Ash (Alien)

Ash is a fictional character in the movie Alien, who was portrayed by actor Ian Holm, who, although known in the U.K. as a stage actor, was at the time unknown to American audiences. Ash serves as the secondary antagonist of the first film. The character is the science officer of the Nostromo, who breaks quarantine by allowing Kane, a member of the crew, back on board after he has been infected by an alien life form. It is later discovered that Ash is not human at all, as he appears, but is in fact a Hyperdyne Systems 120-A/2android, who is acting upon secret orders to bring back the alien lifeform and to consider the crew "expendable".

Character development

At the beginning of the film, Ash is depicted as quiet and logical, greatly adherent to company regulations. However, he breaks quarantine protocol (disobeying Ripley, the ship's ranking officer, in the process) and allows the infected Kane aboard the ship, seemingly out of compassion, and is later seen marveling at the creature attached to him. At one point, Ash assaults Ripley, attempting to kill her by forcing a rolled-up pornographic magazine down her throat. But it is Ash himself who is killed, as two other crew members arrive and rescue Ripley. He is struck over the head twice with a canister, the first time causing him to malfunction and the second decapitating him. When even that fails to kill him, he's electrocuted with a cattle prod.

Alien (law)

In law, an alien is a person who resides within the borders of a country and is not a national of that country, though definitions and terminology differs to some degree.

Etymology

The term "alien" is derived from the Latin alienus, meaning stranger, foreign.

Categories

Different countries use varying terms for "aliens" including:

Alien (creature in Alien franchise)

The "Alien" (also referred to as a "Xenomorph") is a fictional endoparasitoid extraterrestrial arthropodal species that is the eponymous antagonist of the Alien film series. The species made its debut in the film Alien (1979), and reappeared in the sequels Aliens (1986), Alien 3 (1992), and Alien: Resurrection (1997), as well as the crossover franchise Alien vs. Predator (2004) and Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007). A similar creature of a slightly different design also briefly appears in the Ridley Scott film Prometheus (2012). In addition, the Alien appears in various literature and video game spin-offs from the franchises.

Unlike many other extraterrestrial races in science fiction, the Aliens lack a technological civilization and are predatory creatures with no higher goals than the propagation of their species and the ultimate destruction of lifeforms that could pose a threat to them. Like wasps or termites, Aliens are eusocial, with a single fertile queen breeding a caste of warriors. The Aliens' biological life cycle involves traumatic implantation of endoparasitoid larvae inside living hosts; these larvae erupt from the host's chest or intestines after a short incubation period, rapidly mature from juvenile into adulthood, and seek out more hosts for implantation.

Extraterrestrial life

Extraterrestrial life is life that does not originate from Earth. It is also called alien life, or, if it is a sentient and/or relatively complex individual, an "extraterrestrial" or "alien" (or, to avoid confusion with the legal sense of "alien", a "space alien"). These as-yet-hypothetical life forms range from simple bacteria-like organisms to beings with civilizations far more advanced than humanity. Although many scientists expect extraterrestrial life to exist, there is no unambiguous evidence for its existence so far.

The science of extraterrestrial life is known as exobiology. The science of astrobiology also considers life on Earth as well, and in the broader astronomical context. Meteorites that have fallen to Earth have sometimes been examined for signs of microscopic extraterrestrial life. In 2015, "remains of biotic life" were found in 4.1 billion-year-old rocks in Western Australia, when the young Earth was about 400 million years old. According to one of the researchers, "If life arose relatively quickly on Earth ... then it could be common in the universe."

Ash (deity)

Ash was the ancient Egyptian god of oases, as well as the vineyards of the western Nile Delta and thus was viewed as a benign deity. Flinders Petrie in his 1923 expedition to the Saqqara (also spelt Sakkara) found several references to Ash in Old Kingdom wine jar seals: "I am refreshed by this Ash" was a common inscription.

In particular, he was identified by the Ancient Egyptians as the god of the Libu and Tinhu tribes, known as the "people of the oasis". Consequently Ash was known as the "lord of Libya", the western border areas occupied by the Libu and Tinhu tribes, corresponds roughly with the area of modern Libya. It is also possible that he was worshiped in Ombos, as their original chief deity.

In Egyptian mythology, as god of the oases, Ash was associated with Set, who was originally god of the desert, and was seen as protector of the Sahara. The first known reference to Ash dates to the Protodynastic Period, but by the late 2nd Dynasty, his importance had grown, and he was seen as protector of the royal estates, since the related god Set, in Lower Egypt, was regarded as the patron deity of royalty itself. Ash's importance was such that he was mentioned even until the 26th Dynasty.

Ash (analytical chemistry)

In analytical chemistry, ashing is the process of mineralization for preconcentration of trace substances prior to chemical analysis. The residues after a sample is completely burnt - in contrast to the ashes remaining after incomplete combustion - consist mostly of metal oxides.

Ash is one of the components in the proximate analysis of biological materials, consisting mainly of salty, inorganic constituents. It includes metal salts which are important for processes requiring ions such as Na⁺ (Sodium), K⁺ (Potassium), and Ca²⁺ (Calcium). It also includes trace minerals which are required for unique molecules, such as chlorophyll and hemoglobin.

Example

For instance, the analysis of honey shows:

In this example the ash would include all the minerals in honey.

References

See also

Thornfalcon

Coordinates: 51°00′23″N 3°01′13″W / 51.0064°N 3.0204°W / 51.0064; -3.0204

Thornfalcon is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated 4 miles (6.4 km) east of Taunton in the Taunton Deane district. The village has 119 people. The parish includes the hamlet of Ash. The name comes from Thorn, and the personal name Fagun (now Falcon) which was the Norman surname of Sir Gilbert of Thorn, whose family were lords of the manor until the 14th century.

The parish of Thorne Falcon was part of the North Curry Hundred. The manor was bought from the Burridges of Lyme Regis by Nathaniel Butler Batten of Yeovil whose descendents, known as Chisholm-Batten from 1859 lived at Court House.

The village is in the Non-metropolitan district of Taunton Deane, which was formed on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, having previously been part of Taunton Rural District. The district council is responsible for local planning and building control, local roads, council housing, environmental health, markets and fairs, refuse collection and recycling, cemeteries and crematoria, leisure services, parks, and tourism.