Sopwith

Sopwith may refer to:

Sopwith (video game)

Sopwith is a side scrolling shoot 'em up created by David L. Clark of BMB Compuscience in 1984. It was originally written to run on the IBM PC under DOS but there was also a port made near the time of its creation for the Atari 520ST. More recent versions have been ported to even more systems. The game involves piloting a Sopwith biplane, attempting to bomb enemy buildings while avoiding fire from enemy planes and various other obstacles.

History

Sopwith was created to demonstrate the "Imaginet" proprietary networking system developed by BMB Compuscience. David L. Clark, employed as a programmer at BMB, developed Sopwith as a multiplayer game. The multiplayer function will not operate without the Imaginet hardware and drivers. However, single player functionality was also included, with the player flying alone or against computer-controlled planes. Because of this, the game was widely distributed, even though the Imaginet system itself was not hugely successful. Sopwith 2 added the ability to play multiplayer over an async serial interface, but a BMB dictionary driver (NAMEDEV.SYS) and a BMB serial communications driver (SERIAL.SYS or SERWORK.SYS) is then needed.

Sopwith Type 807

The Sopwith Admiralty Type 807 was a 1910s British biplane seaplane designed and built for the Admiralty by the Sopwith Aviation Company.

Development

In July 1914, Sopwith produced a two-bay tractor biplane powered by a 100 hp (75 kW) Gnome Monosoupape rotary engine to compete in the 1914 Daily Mail Circuit of Britain race for seaplanes. It made its maiden flight as a landplane on 16 July 1914, before being fitted with its planned floatplane undercarriage. On the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914 the Circuit of Britain aircraft was bought by the RNAS .

A version of the circuit of Britain aircraft was ordered by the Admiralty, becoming known as the Type 807. First delivered to the RNAS in July 1914 the Type 807 differed from the Circuit of Britain in several respects. The span of the upper wing was increased, the overhang being braced by kingposts and the wings were adapted to fold, using the Short Brothers patented mechanism; to simplify this, the wings were not staggered. It had twin strut-mounted floats under the fuselage and a float mounted under the tail. It was powered by a nose-mounted 100 hp (75 kW) Gnome Monosoupape engine. It had two tandem open cockpits with the observer in the forward cockpit under the upper wing leading edge and the pilot in the rear cockpit under the upper wing trailing edge. It was sometimes referred to as the Sopwith Folder. Sopwith developed the Circuit of Britain aircraft into a landplane (the Sopwith Two-Seat Scout)

Tadpole

A tadpole (also called a pollywog or porwigle in British English) is the larval stage in the life cycle of an amphibian, particularly that of a frog or toad. They are usually wholly aquatic, though some species have tadpoles that are terrestrial. When first hatched from the egg they have a more or less globular body, a laterally compressed tail and internal or external gills. As they grow they undergo metamorphosis, during which process they grow limbs, develop lungs and reabsorb the tail. Most tadpoles are herbivorous and during metamorphosis the mouth and internal organs are rearranged to prepare for an adult carnivorous lifestyle.

Having no hard parts, it might be expected that fossil tadpoles would not exist. However, traces of biofilms have been preserved and fossil tadpoles have been found dating back to the Miocene. Tadpoles are eaten in some parts of the world and are mentioned in folk tales and used as a symbol in ancient Egyptian numerals.

Etymology

The name "tadpole" is from Middle English taddepol, made up of the elements tadde, "toad", and pol, "head" (modern English "poll"). Similarly, "polliwog" is from Middle English polwygle, made up of the same pol, "head" and wiglen, "to wiggle".

Tadpole (band)

Tadpole was a New Zealand rock band from Auckland fronted by female vocalist Renée Brennan. The band formed in June, 1994, and, after numerous line-up changes, disbanded in late 2006.

Before 2000

Between the band's beginning and 1999, Tadpole went through so many line-up changes that there soon ended up being no original members left in the band. At one point, Tadpole was almost a girl band as there were three female members.

However, vocalist Renée Brennan and drummer/manager Dean Lawton have been stable members of the band since the late 1990s, just prior to their New Zealand rise to fame.

During that time, the singles "Blind" (Radio release only, 1998), "For Me" (single release, 1999) and "Backdoor" (also a single release, 1999), were released.

They said their song "Backdoor" was "about our struggle thus far to make it in the New Zealand music industry, and the initial frustration of trying to get our music played on radio, TV - or anywhere really. The 'backdoor' part came about because we felt we were never going to be accepted by the student radio stations, we'd just have to come in through the back door somehow. And yes - for those who want to know, the metaphor of anal sex is intended. I liken our struggle to getting buggered over, and over, and over again. In a very loving and tongue in cheek way."

Tadpole (disambiguation)

A tadpole is the aquatic larval stage in the life cycle of an amphibian.

Tadpole(s) may also refer to:

In entertainment:

See also