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India ink

Simple black or colored ink

India ink is a simple black or coloured ink once widely used for writing and printing and now more commonly used for drawing and outlining, especially when inking comic books and comic strips. India ink is also used in medical applications.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 7/12/25

Homo habilis

Archaic human species from 2.4 to 1.65 mya.

Homo habilis is an extinct species of archaic human from the Early Pleistocene of East and South Africa about 2.4 million years ago to 1.65 million years ago (mya). Upon species description in 1964, H. habilis was highly contested, with many researchers recommending it be synonymised with Australopithecus africanus, the only other early hominin known at the time, but H. habilis received more recognition as time went on and more relevant discoveries were made. By the 1980s, H. habilis was proposed to have been a human ancestor, directly evolving into Homo erectus, which directly led to modern humans. This viewpoint is now debated. Several specimens with insecure species identification were assigned to H. habilis, leading to arguments for splitting, namely into "H. rudolfensis" and "H. gautengensis" of which only the former has received wide support.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 7/11/25

Dyslexia

Specific learning disability characterized by troubles with reading

Dyslexia, previously known as word blindness, is a learning disability that affects either reading or writing. Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, reading quickly, writing words, "sounding out" words in the head, pronouncing words when reading aloud and understanding what one reads. Often these difficulties are first noticed at school. The difficulties are involuntary, and people with this disorder have a normal desire to learn. People with dyslexia have higher rates of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), developmental language disorders, and difficulties with numbers.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 7/11/25

The First Law

Fantasy series by Joe Abercrombie

The First Law is a fantasy series written by British author Joe Abercrombie. The First Law is the title of the original trilogy in the series, but is also used to refer to the series as a whole. The full series consists of a trilogy, three stand-alone novels, short stories, and a second trilogy, titled The Age of Madness, of which the third book was published in September 2021.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 7/11/25

J. G. Ballard

English writer (1930–2009) J. G. Ballard

James Graham Ballard was an English novelist and short-story writer, satirist and essayist known for psychologically provocative works of fiction that explore the relations between human psychology, technology, sex and mass media. Ballard first became associated with New Wave science fiction for post-apocalyptic novels such as The Drowned World (1962). He later courted controversy with the short-story collection The Atrocity Exhibition (1970), which includes the 1968 story "Why I Want to Fuck Ronald Reagan", and later the novel Crash (1973), a story about car-crash fetishists.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 7/11/25

Wildland–urban interface

Transition zone between wilderness and developed land

The wildland–urban interface (WUI) is a zone of transition between wilderness and land developed by human activity – an area where a built environment meets or intermingles with a natural environment. Human settlements in the WUI are at a greater risk of catastrophic wildfire.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 7/11/25

Pyrogeography

Study of the distribution of wildfires

Pyrogeography is the study of the past, present, and projected distribution of wildfire. Wildland fire occurs under certain conditions of climate, vegetation, topography, and sources of ignition, such that it has its own biogeography, or pattern in space and time. The earliest published evidence of the term appears to be in the mid-1990s, and the meaning was primarily related to mapping fires The current understanding of pyrogeography emerged in the 2000s as a combination of biogeography and fire ecology, facilitated by the availability of global-scale datasets of fire occurrence, vegetation cover, and climate. Pyrogeography has also been placed at the juncture of biology, the geophysical environment, and society and cultural influences on fire.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 7/11/25

Wildfire

Uncontrolled fires in forests or open spaces

A wildfire, forest fire, or a bushfire is an unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a bushfire, desert fire, grass fire, hill fire, peat fire, prairie fire, vegetation fire, or veld fire. Some natural forest ecosystems depend on wildfire. Modern forest management often engages in prescribed burns to mitigate fire risk and promote natural forest cycles. However, controlled burns can turn into wildfires by mistake.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 7/11/25

Undefined

Topics referred to by the same term

Undefined may refer to:

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 7/11/25

Scott catalogue

Catalog of the world's postage stamps

The Scott catalogue of postage stamps, published by Scott Publishing Company, now a subsidiary of Amos Media, is updated annually and lists all the stamps of the world that its editors recognize as issued for postal purposes. It is published in fourteen large volumes that include twelve volumes containing all the countries of the world that have ever issued postage stamps, the United States Specialized Catalog, and the 1840–1940 Classic Specialized Catalogue. The numbering system used by Scott to identify stamps is dominant among stamp collectors in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 7/10/25

Neopost web-enabled stamps

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Neopost web-enabled stamps or Neopostage is a postage stamp that is part of the family of computerized postage. These stamps were developed by Neopost Online and Northrop Grumman Corporation. The joint effort resulted in an innovative self-service stamp vending system. Neopost Online is a US subsidiary of Neopost Inc. Testing of this system was authorized by the United States Postal Service (USPS) in March 2001.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 7/10/25

Postage meter

Machine for printing proof of postage payment

A postage meter or franking machine is a mechanical device used to create and apply physical evidence of postage to mailed items. Postage meters are regulated by a country's postal authority. A postage meter imprints an amount of postage, functioning as a postage stamp, a cancellation and a dated postmark all in one. The meter stamp serves as proof of payment and eliminates the need for adhesive stamps.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 7/10/25

Postzegelcode

Hand-written method of postal franking in the Netherlands

A postzegelcode is a hand-written method of franking in the Netherlands. It consists of a code containing nine numbers and letters that customers can purchase online from PostNL and write directly on their piece of mail within five days as proof of payment in place of a postage stamp.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 7/10/25

Digital stamp

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A digital stamp in crafting, stamping, card making and scrapbooking is a digital image printed onto paper from the user's printer. Digital stamps come in a variety of formats, including PNG, JPG, and TIFF. Digital stamps offer many advantages over traditional rubber stamps because of their ability to be flipped, resized, rotated and easily stored.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 7/10/25

Postage stamp

Piece of paper which shows payment for postage

A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage. Then the stamp is affixed to the face or address-side of any item of mail—an envelope or other postal cover —which they wish to send. The item is then processed by the postal system, where a postmark or cancellation mark—in modern usage indicating date and point of origin of mailing—is applied to the stamp and its left and right sides to prevent its reuse. Next the item is delivered to its address.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 7/10/25

Agent of influence

Person influencing public opinion for a foreign power

Agent of influence is a controversial term used to describe people who are said to use their position to influence public opinion in one country or decision making to produce results beneficial to another.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 7/10/25

Useful idiot

Derogatory term in political jargon

A useful idiot or useful fool is a pejorative description of a person, suggesting that the person thinks they are fighting for a cause without fully comprehending the consequences of their actions, and who does not realize they are being manipulated by the cause's leaders or by other political players. The term was often used during the Cold War in the Western bloc to describe non-communists regarded as susceptible to communist propaganda and psychological manipulation.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 7/10/25

List of cloud types

Types of clouds

The list of cloud types groups all genera as high, middle (alto-), multi-level, and low. These groupings are determined by the altitude level or levels in the troposphere at which each of the various cloud types is normally found. Small cumulus are commonly grouped with the low clouds because they do not show significant vertical extent. Of the multi-level genus-types, those with the greatest convective activity are often grouped separately as towering vertical. The genus types all have Latin names.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 7/9/25

Editor-in-chief

In Mormonism, translation refers to being physically changed by God from a mortal human being to an immortal human being. A person that has been translated is referred to as a translated being. According to Mormonism, Enoch, Elijah, Moses, John the Apostle, the Three Nephites, and others were translated.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 7/8/25

Heaven and Hell (Swedenborg book)

Book giving a detailed description of the Afterlife

Heaven and Hell is a book written by Emanuel Swedenborg in Latin, published in 1758. It gives a detailed description of the afterlife; how people live after the death of the physical body. The book owes its popular appeal to that subject matter.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 7/8/25

UL (safety organization)

Global safety certification company

The UL enterprise is a global private safety company headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois, composed of three organizations, UL Research Institutes, UL Standards & Engagement and UL Solutions.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 7/8/25

Emanuel Swedenborg

Swedish scientist, philosopher, and theologian (1688–1772)

Emanuel Swedenborg (; Swedish: [ɛˈmɑ̂ːnʉɛl ˈsvêːdɛnˌbɔrj] ; born Emanuel Swedberg; was a Swedish polymath; scientist, engineer, astronomer, anatomist, Christian theologian, philosopher, and mystic. He became best known for his book on the afterlife, Heaven and Hell.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 7/8/25

Christian universalism

Christian belief that all will be reconciled to God

Christian universalism is a school of Christian theology focused around the doctrine of universal reconciliation – the view that all human beings will ultimately be saved and restored to a right relationship with God. "Christian universalism" and "the belief or hope in the universal reconciliation through Christ" can be understood as synonyms.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 7/8/25

Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats

English Doom Metal band

Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats are an English doom metal band, formed in Cambridge by Kevin Starrs in 2009. The band has released six studio albums and one live album. Their most recent studio album Nell' Ora Blu, was released in May 2024 – as well as a number of singles. The band appears regularly at festivals around Europe.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 7/8/25

Degrees of glory

Mormon afterlife concept

In the theology and cosmology of Mormonism, in heaven there are three degrees of glory which are the ultimate, eternal dwelling places for nearly all who have lived on earth after they are resurrected from the spirit world.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 7/8/25

Heroes Chronicles

2000 video game

Heroes Chronicles is an episodic series of level packs for Heroes of Might and Magic III, a turn-based strategy video game. Eight installments were released from September 2000 to June 2001, developed by Jon Van Caneghem through New World Computing and published by the 3DO Company. Heroes Chronicles tells the story of Tarnum, a barbarian judged unworthy of Paradise due to his crimes. He is made immortal and sent through time by the Ancestors to aid in various quests as punishment.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 7/8/25

Maupertuis's principle

Principle of least length in physics

In classical mechanics, Maupertuis's principle states that the path followed by a physical system is the one of least length. It is a special case of the more generally stated principle of least action. Using the calculus of variations, it results in an integral equation formulation of the equations of motion for the system.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 7/8/25

Action principles

Rose is the color halfway between red, magenta and white on the HSV color wheel, also known as the RGB color wheel, on which it is at hue angle of 330 degrees.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 7/7/25

Interactive fiction

Software genre

Interactive fiction (IF) is software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives, either in the form of Interactive narratives or Interactive narrations. These works can also be understood as a form of video game, either in the form of an adventure game or role-playing game. In common usage, the term refers to text adventures, a type of adventure game where the entire interface can be "text-only", however, graphical text adventure games, where the text is accompanied by graphics still fall under the text adventure category if the main way to interact with the game is by typing text. Some users of the term distinguish between interactive fiction, known as "Puzzle-free", that focuses on narrative, and "text adventures" that focus on puzzles.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 7/6/25

Scout Motto

Motto of the Scout movement

The Scout Motto of the Scout movement is, in English, "Be Prepared", with most international branches of the group using a close translation of that phrase. These mottoes have been used by millions of Scouts around the world since 1907. Most of the member organizations of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) share the same mottoes.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 7/6/25

Bountiful (Book of Mormon)

Name of two places described in the Book of Mormon

Bountiful is the name of two places described in the Book of Mormon, a religious text dictated in 1829 by Joseph Smith. The first location is set in the Old World near Jerusalem, and the second location is set somewhere in the Americas. While secular and non-LDS scholars consider the Book of Mormon to be a work of fiction, Latter Day Saints view the book as a chronicle of actual indigenous American people. Accordingly, several scholars in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints have attempted to coordinate the Book of Mormon text relating to Bountiful with actual locations in the Old World and the New World.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 7/5/25

Internet geolocation

Determining the physical location of internet user

In computing, Internet geolocation is software capable of deducing the geographic position of a device connected to the Internet. For example, the device's IP address can be used to determine the country, city, or ZIP code, determining its geographical location. Other methods include examination of Wi-Fi hotspots.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 7/5/25

Tetris Battle Gaiden

1993 video game

Tetris Battle Gaiden is a puzzle video game developed and published in 1993 by Bullet-Proof Software for the Super Famicom. Released only in Japan, the game is a variant of the Tetris series involving multiplayer battles comparable to those of the Puyo Puyo and Columns series of video games. The game received its first international release via the Tetris Forever (2024) video game compilation.

Genetically modified crop

Genetically modified maize (corn) is a genetically modified crop. Specific maize strains have been genetically engineered to express agriculturally-desirable traits, including resistance to pests and to herbicides. Maize strains with both traits are now in use in multiple countries. GM maize has also caused controversy with respect to possible health effects, impact on other insects and impact on other plants via gene flow. One strain, called Starlink, was approved only for animal feed in the US but was found in food, leading to a series of recalls starting in 2000.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 7/3/25

Sweet corn

Variety of corn

Sweet corn, also called sweetcorn, sugar corn and pole corn, is a variety of maize grown for human consumption with a high sugar content. Sweet corn is the result of a naturally occurring recessive mutation in the genes which control conversion of sugar to starch inside the endosperm of the corn kernel. Sweet corn is picked when still immature and prepared and eaten as a vegetable, unlike field corn, which is harvested when the kernels are dry and mature. Since the process of maturation involves converting sugar to starch, sweet corn stores poorly and must be eaten fresh, canned, or frozen, before the kernels become tough and starchy.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 7/3/25

Corn roaster

Large grill for cooking corn

A corn roaster is a large grill for cooking large batches of ears of corn at the same time. The term "corn roaster" can also refer to a person who roasts corn. Corn roaster machines have existed in the United States since at least 1900. Corn roasters are used by concession vendors at festivals, fairs, events, parties, and holidays, such as the Fourth of July in the United States. Roasted corn is a very popular festival food in the American South, Southwest, and Northwest. Corn roasters can also cook foods such as turkey legs, potatoes, and sweet potatoes. They may also be used by street food vendors. Street vendors may operate seasonally, per the seasonality of corn crops. Some organizations that operate corn roasters at events, such as fairs, donate their proceeds to charities.

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The word magnificence comes from the Latin “magnum facere”, which means to do something great. The Latin word draws on the Greek “megaloprépeia”. This noun conveys the meaning of doing something great which is fitting or seemly to the circumstance. Magnificence is a philosophical, aesthetic, and socio-economic notion deeply rooted in Western culture since classical antiquity.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 7/2/25

Righteous indignation

Man's version of commination

Righteous indignation, also called righteous anger, is anger that is primarily motivated by a perception of injustice or other profound moral lapse. It is distinguished from anger that is prompted by something more personal, like an insult.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 7/2/25

Virtue ethics

Normative ethical theories

Virtue ethics is a philosophical approach that treats virtue and character as the primary subjects of ethics, in contrast to other ethical systems that put consequences of voluntary acts, principles or rules of conduct, or obedience to divine authority in the primary role.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 7/2/25

Curses (video game)

1993 video game

Curses is an interactive fiction computer game created by Graham Nelson in 1993. Appearing in the beginning of the non-commercial era of interactive fiction, it is considered one of the milestones of the genre.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 7/2/25

Inform

Programming language and design system

Inform is a programming language and design system for interactive fiction originally created in 1993 by Graham Nelson. Inform can generate programs designed for the Z-code or Glulx virtual machines. Versions 1 through 5 were released between 1993 and 1996. Around 1996, Nelson rewrote Inform from first principles to create version 6. Over the following decade, version 6 became reasonably stable and a popular language for writing interactive fiction. In 2006, Nelson released Inform 7, a completely new language based on principles of natural language and a new set of tools based around a book-publishing metaphor.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 7/2/25

Z-machine

Virtual machine for interactive fiction games

The Z-machine is a virtual machine that was developed by Joel Berez and Marc Blank in 1979 and used by Infocom for its text adventure games. Infocom compiled game code to files containing Z-machine instructions and could therefore port its text adventures to a new platform simply by writing a Z-machine implementation for that platform. With the large number of incompatible home computer systems in use at the time, this was an important advantage over using native code or developing a compiler for each system.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 7/2/25

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (video game)

1984 video game

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is an interactive fiction video game based on the comedic science fiction series of the same name. It was designed by series creator Douglas Adams and Infocom's Steve Meretzky, and it was first released in 1984 for the Apple II, Mac, Commodore 64, CP/M, MS-DOS, Amiga, Atari 8-bit computers, and Atari ST. It is Infocom's fourteenth game.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 7/2/25

Timequest

1991 video game

Timequest is an interactive fiction game released by Legend Entertainment, and written by Bob Bates. The game can be played online at the Internet Archive.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 7/2/25

Fahrenheit 451 (video game)

1984 video game Fahrenheit 451 (video game)

Fahrenheit 451 is an interactive fiction game released in 1984 based on the 1953 novel of the same name by Ray Bradbury. Originally released by software company Trillium, it was re-released in 1985 under the company's new name Telarium.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 7/2/25

Note (typography)

Text placed at the bottom of a page or at the end of a chapter

In publishing, a note is a brief text in which the author comments on the subject and themes of the book and names supporting citations. In the editorial production of books and documents, typographically, a note is usually several lines of text at the bottom of the page, at the end of a chapter, at the end of a volume, or a house-style typographic usage throughout the text. Notes are usually identified with superscript numbers or a symbol.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 7/2/25

India and weapons of mass destruction

India possesses nuclear weapons and previously developed chemical weapons. Although India has not released any official statements about the size of its nuclear arsenal, recent estimates suggest that India has 180 nuclear weapons. India has conducted nuclear weapons tests in a pair of series namely Pokhran I and Pokhran II.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 7/2/25

Occam's razor

Philosophical problem-solving principle

In philosophy, Occam's razor is the problem-solving principle that recommends searching for explanations constructed with the smallest possible set of elements. It is also known as the principle of parsimony or the law of parsimony. Attributed to William of Ockham, a 14th-century English philosopher and theologian, it is frequently cited as Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem, which translates as "Entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity", although Occam never used these exact words. Popularly, the principle is sometimes paraphrased as "of two competing theories, the simpler explanation of an entity is to be preferred."

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 7/2/25

Bruce Hornsby

American musician (born 1954)

Bruce Randall Hornsby is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. His music draws from folk rock, jazz, bluegrass, folk, Southern rock, country rock, jam band, rock, heartland rock, and blues rock musical traditions.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 7/1/25

Space Pen

Gravity-independent ballpoint pen

The Space Pen, marketed by Fisher Space Pen Company, is a pen that uses pressurized ink cartridges and is able to write in zero gravity, underwater, over wet and greasy paper, at any angle, and in a very wide range of temperatures.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 7/1/25

Miracle

Event not explicable by natural or scientific laws

A miracle is an event that is inexplicable by natural or scientific laws and accordingly gets attributed to some supernatural or praeternatural cause. Various religions often attribute a phenomenon characterized as miraculous to the actions of a supernatural being, (especially) a deity, a miracle worker, a saint, or a religious leader.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 7/1/25

What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?

1852 speech by Frederick Douglass

"What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?" was a speech delivered by Frederick Douglass on July 5, 1852, at Corinthian Hall in Rochester, New York, at a meeting organized by the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society. In the address, Douglass states that positive statements about perceived American values, such as liberty, citizenship, and freedom, were an offense to the enslaved population of the United States because they lacked those rights. Douglass referred not only to the captivity of enslaved people, but to the merciless exploitation and the cruelty and torture that slaves were subjected to in the United States.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 7/1/25

Of the form

A phosphene is the phenomenon of seeing light without light entering the eye. The word phosphene comes from the Greek words phos (light) and phainein. Phosphenes that are induced by movement or sound may be associated with optic neuritis.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/30/25

Anamnesis (philosophy)

A chamfer is a transitional edge between two faces of an object. Sometimes defined as a form of bevel, it is often created at a 45° angle between two adjoining right-angled faces.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/30/25

Megabyte

Multiple of the unit byte

The megabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. Its recommended unit symbol is MB. The unit prefix mega is a multiplier of 1000000 (106) in the International System of Units (SI). Therefore, one megabyte is one million bytes of information. This definition has been incorporated into the International System of Quantities.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/30/25

Wise old man

Jungian and literary archetype

The wise old man is an archetype as described by Carl Jung, as well as a classic literary figure, and may be seen as a stock character. The wise old man can be a profound philosopher distinguished for wisdom and sound judgment.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/30/25

Absent-minded professor

Stock character in film

The absent-minded professor is a stock character of popular fiction, usually portrayed as a talented academic whose academic brilliance is accompanied by below-par functioning in other areas, leading to forgetfulness and mistakes. One explanation of this is that highly talented individuals often have unevenly distributed capabilities, being brilliant in their field of choice but below average on other measures of ability. Alternatively, they are considered to be so engrossed in their field of study that they forget their surroundings. The phrase is also commonly used in English to describe people who are so engrossed in their own world that they fail to keep track of their surroundings. It is a common stereotype that professors get so obsessed with their research that they pay little attention to anything else.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/30/25

Sieve

Tool for separation of solid materials by particle size

A sieve, fine mesh strainer, or sift is a tool used for separating wanted elements from unwanted material or for controlling the particle size distribution of a sample, using a screen such as a woven mesh or net or perforated sheet material. The word sift derives from sieve.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/30/25

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

1848 agreement ending the Mexican–American War

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo officially ended the Mexican–American War (1846–1848). It was signed on 2 February 1848 in the town of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/29/25

Gateway (video game)

1992 video game Gateway (video game)

Frederik Pohl's Gateway is a 1992 interactive fiction video game released by Legend Entertainment, and written by Glen Dahlgren and Mike Verdu. It is based on Frederik Pohl's Heechee universe. It was followed by a sequel Gateway II: Homeworld, in 1993.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/29/25

Beyond the Blue Event Horizon

1980 science fiction novel by Frederik Pohl

Beyond the Blue Event Horizon is a science fiction novel by the American writer Frederik Pohl, a sequel to his 1977 novel Gateway and the second book in the Heechee series. It was a finalist for two major annual awards, the 1981 Hugo Award for Best Novel and the 1980 Nebula Award. In the 1981 poll of Locus readers it finished second to The Snow Queen by Joan Vinge.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/29/25

Rice paddy art

Japanese art form

Rice paddy art or tambo art is an art form originating in Japan where people plant rice of various types and colors to create images in a paddy field.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/28/25

Batman: The Video Game (Game Boy video game)

1990 video game Batman: The Video Game (Game Boy video game)

Batman: The Video Game is a 1990 action video game developed and published by Sunsoft for the Game Boy. Based on the DC Comics superhero Batman, it is inspired by the Warner Bros.'s 1989 film of the same name. In the main storyline, Batman must face the Joker. The Game Boy version was developed by most of the same staff at Sunsoft which had previously worked on the Nintendo Entertainment System adaptation based on the 1989 film. It was produced by Cho Musou, while soundtrack was composed by Naoki Kodaka, Nobuyuki Hara, and Shinichi Seya. The game garnered generally favorable reception from critics and retrospective commentarists.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/28/25

Oval Office

U.S. presidential office in the White House

Phrase derived from the parable of Salt and Light

"City upon a hill" is a phrase derived from the teaching of salt and light in Jesus's Sermon on the Mount. Originally applied to the city of Boston by early 17th century Puritans, it came to adopt broader use in political rhetoric in United States politics, that of a declaration of American exceptionalism, and referring to America acting as a "beacon of hope" for the world.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/27/25

American civil religion

Sociological theory

American civil religion is a sociological theory that a monotheistic nonsectarian civil religion exists within the United States with sacred symbols drawn from national history. Scholars have portrayed it as a common set of values that foster social and cultural integration. The ritualistic elements of ceremonial deism found in American ceremonies and presidential invocations of God can be seen as expressions of the American civil religion.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/27/25

RAND Corporation

American global policy think tank founded in 1948

The RAND Corporation, doing business as RAND, is an American nonprofit global policy think tank, research institute, and public sector consulting firm. RAND engages in research and development (R&D) in several fields and industries. Since the 1950s, RAND research has helped inform United States policy decisions on a wide variety of issues, including the Cold War space race, the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, the U.S.–Soviet nuclear arms confrontation, the creation of the Great Society social welfare programs, and national health care.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/27/25

Addiction to power in The Lord of the Rings

Ring and power in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings

The theme of addiction to power in The Lord of the Rings is central, as the Ring, made by the Dark Lord Sauron to enable him to take over the whole of Middle-earth, progressively corrupts the mind of its owner to use the Ring for evil.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/27/25

Saruman

Fictional character created by J. R. R. Tolkien

Saruman, also called Saruman the White, later Saruman of Many Colours, is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings. He is the leader of the Istari, wizards sent to Middle-earth in human form by the godlike Valar to challenge Sauron, the main antagonist of the novel. He comes to desire Sauron's power for himself, so he betrays the Istari and tries to take over Middle-earth by force from his base at Isengard. His schemes feature prominently in the second volume, The Two Towers; he appears briefly at the end of the third volume, The Return of the King. His earlier history is summarised in the posthumously published The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/27/25

Henry Davy

English landscape painter

Henry Davy (1793–1865) was an English landscape painter, engraver and lithographer active in East Anglia.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/27/25

Shades of gray

Variations of the color gray

Variations of gray or grey include achromatic grayscale shades, which lie exactly between white and black, and nearby colors with low colorfulness. A selection of a number of these various colors is shown below.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/27/25

Grey

Intermediate color between black and white

Grey or gray is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning that it has no chroma. It is the color of a cloud-covered sky, of ash, and of lead.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/27/25

Christianity in Middle-earth

Hidden Christianity in the fictional works of J. R. R. Tolkien

Christianity is a central theme in J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional works about Middle-earth, but the specifics are always kept hidden. This allows for the books' meaning to be personally interpreted by the reader, instead of the author detailing a strict, set meaning.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/27/25

J. R. R. Tolkien

English writer and philologist (1892–1973)

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/27/25

Wizards in Middle-earth

Group of Wizards (Istari) in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium

The Wizards or Istari in J. R. R. Tolkien's fiction were powerful angelic beings, Maiar, who took the physical form and some of the limitations of Men to intervene in the affairs of Middle-earth in the Third Age, after catastrophically violent direct interventions by the Valar, and indeed by the one god Eru Ilúvatar, in the earlier ages.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/27/25

Gandalf

Fictional character created by J. R. R. Tolkien Gandalf

Gandalf is a protagonist in J. R. R. Tolkien's novels The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. He is a wizard, one of the Istari order, and the leader of the Company of the Ring. Tolkien took the name "Gandalf" from the Old Norse "Catalogue of Dwarves" (Dvergatal) in the Völuspá.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/27/25

Magician (fantasy)

Magicians appearing in fantasy fiction

A magician, also known as an archmage, mage, magus, magic-user, spellcaster, enchanter/enchantress, sorcerer/sorceress, warlock, witch, or wizard, is someone who uses or practices magic derived from supernatural, occult, or arcane sources. Magicians enjoy a rich history in mythology, legends, fiction, and folklore, and are common figures in works of fantasy, such as fantasy literature and role-playing games.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/27/25

Nominative determinism

Correlation of name and career

Nominative determinism is the hypothesis that people tend to gravitate toward areas of work or interest that fit their names. The term was first used in the magazine New Scientist in 1994, after the magazine's humourous "Feedback" column noted several studies carried out by researchers with remarkably fitting surnames. These included a book on polar explorations by Daniel Snowman and an article on urology by researchers named Splatt and Weedon. These and other examples led to light-hearted speculation that some sort of psychological effect was at work.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/27/25

Richard Einhorn

American composer of contemporary classical music

Richard Einhorn is an American composer of contemporary classical music.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/27/25

Cossacks

Ethnic group of current Ukraine and Russia

The Cossacks are a predominantly East Slavic Eastern Christian people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. Cossacks played an important role in defending the southern borders of Ukraine and Russia, countering the Crimean-Nogai raids, alongside economically developing steppe regions north of the Black Sea and around the Azov Sea. Historically, they were a semi-nomadic and semi-militarized people, who, while under the nominal suzerainty of various Eastern European states at the time, were allowed a great degree of self-governance in exchange for military service. Although numerous linguistic and religious groups came together to form the Cossacks, most of them coalesced and became East Slavic–speaking Orthodox Christians.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/27/25

Nippon Steel

Japanese steelmaker

Nippon Steel Corporation is Japan's largest steelmaker, headquartered in Marunouchi, Chiyoda, Tokyo. The company has four business segments, which are steelmaking, engineering, chemicals, and systems solutions. It is the largest producer of crude steel in Japan and the fourth largest in the world.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/27/25

Golden share

Cosmic rays or astroparticles are high-energy particles or clusters of particles that move through space at nearly the speed of light. They originate from the Sun, from outside of the Solar System in our own galaxy, and from distant galaxies. Upon impact with Earth's atmosphere, cosmic rays produce showers of secondary particles, some of which reach the surface, although the bulk are deflected off into space by the magnetosphere or the heliosphere.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/26/25

Cosmic ray spallation

Natural reactions causing nucleosynthesis

Cosmic ray spallation, also known as the x-process, is a set of naturally occurring nuclear reactions causing nucleosynthesis; it refers to the formation of chemical elements from the impact of cosmic rays on an object. Cosmic rays are highly energetic charged particles from beyond Earth, ranging from protons, alpha particles, and nuclei of many heavier elements. About 1% of cosmic rays also consist of free electrons.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/26/25

Neutron star merger

Type of stellar collision

A neutron star merger is the stellar collision of neutron stars. When two neutron stars fall into mutual orbit, they gradually spiral inward due to the loss of energy emitted as gravitational radiation. When they finally meet, their merger leads to the formation of either a more massive neutron star, or—if the mass of the remnant exceeds the Tolman–Oppenheimer–Volkoff limit—a black hole. The merger can create a magnetic field that is trillions of times stronger than that of Earth in a matter of one or two milliseconds. The immediate event creates a short gamma-ray burst visible over hundreds of millions, or even billions of light years.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/26/25

Arthur Eddington

British astrophysicist (1882–1944)

Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington, was an English astronomer, physicist, and mathematician. He was also a philosopher of science and a populariser of science. The Eddington limit, the natural limit to the luminosity of stars, or the radiation generated by accretion onto a compact object, is named in his honour.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/26/25

Stellar nucleosynthesis

Creation of chemical elements within stars

Theology reliant on rational and empirical arguments

Natural theology is a type of theology that seeks to provide arguments for theological topics, such as the existence of a deity, based on human reason. It is distinguished from revealed theology, which is based on supernatural sources such as scripture or religious experiences. It is thus a form of theology open to critical examination, aimed at understanding the divine.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/25/25

Faith

Confidence or trust in a person, thing, or concept

Faith is confidence or trust in a person, thing, or concept. In the context of religion, faith is "belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion". According to the Merriam-Webster's Dictionary, faith has multiple definitions, including "something that is believed especially with strong conviction", "complete trust", "belief and trust in and loyalty to God", as well as "a firm belief in something for which there is no proof".

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/25/25

Epizeuxis

Repetition of a word or phrase in immediate succession for emphasis

In rhetoric, epizeuxis, also known as palilogia, is the repetition of a word or phrase in immediate succession, typically within the same sentence, for vehemence or emphasis. A closely related rhetorical device is diacope, which involves word repetition that is broken up by a single intervening word, or a small number of intervening words.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/25/25

Troll (slang)

Person who sows discord online

In slang, a troll is a person who posts deliberately offensive or provocative messages online or who performs similar behaviors in real life. The methods and motivations of trolls can range from benign to sadistic. These messages can be inflammatory, insincere, digressive, extraneous, or off-topic, and may have the intent of provoking others into displaying emotional responses, or manipulating others' perceptions, thus acting as a bully or a provocateur. The behavior is typically for the troll's amusement, or to achieve a specific result such as disrupting a rival's online activities or purposefully causing confusion or harm to other people. Trolling behaviors involve tactical aggression to incite emotional responses, which can adversely affect the target's well-being.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/25/25

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Neurodevelopmental disorder

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, impulsivity, and emotional dysregulation that are excessive and pervasive, impairing in multiple contexts, and developmentally inappropriate. ADHD symptoms arise from executive dysfunction.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/25/25

Stellar evolution

Changes to stars over their lifespans

Stellar evolution is the process by which a star changes over the course of time. Depending on the mass of the star, its lifetime can range from a few million years for the most massive to trillions of years for the least massive, which is considerably longer than the current age of the universe. The table shows the lifetimes of stars as a function of their masses. All stars are formed from collapsing clouds of gas and dust, often called nebulae or molecular clouds. Over the course of millions of years, these protostars settle down into a state of equilibrium, becoming what is known as a main sequence star.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/24/25

White dwarf

Stellar core remnant

A white dwarf is a stellar core remnant composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. A white dwarf is very dense: in an Earth-sized volume, it packs a mass that is comparable to the Sun. No nuclear fusion takes place in a white dwarf; what light it radiates is from its residual heat. The nearest known white dwarf is Sirius B, at 8.6 light years, the smaller component of the Sirius binary star system. There are thought to be eight white dwarfs among the one hundred star systems that are close to the Sun. The unusual faintness of white dwarfs was first recognized in 1910. The name white dwarf was coined by Willem Jacob Luyten in 1922.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/24/25

Napoleon

Emperor of the French (r. 1804–1814, 1815)

Napoleon Bonaparte, later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led a series of military campaigns across Europe during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars from 1796 to 1815. He led the French Republic as First Consul from 1799 to 1804, then ruled the French Empire as Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1814, and briefly again in 1815. He was King of Italy from 1805 to 1814 and Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine from 1806 to 1813.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/24/25

Windows 9x

Series of Microsoft operating systems

Windows 9x is a generic term referring to a line of discontinued Microsoft Windows operating systems released from 1995 to 2000 and supported until 2006, which were based on the kernel introduced in Windows 95 and modified in succeeding versions, with its underlying foundation based on MS-DOS. The first version in the 9x series was Windows 95, which was succeeded by Windows 98 and then Windows Me, which was the third and last version of Windows on the 9x line, until the series was superseded by Windows XP.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/23/25

Windows 95

Microsoft computer operating system released in 1995

Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented operating system developed by Microsoft and the first of its Windows 9x family of operating systems, released to manufacturing on July 14, 1995, and generally to retail on August 24, 1995. Windows 95 merged Microsoft's formerly separate MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows products into a single product and featured significant improvements over its predecessor, most notably in the graphical user interface (GUI) and in its simplified "plug-and-play" features. There were also major changes made to the core components of the operating system, such as moving from a mainly cooperatively multitasked 16-bit architecture of its predecessor Windows 3.1 to a 32-bit preemptive multitasking architecture.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/23/25

Neologism

Recent term that is gaining acceptance

In linguistics, a neologism is any newly formed word, term, or phrase that has achieved popular or institutional recognition and is becoming accepted into mainstream language. Most definitively, a word can be considered a neologism once it is published in a dictionary.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/23/25

Echolalia

Speech disorder

President of the United States from 1913 to 1921

Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. He was the only Democrat to serve as president during the Progressive Era when Republicans dominated the presidency and legislative branches. As president, Wilson changed the nation's economic policies and led the United States into World War I. He was the leading architect of the League of Nations, and his stance on foreign policy came to be known as Wilsonianism.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/23/25

Honorific

Title that conveys esteem, courtesy, or respect for position or rank

An honorific is a title that conveys esteem, courtesy, or respect for position or rank when used in addressing or referring to a person. Sometimes, the term "honorific" is used in a more specific sense to refer to an honorary academic title. It is also often conflated with systems of honorific speech in linguistics, which are grammatical or morphological ways of encoding the relative social status of speakers. Honorifics can be used as prefixes or suffixes depending on the appropriate occasion and presentation in accordance with style and customs.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/23/25

Trash80

Musical artist

Trash80 is a micromusic/bitpop project from Timothy Robert Lamb, a pioneer of independent Game Boy music. He has published several songs online under a Creative Commons license (BY-NC-ND) under the Trash80 and Tresk banners. Whereas many Trash80 songs are ambient soundscapes featuring the use of Game Boy sounds, Tresk songs feature simple piano lines. Most prominently, Lamb's music has been featured on the soundtrack of the real-time strategy game Darwinia.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/23/25

If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

Philosophical thought experiment

"If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" is a philosophical thought experiment that raises questions regarding observation and perception.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/23/25

2023 Chinese balloon incident

Airspace violation and shootdown incident

From January 28 to February 4, 2023, a high-altitude balloon originating from China flew across North American airspace, including Alaska, western Canada, and the contiguous United States. On February 4, the U.S. Air Force shot down the balloon over U.S. territorial waters off the coast of South Carolina. Debris from the wreckage was recovered and sent to the FBI Laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, for analysis. Following a preliminary analysis of the debris in June, U.S. officials stated that the balloon carried intelligence-gathering equipment but does not appear to have sent information back to China. U.S. President Joe Biden described the balloon as carrying two railroad cars' equivalent of spy equipment, however stated that it was "not a major breach", and that he also believed that the Chinese leadership was not aware of the balloon. The U.S. government said the balloon had a propeller for maneuverability.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/23/25

Ground stop

Air traffic control measure that slows the flow of an aircraft inbound to an airport

A ground stop is an air traffic control procedure that requires all aircraft that fit certain criteria to remain on the ground. This could be airport-specific or perhaps equipment- or airspace-specific, depending on the exact event that caused the ground stop to occur. Downstream effects can occur from a ground stop. It causes flights to be delayed or canceled and planes and flight crew to be unable to reach the location of their next scheduled flight.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/23/25

Willard Duncan Vandiver

American politician

Graphing calculator software bundled with macOS

1997 video game

Puzzle Bobble 4 is the third sequel to the video game Puzzle Bobble and is the final appearance of the series on the PlayStation and the only appearance of the series on the Dreamcast.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/21/25

Frozen Bubble

2002 video game

Frozen Bubble is a free software clone of Puzzle Bobble for a variety of home and mobile systems.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/21/25

Fred Rogers

American television host and author (1928–2003)

Fred McFeely Rogers, better known as Mister Rogers, was an American television host, author, producer, and Presbyterian minister. He was the creator, showrunner, and host of the preschool television series Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, which ran from 1968 to 2001.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/21/25

Sardonicism

Expressions of humor used during adversity: cynicism, derision, skepticism

Sardonicism is form of wit or humour, where being sardonic often involves expressing an uncomfortable truth in a clever and not necessarily malicious way, often with a degree of distrust or skepticism; or behavior disdainfully, cynically humorous, frequently based on scornful mocking. This gave birth to a literary genre emphasizing the behavior.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/21/25

No good deed goes unpunished

Sardonic saying

The phrase "No good deed goes unpunished" is a sardonic commentary on the frequency with which acts of kindness backfire on those who offer them. In other words, those who help others are doomed to suffer as a result of their helpfulness.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/21/25

The road to hell is paved with good intentions

Proverb

"The road to hell is paved with good intentions" is a proverb or aphorism.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/21/25

Clwyd

Preserved county of Wales

Clwyd is a preserved county of Wales, situated in the north-east corner of the country; it is named after the River Clwyd, which runs through the area. To the north lies the Irish Sea, with the English ceremonial counties of Cheshire to the east and Shropshire to the south-east. Powys and Gwynedd lie to the south and west respectively. Clwyd also shares a maritime boundary with Merseyside along the River Dee. Between 1974 and 1996, a slightly different area had a county council, with local government functions shared with six district councils. In 1996, Clwyd was abolished, and the new principal areas of Conwy County Borough, Denbighshire, Flintshire and Wrexham County Borough were created; under this reorganisation, "Clwyd" became a preserved county, with the name being retained for certain ceremonial functions.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/21/25

Reel trailer

Utility construction equipment

A reel trailer is a piece of utility construction equipment towed by a powered vehicle like a truck. It is commonly used to transport spools of fiber, copper, conduit and electrical cable. The key feature that distinguishes reel trailers from other trailers is that they use a metal bar that runs through the center of the spool, suspending it above the trailer frame. This allows the spool to spin freely, and brakes may also be used to prevent the spool from moving. The reel can be controlled to allow the cabling to pay out.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/21/25

Micropub (MP) is a W3C Recommendation that describes a client–server protocol based on HTTP to create, update, and delete posts on servers using web or native app clients. Micropub was originally developed in the IndieWebCamp community, contributed to W3C, and published as a W3C working draft on January 28, 2016.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/20/25

Micropub

Very small, one room public house

The term micropub was originally devised by the Campaign for Real Ale, in the 1976 edition of its Good Beer Guide, simply as a description for an unusually small but otherwise traditional pub. Examples of pubs described as such in this era included Manchester's Circus Tavern and The Nutshell in Bury St Edmunds. In more recent years, the term came to be redefined much more tightly, as a very small, modern, one-room pub, serving no food other than snacks, and "based upon good ale and lively banter". The original of these newly defined micropubs is often cited as the Butchers Arms in Herne, Kent.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/20/25

Venetian Snares

Canadian electronic musician

Aaron Funk, known as Venetian Snares, is a Canadian electronic musician based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He is widely known for innovating and popularising the breakcore genre, and is one of the most recognisable artists to be signed to Planet Mu, an experimental electronic music label. His signature style involves meticulously complex drums, eclectic use of samples, and odd time signatures, in particular, 74.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/19/25

Piano

Keyboard instrument

A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an action mechanism where hammers strike strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a chromatic scale in equal temperament. A musician who specializes in piano is called a pianist.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/19/25

Alaska Statehood Act

1958 United States law

The Alaska Statehood Act was a legislative act introduced by Delegate E. L. "Bob" Bartlett and signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on July 7, 1958. Through it, Alaska became the 49th U.S. state on January 3, 1959. The law was the culmination of a multi-decade effort by many prominent Alaskans, including Bartlett, Ernest Gruening, Bill Egan, Bob Atwood, and Ted Stevens.

Member of dysfunctional family

Identified patient (IP) is a clinical term often used in family therapy discussion. It describes one family member in a dysfunctional family who is used as an expression of the family's authentic inner conflicts. As a family system is dynamic, the overt symptoms of an identified patient draw attention away from the "elephants in the living room" no one can talk about which need to be discussed. If covert abuse occurs between family members, the overt symptoms can draw attention away from the perpetrators.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/19/25

Parenting styles

Psychological construct

A parenting style is a pattern of behaviors, attitudes, and approaches that a parent uses when interacting with and raising their child. The study of parenting styles is based on the idea that parents differ in their patterns of parenting and that these patterns can have an impact on their children's development and well-being. Parenting styles are distinct from specific parenting practices, since they represent broader patterns of practices and attitudes that create an emotional climate for the child. Parenting styles also encompass the ways in which parents respond to and make demands on their children.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/19/25

Parent

Caregiver of offspring in their own species

A parent is either the progenitor of a child or, in humans, it can refer to a caregiver or legal guardian, generally called an adoptive parent or step-parent. Parents who are progenitors are first-degree relatives and have 50% genetic meet. A female can also become a parent through surrogacy. Some parents may be adoptive parents, who nurture and raise an offspring, but are not related to the child. Orphans without adoptive parents can be raised by their grandparents or other family members.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/19/25

Virtue signalling

Pejorative term

Virtue signalling is the act of expressing opinions or stances that align with popular moral values, often through social media, with the intent of demonstrating one's good character. The term virtue signalling is frequently used pejoratively to suggest that the person is more concerned with appearing virtuous than with actually supporting the cause or belief in question. An accusation of virtue signalling can be applied to both individuals and companies.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/19/25

History

Study of the past

Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974

Haile Selassie I was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as the Regent Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia under Empress Zewditu between 1916 and 1930. Widely considered to be a defining figure in modern Ethiopian history, he is accorded divine importance in Rastafari, an Abrahamic religion that emerged in the 1930s. A few years before he began his reign over the Ethiopian Empire, Selassie defeated Ethiopian army commander Ras Gugsa Welle Bitul, nephew of Empress Taytu Betul, at the Battle of Anchem. He belonged to the Solomonic dynasty, founded by Emperor Yekuno Amlak in 1270.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25

Autistic Pride Day

Annual celebration held on 18 June

Autistic Pride Day is a pride celebration for autistic people held annually on June 18. Autistic pride recognises the importance of pride for autistic people and its role in bringing about positive changes in the broader society.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25

Chess annotation symbols

Notation indicating the writer's assessment of a chess move

When annotating chess games, commentators frequently use widely recognized annotation symbols. Question marks and exclamation points that denote a move as bad or good are ubiquitous in chess literature. Some publications intended for an international audience, such as the Chess Informant, have a wide range of additional symbols that transcend language barriers.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25

Gömböc

Convex shape with one stable and one unstable position of equilibrium

A gömböc is any member of a class of convex, three-dimensional and homogeneous bodies that are mono-monostatic, meaning that they have just one stable and one unstable point of equilibrium when resting on a flat surface. The existence of this class was conjectured by the Russian mathematician Vladimir Arnold in 1995 and proven in 2006 by the Hungarian scientists Gábor Domokos and Péter Várkonyi by constructing at first a mathematical example and subsequently a physical example.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25

Fever Tree (band)

American rock band

Fever Tree is a former American psychedelic rock band of the 1960s, chiefly known for their anthemic 1968 hit, "San Francisco Girls ".

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25

Vinegar

Liquid consisting mainly of acetic acid and water

Vinegar is an aqueous solution of diluted acetic acid and trace compounds that may include flavorings. Vinegar typically contains from 5% to 18% acetic acid by volume.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25

Salt (chemistry)

Chemical compound involving ionic bonding

In chemistry, a salt or ionic compound is a chemical compound consisting of an assembly of positively charged ions (cations) and negatively charged ions (anions), which results in a compound with no net electric charge. The constituent ions are held together by electrostatic forces termed ionic bonds.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25

Edmund Morgan (historian)

American historian (1916–2013)

Edmund Sears Morgan was an American historian and an authority on early American history. He was the Sterling Professor of History at Yale University, where he taught from 1955 to 1986. He specialized in American colonial history, with some attention to English history. Thomas S. Kidd says he was noted for his incisive writing style, "simply one of the best academic prose stylists America has ever produced." He covered many topics, including Puritanism, political ideas, the American Revolution, slavery, historiography, family life, and numerous notables such as Benjamin Franklin.

Person responsible for the overall look of a filmed event

In film and television, a production designer is the individual responsible for the overall aesthetic of the story. The production design gives the viewers a sense of the time period, the plot location, and character actions and feelings. Working directly with the director, cinematographer, and producer, production designers have a key creative role in the creation of motion pictures and television. The term production designer was coined by William Cameron Menzies while he was working on the film Gone with the Wind. Production designers are commonly confused with art directors as the roles have similar responsibilities. Production designers decide the visual concept and deal with the many and varied logistics of filmmaking including, schedules, budgets, and staffing. Art directors manage the process of making the visuals, which is done by concept artists, graphic designers, set designers, costume designers, lighting designers, etc. The production designer and the art director lead a team of individuals to assist with the visual component of the film. Depending on the size of the production the rest of the team can include runners, graphic designers, drafts people, props makers, and set builders. Productions Designers create a framework for the visual aesthetic of a project and work in partnership and collaboration with the Set Decorator & Set Decorating department to execute the desired look.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25

Postmillennialism

Christian concept

In Christian eschatology, postmillennialism, or postmillenarianism, is an interpretation of chapter 20 of the Book of Revelation which sees Christ's second coming as occurring after the "Millennium", a messianic age in which Christian ethics prosper. The term subsumes several similar views of the end times, and it stands in contrast to premillennialism and, to a lesser extent, amillennialism.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25

Iridescence

Optical property

Iridescence is the phenomenon of certain surfaces that appear gradually to change colour as the angle of view or the angle of illumination changes. Iridescence is caused by wave interference of light in microstructures or thin films. Examples of iridescence include soap bubbles, feathers, butterfly wings and seashell nacre, and minerals such as opal. Pearlescence is a related effect where some or most of the reflected light is white. The term pearlescent is used to describe certain paint finishes, usually in the automotive industry, which actually produce iridescent effects.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25

Arthur Frank Mathews

American painter

Arthur F. Mathews was an American Tonalist painter who was one of the founders of the American Arts and Crafts Movement. Trained as an architect and artist, he and his wife Lucia Kleinhans Mathews had a significant effect on the evolution of Californian art in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His students include Granville Redmond, Xavier Martinez, Armin Hansen, Percy Gray, Gottardo Piazzoni, Ralph Stackpole, Mary Colter, Maynard Dixon, Rinaldo Cuneo and Francis McComas.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25

The Equals

English rock band

The Equals are an English rock band. They are best remembered for their million-selling chart-topper "Baby, Come Back", though they had several other chart hits in the UK and Europe. Drummer John Hall founded the group with Eddy Grant, Pat Lloyd and brothers Derv and Lincoln Gordon, and they were noted as being "the first major interracial rock group in the UK" and "one of the few racially mixed bands of the era".

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25

Positive feedback

Feedback loop that increases an initial small effect

Positive feedback is a process that occurs in a feedback loop where the outcome of a process reinforces the inciting process to build momentum. As such, these forces can exacerbate the effects of a small disturbance. That is, the effects of a perturbation on a system include an increase in the magnitude of the perturbation. That is, A produces more of B which in turn produces more of A. In contrast, a system in which the results of a change act to reduce or counteract it has negative feedback. Both concepts play an important role in science and engineering, including biology, chemistry, and cybernetics.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25

Plaisance, Guyana

Scientific communism, is one of three major elements of Marxism. The communist literature defines it as "the science dealing with general socio-political laws and patterns, ways, forms and methods of changing society" along communist lines, according to the historical mission of the proletariat ; in other words, it is the science regarding the "working-class" struggle and the social revolution, about the supposed "laws behind the building of socialism and communism, and about the world revolutionary process as a whole." In a broader sense, "scientific communism" can mean Marxism–Leninism as a whole; the "scientific expression of the radical interests and objectives involved in the struggle of the working class." In other words, it was the Marxist-Leninist school of sociology.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25

Player Piano (novel)

First novel published by Kurt Vonnegut in 1952 Player Piano (novel)

Player Piano is the debut novel by American writer Kurt Vonnegut Jr., published in 1952. The novel depicts a dystopia of automation partly inspired by the author's time working at General Electric, describing the negative impact technology can have on quality of life. The story takes place in a near-future society that is almost totally mechanized, eliminating the need for human laborers. The widespread mechanization creates conflict between the wealthy upper class, the engineers and managers, who keep society running, and the lower class, whose skills and purpose in society have been replaced by machines. The book uses irony and sentimentality, which were to become hallmarks developed further in Vonnegut's later works.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25

Blood quantum laws

Laws on Native American status

Blood quantum laws or Indian blood laws are laws that define Native Americans in the United States status by fractions of Native American ancestry. These laws were enacted by the federal government and state governments as a way to establish legally defined racial population groups. By contrast, many tribes do not include blood quantum as part of their own enrollment criteria. Blood quantum laws were first imposed by white settlers in the 18th century. Blood quantum (BQ) continues to be a controversial topic.

Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25

Technocracy

Form of government ruled by experts

Technocracy is a form of government in which decision-makers appoint knowledge experts in specific domains to provide them with advice and guidance in various areas of their policy-making responsibilities. Technocracy follows largely in the tradition of other meritocratic theories and works best when the state exerts strong control over social and economic issues.

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Somebody else's problem

Dismissive figure of speech

"Somebody else's problem" or "someone else's problem" is an issue which is dismissed by a person on the grounds that they consider somebody else to be responsible for it.

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Social loafing

Psychological effect which occurs in groups

In social psychology, social loafing is the phenomenon of a person exerting less effort to achieve a goal when they work in a group than when working alone. It is seen as one of the main reasons groups are sometimes less productive than the combined performance of their members working as individuals.

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Reductionism

Philosophical view explaining systems in terms of smaller parts

Reductionism is any of several related philosophical ideas regarding the associations between phenomena which can be described in terms of simpler or more fundamental phenomena. It is also described as an intellectual and philosophical position that interprets a complex system as the sum of its parts. Reductionism tends to focus on the small, predictable details of a system and is often associated with various philosophies like emergence, materialism, and determinism.

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Project Cybersyn

Chilean economic project

Project Cybersyn was a Chilean project from 1971 to 1973 during the presidency of Salvador Allende aimed at constructing a distributed decision support system to aid in the management of the national economy. The project consisted of 4 modules: an economic simulator, custom software to check factory performance, an operations room, and a national network of telex machines that were linked to one mainframe computer.

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The First Slam Dunk

2022 Japanese animated film by Takehiko Inoue

The First Slam Dunk is a 2022 Japanese animated sports film written and directed by Takehiko Inoue, produced by Toei Animation and DandeLion Animation Studio. It is based on Inoue's Slam Dunk manga series. It was released theatrically in Japan on December 3, 2022.

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Sublime Text

Text editor

Sublime Text is a text and source code editor featuring a minimal interface, syntax highlighting and code folding with native support for numerous programming and markup languages, search and replace with support for regular expressions, an integrated terminal/console window, and customizable themes. Available for Windows, macOS, and Linux, its functionality can be expanded with plugins written in Python. Community-contributed plugins can be downloaded and installed via a built-in Package Control system, or written by the user via a Python API. Sublime Text is proprietary software, but can be downloaded for free and used as an evaluation version with no time limit.

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Diffusion of responsibility

Sociopsychological phenomenon

Diffusion of responsibility is a sociopsychological phenomenon whereby a person is less likely to take responsibility for action or inaction when other bystanders or witnesses are present. Considered a form of attribution, the individual assumes that others either are responsible for taking action or have already done so.

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Barack Obama

President of the United States from 2009 to 2017

Barack Hussein Obama II is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. Obama previously served as a U.S. senator representing Illinois from 2005 to 2008 and as an Illinois state senator from 1997 to 2004.

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Attribution (psychology)

Process by which individuals explain causes of behavior and events

Attribution is a term used in psychology which deals with how individuals perceive the causes of everyday experience, as being either external or internal. Models to explain this process are called Attribution theory. Psychological research into attribution began with the work of Fritz Heider in the early 20th century, and the theory was further advanced by Harold Kelley and Bernard Weiner. Heider first introduced the concept of perceived 'locus of causality' to define the perception of one's environment. For instance, an experience may be perceived as being caused by factors outside the person's control (external) or it may be perceived as the person's own doing (internal). These initial perceptions are called attributions. Psychologists use these attributions to better understand an individual's motivation and competence. The theory is of particular interest to employers who use it to increase worker motivation, goal orientation, and productivity.

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Video game graphics

Computer graphics related to video games

A variety of computer graphic techniques have been used to display video game content throughout the history of video games. The predominance of individual techniques have evolved over time, primarily due to hardware advances and restrictions such as the processing power of central or graphics processing units.

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Monkeys and apes in space

Space travel by primates

Before humans went into space in the 1960s, several other animals were launched into space, including numerous other primates, so that scientists could investigate the biological effects of spaceflight. The United States launched flights containing primate passengers primarily between 1948 and 1961 with one flight in 1969 and one in 1985. France launched two monkey-carrying flights in 1967. The Soviet Union and Russia launched monkeys between 1983 and 1996. Most primates were anesthetized before lift-off.

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List of individual monkeys

This annotated list of individual monkeys includes monkeys who are in some way famous or notable. The list does not include notable apes or fictional primates.

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Interrobang

American AI researcher and writer (born 1979)

Eliezer S. Yudkowsky is an American artificial intelligence researcher and writer on decision theory and ethics, best known for popularizing ideas related to friendly artificial intelligence. He is the founder of and a research fellow at the Machine Intelligence Research Institute (MIRI), a private research nonprofit based in Berkeley, California. His work on the prospect of a runaway intelligence explosion influenced philosopher Nick Bostrom's 2014 book Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies.

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Computational complexity theory

Inherent difficulty of computational problems

In theoretical computer science and mathematics, computational complexity theory focuses on classifying computational problems according to their resource usage, and explores the relationships between these classifications. A computational problem is a task solved by a computer. A computation problem is solvable by mechanical application of mathematical steps, such as an algorithm.

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Cognitive closure (philosophy)

Proposition in philosophy of mind

Cognitive closure refers to the concept in the philosophy of mind and philosophy of science that suggests human cognitive faculties are fundamentally incapable of solving certain philosophical problems. These problems, which have persisted throughout the history of philosophy, are considered beyond the reach of human understanding, not because of insufficient data or research, but due to inherent limits in the structure or capabilities of the mind.

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Special Air Mission

U.S. governmental flight service

The United States Air Force Special Air Mission provides air transportation for the president of the United States (POTUS), vice president of the United States (VPOTUS), first lady of the United States (FLOTUS), presidential Cabinet, U.S. congressional delegations (CODELs), and other high-ranking American and foreign dignitaries.

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LessWrong

Rationality-focused community blog

LessWrong is a community blog and forum focused on discussion of cognitive biases, philosophy, psychology, economics, rationality, and artificial intelligence, among other topics. It is associated with the rationalist community.

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Information hazard

Risk caused by disseminating information

An information hazard, infohazard, or cognitohazard is "a risk that arises from the dissemination of (true) information that may cause harm or enable some agent to cause harm". It was formalized by philosopher Nick Bostrom in 2011. It challenges the principle of freedom of information, as it states that some types of information are too dangerous, as people could either be harmed by it or use it to harm others. This is sometimes why information is classified based on its sensitivity.

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Implicit and explicit atheism

Types of atheism

Implicit atheism and explicit atheism are types of atheism. In George H. Smith's Atheism: The Case Against God, "implicit atheism" is defined as "the absence of theistic belief without a conscious rejection of it", while "explicit atheism" is "the absence of theistic belief due to a conscious rejection of it". Explicit atheists have considered the idea of deities and have rejected belief that any exist. Implicit atheists, though they do not themselves maintain a belief in a god or gods, have not rejected the notion or have not considered it further.

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False dilemma

Informal fallacy involving falsely limited alternatives

A false dilemma, also referred to as false dichotomy or false binary, is an informal fallacy based on a premise that erroneously limits what options are available. The source of the fallacy lies not in an invalid form of inference but in a false premise. This premise has the form of a disjunctive claim: it asserts that one among a number of alternatives must be true. This disjunction is problematic because it oversimplifies the choice by excluding viable alternatives, presenting the viewer with only two absolute choices when, in fact, there could be many.

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Punched tape

Data storage device

Punched tape or perforated paper tape is a form of data storage that consists of a long strip of paper through which small holes are punched. It was developed from and was subsequently used alongside punched cards, the difference being that the tape is continuous.

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Patterns in nature

Visible regularity of form found in the natural world

English mathematician and philosopher (1815–1864)

Sentence composed of homonyms

"Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo" is a grammatically correct sentence in English that is often presented as an example of how homonyms and homophones can be used to create complicated linguistic constructs through lexical ambiguity. It has been discussed in literature in various forms since 1967, when it appeared in Dmitri Borgmann's Beyond Language: Adventures in Word and Thought.

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2021 Facebook outage

Outage affecting all Facebook operated services

On October 4, 2021, at 15:39 UTC, the social network Facebook and its subsidiaries, Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, Mapillary, and Oculus, became globally unavailable for a period of six to seven hours. The outage also prevented anyone trying to use "Log in with Facebook" from accessing third-party sites. It lasted for 7 hours and 11 minutes.

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Sons of Liberty

Dissident organization during the American Revolution

The Sons of Liberty was a loosely organized, clandestine, sometimes violent, political organization active in the Thirteen American Colonies founded to advance the rights of the colonists and to fight taxation by the British government. It played a major role in most colonies in battling the Stamp Act in 1765 and throughout the entire period of the American Revolution. Historian David C. Rapoport called the activities of the Sons of Liberty "mob terror."

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First Party System

Phase in U.S. electoral politics (1792–1824)

The First Party System was the political party system in the United States between roughly 1792 and 1824. It featured two national parties competing for control of the presidency, Congress, and the states: the Federalist Party, created largely by Alexander Hamilton, and the rival Jeffersonian Democratic-Republican Party, formed by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, usually called at the time the Republican Party.

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Era of Good Feelings

Period in the political history of the United States

The Era of Good Feelings marked a period in the political history of the United States that reflected a sense of national purpose and a desire for unity among Americans in the aftermath of the War of 1812. The era saw the collapse of the Federalist Party and an end to the bitter partisan disputes between it and the dominant Democratic-Republican Party during the First Party System. President James Monroe strove to downplay partisan affiliation in making his nominations, with the ultimate goal of national unity and eliminating political parties altogether from national politics. The period is so closely associated with Monroe's presidency (1817–1825) and his administrative goals that his name and the era are virtually synonymous.

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Christopher Seider

First American killed in the American Revolution

Christopher Seider was a boy who is considered to be the first American killed in the American Revolution. He was 11 years old when he was shot and killed by customs officer Ebenezer Richardson in Boston on February 22, 1770. His funeral became a major political event, with his death heightening tensions that erupted into the Boston Massacre on March 5, 1770.

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Boston Massacre

1770 shooting by British soldiers

The Boston Massacre, known in Great Britain as the Incident on King Street, was a confrontation, on March 5, 1770, during the American Revolution in Boston in what was then the colonial-era Province of Massachusetts Bay.

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Ticker tape

Digital communication media

Ticker tape was the earliest electrical dedicated financial communications medium, transmitting stock price information over telegraph lines, in use from around 1870 to 1970. It consisted of a paper strip that ran through a machine called a stock ticker, which printed abbreviated company names as alphabetic symbols followed by numeric stock transaction price and volume information. The term "ticker" came from the sound made by the machine as it printed.

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Speculation

Engaging in risky financial transactions

In finance, speculation is the purchase of an asset with the hope that it will become more valuable in a brief amount of time. It can also refer to short sales in which the speculator hopes for a decline in value.

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Polytetrafluoroethylene

Synthetic polymer

Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) is a synthetic fluoropolymer of tetrafluoroethylene, and has numerous applications because it is chemically inert. The commonly known brand name of PTFE-based composition is Teflon by Chemours, a spin-off from DuPont, which originally invented the compound in 1938.

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Anti-Masonic Party

1820s–1830s American political party

The Anti-Masonic Party was the earliest third party in the United States. Formally a single-issue party, it strongly opposed Freemasonry in the United States. It was active from the late 1820s, especially in the Northeast, and later attempted to become a major party by expanding its platform to take positions on other issues. It declined quickly after 1832 as most members joined the new Whig Party; it disappeared after 1838.

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Aaron Burr's farewell address

1805 speech to U.S. Senate

Aaron Burr's March 1805 farewell address to the United States Senate is remembered as one of the preeminent speeches of the American Vice Presidency. Burr spoke for 20 or 30 minutes, and upon concluding, departed the chamber solemnly, the sound of the closing door resounding through the room upon his exit. The speech left U.S. Senators in tears. At least one of fragment of the address has been preserved:This house is a sanctuary; a citadel of law, of order, and of liberty; and it is here—it is here, in this exalted refuge; here, if anywhere, will resistance be made to the storms of political phrenzy and the silent arts of corruption; and if the Constitution be destined ever to perish by the sacrilegious hands of the demagogue or the usurper, which God avert, its expiring agonies will be witnessed on this floor.

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Religious views of Thomas Jefferson

The religious views of Thomas Jefferson diverged widely from the traditional Christianity of his era. Throughout his life, Jefferson was intensely interested in theology, religious studies, and morality. Jefferson was most comfortable with Deism, rational religion, theistic rationalism, and Unitarianism. He was sympathetic to and in general agreement with the moral precepts of Christianity. He considered the teachings of Jesus as having "the most sublime and benevolent code of morals which has ever been offered to man," yet he held that the pure teachings of Jesus appeared to have been appropriated by some of Jesus' early followers, resulting in a Bible that contained both "diamonds" of wisdom and the "dung" of ancient political agendas.

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The history of books begins with the invention of writing, as well as other inventions such as paper and printing; this history continues all the way to the modern-day business of book printing. The earliest knowledge society has on the history of books actually predates what we came to call "books" in today's society, and instead begins with what are called either tablets, scrolls, or sheets of papyrus. The current format of modern novels, with separate sheets fastened together to form a pamphlet rather than a scroll, is called a codex. After this invention, hand-bound, expensive, and elaborate manuscripts began to appear in codex form. This gave way to press-printed volumes and eventually led to the mass-market printed volumes that are prevalent today. Contemporary books may even start to have less of a physical presence with the invention of the e-book. The book has also become more accessible to the disabled with the invention of Braille as well as audiobooks.

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Courtesy titles in the United Kingdom

Forms of address for close relatives of peers

A courtesy title is a form of address and/or reference in the British system of nobility used for children, former wives and other close relatives of a peer, as well as certain officials such as some judges and members of the Scottish gentry. These styles are used "by courtesy" in the sense that persons referred to by these titles do not in law hold the substantive title. There are several different kinds of courtesy titles in the British peerage system.

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