What is "cups"

n. 1 (plural of cup English) 2 A suit of the minor arcana in tarot, bearing the symbol of a cup or chalice.

CUPS (an acronym for Common Unix Printing System) is a modular printing system for Unix-like computer operating systems which allows a computer to act as a print server. A computer running CUPS is a host that can accept print jobs from client computers, process them, and send them to the appropriate printer.

CUPS consists of a print spooler and scheduler, a filter system that converts the print data to a format that the printer will understand, and a backend system that sends this data to the print device. CUPS uses the Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) as the basis for managing print jobs and queues. It also provides the traditional command line interfaces for the System V and Berkeley print systems, and provides support for the Berkeley print system's Line Printer Daemon protocol and limited support for the server message block (SMB) protocol. System administrators can configure the device drivers which CUPS supplies by editing text files in Adobe's PostScript Printer Description (PPD) format. There are a number of user interfaces for different platforms that can configure CUPS, and it has a built-in web-based interface. CUPS is free software, provided under the GNU General Public License and GNU Lesser General Public License, Version 2.

The Carnegie Mellon University Usable Privacy and Security Laboratory (CUPS) was established in the Spring of 2004 to bring together Carnegie Mellon University researchers working on a diverse set of projects related to understanding and improving the usability of privacy and security software and systems. The privacy and security research community has become increasingly aware that usability problems severely impact the effectiveness of mechanisms designed to provide security and privacy in software systems. Indeed, one of the four grand research challenges in information security and assurance identified by the Computing Research Association in 2003 is: "Give end-users security controls they can understand and privacy they can control for the dynamic, pervasive computing environments of the future." This is the challenge that CUPS strives to address. CUPS is affiliated with Carnegie Mellon CyLab and has members from the Engineering and Public Policy Department, the School of Computer Science, the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, the Heinz College, and the Department of Social and Decision Sciences.

Cups was one of several games invented in 1965 by father and son Arthur Amberstone and Wald Amberstone who were both cofounders of the New York Gamers Association (N.Y.G.A.). They also invented Power, and High Deck, a card game based on medieval society. At the time both were working as basket makers as well as game designers in New York City. This game was first published in A Gamut of Games by Sid Sackson in 1969. Wald Amberstone co-founded the Tarot School in 1995 along with his wife Ruth Amberstone. The game Cups is a contemporary two-ranked single-lap member of the ancient game family of Mancala.

"Cups" is a version of the 1931 Carter Family song "When I'm Gone", usually performed a capella with a cup used to provide percussion, as in the cup game. It was first performed this way in a YouTube video by Lulu and The Lampshades in 2009 (under the title "You're Gonna Miss Me"). Composition of the song is credited to A. P. Carter and Luisa Gerstein of Lulu and the Lampshades.

The song became popular after it was covered by Anna Kendrick in the 2012 film Pitch Perfect. That version also became the official theme song of the 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament.