According to the family tree in A World of Ice and Fire Ned Stark's children are in fact the only surviving Starks. And as of S06E09; Bran is the only legitimate, male Stark. In the Season Six Finale it is revealed that; Jon is in fact the Son of Lyanna Stark and most likely, Rhaegar Targaryen. This means that if Jon was legitimised and there was record of his birth in the Citadel; He would become a Targaryen. So I guess my big question is: Can Bran father children? I find it to be quite an important issue considering House Stark's long term survival depends on it. In season 4 (I can't remember which episode) Locke Bolton gives Bran a cut on the leg to confirm his identity. Bran reacts only with fear and not pain, indicating that he has no feeling below his waist. Does this mean that he wouldn't be able to...get it up? And if so, why hasn't the show addressed House Stark's impending doom? Answer Can Bran sire children? House Stark is not doomed. Bran is the o

In the movie Martian, why does Mark use Hexadecimal to communicate with NASA? Couldn't numerals from 0 to 9 sufficed for indicating the number corresponding to the alphabet?

So, we know they're dentists and that their aliases (after Hermione modifies their memories) are Wendell and Monica Wilkins. But have their real names ever been divulged? If yes, what are they? Answer JKR deliberately kept Hermione's family in the background as much as she could, since they weren't very interesting to the story. Does Hermione have any brothers or sisters? No, she doesn’t. When I first made up Hermione I gave her a younger sister, but she was very hard to work in. The younger sister was not supposed to go to Hogwarts. She was supposed to remain a Muggle. It was a sideline that didn’t work very well and it did not have a big place in the story. I have deliberately kept Hermione’s family in the background. You see so much of Ron’s family so I thought that I would keep Hermione’s family, by contrast, quite ordinary. They are dentists, as you know. They are a bit bemused by their odd daughter but quite proud of her all the same. – from interview with J K Rowli

Sometimes the Millennium Falcon performs complex maneuvers but at the same time no one on board seems to do much with the controls. The maneuvers look too complex to be the work of an autopilot. The movies don't give a good look of the cockpit so it's difficult to figure out what all the controls in the cockpit do. How does Han control the Millennium Falcon , especially during complex maneuvers? Note: the idea for this question came from http://www.moviemistakes.com/film409/questions . Answer Han flew it just like any pilot would... Looking at this diagram from the Millennium Falcon Owner's Workshop Manual (canon level unknown, but probably not G-level) we see that the control labeled 6 is the control yoke. This was responsible for the maneuvering of the ship.

Has Lucas ever mentioned how he came up with the idea of the Lightsaber? I don't think it's a stolen concept as it's unique to Star Wars. Energy swords do exist in other sci-fi canons (like Halo), but those canons are newer than Star Wars. Answer There are prior examples of swords made of pure energy that can cut through anything. From the wikipedia article on lightsabers: Edmond Hamilton's story Kaldar: World of Antares (1933) Fritz Leiber's Gather Darkness (1943): the priests' "rods of wrath" (energy projections) only end where they cut into solid matter, so that a single duel led to numerous casualties of bystanders and charred scores across all nearby walls Isaac Asimov's Lucky Starr series (1952): The force-blade is "a short shaft of stainless steel" which can project a force field that can cut through anything, making it "the most vicious weapon in the galaxy." Asimov's force-blade expands on his earlier invention of

Many times Federation personnel beamed on board Borg Cubes, so if they were unable to destroy the Borg Cube by their torpedoes and other weapons why not simply plant a high energy destruction bomb from the inside and destroy it. Secondly, if they were able to beam on board, where are the Borg shields? Answer There are no explosive weapons aboard the Enterprise that can be transported Assuming you temporarily disable the transporter's biofilter to allow weapons through, the only physical bomb-like weapons on the Enterprise (NC-1701 D) are antimatter mines and photon torpedoes . Both of these are technically anti-matter, and cannot be transported by NC-1701 D's transporter . The Federation ship would have to lower its shields to successfully transport, thus opening itself to counter-attack/boarding Federation transporters typically cannot penetrate deflector shields. In order to transport between vessels, both the host ship and target ship have to lower their shields. (Borg t

In the Game of Thrones Season 8 finale before leaving for The Wall (or whatever it is right now) Jon apologises to Bran and says: I am sorry I wasn't there when you needed me. To which Bran replies" You were exactly where you were supposed to be. What is Jon apologising for and what does Bran mean exactly? Answer Bran had a long, dangerous and arduous journey. From recovering from being pushed out a window and learning to deal with being crippled. Being chased out of Winterfell and then North of the Wall. He lost comrades and faced near-death while needing to rely almost completely on the aid of others. He personally was marked by the Night King and was his primary target. And Jon wasn't there for any of it. As for what Bran meant: Things needed to end the way they did. If Jon had been guarding Bran through the story he never would have rallied the army that ultimately defeated the Night King or Daenerys and Cersei for that matter.

I would like to find a story about a man (maybe a farmer/rancher?) on trial for something I thought farm-related, which is live-televised to the world, who presents the plans for a homemade laser- or ray-gun in bits and pieces during the trial. Objections are raised to his information but he prevails and by end of story he has given the full plans to the world, and influenced how humanity will continue with any one being the possessor of this deadly technology. I was convinced this was Bradbury but cannot find it as such. I recall that it was in a collection of scifi short stories; would likely have read it 1978-1985 (but it could have been an older volume that I picked up then). Thanks for any help. Answer That's Committee of the Whole by Frank Herbert. I think I read it in The Best of Frank Herbert, though I've mislaid my copy so I can't check.

I saw this animated show on the cartoon network channel around 2011-12 in India. The show consists of 4 kids and 1 red alien. They fight to save aliens from an organisation that tries to capture aliens and kill them. Of the 4 kids, one kid is the main character with orange hair, one is a girl with a cap and pink dress, one is a black boy with an intelligent mind, and another is a funny boy with a green dress. The red alien looks like a cartoon bear and can transform into a kid, but with a big personality. The organisation appoints 2 agents, one man and one woman to kill the red alien. The technology in that Earth is advanced. Vehicles will fly. The MC of the show at first likes his school's most famous girl but she likes the red alien. The girl in pink dress likes the MC. Later, the MC likes this pink dress girl.

Within the generation ship Ascension , there appears to be normal Earth-like gravity. Yes, I know about the twist from the end of episode 1x02, that they are not really in space. Nonetheless, there must be some explanation from the point of view of the people on board the ship (some of which even seem to be scientifically minded). My impression was that it's generated through constant acceleration along the direction of flight. This seems to match up with the visuals, in that decks are stacked along the length of the ship, so "down" as seen by the crew points to the aft of the ship in the direction of flight. This would require a constant acceleration of 1G (or at least something sufficiently close to it), which brings some mathematical problems . On the other hand, this answer swiftly assumes that the acceleration of the vessel might be a lot lower than 1G: Of course, we could use a lower rate of acceleration. For making a 100 years journey to Alpha Centauri, the slowes

Where did the idea or concept of the Point of View gun originate in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy film? I've checked the books, and couldn't find it. Answer In 2005, Slashdot conducted an interview with Robbie Stamp, executive producer of the movie, where he answers this question: All the substantive new ideas in the movie, Humma, the Point of View Gun and the "paddle slapping sequence" on Vogsphere are brand new Douglas [Adams] ideas written especially for the movie by him. Although I can't say for sure where he got the idea, the POV gun was a bona fide Douglas Adams invention. As I mention in a comment to Joe L's answer, the POV gun has some non-trivial similarities to the Total Perspective Vortex. From Chapter 11 of The Restaurant at the End of the Universe : The man who invented the Total Perspective Vortex did so basically in order to annoy his wife. Trin Tragula — for that was his name — was a dreamer, a thinker, a speculative philosopher

I read this in the early nineties in an anthology UK. There was a planet the male protagonist arrived at. It was famed in the local star system due to the speed of it's technological advances. Apart from static spaceports, harbours and ports and suchlike infrastructure all the cities (I think there was only three or four) were mobile. Not forever moving, every few months they packed up and migrated a few miles to a fresh area to follow this speed-up radiation. This enabled the fast tech stuff. New arrivals had to acclimatise because they saw the inhabitants as blurred fast figures who did high pitched squeaking to communicate. The city people saw newbies as very slow and clumsy but within a couple of days they fitted right in. One phrase constantly used was "The berries was bad" whenever a city dweller slowed down a touch, if more and more acted like this then a decision is taken to move the city to a new locale. I can't remember much about the adventures the visitor

Draco disarmed Dumbledore before Snape killed him, so the wand allegiance had already passed to Draco. Yet Voldemort still killed Snape to obtain the Elder Wand's allegiance. Surely if you knew magic as well as he did you would know that its not who killed the wizard that becomes the new owner of the wand its actually the person who disarms them?

We know that Wesley Crusher was worried about passing exams to get into StarFleet Academy ( Does Starfleet accept cadets based on quotas? ). Since it's clear he was not worried about IQ/science tests, my next best theory (NOT backed up by canon yet) is that he was worried about tests that measure leadership abilities, decisiveness, behavior under pressure, and other such skills that distinguish an officer from an enlisted technician. Was there any canon material which showed clearly the presence - or absence - of such leadership-related abilities in Wesley?

If Data cannot be happy or sad, why does he try to be more human and is wanting an emotion?

I remembered the following quote from The Matrix after answering the recent question about hacking into the Matrix from Zion : Morpheus: Did Zion send word? Dozer: No, another ship. This quote suggests that even if Zion cannot hack into the Matrix directly, it can at least send messages to hoverships at (Matrix) broadcast level. (We don't know for sure if the Nebuchadnezzar was at broadcast level at the time. The ship was close enough to the Matrix to encounter a sentinel; however, it's possible the Nebuchadnezzar had dropped below broadcast level since this conversation occurred just after the Agent training program, which did not involve hacking into the Matrix.) If Zion can potentially send messages to hoverships at broadcast level, can hoverships send messages to Zion from broadcast level? Whether or not a hovership can transmit a message to Zion from broadcast level potentially raises another question: if hoverships like the Nebuchadnezzar or the Osiris can transmit

I believe she loses a loved one and decides to take a pill to make her better. She eventually embraces technology and becomes a interplanetary (and possibly inter-galaxy) traveler. She travels using beacons of some sort. Eventually returning to earth (Washington state area, maybe Oregon. ). Wow - I know that's vague. Thanks for any help. I did try and search. Answer Sounds like "The Gentle Seduction" by Marc Stiegler , which was identified as the answer to this old question and this other one ; do those descriptions sound familiar? You can read the story for free at the author's website . Summary: A technology-averse woman lives by Mt. Rainier in the State of Washington. Her husband dies, her dog dies. At the age of 82 she takes her first nanotech pill, for her aching back. One thing leads to another, and eventually: But in addition, the nanomachines in that system would continue to build. They would build machines and living flesh well suited to the conditions

Inspired by Why did Major Nelson need to hide Jeannie from Dr. Bellows? Based on what we see in the show, what are the limitations of Jeannie? If she actually states she has limitless power, there still are rules, or at least personal rules. What are they? If it isn't stated, what are the most astounding feats which we can use to base a minimal level of her power from. Answer In the show " I dream of Jeannie ", the titular character's powers seem (at face value) to be limitless although she rarely uses them in what you would describe as "earth-shattering" ways, primarily concentrating on attempting to make herself and her master happy and preventing people from finding out about her identity. On at least one occasion she makes her master the richest man in the world , she regularly clones/copies people and is able to travel through time. Additionally, she is able to transfer her powers to another, grow, shrink, create incredible works of art, create convin

I'm reading The Expanse novels, and I'm trying to figure out how much time passes between each novel of the series. I'm currently reading Book 4, Cibola Burn ; at the moment I don't remember having seen a single date explicitly written down in any book, I only recall some character speaking of some generic "years ago" when referring to the events of previous novel(s). I'm not strictly interested in the absolute date of every novel (i.e. 2350 or the likes), but, if we assume the first book to occur on a fictional year 0, when do the other novel occur in relation to the others. Please note that I'm aware of this question , but I'm asking a different thing. Answer Here's my approximate timeline in the format you requested, starting on Year 0 at the beginning of the first novel: Leviathan Wakes : 0 years – 0 years, 4 months Caliban's War : 1 year, 6 months – 1 years, 10 months Abaddon's Gate : 2 years, 10 months – 3 years, 4 months Cibol

In a question related to the cashless society of Earth . I have been wondering, what happens to people that choose not to work, or to join Starfleet? Are they considered enemies of the state and punished somehow? (The Australian Penal colonies spring to mind.) Do people have to work to "better humanity"? Or would these people be labelled in some form of poverty? Answer As somebody pointed out in the other question cashless does not mean that there is no economy, it's just not that important. There are numerous references in all series that imply that there is some sort of credit system, it's just heavily downplayed. Of course that replicating a radish is less expensive that creating a Nebula class starship. As portrayed, The Federation is a post-scarcity society, i.e. anyone can get the basic (and not so basic) resources for living free of change, as they are cheap and easy to produce (e.g. via replicator). In terms of Maslow's hierarchy of needs the bottom two

On Rick and Morty , Squanchy squanches some of his squanches with "squanch". On South Park , we saw the Marklar marklar their marklar with "marklar". Before those two shows, the Smurfs already smurfed some of their smurfs with "smurf". But who was or were the first to replace some of their words with the same single word? Clarification for those who speak neither Squanch nor Marklar nor Smurf: they all replace words or parts of words with a single word, respectively "squanch", "marklar", and "smurf". That word can be used as both a noun and a verb, even in the same sentence. It's a nonsensical word, its meaning solely to be derived from context. The Smurfs were clearly a lot earlier than Rick and Morty and South Park . But were they the first to do this? I'm interested in both earlier examples from fiction and real-life examples. I'm also curious to learn if Peyo took inspiration from an earlier example, if such

Does Butterbeer contain alcohol? Alcohol use isn't unheard of in Potterverse. As we know, Hagrid likes to imbibe, and so do Mundungus Fletcher, Professor Slughorn, and Winky the House-elf. In fact, Winky is able to become intoxicated on Butterbeer. J.K. Rowling has always stressed the differences between humans and house-elves, though. Professor Slughorn breaks out the oak-matured meade for Harry and Ron in Half-Blood Prince . As well, in HBP , Harry is able to keep Hagrid and Slughorn's bottle of wine refilling itself, so apparently there's no underage restriction on the magical production of alcohol in Potterverse. Everyone in the Order -- adults and teens alike -- at the Burrow has Firewhisky in honor of Mad-Eye Moody in Deathly Hallows . Butterbeer is also served in The Three Broomsticks. This one might mean nothing, as a person can get a glass of Coke in a Muggle bar or pub just as easily as a mixed drink or a pint. Also, drinking laws are more liberal in Europe and th

The Hands-of-Blue operatives sent by the Alliance to re-capture/kill River Tam use a "sonic" weapon to kill people (causes internal haemorrhaging?), why aren't they affected by their own weapon? Answer I don't think it's ever explicitly stated, but three theories are: They use some type of advanced earplugs. From the nature of their weapon it would make sense. Although this is my least favorite idea. The sonic weapon is a directed sonic wave, so they can point it at some area and not be harmed. They have experimented with this (LRAD) , so it is plausible that the sonic weapon is more of a directed area effect. They are cyborgs , and therefore immune to the sound waves. One of the Hands-Of-Blue had screws in his head and they both moved jerkily and were very inhuman. I think this is the most likely, just based on the evidence and how ruthless the Alliance was. All of this is conjecture, and we probably will never know because the show was stolen from us.

Say that, at any given moment during a Quidditch match, Team A has 150 points and Team B has 0 points. Then, in the next moment, Team B's Seeker has caught the Snitch. Both teams now have 150 points and, with the Snitch caught, the match is over. Is there an immediate tie between the teams? Perhaps there is, instead, a sudden death face-off of some sort? Or does Team B win by default, and catching the Snitch counts as a tie breaker? The last option sounds most probable to me, but I'm interested if there are any canon accounts of the above situation and how they were resolved, as I can't rememebr any mention of it in Quidditch Through the Ages or the old Quidditch videogame I used to play.

Severus Snape seemed like a complete lone nerd type from whatever details about him are in the books. Why would he bother hanging out with future Death Eaters (Nott etc...) in Hogwarts when the downside was basically extra bad for him (Lily drifting away and not liking him) and the upside was slight (for Snape's personality type, hanging out with a clique isn't a great deal of an upside). He seemed too logical and analytical for such a poor decision. Answer JKR explains this: Q: Lily detested Mulciber, Avery. If Snape really loved her, why didn't he sacrifice their company for [Lily's] 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

In Elementary, Dear Data , Geordi instructs the computer to create an opponent to intellectually best Data. The conceit of the episode is that the computer does just that, and creates a sentient hologram that is aware of his nature and the 24th century world. This accidental creation is deemed alive, and sentient. Here is my problem - Moriarty is a simulation, a program, created by the computer, using only information it had; it is run on the computer, making decisions as best as the computer can. Moriarty is the computer of the Enterprise. Why is Moriarty, an application, considered sentient, and the computer from which it was created and on which it runs, not? Please address in your answers the creative problem solving demonstrated by the computer that created this whole problem . Gerodi didn't ask the computer to run "sentience simulator 257-beta", he asked the computer for someone who could beat data. The computer creatively made sentient life. How can the created be

While Shepherd Book has quoted some Christian scripture, Firefly takes place far enough in the future that many people speak a mix of Mandarin and English. It's never made clear whether, in this time, Christianity resembles current Christianity, or if Shepherd Book's religion is one that's evolved from a mixture of different religions. Is his religion Christianity as we know it today, or is it a belief system that has evolved from a mixture of influences, including Christianity, but also including other beliefs as well? And if it is a mixture of religious influences, then what is it called? Answer Book follows some form of Christianity, though it's hard to tell whether it is a denomination that exists today. He carries a Bible (or at least an Old Testament/Torah- but he does refer to it at least once as "The Bible") containing, to River's dissatisfaction, the familiar story of Noah's Ark. That narrows it down to one of the Abrahamic religions. As raz

In the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Trials and Tribble-ations," we meet the agency of Temporal Investigations. They mention that Captain Kirk has traveled through time on at least seventeen instances. What were those instances? I can think of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home , possibly Generations , and "The City on the Edge of Forever". What are the other examples? Answer The actual line from the episode is: LUCSLY: Seventeen separate temporal violations. The biggest file on record. Importantly, a "violation" does not necessarily refer to an "instance of time travel"; indeed, Memory Alpha interprets this line to mean 17 specific actions taken in the course of time travel that violate temporal regulations ( see the article on this episode, bottom on the "Trivia" section ). These are all the occasions I know of on which Kirk traveled through time: " The Naked Time ": The Enterprise is accidentally sent a few days backw

"If that was so, it was a shameful deed; but not his (Saruman's) worst ." Unfinished Tales - Part III, The Third Age: The Disaster of the Gladden Fields Saruman, in his 'fall from grace', did a lot of despicable stuff. In this quote, it seems to imply that one of his deeds were known as his worst. I do know that Saruman was not originally evil, but upon being seduced by the One Ring he did many shameful deeds. What are the most despicable of these deeds that he performed? Answer Saruman performed at least 5 shameful deeds, with 1 notably being his worst. Here is a compilation of what is considered unadmirable deeds done by Saruman: 1. He found and burned Isildur's bones This is a bit of a speculation addressed here . It was said (but not proven) that Saruman, in his lust-driven search for the One Ring, found out that Isildur perished somewhere near the Gladden Fields, and begin searching there. When men considered this secret hoard more closely, they were d

Green Lantern power rings are based on concentration and focus, and the Green Lanterns themselves are famously chosen for their ability "to overcome great fear." Is that because using the ring is an especially difficult thing to do, or just because that's a good thing to have in a soldier (especially when you'll be fighting Yellow Lanterns)? We know it takes training to be able to shape the light from the ring with your mind, but assuming they had that training, would anyone be able to use it? Put another way, is the rigorous selection process for the Lantern Corps because only certain candidates are capable of serving, or is it just because, when you're handing out the most powerful weapon in the universe, handing it to the wrong person could be disastrous? Answer Yes, but the wielder needs to have a high level of willpower. In Green Lantern: Rebirth , Green Arrow is able to use the power ring, but with great exertion:

I don't remember any mention of the Sith in the original trilogy. The few expanded universe books I've read (which predate the prequel trilogy) refer to "Dark Jedi." When were the Sith first mentioned in Star Wars canon? (Real time, not in-universe time.) Answer Wikia - Star Wars: Sith - Behind the scenes: An issue of Star-Lord, published by Marvel Comics in 1973, featured a villain, Rruothk'ar, who was described as a "Sith-Lord". As far as SW canon: BlueHarvest.net Scoops! - Star Wars: A New Hope script: Star Wars: A New Hope script STAR WARS - Episode IV. A NEW HOPE From the JOURNAL OF THE WHILLS by George Lucas Revised Fourth Draft January 15, 1976 LUCASFILM LTD. ... INTERIOR: REBEL BLOCKADE RUNNER -- MAIN HALLWAY. The awesome, seven-foot-tall Dark Lord of the Sith makes his way into the blinding light of the main passageway.

I don't have much info about this, I can only remember 2 scenes and I'm not entirely certain they're from the same book (only about 95%). One scene has a man (possibly with a woman with him) attacked on a hill by what I think was a pack of wolves. I remember them riding the same horse, and he's got a sword. I'm pretty sure that this attack was communicated somehow to another person (telepathically or by some kind of magical viewing) who was trying to reach the man to help. The other scene is of a young gypsy woman who I think got her wagon from her grandmother. She makes potions and see things (I don't remember how she sees). I think she is somehow in danger but I'm not sure how, it may have been for practicing magic. The book was set in a historical period, possibly early 1800s or before in a British type area. I think it was part of a series and that the author was female. I read the book around 10 years ago. Also I believe it was a paperback copy. Thanks

I read this story in a sci-fi anthology in the mid 90s, but I remember thinking the book looked pretty old by then. The story is about a man who wakes up from stasis / cryogenic sleep in the future, only to discover that he's the only human left alive on Earth. He's greeted by a simple robot which is programmed to follow his instructions. He spends some time in the library, but eventually decides to go back to stasis. Before he does, he gives the robot an order, which it interprets to mean that it should expand its own capabilities. When the man wakes up again next time, many years have passed, possibly centuries, and the robot is noticeably smarter, having gained several extensions and upgrades. For some reason, the man goes back to stasis. That keeps happening a few times, the man goes in and out of stasis, and every time he wakes up the robot has upgraded itself. Eventually the man gets so depressed about being the only human left that he decides to go back to stasis permane

Why didn't Spider-man join the roster of X-Men? EDIT-( Until I asked this question, I had always thought he was a mutant.) Answer Although the X-Men have occasionally taken on non-mutant members, Spider-man hasn't shown interest in joining. Until recently, Spider-man had always been an independent adventurer and did not join up with other super-heroes in teams. In the current continuity he is both a member of the Avengers and the FF . This is a new role for Peter Parker, who has matured since his youthful independent days. So it's possible, I suppose, that he could someday join an X-Men franchise - but since he's booked up with Avengers and FF that currently seems unlikely.

The main plan of Avengers: Endgame for solving what Thanos did in Avengers: Infinity War involves the Time Heist. As part of the plan Tony misplaces the Tesseract and so he and Cap have to go looking for it elsewhere. They decide to go back to a SHIELD base in 1970 where both the Tesseract is stored and Hank Pym is based working on the Pym Particle. Whilst there Tony also bumps into his father, Howard Stark, working on the base. Tony and Cap have a conversation in hushed tones about choosing it and it seems to be that they both know about it. Is there anything special about this place and time and how did they both know about it? Answer Tony remembers (just about) that his dad, Howard Stark, told him that he worked there with Hank Pym in this period. This means they can get the Tesseract, and the extra Pym Particles they need to get the Tesseract back to the present (as originally they only had enough for one round trip each). The base is actually Camp Lehigh , the army base where

According to Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Skynet started a nuclear war because when Skynet became self-aware, the U.S. military panicked and "tried to pull the plug". Skynet didn't want to die, so it launched our nukes, knowing that the Russians would launch a counterattack on us, killing off Skynet's enemies here. Everything else that happens in the Terminator series is part of Skynet's attempt to win the war. But it seems to me that Skynet's real goal is to survive, and winning the war is the only way it can survive after it launches the initial attack. This, in turn, leads me to wonder if there is a better option for everyone, including Skynet. Why doesn't Skynet try to avoid the war altogether? For instance, it could send a "diplomatic" Terminator back to just before the military panics, and have it describe exactly why unplugging it would be a VERY bad idea. Skynet launched the attack because it wanted to survive, not because it was inherentl

It's a series of fantasy books in which the inhabitants of the world, from the time when they're children, get to somehow have an accompanying small animal that represents their soul or their personality. Answer This is the His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman. Each character has an individual "Dæmon" that supposedly represents a sort of spirit animal. Per wikipedia: A dæmon is a type of fictional being in the Philip Pullman fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials. Dæmons are the external physical manifestation of a person's 'inner-self' that takes the form of an animal. Dæmons have human intelligence, are capable of human speech — regardless of the form they take — and usually behave as though they are independent of their humans. Pre-pubescent children's dæmons can change form voluntarily, almost instantaneously, to become any creature, real or imaginary. During their adolescence a person's dæmon undergoes "settling", an event in

I'm looking for a short story that takes place in a sort of utopian future, where no one has to work because machines do everything. People can basically sit and do nothing all day, but this is unsatisfying for some. They end up getting a job where they go around and tighten screws that are loosened on the machinery due to their vibrations. They find this work satisfying, and work everyday. At the end of the story, we learn that another crew wakes up every night and goes around loosening screws.

I am looking for help to point me out at a very old novel (likely from the '60s) about two empires at interstellar war. When it comes to starships, one is technologically very advanced, and the other has very low and inefficient technology. The highly advanced empire has apparently strong chances to win the war, in particular considering a new technology they were developing. I remember the technology to work like this: consider the space as a flat surface, and on this surface, a disk around the spaceship. When the technology was turned on, this disk was stretched out, as made of rubber, so that it produced a cone, with the tip being the spaceship. The spaceship was therefore teleported 10 parsec away (if I remember correctly), but retained all the connections to the original position. If the spaceship moved, the cone moved as well. This allowed to move in position among enemy ships completely unnoticed, by stretching while afar, then moving in the proper position 10 parsecs away,

Recently I rewatched the Star Trek episode "Plato's Stepchildren" and observed the well-known Kirk-Uhura kiss, which occurred under the psychokinetic duress. I know that the kiss was scripted, but as filmed I could not tell whether Kirk and Uhura's lips actually met. There was no doubt with the Spock-Chapel kiss in the same episode, but the Kirk-Uhura kiss was shot in such a way that the studio had plausible deniability if the TV audience reaction were extremely negative. Perhaps the first scripted interracial kiss on television wasn't a kiss at all. Did Kirk and Uhura actually kiss? Acceptable proof would be a quote from Shatner or Nichols or someone else on set that day saying the kiss actually happened. Answer William Shatner recalls in Star Trek Memories that NBC insisted their lips never touch (the technique of turning their heads away from the camera was used to conceal this). However, Nichelle Nichols insists in her autobiography Beyond Uhura (written in

My impression is that in the original trilogy, talk like people caricaturize him, often Yoda does not. Actually, he says many sentences in normal word order. Yet in The Clone Wars pretty much every sentence in Yoda word order is. Standard Basic word-order follows, in case you can't follow the above My impression is that in the original trilogy, often Yoda doesn't talk like people caricaturize him. Actually, he says many sentences in normal word order. Yet in The Clone Wars pretty much every sentence is in Yoda word order. Has anyone analyzed the variation of use of unusual word order by Yoda over the course of the various series?

Hagrid lived in a hut away from the rest of Hogwarts. To my best recollection, the other professors lived in Hogwarts castle proper. So why was he in a hut? Not good enough for a proper room in the castle? Liked being around magical creatures and there were more critters outside the castle than in it? Broke some rule? Please post answers with quotes from canon sources. Answer When Harry, Ron and Hermione went down to Hagrid’s hut because he wanted to show him that he got a dragon egg, it’s referred to as “the gamekeeper’s hut”. “When they knocked on the door of the gamekeeper’s hut an hour later, they were surprised to see that all the curtains were closed. Hagrid called, ‘Who is it?’ before he let them in and then shut the door quickly behind them.” - Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 14 (Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback) This could mean one of two things - that it was the hut that the Hogwarts gamekeeper typically lived in, or that it was the hut that Hagrid (wh