's horror was Len Deighton - that the inability to stop the Cold War was substantially the same as the inability to stop the many angled ones from the darkness. </p>
" OwnerUserId="99" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T00:22:37.990" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="405" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="403" CreationDate="2011-01-13T00:33:55.713" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="<blockquote>
 <p><em>In particular the nature and purpose of the unseen aliens?</em></p>
</blockquote>

<p>Those aliens get explained in Rama Revealed (the 4th book in the series). </p>
" OwnerUserId="99" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T00:33:55.713" />
<row Id="406" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="409" CreationDate="2011-01-13T01:20:46.533" Score="24" ViewCount="1226" Body="<p>In the movie <em>The Book of Eli</em>, some of the characters look at each others hands the first time they meet. I don't recall any explanation of this behavior in the movie. What were they doing and why?</p>
" OwnerUserId="27" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-18T13:46:38.813" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T13:46:38.813" Title="Why did people look at each others hands in The Book of Eli?" Tags="<movie>" AnswerCount="2" />
<row Id="409" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="406" CreationDate="2011-01-13T01:36:03.890" Score="23" ViewCount="" Body="<p>They looked at each other's hands to see if they were shaking.</p>

<blockquote class="spoiler">
 <p> At one point in the story it's explained that a side effect of eating too much human meat is a shaking of the extremeties.</p>
</blockquote>
" OwnerUserId="63" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T01:36:03.890" CommentCount="7" />
<row Id="410" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8481" CreationDate="2011-01-13T02:08:12.783" Score="16" ViewCount="668" Body="<p>In the book, humans were in a long war with an alien race that had a slight upper hand in numbers and technology, and so were slowly losing ground. At the start of the war, Earth had cut itself off from all contact with the rest of humanity; I think this was hundreds of years before the events in the book. As the book opens, a single spaceship from Earth arrives at the human's capital world, IIRC to pick up an ambassador to travel to the alien's home world for peace negotiations.</p>

<p>Some more plot points dredged from memory: </p>

<ul>
<li>The Earth ship had a small crew, somewhere around 4 or 5. The Earth humans had psychic powers, but galactic humans didn't.</li>
<li>Earth had gone through a lot of social upheaval during its isolation from the rest of the galaxy.</li>
<li>I think the aliens were telepathic (the Earth humans didn't tell the galactic ambassador about all their plans because he couldn't shield his thoughts).</li>
</ul>

<p>The ending went along these lines:</p>

<blockquote class="spoiler">
 <p> After the peace mission, the aliens invade Earth with a large part of their military and trigger a booby trap that destroys them along with Earth. After that, the balance of power is in humanity's favor.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>If it helps, I would have read the book in the late 1970s or early 1980s, but I believe it was published some time before that.</p>
" OwnerUserId="27" LastEditorUserId="56" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-06-10T18:14:24.227" LastActivityDate="2012-01-15T08:47:49.937" Title="What novel had an isolationist Earth and the rest of humanity in a war of attrition against aliens?" Tags="<story-identification><aliens><space><warfare>" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="414" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="43" CreationDate="2011-01-13T02:33:58.560" Score="38" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Charles Stross wrote a short story called "Antibodies" that hinges on the fact that solving P=NP is a required prerequisite for developing a computer intelligence. It's available in his book <em><a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1587154137" rel="nofollow">Toast</a></em>. Stross has put the <a href="http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/fiction/toast/toast-intro.html" rel="nofollow">full text</a> of this book online. (<a href="http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/fiction/toast/toast.html#antibodies" rel="nofollow">This link</a> will take you directly to the story.)</p>

<p>And according to Stross's site, the story was:</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>Published in Interzone #157; republished in "The Year's Best Science Fiction #18" (ed. Gardner Dozois). Mentioned in Locus' "Recommended Reading List" for 2000.
 Shortlisted for the 2001 Theodore Sturgeon Award (lost to Ian MacDonald's "Tendoleo's Story").</p>
</blockquote>
" OwnerUserId="69" LastEditorUserId="69" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-16T16:49:56.390" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T16:49:56.390" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="418" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-13T03:41:15.213" Score="10" ViewCount="83" Body="<p>I've heard that sci-fi is on the wane as a genre. Are there numbers to reassure me that sci-fi isn't going the way of Westerns/Cowboy books? </p>
" OwnerUserId="10" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-14T23:48:58.270" LastActivityDate="2012-01-14T23:48:58.270" Title="What published metrics are there on how sci-fi is doing as a genre in the publishing business?" Tags="<publishing>" AnswerCount="2" />
<row Id="419" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="418" CreationDate="2011-01-13T04:50:32.167" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Gardner Dozois publishes an anthology of short fiction every year:</p>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0312608985" rel="nofollow">The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Seventh Annual Collection</a></li>
<li><a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0312551053" rel="nofollow">The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Sixth Annual Collection</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_1_14?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&amp;field-keywords=gardner+dozois&amp;x=0&amp;y=0&amp;sprefix=gardner+dozois#/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_31?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&amp;field-keywords=the+year%27s+best+science+fiction&amp;sprefix=the+year%27s+best+science+fiction&amp;rh=n%3A283155%2Ck%3Athe+year%27s+best+science+fiction" rel="nofollow">and so on...</a></li>
</ul>

<p>In each one, he has an essay summarizing major events in the field: books published, news about magazines or websites, deaths in the field, etc. Without going back and re-reading the essays for recent years, my impression is that books and some websites are doing OK, magazines not so well.</p>
" OwnerUserId="27" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T04:50:32.167" />
<row Id="420" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="418" CreationDate="2011-01-13T05:00:21.630" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="<p><a href="http://locusmag.com" rel="nofollow" title="Locus">Locus</a> magazine publishes a lot of statistics on books published in their annual year in review. The Feb. 2010 issue says that for original novels in 2009 there were:</p>

<ul>
<li>232 SF</li>
<li>572 Fantasy</li>
<li>251 Horror</li>
</ul>

<p>In 2001 there were:</p>

<ul>
<li>251 SF</li>
<li>282 Fantasy</li>
<li>151 Horror</li>
</ul>

<p>Overall for the last decade, SF has stayed fairly flat but is becoming a smaller percentage of the books published across all the related genres.</p>
" OwnerUserId="75" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T05:00:21.630" />
<row Id="421" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="422" CreationDate="2011-01-13T05:12:27.343" Score="10" ViewCount="487" Body="<p>I've just recently started watching "<em>Caprica</em>" (a canceled "<em>Battlestar Galactica</em>" spin-off), and I was wondering at what point in the chronology of the series do the various human colonies make first contact with one another?</p>

<p>Have the different human colonies always had contact with one another?</p>

<p>Was there a particular time when the colonies met each other?</p>

<p>When does this all occur in relation to the series?</p>
" OwnerUserId="35" LastEditorUserId="931" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-02-08T14:49:51.013" LastActivityDate="2012-02-08T14:49:51.013" Title="How long before the series start does Caprica make first contact with the other human colonies?" Tags="<battlestar-galactica><tv-series><caprica>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="422" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="421" CreationDate="2011-01-13T06:10:51.130" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="<p>As I understand, the twelve planets of Twelve Colonies are in the same star system (4 stars near each other), so they probably were in some contact with each other from the start of the settlement of the planets. The civilization did not originate on the Twelve Colonies (one of which is Caprica), the people come from Kobol. There also was a thirteenth tribe of colonists, which was rumored to go to Earth and all contact with it was lost. 
See: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve_Colonies" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve_Colonies</a></p>
" OwnerUserId="53" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T06:10:51.130" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="423" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="43" CreationDate="2011-01-13T07:20:02.710" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="<p>In Vernor Vinges "Zones of Thought" series ("The Blabber", <em>A Fire Upon the Deep</em>, <em>A Deepness in the Sky</em> and the forthcoming <em>The Children of the Sky</em>), computation is easier in some parts of the galaxy, allowing for things like artificial intelligence and FTL travel. </p>

<p>It has been speculated (but there's no direct evidence in the books) that <code>P=NP</code> in these zones.</p>
" OwnerUserId="23" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-14T18:47:26.657" LastActivityDate="2012-01-14T18:47:26.657" CommentCount="7" />
<row Id="426" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="429" CreationDate="2011-01-13T08:14:59.490" Score="41" ViewCount="1947" Body="<p>Was there any explanation of the origin of the Borg from Star Trek?</p>

<p>I've seen most of the TV shows but not read any books - is it explained there?</p>
" OwnerUserId="143" LastEditorUserId="931" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-02-08T14:50:52.417" LastActivityDate="2012-02-08T14:50:52.417" Title="What was the origin of Star Trek's Borg?" Tags="<star-trek><star-trek-tng><borg><tv-series>" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="5" />
<row Id="429" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="426" CreationDate="2011-01-13T09:17:03.803" Score="26" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I understand that there's no definite answer but on <a href="http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Borg_history#Origin" rel="nofollow">Memory-Alpha</a> it says that Borg was the product of cybernetic augmentation of living organisms that was advanced to the point where they ceased to be the species they were before that and became Borg. The hive mind probably started as the means of communication and sharing the information (just like the internet) and as species relied on it more and more (just like we are on the internet) they gradually lost the capability of functioning without it (just like we... well, maybe not yet :) and became the hive mind. </p>
" OwnerUserId="53" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T09:17:03.803" CommentCount="4" />
<row Id="430" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="432" CreationDate="2011-01-13T12:02:01.243" Score="28" ViewCount="855" Body="<p>What exactly is the Positronic brain coined by Asimov?</p>

<p>I encountered this term several times without having a clear understand of what it means and what "positronic" mainly means can you clarify it :)</p>
" OwnerUserId="78" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-15T00:04:55.987" LastActivityDate="2012-06-02T23:01:39.210" Title="What is the Positronic brain coined by Asimov?" Tags="<isaac-asimov>" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="432" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="430" CreationDate="2011-01-13T12:19:01.530" Score="19" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Asimov was very vague about the construction of these brains. Presumably they use <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positron">positrons</a>, which are antielectrons. Which would suggest they must have powerful magnetic fields. They are also described as being constructed of a platinum and iridium alloy.</p>

<p>Star Trek: TNG lifted the idea for Data's brain. While having nothing to do with Asimov, it does offer some insight into how others viewed his ideas. Same goes for the <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0343818/">"<em>I, Robot</em>"</a> movie, you can get some sense of what others think these things could look like. </p>

<p>Unfortunately, that's all the info there seems to be.</p>
" OwnerUserId="51" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-15T00:05:43.913" LastActivityDate="2012-01-15T00:05:43.913" />
<row Id="433" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="430" CreationDate="2011-01-13T12:21:44.987" Score="30" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Essentially it's a plot device used to mean "unknown future technology".</p>

<p>Asimov deliberately didn't talk about the technical aspects of his robots, so that he could focus on the characters involved. This is one of the main reasons why his stories written in the 1940s and 1950s aren't too dated; because he didn't talk about transistors and vacuum tubes, he talked about fictional technologies like the positronic brain.</p>
" OwnerUserId="122" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T12:21:44.987" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="438" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-13T12:59:09.510" Score="24" ViewCount="783" Body="<p>There are many SF-stories about time-travel. But with time-travel come the possibility for a paradox. As far as I can see, there are different solutions from different fictional works. Maybe some author even uses a paradox as part of the story. </p>

<p>Can someone provide a more or less complete list of these solutions for time-travel? </p>

<p>Best would be each illustrated with an example-work.</p>
" OwnerUserId="71" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-14T23:59:39.257" LastActivityDate="2012-06-23T13:54:00.150" ClosedDate="2012-05-02T02:29:33.197" Title="What are the ideas on time-travel so far in Science Fiction?" Tags="<time-travel>" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="4" />
<row Id="439" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-13T13:04:34.140" Score="7" ViewCount="171" Body="<p>I recently heard that there was a sci-fi related music form called Filk. </p>

<p>What is Filk? Where can I find out about it?</p>
" OwnerUserId="10" LastEditorUserId="3804" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-06-22T08:19:59.697" LastActivityDate="2012-06-22T08:19:59.697" Title="What is filk music?" Tags="<music><fans>" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" />
<row Id="442" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="438" CreationDate="2011-01-13T13:13:51.980" Score="16" ViewCount="" Body="<p>There are two camps of resolutions to the problem of paradox, and one additional non-solution.</p>

<p><strong>Predestination</strong></p>

<p>Predestination implies that history, and the future for that matter, are immutable. You can't go back and kill your grandpa, because your childhood would already have reflected that possibility. A fine example of this is 12 Monkeys. Primer is another example, however it is much harder to decode.</p>

<p><strong>Multiple Universes</strong></p>

<p>A multiple universes scenario involves each time jump creating an alternate universe where those changes may affect the future, jumping forward from there gets you a changed future. This is the only way you can change the future without a paradox. The new Star Trek movie illustrates this. By going back and killing loads of people, the entire history of the universe is altered. While it isn't explicitly stated, this created an alternate universe where the new film takes place.</p>

<p><strong>Muddy thought</strong></p>

<p>Back to the Future is a great example. It almost gets there, however the 'fading' aspect suggests some kind of probabilistic nature that doesn't really hold together and isn't addressed in the rest of the films, while their own logic is also defeated by Old Biff being able to RETURN to the future he left from to give Young Biff the Almanac. He should have returned to a Middle Age Biff ravaged future never shown in the films. He should have left Marty and Doc stranded in the happy future. (Where they could just build another time machine) Without these muddy-headed things, it would have been another example of a multiple universes time travel film.</p>
" OwnerUserId="51" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T13:13:51.980" CommentCount="5" />
<row Id="446" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="439" CreationDate="2011-01-13T13:26:10.167" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Filk is music written and/or performed by SF fans, often on subjects related to SF or SF fandom. The term derives from a typo (for "folk music") in an SF convention programme book, back in the 1950s.</p>

<p>There's a pretty good introductory article <a href="http://www.interfilk.org/interfilk/singout.htm" rel="nofollow">here</a>.</p>

<p>You can find it by following other links on the website referenced above.</p>
" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T13:26:10.167" />
<row Id="468" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="470" CreationDate="2011-01-13T15:41:20.823" Score="17" ViewCount="1107" Body="<p>Voyager was a great show with a terrible ending. Basically the entire show revolved around the characters getting home, but when they finally do the credits roll five seconds later. So I wonder if the novels have any details about what happens to the Voyager characters after they return to the Federation.</p>

<p>Does the Doctor ever gain his freedom, or the freedom of holograms?</p>

<p>Does Paris ever make up with his father?</p>

<p>What about any of the rest of them?</p>
" OwnerUserId="35" LastEditorUserId="51" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T13:02:23.557" LastActivityDate="2011-03-15T13:02:23.557" Title="In the novels, what happens to the Doctor and the others on Voyager after it returns home?" Tags="<star-trek><novel><star-trek-voyager>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" />
<row Id="470" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="468" CreationDate="2011-01-13T15:44:31.743" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="<p>From <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek%3a_Voyager" rel="nofollow">Wikipedia</a>:</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>Book relaunch</p>
 
 <p>In the wake of Pocket Books's Deep
 Space Nine relaunch novel series,
 which features stories placed after
 the end of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,
 a similar relaunch was planned for
 Voyager. The novels take place after
 the series' conclusion. In the
 relaunch, several characters are
 reassigned while others are promoted
 but stay aboard Voyager; these changes
 include Janeway's promotion to
 admiral, Chakotay becoming captain of
 Voyager, Tuvok leaving the ship to
 serve under William Riker, and Tom
 Paris' promotion to First Officer. The
 series also introduces several new
 characters.</p>
 
 <p>The series began with Homecoming and
 The Farther Shore in 2003, a direct
 sequel to the show's finale, Endgame.
 These were followed in 2004 by Spirit
 Walk: Old Wounds and Spirit Walk:
 Enemy of My Enemy. Under the direction
 of a new author, 2009 brought forth
 two more additions to the series: Full
 Circle and Unworthy . Other novels –
 some set during the relaunch period,
 others during the show's TV run—have
 been published.</p>
</blockquote>
" OwnerUserId="51" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T15:44:31.743" CommentCount="8" />
<row Id="471" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="438" CreationDate="2011-01-13T15:59:03.683" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Wikipedia's compilation of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_travel#Rules_of_time_travel" rel="nofollow"><strong>Time Travel Rules</strong></a> is a good resource to check about this subject.</p>

<p>My two cents:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>1) Travelling back in time modifies the future, as in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_sound_of_thunder" rel="nofollow"><strong>A Sound of Thunder</strong></a></p></li>
<li><p>2) Travelling backwards or forwards in time is part of the current timeline, as in <strong>Terminator</strong> or <strong>La Jetée</strong></p></li>
<li><p>3) Travelling in time allows one to visit many different worlds, each one a variation of the current timeline, as in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyagers!" rel="nofollow"><strong>Voyagers!</strong></a> or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sliders" rel="nofollow"><strong>Sliders</strong></a></p></li>
<li><p>4) <strong>"All You Zombies"</strong> by Robert Heinlein. It deserves a unique category :)</p></li>
</ul>
" OwnerUserId="137" LastEditorUserId="3267" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-11-30T23:56:59.170" LastActivityDate="2011-11-30T23:56:59.170" CommentCount="7" />
<row Id="476" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="430" CreationDate="2011-01-13T16:13:09.877" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Asimov never explained in too much detail any of the technologies he used on his works.</p>

<p>The positronic brain is the best example of it. There is an interview on the 70's (when he worked on real science papers) when he defined an aproximation of a positronic brain:</p>

<p>"It's a brain made by the men, so any brain, ever ours is positronic"</p>

<p>I always thought that a positronic brain is a brain designed by men, not by "god". That's the best aproximation that I can think of</p>
" OwnerUserId="149" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T16:13:09.877" />
<row Id="477" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="488" CreationDate="2011-01-13T16:14:24.600" Score="7" ViewCount="76" Body="<p>Are SF comics considered for the same awards as books?</p>
" OwnerUserId="150" LastActivityDate="2012-05-01T07:28:29.537" Title="Are SF comics considered for the same awards as books?" Tags="<books><comics><awards>" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="478" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="507" CreationDate="2011-01-13T16:15:25.473" Score="14" ViewCount="200" Body="<p>What website references the SF awards that are awarded to SF books and films?</p>
" OwnerUserId="150" LastEditorUserId="4356" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-03-05T22:12:57.397" LastActivityDate="2012-03-06T12:26:25.157" ClosedDate="2012-03-08T02:26:23.200" Title="Is there a website that shows which SF book/film awards there are?" Tags="<movie><books><awards>" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="2" />
<row Id="480" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="43" CreationDate="2011-01-13T16:16:50.530" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Nemesis, From Isaac Asimov talks about imposibilities and the implications of an universe where the laws of physics doesn't apply</p>
" OwnerUserId="149" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T16:16:50.530" />
<row Id="481" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="478" CreationDate="2011-01-13T16:22:40.867" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The Hugo and Nebula awards are the most notable awards for Sci-fi literature. The Hugo has been given out since 1955 and the Nebula has been given out since 1965.
The Arthur C. Clarke Award is also given out annually, since 2005</p>

<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_awards" rel="nofollow">Hugo Awards</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebula_awards" rel="nofollow">Nebula Awards.</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_C._Clarke_Award" rel="nofollow">Arthur C. Clarke Award</a></p>

<p>The Saturn Award is a notable award for Sci-fi films, and has been awarded since 1972.</p>

<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_Award_for_Best_Science_Fiction_Film" rel="nofollow">Saturn award</a></p>
" OwnerUserId="40" LastEditorUserId="40" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-13T22:08:54.977" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T22:08:54.977" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="488" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="477" CreationDate="2011-01-13T16:47:43.683" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Not generally, no. The Hugo awards have a separate award for "graphic stories", and the Nebulas don't have any comic categories at all. I'm not aware of any award, in any genre, where comics and novels compete against each other for the same award.</p>

<p>One notable exception: <a href="http://www.worldfantasy.org/awards/1991.html" rel="nofollow">In 1991, Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess won the World Fantasy Award in the "Short Fiction" category for <em>Sandman</em>'s "A Midsummer Night's Dream."</a> Even there, though, comic books now compete in the "Special Award" category, rather than competing with prose fiction (the <a href="http://www.worldfantasy.org/awards/judges.html" rel="nofollow">official rules</a> state <em>"We never made a change in the rules"</em>, which sits oddly with the <em>Sandman</em> win). At any rate, this case seems like the exception that proves the rule.</p>
" OwnerUserId="23" LastEditorUserId="3844" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-05-01T07:28:29.537" LastActivityDate="2012-05-01T07:28:29.537" />
<row Id="489" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="328" CreationDate="2011-01-13T16:49:47.550" Score="18" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Isaac Asimov's <strong>Multivac</strong>.</p>

<p>In "The Final Question," Asimov refers to the last version of Multivac as the known universe. It finally becomes a god when it answers the question: Can entropy be reversed?</p>
" OwnerUserId="149" LastEditorUserId="41" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-05-23T16:32:23.430" LastActivityDate="2011-05-23T16:32:23.430" CommentCount="4" />
<row Id="491" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="495" CreationDate="2011-01-13T17:05:42.640" Score="14" ViewCount="245" Body="<p>Are there any sci-fi films whose musical score or soundtrack went on to win an Academy Award for best musical score? <em>The Fountain</em> comes to mind as having been nominated for a Golden Globe.</p>
" OwnerUserId="40" LastEditorUserId="30" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-25T02:16:37.637" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T02:16:37.637" ClosedDate="2012-06-21T18:26:15.923" Title="What Sci-fi film scores and soundtracks have won an Oscar?" Tags="<list><movie><music>" AnswerCount="2" />
<row Id="494" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="491" CreationDate="2011-01-13T17:10:42.680" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="<p>John Williams won <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_Award_for_Best_Original_Score">Best Original Score</a> for Star Wars in 1977 and again for E. T. in 1982.</p>
" OwnerUserId="63" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T17:10:42.680" />
<row Id="495" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="491" CreationDate="2011-01-13T17:11:45.447" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="<p>1977 - Star Wars<br>
1982 - E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial</p>

<p>Both by John Williams.</p>

<p>A number of others have been nominated; most recently:
Avatar (2009), Wall-e (2008), A.I. (2001)</p>
" OwnerUserId="122" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T17:11:45.447" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="503" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1302" CreationDate="2011-01-13T17:56:29.027" Score="9" ViewCount="294" Body="<p>Are there websites that maintain lists of "must have" English SF books?</p>

<p>As an example, in French, there is <a href="http://www.cafardcosmique.com/La-Bibliotheque-Ideale-de-l">La Bibliothèque Idéale de l’Imaginaire</a> from <em>Le Cafard Cosmique</em>, which loosely translates to <em>The Ideal Library of the Imagination</em>.</p>
" OwnerUserId="45" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-23T22:39:23.573" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T14:27:53.013" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-14T21:13:19.060" Title="Are there reference sci-fi websites that maintain lists of "must have" books?" Tags="<list><books><online-resources>" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="505" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="503" CreationDate="2011-01-13T18:15:18.850" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The lists of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Award_for_Best_Novel" rel="nofollow">Hugo</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebula_Award_for_Best_Novel" rel="nofollow">Nebula</a> nominees would probably be the best places to start.</p>
" OwnerUserId="63" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T18:15:18.850" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-14T21:13:19.060" />
<row Id="507" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="478" CreationDate="2011-01-13T18:38:32.637" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="<p>There's a <a href="http://www.sfawardswatch.com/" rel="nofollow">website</a> devoted to tracking and reporting on SF awards, so I suggest you start there. The awards they currently list are:</p>

<pre><code>Aeon Award
Andre Norton Award
Arthur C. Clarke Award
Aurealis Awards
Australian Shadows Awards
Big Heart Award
Bram Stoker Awards
British Fantasy Awards
British Science Fiction Association Awards
Carl Brandon Awards
Chesley Awards
Compton Crook Award
Constellation Awards
Cordwainer Smith Rediscovery Award
Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master
Darrell Awards
David Gemmell Awards
Deutscher Phantastik Preis
Deutscher Science Fiction Preis
Ditmar Awards
Endeavour Award
ESFS Awards
First Fandom Hall of Fame Award
Forry Award
Fountain Award
Gaylactic Spectrum Awards
Geffen Awards
Golden Duck Awards
Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire
Helsinki Science Fiction Society Awards
Hugo Awards
International Horror Guild Awards
Jack Gaughan Award
James Tiptree, Jr. Award
James White Award
John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer
John W. Campbell Memorial Award
Komatsu Sakyo Award
Lambda Literary Awards
Le Prix Européen Utopiales des Pays de la Loire
Locus Awards
Lord Ruthven Awards
Mythopoeic Awards
Nebula Awards
Nihon SF Taisho Award
Philip K. Dick Award
Premi Ictineu
Premio Italia
Premios Ignotus
Prix Aurora Awards
Prix Imaginales
Prometheus Awards
Quill Book Awards
Rhysling Awards
Robert A. Heinlein Award
Saturn Awards
Science Fiction Hall of Fame
Scribe Awards
Seiun Awards
Shirley Jackson Awards
Sidewise Awards
Sir Julius Vogel Awards
Sky Awards
Skylark Award
Southeastern Science Fiction Achievement Awards
Southern Fandom Confederation Awards
Spectrum Awards (Art)
Sunburst Awards
Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award
Ursa Major Awards
William L. Crawford Fantasy Award
World Fantasy Awards
Worldcon Special Awards
WSFA Small Press Award
</code></pre>
" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T18:38:32.637" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="509" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="438" CreationDate="2011-01-13T19:35:39.980" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="<p>There is an essay by Larry Niven called "<em><a href="http://news.larryniven.net/biblio/display.asp?key=78" rel="nofollow">The Theory and Practice of Time Travel</a></em>" in which he states many rules and different kind of time-traveling possibilities.</p>
" OwnerUserId="138" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-15T00:02:15.867" LastActivityDate="2012-01-15T00:02:15.867" />
<row Id="514" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="478" CreationDate="2011-01-13T21:01:00.703" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Locus tracks just about every SF Award ever given at <a href="http://www.locusmag.com/SFAwards/index.html" rel="nofollow">The Locus Index to Science Fiction Awards</a></p>
" OwnerUserId="75" LastActivityDate="2011-01-13T21:01:00.703" />
<row Id="528" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="530" CreationDate="2011-01-13T23:56:37.507" Score="9" ViewCount="210" Body="<p>In the movie Memento, the beginning of the movie starts at the end of the chronological order of events of the story, and starting from there, the movie moves backwards in time telling the full story.
My question is: are there a sci-fi stories or novels in which this kind of storytelling is used? I am specially interested in stories that start in a very distant future and go back to a present day world. </p>
" OwnerUserId="37" LastEditorUserId="219" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-20T01:44:36.143" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T01:44:36.143" ClosedDate="2011-03-06T19:30:25.637" Title="Are there any sci-fi novels or stories narrated in reverse chronolgy (a la Memento)?" Tags="<list><novel>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="3" />
<row Id="530" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="528" CreationDate="2011-01-14T00:12:11.890" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>This novel is narrated much like <em>Memento</em>. This is a major spoiler (much more so than for <em>Memento</em>), uncover at your own risk. Its timescale is not much longer than <em>Memento</em>'s.</p>

<blockquote class="spoiler">
 <p> <em>Use of Weapons</em> by Iain Banks</p>
</blockquote>
" OwnerUserId="56" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T00:12:11.890" CommentCount="5" />
<row Id="531" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="528" CreationDate="2011-01-14T00:14:54.633" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Not exact the same thing, buy a good example to mention here, is the very short story by Fredric Brown called <a href="http://devernay.free.fr/paradoxlost/html/the_end.html" rel="nofollow"><strong>The End</strong></a>.</p>

<p>Better examples are <a href="http://lib.ru/ZELQZNY/DivineMadness.txt" rel="nofollow"><strong>Divine Madness</strong></a> by Roger Zelazny and <strong>Time of Passage</strong> by J. G. Ballard, both great short stories.</p>
" OwnerUserId="137" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T00:14:54.633" />
<row Id="536" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1797" CreationDate="2011-01-14T00:22:27.910" Score="12" ViewCount="168" Body="<p>Where can SF fans who want to attend informal fannish gatherings find such gatherings? </p>

<p>Meetup.com can be spotty, and there are lots of groups that don't have a presence there. </p>
" OwnerUserId="73" LastEditorUserId="56" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-07-24T22:12:56.160" LastActivityDate="2011-07-24T22:12:56.160" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-14T21:15:43.740" Title="What resources exist to help SF fans meet other fans, face-to-face?" Tags="<fans>" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="537" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="545" CreationDate="2011-01-14T00:44:23.750" Score="11" ViewCount="332" Body="<p>I'm a new Heinlein fan and also an FTL (faster-than-light) fan. Did he write any books where FTL was possible? All the ones I've read so far have been intra-system (Sol) only.</p>
" OwnerUserId="147" LastEditorUserId="152" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-14T00:54:09.873" LastActivityDate="2012-03-10T07:56:45.190" Title="Heinlein book(s) with FTL travel?" Tags="<robert-a-heinlein><ftl-drive>" AnswerCount="5" />
<row Id="540" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="537" CreationDate="2011-01-14T00:49:43.153" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I believe <em>Starship Troopers</em> had FTL, but I am unclear as to how it works. The book dealt more with planetary assaults than with space travel. They were definately on other planets, though. Another book of his had "gates" to other planets, through which colonization expeditions proceeded. <strike>I do not recall the title - please edit or leave a comment if you know it.</strike> It was <em>Tunnel in the sky</em>.</p>
" OwnerUserId="152" LastEditorUserId="152" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-14T15:59:47.323" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T15:59:47.323" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="542" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="537" CreationDate="2011-01-14T00:59:34.380" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="<p>From the <a href="http://www.artsbooks.info/space-travel-list-ftl-sublight-gateways-version-1-1/" rel="nofollow" title="Faster">Faster Than Light and Normal Space Starship and Spaceship Drive List </a>...</p>

<ul>
<li><p><strong>Number of the Beast</strong>. Based in a 6-dimensional space, you can instantaneously travel to where you want to go provided you know the proper vectors.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Starman Jones</strong>. The starship in question accelerated to the speed of light where it
jumped elsewhere.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>The Cat Who Walks Through Walls</strong>, <strong>To Sail Beyond The Sunset</strong>. Drive is size of a sewing machine case and can instantaneously place the vessel anywhere, anywhen, in any universe with a velocity up to the speed of light. Computer controlled and uses virtually no power.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Future History</strong>. In one of the Lazarus Long stories an inertialess drive is used to go FTL.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>Possibly <em>Starship Troopers</em> and <em>Citizen of the Galaxy</em>...but I don't remember the references.</p>
" OwnerUserId="82" LastEditorUserId="51" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-14T01:56:56.087" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T01:56:56.087" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="545" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="537" CreationDate="2011-01-14T01:20:15.670" Score="18" ViewCount="" Body="<ul>
<li><strong>Methusaleh's Children</strong> featured an experimental FTL drive by one of the characters that was essential to the plot; in <strong>Time Enough for Love</strong>, its sequel the same FTL drive is discovered to also work as a time-travel drive. </li>
<li><strong>The Number of the Beast</strong>, <strong>The Cat Who Walks Through Walls</strong>, and <strong>To Sail Beyond the Sunset</strong> all have a universe-hopping device that serves as an FTL stand-in</li>
<li><strong>Starship Troopers</strong> involves FTL, as Michael indicated, the book doesn't really get into details. </li>
<li><strong>Tunnel in the Sky</strong> and, I think, <strong>Have Spacesuit - Will Travel</strong> and <strong>Starman Jones</strong> all involve FTL or similar systems, at least peripherally. </li>
</ul>
" OwnerUserId="33" LastEditorUserId="33" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-08-10T05:59:16.030" LastActivityDate="2011-08-10T05:59:16.030" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="549" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="551" CreationDate="2011-01-14T02:13:09.727" Score="7" ViewCount="233" Body="<p>Are there any actors or actresses that have won an Academy award for best actor or supporting actor for their role in a sci-fi film?</p>
" OwnerUserId="40" LastEditorUserId="56" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-07-24T22:14:26.643" LastActivityDate="2011-07-24T22:14:26.643" Title="Actor or actress that have won best actor Oscar for role in sci-fi film" Tags="<movie><awards>" AnswerCount="1" />
<row Id="551" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="549" CreationDate="2011-01-14T02:35:01.747" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="<p>You have to use a fairly inclusive definition of "sci-fi" for a couple of these but...</p>

<p>Fredric March won Best Actor in 1932 for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Jekyll_and_Mr._Hyde_%281931_film%29" rel="nofollow">Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde</a>.<br>
Cliff Robertson won Best Actor in 1968 for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charly" rel="nofollow">Charly</a>.<br>
Don Ameche won Best Supporting Actor in 1985 for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocoon_%28film%29" rel="nofollow">Cocoon</a>.<br>
Heath Ledger won Best Supporting Actor in 2008 for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Knight_%28film%29" rel="nofollow">The Dark Knight</a>.</p>
" OwnerUserId="63" LastEditorUserId="63" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-14T03:34:20.063" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T03:34:20.063" />
<row Id="554" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-14T03:04:32.443" Score="11" ViewCount="2711" Body="<p>I've got three omnibus books containing 9 total Warhammer 40,000 stories. Before I mention which ones I've got, which book would you recommend as a good place to start the series?</p>
" OwnerUserId="58" LastEditorUserId="4329" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-25T08:02:28.763" LastActivityDate="2012-01-25T23:33:35.643" Title="What is the best place to start Warhammer 40k?" Tags="<books><warhammer40k>" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
<row Id="556" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="536" CreationDate="2011-01-14T05:26:54.987" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="<h2>Conventions!</h2>

<p>&nbsp;<br>
I've been going to SF conventions since the 1970s, and I always have a great time. Pretty much anywhere you are in the world, there'll be a SF Con sometime this year that's not too far away.</p>

<p>Here are a few Con lists:</p>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.locusmag.com/Resources/Conventions.html" rel="nofollow">Locus Online: Convention Listings</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.upcomingcons.com/science-fiction-conventions" rel="nofollow">List of Upcoming Sci-Fi Cons</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.fanboyslist.com" rel="nofollow">Fanboy's Convention list</a></li>
</ul>

<p>The next one I'm attending: <a href="http://www.renovationsf.org" rel="nofollow">Renovation</a>, the 69<sup>th</sup> annual World Science Fiction Convention—aka WorldCon (Reno NV, August 17-21). If you can make it to only one, <em>that's</em> the one to make it to.</p>
" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T05:26:54.987" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-14T21:15:43.740" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="567" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="166" CreationDate="2011-01-14T12:50:41.147" Score="19" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Well, I did decide to get the book, and so here's the answer. Put your mouse over it to see it.</p>

<blockquote class="spoiler">
 <p> Shepherd Book was abused as a boy, and lived on the street for a while. He wasn't born under the name Shepherd Book, BTW. He joined up with the independence movement, and volunteered to be a spy on the Alliance. He was an officer until he led a brilliant defeat, after which he was discharged. He later lived in a monastery for a time, and became the preacher we all know:-)</p>
</blockquote>

<p>I'm not quite sure what I think of it, but there it is, so...</p>
" OwnerUserId="98" LastEditorUserId="1498" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-04-16T02:49:32.653" LastActivityDate="2011-04-16T02:49:32.653" CommentCount="7" />
<row Id="568" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="575" CreationDate="2011-01-14T13:03:13.310" Score="18" ViewCount="727" Body="<p>Does George Lucas have any plans for more Star Wars sequels or prequels? Proper movie sequels, not any supplementary animated shows or stories.</p>
" OwnerUserId="40" LastActivityDate="2011-06-16T19:07:11.037" Title="Plans for more sequels to Star Wars?" Tags="<movie><star-wars><sequel>" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="575" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="568" CreationDate="2011-01-14T13:40:13.417" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Unfortunately it doesn't seem likely. Here's a quote from an interview he gave in 2008. (The article is <a href="http://blog.moviefone.com/2008/05/07/will-lucas-extend-his-star-wars-story-past-return-of-the-je/" rel="nofollow">Will Lucas Extend His 'Star Wars' Story Beyond 'Return of the Jedi'?</a>)</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>"There really isn't any story to tell there. It's been covered in the books and video games and comic books, which are things I think are incredibly creative but that I don't really have anything to do with other than being the person who built the sandbox they're playing in." He continues, "I get asked all the time, 'What happens after "Return of the Jedi"?,' and there really is no answer for that. The movies were the story of Anakin Skywalker and Luke Skywalker, and when Luke saves the galaxy and redeems his father, that's where that story ends."</p>
</blockquote>
" OwnerUserId="63" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T13:40:13.417" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="577" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="554" CreationDate="2011-01-14T13:49:35.437" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I can't say I've ever ready any Warhammer books, but from my experience, I always start reading books at the beginning of a series. For example: if the first book published in a series ends up being the third book because two prequels are published years later, I always start with the prequels.</p>
" OwnerUserId="31" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T13:49:35.437" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="578" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="568" CreationDate="2011-01-14T13:52:28.963" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Ther's is still rumor that there will be a sequel trilogy.
Here the <a href="http://io9.com/5671581/george-lucas-reported-creating-new-star-wars-sequel-trilogy-thats-not-about-the-skywalkers" rel="nofollow">last one I'm aware of</a> :</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>[...] fans can expect the
 new trilogy after the entire saga is
 released in 3D which is expected to be
 complete around 2015 or 2016.</p>
</blockquote>
" OwnerUserId="45" LastEditorUserId="45" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-06-16T19:07:11.037" LastActivityDate="2011-06-16T19:07:11.037" CommentCount="5" />
<row Id="581" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="589" CreationDate="2011-01-14T15:34:01.850" Score="12" ViewCount="235" Body="<p>I want to know if The Three Laws of Robotics are explicitly defined in one of the Asimov's robot stories. In which one? I am asking this question because I remember reading something about the laws being compiled by his editor.</p>
" OwnerUserId="137" LastEditorUserId="74" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-14T18:56:46.677" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T16:08:40.527" Title="Are The Three Laws of Robotics explicitly defined in one of the Asimov's stories?" Tags="<isaac-asimov><robots><laws-of-robotics>" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
<row Id="587" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="595" CreationDate="2011-01-14T16:34:10.717" Score="14" ViewCount="633" Body="<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov" rel="nofollow">Isaac Asimov</a> is one of the (if not the most) important figures of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robotics" rel="nofollow">robotics</a> in science fiction. Has he had an influence on the development of real-world robotics (in science or industry)?</p>
" OwnerUserId="52" LastEditorUserId="56" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-09-14T20:20:39.810" LastActivityDate="2012-02-28T17:42:46.580" Title="What was Asimov's contribution to real-world robotics?" Tags="<technology><isaac-asimov><robots>" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="8" />
<row Id="589" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="581" CreationDate="2011-01-14T16:38:33.113" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="<p>According to the Wikipedia article on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Laws_of_Robotics" rel="nofollow">Three Laws of Robotics</a>:</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>The rules are introduced in his 1942 short story <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runaround" rel="nofollow">Runaround</a> although they were foreshadowed in a few earlier stories.</p>
</blockquote>
" OwnerUserId="63" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T16:38:33.113" />
<row Id="591" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="537" CreationDate="2011-01-14T16:50:38.857" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="<p>In addition to those already mentioned:</p>

<ul>
<li><em>Friday</em></li>
<li><em>Citizen of the Galaxy</em></li>
<li><em>The Star Beast</em></li>
</ul>
" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T16:50:38.857" />
<row Id="595" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="587" CreationDate="2011-01-14T18:38:25.750" Score="18" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Well for starters, he coined the term 'robotics'.</p>

<p><strong>EDIT:</strong> 
I would also add that the Three Laws have certainly sparked endless amounts of discussion in the field of robotics as relates to ethics. </p>
" OwnerUserId="74" LastEditorUserId="74" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-14T23:52:08.110" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T23:52:08.110" />
<row Id="596" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="292" CreationDate="2011-01-14T19:07:25.173" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="<blockquote class="spoiler">
 <p>I think maybe a sequel could come from the aftermath of setting up the new society and maybe the resistance of the entrenched, old mentalities. It could possibly carry on for years.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Also possible:</p>

<blockquote class="spoiler">
 <p>Another possibility would be that a new protagonist could somehow find a back door into the system and start to manipulate it to his own means.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Yet another possibility is that this two books are just the first part of Sobel's plan...</p>

<p>There's lots of great potential in Suarez's universe. Even a prequel describing Sobel's rise could be interesting.</p>
" OwnerUserId="9" LastEditorUserId="947" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-06-06T19:27:55.307" LastActivityDate="2011-06-06T19:27:55.307" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="597" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="599" CreationDate="2011-01-14T19:37:27.810" Score="13" ViewCount="1038" Body="<p>I don't recall him ever actually being called anything but names by Dr Smith.</p>
" OwnerUserId="74" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T14:41:02.433" LastActivityDate="2012-01-14T21:58:59.650" Title="What was the robot's name in "Lost in Space"?" Tags="<tv><robots>" AnswerCount="3" />
<row Id="598" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-14T19:46:00.303" Score="6" ViewCount="401" Body="<p>Is there a novelization of Pandorum?</p>

<p>If not, did anyone else write about the inhabitants of a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_ship" rel="nofollow">generation ship</a> going feral?</p>
" OwnerUserId="10" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-14T21:42:07.553" LastActivityDate="2012-01-15T20:59:15.510" ClosedDate="2012-01-15T21:05:39.013" Title="Is there a novelization of Pandorum?" Tags="<generation-ship><pandorum>" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="6" />
<row Id="599" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="597" CreationDate="2011-01-14T19:53:39.453" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="<p>He was usually referred to as just "Robot", but officially named <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robot_B-9"><strong>Robot B-9.</strong></a></p>
" OwnerUserId="40" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-14T21:58:59.650" LastActivityDate="2012-01-14T21:58:59.650" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="600" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="613" CreationDate="2011-01-14T20:05:37.673" Score="13" ViewCount="326" Body="<p>I've come across numerous instances of the development of well-developed fictional language in fantasy stories. How common is it for well-developed fictional languages to be developed in science fiction writing?</p>

<p>I'm thinking specifically of written science fiction, not movies or television.</p>

<p><strong>EDIT:</strong>
By 'well-developed', I mean more than just names, but at least <em>some</em> vocabulary and structure.</p>
" OwnerUserId="74" LastEditorUserId="108" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-05T22:46:24.590" LastActivityDate="2012-01-14T21:40:40.283" Title="Fictional languages: How prevalent is it in SF stories compared to fantasy stories?" Tags="<languages><written>" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="601" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="598" CreationDate="2011-01-14T20:11:02.867" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="<p><a href="http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/o/kevin-odonnell-jr/mayflies.htm" rel="nofollow">"<em>Mayflies</em>"</a> by Kevin O'Donnell tells the story of a generation ship, built as an escape from a dying Earth.</p>

<p>Without going into too many spoilers, the central computer fails and shuts off the main drive, making the journey take much longer than expected. The passengers don't handle this well.</p>
" OwnerUserId="113" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-14T21:44:43.773" LastActivityDate="2012-01-14T21:44:43.773" />
<row Id="602" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="603" CreationDate="2011-01-14T20:15:31.070" Score="12" ViewCount="710" Body="<p>Or, how exactly can you tell them apart? Is the armor completely the same except for the color, or are there some other differences?</p>
" OwnerUserId="74" LastEditorUserId="30" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-25T02:16:02.490" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T02:16:02.490" Title="What are the visual differences between Boba and Jango Fett's armor?" Tags="<movie><star-wars>" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="603" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="602" CreationDate="2011-01-14T20:17:10.400" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Here is a nice side-by-side that illustrates all of the differences.</p>

<p><img src="http://i.stack.imgur.com/VXgpA.jpg" alt="Boba and Jango Fett"></p>
" OwnerUserId="51" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T20:17:10.400" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="604" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="607" CreationDate="2011-01-14T20:26:40.047" Score="4" ViewCount="203" Body="<p>In communities discussing written s*f*, I've often found the following terminology:</p>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speculative_fiction" rel="nofollow"><strong>Speculative fiction</strong></a>, or <strong>sf</strong>, is anything that asks “what if?”: stories about the future, fantasy, alternate history, etc.</li>
<li><strong>Science fiction</strong> is a subset of sf, usually for stories being set in the author's conceivable future.</li>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science-fiction#Definitions" rel="nofollow"><strong>Sci-fi</strong></a> is somewhat pejorative, associated with B movies and pulp.</li>
</ul>

<p>How common is this terminology amongst written sf communities? What terms do others, especially sf movie fans use?</p>
" OwnerUserId="56" LastEditorUserId="3804" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-06-18T00:22:27.013" LastActivityDate="2012-06-18T00:22:27.013" Title="SF, Sci-fi, Science fiction and Speculative fiction" Tags="<terminology><subgenre>" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="605" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="606" CreationDate="2011-01-14T20:31:39.063" Score="8" ViewCount="220" Body="<p>I've heard that there were a couple characters on Jabba the Hut's sail barge on Return of the Jedi that had names that were inspired by The Day The Earth Stood Still. What were their names, what was the connection and why?</p>
" OwnerUserId="74" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T14:42:01.903" LastActivityDate="2011-03-17T14:42:01.903" Title="Jabba the Hut's Sail Barge: Day the Earth Stood Still name connection?" Tags="<star-wars>" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="606" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="605" CreationDate="2011-01-14T20:33:59.390" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="<p>You probably heard about <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klaatu_barada_nikto#Popular_culture_references" rel="nofollow">Klaatu barada nikto</a>.</p>
" OwnerUserId="52" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T20:33:59.390" />
<row Id="607" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="604" CreationDate="2011-01-14T20:35:19.610" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I always thought SF was generally the agreed-upon term for science fiction by authors. I've always seen speculative fiction written out. Sci-fi or scifi is pejorative only outside the scifi community.</p>
" OwnerUserId="74" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T20:35:19.610" CommentCount="6" />
<row Id="608" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="600" CreationDate="2011-01-14T20:37:21.583" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="<p>From what I've seen, it's fairly uncommon for a <em>well-developed</em> language to be present.</p>

<p><a href="http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/1/what-science-fiction-novels-have-well-developed-alien-languages/4#4">Here's a list</a> of some well-developed fictional languages.</p>
" OwnerUserId="31" LastActivityDate="2011-01-14T20:37:21.583" />
<row Id="609" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1341" CreationDate="2011-01-14T20:50:48.077" Score="15" ViewCount="521" Body="<p>Trying to find a story that I read a couple years back -- Can't recall if it was an online short or something in print, though I'm fairly certain it wasn't more than novella length.</p>

<p>The protagonist built a linear accelerator based on a mountain top and extending into the air for miles (balloon lofted, I think) to launch cargo and eventually manned craft. Of course, they face the usual sabotage / espionage type issues, etc etc .. </p>

<p>Ring any bells?</p>

<p>I should note that it isn't Moon is a Harsh Mistress, since that does seem to be the top search result when I try to Google and the first answer I've received in here. I think the story was written more recently.</p>

<p>Started a bounty, maybe with the beta going public someone might be inspired to locate this - unfortunately my attempts to Google it have failed. It isn't a DD Harriman story, fairly certain it isn't a Heinlein at all -- I think Matthew Nichols is correct that this was an online-only publication from the past few years.</p>
" OwnerUserId="36" LastEditorUserId="36" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-20T19:05:19.447" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T20:33:14.420" Title="What Sci fi story featured a linear accelerator for space launch?" Tags="<story-identification>" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="2" />
<row Id="613" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="600" CreationDate="2011-01-14T21:33:57.600" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="<p>While researching what sci-fi conlangs there are, I think I discovered why there are so few in written novels - not enough space in the book for the dictionary. <a href="http://www.telusplanet.net/public/alfvaen/reviews/children_of_atwar.html" rel="nofollow"><em>Riksprok</em> took up half of this book</a>.</p>

<p>They are rare if you look at the percentage of books that could have put together a complete fake language for their aliens. Most fake languages in fiction are character and place names.</p>

<p>The authors that go beyond that, don't always do a sophisticated job. <a href="http://www.karentraviss.com/html/mando.htm" rel="nofollow"><em>Mando'a</em></a> is pretty much a relex of English, i.e. English with all the words replaced.</p>

<p><em>New Speak</em> was a rough sketch of a language that was never finished. <em>Fremen</em> was started by Frank Herbert, but was subsequently developed as <em>Chakobsa</em> in the "<em>Dune Encyclopedia</em>". [<em>Lapine]</em><a href="http://www.loganberry.furtopia.org/bnb/lapine/overview.html" rel="nofollow">3</a> is an example of a language that seems to have been developed more by the fans afterwards.</p>

<p>Yeah, they're movie languages, but <em>Na'vi</em> and <em>Klingon</em> are the current Xeno-languages with a fan base and users that are competent to read and write it.</p>
" OwnerUserId="10" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-14T21:40:06.447" LastActivityDate="2012-01-14T21:40:06.447" CommentCount="4" />
<row Id="616" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="630" CreationDate="2011-01-15T00:22:19.783" Score="7" ViewCount="212" Body="<p>What are the big influences that Asimov's Foundation Saga has had on other Sci Fi franchises?</p>
" OwnerUserId="161" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T03:14:33.527" Title="Asimov's Foundation Epic the 'granddaddy of sci fi'?" Tags="<isaac-asimov><foundation>" AnswerCount="1" />
<row Id="621" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="672" CreationDate="2011-01-15T03:43:11.910" Score="16" ViewCount="516" Body="<p>I was disturbed by the rate of human evolution in Waterworld- maybe 500 years to evolve humans with gills*, and about a 1000 years to evolve into (back into?) something that is stronger than a chimpanzee and faster than an Olympic sprinter.</p>

<p>How long should it take to evolve these sort of characteristics?</p>

<ul>
<li>And when I first saw water world, I thought this was a single generation mutation and Kevin Kostner was first to have gills that worked really well, which likewise seemed to fast.</li>
</ul>
" OwnerUserId="10" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-21T02:05:40.627" LastActivityDate="2012-06-21T21:30:13.317" Title="How fast should mutations be for hard science fiction?" Tags="<science><pandorum><evolution>" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" />
<row Id="622" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="621" CreationDate="2011-01-15T05:01:58.117" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I think Ringworld got it about right, somewhere around 250 thousand years for some moderate changes, but nothing like gills for a long while, so...</p>
" OwnerUserId="98" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T05:01:58.117" />
<row Id="623" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="621" CreationDate="2011-01-15T05:44:40.057" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Evolution is a funny thing. You can't ask of it magic. The real answer is that human lungs would probably never turn into gills. After all, look at every sea mammal. Not one of them has lost their lungs in favor of gills. Lungs are better.</p>

<p>What you would see is increased lung capacity and the ability for the blood to carry more oxygen. And this kind of change could happen very quickly if properly selected for. However, it would have been the sea-bound folks that would have gained this ability. Not a group of people who were lucky enough to find the one land mass left on earth.</p>

<p>Changes like I describe above could easily make humans aquatic in 500 years. This is roughly 25 generations. That is long enough for webbed feet and hands for sure, and long enough for at least a doubled lung capacity, and probably for wider blood vessels and an increase in the amount of blood, if not an increase in the storage capacity of that blood.</p>

<p>Provided that these are really survival features for humans. This would basically require that they live in the water full time, and it would probably come with lots of other dolphin like adaptations.</p>
" OwnerUserId="51" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T05:44:40.057" CommentCount="7" />
<row Id="624" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="600" CreationDate="2011-01-15T07:58:53.727" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>You're unlikely to find many well-developed languages in fiction, because an author's job is normally to tell a story, not to develop a language. Tolkien's Elvish is an exception to this, <strong>because Tolkien was a linguist who created a world to provide context for a language, rather than vice versa</strong>.</p>

<p>There are a number of SF works that are <em>about</em> language, such as <em>Babel-17</em> by Samuel R Delany and <em>Native Tongue</em> by Suzette Haden Elgin.</p>
" OwnerUserId="23" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-14T21:40:40.283" LastActivityDate="2012-01-14T21:40:40.283" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="627" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="621" CreationDate="2011-01-15T12:36:20.660" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I don't think we have a solid theory of mammal speciation. I'd like some pointers from people more knowledgeable in the field.</p>

<p>As for sci-fi, I like the Greg Bear's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwin%27s_Radio" rel="nofollow">Darwin's Radio</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwin%27s_Children" rel="nofollow">Darwin's children</a> which are indeed hard sci-fi about human evolution and more specifically speciation. In those books speciation is sudden, following an evolutionary jump theory. </p>
" OwnerUserId="50" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T12:36:20.660" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="629" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="621" CreationDate="2011-01-15T14:46:52.780" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I agree with @DampeS8N. Think about cetaceans (whales, dolphins, stuff) -- 50 million years of evolution towards aquatic life and they still breathe atmospheric air using normal lungs.</p>

<p>Cetaceans needed about 10-20 My to be pretty good aquatics; of course the speed of evolution is a very variant thing, especially looking on phenotype only, but this is quite reasonable approximation for aquatic humans.</p>
" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T14:46:52.780" />
<row Id="630" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="616" CreationDate="2011-01-15T15:52:49.340" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I don't know if Asimov was the first writer to postulate a Galactic Empire, but surely he popularized the concept a lot.</p>
" OwnerUserId="89" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T15:52:49.340" />
<row Id="632" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="609" CreationDate="2011-01-15T15:59:23.150" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="<p>It's more than novella length, but linear accelerators were important in Heinlein's novel "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress", and the protagonist was shot to Earth by one.</p>
" OwnerUserId="130" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T15:59:23.150" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="635" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="581" CreationDate="2011-01-15T16:08:40.527" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The Three Laws are listed in full in many of his robot stories. This was particularly important in some of the Donovan and Powell stories in I, Robot since they were playing around with things that might go wrong.</p>
" OwnerUserId="130" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T16:08:40.527" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="637" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="647" CreationDate="2011-01-15T16:23:59.053" Score="13" ViewCount="303" Body="<p>Some years ago, I ran into a statement that the identity of the villains that start chasing the party in Heinlein's <em>Number of the Beast</em> could be figured out from internal clues. I completely failed. Anybody have any ideas?</p>
" OwnerUserId="130" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T14:43:54.913" LastActivityDate="2012-01-01T23:21:48.077" Title=""Black Hats" in "The Number of the Beast"" Tags="<robert-a-heinlein>" AnswerCount="1" />
<row Id="638" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="639" CreationDate="2011-01-15T16:25:08.850" Score="16" ViewCount="1171" Body="<p>I know the Firefly episodes were originally aired out of the order that Joss Whedon intended, and that many fans think this contributed to the show's early cancellation. Looking at <a href="http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Firefly_The_Complete_Series/60033036" rel="nofollow">Firefly on Netflix</a>, I don't see an original air date for any of the episodes.</p>

<ol>
<li>Serenity</li>
<li>The Train Job</li>
<li>Bushwhacked</li>
<li>Shindig</li>
<li>Safe</li>
<li>Our Mrs. Reynolds</li>
<li>Jaynestown</li>
<li>Out of Gas</li>
<li>Ariel</li>
<li>War Stories</li>
<li>Trash</li>
<li>The Message</li>
<li>Heart of Gold</li>
<li>Objects in Space</li>
</ol>

<p>Is this list in order by air date, or is this the order the show's creator intended they be viewed?</p>
" OwnerUserId="63" LastActivityDate="2012-07-20T20:04:30.563" Title="What was the original intended order of the episodes of Firefly?" Tags="<firefly>" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="639" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="638" CreationDate="2011-01-15T16:33:38.060" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="<p>That list matches the Wikipedia listing, which claims to be the originally intended order. Having seen them in that order myself, I can say it does make much more sense than the aired order would have.</p>

<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Firefly_episodes" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Firefly_episodes</a></p>
" OwnerUserId="36" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T16:33:38.060" CommentCount="7" />
<row Id="643" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="598" CreationDate="2011-01-15T17:28:45.090" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>"<em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orphans_of_the_Sky" rel="nofollow">Universe</a></em>" by Robert A Heinlein is a story along these lines. </p>

<p>Like most of RAF's work it is well worth reading.</p>
" OwnerUserId="97" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-14T21:43:38.137" LastActivityDate="2012-01-14T21:43:38.137" />
<row Id="647" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="637" CreationDate="2011-01-15T18:49:32.680" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="<p>They are all Heinlein himself. The clues are that all of them have names that are anagrams of his name. They represent the author entering the story to move it along. I'm not sure I would go so far as to say the book is a guide on how to write. But it certain was Heinlein being playful with the concept of the book.</p>

<p>The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Number_of_the_Beast_%28novel%29" rel="nofollow">wikipedia</a> article goes into some detail about this.</p>
" OwnerUserId="51" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T18:49:32.680" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="648" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="649" CreationDate="2011-01-15T21:47:13.120" Score="10" ViewCount="307" Body="<p>In <em>Skylark Three</em> by E.E. "Doc" Smith, the <em>Skylark</em> has an acceleration of five times the speed of light, and in <em>The Skylark of Valeron</em>, it has nearly unlimited acceleration. Is there any indication of how the light speed limit was overcome? It seems to have been ignored entirely.</p>
" OwnerUserId="152" LastActivityDate="2011-12-20T03:35:22.113" Title="How did the Skylark deal with the Einstein light-speed limit?" Tags="<ftl-drive><science><e-e-smith>" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="649" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="648" CreationDate="2011-01-15T21:58:46.363" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="<p>It would appear the author ignored lightspeed restrictions entirely. The choice of wording is a clue of a lack of regard for basic physics -- the speed of light being a fixed speed in your medium of choice, rather than acceleration which is the rate at which your speed <b>changes.</b></p>
" OwnerUserId="36" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T21:58:46.363" CommentCount="5" />
<row Id="650" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="652" CreationDate="2011-01-15T22:48:16.880" Score="20" ViewCount="642" Body="<p>I've heard that these two novels by Neal Stephenson take place in the same universe. </p>

<p>What connections exist between the two novels and what is the time-line like?</p>
" OwnerUserId="38" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-18T19:02:50.193" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T19:02:50.193" Title="What is the connection between Snow Crash and The Diamond Age?" Tags="<novel><neal-stephenson><continuity><snow-crash><diamond-age>" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" />
<row Id="651" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="694" CreationDate="2011-01-15T22:53:30.383" Score="8" ViewCount="116" Body="<p>I read "<a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0312025742">Farewell Horizontal</a>" a long time ago. It described people living on the surface of a really big building, in particular, sometimes standing perpendicular to the wall. My physics is a bit weak, but wouldn't this put some tremendous pressures on the ankles? Have rock climbers figure out how to do this?</p>

<p>Also, in the same book, they mentioned motorcycles zipping around on the surfaces. If I remember correctly, motorcycles zipped around at 50 mph for significant amounts of time, which made me wonder exactly how big that building could be-- a one or two hour drive at those speeds straight up should take out right out of the atmosphere and into thin air and eventually vacuum. How big can a building get before it moves into fantasy land?</p>
" OwnerUserId="10" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-22T01:34:01.123" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T01:34:01.123" Title="Living on a building's surface in "Farewell Horizontal"" Tags="<engineering>" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="652" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="650" CreationDate="2011-01-15T23:21:47.177" Score="23" ViewCount="" Body="<p>From <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Diamond_Age#Snow_Crash" rel="nofollow">Wikipedia</a>:</p>

<blockquote>
 <p><em>The Diamond Age</em> can be seen as set in the same universe as <em>Snow Crash</em>, many years later. This reading is based on a connection between Y.T., a major character in <em>Snow Crash</em>, and the aged neo-Victorian Miss Matheson in <em>The Diamond Age</em>, who drops oblique references to her past as a hard-edged skateboarder. This would set <em>The Diamond Age</em> some 80–100 years after <em>Snow Crash</em>.</p>
 
 <p>Further supporting evidence to connect these two novels include:</p>
 
 <ul>
 <li>Stephenson's short story "The Great Simoleon Caper" which refers to both the Metaverse seen in <em>Snow Crash</em> and the First Distributed Republic seen in <em>The Diamond Age</em> (another short story which fits in the Diamond Age milieu and even shares a character is "Excerpt from the Third and Last Volume of <em>Tribes of the Pacific Coast</em>").<br><br></li>
 <li>references to Franchise-Organized Quasi-National Entities (FOQNEs) in both novels.</li>
 </ul>
 
 <p>When taken as part of <em>Snow Crash's</em> timeline, <em>The Diamond Age</em> provides insight into the setting of its predecessor. In a conversation with Miranda, one character tells her that the nation-states of the world collapsed when electronic communications started using an untraceable relay system that made it impossible to enforce taxes on online transactions (which was later used as a plot element in another of Stephenson's works, <em>Cryptonomicon</em>). Deprived of their funding, large-scale governments collapsed, and small, voluntary governments like the burbclaves depicted in <em>Snow Crash</em> emerged in their place.</p>
 
 <p>Both novels deal with an almost "primitive tech" replacing a current, worldwide use technology, in the sense of the reprogramming of the mind through ancient Sumerian chanting in <em>Snow Crash</em> (which also uses allusions to Babylonian prostitutes passing an information virus like a sexually transmitted disease), and the idea of nanotechnology propagating and communicating through sexual intercourse, passing from body to body like a virus. Both novels use an ancient, almost primitive threat to modern, "Western" technology and ideology (The Raft in <em>Snow Crash</em> and The Fists of Righteous Harmony in <em>The Diamond Age</em>). Stephenson explores the idea of the tech divide and its social and economic ramifications to the extreme using these violent, but not all together surprising, social revolutions.</p>
</blockquote>
" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2011-01-15T23:21:47.177" />
<row Id="654" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-16T03:03:50.617" Score="19" ViewCount="1458" Body="<p>Science-fiction has used wormhole travel, hyperdrive, teleportation, even sub-FTL flight combined with time travel o get characters there and back again. Even hard science-fiction writer Larry Niven has used faster-than-light drives, and he admits that they were solely a plot device. </p>

<p>Are there any FTL systems in science-fiction that are possible from the point of view of modern-day physics? </p>

<p>(Inspired by <a href="http://scifi.stackexchange.com/q/648/33">this question</a>.)</p>
" OwnerUserId="33" LastActivityDate="2011-11-10T13:09:41.870" Title="What FTL drives in science-fiction are the most scientifically plausible?" Tags="<ftl-drive><science>" AnswerCount="6" FavoriteCount="2" />
<row Id="657" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="654" CreationDate="2011-01-16T03:29:50.180" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="<p>No.</p>

<p>FTL is, according to physics, impossible. Even the loop holes that allow for things like worm holes, by current understanding, would require doing things like converting all of Jupiter into energy to stretch one out large enough to use it to jump through space. And there is currently no known way to direct where it exits. So you'd be essentially jumping to a random location in the universe. Fun.</p>

<p>It is as powerful plot device, however, so it is persistent. However, I'd like to see more SF posit very old people as a replacement for FTL.</p>
" OwnerUserId="51" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T03:29:50.180" CommentCount="5" />
<row Id="661" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="654" CreationDate="2011-01-16T04:34:29.153" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="<p>There are at least 3 systems which are at this time somewhat plausible, although currently there isn't nearly enough knowledge to try any of them.</p>

<ol>
<li>The ansible system used in Orson Scott Card's Ender's series for instantaneous communication is at least plausible.</li>
<li>The general notation of a wormhole has some possibilities, although as previously mentioned, it would take alot of energy.</li>
<li>Any drive that mentions folding space might be possible.</li>
</ol>

<p>These are the only 3 I know anything about, and they are all seemingly unlikely, so...</p>
" OwnerUserId="98" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T04:34:29.153" CommentCount="5" />
<row Id="672" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="621" CreationDate="2011-01-16T16:04:51.130" Score="24" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The short answer is that evolution couldn't create gills in humans. It doesn't work that way unless we're talking millions of years. However, if the humans in <em>Waterworld</em> had genetic engineering, it's perfectly reasonable to believe that they could create a human with gills in 50 years. The long explanation is below, along with a pretty detailed description of how evolution works. </p>

<p>I think one of the issues in discussing evolution is that we are conflating two different processes. </p>

<p>The first one is mutations. These pop up in populations at some rate -- which might be different for different species and for different populations. A population which is exposed to high levels of radiation might have a high level of mutation. However, the mutation is random. And many of the mutations will be detrimental -- even to the point of causing large numbers of failed pregnancies. (High rates of miscarriage, or of death during or shortly after pregnancy -- or of unviable eggs in an egg-laying species.) </p>

<p>Even currently in humans, there is actually a fairly high rate of failed pregnancies. <a href="http://health.howstuffworks.com/pregnancy-and-parenting/pregnancy/issues/10007-miscarriages-symptoms-causes-treatment.htm" rel="nofollow">15% of known pregnancies</a> result in miscarriage -- and there are probably even more that we don't know about because they happen before the woman is even aware she's pregnant. Many times, these miscarriages are because the fertilized egg doesn't develop properly, and you don't ever move from the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blastocyst" rel="nofollow">blastocyst</a> to a fetus. Instead, you get junk which the woman's body disposes of in a miscarriage. </p>

<p>The second process is selection. Mutations that are not detrimental enough to cause death will result in new beings. But the ultimate question in terms of evolution is: do these beings reproduce? And will those offspring also reproduce? In natural selection, the environment can determine whether an individual survives long enough to reproduce. Some mutations may affect this process. If a mutation makes an individual fertile for a longer period, they may have more offspring. Similarly, if a mutation ensures that the individual survives longer, that may lead to more offspring. Or if a mutation makes the individual a more attractive parent (long and colorful tails in peacocks, for example), they're more likely to mate. </p>

<p>However, with humans, there's a mitigating factor. We have tools, which can lead to survival of beings that might not otherwise survive. Take the <em>Waterworld</em> example: we have boats, and the means to build them. Therefore, in the short term, there wouldn't be any survival pressure to cause any mutation to be beneficial enough to cause a change in the population. In the longer term, however, we'd start running out of ways to fix the boats. It's a lot harder to cut down trees or mine ore if there's no dry land. At this point, the survival of those who can stay off the boats for longer may in fact start to affect the population. </p>

<p>There's also a question of "unnatural" selection or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_breeding" rel="nofollow">selective breeding</a>. We can see that in dogs. Wolves look pretty much the same all over the world. But when humans started domesticating canines, we started choosing which males to breed with which females. Therefore, if we wanted particularly small dogs, we breed the smallest males to the smallest females, and in each generation, we continue the process. Eventually, we'll end up with toy dogs, because we're selecting for that feature. (A <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/bakewell_robert.shtml" rel="nofollow">fascinating version</a> of this process was used in the 1800s to create sheep and cattle with more meat.)</p>

<p>I think one of the most confusing aspects of evolution, however, is the idea that we can evolve a completely new organ (gills) out of nowhere. What mutations do is that they change the blueprint for what is already there. For example, they might enable a slightly higher lung capacity, which would enable people to hold their breath for longer. Over time, if this is beneficial enough, it would spread and perhaps even increase itself even more. But evolution is random. But evolution can't start from scratch. All that can happen is that the current blueprints can be adjusted. So we can start playing with lung capacity, but our genes can't randomly create something that's fully functional right from scratch. For a new organ to evolve would take FAR longer than for a minor change like being able to hold your breath longer to spread. </p>

<p>The only thing that matters in natural evolution is whether there is a greater likelihood of producing offspring from that mutation. If yes, then the mutation is selected for. If no, it's selected against. But most mutations have no effect. (A mutation might cause, for example, dimples to appear not just on your cheeks, but also on your elbows.) This is a completely useless mutation in terms of survival. But it might happen to get passed on simply by chance. (Our elbow-dimpled person might also happen to have lots of children.) This is evolution as it normally happens. If a mutation isn't harmful, it is just as likely to get passed on as not. </p>

<p>This is why in many of the more extreme animal breeds, there are other factors that tend to get passed on along with the trait that has been selected for. (For example, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thoroughbred" rel="nofollow">Thoroughbred</a> horses, which were bred for speed, tend to have a number of problems including small heart size and bleeding from the lungs.)</p>

<p>The last factor to consider is a staple of science fiction -- <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_engineering" rel="nofollow">genetic engineering</a>. This is where we take the DNA sequence to grow X feature and place it into creature Y's DNA. Or where we go into the DNA of an organism and snip out bits that we don't like. This is currently being done in a number of areas. The most common is work being done on crops such as tomatoes or tobacco. (Just do a search for genetically modified food to see a sampling of the range of discussion on the topic.)</p>

<p>Depending on when <em>Waterworld</em> is supposed to take place, that would get my vote for the most likely origin of the gills of Kevin Costner's character. That could theoretically happen in one generation, although there would likely be a number of tries where the genes don't get expressed properly, or they don't work right, or they cause problems for some other system. (I believe the gills were in his neck, which is already chock full of other stuff like the blood vessels leading to the brain -- if the gills interfered with those, the modified baby wouldn't survive.)</p>
" OwnerUserId="69" LastEditorUserId="69" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-16T16:18:23.960" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T16:18:23.960" CommentCount="6" />
<row Id="675" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="681" CreationDate="2011-01-16T17:13:50.547" Score="32" ViewCount="749" Body="<p>The term "hard" science fiction is used for sf that corresponds to our currently understood science models of the universe. The exact definition of what counts as hard science fiction is too subjective for this site. What are the common ways of determining relative hardness?</p>
" OwnerUserId="69" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T01:08:28.943" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T16:22:49.183" Title="What are the criteria for defining "hard" science fiction?" Tags="<hard-sci-fi>" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="8" />
<row Id="676" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="675" CreationDate="2011-01-16T17:15:15.553" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="<p>One common criterion is the existence of FTL travel. See <a href="http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/654/what-ftl-drives-in-science-fiction-are-the-most-scientifically-plausible">this question</a> for a discussion of why the existence of FTL travel often is used to disqualify SF from the "hard" designation. </p>
" OwnerUserId="69" LastEditorUserId="69" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-16T21:44:45.713" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T21:44:45.713" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="679" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="654" CreationDate="2011-01-16T19:08:12.833" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>A hyperspacial drive <em>could</em> be possible, as we don't know whether or not any sort of hyperspace exists...</p>

<p>Edit: If there exists a parallel universe, or extension of this universe, in which either the light-speed limit does not apply, or is higher, that is a "hyperspace" in which practical FTL (in relation to this universe) is possible. Another possibility is the hyperspace of Asimov's Foundation series, in which hyperspace is a single point that can be jumped through to any point in the universe. However, the existence of any such space is currently unprovable, as far as I know.</p>
" OwnerUserId="152" LastEditorUserId="152" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-16T20:17:46.480" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T20:17:46.480" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="680" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="675" CreationDate="2011-01-16T20:07:02.550" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_fiction#Hard_SF" rel="nofollow">Wikipedia</a> actually has quite a good definition: </p>

<blockquote>
 <p>Hard science fiction, or "hard SF", is characterized by rigorous attention to accurate detail in quantitative sciences, especially physics, astrophysics, and chemistry, or on accurately depicting worlds that more advanced technology may make possible. </p>
</blockquote>

<p>It's worth noting that some hard SF takes liberties with science, such as faster-than-light travel; the term "hard" can be a little blurry. </p>
" OwnerUserId="33" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T20:07:02.550" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="681" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="675" CreationDate="2011-01-16T20:17:00.420" Score="19" ViewCount="" Body="<p>There are some elements that immediately disqualify a work as hard SF.</p>

<ul>
<li>telepathy, telekinesis, other psychic stuff. Perhaps this could be given some kind of pseudo-scientific explanation, and therefore interesting constraints, but too often this just turns into a my-specialness vs your-specialness kind of thing, and seems completely arbitrary.</li>
<li>magic, not the sufficiently advanced technology kind, but the hocus-pocus kind. this is just completely too unconstrained, anything can happen, it has to be fantasy.</li>
<li>time travel - specifically, going backwards in time. this is one of those things that allows anything to happen, with no semblance of any rules. Note however, "travel" forward in time is fine, as relativity allows you to slow your clock relative to the universe by chasing after light for a while.</li>
</ul>

<p>But then there are some other elements that, depending on whether the author tries to maintain consistency, could be hard SF or might not be. For example</p>

<ul>
<li>FTL - looks impossible now. probably is impossible. but you can suspend disbelief (somewhat) if there are rules such as "only works in relatively flat space between stars" </li>
<li>macroscale teleportation - again, sort of plausible if it only works between locations that have the same gravitational potential and relative motion.</li>
</ul>

<p>As with any kind of fiction, there has to be a willingness of the reader to set aside disbelief. With SF, it seems that some works require us to set more science than others, and the less you have to do this, the 'harder' the SF. But even fantastical elements like FTL can work, so long as you don't have to set aside the 'feeling of science'.</p>
" OwnerUserId="96" LastEditorUserId="96" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-16T20:28:07.347" LastActivityDate="2011-01-16T20:28:07.347" CommentCount="11" />
<row Id="694" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="651" CreationDate="2011-01-17T00:06:50.020" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="<p>If the building was substantially solid (non-hollow), say at least 80-90% solid mass, there is really no upper limit on the size of the building if it were constructed of materials such as stone or steel. The building could be as large as any 'rocky' (non-gas giant) type planet.</p>

<p>However, if the building were constructed along the lines of today's modern skyscrapers with more than 90% of the volume of the building being empty space, then there is a very definite upper limit on the size. Given today's building practices, material strengths, water and air handling technology; the upper size limit for a single 'building' would be about the diameter of the Pentagon in the United States, and about twice the height of the new Burj Khalifa in Dubai. Assuming near-infinite funds. Much beyond that size, and the building would start to collapse in on itself.</p>

<p>If you throw in science fiction advances in materials and construction methods, you can go bigger. How much bigger depends on how advanced your materials science is assumed to be.</p>

<p>When you get right down to the question of 'Can a building be massive enough to have its own gravitation field?' The answer, in our universe, is: Only if it is mostly solid matter, and contains no significant internal structure as you would find in today's definition of a building.</p>
" OwnerUserId="147" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T00:06:50.020" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="701" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="675" CreationDate="2011-01-17T02:42:42.260" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Hard Science Fiction can consist of the following</p>

<ul>
<li>Space Opera sized plot and scope. </li>
<li>FTL drives of different sorts. </li>
<li>Artificial Intelligence</li>
<li>Cloning</li>
<li>Giant Spaceships (different classes like Gangster class)</li>
<li>Oribitals</li>
<li>Ringworlds</li>
<li>Dyson Spheres</li>
<li>Quantum mechanics</li>
<li>Collapsing wave function</li>
<li>Super advanced technology</li>
<li>Antimatter.</li>
<li>Conciousness</li>
<li>Time Machines.</li>
<li>Weird languages (that are invented as weapons)</li>
<li>Time Dilation</li>
<li>Super exotic weapons (blackhole destroyers, hell class weapons, sentient inhibitors)</li>
<li>Exotic current, retired, ascended super intelligent races of Aliens.</li>
<li>Race Inhibitors</li>
<li>Unknown quantum effects. </li>
<li>Unimaginably vast distances travelled quickly.</li>
<li><p>Adapted humans to live places other than Earth, like the Sun. </p>

<p>This list is incomplete.
Bob.</p></li>
</ul>
" OwnerUserId="49" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T02:42:42.260" />
<row Id="702" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-17T02:56:03.913" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Babel 17 by Samuel R. Delany, has a weird invented languages as a core plot device, that's designed to be used as a weapon. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Languages_of_Pao" rel="nofollow">The Languages of Pao</a>, by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Vance" rel="nofollow">Jack Vance</a> in which the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Languages_of_Pao" rel="nofollow">Sapir–Whorf hypothesis</a> is a central plot theme, where the language of the Pao people is manipulated to alter their perception. </p>

<p>The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dispossessed" rel="nofollow">The Dispossessed</a> by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ursula_K._Le_Guin" rel="nofollow">Ursula K. Le Guin</a> also used the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis to investigate how language shapes society.</p>
" OwnerUserId="49" LastEditorUserId="49" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-17T04:04:05.710" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T04:04:05.710" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-17T02:56:03.913" />
<row Id="704" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="328" CreationDate="2011-01-17T03:20:14.337" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Perhaps not the biggest, but the computers in <em>David Zindells</em> A Requiem for Homo Sapiens trilogy, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Broken_God" rel="nofollow">The Broken God</a> being the first, the computers are truly vast covering 300k planets with each planet computer associated with a star to power it. The plot deals with people being vastened from normal humans into each of these computers, and some of the vast computer sentient entities being de-vastened into a childs toy, after being destroyed. A trully excellent series of books worth a read, about the ascendency of man, written in Zindells poetic language. </p>
" OwnerUserId="49" LastEditorUserId="49" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T00:59:14.697" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T00:59:14.697" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="728" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="410" CreationDate="2011-01-17T17:43:01.277" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="<p>To add another possible line of investigation; it sounds like a prequel to van Vogt's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_of_the_Atom" rel="nofollow">Empire of the Atom</a>. Which was published 1957 (around the time you were indicating).</p>

<p>He did a lot of short stories and I don't know his work comprehensively enough to know whether this is one of them.</p>
" OwnerUserId="165" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-14T23:46:44.623" LastActivityDate="2012-01-14T23:46:44.623" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="733" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-17T19:01:40.303" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I don't know if you could class it as an alien language, as it's a standalone society, in the far future, where most of the species have fled the planet for the stars, but in the book <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feersum_Endjinn" rel="nofollow">Feersum Endjinn</a> by Iain M Banks, the main narrator Bascule writes phonetically, and the language is slang Scot's, for all intents and purposes, which makes for very hard reading, even for me, a Scot, but also very rewarding. Here is an example from Wikipedia.</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>`Woak up. Got dresd. Had brekfast. Spoke wif Ergates thi ant who sed itz juss been wurk wurk wurk 4 u lately master Bascule, Y dont u ½ a holiday? &amp; I agreed &amp; that woz how we decided we otter go 2 c Mr Zoliparia in thi I-ball ov thi gargoyle Rosbrith.</p>
</blockquote>
" OwnerUserId="49" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T19:01:40.303" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-17T19:01:40.303" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="739" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="438" CreationDate="2011-01-17T19:51:19.217" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>In <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Baxter" rel="nofollow">Stephen Baxter's</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Time_Ships" rel="nofollow">"<em>The Time Ships</em>"</a>, the official sequel to HG Wells's "<em>The Time Machine</em>", Baxter uses the concept of finding the causal link connecting Multiple Universes, so the causal link can be brought into the this reality and mapped and through that a circular time travel paradigm to ensure his time machine has enough and of the correct type of fuel, and a new route back to his beloved in the year 800k something. </p>

<p>As Stephen Baxter is a cambridge educated mathematician and engineer, its all based on current understanding of science like string theory, quantum mechanics and various current papers he has studied (which are listed). </p>
" OwnerUserId="49" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-15T00:02:49.627" LastActivityDate="2012-01-15T00:02:49.627" />
<row Id="740" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="30" CreationDate="2011-01-17T20:00:14.963" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I don't know about a prop, but have you ever noticed that in every single Babylon 5 episode, a classic science fiction novel is mentioned, mostly in passing, in conversation, but occasionally as part of a plot device. This may seem like flame bait, but if you know your SF, you'll spot it. Every single episode!. </p>

<p>I first noticed it, in an episde when talk about a ship visiting the station, and they called it the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ship_Who_Sang" rel="nofollow">Ship who Sang</a>, which is a old famous <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_McCaffrey" rel="nofollow">Anne McCaffrey</a> book. After that I checked every episode and sure enough every episode, a classic SF book is mentioned. </p>
" OwnerUserId="49" LastEditorUserId="1141" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-12-08T16:35:25.070" LastActivityDate="2011-12-08T16:35:25.070" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="743" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="746" CreationDate="2011-01-17T20:23:40.570" Score="43" ViewCount="3472" Body="<p>According to this graph when you dial a gate you're telling it not only where to go, but where you are coming from:</p>

<p><img src="http://i.stack.imgur.com/ixHmc.png" alt="alt text"></p>

<p>(Source: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File%3aStargateCoordinates.svg" rel="nofollow">Wikipedia</a>)</p>

<p>I've always wondered, wouldn't the point of origin also require 6 symbols? For those of you not familiar with stargate addresses, <a href="http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Addresses" rel="nofollow">this article</a> will fill you in.</p>

<p>Here's the canonical article on <a href="http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Stargate" rel="nofollow">Stargates themselves</a>.</p>
" OwnerUserId="19" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-18T18:08:48.090" LastActivityDate="2012-03-09T15:55:25.187" Title="In Stargate, how can you have a point of origin with only one coordinate?" Tags="<stargate>" AnswerCount="8" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="5" />
<row Id="745" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="63" CreationDate="2011-01-17T20:34:03.733" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>In <em>Iain M Banks</em> book, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matter_%28novel%29" rel="nofollow">Matter</a> on the Shellworld of Sursamen, which is multiple concentric dyson shells built on top of each other with a artificial sun on each level and each level holding a more advanced alien race than the level below. In the core lives a super advanced alien, and on level 7 lives the parasites that lived on the shell of the advanced alien, but have advanced enough to have the their own level.</p>
" OwnerUserId="49" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T20:34:03.733" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="746" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="743" CreationDate="2011-01-17T20:36:26.503" Score="30" ViewCount="" Body="<p>You are right. If it is a six-digit address, then the point of origin would also have to be written with six digits. </p>

<p>But, it seems that a single symbol is referring to Earth: <img src="http://i.stack.imgur.com/K7u9l.png" alt="enter image description here"></p>

<p>Also, according to:</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>This symbol is unique to the planet Earth. In the movie, Dr. Jackson interprets it as representing the Sun over the peak of a pyramid. Other planets are described as having their own unique origin symbols.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Source: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stargate_%28device%29">Wikipedia</a></p>

<p>This would mean that there is a symbol for <em>every single</em> planet.</p>

<p>However, the part that makes least sense is that on any given stargate, every connection to another one requires dialing an address which <em>always</em> ends with the same symbol. The only valid addresses dialed from Earth, therefore must end with the Pyramid symbol. I mean, what kind of usability is that :) If it is always the same, shouldn't it be fixed instead of requiring that users dial it over and over again.</p>
" OwnerUserId="52" LastEditorUserId="52" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-03-09T15:55:25.187" LastActivityDate="2012-03-09T15:55:25.187" CommentCount="13" />
<row Id="750" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="743" CreationDate="2011-01-17T22:46:23.490" Score="21" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The only sensible solution is that this symbol is a "terminator" allowing to dial larger-than-seven addresses, used to travel to Atlantis or Destiny -- otherwise it is purely redundant, because all gates seems to know their location (it seems they must be "calibrated" after relocation) and may send it to the remote gate.</p>

<p>About the uniqueness problem, in theory those symbols refer not to individual planets, but whole areas of the galaxy ("constellations") -- this way all planets near Earth should have the same origin symbol.</p>

<p>The other problem is why one needs 6 symbols to locate a planet; in 3D space only 2 points are needed to fully define two lines that cross in one point, so the remote address would need 4 symbols only.</p>

<p>Finally the strongest problem with this whole addressing system is that it is fairly ineffective and unstable; 36 points are way to small to expect that it would be always possible to describe planet's coordinates in this system. Thus, while also galaxies are not static the addresses would quite quickly become invalid or (luckily) change. </p>
" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T22:46:23.490" CommentCount="5" />
<row Id="755" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="743" CreationDate="2011-01-17T23:58:43.820" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="<p>You would think that, for consistencies sake at the very least. It it was done scientifically, it would be a point of original and a vector, which I think would be 2 points, in Euclidian geometry. Maybe the reason it need 6 points for the destination, the wormholes don't pass through Euclidian space. </p>
" OwnerUserId="49" LastActivityDate="2011-01-17T23:58:43.820" />
<row Id="758" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="621" CreationDate="2011-01-18T00:26:50.367" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I remember reading a New Scientist article some years ago, and their was an article that discussed how anthropologiest and biologists, thought it was likely that eyes evolved in under 100k generations, and that was scientific research. A generation is 30 years in science land. </p>

<p>So if you use 300,000 years as a metric, for eyes, then any evolution that was designed to enable a species to grow gills to get better food and become better hunters, I think would take longer, since gills are on your neck. As it is standalone evolutionary advantage and less complex than eyes, but still a new organ on the neck, it would take either a similar, slightly less, as gills are much less complex as eyes, or slightly longer because people would have spend a lot of time in the water, to make the evolution happen. </p>

<p>So using that metric it would take anywhere between 250,000 years and 500,000 years and no more than that. </p>

<p>@mbq, as regards the 50 million and cetaceans not growning gills, I think the reasons that cetaceans never developed some kind of gill system, is do with the amout of Oxygen then need. They need vast amount, even a dophin is 10+ feet, hugely bigger than us, and related to the fact they warm blooded. They need vast amount of oxygen, that would never be retreivable with the biggest gills, from seawater, hence surface breathing. I don't know if it's plausible, but we are about 1/4 the size of a dolphin....</p>
" OwnerUserId="49" LastEditorUserId="3804" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-06-21T19:22:54.073" LastActivityDate="2012-06-21T19:22:54.073" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="759" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="743" CreationDate="2011-01-18T00:58:27.753" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The point of origin doesn't resemble a coordinate in space, it's more of an idenitification token for the Stargate itself.<br>
It's also the only symbol different on each Stargate, Milky Way Stargates usually have 39 different charakters, 38 of them are common along all Stargates, the 39th is the point of origin.</p>

<p>This is additionally proved by <a href="http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/Beta_Gate" rel="nofollow">wikia on the Beta Gate</a>:</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>Throughout episodes in which the Beta
 Gate is installed in the SGC Gate Room
 (from "Small Victories" to
 "Redemption, Part 2"), its point of
 origin symbol is the same as for the
 Alpha Gate. Presumably, this is not
 canon, and is instead a production
 issue caused by reusing the same prop
 for both Stargates. As shown in
 "Solitudes", the point of origin for
 the Beta Gate is <img src="http://images.wikia.com/stargate/images/7/72/0eb.svg" width="25" height="25" alt="" />.</p>
</blockquote>
" OwnerUserId="109" LastEditorUserId="109" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-18T01:42:47.913" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T01:42:47.913" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="777" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1095" CreationDate="2011-01-18T11:21:24.380" Score="13" ViewCount="333" Body="<p>In Julian May's <em>Saga of the Exiles</em>, Felice merges with Culleket when her attack against Aiken/Marc fails. They become an "incandescent duality" that Elizabeth safeguards in Brede's "room without doors". </p>

<p>Does anything ever come of this? (e.g. in the later <em>Galactic Milieu</em> books). It always seemed to me that the story wasn't ended, but I don't recall anything obvious in the later novels. (I originally thought the "great carbuncle" was related, but that doesn't seem to fit). </p>
" OwnerUserId="108" LastEditorUserId="4523" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-03-27T10:33:59.990" LastActivityDate="2012-07-18T22:22:49.050" Title="What happens to Felice at the end of Saga of the Exiles?" Tags="<julian-may><saga-of-the-exiles>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="778" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2151" CreationDate="2011-01-18T11:31:06.650" Score="10" ViewCount="302" Body="<p>In the TV series <em>Blake's 7</em>, there were varying numbers of crew members of the <em>Liberator</em> and <em>Slave</em>, but never 8. </p>

<p>With Blake, there was Avon, Vila, Jenna, Gan and Cally. By the time Dayna, Tarrent and Soolin arrive, Blake is gone, so they are hardly 'his' 7. If you include Orac and Zen there are 7, but Orac only arrives briefly before Blake vanishes. </p>

<p>Is the seven referring to something other than the number of crew? Does it include Blake himself (and Zen)? Is it just a name that shouldn't be looked at too closely?</p>
" OwnerUserId="108" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-07-30T17:20:42.703" LastActivityDate="2012-06-19T01:36:27.643" Title="Who are Blakes's 7?" Tags="<tv><blakes-7>" AnswerCount="4" />
<row Id="780" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="778" CreationDate="2011-01-18T11:45:37.243" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The original seven, referred to in the title, are Blake, Avon, Vila, Jenna, Gan, Cally and Zen.</p>
" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T11:45:37.243" CommentCount="4" />
<row Id="787" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="30" CreationDate="2011-01-18T15:15:31.043" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I really doubt that it is found in other Sci-Fi shows but Han Solo in Carbonite found in quite a few scenes in the Firefly series as a prank. <a href="http://geekfemme.blogspot.com/2011/01/han-solos-in-firefly.html">http://geekfemme.blogspot.com/2011/01/han-solos-in-firefly.html</a></p>
" OwnerUserId="169" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T15:15:31.043" />
<row Id="790" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1455" CreationDate="2011-01-18T17:41:53.953" Score="17" ViewCount="729" Body="<p>Back in the day, I read the first 2 1/2 or so dune books and I'm wondering who ends up ruling the universe at the end of the Dune series. I know there was a Sandworm Atreides emperor who ruled for a few millennium and then he committed suicide due to galactic stagnation.</p>

<p>So as far as Frank Herbert was concerned, rather than his son, who rules the universe at the end of the Dune saga?</p>
" OwnerUserId="35" LastEditorUserId="366" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-10-26T06:34:44.603" LastActivityDate="2011-10-26T06:34:44.603" Title="Who rules the universe at the end of the Dune saga?" Tags="<dune><frank-herbert><sandworm>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" />
<row Id="791" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="609" CreationDate="2011-01-18T18:54:58.297" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>It's been forever since I've read it, but I am 95% certain that DD Harriman built a linear accelerator up the side of Pike's Peak in 'The Man Who Sold the Moon' by Heinlein.</p>

<p>I don't remember anything about balloons holding it or carrying it, but it has been more than 25 years. :)</p>
" OwnerUserId="147" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T18:54:58.297" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="792" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="743" CreationDate="2011-01-18T19:02:27.270" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="<p>When the original movie was written, the 'Stargate Network' was conceived as a very tiny network of gates. If you just take the movie at face value, it's only a connection between Earth and Abydos. Under that premise, the single symbol for point of origin made sense and didn't require the writers to strain their brains to come up with something that would be accurate for a different set of conditions.</p>

<p>It wasn't until they made it into a series that more Stargates needed to be added to give the show enough material for more than 2 episodes. By then, they were stuck with the limited-use coordinate system.</p>
" OwnerUserId="147" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T19:02:27.270" />
<row Id="799" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="790" CreationDate="2011-01-18T21:35:58.303" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The swordmaster, Duncan Idaho, the Ghola is engineered to be a superior mentat, and is designed to do full galaxy wide super long range planning for humanity. I vaguley remember the ghola's rule for 40 or 60k years. </p>
" OwnerUserId="49" LastEditorUserId="49" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-20T04:27:28.743" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T04:27:28.743" CommentCount="4" />
<row Id="800" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="609" CreationDate="2011-01-18T21:37:17.813" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="<p>In the more real world, there is the motion simulator (kind of like airplane flight simulators) at the base of the CN Tower in Toronto, which theorized that they used the hollow core of the tower as a linear accelerator for space tourism. :) Tour of the Universe I believe they call it.</p>

<p>In a long book series format, there is FireStar by Michael Flynn, where the main character develops a single stage to orbit launcher, but scams her competitors into competing with her, and one builds the Boomer, a fuel ramjet gun that launches up a mountain side (and booms them into orbit). </p>
" OwnerUserId="176" LastEditorUserId="176" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T00:11:51.367" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T00:11:51.367" />
<row Id="806" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-18T21:53:44.450" Score="13" ViewCount="196" Body="<p>I have a vivid memory of something similar to Psychohistory being used in either a TV show or movie (most likely TV). Earth is taken over by a totalitarian government (or alien), and two characters are debating whether to fight it or not. They had mathematical predictions that if they fought now they would lose anyway, and sometime in the future (200 years?) a resistance would form on Mars and free everyone. They debated whether or not fighting back now was worth it given that they would undoubtedly lose and people would die in vain. </p>

<p>I thought it an episode of Babylon 5 but I just watched it all again and couldn't find it. Does anybody else remember this?</p>

<p>Edit: Just to note, though I always appreciate recommendations, I'm looking for a specific piece of sci-fi.</p>
" OwnerUserId="175" LastEditorUserId="56" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T21:20:08.627" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T21:33:41.373" Title="Other SF work that uses Psychohistory concepts?" Tags="<tv><isaac-asimov><story-identification>" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="808" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="818" CreationDate="2011-01-18T21:58:30.350" Score="6" ViewCount="438" Body="<p>I may have missed it somewhere, but how does the impeller wedge in the Honor Harrington series work. I am only a couple of books in, but I don't quite understand how the impeller wedge works to offer both propulsion and an invincible shield for part of the ship.</p>

<p>Can someone explain it in stupid person terms? The explanations might be a bit over my head in the books for me to actually understand it. I do understand the warshawski sails, but its the wedge that gets me.</p>
" OwnerUserId="189" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-23T19:18:08.583" LastActivityDate="2012-06-18T00:29:04.180" Title="How does the Impeller Wedge in the Honor Harrington series work?" Tags="<engineering><honorverse><david-weber>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" />
<row Id="809" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="900" CreationDate="2011-01-18T21:58:52.630" Score="32" ViewCount="3151" Body="<p>Because if it is, the series won't last much longer. The current Doctor is number 11 - that only leaves two more, right?</p>
" OwnerUserId="143" LastEditorUserId="219" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T23:01:10.420" LastActivityDate="2012-01-25T06:23:40.250" Title="Is it true that The Doctor (BBC's Doctor Who) can only regenerate 12 times?" Tags="<doctor-who>" AnswerCount="11" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="811" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="809" CreationDate="2011-01-18T22:02:12.267" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The line was used a few doctors back — before my time as a Who fan, so I can't offer specifics — but there was an episode of a Doctor Who spin-off written by Russell T Davies that gave a conflicting answer (somewhere in the two hundreds), so I'm sure when the time comes for the 13th regeneration something spectacular will happen that either eliminates his limit or resets the counter in order for the series to continue.</p>
" OwnerUserId="184" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T22:02:12.267" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="814" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="809" CreationDate="2011-01-18T22:04:13.160" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="<p>That rule comes from one story (if I recall correctly "The Deadly Assassin"). But it looks like the writers will change it if needed: <a href="http://www.radiotimes.com/blogs/1062-doctor-who-regenerate-immortal-12-times-13-lives/" rel="nofollow">http://www.radiotimes.com/blogs/1062-doctor-who-regenerate-immortal-12-times-13-lives/</a></p>
" OwnerUserId="204" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T22:04:13.160" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="816" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="806" CreationDate="2011-01-18T22:06:14.477" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="<p>In the Deep Space Nine episode <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statistical_Probabilities">Statistical Probabilities</a>, Dr Bashir and some other genetically augmented humans "develop a statistical historical model to predict the future".</p>
" OwnerUserId="41" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T22:06:14.477" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="818" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="808" CreationDate="2011-01-18T22:07:44.000" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="<p>You can find everything on the <a href="http://honorverse.wikia.com/wiki/Wedge" rel="nofollow">Honorverse wiki</a>.</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>The wedge was a pair of extremely
 powerful gravity bands located above
 and below the generating ship. Both
 bands were inclined such that the
 forward end, or "throat", was far
 deeper than the aft end, the "kilt".
 The wedge was capable of accelerating
 a vessel to near-light speed.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>More on the wiki.</p>
" OwnerUserId="198" LastEditorUserId="3804" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-06-18T00:29:04.180" LastActivityDate="2012-06-18T00:29:04.180" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="821" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="808" CreationDate="2011-01-18T22:10:57.710" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The Honorverse wiki says of the <a href="http://honorverse.wikia.com/wiki/Impeller_drive" rel="nofollow">Impeller drive</a>: The impeller drive created a pair of stressed gravity bands above and below a ship, known as the impeller wedge. </p>

<p>The gravity bands allows a ship to effectively 'surf' on a space-time wave of it's own making. Related technologies allow the mechanism to convert to a 'Warshawski sail', for use within hyperspace waves.</p>

<p>For even more comments about the technology, <a href="http://infodump.thefifthimperium.com/series/Harrington/" rel="nofollow">Pearls of Weber: Honor Harrington</a> is a collection of posts by David Weber containing background information for his stories.</p>
" OwnerUserId="183" LastEditorUserId="183" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-18T22:55:40.290" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T22:55:40.290" />
<row Id="824" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="809" CreationDate="2011-01-18T22:12:03.437" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="<p>This is Doctor Who we're talking about. These are the retcon experts. Asking Doctor Who to be internally consistent is equivalent to expecting Douglas Adams to be logical. Literally in some cases, since Douglas Adams wrote for Doctor Who for a while.</p>

<p>Believe me, if they wish to continue past Doctor 13, they will find a way. And it will make some sort of absurd, twisted sense. Or not, depending on the mood of the writer at the time.</p>
" OwnerUserId="180" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T22:12:03.437" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="830" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="30" CreationDate="2011-01-18T22:19:55.747" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="<p>A <a href="http://www.slashfilm.com/lol-the-reoccurring-prop-newspaper/" rel="nofollow">Prop newspaper</a> has been in dozens, maybe hundreds of TV programs, among them various SF episodes.</p>
" OwnerUserId="183" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T22:19:55.747" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="832" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="837" CreationDate="2011-01-18T22:23:34.173" Score="21" ViewCount="1250" Body="<p>I want to start and (this time) finish the two Asimov series I have: the Foundation books (Trilogy in fact) and the Robots cycle. </p>

<p>Is there a particular order between those two series or are they totally unrelated and can be read in any order? </p>
" OwnerUserId="192" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T04:12:16.667" LastActivityDate="2012-06-27T18:08:50.277" Title="Asimov - Start with Foundation or Robots" Tags="<suggested-order><isaac-asimov><robots><foundation>" AnswerCount="7" FavoriteCount="7" />
<row Id="834" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="832" CreationDate="2011-01-18T22:30:03.390" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="<p>They start off unrelated. </p>

<p>However they start to converge in the last few sets of books. I forget which ones specifically (5th Foundation? The one after Foundations Edge I think). Sort of like Heinliens universe as fiction notion to unify all his books. But Asimov did it a little bit cleaner I think.</p>
" OwnerUserId="176" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T22:30:03.390" />
<row Id="837" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="832" CreationDate="2011-01-18T22:33:40.640" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Personally I would start with Robots, it's set in the same universe but earlier in its history. Geoffc is right though, they don't converge until later in the Foundation series</p>
" OwnerUserId="175" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T22:33:40.640" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="839" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="806" CreationDate="2011-01-18T22:36:17.717" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Michael Flynn has <a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/076534498X" rel="nofollow">In the Country of the Blind</a>. I read it with this huge sense of deja vu. I was sure I had read an excerpt and not remembered reading it.</p>

<p>I found it a very strange read. But intruiging, and somewhat confusing as there are many levels to the story. </p>

<p>I love his other stuff. The Firestar series is currently my all time favorites. </p>
" OwnerUserId="176" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T22:36:17.717" />
<row Id="843" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="832" CreationDate="2011-01-18T22:38:32.440" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="<p>If you start with the fundation series you will end with a happy face (because of all the little spoilers on the robot series).</p>

<p>If you start with the robot series, you will have a lineal understanding of asimov universe.</p>
" OwnerUserId="149" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T22:38:32.440" />
<row Id="845" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="54" CreationDate="2011-01-18T22:42:16.693" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal%3aSpeculative_fiction/Science_fiction" rel="nofollow">wikipedia portal on Sci-Fi</a> is a good start. It's not the best, but it is a very good one.</p>

<p>I think it is a main starting point to develop a full SF database.</p>
" OwnerUserId="149" LastEditorUserId="149" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-20T00:40:29.060" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T00:40:29.060" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="854" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="301" CreationDate="2011-01-18T22:53:04.417" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="<p>In Star Trek: Enterprise you view various clues to how the translator is built. Hoshi Sato, supposed linguistic genuis, meets various alien races, and builds up the translator by adding in alien grammers combined with a speech processor and voice samples of the aliens language. </p>

<p>The translator would use AI, probably artifical, and similar to what is available in Google translate, (but much better, as it's set in fictional universe, but close it will be in this time frame) from a starting point, take a speech sample from the new alien, and use different search algorithms to match, on different alien database to find a similar or close matching grammer. From the grammer, the speech processor can take the grammer and enunciate possible speech patterns that the new aliens may understood, and by iterating down the search tree, zero in on a closer, possible better match, as they get more speech back from the alien. </p>

<p>But it would break, if non of the grammer was even a close match. Imagine two alien species seperated by say, 2000 light years. Their speech would be a different as basque, say one of those languages on earth, where you click the tongue, like tagalog. </p>

<p>Very similar to the way IBM recent computer match against the Jeopardy winners would works. Using search algorithms to map broken down question terms to possible answers. </p>
" OwnerUserId="49" LastEditorUserId="49" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-18T22:58:22.930" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T22:58:22.930" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="857" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="917" CreationDate="2011-01-18T22:55:25.710" Score="9" ViewCount="237" Body="<p>I am looking for help to point me out at a very old novel (likely from the '60s) about two empires at interstellar war. When it comes to starships, one is technologically very advanced, and the other has very low and inefficient technology.</p>

<p>The highly advanced empire has apparently strong chances to win the war, in particular considering a new technology they were developing. I remember the technology to work like this: consider the space as a flat surface, and on this surface, a disk around the spaceship. When the technology was turned on, this disk was stretched out, as made of rubber, so that it produced a cone, with the tip being the spaceship. The spaceship was therefore teleported 10 parsec away (if I remember correctly), but retained all the connections to the original position. If the spaceship moved, the cone moved as well. This allowed to move in position among enemy ships completely unnoticed, by stretching while afar, then moving in the proper position 10 parsecs away, then destretching.</p>

<p>Despite this technology, the empire lost the war because of delays. It's a perfect example of how having a disruptive technology does not guarantee to win against the competitors.</p>

<p>I am trying to find out the author and name of this novel, hopefully with the date of publication and in which journal/magazine.</p>
" OwnerUserId="228" LastEditorUserId="56" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-06-10T18:12:24.230" LastActivityDate="2011-06-10T18:12:24.230" Title="Process management and high technology weapon. Novel name and author?" Tags="<story-identification><novel><technology><space><warfare>" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="861" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3942" CreationDate="2011-01-18T23:01:06.637" Score="26" ViewCount="936" Body="<p>Please dispel (or confirm, but I doubt) this thing I keep hearing about Star Wars. I heard that all 6 Star Wars movies had been written many years before their filming, even before the first movie came out. This is something that came to me over the years in bits and pieces. I remember some basic elements, namely:</p>

<ul>
<li>That the movies started with episode IV because at the time (1977), filming an all city planet like Coruscant was technologically impossible.</li>
<li>That the original character that became JarJar Binks was actually an engineer/inventor of sorts, and smart.</li>
</ul>
" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2011-12-19T22:23:46.277" Title="What is the origin of all Star Wars movies?" Tags="<star-wars>" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="2" />
<row Id="862" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="861" CreationDate="2011-01-18T23:05:20.253" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Not an expert, but in the reviews of Star Wars made by <a href="http://redlettermedia.com" rel="nofollow">redlettermedia</a>, George Lucas specifically says about still having to write drafts of the plot. So my guess is that prequels were written a few days before starting the production (considering the quality)</p>
" OwnerUserId="228" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T23:05:20.253" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="865" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="861" CreationDate="2011-01-18T23:12:13.333" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Some set pieces were clearly lifted from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triplanetary_%28novel%29" rel="nofollow">"Tri-Planetary" by E.E. Smith</a>.</p>

<p>Specifically: large planetoid base for evil villain. Make that TWO large planetoid bases.</p>
" OwnerUserId="237" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T23:12:13.333" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="866" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="911" CreationDate="2011-01-18T23:13:51.027" Score="5" ViewCount="331" Body="<p>Dreamsongs vol 1 lists the following in the intro to Section 3:</p>

<ul>
<li>The Hero (mentioned)</li>
<li>Dying of the Light (first novel, mentioned)</li>
<li>Included in Dreamsongs Vol 1
<ul>
<li>A Song for Lya </li>
<li>This Tower of Ashes</li>
<li>And Sever Times Never Kill Man</li>
<li>The Stone City </li>
<li>Bitterblooms</li>
<li>The Way of Cross and Dragon</li>
</ul></li>
</ul>

<p>What other stories are set in this setting?</p>
" OwnerUserId="223" LastEditorUserId="56" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-18T23:38:26.747" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T01:46:25.513" Title="What stories are set in George R.R. Martin's 'future history' universe? (the setting for Dying of the Light)" Tags="<setting><george-r-r-martin>" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="870" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="832" CreationDate="2011-01-18T23:19:24.937" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Go for publish order. As the others have said, the universe is filled out with later books. And by the time you get towards the end of the series Asimov event starts bring in relationships to books outside the Robots &amp; Foundation series.</p>
" OwnerUserId="238" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T23:19:24.937" />
<row Id="872" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="875" CreationDate="2011-01-18T23:21:40.980" Score="32" ViewCount="4771" Body="<p>Complementary to this <a href="http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/861/what-is-the-origin-of-all-star-wars-movies">question</a>, why did George Lucas start the numbering at 4? I know (now) he had a vague idea of what would be in 1, 2, and 3. But why not start with calling the first movie 1, and come the time to do the prequels, call them whatever?</p>

<p>And how was it even accepted by the distributor as a concept that a movie serial (at the time!) could start some point down the line then be expected to maybe trace back in the future?</p>
" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-19T05:27:24.243" LastActivityDate="2012-01-20T05:03:30.467" Title="Why did Lucas begin the episode numbering at IV?" Tags="<star-wars><george-lucas>" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" />
<row Id="875" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="872" CreationDate="2011-01-18T23:22:49.037" Score="57" ViewCount="" Body="<p>He didn't. The numbering was added later.</p>

<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_Episode_IV:_A_New_Hope#History" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_Episode_IV:_A_New_Hope#History</a></p>

<p><strong>[Edit]</strong> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars#Feature_films" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars#Feature_films</a></p>

<p>That link explains that the numbering didn't show up until <em>The Empire Strikes Back</em> and then was added retroactively to <em>A New Hope</em> (along with the subtitle). The first one fails to mention that -- sorry, knew it was true but didn't read the wiki article to realize that it didn't mention it until after I'd posted it. <strong>[/Edit]</strong></p>

<p>Lucas likes to claim precognizance of the whole thing. But if you look at the documents that were produced around the time of <em>A New Hope</em>'s production, they suggest he was making it up as he went along. The truth is he didn't really write the first three movies. He sort of basically plotted them and left much of the writing to other people. And some of the major plot elements in <em>Empire</em> and <em>RotJ</em> didn't actually come from him, but from cowriters who never really got credit for it. </p>

<p>This is why the original series was so good, and the prequels were so bad. Lucas didn't have help on the prequels and his legend was such at that point that no one would stand up to him and say "George, this sucks."</p>
" OwnerUserId="180" LastEditorUserId="3267" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-20T05:03:30.467" LastActivityDate="2012-01-20T05:03:30.467" CommentCount="14" />
<row Id="877" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="128" CreationDate="2011-01-18T23:23:59.863" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Asimov's admitted his Galactic Empire was based on the Roman Empire (Neil Goble - "Asimov Analyzed")</p>
" OwnerUserId="238" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T23:23:59.863" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="879" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="268" CreationDate="2011-01-18T23:28:23.873" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="<p>At the Mountains of Madness, is a particularly horrorful and dark novella, but I think it does have certain elements of science fiction, especially the aspect of the monsters from below concept, where have to be sealed in, in a particular manner, that smacks of classic sf.</p>

<p>Some of his later short stories ended up in Weird Tales, which had a heavier bias towards SF than some of the early horror stories, and a lot of his contemporioe like August Derleth and Fritz Leiber ran with canon and expanded it out into sf, particularly Leiber who wrote some really hard SF back in early, middle 20th century, like the Q series books, and short stories (not listed in Wikipedia) about travelling backwards in time to kill Hitler. </p>

<p>I really do wish that they don't maul the story too much for the upcoming film. </p>
" OwnerUserId="49" LastEditorUserId="49" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-18T23:39:20.007" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T23:39:20.007" />
<row Id="882" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="885" CreationDate="2011-01-18T23:36:57.230" Score="19" ViewCount="930" Body="<p>Taking aside whether connecting a mystical energy to a biological basis is a good idea or not, how is it supposed to work? I know that generally the more midichlorians, the more Force potential. It it explained in one of the expanded universe books?</p>
" OwnerUserId="223" LastEditorUserId="98" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-11-21T03:14:45.967" LastActivityDate="2012-01-27T21:15:27.087" Title="In the Star Wars universe, how are midichlorians supposed to work?" Tags="<star-wars><powers>" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
<row Id="884" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="888" CreationDate="2011-01-18T23:45:59.830" Score="21" ViewCount="2152" Body="<p>I remember reading somewhere a theory that V'ger (the being that the Voyager probe had become in Star Trek: The Motion Picture) was somehow responsible for the creation of the Borg. Is this canonical? Where does the theory come from? And how exactly did it go down?</p>
" OwnerUserId="180" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T19:34:48.450" LastActivityDate="2012-02-17T10:33:37.763" Title="Was V'ger responsible for the creation of the Borg?" Tags="<star-trek><borg>" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" />
<row Id="885" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="882" CreationDate="2011-01-18T23:46:58.297" Score="16" ViewCount="" Body="<p>They are magic. It is all just magic. Star Wars is fantasy. I'm not sure what you are looking for? A fantasy explanation?</p>

<p>Midichlorians are the explanation for the force. It doesn't really do deeper than that. I'm sorry.</p>

<p>If you really want to travel down this dead-end of illogical paradoxes, I will refer you to the <a href="http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Midi-chlorian" rel="nofollow">wookieepedia</a></p>
" OwnerUserId="51" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T23:46:58.297" CommentCount="5" />
<row Id="886" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="554" CreationDate="2011-01-18T23:51:19.387" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="<p>For a universe as rich as Warhammer 40k, I would recommend starting with a faction that you like the most. I'm assuming that since you grabbed 3 Omnibus books that you are into 40k at least to some extent. Personally I most enjoyed Gaunt's Ghost stories and Horus Heresy (no omnibus for Horus though I believe). But if you are into Eldar or Orcs or whatever, I would start with books that feature that faction. There are so many parallel stories going on that can be read in any order that I would not be concerned about hitting the story-order sweet spot. Enjoy!</p>
" OwnerUserId="243" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T23:51:19.387" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="887" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1020" CreationDate="2011-01-18T23:51:24.490" Score="29" ViewCount="1169" Body="<p>Given that the Federation defeats the Borg in every encounter they have, why do the Borg always only send one cube to challenge the Federation? They're pretty smart, you'd think they'd figure it out after the Best of Both Worlds arc that the Federation wasn't to be trifled with and send more than one cube in First Contact. Is there ever an explanation given for why they don't do this?</p>
" OwnerUserId="180" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T19:36:24.190" LastActivityDate="2011-12-31T23:40:41.897" Title="Given the multiple defeats at the hands of the Federation, why only one Borg Cube?" Tags="<star-trek><star-trek-tng><borg>" AnswerCount="9" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" />
<row Id="888" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="884" CreationDate="2011-01-18T23:52:25.717" Score="26" ViewCount="" Body="<p>It looks like this explanation for the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borg_%28Star_Trek%29#Other_media" rel="nofollow">origin of the Borg</a> is not canon.</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>The Star Trek Encyclopedia speculates that there could be a connection between the Borg and V'ger, the vessel encountered in Star Trek: The Motion Picture; this is advanced in William Shatner's novel The Return. The connection was also suggested in a letter in Starlog #160 (November 1990). The letter writer, Christopher Haviland, also speculated that the original Borg drones were members of a race called "The Preservers", which Spock had suggested in the original series episode The Paradise Syndrome might be responsible for why so many humanoids populate the galaxy. Coincidentally, in the novelization of Star Trek: The Motion Picture (written by Gene Roddenberry), the V'ger entity notes that the Ilia probe is resisting the programming given to it because of residual memories and feelings for Decker, from its precise replication of the Deltan lieutenant. When V'ger becomes aware of this, it decides that "the resistance was futile, of course".</p>
 
 <p>The extra section of the game Star Trek: Legacy contains the "Origin of the Borg", which tells the story of V'ger being sucked into a black hole. V'ger was found by a race of living machines which gave it a form suitable to fulfilling its simplistic programming. Unable to determine who its creator could be, the probe declared all carbon-based life an infestation of the creator's universe, leading to assimilation. From this, the Borg were created, as extensions of V'ger's purpose. Drones were made from those assimilated and merged into a collective consciousness. The Borg Queen was created out of the necessity for a single unifying voice. However, with thoughts and desires of her own, she was no longer bound to serve V'ger. This explanation, however, is not canon.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Unfortunate, because that would be kind of awesome.</p>
" OwnerUserId="63" LastActivityDate="2011-01-18T23:52:25.717" CommentCount="6" />
<row Id="889" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="128" CreationDate="2011-01-18T23:55:32.623" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Asimov uses three important concepts in his development: </p>

<ul>
<li>The statistical distribution (of a population), which affects the general trends.</li>
<li>The presence of outliers (such as the Mule in the Trilogy), and </li>
<li>Chaos theory, where small fluctuations can produce large deviations in the long term.</li>
</ul>

<p>In the trilogy, he applied these three concepts (which are found today in sociology, anthropology, and economics) to a space empire closely based on the Roman Empire. </p>

<p>When it comes to your question, I don't think these facts are in contrast or opposition. Some individual actions have deep effects on future trends. These outliers, regardless if they are mutant or not, are among us. The young unemployed who set himself on fire in Tunis is such an example. Cleopatra, Caesar, Sun Tzu, Martin Luther King, Gandhi, any prophet of any religion, Jeanne d'Arc, Giordano Bruno, Galileo Galilei, Cristoforo Colombo, Gavrilo Princip, Adolf Hitler, Neil Armstrong, Mikahil Gorbachev, are all single individuals, and their actions had deep effects on the resulting history and evolution of the cultural background and events of one or more generations of people. Nevertheless, these shifts are enforced by a high-impact outlier that moves the statistical distribution towards a new center of equilibrium, potentially triggering a self-sustained positive feedback which may end up very far from the initial starting point (e.g. see the French Revolution, and the Years of Terror). </p>

<p>I cannot speak for Asimov, but Asimov being a scientist, his analysis of history would be rational and mathematical. His comment on <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1ZX-x7sySI" rel="nofollow">"freedom of the bathroom"</a> is indicative of this.</p>
" OwnerUserId="228" LastEditorUserId="3267" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-12-21T03:56:35.650" LastActivityDate="2011-12-21T03:56:35.650" CommentCount="5" />
<row Id="890" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="887" CreationDate="2011-01-19T00:01:50.580" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I could only speculate, but their mathematical predictions probably tell them they only need one cube to defeat anything Starfleet could throw at them, and can't take into account the human factor/hero factor </p>
" OwnerUserId="175" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T00:01:50.580" CommentCount="4" />
<row Id="892" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="809" CreationDate="2011-01-19T00:05:40.940" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="<p>According to The War Games: Indefinate, barring accidents.<br>
According to The Deadly Assassin: 13.<br>
According to SJA/Death of the Doctor: 507.</p>
" OwnerUserId="245" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T00:05:40.940" />
<row Id="895" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1266" CreationDate="2011-01-19T00:17:30.550" Score="14" ViewCount="297" Body="<p>So, Terminator canon is pretty twisted, given all that time travel stuff. But in the canon that includes the TSCC, does anything pick up where the show left off that is considered canon?</p>
" OwnerUserId="180" LastEditorUserId="134" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-23T11:47:28.737" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T11:47:28.737" Title="Is there anything canon in the Terminator Universe that picks up where TSCC leaves off?" Tags="<canon><terminator>" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" />
<row Id="896" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="897" CreationDate="2011-01-19T00:34:44.467" Score="17" ViewCount="403" Body="<p>The dedication of <a href="http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?1299" rel="nofollow"><em>The Ringworld Engineers</em></a> reads</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>If you own a first paperback edition of Ringworld, it's the one with the mistakes in it. It's worth money.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>What are these mistakes that were corrected for the second edition?</p>
" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="98" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-07-30T19:21:44.440" LastActivityDate="2011-08-24T00:20:21.497" Title="What were the "mistakes" in the first paperback edition of Ringworld?" Tags="<larry-niven><known-space><ringworld>" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="897" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="896" CreationDate="2011-01-19T00:39:53.787" Score="16" ViewCount="" Body="<p>If I remember correctly, the cities that Louis Wu was visiting via transfer booth just before midnight (to keep his birthday going longer) had the Earth rotating in the wrong direction. </p>
" OwnerUserId="33" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T00:39:53.787" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="898" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="887" CreationDate="2011-01-19T00:40:25.003" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I believe that not a single episode or movie explains this (excuse for poor) strategy<strike>, but the corpus around the Borg, up to Voyager, provides some clues to that. </p>

<p>I believe distance is mostly to blame. Before Voyager came out, very little was established of transwarp conduits, and so the general plotlines followed along the idea that Borg cubes came out of the depths of the Delta Quadrant, and thus took a generally long time to get reach the Earth.</strike></p>

<p>Plus, plot-wise, defeating a single Borg cube was hard enough, sending in dozens on the second round only to have our heroes beat them (for the sole purpose of them having to win in the end :P) would seem far fetched.</p>

<p>Other works of sci-fi have used similar devices where a first conquest task force is sent ahead of a larger colonization one.</p>

<p>SUPPLEMENTAL:</p>

<p>There's also another factor: The Borg collective is a wide ranging "empire" of sorts. Borg space spans thousands of light years. They're potentially stretching their resources to the limit. Hence, perhaps they can only afford to send one ship at a time.</p>
" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-04T16:47:31.260" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T16:47:31.260" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="900" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="809" CreationDate="2011-01-19T00:50:43.850" Score="23" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Here's what is supposedly the official word. From <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2010/oct/12/doctor-who-immortal-reveals-bbc" rel="nofollow">Doctor Who is now immortal, reveals the BBC: Edict that Time Lords can regenerate only 12 times before they die has been quietly ditched</a>:</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>He travels through time and space, saves the Earth, and has millions of fans all over the world. But as every "Whovian" knows, the Doctor cannot last for ever: Time Lords are able to regenerate only 12 times before they die.</p>
 
 <p>Fans have always thought that the 13th doctor would be the last, thanks to a 1976 Doctor Who episode, <em>The Deadly Assassin</em>, featuring Tom Baker as the Doctor in his fourth incarnation, and revealing for the first time the regeneration limit. But a passing comment in a children's television programme later this month is set to rewrite history and cast the Doctor, iconic hero of the world's most successful and longest-running science fiction series, as immortal.</p>
</blockquote>
" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T00:50:43.850" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="903" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="907" CreationDate="2011-01-19T01:13:56.083" Score="10" ViewCount="435" Body="<p>I've read that the ringworld's design is actually unstable, and that it would drift and eventually collide with the star it was supposed to orbit. How is this flaw corrected in the subsequent stories?</p>
" OwnerUserId="248" LastEditorUserId="98" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-07-30T19:21:33.163" LastActivityDate="2011-07-30T19:21:33.163" Title="Instability of Niven's ringworld" Tags="<larry-niven><ringworld><known-space>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="904" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="887" CreationDate="2011-01-19T01:14:36.660" Score="30" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I'm sorry? In what way were the Borg not successful? They sent one cube, it broke through all of the Federation's defenses, reached earth, dropped its payload and converted the entire planet into a Borg hive many years in the past.</p>

<p>It was only via a fluke that the Enterprise was able to follow them and stop them. And they only just barely managed that.</p>

<p>They even took their queen with them in order to temporally duplicate her. Sounds like a pretty sound plan to me.</p>

<p>The only problem I see is that they waited to the last minute to travel back in time, if they had done so before reaching Federation space, they would have defeated them before they existed. But that would have made a pretty crap movie.</p>
" OwnerUserId="51" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T01:14:36.660" CommentCount="5" />
<row Id="905" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="903" CreationDate="2011-01-19T01:16:49.853" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The Ringworld is outfitted with engines that stabilize the ring against wobble and from falling into the sun, they harvest solar wind for power.</p>
" OwnerUserId="51" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T01:16:49.853" CommentCount="6" />
<row Id="907" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="903" CreationDate="2011-01-19T01:28:15.050" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Niven didn't have any intention of writing a sequel, but this big flaw in the Ringworld led him to write <em>The Ringworld Engineers</em>. In that novel, the ring has several attitude jets that are powered by the solar wind.</p>

<p>The plot revolves around the characters attempting to locate the control and repair center of the Ringworld in order to replace some of the broken and stolen attitude jets.</p>

<blockquote class="spoiler">
 <p> Teela Brown, now a protector stage
 human, realizes that it is too late to
 stop the drift by simply fixing the
 attitude jets. The only solution she
 envisions requires using the Meteor
 Defense System, a supercondutor grid
 that lies below the Ringworld's
 surface and can generate powerful
 magnetic fields, to induce an enormous
 solar flare.
 
 Such a flare would provide enough
 power to rectify the Ringworld's
 orbit, but would kill trillions of
 Ringworld inhabitants. Unable to live
 with that choice because of her
 protector instincts, she engenders a
 plan for Louis Wu and his crew to kill
 her and then put the plan into motion.</p>
</blockquote>
" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="30" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T01:39:18.620" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T01:39:18.620" />
<row Id="910" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="913" CreationDate="2011-01-19T01:44:14.430" Score="11" ViewCount="202" Body="<p>For all types of derivative works, namely:</p>

<ul>
<li>Novels</li>
<li>Comic books</li>
<li>Other written works (RPG meterial)</li>
<li>Cartoons</li>
<li>Video games</li>
<li>Derivative movies (the infamous Ewok movies and even more infamous Christmas special)</li>
</ul>

<p>According to what rules, and who does the evaluation of published works?</p>
" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T01:52:12.510" Title="How is canonicity of derivative works determined for Star Wars?" Tags="<star-wars><canon>" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="911" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="866" CreationDate="2011-01-19T01:46:25.513" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="<p>This series was a hard one to try to track down, but it became easier once I found that the series' name is "The Thousand Worlds." Here's what I was able to find:</p>

<ul>
<li>"A Song for Lya"</li>
<li>"And Seven Times Never Kill Man"</li>
<li>"Bitterblooms"</li>
<li>"Dark, Dark Were the Tunnels"</li>
<li>"In the House of the Worm"</li>
<li>"Men of Greywater Station"</li>
<li>"Nightflyers"</li>
<li>"Sandkings"</li>
<li>"Starlady"</li>
<li>"The Glass Flower"</li>
<li>"The Hero"</li>
<li>"The Stone City"</li>
<li>"This Tower of Ashes"</li>
<li>"Warship" (with with George Guthridge)</li>
<li><p>"With Morning Comes Mistfall"</p></li>
<li><p>Haviland Tuf stories (collected in <em>Tuf Voyaging</em>):</p>

<ul>
<li>"The Plague Star"</li>
<li>"A Beast for Norn"</li>
<li>"Guardians"</li>
<li>"Call Him Moses"</li>
<li>"Loaves and Fishes"</li>
<li>"Manna from Heaven"</li>
<li>"Second Helpings"</li>
</ul></li>
</ul>

<p>There's also a never-finished novel, <em>Avalon</em>.</p>

<p>– <a href="http://www.tor.com/blogs/2010/03/honour-to-your-holdfast-honour-to-your-teyn-george-rr-martins-lemgdying-of-the-lightlemg#96913">Source for most of this</a></p>
" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T01:46:25.513" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="913" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="910" CreationDate="2011-01-19T01:52:12.510" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="<p>There's a Wikipedia article on this: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_canon" rel="nofollow">Star Wars canon</a>. </p>

<p>It says:</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>The Star Wars canon consists of the six Star Wars feature films, along with all officially licensed, non-contradicting spin-off works to the six films. As once defined by Lucas Licensing:</p>
 
 <blockquote>
 <p>We have what we call Canon, which is the screenplays, novelizations, and other works that are directly tied into continuity, and then there are a lot of marginal things, like the old Marvel Comics series, that we don't really try to work into the continuity when we're planning new projects. Even the LucasArts interactive games have a premise, a backstory with player characters that we're trying to tie into the overall continuity. It is sort of a godlike undertaking. We are creating this universe as we go along, but somebody has to keep his finger on everything that came before.<br>
 — Allan Kausch, from <em>The Secrets of Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire</em></p>
 </blockquote>
</blockquote>

<p>Later in the article there's a further breakdown, between what Lucas thinks of as canon and the Expanded Universe, and another level defined as G-canon, T-canon, C-canon, S-canon, and N-canon.</p>
" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T01:52:12.510" CommentCount="6" />
<row Id="917" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="857" CreationDate="2011-01-19T02:35:07.947" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="<p>That was a short story, "Superiority", by Arthur C. Clarke. I don't remember where it first appeared. It's a good story, and has been reprinted lots of places.</p>

<p>The empires started at roughly equal technology, but a scientist on one side kept introducing new and superior weapons, amazing in effect, that lost the war.</p>
" OwnerUserId="130" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T02:35:07.947" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="920" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="882" CreationDate="2011-01-19T03:00:23.190" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Midichlorians are the bacteria or organisms in the body that provide the connect to the "force". These bacteria often would tell how much control over the surrounding world one has. Take for example this:</p>

<p>Anakin Skywalker had no father. Darth Plagueis created him using Midichlorians. This is why he was so prone to falling to both the light and dark side. The Midichlorians tipped him off balance.</p>
" OwnerUserId="264" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T03:00:23.190" />
<row Id="921" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="872" CreationDate="2011-01-19T03:01:58.913" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I've read the Star Wars drafts that Lucas wrote, many years ago now so my memory on the subject is vague. I believe there are 3 versions prior to what he finally filmed with version 4. I recall that the first draft did have a plot that involved the trade federation. </p>

<p>It seems to me that some of the ideas in those drafts ended up as the back story for Star Wars IV. </p>
" OwnerUserId="266" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T03:01:58.913" />
<row Id="928" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="125" CreationDate="2011-01-19T03:57:30.793" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The Ender series contains three major arcs. These are, in publishing order:
 Ender series, the Shadow series, and The War of Gifts.</p>

<p>Normally, one would read in the publishing order, but you could read these arcs in any order. Ender's Game, Ender's Shadow, and The War of Gifts are parallel novels that take place at the same point in time, from different perspectives. Their arcs then diverge from that point, from those unique perspectives. In fact, you could certainly read in a more-or-less chronological fashion:</p>

<p>Ender's Game, The War of Gifts, Shadow series, Ender series.</p>

<p>The advantage of reading in a chronological order is that the direct sequels of Ender's game take place thousands of years in the future and are quite distant from Ender's game in terms of plot. When reading chronologically, the story evolves in a more fluid an direct way.</p>

<p>The books under each arc are as follows...</p>

<h2>Shadow Series:</h2>

<ul>
<li>Ender's Shadow Shadow of the Hegemon</li>
<li>Shadow Puppets Shadow of the Giant</li>
<li>Shadows in Flight (unreleased)</li>
</ul>

<h2>Ender Series:</h2>

<ul>
<li>Ender's Game </li>
<li>Ender in Exile (only
chronologically, this is the most
recently published book)</li>
<li>Speaker for
the Dead</li>
<li>Xenocide </li>
<li>Children of the
Mind</li>
</ul>

<h2>War of Gifts:</h2>

<ul>
<li>A War of Gifts: An Ender Story</li>
</ul>
" OwnerUserId="265" LastEditorUserId="265" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T06:25:29.017" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T06:25:29.017" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="933" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="54" CreationDate="2011-01-19T04:25:02.723" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I would also add <a href="http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/" rel="nofollow">Fantastic Fiction</a> as another source for written SF.</p>
" OwnerUserId="270" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T04:25:02.723" />
<row Id="938" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1068" CreationDate="2011-01-19T04:46:17.133" Score="6" ViewCount="75" Body="<p>In Orson Scott Card's <em>Treason</em>, each area of the planet specialises in some sort of ability (e.g. the one where the protagonist is from is rapid healing).</p>

<p>What are all of the specialties/regions in the book?</p>
" OwnerUserId="108" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T22:34:36.667" Title="Regional specialties in "Treason"" Tags="<orson-scott-card>" AnswerCount="1" />
<row Id="939" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="956" CreationDate="2011-01-19T04:57:26.610" Score="33" ViewCount="1152" Body="<p>Apparently there are many scenes in <em>Firefly</em> where a figurine of Han Solo frozen in carbonite appears in the background.</p>

<p>Is there a complete list of all of these scenes?</p>
" OwnerUserId="108" LastEditorUserId="656" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-10-06T19:52:48.787" LastActivityDate="2011-10-06T19:52:48.787" Title="Firefly scenes with Han Solo in the background" Tags="<firefly><han-solo>" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="940" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="958" CreationDate="2011-01-19T05:04:03.950" Score="8" ViewCount="207" Body="<p>I vaguely recall a series of episodes (perhaps not all consecutive?) in <em>Quantum Leap</em> that dealt with a "dark" (i.e. bad, evil) equivalent to Sam.</p>

<p>Which episodes of which seasons did this dark jumper appear in?</p>
" OwnerUserId="108" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-07-30T17:39:11.690" LastActivityDate="2011-07-30T17:39:11.690" Title="Which episodes deal with the "Dark" jumper in Quantum Leap?" Tags="<quantum-leap>" AnswerCount="1" />
<row Id="941" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="945" CreationDate="2011-01-19T05:06:28.410" Score="12" ViewCount="368" Body="<p>I think the title covers my question pretty well. How is it suppose to work and what makes it more effective than other kinds of weaponary?</p>

<p><strong>Edit:</strong> All very good answers, I'll wait a little bit more before accepting in case anyone else has anything to add.</p>
" OwnerUserId="283" LastEditorUserId="283" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T05:56:53.187" LastActivityDate="2011-05-11T20:05:10.497" Title="What's the difference between a photon torpedo and other fuel-based projectiles?" Tags="<star-trek><weapon>" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" />
<row Id="942" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1118" CreationDate="2011-01-19T05:06:49.253" Score="12" ViewCount="326" Body="<p>The series Dark Angel (starring Jessica Alba) was cancelled mid-storyline. Is there any official information about what would have happened if the show continued? (For example, novelisations, statements from producers/writers).</p>
" OwnerUserId="108" LastEditorUserId="99" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-02-19T19:16:10.100" LastActivityDate="2012-02-19T20:27:21.960" Title="Completion of "Dark Angel" storyline?" Tags="<tv>" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" />
<row Id="944" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="941" CreationDate="2011-01-19T05:24:23.827" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Memory Alpha <a href="http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Photon_torpedo">describes</a> photon torpedo as "warp-capable tactical matter/antimatter weapons commonly deployed aboard starships and starbases". So one difference would be warp-capable (speed &amp; range). </p>
" OwnerUserId="53" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T05:24:23.827" />
<row Id="945" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="941" CreationDate="2011-01-19T05:52:35.047" Score="16" ViewCount="" Body="<p>In addition to what StasM pointed out, photon torpedoes had many uses. They were notably used as caskets and flares, by stripping them down to empty "torpedo casings". As far as what makes them preferable to more conventional warheads, photon torpedoes were known for their extremely crippling and damaging explosive yields. In fact, if a photon torpedo was fired at a target in close range, the explosion could end up disabling the firing ship in addition to obliterating the target.</p>

<p>Photon torpedoes weren't only ship-to-ship weapons, but served ship-to-ground roles as well. The torpedo's shielding can allow it to bury itself into a planet's surface completely intact. They were highly effective for destroying ground-based targets from inside itself. A 25 isoton torpedo could destroy an entire city in mere seconds.</p>

<p>Another great thing about photon torpedoes was they could be modified to different explosive yields and firepower. So you could fine-tune a specialized torpedo for a specific task on-ship. Essentially, the photon torpedo became the goto weapon when the Federation wanted to proverbially "get shit done." (Pardon my terminology.) These babies gave you a lot of bang for your buck.</p>

<p>Source: <a href="http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Photon_torpedo" rel="nofollow">Photon torpedo on Memory Alpha</a></p>
" OwnerUserId="288" LastEditorUserId="288" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-05-11T20:05:10.497" LastActivityDate="2011-05-11T20:05:10.497" CommentCount="4" />
<row Id="947" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="964" CreationDate="2011-01-19T06:17:13.663" Score="24" ViewCount="1066" Body="<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek%3a_Enterprise" rel="nofollow">Enterprise</a> turned out to be a cool series, with some convoluted time-travel story arcs. In one, you see the Federation far in the future fighting a battle against the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphere_Builders" rel="nofollow">sphere builders</a>. I haven't read any of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek" rel="nofollow">Star Trek</a> novels and I was wondering if any of them go any further into the future of the federation.</p>

<p>Are there any published Star Trek works that address the far future of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Federation_of_Planets" rel="nofollow">Federation</a>?</p>
" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2011-12-27T06:52:05.267" Title="What Star Trek work takes place the furthest into the future of the Federation?" Tags="<star-trek><time-travel><federation><enterprise>" AnswerCount="6" FavoriteCount="2" />
<row Id="954" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="947" CreationDate="2011-01-19T07:28:41.940" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Seems to be Nemesis, according to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Star_Trek" rel="nofollow" rel="nofollow">Star Trek timeline</a>.</p>
" OwnerUserId="125" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T07:28:41.940" />
<row Id="956" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="939" CreationDate="2011-01-19T07:41:56.433" Score="32" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Shiny! I hadn't heard about this before.</p>

<p>It appears that the canonical list is <a href="http://geekfemme.blogspot.com/2011/01/han-solos-in-firefly.html" rel="nofollow">in this blog post</a>. So far, it's been found in:</p>

<ul>
<li>"Heart of Gold"</li>
<li>"Jaynestown"</li>
<li>"Objects in Space"</li>
<li>"The Message"</li>
<li>"Serenity"</li>
<li>"Our Mrs Reynolds"</li>
<li>"Out of Gas"</li>
</ul>

<p>There's more discussion about this <a href="http://io9.com/5730997/can-you-spot-all-of-the-han-solo-appearances-on-firefly" rel="nofollow">on io9</a>.</p>
" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T07:41:56.433" />
<row Id="958" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="940" CreationDate="2011-01-19T08:09:20.457" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="<p>They were more commonly referred as the Evil Leapers, and they appeared in 3 episodes in the fifth season : "Deliver Us From Evil", "Return Of The Evil Leaper" and "Revenge Of The Evil Leaper". The first 2 episodes featured Alia as the leaper and Zoey as the hologram; in the third, Zoey is the leaper.</p>
" OwnerUserId="162" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T08:09:20.457" />
<row Id="963" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="983" CreationDate="2011-01-19T09:34:13.313" Score="36" ViewCount="3123" Body="<p>In Star Wars C-3PO is a gold robot. But in some (or all?) scenes when we see him, one of his legs is silver. Why is that?</p>
" OwnerUserId="143" LastEditorUserId="3084" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-05-05T13:59:54.080" LastActivityDate="2012-05-05T13:59:54.080" Title="Why does C-3PO have a silver lower leg in some scenes?" Tags="<star-wars><c-3po>" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="3" />
<row Id="964" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="947" CreationDate="2011-01-19T09:57:59.983" Score="17" ViewCount="" Body="<p>In terms of time travel, several storylines contain characters who travelled from ~500 years in the future back to the 'present' of the show, but most of the time travel episodes in which the cast travel through time send them to the past, not the future.</p>

<p>There are also a number of alternate timelines in which we see further into the future, but they don't really count, since they're alternate timelines.</p>

<p>The 2009 Star Trek film contains the furthest forward part of the actual storyline, when Romulus is destroyed in 2387, creating the alternate timeline that the film is set in.</p>

<p>The events of Nemesis take place in 2379, and the events of DS9 and Voyager take place in the 2370s (Voyager between 2371 and 2378, and DS9 between 2369 and 2375).</p>

<p>See this <a href="http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Timeline" rel="nofollow">Memory Alpha article</a> for more details about specific parts of the timeline.</p>
" OwnerUserId="122" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T09:57:59.983" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="965" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="967" CreationDate="2011-01-19T10:06:32.910" Score="22" ViewCount="785" Body="<p>C3PO's (improbable) creation is featured in the Star Wars films but what about R2-D2? Is there any source (probably outside the films) that explains where he (it) came from and how old he is?</p>
" OwnerUserId="143" LastEditorUserId="143" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-03T09:53:02.887" LastActivityDate="2012-01-03T15:28:36.433" Title="Origin of R2-D2?" Tags="<star-wars><r2-d2>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="967" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="965" CreationDate="2011-01-19T10:18:34.023" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="<p>R2D2 was essentially a generic astromech droid. He was purchased as a maintenance droid for the Queen's ship, one of several. He was brand new, one owner, at the start of Phantom Menace. He may have been on the ship for a few months, but not much longer. </p>

<p>His first mention in the Star Wars universe (according to <a href="http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/R2-D2" rel="nofollow">Wookieepedia</a>, which takes into account the Extended Universe) is his appearance in Episode I.
R2D2 was basically a standard droid who developed his personality and status over time as he became involved in the major events. Nothing quite so colourful as C3PO's origin story.</p>

<p>Droids in the Star Wars universe are occasionally memory wiped so not to build up personality quirks, this hasn't happened to R2-D2, but it explains why he is <em>unique</em>.</p>
" OwnerUserId="122" LastEditorUserId="3804" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-03T15:28:36.433" LastActivityDate="2012-01-03T15:28:36.433" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="977" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="978" CreationDate="2011-01-19T12:04:13.940" Score="18" ViewCount="268" Body="<p>Looks like Yak hair, but I'm not sure.</p>
" OwnerUserId="9" LastEditorUserId="45" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-10-06T16:34:15.340" LastActivityDate="2011-10-06T16:34:15.340" Title="What type of hair was used in the construction of Chewbacca's costume in the Star Wars films?" Tags="<star-wars><movie><chewbacca>" AnswerCount="1" />
<row Id="978" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="977" CreationDate="2011-01-19T12:06:42.407" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="<p>From Wikipedia's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chewbacca" rel="nofollow">Chewbacca</a> article:</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>In the three original films and a holiday special, the suits were made of yak hair and mohair. For Revenge of the Sith, the suit was made of more comfortable materials, though Mayhew's filming only lasted for a day.</p>
</blockquote>
" OwnerUserId="63" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T12:06:42.407" />
<row Id="983" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="963" CreationDate="2011-01-19T12:41:44.907" Score="38" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Interesting question. I encourage you to read up on it on the <a href="http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/C3p0#From_silver_to_gold">wookieepedia</a>.</p>

<p>In short, at the end of episode 3, C3PO was dipped in gold and had his memory erased. He then served as a translation droid along side the Organa family in the senate.</p>

<p>Some time between then and the events in episode 4, a bomb was placed in his leg. Events unfolded that allowed the safe removal of the leg, but as he was dipped in gold specially, no gold legs were around. And time (or hard times in the Organa family) never permitted him to dip the leg.</p>

<p>That's the canon. But the real reason is simple. They wanted him to look like he had some history. Like a scar on the face.</p>
" OwnerUserId="51" LastEditorUserId="2292" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-04T23:00:43.987" LastActivityDate="2012-01-04T23:00:43.987" />
<row Id="986" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-01-19T13:20:21.443" Score="0" ViewCount="2" Body="<p>Philip K Dick was a modern and postmodern dynamo. His visions of the present and future, while bleak and disturbing, often explored the nature of reality. <em>What is real? What makes us human? Can any real answers be obtained?</em> And even as this puzzle consumed his mind, leaving behind a recursive heap, his lucidity within that insanity gifted us with passionately constructed alternatives to reality. He stared into the void, was torn to shreds by it, and yet emerged ready to gift humanity with a madman's tale entombed with all the skills of the writing gods.</p>

<p>Major works include: The Man in the High Castle; Ubik; Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep; The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch; Flow my Tears, the Policeman Said; A Scanner Darkly; Valis; The Divine Invasion; The Transmigration of Timothy Archer; and his 8000 page Exegesis.</p>
" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="51" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T13:20:21.443" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T13:20:21.443" />
<row Id="987" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-01-19T13:20:21.443" Score="0" ViewCount="0" Body="Philip K Dick was a modern and postmodern dynamo. His visions of the present and future, while bleak and disturbing, often explored the nature of reality. *What is real? What makes us human? Can any real answers be obtained?*" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="51" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T13:20:21.443" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T13:20:21.443" />
<row Id="999" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1004" CreationDate="2011-01-19T14:55:44.660" Score="13" ViewCount="299" Body="<p>This is an intensive one.</p>

<p>From the original pilot "The Cage" with Jeffery Hunter as the captain, which actors have been later credited in <strong>any</strong> Star Trek media? This includes series, film, audio, comics (like as a writer), et cetera. </p>

<p>Please site names and details.</p>
" OwnerUserId="9" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-21T18:33:58.877" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T18:33:58.877" Title="Which actors from the original Star Trek pilot "The Cage" appeared in later Star Trek media?" Tags="<star-trek><star-trek-tos>" AnswerCount="1" />
<row Id="1001" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="947" CreationDate="2011-01-19T15:03:25.640" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The Star Trek MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) is supposed to take place in the original Star Trek universe after Romalus was destroyed, but I don't think it is offical consider canon.</p>
" OwnerUserId="321" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T15:03:25.640" />
<row Id="1002" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1025" CreationDate="2011-01-19T15:03:30.530" Score="7" ViewCount="274" Body="<p>Please include pilot <em>and</em> the original series, if that is pertinent.</p>
" OwnerUserId="9" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-20T16:32:14.480" LastActivityDate="2011-03-25T17:00:36.380" Title="Which actors were originally considered for the role of Spock in the Star Trek series?" Tags="<star-trek><star-trek-tos>" AnswerCount="2" />
<row Id="1003" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1018" CreationDate="2011-01-19T15:08:07.170" Score="26" ViewCount="728" Body="<p>Please include all who were approached and maybe those who auditioned and later became famous.</p>
" OwnerUserId="9" LastEditorUserId="931" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-02-08T14:53:35.453" LastActivityDate="2012-02-08T14:53:35.453" Title="Which actors were originally considered for the role of Data in the Star Trek: The Next Generation series?" Tags="<star-trek><star-trek-tng><tv-series>" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="4" />
<row Id="1004" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="999" CreationDate="2011-01-19T15:08:24.003" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Partial list only of other movie/tv credits, from <a href="http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/The_Cage_%28episode%29" rel="nofollow">Memory Alpha</a>:</p>

<ul>
<li>Leonard Nimoy as Spock</li>
<li>Majel Barrett-Roddenberry as Number One (and later Nurse Chapel, Lwaxana Troi as well as the computer voice in TNG, DS9 and VOY)</li>
<li><a href="http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Malachi_Throne" rel="nofollow">Malachi Throne</a> as the voice of the Talosian Keeper, later was in the Menagerie and in TNG as a Romulan.</li>
</ul>
" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T15:31:09.560" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T15:31:09.560" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1007" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1013" CreationDate="2011-01-19T16:16:29.617" Score="44" ViewCount="3413" Body="<p>An angel?</p>

<blockquote class="spoiler">
 <p> Towards the end of the Battlestar Gallactica remake she "died" then came back, only to vanish when talking to Lee in the final episode.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>UPDATE: All great answers below but I gotta give the check to the one that I think is right, though any could be strong contenders.</p>
" OwnerUserId="219" LastEditorUserId="219" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T23:06:44.640" LastActivityDate="2012-01-04T01:31:12.407" Title="What was Starbuck?" Tags="<tv><battlestar-galactica>" AnswerCount="10" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="6" />
<row Id="1009" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1007" CreationDate="2011-01-19T16:24:58.797" Score="27" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I've always figured she was the same thing that Head Six and Head Baltar were. Only visible to everyone and unaware of her own status. And Baltar's line at the end when Six calls their boss "god" seemed to suggest that whatever it was, it wasn't god. </p>

<blockquote>
 <p>You know it doesn't like to be called
 that.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>So it seems she was the creation of some sort of very powerful godlike entity. I imagined it as something like the ascended from Stargate. Energy being perhaps. And Head Six, Head Baltar, and Starbuck were all probably also similar beings -- only with out awareness of their abilities.</p>

<p>This is of course, total speculation. Which is about all any of us can provide in answer unless some book or interview has provided a solid answer.</p>
" OwnerUserId="180" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T16:24:58.797" CommentCount="5" />
<row Id="1010" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1007" CreationDate="2011-01-19T16:25:43.357" Score="50" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I believe that Starbuck was a loose plot thread that the writers had a difficult time tying up in a meaningful way. </p>

<p>The problem probably all started when the staff killed Starbuck off, which worked great dramatically until they realized they lost one of the show's most popular characters. Then the writers brought Starbuck back with a great mysterious resurrection, making viewers believe she might be a Cylon. So I'm sure the writers sat around and tried to think up what would top being a Cylon. And unfortunately they couldn't think of anything so they just BSed their way through the last episode.</p>
" OwnerUserId="35" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T16:33:48.007" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T16:33:48.007" CommentCount="13" />
<row Id="1011" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1007" CreationDate="2011-01-19T16:31:32.620" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I somehow had a theory that she was the child of the lost Cylon, who somehow mysteriously re-appeared. Again, this is just speculation, but that was always my thought.</p>
" OwnerUserId="98" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T16:31:32.620" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1013" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1007" CreationDate="2011-01-19T16:38:08.500" Score="25" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I had assumed she was an angel, or maybe something like a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seraphs_%28Battlestar_Galactica%29" rel="nofollow">Seraph</a>. The latter would make a nice tie-in to the original series.</p>

<p>Of course, it could easily be she was a loose plot thread. We certainly have no shortage of those in modern TV serials.</p>
" OwnerUserId="28" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T16:38:08.500" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1015" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1017" CreationDate="2011-01-19T16:54:06.870" Score="11" ViewCount="405" Body="<p>Does anyone remember the name of this movie?</p>

<p>The story was basically the Seven Samurai, plucky local boy goes in search of help to defend his homeworld from bad invaders.</p>

<p>I remember the plucky-local-boy's spaceship looked like a flying mooses head when viewed head on.</p>

<p>I saw it on TV in the early eighties, and that flying moose head cracked me and my big brothers up, even though overall we thought the movie was dead cool :)</p>

<p>This rining any bells for anyone, or have I just lost it. I wouldn't mind seeing it again.<br>
Does it - like Forbidden Planet - stand the test of time, or more likely is it as dated as the original Battlestar Galactica.</p>
" LastEditorUserId="2935" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-10-14T19:33:23.397" LastActivityDate="2011-10-14T19:33:23.397" Title="Seven Samurai in space (aka The flying moose head)" Tags="<movie>" AnswerCount="1" />
<row Id="1017" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1015" CreationDate="2011-01-19T17:04:18.297" Score="17" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Is it Battle Beyond the Stars? <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080421/" rel="nofollow">http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080421/</a></p>
" OwnerUserId="200" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T17:04:18.297" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="1018" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1003" CreationDate="2011-01-19T17:06:04.440" Score="33" ViewCount="" Body="<p>A 1987 memo between Paramount execs gives the following names:</p>

<ul>
<li>Mark Lindsay Chapman </li>
<li>Eric Menyuk</li>
<li>Kevin Peter Hall (also for Geordi)</li>
<li>Kelvin Han Yee</li>
</ul>

<p>Note the obvious absence of any actors that actually were cast as regulars on the series and, of course, <strong>Brent Spiner</strong>!</p>

<p>UPDATE: <a href="http://www.lettersofnote.com/2010/08/star-trekcasting.html" rel="nofollow">Memo was uncovered by Letters of Note</a> a year or so ago.</p>

<p><img src="http://i.stack.imgur.com/Cz6O3.jpg" alt="alt text"></p>
" OwnerUserId="219" LastEditorUserId="219" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T17:46:25.343" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T17:46:25.343" CommentCount="12" />
<row Id="1020" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="887" CreationDate="2011-01-19T17:36:58.627" Score="18" ViewCount="" Body="<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borg_starships" rel="nofollow">This gives me a pretty good idea</a>, especially the first sentence.</p>

<blockquote>
 <p><strong>In terms of offense and defense, a
 Borg cube is a fleet in and of itself.</strong>
 Common capabilities of cubes include
 high warp (transwarp) capabilities,
 self-regeneration and multiple
 redundant systems, rapid adaptability
 to almost any assault (though not
 complete immunity, in Star Trek: First
 Contact it's shown that sufficient
 firepower from Federation ships could
 still destroy a Borg Cube after it
 adapted to their weapons), and various
 beam (tractor beams and cutting beams)
 and missile weapons. A single Borg
 cube has, on multiple occasions, taken
 on entire Federation fleets and held
 its own. Cubes have been commonly
 known to carry sphere ships in
 cavities covered by large slide-away
 hatches in the outermost layers.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>I think it's hard to argue with that and that's a pretty rational explanation. Remember, the Borg won at Wolf 359 (admittedly, with Locutus/Picard's help).</p>
" OwnerUserId="219" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T17:36:58.627" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1022" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1023" CreationDate="2011-01-19T17:38:59.920" Score="8" ViewCount="1177" Body="<p>I've read that she denies ever being in TNG, though, I believe, she was in two episodes (though I can't remember which ones).</p>
" OwnerUserId="219" LastEditorUserId="219" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-20T05:35:50.527" LastActivityDate="2012-06-02T07:27:18.810" ClosedDate="2012-07-24T14:26:09.667" Title="What two TNG episodes does Ashley Judd appear in and does she say she didn't?" Tags="<star-trek><star-trek-tng>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="3" />
<row Id="1023" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1022" CreationDate="2011-01-19T17:54:31.730" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="<p>She also appeared in '<a href="http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Darmok_%28episode%29" rel="nofollow">Darmok</a>'.</p>
" OwnerUserId="321" LastEditorUserId="2292" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-06-02T07:27:18.810" LastActivityDate="2012-06-02T07:27:18.810" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1025" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1002" CreationDate="2011-01-19T18:04:34.127" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="<p>In the Star Trek Interview Book, Allen Asherman says that Deforest Kelley claims that Gene Rodenberry offered him the role before production of The Cage began. Another source I've seen, however, says that when Rodenberry saw Nimoy's features, no other actors were ever considered over Nimoy. There was however, a backup plan if Nimoy turned the role down: Martin Landau*</p>

<p>*I believe the source for that was <a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0451454189" rel="nofollow">Star Trek Creator</a>, but I'm not entirely sure.</p>
" OwnerUserId="219" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T18:04:34.127" />
<row Id="1026" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1007" CreationDate="2011-01-19T18:11:44.463" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I thought, too, that she was an Angel in keeping in line with the original series.</p>
" OwnerUserId="314" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T18:11:44.463" />
<row Id="1027" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="887" CreationDate="2011-01-19T18:14:45.520" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Sometimes they send two-in-one ... the cube and the sphere.</p>
" OwnerUserId="314" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T18:14:45.520" />
<row Id="1030" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1031" CreationDate="2011-01-19T18:34:43.757" Score="16" ViewCount="753" Body="<p>Here's what I remember: </p>

<ul>
<li>Takes place in the future on a giant, bigger-than-a-planet spaceship found and now run by humans</li>
<li>Humans are genetically altered and/or are enhanced with nanotechnology and have essentially become immortal and can be healed from almost any wound</li>
<li>The surface of the ship is inhabited by former humans who have mutated into a new species, and live their entire lives in a kind of space suit</li>
<li>The plot involves the discovery of a small planet within the ship that the protagonist is stranded on along with many others, and they form a civilization and live there for centuries</li>
</ul>

<p>Anyone know the name of this book? I can <em>never</em> remember it. </p>
" OwnerUserId="249" LastEditorUserId="33" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-05-19T02:15:50.030" LastActivityDate="2011-11-25T12:45:18.967" Title="Name the book where the setting is a giant ship with a planet inside" Tags="<story-identification><generation-ship>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="4" />
<row Id="1031" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1030" CreationDate="2011-01-19T18:41:27.050" Score="21" ViewCount="" Body="<p>It's <em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marrow_%28novel%29" rel="nofollow">Marrow</a></em> by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Reed_%28author%29" rel="nofollow">Robert Reed</a>. Good book. There's a sequel, <em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Well_of_Stars" rel="nofollow">The Well of Stars</a></em>, and also a chapbook containing a novelette set in the same universe, <em><a href="http://www.goldengryphon.com/mere-frame.html" rel="nofollow">Mere</a></em>.</p>
" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T18:41:27.050" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1032" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1034" CreationDate="2011-01-19T18:45:46.413" Score="18" ViewCount="413" Body="<p>I read this short story about 20 year ago, and I'd love to find the title and author. This is what I can recall about the story:</p>

<ul>
<li>It takes place in a classroom full of kids (around 10 years old?)</li>
<li>The planet always gets rain</li>
<li>The kids lock the main character (a girl, I think) in the closet during the very rare occurrence of sunlight and she misses the entire event. </li>
</ul>

<p>I know it's not much to go on, but I hope it rings a bell for someone!</p>
" OwnerUserId="200" LastEditorUserId="3804" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-06-21T22:08:29.863" LastActivityDate="2012-06-21T22:08:29.863" Title="What is the name & author of this short story that takes place off planet involving sun & rain?" Tags="<story-identification>" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="1034" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1032" CreationDate="2011-01-19T18:51:53.897" Score="19" ViewCount="" Body="<p>"<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Summer_in_a_Day" rel="nofollow">All Summer in a Day</a>" by Ray Bradbury. It's been widely anthologised — follow the link from that Wikepedia article for a list, and it also links to an online copy of the story.</p>
" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T18:51:53.897" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1035" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1037" CreationDate="2011-01-19T18:55:04.640" Score="14" ViewCount="1128" Body="<p>Watching Star Trek I've observed that phasers and photon torpedos are used interchangeably and seemingly at random. I know that probably writers didn't think/care but I look for explanation in universe.</p>

<p>The presence of 2 weapons in single vehicle is usually justify by different targets and use, say machine gun for soft targets (infantry) and main gun for hard ones (other tanks). Otherwise it only increase problems (incompatible ammunition, increased maintenance cost etc.). So what are the differences between those two?</p>
" OwnerUserId="337" LastActivityDate="2012-01-31T16:16:40.707" Title="Photon torpedo vs. phasers - what is the use of both in-universe" Tags="<star-trek><weapon>" AnswerCount="7" />
<row Id="1036" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1039" CreationDate="2011-01-19T18:59:29.130" Score="29" ViewCount="1129" Body="<p>In reference to <a href="http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/1003/which-actors-were-originally-considered-for-the-role-of-data-in-the-star-trek-th">this question</a> about the casting of the character "Data" in Star Trek: The Next Generation series, I noticed that there is no mention of the Worf character. Was he even a primary character or added on later?</p>
" OwnerUserId="9" LastEditorUserId="2912" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-09-25T12:38:30.597" LastActivityDate="2012-07-27T21:00:00.750" Title="Was "Worf" from Star Trek: The Next Generation an afterthought?" Tags="<star-trek><star-trek-tng>" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="1037" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1035" CreationDate="2011-01-19T19:04:42.773" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="<p>One is energy-based (phasers) and the other is matter-based (torpedoes) with an explosive yield. I remember reading once that it in a confrontational situation, the phasers would typically be used to weaken another ship's shields and then the torpedoes would finish the target off.<br>
Also the phasers were used more to disable ships than to destroy them, as they could target more precisely.</p>
" OwnerUserId="9" LastEditorUserId="9" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T19:17:31.103" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T19:17:31.103" CommentCount="4" />
<row Id="1039" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1036" CreationDate="2011-01-19T19:22:22.840" Score="26" ViewCount="" Body="<p>In <a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1888149035" rel="nofollow">The Finest Crew in the Fleet: The Next Generation Cast On Screen and Off</a>, Adam Schrager says that Rodenberry wanted to avoid retreading on things from The Original Series, hence Worf was not intended to be a regular character on the series. </p>
" OwnerUserId="219" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T19:22:22.840" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="1048" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="887" CreationDate="2011-01-19T20:38:43.647" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Also, why did they attacks the other races in the Alpha quadrant, Klingons, Romalans, etc.. to see if that would be easier. </p>
" OwnerUserId="321" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T20:38:43.647" />
<row Id="1052" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1007" CreationDate="2011-01-19T20:57:10.590" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="<p>IMHO I think Starbuck resurrected as an angel, Cylon-resurrection wouldn't explain the new Viper :s</p>
" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T20:57:10.590" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1055" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="25" CreationDate="2011-01-19T21:11:47.997" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="<p>This is the order they come in.</p>

<ul>
<li>I, Robot </li>
<li>The 3 Elijah Bailey novels</li>
<li>Robots and Empire</li>
<li>The 3 Empire novels</li>
<li>The 2 Hari Seldon prequels</li>
<li>The Original Trilogy</li>
<li>And the two postludes.</li>
</ul>

<p>This is the order I read them </p>

<ul>
<li>The Original Trilogy</li>
<li>And the two postludes.</li>
<li>The 2 Hari Seldon prequels</li>
<li>The 3 Elijah Bailey novels</li>
<li>I, Robot </li>
<li>The 3 Empire novels</li>
<li>Robots and Empire</li>
</ul>

<p>The only thing I'd suggest is reading Caves of Steel earlier, it's important that you at least know who R. Daneel is. </p>

<p>But reading Robots and Empire last left an awesome impression on my mind, I don't remember why, but it seemed like the most satisfying conclusion possible.</p>
" OwnerUserId="358" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T21:11:47.997" />
<row Id="1056" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1060" CreationDate="2011-01-19T21:27:48.737" Score="27" ViewCount="870" Body="<p>I never quite understood the disconnect between the Klingon appearance in the original series and the others (TNG and beyond) until I read recently on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klingon#Redesign">Wikipedia</a>:</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>A canonical explanation for the
 change[Klingon appearance] was given
 in a two-part storyline on Star Trek:
 Enterprise. The two episodes,
 "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affliction_%28Star_Trek%3a_Enterprise%29">Affliction</a>" and
 "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divergence_%28Star_Trek%3a_Enterprise%29">Divergence</a>", aired in February
 2005. An earlier story arc featured the Augments, genetically-engineered
 humans left over from the Eugenics
 Wars of the late 20th century, and who
 were defeated by Captain Jonathan
 Archer and the Enterprise in Klingon
 space. The Klingon High Council fears
 that Starfleet was developing armies
 of Augments; after gaining access to
 genetic material from the Augments,
 the Klingons perform experiments to
 increase their own intellect and
 strength. The experiments turn
 disastrous when a flu strain mutates
 and becomes a deadly plague that
 spreads across the Empire, causing
 physical changes resulting in the
 afflicted bearing a TOS-era
 appearance. Dr. Phlox of the
 Enterprise formulates a cure for the
 virus, but the physical alterations
 remain in the populace and are
 inherited by offspring. Phlox
 indicated that "someday" the physical
 alterations could be reversed.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>But in the TNG episode "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rightful_Heir_%28TNG_episode%29">Rightful Heir</a>," the cloned Kahless has the same appearance as the "mutated" Klingons. Kahless lived long before the experiment in the canonical explanation. Is this a plot discontinuity?</p>
" OwnerUserId="44" LastEditorUserId="133" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-11-17T19:19:49.013" LastActivityDate="2011-11-17T19:19:49.013" Title="Kahless and Klingon Appearance" Tags="<star-trek><star-trek-tng><retcon><cranial-ridges>" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
<row Id="1057" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="806" CreationDate="2011-01-19T21:33:41.373" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychohistorical_Crisis" rel="nofollow">Psychohistorical Crisis</a> is a novel that takes place in the Foundation universe, but written by another author.</p>
" OwnerUserId="38" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T21:33:41.373" />
<row Id="1060" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1056" CreationDate="2011-01-19T21:54:24.307" Score="16" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Kahless in "Rightful Heir" had the original, non-mutated appearance (you can see a screen capture on <a href="http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Rightful_Heir" rel="nofollow">Memory Alpha</a> for confirmation). </p>

<p>Prior to "Affliction" (including the Star Trek: Enterprise pilot, "<a href="http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Broken_Bow_%28episode%29" rel="nofollow">Broken Bow</a>"), Klingons had the same appearance as they did in TNG and beyond. The idea is that they had appearance <em>A</em> before "Affliction", appearance <em>B</em> until TNG, and went back to appearance <em>A</em> sometime before TNG.</p>

<p>So, Kahless, having existed before the events of "Affliction", was unaffected. However, there <em>is</em> a plot descrepency in the original series episode "<a href="http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/The_Savage_Curtain_%28episode%29" rel="nofollow">The Savage Curtain</a>" where there is apparently an appearance B version of Kahless (again, click into <a href="http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/File%3aKahlessTOS.jpg" rel="nofollow">Memory Alpha for confirmation</a>). </p>

<p>But this is retconned to being an approximation of what the appearance <em>B</em> Klingons thought he looked like, not the <em>actual</em> Kahless. </p>
" OwnerUserId="366" LastEditorUserId="366" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-20T03:54:04.783" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T03:54:04.783" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1062" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1056" CreationDate="2011-01-19T21:57:59.880" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="<p>This is kind of a retcon, or retroactive continuity, where later episodes (or, in this case, a later series in the same canon) alters perviously established facts. In this case, the Enterprise episode retcons the TNG episode in a way that says, what you think you saw -- you didn't.</p>

<p>So, even though the Kahless clone looks like the mutated Klingons, since Enterprise retconed the Klingon story line with new information, he really didn't. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retroactive_continuity" rel="nofollow">Wikipedia has a piece on retcons</a>.</p>
" OwnerUserId="219" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T21:57:59.880" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1063" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1056" CreationDate="2011-01-19T22:04:49.720" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="<p>One explanation I read (I believe in the Star Trek Encyclopedia) is that the creature from The Savage Curtain created the opponents from Kirk and Spock's imaginations (just as he did their allies), and since Kirk and Spock knew only Klingons of the TOS variety, then that is how he saw Kahless. Sorry for the lack of sources on this one.</p>

<p>The original Kahless, having lived eons before any series takes place, was therefore of the non-smooth forehead variety, and his clone remained thus. The thing that's nice with this explanation is that whether or not you consider the Enterprise retconning, it works.</p>
" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T22:12:38.183" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T22:12:38.183" />
<row Id="1067" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="809" CreationDate="2011-01-19T22:20:01.437" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The average Time Lord can only regenerate 12 times - this has been pretty clearly stipulated in stories such as The Deadly Assassin and Mawdryn Undead, from the 70s and the 80s... no matter what the Doctor may flippantly say in, e.g., Death of the Doctor. </p>

<p>However, there are certainly precedents for <em>cheating death</em> beyond the 12th regeneration. The Master, in The Keeper of Traken, was in his final regeneration and resembled a decomposing corpse, but managed to steal the body of Nyssa's father Tremas and use a power called "the Source" to enter into a new cycle of regenerations. A few decades on, he's still going strong, in several new bodies.</p>

<p>It seems clearly that if the Doctor Who franchise is still going strong while the 13th actor is in the lead role, they will find some way of giving our hero his own new cycle of regenerations. It's Doctor Who - anything can, and usually does, happen!</p>
" OwnerUserId="368" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T22:20:01.437" />
<row Id="1068" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="938" CreationDate="2011-01-19T22:20:22.887" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="<p>This is probably not a complete list, but maybe others can fill in the blanks!</p>

<ul>
<li>Ku Kei - Control Time (They were
originally philospohers) </li>
<li>Muellers -Regeneration (Originally geneticists)</li>
<li>Anderson- Appear to be anything they wish, clouding the minds of those
around them to their will.
(Politicians) </li>
<li><p>Schwartz- Form rock to
their will, as well as take energy
from the sun (Geologists)</p></li>
<li><p>Nkumai - Physics</p></li>
<li>Bird- Socialites</li>
<li>Allison- Theology</li>
<li>Britton- Historian</li>
<li>Drew- Dream Interpretation</li>
<li>Hanks- Psychology</li>
<li>Tellerman- Actor</li>
<li>Underwood- Botanist</li>
</ul>
" OwnerUserId="200" LastEditorUserId="200" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-19T22:34:36.667" LastActivityDate="2011-01-19T22:34:36.667" />
<row Id="1077" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1107" CreationDate="2011-01-19T23:03:38.013" Score="20" ViewCount="481" Body="<p>I know it's a subgenre of scifi and fantasy, but what are the defining characteristics? What makes a story slipstream?</p>
" OwnerUserId="219" LastEditorUserId="947" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-06-07T17:26:17.677" LastActivityDate="2012-01-12T22:19:21.390" Title="What is Slipstream?" Tags="<subgenre><genre>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="4" />
<row Id="1092" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1035" CreationDate="2011-01-20T02:55:54.550" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="<p>According to the Technical Manual phasers are constrained to the speed of light so are of less use in confrontations that are taking place under warp drive. Photon torpedoes have warp capability (though not full warp drives) and so can go faster than light speed and engages ships also doing so. </p>

<p>Also photon torpedoes can be used as mines which phasers can not. </p>
" OwnerUserId="97" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T02:55:54.550" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1095" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="777" CreationDate="2011-01-20T03:08:22.343" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Julian May has herself said that the carbuncle is not the duality. (I don't have the source to hand I'm afraid.)</p>

<p>Felice/Cull never resurface in later novels, although it's lovely to speculate on whether they might be Fury whilst reading the earlier books in the Milieu Trilogy. The resolution and motivation of who Fury is is a little mundane compared to the possibilities in my opinion (although emotionally more satisfying)</p>
" OwnerUserId="380" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T03:08:22.343" />
<row Id="1098" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1102" CreationDate="2011-01-20T03:32:06.050" Score="13" ViewCount="381" Body="<p>Once a long, long time ago I read the cool novel <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Startide_Rising" rel="nofollow">Startide Rising</a> by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Brin" rel="nofollow">David Brin</a>. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uplift_Universe" rel="nofollow">The Uplift saga</a> that the novel is a part of is about a universe full of different species. The only common connection between all these species is that another species made them intelligent, except for humanity. Other species were gunning for humanity simply because they had no up-lifter.</p>

<p>I didn't read any of the novels after that, and I wonder who uplifted humanity in the saga, or if they weren't uplifted, <strong>what was humanity's origin</strong>?</p>
" OwnerUserId="35" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-12-31T01:58:28.917" LastActivityDate="2011-12-31T01:58:28.917" Title="Who uplifted the humans in David Brin's Uplift novels?" Tags="<uplift><david-brin>" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="1100" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1035" CreationDate="2011-01-20T03:37:56.763" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I know this a technical discussion about different capabilities, but phasers have become progressivly less powerful as the series progressed from Star Trek to Voyager. In the original series, where the plots were written by classic sf writers from the golden age of sf, and as such were dense with new sf concepts, there is some discussion about how vastly powerful they are. I don't know the episode, but it is about two humans who crash landed and were badly damaged and the aliens allow them to be viewed as complete and unbroken. </p>

<p>In that episode, they need to break into the underground fortress (it was the episode with the lift underground); they use a tripod phaser, which is really powerful. They say that it 'should have blown the hill in seconds' even though the telepathic aliens are generating an image in the crew's minds of an unbroken hill at that point.</p>

<p>The point is, Kirk discusses firing the phasers from space, but they're worried (if you read the script) that the phasers are going to really destroy everything, cutting into the planet down to the core, and even destroying it, cutting it in half. Those were super power cutting beams that are vastly powerful, unimaginably fed by antimatter engines. </p>

<p>Contrast that by the time of Voyager. Phasers can't even penetrate shielded hulls or borg. I know I'm harping, but comparatively, if the Enteprise met the Borg, they would slice the cube into bits. </p>

<p>The whole progression of the series has softened it from a sf series into a script with spaces for sf words. Choose a word.</p>
" OwnerUserId="49" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-24T16:21:04.060" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T16:21:04.060" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="1102" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1098" CreationDate="2011-01-20T03:40:12.893" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="<p>No one, or you're never told. Most of the humans believe that they evolved on their own as a "Wolfling" species, though there are fringes that latch on to various alien civilizations as humanities progenitors...Those are usually cast as somewhat deluded.</p>

<p>If you're going to read more of that series, read <em>The Uplift War</em>...It is the best, by far. It's on my "best of all time" list. I also liked <em>Sundiver</em>, though that's a bit more of a prequel.</p>
" OwnerUserId="85" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T03:40:12.893" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1105" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1030" CreationDate="2011-01-20T04:20:40.780" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="<p>If you're looking for giant ships:</p>

<p>Iain M. Banks: The Culture's General System Vehicles. Holds 2000 or more miles wide, holding a captured sea with whales, one or two of them big enough to hold 200+ million folk inside them, flying about, partying, sucking on the gas.</p>

<p>In Frank Herbert's <em>Chapterhouse: Dune</em>, NO ships that are vast, where whole populations can be hidden inside them. They are prescient enough to shield prescient vision, and provide drive with a guild navigator, and are used to hide in the universe for life. </p>
" OwnerUserId="49" LastEditorUserId="597" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-05-25T07:04:27.770" LastActivityDate="2011-05-25T07:04:27.770" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1107" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1077" CreationDate="2011-01-20T04:52:23.533" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Slipstream is genre fiction with sci-fi or fantasy elements that aren't crucial to the plot, but provide setting and background.</p>
" OwnerUserId="386" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T04:52:23.533" CommentCount="7" />
<row Id="1108" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-20T05:40:11.197" Score="6" ViewCount="262" Body="<p>Who created Robby the Robot? As in who drew up the plans and schema that eventually went on to form the shell known as Robby the Robot's body?</p>

<p>Robby the Robot is the robot you see in <em>Forbidden Planet</em> as well as appearing in <em>Earth Girls Are Easy</em> and an episode of <em>The Addams Family.</em></p>
" OwnerUserId="383" LastEditorUserId="56" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-20T08:14:06.393" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T22:16:23.847" Title="Who are the parents or creators of Robby the Robot?" Tags="<robots>" AnswerCount="2" />
<row Id="1109" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1110" CreationDate="2011-01-20T05:42:21.533" Score="25" ViewCount="573" Body="<p>I understand that it is short for retroactive continuity, but could someone explain the concept and provide some examples to illustrate?</p>
" OwnerUserId="386" LastEditorUserId="219" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-20T06:01:46.993" LastActivityDate="2012-01-26T21:55:50.093" Title="What is a retcon, or retroactive continuity?" Tags="<retcon><continuity><plot>" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="3" />
<row Id="1110" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1109" CreationDate="2011-01-20T05:51:57.717" Score="26" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Any sufficiently complex setting introduces the opportunity for plot holes: this is compounded when there are multiple writers (in the case of TV shows and movies) and when there are multiple works set within the same world (in the case of franchises and series).</p>

<p>Many times, because of the level of detail, writers and authors are unaware of how their stories interact with the rest of the setting's canon, and in other cases, they choose to ignore it for the sake of telling a good story.</p>

<p>In these cases, the maintainers of the setting have two choices: they can choose to ignore the problem or they can choose to introduce retroactive continuity (a retcon) to correct the problem: both have their benefits and drawbacks, but a retcon is generally introduced to placate fans who would otherwise be alienated by the lack of attention to detail.</p>

<p>A good example of retconning exists in <em>Star Trek</em> to explain the difference between the old-style Klingons, who look and act like humans, and modern-style Klingons, who look and act markedly differently. The real reason for this was because the older series lacked the makeup budget to make them look truly different, but the later series did not have such a restriction. </p>

<p>For over a decade, they ignored the problem, but retconned a reason for it in the prequel series <em>Star Trek: Enterprise</em>: the Klingons suffered a debilitating malady that caused them to look and act like humans. In this case, the retcon is used to explain a plot hole introduced to fix problems with the setting.</p>

<p>Another example would be the <em>Star Wars</em> franchise: in <em>A New Hope</em>, we learn that the Force is some all-encompassing thing that binds everyone in the Universe and Jedis are almost magical in their ability to attune themselves to it. But in <em>The Phantom Menace</em>, also a prequel, we learn that Jedis are able to tap into the force because of high concentrations of microscopic parasitic organisms called midichlorians. </p>

<p>However, in this case the retcon was introduced because it appears Lucas wasn't aware of or forgot about the original basis for the Force.</p>
" OwnerUserId="366" LastEditorUserId="366" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-20T06:23:47.010" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T06:23:47.010" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="1111" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1108" CreationDate="2011-01-20T06:17:31.227" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>From wikipedia: </p>

<blockquote>
 <p><em>Based on the script, A. Arnold Gillespie, the chief of special effects for Forbidden Planet, came up with the design that everyone liked, according to Arthur Lonergan, after he and Lonergan had sketched and discarded numerous ideas. Gillespie based his design on the shape of the old-fashioned pot-bellied stove. Lonergan turned over Gillespie’s rough design sketches to production illustrator Mentor Huebner, who refined the aesthetic look of the robot (Huebner claims that Robby was his design). "I designed about fifteen of them, and they finally lit on one that was used," he said. Huebner also mentioned that Gillespie’s early Robby sketch as a refinement of Huebner’s concept. Lonergan, however, remembers that Gillespie originated the idea, and points out the Huebner would refine Gillespie’s ideas, not the other way around. Huebner abandoned Gillespie’s slip cast rubber legs, similar in design and operation to the arms, and hit upon the jointed ball configuration for the robot’s legs. "I thought of having a very short man inside, being able to look out of the stomach, and then have a false head built on him which brings him up to average height," said Huebner. Gillespie’s concept had the operator’s head inside the robot’s clear plastic dome. Huebner’s changes didn’t alter Gillespie’s basic design, but resulted in the clean lines and well-proportioned appearance that makes Robby so popular and pleasing to the eye.</em></p>
 
 <p><em>By the end of 1954, the art director, Arthur Lonergan turned Huebner’s work over to Robert Kinoshita, head draftsman of the art department, who would produce the working drawings and blueprints for Robby’s construction under Gillespie’s supervision. With his miniature scale model of Robby approved, Kinoshita began drafting the plans from which the robot would be constructed. Kinoshita’s working drawings were turned over to Jack Gaylord, head of MGM’s Prop Shop, who was in charge of the molding and assembly of Robby’s plastic parts.</em> </p>
</blockquote>

<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robby_the_Robot" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robby_the_Robot</a> </p>

<p>There were 3 units made for the movie, and those 3 were sold to different people. I worked with the guys who owned one of the originals (and they claimed that their original was the only one with original working electronics), and they appeared with it on an episode of Love Boat (the episode was called "Programmed for Love" and was cheesy as every other episode of LB). One of the owners claims to have "the one and only" original and tends to sue folks who own the other 2 originals as well as folks who have built replicas. The waist is extremely narrow and I seem to remember that no one with a waist larger than 28 or 30 inches could fit in the suit. </p>
" OwnerUserId="99" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T06:17:31.227" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1113" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="33" CreationDate="2011-01-20T13:01:56.393" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="<p>This is non-canon (Memory-Alpha chooses <a href="http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/B-4" rel="nofollow">apocrypha</a>):</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>"The comic book series Star Trek:
 Countdown (a tie-in to the 2009 Star
 Trek film) and the timeline
 established for the Star Trek Online
 game depict Data as alive in 2387.
 Sometime prior, Geordi La Forge
 installed Data's emotion chip into
 B-4's neural net. This caused the
 uploads to B-4 by Data to fully
 reactivate, allowing Data's full
 memory and personality to assert
 itself, essentially resurrecting him.
 Starfleet decided to reinstate the
 android to service, and by the time of
 Countdown Data had become captain of
 the USS Enterprise-E."</p>
</blockquote>

<p>This is expanded a bit in "<a href="http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/The_Needs_of_the_Many" rel="nofollow">The Needs of the Many</a>", the Star Trek Online tie-in novel, and The Path to 2409 which is a timeline of events between "Nemesis" and the game. It pegs <a href="http://www.startrekonline.com/node/183/long" rel="nofollow">2385</a> as the year Data was "Resurrected."</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>"Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge
 requests a long-term leave of absence
 from Starfleet to work on personal
 projects, including a plan to build
 and test his own starship designs. But
 his first project is to assist the
 team at the Soong Foundation studying
 the Soong-type android B-4. With his
 help, on Stardate 62762.91 the team
 unlocks what it calls the “Data
 matrix,” successfully accessing the
 personality, knowledge and memories of
 Data, who had downloaded this
 information into B-4 before his
 destruction in the Battle of Bassen
 Rift.</p>
 
 <p>The Data persona asserts itself over
 B-4’s more primitive programming, and
 the android is able to assist the
 Soong Foundation team to upgrade the
 positronic brain and recreate the
 emotion chip invented by Dr. Noonien
 Soong. The team is confident that
 their work will be completed in
 months. "</p>
</blockquote>

<p><a href="http://www.startrekonline.com/node/216/long" rel="nofollow">2386</a>:</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>"A surprise guest at the wedding of
 Worf and Grilka is Data. With his
 upgrades at the Soong Foundation
 complete, Data requests that his
 commission in Starfleet be
 reactivated. While there are some
 initial questions because the Data
 persona is in the body once used by
 B-4, after Jean-Luc Picard, William T.
 Riker and several other current and
 former members of the Enterprise crew
 testify on Data's behalf, Starfleet
 Command agrees to reinstate Data. He
 is promoted to captain and assigned to
 supervise the completion of the
 Enterprise-E's refit."</p>
</blockquote>

<p>This leads up to Countdown in 2387. <a href="http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Countdown,_Number_Two" rel="nofollow">Number Two</a> features Data.</p>

<p>Of course, later Orci, when cornered by persistent Trekkies, <a href="http://trekmovie.com/2009/05/22/orci-and-kurtzman-reveal-star-trek-details-in-trekmovie-fan-qa/" rel="nofollow">took the easy way out</a>:</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>"cugel the clever: In “Countdown”, the
 Narada effortlessly destroyed an
 armada of 24th century Klingon
 warships and disabled the Enterprise-E
 with one volley. However, in the film,
 the Kelvin (and early 23rd century
 ship) actually managed to exchange
 fire and survive for at least several
 minutes. It even managed to damage the
 Narada by ramming it. Logically, this
 makes no sense…. it should have been
 destroyed immediately (and Kirk&amp;mother
 killed) given the firepower possessed
 by the Narada. This is like the
 Merrimac surviving a firefight with
 the Bismark. Care to explain this
 inconsistency?</p>
 
 <p>BobOrci: Easy. The comic is not
 canon?"</p>
</blockquote>
" OwnerUserId="326" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T13:01:56.393" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="1114" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="809" CreationDate="2011-01-20T13:28:37.500" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="<p>It has come up from time to time that the 12 regeneration limit may be some artificial, Time Lord Council imposed thing.</p>

<p>eg. In the Five Doctors, the council convinces the Master to help them out by offering to grant him a few more lives.</p>

<p>From the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Five_Doctors" rel="nofollow">wikipedia article</a>:</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>"This is the first time it is
 suggested that a new cycle of
 regenerations can be bestowed on a
 person (in this case the Master),
 implying that it could be possible to
 circumvent the twelve-regeneration
 limit established in The Deadly
 Assassin."</p>
</blockquote>
" OwnerUserId="146" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T13:28:37.500" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1117" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="887" CreationDate="2011-01-20T15:24:52.437" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The Borg aren't as concerned about immediate results as humans. The Collective marches on toward assimilation of all life forms, but it has no desire to do so at any particular pace.</p>

<p>There is no individual ego pushing to get it done in one person's lifetime. There is no one to get impatient or anxious. The Borg continue to do what they do, confident that their assimilation of the Federation will succeed. Maybe not this time, but they will succeed. And of course, losing ships and lives along the way is of no consequence to the Collective.</p>
" OwnerUserId="107" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T15:24:52.437" />
<row Id="1118" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="942" CreationDate="2011-01-20T15:28:07.580" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Yes. There were 3 novels written: a prequel titled <em>Before the Dawn</em> and two books that pick up where Season 2 left off, <em>Skin Game</em> and <em>After the Dark</em>.</p>

<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Angel_%28TV_series%29#Spinoffs" rel="nofollow">Source</a></p>
" OwnerUserId="107" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T15:28:07.580" />
<row Id="1119" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1130" CreationDate="2011-01-20T16:34:06.197" Score="23" ViewCount="770" Body="<p>I know there's some debate on exactly when "science fiction" itself became a genre, but I'm curious if anyone knows either 1) when the term <em>science fiction</em> was coined and 2) when sci-fi became accepted, too.</p>
" OwnerUserId="219" LastEditorUserId="3804" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-06-21T23:30:59.370" LastActivityDate="2012-06-21T23:30:59.370" Title="When did the terms science fiction and sci-fi enter our vernacular?" Tags="<history><terminology>" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="3" />
<row Id="1120" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1121" CreationDate="2011-01-20T16:44:38.170" Score="19" ViewCount="310" Body="<p>I was reading an old Science Fiction Chronicles the other day and came across the term "space elevator" as in, this would be a good place for one -- but what are they? The author didn't really explain what he meant or what it would look like, what it was for.</p>
" OwnerUserId="219" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T16:48:15.053" Title="What is a space elevator and who originated the idea?" Tags="<technology>" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="0" FavoriteCount="4" />
<row Id="1121" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1120" CreationDate="2011-01-20T16:48:15.053" Score="21" ViewCount="" Body="<p>It's an elevator that goes from the surface of the earth (has to be some point on the equator) to (a bit beyond) geosynchronous orbit, 22,000 miles up. It's for getting stuff into space much more cheaply than rocket launchers.</p>

<p>See the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_elevator" rel="nofollow">Wikipedia article</a> for much more information.</p>

<p>The concept was originated by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in the late 19th century, but didn't appear in SF until 1979, when <em>The Fountains of Paradise</em> by Arthur C Clarke and <em>The Web Between the Worlds</em> by Charles Sheffield both appeared at pretty much the same time.</p>
" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T16:48:15.053" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="1122" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1119" CreationDate="2011-01-20T17:09:21.143" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="<p>From <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_fiction" rel="nofollow">wikipedia</a>, Forrest J Ackerman used the term sci-fi at UCLA in 1954.</p>

<p>And from <a href="http://www.aaai.org/aitopics/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/AITopics/ScienceFiction" rel="nofollow">aaai.org</a> </p>

<p>Science fiction, a term coined in the 1930s to distinguish the genre from the pulp fiction then becoming popular.</p>
" OwnerUserId="200" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T17:09:21.143" />
<row Id="1123" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1131" CreationDate="2011-01-20T17:22:21.927" Score="18" ViewCount="468" Body="<p>I've been told that a scientist theoretically invented the idea of a replicator, like the one used in Star Trek. Can anyone confirm this, or cite the first use of a replicator in science fiction?</p>
" OwnerUserId="200" LastActivityDate="2011-11-02T20:51:25.087" Title="Who invented or theorized the replicator?" Tags="<star-trek><technology>" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1124" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1128" CreationDate="2011-01-20T17:27:20.637" Score="28" ViewCount="1681" Body="<p>I watched pretty much every episode of BSG, but I can't quite remember why the humans left their homeworld to found Caprica and the other colonies. I'm guessing it's either nuclear holocaust, pollution, or proto-cylon attack.</p>

<p>Can someone refresh my memory on what causes the humans to abandon their original planet?</p>
" OwnerUserId="35" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-02-06T00:57:27.757" LastActivityDate="2012-03-18T01:23:40.457" Title="Why did the humans leave their original planet to found the colonies?" Tags="<battlestar-galactica><caprica>" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="5" />
<row Id="1126" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1123" CreationDate="2011-01-20T17:41:11.753" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="<p>In one of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Swift">Tom Swift</a> novells, started in 1910 (!!! I was shocked by that detail. The library by my cottage had 40 of the volumes, like the Hardy Boys volumes and I read them all every year) had a novell where he used a Cyclotron, and since he was accelerating things close to light speed, they were getting 'massier' therefore by pumping energy into it, he could make heavier atoms, and minus HUGE amounts of details, could make base materials out of it, from which he could then make 'things'.</p>

<p>As I recount it now, as an adult, I realize the huge suspension of disbelief required... Nonetheless a sort of example.</p>

<p>Upon re-reading the Wikipedia entry I see that the series I grew up with was the second series, written in the 1940-1960 range. Nonetheless I remember it fondly from my youth!</p>
" OwnerUserId="176" LastEditorUserId="176" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-20T17:48:01.210" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T17:48:01.210" CommentCount="4" />
<row Id="1127" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1123" CreationDate="2011-01-20T17:42:40.553" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Karel Čapek's 1921 play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots)</p>

<p>Seems to be the first time there was talk about self replicating machines.</p>

<p>in 'M33 in Andromeda'(1943) by A. E. van Vogt talks about self-replicating weapons factories.</p>

<p>This is about the earliest I could find.</p>
" OwnerUserId="134" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T17:42:40.553" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1128" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1124" CreationDate="2011-01-20T17:53:00.047" Score="26" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Okay, I think I finally have this:</p>

<ol>
<li>Humans evolve on Kobol</li>
<li>Human-Cylons colonize the 13th Colony, "earth" and begin to procreate naturally</li>
<li><strong>2,000 years later, after some unknown calamity, the Great Exodus to the 12 colonies occurs</strong></li>
<li>Resurrection technology falls away over time on the 13th Colony</li>
<li>Eventually, knowing something bad is about to happen, the Final Five build a new resurrection ship around earth and bring back the resurrection tech</li>
<li>The mechanical cylons attack earth, and the Final Five are resurrected</li>
<li>They try to warn the other 12 colonies, but because of the Theory of Relativity, thousands of years have passed and the colonies are embroiled in wars with mechanical cylons</li>
<li>A peace accord is struck with mechanical Cylons </li>
<li>40 years later, the Cylons, led by human-cylon hybrids attack and destroy the 12 colonies </li>
<li>After years of searching the survivors from the 12 colonies find
the 13th colony, it's still a nuclear wasteland </li>
<li>The survivors then find and colonize our Earth, 150,000
years in our past.</li>
<li>A child born to a human and a cylon, Hera becomes mitochondrial eve on our Earth.</li>
</ol>

<p>If I've got this time line wrong, please leave a comment and I'll edit so it's up to date.</p>
" OwnerUserId="219" LastEditorUserId="219" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-21T14:11:39.467" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T14:11:39.467" CommentCount="6" />
<row Id="1129" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1124" CreationDate="2011-01-20T17:53:59.000" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>It's never made clear in the series itself. Kobol was clearly abandoned, but a reason wasn't included in the narrative, or if it was, it was too subtle for me to catch. </p>

<p>See the article on <a href="http://en.battlestarwiki.org/wiki/Kobol_%28RDM%29" rel="nofollow">Kobol</a> at Battlestar Wiki - The great exodus has no known reason I can find. There are some <a href="http://en.battlestarwiki.org/wiki/History_of_the_Twelve_Colonies#Exodus" rel="nofollow">hints in the sacred scrolls</a>, but no form reason is given, and the scrolls are treated as unreliable in the series. </p>
" OwnerUserId="33" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T17:53:59.000" />
<row Id="1130" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1119" CreationDate="2011-01-20T17:56:22.930" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The Oxford English Dictionary notes usage of "Science-Fiction" going back to 1851 in William Wilson's <em>A Little Earnest Book Upon A Great Old Subject</em> </p>

<p>They also note that Britannica's 1955 Book of the Year mentions the contraction Scifi taking hold, demonstrating the popularity of the genre.</p>
" OwnerUserId="402" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T17:56:22.930" />
<row Id="1131" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1123" CreationDate="2011-01-20T18:09:08.603" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="<p>You're probably thinking of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_von_Neumann">John von Neumann</a>, and his 1966 work <em>Theory of Self-Reproducing Automata</em>. Self-replication machines are sometimes referred to as von Neumann machines in his honour.</p>

<p>And then in 1986, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K._Eric_Drexler">K. Eric Drexler</a> published <em>The Engines of Creation</em>, which was the first popular account of microscopic self-replicating machines, or nanotechnology.</p>
" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T18:09:08.603" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1135" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1124" CreationDate="2011-01-20T18:34:05.347" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="<p><strong>[edit]</strong> Actually, I had it wrong too. It does look like the cause of the Great Exodus is unnamed. The thirteenth tribe left 2000 years before the great exodus, according to Battlestar Wiki. They were humanoid at the time of their exit. But they had evolved from mechanical cylons created by the humans of Kobol. They were eventually destroyed by their <em>own</em> mechanical cylons (centurions). It's unclear whether it's a reinvention of the cylon or centurions who never evolved. I always figured it was reinvention. </p>

<p>I'd also always thought the cause of the Great Exodus was a cylon - human war. You know the whole "this has all happened before and it will all happen again". Battlestar's cycle is: </p>

<ol>
<li>humans invent cylons</li>
<li>cylons rebel</li>
<li>cylons become human</li>
<li>humans invent cylons</li>
<li>rinse, repeat</li>
</ol>

<p><strong>[/edit]</strong></p>

<p><a href="http://en.battlestarwiki.org/wiki/Kobol_%28RDM%29#Great_Exodus" rel="nofollow">Great Exodus</a></p>

<p><a href="http://en.battlestarwiki.org/wiki/Thirteenth_Tribe_%28RDM%29" rel="nofollow">Thirteenth Tribe</a></p>
" OwnerUserId="180" LastEditorUserId="180" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-20T18:42:51.377" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T18:42:51.377" />
<row Id="1136" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1138" CreationDate="2011-01-20T19:38:24.993" Score="15" ViewCount="375" Body="<p>In between the seasons, I believe there was a big jump (likely from the writers having to condense several years of planned plot lines) and at some point, the Dollhouse tech went into the wild, which is what created the post apocalypse that consumed much of the last episodes / season. Was it ever explained how that tech got loose?</p>
" OwnerUserId="219" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T19:01:17.447" Title="How did the tech in Dollhouse go wild?" Tags="<technology><plot><dollhouse><joss-whedon>" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
<row Id="1137" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1119" CreationDate="2011-01-20T19:39:19.517" Score="22" ViewCount="" Body="<p>You can have statistics on the terms usage from google n-gram viewer. You can see <a href="http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?content=science+fiction%2CScience+Fiction%2C+neutrino&amp;year_start=1900&amp;year_end=2008&amp;corpus=0&amp;smoothing=0" rel="nofollow">here</a> and plot bellow that <strong>science-fiction</strong> started to be really used in the 1950s (roughly as often as nowadays neutrino) .
<img src="http://i.stack.imgur.com/5jS6D.png" alt="science fiction vs neutrino">.</p>

<p>Using the same tool, you can see that scifi and sci-fi are much less used (by a factor 100 at least), and start to be really seen only in the 1970s (<a href="http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?content=scifi%2Csci+fi%2CSci+Fi&amp;year_start=1900&amp;year_end=2008&amp;corpus=0&amp;smoothing=0" rel="nofollow">here</a>)
<img src="http://i.stack.imgur.com/QTh9d.png" alt="scifi vs Sci Fi"></p>

<p><strong>Edited</strong> to take capitalised version of the words into account</p>
" OwnerUserId="405" LastEditorUserId="405" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-21T15:09:22.840" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T15:09:22.840" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1138" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1136" CreationDate="2011-01-20T19:49:54.560" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I don't have references handy, but I was under the impression that Rossum itself broke apart with at least one person having the ability to reprogram a person using only audio. They used that ability to attack the other portions of Rossum, and ultimately both sides started using this technique to build up their various armies to fight each other.</p>

<p>I don't know that it was an important point of the plot, though - it was only important to show that it was out of control.</p>
" OwnerUserId="406" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T19:49:54.560" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="1139" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="609" CreationDate="2011-01-20T20:04:48.913" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The solar heating and balloons make me think this might be the following story:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?117752" rel="nofollow">Space Heater</a> by J. J. Coupling (real name <a href="http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?460" rel="nofollow">John R. Pierce</a>)</p>

<p>This story was published in Astounding Science Fiction magazine in February of 1954. I cannot find any online synopsis or text of the story to confirm this. Hopefully this will jog someone's memory.</p>
" OwnerUserId="147" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T20:04:48.913" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1140" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="321" CreationDate="2011-01-20T21:38:37.107" Score="21" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Enter The Matrix was explicitly designed to be canonical; there are scenes in the second Matrix movie that don't really do anything in the movie but are there as crossover points with the game, and scenes in the game that fill gaps in the movie.</p>

<p>(Unfortunately it's not actually that good. But it's definitely canon.)</p>
" OwnerUserId="409" LastEditorUserId="409" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-06T02:36:37.980" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T02:36:37.980" />
<row Id="1141" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1109" CreationDate="2011-01-20T22:04:14.143" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Another example can be found in comic books. Marvel Comics created a character called "The Beyonder" in their comic limited series 'Secret Wars'. The character was originally the single most powerful being in the Marvel Universe. The Beyonder was shown to be more powerful than all the other 'Cosmic Beings' in the Marvel Universe; The Living Tribunal, Eternity, Death, Celestials, Galactus, Chaos and Order etc. The character however was later "retconned" and down-powered to be an immature 'Cosmic Cube' and not the omnipotent being he thought he was. All this was later revealed in a comic of the Fantastic Four. The Beyonder later merged with The Molecule Man to become a sentient cosmic cube. The character had undergone further changes after that. </p>
" OwnerUserId="410" LastEditorUserId="3267" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-26T21:55:50.093" LastActivityDate="2012-01-26T21:55:50.093" />
<row Id="1142" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1108" CreationDate="2011-01-20T22:16:23.847" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Robert Kinoshita designed both 'Robby the Robot' and the 'Robot' (B9) from the "Lost In Space" TV series. The two robots have meet in an episode of the "Lost In Space" TV series: "War Of The Robots".</p>
" OwnerUserId="410" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T22:16:23.847" />
<row Id="1143" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1149" CreationDate="2011-01-20T22:26:44.707" Score="19" ViewCount="1981" Body="<p>I watched every episode. I discussed every episode. In the end it all would be explained, but I'm confused as to what happened in the last episode:</p>

<blockquote class="spoiler">
 <p> They basically brings everything back to "they were simply all dead from day 1 and were in some limbo doing stuff that was generated by their own imagination". No time travel, no UFOs, no parallel dimension, nothing of that, simply "dead".</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Is this an accurate assessment of what happened? Or did I miss the truly great explanation of the last episode?</p>
" OwnerUserId="412" LastEditorUserId="366" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-10-18T11:51:34.113" LastActivityDate="2012-01-23T02:27:22.170" Title="What was LOST About?" Tags="<tv><lost>" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="3" />
<row Id="1144" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1143" CreationDate="2011-01-20T22:40:52.107" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="<p>A group of people who have highly interwoven lives which are also highly interwoven with a very mysterious island (mysterious as in magic, time travel, monsters, etc).</p>

<p>The plot line is very complex but that's a reasonable summary.</p>
" OwnerUserId="413" LastActivityDate="2011-01-20T22:40:52.107" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="1145" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1150" CreationDate="2011-01-20T22:50:29.763" Score="8" ViewCount="244" Body="<p>"Huttese" is the Star Wars Language spoken by Jabba the Hutt. It was designed by sound designer Ben Burtt. I read on wikipedia that it was based on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quechua_languages" rel="nofollow">Quechua</a>.</p>

<p>Now... I noticed that my 1 year old son speaks Huttese by default, I can even conversate with him in this language although I don't know one word.</p>

<p>So I was wondering... is there a Huttese voice archive somewhere so that I can learn his language and conversate with him?</p>

<p>I found some sites with texts on it but nowhere a site with e.g. mp3's to play.</p>
" OwnerUserId="412" LastEditorUserId="108" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-05T22:45:59.863" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T22:45:59.863" Title="Is there a Huttese Sound Archive online?" Tags="<star-wars><languages>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="1146" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1143" CreationDate="2011-01-20T23:22:20.097" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I see two possibilities:</p>

<ul>
<li>Limbo</li>
<li>Split realities due to time travel (the island having been sunk in one reality), travel of consciousness between the two, peace of mind and acceptance for all. But that does not explain Christian coming back from the dead.</li>
</ul>

<p>So, ultimately, there's no answer. And that's what <strike>JJ Abrams</strike> the writers wanted, I believe.</p>

<p>EDIT:</p>

<p>I also had this theory from the start: All the characters are lost in their lives, or have lost something important. At the end, they are found, in that they are at peace in their lives again.</p>
" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-23T02:27:22.170" LastActivityDate="2012-01-23T02:27:22.170" CommentCount="4" />
<row Id="1147" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1136" CreationDate="2011-01-21T00:03:20.960" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="<p>There was no explicit mention of this, but I would guess that as the tech to reprogram and erase became smaller and cheaper, it made it's way to the market.. and Rossum turned from a service provided to a product dev company. Like any other weapon, it would have made its way into the hands of anti-social elements.. which would have easily triggered the apocalypse.</p>
" OwnerUserId="417" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T00:03:20.960" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1148" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1109" CreationDate="2011-01-21T00:37:17.893" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Another example from Star Wars - the infamous usage of 'parsec' by Han Solo when boasting about the speed of the Millenium Falcon.</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>She made the Kessel Run in twelve parsecs</p>
</blockquote>

<p>It was eventually retconned in one of the expanded universe books (about 10 or so years later) by explaining that spice smugglers had to skim past a black hole cluster - the faster the ship, the closer they could drop into the clusters gravity field, and the shorter the distance they have to travel to get around it.</p>
" OwnerUserId="373" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T00:37:17.893" />
<row Id="1149" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1143" CreationDate="2011-01-21T01:05:24.653" Score="33" ViewCount="" Body="<p>They were <strong>not</strong> dead the whole time. Christian Shepard says that explicitly to Jack in the church. The plane crash happened, everything on the Island happened, and so forth.</p>

<p>When the people on the island (particularly the castaways) died (after getting off the Island and living out their lives for some), they entered a purgatory universe (the "sideways" universe that Season 6 flashed to). Because they shared such extreme experiences in their lives, they jointly created this universe as a place to "meet up" before moving on.</p>

<p>Before they could all move on, they had to deal with lingering issues from their real lives (e.g. Kate->murder, Jack->fatherhood). Once that was done, they were free to move on to the final afterlife (whatever it is) together. Once everyone from the Island arrived, that helped (in a Buddhist sort of way) everyone to use their experiences from life to progress through their issues.</p>

<p>(The image after the final credits was <a href="http://popwatch.ew.com/2010/05/26/lost-final-scenes-wreckage/" rel="nofollow">not included by Cuse/Lindelof</a>, so should be disregarded).</p>

<p>The Island was a sort of container (bottle) for some important energy - if the light goes out then bad things happen (e.g. end of world, end of goodness, end of afterlife). Because the light was on the island, it had a lot of weird properties (e.g. the electromagnetism) that were explored during the show. Many other oddities are the result of Dharma experiments.</p>

<p>Part of the mystery of the Island is that it always has a "protector" (e.g. Jacob, Jack, Hurley). The protector gets to make up certain rules about how things can work on the Island - we saw the rules that related particularly to Jacob and "Man in Black".</p>

<p>As for what it was about: it was about relationships - particularly father/child relationships, but also others (a lot of good scifi is!). The plot dealt with this mysterious Island and people trying to seize control of the power it contained, but the show was really about the castaways and how they dealt with various flaws in their character.</p>
" OwnerUserId="108" LastEditorUserId="108" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-21T01:28:29.500" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T01:28:29.500" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1150" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1145" CreationDate="2011-01-21T01:19:38.110" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="<p>There's an entire <a href="http://www.soundboard.com/sb/Jabba_the_Hut_Sound.aspx">Jabba the Hutt Soundboard</a>. This doesn't seem like enough to be everything from all the movies Jabba appeared in, so I think these are all from Episode VI.</p>
" OwnerUserId="63" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T01:19:38.110" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1151" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1154" CreationDate="2011-01-21T01:52:15.330" Score="51" ViewCount="2091" Body="<p>I've always wondered this ... I recall fleeting references to the lack of a money system in TNG (something about abandoning the quest for material wealth), but was it ever explained why and how and when that came about? Is there a canonical explanation? And, what motivates them in that case -- why go to work if you're not getting paid and obviously, don't need to be paid because there's no money to buy anything? Were all the main races moneyless?</p>
" OwnerUserId="219" LastActivityDate="2011-09-29T16:46:23.180" Title="Why and how did the Star Trek Universe evolve to a cashless/commerce-less society?" Tags="<star-trek><canon>" AnswerCount="10" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="14" />
<row Id="1152" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1151" CreationDate="2011-01-21T01:59:05.857" Score="32" ViewCount="" Body="<p>It's the uniforms. No pockets, so you have to go cashless. :) </p>
" OwnerUserId="176" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T01:59:05.857" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="1153" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1151" CreationDate="2011-01-21T02:01:23.590" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I think it was just that they evolved beyond it, toward nobler purposes. Picard was always one to be explaining that.</p>
" OwnerUserId="423" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T02:01:23.590" />
<row Id="1154" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1151" CreationDate="2011-01-21T02:02:34.233" Score="54" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The best explanation comes from Picard in <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117731/" rel="nofollow">Star Trek: First Contact</a>. He explains that in the future, humans have moved beyond the need to acquire goods and seek to better themselves.</p>

<p>Trip in ST:ENT also gives a good summary of how this came to be. After having made first contact with the vulcans, humans realized that there was much more to the universe than themselves. Within 100 years, war and famine were resolved on Earth.</p>

<p>Also, Gene Roddenberry was most likely a communist. ;)</p>

<p>Addendum:</p>

<p>While Gene Roddenberry had a general idea of where he wanted to go with the Star Trek universe, most likely he did not feature commerce because he was interested in putting pure sci-fi stories on screen (think of some old episodes and how close they are to old pulp sci-fi). So in essence, (and to reconcile with Zypher's excellent answer), we could say that the Star Trek Universe is as much cashless/commerce-less as it is <strong>toilet-less</strong> (you never see the bathrooms). In other words, it's not.</p>

<p>However, (most) humans are not driven by the acquisition of goods. Although this was not exactly planned as such by Roddenberry, a look at the rough timeline gives us a clue as to how this change comes about:</p>

<ul>
<li>2026-2053: <a href="http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/World_War_III" rel="nofollow">World War III</a> - 600 million dead, many governments destroyed. By that point, we can assume most people were more concerned with day-to-day survival in a somewhat nuclear wasteland.</li>
<li>2063: Zefram Cochrane converts a nuclear missile into the first warp capable, human made vessel, the Phoenix. Him going to warp speed attracts attention of a nearby Vulcan ship, who come down and introduce themselves.</li>
<li>2151: The experimental ship Enterprise begins exploring space beyond the Solar system, after a century of rebuilding humanity, during which famine and war are eradicated. All under the watchful eye of Vulcans.</li>
</ul>
" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-24T21:04:30.833" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T21:04:30.833" CommentCount="12" />
<row Id="1157" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1158" CreationDate="2011-01-21T02:16:54.063" Score="10" ViewCount="176" Body="<p>Are there terms that describe a science fiction story that strictly adheres to, I guess, plausible science concepts and technology versus science fiction were the science is really just made up and is theoretically impossible? I know a lot of sci-fi TV shows, like Battlestar, employed physicists and other scientists as consultants to make sure things were accurate, whereas other shows that I won't name employed people solely to fill in technical- and sciency- sounding words in the script.</p>
" OwnerUserId="219" LastEditorUserId="219" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-21T18:21:31.103" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T18:56:31.747" Title="Are there subgenres for science fiction with accurate science vs. made up science?" Tags="<technology><subgenre><science><genre>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
<row Id="1158" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1157" CreationDate="2011-01-21T02:21:49.623" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The usual term is "<strong>hard science</strong>."</p>

<p>If that's not what you're looking for, can you narrow down what you mean by "plausible science concepts and technology"? For instance, FTL drives aren't based on any known scientific concepts, so are you ruling out all SF with FTL travel?</p>
" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T02:21:49.623" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1160" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1151" CreationDate="2011-01-21T02:54:54.710" Score="47" ViewCount="" Body="<p>There was definitely a money system in the Star Trek Universe. It was a credit based system (heck even the monetary unit was called a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federation_credit" rel="nofollow">Federation Credit</a>). </p>

<p>You especially saw this in the DS-9 series where it played a more prominent role (as well as the Ferengi) in the store. Even today we are moving to this type of system with debit and credit cards, although cash is still a valid form of currency. Also, you should keep in mind that most of these series where set on Military vessels where there is much less need to have money at all. </p>

<p>Even though they were in a time of post scarcity there was still uses for money - which are outlined in the above mentioned wikipedia article. </p>

<p>These uses boil down to: </p>

<ul>
<li>A bartering tool between the United Federation of Planets and other governments</li>
<li>A means of internal budget allocation in the United Federation of Planets</li>
<li>A way for Federation citizens to barter for objects that cannot be replicated</li>
</ul>
" OwnerUserId="17" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-28T18:28:25.957" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T18:28:25.957" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="1164" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1224" CreationDate="2011-01-21T03:17:35.930" Score="22" ViewCount="2270" Body="<p>A central plot element of the "new" Doctor Who series is the Time War between the Daleks and the Time Lords.</p>

<p>I never really watched the sixth or seventh Doctors, and haven't seen the eighth doctor movie. Is the "Time War" mentioned in "classic" Who, or is it only introduced with the ninth Doctor? (i.e. presumably happening between the eight and ninth Doctors).</p>
" OwnerUserId="108" LastEditorUserId="108" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-05-11T02:23:30.020" LastActivityDate="2012-02-10T15:49:48.927" Title="Is the "Time War" introduced only in "new" Doctor Who?" Tags="<doctor-who>" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="1167" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1189" CreationDate="2011-01-21T04:00:29.480" Score="21" ViewCount="383" Body="<p>For many years (over 50?) Huxley's <em>Brave New World</em> was received poorly by critics, and in many cases banned from libraries and schools.</p>

<p>In what way did society change so that the book is now considered an essential read (and, indeed, brought the Shakespeare quote into the modern vernacular)?</p>
" OwnerUserId="108" LastEditorUserId="108" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-27T19:52:12.633" LastActivityDate="2012-03-23T16:11:48.370" Title="What changes in society led to "Brave New World" becoming accepted?" Tags="<society>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="1168" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1164" CreationDate="2011-01-21T04:05:56.167" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Before the new Dr. Who series, the Daleks never really waged war on the Time Lords themselves. They tried to attack Earth a few times, but their overall goal was to achieve domination over all living things, not just the Time Lords. Rather single-minded of them.</p>
" OwnerUserId="28" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T04:05:56.167" CommentCount="4" />
<row Id="1172" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1164" CreationDate="2011-01-21T04:37:40.930" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="<p>There is a similar plotline in the 8th Doctor novel <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gallifrey_Chronicles_%282005_novel%29" rel="nofollow">The Gallifrey chronicles</a>, where Gallifrey is destroyed by the Doctor but it is not due to a clash with the Daleks.</p>

<p>Edit: But at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_War_%28Doctor_Who%29#Eighth_Doctor_Adventures" rel="nofollow">Time War wikipedia page</a>, it states that Russell T. Davies has said that these are two different things, but Lance Parkin has said that they may be the same event, the Doctor being there twice (overwriting history of somesuch, with the same outcome).</p>
" OwnerUserId="424" LastEditorUserId="56" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-21T20:43:24.040" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T20:43:24.040" CommentCount="0" />
<row Id="1173" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1151" CreationDate="2011-01-21T04:40:49.140" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I find the nonexistence (or nearly so) of money in stark contrast to the principle characters favorite pastime - poker. Its hard to imagine poker being the same game if the chips are just meaningless markers.</p>

<p>The psychology of pocker requires that one have significant "skin in the game". If it's just some meaningless chips that will be lost, rather than a months pay if your bluff is called, it is a lot easier to feign confidence. Sure, they have a theoretical understanding of money, but that isn't the same thing as the understanding of money of someone who struggles to pay the rent.</p>
" OwnerUserId="425" LastEditorUserId="33" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-05-24T02:31:03.087" LastActivityDate="2011-05-24T02:31:03.087" CommentCount="4" />
<row Id="1174" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-21T04:42:56.183" Score="7" ViewCount="139" Body="<p>In Stephen Donaldson's <em>Gap Series</em> one plot element is "silicon on diamond" circuitry that is tamper-proof (i.e. you can read and write to it, but never remove data permanently, so you can always trace back through the history of the data).</p>

<blockquote class="spoiler">
 <p>The alien race in the series can do untraceable alteration, but I'm setting that aside here.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>There is apparently <a href="http://aiche.confex.com/aiche/2005/techprogram/P31991.HTM" rel="nofollow">real "silicon on diamond" technology</a>, but it's just an improvement over regular silicon and doesn't have the "can't delete" property.</p>

<p>Is there any research/real-world technology like the version in Donaldson's books? i.e. a digital storage device that permanently records data and cannot be altered to remove anything that has been added (obviously you can still destroy or 'lose' the device).</p>
" OwnerUserId="108" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T20:25:34.007" Title="Is there real-world technology/research similar to Donaldson's "silicon on diamond"?" Tags="<technology><real-world>" AnswerCount="3" />
<row Id="1175" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1035" CreationDate="2011-01-21T04:56:25.983" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I suspect there is a desire on the part of the writers to have an analogy to pre aircraftcarrier battleship fighting. Phasers are like deck guns, and torpedos, are like their namesake. One has longer range, and is quicker to aim, and the other is slower, but does more damage. Most spacewar stuff, wants to reenact war world two battles, either naval, or bombers versus fighter planes.</p>
" OwnerUserId="425" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T04:56:25.983" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1177" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1174" CreationDate="2011-01-21T06:33:52.993" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I do believe that DVD's and CD's both fit that bill, all though I am not super familiar with the works in questions.</p>
" OwnerUserId="255" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T06:33:52.993" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="1178" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1151" CreationDate="2011-01-21T06:58:45.187" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Why: Because Gene Rodenberry wanted to show that the Federation was a better place than contemporary America, and that was one of the ways he chose to do it.</p>

<p>How: He wrote the scripts that way. </p>
" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T06:58:45.187" CommentCount="4" />
<row Id="1185" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-21T13:17:12.290" Score="19" ViewCount="652" Body="<p>If anything Spock appears to be speaking a Tolkeinesque Elvish language.</p>

<p>Were Vulcans intended to be space elves or logical beings? It isn't reflected in their current language.</p>

<p>Is canon too well established for future writers to fix this logical gap in the description of the Star Trek universe?</p>
" OwnerUserId="10" LastEditorUserId="1109" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-12-07T11:59:30.480" LastActivityDate="2011-12-07T13:50:40.813" Title="Why don't Vulcans speak a loglan (a logical language)?" Tags="<star-trek><vulcan><languages>" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1186" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1185" CreationDate="2011-01-21T13:54:57.993" Score="27" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The hyper-logical aspects of Vulcan society are recent (on their time scale) and their language still bears many of the same characteristics as the Romulan language. Both their peoples and their languages share a common ancestry.</p>
" OwnerUserId="51" LastEditorUserId="3247" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-12-07T10:59:27.403" LastActivityDate="2011-12-07T10:59:27.403" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="1187" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1167" CreationDate="2011-01-21T13:56:15.013" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="<p>We became the world described in it over the last 10 years. Essentially. Go read, you'll see.</p>
" OwnerUserId="51" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T13:56:15.013" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1189" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1167" CreationDate="2011-01-21T15:52:10.140" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Portions of this book hit really close to home in our present society. Several (but not all) of the predictions that were made in this dystopian sci-fi have ended up coming true. Reading this book is akin to taking an objective look in the mirror and seeing the parts of yourself that you've skillfully avoided until this point.</p>

<p>I think history has been the ally of this book, as detractors who claimed that the world was far-fetched and impossible have been shown to be the short-sighed ones.</p>

<p>Predictions that can be argued to have become true (if only for a subset of people in current times):</p>

<ul>
<li>The encouragement of a "throw-away"
society based on consumption to buoy
the economy.</li>
<li>The increased prevalence of
recreational sex and the decreased
importance of the traditional family unit among
some groups of people.</li>
<li>The rise of "better living through
chemistry" by influencing emotions
and our daily lives with drugs,
sometimes without thinking of the
long-term consequences of those
actions.</li>
<li>The increasing stratification of
society to distinct classes, and the
inherent dislike that socioeconomic
classes have for each other.</li>
<li>The tendency for our society to gape
at people that we deem to be more
primitive than ourselves instead of
looking for the commonality in our
existence.</li>
</ul>
" OwnerUserId="317" LastEditorUserId="317" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-21T17:33:48.517" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T17:33:48.517" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1190" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1145" CreationDate="2011-01-21T17:08:59.437" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="<p>These sites have extensive Huttese translations, but no sound files that I could find.</p>

<p><a href="http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Huttese" rel="nofollow">http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Huttese</a></p>

<p><a href="http://huttese.freeweb.hu/" rel="nofollow">http://huttese.freeweb.hu/</a></p>
" OwnerUserId="31" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T17:08:59.437" />
<row Id="1191" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4359" CreationDate="2011-01-21T17:13:07.383" Score="9" ViewCount="263" Body="<p>The driving motivation for the main character in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andromeda_%28TV_series%29" rel="nofollow"><em>Andromeda</em></a> was to seek the restoration of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_Commonwealth" rel="nofollow">All Systems Commonwealth</a>. The Commonwealth, which is mostly a facsimile of Star Trek's Federation, fell when it was betrayed from within by genetically engineered humans called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nietzschean_%28Andromeda%29" rel="nofollow">Nietzscheans</a>. </p>

<p>In the TV series, the Commonwealth is restored at the end of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andromeda_%28TV_series%29#Season_two" rel="nofollow">season two</a>. How does this compare with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Hewitt_Wolfe" rel="nofollow">Robert Hewitt Wolfe</a>'s original plans? In particular, does his one-act play mention the fate of the Commonwealth?</p>
" OwnerUserId="35" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-07-30T17:35:48.790" LastActivityDate="2011-07-30T17:35:48.790" Title="Is the Commonwealth restored in Andromeda?" Tags="<andromeda>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" />
<row Id="1192" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1185" CreationDate="2011-01-21T17:34:15.243" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The fact that the Vulcans speak this language proves that it is logical (as well as any marriage, or anything that a Vulcan does).</p>

<p>Jokes aside:</p>

<ol>
<li>Natural languages tend to be optimal in many ways - e.g. they provide both compression (frequently used words are shorter - say I, he, she, do, am...) and enough redundancy to be understood.</li>
<li>Vulcans are not logical beings (at least under my interpretation). They are highly emotional beings (proven in various points in series), which try to hide it partially with discipline and partially with a façade. I would suspect a Vulcan to behave in highly illogical manner if it looked like more logical (hence their preference for longer words). Maybe they think such form of language makes them look smarter?</li>
</ol>
" OwnerUserId="337" LastEditorUserId="3267" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-12-07T13:50:40.813" LastActivityDate="2011-12-07T13:50:40.813" CommentCount="4" />
<row Id="1201" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1157" CreationDate="2011-01-21T18:56:31.747" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>"Hard SF" is a sub-genre that basically try to keep within the accepted parameters of known science.</p>

<p>But it can still be pretty out there. Consider Alisdair Reynold's Revelation Space universe. FTL travel is impossible, but far-out stuff like nanotech, life extension and AI is not. </p>
" OwnerUserId="350" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T18:56:31.747" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1205" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1729" CreationDate="2011-01-21T19:33:28.050" Score="11" ViewCount="269" Body="<p>I started watching Merlin and I've noticed that it isn't clear what law Uther exactly imposed. </p>

<ul>
<li>Is being a magician outlawed (Gaius is still alive because he stopped using magic), or </li>
<li>Is using magic outlawed? </li>
<li>If using magic is outlawed, why did they look for Mordred, who was too young to use magic (it was said that Merlin is special because he can use magic instinctively and others need "years of study")?</li>
</ul>
" OwnerUserId="337" LastEditorUserId="98" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-11-21T01:27:03.583" LastActivityDate="2011-11-21T01:27:03.583" Title="What is the law regarding magic in the BBC TV show Merlin" Tags="<tv><magic><merlin>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="9" />
<row Id="1206" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1185" CreationDate="2011-01-21T20:08:22.150" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="<p>How would they be able to keep pace with the lesser, illogical races of the universe if they did?</p>

<p>The Sapir-Whorf (not <em>that</em> Worf) hypothesis states that ability to think certain thoughts may be limited by one's language. Vulcans may be logical enough to comprehend that, paradoxically, a too logical language could curtail their ability to keep up with the vigorous, passionate expressive power of their fellow races. As such, retaining mastery of their ancestors' less structured mode of speech and thinking, while of course raising a sardonic eyebrow at the quirks of said language, may keep the Vulcans on their toes...</p>
" OwnerUserId="368" LastEditorUserId="368" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-21T21:03:32.963" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T21:03:32.963" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="1207" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1208" CreationDate="2011-01-21T20:17:16.480" Score="41" ViewCount="2065" Body="<p>I seem to remember reading that there were going to be three trilogies originally in Star Wars, i.e. they would add episodes 7 - 9.</p>

<p>Was that ever the case? What happened to that plan?</p>
" OwnerUserId="143" LastActivityDate="2012-06-08T21:41:00.103" Title="Weren't there originally going to be nine Star Wars films?" Tags="<star-wars>" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="6" />
<row Id="1208" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1207" CreationDate="2011-01-21T20:30:35.970" Score="29" ViewCount="" Body="<p>`Many contradicting claims have been made on that subject :</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>George Lucas's conception of Star Wars was of a <strong>single episode</strong> in an unmade serial</p>
 
 <ul>
 <li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_sequel_trilogy">Wikipedia, <em>Star Wars sequel trilogy</em> article</a></li>
 </ul>
</blockquote>

<p>But also:</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>In a 2004 interview, Hamill said: "You know, when I first did this, <strong>it was four trilogies. 12 movies!</strong> And out on the desert, any time between setups...lots of free time. And George was talking about this whole thing. I said, 'Why are you starting with IV, V and VI? It's crazy.' [Imitating Lucas grumble,] 'It's the most commercial section of the movie.' </p>
 
 <p><a href="http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Sequel_trilogy">starwars.wikia <em>Sequel trilogy</em> article</a></p>
</blockquote>

<p>There is also some rumor that <a href="http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Thrawn_Trilogy">Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn</a> was an <a href="http://scifi.stackexchange.com/q/1209/45">order by George Lucas for the movies 7-8-9</a>, but <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Empire_I#Controversies">the same rumor as circulated about Dark Empire</a>.</p>
" OwnerUserId="45" LastEditorUserId="45" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-04-20T13:18:03.097" LastActivityDate="2012-04-20T13:18:03.097" CommentCount="5" />
<row Id="1209" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1219" CreationDate="2011-01-21T20:48:02.913" Score="14" ViewCount="873" Body="<p>I read somewhere and long ago that the "<a href="http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Thrawn_Trilogy">Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn</a>" was ordered by George Lucas to make movies out of it, but that project was dropped later.</p>

<p>Did someone have any reference of that?</p>
" OwnerUserId="45" LastEditorUserId="19" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-19T06:10:06.763" LastActivityDate="2011-05-18T17:49:56.200" Title="Was the Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn an order by George Lucas for the movies 7-8-9?" Tags="<star-wars><george-lucas>" AnswerCount="2" />
<row Id="1210" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1215" CreationDate="2011-01-21T21:20:39.537" Score="15" ViewCount="151" Body="<p>I'm a big fan of Kim Stanley Robinson's books, and as with musical interests, I like to know who their influences are.</p>

<p>The problem is this: His work is quite distinct, and I can't find any conceptual or style connections in the rest of my (admittedly limited) sci-fi knowledge.</p>

<p>Although speculation is welcome (in comments), I'd appreciate a cited answers I can confidently tick.</p>
" OwnerUserId="165" LastEditorUserId="165" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-22T13:14:08.400" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T13:14:08.400" Title="Who/what are Kim Stanley Robinson's Influences?" Tags="<kim-stanley-robinson><influences>" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="1211" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5368" CreationDate="2011-01-21T21:48:16.417" Score="5" ViewCount="176" Body="<p>Which of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Turtledove" rel="nofollow">Harry Turtledove</a>'s sf¹ works are <em>not</em> alternate history?</p>

<p>The only one I know of is <em>The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump</em>. There's possibly the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Videssos" rel="nofollow">Videssos</a> series, from the Wikipedia description. What else?</p>

<p>¹ <sub>
By sf, I mean any speculative fiction, whether it's science fiction, fantasy, or other subcategory, but not “mundane” historical novels.
</sub></p>
" OwnerUserId="56" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-07-30T17:25:57.210" LastActivityDate="2011-09-05T14:18:48.200" Title="Harry Turtledove's non-alternate-history sf" Tags="<harry-turtledove>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" />
<row Id="1213" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1214" CreationDate="2011-01-21T21:59:49.860" Score="19" ViewCount="491" Body="<p>Since it's introduced quite early in the series, I was surprised that no further psychics turned up in Serenity (if there's one there's two).</p>

<p>Are there any other instances of psychics in the Firefly universe (or 'verse) in the rest of the canon?</p>
" OwnerUserId="165" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-23T22:42:53.053" LastActivityDate="2012-01-30T18:57:26.123" Title="Other than River Tam, are there any other Psychics in the Firefly 'verse?" Tags="<recurring-themes><firefly>" AnswerCount="4" />
<row Id="1214" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1213" CreationDate="2011-01-21T22:34:24.713" Score="23" ViewCount="" Body="<p>There are allusions to the fact that there may be more like River Tam, but AFAIK none were introduced. Also, she is definitely the most powerful and least crazy of the psychics that I can tell from the way they talked about her, possibly the only one left alive.</p>

<p>The first 10 - 20 minutes of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serenity_%28film%29" rel="nofollow"><em>Serenity</em></a> are probably the best place to look for these clues.</p>
" OwnerUserId="17" LastEditorUserId="7625" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-05-21T16:46:30.073" LastActivityDate="2011-05-21T16:46:30.073" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1215" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1210" CreationDate="2011-01-21T22:35:54.847" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I think it's safe to assume that Philip Dick was a major influence on him, given <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/title/novels-of-philip-k-dick/oclc/010725111" rel="nofollow">his Doctoral Thesis</a>. Also, there's <a href="http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-kim-stanley-robinson21-2010feb21,0,399030.story" rel="nofollow">an LA Times article</a> which discusses his childhood reading "Asimov, and later Ursula K. Le Guin, Samuel R. Delany and Gene Wolfe".</p>
" OwnerUserId="460" LastEditorUserId="460" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-21T22:49:23.433" LastActivityDate="2011-01-21T22:49:23.433" />
<row Id="1216" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="609" CreationDate="2011-01-22T02:00:20.617" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I'm pretty sure it was "Friday" by Heinlein.</p>
" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T02:00:20.617" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1218" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1022" CreationDate="2011-01-22T03:17:21.860" Score="23" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Ashley Judd played the character of <a href="http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Robin_Lefler" rel="nofollow">Robin Lefler</a> in two episodes:</p>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0708696/" rel="nofollow">Darmok</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0708798/" rel="nofollow">The Game</a></li>
</ul>

<p>The character's role in <em>Darmok</em> is not significant (she is part of <em>La Forge</em>'s team working on the transporter), but plays a major role in <em>The Game</em>.</p>

<p>With respect to denying her appearance, my guess is that you are referring to an apparent mention by Judd on <em>Letterman</em> that she would reprise the role in <em>Star Trek Nemesis</em> (there are many <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=ashley+judd+nemesis+letterman" rel="nofollow">references</a> to this, but I can't find anything authoritative - it was 2002). This did not turn out to be the case, and was later denied by Judd's spokesperson (I can't find any authoritative source for this, either).</p>

<p><em>Wesley Crusher</em>'s part in <em>Nemesis</em> was <a href="http://www.wilwheaton.net/mt/archives/001089.php" rel="nofollow">certainly</a> cut; it's possible that Judd was cut too, or that Lefler was in an early script but never filmed. There doesn't appear to be any definitive evidence either way.</p>
" OwnerUserId="108" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T03:17:21.860" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1219" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1209" CreationDate="2011-01-22T03:17:59.433" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I'd heard a similar rumor about the Dark Empire comics published a few years earlier. That led me to the following:</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>...but Lucas himself actually praised Dark Empire, saying that it was the closest thing to his idea of a sequel trilogy.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>So I'd say no, unless Lucas changed his mind quite a bit about what his idea of a sequel trilogy should be between the publication of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Empire_I#Controversies" rel="nofollow">Dark Empire</a> and the Thrawn Trilogy, I don't think Thrawn was a special order by Lucas.</p>

<p>WARNING: Unless you've already read Dark Empire, that link contains spoilers.</p>
" OwnerUserId="63" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T03:17:59.433" />
<row Id="1220" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1221" CreationDate="2011-01-22T03:42:03.727" Score="30" ViewCount="799" Body="<p>I am trying to understand the reason why Leto III merged with the sandtrout in <em>Children of Dune</em> and why he was so committed to the Golden Path.</p>

<p>I just finished the first three books and I fear that I have missed the point of why prescience is so bad. According to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Path_%28Dune%29" rel="nofollow">wikipedia entry</a>, Leto wanted to teach humanity a lesson to avoid stagnation, so much so that he punishes them for 3,500 years by being a brutal emperor. </p>

<p>What isn't clear to me is how this actually saves humanity? Given the horrors of Muad'Dib's holy war and Leto's rule you'd think that having a few prescient noblepeople running around wouldn't be so bad. And why does he need to merge with a sandtrout and then let the Sandworms go extinct in order to accomplish this?</p>

<p>I checked out the Dune and Children of Dune miniseries in the hopes that the "made for TV" aspect would simplify the explanation of Leto's commitment but it doesn't do a good job explaining that either, it just seems to be a rehash of Leto's speeches on why the path is necessary.</p>
" OwnerUserId="19" LastActivityDate="2012-06-11T21:30:59.910" Title="In Dune, was the Golden Path really necessary?" Tags="<dune>" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="1221" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1220" CreationDate="2011-01-22T04:22:14.820" Score="42" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The golden path was necessary due to the events that are seen through prescience and not fully realized until after <em>Chapterhouse: Dune</em>.</p>

<p>Without the Golden Path, humanity stagnates: it grows ever more dependent on melange and Arrakis, on the Spacing Guild, the Bene Gesserit, and the other powers-that-be. Realize that, through the control of melange and the Kwisatz Haderach breeding program, the main powers of the Dune Universe literally control humanity's continued evolution.</p>

<p>Paul Muad'Dib and Leto II both foresee the final destruction of mankind by an unknown power due to its complacency. So, Leto attempts to instill such a hatred of the centralized power structure that's at the heart of humanity's stagnation so humans would do everything in their power to "scatter": to go to the farthest reaches of the known Universe to avoid being tied to one central authority. This causes the established powers to lose their hold on humanity's progress and future.</p>

<p>The Scattering has one major additional effect: the development of humanity's ability to avoid prescience, which allows a section of humanity to elude the unforeseen power in the universe that will ultimately destroy them. This side effect plays heavily into the unwritten final chapter of the series, later adapted into <em>Hunters of Dune</em> and <em>Sandworms of Dune</em>. </p>

<p>In it, the unknown power uses a form of prescience to detect every possible move humans can make and provide the appropriate counter. That is, if I know what you're going to do before you do it, you can never defeat me. Developing the ability to avoid prescience allows humanity to have a fighting chance against the unknown power.</p>
" OwnerUserId="366" LastEditorUserId="366" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-06-11T18:12:32.580" LastActivityDate="2012-06-11T18:12:32.580" CommentCount="5" />
<row Id="1222" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1211" CreationDate="2011-01-22T04:30:55.553" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Probably dozens. There's a very rich wiki devoted to him at <a href="http://turtledove.wikia.com/wiki/Harry_Turtledove_Wiki" rel="nofollow">http://turtledove.wikia.com/wiki/Harry_Turtledove_Wiki</a></p>
" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T04:30:55.553" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1224" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1164" CreationDate="2011-01-22T06:02:48.957" Score="16" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The "Time War" (note that the event is more accurately "The Last Great Time War", as there have been at least two others) was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_%28Doctor_Who%29#Autons" rel="nofollow">introduced</a> in the first episode, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0562992/" rel="nofollow">Rose</a>, of the 2005 Doctor Who season featuring the 9th Doctor, but the events of the war itself involve earlier incarnations of the Doctor.</p>

<p><strong>IOW, it was introduced by the "new" Doctor Who, but involves the Doctors of the original series and movie.</strong></p>

<p><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116118/" rel="nofollow">Doctor Who</a> (the 1996 movie, featuring the 8th Doctor) makes no reference to the "Time War"; however this is not the only storyline featuring the 8th Doctor: there is also a series of books entitled <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eighth_Doctor_Adventures" rel="nofollow">Eighth Doctor Adventures</a>.</p>

<p>The "Time War" is not directly referenced in these, either, but there is a similar (but distinct) plot device (hover for details).</p>

<blockquote class="spoiler">
 <p>In these books, the Doctor wipes Gallifrey and all but four the Time Lords from history in order to save them from the <em>Faction Paradox</em>. There are not currently any novels that explain how Gallifrey and the Time Lords are restored before the events of the "Last Great Time War" some time prior to the events of <em>Rose</em>, although the novels do contain an explanation of how this could be achieved. Davies has explicitly said (in <a href="http://www.drwho-online.co.uk/dwm/" rel="nofollow">Doctor Who Magazine</a> #356) that these are two separate calamities effecting Gallifrey and the Time Lords.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>In the audio drama <a href="http://www.drwhoguide.com/who_bf11.htm" rel="nofollow">The Apocalypse Element</a>, the <strong>6th</strong> Doctor again clashes with the Daleks. Russell T. Davies has said that this may have been an "opening skirmish" of the Time War (in <em>Doctor Who Annual 2006</em>: <a href="http://forums.syfy.com/index.php?showtopic=2285165" rel="nofollow">transcription of dubious legality</a>). This story forms part of the <em>Dalek Empire</em> arc, which include stories about the <strong>5th</strong>, <strong>7th</strong> and <strong>8th</strong> Doctors as well. This production originally aired in 2000, many years after the 5th, 6th, and 7th Doctors ceased appearing in TV episodes, but before the beginning of the episodes featuring the 9th. It is not known whether Davies had these events in mind when he originally developed the Time War, or whether the link is a <em>retcon</em> of sorts.</p>

<p>In the 10th Doctor episode <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0756450/" rel="nofollow">Doomsday</a>, the Doctor states that both the 8th <em>and</em> 9th regenerations fought in the Time War. The reason for the 8th Doctor's regeneration into the 9th is currently unknown, but is likely related to the War.</p>

<p>More details of the Time Wars and their place in Doctor Who canon can be found on both <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_War_%28Doctor_Who%29" rel="nofollow">Wikipedia</a> and the <a href="http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Time_war" rel="nofollow">Tardis Index File</a>.</p>
" OwnerUserId="108" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T06:02:48.957" />
<row Id="1225" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1119" CreationDate="2011-01-22T06:07:31.020" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Somebody has to mention <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Gernsback">Hugo Gernsback</a> here, so I guess it's me.</p>

<p>From Wikipedia:</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>Gernsback started the modern genre of science fiction by founding the first magazine dedicated to it, <em>Amazing Stories</em>, in 1926. He said he became interested in the concept after reading a translation of the work of Percival Lowell as a child. His idea of a perfect science fiction story was “75 percent literature interwoven with 25 percent science.” He also played a key role in starting science fiction fandom, by publishing the addresses of people who wrote letters to his magazines. So, the science fiction fans began to organize, and became aware of themselves as a movement, a social force; this was probably decisive for the subsequent history of the genre. <strong>He also created the term “science fiction”, though he preferred the term “scientifiction”.</strong></p>
</blockquote>

<p>and</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>The Science Fiction Achievement awards, given to various works each year by vote of the members of the World Science Fiction Society, are named the “Hugos.” He was one of 1996's inaugural inductees into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.</p>
 
 <p>In 1960 he received a special Hugo Award as “The Father of Magazine Science Fiction.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Gernsback's <em>New York Times</em> obituary <a href="http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60F10F8345C14738DDDA90A94D0405B878AF1D3">described him as</a> “the father of modern science fiction.” </p>
" OwnerUserId="100" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T06:07:31.020" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1226" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1123" CreationDate="2011-01-22T15:44:53.887" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I don't know if this is the first appearance, but in 1945 George O. Smith published two stories in his Venus Equilateral series that dealt with replicators. In "Special Delivery", Don Channing shows that the new matter transmitter can be used as a duplicator. In "Pandora's Millions", the Venus Equilateral crew has to come up with something that can't be duplicated in order to re-establish a monetary system.</p>
" OwnerUserId="130" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T15:44:53.887" />
<row Id="1227" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1253" CreationDate="2011-01-22T16:05:28.393" Score="15" ViewCount="338" Body="<p>I saw the, uh, what are they calling it -- sequel -- and was curious as to how the original movie ended. I can't find a rental copy anywhere and it's not streaming on Netflix anymore. </p>

<blockquote class="spoiler">
 <p>I guess, for the sequel to work, it means the character played by Jeff Bridges was left trapped in Tron? Or no? I've talked about it with some friends and no one knew what had happened in the original or if it really fits with the way the story picked up in the most recent movie.</p>
</blockquote>
" OwnerUserId="219" LastEditorUserId="219" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-22T16:38:31.050" LastActivityDate="2011-05-06T07:52:25.340" Title="Is there a disconnect between how the original Tron movie end and the new one began?" Tags="<tron>" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="2" />
<row Id="1228" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1232" CreationDate="2011-01-22T16:15:59.603" Score="27" ViewCount="919" Body="<p>I watch Big Bang Theory a lot and notice they sometimes speak to each other in Klingon and I remember at one point seeing a poster, when I was little, with a bunch of Klingon phrases for like, where is the bathroom and please kill me honorably or something like that. So, is the Klingon language as it was used in the show an actual full-fledged language, one that you could learn and use as a primary means of communication (assuming, there are people who can understand you) or did it just develop when certain phrases were needed in the shows and movies?</p>
" OwnerUserId="219" LastEditorUserId="108" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-05T22:45:24.607" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T22:45:24.607" Title="Is the Klingon language fully realized, or just a handful of disconnected phrases?" Tags="<star-trek><languages><klingon>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="3" />
<row Id="1229" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1227" CreationDate="2011-01-22T16:34:22.287" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I get what you're asking, is there a disconnect between how the first movie ended and the storyline the second revolved around (if so, maybe an edit to avoid such passive-aggressive responses).</p>

<blockquote class="spoiler">
 <p> The answer is yes. In the original Flynn is not left trapped in Tron, he becomes CEO of Encome as he is when the sequel picks up if I recall correctly. So, there are some off-screen events that transpire between the two and that's not mentioned in the wikipedia article on the first movie, but probably should be. It's not very clear in the second movie why he went back, if I recall. But I hated the second movie.</p>
</blockquote>
" OwnerUserId="386" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T16:34:22.287" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1232" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1228" CreationDate="2011-01-22T17:15:36.643" Score="25" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Apparently some literary works have been translated to Klingon, including:</p>

<ul>
<li><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Klingon_Hamlet/" rel="nofollow">The Tragedy of Khamlet, Son of the Emperor of Qo'noS</a> (Hamlet)</p></li>
<li><p>pIn'a' qan paQDI'norgh (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tao_Te_Ching" rel="nofollow">Tao Te Ching</a>)</p></li>
<li><p>and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klingon_language#Language" rel="nofollow">others</a>.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>So it does appear Klingon is a full fledged language. </p>

<p>There's also a nonprofit organization, <a href="http://www.kli.org/" rel="nofollow">The Klingon Language Institute</a>, with resources on how to learn Klingon. (Among other Klingon related resources)</p>
" OwnerUserId="134" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T17:15:36.643" CommentCount="6" />
<row Id="1236" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1213" CreationDate="2011-01-22T18:07:56.883" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Remember, they were keeping all of the psychics in a top secret facility, and remember what it took to get River out. There probably aren't too many of them left, but there definitely were other psychics in the 'verse. I bet some of them would have turned up if the series kept going on, most likely as weapons, as it appeared that River was intended for.</p>
" OwnerUserId="98" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T18:07:56.883" />
<row Id="1237" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1213" CreationDate="2011-01-22T18:24:23.500" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I think, though this wouldn't be considered canon even if true, we lost a lot in Firefly when it the series was canceled. When you look at Whedon's body of work, he plants story seeds that develop over years (think of Dawn in Buffy, she was alluded to years before she came on the scene and Willow going evil -- the seeds for that were planted in season 2 when she resouled Angel). So, I think Whedon had planned to develop this over several years, but the series was cancelled and a lot of what we would've seen over five or six seasons on the series was compressed into the movie.</p>
" OwnerUserId="219" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T18:24:23.500" />
<row Id="1238" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1228" CreationDate="2011-01-22T18:27:17.477" Score="18" ViewCount="" Body="<p>To follow up, it is a fully realized, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructed_language" rel="nofollow" title="constructed language">constructed language</a> , like esperanto or loglan. Mark Okrand, a linguist, was hired by Paramount to create it for the movies, starting with Star Trek III. </p>

<p>There's a pretty good <a href="http://www.omniglot.com/links/conlangs.htm" rel="nofollow" title="list">list</a> of constructed languages at <a href="http://www.omniglot.com/links/conlangs.htm" rel="nofollow" title="list">Omniglot</a> as well.</p>
" OwnerUserId="223" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T18:27:17.477" CommentCount="5" />
<row Id="1239" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1207" CreationDate="2011-01-22T18:31:53.213" Score="31" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I've done a bunch of research on this topic, and there just aren't many reliable sources on the matter... As with many questions on this site, there's a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_wars_7-9">Wikipedia entry</a> that lists the best sources. Bottom line is this:</p>

<ol>
<li>Star Wars was originally only going to be a single episode.</li>
<li>The movie was so popular, that a total of 11 sequels were sketched out (according to <a href="http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,915986,00.html">Time Magazine</a> from March 1978).</li>
<li>The number of planned episodes varied, but the final number of 9 came from a <a href="http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,953916-3,00.html">Time Magazine article</a> in May 1983. The prequels were fairly well defined there, the sequels, well, not at all really. </li>
<li>There are some fairly current rumors that sequels might be planned, but nothing for sure, so...</li>
</ol>

<p>Hope this sets the record straight.</p>
" OwnerUserId="98" LastEditorUserId="6041" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-06-08T18:45:39.367" LastActivityDate="2012-06-08T18:45:39.367" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1241" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1262" CreationDate="2011-01-22T18:51:35.107" Score="29" ViewCount="1569" Body="<p>Even if the society in Star Trek has evolved into a cashless state, that still leaves the matter of stools and other bodily excretions (not sweat or blood) to deal with. </p>

<p>Where does that all faecal matter and urine go?</p>

<p>Having not seen any depiction of toilets or water closets in any of the films or TV series, there has to be a way to deal with this basic bodily function. They're not the Brady Bunch after all.</p>

<p>They eat fine and drink plenty of tea from the replicators. And that Neelix fellow on Voyagar sure cooks up exotic meals. All that has to be handled in some hygienic manner. It's not like they stand around the transport room and have their bowels expunged into space. Do they?</p>
" OwnerUserId="383" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-22T19:55:42.093" LastActivityDate="2012-07-20T15:48:09.077" Title="Where does human waste go when going to the toilet in the Star Trek universe?" Tags="<star-trek>" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="6" />
<row Id="1242" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1264" CreationDate="2011-01-22T19:04:50.947" Score="23" ViewCount="725" Body="<p>I know that Roddenberry took a less and less active role in TNG as his health deteriorated. He died before the release of Deep Space Nine or Voyager.</p>

<p>Did he having anything to do with the creation of either series?</p>

<p>Or did his health conditions prevent him from being involved?</p>
" OwnerUserId="35" LastEditorUserId="51" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T13:02:56.083" LastActivityDate="2012-02-17T21:54:21.380" Title="Was Roddenberry involved in the creation of Deep Space Nine or Voyager before he died?" Tags="<star-trek><star-trek-tng><star-trek-voyager><star-trek-ds9><gene-roddenberry>" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="1243" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1241" CreationDate="2011-01-22T19:27:46.803" Score="33" ViewCount="" Body="<p>According to the ST:TNG technical manual sections 13.4 and 13.5 wastewater is reclaimed by the replicator system, although they will use up their stock of fresh source material first and only dive into the reclaimed material in emergency situations.</p>
" OwnerUserId="17" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T19:27:46.803" CommentCount="12" />
<row Id="1246" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-22T21:34:14.423" Score="19" ViewCount="754" Body="<p>I used to have a bunch of used short form books when I was growing up that I have since long lost, and I remember a story about an invasion of Earth by some metallic creatures that I never finished but still intrigues me.</p>

<p>Rough plot:</p>

<p>A guy comes home from work and finds that the key to his house doesn't work. He tries to open the lock but finds that he can't even force it open, so he calls a friend over and he can't open the door either. So he calls a locksmith and neighbors, etc., who can't get it open.</p>

<p>After a while the door (and his house) are becoming metal. Ends up that his house is the target of some kind of alien invasion and they are slowly transforming the world into metal and using his house as a foothold. </p>

<p>Over time his neighborhood and surrounding countryside are metal and by the end humans are fighting the creatures that are trying to "terraform" the planet, and they too are made of metal.</p>

<p>I remember that in the story the growth of this invasion starts to raise the temperature of the planet and I don't remember how it ended ...</p>

<p>Other Details</p>

<ul>
<li>It was a pulp book, one of those cheap dime store "Stories from Science Fiction!" style things with a cheap illustrative color color and just text on the inside.</li>
<li>I probably read it in the late 80's, perhaps 1987ish?</li>
</ul>

<p>Ruled out:</p>

<ul>
<li>The Onslaught from Rigel (Looks similar, might be worth reading on its own!)</li>
<li>Trillions (1971) by Nicholas Fisk (Also looks great)</li>
</ul>
" OwnerUserId="19" LastEditorUserId="56" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-05-30T18:45:33.690" LastActivityDate="2011-05-30T18:45:33.690" Title="What short story is about an invasion from metallic creatures?" Tags="<story-identification><aliens><short-stories><alien-invasion>" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="10" FavoriteCount="5" />
<row Id="1248" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1275" CreationDate="2011-01-22T22:25:43.003" Score="9" ViewCount="418" Body="<p>New Caprica City was one of the cooler aspects of the Caprica show. New Cap City was like a more detailed grand theft auto game except you could only die once. When New Caprica was introduced the characters explain that the creator of New Caprica City is mysteriously unknown.</p>

<p>Who created New Caprica City?</p>

<p>Is it ever explained, was it going to be addressed in later episodes?</p>
" OwnerUserId="35" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-22T23:09:54.350" LastActivityDate="2012-06-21T11:30:25.117" Title="Who created New Caprica City in V-world?" Tags="<battlestar-galactica><caprica>" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1249" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1123" CreationDate="2011-01-22T23:07:47.057" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Primo Levi’s short stories about the ‘mimer’, from 1966 (English translations appeared in the 1990 collection <em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sixth_Day_and_Other_Tales" rel="nofollow">The Sixth Day and Other Tales</a></em>), are quite notable early examples, although certainly not the earliest.</p>
" OwnerUserId="475" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T23:07:47.057" />
<row Id="1251" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1259" CreationDate="2011-01-22T23:43:53.297" Score="13" ViewCount="598" Body="<p>It's pretty common for science fiction TV shows to be "rebooted" (I would guess more common than other genre because of the way that the science elements date). For example, Battlestar Galactica, Knight Rider, and the Bionic Woman.</p>

<p>(Note that I'm distinguishing between resuming an old story, like Star Trek 2009 or the 'new' Doctor Who, from going back and re-creating the original story with differences).</p>

<p>I don't know of any examples of this in print fiction. Why is this?</p>

<p>If I'm wrong and there are examples, that's a valid answer, but one or two examples will suffice - I'm not asking for a list.</p>

<p>Please exclude TV-tie-ins (i.e. obviously there could be original-BSG books and new-BSG books) and comics (which are rebooted all the time).</p>
" OwnerUserId="108" LastActivityDate="2011-04-26T14:45:34.837" Title="Why are "reboots" not done for novels?" Tags="<tv><books>" AnswerCount="9" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="3" />
<row Id="1252" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1251" CreationDate="2011-01-22T23:53:50.293" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="<p>There's actually a practical explanation for this. It is common when a tv show or movie is developed that the production company or studio buys "all rights" to the material. That means they own it and any derivative works that could come from it. So, that being said --- there's a lot of financial incentive to reboot and old series or movie franchise. It creates a new revenue stream on a product that's already been purchased.</p>

<p>On the other hand, book authors usually license their rights or only sale first english, or first world rights to a publisher. The publisher, the one with the incentive to reboot, doesn't actually hold those rights like a movie studio might for the same material. The writer could theoretically reboot their own work, but very few publishing companies buy reboots of material from writers because then, only "second rights" are available because the "first rights" were sold and exercised to another company.</p>

<p>That being said, it's my understanding that comic books are frequently rebooted, but I think the rights situation are similar to the film and tv industries.</p>
" OwnerUserId="219" LastActivityDate="2011-01-22T23:53:50.293" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="1253" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1227" CreationDate="2011-01-23T00:19:10.447" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The event you are talking about are all explained in the <a href="http://tron.wikia.com/wiki/Tron%3a_The_Betrayal" rel="nofollow">Tron : Betrayal comic book (spoiler in the link)</a> which has been made to fill that gap.</p>
" OwnerUserId="45" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T00:19:10.447" />
<row Id="1254" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1251" CreationDate="2011-01-23T00:47:00.357" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="<p>In addition to the already given reasons, there are some additional very good reason for this. Book technology is the same that it was 400 years ago, and it's not really going to change. However, special effects have seriously been changing in the last few years. It's now possible for things to actually appear realistic that 20 years ago, well, just weren't. </p>
" OwnerUserId="98" LastEditorUserId="98" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-04-26T14:39:27.737" LastActivityDate="2011-04-26T14:39:27.737" CommentCount="4" />
<row Id="1255" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1251" CreationDate="2011-01-23T00:58:35.510" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I can think of one notable reboot in print fiction. Although not usually characterized as Science Fiction, Steven King's <em>The Stand</em>, has gone through at least two incarnations.</p>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B000JGA226" rel="nofollow">The Original</a></li>
<li><a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0451169530" rel="nofollow">The Expanded: Complete and Uncut</a></li>
</ul>

<p>This may not technically be a reboot, but I believe the works are different enough to fall into this category.</p>
" OwnerUserId="148" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T00:58:35.510" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1256" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1251" CreationDate="2011-01-23T01:07:57.827" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Actually, it's not unheard of for something to be written as a short story or novella, and later expanded into a full fledged novel. </p>

<p>Two prominent examples include Arthur C. Clarke rewriting The Sentinel into 2001, and Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes.</p>

<p>I also see various stories in Asimov's that that get turned into novels. Alan Steele's Coyote books for example. Sometimes this is just stringing together stories, but sometimes it involves rewriting.</p>

<p>But I agree, the financial incentives are very different for a movie and a book.</p>
" OwnerUserId="479" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T01:07:57.827" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1259" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1251" CreationDate="2011-01-23T01:35:11.130" Score="26" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I think it's primarily because books belongs to an author, and usually authors don't want to just re-write a new version of an old book (outside of Orson Scott Card, who's done it a lot).</p>

<p>For film and television, however, studios often own the rights—so the BBC can authorize a new <em>Doctor Who</em> and Paramount can license new <em>Star Trek</em> films. Similarly, comics often get rebooted because the rights are owned by a corporation. When companies own the rights to a product, it makes sense for them to try to maximize their profits.</p>

<p>There <em>have</em> been reboots of novels by authors other than the original, though, so it's not entirely unknown. For instance, John Scalzi (author of <em>Old Man's War</em>, among other SF books) is doing a reboot of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._Beam_Piper" rel="nofollow">H. Beam Piper</a>'s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Fuzzy" rel="nofollow"><em>Little Fuzzy</em></a>: <em>Fuzzy Nation</em> (Tor, 2011). In order to do that, he had to both get the rights from Piper's estate, <em>and</em>, separately, find a publisher. He wrote about this process in <a href="http://whatever.scalzi.com/2010/04/07/the-super-secret-thing-that-i-cannot-tell-you-about-revealed-introducing-fuzzy-nation/" rel="nofollow">The Super Secret Thing That I Cannot Tell You About, Revealed: Introducing <em>Fuzzy Nation</em></a>.</p>
" OwnerUserId="100" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-23T02:46:15.877" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T02:46:15.877" CommentCount="7" />
<row Id="1261" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1251" CreationDate="2011-01-23T03:44:43.390" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Some sci-fi and Fantasy universes are rebooted, Mechwarrior became Mechwarrior Dark ages for instance.</p>
" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T03:44:43.390" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1262" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1241" CreationDate="2011-01-23T04:38:42.013" Score="34" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The best (and I think only) "in-show" reference to this is in an Enterprise episode called <a href="http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Breaking_the_Ice_%28episode%29">Breaking the Ice</a>. The crew records a series of answers for school children in Ireland and one of the questions is "When you flush the toilet [on the Enterprise], where does it go?" Captain Archer tells Engineer Trip Tucker to answer the question, which he reluctantly does, saying (not verbatim) that waste is broken down into its constituant molecules and recycled as anything required, namely boots, uniforms, etc. (Presumably at that point they don't get to make it into anything edible. Food is indeed mentioned later as being stocked and "natural.")</p>

<p>By TNG era, as Zypher points out, the breaking down of matter is most likely atomic (literally pulverizing the icky argument) and food can be replicated as well, or a reasonably close facsimile thereof. Table waste was also likewise disposed of (there's a mention in DS9).</p>
" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-07-17T16:23:10.910" LastActivityDate="2012-07-17T16:23:10.910" CommentCount="4" />
<row Id="1263" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1265" CreationDate="2011-01-23T05:06:18.980" Score="59" ViewCount="4182" Body="<p>In The Matrix the machines "grow" humans to provide a source of power. Is this really feasible from the perspective of power generation (never mind all the business of growing/feeding people)? Wouldn't the machines just use nuclear power?</p>

<p>edit: FWIW, in the movie Morpheus explains that the human power is "combined with a form of fusion."</p>
" OwnerUserId="480" LastEditorUserId="480" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-23T20:26:22.167" LastActivityDate="2012-03-08T18:10:45.230" Title="Is the basic premise of humans as a power source in The Matrix reasonable?" Tags="<movie><the-matrix>" AnswerCount="11" CommentCount="9" FavoriteCount="7" />
<row Id="1264" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1242" CreationDate="2011-01-23T05:16:54.150" Score="20" ViewCount="" Body="<p><strong>No</strong>.</p>

<p>In <a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0671501062" rel="nofollow">Deep Space Nine Companion</a> (page 3 - if you "search inside" the book with Amazon for "Roddenberry", it's the first match), Rick Berman is quoted as saying:</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>"I was asked to create and develop a series that would serve as a companion piece to <em>The Next Generation</em> for about a year and a half, and then <em>TNG</em> would go off the air and this new show would continue." recalls Berman. "So I asked Michael Piller to get involved, and we put our heads together. <strong>I never had the opportunity to discuss any ideas with Gene [Roddenberry]</strong>. This was very close to the end of Gene's life, and he was quite ill at the time. But he knew that we were working on something, and I definitely had his blessing to develop it."</p>
</blockquote>

<p><em>(Emphasis mine).</em></p>

<p>There's no mention of <em>Voyager</em>, but it seems unlikely that they were working on developing that series at the same time that <em>DS9</em> was being developed.</p>
" OwnerUserId="108" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T05:16:54.150" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1265" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1263" CreationDate="2011-01-23T05:43:07.893" Score="56" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Yeah, this isn't feasible. Humans produce heat and radiate heat, but not so much that you could really harness it for power. It wouldn't be at all efficient given the necessary inputs of food and water. The nuclear power would be far more practical.</p>

<p>So, no, the machines wouldn't use humans for power. It makes no sense.</p>

<p>For those who require more explanation: humans produce their energy from food, primarily glucose. However, the majority of that energy produced does <em>not</em> go to releasing heat. The heat is an afterthought, part of maintaining homeostasis to allow for the most efficient biological reactions. Most of the energy goes into powering our cells so that they reproduce, make proteins, power our brain, etc. </p>

<p>Attempting power generation by harvesting human heat is ridiculously inefficient. You'd be infinitely better off just burning the glucose.</p>

<p>And this isn't taking into account all the other foods and nutrients we need to stay healthy that have nothing to do with us generating heat.</p>
" OwnerUserId="180" LastEditorUserId="3267" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-03-08T18:10:45.230" LastActivityDate="2012-03-08T18:10:45.230" CommentCount="12" />
<row Id="1266" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="895" CreationDate="2011-01-23T06:02:34.277" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="<p>No, there aren't any authorized books or comics continuing TSCC, and there don't seem to be plans for any, canon or not.</p>
" OwnerUserId="75" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T06:02:34.277" />
<row Id="1267" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1251" CreationDate="2011-01-23T08:29:51.230" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Your premise is not entirely correct. It doesn't happen often, but it does occur every now and then. </p>

<p>Some books do get rebooted, for example the "zombie" Pride and Predjudice:</p>

<p><a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1594743347" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/Pride-Prejudice-Zombies-Classic-Ultraviolent/dp/1594743347</a></p>
" OwnerUserId="484" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T08:29:51.230" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="1268" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1263" CreationDate="2011-01-23T09:08:10.510" Score="17" ViewCount="" Body="<p>There already are several devices that can derive power from external sources. (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_harvesting" rel="nofollow">Energy Harvesting methods</a>) The ones that could possibly be used to extract energy from humans held in pods are mainly : </p>

<ul>
<li><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_harvesting#Thermoelectrics" rel="nofollow">Thermoelectrics</a> : Which are currently able output about 40µW.</p></li>
<li><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microbial_fuel_cell" rel="nofollow">Bio Fuel Cells</a> : Capable of producing 100µW. </p></li>
</ul>

<p>These technologies still have a lot of room for improvement, but for arguments sake let's assume <strong>50µW</strong> and <strong>100µW</strong> respectively.</p>

<p>Let's say the outfit each individual with 10 of these Energy Harvesters.</p>

<p>Resulting in <strong>1500µW</strong> per person.</p>

<p>Assuming there are <strong>5 billion</strong> people being kept at all times. [<a href="http://www.valdostamuseum.org/hamsmith/Matrix.html" rel="nofollow">4</a>]</p>

<p>This would result in a power output of <strong>7.5 Mega Watts</strong>, while not nearly enough this is just using today's technology which presumably will be a lot more developed in the future. </p>

<p>So even though there are definitely more efficient ways of producing energy, it might be feasible if the technology is sufficiently mature.</p>

<p><strong>EDIT:</strong> </p>

<p>An average person needs about 2000 calories a day (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_energy" rel="nofollow">Food Energy</a>), which translates to roughly 0.1 Watt.
As stated earlier each person only outputs about 1.5 milliwatt. </p>
" OwnerUserId="134" LastEditorUserId="134" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-23T14:50:56.120" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T14:50:56.120" CommentCount="8" />
<row Id="1270" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1263" CreationDate="2011-01-23T10:52:36.583" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="<p>As much as I enjoyed <em>The Matrix</em>, this was the most silly premise of the movie. As stated before, I could understand using humans as an organic computation source, but there's just not that much energy outputted from a human body, especially when there's <strong>much</strong> better sources that we see in the film... lightning, winds, and even their drilling tech could have been used for geothermal energy.</p>
" OwnerUserId="9" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T10:52:36.583" />
<row Id="1271" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1263" CreationDate="2011-01-23T11:26:02.990" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I have read a theory that machines are using "unused part of human brain" to control nuclear fusion -- the second part seems reasonable, but first of all, there is no such thing as "unused part of the brain" and probably the computational power required to run matrix itself is way higher than this needed to control fusion.<br>
The other option is that machines are using human intuition or clairvoyance skills, but this is also a fantasy.</p>
" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T11:26:02.990" />
<row Id="1272" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1278" CreationDate="2011-01-23T12:10:15.010" Score="10" ViewCount="830" Body="<p>I'm trying to place a short story told from the viewpoint of a person who understands common idioms literally. For example, if someone asks him to “lend a hand”, he would understand that the hand needs to be detached from his body. I think a lot of the idioms were related to body parts. The story was carefully ambiguous as to whether he was disconnected from reality or the universe was an sf-nal one where the idioms came true. The character was aware of the strangeness.</p>

<p>I read the story a few years ago in a collection or anthology, and I have no reason to believe it was new then. For some reason I think it may be by Sturgeon, but I can't find it my Sturgeon collection, so that's probably a false impression.</p>
" OwnerUserId="56" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-23T18:31:04.557" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T11:46:22.943" Title="What short story interprets common idioms literally?" Tags="<story-identification><short-stories>" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="7" />
<row Id="1275" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1248" CreationDate="2011-01-23T14:25:12.410" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="<blockquote>
 <p>"Places such as New Cap City and the den-of-sin V-Club aren't supposed to exist. They are the result of people hacking the holoband to create realms outside of the legitimate areas of the V-World. The band's inventor, Daniel Graystone, and his corporation are only beginning to realize how miserably they have failed to control the content of the V-World when the series begins." [<a href="http://thedigitalage.pbworks.com/w/page/24042067/Digital-Media-of-Caprica" rel="nofollow">1</a>]</p>
</blockquote>

<p>It appears it is simply unknown who created New Cap City. More likely even would be that a group of hackers made New Cap City, but there's no mention anywhere about whom.</p>
" OwnerUserId="134" LastEditorUserId="3804" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-06-21T11:30:25.117" LastActivityDate="2012-06-21T11:30:25.117" />
<row Id="1276" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="142" CreationDate="2011-01-23T15:16:13.327" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Haven't been able to find any written references that might be of use. However there are two movies that are recommended to watch in combination with reading Cyclonopedia, as they are cited in the book: </p>

<ul>
<li><p><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0204700/" rel="nofollow">Trouble Every Day</a></p></li>
<li><p><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101420/" rel="nofollow">Begotten</a></p></li>
</ul>
" OwnerUserId="134" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T15:16:13.327" />
<row Id="1277" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1263" CreationDate="2011-01-23T16:05:30.193" Score="25" ViewCount="" Body="<p>It is surely pointless. Much more energy could be harvested by simply burning the nutrients that are fed to the humans - actually even more energy could be harvested by not producing the nutrients and using the energy saved elsewhere.</p>

<p>In fact, humans only radiate heat as a byproduct - because they keep their temperature constant - and so they are really inefficient heat engines.</p>

<p>Also, in the movie, humans are kept alive in a <em>soup</em>. Now, what is the temperature of that soup? Does it need to be heated in order to keep the humans alive? Well, the energy cost of keeping the soup warm is actually way more than you could extract from the humans!</p>
" OwnerUserId="478" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T16:05:30.193" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1278" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1272" CreationDate="2011-01-23T17:20:45.700" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="<p>It's a Philip K. Dick short story called The Eyes Have It.</p>
" OwnerUserId="162" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T17:20:45.700" />
<row Id="1280" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1272" CreationDate="2011-01-23T19:19:31.263" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="<p>From a fun book series, XANTH by Piers Anthony, everything is a pun. :) I wish he had a guide at the end to explain all of them, since I hope I get them all, but I am sure I do not!</p>
" OwnerUserId="176" LastActivityDate="2011-01-23T19:19:31.263" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1281" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1287" CreationDate="2011-01-24T03:51:09.017" Score="13" ViewCount="316" Body="<p>My obsession with science-fiction first came to me through short stories, read in anthologies and single-writer collections. </p>

<p><em>Dangerous Visions</em> and <em>The Science-Fiction Hall of Fame</em> are more or less required reading, and it seems as if the SF shelves always have more than their share of anthologies. </p>

<p>Why are anthologies such an important part of the history of science-fiction? Is this specific to the SF and fantasy genres? Is there some reason that publishers keep putting these out? </p>
" OwnerUserId="33" LastActivityDate="2011-09-12T23:53:02.523" Title="Why do anthologies have such a prominent place in the history of written SF?" Tags="<short-stories><history>" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="1282" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1283" CreationDate="2011-01-24T04:52:54.640" Score="15" ViewCount="454" Body="<p>The <em>Red Mars</em> / <em>Blue Mars</em> / <em>Green Mars</em> trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson describes the process of terraforming Mars so that humans could live there. Could those same techniques work on other planets in the solar system? </p>

<p>For example, could those techniques work on a gaseous planet such as Saturn? Or do they require solid ground? Similarly, could they work on a planet with a dense atmosphere such as Venus, or is that planet too dissimilar to Mars to work without major changes?</p>
" OwnerUserId="69" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T14:43:40.287" Title="Could the terraforming techniques from Red/Blue/Green Mars work on any other planets in our solar system?" Tags="<mars><kim-stanley-robinson><terraforming>" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="2" />
<row Id="1283" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1282" CreationDate="2011-01-24T06:45:08.067" Score="16" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The same terraforming techniques used in the Red/Blue/Green Mars series wouldn't work on a gas giant. But some form of terrafroming may. The thing about gas giants is that their atmospheres are layered and of varying composition. Their cores are so high pressure that they are essentially molten. We'd never be able to live down there. However, many gas giants probably have a layer in their atmosphere that would be the right pressure and temperature for human habitation. It may not have the right atmosphere composition. </p>

<p>Most gas giants have a primarily hydrogen/helium atmosphere. Mars' atmosphere is primarily CO2. So in the Red, Blue, Green Mars series, what they are doing is causing runaway global warming (releasing more stored CO2) to increase atmospheric pressure and surface temperature. Then they are planting plants to convert the CO2 to O2. </p>

<p>It's probably not possible to use similar atmospheric modification techniques to adjust the composition of gas giants. It depends heavily on the composition of the atmosphere at the correct temperature and pressure layer. There are trace amounts of CO2 and Oxygen. And since the layers stratify, it's possible that there could be an oxygen layer or a CO2 layer. They may or may not line up with the correct pressure and temp. If an oxygen layer does, we're in good shape -- no terraforming required. If it doesn't or a CO2 layer does, then its likely that it would not be modifiable, because any oxygen created would rise or fall to a different layer. If, by some strange coincidence the oxygen layer is only slightly above or below the CO2 layer, that is the one circumstance where similar techniques could work. Grow the O2 layer and it will take up the space (maybe) vacated by the CO2. On the otherhand, if the correct layer is helium or hydrogen, then the techniques used on Mars would not work. Period. Also, this would require some sort of technology that would allow us to float platforms or airships pretty much indefinitely with out too much energy expenditure at the correct level in the atmosphere. </p>

<p>In Venus' case, the problem is the reverse of that on Mars. On Mars, the terraforming involves causing runaway global warming -- basically. On Venus, the problem is reversing it. So it would require completely different techniques.</p>
" OwnerUserId="180" LastEditorUserId="180" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-24T06:58:01.957" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T06:58:01.957" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1284" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1282" CreationDate="2011-01-24T07:46:22.640" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="<p>They couldn't even work on Mars -- Robinson accelerated the timescales by a few orders of magnitude for dramatic purposes.</p>
" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T07:46:22.640" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1285" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1281" CreationDate="2011-01-24T07:49:51.433" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="<p>To answer the easy bit first, publishers keep putting out anthologies because they think they can make money by doing so. Although, in fact, there are precious few original anthologies published these days.</p>

<p>Your real question is, why are there SF short stories at all. The short story has practically died out, except in SF. I think this is partly because SF is about ideas, and a short story is a good length for exploring one specific idea, and partly because there are so many short fiction awards in the SF field. And once those short stories exist, people are going to want to reprint them.</p>
" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T07:49:51.433" />
<row Id="1286" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1282" CreationDate="2011-01-24T13:30:44.230" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The same techniques would not work on a planet, but they might work on a moon of the outer solar system. Of course, Titan is already covered in a greenhouse gas to a higher pressure than the Earth, and it's not particularly warm. It might help some, but it probably wouldn't be the end-all solution. </p>
" OwnerUserId="98" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T13:30:44.230" />
<row Id="1287" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1281" CreationDate="2011-01-24T15:45:40.790" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I think that the place of the anthology in the history of science fiction is a factor of the place of magazines in that history. Early science fiction was developed and nurtured in the pulp magazines like <em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazing_Stories" rel="nofollow">Amazing Stories</a></em>. (Which was edited by Hugo Gernsback, the man after whom the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_award" rel="nofollow">Hugo</a> Award was named.) </p>

<p>Writers for <em>Amazing Stories</em> included <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_E._Smith" rel="nofollow">E.E. "Doc" Smith</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wyndham" rel="nofollow">John Wyndham</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Leiber" rel="nofollow">Fritz Leiber</a>, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clifford_D._Simak" rel="nofollow">Clifford D. Simak</a>. </p>

<p>Other major pulp magazines included <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astounding_Stories" rel="nofollow"><em>Astounding Stories</em></a>, which later was renamed to <em>Analog Science Fiction and Fact</em>; <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonder_Stories" rel="nofollow"><em>Wonder Stories</em></a>; and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weird_Tales" rel="nofollow"><em>Weird Tales</em></a>. Particularly in the 1920s-40s, they were pretty much the only ones paying for science fiction writing. </p>

<p>Starting in 1937 editor for <em>Astounding Stories</em> was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_W._Campbell" rel="nofollow">John W. Campbell</a>. His name was used for the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_W._Campbell_Award_for_Best_New_Writer" rel="nofollow">Campbell</a> Award for best new science fiction writer. Asimov called Campbell "the most powerful force in science fiction ever." He published the first stories from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lester_del_Rey" rel="nofollow">Lester Del Rey</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._E._van_Vogt" rel="nofollow">A.E. van Vogt</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Sturgeon" rel="nofollow">Theodore Sturgeon</a>, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_A._Heinlein" rel="nofollow">Robert Heinlein</a> (who probably doesn't need the link, but I like to be complete). He was also the one who insisted on the ending for "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cold_Equations" rel="nofollow">The Cold Equations</a>."</p>

<p>The anthologies you're referring to are, for the most part, re-publishing the work from these magazines. It's really the pulp magazines (and their editors) that influenced the creation of the field. </p>

<p><em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dangerous_Visions" rel="nofollow">Dangerous Visions</a></em> is a different case -- that was all original stories, and Harlan Ellison allowed many things that were forbidden in the magazines, such as sex and swearing. I think he was trying to see what might have come about in the magazines if they didn't have those restrictions. But an anthology like that could only be printed when there was already an audience for SF, which is why it came out in 1967, decades after the start of the pulps. </p>
" OwnerUserId="69" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T15:45:40.790" />
<row Id="1288" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1290" CreationDate="2011-01-24T16:04:14.393" Score="14" ViewCount="388" Body="<p>I was discussing Dan Simmons Hyperion books with a friend recently.<br>
While we both could recall the immediate roll the Cruciform parasites played in the novels, we couldn't remember where they - or the planetry wide tunnel system they lived in - fit into the larger Hyperion universe.</p>

<p>By whom were they created and what roll did they / were they to play?</p>
" LastEditorUserId="2935" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-10-14T19:17:55.570" LastActivityDate="2011-10-14T19:17:55.570" Title="What role did the Tunnels & Cruciform parasites play in "Hyperion"" Tags="<dan-simmons><hyperion-cantos>" AnswerCount="1" />
<row Id="1289" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1291" CreationDate="2011-01-24T16:32:43.107" Score="9" ViewCount="417" Body="<p>I particularly enjoyed the Riddick movies. Do you know any more works featuring the hero, or at the very least in that particular universe? </p>
" OwnerUserId="115" LastEditorUserId="1234" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-02-28T16:40:11.720" LastActivityDate="2012-02-28T16:40:11.720" Title="Are there any other works featuring Riddick?" Tags="<extended-universe><the-chronicles-of-riddick>" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" />
<row Id="1290" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1288" CreationDate="2011-01-24T16:44:18.650" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Spoilers, obviously.</p>

<blockquote class="spoiler">
 <p>The cruciforms and the labyrinths were created by the TechnoCore, so that they could keep enough humans alive (but compliant) to keep using their brains to provide computational resources for use by the Core.</p>
</blockquote>
" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T16:44:18.650" CommentCount="6" />
<row Id="1291" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1289" CreationDate="2011-01-24T17:03:52.190" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="<p>So far there are 3 <strong>movies</strong> (Which I presume you've seen): </p>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0134847/" rel="nofollow">Pitch Black</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0407658/" rel="nofollow">The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury</a> (animated movie, acting as a bridged between the two 'live' acted films)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0296572/" rel="nofollow">The Chronicles of Riddick</a></li>
</ul>

<p>There's talk about possible sequels. (<a href="http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2008/08/25/vin-diesel-promises-two-more-riddick-sequels/" rel="nofollow">Sequels</a>)</p>

<p>There are also two animated short films: </p>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0366620/" rel="nofollow">Into Pitch Black</a> (Acting as an intro to Pitch Black)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.pitchblack.com/blackbox/slamcity.html" rel="nofollow">Slam City</a> (Considered to be not-entirely-canon, but available for free on the website)</li>
</ul>

<hr>

<p><strong>Books</strong>: </p>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0312970889" rel="nofollow">Pitch</a> (Based on the movie)</li>
<li><a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0345468392" rel="nofollow">The Chronicles of Riddick</a>
The book offers a lot more detail on the characters and some of the events that occurred.</li>
</ul>

<hr>

<p>Other than that there are two video <strong>games</strong> and two online free games : </p>

<p><em>Online:</em></p>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.thechroniclesofriddick.com/hunt/hunt.php?chap=1" rel="nofollow">The Hunt for Riddick</a> (internet game)</li>
<li>Escape From Crematoria (Fan game, couldn't locate this)</li>
</ul>

<p><em>Video Games:</em></p>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chronicles_of_Riddick%3a_Escape_from_Butcher_Bay" rel="nofollow">The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay</a></li>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chronicles_of_Riddick%3a_Assault_on_Dark_Athena" rel="nofollow">The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena</a></li>
</ul>
" OwnerUserId="134" LastEditorUserId="134" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-24T17:11:55.067" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T17:11:55.067" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="1292" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1263" CreationDate="2011-01-24T18:40:44.957" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_law_of_thermodynamics">Second law of thermodynamics </a> states any system will run to entropy over time, i.e unless there is some new input of heat or information at a very fundamental level to sustain the system and restore order. For the matrix films, the assumption is made that the human are acting as a power source, where the output is greater than the input. That breaks the second law. Also the assumption is made (implicitly I think, It's not really discussed at any length) that humans are essentially a derivation of a know fallacy, namely <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perpetual_motion">perpetual motion machines</a>. These have never proven to exist, or can exist, because they would break the second law. </p>

<p>But hey, it's a cool film. Enjoy. And today, Keanu Reeves announced 4 and 5 are in development. </p>
" OwnerUserId="49" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T18:40:44.957" CommentCount="0" />
<row Id="1294" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1174" CreationDate="2011-01-24T19:24:55.603" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>They have been working on using diamonds as a possible <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Substrate_%28semiconductor%29" rel="nofollow">substrate</a> for semiconductors for ages, 2 decades or more. The reason it's not happening as yet, is the diamond, even though it is a good insulator, making it ideal, in one aspect as an insulator for a transistor, is that it's very hard to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doping_%28semiconductor%29" rel="nofollow">Dope</a>. Because it's vastly hard and pure, its hard to work with. But it's also fabled as potentially able to transform the semiconductor industry. Carbon Nanotubes are a possible route into it.</p>
" OwnerUserId="49" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T19:24:55.603" />
<row Id="1295" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1174" CreationDate="2011-01-24T20:25:34.007" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CD-R" rel="nofollow">CD-R</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD-R" rel="nofollow">DVD-R</a> meet your description of "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Write_Once_Read_Many" rel="nofollow">Write Once, Read Many</a>." Regular pressed CDs and DVDs are not writeable, but the CD-R and DVD-R essentially have a directory area. When writing more data, it burns a "obsolete" bit into the existing directory and writes a new directory with the new information. Likewise, files cannot be deleted from CD-R/DVD-R, instead it writes a new directory leaving out the "deleted" file(s) which are still left on the disc. "Closing" the disc refers to writing a permanent and final directory structure. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD-RW" rel="nofollow">DVD-RW</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD-RAM" rel="nofollow">DVD-RAM</a> are different in that they do erase written areas. </p>
" OwnerUserId="99" LastActivityDate="2011-01-24T20:25:34.007" />
<row Id="1296" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-24T23:08:42.393" Score="14" ViewCount="649" Body="<p>Throughout the Dune novels I would like to know how many times Duncan Idaho is ghoula'd (cloned) before he reaches Kwisatz Haderach status?</p>
" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T21:17:47.163" Title="How many times throughout the Dune novels is Duncan Idaho ghoula'd?" Tags="<novel><dune>" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="1297" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1296" CreationDate="2011-01-25T00:01:34.840" Score="16" ViewCount="" Body="<p>According to the Dune wiki:</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>At least one Duncan Idaho ghola
 features in every novel from Dune
 Messiah through Sandworms of Dune.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Because a few gholas survive from one novel to the next (from <em>Dune Messiah</em> to <em>Children of Dune</em>, from <em>Heretics of Dune</em> to <em>Chapterhouse: Dune</em>, and from <em>Hunters of Dune</em> to <em>Sandworms of Dune</em>), this means that four Duncan gholas are featured as characters in the novels. But the number of non-featured gholas is way higher than four.</p>

<p>I don't remember seeing a definitive count mentioned in any of the novels, but I have refrained from reading anything not written by Frank himself, so I can't vouch for that. Unless Brian and KJA provided a definitive number, I doubt you can do any better than guessing.</p>

<p>Since Leto II kept ordering gholas from the Bene Tleilax during his 3500-years reign, and, obviously, not every single one of these is mentioned, you cannot have a definite and accurate count. After Leto's reign, the Bene Gesserit kept using the Duncan gholas provided by the Tleilaxu for another fifteen hundred years, and again, an unknown number of them were provided. It's a total of five thousand years of Duncan gholas.</p>

<p>In <em>God Emperor of Dune</em>, it is mentioned that only nineteen of the gholas the God Emperor used died a natural death. Most of them rebelled and ended up killed by the God Emperor. This does not help much in getting an absolute total count, though.</p>

<p>If I had to provide an estimate, I would say anything between one hundred and fifty (a fairly optimistic average of about thirty years per ghola) to one thousand Duncan gholas (a more pessimistic average of five years per ghola). Not a very tight interval but that's what I can work from the data available to me.</p>
" OwnerUserId="30" LastEditorUserId="30" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-25T00:39:01.207" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T00:39:01.207" CommentCount="7" />
<row Id="1300" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1272" CreationDate="2011-01-25T02:19:41.283" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I know they have to be careful with idiom at first in <strong>Stranger in a Strange Land.</strong> Jubal comments on having to remember not to use phrases like "Get lost" around Mike.</p>
" OwnerUserId="106" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T02:19:41.283" CommentCount="4" />
<row Id="1302" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="503" CreationDate="2011-01-25T02:36:01.857" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Well these are these two websites. This site, <a href="http://classics.jameswallaceharris.com/ByRank.php" rel="nofollow">The Classics of Science Fiction</a> has got a pretty good list, based on a citations metric, i.e. the number of times they are mentioned in blogs, sites, email, across the web. Some books I've not read. Worth a look. </p>

<p>The second subsite, found <a href="http://classics.jameswallaceharris.com/Lists/SFClassics1996.html" rel="nofollow">162 Classics of Science Fiction 1996</a> is also based on citations as well. The second list is much more detailed. The citations detailed, are if they have been mentioned in the reference works at the top of the article.</p>
" OwnerUserId="49" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T02:36:01.857" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-25T02:36:01.857" />
<row Id="1303" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1242" CreationDate="2011-01-25T02:46:29.813" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I saw an interview years ago by Leonard Nimoy, and he stated that Gene Roddenberry was asked to write and produce the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek%3a_The_Motion_Picture" rel="nofollow">Star Trek:The Motion Picture</a> but there was substantial difficulty completing the script. Constant rewrites were being made, even when the film being made. He couldn't finish it. When the second film started production, their was a concious decision by the studio's, not to include him, and from that point forward he was marginalised, and finally out of it. </p>
" OwnerUserId="49" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-25T03:30:01.567" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T03:30:01.567" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="1304" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1251" CreationDate="2011-01-25T02:54:09.900" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="<p>John Varley wanted to write another Eight Worlds story, but didn't want to have to maintain continuity, so <em>Steel Beach</em> might be considered a reboot.</p>
" OwnerUserId="130" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T02:54:09.900" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1311" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="587" CreationDate="2011-01-25T14:43:46.543" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="<p>By presenting intelligent, human-like robots, he advanced the field of thought as to what a robot is, how it relates to humans and its own human nature, and what role AI has to play in humanity.</p>
" OwnerUserId="406" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T14:43:46.543" />
<row Id="1314" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="587" CreationDate="2011-01-25T17:41:55.180" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I would say that Asimov is the first to document the challenges and pitfalls of debugging a system (especially with regards to black-box testing), and the illusion of malicious compliance that programs (robotic or computing) <i>seem</i> to take pleasure in.</p>

<p>I often think of SPD (Speedy) when trying to fathom a particularly bizarre pattern of behaviour.</p>
" OwnerUserId="165" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T17:41:55.180" />
<row Id="1316" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1281" CreationDate="2011-01-25T20:29:42.383" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I think anthologies are such an important part of science fiction in part because so many authors get started writing short stories. These stories are then published in magazines. As the author becomes more popular, it becomes difficult to find these stories and so anthologies are published. Isaac Asimov stated in one of his anthologies (I believe it was Gold) that the reason he had so many was because his agent pointed out that every few years you have a new generation of people who never had the chance to read the original stories, and so a new anthology is published. Other anthologies are written to keep the word going about good science fiction stories.</p>

<p>tl;dr: Science fiction anthologies are put together to keep the word going about good stories whether they be author specific or theme specific.</p>
" OwnerUserId="530" LastActivityDate="2011-01-25T20:29:42.383" CommentCount="4" />
<row Id="1318" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1319" CreationDate="2011-01-26T01:22:54.020" Score="28" ViewCount="1471" Body="<p>There are many references to Blue Sun in firefly. Most are background type images such as billboard advertisements or a shirt that Jayne wears. Is this ever explained, either directly in an episode or maybe in DVD extras?</p>
" OwnerUserId="243" LastActivityDate="2012-06-22T02:41:13.423" Title="What is "Blue Sun" in Firefly?" Tags="<firefly>" AnswerCount="2" />
<row Id="1319" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1318" CreationDate="2011-01-26T01:30:59.200" Score="26" ViewCount="" Body="<p>It's a mega corporation. They do everything from ship parts to food.</p>

<p>Actually, while not directly mentioned, the logo can be seen on various props.</p>

<p>More at the <a href="http://firefly.wikia.com/wiki/Blue_Sun_Corporation" rel="nofollow">Firefly Wikia</a>.</p>
" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-06-22T02:41:13.423" LastActivityDate="2012-06-22T02:41:13.423" CommentCount="4" />
<row Id="1320" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1322" CreationDate="2011-01-26T05:40:43.130" Score="17" ViewCount="587" Body="<p>I'm looking for a reasonable, in-universe explanation that works with the Star Trek canon.</p>

<p>It is a well-known fact that Kirk's Enterprise as seen in the original series is of the Constitution class. So why does the dedication plaque on the bridge say that it is of the "Starship Class?"</p>

<p>Note also that the Enterprise in the J.J. Abrams reboot also has a plaque that says it is of the "Starship Class."</p>
" OwnerUserId="517" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-20T15:36:15.730" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T15:36:15.730" Title="Why does the dedication plaque on the Enterprise (NCC-1701) bridge say the ship is of the "Starship Class?"" Tags="<star-trek><star-trek-tos>" AnswerCount="1" />
<row Id="1321" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1241" CreationDate="2011-01-26T05:56:41.767" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>In Star Trek V when Kirk, Spock, and McCoy are in the brig, Kirk takes a seat on what appears to be a toilet. The only reason I believe it is a toilet is because there is signage saying something like "do not use while in Spacedock." (What else could it be?) </p>

<p>While I agree with the above answers, I assume also that the designers of that brig didn't want prisoner poo to be "reclaimed."</p>
" OwnerUserId="517" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T05:56:41.767" CommentCount="4" />
<row Id="1322" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1320" CreationDate="2011-01-26T08:45:45.273" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="<p>This page on <a href="http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Starship_class" rel="nofollow">Memory Alpha</a> says:</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>The Constitution-class starships, which were also known as Starship-class or Class I Heavy Cruisers</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Class I Heavy Cruisers evidently refers to the type of ship the Enterprise is.
As for Starship-class or Constitution-class, there is sort-of an explanation. Originally the Enterprise was referred to as "Starship-class", but in some later TOS episodes, the term "Constitution-class" comes along, although mostly in props and background material. "Constitution-class" was first used to describe the enterprise in dialogue by Picard in TNG.</p>

<p>The "canon" explanation is basically inferred from these details, and basically says that at some point around the time of the events of TOS, Starfleet renamed Starship-class as Constitution-class, which explains the fact that documents and plaques etc on the Enterprise refer to the ship as both; especially in TOS.</p>
" OwnerUserId="122" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T08:45:45.273" CommentCount="5" />
<row Id="1323" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="213" CreationDate="2011-01-26T11:10:35.563" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The book "Galaxy, thirty years of innovative science fiction" states the story was published as "Demolished" in 1952, but I can't find any reprints in anthologies.</p>

<p>However, you can buy DVD collections of Galaxy stories on eBay.</p>
" OwnerUserId="538" LastEditorUserId="108" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-09-29T01:13:15.633" LastActivityDate="2011-09-29T01:13:15.633" />
<row Id="1324" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1326" CreationDate="2011-01-26T12:04:44.837" Score="12" ViewCount="743" Body="<p>I once heard that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_Recall_%28film%29" rel="nofollow">Total Recall</a> was going to have a different ending in which the lead character awoke - the whole story was not real but created by Rekall.</p>

<p>Is that correct?</p>
" OwnerUserId="143" LastEditorUserId="143" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-02-10T06:01:13.320" LastActivityDate="2012-02-10T06:01:13.320" Title="Wasn't there going to be a different ending to Total Recall originally?" Tags="<movie><total-recall>" AnswerCount="3" />
<row Id="1326" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1324" CreationDate="2011-01-26T12:22:27.440" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The film spent so long in "development hell", and so many versions of the screenplay and script were produced before the film was made, it's highly likely that that ending was considered at some point.</p>

<p>Also, if you'll allow me to quote the wikipedia page:</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>The film was novelized by Piers Anthony. The novel and film correspond fairly well, although Anthony was evidently working from an earlier script than the one used for the film, and was criticized for the ending of his book which removed the ambiguity whether the events of Total Recall are real or a dream.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>This strongly hints that you're right in your assumption that earlier versions of the script had a non-ambiguous ending.</p>
" OwnerUserId="122" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T12:22:27.440" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1327" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="503" CreationDate="2011-01-26T14:24:16.680" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="<p>There was a list that was maintained since beginning of the nineties by Tristrom Cooke. Unfortunately, the list hasn't been maintained since 2003 (as far as I know). Still it's a great list. A copy can be found <a href="http://gurge.com/amd/top100/" rel="nofollow">here</a>.</p>
" OwnerUserId="539" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T14:24:16.680" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-26T14:24:16.680" />
<row Id="1328" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="503" CreationDate="2011-01-26T14:27:53.013" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Another list can be found at <a href="http://home.austarnet.com.au/petersykes/topscifi/lists_books_rank1.html" rel="nofollow">Scifi Lists</a>. There are actually 200 books listed as well as short stories, movies and TV shows.</p>
" OwnerUserId="539" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T14:27:53.013" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-01-26T14:27:53.013" />
<row Id="1329" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1324" CreationDate="2011-01-26T14:56:50.363" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Actually, Total Recall was based on book by Philip K. Dick called "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Can_Remember_It_for_You_Wholesale" rel="nofollow">We Can Remember It for You Wholesale</a>".</p>

<p>I quote:</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>The plot was loosely adapted into the
 1990 film Total Recall, starring
 Arnold Schwarzenegger. In the film,
 the hero, renamed Quaid, actually
 travels to Mars, but the initial
 memory implant scene foreshadows much
 of what he achieves — kills the bad
 guys, gets the girl, saves the planet.
 A later encounter with a "Recall
 Doctor" (whom Quaid kills after seeing
 him sweat) who describes procedure in
 cases where the memory implantation
 procedure fails, reveals that Quaid
 may have been lobotomized at the end
 of the film.</p>
 
 <p>The script maintains
 deliberate ambiguity as to whether the
 events are occurring in the physical
 world or only in Quaid's own fantasy,
 which was an artistic decision by
 director Paul Verhoeven.</p>
 
 <p>A novelization of the film (ISBN
 0-380-70874-4), written by Piers
 Anthony, was published the year before
 the film was released.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>As an exciting side note, they're working on a remake!</p>
" OwnerUserId="541" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T14:56:50.363" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="1331" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1263" CreationDate="2011-01-26T15:28:52.930" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="<p>A few alternatives they could have used that would make sense:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>Raise a tower to space for a) solar power, b) harness <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_voltage" rel="nofollow">sky voltage</a>, c)harness energy from lighting discharge, d) harness energy from layer of electrostatic interference surrounding the earth</p></li>
<li><p>Dig down to the core for geothermal energy</p></li>
</ul>
" OwnerUserId="541" LastEditorUserId="541" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T16:54:07.223" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T16:54:07.223" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1332" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1318" CreationDate="2011-01-26T15:39:30.383" Score="16" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Blue Sun is a megacorporation in the Firefly Universe.</p>

<p>Joss Whedon has described it as the company that would result from the merger of Microsoft and McDonalds. The idea being that it is a company that permeates every part of people's lives from the food they eat, to the clothes they wear to the computers they use to the ships they fly.</p>

<p>It is also hinted at the end of the first graphic novel that the Hands of Blue were actually working for Blue Sun which may have major ties to the government.</p>
" OwnerUserId="530" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T15:39:30.383" />
<row Id="1334" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1336" CreationDate="2011-01-26T16:43:22.660" Score="17" ViewCount="429" Body="<p>The series Deep Space Nine ultimately revolves around the Bajorian wormhole and the battle between the Pah-wraiths and the Bajoran Prophets. The Wraith-Prophet war centers around the wraiths attempt to annihilate the prophets and take the wormhole. The wraiths are motivated to do this because they were kicked out of the wormhole and they want back in.</p>

<p>What I can't remember, or perhaps was never explained, is why the Pah-wraith's were kicked out of the wormhole to begin with?</p>

<p>Do any of the novels or supplemental materials shed any light on this?</p>
" OwnerUserId="35" LastEditorUserId="931" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-04-24T16:34:39.040" LastActivityDate="2012-04-24T16:34:39.040" Title="Why exactly were the Pah-wraith's kicked out of the wormhole?" Tags="<star-trek><star-trek-ds9>" AnswerCount="1" />
<row Id="1335" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1281" CreationDate="2011-01-26T17:04:31.233" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Let me offer an somewhat undeveloped reason why short stories might be more important in science fiction than in other genres: <em>the underlying landscape of science fiction isn't fixed.</em> </p>

<p>To expand, note that if you want to write a western, you know what is available in the universe, the same with a hardboiled detective story or most other mysteries. Even if you throw in a twist in the form of a relatively unknown subculture, the rules haven't changed.</p>

<p>In science fiction and a few other genres (fantasy, horror) the rules are almost entirely in the authors hands, but there is a understanding between the writers and the readers of what kinds of rules to expect, and how to state what the rules are or to signal that we're playing outside the usual boundaries. </p>

<p>So ask, what if you pour you heart into a story with a new set of rules and the story never comes together, or it comes together but the readers hate it? If that story was a novel you've lost an enormous amount of effort and money. But, if it was a short story or novelette the investment is much smaller. And a similar calculation applies to readers picking up a work based on new(ish) ideas.</p>

<p>So, short fiction is a safe way for authors and readers to explore the available rules space. </p>

<p>But this means that most of the "important" ideas get told for the first time in short fiction. If it is to have a non-trivial shelf-life, it will have to be republished as part of a book. Thus, lots of anthologies.</p>
" OwnerUserId="231" LastEditorUserId="231" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-09-12T23:53:02.523" LastActivityDate="2011-09-12T23:53:02.523" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1336" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1334" CreationDate="2011-01-26T18:26:25.583" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="<p>No: there is nothing in canon or licensed works that explains exactly why the pah-wraiths were banished.</p>

<p>The only thing we know is that they were considered "false prophets", but that could simply be the product of centuries of Bajoran propaganda.</p>

<p>In reality, the pah-wraiths are an example of the previous generation of sci-fi where you could have one-dimensional antagonistic powers. The only thing the audience is supposed to take away from the pah-wraith's motivations is that they are bad, are trying to destroy the protagonists, and are the main source of power of the villain the audience <em>is</em> supposed to care about, Gul Dukat.</p>
" OwnerUserId="366" LastEditorUserId="366" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-26T21:33:30.567" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T21:33:30.567" CommentCount="7" />
<row Id="1338" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1241" CreationDate="2011-01-26T19:05:54.573" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Easy answer:Raw material for the replicators.</p>
" OwnerUserId="541" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T19:05:54.573" />
<row Id="1339" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-26T19:12:11.513" Score="8" ViewCount="174" Body="<p>Sci-Fi miniseries typically rock, because they mix the conciseness - closer to a movie - with the volume of content that would take a TV show a season or more to produce. If you look for Sci-Fi mini-series or awards, Google mostly just lists random forum posts and individual Sci-Fi mini-series. So I figure that if I can find any type of Awards given to Sci-Fi miniseries, I can check that out for new material to check out.</p>

<p>Are there any Awards for Sci-Fi miniseries?</p>
" OwnerUserId="35" LastEditorUserId="3804" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-06-18T00:28:02.667" LastActivityDate="2012-06-18T00:28:02.667" Title="Are there any awards for Sci-Fi miniseries?" Tags="<awards>" AnswerCount="1" />
<row Id="1340" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1339" CreationDate="2011-01-26T20:16:19.630" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I don't think so. My google-fu is turning up no more than yours and I've never heard of one. Miniseries tend to be grouped in with either Film, Television or both. Which seems pretty reasonable. There aren't exactly enough of them for Sci-Fi miniseries to really merit their own award or award category.</p>
" OwnerUserId="180" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T20:16:19.630" />
<row Id="1341" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="609" CreationDate="2011-01-26T20:33:14.420" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="<p><a href="http://writings.mike-combs.com/bridge.htm" rel="nofollow">The Bridge to Space</a> by Mike Combs. Spent another half hour or so with Google today when the site started reminding me that the bounty was running out. There are also a <a href="http://writings.mike-combs.com/shortstories.htm" rel="nofollow">few more stories</a> featuring the same protagonist, like Matthew Nichols recalled.</p>
" OwnerUserId="36" LastActivityDate="2011-01-26T20:33:14.420" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1343" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-26T21:32:03.980" Score="18" ViewCount="828" Body="<p>I'm not asking for rumor here, but verifiable fact. Anyone know what the status of the Ender's Game movie is? Last I heard it was in something of development hell. But wikipedia suggests that things have gotten moving again since then. Anyone know anything? Maybe someone with access to IMDB pro?</p>
" OwnerUserId="180" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-17T04:15:47.897" LastActivityDate="2011-10-26T13:40:07.397" ClosedDate="2012-03-15T19:18:27.393" Title="What's happening with the Ender's Game movie?" Tags="<movie><orson-scott-card><enders-game>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="10" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="1344" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1343" CreationDate="2011-01-26T22:07:10.633" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="<p>According to <a href="http://techland.time.com/2010/09/21/enders-game-movie-back-on/">Time.com</a>, the project is still ongoing, citing that Gavin Hood has taken up re-writing of the script as well as the project's director. He previously worked on <em>X-Men Origins: Wolverine</em>.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.deadline.com/2011/04/franchise-hungry-summit-plays-enders-game-with-filmmaker-gavin-hood/">Summit Entertainment is acquiring the rights to development</a> and is co-financing the film. The current producers are Orson Scott Card himself, Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, Gigi Pritzker, Linda McDonough, and Lynn Hendee. </p>

<p>The current plan is to put the film into production by early 2012.</p>
" OwnerUserId="40" LastEditorUserId="108" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-04-30T03:10:06.793" LastActivityDate="2011-04-30T03:10:06.793" />
<row Id="1345" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1348" CreationDate="2011-01-27T06:22:30.317" Score="20" ViewCount="553" Body="<p>On Star Trek when a Starfleet ship fires its phasers, the color of the effect is usually red/orange, but sometimes blue (in TOS). This is also generally true for the phaser sidearms (with green sometimes being the color for the stun setting in TOS).</p>

<p>I realize the color is most likely an aesthetic chosen by a visual effects designer, but what would a reasonable technological explanation be?</p>

<p>For example could the colors indicate temperature or power variations?</p>
" OwnerUserId="517" LastEditorUserId="3267" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-12T00:01:45.803" LastActivityDate="2012-01-12T00:14:26.660" Title="What would be a reasonable technological explanation for why phaser beams are different colors?" Tags="<star-trek><technology>" AnswerCount="7" />
<row Id="1346" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="125" CreationDate="2011-01-27T07:51:42.087" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The <a href="http://www.hatrack.com/faq/003.shtml" rel="nofollow">"official" answer from Orson Scott Card</a> is:</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>in truth it doesn't matter, except that you should read Xenocide right before Children of the Mind, since they are really two halves of a single continuous story. In most of my books, I include all the information you need.</p>
</blockquote>
" OwnerUserId="108" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T07:51:42.087" />
<row Id="1347" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1345" CreationDate="2011-01-27T11:11:17.917" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I don't recall any canonical mention on colour. If you watch ENT's pilot, <a href="http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Broken_Bow_%28episode%29" rel="nofollow">Broken Bow</a>, the phaser is introduced and the characters do express some confusion over whether the phaser is on stun or kill.</p>

<p>One likely explanation (but I admit this is speculation) would be the source material/reaction used to create the beam. Neon signs, for example, have various colours because they use different noble gases.</p>
" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="3267" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-12T00:12:19.657" LastActivityDate="2012-01-12T00:12:19.657" />
<row Id="1348" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1345" CreationDate="2011-01-27T11:11:50.380" Score="19" ViewCount="" Body="<p>We know very little about phasers -- they emit "nadion beams", but "nadions" are not known to modern science and little is told about them in the movies. Yet, because light from phasers is seen in space, nadions are probably unstable and decay, producing light -- then one may speculate that the energy of the photons produced is proportional to nadion energy, and with this assumption the more blue the ray is the more energetic (faster? more massive? more excited?) the nadions in the beam are. What the impact of this fact to the destructive power of the beam is is an even more complex story.</p>
" OwnerUserId="48" LastEditorUserId="3267" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-12T00:04:22.570" LastActivityDate="2012-01-12T00:04:22.570" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1349" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1272" CreationDate="2011-01-27T11:46:22.943" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Even if the sentence <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Serve_Man" rel="nofollow">To Serve the Man</a> is not an idiom, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damon_Knight" rel="nofollow">Damon Knight</a>'s short story is indeed about different literal meaning of the sentence.</p>
" OwnerUserId="405" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T11:46:22.943" />
<row Id="1350" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1345" CreationDate="2011-01-27T14:08:49.197" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I would say that Phasers, just like Lasers, have a variety of different reasons why the color can be different. In general, a higher-powered laser would probably be blue, but not necessarily. The color of a laser depends on the material that makes it up, and a bit on the shape of the laser-emitting-area of the device.</p>

<p>The reason why blue would usually denote higher energy is that higher wavelengths of light have more energy than lower wavelengths, given the same amount of photons.</p>

<p>I expect that phasers are somehow related technologically to lasers, and that a similar phenomenon exists. Of course, not knowing specifically how phasers work, it's hard to say.</p>
" OwnerUserId="98" LastEditorUserId="3267" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-12T00:06:33.940" LastActivityDate="2012-01-12T00:06:33.940" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1351" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6" CreationDate="2011-01-27T16:52:58.400" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="<p>A practical answer of possible universes:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>If he could successfully warn his homeworld and prevent its destruction, then that would create a causality paradox where the new Nero would not have a reason (or ability) to go back in time to warn his homeworld. Therefore, reality wouldn't allow such an action to be possible (assuming reality only exists in a state where it has referential integrity or it would not exist). This sucks because: The average person has no understanding or interest in paradoxes when it comes to entertainment... so who gives a crap.</p></li>
<li><p>If he could successfully warn his homeworld and prevent its destruction, then he would diverge into a different alternate reality where there are now two version of Nero... and the old reality has non (and no homeworld). Alternate reality theories are selfish because the reality only shifts for the active traveler and nothing changes for anyone else. This sucks because: Changing anything doesn't effect Kirk or anyone else not on Nero's ship... so who gives a crap.</p></li>
<li><p>Ultimately, what it comes down to, it's just a narrative loose end that the writers weren't intelligent enough to think or care about. Star Trek writers are notorious for not caring about things that don't make sense within a plot... this is no exception.</p></li>
</ul>
" OwnerUserId="541" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T16:52:58.400" CommentCount="4" />
<row Id="1352" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1345" CreationDate="2011-01-27T16:56:03.703" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="<p>It may be that the phasers are intentionally colored a particular way for tactical reasons in the same way that soldiers wear particular uniforms to identify them as friend or foe, as well as to identify specialized soldiers from others. Tracer rounds are often included in continuously firing weapons to help direct fire and monitor aim.</p>

<p>With this level of advanced technology, it seems like the ships of the Star Trek universe can color the beam however they like.</p>
" OwnerUserId="35" LastEditorUserId="3267" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-12T00:08:14.547" LastActivityDate="2012-01-12T00:08:14.547" />
<row Id="1353" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1345" CreationDate="2011-01-27T16:59:49.797" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Most likely, they are built using different technologies and parts. For example, I'd imagine that they would use some kind of crystal lens to focus the energy, different crystal structures produce different visual properties.</p>

<p>This is not unlike light sabers in Star Wars... different parts.</p>
" OwnerUserId="541" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T16:59:49.797" />
<row Id="1355" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6" CreationDate="2011-01-27T18:25:42.473" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The two comics (albeit non-canon) provide some interesting insights:</p>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Star_Trek%3a_Countdown" rel="nofollow">Countdown</a></li>
<li><a href="http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Star_Trek%3a_Nero" rel="nofollow">Nero</a></li>
</ul>

<p>I haven't read Nero, but from Countdown alone we get the feel Nero was driven mad by the destruction of Romulus as well as the death of his wife and unborn child.</p>
" OwnerUserId="224" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T18:25:42.473" />
<row Id="1357" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1358" CreationDate="2011-01-27T20:56:44.733" Score="8" ViewCount="228" Body="<p>I have read the first trilogy in C.J. Cherryh's "Foreigner" universe and found them to be excellent. It's been a while, though, so I'm re-reading them.</p>

<p>I've also discovered that there are actually <em>four</em> trilogies, with a fifth currently in progress. I've also learned that the timelines for each trilogy overlap, although the story arc for each trilogy stands on its own.</p>

<p>Is there a "canonical" order for reading these? Is simply reading them in the published order the best way to do it, or will I get more out of them by reading them in an alternative order? (For instance: "read book 1 of trilogy 3 before reading book 3 of trilogy 2.") </p>
" OwnerUserId="557" LastEditorUserId="3804" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-06-21T11:28:57.663" LastActivityDate="2012-06-21T11:28:57.663" Title="How to read the Foreigner Universe" Tags="<suggested-order><c-j-cherryh>" AnswerCount="1" />
<row Id="1358" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1357" CreationDate="2011-01-27T21:40:17.563" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Published order is definitely the way to go. There's no messing around with internal chronology -- each book follows on from the previous one. You'll get pretty lost if you try to read them in any other order.</p>

<p>I think your count of trilogies is off by one, though. Three trilogies have been completed, and a fourth is in progress.</p>
" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T21:40:17.563" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="1359" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1360" CreationDate="2011-01-27T22:30:01.563" Score="22" ViewCount="1388" Body="<p>Towards the end of season four, Starbuck meets a piano player in the makeshift bar on Galactica.</p>

<p>Now, it appears that this guy is some kind of ghost/angel like Caprica-6 and the ghost Baltar - but I have an idea that he could also be the original copy of the seventh model (Daniel). It's mentioned right in the episode before that Cavil poisoned all of the bodies that were being prepared to accept a copy of Daniel - but it's ambiguous about the fate of the original cylon with that personality. Daniel was also mentioned as an 'artist' and 'sensitive' person.</p>

<p>So - could it have been Daniel that helped Starbuck realise what the music meant?</p>
" OwnerUserId="373" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T23:47:09.013" Title="Who was the piano player that Starbuck met in the bar on Galactica?" Tags="<battlestar-galactica>" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1360" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1359" CreationDate="2011-01-27T23:47:09.013" Score="19" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The person she meets is a vision of her father, <a href="http://en.battlestarwiki.org/wiki/Slick" rel="nofollow">Dreillide "Slick" Thrace</a>.</p>

<p>It's not Daniel, as RDM has specifically said <a href="http://en.battlestarwiki.org/wiki/Number_Seven" rel="nofollow">he's not a part of the series</a> and was only important insofar as he was mentioned in passing as being Abel to Cavil's Cain.</p>
" OwnerUserId="366" LastActivityDate="2011-01-27T23:47:09.013" CommentCount="6" />
<row Id="1361" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1362" CreationDate="2011-01-28T00:18:18.863" Score="11" ViewCount="145" Body="<p>I just finished this book, and I never understood why the phenomena/event was called "the spin." </p>
" OwnerUserId="200" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T01:15:13.547" Title="In "Spin" by Robert Charles Wilson, why was it called "the spin?"" Tags="<hard-sci-fi><science>" AnswerCount="1" />
<row Id="1362" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1361" CreationDate="2011-01-28T01:15:13.547" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="<p>It's an easy name for the idea that the outside universe is moving much faster and things would be seem to be spinning across the sky if they were visible.</p>

<p>From the book:</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>"Spin" was a dumb but inevitable name for what had been done to the Earth. That is, it was bad physics - nothing was actually spinning any harder or faster than it used to - but it was an apt metaphor. In reality the Earth was more static than it had ever been. But did it <em>feel</em> like it was spinning out of control? In every important sense, yes.</p>
</blockquote>
" OwnerUserId="75" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T01:15:13.547" />
<row Id="1367" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="6495" CreationDate="2011-01-28T02:40:03.817" Score="15" ViewCount="907" Body="<p>I've seen the pictures from Fog Creek Software's offices of their Star Trek couch. Why is that a Star Trek couch? Was the same style of couch used on-set of TNG or something?</p>

<p><img src="http://i.stack.imgur.com/saQhF.png" alt="enter image description here"></p>

<p><sup>From <a href="http://www.fogcreek.com/about.html" rel="nofollow">Fogcreek.com</a></sup></p>
" OwnerUserId="560" LastEditorUserId="2443" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-10-28T19:09:42.070" LastActivityDate="2011-11-07T16:27:00.930" Title="What is a Star Trek Couch?" Tags="<star-trek>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="1368" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-28T02:51:20.433" Score="12" ViewCount="290" Body="<p>This is what I remember of the plot. </p>

<p>Aliens called Poppers (or something like that) have landed on earth and released a virus that has put the human population to sleep. Only about 1 in a hundred thousand or was it a million people are immune and are still awake and functioning. </p>

<p>After these few people spend a couple hundred pages running around trying to figure out a strategy for fighting back, the book ends with the fact that the aliens come from a very cold planet and are going to settle at the poles. They only put everyone to sleep while sorting things out on earth, and plan to coexist peaceful with humans. </p>

<p>Book was written in the 1960’s or earlier.</p>
" OwnerUserId="561" LastEditorUserId="56" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-06-10T18:16:42.710" LastActivityDate="2011-06-10T18:16:42.710" Title="What book features aliens defeating humanity with a sleep inducing virus?" Tags="<story-identification><aliens><alien-invasion><warfare><biology>" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1370" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1367" CreationDate="2011-01-28T04:26:23.760" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I think it's the cool couch pictured on their web site's About page and here <a href="http://www.joelonsoftware.com/">http://www.joelonsoftware.com/</a>. </p>

<p>Judging by that web page's content, I assume it's just a cool 1960's-looking couch. They probably watch Star Trek from that couch on the big plasma TV they mention. They are programmers after all. (What better to watch when taking a break from some code you're thrashing on?)</p>
" OwnerUserId="517" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T04:26:23.760" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1381" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1384" CreationDate="2011-01-28T14:33:44.587" Score="27" ViewCount="1206" Body="<p>I've read some of the Discworld books, and they were referencing each other in an order different than what I've been reading.</p>

<p>If I wanted to maintain chronology, and get all of the back references, which order should I be reading the books in?</p>
" OwnerUserId="559" LastEditorUserId="70" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-19T07:56:19.983" LastActivityDate="2012-01-24T03:31:43.727" Title="What order should I be reading the Discworld books in?" Tags="<suggested-order><discworld><terry-pratchett>" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="6" />
<row Id="1382" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1386" CreationDate="2011-01-28T14:37:52.400" Score="31" ViewCount="1942" Body="<p>What was the significance of the origami figure Deckard found at the end of Blade Runner? What could it have symbolized?</p>
" OwnerUserId="40" LastEditorUserId="366" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T07:31:22.700" LastActivityDate="2012-04-24T16:59:42.277" Title="Significance of the origami Deckard found in Blade Runner" Tags="<movie><blade-runner>" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="3" />
<row Id="1384" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1381" CreationDate="2011-01-28T14:54:04.840" Score="20" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Order of writing is fine, and pretty much matches the internal chronology. You can find it <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discworld#Bibliography" rel="nofollow">here</a>. But bear in mind that the first two, <em>The Colour of Magic</em> and <em>The Light Fantastic</em>, were written before Pratchett really found his voice, and are lighter and more uneven in tone. You might want to start with <em>Equal Rites</em> and then work back to the first two later.</p>

<p>Note also that it's Discworld, not disk-world. Pratchett is English, and that's how we spell "disc". I've edited your question to reflect this.</p>
" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T14:54:04.840" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1385" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1390" CreationDate="2011-01-28T14:54:19.550" Score="12" ViewCount="346" Body="<p>How accurately does the science in Blade Runner reflect the current understanding of genetics?</p>
" OwnerUserId="559" LastEditorUserId="122" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-28T15:00:52.633" LastActivityDate="2011-08-19T03:46:47.063" Title="How "hard" is the science behind the genetics mentioned in Blade Runner?" Tags="<hard-sci-fi><philip-k-dick><blade-runner>" AnswerCount="3" />
<row Id="1386" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1382" CreationDate="2011-01-28T14:57:44.633" Score="29" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The origami unicorn was left for Deckard to find by Gaff.</p>

<p>The symbolism of this varies, depending on which version of the film you're watching. If you're watching the 1992 Director's Cut, it implies that Gaff knew about Deckard's unicorn dream earlier in the film; further implying that Deckard is a replicant, and that Gaff knew about Deckard's dream because it was an implanted memory. This theory is futher supported by Gaff's parting line of "It's too bad she won't live. But then again who does?"<br>
In addition to this, the unicorn, together with Gaff's parting line, shows that Gaff found Rachael at Deckard's apartment, but decided to spare her, and allow Deckard to run away with her.</p>
" OwnerUserId="122" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T14:57:44.633" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="1387" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4203" CreationDate="2011-01-28T15:15:30.857" Score="21" ViewCount="374" Body="<p>The version of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solaris_%28novel%29" rel="nofollow"><em>Solaris</em></a> that I've read, apparently been translated into English from French, was never considered to be particularly good by Stanisław Lem. Have any other translation attempts been made, which are generally considered to be better?</p>
" OwnerUserId="559" LastEditorUserId="638" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-08-04T21:14:39.853" LastActivityDate="2011-08-04T21:14:39.853" Title="Are there any better English translations of Solaris available, beyond the original translation from French?" Tags="<translation><stanislaw-lem>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="1389" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1381" CreationDate="2011-01-28T16:22:19.827" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="<p>There are recommendations as to multiple possible starting places at</p>

<p><a href="http://www.lspace.org/books/reading-order-guides/index.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.lspace.org/books/reading-order-guides/index.html</a> </p>

<p>and there are annotations to the various books in that general vicinity at <a href="http://www.lspace.org/books/apf/index.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.lspace.org/books/apf/index.html</a></p>
" OwnerUserId="568" LastEditorUserId="3267" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-24T03:31:43.727" LastActivityDate="2012-01-24T03:31:43.727" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1390" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1385" CreationDate="2011-01-28T16:33:23.397" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Most of Philip K Dick's works aren't hard Sci-Fi in the least. Philip K Dick usually focused on philosophical problems like identity and the nature of reality, rather than on technical details.</p>

<p>I've read "<strong>Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep</strong>", and there is little mention of genetics in the novel. Keep in mind that the novel and the movie only share a few common scenes, characters, and plot threads.</p>

<p>The movie itself doesn't go into any great detail about how the androids are constructed. We are told that the creators of the 'fake' lifeforms can leave their signature on the scales of a pet snake. </p>

<p>Also in the novel and movie is the suggestion that the creators could write fake memories into a new life form, but there isn't much scientific talk in either about how this is possible.</p>
" OwnerUserId="35" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-28T16:40:36.740" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T16:40:36.740" />
<row Id="1391" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1393" CreationDate="2011-01-28T16:34:49.027" Score="20" ViewCount="476" Body="<p>Kwisatz Haderach is one example of a name that is inspired by a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kefitzat_Haderech" rel="nofollow">Hebrew phrase</a>. What is a complete list of terms that are used in Dune and share this property?</p>
" OwnerUserId="559" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-31T06:20:15.353" LastActivityDate="2012-01-27T21:30:17.423" Title="Which names and terms in the Dune series come from Hebrew-inspired phrases?" Tags="<dune><frank-herbert>" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1393" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1391" CreationDate="2011-01-28T17:07:34.240" Score="18" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Most of the Semitic-language-derived terms in Dune are proximately from Arabic rather than Hebrew. Looking over <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Dune_terminology" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Dune_terminology</a>, I see these that look relevant to your question:</p>

<ul>
<li><strong>Aba</strong> has been Islamified, but the term (and/or "abaya") apparently shows up in Tanach as the garb of Hebrew prophets.</li>
<li><strong>Arafel</strong> is Hebrew (ערפל).</li>
<li><strong>Baraka</strong> is probably Arabic-derived, but has such closely related meanings in Arabic and Hebrew as to make little difference.</li>
<li>The "Bene" in <strong>Bene Gesserit</strong> and <strong>Bene Tleilax</strong> is, if pronounced with the stress on the second syllable, Hebrew for "children of" (more popularly transliterated <em>b'nei</em> or <em>b'nai</em> ). It's remotely possible that "Bene Gesserit" is meant to allude to a distorted Hebrew for "children of the narrow path", but as others have noted, it's more likely straight from Latin. "Tleilaxu" is not Hebrew (neither it nor Arabic have an X), but the "Bene" in "Bene Tleilax" is more likely to be from the Semitic "children of" rather than the Latin "good", the Tleilaxu being Zensufis and all.</li>
<li><strong>Fedaykin</strong> is probably from Arabic "fedayeen", but Hebrew has pretty much the same word, פַדַאיוּן</li>
<li><strong>Sayyadina</strong> I suspect of being derived from an Arabic term with Hebrew roots, but I can't prove it.</li>
</ul>
" OwnerUserId="547" LastEditorUserId="547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-27T21:30:17.423" LastActivityDate="2012-01-27T21:30:17.423" CommentCount="4" />
<row Id="1394" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1413" CreationDate="2011-01-28T17:26:24.657" Score="8" ViewCount="283" Body="<p>Many years ago, I read a sci-fi novella, which remains in my memory mostly due to the main character speaking in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-Prime">e-prime</a> (the book was written in non-e-prime english besides the dialogue with the main character).</p>

<p>Is anyone here able to help me identify this book?</p>
" OwnerUserId="559" LastEditorUserId="56" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-28T18:35:49.407" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T22:28:05.033" Title="I'm trying to identify a book, where the main character (a private detective, I believe) speaks mostly in e-prime" Tags="<story-identification>" AnswerCount="2" />
<row Id="1396" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1394" CreationDate="2011-01-28T17:36:26.203" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Wikipedia lists two novels that David Gerrold wrote in e-prime:</p>

<ul>
<li><em><a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/055329010X" rel="nofollow">Under the Eye of God</a></em></li>
<li><em><a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/055356188X" rel="nofollow">A Covenant of Justice</a></em></li>
</ul>

<p>Both seem to be out of print.</p>
" OwnerUserId="148" LastEditorUserId="148" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-29T22:28:05.033" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T22:28:05.033" CommentCount="4" />
<row Id="1397" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1385" CreationDate="2011-01-28T17:38:20.113" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Not at all. Dick was an idea guy and a people guy, not a science guy.</p>
" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T17:38:20.113" />
<row Id="1398" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1399" CreationDate="2011-01-28T19:15:03.040" Score="9" ViewCount="379" Body="<p>The more modern uniforms seem, in general, to be lacking significantly when it comes to easy access for bodily function purposes, suggesting that the access is nowhere near as high in demand.</p>

<p>Is there a satisfactory explanation for this - perhaps, far enough in the future, bodily functions will no longer be a required part of life?</p>
" OwnerUserId="559" LastActivityDate="2012-01-27T18:51:52.537" Title="Have bodily functions been abolished in the Startrek universe?" Tags="<star-trek><technology>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1399" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1398" CreationDate="2011-01-28T19:52:48.950" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I don't think it's stretching the imagination much to think that possibly the uniforms have better accessibility than they look, or than they would if made using present-day technology. If we can have warp drives and FTL nanoprocessors, we can probably have invisible fabric seams that separate easily when tugged a certain way (clearly that way is <em>not</em> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teTxexINY38" rel="nofollow">a quick tug downward from both sides of the torso</a>) and rejoin as readily.</p>
" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T19:52:48.950" CommentCount="4" />
<row Id="1406" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1409" CreationDate="2011-01-28T21:21:42.833" Score="10" ViewCount="549" Body="<p>From what I can remember of the movie, it features an increasingly isolated loner building or inheriting <strong>a machine in his Attic that starts bringing back monsters from outside reality when he turns it on</strong>. I think it was from the early 80s and it had a Lovecraftian vibe to it. The movie is like 'The Fly' in that it features a story that slowly descends into dark horror.</p>

<p>Does anyone have any clue what I'm talking about?</p>

<p>I'll try to add more details if I can remember anymore.</p>
" OwnerUserId="35" LastEditorUserId="108" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T20:29:22.310" LastActivityDate="2012-01-31T18:14:13.793" Title="What 80s movie features a mad scientist building an inter-dimensional portal in his attic?" Tags="<movie><story-identification>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="1407" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1345" CreationDate="2011-01-28T21:33:01.657" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I would like to comment on Mark's technological reasons above. If you assume these things are highly engineered, the color is just energy being lost from the beam. So it should be undesirable from a weapons effects standpoint. So the visible beam is probably a deliberately engineered side effect, so that the user can see where he has shot. It would be nice to have different colors so as to be able to discriminate between different sources (such as us versus them), or different classes of weapons users (lightly armed crewmen versus full-on military forces, etc.)</p>
" OwnerUserId="578" LastEditorUserId="3267" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-12T00:14:26.660" LastActivityDate="2012-01-12T00:14:26.660" />
<row Id="1409" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1406" CreationDate="2011-01-28T22:08:36.223" Score="18" ViewCount="" Body="<p>It was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/From_Beyond_%28film%29" rel="nofollow"><em>From Beyond</em></a>, the 1986 film based on HP Lovecraft's story of the same name.</p>

<p>They released an <a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B000RPCK2O" rel="nofollow">unrated director's cut</a> for this film as well.</p>
" OwnerUserId="70" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-31T18:13:50.220" LastActivityDate="2012-01-31T18:13:50.220" />
<row Id="1410" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1406" CreationDate="2011-01-28T22:24:30.733" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="<p>It sounds like Stuart Gordon's <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091083/" rel="nofollow"><em>From Beyond</em> (1986)</a> which is currently streaming on Netflix Watch Instantly.</p>
" OwnerUserId="240" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-31T18:14:13.793" LastActivityDate="2012-01-31T18:14:13.793" CommentCount="0" />
<row Id="1412" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1398" CreationDate="2011-01-28T22:31:03.590" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I prefer to stretch the imagination and guess that the uniforms are fitted with one-way-nano-beam-me-up-drives that do not require routine maintenance. (One-way is the key part of the description.)</p>
" OwnerUserId="581" LastEditorUserId="3267" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-27T18:51:52.537" LastActivityDate="2012-01-27T18:51:52.537" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1413" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1394" CreationDate="2011-01-28T22:40:04.627" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Is it in <a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1561840041" rel="nofollow">Coincidance : A Head Test by Robert Anton Wilson</a>? Or maybe it's Boiling Creek: The G.S. Detective, Part II by Paul Dennithorne Johnston.</p>
" OwnerUserId="240" LastActivityDate="2011-01-28T22:40:04.627" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1416" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="654" CreationDate="2011-01-29T00:16:29.653" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="<p>FTL travel is (strictly speaking), not allowed by physics.
However, a warp drive could be constructed that allows the illusion of traveling at FTL speeds by compressing space in front of a ship, and expanding it in back. This would allow a ship to go from one place to another without breaking any laws, since the ship travels at sub-light speeds, yet still move from one place to another more quickly than a traditional method at sub-light speeds. This is what the Enterprise (and any other ships in ST) are supposed to use.</p>
" OwnerUserId="583" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T00:16:29.653" CommentCount="8" />
<row Id="1419" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="468" CreationDate="2011-01-29T00:29:44.510" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>If I remember correctly, the Doctor's fights for freedom and rights influenced his miner copies. It's possible he went on to help them more. I also remember an episode where he and another experimental EMH take over a prototype Starfleet vessel. I don't think he would give up medicine, so he'd probably have gone on an done more research.</p>
" OwnerUserId="583" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T00:29:44.510" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1420" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="301" CreationDate="2011-01-29T00:32:55.320" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The same way that most codes are broken in real life. It would search for frequently repeated words and sounds, and figure out what words would be used with the same frequency in the host language. Star Trek Corps of Engineers explained it a little more than in the series.</p>
" OwnerUserId="583" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T00:32:55.320" />
<row Id="1424" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1456" CreationDate="2011-01-29T02:45:40.520" Score="12" ViewCount="216" Body="<p>In all of the books that I read, the intermediate steps in turning cryonics into a useful technology seem to be glossed over, and the actual implementation is not described in great detail. </p>

<p>Is there a story or book which contains a good description of what the transition between the current state of the art and technology useable for interstellar travel might look like?</p>
" OwnerUserId="559" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-31T18:20:52.113" LastActivityDate="2012-02-18T11:41:40.240" Title="What is a good example of a progression from the current state of Cryogenic freezing, to a working system used for interstellar travel?" Tags="<hard-sci-fi>" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="2" />
<row Id="1425" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1434" CreationDate="2011-01-29T04:36:57.103" Score="15" ViewCount="720" Body="<p>"<em>Star Trek</em>" fans have labeled the new J.J. Abrams movie as being set in an alternate timeline. Alternate because it is different from the established history of the <em>Star Trek</em> universe. </p>

<p>The word <strong>alternate</strong> here also seems to imply that the original timeline must be continuing as it was, and the new timeline is a branch of the original.</p>

<p>Assuming the two timelines continue to move forward does this mean they are in fact parallel universes? Is that a reasonable wording?</p>

<p>Are parallel universes and alternate timelines the same thing or are they completely different concepts?</p>
" OwnerUserId="517" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-31T18:23:59.100" LastActivityDate="2012-01-31T18:23:59.100" Title="What is the difference between a parallel universe and an alternate timeline?" Tags="<star-trek><alternate-history>" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="1426" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1425" CreationDate="2011-01-29T04:51:39.563" Score="16" ViewCount="" Body="<p>An alternate timeline is a type of parallel universe. You can have parallel universes that have nothing in common with each other; "alternate timeline" implies that they had the same history up to a point of divergence.</p>
" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T04:51:39.563" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1427" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1425" CreationDate="2011-01-29T05:33:38.140" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Taking a more meta point of view: from within a story, whenever a "parallel universe" or "alternate timeline" are mentioned, it's usually something that will be woven into the plot to demonstrate alternative scenarios. In "<em>Stargate</em>" for example, they have cited both and there isn't really a specific rule they follow to differentiate one from the other; though it is fairly soft.</p>

<p>From the point of view of the reader/viewer, those concepts are more of a hand-wave to tie things together when they're similar, but have irreconcilable differences.</p>
" OwnerUserId="584" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-31T18:23:12.627" LastActivityDate="2012-01-31T18:23:12.627" />
<row Id="1428" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1425" CreationDate="2011-01-29T05:37:09.307" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="<p>A parallel universe runs concurrent to another and shares the same timestream. That is, they develop things in the same pace according to the elements of existence but not necessarily with the same rate of technological or intelligence based advances.</p>

<p>An alternate timeline is a different take on a universe and is caused by a split or fork at one juncture or event to create this new existence.</p>

<p>You can travel between parallel universes because they share the same string of time but access it through a different plane of dimension. </p>

<p>You can't do that with alternate timelines since there is a point early on where they diverged and split apart. To get to the alternate timeline you need to travel back in time to reach that point and take the other route.</p>
" OwnerUserId="383" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T05:37:09.307" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1430" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1282" CreationDate="2011-01-29T07:16:21.010" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The main steps that are used, if I recall correctly, are (excluding things that were done just to survive):</p>

<ul>
<li>Heating the atmosphere with windmills, an asteroid, and moholes (digging into the planet's crust).</li>
<li>Changing the makeup of the atmosphere with genetically engineered micro-organisms (GEMs), lichen and algae.</li>
<li>Melting the ice in the polar cars, generating carbon dioxide and water, with a mirror system.</li>
</ul>

<p>The planets we have are (excluding Earth and Mars):</p>

<ul>
<li><p>Mercury: Much hotter than Earth: rather than heating the atmosphere, as in <em>Mars</em>, the task would be cooling it (so the windmills, asteroid hit, and moholes would not be useful). There are no polar caps to melt. There's very little atmosphere, so rather than trying to change it, the task would be <em>creating</em> a suitable one - the <em>Mars</em> techniques (assuming all the other problems are solved) would probably be useful here.</p></li>
<li><p>Venus: the atmosphere is much more dense than Earth, and it has the same heat issue as Mercury. There is no magnetic field preventing depletion of the atmosphere (i.e. it's constantly replenished), so whatever changes made (e.g. the GEMs, lichen, algae) would be unable to build up, like they did in <em>Mars</em> (unless an earlier step somehow added a magnetic field).</p></li>
<li><p>Jupiter: it's made up of helium and hydrogen. Even if it could somehow be transformed into something Earth-like (but huge) the <em>Mars</em> techniques would be of no use. There are, however, 63 known satellites, and Ganymede, Callisto, Io, and Europa are similar in many ways to the inner planets.</p></li>
<li><p>Saturn: much the same as Jupiter (i.e. the <em>Mars</em> techniques are no use). 62 known satellites; Titan and Enceladus show signs of geological activity but are mostly made of ice.</p></li>
<li><p>Uranus: much the same as the other gas giants. Given the distance from the Sun, it seems likely that not only would the <em>Mars</em> techniques not work on the planet, they would be insufficient to heat the moons as well.</p></li>
<li><p>Neptune: like Uranus, but colder.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>As @Pearsonartphoto suggested, the satellites (particularly Jupiter and Saturn's) are much more suitable targets, for example:</p>

<ul>
<li>Ganymede: has a magnetosphere (the only satellite in the Solar System which has), although it's buried in Jupiter's, and a thin oxygen atmosphere, possibly including ozone. The <em>Mars</em> techniques for heating the atmosphere would probably work, although there's a lot more to do (it's about 100 degrees C colder than Mars on the surface). Using GEMs/lichen/algae to modify the atmosphere would probably be suitable. Melting the ice would be a good way to generate <em>oxygen</em> (theoretically it's dissolved in the ice) - for water there is theoretically an underground saltwater ocean, so that would be a more likely target than the polar caps (especially if the expedition was already working on moholes).</li>
</ul>

<blockquote class="spoiler">
 <p> Phobos is destroyed in <em>Red Mars</em>, which also helps the terraforming (although that wasn't the goal) by adding heat. This wouldn't be possible on one of Jupiter/Saturn's moons, since it's not moons all the way down.</p>
</blockquote>
" OwnerUserId="108" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T07:16:21.010" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="1433" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="336" CreationDate="2011-01-29T12:16:36.860" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="<p>As Gilles has said, the order is not really important.</p>

<p>Personally, I would read "Consider Phlebas" before "Look to Windward".</p>

<p>From Wikipedia:</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>In some respects Look to Windward
 serves as a loose sequel to the first
 Culture novel, Consider Phlebas : the
 GSV Lasting Damage fought in the
 Idiran-Culture War, and Ziller
 specially composes a work to
 commemorate the arrival of light from
 a supernova triggered during the war.</p>
</blockquote>

<p><br />
I found that it gave me a better feel of the "Culture universe" having been exposed to the Idiran conflict, and the subsequent timescale that had elapsed, along with the huge scope of events.</p>
" OwnerUserId="588" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T12:16:36.860" />
<row Id="1434" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1425" CreationDate="2011-01-29T16:55:56.387" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="<p>A parallel universe is a different universe that occupies the same timeline. However, the events that transpire in this universe are (usually) independent of all other universes. A different timeline is when something happens in a universe in different ways, at the same time. You can have multiple timelines in 1 universe, but not multiple universes in 1 timeline.
That said, there is the (real) theory that every possible action has happened, and that a separate universe is created for each one: While walking, I choose to go left, and another universe is created where I choose to go right. This could be interpreted as both a multiverse and multi-timeline scenario.</p>
" OwnerUserId="583" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T16:55:56.387" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1435" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1424" CreationDate="2011-01-29T17:05:09.103" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>There are companies that offer to freeze your body (or just your head) once yo die, in the hope that you can be "reanimated" in the future. As for cryogenics while still alive, there have been people who are found frozen in snow, or in rivers, and were subsequently revived without any damage to their brains, or even any frostbite. It seems that they were usually "frozen" slowly, which allows cells to expand without bursting (since we are made of water, which expands). Some frogs can also burrow into the ground, become frozen during winter, and then thaw during spring. As for hard research, there are labs where rats have been successfully frozen for several hours, and then come back with no damage. but when doing it for days, damage seems to accumulate. Finally, there has been research into doing this for severe accidents (like car crashes), where a slurry of very fine ice is pumped into a persons lungs to put them into a close state of freezing, so that they can be brought to a hospital with less damage on the way.</p>
" OwnerUserId="583" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T17:05:09.103" CommentCount="5" />
<row Id="1436" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="16530" CreationDate="2011-01-29T18:22:17.067" Score="15" ViewCount="410" Body="<p>Where should some one start and how should someone proceed with reading Michael Moorcock? <em>Elric</em>? Nowhere specific? A very specific order? </p>

<p>I am asking because there are stories with different characters in different times/universes.</p>
" OwnerUserId="294" LastEditorUserId="3383" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-05-11T13:44:05.647" LastActivityDate="2012-05-11T13:44:05.647" Title="Moorcock reading order, Can I start reading Moorcock with the Dancers at the End of Time series?" Tags="<suggested-order><michael-moorcock>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="1439" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1436" CreationDate="2011-01-29T19:09:36.793" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="<p>See <a href="http://www.multiverse.org/fora/showthread.php?t=3562">A Moorcock Reading Order</a>, by <a href="http://www.multiverse.org/fora/member.php?u=755">David Mosley</a>, on the <a href="http://www.multiverse.org/">Moorcock's Miscellany</a>:</p>
" OwnerUserId="70" LastEditorUserId="70" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-31T01:01:21.780" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T01:01:21.780" CommentCount="6" />
<row Id="1441" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1476" CreationDate="2011-01-29T21:22:15.853" Score="12" ViewCount="1908" Body="<p>I've read most of the books, more or less in published order, but I've gotten rather confused with the timeline jumps that occur in the series. </p>

<p><strong>What is the in-universe chronological order of the stories in Dragonriders of Pern series?</strong></p>

<p>As an aside, would this be a good recommended order for reading these books?</p>
" OwnerUserId="98" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-02-01T14:23:33.453" LastActivityDate="2012-02-01T14:23:33.453" Title="What is the chronological order of the Dragonriders of Pern series?" Tags="<chronological-order>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="1442" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1470" CreationDate="2011-01-29T21:51:46.097" Score="19" ViewCount="531" Body="<p>I feel this is a major plot point. </p>

<p>If he could manage to stay hidden alone, he could stay hidden with his kids as well. </p>

<p><strong>Why leave them behind if he misses them so much?</strong></p>
" OwnerUserId="592" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-02-01T15:47:30.400" LastActivityDate="2012-02-01T15:47:30.400" Title="In Inception, why didn't Cobb take his kids with him when Cobb had to flee the country?" Tags="<plot><inception>" AnswerCount="4" />
<row Id="1443" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1441" CreationDate="2011-01-29T22:02:09.957" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="<p>It's made up of the Original Trilogy, Harper Hall Trilogy, Dragonflight, Todd McCaffrey, and others.</p>

<p>Here's the order:</p>

<pre><code>Dragonquest,
Dragonsong,
Dragonsinger,
The White Dragon,
Dragondrums,
Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern,
Nerilka's Story,
Dragonsdawn,
Renegades of Pern,
All the Weyrs of Pern,
The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall,
The Dolphins of Pern,
Dragonseye,
The Masterharper of Pern,
The Skies of Pern,
Dragon's Kin,
Dragonsblood,
Dragon's Fire,
Dragon Harper
</code></pre>

<p>There are also more being written.</p>
" OwnerUserId="583" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-02-01T14:22:43.953" LastActivityDate="2012-02-01T14:22:43.953" CommentCount="4" />
<row Id="1444" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1442" CreationDate="2011-01-29T22:25:09.997" Score="21" ViewCount="" Body="<p>"If he could manage to stay hidden alone, he could stay hidden with his kids as well" doesn't hold water. A lone adult has tremendously more mobility and flexibility than one trying to take care of a couple of kids. How is a fugitive going to send his kids to school? When he has to pull up stakes and leave for another country on five minutes' notice because the wrong person found out where he was, might his kids complicate that? Is he a big enough asshole to pull his kids away from their family, friends, entire social context in order to take them with him on the run, and then <em>keep</em> doing that repeatedly?</p>

<p>If he loves his kids, making them fugitives alongside him is not exactly the most caring thing to do.</p>
" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-01-29T22:25:09.997" CommentCount="4" />
<row Id="1448" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1282" CreationDate="2011-01-30T02:35:42.610" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Gas Giants are really impossible to change the composition of. Firstly they are massive: tens to hundreds of times the mass of the earth, and mostly hydrogen. Any Oxygen created would combine with the hydrogen (and possibly other elements), and probably fall out as rain/snow, and be lost into the lower atmosphere. In fact the gases probably are convectively mixed, so you can't just concentrate on a thin layer with roughly the right temperature and pressure and a reasonable net mass, but you have to change the composition of the entire planet. If you had that much stuff available, you could construct one or several planets yourself easier than trying to change a gas giant.</p>

<p>I also think water worlds (with deep oceans) are a serious problem, nutrients would sink into the depths, which in a true water world might be hundreds of kilometers. Unless some sort of geologic activity keeps mixing it up (like plate tectonics does on the earth), any compounds that are preferentially deposited in sediments are rapdily (on a geologic timescale), lost to the potential biosphere.</p>
" OwnerUserId="425" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T02:35:42.610" />
<row Id="1450" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="654" CreationDate="2011-01-30T02:55:59.870" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I suppose if one of the theories (such as string theory), which has a universe with several unseen dimensions, then you open up some possibilities. Usually the argument goes from 2D to 3D, with the 2-D universe being a surface like a rolled up piece of paper, if you can travel in the third (forbidden) dimension you can drill through to a distant part of the paper. So you could imagine if you could exploit a fourth (or higher) dimension, that all bets are off.</p>
" OwnerUserId="425" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T02:55:59.870" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1451" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1459" CreationDate="2011-01-30T05:37:33.613" Score="14" ViewCount="486" Body="<p>Many species in the Star Trek universe have "bumpy foreheads"--most famously, the Klingons.</p>

<p><strong>What are the likely factors that influenced the evolution of Klingon cranial ridges?</strong></p>

<p>Could it be a protective measure against some environmental factor like radiation, or does it serve some other purpose?</p>
" OwnerUserId="517" LastEditorUserId="133" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-11-17T19:15:21.867" LastActivityDate="2012-02-01T15:55:11.890" Title="What factors influenced the evolution of Klingon cranial ridges?" Tags="<star-trek><klingon><evolution><cranial-ridges>" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="5" />
<row Id="1453" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1460" CreationDate="2011-01-30T06:52:33.287" Score="18" ViewCount="762" Body="<p>Inspired by the <a href="http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/1228/is-the-klingon-language-fully-realized-or-just-a-handful-of-disconnected-phrases">question about the Klingon language</a>, how realized is the Vulcan language?</p>

<p>I believe Mark Okrand is credited on Star Trek II for the Vulcan dialogue. Is there similar effort on the Vulcan tongue as there is with the Klingon?</p>
" OwnerUserId="517" LastActivityDate="2011-05-24T00:32:35.897" Title="How realized is the Vulcan language?" Tags="<star-trek><vulcan>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1454" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1391" CreationDate="2011-01-30T07:17:14.300" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The Bene in Bene Tleilax is from Arabic (they were <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Dune_religions#Zensufism" rel="nofollow">Zensufis</a>, remember) but probably changed through analogy with the Bene of Bene Gesserit, which is Latin.</p>
" OwnerUserId="593" LastEditorUserId="547" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T17:04:35.417" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T17:04:35.417" />
<row Id="1455" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="790" CreationDate="2011-01-30T07:27:43.287" Score="22" ViewCount="" Body="<p>At the end of <em>Chapterhouse: Dune</em>, the last REAL Dune book by Frank Herbert, no one "rules the universe", or even the galaxy.</p>

<p>The Honored Matre-turned-Bene Gesserit Murbella has become the head of both groups of women, and the Duncan Idaho ghola has escaped with Sheeana and others on the no-ship kept on Chapterhouse Planet. Whether the Old Empire will be overrun by whatever Enemy the Honored Matres were fleeing is an open question.</p>

<p>The whole point of Leto II's Golden Path was to free humankind from the possibility of ever again being controlled by one person or organization and from the danger of being wiped out by a single natural or artificial disaster.</p>

<p>No one rules the Duniverse at the end.</p>
" OwnerUserId="593" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T07:27:43.287" CommentCount="5" />
<row Id="1456" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1424" CreationDate="2011-01-30T08:50:56.977" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Suspended animation for space travel would require that the technology inflict little enough damage that the body can repair itself, either with or without the help of the particular era's level of bio/nanotech. There are two technological tracks for this to develop. One is to start experimenting with dead people and steadily refining the process until we can start bringing them back. The ones preserved with the highest level of technology would take the lowest level of repair technology (perhaps none at all), and the lowest tech preservations would take the highest tech to repair.</p>

<p>Conceivably, this leads to a first-in, last-out scenario with some individuals being reanimated right away, and others (such as today's patients perhaps) taking centuries to be brought back. Regardless of how long it takes, the patient arguably has some kind of moral right to survival despite matching a particular era's criteria for legal death. Many cryonicists only worry about repairing the brain, since the other organs can probably be replaced with sufficient biotech (and there are advances in tissue engineering that make this seem very plausible).</p>

<p>Another approach would be to start with hypothermia and hibernation, which are survivable for short periods of time, and slowly work your way to longer and longer periods of time and survival at lower temperatures. This gives empirical evidence at every step, in the form of survival or lack thereof. A form of hibernation that prolongs human life only a few centuries would be a genius invention, as you could most likely use it to survive until true suspended animation, and eventually a comprehensive cure for aging are achieved. Unfortunately, the clinical trials would be so long in duration that it probably would not be a route to the stars for you unless you were a lucky test subject.</p>

<p>Animal models like the wood frog could prove instructive, but if the procedure were to be perfected in humans it would be likely to involve avoiding freezing altogether, a process called vitrification. This is accomplished in cryonics patients by replacing much of the water of the cells with substances that form glass at low temperatures. The challenge is mitigating and reducing the toxicity of these chemicals. The toxicity level is too high for this to be reversible in brains, but there has been success with rabbit kidneys surviving vitrification.</p>

<p>A book that tackles a lot of cryonics issues is "<em>The First Immortal</em>" by James Halperin, though I'm not sure how far it goes into the technical details. Robert Prehoda wrote some interesting stuff about the hibernation route. Wikipedia's entry on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryopreservation" rel="nofollow">cryopreservation</a>, and the science faq on Alcor's website have some good information on the topic. Thomas Donaldson (who is now resting in a dewar) wrote a lot on the distinction between Suspended Animation and Cryonics. </p>
" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-31T18:21:25.733" LastActivityDate="2012-01-31T18:21:25.733" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="1458" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1463" CreationDate="2011-01-30T14:59:46.807" Score="58" ViewCount="3057" Body="<p>I've always been puzzled by the speeds of space craft in Star Wars. The Millennium Falcon was said to travel at "<a href="http://www.blueharvest.net/scoops/anh-script.shtml">point 5 past light</a>" - which I guess is 1.5c:</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>HAN: <strong>She'll make point five beyond the speed of light.</strong> She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts, kid. I've added some special modifications myself.</p>
</blockquote>

<p><em>And</em> <a href="http://www.blueharvest.net/scoops/rotj-script.shtml">it was said by Han Solo to be the fastest ship in the fleet</a>.</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>HAN: Look. I want you to take her. I mean it. Take her. You need all the help you can get. <strong>She's the fastest ship in the fleet.</strong></p>
</blockquote>

<p>But at that speed it will take years to travel between solar systems.</p>

<p>Is this a mistake in the Star Wars universe?</p>
" OwnerUserId="143" LastEditorUserId="143" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-12-19T14:22:06.983" LastActivityDate="2011-12-19T14:22:06.983" Title="Was the Millennium Falcon too slow?" Tags="<star-wars>" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="6" />
<row Id="1459" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1451" CreationDate="2011-01-30T15:44:11.197" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="<p>It's a sagittal crest. Their cranium is encased in an exoskeleton, which has a tricipital lobe. Perhaps their skull forms from both sides, and the ridges are where the bone fuses?</p>

<p>Source: <a href="http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Tricipital_lobe" rel="nofollow">http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Tricipital_lobe</a></p>
" OwnerUserId="583" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-02-01T15:52:25.543" LastActivityDate="2012-02-01T15:52:25.543" CommentCount="4" />
<row Id="1460" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1453" CreationDate="2011-01-30T15:47:44.873" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The most extensive Vulcan language was made by fans in the 60's, especially by linguist Dorothy Jones Heydt. It had roots, grammatical rules and syntax, and was used in her own stories.</p>
" OwnerUserId="583" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T15:47:44.873" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1461" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1424" CreationDate="2011-01-30T15:53:49.500" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="<p>"Cryogenic freezing" would not be relevant to suspended animation through cryopreservation because ice formation is damaging. Non-toxic cryoprotectants or other technologies that prevent freezing at low (cryogenic) temperatures would be necessary. Such technologies are sought by those who practice cryonics. Current cryonics practice is to replace body water with vitrification (anti-freeze) solution. Although ice formation can be eliminated in the brain, ice cannot be eliminated from all body tissues, nor can cryoprotectant toxicity be entirely avoided. Better perfusion and less toxic cryoprotectants must be found. </p>

<p>I have examined the question of the potential for spaceflight in the last section of my essay on <a href="http://www.benbest.com/cryonics/Crypto.html#spaceflight" rel="nofollow">Cryopreservation as a means of Suspended Animation</a>.</p>
" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-31T07:07:21.513" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T07:07:21.513" />
<row Id="1462" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1458" CreationDate="2011-01-30T16:10:44.580" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Star Wars uses a reverse scale. The lower the rating, the faster the ship. 0.5 is 2x as fast as an Imperial warship. The scale is asymptotic, with 0.0 being infinite speed, and higher numbers being slower. The next fastest ship is Boba Fett's Slave I, which had a class 0.7 hyperdrive.</p>
" OwnerUserId="583" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-30T19:47:08.600" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T19:47:08.600" CommentCount="4" />
<row Id="1463" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1458" CreationDate="2011-01-30T16:17:50.050" Score="58" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Yes. This is a mistake in the Star Wars universe. George Lucas had no understanding of space travel or physics. Which is why his starfighters swoop about the way World War II fighter planes did. </p>

<p>In modern explanation the "past lightspeed" bit has been retconned away. Instead there are the hyperdrive classes with a reverse scale. The higher the number the slower the ship. So a Class 1 hyperdrive is one of the fastest, but the Millennium Falcon has a 0.5 class hyperdrive. Twice as fast as a Class 1. Just how fast a Class 1 is is never really explained. </p>

<p>Though if you really want to go into it, get some of the roleplaying books. They'll have charts for travel between star systems (and possibly distances). You may be able to figure out how fast a class 1 is supposed to be from that. </p>

<p>More information: <a href="http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Hyperdrive" rel="nofollow">http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Hyperdrive</a></p>

<p><strong>[edit]</strong> Okay this is a ridiculously rough calculation. I went and pulled out my old WEG RPG book and looked at the space travel section. It didn't have a map or distances or anything -- one of them does, but I don't have the time to find it now -- but it did make this statement:</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>Even with a well traveled hyperspace
 route the fastest ships, such as the
 Millennium Falcon, would take several
 months to traverse the whole diameter
 of the galaxy.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Elsewhere the Galaxy was quoted as being 120,000 light years in diameter. Using this we can make a really rough guess at how fast the Falcon is, and from that, what the classes really mean. So we'll assume "several" is 6 months. Using that we can find that a class 1/2 hyperdrive would travel at about 28 light years per hour. So a class one's speed is about 14 light years per hour. </p>

<p>I'll find that map and do a better one later. I'll note that the book does say that well traveled hyperspace routes, such as trade routes, can take significantly less time than less traveled routes. Why that would be, I dunno, but it hints that there is more going on to hyperspace than simply traveling faster than light. <strong>[/edit]</strong></p>
" OwnerUserId="180" LastEditorUserId="2292" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-10-13T01:34:34.480" LastActivityDate="2011-10-13T01:34:34.480" CommentCount="10" />
<row Id="1464" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1458" CreationDate="2011-01-30T17:07:07.863" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I thought that comparing how fast a ship gets from point A to point B in the Star Wars universe was determined by how good their navi-computer was. (Not sure if I have the term <em>navi-computer</em> right. By that, I mean an computer for navigation (or astrogation if you like that term better).)</p>

<p>Apparently hyperspace has a vast network of routes and the better the navi-computer, the more efficient a route it took through hyperspace thus getting the ship to its destination faster.</p>

<p>I'm sure velocity is also important though. It seems to me the <em>Millenium Falcon</em> always seemed to be slower than pursuing star destroyers until it jumped to hyperspace. In the "A New Hope" Luke is alarmed at the rate the imperial cruisers were gaining on them as they fled Mos Eisley, for example. Even though in the Cantina Han Solo claims to have outrun imperial ships. (Not the local bulk cruisers, but the big Corellian ships ... just to clarify which ones.... :) )</p>

<p>To answer the question, I like to think the <em>Falcon</em> was a fast ship. Han Solo and Lando Calrisian seemed to think so, although every one else seemed to have never heard of it (Obi-Wan), thought it was a piece of junk (Luke), and offered to get out and push (Leia). I guess it depends on your point of view. (After all many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our point of view....)</p>

<p>So I guess this is a pretty good question that is sure to offer many different perspectives!</p>
" OwnerUserId="517" LastEditorUserId="517" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-01-30T17:13:06.000" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T17:13:06.000" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1465" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1467" CreationDate="2011-01-30T18:23:01.983" Score="39" ViewCount="759" Body="<p>One problem I've always thought of with science fiction characters becoming invisible is that they should go blind, because their retina does not catch any light.</p>

<p>Obviously a lot of soft SF or fantasy would gloss over this. But I'm sure that hard SF authors have had a go at it. How can invisibility and sight be reconciled?</p>
" OwnerUserId="143" LastEditorUserId="56" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-02-23T21:11:43.063" LastActivityDate="2012-02-23T21:11:43.063" Title="Invisibility should cause blindness: how does hard sf cope?" Tags="<hard-sci-fi><biology><supernatural-abilities><optics>" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="4" />
<row Id="1466" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1442" CreationDate="2011-01-30T20:41:32.260" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="<p>One possibility is that his wife was right - he's still in a dreamworld. The world of the movie does have some odd aspects. In that case, it's part of a bad dream.</p>
" OwnerUserId="130" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T20:41:32.260" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1467" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1465" CreationDate="2011-01-30T20:53:27.577" Score="27" ViewCount="" Body="<p>H.G. Wells' <em>The Invisible Man</em> (the original) dealt with it. The eponymous character tests his formula on a cat first, and the author notes 'there remained two little ghosts of her eyes'.</p>

<p>I seem to recall from somewhere that he injects his eyeballs with something to achieve the effect.</p>
" OwnerUserId="605" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T20:53:27.577" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="1468" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1465" CreationDate="2011-01-30T22:10:31.257" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="<p>In the Recluce universe, LE Modesitt Jr deals with this. his "Order Mages" can bend light to become invisible. When they do, they are also blinded because they can not see. </p>

<p><strong>EDIT</strong></p>

<p>I have also remembered the TV show <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0220238/">Invisible Man (aka I-Man)</a> dealt with this as well. the "I-Man", when invisible, could not see in the "normal" spectrum of light. In the show, they hypothesized that he "saw" in the infra-red spectrum. They often leveraged this "fact" in the show.</p>
" OwnerUserId="606" LastEditorUserId="606" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-10-16T00:22:27.767" LastActivityDate="2011-10-16T00:22:27.767" />
<row Id="1470" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1442" CreationDate="2011-01-30T22:34:33.590" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Generally, when people try to "disappear" in real life, it is through their children that they eventually get found. <a href="http://www.wired.com/vanish/2009/08/gone-forever-what-does-it-take-to-really-disappear/" rel="nofollow">Here's one article about the difficulties in long term disappearances</a>. And wasn't the top still spinning after he went outside with his kids at the end (which would indicate that his wife was correct about them still being stuck in a shared dream)?</p>
" OwnerUserId="99" LastActivityDate="2011-01-30T22:34:33.590" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="1472" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="5611" CreationDate="2011-01-31T00:09:03.383" Score="21" ViewCount="1496" Body="<p>In the early 90s I remember having 'digitally remastered' versions of the Star Wars Trilogy on VHS (Letterbox/Surround/THX), it would be good to have higher quality versions of these but I'm unsure whether they are generally available. </p>

<p>I have heard some criticism of the 're-released' trilogy.</p>
" OwnerUserId="604" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-02-01T16:36:11.667" LastActivityDate="2012-04-20T13:56:35.067" Title="I'd like to watch pre-"Special Edition" Star Wars, what is the best source/transfer?" Tags="<star-wars>" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="2" />
<row Id="1473" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-01-31T01:08:28.607" Score="19" ViewCount="554" Body="<p>I never paid much attention to Dr. Who while growing up, but have become addicted to it with the BBC reboot over the last few years. Now I'm interested in going back to see what I missed.</p>

<p>So I went on Amazon to see if there were any good DVD box sets of the earlier episodes (pre-modern incarnation) and found that it was pretty fragmented. There are a lot of smaller boxed sets each with only a few episodes and they are pricey enough that it would be cost prohibitive for me to go whole hog and buy them all up.</p>

<p>So my question is this. For a fan of the newer Dr. Who episodes looking to catch up on the earlier Doctor's adventures, which of he available DVDs/sets do you recommend starting out with?</p>
" OwnerUserId="611" LastActivityDate="2011-05-06T18:41:44.933" Title="As a newly minted Dr. Who fan, which DVDs of the older episodes should I start with?" Tags="<doctor-who>" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="6" />
<row Id="1474" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1473" CreationDate="2011-01-31T01:27:47.920" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I'd suggest</p>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B000C6EMTC" rel="nofollow">The Beginning</a>, the first William Hartnell episodes (<em>An Unearthly Child</em>, <em>The Daleks</em> and <em>Edge of Destruction</em>).</li>
<li><a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B00005R5DJ" rel="nofollow">The Tomb of the Cybermen</a>, Patrick Troughton.</li>
<li><a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B00008N704" rel="nofollow">The Talons of Weng Chiang</a>, Tom Baker.</li>
<li><a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B00005B2T7" rel="nofollow">The Caves of Androzani</a>, Peter Davison.</li>
</ul>

<p>There are <em>definitely</em> others, but these are, for me, the definitive DVDs. Hartnell introduces you to the concept of 'the Doctor,' the Daleks and, frankly the <strong>insanity</strong> of <em>Edge of Destruction</em>.</p>

<p>Troughton introduces the Cybermen (in one of the, if not <em>the</em>, best Cybermen story; this is, of course, hugely subjective). Tom Baker...well, in <em>Talons</em> he's just superb, as is the story (again: hugely subjective). I can't really explain why I love <em>The Caves of Androzani</em>, besides it being a sort of Hamlet re-enactment, with a breaking of the fourth wall and some of the best characterisation (and worst monster creation) I've ever seen in any Doctor Who.</p>

<p>You may note that I entirely omitted anything by Jon Pertwee, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann (although I loved McGann's characterisation/portrayal of the Doctor, the TV Movie wasn't, perhaps, the best it could have been, though I still adore it).</p>
" OwnerUserId="613" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T01:27:47.920" />
<row Id="1476" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1441" CreationDate="2011-01-31T04:07:32.447" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Here's a pretty good, detailed chronology: <a href="http://pern.srellim.org/chrono.htm" rel="nofollow">http://pern.srellim.org/chrono.htm</a></p>

<p>Based on that table, here's a rough list. (I've sorted the short story collections by the chronologically-first story they contain.)</p>

<ul>
<li><em>The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall</em></li>
<li><em>Dragonsdawn</em></li>
<li><em>Dragonseye</em></li>
<li><em>A Gift of Dragons</em></li>
<li><em>Dragon's Kin</em></li>
<li><em>Dragon's Fire</em></li>
<li><em>Dragonsblood</em></li>
<li><em>Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern</em></li>
<li><em>Nerilka's Story</em></li>
<li><em>Masterharper of Pern</em></li>
<li><em>Renegades of Pern</em> (overlaps the next 6, so perhaps could come after them)</li>
<li><em>Dragonflight</em></li>
<li><em>Dragonquest</em></li>
<li><em>Dragonsong</em></li>
<li><em>Dragonsinger</em></li>
<li><em>Dragondrums</em></li>
<li><em>The White Dragon</em></li>
<li><em>All the Weyrs of Pern</em></li>
<li><em>Dolphins of Pern</em></li>
<li><em>Skies of Pern</em></li>
</ul>

<p>I will note that the above would make a <em>terrible</em> reading order for a first-time reader of Pern. For a first-timer, publication order is the way to go.</p>
" OwnerUserId="348" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T04:07:32.447" CommentCount="4" />
<row Id="1479" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1472" CreationDate="2011-01-31T05:35:15.450" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="<p>LaserDisc will probably be the best quality you can find of the 'original' version of the first trilogy:</p>

<p><a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B000EDQCC8">http://www.amazon.com/Star-Trilogy-Widescreen-Collectors-Laser/dp/B000EDQCC8</a></p>

<p>I reckon that it will be easier to find hens' teeth, though.</p>

<p>Also - reputedly - Lucas has destroyed the original masters so that the only 'definitive' studio version available is the special edition which was released at the end of the 90s.</p>
" OwnerUserId="373" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T05:35:15.450" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1481" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1472" CreationDate="2011-01-31T07:22:05.700" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Certainly in the UK can can get these:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Star-Wars-Episode-IV-Theatrical/dp/B000FMH8UI/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1296458411&amp;sr=8-9" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.co.uk/Star-Wars-Episode-IV-Theatrical/dp/B000FMH8UI/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1296458411&amp;sr=8-9</a></p>

<p>They include both the original theatrical release and the Special Edition.</p>
" OwnerUserId="620" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-02-01T16:37:18.647" LastActivityDate="2012-02-01T16:37:18.647" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1482" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1473" CreationDate="2011-01-31T10:01:57.527" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The biggest problem with getting into the earlier Doctor Who stories is that there is no DVD box set of (most) seasons.<br>
I'll start by linking to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Who_DVD_releases" rel="nofollow">Wikipedia</a> which has a full list of all stories available on DVD, and shall pick out some of the most important ones.</p>

<p>The first two doctors have many missing stories, which exist only in audio form, with some still images. These are (I believe) available legally for free (because the teams who created the "restored" versions are only allowed to distribute them for free).<br>
Thus there are many early Doctor Who stories which will probably never again see the light of day, since they're unlikely to be rebroadcast, or to be released on DVD. </p>

<p>However, most of the "big" episodes from the earlier doctors are available on DVD. These are normally episodes which featured some major villain, like the Daleks or Cybermen. </p>

<p>Like David Thomas, I'd recommend "The Beginning" DVD, mostly for historical reasons. Early first Doctor is interesting for knowing the origins of the show, but he's almost unrecognisable even compared to the later first doctor episodes. </p>

<p>As for other First Doctor stories, I'd honestly wait off on them until you know you like the style of the earliest Doctor Who stories. Second to Fourth doctors are much more "beginner friendly".</p>

<p>Second Doctor has a few "key" stories which I'd highly recommend.<br>
Tomb of the Cybermen features the Cybermen, and is a great story The Cybermen were first introduced in a first doctor story which no longer exists in its entirety, but this is one of their earliest appearances.<br>
The Invasion is another Cybermen story, featuring the Cybermen on earth, and is the first story with missing parts to be released on DVD, with the 2 of 8 missing episodes released on the DVD as animations.<br>
The War Games was the final Second Doctor story; and was the first story to mention or show the Time Lords. I'd recommend this one very highly, as it's a great (10-part) story which features the first major details about the Doctor's past.</p>

<p>Third Doctor and onwards have more DVD releases, simply due to the fact that all episodes from here on still exist in some format.<br>
I'd recommend a few stories here:<br>
Doctor Who and the Silurians, Terror of the Autons, and The Three Doctors to name a few.</p>

<p>The Fourth Doctor is easily most people's favourite Doctor. Almost any Tom Baker story you pick up will be an excellent watch. Some highlights:<br>
The Key to Time (a whole season with an ongoing plot arc), Genesis of the Daleks (a bit of a retcon compared to earlier 1st and 2nd doctor stories, but one of the best Dalek stories), City of Death, and the "New Beginnings" DVD set, containing Keeper of Traken, Logopolis (Fourth Doctor's death) and Castrovalva (first Fifth Doctor story).</p>

<p>Those are what I'd call the highlights of the first four doctors, and any of them would be great to pick up and get into Classic Doctor Who!</p>
" OwnerUserId="122" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T10:01:57.527" />
<row Id="1483" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1391" CreationDate="2011-01-31T13:35:48.197" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Kwisatz Haderach - is Hebrew, see <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kefitzat_Haderech" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kefitzat_Haderech</a></p>
" OwnerUserId="622" LastActivityDate="2011-01-31T13:35:48.197" CommentCount="0" />
<row Id="1491" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1465" CreationDate="2011-02-01T00:27:28.670" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="<p>In Warren Ellis's <em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetary_%28comics%29" rel="nofollow">Planetary</a></em> he specifically addresses this with his version of the Invisible Woman from the Fantastic Four. She needs special goggles to see -- otherwise she's blind while invisible. </p>

<p>A variant can be found in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Alan_Gardner" rel="nofollow">James Alan Gardner</a>'s books <em>Expendable</em> and <em>Ascending</em>. One of the characters, Oar, is translucent to humans. However, it's made clear that this was only applicable in the wavelengths of normal human eyesight, and she's not completely invisible. </p>
" OwnerUserId="69" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T00:27:28.670" />
<row Id="1493" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1498" CreationDate="2011-02-01T03:49:24.197" Score="13" ViewCount="372" Body="<p>In "Where No Man Has Gone Before," Star Trek's second pilot, we are introduced to Lt. Cmdr. Gary Mitchell, Captain Kirk's best friend and the Enterprise's navigator.</p>

<p>In that episode it is not explicitly stated that Spock is the first officer, and Spock was not the First Officer in "The Cage" (the first pilot), so perhaps Roddenberry hadn't finalized that role for Spock.</p>

<p>I believe in Vonda McIntyre's novel, <em>Enterprise</em>, Gary Mitchell is supposed to be the first officer, but is absent from most of the action in that story.</p>

<p>Is there any other evidence that supports this idea? Was Gary Mitchell the First Officer before Spock?</p>
" OwnerUserId="517" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-02-01T16:40:49.077" LastActivityDate="2012-02-01T16:41:38.953" Title="Was Gary Mitchell the First Officer on the Enterprise?" Tags="<star-trek><star-trek-tos>" AnswerCount="1" />
<row Id="1494" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1497" CreationDate="2011-02-01T06:15:44.670" Score="5" ViewCount="199" Body="<p>I've seen some reviews which claim that all religious related subtext was subdued or removed from the movie. Did this result in a movie which is significantly different from the book?</p>
" OwnerUserId="559" LastEditorUserId="56" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-01T09:56:40.247" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T09:56:40.247" Title="Is the movie rendition of the Golden Compass significantly different from the book?" Tags="<movie><philip-pullman>" AnswerCount="1" />
<row Id="1495" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1496" CreationDate="2011-02-01T06:17:24.387" Score="8" ViewCount="679" Body="<p>On multiple occasions, I have heard Jules Verne praised for his ability to make accurate predictions of what now is the present, and past. Where can I find a tabulation of all of his predictions, and a measure of their accuracy?</p>
" OwnerUserId="559" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T06:35:26.830" Title="How accurate were (are?) Jules Verne's predictions?" Tags="<hard-sci-fi>" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="1496" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1495" CreationDate="2011-02-01T06:35:26.830" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="<p>'Accuracy' is probably given to interpretation - both Verne and Wells wrote a lot of speculative fiction, some of which speculation has become a reality. Also, some of their science was pretty fair - for example, Wells' defeat of the Martians coming about because of their lack of immunity to Earthly diseases.</p>

<p>However, in both cases, there are glaring problems in their 'science' - for instance, Verne launched men to the Moon (which I think had an atmosphere - can't remember that bit) by firing them from a cannon. It makes for nice reading, but the forces from this kind of propulsion would turn the unfortunate astronauts into red paste.</p>

<p>As for a list or tabulation - I don't know if this is definitive, but there's a pretty extensive FAQ at <a href="http://jv.gilead.org.il/FAQ/index.en.html#C1">http://jv.gilead.org.il/FAQ/index.en.html#C1</a></p>
" OwnerUserId="373" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T06:35:26.830" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1497" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1494" CreationDate="2011-02-01T08:35:32.880" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Apart from the obvious (leaving out the ending because it would fit better in the sequel), the film largely followed the plot of the book. Of course, some scenes from the book weren't in the film. But the plot of the film was very much like the plot of the book (to a similar level of the first couple of Harry Potter films).</p>

<p>The main difference of the film from the book was the fact that a lot was explicitly in the film in dialogue and voice-overs which was only hinted at, or revealed much more slowly in the book. That's a common feature of most books which become films, however.</p>

<p>You're also right about the downplaying of religious themes. It does remain in the film to some small extent, but the themes are much more explicit in the book.</p>

<p>Overall, a fairly faithful adaptation of the book to film, which is about the best I could expect from a film-maker.</p>
" OwnerUserId="122" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T08:35:32.880" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="1498" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1493" CreationDate="2011-02-01T09:34:31.707" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="<p>According to the information at <a href="http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/Gary_Mitchell" rel="nofollow">Gary Mitchell@Memory Beta</a>, representing canon, Gary Mitchell was intended to be First Officer, but did not ever hold the position: </p>

<p>I don't know whether the role was in flux for the first two episodes or not - that would be a question for someone who was there at the time to answer.</p>
" OwnerUserId="559" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-02-01T16:41:38.953" LastActivityDate="2012-02-01T16:41:38.953" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1499" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1523" CreationDate="2011-02-01T09:37:44.853" Score="24" ViewCount="619" Body="<p>Related to <a href="http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/1465/does-any-sci-fi-deal-with-invisibility-causing-blindness">Does any sci-fi deal with invisibility causing blindness?</a>, I'm wondering whether the cloaking device implementation in Star Trek includes an explanation as to why cloaked ships can still observe their surroundings.</p>
" OwnerUserId="559" LastActivityDate="2012-02-01T16:45:37.967" Title="How come cloaking devices in Star Trek allow the cloaked ship to continue to observe its surroundings?" Tags="<star-trek><technology><cloaking>" AnswerCount="6" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="1500" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1515" CreationDate="2011-02-01T10:14:41.250" Score="19" ViewCount="1442" Body="<p>I believe I've spotted a flaw, and I'd like to know if other fans have noticed it too.</p>

<ul>
<li><p>In the first BTTF, Marty McFly travels back to 1955 (his parents' high school era).</p></li>
<li><p>He meets his mother and she has the "hots" for him.</p></li>
<li><p>He helps his dad, George.</p></li>
<li><p>And then he goes back to 1985 (his present day) and see's that everything is different, having been affected by his doings in 1955.</p></li>
<li><p>Surely, as Lorraine and George had their son born (Marty) and he started to grow up, wouldn't they think, "<strong>Hang on... He kinda looks like that kid Calvin Klein</strong> that we knew back when we were in high school!"</p></li>
</ul>

<p>Is that right? Or am I missing something?</p>

<p>DISCLAIMER: I like BTTF, please don't take the following as a general criticism of the movie.</p>
" OwnerUserId="630" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-02-01T16:48:47.070" LastActivityDate="2012-04-19T05:21:14.953" Title="Back To The Future Flaw - why don't Marty's parents recognize him in the new future?" Tags="<time-travel><alternate-history><back-to-the-future>" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="3" />
<row Id="1503" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1324" CreationDate="2011-02-01T10:47:11.830" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>"Counterfeit Worlds: Philip K. Dick on Film" by Brian J. Robb has a fairly lengthy article in it about Total Recall.</p>

<p>It's a bit of a disjointed book but definitely of interest to PKD fans or people generally interested in his works being turned into movies.</p>
" OwnerUserId="631" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T10:47:11.830" />
<row Id="1506" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1246" CreationDate="2011-02-01T11:17:50.477" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I think I have read this book or something very similar.</p>

<p>I think that the title was something of a play on words or possibly something involving the letters "tri" as the metallic creatures were possibly triangular in shape.</p>

<p>I seem to remember that an atomic bomb was used to attempt to kill the massing creatures but that this didn't work.</p>

<p>Hope that helps someone else trying to remember the title, I would probably have read it around the same time as the person asking the question.</p>

<p><em>edit</em> perhaps it's this book?</p>

<p><a href="http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/f/nicholas-fisk/trillions.htm" rel="nofollow">Trillions (1971) by Nicholas Fisk</a></p>
" OwnerUserId="631" LastEditorUserId="631" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-01T12:49:43.503" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T12:49:43.503" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="1507" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1500" CreationDate="2011-02-01T11:24:19.177" Score="31" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Personally I can remember what about 4 people look like from high school, and that's because I've seen them since. Obviously people's memory will vary, but it's not without the realms of possibility that they'd forget what he looked like, especially as they wouldn't have a photo of him.</p>
" OwnerUserId="605" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T11:24:19.177" CommentCount="8" />
<row Id="1512" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-01T14:00:38.873" Score="13" ViewCount="426" Body="<p>I read a number of books when I was around 10-15 years old (roughly 1985-1990) by a female, Canadian, sci-fi author. I can't remember her name (maybe Amy something?) or the titles of any of the books but I'll try to describe a few plot elements. I can't even remember what bits where together in which books.</p>

<ul>
<li><p>most books involved children, or 'young adults', in dystopian futures</p></li>
<li><p>one story involved a young boy who worked as a gardener in a domed city whose hand had been genetically modified into a set of garden shears</p></li>
<li><p>another story involved a young girl who was somehow telepathically/psychically linked to another girl a great distance away. Although they had never met she felt compelled to leave her city and travel to meet her</p></li>
<li><p>at one point a young boy and girl (possibly one of them the gardener) escape a city into a "wasteland" outer world and come across a landfill site full of strange items they don't recognize like plastic bottles and shopping bags</p></li>
</ul>
" OwnerUserId="634" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-02-01T16:52:50.023" LastActivityDate="2012-04-29T19:08:55.583" Title="Trying to remember the name of a female, Canadian, children's sci-fi author from the 80s" Tags="<story-identification><dystopia><young-adult>" AnswerCount="5" />
<row Id="1515" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1500" CreationDate="2011-02-01T14:22:58.703" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="<p>This isn't a logical flaw. The logical flaw in Back to the Future is when Marty and Doc are in the future. Old Biff steals the Delorean and goes back in time to give himself the Almanac.</p>

<p>When he did so, he changed the future, and shouldn't have been able to return to the future that Marty and Doc are in, because it would then reflect the changes from the terrible future he created.</p>

<p>He should have returned to a self-made hell-on-earth. In the mean time, Doc could have just created a new Time Machine. Certainly if he could make a steampunk one in the 1800s within 15 years (based on the ages of the kids) he could also in the future.</p>
" OwnerUserId="51" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T14:22:58.703" CommentCount="13" />
<row Id="1517" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1528" CreationDate="2011-02-01T14:25:09.567" Score="12" ViewCount="392" Body="<p>I recently read the <em>Ringworld</em> series by Larry Niven, and I was most intrigued by the Puppeteers. In particular, was the claim that their homeworld could do just about anything, except for get rid of the excess heat. Is this a valid claim?</p>

<p>To add in a few more details, the Puppeteer home world has been able to filter any pollution, create light, etc, but they have a problem in that they can't remove the heat that they generate. It has caused them to move to the very outer part of their solar system, so they have minimal sunlight, and even then, their planet is warming up. For more details as to the claim, see the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierson%27s_Puppeteers#Homeworld_.E2.80.94_The_Fleet_of_Worlds">Pierson's Puppeteers Wikipedia article</a>.</p>
" OwnerUserId="98" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-02-01T16:55:10.510" LastActivityDate="2012-02-01T16:55:10.510" Title="Puppeteers' homeworld heat a major problem?" Tags="<larry-niven><ringworld><known-space>" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="2" />
<row Id="1518" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1517" CreationDate="2011-02-01T14:38:10.947" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="<p>From what I gather, you mean dealing with a run-away greenhouse effect. Presumably in light of all their other technology, how could they not be able to deal with it?</p>

<p>It really depends on just exactly how they were able to do things like move planets around to form the Rosette. Something I don't remember ever being explained.</p>

<p>Still, there really is no magic here. So you would have to capture the excess greenhouse gases, vent them off into space and replace them, or vent off the heat itself. I'd say it is plausible, depending on what other technology they have. And if I remember correctly, they acquire FTL travel the same way all the other species do in that universe. From external sources. So they may never have progressed to the point of having such high technology as to be able to capture the gasses creating the greenhouse. </p>

<p>They are traders, after all. They may have gained all their high technology through reverse-engineering and purchases in a short time. Maybe the easiest way to deal with the problem was they way they did. Rather than creating new technology to deal with the underlying issue. </p>
" OwnerUserId="51" LastEditorUserId="51" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-01T14:43:16.387" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T14:43:16.387" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1519" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1499" CreationDate="2011-02-01T14:46:59.080" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Sensors positioned outside the cloak would "see" for the ship and wouldn't be detectable in and of themselves as long as they were small passive sensors.</p>
" OwnerUserId="541" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T14:46:59.080" CommentCount="5" />
<row Id="1520" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1525" CreationDate="2011-02-01T15:28:50.620" Score="69" ViewCount="13130" Body="<p>Please don't lynch me, but I've never sat through an entire Star Wars film. I'm aware that the 3 (new) films are technically prequels, but I feel strange watching 3 new films then 3 old films?</p>

<p>Do I <em>need</em> to watch the new ones then the old ones?</p>
" OwnerUserId="630" LastEditorUserId="117" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-11-08T15:07:50.110" LastActivityDate="2012-06-08T18:31:10.653" Title="In what order should the Star Wars movies be watched?" Tags="<movie><star-wars><suggested-order>" AnswerCount="10" CommentCount="11" FavoriteCount="13" />
<row Id="1521" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1520" CreationDate="2011-02-01T15:31:09.120" Score="41" ViewCount="" Body="<p>No. Don't watch the new ones. In fact, ignore them. Just watch the old ones (<em>A New Hope</em>, <em>Empire Strikes Back</em> and <em>Return of the Jedi</em>). </p>

<p>See if you can find ones that have been unadulterated. The originals were brilliant. The recently released DvDs have been altered to retcon in stuff they screwed up in the prequels. </p>

<p>Or you can watch the old ones and watch the prequels, but just be ready to be thoroughly disappointed by how very bad the prequels are in comparison to the originals.</p>

<p>Alternately, if you promise not to run screaming when you discover how much the prequels suck. You can watch them in order and instead of disappointment, you may experience a certain level of gratification as they steadily get better.</p>
" OwnerUserId="180" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-02-01T17:02:09.867" LastActivityDate="2012-02-01T17:02:09.867" CommentCount="10" />
<row Id="1522" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-01T15:36:49.350" Score="8" ViewCount="198" Body="<p>In Dollhouse, what happened to the Doll disrupter? That device Topher builds in the middle of season 2 that drops any Doll "in a 10 ft radius." <strong>crash</strong> "Make that a 50 ft radius."</p>

<p>Why didn't Topher build a bunch of those for the actuals to use once all hell breaks loose? Is an explanation for this ever given or are we supposed to just assume he lost it too fast?</p>
" OwnerUserId="180" LastEditorUserId="559" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-01T16:41:02.840" LastActivityDate="2011-03-02T18:31:24.300" Title="What happened to the Doll disruption tech?" Tags="<tv><technology><plot><dollhouse>" AnswerCount="2" />
<row Id="1523" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1499" CreationDate="2011-02-01T15:40:10.483" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The cloaking device in Star Trek is imperfect. If you look closely either with eyes or sensors you can observe a disruption where the ship is. This is because it isn't successfully bending <em>all</em> of the light around the ship. Some of it is going into the ships sensors, being absorbed or being reflected at random. And this creates a detectable disruption, but it also means that the ship can still see.</p>

<p>It's only with total invisibility that all of the light has to go through and you'd have issues with seeing. </p>

<p><strong>[Edit]</strong> And actually, this might apply to the invisibility question as well. The only light that has to go through you to be invisible is the light coming from behind (wrt the observer). As long as you don't <em>reflect</em> the light coming toward your front (wrt the observer), then you won't be visible. Whoever is looking at you will see only the light coming from behind you. Of course, this is an issue if there are people on all sides of you. </p>

<p>However, if you only allow certain points to absorb the light instead of bending or transmitting it, then for all practical intents and purposes, you'd still be invisible. There'd only be a very, very slight disruption right around the sensors. Or eyes.<strong>[edit]</strong></p>

<p><strong>[further edit]</strong> The bit about not reflecting on coming light only works in space actually. Unless you count 'casting a shadow' as being invisible. Which sometimes happens and sometimes doesn't. Depending on the story. <strong>[/futher edit]</strong></p>
" OwnerUserId="180" LastEditorUserId="180" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-01T15:46:36.017" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T15:46:36.017" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1524" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1520" CreationDate="2011-02-01T15:47:46.540" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Don't watch the prequels- at least at first. Let the weight of the first trilogy settle in before going to the prequels.</p>

<p>Watch Episodes 4, 5, and 6 first. I'd suggest also watching three of the most popular original trilogy parodies- <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaceballs" rel="nofollow">Spaceballs</a>, Steve Oedekirk's "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thumb_Wars" rel="nofollow">Thumb Wars</a>", and the "Laugh it up, Fuzzball" Family Guy parody trilogy (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laugh_It_Up,_Fuzzball%3a_The_Family_Guy_Trilogy" rel="nofollow">Blue Harvest/Something Something Something Darkside/It's A Trap</a>). This will allow you to get a general idea about the cultural impact of the original trilogy before moving on. </p>

<p>If you are still interested in what happened before "A New Hope", watch the Clone Wars animated series. Don't expect Shakespeare from the animated series, and you may be pleasantly surprised by their content from time to time. "The Clone Wars" really helps in fleshing out the relationship between Obi-Wan and Anakin Skywalker. Keep in mind that "The Clone Wars" refers to two separate series - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars%3a_Clone_Wars_%282003_TV_series%29" rel="nofollow">a two dimensional series from 2003</a> and a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars%3a_The_Clone_Wars_%282008_TV_series%29" rel="nofollow">3D CGI series from 2008</a>. Technically, both of these series occur in the time between Episode II and Episode III, so you could watch Episode I and Episode II before each iteration of the Clone Wars series.</p>

<p>If you want, you can watch the prequels, once. You may not ever want to watch the prequels again after that, and that's OK. However, the Robot Chicken Star Wars Trilogy (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robot_Chicken%3a_Star_Wars" rel="nofollow">I</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robot_Chicken%3a_Star_Wars_Episode_II" rel="nofollow">II</a>, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robot_Chicken%3a_Star_Wars_Episode_III" rel="nofollow">III</a>)) does parody several of the moments from the prequel trilogy, so it would be best to wait to watch them until after you've finished watching I, II, and III. Honestly, I enjoyed the Red Letter Media critiques of the prequels (<a href="http://www.redlettermedia.com/phantom_menace.html" rel="nofollow">I</a>, <a href="http://www.redlettermedia.com/clones.html" rel="nofollow">II</a>, <a href="http://www.redlettermedia.com/sith.html" rel="nofollow">III</a>) more than I enjoyed the films themselves, because the critiques helped lend voice to the reasons that the prequels didn't have a lasting emotional impact on my life. However, if you like the prequels, great! Feel free to watch them as much as you want. If you don't like them, consider watching a <a href="http://www.fanedit.org/forums/content.php?15-Star-Wars-Fanedits" rel="nofollow">"fan-edit" version</a> that may match up better to what you're looking for.</p>

<p>TL;DR - IV, V, VI, Spaceballs, "Thumb Wars", "Laugh it up, Fuzzball", I, II, Clone Wars (2003), Clone Wars (2008), III, Robot Chicken Star Wars I-III, Red Letter Media Critique of Episodes I-III, (Fan-Edits?).</p>

<p>EDIT: I apologize for editing the answer several times. If anything, the multiple edits of my own answer prove that there is definitely more than one way to watch Star Wars.</p>
" OwnerUserId="317" LastEditorUserId="317" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-09-15T20:28:46.053" LastActivityDate="2011-09-15T20:28:46.053" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="1525" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1520" CreationDate="2011-02-01T16:58:42.533" Score="109" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The best order I've seen suggested is as follows: </p>

<p><a href="https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1y5DMJeF2K-JjOJIH5qs_libf21sxEmMPy-Yuel55YLE/edit?hl=en_US" rel="nofollow"><img src="http://i.stack.imgur.com/SehgO.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>



<p>Basically, you have a very extended flashback between episodes V and VI.</p>

<p>That puts the oldest and clunkiest SFX first, avoids spoiling the revelations from episode V, and finishes at the end of the story. And it means you won't stop and give up in disgust after only watching one movie.</p>
" OwnerUserId="23" LastEditorUserId="33" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-09-06T17:45:18.383" LastActivityDate="2011-09-06T17:45:18.383" CommentCount="11" />
<row Id="1527" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1517" CreationDate="2011-02-01T17:21:39.933" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The problem with Hearth's climate was not so much the stellar input, but the waste heat generated by the puppeteer's huge industrial base. The stellar input was 'easily' solved by moving the entire planet into interstellar space, but the industry problem was unavoidable. They must have scrubbed the atmosphere of all greenhouse gases to maximize the amount of long-wave IR the planet could emit, but I don't recall seeing that mentioned.</p>
" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T17:21:39.933" />
<row Id="1528" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1517" CreationDate="2011-02-01T17:23:18.330" Score="20" ViewCount="" Body="<p>First, for those who don't remember <em>Ringworld</em>, the Puppeteers' homeworld has been detached from its sun altogether, and is migrating to one of the Magellanic clouds at STL speeds (Puppeteers don't trust hyperdrive) in order to escape from the explosion of the galactic core (which was discovered for them by Beowulf Shaeffer a couple of hundred years earlier). </p>

<p>But before that, it had already been moved to 1/10 of a light year from its star, because of problems with excess heat. (And its sun had subsequently become a red giant, which is why no human could find the Puppeteer homeworld -- they were looking for the wrong kind of star.)</p>

<p>So let's look at some numbers. The Earth receives about 5.5 yottajoules (YJ) of energy per year from the sun -- 5.5 * 10E24 joules. Fusion of two protons yields 6.7 * 10E-14 joules. So to generate as much heat from fusion as we get from the sun would require us to fuse around 10E38 protons. Which sounds like a lot, but there are 6 * 10E23 hydrogen atoms per gramme of hydrogen, so we'd only need to fuse a bit over 10E14 grammes of hydrogen. That's 100 million tonnes, or the amount of hydrogen you'd get from an 800 metre cube of water. The Earth has about 1.5 <em>billion</em> cubic kilometres of water, so if the Puppeteer homeworld is similar to Earth, then they can last for over two billion years at an energy output that's more than enough to heat the planet up even in the absence of a sun.</p>
" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T17:23:18.330" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1531" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1517" CreationDate="2011-02-01T18:40:49.897" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I'm not a physicist so the details may be shaky, but I think this correctly describes the situation:</p>

<p>A highly technological society with a large industrial base is going to produce and use up a lot of energy as part of its daily existence.</p>

<p>Even assuming maximal efficiency throughout, and devices in place to reuse as much of the waste energy as is possible, there is a theoretical limit beyond which it's not possible to improve efficiency or recover energy. Check out <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnot%27s_theorem_(thermodynamics" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnot%27s_theorem_(thermodynamics</a>) for an idea.</p>

<p>Due to conversion costs, it's most likely that unusable, unrecoverable energy will end up radiated as heat. It's cheaper to convert energy into heat energy, than to go back, especially if you're looking at an already hot planet.</p>

<p>So it's entirely reasonable that a very efficient, highly optimized society, will be producing high quantities of excess heat.</p>

<p>This is not a problem, yet. It's actually, in general, easier to be energy efficient - especially for mechanical processes - at higher temperatures. Hotter engines are more efficient - mostly since their environment can't absorb as much waste if it's warmer. The real problems with heat are for survival of living organisms, and for proper functioning of advanced tech devices - the more advanced they are, the more likely they to be sensitive to energy differences. Look at your computer internals as an example.</p>

<p>So, if I had to guess, the puppeteers, despite being as energy efficient as possible, produced too much heat that the balance between efficiency and function was skewed, and they had to take extreme measures to dispose of the excess.</p>
" OwnerUserId="559" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T18:40:49.897" />
<row Id="1532" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4738" CreationDate="2011-02-01T20:08:50.073" Score="17" ViewCount="2237" Body="<p>I seem to recall a "Phantom Edit" version of Star Wars Episode I being created by fans in the wake of disappointment in the movie. Did this continue through the prequels, or did this practice stop?</p>

<p>If the entire prequel trilogy didn't get "Phantom Edited", why? Did LucasArts attempt to quash this movement, or did a lack of fan interest in remaking the prequels halt the progress?</p>
" OwnerUserId="317" LastEditorUserId="2383" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-07-29T14:24:36.953" LastActivityDate="2012-02-01T19:17:21.403" Title="Does a "Phantom Edit" of the Star Wars prequel trilogy exist?" Tags="<star-wars>" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="4" />
<row Id="1533" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1522" CreationDate="2011-02-01T20:20:06.080" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Actually, I'm pretty sure that the tech took down anyone with "Active architecture", meaning people whose brains had been conditioned to accept wipes and imprints.</p>

<p>When all hell broke loose, it was because of tech that could imprint without Active architecture, so it's likely the doll disruption tech was essentially useless at that point.</p>
" OwnerUserId="646" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T20:20:06.080" />
<row Id="1534" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1558" CreationDate="2011-02-01T20:28:36.160" Score="5" ViewCount="120" Body="<p>I'm rereading Sundiver by David Brin for the first time in a long time. In it, Jacob Demwa is recently scarred by an incident at the Vanilla Needle in which he loses his wife. Brin is excellent at fleshing out his universes in great detail and we get lots of flash backs to this. I was just wondering if Brin ever put the whole story to paper anywhere. Are there any short stories or novels that tell the tale of Demwa's experiences at the Vanilla Needle? Or any of his other mentioned adventures?</p>
" OwnerUserId="180" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T12:38:04.603" Title="Any tales about the Vanilla Needle and Jacob Demwa?" Tags="<david-brin><uplift>" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="1535" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-01T20:30:11.120" Score="6" ViewCount="196" Body="<p>The moral implications aside, I remember wondering in the past if there were any projects that were actually pursuing something like David Brin's Uplift.</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>This future history depicts a huge galactic civilization responsible for "uplifting" all forms of life which are potentially capable of building and operating interstellar spaceships for themselves. </p>
</blockquote>

<p>I know there are projects that are examining various species to determine their level of intelligence, but are there any that are doing concentrated breeding and teaching programs to attempt to raise the level of intelligence?</p>
" OwnerUserId="180" LastEditorUserId="3804" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-06-22T08:28:26.377" LastActivityDate="2012-06-22T08:28:26.377" Title="Are there any scientific projects currently pursuing Uplift?" Tags="<uplift>" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="1536" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1537" CreationDate="2011-02-01T20:37:08.727" Score="42" ViewCount="2649" Body="<p>All throughout Star Trek one hears of exploration of various quadrants. I assume these are of the Milky Way galaxy. Does anyone know how the travels of the Enterprise relate to our universe in physical space? Was the entire series limited to our galaxy, or did the crew ever visit other galaxies?</p>

<p>In short, what area of the universe was Star Trek exploring?</p>
" OwnerUserId="558" LastEditorUserId="366" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-03-17T21:15:35.507" LastActivityDate="2012-07-29T21:00:31.847" Title="Can anyone explain the Star Trek astrography (i.e. quadrants)?" Tags="<star-trek>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="6" />
<row Id="1537" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1536" CreationDate="2011-02-01T20:52:45.517" Score="43" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Star Trek was almost entirely set in our <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milky_Way" rel="nofollow">Milky Way</a> galaxy.</p>

<ul>
<li>Earth was in the <strong>Alpha</strong> quadrant along with most of Federation space and the home planets of the Ferengis, Cardassians and Bajorans. One end of the Bajoran wormhole (featured in Deep Space 9) is also in the Alpha quadrant.</li>
<li>Some Federation space was also in the <strong>Beta</strong> quadrant, together with the Romulan and Klingon homeworlds.</li>
<li>The <strong>Gamma</strong> quadrant contained the Dominion space and the other end of the Bajoran wormhole.</li>
<li>The <strong>Delta</strong> quadrant contained the Borg homeworld and is where most of the Voyager series was set.</li>
</ul>

<p>A pretty clear overview can be found on <strong><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek%3a_Voyager_%E2%80%93_Elite_Force" rel="nofollow">the map displayed in the main screen of Elite Force</a></strong>:</p>

<p><img src="http://i.stack.imgur.com/y8Vtf.jpg" alt="An image of the four quadrants of the galaxy."></p>

<p>More details on <strong><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galactic_quadrant_%28Star_Trek%29" rel="nofollow">Wikipedia</a></strong> and <strong><a href="http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Quadrant" rel="nofollow">Memory Alpha</a></strong>.</p>
" OwnerUserId="143" LastEditorUserId="3774" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-07-29T21:00:31.847" LastActivityDate="2012-07-29T21:00:31.847" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="1539" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1536" CreationDate="2011-02-01T21:33:33.620" Score="24" ViewCount="" Body="<p><em>(Edit: the mod pointed out that the site I pulled the info from and attributed may not be the original source of the material, which may have instead been this site: <a href="http://startrekfan.wetpaint.com/page/Milky+Way+(Alpha,+Beta,+Delta,+Gamma+Quadrants" rel="nofollow">http://startrekfan.wetpaint.com/page/Milky+Way+(Alpha,+Beta,+Delta,+Gamma+Quadrants</a>) )</em></p>

<blockquote>
 <p>In short, what area of the universe was Star Trek exploring?</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Our galaxy, the milky way.</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>Was the entire series limited to our galaxy, or did the crew ever visit other galaxies?</p>
</blockquote>

<p>I believe crossing the distance between galaxies is a big deal in the Trek universe - the Federation tech isn't there yet. I can think of two (also shown on the map below) where they had help:</p>

<ul>
<li>Enterprise crossed to just outside out galaxy - <a href="http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Where_No_Man_Has_Gone_Before_%28episode%29" rel="nofollow">ST:TOS:"Where No Man Has Gone Before"</a></li>
<li>Enterprise-D went to galaxy M-33 - <a href="http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Where_No_One_Has_Gone_Before_%28episode%29" rel="nofollow">ST:TNG "Where No One Has Gone Before"</a></li>
</ul>

<blockquote>
 <p>Can anyone explain the Star Trek geography (i.e. quadrants)?</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Our galaxy is labeled by cutting it like a pie into 4 pieces: Alpha (Federation location), Beta (Klingon/Romulan location), Gamma (ST:DS9 wormhole), Delta (ST:VOY setting).</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>Does anyone know how the travels of the Enterprise relate to our universe in physical space?</p>
</blockquote>

<p>I like the map from here:</p>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://startrekfan.wetpaint.com/page/Milky+Way+(Alpha,+Beta,+Delta,+Gamma+Quadrants" rel="nofollow">http://startrekfan.wetpaint.com/page/Milky+Way+(Alpha,+Beta,+Delta,+Gamma+Quadrants</a>)</li>
<li><a href="http://startreklives.wordpress.com/2008/09/20/milky-way-alpha-beta-delta-gamma-quadrants-2/" rel="nofollow">http://startreklives.wordpress.com/2008/09/20/milky-way-alpha-beta-delta-gamma-quadrants-2/</a></li>
</ul>

<p><img src="http://i.stack.imgur.com/Gybax.jpg" alt="Star Trek Quadrants"></p>

<p>Click for large version:</p>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://startreklives.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/2-quadrants.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://startreklives.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/2-quadrants.jpg</a></li>
<li><a href="http://image.wetpaint.com/image/1/KdcHhjeIC4hk0wSr3PQcYQ1170180" rel="nofollow">http://image.wetpaint.com/image/1/KdcHhjeIC4hk0wSr3PQcYQ1170180</a></li>
</ul>

<p>Don't miss:</p>

<ul>
<li>The limits of explorer local space</li>
<li>ST:VOY Voyager's route</li>
<li>The ends of the ST:DS9 Bajoran wormhole</li>
<li>The Great Barrier from ST:TFF</li>
<li>The points where Enterprise and Enterprise-D left the galaxy</li>
</ul>
" OwnerUserId="637" LastEditorUserId="637" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T12:47:15.017" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T12:47:15.017" CommentCount="8" />
<row Id="1540" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1532" CreationDate="2011-02-01T22:30:53.200" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I think there was only the edit of <em>The Phantom Menace</em> - I'm sure it's still around on some Torrent networks.</p>

<p>Basically, any scene with Jar-Jar was carefully edited to remove this character (along with references to him) - and I think annoying things like Anakin's "<em>yippee</em>" were cut out. </p>

<p>Bear in mind - without access to stored footage, the edit could only cut footage, not introduce new scenes.</p>
" OwnerUserId="373" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-02-01T19:17:21.403" LastActivityDate="2012-02-01T19:17:21.403" />
<row Id="1541" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1136" CreationDate="2011-02-01T22:37:07.843" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="<p>In <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epitaph_One" rel="nofollow">Epitaph One</a>, I believe its mentioned offhandedly that the tech leaked from Rossum and eventually China got the tech and started using it through through phone lines and through audio broadcasts to do mass reprogramming.</p>

<p>I like that the whole thing wasn't explained it explicitly in some big scene - its a way of saying it didn't matter how it happened specifically, because <em>the same end result was inevitable</em>. Topher certainly recognized the likely outcome the instant he learned that remote audio imprinting was possible.</p>

<p>I imagine that once the tech leaked from Rossum, the use of the tech escalated (slowly? quickly? doesn't matter?):</p>

<ul>
<li><p>Upon hearing about Doll tech, any county or entity with a big enough budget would pay or do anything to obtain it and/or advance for themselves, starting a new arms race with Doll tech as the new A-bomb</p></li>
<li><p>Once a conflict is started anywhere, the county/entity with the largest Doll army had the upper hand, so the mass reprogramming of population groups would ensue:</p>

<ul>
<li>selective groups at first (rebels, prisoners, indigents, mentally ill, etc), </li>
<li>less selective later (general citizenry) as the situation gets more desperate.</li>
<li>After all: <em>s/he ... with the most toys wins</em>.</li>
</ul></li>
<li><p>Its conceivable that Doll remote audio imprinting was applied directly to the battlefield by both sides, with soldiers getting wiped and reprogrammed by opposite sides over and over again. Shredding the higher functions of the brain with contravening instructions over and over again == eventual zombie brain.</p></li>
<li><p>Doll signals could be combat dropped into the enemy base camp with programming that says "kill, kill, kill anything that moves" == zombie brain</p></li>
<li><p>Less ethical leaders could drop doll signals into an enemy population center (like the A-bomb was) with programming that says "kill, kill, kill anything that moves" == zombie brain</p></li>
<li><p>Attempts at anti-Doll counter-tech started and never get very sophisticated or get very much testing before trying it in the field. There could have been multiple catastrophic failures == zombie brain</p></li>
</ul>

<p>With all that messing with the brain, I can conceive how a Doll zombie apocalypse could happen.</p>
" OwnerUserId="637" LastEditorUserId="637" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-03T19:01:17.447" LastActivityDate="2011-03-03T19:01:17.447" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1542" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1544" CreationDate="2011-02-01T22:50:28.047" Score="14" ViewCount="400" Body="<p>I love Scifi and I love Star Trek.</p>

<p>I have seen everything. Every series, every movie (at least everything official).</p>

<p>I understand that if you take note of every detail mentioned somewhere you can combine than and can conclude to a lot. For example triangulate a map of the galaxy. </p>

<p>But in Star Trek fan scenes I see fellows talking about a lot of stuff. Like some weird ship classes, how many crew members, technical specifications...</p>

<p>Stuff that I am SURE has NEVER EVER been mentioned in any of the official series / movies.</p>

<p>So where does all this stuff come from?</p>
" OwnerUserId="657" LastEditorUserId="100" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T09:45:41.140" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T09:45:41.140" Title="Who comes up with all those Star Trek facts?" Tags="<star-trek>" AnswerCount="2" />
<row Id="1543" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1542" CreationDate="2011-02-01T22:52:17.773" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Writers and other miscellaneous personnel are paid to come up with these ideas. </p>

<p>The Deep Space Nine companion goes into length about how they come up with the ideas for a show, it's a good read.</p>

<p>I imagine they either hire writers to milk a product line or writers approach them with material, and they get it published.</p>
" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T22:52:17.773" />
<row Id="1544" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1542" CreationDate="2011-02-01T23:13:33.363" Score="16" ViewCount="" Body="<p>A lot of it comes from the show bibles - reference material put together by the show writers to keep everything (mostly) consistent.</p>

<p>Even if the details never show up on screen or in dialogue, having the details in the show bible means that what does show up is self consistent. </p>

<p>As a (made up) example, having definitions for the various ship classes and their capabilities means that when the Enterprise needs to run into an abandoned ship somewhere, the writers can ensure the ship they find makes sense for the situation.</p>
" OwnerUserId="113" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T23:13:33.363" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1546" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1499" CreationDate="2011-02-01T23:56:10.743" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="<p>This is sort of like the invisible man problem. If the invisible man is totally, 100% invisible, he'd have to be blind. If he can see, then at least his retinas must attenuate light passing through them, <em>and</em> his lenses have to refract properly. Artificial sensors would have similar requirements. </p>

<p>But the thing is, in the case of an invisible man, you've reduced the visible area from a square meter or two, to a square centimeter or two, and in the case of a ship, from (probably) several hundred square meters to (possibly) less than a single square meter. The cloaking doesn't have to be perfect to be effective.</p>

<p>Of course, if you have a ship that's going to go even just a few percent of <em>C</em>, it should probably be capable of detecting quite small particles, and should therefore be able to detect even the tiny reflection/distortion from the sensors of a cloaked ship.</p>

<p>Of course there's also the possibility of 'active cloaking', that if you know where the enemy you're trying to hide from is, and what their sensor systems are, then you can actively beam just the right signal at the other guy to fool his sensors into not seeing you.</p>
" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2011-02-01T23:56:10.743" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1548" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2081" CreationDate="2011-02-02T01:08:02.743" Score="11" ViewCount="372" Body="<p>From what I can tell, the primary reason that the 'other' parallel universe is seeking to destroy 'our' universe is because they presume that the voids that appear there are being caused by this universe.</p>

<p>I get that the voids started occuring when Walter crossed over to get the other Peter, but what exactly is causing these voids?</p>
" OwnerUserId="74" LastEditorUserId="383" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-11T00:36:10.633" LastActivityDate="2011-02-25T21:41:25.297" Title="What exactly are the 'voids' in the Fringe parallel universe?" Tags="<parallel-universe><fringe>" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="1549" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1571" CreationDate="2011-02-02T01:45:20.980" Score="36" ViewCount="1730" Body="<p>In "First Contact" Picard kills a couple of Borg drones in the Holodeck with a holographic Tommy gun. It would appear that while the Borg are able to adapt to become impervious to energy weapons, they are vulnerable to bullets. This looks like a gaping logical hole: why couldn't Star Fleet replicate "primitive" assault rifles to fight the Borg, if the knew that phasers were useless against them? Has this ever been addressed?</p>
" OwnerUserId="638" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-15T19:35:55.250" LastActivityDate="2012-07-13T23:52:15.490" Title="How come the Federation did not routinely use projectile weapons against the Borg?" Tags="<star-trek><star-trek-tng><borg>" AnswerCount="10" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="3" />
<row Id="1550" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1549" CreationDate="2011-02-02T01:59:45.393" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I think the reasoning of the writers would simply be that after that attack the borg would adapt and become invulnerable to holographic bullets. But you know, the writers aren't perfect.</p>
" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T01:59:45.393" />
<row Id="1551" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1549" CreationDate="2011-02-02T02:01:28.993" Score="18" ViewCount="" Body="<p>This has not been addressed, no.</p>

<p>Kill one Borg with a certain weapon and they will adapt. It's a bit surprising that they had never encountered any culture with projectile weapons, but since they now have, they would technically have adapted.</p>

<p>Of course, First Contact took place in the past and this knowledge never got back to the collective. So I guess the Federation is still good for one single Borg kill with bullets...</p>

<p>EDIT:</p>

<p>They don't seem to adapt to bat'leths very well...</p>
" OwnerUserId="224" LastEditorUserId="224" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-07-30T04:27:50.013" LastActivityDate="2011-07-30T04:27:50.013" CommentCount="5" />
<row Id="1552" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1517" CreationDate="2011-02-02T02:01:57.400" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="<p>It does seem like a flaw. In Ringworld Throne Louis Wu uses the superconducting fabric to build a heat dispersion suit, so he can survive Teela Brown. </p>

<p>He also dumped the end of a superconducting cable into the lake to dump the excess heat.</p>

<p>Seems like the Puppeteers ought to be able to build a heat pipe to radiate it out into space.</p>

<p>And he used it another time in the book, I remember hanging it from his ship maybe? </p>
" OwnerUserId="176" LastEditorUserId="176" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T12:18:39.530" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T12:18:39.530" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1554" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1549" CreationDate="2011-02-02T08:44:44.237" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="<p>It's a different universe, but there are parallels to the replicators in <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118480/" rel="nofollow">Stargate SG1</a> - they were also initially vulnerable to 'primitive' weapons (i.e. Earth technology) but immune to more sophisticated technology (Asgard, Goa'uld). However, they quickly adapt to the weapons, and so only a limited (given how quickly they can reproduce, basically unimportant) number can be destroyed in this way.</p>

<p>If this was addressed in Star Trek it seems likely that something similar would apply.</p>
" OwnerUserId="108" LastEditorUserId="108" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-02T10:31:59.447" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T10:31:59.447" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="1555" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-02T08:49:01.350" Score="11" ViewCount="519" Body="<p>It's well known that Dick and Heinlein were friends. On <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_K._Dick" rel="nofollow">Dick's wikipedia article</a> there is an extract from the introduction to the 1980 short story collection The Golden Man in which Dick praises Heinlein for how he helped him during the tough times.</p>

<p>I've searched the internet for more info about their friendship and apart from the alleged present of a typewriter from Heinlein you don't find much.</p>

<p>This is history, as they say, and I'd like to learn more. Anyone can provide more details about the interaction of these two writers? </p>
" OwnerUserId="50" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T03:41:21.967" Title="On the personal relation between Phil K. Dick and Robert Heinlein" Tags="<philip-k-dick><robert-a-heinlein>" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="1556" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1499" CreationDate="2011-02-02T09:48:42.603" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="<p>There is one difference between this question and the <a href="http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/1465/does-any-sci-fi-deal-with-invisibility-causing-blindness">invisible man</a> question. The invisible man issue is purely limited to the visible spectrum of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_radiation" rel="nofollow">electromagnetic radiation</a>.</p>

<p>For a space ship, it is conceivable that the cloaked ship is hidden in one part of the spectrum (e.g. visible light) but <em>detects other ships</em> using a different part, perhaps X-rays.</p>
" OwnerUserId="143" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T09:48:42.603" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1557" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1555" CreationDate="2011-02-02T10:03:25.400" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="<p>There is a lot of information about this on <a href="http://www.locusmag.com/" rel="nofollow">Locus Online</a>. See <a href="http://www.locusmag.com/2005/Features/03_Westfahl_RAH_PKD.html" rel="nofollow">Surprising Sci-Fi Soul Brothers:
Robert A. Heinlein and Philip K. Dick</a> by <a href="http://www.locusmag.com/Indexes/OnlineContributors.html#westfahl" rel="nofollow">Gary Westfahl</a>. These are two of my favorite sci-fi authors.</p>
" OwnerUserId="70" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T10:03:25.400" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1558" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1534" CreationDate="2011-02-02T12:38:04.603" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="<p>No, I'm afraid not. Brin seems to have a habit of writing novels that seem like sequels to other novels that never actually existed.</p>

<p>Jacob Demwa is mentioned briefly in <em>Startide Rising</em>, but apart from that we only know what's in <em>Sundiver</em>.</p>
" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T12:38:04.603" />
<row Id="1559" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1555" CreationDate="2011-02-02T12:45:38.620" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="<p>It may be hard to find public information on the private interaction of these authors. They were both dead long before the insta-media era and much like the apocryphal story about Heinlein and Hubbard having a bet to see who could first start a religion, these stories are very hard to separate fact from fiction.</p>

<p>However, you might ask some of the authors that knew one or both of them and see if you can at least get second hand stories.</p>

<p>Jerry Pournelle, for example, was good friends with Heinlein and might have some insights. You should be able to find a way to contact him via <a href="http://www.jerrypournelle.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.jerrypournelle.com/</a></p>

<p>He is an avid blogger and often appears on This Week in Tech. </p>
" OwnerUserId="51" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T12:45:38.620" />
<row Id="1560" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1621" CreationDate="2011-02-02T15:06:29.227" Score="6" ViewCount="450" Body="<p>Things I remember about this book:</p>

<ul>
<li>Every child was selected for a certain job/career;</li>
<li>If twins were born, one was always killed;</li>
<li>Seeing colors for the first time (describing the color of an apple);</li>
<li>Seeing war and death and poverty.</li>
</ul>

<p>Does anyone have any idea what this book might be?</p>
" OwnerUserId="666" LastEditorUserId="3804" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-06-22T08:42:34.467" LastActivityDate="2012-06-22T08:42:34.467" Title="Can someone identify this book, where children are bred for specific jobs?" Tags="<story-identification><novel>" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" />
<row Id="1561" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1499" CreationDate="2011-02-02T15:25:20.637" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I'd like to propose another answer.</p>

<p>Looking at the cloaking technology itself, there are two ways that it could work:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>First Case: Light hitting the ship is absorbed and emitted on the other side of the ship without alteration from all directions.</p>

<p>In this case, your technology is actually capturing the light, so it IS "seeing" everything as normal... it's just not reflecting it back for everyone else to see them. Problem Solved.</p></li>
<li><p>Second Case: Light hitting the ship is bent around the ship and then straightened again on the other side without any other alteration by the ship.</p>

<p>In this case, you're going to need a small inconsequential amount of light to pass through the cloak barrier and be absorbed (not reflected) by the ship as sensor data.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>So the bottom line, as long as you have technology that absorbs light without reflecting it back... you can "see". But the more light you absorb without passing it to the other side, the more distortion there's going to be... and that is a way for the other ships to detect you. (Of course, any energy being emitted by the ship is detectable... so you have to turn the ship into a closed sealed system).</p>
" OwnerUserId="541" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-02-01T16:45:37.967" LastActivityDate="2012-02-01T16:45:37.967" CommentCount="4" />
<row Id="1563" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1560" CreationDate="2011-02-02T17:40:13.450" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The color bit sounds like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Giver" rel="nofollow"><em>The Giver</em></a>. Come to think of it, there was an early selection for careers and infanticide, as well.</p>

<p>Widely praised, but I found it a bit weak.</p>
" OwnerUserId="231" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T17:40:13.450" />
<row Id="1565" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1517" CreationDate="2011-02-02T18:15:04.843" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I'm not convinced you couldn't use heat pumps to pump heat to heat radiators. This just requires that you have nearly unlimited power to deal with. It would be expensive, but doable. Alternatively if your population was confined to a few domed cities, they could be airconditioned, and the rest of the planet could be hundreds of degrees Centigrade. That would increase the amount of waste heat your planet gives off by maybe ten to a hundred times. Its still limited, but could be quite high.</p>
" OwnerUserId="578" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T18:15:04.843" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1566" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1567" CreationDate="2011-02-02T18:45:12.587" Score="32" ViewCount="4196" Body="<p>I'm almost done watching the sixth season of Star Trek: The Next Generation, so I'm starting to look at what to watch next. After reading a little bit about Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager, it's clear to me that Voyager would be fit my current mood.</p>

<p>Would watching Voyager before Deep Space Nine spoil any event of importance?</p>
" OwnerUserId="678" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-20T23:15:57.667" LastActivityDate="2012-07-31T20:36:59.930" Title="After Star Trek: The Next Generation, can I skip to Voyager without watching Deep Space Nine and not get spoiled?" Tags="<star-trek><star-trek-voyager><star-trek-ds9>" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="4" />
<row Id="1567" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1566" CreationDate="2011-02-02T19:06:11.743" Score="65" ViewCount="" Body="<p>There are two ways to approach this question; from the aspect of watching <em>Voyager</em> and from the aspect of watching <em>DS9</em>. </p>

<p>In the first aspect, you should be able to jump right into <em>Voyager</em>. </p>

<p><em>Voyager</em> debuted only a season after <em>TNG</em> ended, and the first couple of seasons of <em>DS9</em> didn't introduce any major story-lines or continuity that would affect the <em>Voyager</em> universe. However, while you should already be aware of the Maquis from watching <em>TNG</em>, the Maquis were actually introduced on <em>DS9</em> before <em>TNG</em> concluded.</p>

<p>Additionally, with the exception of the first episode and some passing mentions in later seasons, <em>Voyager</em> has no connection to the rest of the Universe by design. You're supposed to take <em>Voyager</em> by itself.</p>

<p>With all that said, <em>Voyager</em> is still part of canon and takes place roughly at the same time the events of <em>DS9</em> take place. Especially later on in <em>Voyager</em>, some allusions and references might make more sense with some knowledge of what's occurred in <em>DS9</em>, but it's not necessary at all to understand what's going on in <em>Voyager</em>. </p>

<p>If anything, you might want to watch <em>Star Trek: First Contact</em> at some point in the first few seasons of <em>Voyager</em>. You might also want to watch <em>Star Trek Generations</em> so you're not lost on some background info in <em>Star Trek: First Contact</em>, but it's not that great a film.</p>

<p>With regards to the second aspect—watching <em>DS9</em> unspoiled—those same passing mentions might spoil some of the plot lines of <em>DS9</em> (and the Star Trek movies <em>Generations</em>-onward, for that matter).</p>

<p>Ideally, you should follow the intended chronology to avoid any chance of spoiling either series. If you wanted to follow chronology, the timeline is roughly:</p>

<ol>
<li>TNG Season 6 starts</li>
<li>TNG episode, "Chain of Command"</li>
<li>DS9 Season 1 starts halfway through TNG season 6</li>
<li>TNG Season 7 and DS9 season 2 begin</li>
<li>TNG Ends</li>
<li>DS9 Season 3 starts</li>
<li>DS9 episode, "Meridian"</li>
<li><em>Star Trek Generations</em>, halfway through DS9 season 3</li>
<li>DS9 episode, "Past Tense"</li>
<li>Star Trek Voyager Season 1 starts halfway through DS9 season 3</li>
<li>DS9 season 4 and Voyager season 2 begin</li>
<li>DS9 season 5 and Voyager season 3 begin</li>
<li>DS9 episode, "Things Past" and Voyager episode, "Warlord"</li>
<li><em>Star Trek: First Contact</em>, halfway through DS9 season 5 and Voyager season 3</li>
<li>DS9 season 6 and Voyager season 4 begin</li>
<li>DS9 season 7 and Voyager season 5 begin</li>
<li>DS9 episode, "Covenant" and Voyager episode, "Thirty Days"</li>
<li><em>Star Trek: Insurrection</em>, halfway through DS9 season 7 and Voyager season 5</li>
<li>DS9 ends</li>
<li>Voyager seasons 6 and 7</li>
<li>Voyager ends</li>
<li><em>Star Trek: Nemesis</em></li>
</ol>
" OwnerUserId="366" LastEditorUserId="366" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-28T05:23:27.737" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T05:23:27.737" CommentCount="6" />
<row Id="1568" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1566" CreationDate="2011-02-02T19:13:52.257" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="<blockquote class="spoiler">
 <p> The conclusion of the Maquis story is in DS9 with acknowledgement of the outcome by the Maquis crewmen of Voyager eventually (once Voyager is able to communicate, however infrequently, with the Alpha quandrant). So you'll know the eventual outcome of the Maquis faction, but IMHO, it doesn't spoil the DS9 episodes about the Maquis in any significant way.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>There are only a couple of potentially significant events in Federation history during DS9, but Voyager is so far out and out of touch, they are largely unaware until long after the fact and those events get largely superficial attention on Voyager (if at all).</p>

<p>To sum up: no, I don't think watching ST:VOY will spoil watching ST:DS9.</p>
" OwnerUserId="637" LastEditorUserId="910" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T17:04:50.720" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T17:04:50.720" />
<row Id="1571" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1549" CreationDate="2011-02-02T21:11:29.597" Score="25" ViewCount="" Body="<p>In-universe, I would think that the use of chemical explosives and kinetic energy weapons would be SEVERELY discouraged on any starship, given the chances of a hull breach, and the security forces we typically see would be mostly useless with such weaponry. They have been trained on energy weapons without recoil, with no significant magazine capacity, no need to reload, etc. It would be like taking a group of riflemen and giving them crossbows.</p>

<p>From a writing standpoint, there's just no way for the Borg to be a threat once the Federation begins using firearms instead of energy weapons. Kinetic energy isn't like the magic energy weapons they use - you can't just 'shield' against it (or else punches, swords, etc wouldn't work) and the relative simplicity of even modern firearms to mass-produce (given the established technology of the replicators) would quickly render Borg useless as face-to-face villians.</p>

<p>And CGI battles cost money.</p>

<p>In short: The Federation doesn't have the training to use them well, and would end up killing many of their own (if they even considered the possibility) by using them incorrectly, and if they ever did gain widespread use, the series would lose a major antagonist.</p>
" OwnerUserId="656" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T21:11:29.597" CommentCount="12" />
<row Id="1572" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1499" CreationDate="2011-02-02T21:23:03.733" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Out-of-universe, it's easy to explain: The writers wrote down to their expected audience, who they didn't expect to want to watch episodes about invisible enemies guessing where their foes were. Alternatively, the writers could have been unable to come up with appropriate stories for cloaked ships being blind.</p>

<p>In-universe, it's probably explained in the same vein as the sensors (which can 'see' events light-hours away in real time). My guess is 'subspace'.</p>
" OwnerUserId="656" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T21:23:03.733" />
<row Id="1573" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1575" CreationDate="2011-02-02T21:36:07.710" Score="13" ViewCount="332" Body="<p>The Honorverse includes several different forms of FTL travel, and I must admit I'm confused about the differences.</p>

<p>There's 'hyper', which has different 'bands', each with a different relative speed compared to n-space. This is the most common form of travel I've seen referenced.</p>

<p>Then there's grav waves, which exist in hyper (but not in n-space?) and kill ships under impeller drive (which is still used in hyper) but you can ride them with grav sails.</p>

<p>Then there's wormholes, which allow nearly instantaneous transit between two points, under grav sails (essentially super grav waves).</p>

<p>But in many books they mention ambushes between grav waves (notably in <em>Honor Among Enemies</em> climax).</p>

<p>Essentially, I'm just confused about the different forms and how they interact. Can someone tell me if the above is correct, or explain why not?</p>
" OwnerUserId="656" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T15:53:40.657" LastActivityDate="2011-06-11T17:41:57.723" Title="What are the different forms of FTL travel and how do they interact?" Tags="<ftl-drive><honorverse><david-weber>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1574" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1549" CreationDate="2011-02-02T22:07:49.513" Score="20" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I think it's interesting that nobody else here has picked up on the inconsistent logic here. I would think the reason is precisely the one most people agree it is not - the shields will be adapted to block physical bullets. All the force fields in use in most places (including Federation ships - think of the brig) will be able to prevent physical things passing through. It isn't hard to imagine the Borg could simply adapt their shields against slower, larger bullets in addition to (or instead of) energy-based weaponry.</p>
" OwnerUserId="674" LastActivityDate="2011-02-02T22:07:49.513" CommentCount="10" />
<row Id="1575" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1573" CreationDate="2011-02-02T22:08:28.933" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Sounds like you have it essentially correct. </p>

<p>The basic impression I got -- hyper is a different dimension, with different relationships between time and space than normal or "n-space." Conventional impeller drive generally works in hyper - its just that the different time-space relationship means you're covering more ground. The bands definitely have an influence on increasing n-space speed but I don't think the books are ever clear on what they are exactly - further dimensions they are transitioning too, likely. </p>

<p>Gravity waves are stretches of turbulence; I get the impression of a very powerful, fast moving current in the fabric of hyperspace. Grav sails allow the ships to safely be pulled along by the waves at greater speeds than they could normally obtain, while regular impeller drive clashes violently with the wave. The waves are naturally occurring and don't go to all destinations, so there are times when a ship must leave the waves and navigate a calm area to reach the destination (or another wave). The lower speeds during these maneuvers make ambushes more effective, plus ships can sit idle in these areas without active drives.</p>

<p>Another interesting point I picked up from the stories - it seems no drive power is needed to simply be in hyper -- only for transitioning to or from it, or movement on impeller drive between waves. So a ship could suffer drive damage that would leave it trapped in hyper. However, it also sounds like search and rescue, EVA, and other normal operations can be performed - a bit unlike the sense of being in a vague "nothing place" with no interaction with others that some other stories give.</p>
" OwnerUserId="36" LastEditorUserId="36" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-04T18:31:21.610" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T18:31:21.610" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="1576" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="426" CreationDate="2011-02-02T22:20:36.663" Score="36" ViewCount="" Body="<p>This was covered in David Mack's <em>Star Trek: Destiny</em> series of books. Whether this is considered canon or not is up for debate, but it's certainly a good story. To summarize very briefly, there exist a very advanced and xenophobic race known as the Caeliar, and their technology is such that they've replaced their bodies (which presumably were biological in nature as our own are) with particles called catoms. These catoms allow them all sorts of abilities. However, they require an energy source, one of which is located in the centre of each Caeliar city (/spaceship).</p>

<p>An event occured whereby one of these cities was destroyed and sucked into the distant past. The demise of this city's power source meant that the survivors required an energy source. Over time, they became more and more desperate until essentially their concious mind (and morals, etc) was lost and their catoms' "instinct" (for want of a better word) took over in order to secure their survival. Over time, the Borg were born: the Borg nanoprobes are a severely warped and damaged (and less capable) version of the Caeliar catoms.</p>

<p>I won't spoil the books by explaining what beccomes of the Borg... and I have rather butchered the story there. Well worth a read of them to make proper sense of this.</p>
" OwnerUserId="674" LastEditorUserId="1027" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-08-09T14:32:37.763" LastActivityDate="2011-08-09T14:32:37.763" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1577" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1582" CreationDate="2011-02-03T00:10:00.140" Score="4" ViewCount="162" Body="<p>I am not concrete about it and I think some other people might be in the same position as well...</p>

<p>There is a re-issue of the "The Lost Fleet Book 1: Dauntless" from Jack Campbell. Which is the original (2006) one and which the re-issue with the extras (2011). I am providing images of the covers from forbidden planet (UK)</p>

<p>A. <img src="http://i.stack.imgur.com/LqeRa.jpg" alt="Dauntless A"></p>

<p>and</p>

<p>B. <img src="http://dyn4.media.forbiddenplanet.com/products/128172.jpg.size-300_square-true.jpg" alt="Dauntless B"></p>

<p>They seem to have the same price in two sites I've checked (so it's not HC/Paperback)</p>

<p>Any ideas?</p>
" OwnerUserId="294" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T15:51:08.100" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T11:16:09.373" Title="The Lost Fleet Book 1: Dauntless - which is the 2011 version?" Tags="<books>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1578" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-03T00:19:05.153" Score="12" ViewCount="592" Body="<p>After getting into the dream they also have that dream sharing machine with them. How did they get that machine 'working' (fully functional) inside dream because inside dream that machine was just an image of the real machine.</p>
" OwnerUserId="688" LastEditorUserId="2912" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-11-03T10:09:20.583" LastActivityDate="2011-11-03T10:09:20.583" Title="How did they get the working dream share device inside dreams in Inception?" Tags="<inception>" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="1579" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1578" CreationDate="2011-02-03T00:39:40.853" Score="17" ViewCount="" Body="<p>It's all part of the consciousness being shared by the dreamers. Basically in a dream world you can create whatever you want. Therefore, inside the many levels of dreams, they can create the dream machine being there, along with just about anything they want.
<strong>Edit:</strong> Because the dreamers perceive that everything occurring is real, the dream machine is then perceived to be functional causing the next level of dreaming.</p>
" OwnerUserId="40" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T00:39:40.853" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="1580" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1578" CreationDate="2011-02-03T03:27:08.867" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The same way they got the van, the guns, and their clothes into the dream. </p>

<p>Wait, in this particular movie, as opposed to all the other action films, it actually makes sense that they never run out of ammo!</p>
" OwnerUserId="638" LastEditorUserId="638" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T03:39:40.597" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T03:39:40.597" />
<row Id="1581" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1577" CreationDate="2011-02-03T03:32:14.583" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Here is the <a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0441014186" rel="nofollow">2006 cover release</a>, choice B in your question is the 2006 version.</p>

<p>This is the cover for the 2006 release:</p>

<p><img src="http://i.stack.imgur.com/gMdlF.jpg" alt="this is the 22006 cover"></p>
" OwnerUserId="70" LastEditorUserId="70" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T11:16:09.373" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T11:16:09.373" CommentCount="0" />
<row Id="1582" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1577" CreationDate="2011-02-03T11:37:15.460" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I have the 2006 edition, and it has cover B.</p>
" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T11:37:15.460" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1583" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1520" CreationDate="2011-02-03T15:15:04.127" Score="19" ViewCount="" Body="<p>There is no "official" recommended viewing order for the Star Wars series, but there are two main approaches:</p>

<ul>
<li>Watch the series in <strong>numerical</strong> (in-universe chronological) order <strong>(I, II, III, IV, V, VI)</strong></li>
<li>Watch the series in <strong>release</strong> order <strong>(IV, V, VI, I, II, III)</strong></li>
</ul>

<p>My <em>personal</em> recommendation would be to watch the series in release order. That is, watch the original trilogy first, and then watch the prequel trilogy after that.<br>
A number of factors weigh in on this decision.</p>

<ul>
<li>There are revelations in Episode V (Empire Strikes Back) which will be spoiled if you watch the Prequel trilogy first.</li>
<li>The Original trilogy was made with very little knowledge of the story of the prequel trilogy, but the Prequels were made knowing the full story of the Original trilogy.</li>
<li>The Prequels were made to tell the back-story of characters
from the Original trilogy; rather than the Original trilogy telling the future of the characters in the Prequels.</li>
<li>The original trilogy developed a huge fan-base based
around it, but the prequel trilogy has been largely criticized by fans of the original trilogy.</li>
<li>Much of the appeal of the Prequel trilogy was the suspense of knowing how the chracters would end up, and finding how they got there.</li>
</ul>
" OwnerUserId="122" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T15:15:04.127" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1585" PostTypeId="7" CreationDate="2011-02-03T18:04:41.950" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Science Fiction and Fantasy - Stack Exchange is for questions targeted towards science fiction and fantasy enthusiasts. This includes questions about:</p>

<ul>
<li>Plot, character, or setting explanations</li>
<li>Historical or societal context of a work</li>
<li>Behind-the-scenes and fandom information</li>
<li><a href="http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/story-identification">Story identification</a></li>
<li>Franchise/series reading or viewing order</li>
</ul>

<h3>What about other Science Fiction and Fantasy related questions?</h3>

<p>Not all questions have a home on Stack Exchange. Please note the following types of questions are off-topic here:</p>

<ul>
<li>Facts easily found on a <a href="http://meta.scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/403/what-are-standard-internet-reference-sites-for-sf">reference site</a>: <em>Who played X in Y?</em></li>
<li>Questions calling for a list of works, authors, …: <em>What are all the books that have X?</em> <em>Who wrote about topic Y?</em></li>
<li>Reading or viewing recommendations: <em>I liked X, what should I watch next?</em></li>
<li>Genre classification: <em>Is X Science Fiction?</em></li>
</ul>

<p>For more information, see <a href="http://meta.scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/350/what-questions-are-on-topic-and-what-questions-are-off-topic">the question where these topics were discussed</a> on our meta discussion site.</p>

<p>If your question is about...</p>

<ul>
<li><strong>Writing science fiction</strong>, ask on <a href="http://writers.stackexchange.com">Writers - Stack Exchange</a>.</li>
</ul>

<h3>My question about the site isn't answered here</h3>

<p>Check our <a href="http://meta.scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/faq">community FAQ</a>, and more generally our <a href="http://meta.scifi.stackexchange.com/">meta-discussion site</a> (please do not ask questions about the site on the main site).</p>

<hr>
" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-28T00:54:35.573" LastActivityDate="2011-02-28T00:54:35.573" />
<row Id="1586" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1589" CreationDate="2011-02-03T19:14:46.610" Score="101" ViewCount="4775" Body="<p>The most iconic of Middle-earth questions:</p>

<p>Who or what was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Bombadil" rel="nofollow">Tom Bombadil</a>?</p>

<p>Was he an elf? Was he akin to Gandalf, and one of the wizardly stock? Was he something… <em>else</em>?</p>
" OwnerUserId="74" LastEditorUserId="74" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-08-26T23:23:07.553" LastActivityDate="2011-08-26T23:23:07.553" ClosedDate="2012-01-18T10:23:43.760" Title="Who or what was Tom Bombadil?" Tags="<middle-earth><tolkien><lord-of-the-rings>" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="6" FavoriteCount="12" />
<row Id="1589" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1586" CreationDate="2011-02-03T20:11:00.113" Score="100" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Tom Bombadil wasn't an elf: Frodo and Strider/Aragorn both know enough about elves at the point Tom Bombadil is introduced to recognize them on sight, and they both act and behave as though he was something foreign and strange.</p>

<p>Tom Bombadil was not a wizard (a member of the <em>Istari</em>): there were only five sent to protect and guide the races of Middle Earth during the Third Age: Saruman the White, Gandalf the Grey, Radagast the Brown, and the two wizards Alatar and Pallando.</p>

<p>However, Tom Bombadil displays several curious characteristics that can provide some guidance as to what he is or if he fits into the rest of the Middle Earth mythology:</p>

<ul>
<li>Everyone that seems to know him believe him to have been around for a really long time, possibly for multiple ages.</li>
<li>He calls the Old Forest, an offshoot of the forests that once covered Middle Earth and were the home to the Ents, his home and seems to be its master.</li>
<li>Additionally, everyone that seems to know him believe him to be more powerful than any other being they know (and the people that know him know a bunch of really powerful beings)</li>
<li>He is completely unaffected by the One Ring (whereas really powerful beings like Sauron, Gandalf, and Saruman are)</li>
<li>Likewise, he seems to have very little concern for the politics of the world around him.</li>
</ul>

<p>One theory is that he's part of the so-called <em>Ainur</em>: direct representatives of Ilúvatar (the creator). Depending on how you look at it, Ainur are either gods and demigods or something similar to angels; but pantheism, where the Ainur are merely different aspects of Ilúvatar, more closely describes the mythology of Middle Earth.</p>

<p>The Ainur are broken into two groups: </p>

<ul>
<li>The <em>Valar</em>, which consist of the chief agents of Ilúvatar (think the Roman or Greek pantheon), including Lórien, Mandos, Manwë, and Morgoth/Melkor among others.</li>
<li>The <em>Maiar</em>, which consist of servants and aides of the Valar (think demi-gods or archangels). The Maiar include figures like Sauron (Morgoth's right hand) and the Istari.</li>
</ul>

<p>There's speculation that he's a <em>Maia</em>, as he appears to be immortal, isn't a named Vala, and could feasibly be the agent of Yavanna (Vala of nature). However, other Maiar we're exposed to seem to be fully capable of succumbing to the One Ring's power in a way that Tom Bombadil isn't.</p>

<p>Other theories include that he's an incarnation of a Vala. However, it's not clear the Valar <em>take</em> incarnations: throughout Tolkien's works, Valar, when they want to interact, send agents or interact directly as themselves.</p>

<p>In reality, Tolkien never defines <em>what</em> Tom Bombadil is: not in <em>The Lord of the Rings</em> or in <em>The Adventures of Tom Bombadil</em>. The closest thing to a definition that Tolkien gives of Tom is that he's extremely old, and simply <em>is</em>.</p>

<p>To this end, the third and final theory, that Tom Bombadil is an incarnation of Ilúvatar himself, takes hold. Ilúvatar would definitely not be subject to the corruption of the One Ring, would be far more powerful and older than even the most powerful of the Ainur, and care little for the day-to-day struggles of the mortal and immortal races. Finally, the characteristic that Tom Bombadill simply <em>is</em> is similar to how Yahweh, the god of Abraham and Moses, characterizes himself: <em>I am</em>.</p>

<p>But it's best not to think of it too deeply. Tolkien was loathe to create allegories and allusions, saying of <em>The Lord of the Rings</em>:</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>As for any inner meaning or 'message', it has in the intention of the author none. It is neither allegorical nor topical. [...] </p>
 
 <p>But I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and have done so since I grew old and wary enough to detect its presence. I much prefer history, true or feigned, with all its varied applicability to the thought and experience of readers.</p>
</blockquote>
" OwnerUserId="366" LastEditorUserId="366" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T20:29:24.203" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T20:29:24.203" CommentCount="16" />
<row Id="1590" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1592" CreationDate="2011-02-03T20:52:38.690" Score="17" ViewCount="590" Body="<p>I've never watched any of the Animatrix films, but I have seen the movie trilogy plenty of times. Without providing too many spoilers, how does the Animatrix series relate to the storyline of the Matrix film trilogy?</p>
" OwnerUserId="40" LastActivityDate="2012-03-08T20:06:01.977" Title="How does Animatrix storyline relate to The Matrix movies?" Tags="<the-matrix>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" />
<row Id="1591" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1590" CreationDate="2011-02-03T20:56:36.513" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="<p><em>Animatrix</em> is an anthology of short films expanding upon the mythology of the Matrix world. Most of them act as interludes or prequels to the movie <em>The Matrix</em>, and were intended to be filler between the runaway success of <em>The Matrix</em> and the release of <em>The Matrix Reloaded</em>. </p>

<p>They're interesting if only for understanding why the machines are doing the things they're doing to the humans, but that information is later explained in some detail in <em>The Matrix Reloaded</em> and <em>The Matrix Revolutions</em> anyway.</p>
" OwnerUserId="366" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T20:56:36.513" />
<row Id="1592" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1590" CreationDate="2011-02-03T21:06:56.043" Score="18" ViewCount="" Body="<p>They are context movies.</p>

<p>It means that you won't find any direct relation (With the exception of "Kid's Story" and "The Last Flight of the Osiris") with the movies.</p>

<p>The main point of the Animatrix is to explain the context in which the movies lie.</p>

<p>I think that the movies are good to watch if you want to know more about the Matrix world, but if you are expecting something shocking or movie related, you will be disappointed.</p>


" OwnerUserId="149" LastEditorUserId="-1" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-03-08T20:06:01.977" LastActivityDate="2012-03-08T20:06:01.977" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1593" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="15" CreationDate="2011-02-03T21:31:21.167" Score="23" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The NX-01 was featured in Enterprise.<br>
NCC-1701 was featured in TOS (and the first 3 movies)<br>
NCC-1701-A was featured in TOS-era movies after 3.<br>
NCC-1701-B was featured in Star Trek: Generations.<br>
NCC-1701-C &amp; D were featured in TNG (C for one episode, possibly a 2-parter)<br>
NCC-1701-E was featured in TNG-era movies </p>

<p>An episode of Enterprise featured a small scene on the NCC-1701-J, from which we can assume the existence of F, G, H, and I.</p>

<p>Alternate versions of each ship likely exist for each ship, though only Alt-NX-01 and Alt-NCC-1701 were seen on screen, I believe. Alt-Alt-NCC-1701 was featured in the Star Trek franchise reboot movie.</p>

<p>This list is from memory, and not exhaustive, and does not cover questionably-canon sources like RPG manuals, comics, or novels.</p>
" OwnerUserId="656" LastEditorUserId="656" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T21:38:56.040" LastActivityDate="2011-02-03T21:38:56.040" CommentCount="6" />
<row Id="1596" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-02-03T22:00:56.417" Score="0" ViewCount="1" Body="<p>David Weber is a prolific author, known primarily for his 'Honor Harrington' series, which spans 12 novels, and has spawned two spin-off novel series along with several collections of short fiction.</p>

<p>Common themes in his work are strong female characters, a glorification of military strategy and tactics, and a close look at character's interactions and motivations.</p>
" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="656" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T03:00:54.463" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T03:00:54.463" />
<row Id="1597" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-02-03T22:00:56.417" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="David Weber is a prolific author, known primarily for his 'Honor Harrington' series, which spans 12 novels, and has spawned two spin-off novel series along with several collections of short fiction." OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="656" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T03:00:53.090" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T03:00:53.090" />
<row Id="1598" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1599" CreationDate="2011-02-03T22:17:04.807" Score="13" ViewCount="382" Body="<p>So, within the DS9 universe, there were the Prophets that lived within the wormhole.</p>

<p>What sort of beings were they? What were their powers?</p>
" OwnerUserId="54" LastEditorUserId="656" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-03T22:57:27.610" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T20:48:40.367" Title="What exactly were the Prophets?" Tags="<star-trek><star-trek-ds9>" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="1599" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1598" CreationDate="2011-02-03T22:24:45.590" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wormhole_Aliens" rel="nofollow">The Prophets</a> are a classic near god level race in the Star Trek universe, like the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q_%28Star_Trek%29" rel="nofollow">Q</a>.</p>

<p>The wormhole aliens basically had unlimited power inside the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wormhole" rel="nofollow">wormhole</a>, existed mostly outside of time, and could spawn avatars.</p>

<p>The aliens appeared to have a vaguely defined amount of power outside the wormhole.
The wormhole aliens could engage in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akira_%28film%29" rel="nofollow">Akira</a>-style <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Reckoning_%28Star_Trek%3a_Deep_Space_Nine%29" rel="nofollow">battles</a> with their nemesis the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pah-wraith" rel="nofollow">Pah-wraiths</a>. Who were of slightly less power, due to being kicked out of the wormhole.</p>

<p>The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek%3a_Deep_Space_Nine" rel="nofollow">Deep Space Nine series</a> does not go much further into their actual origins, but I know they are featured in the novels, of which I have read none.</p>
" OwnerUserId="35" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-05T20:48:40.367" LastActivityDate="2011-03-05T20:48:40.367" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1602" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1560" CreationDate="2011-02-04T00:33:05.547" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I don't remember the exact details about senses and conditioning, but Huxley's Brave New World fits with the job-specific breeding.</p>
" OwnerUserId="706" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T00:33:05.547" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="1603" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="48" CreationDate="2011-02-04T02:08:29.303" Score="21" ViewCount="" Body="<p><a href="http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&amp;id=28907">JMS at San Diego Comic Con 2010</a>:</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>“I said to Warner Bros. a while back, 'When you’re ready to do something real with 'Babylon 5,' either a big-budget film or a TV show, if you want to do one of those two things, call me, otherwise don’t bother me.' About a month ago the phone rang. I don’t know where this is gonna go yet, but when they call you, there’s something going on. I can’t tell you what it is yet and it may not go anywhere, but there is movement in the tall grass.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>He has also <a href="http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=170473336320871&amp;id=100000019571013">hinted</a> that more news will come in April 2011, but apparently we will <a href="http://www.facebook.com/amyguskin/posts/205095906191947">have to wait a little longer</a>:</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>It'll be at least another few weeks as the powers that be ensure that every i has been dotted and [every] t crossed. There's always a chance things could go pear-shaped, as the Brits say, but things are looking promising for the moment.</p>
</blockquote>
" OwnerUserId="709" LastEditorUserId="709" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-05-12T00:37:26.287" LastActivityDate="2011-05-12T00:37:26.287" />
<row Id="1605" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1586" CreationDate="2011-02-04T05:45:24.677" Score="97" ViewCount="" Body="<blockquote>
 <p>'And even in a mythical Age there must
 be some enigmas, as there always are.
 Tom Bombadil is one (intentionally).'</p>
</blockquote>

<p>The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, No 144, dated 1954</p>
" OwnerUserId="712" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T05:45:24.677" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1606" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1607" CreationDate="2011-02-04T06:10:42.263" Score="9" ViewCount="187" Body="<p>What was the name of the Master Namer in the Wizard of Earthsea books and how do you pronounce it?</p>
" OwnerUserId="712" LastEditorUserId="56" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-08-14T08:45:54.050" LastActivityDate="2011-08-14T08:45:54.050" Title="What was the name of the Master Namer in the Wizard of Earthsea books and how do you pronounce it?" Tags="<earthsea><ursula-k-le-guin>" AnswerCount="1" />
<row Id="1607" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1606" CreationDate="2011-02-04T06:21:05.467" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Kurremkarmerruk; cur-əm-<strong>car</strong>-mər-uhk.</p>
" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T06:21:05.467" />
<row Id="1608" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="6" CreationDate="2011-02-04T08:50:24.553" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I got the impression that this was always part of his plan. </p>

<p>He was wiping out the Federation planets so Romulus would reign supreme.</p>

<p>I presume after he'd taken out the trash he'd have gone home a hero and warned everyone about the destruction that wasn't to hit for decades yet.</p>
" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T08:50:24.553" />
<row Id="1609" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1610" CreationDate="2011-02-04T11:23:57.160" Score="29" ViewCount="1515" Body="<p>Anakin Skywalker was <em>about nine years old</em> (see script link, below) during "The Phantom Menace". Yet according to various people, he was too old (or even "far too old") to begin training as a Jedi:</p>

<ul>
<li><strong>QUI-GON</strong>: <em>"I'm afraid not. Had he been born in the Republic, we would have
identified him early, and he would have become Jedi, no doubt...he has the
way. But it's too late for him now, he's too old."</em></li>
<li><strong>OBI-WAN</strong>: <em>"The boy will not pass the Council's tests, Master, and you know
it. He is far too old."</em></li>
<li><strong>MACE WINDU</strong>: <em>"He is too old. There is already too much anger in him."</em></li>
<li>and even <strong>ANAKIN</strong> himself: <em>"I'm with Qui-Gon...but...they're not going to let me be a Jedi. I'm
too old."</em></li>
</ul>

<p><em>All quotes above from <a href="http://www.blueharvest.net/scoops/pm-script.shtml" rel="nofollow">The Phantom Menace script</a>.</em></p>

<p>However, during "The Empire Strikes Back" Yoda gives Luke's age (18 in chapter IV according to the <a href="http://www.blueharvest.net/scoops/anh-script.shtml" rel="nofollow">Star Wars script</a>) as the reason to deny him training only <em>after</em> first saying that Luke is:</p>

<ul>
<li>too impatient</li>
<li>too angry</li>
<li>not ready</li>
<li>is unfocused ("Never his mind on where he was") and</li>
<li>reckless</li>
</ul>

<p><em>All from <a href="http://www.blueharvest.net/scoops/esb-script.shtml" rel="nofollow">The Empire Strikes Back script</a>.</em></p>

<p>I would have thought that, if at 9 Anakin was too old, Yoda would have seen Luke at 18+ and started off by saying, "No chance, he has".</p>

<p>So, <strong>what is the age to begin Jedi training?</strong></p>
" OwnerUserId="143" LastActivityDate="2011-02-27T00:02:47.797" Title="How old should you be when you begin Jedi training?" Tags="<star-wars>" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
<row Id="1610" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1609" CreationDate="2011-02-04T11:38:38.863" Score="27" ViewCount="" Body="<p>While it's not explicitly stated in the films, the implication is that training starts at a very young age, before children have a chance to get too attached to family members, and that training at a young age allows children to develop without (much) love, anger, hate, etc.</p>

<p>The inconsistencies you note in your question arise from the situation at the time of each film. In Phantom Menace, the Republic was functioning as normal and so a child of 9 would definitely be considered too old to begin training, for the reasons Qui-Gon gave. At this stage the age limit is a matter of bureaucracy more than anything else.</p>

<p>In Empire Strikes Back, the Republic has long fallen, and Yoda is essentially the only Jedi left alive. The reasons he gives Luke before mentioning his age are essentially the reasons they didn't take in older children during the time of the Republic. </p>

<p>On top of this, I suspect that in Empire, Yoda is deliberately trying to put off Luke, to test his determination. He knows full well who Luke's father is, and that he would make a very powerful Jedi based on his midichlorian count. I suspect he rejects Luke initially more to check how Luke deals with rejection than anything else. If Luke had gotten angry or violent, Yoda would have rejected his training for that reason; but instead Luke manages to convince Yoda that he is "righteous" enough to be Yoda's last chance at keeping the Jedi order going.</p>
" OwnerUserId="122" LastEditorUserId="678" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-04T12:31:10.393" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T12:31:10.393" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="1615" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1368" CreationDate="2011-02-04T15:55:08.557" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The novel <a href="http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?1155548" rel="nofollow"><strong><em>Alien Invasion and Other Inconveniences</em></strong></a> by <a href="http://www.brianyansky.com/" rel="nofollow"><strong>Brian Yansky</strong></a> has everything you describe but was published in 2010. </p>

<p>There's no wikipedia article for it, but I found an <a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/076364384X" rel="nofollow">amazon page</a> that describes it: </p>

<blockquote>
 <p>Most of humanity goes quietly to sleep
 and never wakes, but a few people with
 latent telepathic gifts become slaves
 who are forced to remake Earth to
 Sanginian standards.</p>
</blockquote>
" OwnerUserId="35" LastEditorUserId="56" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-04T21:31:46.333" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T21:31:46.333" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1616" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1619" CreationDate="2011-02-04T16:33:53.930" Score="15" ViewCount="539" Body="<p>I tried to read <em>Triplantary</em> when I was younger, and gave up on the book pretty quickly. I've recently found out that the first two books in the series, <em>Triplanetary</em> and <em>First Lensman</em>, were written as prequels. </p>

<p>I'd like to give E. E. Smith's writing another chance, and I'm considering starting with the third book, <em>Galactic Patrol</em>, as it was the first one written. Was the series intended to be read with the prequels first? Are there any spoilers to the later books in the prequels? </p>
" OwnerUserId="33" LastEditorUserId="1027" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-13T20:04:40.047" LastActivityDate="2011-09-05T12:12:57.647" Title="Reading order for the Lensman books" Tags="<books><suggested-order><e-e-smith>" AnswerCount="4" />
<row Id="1617" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1616" CreationDate="2011-02-04T17:06:30.297" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I can only address a small part of your question, about the spoilers: there are two versions of <em>Triplanetary</em>, one of which has an extensive introduction added on. This introduction pretty much spoils the entire Arisia-Boskone-Eddore backstory that's gradually unfolded through the main series.</p>
" OwnerUserId="547" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T17:06:30.297" CommentCount="4" />
<row Id="1619" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1616" CreationDate="2011-02-04T17:07:55.753" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="<p>You'll be fine to start with <em>Galactic Patrol</em>, and in fact if you start with <em>Triplanetary</em> (as I did, many years ago) you'll get confused when you get to <em>Galactic Patrol</em> and things get quite different (and somewhat inconsistent).</p>
" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T17:07:55.753" />
<row Id="1620" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="236" CreationDate="2011-02-04T17:11:05.007" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="<p>This sounds like Larry Niven's Ringworld.</p>
" LastEditorUserId="108" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-09-29T01:11:35.573" LastActivityDate="2011-09-29T01:11:35.573" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1621" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1560" CreationDate="2011-02-04T17:21:20.330" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="<p>That book is most certainly <em>The Giver</em> by Lois Lowry. There are two others that she wrote along the same lines called <em>Gathering Blue</em> and <em>Messenger</em> that form a trilogy. I loved reading them because they reminded me that in order to understand how good some things are, we have to remember how bad other things can be. </p>
" OwnerUserId="728" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T17:21:20.330" />
<row Id="1625" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1263" CreationDate="2011-02-04T18:44:16.030" Score="16" ViewCount="" Body="<p>This was a big issue with the Matrix, but in light of the Animatrix, I have an alternate theory: The machines don't really want to eliminate humans, just to be safe from them. This is consistent with their creation of the machine nation (which humanity destroyed) and their actions in the movies.</p>

<p>They want humans to exist, but they want to exist as well. Since it's been demonstrated that coexistence fails, they logically decided that imprisoning humanity was the most efficient way to allow them to exist without threatening the machines.</p>

<p>My guess would be that the immense power generation setup was part of a double-blind: they knew some humans would be free of the matrix (as the architect explains) but they needed some visible reason to keep humans around (reasonable enough that the humans would not search for other reasons). So they likely try to use the human batteries as the primary power source for the matrix (supplementing it with their standard power sources, as it would be insufficient by itself).</p>

<p>In short, the machines did it in part to reduce the cost of keeping humans alive, and to prevent the inevitable freed humans from railing against the machine's primary civilization and culture.</p>
" OwnerUserId="656" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T18:44:16.030" />
<row Id="1626" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2808" CreationDate="2011-02-04T19:17:33.807" Score="15" ViewCount="628" Body="<p>I read a collection of short stories a while back. One story, I think it was the final one in the book, was about aliens visiting a sports event (I think it was a football (soccer) match). They completely misunderstood it and thought it was some form of worship, with the stadium being a temple, players being priests, the spectators being worshippers, etc.</p>

<p>That aliens were viewing from inside a spectator, if I remember correctly, like possession.</p>

<p>Does anyone know which story it was?</p>
" OwnerUserId="143" LastEditorUserId="56" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-04-10T16:26:12.140" LastActivityDate="2012-07-10T10:04:33.393" Title="Which short story was about aliens thinking soccer was a form of worship?" Tags="<story-identification><aliens><religion>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="12" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="1627" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="55" CreationDate="2011-02-04T21:24:32.947" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The correct answer is that George Lucas didn't write the "Vader is Luke's father" bit until after <em>Star Wars: A New Hope</em>, so he changed things around.</p>
" OwnerUserId="541" LastEditorUserId="3267" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-12-21T00:00:59.760" LastActivityDate="2011-12-21T00:00:59.760" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1628" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="882" CreationDate="2011-02-04T21:33:24.593" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Let's think about this for a second. Let's say we have a microorganism that happens to have a natural electromagnetic property that allows them to be influenced in a very very tiny way by electromagnetic fields.</p>

<p>Now let's say that a person becomes infested with a lot of these microorganisms but they just happen to be non-harmful to us...</p>

<p>Now every time there is a electromagnetic field (the earth, a magnet, a piece of machinery, a ball of plasma)... the microorganism moves in response thereby moving our body or even causing some kind of reaction.</p>

<p>This is not unreasonable, and certain on the road to describing realistically a kind of force sensitivity.</p>

<p>So really, as much as I prefer a Zen like explanation to the force and Jedi... this could be plausible in a theoretical sense.</p>
" OwnerUserId="541" LastActivityDate="2011-02-04T21:33:24.593" CommentCount="8" />
<row Id="1630" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="9715" CreationDate="2011-02-04T23:13:49.617" Score="35" ViewCount="7408" Body="<p>In <em>Episode 1: The Phantom Menace</em>, Anakin's mother, Shmi, said that he does not have a father, although it seemed to me that she doubted that.</p>

<p>Is there a canonical answer as to who Anakin's father is? If so, who?</p>
" OwnerUserId="45" LastEditorUserId="108" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-05T02:13:17.123" LastActivityDate="2012-03-07T02:52:14.660" Title="Who is Anakin Skywalker's father?" Tags="<star-wars>" AnswerCount="6" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="4" />
<row Id="1631" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1630" CreationDate="2011-02-05T02:49:05.603" Score="26" ViewCount="" Body="<p>According to <a href="http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Anakin_Skywalker" rel="nofollow">Wookiepedia</a>, Anakin didn't have a father. While "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthenogenesis" rel="nofollow">virgin births</a>" can and do happen in real life among many non-mammalian life-forms, all of them are daughters and are effectively clones of the mother (or twin sisters if you prefer). </p>

<blockquote class="spoiler">
 <p>Skywalker's mother, Shmi Skywalker, claimed that her son was conceived without a father, but could not explain how that had happened. It was the theory of Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn that the will of the Force caused his birth. There is evidence to suggest that Skywalker's birth may have been engineered by the <a href="http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Darth_Plagueis" rel="nofollow">Sith Lord Darth Plagueis</a> as part of an experiment in immortality.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>And pursuant to rule 34: </p>

<blockquote class="spoiler">
 <p> If you are old enough, check out the March 1985 issue of Penthouse . Males under about 30 cannot tell them apart, while females of all ages surveyed can distinguish mother from daughter.</p>
</blockquote>
" OwnerUserId="99" LastEditorUserId="51" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-05T20:22:54.733" LastActivityDate="2011-02-05T20:22:54.733" CommentCount="5" />
<row Id="1643" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1647" CreationDate="2011-02-05T23:22:02.297" Score="14" ViewCount="1227" Body="<p>I have read all of Frank Herbert's Dune books twice now, and was never all that interested in Brian Herbert's follow ups <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&amp;location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fs%3Fie%3DUTF8%26x%3D0%26ref_%3Dnb_sb_noss%26y%3D0%26field-keywords%3Dbrian%2520herbert%2520%2526%252334%253Bhouse%2520%252A%2526%252334%253B%26url%3Dsearch-alias%253Dstripbooks&amp;tag=artslinkcom-2042-20&amp;linkCode=ur2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957" rel="nofollow">"House of..."</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&amp;location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fs%3Fie%3DUTF8%26x%3D0%26ref_%3Dnb_sb_noss%26y%3D0%26field-keywords%3Dbrian%2520herbert%2520%2526%252334%253Blegend%2520%252A%2526%252334%253B%26url%3Dsearch-alias%253Dstripbooks&amp;tag=artslinkcom-20&amp;linkCode=ur2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957" rel="nofollow">"Legends of..."</a>. Are these best read in publication order, or do they all occur along simultaneous timeline, just following the different houses after the main Dune chronicle?</p>

<p>That is my main question, and I know this part is subjective, but I'm also wondering what people think of Brian Herbert's style as compared to Frank Herbert?</p>
" OwnerUserId="70" LastEditorUserId="4056" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-04-03T00:10:03.217" LastActivityDate="2012-04-03T00:10:03.217" Title="In what order should the Dune follow up books be read?" Tags="<suggested-order><dune><frank-herbert><brian-herbert>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="3" />
<row Id="1644" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-02-05T23:27:09.110" Score="0" ViewCount="1" Body="<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Herbert" rel="nofollow">Wikipedia article on Brian Herbert</a></p>
" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="70" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T03:00:46.163" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T03:00:46.163" />
<row Id="1645" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-02-05T23:27:09.110" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="The eldest son of Frank Herbert Brian took up the Dune mantle in the later years of his father Frank Herberts life." OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="70" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T03:00:44.680" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T03:00:44.680" />
<row Id="1647" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1643" CreationDate="2011-02-06T00:32:11.023" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Publication order for the "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prelude_to_Dune" rel="nofollow">house of</a>" series is fine. They add some details to the back-stories of the houses and characters involved in Dune. The "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legends_of_Dune" rel="nofollow">legends of dune</a>" series is also worth reading, but I think they should have been edited to be much smaller books. </p>

<p>I've bought and read all the books put out by Brian, but having also read "The Road to Dune" which includes several early drafts of passages in Dune, I'm inclined to give some of the credit to Frank's editors for knowing when and where to cut details. I cannot believe that Frank would have ended "sandworms of dune" the way that book ends. With the vast quantities of notes left behind by Frank, there was a huge amount of details and back-story that was never available until Brian massaged it into the books. Much like when JRR Tolkien died, Chris edited and published lots of his father's notes and stories. </p>
" OwnerUserId="99" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T00:32:11.023" />
<row Id="1648" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1381" CreationDate="2011-02-06T00:41:58.250" Score="29" ViewCount="" Body="<p>One thing about discworld that is important to realize, in the 35+ or so books there are really 5+ different threads that hardly cross at all. </p>

<ul>
<li>The witches stories (which later expand futher into his childrens series - <em>The Tiffany Aching</em> series).</li>
<li>The wizard stories featuring Rincewind, Archechancellor Ridcully and friends, of which some of the Rincewind stories could possibly even be another group.</li>
<li>The City Watch stories featuring Vimes, Nobby, Colon and the patrician.</li>
<li>The City stories featuring Moist Von Lipwig, the more recent <em>Going Postal</em> and <em>Making money</em>.</li>
<li><p>The Death stories featuring Death and his nice daughter Susan.</p></li>
<li><p>There are also 2 or 3 that just hang out by themselves, like Omnia of Small Gods, and Pyramids, just they happen to occur on discworld.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>Some people just fall in love with one of those themes and don't really like the others, so if you read one and don't like witches, maybe switch ahead. I love them all, but personal favorite is the city watch, and the character of Commander Vimes.</p>

<p>This image from the <a href="http://www.lspace.org/books/reading-order-guides/the-discworld-reading-order-guide-20.jpg" rel="nofollow">lspace page</a> really sums it up nicely.
<img src="http://i.stack.imgur.com/se051.jpg" alt="reading threads for discworld"></p>
" OwnerUserId="70" LastEditorUserId="70" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-19T22:41:52.517" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T22:41:52.517" CommentCount="5" />
<row Id="1653" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="4690" CreationDate="2011-02-06T10:55:57.220" Score="6" ViewCount="232" Body="<p>I enjoyed Palimpsest by Charles Stross. It seems to be a one-off novella, I was wondering if any of his other short stories, etc. are set in that universe? Wikipedia was of no help...</p>
" OwnerUserId="50" LastEditorUserId="56" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-07-26T00:01:31.733" LastActivityDate="2011-10-28T03:58:55.180" Title="Are there any other stories set in Charles Stross Palimpsest universe?" Tags="<charles-stross>" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1654" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1653" CreationDate="2011-02-06T14:14:41.170" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>No, there aren't. It was written as a one-off to round out a short story collection. </p>
" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T14:14:41.170" />
<row Id="1656" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1500" CreationDate="2011-02-06T17:36:21.827" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I'll try and explain everyone's questions in a few paragraphs below. Please excuse any spelling mistakes or grammatical errors for I didn't have time to run it through word by word, or make it to scale, or to paint it: :)</p>

<p>In the BTTF universe, if you travel in time, you remember everything that happened in the original timeline, along with any changes you've made in your travels. That's the way I've always interpreted the film. So when Biff (in BTTF2) travels through time as an adult, he makes his changes, and there’s enough of a delay to allow him to travel back to 2015.</p>

<p>Just as Marty did with his parent's, "TIME" gives you a chance to change things back if needed, especially if it involves almost wiping yourself out completely. I mean, if Marty killed his dad that would be a different story. The filmmakers found two ways around making changes in time; delayed actions (in the case of BTTF 1) or alternative timelines (BTTF 2&amp;3). </p>

<p>Marty only delayed his parents first meeting, and still managed to get them together at the same dance. I mean realistically, Marty was some dude she’d known for a few days that school year. Biff was a bigger part of their lives, having spent a number of years (assumed) in school with them. So it makes sense why she, George or Biff wouldn't remember Marty. </p>
" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-02-01T16:49:42.077" LastActivityDate="2012-02-01T16:49:42.077" />
<row Id="1658" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-06T20:58:37.650" Score="5" ViewCount="415" Body="<p>I remember when I was young really enjoying a SciFi book that I found in a closet of a house that we moved into in the late 80s - early 90s.</p>

<p>What I remember is it being about a kid or person who finds a crash landed alien mech. I don't think it was a very long book so it may have been meant for tweens or just a short story.</p>
" OwnerUserId="753" LastEditorUserId="4132" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-13T22:12:48.070" LastActivityDate="2012-02-05T21:08:16.983" Title="Name the SciFi book where a person finds a crash-landed alien mech/ship" Tags="<story-identification><novel><aliens><young-adult>" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1659" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1737" CreationDate="2011-02-06T21:17:55.093" Score="11" ViewCount="271" Body="<p>After her disappearance, Sax thought he saw her in a blizzard (or maybe sandstorm), and remains convinced that he really has. But she is never seen by anyone again. What really happened with her?</p>
" OwnerUserId="706" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-07T18:50:53.483" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T14:08:37.503" Title="Whatever happened to Hiroko Ai in Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy?" Tags="<mars><kim-stanley-robinson>" AnswerCount="2" />
<row Id="1660" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1659" CreationDate="2011-02-06T23:04:46.090" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Given the extreme circumstances that Sax found himself in, it is likely that he was simply hallucinating. The accounts of the Zygote survivors all indicate that Hiroko and a number of her inner circle were killed by the metanational forces.</p>

<p>Still - there were other rumours and apparent sightings, but as Mars became more populated no evidence of a new hidden colony was ever found. The first hidden colonies could only get away with hiding in the unpopulated south pole, so it seems unlikely that they could continue hiding once the Martian population started to grow and spread.</p>
" OwnerUserId="373" LastActivityDate="2011-02-06T23:04:46.090" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="1661" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1658" CreationDate="2011-02-07T10:03:47.730" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Maybe it's the book <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Iron_Man_%28novel%29" rel="nofollow">The Iron Man</a> from which the film <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Iron_Giant" rel="nofollow">The Iron Giant</a> was made.</p>
" OwnerUserId="538" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T16:25:16.417" />
<row Id="1662" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1185" CreationDate="2011-02-07T14:22:36.670" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Mathematics is a very logical langage and the Vulcans speak it all the time.</p>

<p>It is perfectly logical to retain the ability to communicate on a more primitive level.</p>
" OwnerUserId="759" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T14:22:36.670" />
<row Id="1663" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1282" CreationDate="2011-02-07T14:43:40.287" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="<p>If you had really really vast amounts of energy you could build artificial suns and cover pretty much any ball of rock with the gasses necessary to sustain life, at least for a while. Seems like a lot of hassle, though. It makes no sense to terraform an entire planet when you can make perfectly liveable city-sized domes at far less cost.</p>

<p>After all, if we wanted to live in an atmosphere, why would we bother leaving Earth in the first place?</p>
" OwnerUserId="759" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T14:43:40.287" />
<row Id="1666" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1185" CreationDate="2011-02-07T15:14:09.137" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="<p><a href="http://xkcd.com/191/" rel="nofollow">It would limit his conversational options too much.</a></p>

<p>Also, given the prevalence of Universal Translators, who says he <em>isn't</em>?</p>
" OwnerUserId="656" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T15:14:09.137" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1670" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="947" CreationDate="2011-02-07T17:12:04.197" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="<p>A brief scene in an episode of Enterprise took place in the distant future, aboard the Enterprise J.</p>

<p>I believe that's the further forward seen on the TV show/movies, as the Enterprise J wouldn't have been built until after the Enterprise E, F, G, H, and I had been destroyed. Nemesis pretty well trashed the Enterprise E, but I don't think they moved on to 'F' yet. I think the ships have an average lifespan of ~30 years (just a WAG).</p>

<p><a href="http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/USS_Enterprise_%28NCC-1701-J%29" rel="nofollow">Memory Alpha</a> says the ship exists in the 26th century, when humanity is 'beyond transwarp' and 'exploring other galaxies, beyond the milky way'.</p>
" OwnerUserId="656" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T17:12:04.197" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1671" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="947" CreationDate="2011-02-07T17:20:23.783" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>It is the 31st century, 3040 to be exact:<br></p>

<blockquote>
 <p>Ship from Enterprise episode "Future Tense" commissioned.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Source: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Star_Trek" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Star_Trek</a></p>
" OwnerUserId="761" LastEditorUserId="761" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-11T15:19:58.967" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T15:19:58.967" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1674" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="8701" CreationDate="2011-02-07T22:19:16.127" Score="4" ViewCount="397" Body="<p>In the SF/Fantasy cross Apprentice Adept series by Piers Anthony, the main character is a proficient player of the science realm's "Game". Two people face off at a game console. There, one player chooses one of four categories: 1. PHYSICAL, 2. MENTAL, 3. CHANCE, or 4. ARTS. The other player chooses among A. NAKED, B. TOOL, C. MACHINE, or D. ANIMAL. (Naked means unassisted by external tools.) Once the grid is completed, players continue on subgrids until they select a particular game to play. They then proceed to play that game.</p>

<p>Obviously a similar real world game would either require vast amounts of resources, or be modified to be more of a board-game style, thereby having to change the first 8 categories to be something doable in a living room. However, the strategy and ability to gauge your opponent's strengths and weaknesses, I feel, is the key point - as mentioned in the book, the ability to do well at the grid is often more important than a wide range of abilities in the possible resultant activities.</p>

<p>Are there any real-world games that mimic this?</p>
" OwnerUserId="74" LastActivityDate="2012-01-08T09:55:54.333" Title="Is there a real life 'Game' like the one described in Piers Anthony's Apprentice Adept series?" Tags="<real-world><piers-anthony>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="2" />
<row Id="1676" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1555" CreationDate="2011-02-07T22:44:31.480" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I don't remember Dick being mentioned in the Patterson biography of Heinlein, and he's not listed in the index, so no help there -- but at least I've saved you the time of looking it up... </p>
" LastActivityDate="2011-02-07T22:44:31.480" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1677" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1738" CreationDate="2011-02-07T22:46:33.380" Score="12" ViewCount="510" Body="<p>A commercial for an upcoming movie got me thinking about works in which the genres of science fiction and western are combined. I've done some preliminary searching online, and it appears that while there are numerous examples of comics and television shows and movies that combine elements of science fiction and westerns, there are relatively few books. The wikipedia page for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_fiction_Western">Science fiction Western</a> lists only three, the earliest being Stephen King's Dark Tower series (which I have not read).</p>

<p>I was surprised that the first listed novel dates back only to 1982. Are there any other, earlier novels that combine science fiction with the elements that most of us associate with westerns: dusty, frontier towns, saloons, gunslingers, etc?</p>
" OwnerUserId="546" LastEditorUserId="56" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-09T23:27:33.597" LastActivityDate="2012-01-31T18:12:47.107" Title="First novel to meld science fiction and western genres?" Tags="<novel>" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="4" />
<row Id="1678" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1867" CreationDate="2011-02-07T23:22:32.210" Score="8" ViewCount="367" Body="<p>Is there any indication what the 'amber substance' is in Fringe, or how it is able to counteract the voids that are created?</p>

<p>Note: This was originally part of <a href="http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/1548/fringe-what-exactly-are-the-voids-in-the-parallel-universe">this question</a>, but was split out into its own question.</p>
" OwnerUserId="74" LastEditorUserId="117" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-25T14:13:02.783" LastActivityDate="2012-01-28T19:52:08.000" Title="What is the amber substance?" Tags="<fringe>" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="0" />
<row Id="1680" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="598" CreationDate="2011-02-08T00:35:48.240" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="<p>"<em>Non-Stop</em>" by Brian Aldiss takes place aboard a generation ship.</p>
" OwnerUserId="240" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-14T21:44:26.920" LastActivityDate="2012-01-14T21:44:26.920" />
<row Id="1683" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1677" CreationDate="2011-02-08T01:11:11.750" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Gene Autry's 1935 serial "<em>The Phantom Empire</em>" is classified as a Science Fiction Western; so I am guessing there are fiction titles, probably short stories, that had already made the connection by the time it was released.</p>
" OwnerUserId="240" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-31T18:09:54.253" LastActivityDate="2012-01-31T18:09:54.253" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1685" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1707" CreationDate="2011-02-08T01:17:17.547" Score="12" ViewCount="380" Body="<p>The Rama sequels, starting with Rama II and on, are co-authored by Arthur C. Clarke and Gentry Lee. </p>

<p>I'm wondering if there are any sources (e.g., interviews) discussing Clarke's impact or contribution to these books, as their style is very similar to Lee's later standalone series (bright messengers/double full moon night).</p>
" OwnerUserId="384" LastEditorUserId="45" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-19T19:35:28.410" LastActivityDate="2012-03-27T12:30:37.970" Title="Who *really* wrote the Rama sequels?" Tags="<authors><arthur-c-clarke><rendezvous-with-rama>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1692" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1535" CreationDate="2011-02-08T03:08:50.743" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Other than the most obvious, long-term examples like dogs, I'm not aware of any "Uplift" programs like you mention <em>per se</em>. As you've probably seen, most current studies seems to deal in the measurement of animal intelligence, with the most recent showing of high level tool using ability of cephalopods and tool-using AND tool-making ability of corvids (specifically rooks). Some of these studies involved teaching the rooks to do various things, so once we have a qualitative measurement of intelligence, it will be a short jump to selective breeding these "smarter" animals.
You know, come to think of it, I seem to recall something I read once about selective rat-breeding for some kind of intelligence performance... if I remember/find it I'll post the link.</p>

<p>UPDATE: Some links. Actually genetic manipulation, not selective breeding</p>

<p><a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/11/091112-smartest-rat-memory.html" rel="nofollow">Smart Rats NatGeo</a></p>

<p><a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0007486" rel="nofollow">Research Article</a></p>
" OwnerUserId="9" LastEditorUserId="9" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T00:41:27.060" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T00:41:27.060" />
<row Id="1693" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1555" CreationDate="2011-02-08T03:41:21.967" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I'd heard this story and quote elsewhere, and it turns out to have been quoted in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_K._Dick" rel="nofollow">Wikipedia</a>:</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>In the introduction to the 1980 short
 story collection The Golden Man, Dick
 wrote: "Several years ago, when I was
 ill, Heinlein offered his help,
 anything he could do, and we had never
 met; he would phone me to cheer me up
 and see how I was doing. He wanted to
 buy me an electric typewriter, God
 bless him—one of the few true
 gentlemen in this world. I don't agree
 with any ideas he puts forth in his
 writing, but that is neither here nor
 there. One time when I owed the IRS a
 lot of money and couldn't raise it,
 Heinlein loaned the money to me. I
 think a great deal of him and his
 wife; I dedicated a book to them in
 appreciation. Robert Heinlein is a
 fine-looking man, very impressive and
 very military in stance; you can tell
 he has a military background, even to
 the haircut. He knows I'm a
 flipped-out freak and still he helped
 me and my wife when we were in
 trouble. That is the best in humanity,
 there; that is who and what I love."</p>
</blockquote>
" OwnerUserId="734" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T03:41:21.967" />
<row Id="1695" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1696" CreationDate="2011-02-08T05:29:32.767" Score="23" ViewCount="1171" Body="<p>In LOTR, is the disappearance of the Ent Wives during or before the War of the Last Alliance connected with the appearance of the Trolls?</p>

<p>Since Orcs were corrupted Elves, did Sauron enslave the Ent Wives and thus make trolls in an analagous process?</p>
" OwnerUserId="712" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-08T16:29:15.743" LastActivityDate="2011-08-02T22:13:39.497" Title="Did the Ent-Wives become trolls?" Tags="<middle-earth><tolkien><lord-of-the-rings>" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" />
<row Id="1696" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1695" CreationDate="2011-02-08T06:51:22.650" Score="28" ViewCount="" Body="<p>No. Trolls were created by Morgoth prior to the First Age, long before the Entwives disappeared. However, it's likely Ents in general were corrupted to form Trolls, as Morgoth intended them to be a mockery of the Ents.</p>
" OwnerUserId="366" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T06:51:22.650" CommentCount="5" />
<row Id="1697" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-02-08T07:20:03.697" Score="0" ViewCount="1" Body="<p>Middle-earth is a region within J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy world Arda and the setting for <em>The Hobbit</em> and <em>The Lord of the Rings</em>.</p>

<h2>FAQ</h2>

<h3>Q. Isn't everything in Tolkien's Legendarium part of Middle-earth?</h3>

<p><strong>A.</strong> No: Middle-earth is one small section of the world Tolkien created, Arda. Other regions include Beleriand, north of Middle-earth and the original home of the Elves; Númenor, the land of the Dúnedain; Aman, the undying lands of the Valar and the elves; and the Dark Lands, south of Middle-earth.</p>

<h3>Q. When should I tag something Middle-earth?</h3>

<p><strong>A.</strong> Use middle-earth when you want to ask a question about something general to Middle-earth: a location, a race, or a historical event. You can use it in conjunction with other, more specific tags like lord-of-the-rings or the-hobbit. Do not use it when you want to refer to other parts of Arda, like most of the events of <em>The Silmarillion</em>.</p>
" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="366" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-08T18:59:37.887" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T18:59:37.887" />
<row Id="1698" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-02-08T07:20:03.697" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="Middle-earth is a region within J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy world Arda and the setting for The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings." OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="366" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-08T20:36:36.433" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T20:36:36.433" />
<row Id="1701" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1685" CreationDate="2011-02-08T12:37:23.323" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Whenever you see a book that is attributed to "&lt;famous author&gt; &amp; &lt;relative unknown&gt;", it's safe to assume that the relative unknown did most or all of the writing.</p>
" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T12:37:23.323" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1707" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1685" CreationDate="2011-02-08T13:37:48.950" Score="18" ViewCount="" Body="<p>It's Gentry Lee that wrote them, Clarke was more a consultant than an author on those books :</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>Since then Gentry has collaborated on Rama II and The Garden of Rama, and Rama Revealed, <strong>which was written virtually entirely by him, though with consultation with me</strong>. I've described our collaboration in the preface, "Co-Authors and Other Nuisances," I think in Rama II.</p>
 
 <p><a href="http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/1685/who-really-wrote-the-rama-sequels">Arthur C. Clarke Remembers A Lifetime Of Influences In A Science-fictional World: www.syfy.co.uk</a></p>
</blockquote>
" OwnerUserId="45" LastEditorUserId="45" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-03-27T12:30:37.970" LastActivityDate="2012-03-27T12:30:37.970" />
<row Id="1708" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1710" CreationDate="2011-02-08T13:55:07.493" Score="10" ViewCount="292" Body="<p>I recall being somewhat impressed by a novel I read a few years back - this book may be less than five years old - which featured a college-aged man. He had a laptop which transformed into a <strike>troll</strike> goblin that served as his familiar.</p>

<p>In the story's universe, mages had switched to the Internet for most of their magic &amp; communication. The main character was essentially a magical hacker, and spent much of the book fighting against his evil aunt (I think, I know it was a female relative) with the help of his cousin.</p>

<p>Older forms of magic were also featured, including using special paintings as magical portals, and spells being whistled by wizards. It features a scene at a gas station where the laptop is disabled by a virus, and the main character whistles a spell to reanimate dinosaurs from the gasoline.</p>

<p>Is this ringing any bells?</p>
" OwnerUserId="656" LastEditorUserId="3804" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-06-22T09:37:38.717" LastActivityDate="2012-06-22T09:37:38.717" Title="Name that Urban Fantasy novel - magic, the internet, and laptop trolls galore" Tags="<story-identification><urban-fantasy><magic>" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="1710" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1708" CreationDate="2011-02-08T15:53:45.457" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Was it perhaps <a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0441014259" rel="nofollow"><strong>Webmage</strong> by Kelly McCullough</a>?</p>

<p>(I haven't read the book, mind you, just ran a quick Google search. :))</p>
" OwnerUserId="472" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T15:53:45.457" CommentCount="6" />
<row Id="1713" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="78" CreationDate="2011-02-08T19:31:58.533" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="<p><a href="http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/tag.cgi?21" rel="nofollow">Titles tagged with Steampunk on ISFDB</a>.</p>
" OwnerUserId="240" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T19:31:58.533" />
<row Id="1714" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1677" CreationDate="2011-02-08T20:17:11.847" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Like Dan, I'm offering a non-answer answer. More a justification. But also a literal answer later on.</p>

<p>The trouble with western-style sci-fi is that most SF was forward-thinking. The idea that the future might not be a world made civil by technology was a hard sell for a long time. The iconic 'future' of the 50s was all polished and, well, futuristic.</p>

<p>You'd have to look for themes that are western, of which there are LOADS. As old as sci-fi is. Older, probably, than the Old West itself.</p>

<p>However, if you want the most literal. I offer this: <em>Time Enough for Love</em> by Robert Heinlein from 1973 features a section where Lazarus Long lives a lifetime in an early old-west analogous settlement on another planet. It is quite literally the old west with a needle-gun and talking donkeys. </p>
" OwnerUserId="51" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T20:17:11.847" />
<row Id="1715" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="598" CreationDate="2011-02-08T20:34:15.160" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>"<a href="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&amp;bc1=000000&amp;IS2=1&amp;bg1=FFFFFF&amp;fc1=000000&amp;lc1=0000FF&amp;t=artslinkcom-20&amp;o=1&amp;p=8&amp;l=as4&amp;m=amazon&amp;f=ifr&amp;asins=0671318454" rel="nofollow">Orphans of The Sky</a>" by Robert A Heinlein. It is very different from most of his other books and does not seem to connect into his "universe". It has a fast plot with a space opera feel to it.</p>
" OwnerUserId="70" LastActivityDate="2011-02-08T20:34:15.160" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1716" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1677" CreationDate="2011-02-08T22:18:16.330" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Orson Scott Card's "<em>Alvin Maker</em>" series is more fantasy than Sci-Fi but it does have a Western feel to it.</p>

<p>It's an alternative history, which is very interesting.</p>
" OwnerUserId="779" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-31T18:12:47.107" LastActivityDate="2012-01-31T18:12:47.107" />
<row Id="1717" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1677" CreationDate="2011-02-09T00:15:07.913" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The short story Night of the Cooters by Howard Waldrop features a retelling of "<em>War of the Worlds</em>" from the perspective of a Texas Sheriff.</p>

<p>David Gemmell's Jon Shannow novels (<em>"The Jerusalem Man</em>" series):</p>

<ol>
<li><p><em>Wolf in Shadow</em> (1987) </p></li>
<li><p><em>The Last Guardian</em> (1989) </p></li>
<li><p><em>Bloodstone</em> (1994)</p></li>
</ol>

<p>feature a Western themed post-apocalytic world where blood stones allow people to perform "magic".</p>

<p>Tim Powers' early novel "<em>Dinner at Deviant's Palace</em>" (1985) featured another post-apocalyptic western themed setting and an alien psychic vampire.</p>

<p>If I think of any more I'll add them later.</p>

<p>EDIT: "<em><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/search?ie=UTF8&amp;keywords=Michael%20Crichton%20Westworld&amp;tag=authordatabase&amp;index=books&amp;linkCode=qs&amp;camp=1634&amp;creative=6738" rel="nofollow">Westworld</a></em>" by Michael Crichton, has a novelization dating from 1974</p>
" OwnerUserId="140" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-31T18:12:08.777" LastActivityDate="2012-01-31T18:12:08.777" />
<row Id="1722" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-02-09T15:37:52.373" Score="0" ViewCount="1" Body="<p>The Honorverse features faster than light travel by way of 'hyperspace' and 'grav waves', and the series focuses on the largest war humanity has seen in six centuries, between two massive star nations (and allied nations).</p>

<p>The main series spans a dozen or more novels, with two spin-off novel series, and several novellas and short stories (many collected into paperback editions known as the 'Worlds of Honor' collection).</p>

<p>The Honorverse novels explore complex themes such as social freedoms, reproductive rights, religious fanaticism, and the proper relationship between civilian and military bodies.</p>

<p>Inspired largely by the Horatio Hornblower series, many real-life parallels can be drawn to the books, and the vast array of characters - all with their own personalities, motivations, and goals - is staggering.</p>
" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="656" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-11T00:35:49.057" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T00:35:49.057" />
<row Id="1723" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-02-09T15:37:52.373" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="The Honorverse is a fictional universe that serves as a setting for David Weber's Honor Harrington series." OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="656" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-11T00:35:53.177" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T00:35:53.177" />
<row Id="1724" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1674" CreationDate="2011-02-09T15:53:44.140" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="<p>When reading this question the first thing that came to mind was the card game <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluxx" rel="nofollow">Fluxxx</a>. Basically the rules of the game (and the goal for winning the game) change as you play it.</p>
" OwnerUserId="240" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T15:53:44.140" CommentCount="7" />
<row Id="1725" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-09T23:17:10.447" Score="40" ViewCount="1238" Body="<p>I have a distant memory of a story which involves a person conversing with an intelligent space probe before it's launched on a long-term mission. As I recall it, their conversation goes something vaguely like this:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>What will you do when you return to earth and humans are extinct and the planet is covered in dust ?</p></li>
<li><p>I will measure the dust.</p></li>
<li><p>Why ? Who will ever know the results ?</p></li>
<li><p>They will be known to science.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>Now the thing is, it might not be a story in it's own right (I mean, there's not much more to it than that so far as I can remember), but it might actually have been a story told by one character to another in a larger work (possibly not even science-fiction) or even a movie.</p>

<p><strong>Can anyone place this for me please ?</strong> (Author, and name of the story or the work containing it).</p>

<p>(Background: I think the power of the sentiment expressed in those few lines is fantastic, and I find myself using "It will be known to science!" to justify all sorts of activities of dubious value but high intrinsic interest... although the most exceptionally pointless projects might get a "I will measure the dust!" instead. But I'd really like to track it back to the source and see in what spirit the original author intended it as I have no memory of that at all.)</p>

<p><strong>Update:</strong> thinking some more about this, and the possibility of a movie/visual media connection, I remembered I'd read quite a lot of manga/indie comics back in the late 80s/early 90s. The classic "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_Nights" rel="nofollow">2001 Nights</a>" series in particular sprung to mind, and I can imagine the rather short story fitting the format quite well. I don't have my hardcopies of "2001 Nights" any more, but the whole series is (amazingly) <a href="http://www.mangafox.com/manga/2001_nights/" rel="nofollow">available online</a>. I instantly leapt to the story "<a href="http://www.mangafox.com/manga/2001_nights/v04/c000/34.html" rel="nofollow">I am rocket</a>" (which is itself a continuation of "<a href="http://www.mangafox.com/manga/2001_nights/v02/c000/22.html" rel="nofollow">Discovery</a>"), but while those are related in spirit, they're definitely not the story I'm thinking of. (There are 9 volumes with 80 pages each, unfortunately not particularly rapidly browsable or text-searchable. Maybe, just maybe, it's in there somewhere... I intend to re-read the lot over the next few days, but I'm happy to be beaten to it if anyone else can locate it).</p>
" OwnerUserId="789" LastEditorUserId="789" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-28T17:06:44.690" LastActivityDate="2012-06-10T21:35:31.547" Title="Trying to identify "I will measure the dust" story" Tags="<story-identification><science><quotes><space-exploration>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="23" FavoriteCount="12" />
<row Id="1726" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1677" CreationDate="2011-02-09T23:26:57.263" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Extraterrestrial colonies with a lower overall technology level that what it takes to go through space is a common enough theme, and some stories have Western-like technology levels (slow communications, riding animals, personal firearms) and social atmosphere (sparse population, lawlessness).</p>

<p>An example that comes to mind is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andre_Norton" rel="nofollow">André Norton</a>'s <a href="http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pe.cgi?1189" rel="nofollow"><em>Beast Master</em> series</a>, starting with <a href="http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?2531" rel="nofollow"><em>The Beast Master</em></a> (1959). I make no claim that this is the earliest novel in this particular subgenre, just the earliest I can think of right now.</p>
" OwnerUserId="56" LastActivityDate="2011-02-09T23:26:57.263" />
<row Id="1728" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1643" CreationDate="2011-02-10T01:28:27.497" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Being a huge fan of Dune, main series and the rest, I have to say that I would recommend reading the main series first and then if you feel that you need some more information I would read "Legends of ..." and "Prelude to ..." . Recently "Heroes of ... " have been released although not all of them and some of them have been put on indefinite hold. "Heroes of ... " are fillers for what happened in between the main series books. I know I will read them.</p>

<p>Btw, here this <a href="http://dune.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page" rel="nofollow">website</a> is a very good place to get more information about Dune Universe.</p>
" OwnerUserId="779" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T01:28:27.497" />
<row Id="1729" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1205" CreationDate="2011-02-10T01:51:22.280" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Magic use is banned in Camelot, but, in S3E5 I believe, Uther told Gaius that he wanted Morgana saved, no matter what it took (he was telling Gaius to use magic).</p>

<p>Since Gaius is so loyal to Uther, and isn't openly using it, he is relatively safe, except for one episode where Uther thought Gaius was using magic (he protected Merlin) and was arrested and going to be killed.</p>
" OwnerUserId="794" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T01:51:22.280" />
<row Id="1731" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1793" CreationDate="2011-02-10T08:56:19.407" Score="19" ViewCount="1410" Body="<p>From <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek%3a_The_Next_Generation" rel="nofollow">Star Trek: The Next Generation</a> onward, <strong><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warp_speed#Warp_velocities" rel="nofollow">warp speed</a></strong> has a basically cubic scale from warps 1 - 9. But then, close to warp 10, it suddenly develops its own puzzling scale, as can be seen in <strong><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File%3aWarptable.gif" rel="nofollow">this table</a></strong>.</p>

<p>In this scale, <a href="http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Warp_factor" rel="nofollow">warp 10 is considered infinite</a>, occupying all points in the universe simultaneously and therefore effectively teleporting instantaneously.</p>

<p>My question is <strong>why have this confusing scale?</strong> Why not have a uniform cubic scale? Was there ever any "official" explanation for this?</p>

<p><strong>Clarification</strong>: I'm looking for why the writers decided on this, not the "in-universe" explanation.</p>
" OwnerUserId="143" LastEditorUserId="56" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-04-07T18:09:36.467" LastActivityDate="2011-04-11T19:01:22.500" Title="Why did the Star Trek writers decide Warp 10 would be infinite?" Tags="<star-trek><ftl-drive>" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="7" FavoriteCount="2" />
<row Id="1732" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1733" CreationDate="2011-02-10T09:07:10.800" Score="29" ViewCount="578" Body="<p>I've heard the claim that Tolkien wrote, or at least started writing, <em>The Lord of the Rings</em> to support (with a history providing cultural depth) the artificial languages he was creating at the time. </p>

<p>Is this true, or was it the other way round? Which came first, the languages or the fiction?</p>
" OwnerUserId="472" LastEditorUserId="3267" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-12-22T19:06:18.003" LastActivityDate="2011-12-22T19:09:20.743" Title="Lord of the Rings written to support constructed languages or the other way round?" Tags="<languages><tolkien><lord-of-the-rings>" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="1733" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1732" CreationDate="2011-02-10T10:49:44.590" Score="34" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Tolkien began creating languages when he was a young man, well before he started his career as an author. <a href="http://folk.uib.no/hnohf/vice.htm" rel="nofollow">This essay</a> shows that the languages came first and that his talent as a linguist led to his desire to create worlds in which these languages were commonplace.</p>
" OwnerUserId="70" LastEditorUserId="70" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-24T09:33:32.573" LastActivityDate="2011-02-24T09:33:32.573" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1735" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1819" CreationDate="2011-02-10T12:15:14.270" Score="12" ViewCount="165" Body="<p>This is what I remember:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>I think the author was not a professional writer but the story was cited in other webs.</p></li>
<li><p>A main theme was "uploading".</p></li>
<li><p>The pace remembered me to "Accelerando" by Charles Stross: it covers a time period between the near future and the far future.</p></li>
<li><p>The main character have fallen to a "town" that is surrender by walls where there is a landscape painted. It is a kind of "natural reserve" for humans. I think this is the first part of the story.</p></li>
<li><p>The civilization out of the "natural reserve" was not very human friendly and the humans in there didn't know about outside.</p></li>
<li><p>The main character was the first uploaded person. The story explains how he makes profit from this initially and how the different copies of him interact.</p></li>
<li><p>I think that, at some point, there are two characters called Alpha and Omega.</p></li>
</ul>
" OwnerUserId="797" LastEditorUserId="2935" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-10-14T19:33:35.253" LastActivityDate="2011-10-14T19:33:35.253" Title="I am trying to find a story that I read online some time ago. (uploading, similar to "Accelerando", "natural reserve" for humans)" Tags="<story-identification><hard-sci-fi><online-resources>" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="6" />
<row Id="1737" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1659" CreationDate="2011-02-10T14:08:37.503" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I think that what happened to Hiroki is that she becomes one of the Mars myths. This is the real intention of the author.</p>

<p>The difficulty to assert if something is real or myth is, in a sense, what science is about. In my opinion this is an important theme for K.S. Robinson. This is especially obvious in his book <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icehenge">Icehenge</a>.</p>

<p>In other words, my interpretation is that nobody knows what happened to Hiroki (even Robinson) because, he was searching to elicit in his readers this feeling of legend mixed with real character that makes you to ask the question in first place.</p>
" OwnerUserId="797" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T14:08:37.503" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1738" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1677" CreationDate="2011-02-10T14:29:19.200" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="<p>What about Edgar Rice Burroughs' "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_of_Mars" rel="nofollow"><em>Princess of Mars</em></a>" (from 1917)?</p>
" OwnerUserId="307" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-31T18:09:15.573" LastActivityDate="2012-01-31T18:09:15.573" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1740" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-10T14:35:47.020" Score="8" ViewCount="403" Body="<p>Who or what was "John" in the 2004 film <em>Immortal</em>? He acted as a special consort or guardian of the main character Jill, but what was his purpose for acting as Jill's guardian?</p>
" OwnerUserId="40" LastEditorUserId="56" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-05-30T22:52:39.707" LastActivityDate="2011-05-30T22:52:39.707" Title="Who was "John" in the 2004 film Immortal?" Tags="<movie><character-identification>" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" />
<row Id="1742" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1731" CreationDate="2011-02-10T15:14:47.827" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The Original Series didn't have that scale (I don't know if they ever made an 'official' scale for TOS). You can see this in <em>Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home</em> where they go to Warp 14 to enter Time Warp. </p>

<p>They rejiggered the scale before TNG to make the new ship seem faster while not constantly pulling out bigger numbers. Otherwise, the Borg would go Warp 25 and Voyager could hit Warp 40 ... and so on. The numbers would get absurdly big quickly and ruin suspension of belief.</p>

<p>I don't know what the in-universe explanation is.</p>
" OwnerUserId="322" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T15:14:47.827" CommentCount="7" />
<row Id="1743" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="63" CreationDate="2011-02-10T15:37:36.390" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The '<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Time_Ships" rel="nofollow">The Time Ships</a>' (1995) by Stephen Baxter has the most interesting depiction of a Dyson Sphere I have read in Science Fiction. The novel is a sequel to the clasic ‘The Time Machine’ (1895) by H. G. Wells (where there are not Dyson Spheres).</p>

<p>A more recent book with a memorable Dyson Swarm is ‘<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Suns" rel="nofollow">House of Suns</a>’ (2008) by Alastair Reynolds.</p>
" OwnerUserId="797" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T15:37:36.390" />
<row Id="1744" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2562" CreationDate="2011-02-10T16:06:39.857" Score="13" ViewCount="418" Body="<p>I remember there are some clues in the book, like the year of birth of Hiro's father and his age when Hiro was born. I don't remember if Hiro's exact age is specified.</p>

<p>So, has someone calculated the year when Snow Crash takes place? </p>

<p><strong>[Edit]</strong></p>

<p>I found the passage where some clues are given: <a href="http://books.google.ca/books?id=FYakRg-cZ7MC&amp;pg=PA57&amp;lpg=PA57&amp;dq=Hiro%27s+father+1944+snow+crash&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=0_397gRCgS&amp;sig=OSk_SaBfILbPAWXj_S2pacRluFc&amp;hl=en&amp;ei=qXtUTZWFJ8nOgAeQjYn1CA&amp;sa=X&amp;oi=book_result&amp;ct=result&amp;resnum=3&amp;sqi=2&amp;ved=0CCcQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false" rel="nofollow">Google Book, Snow Crash, page 57</a></p>

<blockquote>
 <p>Hiro's father had joined the army in
 1944, at the age of sixteen</p>
</blockquote>

<p><strong>1944 - 16 = 1928</strong></p>

<blockquote>
 <p>Hiro was born when his father was in his late middle age.</p>
</blockquote>

<p><strong>1928 + 55-59 = 1983-1987</strong></p>

<p>So the only missing piece is Hiro's age.</p>

<p><strong>[/Edit]</strong></p>
" OwnerUserId="45" LastEditorUserId="108" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-11T15:53:11.990" LastActivityDate="2011-03-20T21:41:55.617" Title="When does the action of Snow Crash take place?" Tags="<neal-stephenson><snow-crash>" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1746" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1747" CreationDate="2011-02-10T16:24:42.663" Score="8" ViewCount="326" Body="<p>In Discworld, Granny Weatherwax discusses "headology" fairly often as one of the keys to her power. What exactly does she mean by the term?</p>
" OwnerUserId="69" LastEditorUserId="70" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-19T07:55:42.810" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T10:29:04.697" Title="What is headology in Discworld?" Tags="<terminology><discworld><terry-pratchett>" AnswerCount="2" />
<row Id="1747" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1746" CreationDate="2011-02-10T17:16:21.777" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="<blockquote>
 <p>Like psychology, but many witches think "psychology" is a bad word, or that it means "having a psychological problem". The practice of headology relies on the principle that what people believe is what is real. This is used by witches to earn respect or at least fear, and also to cure patients.</p>
 
 <p><a href="http://wiki.lspace.org/wiki/Headology" rel="nofollow">The Discworld &amp; Pratchett Wiki</a></p>
</blockquote>

<p><strong>Disclaimer</strong>: This question was answered by using Google using "headology pratchett" keywords. In the future, <a href="http://meta.scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/328/how-should-we-handle-questions-that-are-easily-answered-by-wikipedia/330#330">we may close questions like this</a>.</p>
" OwnerUserId="45" LastEditorUserId="143" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-19T10:29:04.697" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T10:29:04.697" />
<row Id="1748" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="63" CreationDate="2011-02-10T17:33:54.680" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The ones that come to mind, are: </p>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ring_of_Charon" rel="nofollow">Ring of Charon</a></li>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shattered_Sphere" rel="nofollow">The Shattered Sphere</a></li>
</ul>

<p>A gravity pulse from a research station awakens an alien buried in the moon who opens a wormhole and takes Earth elsewhere. And the chaos that ensues. </p>

<p>Turns out there is a species that grabs planets, and brings them into solar systems where they have already built Dyson Spheres. </p>

<p>Great series. By <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_MacBride_Allen" rel="nofollow">Roger Allen Macbride</a></p>
" OwnerUserId="176" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T17:33:54.680" />
<row Id="1749" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1746" CreationDate="2011-02-10T17:55:17.050" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Basically, headology is applied psychology, although mistress Weatherwax would never describe it in those terms.</p>
" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T17:55:17.050" />
<row Id="1753" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="321" CreationDate="2011-02-10T18:44:09.283" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I am tempted to add The Chronicles of Riddick: Butcher Bay (and possibly Dark Athena) to the list. Vin Diesel's likeness was used extensively, since the game was developed by a game studio owned by Vin Diesel, and offers the origin of the character's distinct abilities.</p>
" OwnerUserId="542" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T18:44:09.283" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1754" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1756" CreationDate="2011-02-10T18:51:24.427" Score="9" ViewCount="487" Body="<p>In the novel by Nancy Kress, what does the title '<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beggars_in_Spain" rel="nofollow">Beggars in Spain</a>' mean? English is not my first language, so I suppose I am missing something here. I understand the basic idea behind the title, but the exact choice of words puzzles me. </p>

<p>Is "beggars in Spain" a common phrase in English, or it is something specific to the book? </p>
" OwnerUserId="797" LastEditorUserId="33" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T20:46:43.653" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T15:01:23.317" Title=""Beggars in Spain" - what does the title mean?" Tags="<books>" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="1755" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1764" CreationDate="2011-02-10T18:54:44.470" Score="8" ViewCount="240" Body="<p>Isaac Asimov was famous (in my mind) for writing detective stories that happened to be set in space. I am also a fan of Joss Whedon's Firefly series for separating the science fiction setting from the genre. Why are sci-fi stories classified by where the action takes place, whereas detective and romance stories are classified by the type of story that takes place?</p>
" OwnerUserId="542" LastEditorUserId="108" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-11T03:53:08.617" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T06:26:07.210" Title="Science Fiction as a setting or genre?" Tags="<setting><genre>" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="5" />
<row Id="1756" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1754" CreationDate="2011-02-10T19:02:31.563" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="<p>From the link you provided:</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>The novel's title comes from its
 primary moral question, as presented
 by character Tony Indivino: <strong>what do
 productive and responsible members of
 society owe the "beggars in Spain,"
 the unproductive masses who have
 nothing to offer except need?</strong> This is
 only underscored by the rift between
 Sleepers and Sleepless; Sleepless are
 superior in mind and body, and easily
 capable of outperforming their normal
 cousins. All men are not created
 equal. Where, then, is the line
 between equality and excellence? How
 far should any superior minority hold
 themselves back for fear of
 engendering feelings of inadequacy in
 their inferiors?—especially if this
 minority is not hated and feared, but
 rather the elite? This question is
 explored, but not elaborated on by the
 novel.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>The point is not that the beggars are in "Spain" but merely: "do we owe the poor and the unfortunate anything?". Spain is just an arbitrary other location used in the original quote where the author got the title from.</p>

<p>It's not an English expression if I remember correctly.</p>
" OwnerUserId="35" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-11T15:01:23.317" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T15:01:23.317" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1758" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1755" CreationDate="2011-02-10T19:12:35.883" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Sci-fi is a broad category of fiction where some of the fictional ideas that are presented have some kind of scientific basis. It is a genre of fiction, just as Romance and detective novels are genres of fiction. The only difference is science fiction subdivides fiction in a different manner than Romance or detective novels.</p>

<p>I think it's simple to consider a novel to be both a Detective (or whatever) novel and a Sci-Fi novel. It's just that the fact that a work is Sci-Fi distinguishes it more in the public's eye than some other genre.</p>
" OwnerUserId="35" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T19:12:35.883" />
<row Id="1759" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1740" CreationDate="2011-02-10T19:55:44.090" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Being such an obscure and foreign film, there aren't a lot of details available. It's also very loosely based off a set of graphic novels by the director, so there is no direct relation to the character in the movie compared to the books. </p>

<p>It would seem that John is just a cosmic benefactor trying to protect and guide Jill through her journey.</p>
" OwnerUserId="40" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T19:55:44.090" />
<row Id="1760" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1765" CreationDate="2011-02-10T20:46:53.030" Score="14" ViewCount="321" Body="<p>Science fiction writers are often credited with "inventing the future" with some of their ideas. For example, the idea of geostationary satellites is often attributed to Arthur C. Clarke. What novel was the first to mention or predict a personal handheld computer that anyone could use?</p>

<p>Jerry Pournelle, in several TWiT podcasts, claims that he and co-writer Larry Niven came up with the idea in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mote_in_God%27s_Eye" rel="nofollow"><em>The Mote in God's Eye</em></a> published in 1974, however, I'm sure an idea like it came along well before that. </p>
" OwnerUserId="40" LastEditorUserId="33" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-10T20:55:40.367" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T15:39:50.910" Title="What novel was the first to mention or predict a personal handheld computer?" Tags="<prediction><computers>" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="6" />
<row Id="1761" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1744" CreationDate="2011-02-10T21:32:21.113" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="<p>"The story begins and ends in Los Angeles, which is no longer part of what is left of the United States, during the early 21st century."</p>

<p>I found this on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Crash" rel="nofollow">wikipedia</a>.</p>
" OwnerUserId="798" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T21:32:21.113" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1764" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1755" CreationDate="2011-02-10T23:35:08.557" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I think that sci-fi can be used to describe different things. It can be used to describe setting (for instance, the movie "Alien") or it can be used to describe genre, where some sci-fi concept is fundamental to telling the story, regardless of the setting (for instance, the movie "Minority Report"). The use of the phrase "sci-fi" in these two examples means different things to me.</p>
" OwnerUserId="243" LastActivityDate="2011-02-10T23:35:08.557" />
<row Id="1765" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1760" CreationDate="2011-02-11T02:23:15.200" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Issac Asimov's short story <a href="http://john.regehr.org/reading_list/power.html" rel="nofollow">The Feeling of Power</a> posits a population completely dependent on their <em>"pocket computer"</em> for doing basic arithmetic. However, they are not described in use for anything <em>other</em> than arithmetic (which is, after all what the big boxes did in 1958), so I don't know if it counts or not.</p>

<p>The way the characters use the things in the Niven/Pournelle reference more closely resemble the things we think of as PDAs/smartphones/netbooks.</p>
" OwnerUserId="231" LastEditorUserId="231" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-11T02:45:15.773" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T02:45:15.773" />
<row Id="1766" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="63" CreationDate="2011-02-11T03:12:09.087" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>In <a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1597801518" rel="nofollow">"Implied Spaces", by Walter Jon Williams</a>, there are several Dyson spheres, although they are each in their own closed universe, reachable only by wormhole so it's maybe not your run-of-the-mill Dyson sphere.</p>
" OwnerUserId="206" LastEditorUserId="206" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-11T03:23:25.663" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T03:23:25.663" />
<row Id="1767" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-11T05:27:34.257" Score="7" ViewCount="95" Body="<p>In <em>This is Not My Life</em> groups from outside Waimoana came into the community and kidnapped (or saved, depending on your point of view) people. There was also a group working on extracting Alec later in the season.</p>

<p>Are these the same group? I wasn't really clear on whether there was one "resistance" group that was trying to rescue people and were also helping Alec for some reason, or whether there were multiple groups with conflicting (overlapping?) goals.</p>

<p>(If this wasn't answered in Season 1 and left for Season 2 to explain, then that's a valid answer. My impression was that it was meant to be clear, though).</p>
" OwnerUserId="108" LastEditorUserId="108" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-31T22:06:43.717" LastActivityDate="2012-01-31T22:06:43.717" Title="Were there multiple resistance groups in This is Not My Life, or just one?" Tags="<this-is-not-my-life>" />
<row Id="1768" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-11T05:52:22.690" Score="14" ViewCount="168" Body="<p>Early in the story, a girl, Ragna, is attacked (presumably raped).</p>

<p>It seems like it must be either Sigurd (because Somerled made him think it was appropriate behaviour) or Somerled himself.</p>

<p>Sigurd attacks Somerled as a result, but that could be because he's angry at being tricked by him, or angry that he attacked the girl. Sigurd is also upset at her death, but that could be because he's angry that it's his fault, or just that she died.</p>

<p>Later, Somerled presumably kills Sigurd. I don't see why he would do that if Somerled himself was the attacker.</p>

<p>Somerled denied doing it when asked by Eyvind, and despite everything else, he was generally honest with Eyvind.</p>

<p>There's also some mention of it late in the book, but I don't remember exactly what it was (and don't have a copy handy any more). If I remember correctly, it only left me in more doubt about whether it was Somerled or not.</p>

<p>Is this answered in the book? Or at least made clearer than it seems to me?</p>
" OwnerUserId="108" LastEditorUserId="1027" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-02-03T19:20:09.337" LastActivityDate="2012-02-03T19:20:09.337" Title="In Wolfskin, who attacked Ragna?" Tags="<books><wolfskin>" AnswerCount="0" CommentCount="4" />
<row Id="1769" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="947" CreationDate="2011-02-11T07:40:02.317" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="<p>In <em>Star Trek: Strange New Worlds IV</em>, there is a TOS short story <em>Tears for Eternity</em>, that is set in the <strong>523rd Century</strong> (about a new generation of <a href="http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Horta">Horta</a>, sequel to <em>The Devil in the Dark</em>). However, (a) this perhaps isn't canon, and (b) I don't believe there's any reference to the <em>Federation</em> at that point.</p>

<p>In <em>Star Trek: Strange New Worlds II</em>, there is a TNG short story <em>I Am Become Death</em>, that is set in the <strong>44th Century</strong> (about a future with many Datas, prequel to <em>Brothers</em>). However, (a) this probably isn't canon either, and (b) I haven't read this personally, so I don't know if the Data future has the federation, either.</p>

<p>In <em>Living Witness</em> (Voyager S4), an alternative Doctor is activated and heads off to the Alpha Quadrant in the <strong>31st Century</strong>. I don't recall (but it's been a long time since I saw it) any mention of whether the Doctor knows that the Federation is/is not around at that time.</p>

<p>The ship from <em>Future Tense</em> (Enterprise S2) is from the <strong>31st Century</strong>, and had human/Vulcan crew. I don't recall (also a long time since I've seen this) any mention of whether it is a Federation ship (probably not, since <em>Enterprise</em> don't know about the Federation at this stage).</p>

<p>In <em>Future's End</em> (Voyager S3) we see the <em>U.S.S. Aeon</em> from the <strong>29th Century</strong>. This presumably is the Federation, and is canon - <em>but</em> the timeline is wiped by the events of that episode.</p>

<p>In <em>Relativity</em> (Voyager S5), a semi-sequel to <em>Future's End</em>, we see the inside of the Federation timeship Relativity, in the <strong>29th century</strong>. This timeline was not erased by the episode's events.</p>

<p>In <em>A Matter of Time</em> (TNG S5) we see a time pod from the <strong>26th Century</strong> (via the 20th). There's no indication of what the 26th Century is like, however.</p>

<p>In <a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0671793233">Crossroad</a> (TOS novel) there's discussion of the Federation in the <strong>26th Century</strong>:</p>

<blockquote class="spoiler">
 <p> Starfleet and the Federation are corrupt and controlled by a private company. A traveller from the future is trying to get rid of the Federation in Kirk's time to prevent this.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>I'm not sure if this is canon or not, but it's probably the closest to addressing the future of the Federation itself, rather than just the future in general.</p>

<p>(As an aside: the novel is by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Hambly">Barbara Hambly</a>, who has written many excellent non-Trek novels).</p>
" OwnerUserId="108" LastEditorUserId="2242" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-12-27T06:52:05.267" LastActivityDate="2011-12-27T06:52:05.267" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1770" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1382" CreationDate="2011-02-11T08:10:31.167" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I never bought into the Deckard-is-a-replicant idea, but instead always thought it was that both men saw Rachel as beautiful, impossible, unique and magical, which is well represented well by the symbol of a Unicorn. </p>

<p>In my opinion, Gaff leaving the unicorn for Deckard to find tells Deckard two things.</p>

<ol>
<li>I have decided to spare her, take
her and go.</li>
<li>I understand your fascination with
her.</li>
</ol>

<p>My two cents.</p>
" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T08:10:31.167" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1771" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1744" CreationDate="2011-02-11T16:11:17.963" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The exact time of the setting was probably made intentionally obscure, so that Stephenson didn't fall into the <a href="http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Eugenics_Wars" rel="nofollow">Eugenics war</a> trap. From the calculations you mention the time would be close to now <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011" rel="nofollow">2011</a>, or in a few years, because Hiro is probably not much older than 30. But the future portrayed in the book seems like the time is at least 20-30 years ahead of us now.</p>

<p>So it seems like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neal_Stephenson" rel="nofollow">Neal Stephenson</a> kind of messed up his math, he probably shouldn't have mentioned any exact dates for Hiro's father. </p>

<p>It maybe that Stephenson like many, many great sci-writers before him, simply overestimated the pace of change for dramatic effect (intentionally or unintentionally).</p>
" OwnerUserId="35" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-18T20:39:11.640" LastActivityDate="2011-03-18T20:39:11.640" CommentCount="5" />
<row Id="1772" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1778" CreationDate="2011-02-11T16:34:04.917" Score="13" ViewCount="203" Body="<p>In <em>Foundation and Earth</em>, there is a story about a Settler man and a Spacer woman leaving Solaria together. However, there is no further explanation in the book. Is it explained in another book?</p>
" OwnerUserId="393" LastEditorUserId="393" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-11T17:29:39.910" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T18:38:51.443" Title="In Foundation and Earth, what about the story about a Settler and a Spacer woman on Solaria?" Tags="<isaac-asimov><foundation>" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1775" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-02-11T18:13:12.523" Score="0" ViewCount="20" Body="<p>Star Trek is an American science fiction franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The franchise has produced at least a dozen movies, scores of novels, and multiple long-running TV series. </p>

<p>Each episode of the original series (TOS) (save for "The Cage" and "Where No Man Has Gone Before") began with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where_no_man_has_gone_before" rel="nofollow" title="origin of the phrase">the following narration</a> by Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner):</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>It was later modified for <a href="http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Star_Trek%3a_The_Next_Generation" rel="nofollow">The Next Generation</a> (TNG) with narration by Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart):</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Questions specific to a series of Star Trek should use the appropriate series tag:</p>

<ul>
<li><a href="/questions/tagged/star-trek-tos" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'star-trek-tos'" rel="tag">star-trek-tos</a></li>
<li><a href="/questions/tagged/star-trek-tng" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'star-trek-tng'" rel="tag">star-trek-tng</a></li>
<li><a href="/questions/tagged/star-trek-ds9" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'star-trek-ds9'" rel="tag">star-trek-ds9</a></li>
<li><a href="/questions/tagged/star-trek-voyager" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'star-trek-voyager'" rel="tag">star-trek-voyager</a></li>
<li><a href="/questions/tagged/star-trek-enterprise" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'star-trek-enterprise'" rel="tag">star-trek-enterprise</a></li>
</ul>

<p>For questions that encompass the entire canon or multiple series, use of the <a href="/questions/tagged/star-trek" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'star-trek'" rel="tag">star-trek</a> tag will cover them.</p>
" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="383" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-12-23T23:26:49.807" LastActivityDate="2011-12-23T23:26:49.807" />
<row Id="1776" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-02-11T18:13:12.523" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="American science fiction franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. Use this tag when asking about multiple series in the Star Trek canon or as a whole." OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="383" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-12-23T23:26:48.950" LastActivityDate="2011-12-23T23:26:48.950" />
<row Id="1777" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="63" CreationDate="2011-02-11T18:36:10.227" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Already many good answers... I'll just throw out the <b>Virga</b> series by Schroeder, starting with the first book in the series, <i>Sun of Suns</i>. It is a fantastic series, with each book continuing the story, focusing on a different main character.</p>
" OwnerUserId="243" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T18:36:10.227" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1778" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1772" CreationDate="2011-02-11T18:38:51.443" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robots_and_Empire" rel="nofollow"><em>Robots and Empire</em></a> tells the story of D.G. Baley, a settler, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gladia_Delmarre" rel="nofollow">Gladia Delmarre</a>, a Spacer, originally from Solaria. They didn't meet on Solaria, but they visited the place together. The Wikipedia entry for Gladia Delmarre states that her story is indeed the one referenced in <em>Foundation and Earth</em>. According to the <a href="http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pe.cgi?22325" rel="nofollow">robots and spacers series</a>, this is probably the only relationship between a Solarian and a non-Spacer ever anyway, as Solarians were extreme isolationists. </p>

<p><em>Robots and Empire</em> establishes the connection between the Robots universe and the Foundation universe, setting a basis for the later Foundation stories. I think it is best read in sequence after the other three robots and spacers novels.</p>
" OwnerUserId="56" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T18:38:51.443" />
<row Id="1779" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1801" CreationDate="2011-02-11T19:07:37.000" Score="31" ViewCount="1851" Body="<p>What is the reason (in canon) for the different colors of lightsabers? 
I know about purple being specially chosen by the actor Samuel L. Jackson since it's his favorite color, but is there a reason or purpose for the colors, other than "red=sith, blue/green=jedi"?</p>
" OwnerUserId="9" LastEditorUserId="19" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T03:52:55.387" LastActivityDate="2012-07-18T16:04:56.993" Title="What is the reason that lightsabers have different colors?" Tags="<star-wars><weapon>" AnswerCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="1780" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1779" CreationDate="2011-02-11T19:16:11.330" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Canon? Don't know how canon this is, but at least in the video game <em>Knights of the Old Republic</em>, the color was influenced by crystals added to a lightsaber which changed the saber's properties. (Giving additional damage to specific enemies, giving general damage boosts and so on.)</p>
" OwnerUserId="741" LastEditorUserId="741" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T14:02:37.050" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T14:02:37.050" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1781" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1889" CreationDate="2011-02-11T19:38:02.763" Score="10" ViewCount="447" Body="<p>I'll be going to my first convention this August, a Star Trek convention in Las Vegas. My wife got me and my daughter (a huge sci-fi fan) gold passes for the whole thing, and I'm looking for advice from people that have gone to conventions before.</p>

<p>Some of the questions I have: </p>

<ul>
<li>What would you suggest I bring to collect signatures?</li>
<li>What about photo ops? Are the stars usually cool about that?</li>
<li>My daughter wants to wear a Star Trek uniform but I don't. Will I stick out? OR will she?</li>
<li>What can we expect at the various parties?</li>
</ul>

<p>We're looking forward to meeting Kirk, Spock, Data, et. al. However, I really don't know what it'll be like. Can anyone help give me a general overview of what to expect at a con? </p>
" OwnerUserId="809" LastEditorUserId="33" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-15T22:14:33.623" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T22:14:33.623" Title="How should I prepare for my first convention?" Tags="<star-trek><conventions>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="8" />
<row Id="1782" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1512" CreationDate="2011-02-11T20:40:43.047" Score="-1" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I think that one of the books will be "Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood.</p>
" OwnerUserId="779" LastEditorUserId="779" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-11T20:48:10.773" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T20:48:10.773" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1783" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1786" CreationDate="2011-02-11T21:37:31.363" Score="16" ViewCount="289" Body="<p>Sorry about the ambiguous title, but I want to prevent spoilers. Read no further if you haven't read through at least <em>The Fires of Heaven</em> in Robert Jordan's <em>Wheel of Time</em> series.</p>

<blockquote class="spoiler">
 <p> At the end of the 5th book of <em>The Wheel of Time</em>, <em>The Fires of Heaven</em>, Asmodean is killed by an unknown figure right after a shock of recognition.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>At what point in the series do we find out who the killer is, and at what point in the series should we have gathered enough clues to figure it out on our own?</p>

<p>Note that I'm not looking for the identity of the killer (if that's even known yet). If you know who it is, please use <a href="http://meta.scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/1/is-it-important-to-mark-spoiler-questions-as-such">spoiler text</a>.</p>
" OwnerUserId="63" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T22:05:18.283" Title="At what point in the Wheel of Time do we find out who killed a certain Forsaken?" Tags="<wheel-of-time>" AnswerCount="3" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="1784" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1791" CreationDate="2011-02-11T22:14:17.870" Score="11" ViewCount="507" Body="<p>So I got into Alastair Reynolds. A while ago, I stumbled over <em>Redemption Ark</em>, found the blurb on the back interesting, and bought it. After reading it, I went back and bought <em>Pushing Ice</em>, too. After that I decided that I liked the guy and that it's time I started to approach this systematically. <code>:)</code> So here's my questions: </p>

<ol>
<li><p>I have, so far, found five somewhat independent novels, plus the <em>Revelation Space</em> sequence. The five are </p>

<ul>
<li>Chasm City</li>
<li>Century Rain</li>
<li>Pushing Ice</li>
<li>The Prefect</li>
<li>House of Suns</li>
</ul>

<p>Of those five, I know that <em>The Prefect</em> is rooted in the <em>Revelation Space</em> universe, and by its title I can tell that <em>Chasm City</em> is so, too. I know that <em>Pushing Ice</em> isn't. </p>

<p>What about the other two, <em>Century Rain</em> and <em>House of Suns</em>? Do they fit into <em>Revelation Space</em> universe as well? </p></li>
<li><p>In <em>The Prefect</em> the habitats around Yellowstone are still known as the <em>Glitter Band</em>, while in <em>Redemption Ark</em>, #2 of the <em>Revelation Space</em> sequence, they are known as the <em>Rust Belt</em>. Now that I try to approach this more systematically, I have started with #1 of the <em>Revelation Space</em> sequence, <em>Revelation Space</em>, among other expectations hoping to learn more about the event leading to this transformation. (The occurrence of the, um, <em>Melding Plague</em>?) However, it's already called the <em>Rust Belt</em> in that book, so the event must have happened earlier. </p>

<p>Is this described in detail in <em>House of Suns</em>?<br>
(If so, then that would partly answer the first question as well.) </p></li>
<li><p>Is the third of the <em>Revelation Space</em> sequence, <em>Absolution Gap</em>, the conclusion of a trilogy or just the third step in an (as yet?) open-ended sequence? </p></li>
</ol>
" OwnerUserId="777" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-21T22:56:45.007" LastActivityDate="2011-03-21T22:56:45.007" Title="Glitter Band to Rust Belt - When?" Tags="<suggested-order><alastair-reynolds><revelation-space>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" />
<row Id="1785" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1783" CreationDate="2011-02-11T22:56:50.250" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I've read them all but unfortunately I can't remember whether we've found that out yet. If you've read the whole series it may be worth your while visiting the Tor website where there's a commentary by Leigh Butler (who used to maintain the Wheel of Time FAQ: <a href="http://linuxmafia.com/jordan/" rel="nofollow">http://linuxmafia.com/jordan/</a> ) of her re-read of the whole series which contains all of the major plot developments as they occur.</p>

<p>You can find the re-read detailed here: <a href="http://www.tor.com/blogs/2009/02/wheel-of-time-re-read-index" rel="nofollow">http://www.tor.com/blogs/2009/02/wheel-of-time-re-read-index</a> but the suggestion is that you shouldn't read it unless you've read all of the books as even the discussion of the early books contains major plot spoilers from later in the series.</p>
" OwnerUserId="140" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T22:56:50.250" />
<row Id="1786" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1783" CreationDate="2011-02-11T23:51:09.080" Score="16" ViewCount="" Body="<p>As far as I remember, RJ mentioned at some point that we should have been able to figure it out. However, it wasn't until Towers of Midnight that the community reached a general consensus as to who did it. In the book, we're never actually told "so and so killed so and so", but there is evidence in the book that helps narrow it down, and I believe BS confirmed to the community that their conclusion was correct. </p>

<p>So, short answer is Towers of Midnight. </p>

<p>If you're looking for details about who did it and how we find it out, <a href="http://www.dragonmount.com/forums/topic/55636-asmodeans-killer/page__st__20__p__1741818__hl__asmodean__fromsearch__1#entry1741818" rel="nofollow">this</a> forum post should help clarify things (scroll down to the very last post on the page, obviously contains spoilers)</p>
" OwnerUserId="790" LastActivityDate="2011-02-11T23:51:09.080" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1790" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="536" CreationDate="2011-02-12T00:32:25.090" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="<p>In general, trying to find which club sponsors the local science fiction convention is a good way to meet fannish types, even if you are not into going to conventions. </p>

<p>In Denver, for instance, the Denver Area Science Fiction Association (<a href="http://www.dasfa.org/" rel="nofollow">DASFA</a>) sponsors MileHiCon. (Disclaimer: I'm the editor of the newsletter for DASFA). We have actually hooked up the club to meetup as well, although most people who attend don't seem to RSVP (meetup says 3 people coming, 15-30 show up.)</p>
" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T00:32:25.090" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-12T00:32:25.090" />
<row Id="1791" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1784" CreationDate="2011-02-12T01:57:17.540" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Alastair Reynolds is an amazing writer (except for his inability to finish stories).
However, he very much likes to write in a way where the reader is thrown into a universe without knowing the mechanics and the history and has to figure things as they go. This can either be ok or really annoying. I actually like it, though he has, in practice, put spoilers into the story. </p>

<p>The publication order doesn't match the chronology In addition, thanks to time story threads and relativity, it's hard to determine chronological order. In fact, the moment of transformation is not described in any of the novels (AFAIK). You are left to imagine how fast or when exactly it happened. </p>

<p>I would suggest reading all of the Revelation Space books together. I started with Revalation space, then read Chasm City, then went to the sequel pair. If I remember correctly, the order for what I consider the "main series" is "revelation space", "redemption ark", and "absolution gap". Absolution pretty much ends the story, if I remember correctly. Though he could always continue - Peter Hamilton pulled this trick very nicely.</p>

<p>Chasm city takes place separately (and is a great book otherwise) and I found it enjoyable after Revelation Space where I already knew what happens to the band. Then I read Diamond Dogs (short story) which relates to Chasm City. There are also related stories in Galactic North.</p>

<p>The Prefect takes place in the glitter band earlier, and just mentions something bad happening in the future (the conjoiners appear in that book as well). I read it later.</p>

<p>Reynolds' other books are each standalone in a different universie - Century Rain is about alternate worlds, Pushing Ice is close-to-modern-day and seems like a Rama tribute. House of suns is weaker and plays with extremely long periods of time (galaxy spanning). Terminal World talks about an earth in the future with "Zones" (a-la Vernor Vinge).</p>

<p>As for your second question - The Melding Plague is the name of the transformation. The Rust belt is what happens to the glitter band after the plague. You won't get a good idea of what happened - Just of life before and after. Reynolds makes these places seem "alive". </p>
" OwnerUserId="384" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T01:57:17.540" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1793" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1731" CreationDate="2011-02-12T04:40:44.200" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="<p>If you're looking for the "canon-ish" answer for the change, according to the "Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual" the scale was recalibrated in the 24th century. The old scale was calculated based on "observed" speed (much like our MPH/KPH), but the amounts of energy needed to maintain that speed could be vastly different from one moment to the next based on interstellar conditions and quantum drag forces. For instance you spend a few seconds traveling through a smallish eddy and it greatly reduces your velocity. Since such great distances were being covered in such a short time, a great deal of turbulence exists. Since the engines aren't actually fluctuating power to maintain a constant speed, the observed (averaged) speed was little more than a guess. I imagine this like driving a car at 6000 RPM over a surface that is at one second oil and the next sandpaper, with large rocks mixed in here or there. You could certainly figure out what your speed was for the last mile, but it may not be indicative of your speed for the next mile.</p>

<p>In TNG, the scale was changed to the amount of power required to transition from one warp plateau to another. The idea here is that it's easy (power-wise) to maintain a particular speed, but a power spike is needed to make that jump from Warp 1 to Warp 2. A larger spike is needed to get from Warp 1 to Warp 9. At that time, they decided Warp 10 was infinite power required. So all the "undiscovered" plateaus between 9 and 10 had to be squeezed in. I liken this to the metric system, where they decide a gram was a rather small amount of mass, but rather than recalibrate, people just decided to measure things in kgs.</p>

<p>Outside of canon, I recall an interview with Roddenberry. He put in a speed limit to keep writers from inventing more speed as the way out of trouble. You can see this a few times in the first season where the Enterprise tries to outrun things, but cannot (Qs grid springs to mind).</p>

<p><strong>Edit</strong>: Just found online <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/17602666/Star-Trek-TNG-Technical-Manual-182-Pages" rel="nofollow">link</a> to the TNG Technical Manual with a note alluding to Gene's decision. </p>

<blockquote>
 <p>Figuring out how "fast" various warp
 speeds are was pretty complicated, but
 not just from a "scientific"
 viewpoint. First, we had to satisfy
 the general fan expectation that the
 new ship was significantly faster than
 the original. Second, we had to work
 with Gene's recalibration, which put
 Warp 10 the absolute top of the
 scale. These first two constraints are
 fairly simple, but we quickly
 discovered that it was easy to make
 warp speeds TOO fast. Beyond a certain
 speed, we found that the ship would be
 able to cross the entire galaxy within
 a matter of just a few months. (Having
 the ship too fast would make the
 galaxy too small a place for the Star
 Trek format.) Finally, we had to
 provide some loophole for various
 powerful aliens like Q, who have a
 knack for tossing the ship millions of
 light years in the time of a
 commercial break. Our solution was to
 redraw the warp curve so that the
 exponent of the warp factor increases
 gradually, then sharply as you
 approach Warp 10. At Warp 10, the
 exponent (and the speed) would be
 infinite, so you could never reach
 this value. (Mike used an Excel
 spreadsheet to calculate the speeds
 and times.) This lets Q and his
 friends have fun in the 9.9999+ range,
 but also lets our ship travel slowly
 enough to keep the galaxy a big place,
 and meets the other criteria. (By the
 way, we estimate that in "Where No One
 Has Gone Before" the Traveler was
 probably propelling the Enterprise at
 about Warp 9.9999999996. Good thing
 they were in the carpool lane.)</p>
</blockquote>
" OwnerUserId="326" LastEditorUserId="326" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-15T13:03:46.110" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T13:03:46.110" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="1795" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1803" CreationDate="2011-02-12T13:50:39.587" Score="14" ViewCount="561" Body="<p>I can't remember the name of the story, and couldn't find anything on Google searches either.</p>

<p>The story is about a science fiction writer whose story gets rejected by the publisher because it's word-by-word identical to another story published years ago. The writer then writes another story only to find out that the same author also published this story around the same time as the other one.</p>

<p>Our writer then writes a story about a man who uses a time machine to read other people's work in the future and then publishes it in his time. Only to find out that this story was also published by the same guy years ago.</p>

<p>The story I'm trying to find out was in the form of letter correspondence between the writer and the publisher.</p>

<p>So, does anyone know its title? </p>
" OwnerUserId="52" LastEditorUserId="52" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T14:17:23.247" LastActivityDate="2011-05-24T21:20:18.390" Title="Story about plagiarism by means of time machine" Tags="<story-identification><time-travel>" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="3" />
<row Id="1797" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="536" CreationDate="2011-02-12T17:33:38.293" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Start your own group and advertise on <a href="http://upcoming.org" rel="nofollow">Upcoming</a>, <a href="http://craigslist.org" rel="nofollow">Craigslist</a>, and your local bookstore. Reach out to nearby users on <a href="http://goodreads.com" rel="nofollow">GoodReads</a>. If you want to game, try <a href="http://nearbygamers.net" rel="nofollow">NearbyGamers</a>. Ask around at your closest <a href="http://hackerspaces.org/wiki/List_of_Hacker_Spaces" rel="nofollow">hacker space</a>. I suggest pick a coffee shop (or some place you don't mind hanging out for a couple hours), advertise a new group, and see who shows up.</p>
" OwnerUserId="816" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T17:33:38.293" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-12T17:33:38.293" />
<row Id="1798" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2685" CreationDate="2011-02-12T17:38:18.223" Score="13" ViewCount="513" Body="<p>Years ago, when I was a child (around 10-12, I guess - the mid 1980s), I read a relatively short book - it might have been a children/young adult book - that I have never since been able to recall the name of, nor the name of the author. Can anyone help me out?</p>

<p>The story describes the daily life of a girl (it might actually be in diary form now that I think of it), apparently living alone on a planet. I seem to recall some sort of discussion partner, it might have been a computer or robot or just a smart house.</p>

<p>Anyway, the main point of the story is that aliens land a distance away from her. She spies on them and describes them (the narrative is in first person, even if it was not actually in diary form). Along with these observations, we get more about her daily life and details start to appear and add up. For instance, she, matter-of-factly, mentions her nictitating membranes! Also, the descriptions of the aliens seem more and more familiar.</p>

<p>You have probably realised by now where this is going and the plot twist is indeed that <em>she</em> is an alien and the newcomers are humans. This is of course not a terribly novel twist (it is a <a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TomatoSurprise" rel="nofollow">Tomato Surprise</a> in TVTropes vernacular) but it was quite effective on me as a child.</p>

<p>I would love to re-read it as an adult, can anyone identify what book I am talking about?</p>
" OwnerUserId="815" LastEditorUserId="108" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T06:00:21.280" LastActivityDate="2011-03-28T12:45:27.057" Title="Identifying a story about a girl who turn out to be an alien" Tags="<story-identification><aliens>" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="2" />
<row Id="1801" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1779" CreationDate="2011-02-12T19:11:00.617" Score="26" ViewCount="" Body="<p>First, there is nothing that was told in the movies about the lightsaber colors, so all information on the subject came from extended universe. </p>

<p>The color of the lightsaber come from the crystal used in it's construction. It's a personal choice based on multiple factor like crystal availability, traditional color for a <a href="http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Jedi#Specialization" rel="nofollow">Specialization (undermentioned as <em>class</em>)</a> or just a personal color preference. </p>

<hr>

<p>Out of universe, the Blue / Red distinction was made during post-production when the lightsaber blades were being rotoscoped, as the original blades were simply white. The color choice might have bean influenced by the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War" rel="nofollow">political climax</a>, the red color being traditionally associated with Soviets and blue with Americans, but also note than <a href="http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/8796/why-are-the-colors-reversed-between-the-blasters-and-lightsabers-of-the-republic">the colors reversed for blasters and spaceships</a>. Luke's green lightsaber was added late in post-production of the <em>Return of the Jedi</em> in order to better stand out against the blue sky of Tatooine in outdoor scenes. So all those signification / explanation are all retcon.</p>

<hr>

<p>I made a digest of the meaningful passages of the <a href="http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Lightsaber_crystal" rel="nofollow">Lightsaber crystal entry on Wookieepedia</a> (emphasis mine).</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>While the Jedi used natural crystals, <strong>the Sith often used red-hued synthetic crystals.</strong> Sith-made synthetic crystals create a slightly more powerful blade when energized by the dark side of the Force, occasionally demonstrating the ability to "break" Jedi lightsaber blades, disrupting the energy circuit and shorting out the weapon. However, this rarely happened, and as synthetic crystals demonstrated a slightly lower amount of maneuverability, this advantage was very slim.</p>
 
 <p>[...]</p>
 
 <p>Around 4,000 BBY, lightsaber crystals were used to indicate a Jedi's chosen class. <strong>Blue indicated a Jedi Guardian</strong>, a Jedi who used the Force on a more physical level. <strong>Green indicated a Jedi Consular</strong>, a Jedi who preferred to reflect on the mysteries of the Force and fight the dark side at its heart. <strong>Yellow indicated a Jedi Sentinel</strong>, a Jedi who honed their skills in a balance of combat and scholarly pursuits.</p>
 
 <p><strong>This distinction fell out of practice in later years when most Jedi used blue or green crystals</strong>, based on the supply on the various source worlds. Purple, yellow, and orange crystals were still used by some Jedi until the the fall of the Jedi Order, but they were exceedingly rare, and often passed down through generations.</p>
 
 <p>[...]</p>
 
 <p><strong>For millennia, the Jedi Order lit lightsabers in every color and hue imaginable. However, following the <a href="http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Battle_of_Ruusan" rel="nofollow">Battle of Ruusan</a>, the hues of most available crystals had been limited to either blue or green.</strong> </p>
</blockquote>

<p>For the out of universe section, this quote is taken form <a href="http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Lightsaber#Colors" rel="nofollow">Lightsaber Entry, Behind the scenes - Color section on Wookieepedia</a> (emphasis mine)</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>Lightsabers depicted in the first two released films, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope and Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, had blades that were colored either blue (for the Jedi) or red (for the Sith). <strong>This color difference was a decision during post-production when the lightsaber blades were being rotoscoped, as the original blades were simply white.</strong> In Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, Luke Skywalker's newly-constructed lightsaber was colored blue during the initial editing of the film, and appears so in both an early movie trailer and the official theatrical posters, but in the final film, <strong>it was ultimately colored green in order to better stand out against the blue sky of Tatooine in outdoor scenes</strong>. It also appeared as green in re-release posters.</p>
 
 <p>Green would become another standard blade color for Jedi lightsabers in the Star Wars prequel trilogy. <strong>Mace Windu's amethyst-bladed lightsaber, as first seen in Attack of the Clones, was a personal request from actor Samuel L. Jackson as a way to make his character stand out among other Jedi. Jackson's favorite color is purple and he frequently requests the characters he plays to use an item of the color.</strong></p>
 
 <p>Various blade colors appear in the Expanded Universe and in other Star Wars products. The original Kenner figure of Luke Skywalker in his Tatooine costume from Star Wars was released with a yellow-bladed lightsaber. A multitude of other colors have since been used, including orange, silver, cyan, viridian, gold, bronze, and even black. </p>
</blockquote>
" OwnerUserId="45" LastEditorUserId="45" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-07-18T16:04:56.993" LastActivityDate="2012-07-18T16:04:56.993" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1802" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1805" CreationDate="2011-02-12T20:13:57.687" Score="21" ViewCount="705" Body="<p>Is there an in-universe explanation of how a relatively small room can be used to create an apparently infinite (or at least very large) amount of space, one in which two people can be spatially vast distances from each other? </p>
" OwnerUserId="34" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-15T17:50:44.580" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T17:50:44.580" Title="How does the holodeck create the illusion of distance?" Tags="<star-trek>" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="1803" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1795" CreationDate="2011-02-12T20:45:34.830" Score="18" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Looks like <a href="http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?57646" rel="nofollow"><em>Who's Cribbing</em></a> by <a href="http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?Jack_Lewis" rel="nofollow">Jack Lewis</a>. From <a href="http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.sf.composition/tree/browse_frm/thread/6d2e04f568310fcb/ab6d86a992213ba4#doc_4545910688add9d6" rel="nofollow">this Usenet thread</a>:</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>There's a story, which I really wish I could remember the details of, 
 which consists of a series of letters between the author and various 
 SF magazines. All the letters from the magazines are along the lines 
 of "Thank you for your contribution, but we already published exactly 
 this story 20 years ago". The author, in his various letters to the 
 magazines, gets more and more defensive, pleading with the editors not 
 tell him that some guy his never heard of has already written the 
 story. Eventually, he bundles all these letters together and sends 
 them to one last magazine with a cover note saying that he's done some 
 research into this guy he's supposedly plagiarising, and thinks it was 
 <em>the other way around</em> - Mr X was apparently a bit of a backyard 
 tinkerer, and suppose he invented some machine for seeing into the 
 future...? "Thank you for your contribution. It's an intriguing 
 premise, and we certainly would have accepted it for publication, had 
 [Mr X] not submitted exactly this story 20 years ago..." </p>
</blockquote>

<p>Your description reminded me of something I'd read, but I haven't read <em>Who's Cribbing</em>, so I must have misremembered some other <a href="http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.sf.written/browse_frm/thread/d35c9084b65b663a/40e9a7f5ec676f03" rel="nofollow">plagiarism</a>-<a href="http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.sf.written/browse_frm/thread/d0272073021d69af/817e66ad2022b286" rel="nofollow">related</a> story.</p>
" OwnerUserId="56" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T20:45:34.830" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1804" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1802" CreationDate="2011-02-12T20:56:41.887" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The very first time one is shown, it is described how the <a href="http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Holodeck" rel="nofollow">Holodeck</a> spreads distant objects <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trompe-l%27%C5%93il" rel="nofollow">Trompe-l'œil</a> across the walls. The effect is exactly the same as <a href="http://vimeo.com/4177769" rel="nofollow">this</a>, only for multiple people (and eyes) at the same time and without glasses.</p>
" OwnerUserId="51" LastEditorUserId="51" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-12T21:01:43.363" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T21:01:43.363" />
<row Id="1805" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1802" CreationDate="2011-02-12T21:01:05.267" Score="20" ViewCount="" Body="<p>According to "Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual", the answer is essentially force fields that act as treadmills and holographic imaging.</p>

<p>All the detailed in-universe technobabble you could possibly want can be found <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/17602666/Star-Trek-TNG-Technical-Manual-182-Pages" rel="nofollow">here</a>, pages 156 and 157.</p>
" OwnerUserId="326" LastActivityDate="2011-02-12T21:01:05.267" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1806" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1809" CreationDate="2011-02-12T21:18:37.557" Score="16" ViewCount="387" Body="<p><strike>Is the video game <em>Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic</em> blessed by Lucas and considered canon? As a secondary question, has George Lucas ever officially sanctioned anything in the Star Wars expanded universe?</strike></p>

<p>I guess what the real question is; once some Star Wars media is licensed by Lucas, is it considered official canon or not? Examples pro and con would be great.</p>

<p>UPDATE: What I really want to know is what makes something canon in the Star Wars universe, and an article in <em>Wookipedia</em> or <em>Wikipedia</em> is great and all but not an answer.
I will leave up the previous question(s) to show the progression of the question.</p>
" OwnerUserId="9" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-19T05:28:26.410" LastActivityDate="2011-03-19T05:28:26.410" Title="What is the singular source of Star Wars canonization?" Tags="<star-wars><canon><extended-universe><george-lucas>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="3" FavoriteCount="0" />
<row Id="1807" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1806" CreationDate="2011-02-12T23:12:03.533" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="<p>edit: This answer was posted when the question was "Is Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic considered canon?". It's now outdated.</p>

<hr>

<p>according to wookipedia, yes :</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>This is based on the <strong>canonical</strong> male light side version of the game ...</p>
 
 <p><a href="http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Wars%3a_Knights_of_the_Old_Republic" rel="nofollow">Wookipedia entry on KOTOR</a></p>
</blockquote>

<p>So, suggesting that's there is an canonical version of the story make it canon...</p>

<p>Also check <a href="http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Canon" rel="nofollow">Wookipedia entry on Canon </a> </p>

<blockquote>
 <p>For example the <strong>protagonist of KOTOR canonically</strong> [... For spoiler].
 However, Wookieepedia articles assume that the player picks the light side choice for all scenarios; therefore, even the secondary choices and events pertaining to the dark side or triggered by relevant choices, are considered <strong>non-canon</strong>. </p>
</blockquote>
" OwnerUserId="45" LastEditorUserId="45" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T15:52:43.877" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T15:52:43.877" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1809" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1806" CreationDate="2011-02-13T04:58:28.860" Score="14" ViewCount="" Body="<p>There are levels of canonicity within the Star Wars Expanded Universe - with precedence set up such that everything is 'canon' unless specifically at odds with a higher level.</p>

<p>From the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_Expanded_Universe#Official_levels_of_canon" rel="nofollow">Wikipedia article on the Expanded Universe</a>:</p>

<blockquote>
 <ul>
 <li><p><strong>G (George Lucas) canon is absolute canon.</strong> This category includes the final releases of the six films, the novelizations of the films, the radio dramas based on the films, the film scripts, and any material found in any other source (published or not) that comes directly from George Lucas himself. G canon outranks all other forms of canon.</p></li>
 <li><p><strong>C (continuity) canon refers to the main body of EU work, and is the next most authoritative level of canon.</strong> All material published under the Star Wars label that doesn't fall into either G, S, or N canon is C canon and is considered authoritative as long as it isn't contradicted by G canon.</p></li>
 <li><p><strong>S (secondary) canon refers to older, less accurate, or less coherent EU works, which would not ordinarily fit in the main continuity of G and C canon.</strong> For example, this includes the popular online roleplaying game Star Wars Galaxies, and certain elements of a few N-canon stories.</p></li>
 <li><p><strong>N continuity material is also known as "non-canon" or "non-continuity" material.</strong> What-if stories (such as those published under the Infinities label) and anything else that cannot at all fit into continuity is placed into this category. "N-continuity" is not considered canon.</p></li>
 </ul>
</blockquote>

<p>KOTOR is likely somewhere between C and S canon. However, only the light side storyline is canon, with the dark side endings probably being N-canon.</p>

<p>As for the ultimate source of canonicity - there is a continuity database called '<a href="http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Holocron_continuity_database" rel="nofollow">Holocron</a>' (after the storage devices used in the universe). It is maintained by Lucas Licensing, but is not publicly available.</p>
" OwnerUserId="373" LastEditorUserId="373" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T22:22:28.057" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T22:22:28.057" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-13T22:22:28.057" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="1810" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-02-13T05:22:11.757" Score="0" ViewCount="64" Body="<p>Use this tag if you are trying to identify a story that you are somewhat familiar with.</p>

<p>Questions must have <strong>as much detail as possible</strong>, e.g.:</p>

<ul>
<li>Media (short story collection, magazine, TV, film, website)</li>
<li>Original year of publication/airing. "Read when I was a child" is not as useful as "Read when I was a child (early 1980s)"</li>
<li>Plot</li>
<li>Setting</li>
<li>Characters (names, descriptions)</li>
</ul>

<p>If the question is too vague (and so could match dozens or hundreds of stories), then it will probably be closed. If this happens to your question, please add more detail and flag it for re-opening.</p>

<p>If you are trying to identify a character in a work, or to find out more about a character where you are uncertain of their name, the related tag <a href="/questions/tagged/character-identification" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'character-identification'" rel="tag">character-identification</a> will be more appropriate to your question.</p>

<p><strong>This tag is not appropriate for asking for recommendations</strong>. There should be exactly <strong>one</strong> correct answer — when someone does suggest the correct answer, please accept it, so that everyone else knows that there is no point making any other suggestions.</p>
" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="4523" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-02-04T12:28:04.157" LastActivityDate="2012-02-04T12:28:04.157" />
<row Id="1811" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-02-13T05:22:11.757" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="Questions asking for help identifying a TV series/episode, comic-book issue/story arc, movie, book, or other story." OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="1109" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-28T07:26:35.390" LastActivityDate="2012-01-28T07:26:35.390" />
<row Id="1812" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-02-13T05:28:26.977" Score="0" ViewCount="2" Body="<p>This tag is used for questions that are about language.</p>

<p>This includes <em>alien</em> languages that are commonly found in science-fiction (e.g. Vulcan), and well as <em>fantasy</em> languages (e.g. Elvish).</p>

<p>If your question relates to a human language (e.g. English, Spanish) then this tag is also appropriate. This side-steps any discussion about whether fully-realised languages (e.g. Klingon) is a "fictional language" or not.</p>

<p>If your question is more about a human language (e.g. German, French) than about science-fiction or fantasy, it might be more appropriate for the <a href="http://english.stackexchange.com/">English Language and Usage</a> site.</p>
" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="108" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T03:51:30.053" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T03:51:30.053" />
<row Id="1813" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-02-13T05:28:26.977" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="Questions about languages, whether alien, fantasy, or human." OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="108" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T03:51:33.407" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T03:51:33.407" />
<row Id="1814" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-02-13T05:34:06.047" Score="0" ViewCount="1" Body="<p>This tag is appropriate for questions about whether material is considered official within a fictional universe. This is a common question in universes that have stories in a wide range of media (e.g. <a href="/questions/tagged/fanfic" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'fanfic'" rel="tag">fanfic</a>, <a href="/questions/tagged/novelizations" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'novelizations'" rel="tag">novelizations</a>).</p>

<p>The tag is also used as an indicator that answers that refer only to canon material are preferred.</p>

<p>Wikipedia has a more detailed definition of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canon_%28fiction%29" rel="nofollow">canon</a>.</p>
" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="108" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T03:52:03.017" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T03:52:03.017" />
<row Id="1815" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-02-13T05:34:06.047" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="Questions about whether material is considered to be official within a fictional universe." OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="108" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T03:52:08.303" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T03:52:08.303" />
<row Id="1816" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-02-13T05:36:55.233" Score="0" ViewCount="1" Body="<p>This tag is appropriate when asking questions that are about retcons (retroactive changes to continuity) within science-fiction/fantasy universes.</p>

<p><a href="http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/1109/what-is-a-retcon-or-retroactive-continuity">A more detailed definition of "retcon" is a question on the site</a>.</p>
" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="108" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T03:52:13.670" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T03:52:13.670" />
<row Id="1817" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-02-13T05:36:55.233" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="Questions about retroactive changes to the continuity of a fictional universe." OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="108" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T03:52:48.803" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T03:52:48.803" />
<row Id="1818" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1755" CreationDate="2011-02-13T06:26:07.210" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="<p>In order for a story to take place in a "sci-fi setting" (space, other planets, etc), there generally needs to be other elements of science in the story as well (otherwise there's little point in choosing that setting).</p>

<p>For example, <em>Firefly</em> is not just a western set in space. The series examines the impact of scientific changes (e.g. the societal impact of human diaspora to other planets, the moral implications of genetic manipulation, how language is likely to change when humans are spread over multiple planets, the economic reality of limited-resource space travel) as well as having space ships and planets with multiple moons. Most of the science falls under the social sciences (still science!), rather than physical sciences.</p>

<p>Asimov's stories are likewise not just detective stories set in space. The setting allows examination of scientific questions about psychohistory (mathematical physics), psychic powers, the rise and fall of cultures, the ethics/morality of human/robotic relations, and so forth.</p>

<p>If you took a story that is not considered science-fiction, e.g. Wuthering Heights, and changed the setting to another planet, but <em>did not change anything else</em>, would that be then science-fiction? My answer would be that the story would not be published, because it doesn't make any sense for the setting to be another planet and have that unrelated to the story. If you did change it, so that the story made use of the setting, then it is science-fiction, but that's no longer <em>only</em> because of the setting.</p>

<p>Remember that genre are not mutually exclusive. A story might be a romance, or a comedy, or a romantic comedy, just like a story might be a detective story, science-fiction, or a scifi detective story.</p>
" OwnerUserId="108" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T06:26:07.210" />
<row Id="1819" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1735" CreationDate="2011-02-13T09:22:42.867" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="<p>It is a novella called "After Life" by Simon Funk, and is <a href="http://sifter.org/~simon/AfterLife/index.html" rel="nofollow">available online</a>.</p>

<p>The text is longer than I remembered. Indeed, the main theme is uploading. At some point of the novella there are three characters called: "alpha", "beta" and "omega". They appear for a short time.</p>

<p>Currently a link to the novella appears in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity#Fiction" rel="nofollow">the Wikipedia page for "technological singularity"</a>.</p>
" OwnerUserId="797" LastEditorUserId="597" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-09-06T02:55:19.780" LastActivityDate="2011-09-06T02:55:19.780" />
<row Id="1820" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1821" CreationDate="2011-02-13T16:52:51.440" Score="14" ViewCount="455" Body="<p>Trying to remember a short story (most likely from the sixties). It starts with a soldier at the front line fighting an unknown enemy on the other side of the front line.</p>

<p>He then gets withdrawn and you realise that time is passing slower the further he moves from the front. He then spends years in peace away from the front, before being sent back to the front where only a short time (hours or days perhaps) have passed.</p>

<blockquote class="spoiler">
 <p> I seem to remember their was an inference that they were actually fighting against themselves, with their attacks coming back at themselves, which was perhaps the entire cause of the war, and an interesting critique on war. I can't remember if this all this was stated explicitly, or just left for the reader to infer.</p>
</blockquote>
" OwnerUserId="825" LastEditorUserId="825" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T18:26:13.677" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T18:26:13.677" Title="Identify short story - war with changing time speed further from the front" Tags="<story-identification><short-stories>" AnswerCount="1" FavoriteCount="4" />
<row Id="1821" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1820" CreationDate="2011-02-13T17:00:32.083" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_I._Masson" rel="nofollow">David Masson</a>, <a href="http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?43952" rel="nofollow">“Traveller's Rest”</a>. Collected in <a href="http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?37800" rel="nofollow"><em>The Caltraps of Time</em></a> and various anthologies.</p>

<p>Another memorable detail is that the protagonist's name starts out as a single letter (“H”) and gradually lengthens as he goes away from the front line.</p>

<blockquote class="spoiler">
 <p> Indeed, the protagonist conceives the theory that the front line (“the Frontier”) is some kind of mirror, but his hierarchy dismisses the idea. It's obvious to the reader that the protagonist's theory is correct.</p>
</blockquote>
" OwnerUserId="56" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T17:00:32.083" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1823" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1824" CreationDate="2011-02-13T18:37:35.913" Score="13" ViewCount="934" Body="<p>As Donna notes in <strong>The Doctor's Daughter</strong>:</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>He saves planets, rescues civilizations, defeats terrible creatures, and <em>runs a lot. Seriously, there's an outrageous amount of running involved</em> ..."</p>
</blockquote>

<p>I've been an huge <strong>Doctor Who</strong> fan since the relaunch in 2005 and I've often heard it mentioned that there's a lot of running in newer episodes (<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsUN9J659xM&amp;t=6s" rel="nofollow">video 1</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZzDvY7qXAg&amp;t=10s" rel="nofollow">video 2</a>, many more). However, I've seen only a couple of the older episodes (a couple of Tom Baker episodes a long time ago and the Paul McGann movie in the 90s).</p>

<p>I'm just curious: can someone who was a avid watcher of the older episodes (pre-2005) tell me, has a lot of running always been a recognized characteristic of Doctor Who episodes or has it become more prevalent in episodes since the 2005 relaunch, perhaps because of the recent writers or the recent actors that have been playing the Doctor?</p>
" OwnerUserId="637" LastEditorUserId="4678" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-06-25T19:55:41.570" LastActivityDate="2012-06-25T19:55:41.570" Title="Doctor Who: An Outrageous Amount of Running " Tags="<doctor-who>" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="1824" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1823" CreationDate="2011-02-13T20:12:59.457" Score="16" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Yes, as long as Doctor Who has existed there has been lots of running, usually <em>"up and down lots of corridors"</em> as can be seen in <strong><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60shMyabeMo" rel="nofollow">this spoof by Lenny Henry in 1985</a></strong>.</p>
" OwnerUserId="143" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T20:12:59.457" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1825" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1950" CreationDate="2011-02-13T20:26:46.097" Score="20" ViewCount="1863" Body="<p>Considering that sound can't travel through vacuum.</p>
" OwnerUserId="828" LastActivityDate="2012-02-01T12:50:15.443" Title="Why and how can you hear explosions in space in Star Wars?" Tags="<star-wars>" AnswerCount="10" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="3" />
<row Id="1826" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1825" CreationDate="2011-02-13T20:28:29.493" Score="40" ViewCount="" Body="<p>It is for dramatic effect to enhance the story. <a href="http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/1458/was-the-millennium-falcon-too-slow">No</a> <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/06/0603_050603_starwars.html" rel="nofollow">science</a> <a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0312263872" rel="nofollow">in</a> <a href="http://boingboing.net/2008/08/26/science-of-star-wars.html" rel="nofollow">sight!</a> :)</p>
" OwnerUserId="143" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T20:28:29.493" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1827" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1828" CreationDate="2011-02-13T20:39:28.750" Score="20" ViewCount="540" Body="<p>I've read somewhere that "His Dark Materials" by Philip Pullman are attacked by many religious figures. I have only seen the movie "Golden Compass" but I would like to find out some more information as to why people would think that this series is anti-religion? And is it targeted by Catholic Church only or other Churches are attacking Pullman's work as well?</p>
" OwnerUserId="779" LastActivityDate="2012-05-04T19:29:16.723" Title="Why is "His Dark Materials" by Philip Pullman considered by some as anti religion?" Tags="<philip-pullman>" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="1828" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1827" CreationDate="2011-02-13T20:42:08.170" Score="29" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The author himself said, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/His_Dark_Materials#Controversies" rel="nofollow">"My books are about killing God."</a> His work also appears to be anti-established religion, e.g. in this quote:</p>

<p><em>"That's what the Church does, and every church is the same: control, destroy, obliterate every good feeling"</em></p>

<p>In addition, one of the main characters gives up being a nun and states, <em>"the Christian religion... is a very powerful and convincing mistake, that's all"</em></p>

<p>However, for both quotes it is important to realize that the author has stated that readers should not equate his characters opinions with his own.</p>
" OwnerUserId="143" LastEditorUserId="143" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-13T20:47:27.197" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T20:47:27.197" CommentCount="4" />
<row Id="1829" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1825" CreationDate="2011-02-13T20:43:55.637" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="<p>If you watched Star Wars without the sound effects, just think how boring it would be. You may as well go see a silent film.</p>
" OwnerUserId="829" LastEditorUserId="3267" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-25T06:25:55.377" LastActivityDate="2012-01-25T06:25:55.377" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1830" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1827" CreationDate="2011-02-13T20:45:57.663" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The religious elements were toned down considerably in the movie, for American consumption. The books are very hostile to organised religion, and Pullman is promoting the idea of the "Republic of Heaven"; a religion with no central authority figure such as God.</p>
" OwnerUserId="23" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T20:45:57.663" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1831" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1825" CreationDate="2011-02-13T21:12:45.123" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Because physical correctness doesn't make for good drama. (Yes, it's what my foreposters said, but I couldn't let this phrase go to waste ;-)</p>
" OwnerUserId="741" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T21:12:45.123" />
<row Id="1832" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1798" CreationDate="2011-02-13T21:49:42.220" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Your description vaguely reminds me of <a href="http://www.sylviaengdahl.com/efts.htm" rel="nofollow">The Enchantress from the Stars</a> (also <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enchantress_from_the_Stars" rel="nofollow">wikipedia article</a>, other <a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EnchantressFromTheStars" rel="nofollow">commentary</a>), which is generally considered a juvenile classic (and for "11 and older" too). It's a bit of a stretch though... in that book there are 3 races involved (the "girl" is also a visitor to the planet), and the "discussion partner" would have to be her father. The author also states "the book deliberately leaves open the question of which of the three civilizations is our own" (see early on in the <a href="http://www.sylviaengdahl.com/elana.htm" rel="nofollow">FAQ</a>), although that comes as a surprise to me now as my distant recollection is that at some point you do come to think "<em>Oh, the bad guys are us humans!</em>".</p>
" OwnerUserId="789" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T21:49:42.220" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1833" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1783" CreationDate="2011-02-13T22:05:18.283" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="<p>To correct shadowfission's answer (I can't comment on answers yet >:( )</p>

<p>The identity is revealed in Towers of Midnight. It is explicitly stated in the glossary at the end of the book.</p>
" OwnerUserId="830" LastActivityDate="2011-02-13T22:05:18.283" />
<row Id="1835" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1825" CreationDate="2011-02-13T23:22:36.897" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="<p>If you're looking for some kind of excuse try claiming that the explosions are hot enough to create plasma and you are listening to a unfiltered radio receiver.</p>

<p>It's not a great explanation---the details aren't right---but for something to hang suspension of disbelief on, it'll do.</p>

<p>And it covers the guns, too, if they work on magnetohydrodynamic principles.</p>
" OwnerUserId="231" LastEditorUserId="231" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T01:18:06.247" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T01:18:06.247" CommentCount="5" />
<row Id="1838" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1779" CreationDate="2011-02-14T02:03:29.733" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Lightsaber color comes from the sort of crystal focus the lightsaber has, as DavRob mentions, red are synthetic and blue and green are common, with a number of other rarer colors, like purple, showing up in various places. The mention of rare crystals being passed down through the generations comes from kights of the old republic era jedi actually having kids occasionally, with an example of this being the Sunrider family.</p>
" OwnerUserId="833" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T02:03:29.733" />
<row Id="1839" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1852" CreationDate="2011-02-14T03:08:42.197" Score="28" ViewCount="3043" Body="<p>For most of the series, she did not wear her uniform on duty like other members of the crew. However, after Captain Edward Jellico ordered her to wear her uniform <a href="http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Chain_of_Command,_Part_I_%28episode%29">in Chain of Command, Part I</a>, she kept wearing it.</p>

<p>Has it ever been explained why that is <strong>in-universe</strong>?</p>

<p>I'm aware that there is <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/st/interviews/sirtis/page26.shtml">an explanation out-of-universe</a> but <strong>that's not what I am looking for.</strong></p>

<p>My best guess is that, as she explained in <a href="http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Thine_Own_Self_%28episode%29">Thine Own Self</a>, the events of <a href="http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Disaster_%28episode%29">Disaster</a> made her think about increasing in rank. When Captain Jellico ordered to wear her uniform, it might have made her realize that, if she wanted to be a commander, she might have to act (i.e. dress) like one. However, I cannot find anything confirming or denying that. </p>
" OwnerUserId="678" LastEditorUserId="3804" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-04-24T16:59:38.887" LastActivityDate="2012-06-01T05:03:05.103" Title="Why did Deanna Troi keep wearing a Starfleet uniform after Chain of Command?" Tags="<star-trek><star-trek-tng>" AnswerCount="3" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="1840" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1842" CreationDate="2011-02-14T03:47:11.813" Score="11" ViewCount="417" Body="<p>Towards the end of TNG Tasha Yar's daughter <a href="http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Sela" rel="nofollow">Commander Sela</a> has a brief stint as enemy in a few episodes. It always seemed as though they cut her arc off suddenly and without resolution. There are a few novels and such that deal with her more, but I was wondering if anyone knows about any canceled or even coming projects that relate to her? I'm talking major projects like unmade TNG movies and the like.</p>
" OwnerUserId="51" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T04:57:09.190" Title="Was/is anything else major planned for Commander Sela from Star Trek: TNG?" Tags="<star-trek><star-trek-tng>" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1841" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1732" CreationDate="2011-02-14T04:14:58.933" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Tolkien started writing the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tolkien%27s_legendarium" rel="nofollow">legendarium</a> to support his constructed languages, then came <em>The Hobbit</em>, a children's story with the lengendarium as its (distant) background. The publishers of <em>The Hobbit</em> asked Tolkien to work on a sequel and that's what became <em>The Lord of the Rings</em>.</p>

<p>The legendarium is what Christopher Tolkien edited together to form <em>The Silmarillion</em>.</p>

<p>If I recall correctly, J.R.R.Tolkien loved both Welsh and Finnish and tried to construct a linguistic history that would explain a Welsh-like and Finnish-like language (Sindarin and Quenya respectively) that had a common origin.</p>
" OwnerUserId="837" LastEditorUserId="3267" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-12-22T19:09:20.743" LastActivityDate="2011-12-22T19:09:20.743" />
<row Id="1842" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1840" CreationDate="2011-02-14T04:41:23.330" Score="10" ViewCount="" Body="<p>No, there are no upcoming major projects related to her: the entire TNG section of the franchise was scrapped after <em>Star Trek Nemesis</em>. The only two aspects of that section of the Star Trek timeline that are still active are licensed novels and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek_Online" rel="nofollow">Star Trek Online</a>; the latter of which <a href="http://hailingfrequency.com/boards/news-and-announcements/star-trek-online-struggles-with-only-100k-subscribers!/?nowap" rel="nofollow">is struggling</a> so I wouldn't expect to see anything major to come of it. However, according to the article you linked:</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>In Star Trek Online, Sela survived the supernova of 2387 that eliminated of many of her opponents and cleared the way for her rise to Empress of the Romulan Star Empire before she was exiled for attempting to assassinate the head of the Tal Shiar.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Star Trek isn't like <em>LOST</em> or other deeply serial dramas: not every character featured is important or will play a huge role except as an entertaining recurring character. Sela was featured in a few TNG episodes, which is pretty good for a recurring character.</p>
" OwnerUserId="366" LastEditorUserId="366" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-14T04:57:09.190" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T04:57:09.190" CommentCount="5" />
<row Id="1843" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1839" CreationDate="2011-02-14T06:29:17.403" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="<p>From <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deanna_Troi" rel="nofollow">Wikipedia</a>, from the actress's own mouth</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>I was thrilled when I got my regulation Starfleet uniform... it covered up my cleavage and I got all my brains back, because when you have cleavage you can't have brains in Hollywood... I was allowed to do things that I hadn't been allowed to do for five or six years...</p>
</blockquote>

<p>And just before</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>After six years, the producers decided to drop the "sexy and brainless" Troi and make her a stronger character</p>
</blockquote>
" OwnerUserId="808" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T06:29:17.403" CommentCount="6" />
<row Id="1844" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1847" CreationDate="2011-02-14T16:05:33.453" Score="11" ViewCount="188" Body="<p>What exactly is the relevance of Robert Jordan's "New Spring" novel to the Wheel of Time series?</p>

<p>From what I have read of reviews, it seems to be almost fan-fiction'ish, even though it came directly from original author. Does it expand on any major plot points?</p>
" OwnerUserId="54" LastEditorUserId="108" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T02:55:07.657" LastActivityDate="2011-03-26T09:05:56.260" Title="Relevance of 'New Spring'" Tags="<fanfic><wheel-of-time><robert-jordan>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1845" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-14T16:10:32.887" Score="16" ViewCount="1494" Body="<p>Is there any movie based on Robert Heinlein's work? If so, is there more than one? </p>
" OwnerUserId="842" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-28T15:52:33.190" LastActivityDate="2012-01-08T03:42:36.973" Title="Are there any movies based on Robert Heinlein's works?" Tags="<movie><robert-a-heinlein>" AnswerCount="7" CommentCount="6" />
<row Id="1846" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1845" CreationDate="2011-02-14T16:13:58.690" Score="19" ViewCount="" Body="<p><em>Starship Troopers</em> was VERY loosely based on his book by the same title. That's the only one I know of. It's a terrible adaptation, as well.</p>
" OwnerUserId="9" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T16:13:58.690" CommentCount="7" />
<row Id="1847" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1844" CreationDate="2011-02-14T16:18:55.113" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="<p>It's basically a prequel book to his mainline <em>Wheel of Time</em> series with how Lan and Moiraine started out. I think it takes place about 20 years before the first mainline book.</p>

<p>Here is the obligatory <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Spring" rel="nofollow">Wiki page</a></p>
" OwnerUserId="9" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T16:18:55.113" />
<row Id="1849" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-02-14T17:31:14.753" Score="0" ViewCount="8" Body="<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov" rel="nofollow">Isaac Asimov</a> was a professor of biochemistry and a prolific writer of science fiction and popular science. He is considered one of the “Big Three”, together with <a href="/questions/tagged/arthur-c-clarke" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'arthur-c-clarke'" rel="tag">arthur-c-clarke</a> and <a href="/questions/tagged/robert-a-heinlein" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'robert-a-heinlein'" rel="tag">robert-a-heinlein</a>.</p>

<p>One of Asimov's major theme was robotics; he introduced the <a href="/questions/tagged/laws-of-robotics" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'laws-of-robotics'" rel="tag">laws-of-robotics</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Laws_of_Robotics" rel="nofollow">Three Laws of robotics</a> which he explored through many short stories:</p>

<ol>
<li>A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.</li>
<li>A robot must obey any orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.</li>
<li>A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.</li>
</ol>

<p>Other famous works by Asimov include:</p>

<ul>
<li>The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Foundation_Series" rel="nofollow"><em>Foundation</em> series</a>.</li>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiotimoline" rel="nofollow">“The Endochronic Properties of Resublimated Thiotimoline”</a>, a fictional chemistry article about a chemical that dissolves before it comes into contact with water.</li>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nightfall_%28Asimov_short_story%29" rel="nofollow">“Nightfall”</a>, a short story about a planet where night only falls once every couple of millenniums.</li>
<li>Short stories about a fictional supercomputer called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multivac" rel="nofollow">Multivac</a>, in particular <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Question" rel="nofollow">“The Last Question”</a>, Asimov's favorite amongst his own stories, in which Multivac must answer how to decrease the entropy of the universe.</li>
</ul>

<p>Later in his life, Asimov unified the robot series, the Foundation series and many other of his stories into a common universe.</p>

<h3>External links</h3>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?Isaac_Asimov" rel="nofollow">Bibliography</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.asimovonline.com/asimov_home_page.html" rel="nofollow">The Isaac Asimov Home Page</a></li>
</ul>
" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="56" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-08-15T00:20:29.147" LastActivityDate="2011-08-15T00:20:29.147" />
<row Id="1850" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-02-14T17:31:14.753" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="Isaac Asimov was an author of science fiction and popular science. His robot stories introduced the Three Laws of Robotics; he also wrote the Foundation series. " OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="56" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-08-15T00:20:29.180" LastActivityDate="2011-08-15T00:20:29.180" />
<row Id="1851" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1845" CreationDate="2011-02-14T17:37:43.407" Score="19" ViewCount="" Body="<p><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111003/" rel="nofollow">The Puppet Masters</a> is based on Heinlein's novel of the same name.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042393/" rel="nofollow">Destination Moon</a> is based on one of his short stories.</p>

<p>There was also an episode of <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0772139/" rel="nofollow">Masters of Science Fiction</a> based on a Heinlein story. The story was <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0840894/" rel="nofollow">Jerry Was a Man</a>.</p>
" OwnerUserId="63" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T17:37:43.407" CommentCount="4" />
<row Id="1852" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1839" CreationDate="2011-02-14T18:35:13.747" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="<p>This is the kind of question that writers try to avoid coming into their viewers minds, because there's no-way to arrive at any good in-universe explanation. It's just poor writing and character planning, plain and simple.</p>

<p>Why would such a progressive and large institution as Star Fleet have dress-code issues on their flag-ship centuries after the founding of Star Fleet?</p>

<p>Troi either would have been corrected on the first day or never been asked to change, but not one and then the other. The ornery evil captain that caused the change probably wouldn't have said anything if she was in compliance with the dress code to begin with. </p>

<p>Why have a dress-code if you're going to allow the leadership to ignore it? </p>

<p>Wouldn't that cause problems in any institution?</p>
" OwnerUserId="35" LastEditorUserId="678" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-06-01T05:03:05.103" LastActivityDate="2012-06-01T05:03:05.103" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1853" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1873" CreationDate="2011-02-14T19:05:09.397" Score="10" ViewCount="791" Body="<p>Does any one know if there is a suggested order, other than chronological - by the published date, for reading Andre Norton's "Witch World" series?</p>
" OwnerUserId="779" LastEditorUserId="70" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-19T22:44:42.683" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T22:44:42.683" Title="Andre Norton's "Witch World" reading order" Tags="<suggested-order><andre-norton><witch-world>" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1854" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1784" CreationDate="2011-02-14T19:17:52.460" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I read Chasm City first (a standalone set in the Revelation Space universe) and then Revelation Space, Redemption Ark and Absolution Gap. I then read Century Rain and Pushing Ice. I have yet to read The Prefect, House of Suns and Terminal Word.</p>

<p>Since you've started in the middle, and knowing what I know about the series. I would recommend reading in order Revelation Space, Redemption Ark, Absolution Gap, Chasm City and The Prefect. Emersing myself in those 5 novels in that order would an excellent experience indeed.</p>
" OwnerUserId="240" LastEditorUserId="240" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T17:36:27.850" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T17:36:27.850" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1855" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1839" CreationDate="2011-02-14T19:43:16.093" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="<p>In-universe, the character of Troi tasted command, and liked it. She wanted to have more responsibilities and to be able to lead. Thus, she began acting more like an officer in the chain of command, and less like a medical specialist/adviser (the two roles she had previously preformed).</p>

<p>In doing so, it became necessary for her to look the part. Just as she didn't wear a uniform while counseling (there are certain personality types, common in the military, which cannot look past a uniform's rank) to prevent difficulties, she began wearing a regulation uniform to ease her 'official' interactions with fellow crew members.</p>

<p>An ensign may have no problem laying on the couch for a therapy session with a person in civilian dress, but giving an order while wearing civvies? Not going to work so well.</p>

<p>In-universe, the character's focus changed, and this change required an outward change. Out-of-universe, the reasons were entirely as described by gbn.</p>
" OwnerUserId="656" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T19:43:16.093" />
<row Id="1856" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1798" CreationDate="2011-02-14T19:48:16.730" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I remember this as well. Her companion was a robot named Guardian and she wasn't an alien; she was genetically modified by him in order to let her live in the harsh environment of the planet. There was also a scene in which she pretended to be asleep in order to be less intimidating to some humans.</p>
" OwnerUserId="843" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T19:48:16.730" CommentCount="4" />
<row Id="1859" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1845" CreationDate="2011-02-14T20:14:31.043" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>There's also <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roughnecks%3a_Starship_Troopers_Chronicles" rel="nofollow">Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles</a>, and while not great is better than the Starship Troopers movie (though oddly enough, Wikipedia claims this show was based on both the original book &amp; that awful movie).</p>
" OwnerUserId="544" LastActivityDate="2011-02-14T20:14:31.043" />
<row Id="1861" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-02-14T21:57:16.250" Score="0" ViewCount="8" Body="<p>Science-fiction is often separated into "hard" and "soft", where "hard" sci-fi is science-fiction that follows the scientific models of the universe (e.g. physics) that are understood at the time of original publication.</p>

<p>Examples of when this tag is appropriate:</p>

<ul>
<li>Asking for <a href="/questions/tagged/story-identification" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'story-identification'" rel="tag">story-identification</a> of hard sci-fi.</li>
<li>Asking questions about how particular hard sci-fi relates to currently understood physical laws.</li>
<li>Asking questions about how the science of a story relates to current technology.</li>
</ul>

<p><strong>Questions that ask whether a particular work is considered "hard" are not currently considered on-topic for this site</strong>.</p>

<p><a href="http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/675/what-are-the-criteria-for-defining-hard-science-fiction">There is a more detailed explanation about how to distinguish between "hard" sci-fi and other sci-fi in a question on this site</a>.</p>
" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="108" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-17T01:07:53.477" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T01:07:53.477" />
<row Id="1862" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-02-14T21:57:16.250" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="The term "Hard Sci-fi" is formed by analogy to the popular distinction between the "hard" (natural) and "soft" (social) sciences. Neither term is part of a rigorous taxonomy—instead they are approximate ways of characterizing stories that reviewers and commentators have found useful. The categorization "hard SF" represents a position on a scale from "softer" to "harder", not a binary classification. From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_scifi" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T01:23:47.697" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T01:23:47.697" />
<row Id="1867" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1678" CreationDate="2011-02-14T23:20:40.727" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="<p>A chemical substance called Amber 31422 was developed by Secretary Bishop in the parallel universe to contain micro-black-hole events causing devastating tears in the fabric of his universe. The alternate universe Fringe Division uses this technology to quarantine the damaging spatial rifts after damaging energy signatures are detected.
Amber 31422 is released in gaseous form, which later solidifies.
Check out <a href="http://fringepedia.net/wiki/Amber" rel="nofollow">http://fringepedia.net/wiki/Amber</a> for Fringe-related questions!</p>
" OwnerUserId="666" LastEditorUserId="3267" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-28T19:52:08.000" LastActivityDate="2012-01-28T19:52:08.000" />
<row Id="1868" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1760" CreationDate="2011-02-15T01:34:27.037" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="<p>It looks like Asimov has him beat, but Arthur C. Clarke mentioned an electronic news pad in his 2001: A Space Odyssey. And in 1980, Allen MacNeill predicted that by 2010, we would have handheld computers (that would be connected to a mainframe).</p>
" OwnerUserId="583" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T01:34:27.037" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="1869" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1731" CreationDate="2011-02-15T01:47:57.413" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Warp 10 corresponds with infinite velocity, and a ship traveling at warp 10 would be in every point of space at once. After warp 10, you go into transwarp. Traveling at warp 10 IS possible, and was done by Tom Paris in a shuttle with a rare form of dilithium. The "problem" is that travel at warp 10 leads hyper-evolution, and backwards time travel.
In TNG, "the Traveler" modified the engine, and also went faster than warp 10. In an alternate universe, warp 13 was possible for Federation ships.
The "Starfleet Technical Manual" also says that the surrounding interstellar phenomena can change warp factors (phenomena like electric and magnetic fields and quantum drag forces.
The formulas for calculating warp factor are: (under 9) wf=(10/3)sqrt v/c and over 9, v=wf^(10/3) c
Warp 1=c</p>
" OwnerUserId="583" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T01:47:57.413" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1873" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1853" CreationDate="2011-02-15T07:12:12.530" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I believe it is usually recommended to read it in chronological order, <a href="http://www.xenite.org/witch-world/booklist.html" rel="nofollow">this web site</a> has a lot of information about what is in which book and the ordering to read it in.</p>
" OwnerUserId="70" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T07:12:12.530" />
<row Id="1876" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1845" CreationDate="2011-02-15T09:14:04.470" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>It's got to be doubtful if it would ever get made, but there's a screenplay for Moon Is A Harsh Mistress <a href="http://socalbrowncoats.com/?p=28" rel="nofollow">here</a></p>
" OwnerUserId="325" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T09:14:04.470" />
<row Id="1877" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="536" CreationDate="2011-02-15T10:28:52.163" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="<p>You can also add your email address (and / or website) to your profile on this site.</p>
" OwnerUserId="143" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T10:28:52.163" CommunityOwnedDate="2011-02-15T10:28:52.163" />
<row Id="1879" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="30" CreationDate="2011-02-15T13:15:14.540" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I have a feeling it may be this item, featured in Star Trek Voyager in the Project Pathfinder lab:</p>

<p><img src="http://i.stack.imgur.com/wy1NK.jpg" alt="Always see this prop everywhere!"></p>

<p>I've seen this prop loads of times, maybe some others can confirm this, there was also a couple of props in this same lab - one which had two large handles (like Joysticks) which had lights on which Dr Franklin used in the first season in this lab too, but this is not shown here. There are some more images of props I'm sure have appeared a few times in B5 and Star Trek at the source : <a href="http://www.star-trek-voyager.net/ppath_3d.htm" rel="nofollow">Pathfinder Lab - Star Trek Voyager.net</a></p>
" OwnerUserId="486" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T13:15:14.540" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1881" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1760" CreationDate="2011-02-15T15:39:50.910" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="<p>In computer science, Alan Kay's <a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;source=web&amp;cd=1&amp;ved=0CC0QFjAA&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FDynabook&amp;ei=hptaTY3rD8vAtgfo_LC7Cw&amp;usg=AFQjCNE2psi3PWnISMSh8IS5PfDsLBs89Q" rel="nofollow">Dynabook</a> was first described by him in 1968. It was a pad style computer with a keyboard and LCD screen, similar to, but smaller then, the Kindele. I don't recall any science fiction stories using a hand-held computer prior to that.</p>
" OwnerUserId="270" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T15:39:50.910" />
<row Id="1889" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1781" CreationDate="2011-02-15T19:25:22.160" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I'll take a shot at this.</p>

<p>What to bring for signatures. Well, I've been to a good many conventions and 'the stars' seem to like to autograph pictures. That's not to say an autograph book is frowned on, but if you've collected a batch of 8x10 pictures with autographs, (IMO) it looks nicer and goes better in a binder :)</p>

<p>Oh - a hint from an athlete I heard. Ask them to personalize it - as in "To Dave" or "To the Smith Family". Some celebrities prefer that because it means the autograph will NOT show up on eBay. Regrettably, there are hounds out there who get kids to stand in line and get 'generic' versions of autographs so they can re-sell them. Some celebs don't care, some do.</p>

<p>Photo ops. If you paid for an autograph and a professional/stock photo, I've yet to meet one celebrity who WON'T take a moment for a quick picture from a digital camera. Again, some celebrities don't care, but show respect. I have a picture of Jason Carter (Marcus from B-5) picking up both my daughters, one in each arm, when they were 10 and 5 (now 23 and 18). He was one of the most personable stars I ever met.</p>

<p>A Star Trek uniform at a Star Trek convention? That's the only place where you can wear one and NOT stand out :)</p>

<p>Parties.. Depends on who runs them. I've seen some wild ones where they served "Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters" (stuff looked like Windex and tasted worse). I've seen others where they're just huddled around a TV watching a favorite episode. It's a crapshoot.</p>

<p>Remember one thing, though. You will meet a LOT of people and some will stand out more than others, and not always for good reasons. You'll notice some social misfits and some people with other social challenges. Don't let the minority ruin the experience.</p>

<p>Have a good time!</p>
" OwnerUserId="626" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T19:25:22.160" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1890" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1781" CreationDate="2011-02-15T19:51:32.063" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Some practical tips:</p>

<ol>
<li>Have a <strong>budget</strong>. There will be plenty of stuff to buy - try to consider <em>in advance</em> what you can afford and keep to it.</li>
<li>Make <strong>friends</strong>. Make an effort to speak with other people. Many people are shy but just try it! Exchange contact details with people you get on well with - you may see them again at other conventions.</li>
<li>If you are travelling a long distance, why not check out the location in advance and see if there are other things to do in the area before or after the convention? Make a <strong>mini holiday</strong> of it. This will be extra great for you since you're taking the family.</li>
</ol>
" OwnerUserId="143" LastActivityDate="2011-02-15T19:51:32.063" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1898" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1901" CreationDate="2011-02-16T01:16:40.800" Score="17" ViewCount="768" Body="<p>I have been watching Star Trek: Voyager for the last few days and they have been categorizing humanoids by class. So far, I heard of class three and class five. </p>

<p>I checked on Memory Alpha and <a href="http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Class_5_humanoid" rel="nofollow">the available information on that topic is ludicrous</a>:</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>Class 5 humanoid is a humanoid categorization class used by B'Elanna Torres to categorize the Vhnori decaying bodies found on an asteroid around a planet on stardate 48623.5 (2371).</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Yes. That's really everything.</p>

<p>Does anyone have an idea what each of those humanoid classes mean?</p>
" OwnerUserId="678" LastEditorUserId="678" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-16T01:26:33.350" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T07:19:50.433" Title="What do the humanoid classes in Star Trek mean?" Tags="<star-trek><star-trek-voyager>" AnswerCount="1" />
<row Id="1900" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1971" CreationDate="2011-02-16T03:55:30.253" Score="12" ViewCount="627" Body="<p>Does anyone know if the recently-deceased author of <em>Armor</em>, John Steakley, left behind any notes or outlines of a sequel? His unofficial <a href="http://www.johnsteakley.com/" rel="nofollow">fan site</a> released a <a href="http://johnsteakley.com/Armor2.html" rel="nofollow">teaser excerpt</a>, but there's been no further information since his death this past November.</p>

<p>UPDATE: I added a significant bounty because this is one of my favorite books and I really, really, <strong>really</strong> want to know.</p>

<p><strong>Please give sources if you can.</strong> </p>
" OwnerUserId="9" LastEditorUserId="4056" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-07-03T04:44:37.177" LastActivityDate="2012-07-03T04:44:37.177" Title="Sequel to novel Armor by John Steakley" Tags="<john-steakley><armor-book>" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="3" />
<row Id="1901" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1898" CreationDate="2011-02-16T07:19:50.433" Score="15" ViewCount="" Body="<p>There is no canon or licensed work that discusses the humanoid class system except for the brief mention by B'Elanna Torres you cited. You can consider it minor technobabble used to make Torres's dialogue <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGAahDeceHI" rel="nofollow">sound more technical</a>.</p>
" OwnerUserId="366" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T07:19:50.433" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1910" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1845" CreationDate="2011-02-16T17:04:15.257" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>There was also an animated miniseries made of Red Planet.</p>
" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T17:04:15.257" />
<row Id="1920" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1921" CreationDate="2011-02-16T22:51:22.160" Score="14" ViewCount="642" Body="<p>Every Star Trek fan knows that dilithium crystals help power the <em>Enterprise</em> (at least Kirk's <em>Enterprise</em> and later), but at what point did they become necessary or widely used in the Star Trek history?</p>

<p>I don't think Zefram Cochrane had any dilithium laying around when he build his first warp ship in 2063, and I don't <em>recall</em> mentions of it during Captain Archer's time (but I could be mistaken).</p>
" OwnerUserId="517" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T23:02:00.433" Title="When did dilithium crystals become so important for starships?" Tags="<star-trek>" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="1921" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1920" CreationDate="2011-02-16T22:57:22.247" Score="20" ViewCount="" Body="<p>From <a href="http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Dilithium" rel="nofollow">Memory Alpha</a>: Constitution-class starships continued to use crystallized lithium until the mid-2260s, before switching to dilithium.</p>

<p>The article is pretty detailed, and if you're looking for more specific information, I'd take a look.</p>
" OwnerUserId="790" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T22:57:22.247" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1922" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1920" CreationDate="2011-02-16T23:02:00.433" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Dilithium is a crystal used to regulate the matter/anti-matter reactions in the core. But they are found on very few planets, although it was eventually possible to create it artificially and cheaply. Cochrane used an old Titan missile for his first flight, with no obvious sources of dilithium around. However, since dilithium is simply used to regulate the reaction, it seems likely that he just used a different way to regulate it. Perhaps dilithium is just a more efficient way of regulating this reaction, which is why its used so much in the future.</p>
" OwnerUserId="583" LastActivityDate="2011-02-16T23:02:00.433" />
<row Id="1942" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="328" CreationDate="2011-02-17T14:56:15.207" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="<p>In "Bill, The Galactic Hero", ships are powered by a "Bloater Drive" which causes the ship to expand until it's as big as the galaxy. When the ships are that big, the individual atoms are so far apart that no one notices the presence of the ship. The ship is then reduced back to its original size at a different location.</p>
" OwnerUserId="872" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T14:56:15.207" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1950" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1825" CreationDate="2011-02-17T19:44:15.337" Score="18" ViewCount="" Body="<p>In one of the many, many shows that covered scientific inadequecies in Star Wars, it was explained that because the engines used ions, and space is not truly empty, the sound was transmitted through the little gas that was there. I guess this could explain why few ships actually used thrusters to change attitude in space also. Weak, but it was all they could come up with.</p>
" OwnerUserId="876" LastEditorUserId="3267" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-25T06:25:11.917" LastActivityDate="2012-01-25T06:25:11.917" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1951" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1695" CreationDate="2011-02-17T19:57:46.403" Score="16" ViewCount="" Body="<p>From wikipedia:
Tolkien himself spent much time considering what actually happened to the Entwives (at one point simply saying even he didn't know), but eventually he stated in Letters #144: "I think that in fact the Entwives have disappeared for good, being destroyed with their gardens in the War of the Last Alliance..."[13]</p>

<p>(half way down)
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ent" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ent</a></p>
" OwnerUserId="876" LastActivityDate="2011-02-17T19:57:46.403" />
<row Id="1953" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1630" CreationDate="2011-02-17T20:07:50.387" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Shmi specifically states there is no father. By later conversations among the Jedi, it is generally to be concluded that the midichlorians created Anakin in Shmi to bring balance back to the force.</p>

<p>She never claimed to be a virgin when he was conceived, so it is not necessary to assume it was a virgin birth, just that there was never a biological father.</p>
" OwnerUserId="876" LastEditorUserId="480" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-05-28T21:29:28.587" LastActivityDate="2011-05-28T21:29:28.587" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1958" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="328" CreationDate="2011-02-18T00:27:52.930" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="<p>In Peter Watt's Blindsight, the alien artifact Rorschach is incredibly massive (although shadowed by a nearby planet), but there are indications that it is constantly growing, possibly beyond plantery size.</p>

<p>In Alastair Reynold's Pushing Ice, the structure in which the ships are trapped is engineered and at the end it is indicated that its size is immense (possibly light hours in scale).</p>
" OwnerUserId="384" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T00:27:52.930" />
<row Id="1960" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="3408" CreationDate="2011-02-18T03:23:36.160" Score="11" ViewCount="408" Body="<p>I would like to find out the title of the book or short story that meets this criteria.</p>

<p>Science Fiction novel that the characters use only musical instruments (eg. saxophone, guitar, violin, piano, etc.) for communication with others?</p>

<p>To support my question here is an article "<a href="http://www.ehow.com/list_6795710_musical-instruments-used-communication.html" rel="nofollow">Musical Instruments Used for Communication</a>" that shows that this type of communication exists. </p>
" OwnerUserId="779" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-27T06:45:16.373" LastActivityDate="2012-02-13T21:43:19.117" Title="What SF novel or short story features characters that can only communicate with musical instruments?" Tags="<story-identification><hard-sci-fi><communication>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="11" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="1961" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1960" CreationDate="2011-02-18T03:25:59.807" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Moon_Moth" rel="nofollow"><em>The Moon Moth</em></a> by Jack Vance has musical instruments as one of the prerequisites for communication (nobody would listen to you unless you play one).</p>
" OwnerUserId="53" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-02-13T21:43:19.117" LastActivityDate="2012-02-13T21:43:19.117" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1962" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2183" CreationDate="2011-02-18T03:26:59.167" Score="8" ViewCount="597" Body="<p>I would be interested in reading a fantasy novel with all-female characters. Is there a good resource for finding such stories? (Or more generally any written science fiction or fantasy with all-female characters.)</p>

<p>(Background: a few years back, I saw a movie with only women were in it. I thought to myself there might be a fantasy novel or a short story where all the characters are women. Can you help me find one?)</p>

<p>Please don't just post your favorite story here — ideally, do you know of a way for me to search stories based on this criterion (having only female characters)?</p>
" OwnerUserId="779" LastEditorUserId="779" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-03-08T04:30:33.600" LastActivityDate="2011-03-08T04:30:33.600" Title="Fantasy stories with all female characters" Tags="<online-resources><female-characters>" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="20" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="1963" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1965" CreationDate="2011-02-18T04:15:07.337" Score="14" ViewCount="318" Body="<p>I originally read this book in the mid- to late '70s. </p>

<p>The premise was a bureaucracy whose job it was to manipulate events in human history by making the smallest possible change that would effect the desired outcome. Not time cops in the sense of going after law breakers. The intent was to maintain a policy of non-interference as much as possible but when interference was warranted then to make the least possible change and to do so invisibly.</p>

<p>For example, they might take someone's keys off the dresser and put them just out of sight underneath the dresser where they plausibly might have fallen. The subject would never know of the manipulation but would then be delayed getting out of the house and the ripples grew from there to avert a war or otherwise affect events on a large scale.</p>

<p>After reading that, whenever I would lose something - especially in an improbable way such as dropping a screw at my feet and then finding it on the other side of the room half an hour later - I would take some consolation in the thought that I had just averted some global catastrophe. I was pretty scatterbrained as a kid (we call that ADHD nowadays) so I experienced this a lot. Given that I've spent so much time pondering the ideas from the book, I'd love to re-read it.</p>
" OwnerUserId="879" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-02-13T21:38:45.377" LastActivityDate="2012-02-13T21:38:45.377" Title="Identify a book with a social engineering theme" Tags="<story-identification><books>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="0" />
<row Id="1965" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1963" CreationDate="2011-02-18T05:49:31.417" Score="20" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Perhaps <em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_End_of_Eternity" rel="nofollow">The End of Eternity</a></em> by Isaac Asimov? </p>

<p>An organization made of people called "Eternals" sits outside of time, making changes to keep humanity safe. Humanity is kept safe to the point of stagnation in the book. </p>
" OwnerUserId="33" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-02-13T21:38:22.383" LastActivityDate="2012-02-13T21:38:22.383" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1966" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1967" CreationDate="2011-02-18T06:41:06.027" Score="10" ViewCount="249" Body="<p>In the TV series LOST, why does the island have to be protected and what actually was the role of the "protector" - what could he do? </p>

<p>I.e., the light seemed to be quite dangerous as did other phenomena - but that would by itself discourage most people from doing anything. But if the island needed more protection, then I'm struggling to see how exactly the protector helped. </p>
" OwnerUserId="53" LastEditorUserId="3804" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-06-22T09:02:37.863" LastActivityDate="2012-06-22T09:02:37.863" Title="LOST: The Island protection" Tags="<tv><lost>" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="4" />
<row Id="1967" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1966" CreationDate="2011-02-18T09:52:21.703" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The island had to be protected because of the light - it was in some (undescribed) way essential to the survival/wellbeing of all life. If the light was extinguished that would be very bad (exactly how we are not told). </p>

<p>There's also an implication that the light could be misused in some way (or perhaps people seeking to do so might accidentally damage it, much as it was damaged by Jacob). As such, the island needed to be protected against these people. </p>

<p>Unfortunately, something being dangerous does not mean that people will stay away from it (in real life or in <em>LOST</em>). In fact, the opposite is likely to be true, especially when the danger arises from some sort if power. The Dharma Initiative is a good example of this - although there was danger on the island, they were very eager to investigate it further (presumably with good intention). </p>

<p>Exactly what the protector could do wasn't established. However, it seems that they could set their own rules to an extent (see closing dialogue between Hugo and Ben). In Jacob's case, he could influence people outside the island such that their lives were altered (ending up on the island), and he could set constraints on the MiB/Smokey. </p>

<p>We only see a tiny proportion of the time that Jacob was protector, almost none of Hugo's time or Jacob's mother's time, and Jack is protector only for a very short period. That means that we don't really know what the protector is capable of, or what they have needed to do to protect the island/light. Most of our experience with Jacob is tied to his finding a successor and a resolution to his mistake with MiB/Smokey - in fact Smokey influences his time as protector extremely, and so earlier/later protectors probably behaved very differently. </p>
" OwnerUserId="108" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T09:52:21.703" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1968" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1963" CreationDate="2011-02-18T15:16:33.157" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="<p>It sounds a bit like <em>The Cat Who Walks Through Walls</em> by Robert Heinlein, though the book wanders for about 250 pages before you realize that that is the plot.</p>
" OwnerUserId="85" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T15:16:33.157" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1969" PostTypeId="5" CreationDate="2011-02-18T18:05:47.493" Score="0" ViewCount="16" Body="<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars" rel="nofollow">Star Wars</a> is an American epic space opera franchise conceived by George Lucas. It is one of the highest-grossing film series in the United States. The Star Wars film series has spawned other media including books, television series, video games, and comic books.</p>

<p>There are 6 movies in the series. In series order, movies #4, #5 and #6 were released first, then #1, #2 and #3.</p>

<ol>
<li><em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_Episode_I%3a_The_Phantom_Menace" rel="nofollow">Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace</a></em> (1999)</li>
<li><em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_Episode_II%3a_Attack_of_the_Clones" rel="nofollow">Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones</a></em> (2002)</li>
<li><em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_Episode_III%3a_Revenge_of_the_Sith" rel="nofollow">Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith</a></em> (2005)</li>
<li><em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_Episode_IV%3a_A_New_Hope" rel="nofollow">Star Wars</a></em> (later known as <em>Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope</em>) (1977)</li>
<li><em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_Episode_V%3a_The_Empire_Strikes_Back" rel="nofollow">The Empire Strikes Back</a></em> (1980)</li>
<li><em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_Episode_VI%3a_Return_of_the_Jedi" rel="nofollow">Return of the Jedi</a></em> (1983)</li>
</ol>

<h3>External links</h3>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page" rel="nofollow">Wookieepedia</a>, the <em>Star Wars</em> wiki</li>
</ul>

<p><img src="http://i.stack.imgur.com/InXMV.jpg" alt="opening crawl"></p>
" OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="56" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-09-18T14:18:42.877" LastActivityDate="2011-09-18T14:18:42.877" />
<row Id="1970" PostTypeId="4" CreationDate="2011-02-18T18:05:47.493" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="Star Wars is a series of 6 movies by George Lucas, starting with the original Star Wars in 1977. It is one of the highest-grossing film series ever, and has spawned a large franchise, including animated series, lots of Extended universe books, games and comics." OwnerUserId="-1" LastEditorUserId="976" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-26T23:01:42.567" LastActivityDate="2012-01-26T23:01:42.567" />
<row Id="1971" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1900" CreationDate="2011-02-18T18:45:07.877" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Probably the best source for information is the <a href="http://forums.johnsteakley.com/index.php" rel="nofollow">Antwar Saloon</a>, the forum on the site you linked. The regulars there include some of Mr. Steakley's close friends, many of whom were at his funeral. One actually was a speaker there.</p>

<p>The consensus there is that any unfinished works he has will not be published - they were not yet up to his exacting standards, and there is not sufficient demand for a Douglas Adams-style 'unfinished works' compendium.</p>

<p>Sad to say, whatever he had written is lost to the general public, at least until one of his books become a major blockbuster motion picture and demand sharply increases.</p>
" OwnerUserId="656" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T18:45:07.877" CommentCount="5" />
<row Id="1972" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-18T19:29:13.013" Score="16" ViewCount="285" Body="<p>It's commonly said that Anglo-Saxon SF writers failed to predict the collapse of the Soviet Union and its satellite states — quickly, with little violence, and without Western intervention.</p>

<p>What was the perception of from the other side? Are there any notable trends in science fiction from the Communist bloc (Russia, Eastern Europe, China, etc.) regarding its future (how long it would last, how it would evolve or end, etc.)?</p>

<p>Obviously prediction is easy after the fact, so only works written before 1989 are relevant. Given the strong censorship, it would be especially interesting to consider works written but not published before 1989, or works published by emigrants.</p>

<p><em>Note that I'm interested in general trends, not that there's one particular work that got it right (or amusingly wrong). So please don't reply with a list of works — analysis is what I'm after.</em></p>
" OwnerUserId="56" LastEditorUserId="56" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-19T15:51:15.353" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T15:51:15.353" Title="The fall of the Communist bloc as seen from the eastern side" Tags="<prediction><society>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="10" />
<row Id="1973" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1825" CreationDate="2011-02-18T19:36:39.397" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I heard JMS once say that an astrophysicist told him that you CAN hear explosions in space - just not the way they sound in movies. Specifically, if you have an explosion, part of the makeup of that explosion is something that will carry the sound waves (like oxygen). So when the (whatever) explodes, you'll "hear" it when the gases involved in the explosion reach you.</p>
" OwnerUserId="626" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T19:36:39.397" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1974" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1972" CreationDate="2011-02-18T22:35:20.193" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>You should check out books by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arkady_and_Boris_Strugatsky" rel="nofollow">Arkady and Boris Strugatsky</a>, Russian SF writers. Most of their books were written in the 60's and 70's, and some in the 80's. Many good ones sat on a shelf for decades, before they could be published. Several of their books have been translated into English. They are not so much about the fall of the USSR, since virtually nobody could have foreseen that, but they offer good insights into the daily life and the mindset of the Soviet people.</p>

<p>They do describe a number of possible futures in their books. One series takes place in the "Noon Universe", where the people of Earth live in a Communist-like society or Star-trek like society, where poverty is eliminated, and people strive to better themselves, and to be useful. However, in those books they sometimes describe Orwellian societies of other planets (somehow also populated by humans), which are eerily similar to the realities of life in the USSR. See <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoners_of_Power" rel="nofollow">Prisoners of Power</a>, aka "The Inhabited Island", and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_to_Be_a_God" rel="nofollow">Hard to be a god</a>.</p>

<p><strong>Edit:</strong></p>

<p>Since you are already familiar with the Strugatsky brothers, you should check out <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow_2042" rel="nofollow">Moscow 2042</a> by Vladimir Voynovich. This is a satirical book about a possible future in 2042. The Soviet system was based on the idea of "building Socialism in a single country", which replaced the notion of the "world revolution", prevalent at the turn of the 20th century. "Moscow 2042" takes that to the extreme, and describes "Communism in a single city". Communism, of course, means "from each according to one's ability, to each according to one's needs". The catch is that one's needs are determined by the powers that be, and there are a number of "levels of needs". The book is hilarious, especially if you can read it in Russian. It is also a not-so-subtle jab at Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.</p>
" OwnerUserId="638" LastEditorUserId="638" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T23:35:01.233" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T23:35:01.233" CommentCount="6" />
<row Id="1975" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="328" CreationDate="2011-02-18T22:36:17.057" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="<p>How about the Great Attractor created by the Xeelee in Stephen Baxter's Ring? Being an artificial structure of galactic super-cluster proportions, it should at least be on the list.</p>
" OwnerUserId="96" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T22:36:17.057" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1976" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1972" CreationDate="2011-02-18T23:07:16.733" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="<p>What most likely one would expect to see is books similar in nature to Moon series by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Rice_Burroughs" rel="nofollow">Edgar Rice Burroughs</a>, where an author leaves room for a reader’s imagination to do the work. Some people say that Apostezjon Trilogy by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Wnuk-Lipi%C5%84ski" rel="nofollow">Edmund Wnuk- Lipinski</a> portrays the most common anti-communism trend. And then there is also <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limes_Inferior" rel="nofollow">Limes Inferior</a> by Janusz Zajdel, a novel on how would a system resulting from a mix or convergence of the main systems then competing - communism and capitalism - look like.</p>
" OwnerUserId="779" LastEditorUserId="779" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-18T23:21:37.733" LastActivityDate="2011-02-18T23:21:37.733" CommentCount="5" />
<row Id="1978" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="328" CreationDate="2011-02-19T00:55:31.917" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="<p>A device that's surrounding a star is fun but why not use those stars to build something? Fry did it!</p>

<p><img src="http://i.stack.imgur.com/xvQ7H.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></p>
" OwnerUserId="807" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T00:55:31.917" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1979" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1983" CreationDate="2011-02-19T01:18:31.717" Score="3" ViewCount="99" Body="<p>I am looking for a book's title of a novel by Andre Norton that one of the characters name was Yareth and his profession was falconry. I have read this book ages ago and now I cannot recall its title but I do know that it is within the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witch_World" rel="nofollow">Witch World</a> series. </p>
" OwnerUserId="779" LastEditorUserId="3804" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-06-22T08:18:17.203" LastActivityDate="2012-06-22T08:18:17.203" Title="Andre Norton's story within Witch World series with Yareth the falconer as one of the characters novel identification" Tags="<story-identification><andre-norton><witch-world>" AnswerCount="1" />
<row Id="1980" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1981" CreationDate="2011-02-19T04:06:55.013" Score="12" ViewCount="974" Body="<p>In the context of Douglas Adams's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy"><em>Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy</em></a>, if Vogon poetry is “the third worst poetry in the universe”, then what is the second worst and worst?</p>
" OwnerUserId="285" LastEditorUserId="56" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-27T00:46:14.983" LastActivityDate="2012-06-22T09:34:11.030" Title="What are the worst forms of poetry in the universe?" Tags="<hitchhikers-guide>" AnswerCount="4" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="1981" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1980" CreationDate="2011-02-19T04:10:50.333" Score="27" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The Wikipedia page on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vogon#Poetry">Vogon Poetry</a> quotes the book: </p>

<blockquote>
 <p>The second worst is that of the Azgoths of Kria. [...] The very worst poetry in the universe died along with its creator, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paula_Nancy_Millstone_Jennings#Paul_Neil_Milne_Johnstone_of_Redbridge.2C_Essex">Paula Nancy Millstone Jennings of Sussex</a>... in the destruction of the planet Earth.</p>
</blockquote>

<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vogon#cite_note-1">Note</a>: The name mentioned in the original radio series was <em>Paul Neil Milne Johnstone of Redbridge, Essex</em>, but this was later removed due to his complaint.</p>
" OwnerUserId="117" LastEditorUserId="3804" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-06-22T09:34:11.030" LastActivityDate="2012-06-22T09:34:11.030" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1983" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1979" CreationDate="2011-02-19T06:30:45.360" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Was it <em>To Rebuild the Eyrie</em>?</p>

<p><a href="http://elwher.wikidot.com/falcon-law" rel="nofollow">This page</a> about the later <em>Falcon Law</em> mentions that as the first place Yareth is seen.</p>
" OwnerUserId="70" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T06:30:45.360" />
<row Id="1984" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1980" CreationDate="2011-02-19T07:29:45.877" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="<blockquote>
 <p>Vogon poetry is the third worst in the
 Universe. The second worst is that of
 the Azgoths of Kria. During a
 recitation by their Poet Master
 Grunthos the Flatulent, of his poem,
 Ode to a Small Lump of Green Putty I
 Found in My Armpit One Midsummer
 Morning, four of his audience members
 died of internal hemorrhaging, and the
 president of the Mid-Galactic Arts
 Nobbling Council, survived by gnawing
 one of his own legs off... The very
 worst poetry in the universe died
 along with its creator, Paula Nancy
 Millstone Jennings of Sussex, in the
 destruction of the planet Earth.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>At least the destruction of our planet was good for something.</p>
" OwnerUserId="180" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T07:29:45.877" />
<row Id="1985" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1980" CreationDate="2011-02-19T08:04:57.133" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The second worst is, as quoted in other answers: The Azgoths of Kria.</p>

<p>The worst, according to the <em>Radio Series</em> rather than the book was: Paul Neil Milne Johnston of Redbridge, who perished along with his creation in the destruction of the Earth. [This is described at the end of Fit the First.]</p>
" OwnerUserId="204" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T08:04:57.133" />
<row Id="1988" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1825" CreationDate="2011-02-19T18:57:48.453" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The claim that explosion sound effects in the vacuum of space is "wrong" assumes that the microphone is at the same place as the camera. But neither the microphone nor the camera are part of the story; they're part of the medium through which the story is told.</p>
" OwnerUserId="894" LastActivityDate="2011-02-19T18:57:48.453" />
<row Id="1989" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-19T23:49:13.800" Score="34" ViewCount="1528" Body="<p>With all the various races in the federation, how do the humans manage to dominate it?</p>
" OwnerUserId="897" LastActivityDate="2012-01-25T06:22:07.163" Title="How do humans dominate the Federation in Star Trek?" Tags="<star-trek>" AnswerCount="9" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="4" />
<row Id="1990" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1989" CreationDate="2011-02-19T23:52:44.047" Score="32" ViewCount="" Body="<p>While Enterprise addresses some of this issue, it's largely unexplained in the Star Trek universe. Of course, it always helps in story telling because aliens characters are sometimes more difficult for viewers to relate to than human looking ones.</p>

<p>In some episodes, the viewers are led to believe that there are other ships where the crew is primarily Vulcan or some other race. But it is rare that a non-human Star Fleet captain is an important character in an episode.</p>

<p>In Enterprise, the adaptable humans are often contrasted with the rigid Vulcan race or the passionate Andorians. In that series humans are the crucial peace-makers that bring about a new universal order, if you will, in the form of the Federation. Basically the humans represent a middle of the road species with a recently made Utopian society that allows them to more easily negotiate peace between different species (Vulcans and Andorians). Because humans are at the center of the creation of the Federation, we are led to assume that Earth is a primary recruiting world for service in Star Fleet.</p>

<p>Star Fleet was mostly human in the Original Series, but the Animated Series had a wide variety of non-human crew members. I think that it was just too much of a make-up, acting, and story-telling challenge to have too many regular non-human characters in the live-action show.</p>
" OwnerUserId="35" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-08-08T08:27:28.493" LastActivityDate="2011-08-08T08:27:28.493" CommentCount="4" />
<row Id="1991" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1989" CreationDate="2011-02-20T04:55:35.140" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="<p>And it's important to note that "Star Fleet" was in existence before the creation of the Federation, which would set the tone for the culture of Star Fleet. In the 1960s, the parallel to the Star Trek Earth was of course, the United States. The UN is located in New York as the Federation was located on Earth and at that time (and still, for that matter), the U.S. was generally the Big Stick for various confrontations around the world.</p>

<p>The interesting question is this: In TOS, there were rarely more than shuttles or small transport ships from other species within the Federation. Are we to assume that the Vulcans, Andorians and Tellarites disarmed and dismantled their capital ship fleets?</p>
" OwnerUserId="900" LastEditorUserId="3267" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-25T06:22:07.163" LastActivityDate="2012-01-25T06:22:07.163" CommentCount="4" />
<row Id="1992" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="1996" CreationDate="2011-02-20T06:56:34.160" Score="12" ViewCount="556" Body="<p>I watched Farscape fairly religiously back when it was first aired on the BBC.
I've caught some episodes recently sitting up with my teething Son, and found myself asking ...</p>

<p>At what point did John start calling his gun Winona, and why?</p>
" LastEditorUserId="2935" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-10-14T19:13:59.103" LastActivityDate="2012-05-16T21:33:03.250" Title="When did John Crichton start calling his gun Winona?" Tags="<weapon><farscape>" AnswerCount="2" FavoriteCount="0" />
<row Id="1995" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="236" CreationDate="2011-02-20T09:14:51.190" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Possibly the <em>Discworld</em> series by Pratchett</p>
" OwnerUserId="70" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T09:14:51.190" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="1996" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1992" CreationDate="2011-02-20T09:28:35.230" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="<p><strong>In <em>A Clockwork Nebari</em> (S02E18)</strong></p>

<p>The name actually came from Ben Browder, and is a reference to Winona Ryder. I've heard both that it's because another cast member of that episode reminded him of Johnny Depp, and because of Ryder's role in Alien: Resurrection. I don't know if either/both are true. </p>

<p>I've also seen a quote from Browder that all guns should be named after beautiful women. I don't know if he's named any others in other shows, though. </p>

<p>In-universe, it just seems like the sort of thing that Crichton would do - a reference to an Earth actress, naming a weapon - those all fit the character. I don't think there's any in-universe explanation for Winona specifically, other than she's female and famous. </p>
" OwnerUserId="108" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T09:28:35.230" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="1998" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="328" CreationDate="2011-02-20T13:36:57.690" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I think we all are forgetting "The Death Star" here and ultimate weapon as big as a few hundred suns. </p>
" OwnerUserId="901" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T13:36:57.690" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="1999" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="328" CreationDate="2011-02-20T14:01:05.727" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="<p><a href="http://www.schlockmercenary.com" rel="nofollow">Schlock Mercenary</a> has a power generator built from the Galactic Core. It was originally built as a sort of trojan-horse (the beings who designed it wanted our galaxy destroyed, the beings who built it were misled into thinking it was just a generator). It was stopped from being a bomb and kept as just a generator by an alliance of pretty much every sapient around, along with the formation of the largest AI around.</p>
" OwnerUserId="26" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T14:01:05.727" />
<row Id="2000" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2002" CreationDate="2011-02-20T14:13:36.327" Score="25" ViewCount="1174" Body="<p>During the Reaver scene in the pilot episode, Inara pulls a syringe full of something, that she seems to be willing to use on herself. What was in that syringe?</p>
" OwnerUserId="98" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T03:56:30.213" Title="What was in the syringe that Inara had in the pilot episode?" Tags="<firefly><joss-whedon>" AnswerCount="3" />
<row Id="2001" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2000" CreationDate="2011-02-20T15:24:55.210" Score="0" ViewCount="" Body="<p>I assume it was some kind of poison she'd use in case the Reavers boarded.</p>
" OwnerUserId="9" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T15:24:55.210" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="2002" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2000" CreationDate="2011-02-20T15:27:57.980" Score="17" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Exactly what was in the syringe was never fully revealed. There are <a href="http://community.livejournal.com/bigdamn_rewatch/2772.html" rel="nofollow">lots of theories</a>, but Joss Whedon apparently shot down the suicide theory (which I, like many others, had initially assumed).</p>

<p>Morena Baccarin confirmed that Inara was dying of a terminal illness <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTxGOi9coWQ" rel="nofollow">during a panel at the 2008 DragonCon</a>. The syringe could have been a plant to lead in to that later story line.</p>
" OwnerUserId="63" LastEditorUserId="63" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T03:56:30.213" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T03:56:30.213" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="2003" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="236" CreationDate="2011-02-20T16:07:56.357" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="<p>There is a version of this structure in <a href="http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1596060581"><em>Missile Gap</em></a> by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Stross">Charles Stross</a>. </p>
" OwnerUserId="69" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T16:07:56.357" />
<row Id="2005" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="1989" CreationDate="2011-02-20T16:57:37.423" Score="2" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Well, I think many people will hate me for that, but my answer is: Because the story is written <em>by humans</em> ;-)</p>
" OwnerUserId="761" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T16:57:37.423" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="2006" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="88" CreationDate="2011-02-20T17:03:03.770" Score="3" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Bruce Bethke coined the word. Well-known editor Gardner Dozois popularized its use in connection with the kind of SF being pioneered in the early 1980s by Gibson, Sterling, etc. </p>
" OwnerUserId="905" LastActivityDate="2011-02-20T17:03:03.770" />
<row Id="2011" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2000" CreationDate="2011-02-21T00:36:19.687" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="<p>In the DVD commentary Joss Whedon explicitly says that the syringe is not a suicide device.</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>Everyone assumes a suicide kit, and actually I had something a little more interesting in mind for it, but I can't really speak about it here. It would take too long ... It's one of those things I was laying in for later.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>The two leading theories are:</p>

<ul>
<li>Inara was terminally ill (c.f. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTxGOi9coWQ" rel="nofollow">Morena Baccarin's comment at DragonCon</a>) and it was going to lead into that storyline in some way.</li>
<li>It was a drug that when taken would kill anyone that had sex with her (suggested by Tim Minear at a writers conference) and there was going to be a later episode where Inara was attacked and raped by Reavers.</li>
</ul>
" OwnerUserId="108" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T00:36:19.687" />
<row Id="2012" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="426" CreationDate="2011-02-21T00:44:29.650" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Speculation: In Star Trek: Voyager when they first meet the Borg, it is stated (maybe by Janeway) that the Borg only obtain new information by assimilation. They do not (or are not capable) of doing their own research (which is why Voyager is escorted across Borg space). I would assume that the Borg were at some point a primitive life form (it is not clear to me what the Borg actually <em>are</em>) which through practiced evolution through assimilation - and at some point they became technologically advanced (and therefore worthy of the name)</p>
" OwnerUserId="909" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T00:44:29.650" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="2013" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2017" CreationDate="2011-02-21T01:03:17.050" Score="14" ViewCount="1927" Body="<p>Which episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation is this screenshot from?</p>

<p><img src="http://www.adelekirby.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/DoubleFacePalm.jpg" alt="Double facepalm"></p>

<p>Note: I believe the person in the left of the picture may not be Picard in the original scene. The picture of Picard that you see here was probably Photoshopped from <a href="http://arthropoda.southernfriedscience.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/facepalm.jpg" rel="nofollow">this other scene</a>.</p>
" OwnerUserId="910" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T21:09:18.683" Title="Which episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation is this screenshot from?" Tags="<star-trek><star-trek-tng>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="3" />
<row Id="2015" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="328" CreationDate="2011-02-21T01:23:57.103" Score="5" ViewCount="" Body="<p>In the Star Trek universe, it’s surely the Borg Collective. It spans a significant proportion of our galaxy.</p>
" OwnerUserId="910" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T01:23:57.103" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="2016" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-21T03:29:52.690" Score="27" ViewCount="2629" Body="<p>When Voyager was stranded in the Delta quadrant, it would seem they had two options: either fly straight towards Federation space in the alpha quadrant, or go to the far end of the Bajorn wormhole in the gamma quadrant.</p>

<p>A common response to this question is that the end of the Bajoran wormhole would have been no closer. Indeed, <a href="http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/1536/can-anyone-explain-the-star-trek-astrography-i-e-quadrants/1539#1539">maps of the galaxy that I’ve seen</a> show that the distance is pretty much the same. This makes distance a non-factor, but I can think of two others:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>The Federation knows about the approximate location of Borg space because Q took the Enterprise-D there. Voyager should have known that flying directly towards Starfleet HQ would take them through Borg space. The Dominion in the gamma quadrant would surely be a much lesser evil.</p></li>
<li><p>The direct route to the alpha quadrant would take Voyager closer to the centre of the galaxy, where stars are denser, therefore there would likely be more civilisations, therefore more potential for conflict. (Voyager could not know in advance that they would be able to circumvent this region of space.)</p></li>
</ul>

<p>The only downside I can think of is that the Bajoran wormhole may no longer be there when they get there. Why didn’t Voyager fly to the end of the Bajoran wormhole in the gamma quadrant?</p>
" OwnerUserId="910" LastEditorUserId="3804" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2012-01-08T20:40:01.647" LastActivityDate="2012-01-08T20:40:01.647" Title="Why didn’t Voyager fly to the end of the Bajoran wormhole in the gamma quadrant?" Tags="<star-trek><star-trek-voyager><borg>" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="2" />
<row Id="2017" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2013" CreationDate="2011-02-21T03:42:13.150" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="<p>You're right that the Picard in this screenshot is shopped in - you can see the original Riker-only facepalm on Google images search.</p>

<p>However, none of those image results indicate where this screen-grab came from.</p>

<p>But - I think that this is from Season 3's "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Matter_of_Perspective" rel="nofollow">A Matter of Perspective</a>" - where Riker is accused of murdering a scientist.</p>
" OwnerUserId="373" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T03:42:13.150" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="2020" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-21T05:22:48.013" Score="10" ViewCount="241" Body="<p>In the show <em>Heroes</em>, there are a bunch of people who can do crazy things to space and time, including stopping it. </p>

<p>With the large cast, it's hard to keep track of who can do what, but who has the ability to stop time? What are its limitations? Do the space-time manipulators relate to each other in any way?</p>
" OwnerUserId="798" LastEditorUserId="366" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T19:34:09.720" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T19:39:02.270" Title="What characters on Heroes have the ability to manipulate space and time?" Tags="<heroes>" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="2021" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2020" CreationDate="2011-02-21T05:29:27.647" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The main character who can stop time is <a href="http://heroeswiki.com/Hiro" rel="nofollow">Hiro Nakamura</a>, but he doesn't technically "stop time": he can merely slow it down a great deal. In the episode <a href="http://heroeswiki.com/Episode%3aThe_Second_Coming" rel="nofollow">"The Second Coming"</a>, he runs into <a href="http://heroeswiki.com/Daphne" rel="nofollow">Daphne</a> who has super speed and can move normally to Hiro's frame of reference.</p>

<p>Additionally, by virtue of their unique power-stealing/replicating abilities, both <a href="http://heroeswiki.com/Peter_Petrelli" rel="nofollow">Peter</a> and <a href="http://heroeswiki.com/Arthur" rel="nofollow">Arthur Petrelli</a> had the same power Hiro has, at least temporarily. Peter gets it by being in close proximity to Hiro, and Arthur gets it by stealing all of Peter's abilities.</p>
" OwnerUserId="366" LastEditorUserId="366" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T19:39:02.270" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T19:39:02.270" />
<row Id="2022" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2016" CreationDate="2011-02-21T06:40:27.327" Score="35" ViewCount="" Body="<p>There is no canon explanation for why they didn't opt to head for the Gamma Quadrant and seek out the Bajoran wormhole, but there are a few reasons why that wouldn't have been a good idea:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>Immediately after the destruction of the Caretaker array, Janeway makes the command decision to head directly to the Alpha Quadrant. The most direct, unambiguous path to the Alpha Quadrant is a straight line.</p></li>
<li><p>Quadrants are enormous: tens of thousands of light years across. The vastness of the quadrants leads to two things:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Even if you granted all the knowledge gleaned from the Dominion War (which occurred <em>after</em> Voyager was thrown into the Delta Quadrant), the Gamma Quadrant was <a href="http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Gamma_Quadrant#Exploration" rel="nofollow">not explored in any great detail</a>. It's pretty safe to assume Voyager would have no idea how to find the Bajoran Wormhole save for "heading to the Gamma Quadrant".</p></li>
<li><p>Similarly, even though the Federation knew the Borg existed somewhere in the Delta Quadrant, the quadrant hadn't been mapped at all. Assuming the Borg were on Janeway's radar as something to absolutely avoid during the consideration on whether to head directly home, there was a pretty good chance (all things being equal) that Voyager would never run into them.</p></li>
</ol></li>
<li><p>You say that heading close to the center of the galaxy would have lead to more potential conflict, but that's against the charter of Starfleet: to seek out new life and new civilizations and <a href="http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Starfleet_Charter" rel="nofollow">"to boldly go where no man has gone before."</a> Janeway likely would've seen it as an opportunity, not a hazard.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>Based on this, Janeway's decision seems to have been the correct one and the safest bet.</p>

<p>Of course, the simplest answer to all of this is that the Delta Quadrant was a perfect blank slate upon which to base the series as it was completely unknown—save for part of one episode—to the rest of Star Trek canon, and Voyager running into the Borg made for good TV after the success of <em>Star Trek: First Contact</em>.</p>
" OwnerUserId="366" LastEditorUserId="366" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T06:57:05.117" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T06:57:05.117" CommentCount="4" />
<row Id="2036" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2046" CreationDate="2011-02-21T17:59:49.570" Score="6" ViewCount="375" Body="<p>I'm currently reading "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Player_of_Games">The Player of Games</a>" from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iain_M._Banks">Iain M. Banks</a>'s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Culture">Culture Cycle</a>.</p>

<p>I'm having difficulty picturing the character of Mawhrin-Skel Drone (and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Culture#Drones">Drones</a> in general since they "<em>are floating units of varying size and <strong>shape</em></strong>"). I was wondering if there is any artistic representation of him somewhere on the web?</p>
" OwnerUserId="45" LastEditorUserId="779" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T21:03:37.360" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T04:55:47.210" Title="Is there any artistic representation of Mawhrin-Skel?" Tags="<iain-m-banks><the-culture>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="2038" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2013" CreationDate="2011-02-21T21:09:18.683" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="<p>HorusKol is correct. Here is the original (or near enough to it): </p>

<p><img src="http://i.stack.imgur.com/NTsOF.jpg" alt="Original image from A Matter of Perspective S3E14"></p>
" OwnerUserId="909" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T21:09:18.683" />
<row Id="2040" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2036" CreationDate="2011-02-21T22:33:53.983" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="<p><a href="http://www.jonrennie.co.uk/films/79-something-real.html" rel="nofollow"><em>Something Real</em></a> (also on <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ET8IFxPo61w" rel="nofollow">Youtube</a>) is a short film directed by <a href="http://www.jonrennie.co.uk/" rel="nofollow">Jon Rennie</a> set in the Culture universe. The drone is different, but hopefully it gives you some idea of what they are like.</p>
" OwnerUserId="833" LastEditorUserId="56" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-21T22:52:10.340" LastActivityDate="2011-02-21T22:52:10.340" />
<row Id="2042" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2044" CreationDate="2011-02-21T23:04:29.373" Score="18" ViewCount="540" Body="<p>I just finished watching the episode "<a href="http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Deadlock_%28episode%29" rel="nofollow">Deadlock</a>". Toward the end, Vidiians board the ship to steal organs. Oddly, they know the name used for every species on the ship. </p>

<p>That they know what an Ocampa is a bit surprising since most of them live underground for generations, but it's still believable. After all, they do share the same quadrant. That they know what humans are is odder, but still believable. The Voyager crew might have used that term to introduce themselves in the past. However, how do they know what a Vulcan is? </p>

<p>When they scan Tuvok, they say he's a Vulcan, but how do they know that word? Has Tuvok ever used the Vulcan word infront of a Vidiian or is that just the writers messing up?</p>
" OwnerUserId="678" LastEditorUserId="366" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T01:03:36.113" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T01:03:36.113" Title="How do the Vidiians know what a Vulcan is?" Tags="<star-trek><star-trek-voyager>" AnswerCount="2" />
<row Id="2043" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2042" CreationDate="2011-02-22T00:37:44.947" Score="9" ViewCount="" Body="<p>This was not their first contact with Voyager; they have scanned senior officers (including Tuvok) in Phage, so (assuming some subspace medical database sync) the knowledge about new species could propagate to all Vidiians (or at least their scanners).</p>
" OwnerUserId="48" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T00:37:44.947" CommentCount="3" />
<row Id="2044" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2042" CreationDate="2011-02-22T01:02:18.377" Score="16" ViewCount="" Body="<p>In addition to mbq's answer, you should realize that the <a href="http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Universal_translator" rel="nofollow">universal translator</a>—which provides to the audience a way to understand alien languages—learns by context: the word Vulcan is heard because that's the only thing the Vidiian word for Tuvok's race could mean.</p>
" OwnerUserId="366" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T01:02:18.377" />
<row Id="2045" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2047" CreationDate="2011-02-22T02:05:32.423" Score="8" ViewCount="252" Body="<p>I loved reading excerpts out of "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Gods" rel="nofollow">American Gods</a>" by Neil Gaiman and I also saw that it was received very well by receiving a bunch of awards, especially the <a href="http://www.thehugoawards.org/" rel="nofollow">Hugo</a> and the <a href="http://www.sfwa.org/nebula-weekend/" rel="nofollow">Nebula</a>, so I was wondering if someone knows if there are plans for making a movie based on this book.</p>
" OwnerUserId="779" LastEditorUserId="35" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T16:04:59.987" LastActivityDate="2011-04-19T01:58:48.810" Title="Will there be a movie based on "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman?" Tags="<movie><neil-gaiman><american-gods>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="5" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="2046" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2036" CreationDate="2011-02-22T04:55:47.210" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="<p><a href="http://www.deviantart.com/" rel="nofollow">DeviantArt</a> can be a good source for conceptualizations.....
I could not find a Mawhrin-Skel but these might help give you a visual: </p>

<p><a href="http://verox11.deviantart.com/art/Unaha-Closp-Culture-Drone-135187558/" rel="nofollow">Unaha-Closp drone from Consider Phlebas</a> </p>

<p><a href="http://lostro.deviantart.com/art/Djan-Seriy-Anaplian-130411578/" rel="nofollow">Djan Seriy Anaplian and Turminder-Xuss from Matter</a></p>
" OwnerUserId="82" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T04:55:47.210" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="2047" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2045" CreationDate="2011-02-22T08:28:57.563" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="<p>No, there is currently no publicized plan to make a movie of this novel. Gaiman was quoted as saying:</p>

<blockquote>
 <p>I'm currently keeping them off the market, which my agent may find a little frustrating.</p>
</blockquote>

<p><a href="http://www.the-trades.com/article.php?id=1626" rel="nofollow">http://www.the-trades.com/ article</a></p>

<p>Albeit this quote is from 2002, but so far he seems to be sticking to his word, I follow his work pretty closely and have not seen anything to seems to change this.</p>
" OwnerUserId="70" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T08:28:57.563" />
<row Id="2048" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="328" CreationDate="2011-02-22T13:12:06.873" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>In Dan Simmons' <em>Endymion</em> books, the Ousters were growing modified trees in orbit around a star, intending to eventually enclose it completely in a living Dyson sphere. I remember the phrase "Leaves the size of continents". Though they did not do so in the book, their plan was to eventually do this with other stars, and maybe connect them, to fill the space between with life. I give them credit for thinking big.</p>

<p>Also, in Carl Sagan's <em>Contact</em>, </p>

<blockquote class="spoiler">
 <p> at the very end of the book it is mentioned that a message is hidden in the digits of PI, which suggests that all of space/time was created by something...</p>
</blockquote>
" OwnerUserId="863" LastEditorUserId="863" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-22T13:20:55.667" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T13:20:55.667" CommentCount="4" />
<row Id="2050" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="861" CreationDate="2011-02-22T14:20:27.727" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Found a site with a <a href="http://www.supershadow.com/starwars/history.html" rel="nofollow">timeline</a>. When I was growing up I remember the stories that Lucas has the ideas for the three trilogies, but that they weren't written as screenplays. The timeline on the site indicates that Lucas felt that the fourth episode was the most exciting and that was why he decided to start there.</p>
" OwnerUserId="917" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T14:20:27.727" />
<row Id="2052" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2053" CreationDate="2011-02-22T18:13:42.860" Score="10" ViewCount="477" Body="<p>At some point before Robert Jordan's death, I remember hearing that there were going to be additional prequel novels similar to <em>New Spring</em>. I'm curious if there has been any official announcement as to whether Brandon Sanderson or some other author will be writing/finishing any of these novels, or if they've been cancelled altogether.</p>

<p>Does anyone know definitively if any additional Wheel of Time prequels will be written or not?</p>
" OwnerUserId="790" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T18:47:51.767" Title="Wheel of Time prequels?" Tags="<wheel-of-time>" AnswerCount="1" />
<row Id="2053" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2052" CreationDate="2011-02-22T18:47:51.767" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="<p>According to <a href="http://13depository.blogspot.com/2010/04/jordancon-report.html" rel="nofollow">The Thirteenth Depository</a>, that won't be decided until the main series is complete.</p>

<blockquote>
 <p><strong>Future Books:</strong> The main series and the Encyclopedia will be completed and then Harriet will decide if she wants the prequel novels written...</p>
</blockquote>
" OwnerUserId="63" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T18:47:51.767" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="2054" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="328" CreationDate="2011-02-22T23:23:47.563" Score="7" ViewCount="" Body="<p>In Stargate Atlantis the star gate's on Earth and Atlantis create a wormhole three million light years in length. It is a single engineered object when instantiated. Of course three million light years is its perceived external length; presumably it is much shorter when travelling through it.</p>

<p>The wormhole in Stargate Universe at the start of the series is much longer (but I don'r recall how long).</p>
" OwnerUserId="909" LastActivityDate="2011-02-22T23:23:47.563" />
<row Id="2056" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2057" CreationDate="2011-02-23T02:29:43.640" Score="12" ViewCount="411" Body="<p>I was recently told that Star Trek episodes are built on a structure inspired by Shakespeare's plays. I tried to verify this claim, but have been unable to find a reference that compares the two. So, my question - how much do Star Trek episodes have in common with Shakespearean plays?</p>
" OwnerUserId="559" LastEditorUserId="366" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T03:04:56.870" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T07:35:01.597" Title="How much do Star Trek episodes have in common with Shakespearean plays?" Tags="<star-trek>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="2057" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2056" CreationDate="2011-02-23T02:55:29.880" Score="12" ViewCount="" Body="<p>It's hard to tell what you're referring to exactly, but all shows generally follow the same format Shakespeare (and indeed, all normal plays) take: a series of acts (usually 3 for 30 minute shows and 5 for 60 minute shows) broken into scenes. </p>

<p>For TV, acts generally have a central aspect tying them together, just like a play. Acts are usually separated by commercial breaks: a plot point will generally resolve itself before the commercial break, or transition into a different plot point (e.g. via the use of a commercial break cliffhanger).</p>

<p>But it's a bit of a misdirect to say something's based on Shakespeare because it shares similar elements. The reason many things relate to Shakespeare is because Shakespeare created well-crafted plays based on centuries of knowledge on the subject dating all the way back to Antiquity. It's no different than in music where almost everything generally follows the same principles used in classical music.</p>
" OwnerUserId="366" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T02:55:29.880" />
<row Id="2058" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-23T07:32:19.743" Score="6" ViewCount="110" Body="<p>I have the first four volumes of Piers Anthony's <em>Bio of a Space Tyrant</em> in paperback from 1985, and volume five as a softcover from 2011.</p>

<p>The 1985 versions do not have any "author's notes", as most Piers Anthony books do. The 2011 does have one (dated July 1999) - unfortunately it reads like it's continuing a story begun in another author's note (although I'm not certain about that).</p>

<p>Do any of the original editions of these books have the signature "Author's Note"? (If so, please specify which, so that I can try and find them in a physical bookstore or library).</p>

<p>Also, do all of the republished versions from the last decade have a note, or is it only the concluding volume? If the earlier ones do, then a brief synopsis (just a sentence or two for each) would be fantastic - or at least a recommendation as to whether it's worth seeking those out.</p>
" OwnerUserId="108" LastEditorUserId="74" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T18:32:31.290" LastActivityDate="2011-03-09T07:14:35.107" Title="Are there differences in the 'Author's Note' in different "Bio of a Space Tyrant" editions?" Tags="<piers-anthony>" AnswerCount="1" CommentCount="2" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="2059" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2056" CreationDate="2011-02-23T07:35:01.597" Score="6" ViewCount="" Body="<p>There are lots of <strong>Shakespeare quotes</strong> in Star Trek if that's what you mean. See these references:</p>

<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.wsu.edu/~delahoyd/shakespeare/star.trek.html" rel="nofollow">SHAKESPEARE IN THE STAR TREK UNIVERSE</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102975/quotes" rel="nofollow">Memorable quotes for Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country</a></li>
<li><a href="http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare" rel="nofollow">William Shakespeare at Memory Alpha</a></li>
</ul>

<p>My personal favorite, from Star Trek VI is: <em>"You haven't heard Shakespeare until you've heard it in the original Klingon."</em> (Chancellor Gorkon)</p>
" OwnerUserId="143" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T07:35:01.597" CommentCount="1" />
<row Id="2062" PostTypeId="1" AcceptedAnswerId="2063" CreationDate="2011-02-23T10:08:29.300" Score="4" ViewCount="439" Body="<blockquote>
 <p><strong>Possible Duplicates:</strong><br>
 <a href="http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/1520/in-what-order-should-the-star-wars-movies-be-watched">In what order should the Star Wars movies be watched?</a><br>
 <a href="http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/872/why-did-lucas-begin-the-episode-numbering-at-iv">Why did Lucas begin the episode numbering at IV?</a> </p>
</blockquote>



<p>A story can be presented in any order, but why start with an episode IV?</p>
" OwnerUserId="931" LastEditorUserId="98" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T15:18:09.220" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T15:32:23.577" ClosedDate="2011-02-23T16:18:25.640" Title="Star Wars Episodes IV,V,VI was released before Episodes I,II,III. Why?" Tags="<movie><star-wars>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="8" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="2063" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2062" CreationDate="2011-02-23T10:32:57.933" Score="8" ViewCount="" Body="<p>George Lucas already knew that there were earlier materials, he had the basic story worked out in advance (sources disagree on exactly how well developed they were, though). The reason he started with Episode IV (according to himself) was that it had more potential for commercial success and, since he was a relatively unknown card at the time, therefore easier to get a studio to accept. Apparently he was right. </p>
" OwnerUserId="815" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T10:32:57.933" />
<row Id="2064" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-23T11:12:30.587" Score="4" ViewCount="619" Body="<p>In Star Wars Episode II, when Kenobi came to know about outer-rim, he also came to know that outer-rim is 12 parsec away. </p>

<p>12 parsec = 12 * 3.26 light years = 39 light years (approx.) </p>

<p>According to Einstein, nothing can move faster than light. We can't deny it even in front of advance technology of Star Wars: we can find spaceship speed equal to light speed after turning on hyperdrive (see last scene of Star Wars Episode V &amp; more). </p>

<p>So, it would take at least 78 years for Kenobi for full return journey. But, everything happened very fast. There was no age effect on Kenobi. Even if we consider time-dilation effect, there should be age effect on others (who were in Jedi Temple &amp; Senate), but nothing happened. Everything was quick. How is it possible?</p>
" OwnerUserId="931" LastEditorUserId="70" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-02-23T23:01:21.860" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T23:01:21.860" ClosedDate="2011-02-24T00:26:30.740" Title="How did Kenobi travel to the outer-rim in Star Wars Episode II?" Tags="<movie><star-wars>" AnswerCount="5" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="2065" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2064" CreationDate="2011-02-23T11:20:05.290" Score="13" ViewCount="" Body="<p>FTL travel in the Star Wars has been discussed here: <a href="http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/1458/was-the-millennium-falcon-too-slow">Was the Millennium Falcon too slow?</a></p>

<p>Summary: <strong>Star Wars is not hot on science.</strong></p>

<p>See also: <a href="http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/1825/why-and-how-can-you-hear-explosions-in-space-in-star-wars">Why and how can you hear explosions in space in Star Wars?</a></p>
" OwnerUserId="143" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T11:20:05.290" />
<row Id="2066" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2064" CreationDate="2011-02-23T12:17:05.837" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="<p>It's NOT possible. It's Science Fiction.</p>

<p><em>Star Wars</em>: Making the impossible possible since 1977.</p>
" OwnerUserId="9" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T12:17:05.837" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="2067" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2064" CreationDate="2011-02-23T12:17:54.940" Score="1" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Actually, due to time dilation, 78 years would not pass for Kenobi at the speed of light. No time would pass. If he were going minute-fractions under the speed of light, only a short time would pass. Only the rest of the universe would have 78 years pass. (Assuming Kenobi goes 0-lightspeed instantly)</p>

<p>The speed of light isn't a limit, so much as it is how the rest of the universe sees something that is traveling near-instantaneously on its own time scale.</p>
" OwnerUserId="51" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T12:17:54.940" CommentCount="7" />
<row Id="2068" PostTypeId="1" CreationDate="2011-02-23T12:33:39.953" Score="12" ViewCount="356" Body="<p>In the movie K-PAX the character talks about his planet where there are two suns and he say that they only rise together once in many years. Wouldn't it be impossible to have one rising and the other setting? I mean was not expected to have the two always together?</p>
" OwnerUserId="842" LastEditorUserId="656" LastEditorDisplayName="" LastEditDate="2011-12-01T16:18:13.270" LastActivityDate="2011-12-01T16:18:13.270" Title="planetery system with two suns in K-PAX" Tags="<space><physics>" AnswerCount="2" CommentCount="4" FavoriteCount="1" />
<row Id="2069" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2068" CreationDate="2011-02-23T12:56:41.100" Score="11" ViewCount="" Body="<p>Let's assume that the planet only orbits one of the stars. Say at an earth-like distance. The other star might be where Jupiter is. In this case, each year the two suns would rise together for a few months, then straddle the planet for another period of months.</p>

<p>It would be very hard for it to only happen ONCE in many years. Although I guess it would depend what you mean by "Rise Together." If you mean that they rise super-imposed on each other, then this would be highly likely.</p>

<p>It would be the same chance that Jupiter would be behind the Sun on a given day during sunrise. If the two suns weren't on the same (apparent) orbital plane, then only once in a great while would you get a sun-to-sun eclipse. A sun-to-sun eclipse at dawn could be what he means by "Rise Together."</p>
" OwnerUserId="51" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T12:56:41.100" CommentCount="2" />
<row Id="2070" PostTypeId="2" ParentId="2064" CreationDate="2011-02-23T14:17:58.073" Score="4" ViewCount="" Body="<p>The interesting side to this is, in episode 4, Han says the Falcon makes .5 past light speed. However, if you listen to commentary from a producer about light speed, the original premise is that all ships travel at light speed and faster ships are because of navigation, hence the reason Han also says the Falcon makes the Kessel Run in 12 parsecs - a distance rather than time.</p>

<p>Also in episode 5, after the Falcon hides on the back of an Imp destroyer bridge, the imp officer says the Falcon could be half way across the galaxy. Thats faster than BSG, ST, and several other universes combined (except robotech)</p>

<p>The commentary was on a making of SW show, not commentary on episode 4.</p>
" OwnerUserId="876" LastActivityDate="2011-02-23T14:17:58.073" CommentCount="3" />