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Written by Michael Anderson Are you sick of the dull monotony of reality? Are you looking for a vacation spot that is truly out of this world? If so, then follow your trusted EB guide through the alternate universes created by some of the world’s most imaginative authors in this list of fantastical worlds.

I'M IN THE MOOD FOR SOMETHING …

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BEHIND THE NEWS

  • © filtv/Fotolia
    Attack on Parliament
  • Paula Allen for V-Day
    Sakharov Prize
  • Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images—Thinkstock
    Remembering Oscar de la Renta
  • Jeff Gross/Getty Images Sport©Thinkstock
    Peyton Manning Sets TD Record
  • NIAID/CDC
    Ebola: Latest Developments
  • © chaiwattudsri/Fotolia
    Crude Oil Prices Tumble
  • zysman—iStock/Thinkstock
    Cryopreservation Benefits For Employees
  • Kyodo/Landov
    Kim Jong-Eun Back and Still in Power
  • Andrew Burton/Getty Images
    Nobel Peace Prize Awarded
  • © alphacero/Fotolia
    Cave Paintings
  • David Woods—iStock/Thinkstock
    Blood Moon
  • Sadik Gulec—iStock/Thinkstock
    ISIL Advances on Kobani
  • Doug Mills—The New York Times/Redux
    Free to Marry
  • ChrisRuvolo (CC BY-SA 3.0)
    J.P. Morgan Chase Announces World’s Largest Data Breach
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Attack on Parliament
"On October 22 a gunman in Ottawa, Canada, killed a Canadian Forces soldier and stormed the halls of Parliament, where he was shot and killed by the parliamentary sergeant-at-arms."
  • Canadian Parliament Legislature of Canada, created by the British North America Act. The 301 members of its House of Commons are elected for maximum terms of five years from the provinces on the principle of representation...
  • Ottawa City, capital of Canada, located in southeastern Ontario. In the eastern extreme of the province, Ottawa is situated on the south bank of the Ottawa River across from Gatineau, Quebec, at the confluence...
  • Canada Second largest country in the world in area (after Russia), occupying roughly the northern two-fifths of the continent of North America. Despite Canada’s great size, it is one of the world’s most sparsely...
Sakharov Prize
"Dr. Denis Mukwege has been awarded the Sakharov Prize for his work in treating and rehabilitating women victims of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and for his campaign against the use of mass rape as a weapon of war."
  • Denis Mukwege Congolese physician noted for his work in treating victims of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Mukwege grew up in Bukavu, where he first became aware of the need for better...
  • rape Act of sexual intercourse with an individual without his or her consent, through force or the threat of force. In many jurisdictions, the crime of rape has been subsumed under that of sexual assault, which...
  • Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) DRC country located in central Africa. Officially known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the country has a 25-mile (40-km) coastline on the Atlantic Ocean but is otherwise landlocked. It is the...
Remembering Oscar de la Renta
"Fashion designer to the stars, First Ladies, and generations of socialites, Oscar de la Renta leaves behind a legacy of glamour and glitz. Starting out as a design sketcher, he climbed the ranks to become one of the world’s most celebrated couturiers."
  • Oscar de la Renta Dominican-born American fashion designer whose work, blending European luxury with American ease, helped define standards of elegant dressing among society circles in the late 20th and the early 21st century....
  • fashion industry Multibillion-dollar global enterprise devoted to the business of making and selling clothes. Some observers distinguish between the fashion industry (which makes “high fashion”) and the apparel industry...
Peyton Manning Sets TD Record
"On October 19, Peyton Manning of the NFL’s Denver Broncos threw his 509th career touchdown pass, breaking the record that had been held by Brett Favre."
  • Peyton Manning American collegiate and professional gridiron football quarterback who is considered one of the greatest players at his position in National Football League (NFL) history. He led the Indianapolis Colts...
  • Brett Favre American professional gridiron football player who broke all the major National Football League (NFL) career passing records as quarterback of the Green Bay Packers. Favre grew up in Kiln, Mississippi,...
Ebola: Latest Developments
"Three nurses, one in Spain and two in the United States, have contracted Ebola. They are the first cases to develop outside western Africa – the centre of the worst Ebola outbreak in history."
  • Ebola outbreak of 2014 Outbreak of Ebola virus disease ravaging countries in western Africa in 2014 and noted for its unprecedented magnitude. By late October 2014, suspected and confirmed cases had totaled about 10,000, and...
  • ebolavirus Genus of viruses in the family Filoviridae, certain members of which are particularly fatal in humans and nonhuman primates. In humans, ebolaviruses are responsible for Ebola virus disease (EVD), an illness...
  • viral hemorrhagic fever Any of a variety of highly fatal viral diseases that are characterized by massive external or internal bleeding or bleeding into the skin. Other symptoms vary by the type of viral hemorrhagic fever but...
Crude Oil Prices Tumble
"The price of a barrel of oil has fallen from about $108 in July to roughly $80 in October due to lower demand from China and Europe and higher production from shale sources in North America and crude oil sources in Saudi Arabia."
  • petroleum Complex mixture of hydrocarbons that occur in the Earth in liquid, gaseous, or solid forms. The term is often restricted to the liquid form, commonly called crude oil, but as a technical term it also includes...
  • oil shale Any sedimentary rock containing various amounts of solid organic material that yields petroleum products, along with a variety of solid by-products, when subjected to pyrolysis—a treatment that consists...
  • OPEC Multinational organization that was established to coordinate the petroleum policies of its members and to provide member states with technical and economic aid. Membership and organization OPEC was established...
Cryopreservation Benefits For Employees
"Big-name tech companies have started covering expenses for female employees to freeze their eggs. Although ostensibly a measure to offer women freedom in their career, some wondered whether the service was of more benefit to the employer."
  • cryopreservation The preservation of cells and tissue by freezing. Cryopreservation is based on the ability of certain small molecules to enter cells and prevent dehydration and formation of intracellular ice crystals,...
  • Apple Inc. American manufacturer of personal computers, computer peripherals, and computer software. It was the first successful personal computer company and the popularizer of the graphical user interface. Headquarters...
  • Facebook American company offering online social networking services. Facebook was founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes, all of whom were students at Harvard University....
Kim Jong-Eun Back and Still in Power
"North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-Eun, has reportedly appeared in public for the first time since September 3. During his absence speculation was rife regarding his health and whereabouts; questions now remain as to why he was not seen for those five weeks."
  • Kim Jong-Eun North Korean political official who succeeded his father, Kim Jong Il, as leader of North Korea (2011–). The youngest of Kim Jong Il ’s three sons, Kim Jong-Eun lived most of his life out of the public...
  • North Korea Country in East Asia. It occupies the northern portion of the Korean peninsula, which juts out from the Asian mainland between the East Sea (Sea of Japan) and the Yellow Sea; North Korea covers about 55...
  • Kim Jong Il North Korean politician, son of the former North Korean premier and (communist) Korean Workers’ Party (KWP) chairman Kim Il-Sung, and successor to his father as ruler (1994–2011) of North Korea. The official...
Nobel Peace Prize Awarded
"Activist Malala Yousafzai was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, becoming the youngest recipient in prize history. Yousafzai made international headlines when she survived an assassination attempt in late 2012. She shares the prize with Kailash Satyarthi."
  • Malala Yousafzai Pakistani activist who, while a teenager, spoke out publicly against the Taliban ’s prohibition on the education of girls. She gained global attention when she survived an assassination attempt at age...
  • Winners of the Nobel Prize for Peace The Nobel Prize for Peace is awarded, according to the will of Swedish inventor and industrialist Alfred Bernhard Nobel, to “the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between...
  • Nobel Prize Any of the prizes (five in number until 1969, when a sixth was added) that are awarded annually from a fund bequeathed for that purpose by the Swedish inventor and industrialist Alfred Bernhard Nobel....
Cave Paintings
"Painted outlines of human hands recently discovered in caves in Indonesia are estimated, at 39,900 years old, to be among the earliest figurative depictions in the world."
  • Indonesia Country located off the coast of mainland Southeast Asia in the Indian and Pacific oceans. It is an archipelago that lies across the Equator and spans a distance equivalent to one-eighth of Earth’s circumference....
  • cave painting Images or murals drawn or painted on the interior rock surfaces of a cave. Although most commonly associated with the prehistoric works found in France, Spain, and North Africa, cave paintings have been...
  • Lascaux Grotto Cave containing one of the most outstanding displays of prehistoric art yet discovered. Located above the Vézère River valley near Montignac, in Dordogne, France, the cave is a short distance upstream...
Blood Moon
"Skywatchers in North America, South America, Australia, and Asia were awed by the “blood moon” lunar eclipse."
  • eclipse In astronomy, complete or partial obscuring of a celestial body by another. An eclipse occurs when three celestial objects become aligned. From the perspective of a person on Earth, the Sun is eclipsed...
  • Moon Earth ’s sole natural satellite and nearest large celestial body. Known since prehistoric times, it is the brightest object in the sky after the Sun. It is designated by the symbol ☽. Its name in English,...
ISIL Advances on Kobani
"Fighters belonging to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) closed in on Kobani, a key town on the border between Syria and Turkey. The president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, warned that air strikes alone might not stop the group’s advance."
  • Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) ISIL transnational Sunni insurgent group operating primarily in western Iraq and eastern Syria. First appearing under the name ISIL in April 2013, the group launched an offensive in early 2014 that drove...
  • Kurdistan Broadly defined geographic region traditionally inhabited mainly by Kurd s. It consists of an extensive plateau and mountain area, spread over large parts of what are now eastern Turkey, northern Iraq,...
  • Recep Tayyip Erdogan Turkish politician, who served as prime minister (2003–14) and president (2014–) of Turkey. In high school Erdoğan became known as a fiery orator in the cause of political Islam. He later played on a professional...
Free to Marry
"On October 6, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to rule on appeals of seven lower-court decisions striking down bans on same-sex marriage in five states, effectively legalizing such marriages in Indiana, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin."
  • same-sex marriage The practice of marriage between two men or between two women. Although same-sex marriage has been regulated through law, religion, and custom in most countries of the world, the legal and social responses...
  • Supreme Court of the United States Final court of appeal and final expositor of the Constitution of the United States. Within the framework of litigation, the Supreme Court marks the boundaries of authority between state and nation, state...
J.P. Morgan Chase Announces World’s Largest Data Breach
"Hackers commit the largest data breach in history by seizing the names, e-mail addresses, phone numbers, and addresses of 76 million households and 7 million small-businesses account holders."
  • cybercrime The use of a computer as an instrument to further illegal ends, such as committing fraud, trafficking in child pornography and intellectual property, stealing identities, or violating privacy. Cybercrime,...
  • JPMorgan Chase & Co. American banking and financial services company formed through the December 2000 merger of J.P. Morgan & Co. and The Chase Manhattan Corporation. It is headquartered in New York City. The Morgan branch...

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