Richard I (“The Lionheart”)
A popular king in his lifetime, as well as a legendary hero, Richard I, called “Richard the Lionheart(ed),” was born September 8, 1157 in Oxford. A member of the House of Plantagenet and son of King Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, he became the duke of Aquitaine in 1168 and the duke of Poitiers in 1172. Along with his elder brother Henry (called the “Young King”), and his younger brothers Geoffrey and John, Richard mounted what would become known as The Revolt of 1173-74, when the brothers joined forces against their father. The revolt lasted eighteen months, with at least twenty castles in England demolished and many towns destroyed, as well as many forces killed, but was a failure, as Henry retained his throne and power. In 1183, the king’s eldest son Henry died, leaving Richard heir to the throne. When the king wanted to give Aquitaine (in the southwest of modern-day France) to youngest son John, Richard protested and in 1189, joined forces with Philip II of France against Henry, hounding him to a premature death in July of that year. Following his father’s death, Richard was made king of England, duke of Normandy and count of Anjou.
During his 10-year reign, he spent only six months in England. Sparked by Saladin’s 1187 capture of Jerusalem, Richard put everything he could think of up for sale in order to buy arms and join in the Third Crusade (1189-92), famously saying, “I would sell London if I could find a buyer.” He departed for the Holy Land and in May 1191, the king reached Cyprus, where he married Berengaria, daughter of the king of Navarre. Once in the Holy Land, Richard emerged as a hero in the Christians’ campaign at Acre. In September, his victory at Arsuf gave the Crusaders possession of Joppa. However, quarrels among the French, German and English contingents caused many problems, and although Richard twice led his forces to within a few miles of the city, the Crusade’s main objective, the recapture of Jerusalem, eluded him. After a year’s stalemate, Richard made a truce with Saladin in September 1192 that permitted the Crusaders to hold Acre and a thin coastal strip, as well as giving Christian pilgrims free access to the holy places.
Upon completion of the truce, Richard started on his journey home. In December 1192, bad weather drove him ashore near Venice, and he was imprisoned by Duke Leopold of Austria before being handed over to the German emperor Henry VI, who ransomed him for the enormous sum of 150,000 marks. Released in February 1194, Richard returned to England and, fearing that the ransom payment had compromised his independence, was crowned for a second time. He left for Normandy in March 1194, never to return to England. His last five years were spent in intermittent warfare against former ally Philip II. While laying siege to the castle of Châlus in central France, he was fatally wounded and died on April 6, 1199. Buried in Fontevraud Abbey in Rouen, France, where Henry II and Eleanor are also interred, Richard I was succeeded by his younger brother John, who had spent the years of Richard’s absence from England scheming against him.
Despite his lingering legendary status, Richard has been vilified by more recent historians and scholars. The 19th Century scholar William Stubbs called Richard “a bad son, a bad husband, a selfish ruler and a vicious man.” The 20th Century British historian Sir Steven Runciman echoed this view by calling Richard “a bad son, a bad husband, a bad king.” He has been labeled as irresponsible, hot-tempered, and capable of great cruelty. Despite this, Imad al-Din, a contemporary Muslim historian wrote of Richard: “Never have we had to face a bolder or more crafty opponent.” Ibn Al-Athir, one of the finest Islamic historians, drew this conclusion: “His cunning, courage, energy and patience made him the most remarkable man of his time.”
Notable Hollywood portrayals of King Richard include Anthony Hopkins (portraying Richard in his youth) in The Lion in Winter (1968) and Sean Connery in a cameo appearance in 1991’s Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.
Richard III
The deformed king of England, known as “the hunchback king,” was born on October 2, 1452 at Fotheringhay Castle. He ruled for only two years (1483-85) and died at the age of 32 as the last English king to lose his life on the battlefield. Portrayed rather unflatteringly in both English history and English literature, Richard is believed to have murdered his own two nephews to usurp the throne.
Killed at the Battle of Bosworth Field on August 22, 1452, Richard was the last monarch from the House of York, as the battle would end of War of the Roses and the Middle Ages. According to accounts of the battle, Richard abandoned his horse after it became stuck in a mire. Suffering 11 injuries, his death was most likely due to two injuries to the skull. Though royal, Richard’s body was given to monks, who buried him in a shallow and uneven grave. His final resting place was unknown for over 500 years, until his remains were discovered in 2012 by archaeologists from the University of Leicester. The ruler’s bones were discovered under a parking lot, and subsequently reburied at Leicester Cathedral, very near where his remains were discovered. His colorful and rather dubious life inspired the 1592 tragedy Richard III by William Shakespeare.
Richards, Reed
One of the bravest adventurers and most brilliant scientific minds of his generation, Richards took college-level courses at age 14 and attended four different universities, earning various degrees while still in his teens. He roomed with football scholarship student Ben Grimm, who became Reed’s best friend. Later, while attending Columbia, Reed met his landlady’s niece, the much younger Sue Storm, who was instantly smitten with him. They later dated steadily during Sue’s college years; Reed also befriended Sue’s kid brother, Johnny. Reed secured government funding for his starship project and asked Ben, now a successful test pilot and astronaut, to fly the mission. Reed was more determined than ever to further the advance of space technology, and he convinced a reluctant Ben to help him make a test flight before their project could be shut down. Sue and Johnny Storm insisted on sharing the risk with them and came along for the ride. The quartet successfully launched into space, but intense cosmic rays penetrated the ship’s shielding and irradiated the crew, forcing them back to Earth. Once there, the quartet discovered that the cosmic rays had mutated them into superhumans, with Reed gaining stretching powers. As Mister Fantastic, leader of the resultant Fantastic Four, Reed used his scientific genius, remaining family fortune and the income from his patents to fund and equip the new team, establishing their high-tech headquarters in the Baxter Building. Reed led the Fantastic Four against many foes, notably Namor the Sub-Mariner, the Wizard, and Reed’s old college foe Victor Von Doom, who had become the armored super-villain Doctor Doom. Reed and Susan’s first child, Franklin, proved to be a vastly powerful mutant, whose fluctuating abilities alternately saved and menaced both the FF and the world, forcing Reed to take steps to contain Franklin’s powers. Later, seeking a more normal family life, Reed and Sue established a household in small town Belle Port, Connecticut for a while, living quietly in disguise there as the Benjamin family while continuing to serve with the FF in their original identities.
After his and Sue’s second child was stillborn despite his own frantic efforts to save it, Reed discovered that his own long-lost father Nathaniel was living a new life with a new family on Other Earth. Seeking a normal family life themselves, Reed and Sue retired from the FF, but their retirement was short-lived. At one point, the FF broke up, Reed and Sue split up, and Reed was even forced to sign over most of his patents to the government as part of a deal to escape prosecution. Tony Stark took the lead in a Superhero Registration initiative and Reed joined him. This created a rift between Reed and Sue that expanded when Sue soon left and joined the anti-Registration side, led by their mutual friend, Captain America. Despite finding himself on the winning side, Reed has been left to put back together the pieces of a family and a team that each joined against him before surrendering to the law. Reed Richards has been portrayed on the big screen by Ioan Gruffud in Fantastic 4 (2005) and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007), and by Miles Teller in Fantastic Four (2015).
Riff Raff
Credited as “a handyman,” but more like Dr. Frank N. Furter’s personal butler in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Riff Raff is a shady character who seems to be up to something throughout the musical “monster” movie. Played by the creator of the stage show Richard O’Brien, Riff Raff eventually turns the tables on his “boss,” and takes command of the raunchy band of aliens.
RiffTrax
A series of DVDs and MP3 tracks that feature the voices of former Mystery Science Theater 3000 stars/writers Bill Corbett, Kevin Murphy and Mike Nelson (L-R, above), commentating and heckling (known as “riffing”) as some of the silliest movies ever made play. While “MST3K” focused on older movies from the ‘50s to the ‘70s, RiffTrax (and, in particular, the MP3 tracks) mock films from the past as well as recent blockbusters. Founded in 2006 when Nelson partnered with Legend Films, RiffTrax debuted with a solo commentary track which could be downloaded and played along with the Patrick Swayze film Road House. It proved a great success, and Mike was soon joined by his former co-stars. Together, they have produced hundreds of titles for such blockbusters series as Twilight, Harry Potter, Star Wars and Star Trek. They also continue to tackle classic B-movie fare such as Plan 9 from Outer Space, Carnival of Souls, and House on Haunted Hill, as well as many hilarious educational shorts from the ‘50s, ‘60s, and ‘70s. The trio takes the stage several times a year to perform “RiffTrax Live!,” which is beamed via satellite to 500 theaters nationwide.
Riker, Capt. William Thomas (“Will”)
According to Star Trek: The Next Generation, the captain of the U.S.S. Titan was born William Thomas Riker on August 19, 2335 in Valdez, Alaska, Earth, Milky Way, to Kyle and Betty Riker. He graduated eighth in his class from Starfleet Academy in 2357, and as an ensign, was first assigned to the U.S.S. Pegasus test project under Capt. Erik Pressman. In 2362, while assigned to the U.S.S. Potemkin, Riker was decorated and promoted to lieutenant commander for his rescue of the ship’s away team on Nervalla IV. In short order, he was named first officer of the U.S.S. Hood under Capt. Robert DeSoto. Only two years later, he was promoted to commander and named first officer of U.S.S. Enterprise under Capt. Jean-Luc Picard. Via time warp, Riker was involved in a historical event in 2063, when, during an attempt to repair damage to Earth’s historical timeline due to temporal sabotage by Borg, Riker acted as a replacement flight crewmember for Zefrem Cochran during his first warp test of the Phoenix, and was witness to Earth’s first contact with an alien race, the Vulcans. Later stationed on Betazed, his mission there ended in 2362 with a posting that would launch a rapid rise in his career. Sent to the U.S.S. Potemkin in 2362 as a lieutenant, he proved unorthodox again in avoiding a confrontation by hanging over a planet’s magnetic pole to confuse an opposing ship’s sensors. Only six weeks after coming aboard, though, he barely escaped from Nervala IV, where his rescue of crewmates led to a promotion and a switch from operations to command division, where he eventually became first officer of the U.S.S. Hood under Captain Robert DeSoto. From there, he was promoted to commander and picked sight unseen from among 50 candidates by Jean-Luc Picard as his first officer on the new Galaxy-class U.S.S. Enterprise; in fact, the two had not met until he signed aboard at Farpoint Station, after he was dropped off by the Hood. Riker was so satisfied with his assignment under Picard that he twice turned down commands of his own, although he temporarily took a field promotion to captain during the Borg crisis of 2366-67, when Picard was abducted.
Riker’s major personal relationship involved Enterprise Counselor Deanna Troi, who began calling him “imzadi,” her native word for “beloved,” after they met during his Betazed mission. He had last seen her there the day before he shipped out on the U.S.S. Potemkin in 2362, but it would be two years before they were reunited again as fellow officers on the U.S.S. Enterprise, unbeknownst to Picard. They had planned to get together six months after his departure, but the Nervala IV incident changed that. Riker professed a warm friendship for Troi in later years that occasionally blossomed into romance, but they generally stayed platonic — although Worf’s surprising courtship of her in 2370 seemed never to have settled well with him. Eventually, after their romance was rekindled during the Ba’ku assignment (as shown in Star Trek: Insurrection), Riker and Troi were wed (as shown in Star Trek: Nemesis).
Rimbaud, Arthur
One of the founders of modernist poetry, Jean-Nicolas-Arthur Rimbaud was born October 20, 1854 in Charleville, France. A prodigy in languages and literature, Rimbaud was writing poetry by the age of 13, and began his most productive writing period in 1870, at only 15. His first published poem appeared in La Revue pour Tous in January 1870, and only seven months later, he won his first poetry prize. In August 1871, He sent samples of his poetry to the poet Paul Verlaine, who invited him to Paris. For nearly two years, Rimbaud associated with Paris intellectuals, but he also traveled abroad. Seeking out what he called “the derangement of all the senses” during this period, Rimbaud subjected himself to fasting, pain, alcohol and drugs in order to expand his consciousness. During the winter of 1872-3, Rimbaud composed a series of 40 prose poems which would become Les Illuminations. In 1873, Rimbaud wrote a large portion of Une Saison en Enfer (A Season in Hell), a work of self-confession and psychological examination which consists of nine fragments of prose and verse. The last piece in the collection, “Adieu,” has been interpreted as Rimbaud’s farewell to creative writing. In all, Rimbaud’s legendary poetic period lasted about five years, concluding around the year 1875. The rest of Rimbaud’s short life was spent traveling the world and working various jobs along the way. Out of touch and unaware of Rimbaud’s whereabouts, Verlaine published his friend’s Illuminations in 1886 as the work of “the late Arthur Rimbaud.” In truth, the poet developed a tumor on his knee in February 1891. His right leg had to be amputated, and after his health grew steadily worse, Rimbaud was diagnosed with cancer. He died in Marseille, France on November 10, 1891, at the age of 37.
Risk
Possibly the most popular mass market war game ever created, Risk was introduced in 1959. Designed by Albert Lamorisse and Michael I. Levin, the goal of the game is, quite simply, the conquest of the world. Designed for 2-6 players ages 8 and up, each player’s army gains reinforcements through number of territories held and attacks other players’ armies to obtain their territories, the outcome of each attack being decided with a simple highest-dice-roll-wins rule.
rmsg program
An early internet chat program designed by Jyrki Kuoppala, designed to send messages to people on other machines, mainly used for person-to-person communications.
Robert the Bruce
Robert VIII de Bruce (or Robert de Brus), who lived from July 11, 1274 to June 7, 1329, would eventually become Robert I, King of Scotland (reigning 1306–29), and is remembered for two grand achievements: restoring the Scottish realm and monarchy to its once strong position, and securing recognition from the Pope of the independence and integrity of his kingdom, apart from the influence of England.
The Anglo-Norman Bruces, related by marriage to the Scottish royal family, arrived in Scotland in the early 12th Century. The sixth Robert de Bruce, grandfather of the future king, claimed the throne when it was left vacant in 1290. Claiming feudal superiority over the Scots, England’s King Edward I awarded the crown to John de Balliol instead. Robert’s father, the seventh Robert de Bruce, resigned the title of Earl of Carrick to his son in 1292. In the confused period of rebellions against English rule from 1295 to 1304, Robert VIII appears at one time among the leading supporters of the Scottish rebel William Wallace, but later apparently regained Edward I’s confidence, and signed an oath of loyalty to the king.
Despite the rebels’ initial victory at Stirling Bridge, internal disputes among the Scots led to Wallace’s defeat by the English in 1298. Robert again signed a treaty with the English, retaining his lands in return for pledging loyalty to Edward I. Along with bitter rival John Comyn, Balliol’s nephew, he was made a “Guardian of Scotland,” but in 1304, Bruce made a secret pact with William Lamberton, Bishop of St. Andrews and friend to Wallace. In the winter of 1305, he negotiated with other magnates to win support in his bid for the crown. No doubt he would have preferred to await Edward I’s death, but matters were brought to a head prematurely when an attempt to win over John Comyn only prompted his indignant refusal, and on February 10, 1306, Bruce stabbed and killed Comyn during a dispute at a church in Dumfries. The murder suggests that Robert had already decided to seize the throne, and he moved quickly to do so. Although excommunicated by Pope Clement V, Robert received absolution from Robert Wishart, Bishop of Glasgow, and with the backing of the Scottish church, he was declared king at Scone Abbey on March 25, 1306.
However, Edward I regarded Robert as a traitor, and twice defeated him in 1306, at Methven on June 19, and at Dalry, Perthshire on August 11. While his wife and many of his supporters were captured, and three of his brothers were executed, Robert managed to escape, hiding on the remote island of Rathlin off the north Irish coast, where he spent the winter. Returning to Scotland in the early spring of 1307, he began a highly successful guerrilla war against the English, winning ground steadily in southwest Scotland while Edward lay only sixty miles away near Carlisle, already on his deathbed. Edward’s death and the ineptness of his successor, Edward II, were of great help to Robert, and on June 24, 1314, he triumphed against a large English army at Bannockburn. This led to the re-establishment of an independent Scottish monarchy.
Due to continued harassment by Edward II, Scottish nobles and churchmen signed the Declaration of Arbroath in 1320, declaring Robert as the rightful king of Scotland. The pope later recognized Robert as king of Scotland and eventually, after the deposition of Edward II in 1327, Edward III’s regency government decided to make peace with the Treaty of Northampton (1328), the terms of which included the recognition of Robert I’s title as king of Scots and the abandonment of all English claims to overlordship.
Robert the Bruce had no male heir until the birth of his eldest and only surviving son David, who was crowned King David II in 1324. In the last years of his life, Robert suffered from ill health and spent most of this time at Cardross, Dumbartonshire, where he died, possibly of leprosy, on June 7, 1329, at the Manor of Cardross, near Dumbarton. While his body was buried in Dunfermline Abbey, his heart was removed and taken by Sir James Douglas to the Holy lands on a Crusade, in his hope to make up for the murder of Comyn in a church.
Robert the Bruce was portrayed by actor Angus Macfadyen in the 1995 film Braveheart.
Roberts, Lawrence
One of four recognized founding fathers of the internet, Lawrence Gilman Roberts was born on December 21, 1937 in Westport, Connecticut. In his youth, Roberts showed interest in chemistry and practical construction, but it was electronics that eventually captured his attention. He earned his Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctorate degrees in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) in 1959, 1960 and 1963, respectively. During his time as a graduate student, Roberts became interested in computer networking. He followed the ideas of J.C.R. Licklider, a prominent psychologist and Roberts’ predecessor at the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), as well as those of his longtime colleague Leonard Kleinrock, who was conducting research on computer networks and data flow Roberts began working at M.I.T.’s government research facility Lincoln Laboratory in Lexington, Massachusetts, where he studied communications networks. He soon encountered the TX-0, an early computer, and used it to build an optical character recognition (OCR) program. He and a colleague, Ivan Sutherland, built an ultrasonic pointing device that could manipulate objects on a screen. He also did early work in computer graphics and virtual reality.
In February 1965, Roberts received a contract from ARPA – which later became the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) – to develop an experimental computer network. ARPA felt that research would be more efficient if the various institutions could share computer resources over an ARPA-funded network called ARPANET. In October 1965, Roberts succeeded in connecting a computer at Lincoln Laboratory to a mainframe computer at the System Development Corporation in Santa Monica, California.
In 1966, building on the theoretical legacy of his predecessor Licklider, Robert Taylor assumed the directorship of ARPA’s Information Processing Techniques Office (IPTO), where he decided that ARPA should link all its existing computers at various research institutions together, which would allow everybody on the network to share computing resources and results, and minimize the duplication of research projects. Taylor chose Roberts, who was known for his good management skills and dedication to his work, to lead this project. Later that year, the 29-year-old Roberts drew a series of abstract figures, which would turn out to be the earliest topological maps of what we now know as the internet.
In December 1966, Roberts left Lincoln Labs for ARPA’s Information Processing Techniques Office inside the Pentagon, where he oversaw the technical structure of the ARPANET. He shared his sketches of the network’s topology and logic with Kleinrock, as well as other colleagues. Hundreds of drawings later, he chose a distributed network to serve as the backbone of the ARPANET, while he simultaneously sought out practical uses for the new network. Roberts first presented the technical specifications for the network at an ARPANET meeting in April 1967. In 1969, Roberts became director of ARPA’s Information Processing Techniques Office. That August, BBN Technologies delivered the first interface message processor (IMP) to UCLA and a month later, the second was delivered to SRI International. The two processors were connected, creating the ARPANET. By 1973, 23 computers had been connected worldwide. At that point, Roberts turned the development over to Bob Kahn and Vint Cerf, leaving ARPA to form the first commercial packet network. Today, Roberts, Kleinrock, Cerf and Kahn are widely recognized as the four founding fathers of the internet.
On October 29, 1969, Kleinrock and his student Charley Kline sent the first message over ARPANET from an IMP and computer at UCLA to their counterparts at Stanford Research Institute (later SRI International) in Menlo Park, California. By the end of 1969, the originally planned four-node ARPANET was complete.
In 1971, Roberts created RD, one of the first programs for “mail manage software” (which would later become known as email). This program was the first to allow users to save, delete and organize their messages. Under Roberts’ guidance, ARPA became one of the largest early users of electronic mail. Email, an application that ARPA-sponsored researchers had spent a great deal of time developing, quickly became one of the most popular applications on the ARPANET.
After leaving ARPA in 1973, Dr. Roberts founded or co-founded a half-dozen companies focused on computer networking, including Telenet, the company that developed and drove adoption of the popular X.25 data protocol.
Roberts passed away on December 26, 2018.
Robin
Known as “The Boy Wonder,” Robin is Batman’s sidekick in certain storylines and realities. Seen in films and television series at different times, Robin’s original identity was that of Dick Grayson, an orphan from a family of circus trapeze artists whose family was killed during a performance. Grayson first appeared in Detective Comics # 38 in 1940. Grayson spent the most time as Batman’s partner, lasting in various DC Comics series until he decided to fight crime on his own and became Nightwing. Grayson’s first appearance as Nightwing was in Tales of the Teen Titans #44 in 1984). In the meantime, Batman took Jason Todd, who first appeared in Batman # 357 (1983), as his partner. Jason first appeared as Robin in Batman # 368, also published in 1983. Jason, who was quite a different personality from Dick, did not sit well with the fans, and when an opportunity arose via a “900” number poll, the fans voted to kill Jason Todd off. He was beaten to death with a crowbar by none other than The Joker in Batman # 427 (1988). With the DC plotline shake-up of “The New 52,” Jason Todd was brought back to life in Batman # 638 (2005), when he woke up in his casket and broke free. Later, Talia al-Ghul, daughter of the notorious Ra’s al Ghul, recognizes a coma victim as Jason, and resurrects him in her father’s Lazarus Pit. The resurrected former Robin then took on an old persona of the Joker’s, The Red Hood. However, before The New 52, after the murder of Jason Todd, Timothy Jackson “Tim” Drake-Wayne became the next Robin, debuting as a character in Batman # 436 (1989), and as Robin in Batman# 442 (1989).
Debuting in Detective Comics # 647 in 1992, and taking on the mantle of Robin in Robin # 126 in 2004, Stephanie Brown was a street vigilante who operated in Gotham City as a member of the Batman Family. Using the name Spoiler, Stephanie was a frequent ally of Tim Drake’s. After Drake retired as Robin, she briefly claimed his position and became Batman’s partner, but she was fired for disobeying orders. Following the “Battle for the Cowl” story arc, she succeeded Cassandra Cain and became the newest Batgirl. Damian Wayne first appeared as an unnamed baby in Batman, Son of the Demon in 1987), then reappeared as a teen in Batman # 655 (2006). He made his first appearance as Robin in Batman and Robin #1 in 2009.
Independent of the main DC Comics’ storylines, Carrie Kelley acted as a new Robin to an aged and semi-crippled Bruce Wayne in Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns (1986). Robin has been portrayed on the small screen by Burt Ward, and in films by Burt Ward in the 1966-69 TV series tie-in movie Batman (1966), by Chris O’Donnell in Batman Forever (1995) and Batman and Robin (1997).
Robosexual
A human who is sexually attracted to a robot.
Robot
Rooted in the Czech word “robota,” meaning “forced labor,” the word first appeared in a 1920 play, R.U.R.: Rossum’s Universal Robots, by playwright Karel Capek. One of the earliest examples of what would qualify as a robot is Leonardo da Vinci’s 1478 design of a spring-driven car-like machine. Under the heading of “robot” are a few different types of mechanisms:
1. A machine (first seen in fiction, but now realized to some extent) that resembles a human being and performs various complex humanoid functions (walking, talking, etc.) and accomplishes routine tasks on command. Such machines are also known as androids.
2. An industrial mechanism designed to perform repetitive tasks without human intervention beyond controlling the robot, either locally or remotely.
3. A telechir is a complex robot that is remotely controlled by a human operator for a telepresence system. Such a system gives an operator the sense of being on location in, as well as the ability to interact with, a remote, dangerous or alien environment.
4. A telepresence robot is a remote-controlled wheeled device that features wireless internet connectivity, which simulates the experience and some of the capabilities of being physically present. It can enable remote business consultations, healthcare, home monitoring and childcare, among many other possibilities. Typically, the robot uses a tablet to provide video and audio capabilities, and is commonly used to stand in for tour guides, night watchmen, factory inspectors and healthcare consultants, among other human professionals.
Robots can be autonomous or what is known as “swarm” or “insect” robots. An autonomous robot is a stand-alone system with its own computer, which is called the controller. The most advanced example of an autonomous robot is the “smart robot,” which has a built-in artificial intelligence (AI) system that can learn from its environment and its experience and add to its capabilities.
In contrast, swarm robots (also known as insect robots) work in fleets ranging in number from just a few to thousands, with all fleet members under the supervision of a single controller.
There are also recognized “generations” of robots. First-generation robots, which date back to the 1970s, are stationary non-programmable electromechanical devices with no sensors. Second-generation robots emerged in the 1980s, and can contain sensors and programmable controllers. Third-generation robots (1990-present) can be stationary or mobile, as well as autonomous or insect, and may include sophisticated programming, speech recognition and/or synthesis, and other advanced features. Finally, fourth-generation robots, which are currently in the research-and-development phase, will include such features as artificial intelligence, self-replication, self-assembly and nanoscale size.
Rockatansky, Max
After a motorcycle gang he is investigating kills his wife and son, this Australian police officer and central character of 1979’s Mad Max combs the highways, seeking and enacting justice. With no one left to chase or go home to, Max hits the road. When he is next seen, in 1981’s Mad Max 2 (released in the U.S. as The Road Warrior), it is the near future, and the land is a desolate landscape dominated by violent gangs in search of the rarest and most precious commodity: gasoline. The former cop leads a band to a large supply of petrol in exchange for safe passage and the return of his high-powered Interceptor. In Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985), the hero matches wits with Auntie Entity, the matron of Bartertown, after discovering an isolated band of children in search of a legendary hero. In 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road, Max is captured by the War Boys tribe. He meets Imperator Furiosa, and helps her get a band of women to safety.
The popular fictional hero was portrayed by Mel Gibson in his first three films, and by Tom Hardy in the reboot.
Rocket pack
See Jet pack.
Rocky Horror Picture Show, The
A small theatre musical that turned into a cultural phenomenon, the musical about cross-dressing aliens was written by Richard O’Brien as The Rocky Horror Show, and had its first preview showings at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, Sloane Square, London, England on June 16, 1973. Nine months later, the show had its first US preview showings at the Roxy Theatre, Los Angeles, CA, and the show enjoyed a successful nine-month run. It continued on the English stage until Sep 13, 1980. In the meantime, filming began on The Rocky Horror Picture Show at Oakley Court/Bray Studios near Windsor, England on October 23, 1974. In March 1975, The Rocky Horror Show debuted on Broadway at the Belasco Theatre, New York, NY, but closed after only three previews and 45 showings. That August, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, starring Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, singer Meat Loaf and Richard O’Brien (as ghoulish “handyman” Riff Raff) has its worldwide premiere in London, England, and in September 1975, its US premiere occurred at the UA Westwood Theater (now called Mann Festival Theater) in Los Angeles. The film’s general US release date occurred on September 29, 1975. In April 1976, RHPS had its first midnight showing at the Waverly Theater (now called IFC Center) in New York City, inspiring the “audience participation” phenomenon, with spectators talking back to, shouting at and throwing props at the action on the screen. In the spring of 1977, Sal Piro created The Rocky Horror Picture Show Fan Club. As RHPS grew in popularity, O’Brien began working on a script for a sequel, originally titled Rocky Horror Shows His Heels. This script was later re-worked into The Brad and Janet Show, which eventually became the motion picture sequel Shock Treatment. The Rocky Horror Picture Show continues to enjoy runs in various theatres forty years after its initial release.
Roddenberry, Gene
Creator of Star Trek Eugene Wesley Roddenberry was born on August 19, 1921 in El Paso, Texas and raised in Los Angeles, California. He joined the Army Air Corps after studying law enforcement at Los Angeles City College and flew 89 missions during World War II, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal. While stationed in the South Pacific, he published stories and poetry. After the war, Roddenberry took a job as a commercial pilot for Pan American World Airlines before moving back to Los Angeles to pursue a career as a television writer. Gene Roddenberry worked as an LAPD spokesman and as a speechwriter for the police chief in the early 1950s, while simultaneously attempting to gain a foothold in the entertainment industry. Fortunately, the LAPD regularly consulted for the police show Dragnet, giving Roddenberry the opportunity to develop his scriptwriting chops. He earned his first official television credit for an episode of Mr. District Attorney, and over the next decade he wrote for programs such as West Point, Naked City and Have Gun, Will Travel, for which he won his first Emmy Award.
In the mid-1960s, Roddenberry began work on a science-fiction show that he pitched as “Wagon Train set in space.” His original pilot was rejected by NBC as “too cerebral,” but he was given another chance and in September 1966, the first episode of Star Trek aired. Featuring a diverse cast that included William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley and George Takei, the show followed the U.S.S. Enterprise and her crew on a five-year mission to “boldly go where no man has gone before” in the far reaches of the galaxy. Although Star Trek found a loyal cult following, it was canceled in the summer of 1969 after 79 episodes. Roddenberry stuck with the science-fiction theme as a writer and producer for the TV movies Genesis II (1973), Planet Earth (1974) and The Questor Tapes (1974). Meanwhile, Star Trek was enjoying a surge in popularity, thanks to syndicated reruns and an animated version. In 1975, Roddenberry was tapped to revive the franchise under the name Star Trek: Phase II. Following the success of Star Wars – Episode IV: A New Hope, executives elected to rush a feature-length Star Trek film into production, and in 1979, the special effects-laden Star Trek: The Motion Picture opened to mixed reviews. Five sequels with the original cast followed, though after the first film, Roddenberry had limited involvement as an “executive consultant.” On September 4, 1986, Roddenberry became the first writer/producer to be honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He was an executive producer for Star Trek: The Next Generation, which became a huge hit following the series launch in 1987. In 1990, he was honored with the Jack Benny Memorial Award of lifetime achievement by the March of Dimes. Roddenberry went into cardiac arrest and passed away on October 24, 1991. His influence on popular culture was enormous; Star Trek became the first TV series to have an episode preserved in the Smithsonian Institution, and NASA named one of its space shuttles Enterprise, specifically after Roddenberry’s starship. Four Next Generation movies and several television spin-offs arrived in the years after Roddenberry’s death, and in 2009, a Star Trek reboot was a box-office smash, proving that its characters and themes remained as beloved as ever.
Rodor, Aristotle
An incredibly intelligent and gifted inventor with a particular knowledge in chemistry and philosophy, Rodor worked together with his colleague Arby Twain to develop pseudoderm, a product initially intended for use as a bandage. When they discovered that pseudoderm was actually toxic on open wounds, they agreed to discontinue it, though Twain secretly began marketing it to Third World countries. Learning of this, Rodor enlisted the help of former student and investigative journalist Charles Victor Szasz to investigate and expose Twain. He gives Szasz the pseudoderm to disguise his face, helping to give birth to the vigilante The Question.
The DC Comics character was created by Steve Ditko. He made his first appearance in Blue Beetle #1, but made his first regular series appearance in The Question #1, written by Dennis O’Neil and illustrated by Denys Cowan.
Rogers, Buck
The featured character of comics, film and TV was created by writer Philip Francis Nowlan in a short novel titled Armageddon 2419 A.D., which was published in Amazing Stories magazine in 1928. On January 7, 1929, the futuristic pilot appeared in comic strip form, with Nowlan scripting the serial from a simplified version of the same story, but when it was translated to comics, its hero Anthony Rogers was renamed Buck Rogers. The strip gained a large enough audience to support a regularly sponsored radio program, which debuted on CBS as “The World in 2432” on November 7, 1932. Rogers first appeared in a comic book in a four-page Nowlan story titled “Just as Buddy and Alura Gave Up All Hope” in the October 1934 issue of Famous Funnies #3. After a successful 12-episode film serial in 1939, with Rogers being portrayed by actor Larry “Buster” Crabbe, the first full length cover-to-cover Buck Rogers comic book was published in 1940. In 1953, the 1939 film series was edited into a full-length theatrical release called Planet Outlaws. Twelve years later, it would be shown on television with the title Destination Saturn. Gil Gerard took on the title role (renamed Capt. William “Buck” Rogers) in the television series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century from 1979-81. In the series, Rogers had evolved from a pilot to an astronaut.
Romulan ale
An infamous blue alcoholic beverage in the Star Trek universe, the drink has a notorious powerful kick, and was banned throughout the United Federation of Planets before 2285. It was not even available for replication aboard the Enterprise-D in 2366.
Romulus
1) Legendary twin brother to Remus, and co-founder of Rome. Traditionally, they were said to be the sons of Rhea Silvia, daughter of the king of Alba Longa, Numitor. Rhea bore the twins, who were fathered by the war god Mars. Amulius ordered the infants drowned in the Tiber River, but the trough in which they were placed floated down the river and came to rest at the site of the future city of Rome, where a she-wolf and a woodpecker—both sacred to Mars—suckled and fed them until they were found by the herdsman Faustulus. Reared by Faustulus and his wife, Acca Larentia, the twins became leaders of a band of adventurous youths, eventually killing Amulius and restoring their grandfather to the throne. They subsequently founded what would become the city of Rome on the site where they had been saved. According to one version of the legend, after Romulus built a city wall, he killed his brother Remus when he jumped over it.
Romulus consolidated his power, and the city was named for him. He increased its population by offering asylum to fugitives and exiles. He invited the neighboring Sabines to a festival, then during the celebration, the Roman men abducted the Sabine virgins in the infamous “Rape of the Sabine women” incident. The women married their captors and intervened to prevent the Sabines from seizing the city. In accordance with a treaty drawn up between the two parties, Romulus accepted the Sabine king Titus Tatius as his co-ruler. Titus Tatius’ early death left Romulus as sole king again, and after a long rule, he mysteriously disappeared in a storm. Believing that he had been changed into a god, the Romans worshiped him as the deity Quirinus.
The legend of Romulus and Remus probably originated in the 4th century BC and was set down in coherent form at the end of the 3rd century BC. It contains a mixture of Greek and Roman elements. The Greeks customarily created mythical eponymous heroes to explain the origins of place-names. The story of the rape of the Sabine women was perhaps invented to explain the custom of simulated capture in the Roman marriage ceremony. By including Mars in the legend, the Romans were attempting to connect their origins with that important deity. In the early 21st Century, archaeologists discovered remains from the 8th century BC of a cave, boundary walls, and a palace that were possible parallels between history and legend. A famous bronze statue of a she-wolf, which now resides in the Capitoline Museums in Rome, is believed to date to the early years of the Roman Republic (late 6th to early 5th Century BC); suckling twins were added to the statue in the 16th century AD. Some scholars, however, have claimed that the statue is from the medieval period.
2) Sister planet to Remus, home world of the Romulan race in the Star Trek universe.
Ross, Alex
Born in Portland, Oregon and raised in Lubbock, Texas, the comic artist came from an artistic family: his mother was a commercial artist and his grandfather built working wooden toys and loved drawing. When Ross discovered Spider-Man on an episode of the children’s television show The Electric Company, his life was changed forever. Ross began reading comics and taking his draftsmanship seriously, admiring the work of comic book illustrators George Perez and Berni Wrightson (co-creator of Swamp Thing), Andrew Loomis and the “photorealistic style” of Norman Rockwell in particular.
At the age of 17, Ross went to Chicago and began studying painting at the American Academy of Art, the school where his mother had studied, and where Salvador Dali became a big influence, for his vivid imagination and a hyper-realistic quality. It was at the Academy that Ross hit on the idea of painting his own comic books. After three years at the American Academy, Ross graduated and took a job at an advertising agency. Meanwhile, Marvel Comics editor Kurt Busiek had seen Alex’s work and suggested the two men collaborate on a story. Those plans came to fruition in 1993 with Marvels, a graphic novel that took a realistic look at Marvel superheroes by presenting them from the point-of-view of an ordinary man. The book landed Ross his first serious media exposure, and got him the attention of the fans, as well. Ross followed Marvels up with Kingdom Come, a futuristic story for DC Comics about a minister who must intercede in a superhero Civil War. It was a visual feast, filled with surprise cameos, in-jokes and a main character based on Ross’ father, allowing Ross to publicly acknowledge his family’s influence.
Having established himself creatively and financially with superhero projects, Ross turned to the real world with Uncle Sam, a 96-page story that took a hard look at the dark side of American history. Ross’ recent works have celebrated the 60th anniversaries of Superman, Batman, Captain Marvel and Wonder Woman with fully painted, tabloid-sized books, depicting each of these characters using their powers to inspire humanity as well as help them. In recent years, Ross has applied his artistic skills to outside projects with comic book roots, including a limited-edition promotional poster for the 2002 Academy Awards. A number of items created especially for the Warner Bros. Studio Stores – including lithographs, collector’s plates and even a canvas painting of Superman – made him the best-selling artist in the chain’s history.
In the fall of 2001, Ross painted a series of four interlocking covers for TV Guide (featuring characters from the WB series Smallville) and designed and sculpted a series of busts based on characters he created for the Marvel series Earth X.
Router
In packet-switched networks such as the internet, a router is a device or software that determines the next network point to which a packet should be forwarded toward its destination. Once the next point is determined, the router forwards the data packet to that network.
Rowling, J.K.
Joanne Kathleen Rowling was born on July 31, 1965, in Yate, England. A graduate of Exeter University, Rowling moved to Portugal in 1990 to teach English. There, she met and married the Portuguese journalist Jorge Arantes. The couple’s daughter Jessica was born in 1993. After her marriage ended in divorce, Rowling moved to Edinburgh with her daughter. While struggling to support Jessica and herself on welfare, Rowling worked on a book, the idea for which had reportedly occurred to her while she was traveling on a train from Manchester to London in 1990. After a number of rejections, she finally sold the book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (the word “Philosopher” was changed to “Sorcerer” for its publication in America), for the equivalent of about $4,000. The book, and its subsequent series, chronicled the life of Harry Potter, a young wizard, and his motley band of cohorts at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The writer became an international literary sensation in 1999, when the first three installments of her Harry Potter series took over the top three slots of The New York Times best-seller list, after achieving similar success in her native United Kingdom. The phenomenal response to Rowling’s books culminated in July 2000, when the fourth volume in the series, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, became the fastest-selling book in history.
Roykirk, Jackson
Pioneering 21st Century scientist who built an intelligent mechanical space probe which he called “Nomad.” The probe was later discovered by the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise, after it and its programming had been altered considerably. Roykirk was mentioned in the original Star Trek series episode “The Changeling.”
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