Does Star Wars G canon always beat C canon?

Leland Chee (Keeper of the Holocron, and thus pretty much the main authority on canon) confirmed that this did indeed happen.

(explaining how canon database works) ... Source A contradicts Source B. More likely than not, if Source A is from the films and Source B is from the EU, we'll use Source A. Of course, there can always be exceptions which is why the case-by-case determination is always in effect no matter what the Sources." (src)

When pressed for details on the same thread, he indicated this (Tasty Taste is his ID on that starwars.com forum):

> I'd be interested to know what circumstances would allow the EU to overthrow the films...


Well, you've got the Boba Fett thing. Then there's stormtroopers where there's a bunch of sources released prior to Ep2 that said that they were human recruits. Hence we established that while most stormtroopers are clones, there are some that are recruits.

Why are there humans in the Star Wars Universe?

There's one hypothesis that IMHO makes the most sense (it's one of several that have already been mentioned). On the other hand, making sense is not necessarily a prerequisite for accuracy in the Star Wars universe.

That hypothesis is that some unknown alien species, for some unknown reasons, brought humans from Earth to Coruscant in the distant past, where they built a civilization and spread out to the rest of the Star Wars galaxy.

In our reality, there is ample evidence that humans evolved independently here on Earth. There's been plenty of fiction that has humans being introduced on Earth from elsewhere, but that doesn't fit in with the known fossil record and our genetic similarity to all the other species on Earth.

In the Star Wars universe, the origin of humans is unknown. The most widely accepted theory is that they evolved on Coruscant and spread out from there, but that's difficult to verify; Coruscant is so over-built that archaeology is impractical.

According to this timeline, Coruscant was completely covered by its principal city 100,000 years before the events of Episode IV. Anatomically modern humans appeared about 200,000 years ago. That leaves 100,000 years to be split between (a) time for the human colonists on Coruscant to build their planet-covering city, and (b) time to account for the "a long time ago" in the opening credits.

Humans on Coruscant developed an interstellar civilization much more quickly than Earth humans have, but that could be explained by the influence of whoever brought them to Coruscant.

This assumes that "a long time ago" is relative to our current time. If instead it's relative to the time of the story's hidden narrator, we have a lot more flexibility. Future Earth humans could develop interstellar, and then intergalactic travel, and establish a colony on Coruscant without outside help. Some disaster could then cause them to lose their historical records; as they recover, they build a new interstellar civilization, the one that we see in the movies.

Pulling some numbers out of the air, we could have:

• 1977: Humans on Earth watching science fiction movies.


• 2200: Humans have developed interstellar and intergalactic travel.


• 2500: Humans colonize a planet that will later be called Coruscant.


• 3000: Human civilization on Coruscant goes through a crisis that results in a loss of historical knowledge.


• 10,000: Human civilization on Coruscant has recovered and built a single dense city covering the entire planet.


• 110,000: Battle of Yavin


• 200,000: The civilization that (re)started on Coruscant has now spread to other galaxies. Someone produces an epic historical drama about the events that happened 90,000 years previously, "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away".


• 200,100: The script for this drama falls first into a black hole, then into the hands of George Lucas on 20th century Earth.


• 201,977: Contact with Earth is re-established. Descendants of Coruscant humans see the original Star Wars. The temporal paradox causes the Universe to vanish in a puff of logic.

Note that some of this is just a little bit speculative.

star trek - Are the Borg aware of the Q?

Is the Borg Collective aware of the Q continuum?

There is no canon that answers this question directly.

Certainly, it's possible; however, this was never explored in any of the series' that I am aware of.

The Borg would certainly have to real use for the information as they are not able to assimilate a member of the Q Continuum.

star trek - Why don't Starfleet Officers wear protective gear when going abroad?

Personal shields we see

Personal shields are not outside the realm of technological knowhow in-universe. La Forge creates a subspace isolation field (TNG:Timescape), however, this also reveals the flaw in that technology, they appear to be fairly weak fields (La Forges is easily disrupted by the alien).

The other place we see personal shielding is in TNG:Lessons where Lt. Commander Daren used Thermal Deflector Units to protect the away team from the firestorms on Bersallis III. Again, even though the deflector units were reenforced with energy from hand phasers two team members were still killed when their unit failed.

(Noted below is also Alt-Spock's use of thermal protection armor in the volcano)

It's about the power

These examples point to a plausible reason we don't see personal energy shields: power consumption. Generating a field may be easy but generating a field sufficient enough to defend against highly focused energy weapons or other harms is difficult.

What about the Borg? It's quite plausible that the Borg's advanced technology and cybernetic components allow them to generate the necessary energy to support such technology (it's worth noting that the Borg also don't employ energy weapons in close combat situations so there may be a tradeoff).

In all honesty, though, it seems quite likely that the weight and complexity of such personal armor or shielding would be worthwhile when combat was expected. However, we never get to see such "infantry" style combat in Star Trek.

Did we mention "We come in peace?"

Our Trek heroes are explorers, not soldiers, so to dress in heavily armed attire would be uncharacteristic. It's hard to believe "we come in peace" when you're wearing heavy armor. Klingons, however, are soldiers that prefer hand-to-hand combat so their armor is entirely appropriate.

This would likely be reflected in the type of technology researched and implemented so it would have less of a presence in the universe. It seems likely that Starfleet would have learned the lesson our current Earth has not yet learned. Highly militarized personnel tend to result in more violence and escalation of volatile situations.

The Starfleet Pajamas may be a lot of things but they certainly wouldn't feel intimidating.

Pattern Enhancers and their variable use

The questioner also mentioned the humble pattern enhancer, often use for variable purposes within the Trek universe. It does not seem to have been used for shielding purposes (although it, or a substantially similar device, was used in Time's Arrow to allow phase shifting in the alien cavern).

Portable Energy Weapons > Portable Energy Shields or Physical Armor

In short, your supposition seems accurate: Energy weapons commonly employed within the Trek Universe make it difficult to provide effective individual shielding (physical armor or energy shielding).

This actually might make a little "sci-fi science" sense, if you consider that even the Borg had to adapt to the energy weapons being used to effectively block them. It seems likely that in order to block all of the possible variations of energy weapons would have proven too difficult or energy intensive.

I'd like to add a small caveat: it does seem likely that special militarized units within Starfleet would find it worthwhile to find specialized implementations of energy shielding (a "burst shield" or a "assault shield" like the literal police/military shields). However, these would seem to be specialized requirements and outside the realm of normal training within the peaceful exploration mission of Starfleet.

game of thrones - DragonBone usage in the GoT/aSoIaF universe

People do use bone for armour / decorative armour; see Rattleshirt, albeit he uses regular (human and animal) bones.

It would be a matter of workability and accessibility.

Dragonbone is highly sought after (especially by the Dothraki):

Dragonbone bows are greatly prized by the Dothraki, and small wonder. An archer so armed can outrange any wooden bow.
^{-A Song of Ice and Fire: A Game of Thrones, Chapter Thirteen (Tyrion II).}

And apparently Magister Illyrio is a dealer in Dragonbone:

Dany said nothing. Magister Illyrio was a dealer in spices, gemstones, dragonbone, and other, less savory things.
^{-A Song of Ice and Fire: A Game of Thrones, Chapter Three (Daenerys I).}

Bear in mind though, that the last Dragons (before Dany's) died in 153AC (over 100 years ago) and as such is a rare commodity, which is why you wouldn't see them around.

Targaryens were renown for their ownership of Dragons, but I couldn't see them turning their dead Dragons into armour / weapons. We see that most of the known Targaryen Dragon skulls were kept in the Throne Room (and most recently in the Cellars). So in a way they were honoured as prized possessions - not likely to be made into tools.

star trek - How did Data so easily access and control the Borg ship?

Several points:

• A wise command structure does not apply commands globally by default, but locally. (And this, alone, is likely the answer.)




• Sometimes commands can have default settings. For instance, in Unix, the command "rm *" applies to the current directory, not to every directory on the drive. It also doesn't descend into subdirectories unless you tell it to.




• There would be propagation delays. There was one cube in the Alpha Quadrant (or one that we know of -- maybe there were a couple back-up ones that got blown up without our knowledge). The others were far away, so the command would have taken time to reach them.




• With any networking system, it's prudent to not always trust something just because it came from another node without verifying it. Think of it in today's terms: Something might come into your LAN from another LAN that you trust, but it's still possible it was from malware, so it's still wise to scan it for issues. Other cubes, or the collective as a whole, probably scans incoming communications from members to be sure they're valid and free of malware.

Think of how vulnerable the Borg would be if a command like "sleep" were to work on the entire collective at once. Such a command, like many others, would work only on a local level by default. (Or, as a safety, it could be that such commands would never work globally and would have to be activated on each individual ship separately.)

The question is, more likely, why it didn't effect Locutus' subgroup (or unimatrix, or whatever the proper term is) only. But since Data was gaining access to the command structure, it is very likely that along with finding the commands, he was also able to find out how to pass parameters with it, such as, "sleep --range=cube."

star trek - Did The Doctor on the Starship Voyager ever explicitly reference memories or knowledge from the EMH Diagnostic utility grafted into his programming?

My interpretation of that episode is that they dumped the diagnostic program to make space for further expansion of the Doctor's program. So the diagnostic program was entirely wiped, making it impossible for the Doctor to access any part of it. They "grafted" the space used by the memory onto the Doctor's program. Think of it as a Linux file system. It is possible to limit the size of a file at any value you wish, as opposed to the traditional view of Windows file systems where you can keep on adding files or expanding existing files until the disc runs out of space. So let's say that the Doctor's file was 20% of Voyager's total storage and that the diagnostic program was another 20%. The remaining 60% is for other systems such as propulsion, astrometric data, replicator patterns, holodeck programs, music, literature, personal files, crew logs, etc. Each system has a maximum allocation so they can't simply wipe out most of the computer's memory to make way for the Doctor. A lot of the Doctor's computer memory (as opposed to his own memories) is allocated to behavioural and medical diagnostic subroutines. Only a part is used for his own memories and experiences which is why adding more memory significantly extended his running time. If he was left running for long enough the problem would eventually recur.

lord of the rings - Who were the greatest archers in Middle-earth?

Human

According to Tolkien, the greatest human bowman was Duilin, son of Duinhir; the leader of the Men from the uplands of Morthond who fought in the battle of Minas Tirath.

In his "Unfinished Tales", Tolkien specifically refers to him as being a soldier of impeccable physical prowess and has this to say about his abilities with a bow;

Now the folk of the Swallow bore a fan of feathers on their helms, and
they were arrayed in white and dark blue and in purple and black and
showed an arrowhead on their shields. Their lord was Duilin, swiftest
of all men to run and leap and surest of archers at a mark.

---

Orc

The orcs are invariably described as a bit crap with a bow, relying on mere force of numbers and volume of (poisoned) arrows to do damage:

Behind them orc-archers crowded, sending a hail of darts against the
bowmen on the walls. - _{^{LotR: TTT}}

and

Dismayed the rammers let fall the trees and turned to fight; but the
wall of their shields was broken as by a lightning-stroke, and they
were swept away, hewn down, or cast over the Rock into the stony
stream below. The orc-archers shot wildly and then fled. _{^{LotR: TTT}}

and

But orc-arrows are plenty, and the sight of one would not be taken as
a sign of Doom by Boromir of Gondor. _{^{LotR: TTT}}

and

The orcs hindered by the mires that lay before the hills halted and
poured their arrows into the defending ranks. - _{^{LotR: RotK}}

Elves

Arguable. Certainly Beleg (A.K.A. "Beleg the Archer", A.K.A. "Beleg Longbow") is repeatedly called out as being an exceptional archer and possessing the ability to fire arrows great distances:

Moreover Beleg the Archer was great among the people of Doriath; he
was strong, and enduring, and far-sighted in mind as well as eye, and
at need he was valiant in battle, relying not only upon the swift
arrows of his long bow, but also upon his great sword Anglachel. And
ever the more did hatred grow in the heart of Mîm, who hated all
Elves, as has been told, and who looked with a jealous eye on the love
that Túrin bore to Beleg. _{^{The Children of Huron}}

and

Beleg: Elf of Doriath, a great archer; friend and companion of Túrin.
Called Cúthalion ‘Strongbow’.

That said, there's no specific reason to assume he was the single greatest elf archer.

story identification - Trying to find a book about a kid who ends up being summoned as a demon

I´m trying to find a book about a kid who tries a drug, ends up in an out of body experience, and his soul then gets summoned against his will to serve as a demon by a wizard.
At first they think he is a low leveled demon but he tries to escape and fighting back, and they then think he is a high ranking demon instead.... Thus he ends up looking like a huge demon.
I remember the book cover looked like a giant minotaur stepping through a portal (Made in poor CG) but I can´t remember the name of the book or who it was made by.

any help would be appreciated. Many thanks in advance.

When did Star Wars take place?

The issue is one that the Star Wars Galaxy must have 3rd generation (Population I) stars to exist, meaning it's at least many billion years post-Big-Bang.

Given the current estimates of 13.75 billion years of age, it's likely it's not more than 8 billion years ago (BYA), in order to allow for the relatively modern shape portrayed in the films. Moreover, the Milky Way has lots of Population II stars, but those can't give rise to life as we know it in their worlds, as the needed high-metal mixtures won't be present to coalesce into terrestrial worlds until the nova of Population II stars forms sufficient metals to generate the population I stars which gave birth to us all. Note that the oldest Population I stars have less than 2% of the metal content, and that we are, as a life form, carbon, calcium and iron with significant smaller amounts of other stuff, but the lower metalicity of the older stars implies a lack of iron.

So, we can rule out the oldest. Getting to the 5 BYA point, we start looking at stars that might have life as we know it. Not so much heavy metals, but still, enough to have stuff we would recognize.

So, I'd say the "Galaxy Far Far Away" had its "long time ago" no more than 5 BYA and probably no more than 1 BYA, because it looks like galaxies of that age.

star trek - Do we ever find out what happened to Dr. Giger or The Cellular Regeneration and Entertainment Chamber after the DS9 episode "In the Cards?"

DS9 "In the Cards":

GIGER: Doctor Bathkin of Andros Three was the first to come up with
the answer to solving the puzzle of death. Keep the cells energised.
Keep them in the game by teaching them new mitochondrial tricks.
Unfortunately, before he could finish his work, Doctor Bathkin died in
a shuttle accident. Or so they say. And while the soulless minions of
orthodoxy refuse to follow up on his important research, I could hear
the clarion call of destiny ringing in my ears. And now, after fifteen
years of tireless effort, after being laughed at and hounded out of
the halls of the scientific establishment, after begging and
scrounging for materials across half the galaxy, I have nearly
completed work on this. The Cellular Regeneration and Entertainment
Chamber.

At the end of the episode:

WEYOUN: Really? I have a background in, shall we say, creative
genetics. I'd be most interested in hearing your theories.

GIGER: Well, it may take some time to explain. Let me ask you a simple
question. Do you want to die?

Dr. Giger was on DS9 developing technology to make himself immortal. He enlisted the help of Jake and Nog to gain supplies for his project. Ultimately Weyoun and a couple of Jem'hadar transport Giger on their vessel. The episode ends with the conversation above and subsequently Weyoun trying out the chamber.

I am curious to know if Giger ever go the chamber to fully work, did the doctor stay with the Dominion, did Weyon help Giger in any way, etc.

Do we ever learn anything after this episode in-canon, writers notes, EU, or otherwise about Dr. Giger or The Cellular Regeneration and Entertainment
Chamber?

lord of the rings - Why did the Nazgul start on horseback?

This is all described in the essay entitled The Hunt for the Ring published in Unfinished Tales. All supplied quotes are from that source.

At first the intention was indeed to be stealthy, because Sauron did not want the Wise (i.e the Elves and Istari) to know what he was up to:

Yet this weakness they had for Sauron's present purpose: so great was the terror that went with them (even invisible and unclad) that their coming forth might soon be perceived and their mission be guessed by the Wise.

From there they went invisible through Rohan, passed the Sarn Gebir and the Nazgul of Minas Morgul met up with the Nazgul of Dol Guldur.

This was (it is thought) about the seventeenth of July. Then they passed northward seeking for the Shire, the land of the Halflings.

The last point is important here: at this stage the Nazgul did not yet know where the Shire was.

From here they passed north up the Anduin and began searching, finding the old Stoor villages (presumably those formerly inhabited by Gollum's people) and their best guess at the time was that the Shire was somewhere near or even within Lórien:

They were told also by Khamûl that no dwelling of Halflings could be discovered in the Vales of Anduin, and that the villages of the Stoors by the Gladden had long been deserted.
But the Lord of Morgul, seeing no better counsel, determined still to seek northward, hoping maybe to come upon Gollum as well as to discover the Shire. That this would prove to be not far from the hated land of Lórien seemed to him not unlikely, if it was not indeed within the fences of Galadriel. But the power of the White Ring he would not defy, nor enter yet into Lórien.

From here they continue searching north and finding nothing, until they meet messengers from Mordor; here we learn that Sauron had found out about the dream-prophecy in Gondor, Boromir's leaving, Saruman's deeds and capture of Gandalf. Now Sauron panics and orders the Nazgul to Isengard:

From these things he concluded indeed that neither Saruman nor any other of the Wise had possession yet of the Ring, but that Saruman at least knew where it might be hidden. Speed alone would now serve, and secrecy must be abandoned.

Yet again, they still don't know where the Shire is, but on the advice of Saruman (who did know but didn't tell them) they search Rohan for Gandalf, come across Wormtongue, and from him they finally learn the general direction it lies in:

Spare me! I speak as swiftly as I may. West through the Gap of Rohan yonder, and then north and a little west, until the next great river bars the way; the Greyflood it is called. Thence from the crossing at Tharbad the old road will lead you to the borders. 'The Shire,' they call it.

Finally some time past Tharbad they come across some fugitives and learn from one of them (who also turned out to be a servant of Saruman's) where it is:

One of them had been used much in the traffic between Isengard and the Shire, and though he had not himself been beyond the Southfarthing he had charts prepared by Saruman which clearly depicted and described the Shire.

This is the first point at which they actually know where the Shire is; they did not know before then and had to search the various lands they travelled through for it, and - of course - travelling back to Mordor to pick up some Fell-beasts at this late stage would just incur further delays.

So to summarise:

• At first they wanted to be stealthy.


• When Sauron learns what's going on he panics and they abandon stealth.


• And all this time they do not actually know where the Shire is until they are almost right at it's borders.

And:

• Flying directly to the Shire is impossible because they don't know where it is.


• They needed to conduct a careful search on the ground, as well as waylay travellers and obtain information from them, both of which would have been difficult if not impossible if flying.


• The initial need for stealth was not abandoned until the Nazgul were far out of Mordor.

star trek - Did the creators of Into Darkness research Khan?

It would seem that the writers, Robert Orci, Alex Kurtzman, and Damon Lindelof, were aware of Ricardo Montalban's original portrayal of Khan in The Original Series and The Wrath of Khan, but explicitly chose to depart from it.

First of all, they recognized that Khan was a character of immense importance in the Star Trek canon:

Lindelof said that Khan was considered a character they needed to use at some point, given that "he has such an intense gravity in the Trek universe, we likely would have expended more energy NOT putting him in this movie than the other way around."

The statement about having to expend energy to keep Khan out of the film is fairly contrived, but it does imply that they were at least aware of the character's importance.

References to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan were eventually added to the script, but Lindelof, Orci, and Kurtzman "were ever wary of the line between 'reimagined homage' and 'direct ripoff'." Orci and Kurtzman said they wanted a film which would work on its own and as a sequel, not using ideas from previous Star Trek works simply "because you think people are going to love it".

So it seems that they made a conscious decision to depart from the previous notion of the character.

(Source for Excerpts)

To shed more light on the process by which Khan — or at least a version of the character — came to be in Into Darkness and why he was portrayed as he is, I include the following snippets from an interview with Orci from the official Star Trek web site:

INTERVIEWER: Let's talk about Khan (Benedict Cumberbatch). Take us through why you went with Khan as the villain and, also, can you clarify why he does what he does?

ORCI: OK, I’ll do a deep dive with you. In a way, [fellow co-writer and co-producer] Damon [Lindelof] and I were the biggest debaters about this. He argued for Khan from the beginning and I argued against it. The compromise that we came to was, let us devise a story that is not reliant on any history of Star Trek. So, what's the story? Well, we have a story where our crew is who they are and they're coming together as a family. Then, suddenly, this villain arrives and his motivations are based on what happens in the movie. They're not based on history. They're not based on Star Trek. They’re not based on anything that came before. They're based on his [being] used by a corrupted system of power that held the things he held dear against him and tried to manipulate him. That story stands alone with or without Star Trek history. That's how we approached it, and God bless Damon for going down that road.

So, once we had that, that's when Damon came back and reared his ugly head and said, "OK, now that we have that, is there any reason why we cannot bring Star Trek history into this?" And he was right. So we ended up sort of reverse engineering it. We started with, "What's a good movie? What’s a good villain? What’s a good motivation? We cannot rely on what's happened before. Now that we have that, can we tailor this villain into something that relates to Star Trek history?" And that’s what we did. So, step one was "Don’t rely on Star Trek." Then, step two was "Rely on Star Trek."

(Source)

Within this, we find that Khan's behaviour differs from his counterpart in the Prime Timeline (i.e. the timeline that would have developed if it weren't for Nero's interference in the 2009 film) because of

• the manipulation and abuse that Khan received at the hands of Admiral Marcus (this is the in-universe answer);


• they conceived of their villain and his qualities before they decided he would be Khan Noonien Singh (this is the out-of-universe answer).

As for the issue of Khan crying, it seems to be compatible with this explanation. That being said, it was probably included as a means of adding an extra dimension or layer to the character — although I agree with the OP that it is ill-fitting at best.

star trek - Did Starfleet ever have an Enterprise-class of starship?

In canon, there has never been an Enterprise-class starship in Starfleet.

But a lesser-known fact is that the decision for the Enterprises NCC-1701 and NCC-1701-A to be "Constitution class" was not made until 1987. Before that time, no class designation was given in dialogue in TOS or the films before that year. Prior to 1987, both "Starship class" and "Enterprise class" were used informally amongst Star Trek creative personnel to describe the original Enterprise, and "Starship class" appears on the bridge dedication plaque on the NCC-1701. ("Enterprise class" was specifically floated by Andrew Probert for the refit Enterprise in The Motion Picture, but this idea was dropped.)

Also, in the original script for The Wrath of Khan, the Reliant was described as "Enterprise class", and indeed the ship was intended to be a copy of the Enterprise. However, it was decided at the design stage to fundamentally change the shape of the Reliant in order to better distinguish the two ships in battle. Later, the Reliant was retconned as "Miranda class".

For a history of the complicated evolution of "Constitution class" from "Enterprise class", with reliable citations and direct quotes by Enterprise designer Andrew Probert, see here.

story identification - We landed a man on Mars, and then all wars ceased

I've been trying to remember a short story.

The trick ending was that when we landed a man on Mars, all wars immediately stopped on Earth... but then we were about to land a man on Venus which would (presumably) have the effect of ending love.

Most likely a "Golden Age" sci-fi story. Told with a Venus landing newscast going on in the background.

lord of the rings - How could Gandalf find a Silmaril falling from Orthanc so easily?

He didn't find a Silmaril in Orthanc, he found a palantír:

Will you, Aragorn, take the Orthanc-stone and guard it? It is a dangerous charge.'

'Dangerous indeed, but not to all,' said Aragorn. 'There is one who may claim it by right. For this assuredly is the palantír of Orthanc from the treasury of Elendil, set here by the Kings of Gondor. Now my hour draws near. I will take it.'

^{The Two Towers Book IV Chapter 11: "The Palantír"}

By the Third Age (when Lord of the Rings takes place), the three Silmarils are lost, considered beyond the reach of Elves, Men, and Orcs:

• One is flying through the sky, borne by Eärendil


• One is at the bottom of the sea, thrown there by Fëanor's son Maglor


• The last is somewhere underground; Fëanor's son Maedhros flung it (and himself) into a crack in the Earth's crust

It's also worth noting that Gandalf himself didn't find it; strictly speaking Pippin did, and he only did that because Wormtongue flung it at Saruman and nearly decapitated Gandalf:

'Saruman, your staff is broken.' There was a crack, and the staff split asunder in Saruman's hand, and the head of it fell down at Gandalf's feet. 'Go!' said Gandalf. With a cry Saruman fell back and crawled away. At that moment a heavy shining thing came hurtling down from above. It glanced off the iron rail, even as Saruman left it, and passing close to Gandalf's head, it smote the stair on which he stood. The rail rang and snapped. The stair cracked and splintered in glittering sparks. But the ball was unharmed: it rolled on down the steps, a globe of crystal, dark, but glowing with a heart of fire. As it bounded away towards a pool Pippin ran after it and picked it up.

^{The Two Towers Book IV Chapter 10: "The Voice of Saruman"}

The palantíri are significantly larger than the Silmarils were; we're told in Unfinished Tales that, at minimum, they were about a foot in diameter:

At smallest they were about a foot in diameter, but some, certainly the Stones of Osgiliath and Amon Sûl, were much larger and could not be lifted by one man.

^{Unfinished Tales Part 4 Chapter III: "The Palantíri"}

If Wormtongue managed to huck it out of the tower with as much accuracy as he did, the Orthanc stone is probably sitting at the low end of that scale; so it's not quite so implausible that Pippin found it as easily as he did.

How big is the known Star Trek universe?

Star Trek takes place in our galaxy, in the late 24th century. (with the most-distant movie set in 2379.) The Milky Way Galaxy is absurdly big -- some 120,000 light-years in diameter, with a center some 27,000 light years away from Earth. The nearest galaxy is the Small Magellanic Cloud, some 200,000 light-years away.

Since Voyager found themselves 70,000 light-years from home, and projected their time to get home at 75 years, we can infer an effective cruising speed of 933 ly/y, or 2-3 ly/day. Considering that they weren't stocked for it, and had to scavenge along the way, one can presume that a well-stocked round-trip vessel with custom-designed engines would, at best, match their speed.

Taken together, that means that a Federation Expedition to reach the closest galaxy and return home would take over 400 years. Which means that, if they left today with 24th-century technology, such an expedition wouldn't return until some thirty years after the star trek canon ends.

So, Star Trek's "universe" is really just a portion of our current galaxy.

---

It's worth noting that, although not closely followed in the show itself, the official star trek separation of "quadrants" uses a meridian pretty close to Sol, the star around which Earth orbits. So, the federation encompasses some territory in both the "alpha" and "beta" quadrants, as do the major and minor powers with which it can negotiate, plus some special-case exploration to the "delta" and "gamma" quadrants, from Voyager's journey plus the DS9 wormhole.

Of course, this only explores the Federation's domain of exploration and influence. Several other powers, such as the Borg, the Fluidic-space aliens, and cosmic-level powers such as Q have unmeasured spheres of dominion, and have probable access to whole galaxies that the Federation does not.

star trek - Would it really matter, if Odo had never contacted The Great Link?

Close to the end of Homefront episode, we hear, that captain Sisko says, that it would be much better, if Odo would never found The Great Link and other changelings. Odo agrees.

How could that be true? What would that change? The Dominion / changelings / The Great Link was a super power in Gamma Quadrant, responsible for destroying or acquiring hundreds of other civilisations and always hunger for a new expansions. For me, it would change next to nothing, if Odo would ever contact The Great Link, because I assume, that Dominion invasion to the Alpha Quadrant was always just a matter of time.

Not mentioning, that it wasn't Odo's decision to seek for The Great Link, as -- if I remember correct -- that desire was "implanted" in him by The Great Link and was actually initiated / required by The Great Link to force Odo (and other changelings sent "away") to return home. Not mentioning, that if Odo wouldn't find their relatives, he wouldn't be able to provide Federation with all the information he has possessed by each join with The Great Link or any other changeling.

So, to me, words spoken by Sisko are completely wrong and the fact, that Odo agrees on them is screenplay hole.

Am I wrong in above assumption?

I need help identifying a short science fiction story about cancer as human evolution

Edna Mayne Hull (aka Mrs. A. E. van Vogt), "The Patient".

The short story was part of an anthology.

The ISFDB bibliography page for that story has a list of anthologies and collections in which it appeared.

A cancer clinic near a war zone

London, Aug. 23, 1943--Reports reaching this capital state that a universal cancer cure has been perfected at the Midland-West Coast Hospital for Cancer Patients. Since the war, this hospital has been largely converted to military purposes, but one wing is still under the charge of the brilliant cancer research scientist, Dr. Lyall Brett, who is to make a public statement shortly.

receives a famous cancer patient who they attempt to cure.

"Remember my telling you of a patient who came to Carl Hamber's New York Cancer Institute last year--the fellow who'd been to every cancer institute as well as to every quack in the world? He's the perpetual cancer patient. He has an operation practically every year. They've cut cancer out of his throat, his chest, his head--and he's still alive. He's the cancer patient, known all over the world. If you can cure him--"

At the end they find a cure, but the cancer patient reveals he doesn't want to be cured. He instead wants to destroy any cures as he is nothing but a human-shaped tumor. According to him, cancer is the next phase in human evolution.

Brett sighed and said: "Why do you want to kill me? On the entire earth, I am probably the only man who can make you well."

The stranger shook his head. In the half-light, his eyes gleamed. "I am not a madman, Dr. Brett; and unfortunately for you, the very extent of your success makes it necessary for me to kill you. Let me ask you a question: Can you imagine a perfect physical being?"

It struck Brett sharply that if only he could keep the fellow talking . . . He said cautiously: "Universal adaptation would be a required ability for such a being. That means . . . amorphism . . . changing shape at will . . . which would require radical cell and tissue growth like--"

He stopped, his eyes wide. Before he could speak, the man Grainger said softly: "Yes, Dr. Brett, like cancer; and you would destroy the free-growth potentiality of the cell, man's hope for biological perfection, for adaptive power so complete that he can swim and fly and live in airless space, live anywhere under any conditions."

He transforms into a bomb

His mind wrenched from its hopeless thought. For the man was changing. Changing. His face was transforming, shining. Abruptly, there was a glistening steel-like bomb standing upended on the floor.

and blows up the clinic (the better to hide the evidence in the war zone),

The world ended in a shattering violence of explosion.

reforms to his original shape and walks off.

It took an hour for the dynamic cells of the man, in their blind will to cohesion, to come together. Slowly, in the darkness, Peter Grainger took form. He stood for a while, staring at the wreckage of the hospital wing; then he turned off into the night.

SciFi Short Story about an immortal man digging through an asteroid to meet a woman

Short story from the 80's or 90's, I saw someone asking about this on another forum but never got an answer. I've been curious ever since.

The story is set in a decadent future where everyone lives forever and mostly they go to parties. Guy meets a girl at a party, suggest he start at one side of an asteroid and digs a tunnel by hand to her, while she waits in a hollowed out space and creates a beautiful garden while waiting (robots take care of all mundane life support stuff).

So he digs 100 years, makes it through to her chamber, they have a long romance, and when they've had enough they go back to civilization. The robots bury everything and return the asteroid to the way it was. Then they run into each other at a party and she overhears him proposing it to a different girl. That's when she says, "You've done this before."

This is the original post, for those curious (though I've reposted all relevant info): https://www.reddit.com/r/tipofmytongue/comments/21004u/tomtscifi_short_storyeveryone_lives_forever_man/

transformers - Are the creators and Lockdown related to Cybertron?

Within Age of Extinction itself, there is no direct evidence that Cybertron was seeded.

There is, however, evidence of other planets being seeded - including Earth.

Cade: Wait. The Seed?

Tessa: Those nasty soldiers that were chasing us. I saw them board the ship and they took something that they called the seed.

Hound: Listen. Sixty million years ago, give or take an eon...

Optimus: Thousands of planets were cyber-formed with Seeds. They turned your organic life into our elemental metals. Our creators destroyed your world to make us.

Whether or not Lockdown is a Cybertronian is left unspecified within the movie, but he has one quote that makes it sound as though he at least pre-dates the two factions.

Lockdown: Autobots, Decepticons, like little children: always fighting, making a mess out of the universe. Then I've got to clean it up.

lord of the rings - Is there evidence that Tolkien intended to introduce racism/specism into Middle Earth?

In short, yes, Tolkien intended for racism to be a consistent theme in his writing, mainly in order to display the folly of racism.

One relevant quote suggests that, at least in some cases, races in Middle-earth are analogous to races in our world:

The dwarves of course are quite obviously - wouldn't you say that in many ways they remind you of the Jews? Their words are Semitic obviously, constructed to be Semitic.
― J.R.R. Tolkien

What negative stereotypes apply to real world Jews and Tolkien's Dwarves? One need look no further than Elrond's comment at the council:

Who will you look to when we've gone? The Dwarves? They toil away in caverns, seeking riches. They care nothing for the troubles of others.

So Dwarves care only about material wealth - a common slur leveled at Jews by antisemites for centuries.

Although this question isn't about whether Tolkien himself was racist, I feel obliged to point out that Tolkien was not an anti-semite. During the Nazi regime, when his German publisher wrote to ask him if he was Aryan, he was furious, as three letters quoted on the Tolkien Gateway page on racism in Tolkien's works demonstrate:

"I must say that the enclosed letter from Rutten & Loening is a bit stiff. Do I suffer this impertinence because of the possession of a German name, or do their lunatic laws require a certificate of arisch [i.e., Aryan] origin from all persons of all countries? ... Personally I should be inclined to refuse to give any Bestätigung (although it happens that I can), and let a German translation go hang. In any case I should object strongly to any such declaration appearing in print. I do not regard the (probable) absence of all Jewish blood as necessarily honourable; and I have many Jewish friends, and should regret giving any colour to the notion that I subscribed to the wholly pernicious and unscientific race-doctrine."
― Letter 29 — Tolkien's German publishers had asked whether he was of Aryan origin

"Thank you for your letter... I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by arisch. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware noone (sic) of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people."
― Letter 30 (Tolkien's unsent response to his German publishers; a more neutral version was ultimately sent)

"There was a solemn article in the local paper seriously advocating systematic exterminating of the entire German nation as the only proper course after military victory: because, if you please, they are rattlesnakes, and don't know the difference between good and evil! (What of the writer?) The Germans have just as much right to declare the Poles and Jews exterminable vermin, subhuman, as we have to select the Germans: in other words, no right, whatever they have done."
― J.R.R. Tolkien — September 23, 1944

Another, more obvious example of races in Middle-earth as analogies for real world races is the inhabitants of the Shire - it is well known that the Shire is Tolkien's idealized vision of England before WWI, and the hobbits are his idealized version of the English people.

There is a page on Tolkien Gateway titled "Racism in Tolkien's Works" (also linked above), and it contains this passage:

Tolkien portrays racism within the "heroic" races as unabashedly negative. Elves and Dwarves distrust each other. Some Elves hunted the Petty-dwarves as animals, as did the Rohirrim to the Woses. The friendship between Legolas and Gimli is portrayed as unusual but commendable, and several scenes illustrate them learning to understand and respect each other's cultural differences. When Gimli takes a strand of Galadriel's hair, he is described as having "look[ed] into the heart of an enemy and saw there love and understanding."

It is notable that there is apparently racism within the ranks of Orcs as the Uruk-hai held themselves as superior to the common Orcs, whom they called snaga (slave).

The point-of-view characters of the book -- the hobbits -- are themselves of a race that is frequently described as being overlooked, under-estimated, and lightly regarded by the other races of Middle-earth, yet they often demonstrate far greater courage and nobility than the races who denigrate them. They are not without prejudice, however, and Gandalf is shown reprimanding Frodo for his comments on Barliman Butterbur.

The Númenóreans of Gondor fell to infighting because of a supposed need for racial purity, especially concerning the ancestry of their king (the Kin-strife), and grew weaker as a result. In this affair, the villain was the pure-blooded Númenórean Castamir while the hero was the half-Númenórean Eldacar.

It also says

Of the orcs, the Uruk-Hai are described as "black" and a smaller orc, a tracker, is described as "black-skinned". All orcs are often described as "slant-eyed" and the Uruk-Hai at least refer to the Rohirrim as 'white skins.' In one of his letters, Tolkien described Orcs as "...squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes; in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types."(Letter 210)

However, it continues, and suggests that this obvious racism might be forgivable, at least in part:

While Tolkien's statement comparing Orcs to the "Mongol-types" is undoubtedly insensitive given today's standards, he does put a disclaimer, "(to Europeans,)" before "least lovely", at least recognizing Western cultural bias and also points out that they were "degraded and repulsive versions" of "Mongol-types", not actual "Mongol-types". It is worth noting that some Orcs use crooked or bent swords (Tolkien also uses the term scimitar, which are historically associated with the Middle-East).

The "Middle-earth & J.R.R. Tolkien Blog" addresses this issue at length, and seems to summarize the answer very well:

Q: Is It True There is Racism in The Lord of the Rings?

ANSWER: Yes, it is true there is racism in The Lord of the Rings. However, many people who ask this question may really mean to ask, “Is The Lord of the Rings a racist work of fiction?” Although some people claim that is the case they are mistaken for J.R.R. Tolkien embedded numerous examples of the folly of racism in The Lord of the Rings. In other words, it would be difficult for any other modern work of fiction to be as anti-racist as The Lord of the Rings.

While I haven't found a statement from Tolkien that clearly and directly says he intended to address racism in his books, these passages from three of his letters give some indication of how strongly he felt about such matters; the third goes a bit further, and suggests that he did indeed intend to infuse his work with his own contempt for bigotry:

"I have the hatred of apartheid in my bones; and most of all I detest the segregation or separation of Language and Literature. I do not care which of them you think White."
― From a valedictory address to the University of Oxford in 1959

"As for what you say or hint of ‘local’ conditions: I knew of them. I don't think they have much changed (even for the worse). I used to hear them discussed by my mother; and have ever since taken a special interest in that part of the world. The treatment of colour nearly always horrifies anyone going out from Britain, & not only in South Africa. Unfort[unately], not many retain that generous sentiment for long."
― Letter 61 — Written to Christopher Tolkien who was stationed in South Africa during World War II

"Anyway, I have in this War a burning private grudge—which would probably make me a better soldier at 49 than I was at 22: against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler (for the odd thing about demonic inspiration and impetus is that it in no way enhances the purely intellectual stature: it chiefly affects the mere will). Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light."
― Letter 45

Considering how much attention to detail Tolkien invested in his writing, and how strong were his feelings on racism, it is all but impossible to imagine that the frequent, incredibly numerous, and consistently negative allusions to racism in his books are anything less than completely deliberate and intentional. He definitely meant to expose the evils of prejudice.

story identification - Looking for a novel: young man takes shortcuts through another dimension

This is a novel I read in the 60s. I thought it was by Nourse but it's not. The story was about a young man who used his mind to turn a corner into another dimension that allowed him to take short cuts, allowing him to go from point A to point B without hitting the points between.

A book or short story about planet colonizing

I remember reading it at school but do not remember if it was in a collection of short stories or a book.
It was the 80's so it would be that time or before the 80's.
What I remember is a new planet the ship I think crashed or had a malfunction and some how some dna got mixed up.
I remember the main character watching what was either a seal hybrid or a dolphin hybrid swimming.It was mixed up with something weird that today we know would not happen.
Its been over 20 years and that's about all I can remember.

lord of the rings - Where did J.R.R. Tolkien state that Arwen suggested that Frodo be allowed to sail West?

In fact this was mentioned in The Lord of the Rings, though perhaps in not as much detail. This comes after the Ring is destroyed, and everyone is celebrating in Minas Tirith. Arwen and a bunch of other elves have just arrived, and Frodo has gone to talk to Aragorn and Arwen:

The Queen Arwen said: "A gift I will give to you. For I am the daughter of Elrond. I shall not go with him now when he departs to the Havens; for mine is the choice of Luthien, and as she so have I chosen, both the sweet and the bitter. But in my stead you shall go, Ring-bearer, when the time comes, and if you then desire it. If your hurts grieve you still and the memory of your burden is heavy, then you may pass into the West, until all your wounds and weariness are healed."
_{The Lord of the Rings Book 6 Chapter 6: Many Partings}

So when Arwen, like Luthien of old (with whom she was often compared in beauty), chose the mortal life with the man she loved, she managed to arrange for Frodo to take her place if he wanted to.

douglas adams - What is the name of the planet designing company in Hitchiker's Guide?

I don't think we are ever given a 'company' name.

The planet that is the home to "custom-made luxury planet building" is called Magrathea. However we are not told how it is organized economically. It becomes the richest planet in the galaxy, but it may be that there are several corporations that operate from it, or none.

short stories - Story about man selling his memories to a school to take care of an old woman

This is as well as I can remember: The man visits an old woman each week - it had started as volunteer work, but had turned into something which was taking over his life. He wanted to get her a nurse, but couldn't afford it. He owns a tape store, where the tapes can be played into your mind (Total Recall style), and one day someone breaks in to rob him. Somehow he straps the guy to the machine, and figures out that he can run it backwards to get a memory out and record it to tape.

He ends up taking a bunch of his own memories of war and history, edits out the graphic parts, and then sells it to a school. The school wants more and more tapes, and at the end he ends up recording most of his memories (erasing them in the process), using the money to take care of the woman, and leaving himself a note that he was a happy person, and should live a happy life.

harry potter - If it wasn't for his love for Lily, would Snape have a Patronus?

Jaclyn: Did lily ever have feelings back for Snape?

J.K. Rowling: Yes. She might even have grown to love him romantically (she certainly loved him as a friend) if he had not loved Dark Magic so much, and been drawn to such loathesome people and acts.

Mugglenet - Deathly Hallows Webchat - July 2007

I think that had Lily not been in the picture, Snape would have continued down the path of becoming a full-fledged Death Eater. As J.K. Rowling has explained, Snape wanted to be part of something important, something big, because he felt insecure about himself (which was probably exacerbated by the bullying he endured from James Potter and Sirius Black). Further, the Death Eaters were compatible with his inherent attraction to the Dark Arts.

Nithya: Lily detested Mulciber and Avery. If Snape really loved her, why didn't he sacrifice their company for her sake?

J.K. Rowling: Well, that is Snape's tragedy. Given his time over again he would not have become a Death Eater, but like many insecure, vulnerable people (like Wormtail) he craved membership of something big and powerful, something impressive. He wanted Lily and he wanted Mulciber too. He never really understood Lily's aversion; he was so blinded by his attraction to the dark side he thought she would find him impressive if he became a real Death Eater.

Mugglenet - Deathly Hallows Webchat - July 2007

Lily was Snape's moral compass; without her, I think he would have become like Draco Malfoy: Able to shut down the good parts of himself and compartmentalize his emotions to allow himself to brutalize others without emotional trauma. Snape grew up with an alcoholic father and a possibly domestically violent home; without Lily, Snape didn't have a lot to be happy about.

As dlanod mentioned in his question:

J.K. Rowling: [A] Patronus is used against things that the Death Eaters generally generate, or fight alongside. They would not need Patronuses.

Mugglenet - Deathly Hallows Webchat - July 2007

I don't know how long Snape would have remained a bonafide Death Eater, but during the time that he was, I don't think he would have been able to produce a corporeal Patronus, regardless of the status of the Dementors.

a song of ice and fire - In Game of Thrones season 2-3, why were Frey's soldiers (possible spoilers)?

They left when Robb married Talisa. However in the book this was another girl, Jeyne Westerling. From A Storm of Swords:

“Your wife is lovely,” Catelyn said when they were out of earshot,
“and the Westerlings seem worthy... though Lord Gawen is Tywin
Lannister’s sworn man, is he not?”

“Yes. Jason Mallister captured him in the Whispering Wood and has been
holding him at Seagard for ransom. Of course I’ll free him now, though
he may not wish to join me. We wed without his consent, I fear, and
this marriage puts him in dire peril. The Crag is not strong. For love
of me, Jeyne may lose all.”

“And you,” she said softly, “have lost the Freys.”

His wince told all. She understood the angry voices now, why Perwyn
Frey and Martyn Rivers had left in such haste, trampling Robb’s banner
into the ground as they went.

“Dare I ask how many swords come with your bride, Robb?”

“Fifty. A dozen knights.” His voice was glum, as well it might be.
When the marriage contract had been made at the Twins, old Lord Walder
Frey had sent Robb off with a thousand mounted knights and near three
thousand foot. “Jeyne is bright as well as beautiful. And kind as
well. She has a gentle heart.”

It is swords you need, not gentle hearts. How could you do this, Robb?
How could you be so heedless, so stupid? How could you be so... so
very... young.

(Bolded the important parts of the quote.)

lord of the rings - Why is Minas Morgul Green?

The description of Minas Morgul is from the book:

Upon the further side, some way within the valley's arms high on a rocky seat upon the black knees of the Ephel Dúath, stood the walls and tower of Minas Morgul. All was dark about it, earth and sky, but it was lit with light. Not the imprisoned moonlight welling through the marble walls of Minas Ithil long ago, Tower of the Moon, fair and radiant in the hollow of the hills. Paler indeed than the moon ailing in some slow eclipse was the light of it now, wavering and blowing like a noisome exhalation of decay, a corpse-light, a light that illuminated nothing. In the walls and tower windows showed, like countless black holes looking inward into emptiness; but the topmost course of the tower revolved slowly, first one way and then another, a huge ghostly head leering into the night.

Most describes how it is now, which lines up with the movie depiction. The bolded part describes how it used to be prior to its corruption - as the Tower of the Moon, it was created originally by the Numenorians to emit a moon-like radiance. So the light has been there since its construction, as part of making it "fair and radiant" (as one can imagine, a moonlit castle in a vale).

It follows that once Minas Ithil was captured and corrupted by Sauron's forces into Minas Morgul, the light too started to corrupt and change, resulting in the "corpse-light" being seen by the end of the Third Age.

harry potter - Does each student need a pet?

The students aren't required to bring their own pets, its a luxury. The pets of Hogwarts function mostly as animal companions and sources of comfort to students who are spending a large portion of the year seperated from their families. Cats, toads and owls are the traditional pets, but some students got away with bringing other pets, as long as they weren't big or dangerous.

Dumbledore was exceptionally unique in his bond with Fawkes was a rare sort of bond.

Ron got away with bringing Scabbers because the Weasley line was well know for having "more children than they could feed" and being very poor. A rat was probably one of the cheapest pets that can be bought in the wizarding world. Scabbers was relatively small and harmless. I'm sure he'd have preferred a new owl over Hermes, who was very old and losing his vision so was always crashing into things, but his family couldn't afford a new owl. He was awestruck when Sirius Black purchased a new owl for him after the events in Prisoner of Azkaban.

Crookshanks wasn't a pure 'cat' as he was a hybrid of cat/kneazle.

Hagrid's 'personal' pet was a large black dog, which is excluding every other animal he though of as 'his' that were cared for on the Hogwarts grounds.

Most people forget Ginny's pet was a pygmy puff. Ron also owned the pygmy puff's predecessor the puffskein briefly, until it supposedly died after being mistaken for a ball and used during bludger practice.

I'm sure depending on the pet in question they'd be allowed outside of the traditional three as long as there weren't safety hazards relating to it. Like pet tarantulas, weasels, some other type of small to medium bird species, herbology prodigies may prefer potted carnivorous plants over mammals, or even keep a gold fish. I highly doubt anyone would think it was unusual if a slytherin favored a serpent pet - much like the Slytherin founder - as long as it wasn't aggressive or poisonous and didn't grown large during the student's time at Hogwarts. What is mostly taken into consideration is practicality, maintenance, and portability.

All in all, giving how some students skipped years before getting pet, its easy to determine pets were just a luxury and not mandatory.

harry potter - How do children from Hogsmeade come to Hogwarts?

It's all entirely speculation but I'd have to guess they'd just take them to the train platform in Hogsmeade near the time in which the Hogwarts Express arrives, that way everything goes as normal from then on. Luggage taken care of and they arrive by Threstal carriage or boat depending on their year.

This is all contradicted by Pottermore, however, which states:

Many pure-blood families were outraged at the idea of their children using Muggle transport, which they claimed was unsafe, insanitary and demeaning; however, as the Ministry decreed that students either rode the train or did not attend school, the objections were swiftly silenced.

Pottermore - The Hogwarts Express

We do not know how relaxed this law can be, though, as we know both Harry and Ron attended school by Car in their second year and did attend school.

Also Headmaster Dippet mentions the possibility to Tom staying over the summer (in the diary flashback scene in CoS)

"The thing is, Tom,” [Dippet] sighed, “Special arrangements might have been made for you, but in the current circumstances…”

So clearly special arrangements can be made for those staying in the school, I would definitely say that permanent special arrangements can be made for those living much closer to the school.

(Thanks to @BMWurm for finding the quote special arrangement)

star trek - What was the entity looking for that took Voyager into the Delta quadrant?

The "Caretaker" was looking for beings capable of maintaining the array that was caring for the Ocampa.

Reference: Link

The Caretaker reveals that he was part of an alien race whose technology had long ago accidentally caused the rainfall cycle on the Ocampa planet to become disrupted and leaving it arid, due to the destruction of that particular M-class planet's atmospheric nucleogenics. To make up for the error, he and another of his race stayed behind to care for the Ocampa. His companion having long moved on, the Caretaker has used the Array to seek species from distant galactic sectors with the potential to help him reproduce and maintain the array; the strange disease that Kim and Torres had was a result of that test.

Short story...probably pre WW2. About a battleship ordered to surrender

The story is "Politics" by Murray Leinster, published in 1932. The innovation was automatic rangefinders that allowed a ship's guns to be adjusted and fired immediately on the enemy after a single ranging salvo. Pacifists in the government wanted to accept onerous surrender terms, but the navy turned the war around by decimating the enemy fleet with the new technology.

robots - Need help identifying scifi short story about boy getting lost after unknowingly boarding a spacecraft

Can't remember what this story was called/where I read it. I am fairly sure it was part of a collection of other stories

Rough Plot (details are sketchy and possibly wrong so bear with me):

Young earth boy (maybe 12-15 or so) unknowingly boards an alien spaceship which is effectively some kind of giant arboretum with all kinds of animals, the boy is running off crying somewhere and somehow stumbles in there and doesn't realize he's actually on a ship until it takes off and he realizes things don't look right. Somehow this ship cloaks itself while landed (on earth) and acts as a kind of "sampler" ship, which is automated - i.e. apparently not piloted by anyone) and collects samples of the local fauna/flora/wildlife etc and stores it inside in its giant arboretum type thing.

Anyway, boy is confused, hopelessly lost, despairing, doesn't know what's going on, the ship is traveling through space, boy can't find anyone or anything. Ship eventually lands somewhere (I forget the details!) boy wanders around, I have the impression this ship is one of many of a giant network of such ships (earthlings are apparently oblivious to the existence of aliens), boy wanders around unhindered through all these automated (apparently unmonitored) facilities, looking for someone to communicate with, he can't find anyone, ends up boarding another ship (I think?) winds up on some alien planet with some kind of a city. City seems deserted i.e. nobody around, boy is hungry/thirsty, thinking he may die, etc.

Boy finds and enters building on this alien planet, discovers some kind of device with a sink, tries pressing the buttons but only succeeds in making some black slime come out (or something like that), keeps looking and can't find anything.

He finds a 'robot' which he manages to turn on and the boy is nearly dying of thirst/hunger, but apparently the robot is very smart and is able to determine that the boy needs food/water. The robot uses the same sink as before and creates water. The robot also takes a 'sample' of the boy, i.e. some of his flesh and then reconstitutes more of boy's flesh for the boy to eat (basically eating a reproduction of his own flesh, being a cannibal almost, but it's that or starve).

Gradually robot becomes smarter and smarter and begins communication with the boy, apparently the robot was designed to fulfill any/all needs of whomever is using it, the robot is unsure why everything seems to be deserted.

To cut a long story short now (since I'm rambling on and on):

• Apparently the previous occupants have ascended to a higher plane of existence leaving behind all their automation and infrastructure


• Robot becomes more and more human (female!) and basically takes the boy on a tour of the universe and shows him all the stuff


• Boy considers returning to earth, but apparently due to the relativistic nature of space travel, everyone he knew is dead


• Instead decides to see what the universe has to offer and play around with his new robot girlfriend


• At some stage I think he does contact Earth and tries to force them into being 'peaceful' by pointing some kind of alien armada at the planet or something.

Can't remember how it ends exactly, I know I've probably got things wrong/inaccurate, but hopefully if anyone can decipher my mad ramblings and have read it before can figure out the short story/book I'm thinking of.

There's your challenge: Name that Story!

harry potter - How did Dumbledore know where to find Slughorn in Half Blood Prince?

Although there is not a full canon answer, it is important that Slughorn had only just arrived in the house, and that he is a little forgetful. Dumbledore points out to Slughorn that he had not created the Dark Mark, which alerted him to the fact that the house had not really been visited by Death Eaters. Slughorn responds that he knew he'd forgotten something, but wouldn't have had the time to create it before Harry and Dumbledore arrived, anyway.

Which means Slughorn only just arrived. It is not told how he arrived, but most if not all forms of wizarding transport are monitored by the Ministry. Although Slughorn would probably have tried to avoid the attention of the Ministry, he may well have slipped up. Meanwhile Dumbledore had been looking for Slughorn for a while, so he must have kept close tabs on anything betraying his presence.

Precisely how Dumbledore found Slughorn isn't specified, so as far as canon is concerned, we'll simply have to assume that it's because Dumbledore is a genius - which is more than we can say about the Death Eaters.

This last part is speculation, but it's reasonable to assume that Dumbledore has contacts in the Muggle world, who can alert him to things like burglared houses. Whereas the Death Eaters would try to either avoid Muggles or torture information out of them, Dumbledore probably has some friends who come to him, out of their own volition.

lord of the rings - Could Azog possibly have been under Sauron's influence?

I don't think there's any evidence that specifically support or refutes this. In the books, Azog was killed in 2799 of the Third Age, and Sauron had been relatively active (for a disembodied spirit of malevolence, at least) in Dol Guldur for a while by then.

I can't say whether or not Sauron personally put Azog in charge (That seems like the kind of minutiae that a god wouldn't get involved with), but Azog was almost certainly working for Sauron at this time. It seems extremely likely that Azog's killing of Thror (which kicked off the Battle of Azanulbizar in the books, rather than taking place during it as the movie shows), was motivated by Sauron's desire to possess the ring of power that he would later acquire from Thrain, Thror's son and Thorin's father.

star trek - How did changelings learn who killed one of them?

In the middle of Homefront, we hear that the Changelings know that

Odo killed one of them

(in the earlier episode The Adversary).

How it this possible? How could this information reach The Great Link?

From our perspective (the viewers, Odo's, or the Federation's) it went like this:

• the Changelings send one of their spies to spy on the Defiant,


• Odo kills him,


• therefore the Changeling spy does not return to the Great Link.

But from the Changelings / The Great Link’s perspective, the "Odo kills him" part is missing.

So, they may think (at nearly any particular point in time) that:

• the spy hasn't yet finished his task or was forced to hide,


• the spy is captured and kept in some Federation detention center, or


• the spy is killed.

The fact that he hasn't returned to The Great Link does not imply that he was killed. And even if they assume that he was killed, that does not imply that Odo killed him: the Federation has many ways to kill a Changeling once captured, and Odo hasn't got any special abilities that make him the only one able to kill another Changeling.

Thus, to my knowledge, it wasn't possible for The Great Link to learn that one of their spies was killed by Odo and this is a screenplay gap in Homefront. Can anyone confirm that or tell me what am I missing?

The assumption that Odo and other Federation members learn that The Great Link knows that Odo killed one of them is even less possible to prove, assuming that Odo had never visited The Great Link in the period between killing the Changeling spy and the events shown in Homefront.

story identification - CG series about a beast planet

I remember seeing this series back when I was in the early grades of primary school (prep to 3) so this would be between 1996 and 1999

from what I remember it was set in space and the cast was made up from people from these different worlds, one of the characters is from a fire attributed world and I get the impression he was small framed (I think).

at one point in the series this entity appears called the Beast Planet appears, the one scene I do remember is that this Beast Planet attacks the fire planet, the front of the beast planet opens up with this claw and grabs the fire planet from bellow and then the fire planet is slammed into the beast planet dooming the fire planet but I think the beast planet was unharmed.

I also seem to remember that the cast discover the other planets have engines which allows the remaining planets to escape from the Beast Planet rather than them being sitting ducks.

I remember that this beast planet, despite being called a beast is actually more machine. I began remembering this series after playing Galaxy Angel where I saw the Black Moon and it reminds me of this beast planet

lord of the rings - Why did Isildur have the King of the Mountains swear an oath on the stone of Erech?

A Brief History of Swearing an Oath on Objects

The practice of swearing an oath while laying hand on an inanimate object can be traced back centuries. Most commonly, we think of the Bible in such cases, but that is only because of a tradition that the English court started in the 12th Century. Long before that time, it was common for a knight to swear by their honor and/or sword, or for a regular person to swear by whatever deity they held dear. The object being sworn on was typically determined by whichever party asked for/demanded/initiated the swearing part. Whichever side wanted the swearing would choose an object sacred to THEM, but not necessarily both parties.

The general idea behind this concept was that if a person broke their oath, they would be punished by whatever superstitious conceit was included in the ceremony. If a person swore by their honor, for instance, then later broke the oath, it was expected that the other party would make the dishonor known. A businessman, for example, would find his reputation as an oath-breaker preceding him to other towns or regions. A knight who swore by his sword would be risking the integrity & strength of his blade if he broke the oath - something the notoriously superstitious warriors of early history would not want.

Similarly, a 13th-Century court manuscript from England states the idea behind using the Bible to swear in witnesses:

By placing a hand on the book and then kissing it, the oath-taker is
acknowledging that, should he lie under oath, neither the words in the
Bible nor his good deeds nor even his prayers will bring him any earthly or
spiritual profit.

---

But why the Stone of Erech?

To answer your question more concisely, we don't know exactly WHY Isildur chose the black stone for the swearing ceremony. It was obviously an object held sacred to the Numenorean people, and may have even had magical properties that aided Isildur in his curse.

Also, it's important to note that Isildur did NOT bring the stone specifically for the oath. The stone was originally a souvenir of Numenor that they had brought with them and planted in the ground as a memorial. Years later when the Kings met Isildur at the Hill of Erech, the stone was the only standing stone large enough to meet and/or swear on. It may have been a completely random choice by Isildur based on where they were, or the meeting may have deliberately taken place at the Stone of Erech for that very purpose.

As for the stone itself, we don't know much about it, simply that it was a large spherical stone, buried halfway in the ground and polished to a high sheen. The only real description we have of it can be found in Return of the King during "The Passing of the Grey Company":

...upon the top stood a black stone, round as a great globe, the
height of a man, though its half was buried in the ground.

Lord of the Rings Online depicts the stone as very large, three times the height of a Man:

This depiction seems overly large compared to Tolkien's description. Most fans have interpreted the text to mean that the exposed portion of the stone is roughly 3 meters tall (the height of a man), while others believe that comparison refers to the entire, unburied stone (meaning that the exposed portion would be only waist-high). Either way, the Stone would obviously function as a permanent landmark - something large enough to go on maps and assumed to be around for centuries if not millennia.

When were Dilithium Crystals first mentioned in Star Trek?

Out of universe, the first mention of dilithium crystals was in the TOS episode "The Alternative Factor" (season 1, episode 20):

UHURA: Nothing yet, sir.

MASTERS: (A woman in a blue uniform) Report on the dilithium crystals, Captain.

KIRK: Yes.

MASTERS: Whatever that phenomenon was, it drained almost all of our crystals completely. It could mean trouble.

Those two very early references to "lithium crystals" have never been completely explained as far as I know. But there are (in-universe) earlier mentions of dilithium being used as an energy source, for instance in Enterprise - "Cold Front" (which takes place about 110 years before TOS):

SONSORRA: I'm a warp field theorist.

TUCKER: Oh. Well, I guess that covers the basics. Any questions?

ALIEN: How do you regulate positron flow in your dilithium matrix?

TUCKER: Good one. I'll bring up the schematic of the reactor assembly and you can see for yourself.

Short story about a computer that thinks for so long, everyone forgets the question

Given your latest comment (which I've taken the liberty of editing into your question), it looks as though the answer is the classic The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (although it's not an essay or short story). Quoting from here:

In the radio series and the first novel, a group of hyper-intelligent pan-dimensional beings demand to learn the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, The Universe, and Everything from the supercomputer, Deep Thought, specially built for this purpose. It takes Deep Thought 7½ million years to compute and check the answer, which turns out to be 42. Deep Thought points out that the answer seems meaningless because the beings who instructed it never actually knew what the Question was.

If the answer wasn't a number, it could also be the short story The Last Question by Isaac Asimov, another classic. Quoting from the Wikipedia summary:

In each of the first six scenes a different character presents the computer with the same question; namely, how the threat to human existence posed by the heat death of the universe can be averted. [...] Humanity asks AC [a super-super-computer] the entropy question one last time, before the last of humanity merges with AC and disappears. AC is still unable to answer, but continues to ponder the question even after space and time cease to exist. Eventually AC discovers the answer, but has nobody to report it to; the universe is already dead.

lord of the rings - How was the bridge at Khazad-dûm made?

Deep in the mines of Moria, the bridge at Khazad-dûm (Durin's Bridge) spanned a virtually fathomless gap that separated the main part of the Moria superstructure on the western side and the Dimrill Gate on eastern side.

The steps leading to the bridge looked like they could've been easily hewn from the side of the cliff. However, it looks virtually impossible that a solid rock bridge could have been constructed or hewn over the abyss. How was the bridge made and who made it? Unless it was a naturally created bridge smoothed out by the dwarves, it seems unlikely dwarf-craft could have built it.

star trek - Do we know if the Prometheus Class was involved in the Dominion War?

As @T.J.L. mentioned, the only canon appearances of the initially highly-classified Prometheus-type vessels were in:

Unfortunately, none of these involve battle during the Dominion War. However, the last instance is particularly interesting because it indicates that the Prometheus class survived canonically into the 26th Century and served in the most pivotal battle of the Time Wars, suggesting the overall success of the Prometheus design.

The Prometheus class has made several notable appearances in Star Trek's extended universe, including Star Trek Online ("Welcome to Earth Spacedock").

The appearances that are most relevant to the question are:

After the safe return of the Prometheus and the testing of the ship's multi-vector assault mode were completed, Starfleet had rushed the construction of two further vessels, the USS Cerberus and USS Heracles. Both of these vessels were in service by late 2375, and the Cerberus served as Admiral William Ross' flagship from 2376 to 2379. (From novels DS9: Avatar and TNG: A Time for War, A Time for Peace.)

(Source)

As the Dominion War ended in 2375, the timing above suggests that two Prometheus-class vessels may have seen action in the last few months of the war.

lord of the rings - Who was Aragorn singing about in the Song of Beren and Lúthien?

Beren and Luthien were figures in Tolkien's Silmarillion, and fell in love during their fight against the dark lord Morgoth. However, Luthien, who was "the most beautiful of all the Children of Ilúvatar", was an elf, the daughter of the King and Queen of Doriath. Luthien's father did not wish for them to marry, and set the condition of marriage to be the returning of a Silmaril from Morgoth's crown. In the act of completing it, Beren was killed, and Luthien lay down and died of grief. Eru himself offered two choices:

she could either dwell in Valimar with the Valar in bliss forever as reward for all that she had accomplished, or she could be restored to life again with Beren, on the condition that they would both be mortal and die the death of Men. For her love of Beren, Luthien chose the latter.

Because of this, their children would become half-elven, being able to choose either a human or elvish fate. As fabikw notes in his answer, Elrond, who was one of these descendants, chose to become an elf, was Arwen's father, allowing her to make a choice herself. Aragorn was a descendant of Beren, but from a side that chose the human fate. Thus, when they met millenia later, they were a picture of Beren and Luthien. Arwen ultimately made the same choice Luthien did, and became mortal and eventually died (possibly of a broken heart).

So yes, this song has everything to do with Arwen, as it is both a history of her ancestors, as well as a foreshadowing of her life. Arwen was also noted to be very beautiful as her ancestor Luthien was. As an aside, see here for a brief explanation of the significance of Beren and Luthien to Tolkien.

additional note: Aragorn wore the Ring of Barahir as a token of his lineage. Barahir was Beren's father

lord of the rings - Which of his races did Tolkien draw?

This question isn't as broad as it might appear at first glance. I've seen drawings of dragons, Dwarves, Trolls, and Hobbits by Tolkien, and I'm primarily interested in only a few other races. He was a prolific writer and artist, but he seems to have shied away from making too many illustrations featuring animals or people. Perhaps the only imagine along these lines that I have been able to find are these:

The Dragon Glaurung.

Smaug and Bilbo.

More Smaug.

Even more Smaug.

Bill, Tom, and Bert, the Trolls, with Bilbo hiding in a bush (left background), a bunch of Dwarves in sacks (left foreground), and Gandalf casting a spell (right).

Bill, Tom, and Bert again, with a Dwarf in the foreground.

Bilbo at home.

The races I am most interested in seeing are as follows:

• Orcs




• Ents




• Elves




• Wargs

These are the races/species I am most interested in seeing, although I certainly won't complain if you find pictures of other races/species.

Did Tolkien ever draw any of these creatures and races?

story identification - Identifying Anthology of SciFi Stories

The latter story sounds very much like Theodore Sturgeon's Microcosmic God, which was actually published in 1941. The lifeforms are called "neoterics" and live greatly accelerated lives, leading them to quickly outpace humanity technologically.

In the story there's a scene where Kidder, the scientist who created the neoterics, is running towards his house on one end of the island where he lived while the other end is being bombed. He later ends up defending himself and the neoterics in a very interesting way.

If this is the story, then it appeared in the following short story collections and perhaps one of these is the one you are seeking: (from ISFDB)

•Microcosmic God, Volume II: The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon, (Dec 1995, Theodore Sturgeon, publ. North Atlantic Books, 1-55643-213-5, $25.00, xxxiii+372pp, hc, coll) Cover: Jacek Yerka - [VERIFIED]

•Microcosmic God, (Dec 1998, Theodore Sturgeon, publ. North Atlantic Books, 1-55643-301-8, $18.95, xxxiii+372pp, tp, coll) Cover: Jacek Yerka

•Microcosmic God: Volume II: The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon, (Nov 2010, Theodore Sturgeon, publ. North Atlantic Books, 978-1-55643-659-8, $35.00, 408pp, hc, coll)

•Microcosmic God, (date unknown, Theodore Sturgeon, publ. North Atlantic Books, 1-55643-301-8, $18.95, xxxiii+372pp, tp, coll) Cover: Jacek Yerka - [VERIFIED]

The Microcosmic God, (1975, ed. Sam Moscowitz, publ. Manor Books, #12328, $1.25, 193pp, pb, anth) Cover: Bruce Pennington - [VERIFIED]

•Microcosmic God and Other Stories from Modern Masterpieces of Science Fiction, (1968, ed. Sam Moskowitz, publ. Macfadden-Bartell, #60-335, $0.60, 142pp, pb, anth) - [VERIFIED]

From the Wikipedia article:

Microcosmic God

!A highly secretive and reclusive biochemist named Kidder produces inventions that transform human life, spanning every aspect of science and engineering. Unbeknownst to anyone, Kidder has developed a synthetic life form, which he calls "neoterics." These creatures live at a greatly accelerated rate, and therefore have a very short lifespan and produce many generations over a short period of time. This allows Kidder, by presenting them with a frequently changing environment, to "evolve" them quickly into highly intelligent lifeforms who fear Kidder and worship him like a god. Kidder can control his neoterics' environment, and thus force them into developing technology far beyond that of humans. While earlier inventions had been his own, Kidder created the neoterics with the intention that they would become the source of many newer and greater inventions which he could claim as his own.

!Kidder's banker takes over the island on which he has built his laboratory, hoping to use a neoteric design for a new source of power to take over the world. When the banker strikes to kill Kidder and the workers who had assisted in building the power plant, Kidder asks the neoterics to throw up an impenetrable force field.

!The story ends years later. It is unknown whether or not Kidder is still alive under the shield, and certain that the neoterics have continued to develop technology far in excess of anything controlled by humans. The reader is left to suppose that, if the neoterics were to decide to take the Earth, nothing would stop them.

Were there any clone armies before the Clone Wars?

As we know, the Kaminoans were master cloners, as evidenced by their creation of the Grand Army of the Republic, but there were other cloning corporations as I understand (mainly because the Empire leased its major cloning operations to a company after the failed Kaminoan Rebellion). I am pretty sure if thinking logically that Palpatine is not the only maniacal evil Sith maniac out there who came up with the idea of a clone army.

My question is this: Is there any precedent in any Star Wars canon on a clone army before the Grand Army of the Republic?

lord of the rings - Why do Tolkien's wizards look Human, and not Elven?

JRR Tolkien probably did not approach the question as you did, as from the logic of the world history of race creation, the character of a wizard was probably very close to him, in the form that it is told, as a central magic human shaped figure, that anyone could aspire to be. He probably had enough to think about regards elf scripts, casts, the planning of his story, to have devoted much time to the question of what race the wizard should be, the wizard being a good centre for the narrative, and being the most most powerful character in the book.

It is understood that the wizard is not strictly human, and the most information you get regarding this, is Tolkien's words regarding the origin of the wizards:

Gandalf was one of the five Istari sent to Middle-earth by the Valar in the Third Age. In Valinor he was known as Olórin. Gandalf was instrumental in bringing about the demise of Sauron in T.A. 3019, chiefly by encouraging others and dispensing his wisdom at pivotal times. Gandalf was originally robed in grey, and second to Saruman in the Order of wizards. After his fall in Moria, Gandalf returned to Middle-earth as head of the Order, robed in white. Gandalf was noteworthy for his keen interest in Hobbits.

Men:

The race of Men is the second race of beings created by the Supreme God, Ilúvatar. Because they awoke at the start of the First Age of the Sun, while the Elves awoke three Ages before them, they are called the Secondborn (Quenya: Atani, Sindarin: Edain) by the Elves. Men awoke in a land located in the far east of Middle-earth called Hildórien. Men were created after elves, but may have been created prior to the wizards.

In the Hobbit, the first description of Gandalf appeared:

...an old man with a staff. He had a tall pointed blue hat, a long grey cloak, a silver scarf over which a white beard hung down below his waist, and immense black boots.

Note that the Hobbit wasn't written entirely planning forwards to the later books. It is much simpler regards, world, history, etc, the later books are a more advanced vision.