A subsequent US report by Rear Admiral William Fogarty, titled Formal Investigation into the Circumstances Surrounding the Downing of Iran Air Flight 655 on July 3, 1988, noted that Captain Rogers received some faulty information that he used to make the decision to fire.

All the while he is doggedly pursued by a Culture Special Circumstances agent, Perosteck Balveda.

Use of M32 is reserved for extremely secret and reserved information and communication within Special Circumstances.

Many of the Culture novels in fact contain characters ( from within or without the Culture ) wondering how far-reaching the Minds ' dominance of the Culture is, and how much of the democratic process within it might in fact be a sham: subtly but very powerfully influenced by the Minds in much the same ways Contact and Special Circumstances influence other societies.

Special Circumstances is the name given to the " black ops " division of the Culture's Contact unit.

While he is considering this offer, one of his drone friends, Mawhrin-Skel, which had been ejected from Special Circumstances due to its unstable personality, convinces him to cheat in one of his matches in an attempt to win in an unprecedented perfect fashion.

Its name is the most meaningful pun in the story: outwardly it is an Eccentric ( drop-out from the Culture ) which dedicates its enormous resources to presenting tableaux of historical events ( mainly battles ) populated by passengers in suspended animation ; but in fact it is a sleeping member of Special Circumstances, the Culture's covert operations organization.

Special Circumstances, abbreviated SC, is a ' secret service '- type organisation that exists within the fictional anarchist utopian science fiction civilisation known as the Culture.

Special Circumstances is part of a larger fictional Culture organisation called Contact, which coordinates Culture interactions with ( and in ) other civilisations.

The special status of Special Circumstances is best explained by Bora Horza Gobuchul in Consider Phlebas:

The morally ambiguous role of Special Circumstances is best explained by Diziet Sma in Use of Weapons:

It is licensed for distribution in North America by Right Stuf International, which released it as His and Her Circumstances.

( The only English translation presently available is of her Confluence of Circumstances, which was published in Soviet & Post-Soviet Review, Vol.

In The Player of Games, a Culture citizen is blackmailed, apparently by Special Circumstances Minds, into assisting the overthrow of a barbaric empire, while in Excession, a conspiracy by some Minds to start a war against an oppressive alien race nearly comes to fruition.

& Government of Westsylvania ,' be empowered and enabled to form such Laws & Regulations & such a System of Polity & Government as is best adapted & most agreeable to the peculiar Necessities, local Circumstances & Situation thereof & its inhabitants invested with every other power, Right, Privilege & Immunity, vested, or to be vested in the other American Colonies, be considered as a Sister Colony & the fourteenth Province of the American Confederacy ....

An example of this is " Extenuating Circumstances " by SarahtheBardess, in which Sirius Black is returned to life.

Circumstances may result in the same partners having both ceremonies at different times though this is rare.

This is a partial list of discoveries made by Masahiro Koishikawa .< ref >" Discovery Circumstances: Numbered Minor Planets ( 5001 )-( 10000 ).

This may have been agreeable to the Laws ; I do not dispute it: But since Laws are sometimes unreasonable in themselves, and therefore repealed ; and others bear too hard on the Subject in particular Circumstances ; and therefore there is left a Power somewhere to dispense with the Execution of them ; I take the Liberty to say, that I think this Law, by which I am punished, is both unreasonable in itself, and particularly severe with regard to me, who have always lived an inoffensive Life in the Neighbourhood where I was born, and defy my Enemies ( if I have any ) to say I ever wrong ’ d Man, Woman, or Child.

Where these interventions require actions that exceed the moral and knowledge capacity of Contact, a branch of it, known as Special Circumstances, is involved.

Special Circumstances is to Contact what a Secret Service is to a Foreign Office.

Special Circumstances also does the ' dirty work ' of the Culture, a function made especially complicated by the normally very high ethical standards the Culture sets itself.

The ' Good Works ' ( for which Special Circumstances does the dirty work ) are the wider plot device for allowing interaction between the advanced Culture and the ' barbaric ' societies it tries to improve.

Special Circumstances does not always ' play nice ' like the rest of the Culture.

Circumstances occur in which local thermodynamic equilibrium does not prevail, because the strong radiative effects overwhelm the tendency to the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution of molecular velocities.

Circumstances alter cases.

Circumstances gave her almost undisputed sway over child-rearing, money-handling and home maintenance.

Circumstances include the age of the patient, time of day, time since last meal, previous episodes, nutritional status, physical and mental development, drugs or toxins ( especially insulin or other diabetes drugs ), diseases of other organ systems, family history, and response to treatment.

Circumstances should provide clues fairly quickly for the new diseases causing severe hypoglycemia.

A final chapter provides Rites for Exceptional Circumstances, namely, the Continuous Rite of Penance, Anointing, and Viaticum, Rite for Emergencies, and Christian Initiation for the Dying.

Circumstances then changed dramatically one year into the commencement of the university, as Norway proclaimed independence and adopted its own constitution.

Circumstances in the latter part of the universitys existence such as political, geographical, and educational, caused the university to seek favour from Paris rather than Rome for protection and favour.

Circumstances Alter Photographs: Captain James Peters ' Reports from the War of 1885.

Circumstances were more in Darius ’ s favor at the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 BC.

A History of Western Philosophy: And Its Connection with Political and Social Circumstances from the Earliest Times to the Present Day, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1945.

Circumstances in a fight change from millisecond to millisecond, and thus pre-arranged patterns and techniques are not adequate in dealing with such a changing situation.

M32 and lower level encrypted signals are the province of Special Circumstances.

That said, M32 has an air of notoriety in the Culture, and in the thoughts of most may best be articulated as " the Unbreakable, Inviolable, Holy of Holies Special Circumstances M32 " as described by prospective SC agent Ulver Seich.

While civilian drones do generally match humans in intelligence, drones built especially as Contact or Special Circumstances agents are often several times more intelligent, and imbued with extremely powerful senses, powers and armaments ( usually forcefield and effector-based, though occasionally more destructive weaponry such as lasers or, exceptionally, " knife-missiles " are referred to ) all powered by antimatter reactors.

Indeed, some are eventually deemed psychologically unsuitable as agents ( for example as Mawhrin-Skel notes about itself in The Player of Games ) and must choose ( or choose to choose ) either mental reprofiling or demilitarisation and discharge from Special Circumstances.

The Culture's Special Circumstances inquires about his willingness to participate in a long journey, though won't explain further unless Gurgeh agrees to participate.

The attempt fails, but Mawhrin-Skel uses his recording of the event to blackmail Gurgeh into accepting the offer and insisting that Mawhrin-Skel be admitted back into Special Circumstances as well.

Circumstances were not easy, and it got harder to get enough food, especially for an athlete in training.

She works for Special Circumstances, a division of Contact.