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The Stainless Steel Rat
James Bolivar diGriz, alias "Slippery Jim" and "The Stainless Steel Rat", is a fictional character and a series of comic science fiction novels written by Harry Harrison. Description James Bolivar diGriz goes by many aliases, including "Slippery Jim" and "The Stainless Steel Rat". He is a futuristic con man, thief, and all-round rascal. He is charming and quick-witted. He is also a master of disguise and martial arts, an accomplished bank robber, a criminal mastermind, an expert on breaking and entering, and (perhaps most usefully) a skilled liar. Master of self-rationalization, the Rat frequently justifies his crimes by arguing that he is providing society with entertainment; and besides which, he only steals from institutions that he believes have insurance coverage and so will be able to recoup their losses. He displays a strong sense of morality, albeit in a much more restricted sense than is traditional. For example, diGriz will steal without compunction, but deplores killi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harry Harrison (writer)
Harry Max Harrison (born Henry Maxwell Dempsey; March 12, 1925 – August 15, 2012) was an American science fiction author, known mostly for his character The Stainless Steel Rat and for his novel ''Make Room! Make Room!'' (1966). The latter was the rough basis for the motion picture ''Soylent Green'' (1973). Long resident in both Ireland and the United Kingdom, Harrison was involved in the foundation of the Irish Science Fiction Association, and was, with Brian Aldiss, co-president of the Birmingham Science Fiction Group. Aldiss called him "a constant peer and great family friend". His friend Michael Carroll (author), Michael Carroll said of Harrison's work: "Imagine ''Pirates of the Caribbean'' or ''Raiders of the Lost Ark'', and picture them as science-fiction novels. They're rip-roaring adventures, but they're stories with a lot of heart." Novelist Christopher Priest (novelist), Christopher Priest wrote in an obituary Career Before becoming an editor and writer, Harrison ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Human
Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, and language. Humans are highly social and tend to live in complex social structures composed of many cooperating and competing groups, from families and kinship networks to political states. Social interactions between humans have established a wide variety of values, social norms, and rituals, which bolster human society. Its intelligence and its desire to understand and influence the environment and to explain and manipulate phenomena have motivated humanity's development of science, philosophy, mythology, religion, and other fields of study. Although some scientists equate the term ''humans'' with all members of the genus ''Homo'', in common usage, it generally refers to ''Homo sapiens'', the only extant member. Anatomically moder ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2000 AD (comics)
''2000 AD'' is a weekly British science fiction-oriented comic magazine. As a comics anthology it serialises stories in each issue (known as "progs") and was first published by IPC Magazines in 1977, the first issue dated 26 February. Since 2000 it has been published by Rebellion Developments. ''2000 AD'' is most noted for its ''Judge Dredd'' stories, and has been contributed to by a number of artists and writers who became renowned in the field internationally, such as Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons, Grant Morrison, Brian Bolland, Mike McMahon, John Wagner, Alan Grant and Garth Ennis. Other series in ''2000 AD'' include ''Rogue Trooper'', '' Sláine'', ''Strontium Dog'', ''ABC Warriors'', ''Nemesis the Warlock'' and ''Nikolai Dante''. History ''2000 AD'' was initially published by IPC Magazines. IPC then shifted the title to its Fleetway comics subsidiary, which was sold to Robert Maxwell in 1987 and then to Egmont UK in 1991. Fleetway continued to produce the title until 2 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gregorian Calendar
The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It was introduced in October 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian calendar. The principal change was to space leap years differently so as to make the average calendar year 365.2425 days long, more closely approximating the 365.2422-day 'tropical' or 'solar' year that is determined by the Earth's revolution around the Sun. The rule for leap years is: There were two reasons to establish the Gregorian calendar. First, the Julian calendar assumed incorrectly that the average solar year is exactly 365.25 days long, an overestimate of a little under one day per century, and thus has a leap year every four years without exception. The Gregorian reform shortened the average (calendar) year by 0.0075 days to stop the drift of the calendar with respect to the equinoxes.See Wikisource English translation of the (Latin) 1582 papal bull '' Inter gravissimas''. Second, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elizabeth Anne Hull
Elizabeth Anne Hull (January 10, 1937 – August 3, 2021) was an American academic, political activist and science fiction expert. She was Professor Emerita of William Rainey Harper College in Palatine, Illinois, where she taught English for over 30 years. She was born in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, and educated at Illinois State University (1954–55); City Colleges of Chicago (A.A., 1965); Northwestern University and Loyola University (M.A., 1970, Ph.D., 1975)."Elizabeth Anne Hull" Frederik Pohl. ''The Way the Future Blogs''. In 1993, Hull was regional judge for the National Council of Teachers of English Achievement Awards in Writing. Science fiction She has served as president of the |
Circus (performing Art)
A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclists as well as other object manipulation and stunt-oriented artists. The term ''circus'' also describes the performance which has followed various formats through its 250-year modern history. Although not the inventor of the medium, Philip Astley is credited as the father of the modern circus. In 1768, Astley, a skilled equestrian, began performing exhibitions of trick horse riding in an open field called Ha'Penny Hatch on the south side of the Thames River, England. In 1770, he hired acrobats, tightrope walkers, jugglers and a clown to fill in the pauses between the equestrian demonstrations and thus chanced on the format which was later named a "circus". Performances developed significantly over the next fifty years, with large-scale theatr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic viability of investing in the equipment, labor, and energy required to extract, refine and transport the materials found at the mine to manufacturers who can use the material. Ores recovered by mining include metals, coal, oil shale, gemstones, limestone, chalk, dimension stone, rock salt, potash, gravel, and clay. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agricultural processes, or feasibly created artificially in a laboratory or factory. Mining in a wider sense includes extraction of any non-renewable resource such as petroleum, natural gas, or even water. Modern mining processes involve prospecting for ore bodies, analysis of the profit potential of a proposed mine, extraction of the desired materials, an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted
''The Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted'' is a novel by Harry Harrison published in 1987. Plot summary ''The Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted'' is a novel in which the master-criminal's plans for revenge involve him joining an army. Reception Dave Langford reviewed ''The Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted'' for ''White Dwarf'' #95, and stated that "Very much the mixture as before." Reviews *Review by L. J. Hurst (1988) in Vector Vector most often refers to: *Euclidean vector, a quantity with a magnitude and a direction *Vector (epidemiology), an agent that carries and transmits an infectious pathogen into another living organism Vector may also refer to: Mathematic ... 142https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?1152 *Review by Colin Bird (1988) in Paperback Inferno, #74 *Review wedishby Tommy Persson (1988) in Månblad Alfa, 2 1988 References {{DEFAULTSORT:Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted 1987 novels ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Latin America
Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived from Latin — are predominantly spoken. The term was coined in the nineteenth century, to refer to regions in the Americas that were ruled by the Spanish, Portuguese and French empires. The term does not have a precise definition, but it is "commonly used to describe South America, Central America, Mexico, and the islands of the Caribbean." In a narrow sense, it refers to Spanish America plus Brazil (Portuguese America). The term "Latin America" is broader than categories such as ''Hispanic America'', which specifically refers to Spanish-speaking countries; and ''Ibero-America'', which specifically refers to both Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries while leaving French and British excolonies aside. The term ''Latin America'' was f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Banana Republic
In political science, the term banana republic describes a politically unstable country with an economy dependent upon the export of natural resources. In 1904, the American author O. Henry coined the term to describe Honduras and neighboring countries under economic exploitation by U.S. corporations, such as the United Fruit Company (now Chiquita Brands International). Typically, a banana republic has a society of extremely stratified social classes, usually a large impoverished working class and a ruling class plutocracy, composed of the business, political, and military elites. The ruling class controls the primary sector of the economy by way of the exploitation of labor; thus, the term ''banana republic'' is a pejorative descriptor for a servile oligarchy that abets and supports, for kickbacks, the exploitation of large-scale plantation agriculture, especially banana cultivation. A banana republic is a country with an economy of state capitalism, whereby the country is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Honeymoon
A honeymoon is a vacation taken by newlyweds immediately after their wedding, to celebrate their marriage. Today, honeymoons are often celebrated in destinations considered exotic or romantic. In a similar context, it may also refer to the phase in a couple's relationship - whether they are in matrimony or not - that exists before one becomes a burden to the other. History In Western culture and some westernized countries' cultures, the custom of a newlywed couple's going on a holiday together originated in early-19th-century Great Britain. Upper-class couples would take a "bridal tour", sometimes accompanied by friends or family, to visit relatives who had not been able to attend the wedding. The practice soon spread to the European continent and was known in France as a ''voyage à la façon anglaise'' (translation: English-style voyage), from the 1820s onwards. Honeymoons in the modern sense—a pure holiday voyage undertaken by the couple—became widespread during ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
