Honored Matres

The Honored Matres are a fictional matriarchal organization in Frank Herbert's science fiction Dune universe. They are described as an aggressive cult obsessed with power, violence, and sexual domination. For this reason they are often described as "whores", especially by their enemies, the Bene Gesserit.

The Honored Matres are first introduced in Herbert's Heretics of Dune (1984) and play a continued role in his final Dune novel, Chapterhouse: Dune (1985). They also appear in Hunters of Dune (2006) and Sandworms of Dune (2007), novels by Herbert's son Brian Herbert and author Kevin J. Anderson that conclude the original series. The sequels are based on Frank Herbert's notes for his planned seventh novel in the series.

Storylines

After the death of the tyrant Leto II Atreides in God Emperor of Dune (1981), trillions of people of the Old Empire take to the stars in a diaspora known as the Scattering. Representatives from each major race and order of the Empire spread out beyond the known universe in fleets of no-ships, beginning the journey along Leto II's Golden Path to save mankind from destruction.

Dama

Dama or DAMA may refer to:

Animals

Business, science and technology

Culture

Geography

Daman and Diu

Daman and Diu /dəˈmɑːn/ & /ˈdiːuː/ ( locally ) is a coastal union territory in India, once a part of the Portuguese empire neighboring Goa.

History

For over 450 years, the coastal enclaves of Daman (Portuguese: Damão) and Diu on the Arabian Sea coast were part of Portuguese India, along with Goa and Dadra and Nagar Haveli. Goa, Daman and Diu were incorporated into the Republic of India on December 19, 1961, by military conquest. Portugal did not recognize the Indian annexation of these territories until 1974.

The territory of "Goa, Daman and Diu" was administered as a single union territory until 1987, when Goa was granted statehood, leaving Daman and Diu as a separate union territory. Each enclave constitutes one of the union territory's two districts. Daman and Diu are approximately 650 kilometres away from each other by road.

Population

Demographics

According to the 2011 census, the lowest female to male ratio in India (618 females per thousand males) was recorded in Daman and Diu. The Daman district, with a female to male ratio of .533, is among the lowest of all the districts in India.

DAMA

About DAMA

DAMA (the Data Management Association) is a not-for-profit, vendor-independent, international association of technical and business professionals dedicated to advancing the concepts and practices of information resource management (IRM) and data resource management (DRM).

DAMA's primary purpose is to promote the understanding, development and practice of managing information and data as a key enterprise asset. The group is organized as a set of more than 40 chapters and members-at-large around the world, with an International Conference held every year.

Chapters, Chapter Structure, and Central Membership

DAMA International is organised through a Chapter structure, with each Chapter being a separate legal entity that formally affiliates with DAMA International. There are over 40 chapters established in over 16 countries around the world. The United States is disproportionately represented in the number of Chapters due to the number of city-based chapters as opposed to country-level in other jurisdictions.

Dune

In physical geography, a dune is a hill of sand built by either wind or water flow. Dunes occur in different shapes and sizes, formed by interaction with the flow of air or water. Most kinds of dunes are longer on the windward side where the sand is pushed up the dune and have a shorter "slip face" in the lee of the wind. The valley or trough between dunes is called a slack. A "dune field" is an area covered by extensive sand dunes.

Some coastal areas have one or more sets of dunes running parallel to the shoreline directly inland from the beach. In most cases, the dunes are important in protecting the land against potential ravages by storm waves from the sea. Although the most widely distributed dunes are those associated with coastal regions, the largest complexes of dunes are found inland in dry regions and associated with ancient lake or sea beds.

Dunes can form under the action of water flow (fluvial processes), and on sand or gravel beds of rivers, estuaries and the sea-bed.

The modern word "dune" came into English from French circa 1790.

Arrakis

Arrakis (/əˈrækᵻs/;Arabic: الراقص‎, ar-rāqiṣ, "the dancer") — informally known as Dune and later called Rakis — is a fictional desert planet featured in the Dune series of novels by Frank Herbert. Herbert's first novel in the series, 1965's Dune, is popularly considered one of the greatest science fiction novels of all time, and it is sometimes cited as the best-selling science fiction novel in history.

In Dune, the planet is the home of the Fremen (Zensunni wanderers), and subsequently is the Imperial Capital of the Atreides Empire. Arrakis is the third planet orbiting the star Canopus, and it in turn is orbited by two moons, one of which has the image of the desert kangaroo mouse, Muad'Dib, on it; the other moon possesses the image of a human hand.

Environment and the spice

A desert planet with no natural precipitation, in Dune it is established that Arrakis had been "His Imperial Majesty's Desert Botanical Testing Station" before the discovery of melange, for which it is the only natural source in the universe. Melange (or, "the spice") is the most essential and valuable commodity in the universe, as it extends life and makes safe interstellar travel possible (among other uses). The planet has no surface water bodies, but open canals called qanats are used "for carrying irrigation water under controlled conditions" through the desert. The Fremen collect water in underground reservoirs to fulfill their dream of someday terraforming the planet, and pay the Spacing Guild exorbitant fees in melange to keep the skies over Arrakis free of any satellites which might observe their efforts. As indicated by its large salt flats, Arrakis once had lakes and oceans; Lady Jessica also notes in Dune that wells drilled in the sinks and basins initially produce a "trickle" of water which soon stops, as if "something plugs it."

Dune (crater)

Dune is a feature on Earth's Moon, a crater in the Hadley–Apennine region. Astronauts David Scott and James Irwin visited the south rim of it in 1971, on the Apollo 15 mission, during EVA 2. The south rim of Dune was designated Geology Station 4 of the mission.

Dune is located about 1.8 km east of Hadley Rille, less than 1 km south of the smaller Earthlight crater, and about 3 km south of the Apollo 15 landing site itself.

The crater was named by the astronauts after the novel by Frank Herbert, and the name was formally adopted by the IAU in 1973.

Samples

The following samples were collected from Dune Crater (Station 4), as listed in Table 5-II of the Apollo 15 Preliminary Science Report. Sample type, lithology, and description are from Table 5-IV of the same volume.

Samples 15470 to 15476 were collected near where the rover was parked to the south of the rim of Dune. Samples 15485, 15486, and 15499 were collected from the largest boulder in the photograph above. Sample 15498 was collected nearby.