A hieroglyph (Greek for "sacred carving") is a character of the ancient Egyptian writing system. Partially pictographic logographic scripts reminiscent of ancient Egyptian are also sometimes called "hieroglyphs". In Neoplatonism, especially of the Renaissance, a hieroglyph was an artistic representation of an esoteric idea, which actual Egyptian hieroglyphs seemed to the Neoplatonists to be. The word hieroglyphics (τὰ ἱερογλυφικά [γράμματα]) may refer to writings in a hieroglyphic system.

Man are a rock band from South Wales whose style is a mixture of West Coast psychedelia, progressive rock, blues and country-rock. Formed in 1968 as a reincarnation of Welsh rock harmony group ‘’The Bystanders’’, Man are renowned for the extended jams in their live performances, and having had numerous line up changes.

Man evolved out of The Bystanders, a successful close harmony pop group from Merthyr Tydfil who played numerous club residencies in Wales, often playing several clubs a night. The Bystanders issued eight singles, including "98.6" (#45 in UK Singles Chart, in February 1967) which featured in the 2009 film, The Boat That Rocked (although Keith's version was the bigger hit, reaching #24 in the UK) and "When Jesamine Goes", written by their manager Ronnie Scott and Marty Wilde under the pseudonyms of Frere Manston and Jack Gellar, which was later covered by The Casuals as "Jesamine" and got to #2 in the UK Chart. They also recorded sessions of cover versions for the BBC as rules restricting needle time required "live" performances between the records during the 1960s; becoming regulars on the ’’Jimmy Young Show’’, "The David Symonds Show" and others.

Neal Town Stephenson (born October 31, 1959) is an American writer known for his works of speculative fiction.

Difficult to categorize, his novels have been variously referred to as science fiction, historical fiction, cyberpunk, and postcyberpunk. Other labels such as 'baroque' often appear.

Stephenson explores areas such as mathematics, cryptography, philosophy, currency, and the history of science. He also writes non-fiction articles about technology in publications such as Wired.

He has worked part-time as an advisor for Blue Origin, a company (funded by Jeff Bezos) developing a manned sub-orbital launch system, and is also cofounder of Subutai Corporation, whose first offering is the interactive fiction project The Mongoliad. He has also written novels with his uncle, George Jewsbury ("J. Frederick George"), under the collective pseudonym Stephen Bury.

Born on October 31, 1959 in Fort Meade, Maryland, Stephenson came from a family of engineers and hard scientists; his father is a professor of electrical engineering whose father was a physics professor; his mother worked in a biochemistry laboratory, while her father was a biochemistry professor. Stephenson's family moved to Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, in 1960 and then in 1966 to Ames, Iowa, where he graduated from Ames High School in 1977. Stephenson studied at Boston University, first specializing in physics, then switching to geography after he found that it would allow him to spend more time on the university mainframe. He graduated in 1981 with a B.A. in geography and a minor in physics. Since 1984, Stephenson has lived mostly in the Pacific Northwest and currently resides in Seattle with his family.

Leigh Joseph McCloskey (born June 21, 1955) is an American actor.

Born in Los Angeles, California, McCloskey was classically trained as an actor at the Juilliard School in Lincoln Center, New York. He began his professional acting career playing Billy Abbott in the original Rich Man, Poor Man miniseries starring Nick Nolte and Peter Strauss. He went on to star in three nighttime television series: Executive Suite, Married: The First Year, and is perhaps most widely known for his role as Mitch Cooper (husband of Lucy Ewing Cooper) on the CBS nighttime soap opera Dallas. McCloskey was a series regular from 1980–1982, and made brief appearances in 1985 and 1988.

McCloskey starred in numerous made for television films and miniseries including Bermuda Depths, Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway and its sequel Alexander: The Other Side of Dawn in which he played the title role. He starred with Kris Kristofferson in Trouble Shooters: Trapped Beneath the Earth and with Linda Gray (Dallas) in Accidental Meeting. He also co-starred with Brooke Shields and Scott Glenn in the miniseries Gone But Not Forgotten in 2004. McCloskey has also had made numerous films including Just One of the Guys, Cameron's Closet, Fraternity Vacation with Tim Robbins, and the cult classic Inferno directed by Dario Argento among others.