The Chitauri made the scepter that Loki used to carry the mind stone around in Avengers movies. The Chitauri also made a weapon that Ned and Peter Parker played around with in Spider-Man: Homecoming . Have Chitauri themselves been in any Marvel movies? If so, which movies and which characters? Answer The Chitauri are the alien fleet in Avengers that Loki leads in the invasion of New York. All the Chitauri parts that we see in Spider-Man: Homecoming were salvaged from the alien wreckage of that battle. The Chitauri in the MCU are roughly taking the place of the Skrull race, since I believe Fox has the rights to the Skrull as part of their Fantastic Four deal. None of the Chitauri were ever individually identified. Their leader during the invation was Loki, and their "boss" was Thanos. The Chitauri themselves were nameless drones (literally -- since they are some type of cybernetic race, when their mother ship is destroyed they all shut down.) As far as I am aware, other th...

It's Friday night and for some absurd reason, I'm going over 1099s and getting my taxes ready so I'm not rushing them to the accountant on the last day and I'm saying, "I bet Harry Potter doesn't pay taxes!" Or does he? Then I got to think about how big the Ministry of Magic is and how many people are employed there. And the aren't going to be working there if they aren't making money. So how does the Ministry of Magic raise their funding? Does the government in the magical world have taxes? Or is there some magical way they have of getting money for the government that doesn't create havoc in the economy? Answer There is never any mention of how they come by the money. Neither in books nor in any JKR interviews. I searched for "money", "funding", "tax/taxes/taxed", "ministry" and "government". Zero relevant hits. The ONLY exception is a note in OotP that Malfoy has great access and pull with ...

I read this book back in the late 80s/ early 90s. I remember the title of the book as Mission. It started with a man being admitted to a hospital in present-day NY at Easter, with all of the wounds that Jesus suffered. He is brought back from death and ultimately recruits a sceptic who is persuaded to board an El Al flight to Israel. A terrorist blows up the plane, but Jesus and this guy are transported back to Biblical times. This goes to explain Jesus's disappearance from his grave over the Easter weekend. Basically, this sceptic winds up writing the Dead Sea scrolls, but with the knowledge from his original time. Another thread of the story has academics in the 50s (or so) going through the scrolls with mounting disbelief at the kind of stuff this guy is writing (particularly about sex/violence/regular life in NY in the 80s/90s). They decide that it's too controversial and end up keeping the scrolls under wraps and this ends up being the reason that the scrolls have still no...

Possible Duplicate: Is the Hulk in the Avengers the same as in the other movies? Why wasn't Spiderman featured in the movie 'Avengers',even though he's an ace superhero of the Marvel Universe? Any history or conflicts behind this.

With the recent revamp of the DC comics, I noticed that Nightwing has changed his costume from black and blue to black and red. The only reason I can think of for this would be to sell toys. Does anyone know whether there is another reason? Answer From the original announcement : The characters also are getting a makeover. While most of the specifics are still top secret, Lee says he worked with both staff and freelance artists to redesign costumes in a contemporary way as well as alter the physicality of many heroes and villains to modernize the DC Universe. If you look at this link you'll see many (if not all) characters had costume design changed for the New 52. The entire Batman lineup has a red theme now, with the exception of Batman himself and Batgirl (who has red hair). The more red you have on your costume, the less likely you are to notice the blood as you bludgeon criminals in a dark alley. It certainly appears that the changes came as a result of DC wanting to modern...

I am looking for an animated movie that felt like a mix of 'classic' Scottish and Japanese stories. Unfortunately, I don't remember anything about the plot, other than it having to do something with a dragon. This movie was on Netflix around 2010-2011. I distinctly remember it being on Netflix at the same time as both "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" and "The Last Airbender" (Live action movie) The only scene I remember is a knight in armor running on a bridge with a trail of smoke, and when he got off the bridge, he died and collapsed on the ground in dust and ash. EDIT: I'm not entirely sure, but I think it was 3D CGI Animation. Answer A French production, but the vibe is Scottish with high fantasy influence, the CGI movie Dragon Hunters (2009) has a ten second scene involving a knight who races across a drawbridge, staggers inside, then falls apart into ashes and empty armour. The scene in question occurs at 6:58 on the version of the movi...

In "The Woman Who Fell to Earth (S11 E1)" the Doctor is found on a train after an alien appearance. When she suggests that the creature that fell through the roof of the train (not her) was an alien, Graham says "Don't be daft, there's no such thing as aliens." However, at this point, there have been several major alien events on Earth, and by this point I thought aliens were common knowledge (though not many people know much about them). As I recall, just last season alien pyramids were landing on Earth. On the other hand, it's possible that one of the various reboots or time messes changed on Earth changed the situation. Given the events of the previous season, why would this man be skeptical of the existence of aliens?

I want to know if there's word of god to be had here. What I did find is close, but not quite definitive: Animals can eat zombies Animals can drink zombie-contaminated water Kirkman says people can safely eat other humans who have been bitten, but haven't turned yet (but doesn't say you can eat actual zombie flesh) Kirkman says that drinking a bit of zombie blood isn't the end of the world (no pun intended) So I'm looking for the missing piece of the puzzle: Has Robert Kirkman himself ever commented on what would happen if a human ate zombie meat? Note: I'm not interested in eating bitten people, or drinking a little zombie blood, because I have already read his comments on those subjects; I'm also not interested in what anyone other than Kirkman himself has said.

Impulse drive, how fast is it? Throughout star trek we see various ships travelling at fractions of 'Impulse drive'. An impulse is a unit of force and thus converting to speed is difficult. Here are some approximations I found on the memory alpha article on Impulse Drive : In The Motion Picture, The Enterprise traveled at warp 0.5 ... or roughly 1/3 light speed No mention of what fraction of impulse this would be though. According to Jo'Bril in the episode "Suspicions", the shuttles aboard the Enterprise-D had a maximum impulse velocity of approximately 2.5% of light speed – he specified that at ¾ impulse the shuttle would travel a distance of one million kilometers in approximately three minutes (approximately 12,400,000 miles per hour) 12,400,000 miles per hour is 0.01849c making 1 Impulse drive 2.46% c. But is this inconsistent with the above value? 1 Impulse = ~2.5%c = 0.5*(1/3*2.5%) = warp 0.004. Is that the same for all of the ships? A reference made in ...

At one point, the Oracle tells Neo: Oh, of course you have. Every time you've heard someone say they saw a ghost, or an angel. Every story you've ever heard about vampires, werewolves, or aliens, is the system assimilating some program that's doing something they're not supposed to be doing. Was there any evidence for that within the Matrix movies? Were there any actual instances of vampires/werewolves/aliens? The only instance I recall of a program not doing what it was not supposed to be doing was Agent Smith. And he was NOT a vampire. Answer There were at least 2 instances. As per Persephone Wiki entry : Before shooting her husband's employee in The Matrix Reloaded, Persephone mentions needing silver bullets, implying that he is a werewolf . In behind-the-scenes footage, Persephone herself is described as a " vampire that seeks after emotions". I don't recall any aliens, but there was at least one Elf :)

I cannot remember the story exactly, but I guess it goes like this - Protagonist was travelling somewhere. So he goes to a train station. But the ticket counter he went to appeared old fashioned (may be with old lamps and kind of things). He gives money to the man at the counter to buy a ticket. But seeing the coins, the person asks if the protagonist is trying to fool him. (Implies that the person has not seen the coins before, so he thinks protagonist is trying to fool him giving fake money). Somehow the protagonist reached back to his home and tells his relatives/neighbors about his experience. He got curious about this and made several attempts to get back to that same ticket counter, but couldn't find it. After some days the protagonist go missing. The relatives/friends find an old bundle of letters at his house. The letters had been sent by the protagonist from a different time period. From the letters it is understood that the guy had found the counter and traveled back in t...

Spoilers follow, and this is from the books (not the movies)... In The Chamber of Secrets : Harry retrieves Goderic Gryffindor's sword from the sorting hat during the confrontation with the basilisk. After this Dumbledore keeps hold of the sword in a glass case in his office. Then in The Deathly Hallows : Harry and Ron do a deal with Griphook to return Gryffindor's sword to the goblins after they have retrieved Hufflepuff's cup, planning to partially double cross him by holding on to it until all the horcruxes have been destroyed. However Griphook double crosses them first, and keeps hold of the sword. Then, in the battle at the end of the book: Voldemort puts the sorting hat on Neville Longbottom's head and sets him on fire. Instead of burning Neville pulls Gryffindor's sword out of the sorting hat and beheads Nagini, destroying Voldemort's last horcrux. However, if the sword could always be pulled out of the hat by someone sufficiently heroic then why the need...

I saw a movie in the 80's where aliens were hunting people — from what I remember in the woods, or a real rural area — and they would throw these living disc-like creatures with small tentacles on them at the humans. What movie was this? Answer " Without Warning "? It had a town that was attacked by an alien being who threw round disc like creatures at people that killed them. Here's a trailer on YouTube: [embedded content]

I wondered: Since Lightsabers are made out off light, and all other laser based weapons. Can't it be reflected by a mirror or something reflective? Answer No, it shouldn't be possible. The problem is that lightsabers aren't actually lasers (if they were, they wouldn't stop after 1-2m length, they'd go on until they hit something). They're some form of magnetic plasma bottle. The defences against them are magnetic or heat resistance (shields, dense metals, etc.), not reflection. A surface which reflected charged particles would help, but the heat transfer would probably still melt it rapidly. (Lightsabers don't have much trouble with blast doors, for example, even shiny ones.) (Even against laser weaponry, a mirror would be of limited value. The surface polish helps at first, but a sufficiently energetic pulsed laser will rapidly blow that shiny surface apart.)

Is Borg intelligence based on the sum of all the parts (people) in the collective, or is there a base personality that is imprinted on newly assimilated persons? Answer The Borg only assimilate species that will improve the collective. For example, the Borg do not assimilate Kazon (from Voyager). Likely the Borg would ignore a planet of idiots, or, if they were in some way a potential threat then the Borg would probably destroy them. As Seven states in Mortal Coil : SEVEN: The Borg encountered a Kazon colony in the Gand Sector, grid six nine two zero. NEELIX: Were they assimilated? SEVEN: Their biological and technological distinctiveness was unremarkable. They were unworthy of assimilation. NEELIX: I didn't realise the Borg were so discriminating. SEVEN: Why assimilate a species that would detract from perfection? NEELIX: Good point. Well, if you'll excuse me, I'm needed in the shuttlebay. Pleasant regenerating.

Superman is often seen floating or flying near Earth's orbit or in outer space. What type of physiology would Superman or any humanoid life-form require to be able to withstand the vacuum of space? There is no air in space so breathing (respiration) is not an option. Could Superman be using an invisible atmospheric force field as part of his 'aura' (think Green Lantern) that could provide 'artificial atmosphere' for him to breathe in space? Is there any canon explaining how Superman was able to survive in space?

I read this sci-fi novel for young adults when I was a kid, and I would love to re-read it but I can't remember the title. I remember the copy I borrowed from the library had some sort of television with a man's face in it on the cover. Trying to recall this is like trying to recall a dream, but I distinctly remember reading it. If anyone can help, it'd be much appreciated! Plot The plot involves a girl named Sarah who is close with her grandfather. Her grandfather named her Sarah after a girl he once loved by the same name. Toward the end of the book, she is with her boyfriend and cuts her finger off but doesn't feel anything. She at some point realizes that she is a robot -- her grandfather had once told her that in order for someone to travel through time, he/she must die, have their dead body surgically transformed into a robot, and come back to being as this robot. As it turns out, she finds out that her boyfriend with whom she is in love is actually her grandfathe...

Specifically, I'm curious about 2 key points in time. When the Ringworld was first explored by Louis Wu (Ie, the book Ringworld ) During the Fringe War (Ringworld's Children) And if you want a bonus question: Was the Puppeteer's exodus detectable during the Fringe war? Answer How close to the Ringworld was the Fleet of Worlds? At the time of the first expedition (2851), the Fleet of Worlds was a little more than two light-years from the Ringworld. This is given on chapter 7 ("Stepping Discs"): They were in hyperdrive for a week, covering a little more than two light years. When they dropped back into Einsteinian space they were within the system of the ringed G2 star; and the foreboding was still with Louis Wu. The Fringe War takes place forty-one years later, by 2892. The Fleet of Worlds had been accelerating steadily for more than 200 years at the time of the first expedition. According to chapter 8 ("Ringworld") of the first novel it was already at ...

I still don't understand why the T-1000 went back in time to well after the original T-800's attempt at assassinating Sarah Connor. Why didn't it just get sent back to right after this failed attempt? Are the Terminators only able to travel a certain number of years into the past?

I'm looking for a series of men's adventure novels. The series is set in a post-apocalyptic future. The good guys have gathered into a commune and have all taken different personas. One is a western-style gunfighter who calls himself "Boone" (I think). The other is a super-muscular fighter. I can't remember exactly what the good guys did, but I know it was super manly. I read a couple books in the series during the mid-90s. Any ideas? Answer I wonder if this could be the series by David L. Robbins. The main series is the Endworld series , which runs to 29 books! He wrote a spin-off series called the Blade series (only 13 books in this one!). Searching such a large series is somewhat problematic, and in any case I don't have all the books. However there is a gunfighter called Boone and the super muscular guy who is a mutant called Grizzly. The books are set in a post apocalyptic America following a nuclear war with Russia. The group is called The Family and ...

In Matrix: Reloaded , the wall of screens inside the Architect's room shows various versions of Neo screaming and cussing as the Architect reveals that the prophesy is a lie and that there have been in fact five versions of Neo before him. All the faces on screen look identical. How can this be if a person's residual self image inside the Matrix is a close approximation of that person's real physical appearance? Were all the "One"s clones, or are there people whose RSI is different from their real appearance or did the screens show something other than the previous versions of Neo? Edit: Reopening the question after watching the scene again. As Neo says "There were five ones before me?", those on the screens are heard saying "Four?", "Two?" etc. It seems they're the predecessors. Answer The machines have no incentive to purposefully create new Ones. If they already knew the genetic material of Neo (resp. the 1st One) would creat...

I heard recommendation (on some of TWiT shows before Christmas) of a story in which humans were at war (I don't remember whether it was as home war or war with aliens) and they resurrected/woken up general. He reintroduced forgotten space flight to win the war but as he was the older he become a supreme commander which many people didn't like (and there was a politics subplot). Can anyone identify a story? Answer That sounds like the Lost Fleet series by Jack Campbell.

Why is it not illegal to use Polyjuice Potion? It is the magical equivalent of identity theft.

Does Harley Quinn ever have children, either with the Joker or with someone else? We see her have them in a dream sequence in the 2016 Suicide Squad film.

In the movie X-Men: Apocalypse, we see a character with wings that becomes one of Apocalypse's four horseman. I would have to assume that that's Warren Worthington III aka Angel aka Archangel . But, I don't think we ever heard a name or any sort of backstory for him whatsoever, which was odd. He was in a cage-fighting ring for some reason. That's pretty much all we got. What was the deal with that? At both Wikipedia and IMDB , the character is credited as simply "Angel". Was it Warren, or a new character filling the same role?

Supposing that the characters we see on Jedha are Evazan and Baba , how did they escape Jedha? Most people in the city seemed liked they were very much ended . Do any of the novelizations or comics address whether or not this pair took off right away after their cameo? Official commentary? The question linked above indicates that maybe Legends canon may be the only source, if The Story Group hasn't done anything with these two. As long as the evidence acknowledges that they were on Jedha at that time, it's valid for my purposes. Answer In the behind-the-scenes interview Rogue One Secrets Revealed , this is actually brought up. In the video, Pablo Hidalgo (of the Lucasfilm Story Group) says they left the same way anyone else would have—on a ship of some sort. Remember, the Star Destroyer departed while the group was still a significant distance away from Saw Gerrera's hideout, and the city wasn't destroyed until some time after they reached their destination. Taking t...

I've been rewatching Season 1 of G1, and Starscream is constantly undermining Megatron. He is so indiscreet about it though... he'll openly discuss his plans to mutiny against Megatron. Megatron frequently threatens to take out Starscream, but never seems to do so. Why didn't Megatron ever kill Starscream?

I'm looking for a short story about a man who forgets to return his library book. A computerised system takes over and everything goes from bad to worse. The book he did not return is 'Kidnapped' by Robert Louis Stevenson, so the man ends up on a kidnapping charge, which changes to a murder charge when the computer learns that RLS is dead. It must be from the 60s or 70s. Answer Computers Don't Argue by Gordon R Dickson. I wrote you recently about the computer punch card you sent, billing me for "Kim,' by Rudyard Kipling. I did not open the package containing it until I had already mailed you my check for the amount on the card. On opening the package, I found the book missing half its pages. I sent it back to you, requesting either another copy or my money back. Instead, you have sent me a copy of "Kidnapped," by Robert Louis Stevenson. Will you please straighten this out? later POLICE DEPARTMENT, PANDUK, MICHIGAN. TO POLICE DEPARTMENT CHICAGO ILLI...

Sauron seems to have huge armies east of Mordor, the Blue Wizards went there and didn't come back, and early maps of Arda when it was still flat show rough landmarks, but not much, and everything changed after the Second Age. Is there any canonical information about the East? Answer The East is very sketchily mapped out in HoME 4 (The Shaping of Middle Earth), but whether or not the older cosmology present at that time remains valid post-LotR is another matter. The maps provided in that book certainly bear no relation to later concepts; there is very little to the east of the Blue Mountains, no Eriador, no Misty Mountains, no Mirkwood, no White Mountains, no Sea of Rhun, etc. This, of course, is easily explained by the fact that the full geography of Western Middle Earth evolved during the writing of LotR (refer to HoME 7 (the Treason of Isengard) for the maps and discussion of this evolution). What we do know is that further east there is (or was) the Inland Sea of Helcar, beyo...

On both Star Trek series where he appears, O'Brien's standard coffee order seems to be "black, double sweet." In the TNG episode "Rascals," Keiko even knows that it's his standard order. However, in the DS9 episode "Whispers," he repeatedly orders his coffee "Jamaican blend, double strong, double sweet." This happens four or five times in the episode, including right at the beginning. He never orders coffee this way in any other episode. Additionally, the plot twist in that episode is that the O'Brien we're seeing is actually an unknowing duplicate, created to sabotage the peace-talks-of-the-week. One could suppose that the duplicate O'Brien has slightly different taste in coffee than the real one, and this is intended to be a subtle clue that he's a duplicate. Then again, it's also possible that he's just drinking stronger coffee than usual because he spends the entire episode sleep-deprived. Is there any evi...

In the first book, Harry sees his Gringotts vault for the first time. (Quotes thanks to Slytherincess!) Griphook unlocked the door. A lot of green smoke came billowing out, and as it cleared, Harry gasped. Inside were mounds of gold coins. Columns of silver. Heaps of little bronze Knuts. "All yours," smiled Hagrid. All Harry's -- it was incredible. The Dursleys couldn't have known about this or they'd have had it from him faster than blinking. How often had they complained how much Harry cost them to keep? And all the time there had been a small fortune belonging to him, buried deep under London. Hagrid helped Harry pile some of it into a bag. "The gold ones are Galleons," he explained. "Seventeen silver Sickles to a Galleon and twenty-nine Knuts to a Sickle, it's easy enough. Right, that should be enough fer a couple o' terms, we'll keep the rest safe for yeh." Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - pages 58-59 - US Hardcover ...

Tom Bombadil says this to the hobbits, in reply to the question "who are you?": (...) But you are young and I am old. Eldest, that’s what I am. Mark my words, my friends: Tom was here before the river and the trees ; Tom remembers the first raindrop and the first acorn. He made paths before the Big People, and saw the little People arriving. He was here before the Kings and the graves and the Barrow-wights. When the Elves passed westward, Tom was here already, before the seas were bent. He knew the dark under the stars when it was fearless – before the Dark Lord came from Outside. So basically, he was here before everything else . After Helm's Deep, when a party rides to Isengard, Gandalf says this to Théoden: Well, Théoden, will you ride with me to find Treebeard? We must go round about, but it is not far. When you see Treebeard, you will learn much. For Treebeard is Fangorn, and the eldest and chief of the Ents, and when you speak with him you will hear the speech of th...

The story is set in a vaguely medieval world in which a young woman has been cursed by the evil witch who has enslaved her and caused her to lose her memory. With the aid of her talking animal friends who have also been cursed (toad has a huge stone under his tongue meaning he can't feed and a crow with a gem embedded in its wing and there's a little grey kitten too who never grows up) she sets out on a journey to break the curse for herself and her friends. Along the way she meets an injured unicorn and a horny-but-moral soldier rendered impotent by a curse after refusing the disguised witch's sexual advances. After adventures there's a 'happy ever after' for all of the heroes and the witch meets a sticky end. In the UK the book had a deep red cover with an illustration. I read it in either the 1990's or the early 2000's. Cracking book, definitely for adults given some of the situations, language and humour.

When considering canon-based spells, potions, and quasi-sentient objects such as wands ¹, what type of magic was likely used to create the Marauder's Map? I was thinking Homenem Revelio might be involved, but I can't recall any other object in Potterverse that acts quite like the Marauder's Map. Is there a canonically-based explanation regarding the magic used in the creation of the Marauder's Map? ¹ JK Rowling: Essentially, I see wands as being quasi-sentient. I think they awaken to a kind of- They’re not exactly animate, but they’re close to it, as close to it as you can get in an object, because they carry so much magic. So that’s really the key point about a wand. Pottercast Transcript - The Leaky Cauldron - 01.02.08 Answer The Weasley's clock is similar to the map in a few ways. The clock tells you something about a person's current status. The map reveals a person's current location. One difference is that the clock is for a set group of people and ...

I remember reading a book early 2000s, it was a fantasy novel from my high schools library. It was about a girl transforming into crystal that caused her excruciating pain. She was traveling to a crystal castle/pyramid/palace on a boat and during the trip one of her companions could help her by taking her pain and experiencing it himself for short periods. I believe that at the end she integrated into the castle itself. I also have Neil Gaiman in mind when I remember it but I don’t see it in his book list.

The title kind of explains the question. If a Secret Keeper was given Veritaserum, what would happen? What if the Veritaserum was willingly taken? EDIT: Given the answers here, I'm not sure which to pick as they both use canon sources. I will give this question another 24 hours for votes to pour in before accepting. Answer The first thing I'd say is that Veritaserum is only one tool. It may be magic, but it is not invincible, it is not infallible. Rowling has gone on record saying: [Veritaserum works best on] the unsuspecting, the vulnerable and those insufficiently skilled (in one way or another) to protect themselves against it. Source: accio-quote As such, in no sense can Veritaserum be relied upon to always force the truth out of someone. That, I think, is worth bearing in mind. Secondly, the magic of the Fidelius Charm to me is rather beautiful. It's about fidelity, loyalty, trust and friendship. 'An immensely complex spell,' he said squeakily, 'involving...

Just like Lucifer (the angel gone bad), are there any demons who turned good? Answer You asked for "demon[s] gone good", so I'll pass over the many stories where the Devil never was as bad as he's cracked up to be, such as Keith Laumer 's "The Devil You Don't" and Steven Brust 's To Reign in Hell . Here are some stories about evil demons gone good: "The Devil Was Sick" by Bruce Elliott , published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction , April 1951 , available at the Internet Archive . In the far future, a student summons a demon as his thesis project, then takes it to the Sane Asylum where it's cured by advanced technology: The doctor picked up an instrument. A pulsing light came from its S-shaped lens. The doctor bathed the thing in its light. He said, "This will only take a moment. That is, if it's going to work. If not, there are many other things to do." Suddenly his voice failed him. Acleptos backed a...

... He stopped by the man in front of me, pressed the button on his belt that gave readings on his physicals. "Fall out!" "But, Sarge, it's just a cold. The Surgeon said -- " Jelly interrupted. " `But Sarge!' " he snapped. " The Surgeon ain't making no drop -- and neither are you, with a degree and a half of fever. ( Starship Troopers , Chapter 1, p.2) How does that square with the whole point - made right there, a couple of paragraphs down in Chapter 1 - of: In any case, in the Mobile Infantry, everybody drops and everybody fights - chaplain and cook and the Old Man's writer. Once we went down the tube there wouldn't be a Roughneck left aboard -- except Jenkins, of course, and that not his fault.

I once read a story in which the protagonist observes an experiment in which rats, held in a cage, are allowed to reproduce without restraint. When the population density among the rats crosses a certain threshold, the rats begin to kill and/or eat each other. This animal experiment is likened to human behavior by the characters in the story. The setting of the story was contemporary. What is that story? I read that story in the 1980s or early 90s. I thought it was by Stanislaw Lem, but haven't found anything there, yet. The original (real life) experiments are these, I believe: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_sink Answer There may be a number of stories fitting this description, it doesn't sound like an uncommon theme to me. Here is one possibility. The Rodent Laboratory by Charles Platt. It concerns a large experiment in an isolated research centre: Harris stood on the catwalk in the darkened chamber, leaning against the railing, staring down into the brightly lit...

I've just come across a point that I've thought about before, and thought it would be good to get some other stances on it. See this letter, emphasis mine: In the 'Mirror of Galadriel', 1381, it appears that Galadriel conceived of herself as capable of wielding the Ring and supplanting the Dark Lord. If so, so also were the other guardians of the Three, especially Elrond. But this is another matter. It was part of the essential deceit of the Ring to fill minds with imaginations of supreme power. But this the Great had well considered and had rejected, as is seen in Elrond's words at the Council. Galadriel's rejection of the temptation was founded upon previous thought and resolve. In any case Elrond or Galadriel would have proceeded in the policy now adopted by Sauron: they would have built up an empire with great and absolutely subservient generals and armies and engines of war, until they could challenge Sauron and destroy him by force. Confrontation of Sauron...

We all know that Starfleet officers follow the Prime Directive but are they duty bound to stop other races from interfering in other civilizations? If not, then what stops someone like the Cardassians or the Romulans from taking over pre-warp civilizations? Answer Starfleet General Order 1 applies ONLY to Starfleet. The Prime directive does not apply universally inside of Federation space, nor are non-Starfleet officers and non-Federation officials expected to uphold it. The Federation cannot enforce this even against its own citizenry, if the citizen is not acting as an agent of the government. To quote Memory Alpha (emphasis mine): The fundamental principles were an important part of Earth Starfleet procedures as early as 2152, but it did not go into effect as a General Order until sometime after 2168. (ENT: "The Communicator"; TOS: "A Piece of the Action") The directive remained in effect well into the 24th century and applied to at least Starfleet and Merchan...

What is the title and who is the author of a 1960s science fiction story in which an artificial and miniature life form evolves quickly, is felt to be a threat to humanity, and is eventually bombed using an atomic bomb? By the time of the bombing the life forms are so advanced that they successfully shield themselves from the bomb.

In the TV Series ' Kingdom Hospital ', at the end of the series, with various things appearing to have retro-actively changed, we see the vending machines have changed from carrying Nozz-a-la to Pepsi. I realize Nozz-a-la has shown up in a number of other Stephen King stories ( The Dark Tower , for example, leaps to mind), but is there any specific indication to what it means here? I.e., has the core group switched to an alternate world or some such, or is this just a small time-travel change effect? Said another way.. Have they really changed their past (and, therefore, their world) or have they simply returned to an alternate world, leaving theirs still intact? Answer TL;DR: Exactly what the switch from Nozz-A-La to Pepsi is supposed to mean isn't entirely clear, but there is considerable evidence that the change is intended to serve as a meaningful hint, conveying a deeper significance, both internally (within the Kingdom Hospital story itself) and externally (in re...