Icon

An icon (from Greek εἰκών eikōn "image") is typically a painting depicting Christ, Mary, saints and/or angels, which is venerated among Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and in certain Catholic Churches.

Icons may also be cast in metal, carved in stone, embroidered on cloth, painted on wood, done in mosaic or fresco work, printed on paper or metal, etc. Icons are often illuminated with a candle or jar of oil with a wick. (Beeswax for candles and olive oil for oil lamps are preferred because they burn very cleanly, although other materials are sometimes used.) The illumination of religious images with lamps or candles is an ancient practice pre-dating Christianity.

Although common in translated works from Greek or Russian, in English iconography does not mean icon painting, and "iconographer" does not mean an artist of icons, which are painted or carved, not "written", as they are in those languages.

Comparable images from Western Christianity are generally not described as "icons", although "iconic" may be used to describe a static style of devotional image.

Stargate SG-1 (season 8)

Season eight of Stargate SG-1, an American-Canadian military science fiction television series, began airing on July 9, 2004 on the Sci Fi channel. The eighth season concluded on February 22, 2005, after 20 episodes on British Sky One, which overtook the Sci Fi Channel in mid-season. This was the first season of the show to have 20 episodes instead of 22, as well as the first to air concurrently with Stargate SG-1 spinoff series Stargate Atlantis (the first season thereof). The series was originally developed by Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner, while Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper served as executive producers. Season eight regular cast members include Richard Dean Anderson, Amanda Tapping, Christopher Judge, and Michael Shanks. The eighth season begins with the SG-1 team trying to revive Colonel Jack O'Neill (Richard Dean Anderson) after the events of the seventh season. At the end of the two-episode season opener, Colonel O'Neill is promoted to General and assumes command of Stargate Command (SGC), while Major Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping) is promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and assumes command of SG-1. The season arc centers on the growing threat and seemingly final defeat of the Goa'uld and the Replicators, races who were introduced in the first and third season of the show, respectively.

List of ICON science fiction conventions

ICON is the name of at least five science fiction conventions. In order of seniority, these are:

M*A*S*H (TV series)

M*A*S*H is an American television series developed by Larry Gelbart, adapted from the 1970 feature film MASH (which was itself based on the 1968 novel MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors, by Richard Hooker). The series, which was produced in association with 20th Century Fox Television for CBS, follows a team of doctors and support staff stationed at the "4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital" in Uijeongbu, South Korea during the Korean War. The show's title sequence features an instrumental version of "Suicide Is Painless", the theme song from the original film. The show was created after an attempt to film the original book's sequel, M*A*S*H Goes to Maine, failed. The television series is the most well-known version of the M*A*S*H works, and one of the highest-rated shows in U.S. television history.

The series premiered in the U.S. on September 17, 1972, and ended February 28, 1983, with the finale, "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen", becoming the most-watched and highest-rated single television episode in U.S. television history at the time, with a record-breaking 125 million viewers (60.2 rating and 77 share), according to the New York Times. It had struggled in its first season and was at risk of being cancelled. Season two of M*A*S*H placed it in a better time slot (airing after the popular All in the Family); the show became one of the top 10 programs of the year and stayed in the top 20 programs for the rest of its run. It is still broadcast in syndication on various television stations. The series, which depicted events occurring during a three-year military conflict, spanned 256 episodes and lasted 11 seasons.

Delta-sigma modulation

Delta-sigma (ΔΣ; or sigma-delta, ΣΔ) modulation is a method for encoding analog signals into digital signals as found in an ADC. It is also used to transfer high bit-count low frequency digital signals into lower bit-count higher frequency digital signals as part of the process to convert digital signals into analog.

In a conventional ADC, an analog signal is integrated, or sampled, with a sampling frequency and subsequently quantized in a multi-level quantizer into a digital signal. This process introduces quantization error noise. The first step in a delta-sigma modulation is delta modulation. In delta modulation the change in the signal (its delta) is encoded, rather than the absolute value. The result is a stream of pulses, as opposed to a stream of numbers as is the case with PCM. In delta-sigma modulation, the accuracy of the modulation is improved by passing the digital output through a 1-bit DAC and adding (sigma) the resulting analog signal to the input signal, thereby reducing the error introduced by the delta-modulation.

MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors

MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors is a 1968 novel by Richard Hooker (the pen name for former military surgeon Dr. H. Richard Hornberger and writer W. C. Heinz) which is notable as the inspiration for the 1970 feature film MASH and TV series M*A*S*H. The novel is about a fictional U.S. Mobile Army Surgical Hospital in Korea during the Korean War.

Hooker followed the novel with two sequels. There was also a series of sequels of rather different and lighter tone credited as being written by Hooker and William E. Butterworth, but actually written by Butterworth alone.

Background

Hornberger was born and raised in Trenton, New Jersey in 1924. He attended Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. After graduating from Cornell University Medical School, he was drafted into the Korean War and assigned to the 8055 Mobile Army Surgical Hospital.

M.A.S.H. units, according to one doctor assigned to the unit, "weren't on the front lines, but they were close. They lived and worked in tents. It was hot in the summer and colder than cold in the winter." The operating room consisted of stretchers balanced on carpenter's sawhorses.