|
Howard Tayler
Howard V. Tayler (born February 29, 1968 in Florida) is the creator of the webcomic ''Schlock Mercenary''. He worked as a volunteer missionary for the LDS Church, then graduated from Brigham Young University. Using his degree in music composition, he started an independent record label. While working at Novell, Tayler began online publication of ''Schlock Mercenary''. He quit his job at Novell several years later in order to work on the webcomic full-time. ''Schlock Mercenary'' has been nominated multiple times and won the Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards in two different categories, and the webcomic has been nominated four times for a Hugo Award. Tayler spends time regularly during the week drawing at a local comic book and gaming store, as well as producing a weekly writing tips podcast called ''Writing Excuses'' with fellow authors Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, Mary Robinette Kowal, and producer Jordan Sanderson. The podcast has been nominated for a Hugo Award in 2011, 2012 an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to the south by the Straits of Florida and Cuba; it is the only state that borders both the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. Spanning , Florida ranks 22nd in area among the 50 states, and with a population of over 21 million, it is the third-most populous. The state capital is Tallahassee, and the most populous city is Jacksonville. The Miami metropolitan area, with a population of almost 6.2 million, is the most populous urban area in Florida and the ninth-most populous in the United States; other urban conurbations with over one million people are Tampa Bay, Orlando, and Jacksonville. Various Native American groups have inhabited Florida for at least 14,000 years. In 1513, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León became the first k ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Missionary (LDS Church)
Missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church)—widely known as Mormon missionaries—are volunteer representatives of the church who engage variously in proselytizing, church service, humanitarian aid, and community service. Missionaries of the LDS Church may be male or female (''Sister Missionaries'') and may serve on a full- or part-time basis, depending on the assignment. Missionaries are organized geographically into missions, which could be any one of the 411 missions organized worldwide. The LDS Church is one of the most active modern practitioners of missionary work, reporting that it had more than 54,000 full-time missionaries and 36,000 service missionaries worldwide at the end of 2021. Most full-time LDS missionaries are single young men and women in their late teens and early twenties and older couples no longer with children in their home. Missionaries are often assigned to serve far from their homes, including in other countries. M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phil Foglio
Philip Foglio (born May 1, 1956) is an American cartoonist and comic book artist known for his humorous science fiction and fantasy art. Early life and career Foglio was born on May 1, 1956, in Mount Vernon, New York, and moved with his family to Hartsdale, New York, where he lived until he was 17. He attended the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts in Chicago, Illinois, and was a member of the university's science fiction club, art-directing & co-editing the group's fanzine, ''Effen Essef''. He was nominated for both the Hugo Award for Best Fan Artist and the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation in 1976, and won ''Best Fan Artist'' in 1977 and 1978. After living in the DePaul dorms for a few years, Phil moved to the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago and hosted weekly Thursday Night Meetings of Chicago-area science fiction fans. He drew the first known Unix daemons for a limited series of T-shirts in 1979. Beginning in 1980, Foglio wrote and illustrated the comic strip '' What's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steve Jackson (US Game Designer)
Steve Jackson (born c. 1953) is an American game designer whose creations include the role-playing game ''GURPS'' and the card game ''Munchkin''. Education Steve Jackson is a 1974 graduate of Rice University, where he was a resident of Baker College before moving to Sid Richardson College when it opened in 1971. Jackson briefly attended the UT Law School, but left to pursue a career in game design. Career 1970s: Metagaming Concepts While working at Metagaming Concepts, Jackson developed ''Monsters! Monsters!'' (''ca.'' 1976) based on a design by Ken St. Andre related to his ''Tunnels & Trolls'' role-playing game, and ''Godsfire'' (1976), a 3D space conquest game designed by Lynn Willis. Jackson's first design for the company was ''Ogre'' (1977), followed by '' G.E.V.'' (1978), which were set in the same futuristic universe that Jackson created. Jackson became interested in ''Dungeons & Dragons'', but found the various-sized dice irritating and the combat rules confusing an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Space Opera
Space opera is a subgenre of science fiction that emphasizes space warfare, with use of melodramatic, risk-taking space adventures, relationships, and chivalric romance. Set mainly or entirely in outer space, it features technological and social advancements (or lack thereof) in faster-than-light travel, futuristic weapons, and sophisticated technology, on a backdrop of galactic empires and interstellar wars with fictional aliens, often in fictional galaxies. The term has no relation to opera music, but is instead a play on the terms "soap opera", a melodramatic television series, and "horse opera", which was coined during the 1930s to indicate a clichéd and formulaic Western film. Space operas emerged in the 1930s and continue to be produced in literature, film, comics, television, video games and board games. An early film which was based on space-opera comic strips was ''Flash Gordon'' (1936), created by Alex Raymond. ''Perry Rhodan'' (1961–) is the most successful spa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dystopia
A dystopia (from Ancient Greek δυσ- "bad, hard" and τόπος "place"; alternatively cacotopiaCacotopia (from κακός ''kakos'' "bad") was the term used by Jeremy Bentham in his 1818 Plan of Parliamentary Reform (Works, vol. 3, p. 493). or simply anti-utopia) is a speculated community or society that is undesirable or frightening. It is often treated as an Opposite (semantics), antonym of ''utopia'', a term that was coined by Sir Thomas More and figures as the title of his best known work, published in 1516, which created a blueprint for an ideal society with minimal crime, violence and poverty. The relationship between utopia and dystopia is in actuality not one simple opposition, as many utopian elements and components are found in dystopias as well, and ''vice versa''. Dystopias are often characterized by rampant fear or distress , tyrannical governments, environmental disaster, or other characteristics associated with a cataclysmic decline in society. Distinct th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mercenary
A mercenary, sometimes also known as a soldier of fortune or hired gun, is a private individual, particularly a soldier, that joins a military conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any other official military. Mercenaries fight for money or other forms of payment rather than for political interests. Beginning in the 20th century, mercenaries have increasingly come to be seen as less entitled to protections by rules of war than non-mercenaries. The Geneva Conventions declare that mercenaries are not recognized as legitimate combatants and do not have to be granted the same legal protections as captured service personnel of the armed forces. In practice, whether or not a person is a mercenary may be a matter of degree, as financial and political interests may overlap. Modern mercenary organizations are generally referred to as private military companies or PMCs. Laws of war Protocol Additional GC 1977 (APGC77) is a 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
System Administrator
A system administrator, or sysadmin, or admin is a person who is responsible for the upkeep, configuration, and reliable operation of computer systems, especially multi-user computers, such as servers. The system administrator seeks to ensure that the uptime, performance, resources, and security of the computers they manage meet the needs of the users, without exceeding a set budget when doing so. To meet these needs, a system administrator may acquire, install, or upgrade computer components and software; provide routine automation; maintain security policies; troubleshoot; train or supervise staff; or offer technical support for projects. Related fields Many organizations staff offer jobs related to system administration. In a larger company, these may all be separate positions within a computer support or Information Services (IS) department. In a smaller group they may be shared by a few sysadmins, or even a single person. * A database administrator (DBA) maintains a d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Life, The Universe, & Everything
''Life, the Universe, & Everything: The Marion K. "Doc" Smith Symposium on Science Fiction and Fantasy'' is an academic conference held annually since 1983 in Provo, Utah. It is the longest-running science fiction and fantasy convention in Utah, and one of the largest and longest-running academic science fiction conferences. An annual proceedings volume, ''Deep Thoughts'' (named after the computer Deep Thought (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy), Deep Thought from ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''), publishes the academic papers and main addresses given at the event. The symposium was named, jokingly, after the Douglas Adams novel ''Life, the Universe and Everything''. History The roots of the ''Life, the Universe, & Everything'' (LTUE) and other science fiction efforts at Brigham Young University (BYU) began with a one-day symposium on science fiction held on January 20, 1976. Four years later, Orson Scott Card gave a speech in 1980 at the university about morality in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
LepreCon
LepreCon is an annual science fiction convention with an emphasis on art held in and around Phoenix, Arizona usually in May around Mother's Day weekend. It is the second oldest science fiction convention in Arizona. It is sponsored by LepreCon, Inc., an Arizona non-profit corporation. LepreCon 43 was held July 1–4, 2017; in November, 2017, LepreCon, Inc. chose to cancel LepreCon 44 in the previously announced format as the Phoenix Sci-Fi & Fantasy Art Expo, which had been scheduled for March 2018 at the Unexpected Art Gallery. History The early LepreCon conventions were held around St. Patrick's Day weekend, thus giving birth to the name of the convention, a pun on leprechaun. As the tourist season expanded in Arizona, the normal dates for the convention moved into the May time frame with an occasional foray into June. Leprecon, Inc. is an Arizona non-profit corporation that sponsors the annual LepreCon conventions. Leprecon, Inc. has also sponsored the 2004 World Horror ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Balticon
Balticon is the Maryland Regional science fiction convention, sponsored by the Baltimore Science Fiction Society (BSFS). It has been held annually since 1966. The name "Balticon" is trademarked by BSFS. Overview Balticon brings together over 1800 science, science fiction and fantasy professionals, creative amateurs, and fans on Memorial Day weekend each year for a 4-day multi-track event in or around Baltimore. Balticon can be described as a "General" or "Big Tent" science fiction convention since, while the primary emphasis is literary, programming and activities cover a number of other areas, such as anime, art, costuming, science, Podcasting and new media, gaming, and Filk music. Balticon is produced by the Baltimore Science Fiction Society, Inc., a 501(c)(3) literary society. It is run entirely by volunteers, who assume responsibility at many levels, ranging from gofers who sign up and run errands at the convention, to the Con Chair who may spend up to two years on planning ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
