Word: variant
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...placeless is where Gullichsen has always wanted to be. At 38, the wiry, snaggle-haired programmer has achieved what for many entrepreneurs would be the ultimate American Dream: a frictionless, self-propagating moneymaking scheme--in his case, selling a variant of the "domain names" that organize the Web's millions of addresses. "The great thing about my company," he says cheerfully, "is that it doesn't really exist...
...devoted to Confucianism and then to Maoism, is experiencing a vacuum of faith and values. The creed most successful in filling it since "freedom of religion" was announced in 1979 has been Buddhism. But others, from illegal Christian "house churches" to witchery, have also flourished. Falun Gong is a variant of Qi Gong, a blend of mind and body work (it also includes Tai Chi) that strives to harness an energy called qi. Qi Gong does not always rise to the intensity of faith, but charismatic "grand masters" have built up formidable followings on its principles...
...Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: "It's a story about consciousness," says Larry, "a child's perception of an adult's world. The Matrix is about the birth and evolution of consciousness. It starts off crazy, then things start to make sense." It can also be read as a variant on Gibson's Neuromancer, the 1986 cyberpunk classic about a computer cowboy on the run. "It'd be near impossible to make a movie out of that," says Larry. "We knew the way to make it relevant was to turn what we view as the real world into a virtual...
Dolly shakes our ethical foundations, our social norms, even our religious beliefs. What is the role of clones in society? Are they an asexual variant on incest? Can they become human slaves or organ donors? Who are their parents? Who is their family? Are they made in God's image...
When he returned, he noticed a clear halo surrounding the yellow-green growth of a mold that had accidentally contaminated the plate. Unknown to him, a spore of a rare variant called Penicillium notatum had drifted in from a mycology lab one floor below. Luck would have it that Fleming had decided not to store his culture in a warm incubator, and that London was then hit by a cold spell, giving the mold a chance to grow. Later, as the temperature rose, the Staphylococcus bacteria grew like a lawn, covering the entire plate--except for the area surrounding...