Cobalt

Cobalt is a chemical element with symbol Co and atomic number 27. Like nickel, cobalt in the Earth's crust is found only in chemically combined form, save for small deposits found in alloys of natural meteoric iron. The free element, produced by reductive smelting, is a hard, lustrous, silver-gray metal.

Cobalt-based blue pigments (cobalt blue) have been used since ancient times for jewelry and paints, and to impart a distinctive blue tint to glass, but the color was later thought by alchemists to be due to the known metal bismuth. Miners had long used the name kobold ore (German for goblin ore) for some of the blue-pigment producing minerals; they were so named because they were poor in known metals, and gave poisonous arsenic-containing fumes upon smelting. In 1735, such ores were found to be reducible to a new metal (the first discovered since ancient times), and this was ultimately named for the kobold.

Today, some cobalt is produced specifically from various metallic-lustered ores, for example cobaltite (CoAsS), but the main source of the element is as a by-product of copper and nickel mining. The copper belt in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic and Zambia yields most of the cobalt mined worldwide.

Cobalt (video game)

Cobalt is an action-oriented side-scrolling video game in development by Oxeye Game Studio and published by Mojang. It was released on February 2, 2016 for Microsoft Windows. In addition to the computer versions, a port is being developed for the Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

Gameplay

Cobalt features several different game modes that are available, such as Capture the Plug (a variation of capture the flag), Deathmatch, TeamStrike (with one life each, inspired by Counter-Strike), Survival, and an upcoming Adventure mode. Along with these features, players can create their own maps with the map editor in-game.

Players play as the main character, known as Cobalt. Some key mechanics of the game include bullet time, rolling (to deflect bullets) and punching which can deal damage and knock back explosives. All of which a player can combo together to produce an advanced level of play.

Development

Alpha

Cobalt was released in its alpha stage of development. Updates to subsequent versions of the game are free. The alpha version was initially solely available for the Windows operating system. A Mac OS X version was released on June 27, 2013, but the game was re-announced as a Xbox 360, Xbox One and Windows 10 exclusive in Gamescom 2014.

Cobalt (CAD program)

Cobalt is a parametric-based computer-aided design (CAD) and 3D modeling program that runs on both Macintosh and Microsoft Windows operating systems. The program combines the direct-modeling way to create and edit objects (exemplified by programs such as SpaceClaim) and the highly structured, history-driven parametric way exemplified by programs like Pro/ENGINEER. A product of Ashlar-Vellum, Cobalt is Wireframe-based and history-driven with associativity and 2D equation-driven parametrics and constraints. It offers surfacing tools, mold design tools, detailing, and engineering features. Cobalt includes a library of 149,000 mechanical parts.

Cobalt's interface, which the company named the "Vellum interface" after its eponymous flagship product, was designed in 1988 by Dr. Martin Newell (who created the Utah teapot in 1975 and went on to work at Xerox PARC, where the WIMP paradigm for graphical user interfaces was invented) and Dan Fitzpatrick. The central feature of the Vellum interface is its "Drafting Assistant", which facilitates the creation and alignment of new geometry.

Cobalt blue

Cobalt blue is a blue pigment made by sintering cobalt(II) oxide with alumina at 1200 °C. Chemically, cobalt blue pigment is cobalt(II) oxide-aluminium oxide, or cobalt(II) aluminate, CoAl₂O₄. Cobalt blue is lighter and less intense than the (iron-cyanide based) pigment Prussian blue. It is extremely stable and has historically been used as a coloring agent in ceramics, (especially Chinese porcelain), jewelry, and paint. Transparent glasses are tinted with the silica-based cobalt pigment smalt.

Historical uses and production

Cobalt blue in impure forms had long been used in Chinese porcelain, but it was independently discovered as a pure alumina-based pigment by Louis Jacques Thénard in 1802. Commercial production began in France in 1807. The first recorded use of cobalt blue as a color name in English was in 1777. The leading world manufacturer of cobalt blue in the 19th century was Benjamin Wegner's Norwegian company Blaafarveværket, ("blue colour works" in Dano-Norwegian). Germany was also famous for production, especially the blue colour works (Blaufarbenwerke) in the Ore Mountains of Saxony.

Fear the Walking Dead

Fear the Walking Dead is an American horror drama television series created by Robert Kirkman and Dave Erickson that premiered on AMC on August 23, 2015. It is a companion series and prequel to The Walking Dead, which is based on the comic book series of the same name by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, and Charlie Adlard. The first season, consisting of six episodes, aired in 2015. Its second season will comprise 15 episodes and debut on April 10, 2016.

Set in Los Angeles, California, the series follows a dysfunctional family composed of high school guidance counselor Madison Clark, her English teacher boyfriend Travis Manawa, her daughter Alicia, her drug-addicted son Nick, and Travis' son from a previous marriage, Chris, at the onset of the zombie apocalypse. They must either revamp themselves or cling to their deep flaws as they come to terms with the impending collapse of civilization.

Cast and characters

Main cast

Cobalt, Ontario

Cobalt is a town in the district of Timiskaming, province of Ontario, Canada, with a population of 1,133 (as per the Canada 2011 Census.)

In 2001 Cobalt was named "Ontario's Most Historic Town" by a panel of judges on the TV Ontario program Studio 2, and in 2002 the "Cobalt Mining District" was designated a National Historic Site of Canada.

History

Silver was discovered in the area in the summer of 1903, during the construction of the Temiskaming & Northern Ontario Railway from North Bay to the communities of Haileybury and New Liskeard, north of Cobalt. Within a few years the area was one of the largest silver producing areas in the world. Speculation over mining stocks led to riots on Wall Street in New York City. The town was incorporated in 1906. Its population swelled and peaked at 7,000. In 1911, silver production exceeded 30,000,000 ounces (937.5 tons). Mining continued until the 1930s, then slowed to a trickle. Activity renewed in the 1950s then slowly dropped off, and there are no longer any operating mines in the area. However, one mill still operates in the area, and exploration for diamonds and other minerals is ongoing.