edgepedia

All articles A–Z

519,064 articles

Disaster Movie

Disaster Movie is a 2008 American parody comedy film written and directed by Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer, in which twenty-somethings flee catastrophes including twisters, asteroids, and earthquakes over a single night.

Disaster myopia

Disaster myopia is the tendency, named by Guttentag and Herring in 1986, to treat the probability of a shock as zero as time passes since the last one.

Disaster of the Lower Palace (Zhao clan massacre)

The Disaster of the Lower Palace (下宫之难), also called the Slander of Meng Ji, nearly destroyed the Zhao clan of the Jin state in 583 BC.

Disaster recovery

Disaster recovery, also called build back better (BBB) in resilience contexts, is the post-disaster process of restoring livelihoods, infrastructure, housing, and services. Key facts: Sendai Framework Priority 4, six US Recovery Support Functions, $450 billion federal aid since 2005.

Disaster zone

A disaster zone is an area hit by an extremely damaging event where action is taken to reduce harm to people and property, synonymous with "disaster area".

Disbandment of provincial troops

The disbandment of provincial troops (罢州郡兵) was an edict of Emperor Wu of Jin ordering China's provinces to dismiss their soldiers after the conquest of Wu.

Disbarment

Disbarment: revocation of a lawyer's license to practice law, the most severe US attorney-discipline sanction, imposed by courts with clear-and-convincing proof; readmission requires a five-year wait, bar and character-fitness exams, and reciprocal discipline spreads it across jurisdictions.

Disc arthroplasty

Disc arthroplasty is a spine operation that replaces a degenerated intervertebral disc with an artificial implant that preserves motion, an alternative to fusion for cervical or lumbar degenerative disc disease.

DISC assessment

DISC assessment: a self-report behavioral questionnaire based on Marston's 1928 theory, scoring Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness (or Inducement, Submission, Compliance); commercialized via Clarke's 1956 Activity Vector Analysis, Geier's Personal Profile System, and Wiley's Everything DiSC; used for workplace development, not validated for hiring.

Disc brake

A disc brake, also called a disk brake, is a friction brake in which a caliper squeezes brake pads against a rotor on the wheel hub.

Disc cutter

A disc cutter is a rolling cutting tool mounted on a tunnel boring machine cutterhead, whose hardened steel ring crushes rock into chips under high pressure.

DISC Drill (ice drilling system)

The DISC (Deep Ice Sheet Coring) Drill is an electromechanical drill built for the NSF that drilled the deepest U.S. ice core, 3,405 m, at WAIS Divide.

Disc golf

Disc golf: flying-disc sport where players throw plastic discs into metal baskets, PDGA-governed, first course Oak Grove 1975. 17,000+ courses, 89% free, 21.2M UDisc rounds in 2025, 86% participation growth since 2020.

Disc golf courses in the United States

Disc golf courses in the United States: ~11,165 courses (UDisc 2026), most of any country; 9- or 18-hole tee-pad-and-basket layouts, mostly free public-park amenities; PDGA skill-level tees; Kansas leads per capita.

Disc Golf Pro Tour

Disc Golf Pro Tour (DGPT), founded 2016 by Steve Dodge, is the Official Pro Tour of the PDGA for MPO and FPO professional disc golf, running 25+ Elite Series, Q-Series, and EuroTour events ending in the DGPT Championship.

Disc jockey

A disc jockey, known informally as a DJ, is an entertainer who selects, arranges, and mixes recorded music on radio, in clubs, and at live events.

Disc rot

Disc rot: deterioration of optical discs (CDs, DVDs, LaserDiscs, Blu-ray) from dye degradation, aluminum oxidation, label ink, or storage conditions, making discs unreadable; studied by NIST/LoC and CCI.

Disc wheel

A disc wheel is an aerodynamic spokeless bicycle wheel, used mainly as a rear wheel in time trials and track racing since Francesco Moser's 1984 hour record.

DISC1

DISC1 (Disrupted-in-Schizophrenia 1), a scaffold protein gene at 1q42.2 identified via a Scottish t(1;11) translocation family; a contested schizophrenia candidate gene with strong biology but negative genomic evidence.

DISC1 domain, vertebrates

DISC1 domain, vertebrates: domain organization of the DISC1 scaffold protein (Disrupted in Schizophrenia 1), an 854-aa protein with a disordered N-terminal head, conserved C-terminal coiled-coil tail, and UVR-like repeats, disrupted by the Scottish t(1;11) translocation.

Discalced Carmelites

The Discalced Carmelites (O.C.D.), also called Barefoot Carmelites, are a Catholic religious order founded by Teresa of Ávila and John of the Cross in sixteenth-century Spain.

Discectomy

Discectomy: surgical removal of herniated disc material pressing on spinal nerves, first performed planned in 1932; evolved into microdiscectomy (Yasargil, 1977) and endoscopic techniques; relieves sciatica faster than non-surgical care short-term.

Discharge (band)

Discharge, British hardcore punk band formed 1977 in Stoke-on-Trent, pioneers of the D-beat drum style named after them; 1982 album Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing influenced thrash and extreme metal.

Discharge (hydrology)

Discharge, also called streamflow or river discharge, is the volume of water passing a point in a channel per unit time, measured in cubic feet or meters per second.

Discharge (sentence)

Discharge (sentence): a criminal-law outcome where a court finds guilt but imposes no punishment. Two forms, absolute and conditional discharge, in England and Wales, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, and US states like New York and Illinois.

Discharge coefficient

The discharge coefficient, also called the coefficient of discharge, is the dimensionless ratio of actual to theoretical flow rate through a restriction such as an orifice, nozzle, or Venturi tube.

Dischord Records

Dischord Records, Washington D.C. independent punk label founded in 1980 by Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson to release the Teen Idles; home of Minor Threat and Fugazi, known for handshake contracts, low prices, and no merchandise sales.

Disciple (Christianity)

In Christianity, a disciple, from the Greek mathētēs meaning pupil or apprentice, is a follower of Jesus Christ, including the Twelve and a wider circle.

Disciple Records

Disciple, formerly Disciple Recordings, is a British-American bass music label founded in 2013 in Bristol, England, by Ross Burr and Rob Talbott, later based in Los Angeles.

Disciple whom Jesus loved

The disciple whom Jesus loved, or Beloved Disciple, is an unnamed follower of Jesus in the Gospel of John, traditionally identified with the apostle John.