Marble (software)

Marble is a virtual globe application which allows the user to choose among the Earth, the Moon, Venus, Mars and other planets to display as a 3-D model. It is free software under the terms of the GNU LGPL, developed by KDE for use on personal computers and smart phones. It is written in C++ and uses Qt 4 or 5.

Marble is intended to be very flexible; beyond its cross-platform design, the core components can easily be integrated into other programs. It is designed to run without the need for hardware acceleration, but it can be extended to use OpenGL. An important user-experience objective being that the application start fairly quickly, it ships with a minimal but useful off-line dataset (5–10MB).

Contributors have added support for on-line mapping sources such as OpenStreetMap and the ability to interpret KML files. Marble also provides route planning capabilities. A navigation mode called MarbleToGo was developed as part of Google Summer of Code 2010. It was later partially rewritten and renamed to Marble Touch.

Marble

Marble is a non-foliated metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however, stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone. Marble is commonly used for sculpture and as a building material.

Etymology

The word "marble" derives from the Greek μάρμαρον (mármaron), from μάρμαρος (mármaros), "crystalline rock, shining stone", perhaps from the verb μαρμαίρω (marmaírō), "to flash, sparkle, gleam";R. S. P. Beekes has suggested that a "Pre-Greek origin is probable."

This stem is also the basis for the English word marmoreal, meaning "marble-like." While the English term resembles the French marbre, most other European languages follow the original Greek—see Persian and Irish marmar, Spanish mármol, Italian marmo, Portuguese mármore, Welsh, Slovene, German, Norwegian, Danish and Swedish marmor, Romanian marmură, Polish marmur, Dutch marmer, Turkish mermer, Czech mramor, and Russian мрáмор (mramor). In Hungarian it is called márvány.

Marble cheese

Marble cheese is a name given to cheeses produced by combining two others, creating a marbled pattern, such as Sage Derby and Colby-Jack.

Description

Marble cheese originates from England. They are usually hard, processed cow's milk cheeses, produced from a combination of the curds of white and orange cheddars (for Marbled Cheddar), or similar. Colby-Jack combines Colby cheese and Monterey Jack and is most popular in the United States. They don't usually involve any artificial additives to achieve the marbling, though cheeses such as Red Windsor and Sage Derby contain colourings such as Chlorophyll (E140) and Carmine (E120).

Types

Faux painting

Faux painting or faux finishing are terms used to describe decorative paint finishes that replicate the appearance of materials such as marble, wood or stone. The term comes from the French word faux, meaning false, as these techniques started as a form of replicating materials such as marble and wood with paint, but has subsequently come to encompass many other decorative finishes for walls and furniture including simulating recognisable textures and surfaces.

History

Faux finishing has been used for millennia, from cave painting to the tombs of ancient Egypt, but what we generally think of as faux finishing in the decorative arts began with plaster and stucco finishes in Mesopotamia over 5,000 years ago.

Faux painting became popular in classical times in the forms of faux marble, faux wood, and trompe l'oeil murals. Artists would apprentice for 10 years or more with a master faux painter before working on their own. Great recognition was awarded to artists who could actually trick viewers into believing their work was the real thing. Faux painting has continued to be popular throughout the ages, but experienced major resurgences in the neoclassical revival of the nineteenth century and the Art Deco styles of the 1920s. During the recent history of decorative painting, faux finishing has been mainly used in commercial and public spaces.

Software (novel)

Software is a 1982 cyberpunk science fiction novel written by Rudy Rucker. It won the first Philip K. Dick Award in 1983. The novel is the first book in Rucker's Ware Tetralogy, and was followed by a sequel, Wetware, in 1988.

Plot summary

Software introduces Cobb Anderson as a retired computer scientist who was once tried for treason for figuring out how to give robots artificial intelligence and free will, creating the race of boppers. By 2020, they have created a complex society on the Moon, where the boppers developed because they depend on super-cooled superconducting circuits. In that year, Anderson is a pheezer — a freaky geezer, Rucker's depiction of elderly Baby Boomers — living in poverty in Florida and terrified because he lacks the money to buy a new artificial heart to replace his failing, secondhand one.

As the story begins, Anderson is approached by a robot duplicate of himself who invites him to the Moon to be given immortality. Meanwhile, the series' other main character, Sta-Hi Mooney the 1st — born Stanley Hilary Mooney Jr. — a 25-year-old cab driver and "brainsurfer", is kidnapped by a gang of serial killers known as the Little Kidders who almost eat his brain. When Anderson and Mooney travel to the Moon together at the boppers' expense, they find that these events are closely related: the "immortality" given to Anderson turns out to be having his mind transferred into software via the same brain-destroying technique used by the Little Kidders.

Software (development cooperation)

See also

Further reading

Software (album)

Software is Grace Slick's 1984 album released by RCA Records. This album was recorded after she had re-joined Jefferson Starship. After working on this album, Peter Wolf would go on to contribute to Jefferson Starship's 1984 album, Nuclear Furniture. A music video was made for the single "All the Machines". "Software" is Grace Slick's fourth and final solo album.

Software has been described as Slick's attempt to assimilate with the techno-pop artists of the period. Guitar use is largely replaced by synthesizers and electric drums. Slick's trademark wailing vocals and improvising is replaced by more short short, precise bursts. The album failed to chart.

Track listing

All lyrics by Grace Slick / music by Peter Wolf except where noted

Singles

Personnel