Pi
In mathematics, the symbol pi represents a circle’s circumference divided by its diameter, which is roughly 22/7, or the infinite decimal representation that begins 3.14159265358979323846….
Picard, Capt. Jean-Luc
Born July 13, 2305 in Labarre, France, Earth, Milky Way Galaxy, Picard is the captain of Starfleet’s flaghip U.S.S. Enterprise. Portrayed by Sir Patrick Stewart in Star Trek: The Next Generation and the series’ subsequent theatrical films, Picard was promoted via field commission to captain after the death of his U.S.S. Stargazer captain. In 2363, he was chosen to command the relatively new Galaxy-class U.S.S. Enterprise-D. The following year, he was offered but declined promotion to admiral and commandant of Starfleet Academy. In 2366, he was declared missing in action during a Borg invasion, later rescued from assimilation and returned to Enterprise command. In 2371, he was forced to sacrifice the Enterprise-D at Veridian III while opposing El-Aurian scientist Tolian Soran alongside the former captain of the original Enterprise, Capt. James T. Kirk (as shown in the film Star Trek: Generations). In 2372, Picard was granted command relatively new Sovereign-class U.S.S. Enterprise-E (stardate 49827.5).
An accomplished diplomat and tactician, Picard managed to surpass a 22-year career as first officer and later captain of the U.S.S. Stargazer with an even more impressive record as captain of the fleet’s former flagship U.S.S. Enterprise. In the latter role, he not only witnessed the major turning points of recent galactic history, but played a major role in them, as well, from surviving as the only human abductee of the Borg invasion in 2366, to becoming the chief contact point with the being known as Q from the Q continuum, to serving as arbiter choosing the current ruler of the Klingon Empire and exposing the Romulans as backers of his chief rivals, later helping a pacifist underground movement to gain a toehold there.
Owing to a single-minded drive since childhood for a Starfleet career, Picard has never been a family man, and was long uncomfortable with the Galaxy-class starship’s civilian family contingent. His initial reaction to family is also reflected in the friction with his father and later his older brother, over leaving the family winery business. His outlook was also affected by the chance to experience a traditional family through an encounter in the Nexus in 2371 (as shown in Star Trek: Generations), as recounted later, and after having relived 40 years of a Kataanan native’s life three years earlier (as shown in the episode “The Inner Light”); in the latter case, the decades of experience compressed into 30 minutes from a Kataanan archival probe was overwhelming.
Lingering throughout Picard’s life is a series of unsuccessful romantic relationships, though significant adult romances have included Jenice Manheim in 2342, Capt. Phillipa Louvois in 2356, rogue archaeologist Vash in 2366-68, and Lt. Cmdr. Nella Darren in 2369. In addition, he also had barely acknowledged feelings for Ens. Marta Batanides following their Starfleet graduation; the Kriosian metamorph Kamala; and the widow of his best friend Lt. Cmdr. Jack Crusher, Beverly — a Starfleet doctor, longtime friend and his chief medical officer on the Enterprise. Aside from these feelings regarding children, family and women, Picard was even aloof with those he considered his close friends. Nevertheless, he has shown a willingness to stake his career for them — as when defending the inherent sentient’s rights of first Data and then his daughter Lal. Part of Picard’s private nature includes a difficulty in confronting deep personal issues, which then tend to become suppressed. Philosophically, he sees life and death as more than two choices of eternal or momentary existence; in fact, he believes there is another concept yet beyond human understanding.
Other mission performance highlights of his years on the Enterprises include his second meeting with Sarek, where at great personal risk, he agreed to a mind-meld; the legendary Vulcan had taken an interest in his career, but Picard was still awed by the Vulcan legend. They met again briefly as Sarek lay dying two years later, just before Picard went on to meet Sarek’s son Spock, leading an underground pro-unification movement with Vulcan on Romulus. Using Picard as a mental go-between, Spock was able to touch his own father’s mind by melding with Picard’s. Picard has also participated in first-contact encounters with the Borg, Ferengi, Edo, Aldeans, Tamarians, Jarada, Malcorians, Douwd, Mintakans, Paxans, Cytherians, the Ux-Mal, and Devidians, among others, and served as a negotiator and diplomat on missions including Acamar III, Rutia IV, Angosia III, Bajor, Talarians, Turkana IV, Pentaurus V, Ventax II, Kaelon II, Lenaria, Gemaris V, Dachlyd, and Krios-Valt Minor.
Piconet
Meaning “very small network” (with “pico-” meaning technically “one trillionth” but used to mean “very small,” and “-net” being an abbreviation for network), a piconet is a data network created between devices connected via Bluetooth technology. A piconet can include two to eight connected components in close proximity on the same channel and frequency hopping sequence. Data transfer rates between devices can vary from 200 to 2,100 kbps (kilobits per second), and the range of optimal operation for Bluetooth is 10 meters (which is sometimes called a “personal area network” or PAN). In an established network, one device takes the role of the “master” (which establishes the frequency hopping scheme) while the other devices act as “slaves.” A network can consist of up to seven active and 255 inactive slave devices, each operating in both ad hoc (as in a peer-to-peer (P2P) network) and infrastructure (central base station) modes of operation.
A slave in one piconet can be a master in another, creating a chain of two or more piconets called a “scatternet,” which extends the distance between all devices. One device in a piconet, whether a master or a slave, can also participate as a slave to the master of another piconet. In such a case, the device then becomes what is called a “bridge” between the two piconets, connecting both networks.
Picture element
See Pixel.
Piezoelectric effect
See Piezoelectricity.
Piezoelectricity
The ability of certain materials to generate an alternating current (AC) voltage positive electric charge on one side of certain nonconducting crystals and negative charge on the opposite side when subjected to mechanical stress or vibration, or conversely, the ability of certain materials to vibrate when subjected to an AC voltage, or both. When applied to metal plates, an AC signal causes them to vibrate in sync with the voltage, resulting in an acoustic disturbance. This effect is exploited in a variety of practical devices such as microphones, phonograph pickups, and wave filters in telephone-communications systems. Quartz, certain ceramics and salts, and some other solids exhibit this effect. Also known as the piezoelectric effect, piezoelectricity was discovered in 1880 by Pierre and Paul-Jacques Curie.
Pikachu
Also known as the “Mouse Pokémon,” this electric species of Pokémon was introduced in the first generation, and is recognizable by its lightning bolt tail and dotted cheeks. The name “Pikachu” was derived from the Japanese word “pikapika,” which means “sparkle,” and “chuchu,” which represents the sounds small mice make.
Pinhead
As portrayed by Doug Bradley in eight films of the Hellraiser series, and by Fred Tatasciore in 2011’s Hellraiser: Revelations, Pinhead was originally a human named Capt. Elliott Spencer (1887-1930), an explorer and a British Army veteran who served in World War I. His transformation into Pinhead, who is also known as the “Lead Cenobite,” “The Angel of Suffering” and “The Dark Prince of Pain,” came about when he opened the Demonic Lament Configuration puzzle box. In the Hellraiser comic book series, he is depicted as being the latest incarnation of the Cenobite spirit Xipe Totec, an entity derived from Aztec mythology. As the leader of the Cenobites, he is well-versed in torture. Death does not end the suffering of his victims, either, as the victims are brought to Hell (also known as The Labyrinth). Pinhead is an extremely powerful being with several supernatural abilities. He is virtually unstoppable and invulnerable in the physical sense, but never engages in physical combat, instead letting hooked chains mutilate his victims, often pulling in several directions to rip them apart. His magic is also used for creating objects out of thin air, to teleport, creating explosions at distances and deceiving opponents with illusions. Pinhead is also familiar with the occult and magic, with an ability to read people’s minds. He is at once charismatic and terrifying, and can often persuade others to perform horrific acts to his favor. Films in the series include Hellraiser (1987), Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988), Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth (1992), Hellraiser: Bloodline (1996), Hellraiser: Inferno (2000), Hellraiser: Hellseeker (2002), Hellraiser: Deader (2005), Hellraiser: Hellworld (2005) and Hellraiser: Revelations (2011).
Pixel
The basic elemental unit of a video image display on a computer screen, short for “picture element.”
Pixel hunt
The act of searching for a difficult object or hotspot to find, which the player of a computer adventure or hidden object game must find and click on to proceed. Such objects are typically only a few pixels in size.
Plan 9 from Outer Space
Named “Worst Film of All Time” in the 1980 book The Golden Turkey Awards, this 1959 cult classic about aliens and zombies was written and directed by Ed Wood (named “Worst Director of All Time” in The Golden Turkey Awards), who claimed the film as his “pride and joy.” Infamous for his “one-take” method, Wood’s film included scenes with visible wires on alien spaceships, gravestones that get kicked over by actors, scenes that change instantly from day to night, and two different actors (who look nothing like each other!) playing the same role. Headlining horror film star Bela Lugosi (who appears in this, his final film, only in stock footage), the cast included Gregory Walcott, wrestler Tor Johnson and Maila Nurmi (as Vampira).
Planet of the Apes
Pierre Boulle’s classic 1963 science fiction novel La Planète des Singes (translated as Planet of the Apes in the United States, but as The Monkey Planet in the UK) depicts a planet on which simian races are intellectuals capable of coherent speech, while humans exist as mute beasts. The novel inspired a series of Hollywood films.
Pleiades
In Greek mythology, the Pleiades were seven sisters named Maia, Electra, Alcyone, Taygete, Asterope, Celaeno and Merope. They were the daughters of Atlas, a Titan charged with holding up the heavens, and the oceanid Pleione, the protector of sailing. After a chance meeting with the hunter Orion, the Pleiades and their mother became the object of his pursuit. Enamored with the young women, he pursued them over the face of the Earth. In pity for their plight, Zeus changed them into a flock of doves, which he set in the heavens. Thus the absence of his wife and family was added to Atlas’ original punishment. In an alternative myth, the Pleiades were the virgin companions of Artemis, to the ancient Greeks, the goddess of hunting and the Moon. Whilst stalking a hind, the great hunter Orion crept into a sunlit glade, disturbing the innocent play of the sisters. They fled in alarm. His immoderate passions enflamed by their beauty and grace, he pursued them relentlessly, as was fitting for the greatest mortal hunter. In frustration, Artemis pleaded with Zeus for his intervention. With characteristic Olympian sarcasm, he did. As the hunter closed in on his prey, Zeus transformed the sisters into a flock of doves. They flew into the heavens, beyond the reach of their pursuer, but also removed from earthly companionship with the goddess. Artemis, enraged by these twofold masculine affronts, avenged herself on Orion. Her brother Apollo, having been affronted by the mortal hunter’s prowess, was persuaded to set a monstrous scorpion to attack Orion. Not to be outdone in this, in another characteristic display of mordant wit, Zeus set the dead hunter in the heavens in a vain pursuit of the Pleiades through the night sky for eternity, with the constellation Scorpio ever chasing after Orion. Even so, the Olympian had some compassion for his daughter: the path of the Moon in the heavens passes close to the Pleiades, and thus Artemis, the goddess of the Moon, had the solace of their frequent reunions.
In the clear and unpolluted night skies of antiquity, the Pleiades star cluster was an object of wonder and interest. It was the subject of myth and legend in almost every culture on the planet. Only six stars are distinctly visible to the naked eye, and the ancient Greeks explained the sudden disappearance of the seventh star in various narratives. According to one, all the Pleiades were consorts to gods, with the exception of Merope. She deserted her sisters in shame, having taken a mortal husband, Sisyphus, the King of Corinth. Another explanation for the “lost” star related to the myth of the Electra, an ancestress of the royal house of Troy. After the destruction of Troy, the grief-stricken Electra abandoned her sisters and was transformed into a comet, and ever after to be a sign of impending doom. The Greek legends of the disappearing star are echoed in Jewish, Hindu and Mongolian folklore: their basis in an actual event seems to be corroborated by astronomical evidence that a clearly visible star in the cluster became extinct towards the end of the second millennium BC. The Pleiades are among the first stars mentioned in literature, appearing in Chinese annals of about 2350 BC. The earliest European references are somewhat later, in a poem by Hesiod in about 1000 BC and in Homer’s Odyssey and Iliad. The Bible contains three direct references to the Pleiades in Job 9:9 and 38:31, and Amos 5:8, and a single indirect reference in the New Testament. This latter passage (Revelation 1:16) describes a vision of the coming of the Messiah, who holds seven stars in His right hand.
Plug and Play
Sometimes abbreviated “PnP,” a phrase used to describe devices that work with a computer system as soon as they are connected, without having to manually install drivers for the device or even tell the computer that a new device has been added. While Plug and Play usually refers to computer peripheral devices, such as keyboards and mice, it can also be used to describe internal hardware. The only difference is that internal components usually require the computer to be turned off when they are installed, while external devices can typically be installed while the computer is running.
Pluto
1. Roman god of the underworld, the counterpart to the Greek god Hades.
2. Pluto, once considered the ninth and smallest planet in our solar system, was discovered in 1930 by American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh. In 2003, an astronomer saw a new object beyond Pluto and thought he had found a new planet, since the object he saw was larger than Pluto. Discovering this object caused other astronomers to discuss what defines a “planet.” A decision was made that Pluto was not really a planet because of its size and location in space, so Pluto and objects like it are now called “dwarf planets.” A dwarf planet orbits the sun just like other planets, but it is so small, it cannot clear other objects out of its path. Pluto is also called a “plutoid,” which is a dwarf planet that is farther out from the sun than the planet Neptune. The three known plutoids are Pluto, Eris and Makemake (MAH-kee-MAH-kee). On average, Pluto is more than 3.6 billion miles (5.8 billion kilometers) away from the sun, or about 40 times as far from the sun as Earth. Pluto orbits the sun in an oval trajectory. Because of this oval orbit, Pluto is sometimes closer to the sun than at other times. At its closest point to the sun, Pluto is still billions of miles away. It is only 1,400 miles (2,300 kilometers) wide, or about half the width of the United States. Pluto is slightly smaller than Earth’s moon. It takes Pluto 248 Earth years to go around the sun. One day on Pluto is about 6-1/2 Earth days long. Since it is so much farther from the sun, Pluto is very cold compared to Earth. The temperature on Pluto is in the range of -375 to -400 degrees Fahrenheit. Pluto is so far away from Earth that scientists know very little about what it is like. It is believed to be covered with ice. Pluto has about one-fifteenth the gravity of Earth. A person who weighs 100 pounds on Earth would weigh only 7 pounds on Pluto. Pluto has five moons, the largest of which is named Charon (KER-ən), which is about half the size of Pluto. As Pluto is named for the Roman god of the underworld, Charon is named for the boatman who ferries souls across to Hades. Pluto’s four other moons are named Kerberos (named for the three-headed dog that guards the gates of the underworld), Styx (one of the rivers in the underworld), Nix (the mother of Charon) and Hydra (the three-headed serpent guardian of the underworld).
Podarces
See Priam.
Pokémon
Originally called “Capsule Monsters,” Nintendo and Satoshi Tajiri, a childhood insect collector, created the Pokémon card-collecting game in 1996. That same year, Japan released Pocket Monsters Red and Green for Game Boy. On October 15, Nintendo introduced Pokémon Blue, a Japan-exclusive, less glitchy merging of the original Red and Green. Pokémon Yellow: Special Pikachu Edition for Game Boy came out three years later, and in 2004, U.S. fans saw the release of Pokémon FireRed and Pokémon LeafGreen for the Game Boy Advance. The first Pokémon trading cards – 102 of them – were published in Japan by Media Factory in October 1996. They became wildly popular for both collectability and competitive card game playing. The cards become available in the U.S. three years later, and Nintendo took over publishing the cards in 2003. Nearly 15 billion cards have been produced to date, featuring all Pokémon species. On April 1, 1997, the Pokémon TV cartoon debuted in the U.S., and a second, third and fourth anime series – Advanced Generation, Diamond and Pearl and Best Wishes, respectively – begin airing in the U.S. in 2003, 2007 and 2011. The anime is now broadcasted to more than 70 countries. November 12, 1999 saw the U.S. release of the first-ever Pokémon film, Pokémon: The First Movie – Mewtwo Strikes Back, which debuted at No. 1 at the box office on opening day. Pokémon has released a new movie – sometimes two – every year thereafter, excluding 2010.
Pole Position
Premiering in 1982, this popular one-player Namco arcade game started the trend for photo-realism in video game graphics, and became a worldwide phenomenon. Unique in that the player sat inside the game rather than standing in front of it, the Formula-1 racing game was set at the Fuji Speedway in Japan. A player’s first objective was to beat the clock in a qualifying lap, and the second objective was to race against the clock and other cars to achieve the highest score possible. Facing hazards such as other racing cars, sharp turns and water puddles, points could be earned for passing cars, staying on the track, and finishing the race with time remaining. If a player’s car hit another car or a road sign, it was destroyed in an explosion, only to reappear a few seconds later. If the first lap was completed within a certain amount of time, the player was rewarded with extended play. Unique game controls included a steering wheel, accelerator and a gear shifter.
Polidori, Dr. John
The hot-tempered and arrogant author of the world’s first vampire novel was the personal physician and traveling companion of Lord Byron and a participant in the “haunted summer” of 1816. Born in 1795 to an Italian political scholar and a British governess, Polidori received his doctorate at only 19 from the University of Edinburgh, where he wrote a thesis on sleepwalking. There, Polidori and Byron, along with poet Percy Shelley and his fiancée Mary Wollstonecraft, talked of death, afterlife and revival of the dead, all while partaking of Polidori’s supply of hallucinogens. Just as Mary Shelley would be inspired by that outing to pen Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus, Polidori wrote The Vampyre, which predated Bram Stoker’s Dracula by 78 years. It is widely believed that Byron was the model for the blood-sucking aristocrat in Polidori’s novel. Though his story collected dust for three years, it was finally published in 1819 in New Monthly Magazine under the title “The Vampyre: A Tale by Lord Byron.” Despite denials by Byron himself, the publisher used the poet’s much more renowned name in order to sell his magazine, and it took many years and quite an extensive battle for Polidori to get credit for his own story. Forced into medical school by his father and loathsome of medicine, Polidori later attempted to become a monk, but was refused due to the publication of his scandalous novel. He enrolled in law school under his mother’s maiden name, but subsequently became a compulsive gambler. Deeply in debt and suffering from depression, Polidori took his own life at age 25 by drinking a beaker of prussic acid (cyanide).
John Polidori has been portrayed on film by Timothy Spall in Gothic (1986) and by Alex Winter in Haunted Summer (1988).
Polymath
From the Greek word polymathēs (“poly-” meaning “many” + “manthanein” meaning “to learn”), as an adjective, it means very learned, and as a noun, it means a very learned person.
Polyphemus
The legendary giant cyclops was the son of Greek god Poseidon and the sea nymph Thoösa. While he had two empty eye sockets, Polyphemus’ single eye sat in the center of his forehead. In Homer’s Odyssey, the giant trapped Odysseus’ men in his cave when they landed on the island of Cyclops (modern-day Sicily). To escape, Odysseus got him drunk on wine, then blinded him with wooden stake. According to Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Polyphemus loved Galatea, a Sicilian Nereid. While it is unclear if his love was returned or if Galatea merely loved Polyphemus’ attentions, all sources say that from the couple’s offspring, the Celts descended.
Pon farr
In the Star Trek universe, the time of mating in the Vulcan mating cycle. Every seven years, adult Vulcans go through a period of arousal, which manifests as erratic physical pain and psychological/emotional distress. During this period, they instinctively must mate or risk death. Star Trek fans were first introduced to the phenomenon in the original series episode “Amok Time,” in which the Vulcan first officer Spock had to return to his home planet to fight for his intended T’Pring through the ritual of koon-ut-kal-if-fee. Certain agents have been known to accelerate the Pon farr. For example, in the Star Trek: Enterprise episode “Bounty,” T’Pol prematurely experienced pon farr after being exposed to foreign microbes while on an away mission.
Pong
Developed by Allan Alcorn and released in 1972 by Atari, Pong was one of the first computer games ever created, as well as the first commercially successful game. The simple tennis-like game featured two paddles and a ball, and could be played against another player or against the computer. In 1975, Atari released a home edition of the arcade game, which sold 150,000 units.
Poseidon
Poseidon (known as Neptune in Roman mythology) was the god of the sea, earthquakes and horses. Although he was officially one of the supreme gods of Mount Olympus, he spent most of his time in his watery domain. Poseidon was brother to Zeus and Hades. These three gods divided up Creation, and by drawing lots, Zeus became ruler of the sky, Hades got dominion of the underworld, and Poseidon was given the seas and all waterways as his realm. In dividing heaven, the watery realm and the subterranean land of the dead, the Olympians agreed that the earth itself would be ruled jointly, with Zeus as king. Poseidon married the sea-nymph Amphitrite, daughter of “The Old Man of the Sea” Nereus. The sea god fathered the hero Theseus, although the mortal Aegeus also claimed his paternity. As related in Homer’s The Odyssey, because Odysseus blinded the cyclops Polyphemus, who was Poseidon’s son, the god not only delayed the hero’s homeward return from the Trojan War, but he also caused Odysseus to face enormous perils. Poseidon similarly cursed the wife of King Minos. Minos had proved his divine right to rule Crete by calling on Poseidon to send a bull from the sea, which the king promised to sacrifice. Poseidon sent the bull, but Minos liked it too much to sacrifice it. So Poseidon asked Aphrodite, the goddess of love, to make Minos’ queen, Pasiphae, fall in love with the bull. The result was the monstrous minotaur, who was half-man, half-bull. As god of horses, Poseidon often adopted the shape of a steed. It is not certain that he was in this form when he wooed Medusa, but when Perseus later killed the Gorgon, the winged horse Pegasus sprang from her severed neck.
Power Rangers
See Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.
Power ring
1. Long ago in the DC Comics universe, the Guardians of the Universe sought out sentient beings throughout the universe to become members of an intergalactic “police force,” the Green Lantern Corps. The Guardians forged rings, which channeled pure willpower from their users into solid constructs. The Guardians gathered all random magic and fused it into the Starheart, which gained sentience. A piece of the Starheart, fashioned into the shape of a railroad lantern, fell to Earth. During a train disaster, the ring saved the Earthling Alan Scott. Creating a ring from part of the lantern, Scott fought crime as the “Green Lantern.” Each power ring has many capabilities: it creates anything the wearer can imagine and it gives the wearer the ability to fly. It must be recharged every 24 hours by touching the Green Lantern for ten seconds.
After Green Lantern Hal Jordan went rogue – destroying the Corps, the Guardians, and the Main Battery – the sole remaining Guardian, Ganthet, gathered the fragments of Hal’s shattered ring. He created from them the last Power Ring and conferred it upon a young Earth man, Kyle Rayner. Just as the rings before him, Kyle Rayner’s ring creates anything the wearer can imagine and allows the wearer to fly. This special ring is keyed to Kyle Rayner’s DNA, and can only be used by him, those related to him, and Hal Jordan. The power supply is expended according to what the ring creates rather than the length of time since its last recharge. The ring must be recharged by touching to the battery for a period proportionately equal to how “empty” it is. It gives the wearer a sense of “full” or “empty.” Each ring can duplicate itself, creating a second ring which may be given to another as a backup, for protection, or to help the lantern in times of great need.
One of the main weaknesses of the Power Rings that greatly disturbed Sinestro was the fact that the bearers of the power rings were unable to kill. Recently, however, this restriction on the rings has been lifted, but murder is still against the law of the GL Corps.
2. The name of Green Lantern’s evil Earth-Three counterpart, who is constantly tortured by the ring he wears. Power Ring, a member of the Crime Syndicate of America, wielded a ring that utilized mystic energy, enabling him to fight and sometimes overcome even Ultraman, the Crime Syndicate of America’s counterpart to Superman. Its powers were the same as Hal Jordan’s, but without the yellow weakness.
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