Lunatic is an informal term referring to a person who is considered mentally ill, dangerous, foolish or unpredictable, conditions once attributed to lunacy. The term may be considered insulting in serious contexts in modern times, but is now more likely to be used in friendly jest. The word derives from lunaticus meaning "of the moon" or "moonstruck". The term was once commonly used in law. == History == The term "lunatic" derives from the Latin word lunaticus, which originally referred mainly to epilepsy and madness, as diseases thought to be caused by the moon. By the fourth and fifth centuries...

In statistics, the mid-range or mid-extreme of a set of statistical data values is the arithmetic mean of the maximum and minimum values in a data set, defined as: M = max x + min x 2 . {\displaystyle M={\frac {\max x+\min x}{2}}.} The mid-range is the midpoint of the range; as such, it is a measure of central tendency. The mid-range is rarely used in practical statistical analysis, as it lacks...

The Alþingi (anglicised as Althing or Althingi) is the national parliament of Iceland. It is one of the oldest extant parliamentary institutions in the world. The Althing was founded in 930 at Þingvellir, the "assembly fields" or "Parliament fields", situated approximately 45 kilometres (28 mi) east of what later became the country's capital, Reykjavík. This event marked the beginning of the Icelandic Commonwealth. Even after Iceland's union with Norway in 1262, the Althing still held its sessions at Þingvellir until 1799, when it was discontinued for 45 years. It was restored in 1844 and moved...

The Laundry Files is a series of novels by Charles Stross. They mix the genres of Lovecraftian horror, spy thriller, science fiction, and workplace humor. Their main character for the first five novels is "Bob Howard" (a pseudonym taken for security purposes), a one-time I.T. consultant turned field agent. Howard is recruited to work for the British government agency "the Laundry", which deals with occult threats. In this world, computers and mathematical equations are just as useful, and perhaps more potent, than classic spellbooks, pentagrams, and sigils for influencing unseen ancient powers...