Steven L. Kent

Steven L. Kent, son of woodworker Ron Kent, is an American writer, known for both video game journalism and military science fiction novels. In 1993, Steven started work as a freelance journalist, writing monthly video game reviews for the Seattle Times. He eventually became a contributor to such video game publications as Electronic Games, Next Generation, and Computer Entertainment News, as well as such mainstream publications as Parade, USA Today, the Chicago Tribune, MSNBC, the Japan Times, and the Los Angeles Times Syndicate. He also wrote entries on video games for Encarta and the Encyclopedia Americana.

In 2005, Steve announced that he would concentrate on writing novels. In 2006, he published The Clone Republic and Rogue Clone. In 2007, he published The Clone Alliance.

Kent received a B.A. in 1986 and an M.A. in 1990, both from Brigham Young University.

Bibliography

Science fiction

Clone (cell biology)

A clone is a group of identical cells that share a common ancestry, meaning they are derived from the same cell.

Clonality implies the state of a cell or a substance being derived from one source or the other. Thus there are terms like polyclonal—derived from many clones; oligoclonal—derived from a few clones; and monoclonal—derived from one clone. These terms are most commonly used in context of antibodies or immunocytes.

Contexts

This concept of clone assumes importance as all the cells that form a clone share common ancestry, which has a very significant consequence: shared genotype.

Clone (B-cell biology)

The process of immunological B-cell maturation involves transformation from an undifferentiated B cell to one that secretes antibodies with particular specificity. This differentiation and activation of the B cell occurs most rapidly after exposure to antigen by antigen-presenting cells in the reticuloendothelial system, and under modulation by T cells, and is closely intertwined with affinity maturation. B cells that respond most avidly to antigen are preferentially allowed to proliferate and mature, a process known as clonal selection.

In lymphocytic neoplastic diseases such as multiple myeloma and lymphoma, but also other illnesses, there can be a massive expansion of a single B-cell clone, detectable by measuring the excessively-produced antibodies, measured in a serum protein electrophoresis test or peripheral blood flow cytometry. Such an expansion is said to be "monoclonal", and monoclonal antibodies produced by such a group of B cells can cause illnesses such as amyloidosis and lupus, or can be indicative of an underlying malignancy. The concept of clonality is closely associated with malignancy, for example in diagnosing lymphomatoid skin lesions. The expansion of a particular clone of immune B cells is usually interpreted by clinicians as evidence of unrestricted cell growth, the hallmark of cancer.

Mathematical proof

In mathematics, a proof is a deductive argument for a mathematical statement. In the argument, other previously established statements, such as theorems, can be used. In principle, a proof can be traced back to self-evident or assumed statements, known as axioms, along with accepted rules of inference. Axioms may be treated as conditions that must be met before the statement applies. Proofs are examples of deductive reasoning and are distinguished from inductive or empirical arguments; a proof must demonstrate that a statement is always true (occasionally by listing all possible cases and showing that it holds in each), rather than enumerate many confirmatory cases. An unproved proposition that is believed true is known as a conjecture.

Proofs employ logic but usually include some amount of natural language which usually admits some ambiguity. In fact, the vast majority of proofs in written mathematics can be considered as applications of rigorous informal logic. Purely formal proofs, written in symbolic language instead of natural language, are considered in proof theory. The distinction between formal and informal proofs has led to much examination of current and historical mathematical practice, quasi-empiricism in mathematics, and so-called folk mathematics (in both senses of that term). The philosophy of mathematics is concerned with the role of language and logic in proofs, and mathematics as a language.

List of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles characters

The following is a list of main characters in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise.

Main protagonists

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are a team of mutant red-eared sliders named after four Renaissance artists and living in the sewers of New York City, where they train by day and fight crime by night as ninjas.

Leonardo

Leonardo is the tactical, courageous leader of the Ninja Turtles and a devoted student of Ninjutsu, usually wearing a blue mask and wielding two katanas.

Michelangelo

Michelangelo is the most comical of the Ninja Turtles, usually wearing an orange mask and wielding a pair of nunchucks.

Donatello

Donatello is the scientist, inventor, engineer and technological genius of the Ninja Turtles, usually wearing a purple mask and wielding a bo-staff.

Raphael

Raphael is the bad boy of the Ninja Turtles, wearing a red mask and wielding a pair of sais.

Supporting characters

Splinter

Splinter is the mutant rat sensei and adoptive father of the Ninja Turtles, trained in Ninjutsu by his owner and master, Hamato Yoshi, in Japan.

The Red Badge of Gayness

"The Red Badge of Gayness" is episode 45 of Comedy Central's animated series South Park. It originally aired on November 24, 1999.

In the summer of 2013, fans voted "The Red Badge of Gayness" as the best episode of Season 3.

The episode's name is a play on the Red Badge of Courage.

Plot synopsis

As the entire town of South Park is preparing to hold its annual American Civil War reenactment of the (fictional) Battle of Tamarack Hill, the children rehearse as a Union Army rally band.

In the morning of the reenactment, Jimbo informs the reenactors that over 200 people will come to see them reenact the battle, setting a new record. He also takes the time to remind everyone that the primary sponsor of their event is Jagerminz S'more-flavored Schnapps, "the schnapps with the delightful taste of s'mores." In addition, the special guest will be Stan's grandpa, Marvin Marsh. Meanwhile, Cartman comes dressed as General Robert E. Lee, and the boys are outraged by his dressing as a Confederate officer. Evidently under the impression that the reenactment is a competition of some sort, Cartman bets that the South will win the Civil War, and if it does, Stan and Kyle will be his slaves for a month, or vice versa. Knowing that the outcome is supposed to be historical victory for the North as planned, Stan and Kyle eagerly accept the challenge.

War (painting)

War is a painting created by Portuguese-British visual artist Paula Rego in 2003.

Description

War is a large pastel on paper composition measuring 1600mm x 1200mm. A rabbit-headed woman stands prominently in the center carrying a wounded child, surrounded by several realistic and fantastic figures recalling a style Rego describes as "beautiful grotesque".

For The Telegraph's Alastair Sooke, "The more you look at War, the curiouser and curiouser it becomes. Rego's white rabbits owe more to Richard Kelly's film Donnie Darko than Lewis Carroll's Wonderland."

Background

The painting first appeared as part of Rego's "Jane Eyre and Other Stories" exhibition at Marlborough Fine Art in London in 2003. It was inspired by a photograph that appeared in The Guardian near the beginning of the Iraq War, in which a girl in a white dress is seen running from an explosion, with a woman and her baby unmoving behind her. In an interview conducted in relation to the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía's 2007 exhibition, Rego said of this painting, "I thought I would do a picture about these children getting hurt, but I turned them into rabbits' heads, like masks. It’s very difficult to do it with humans, it doesn’t get the same kind of feel at all. It seemed more real to transform them into creatures."