Stepping Disks are a fictional teleportation technology from the Known Space universe created by Larry Niven. They were invented by the Pierson's Puppeteers, and thair existence is not generally known to other races until the events of The Ringworld Engineers. Teleportation is the process of moving objects from one place to another more or less instantaneously, without passing through the intervening space. ... Known Space is the fictional setting of several science fiction novels and short stories written by author Larry Niven. ... Larry Niven Laurence van Cott Niven (born April 30, 1938) is a US science fiction author. ... Piersons Puppeteers, often known just as Puppeteers, are a fictional alien race from Larry Nivens Known Space books. ... The Ringworld Engineers is a novel by Larry Niven first published in 1980. ...
The stepping disks are an outgrowth and improvement of the transfer booth technology used by humans and other Known Space races. Unlike the booths, the disks do not require an enclosed chamber, and somehow can differentiate between solid masses and air, for example. They also have a far greater range than transfer booths, extending several AU's (equivalent to Earth's orbit). a transfer booth is akin to a phone booth, but when you dial a number you are transferred via some form of matter transmission (or transported as in Star Trek) to the number dialed instead of merely voice contact. ... The astronomical unit (AU or au or a. ...
A floppy disk is a data storage device that is composed of a disk of thin, flexible ("floppy") magnetic storage medium encased in a square or rectangular plastic shell.
Floppy disk sizes are almost universally referred to in imperial measurements, even in countries where metric is the standard, and even when the size is in fact defined in metric (for instance the 3½-inch floppy which is actually 9 cm).
The 3½-inch disks had, by way of their rigid case's slide-in-place metal cover, the significant advantage of being much better protected against unintended physical contact with the disk surface than 5¼-inch disks when the disk was handled outside the disk drive.
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