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The July 2006 (issue 177) of Wizard included a ranking of the "100 Greatest Villains Ever." This list included fictional characters. Top 10 listing:

The Joker (DC Comics)
Pazuzu (The Exorcist)
Palpatine (Star Wars)
Dr. Doom (Marvel Comics)
Zombies (Dawn of the Dead)
Hannibal Lecter (Thomas Harris books)
The Borg (Star Trek: The Next Generation)
Lex Luthor (DC Comics)
Pinhead (Hellraiser)
The Shark (Jaws)

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "100 Greatest Villains (Wizard magazine)". This entry is a fragment of a larger work. Link may die if entry is finally removed or merged.

In the 1980s and 1990s, some members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints complained to church leaders that they have been subjected to Satanic ritual abuse by family members and other members of the church. While the church and the state of Utah investigated these claims in the 1990s, no reliable evidence has been produced that suggests that these allegations are true. In 1991, the Utah State Legislature appropriated $250,000 for the Attorney General's office to investigate the allegations. The investigators interviewed hundreds of alleged victims, but they were unable "to substantiate with physical evidence the incidents reported". The 1995 report added that the specific accusations against church leaders were "absurd", and the head of psychiatry at LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City said he "has never been able to independently verify memories of satanic ritual abuse". This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Reinhard_Hetze ". This entry is a fragment of a larger work. Link may die if entry is finally removed or merged.

"In Event of Moon Disaster" was a proposed speech drafted by presidential speechwriter William Safire. It was intended to be read by President Richard Nixon during the Apollo 11 lunar landing in July 1969 had a catastrophe occurred that would have prevented Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin from leaving the surface of the Moon. It is considered a haunting glimpse of the worst-case scenario that could have made the historic landing a much more somber one. As the mission was successful and the astronauts returned safely, the speech was never used. It also never had to be adapted for any of the subsequent landings. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "In Event of Moon Disaster". This entry is a fragment of a larger work. Link may die if entry is finally removed or merged.

Quantum Fiction is a new literary genre that blurs the lines separating science fiction, fantasy, and quantum mechanics. This genre is characterized by The use of quantum mechanics to explain, or make plausible, the supernatural, paranormal, or fantastic. The genre quantum fiction was coined by American novelist Vanna Bonta to define stories in which consciousness affects physics and determines reality; in her words, "the genre is broad and includes life." Bonta further explains her development of this new genre: "I don't write science fiction. Science fiction is a niche genre, defined by Ray Bradbury as depiction of the real. 'Quantum fiction' is the realm of all possibilities, and that is a core passion of my work. The genre is broad, and includes life because fiction is an inextricable part of reality in its various stages, and vice versa." This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Quantum Fiction". This entry is a fragment of a larger work. Link may die if entry is finally removed or merged.

The Organization of the Jews in Bulgaria (OJB) coordinates the different Jewish communities in Bulgaria, a country where about 8000 Jews live. This organization encloses all categories of the Jewish life by organizing many programs and projects. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Organization of the Jews in Bulgaria". This entry is a fragment of a larger work. Link may die if entry is finally removed or merged.

Penguins are popular around the world primarily for their unusually upright, waddling pace, their magnificent swimming ability, and (compared to other birds) lack of fear toward humans.Their striking black and white plumage is often likened to a tuxedo suit and generates humorous remarks about the bird being "well dressed".The bird is typically depicted as a friendly and comical figure, with considerable personal dignity despite its physical limitations. Perhaps in reaction to this cutesy stereotype, fictional penguins are occasionally presented as grouchy or even sinister. The popular Sanrio character Badtz Maru is an example, being cute yet somewhat surly. The 1960s television cartoon character Tennessee Tuxedo would often escape the confines of his zoo with his partner, Chumley the walrus. In the children's movie Madagascar, the penguins are cast as soldiers. In the animated series Wallace and Gromit a penguin called Feathers McGraw disguises himself as a chicken with a red rubber glove. Penguins are often portrayed as friendly and smart as well. Another example is in the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion, which features a warm-water penguin named Pen Pen.
Penguins experienced a resurgence in the mid-2000s thanks to films like March of the Penguins,Madagascar, Happy Feet, and Surf's Up. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Penguins in popular culture". This entry is a fragment of a larger work. Link may die if entry is finally removed or merged.

In contemporary fiction, gargoyles are commonly depicted as a distinct race, not just as a structural ornament. The typical fantasy Gargoyle is a (generally) winged humanoid race with demonic features (generally horns, a tail, talons, and may or may not have a beak). Gargoyles can generally use their wings to fly or glide, and, as a reference to their origins, are often depicted as having a rocky hide, or being capable of turning into stone in one way or another.

Gargoyles have featured in several works of fantasy fiction, such as Terry Pratchett's Discworld series (Discworld gargoyles) and the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D gargoyles) and Rifts role-playing games. Gargoyles are also the main characters in a Disney animated series and comic book, Gargoyles, and played a role in that company's adaptation of Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Actress Adrienne Barbeau played a violent gargoyle in the TV series Monsters. Actress Rae Dawn Chong played a gargoyle in human form in Tales from the Darkside: The Movie. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Gargoyles in fiction". This entry is a fragment of a larger work. Link may die if entry is finally removed or merged.

Women in the Tanakh are not the social or economic equals of men. At the time it was written, married women were largely subject to the wishes of their husbands, and unmarried women to the wishes of their fathers. For example, a woman needed consent from her father before she could take religious vows (Book of Numbers 30:3-5). This situation was roughly similar to that of women in the surrounding countries of the time.

Women were not considered mere possessions, however. The killing of a woman was considered murder, not theft. A wife could not be disposed of at her husband's whim, or divorced without reason. Women could own property, and a daughter could inherit her father's property (if there were no sons). They could engage in business and trade (Book of Proverbs chapter 31). Although there are frequent references in the Tanakh to a wife being traded in exchange for money or goods, this was not a simple commercial transaction. Rather, it was a gift to compensate the bride's family. Such gifts, called a dowry, are common in the Near East today. Arranged marriage was the norm for both sons and daughters (Genesis 21:21; Genesis 38:6; Book of Judges 1:12,13) although the bride was sometimes asked for her consent (Genesis 24:58) and sometimes the son chose a wife for himself (Genesis 34:4). This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Hebrew Bible views on women". This entry is a fragment of a larger work. Link may die if entry is finally removed or merged.

Richard C. Hoagland (born April 25, 1945) is a proponent of fringe theories on astronomical topics, as well as a number of conspiracy theories connected to the space program. His major focus is on previous advanced civilizations in the solar system, in particular on Mars and the Moon. His theories are not supported by the scientific community. He believes that the Face on Mars is an artificial construct. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Richard C. Hoagland". This entry is a fragment of a larger work. Link may die if entry is finally removed or merged.

God’s Warriors is a three-part CNN documentary produced by Christiane Amanpour in which she compares the rise of religious fundamentalism as a political force in the world.[1] The documentary was filmed in the United States, Europe and Middle East. It focuses on the three major monotheistic religions of the world, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
The three chapters have been titled God’s Jewish Warriors, God’s Muslim Warriors, and God’s Christian Warriors. The first describes the Jews who have forcefully pushed settlements into Israeli-occupied Palestine and the fund-raising in the United States that supports them, while the second presents issues of women’s rights under radical Islam and Sharia law. The final segment offers a view of the United States and its electoral system and the political influence of Christian religious leaders. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "God's Warriors". This entry is a fragment of a larger work. Link may die if entry is finally removed or merged.

Star Trek versus Star Wars typically refers to an ongoing polemic between fans of the Star Trek and Star Wars franchises, considered "a rivalry more fevered than any other in the universe." Primarily an online phenomenon, the debate emerged from its roots in the Usenet culture to spawn numerous websites and online communities. A post on a newsgroup or Web board might pose a question such as:

"Which would win? The Enterprise-D or a Star Destroyer?"

In July 1997, the alt.startrek.vs.starwars newsgroup was created to try to shift these (often heated) debates off the more "mainstream" Star Trek and Star Wars groups. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Star Trek versus Star Wars". This entry is a fragment of a larger work. Link may die if entry is finally removed or merged.

Although the human mind comprehends the universe with three spatial dimensions, some theories in physics, including string theory, include the idea that there are additional spatial dimensions. Such theories suggest that there may be a specific number of spatial dimensions such as 10. The question, "Why 10 dimensions?" arises from these theories.
This is one of the questions discussed by Michio Kaku in his book Hyperspace, which attempts to translate the mathematics of hyperspace theory into readily understandable language. This article is devoted to the same goal, leaving the details of the mathematics to the hyperspace theory article. Kaku traces the number of dimensions to Srinivasa Ramanujan's modular functions, but this article will start with some fundamentals and work its way into the mathematics. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Why 10 dimensions?. This entry is a fragment of a larger work. Link may die if entry is finally removed or merged.

Screaming Mechanical Brain is a metal/electropunk band based out of the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. Their signature style combines elements of the heavy-metal, electropunk and at times even "circus music." Band website: http://www.smbband.com/. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Screaming Mechanical Brain". This entry is a fragment of a larger work. Link may die if entry is finally removed or merged.

A Jewish social network is a social structure made of nodes (which are generally individuals or organizations) that are tied by the Jewish religion and culture. Numerous Jewish-themed social networking groups are now on the Internet, allowing users to create prayer groups such as Please Daven, secure business leads, discuss movies and find potential partners. Creators and users say the Jewish sites are family-friendly alternatives to networking sites like MySpace and, in the field of dating, are considered a next generation development stemming from the classic Jewish dating sites, such as Jdate, JMatch, JewishSoulSearch or Blind-Date. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Jewish Networking". This entry is a fragment of a larger work. Link may die if entry is finally removed or merged.

The half-your-age-plus-seven rule is a mathematical guide to judge whether the age difference in an intimate relationship is socially acceptable. Mathematically speaking, the rule is (Minimum Age) = (Age of the Older Individual) / 2 + 7.

For example, if Shane is 30 and wants to date Kristen, who is 20, he would be in violation of the rule, since the minimum age being 22. Notice, however, that the age difference matters less as the potential partners grow older. In this case, Shane would have four years to wait before the age difference in the relationship was "socially acceptable".

Note that what is implied by "socially acceptable" is largely a cultural construct, and has varied over time. Anna Nicole Smith and J. Howard Marshall were 26 and 89 at the time of their relationship. This violation of the rule (she was 25.5 years too young), and the rule itself, were discussed on CNN in 2006. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Half-Your-Age-Plus-Seven Rule". This entry is a fragment of a larger work. Link may die if entry is finally removed or merged.

This is a partial list of confirmed famous people who were or are gay, lesbian or bisexual. The historical concept and definition of sexual orientation varies and has changed greatly over time; for example the word "gay" wasn't used to describe sexual orientation until the mid 20th century.

The high prevalence of people from the West on this list may be due to societal attitudes towards homosexuality. The Pew Research Center's 2003 Global Attitudes Survey found that "[p]eople in Africa and the Middle East strongly object to societal acceptance of homosexuality. But there is far greater tolerance for homosexuality in major Latin American countries such as Mexico, Argentina, Bolivia and Brazil. Opinion in Europe is split between West and East. Majorities in every Western European nation surveyed say homosexuality should be accepted by society, while most Russians, Poles and Ukrainians disagree. Americans are divided – a thin majority (51 percent) believes homosexuality should be accepted, while 42 percent disagree." This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the List of gay, lesbian or bisexual people". This entry is a fragment of a larger work. Link may die if entry is finally removed or merged.

Area Code 385: This area code has been assigned to the state of Utah. It will cover the entire state starting in either the spring or summer of 2008. All new phone numbers will be given this area code, whether they phone is located in St. George or Salt Lake City. Because of this new area code, all Utah residents will have to start dialing 10-digit phone numbers.
For more information please visit: http://www.ksl.com/?sid=1475037&nid=148. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Area Code 385". This entry is a fragment of a larger work. Link may die if entry is finally removed or merged.

Rubbing mayonnaise on one's body is the act of using the food condiment mayonnaise as an emollient to soothe the skin. The mayonnaise is most often applied to areas of the human body that have hair, such as the scalp or chest region. This act is usually performed at home by a single male (often a bachelor), or in conjunction as a healing process with a significant other or a life partner. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Mayonnaise Rubbing". This entry is a fragment of a larger work. Link may die if entry is finally removed or merged.

The Purple Diet is a fad diet promoted by Mariah Carey which involves eating only purple foods, such as plums, beetroot and red grapes three days a week. It is claimed that purple foods have anti aging properties due to their high content of anti-oxidants and vitamins. There is no proven medical benefit to this diet. References: http://blog.washingtonpost.com/celebritology/2006/07/celebritology_101_mariahs_purp.html http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2006300140,00.html

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Purple Diet". This entry is a fragment of a larger work. Link may die if entry is finally removed or merged.

This is a list of feature films that include a mathematician (or scientist who uses a lot of math) as one of the main characters.

To Sir, with Love (1967) - Engineer Mark Thackeray (Sidney Poitier) becomes a teacher. Straw Dogs (1971) - David Sumner (Dustin Hoffman) is an American mathematical physicist who moves to England, where he and his wife are violently harassed by locals. It's My Turn (1980) - A mathematics professor (Jill Clayburgh) falls in love with her father's bride's son (Michael Douglas). Stand and Deliver (1988) - Based on the true story of math teacher Jaime Escalante, who inspired the students in a school in a Hispanic neighborhood. Sneakers (1992) - An eclectic team is assembled to steal a code-breaking box developed by a rogue mathematician.
I.Q. (1994) - Albert Einstein (Walter Matthau) helps a young man (Tim Robbins) pretend to be a physicist in order to catch the attention of Einstein's niece (Meg Ryan). Antonia's Line (1995) - A genealogical "line" of five generations of women includes a child prodigy, Thérèse, who grows up to be a mathematician. Infinity (1996) - A story about Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman (Matthew Broderick). The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996) - A math professor (Jeff Bridges) marries a literature professor (Barbra Streisand), but they want different things from the relationship. Good Will Hunting (1997) - Janitor Will Hunting (Matt Damon) begins to turn his life around with the help of a psychologist (Robin Williams) and a Fields Medal-winning professor (Stellan Skarsgård). Pi (1998) - A mathematician searches for the number that underlies all of nature. A Beautiful Mind (2001) - A fictional account based loosely on the life of mathematician John Nash (Russell Crowe), who made a breakthrough that wins him the Nobel Prize in economics. Enigma (2001) - A story of romantic and psychological intrigue set in Bletchley Park during the World War II effort to crack the German Enigma machine. 21 Grams (2003) - An accident changes many lives, including that of a critically ill mathematics professor (Sean Penn). Proof (2005) - A former student (Jake Gyllenhaal) of a recently deceased, brilliant mathematician (Anthony Hopkins) finds a notebook in his office containing a proof of an important theorem, but the mathematician's daughter (Gwyneth Paltrow) claims it is hers. The ensuing dispute is complicated by signs that she may have inherited her father's mental illness and a burgeoning romance. Raising Genius (2004) - The film is about a boy (Justin Long) who locks himself in the bathroom to work out math equations on the shower wall. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "List of films about mathematicians". This entry is a fragment of a larger work. Link may die if entry is finally removed or merged.

Grey's Law is a less-known corollary of Hanlon's Razor, which imitates the form of Clarke's Third Law. It states that:

"Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice."

While the stated principle pays a certain homage to Hanlon's Razor, it is also to some extent a rebuttal of the principle therein, stating that the distinction which the former makes is often moot. It is unclear just who the "Grey" of Grey's Law is. The quotation itself appears to have spread through email sig blocks and various social bookmarking websites, and appears to be of recent origin. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Grey's Law". This entry is a fragment of a larger work. Link may die if entry is finally removed or merged.

A death yell is a euphemism for the following situation, which happens in fiction a lot and sometimes in real life. When someone dies and another person is so overcome by grief that he must shout into the air while crying extremely hard, it is known as a "death yell". Sometimes, what is shouted is the name of the deceased; otherwise, it could be some nonsense syllable such as "Aaaaaaaaargh!" Performing one is a way of letting deep emotions out, and could possibly be therapeutic for the performer. Sometimes, the performer is the person who is about to die. In the Star Trek canon, Klingons do perform a "death yell" when one of them dies. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Death Yell". This entry is a fragment of a larger work. Link may die if entry is finally removed or merged.

There exist many examples of Psychedelics in popular culture. The psychedelic experience has had a strong effect on many genres of popular music, and psychedelic drug references are common in movies, books, and in popular music.

DMT: The plot of the movie Blueberry (based on the comic Blueberry) touches Dimethyltryptamine practices of Native Americans.

LSD: Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home has a scene where Admiral Kirk tells a woman in 1986 that Spock did a little too much LDS in the 60's. The woman rolls her eyes at him. This was a reference to LSD, not The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Beatles song "Tomorrow Never Knows" is a musical take on Timothy Leary's analogy between the LSD experience and the passage from death through to reincarnation described in the Tibetan Book of the Dead. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Psychedelics in popular culture". This entry is a fragment of a larger work. Link may die if entry is finally removed or merged.

The phrase "Klaatu barada nikto" originates from the 1951 Cold-War-era science fiction film The Day the Earth Stood Still. The phrase "Gort! Klaatu barada nikto!" was used to stop Gort, the robot in the film, from destroying the Earth. There is no known translation for the phrase, although "Klaatu" is the name of the humanoid alien protagonist in the film, and "nikto" is Russian for "nobody / no one." This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Klaatu barada nikto". This entry is a fragment of a larger work. Link may die if entry is finally removed or merged.

A mass vision is a phenomenon in which a large group of people, usually in physical proximity to each other, all experience the same unexplained phenomena simultaneously. It is similar but not identical to the Folie à deux phenomenon.

Famous mass visions: List of UFO sightings; The Miracle of the Sun -where 70,000 pilgrims at Fatima in Portugal in 1917 saw the sun "tear itsef from the heavens and come crashing down upon the multitude".

Richard Dawkins' addresses mass visions, specifically The Miracle of the Sun, in "The God Delusion". Whilst it's unlikely that 70,000 would all have the same vision, he says it's even less likely that what they "saw" really happened (because none of the rest of the world noticed). He cites David Hume's miracle test: "No testimony is sufficient to establish a miracle, unless the testimony be of such a kind, that its falsehood would be more miraculous than the fact which it endeavours to establish." With this, he shrugs off the mass visions. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Mass Vision". This entry is a fragment of a larger work. Link may die if entry is finally removed or merged.