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.

Bugs (2014 film)

Bugs (Chinese: 食人虫) is a 2014 Chinese 3D science fiction disaster thriller film directed by Yan Jia. It was released on October 10.

Cast

Reception

By October 11, the film had earned ¥7.74 million at the Chinese box office.

References

Vitalogy

Vitalogy is the third studio album by the American rock band Pearl Jam, released on November 22, 1994, through Epic Records. Pearl Jam wrote and recorded Vitalogy while touring behind its previous album Vs. (1993). The music on the record was more diverse than previous releases, and consists of aggressive rock songs, ballads and other elements making this Pearl Jam's first experimental album.

The album was first released on vinyl, followed by a release on CD and cassette two weeks later on December 6, 1994. The LP sold 34,000 copies in its first week of release, and until Jack White's 2014 album Lazaretto it held the record for most vinyl sales in one week since SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991. Upon its CD release, Vitalogy became the second-fastest selling album in history, only behind the band's previous release Vs., selling 877,000 copies in its first week. The album has been certified five times platinum by the RIAA in the United States.

Recording

For its third album, Pearl Jam again worked with producer Brendan O'Brien. The band wrote many of the songs during soundchecks on its Vs. Tour and the majority of the album's tracks were recorded during breaks on the tour. The first session took place late in 1993 in New Orleans, Louisiana, where the band recorded "Tremor Christ" and "Nothingman". The rest of the material was written and recorded in 1994 in sessions in Seattle, Washington and Atlanta, Georgia, with the band finishing the album at Bad Animals Studio in Seattle after the tour's completion. "Immortality" was written in April 1994 when the band was on tour in Atlanta. Sources state that most of the album was completed by early 1994, but that either a forced delay by Epic, or the band's battle with ticket vendor Ticketmaster, were to blame for the delay.

Bugs (nickname)

Bugs is a nickname for:

See also

Lightning (Revere Beach)

Lightning was a wooden roller coaster that operated at Revere Beach in Revere, Massachusetts from 1927 until 1933. It was one of the infamous Giant Cyclone Safety Coasters which were constructed by noted roller coaster engineer Harry G. Traver in the mid-1920s (the rides were, in fact, anything but safe, and became known as the "terrifying triplets"). Lightning was the only Giant Cyclone Safety Coaster not to bear the "Cyclone" name, as a roller coaster named Cyclone already existed at Revere Beach when Lightning was constructed in 1927. The other two members of this group of coasters included the Crystal Beach Cyclone and the Palisades Park Cyclone (A fourth Traver roller coaster named Zip had a similar—but smaller—design and was installed at Oaks Amusement Park in Portland, Oregon).

Ride layout and structure

Although the precise dimensions of Lightning are not reported, its common design heritage with the Crystal Beach Cyclone suggests that these coasters share many technical specifications, such as heights around 100 feet (30 m), many steeply-banked turns and a ground-level figure 8 track. In fact, there was no truly straight track apart from the station. Lightning's hybrid steel structure allowed for much more steeply banked curves than would have been possible in an ordinary wooden-framed roller coaster of the day. These steeply banked tracks often made quick transitions to steep banks in the opposite directions. These quick rolling transitions were one of the primary reasons for the violent nature of the Lightning.

Lightning (Atlanta)

Lightning was a neighborhood just west of Downtown Atlanta, Georgia, north of the former extension of Magnolia Street, south of Simpson St. (now Joseph E. Boone Blvd.) and east of Northside Drive (US 41). It was razed to make way mostly for the expansion of the Georgia World Congress Center as well as the north end of the Georgia Dome .

As of 1975, east-west streets in Lighting were, from north to south: Simpson St. (northern border), Tyler St., Rock St., Mayes St., Thurmond St. Newton St., Foundry St., Magnolia St. (southern border) North-south streets in Lightning were, from west to east: Northside Dr. (western border), Haynes St., Mangum St., Elliott St. (eastern border).

External links

References

Coordinates: 33°45′36″N 84°24′00″W / 33.760°N 84.400°W / 33.760; -84.400

Lightning (software)

The Lightning project, announced on December 22, 2004, and currently developed by the Mozilla Foundation, produces an extension that adds calendar and scheduling functionality to the Mozilla Thunderbird mail and newsgroup client and SeaMonkey internet suite. Lightning is an iCalendar compatible calendar.

Unlike the discontinued Mozilla Sunbird and Mozilla Calendar extension, Lightning integrates tightly with Thunderbird.

Lightning is available in 32-bit and 64-bit versions for Windows, OS X and Linux, and is installed by default on Thunderbird.

History

Version 0.9 was the last planned release for Thunderbird 2. A calendar was originally to be fully integrated into Thunderbird 3, but those plans were changed due to concerns with the product's maturity and level of support. Lightning 1.0b2 is compatible with Thunderbird 3.1, Lightning 1.0b5 is compatible with Thunderbird 5 and 6, and Lightning 1.0b7 is compatible with Thunderbird 7. Lightning 1.0 was released to the public on November 7, 2011. It was released alongside Thunderbird 8.0. Following that, every Thunderbird release has been accompanied by a compatible Lightning point release. Lightning finally started shipping with Thunderbird with version 4.0.