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Vapourware [WiP]Zodiac Legion, a medieval fantasy take on X-COM
Discussion in 'Codex Workshop' started by Galdred, Jan 22, 2014.
Galdred Studio Draconis
Middle Empire
May 18, 2015 Stats Ignoring
Ninjerk said: ↑
Those trees don't look big enough (depending on what you're going for)
Indeed, they are christmas tree sized, but we didn't want them to make the battlefield too confusing either.
How high would you make them? Twice as high? That would make it impossible to play without transparency on (but as I pointed out, it would already be impossible given that walls already hide the tiles nearby).
Zodiac Legion : A Medieval XCom vapoware : http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/wip-project-ragnarok.89304/
Ninjerk Arcane
Galdred said: ↑
Contextual/Semi-transparent/Toggled foliage layer and "cut" the tree when it's disabled. More work for you, though, so it's understandable to just leave it as is.
ok in all seriousness here is some serious help you sound like a fucked up person
Burn bridges with everybody you can until you feel you could say you have begun "a new stage of your life" then tear off the door from your bathroom and place it in a spot where you can see the toilet but arent actually in the bathroom. Settle in on the door (recomend fair supply of water, food only if you must) then repeat the words "I am a liminal exploder" as you look through the doorway. Do this for 3 nights and when you are finished follow all instructions the toilet tells you.
I would have to apply the same transparency level to every tree, though, as they would mask the terrain itself, which is almost as important as the characters. But then, I already do that for walls (and have them all either transparent or cut), so it is already feasible.
Concerning cutting trees, we use this for the cut trees :
Spoiler (Move your mouse to the spoiler area to reveal the content)
Show Spoiler Hide Spoiler
but it looks like they really got cut in game then, and it confusing in its own way (I thought about having a green hex with "tree" written on it, but got talked out of it).
So basically, taller trees could work, but that would imply a lot of hexes would be behind transparent trees.
If we go this route, how tall should they be relative to their current heightl?
but it looks like they really got cut in game then...
I mean you would "cut" them (in reality they are not cut, but we use a cross-section for abstraction) e.g. when the player hovers their mouse over tiles obscured by the graphic (depending on what implementation meets player expectations and/or your time spent implementing). Only a man-sized tree trunk would be drawn while hiding the graphic. I can make an ugly MSPaint mockup if that isn't clearer.
no, I get it
But having to hover to see the terrain behind each tree would be quite bothersome (and it is one of the few things I don't like in Battle Brothers), but maybe with a key to cut them all, that could work.
Yeah, you could implement it in all sorts of ways. Checkbox toggle in options, holding ALT or TAB or something (I think JA2 had something like this).
I can implement programming stuff, but I am more or less stuck with the graphical assets currently produced, as I dried up my art budget (I only have enough saved for a few static screens, UI, and some short music tracks + some reworks), so the trees will probably stay in their current version.
I have made a few more tests with trees :
the problem if they are allowed to block moves would be that the max density would be like 2 trees for 8 hexes (ie, never more than 2 adjacent trees) in order to avoid the tree maze problem, but then, the forest seems a bit light.
Moderately dense forest :
On the spoiler, you can see that the trees block a lot of spaces, even though they don't seem that close to each other, so I think I will have to allow footmen to coexist with trees.
I will have to place the trees either in the corners, or between 2 hexes.
Brofist x 1
majestik12 Arcane
I don't have a composer yet. What I am looking for would be something in the vein of Chaos Gate , which might not be very reasonnable given my budget.
Done: http://picosong.com/jV69
majestik12 said: ↑
It captures some of the atmosphere indeed, but it lacks the choir, and the instruments don't have the same timber (they sound "lighter" if that means anything).
Anyway, I cannot pay for any more freelance job until the company is created, because any personal expense won't be taken into account in the game budget when applying for subvention (so I already lost at least 15 k in potential subventions).
Cosmo said: ↑
Really nice, but the characters seem to be floating and the trees need to stand out more (YOU NEED SHADOWS !!).
What's more i like the palette, but this map seems to have a case of green overload (a bluer river maybe ?). Other than that, the rocky bedside and floor tiles are absolutely perfect.
Shadows are underway :
I will use fixed shadows for characters and sprites (trees, furnitures...), and I will test dynamic shadows on walls.
And the same in video :
Jun 2, 2015 Stats Ignoring
Which highlight scheme would you recommend?
If neither is readable enough (or the first one is too ugly), I could increase opacity a little, but I fear the terrain under would become unreadable then.
Looks like you need a color farther outside the palette. If the tile contents are important for whatever reason, perhaps holding Tab or Alt or something like that will hide the highlight?
Good point. Is this better?
There is not much white in use, and we probably won't do snow.
By quite a bit, yes. I was thinking a highly saturated blue or green like the old Tactics Ogre-type games did, but that should work splendidly.
Without the blue borders now :
Better without blue borders, too
ok, thank you for your advice I think I will stick with the last version then
It seems to be more color blind friendly too.
Cosmo Arcane
Now, about the game system :
Overview of the combat system
During the tactical battles, each side will play all of its characters at once. Each character have 2 actions, like in Firaxis' XCOM (yes, I know...), or Descent: Journeys in the dark. Attacking ends the activation of the character (so only one attack per round).
Combat takes place on a hexagonal map.
Some abilities can allow a character to do a bit more (like moving 2 hex, and attack twice in melee at the cost of 2 actions for instance).
Elevation gives an attack and defense bonus to the highest character.
Facing does not matter in the game, but flanking does provide an advantage when attacking.
The red character on the left is flanked because there is no way he could not have someone in the 3 rear hexagons, regardless of his facing.
The other two red characters are not flanked because the middle one would have no one in the back if facing the hexagon between his two opponents, and the one in the middle is facing his 3 opponents, and have no one in the back.
Ignoring opponents
An important consideration is whether one character has been attacked during this turn. Characters who have not been attacked hampers adjacent opponents when they try to perform an attack. They also provide a higher flanking bonus to allies that manage to perform an attack on a target adjacent to them. They also have a stronger free attack against opponents that try to disengage than characters that have already been attacked this turn.
This was done to de emphasize focus firing, and give a purpose to weaker opponents.
Disengagement and Zones of Control
A character already has some kind of zone of control through the threat of backstab, and defensive support. However, they also have other effects on adjacent hexagons :
moving from a hexagon in the zone of control of an opponent costs a movement penalty, and may grant him a free attack.
Someone trying to disengage will give a free attack to an adjacent character who has not used his attack, or who has already attacked him.
In this exemple, Mr HammernChainmail can get a flanking position against the red knight of Libra : he can either make a detour, or pay 1 extra movement to get from one ZoC hexagon to the next. But if he does so, he will give a free attack to the libra knight, unless he already attacked someone else during his turn.
Attack is an opposed roll (attack vs defense), and the margin of success of the attacker will impact the damage he will cause.
The wall tiles did not lend themselves well to a tile based LoS system, as it was obvious they did not take the whole space. It would make no sense at all for D2 to have cover against C.
In order to make the system coherent with the graphical representation, we have settled for a finer LoS grid :
It throws away the hexagonal side of things, but these hexagons were easier to subdivise in squares than hexagons.
So Los will use a finer grid, (subdivision in green), with 32 cells/heaxgon.
This allows us to have an organic cover system :
Someone has LoS to someone else if there is one of his cell can see one of the target cells (so the algorithm is reciprocal), but cover depends on the number of cells visible from the 2 best cells of the attacker (in other word, you total the number of cells seen by the attacker, and the lower the total, the harsher the cover bonus).
So for instance, if A can see 27 and 16 cells of B from the two best of his cells, but B can only see 9 and 14 cells of A from his two best cells, A will have a large cover bonus (2 cells visible on average over the best 2 defender cells), while B will have a much lower one.
This way, there is no need to have artifical cover rules, and we never un into the wonky case of A being able to see B without B being able to return fire at all.
Here with a classic XCom exemple :
C is flanking D : he has cover, while D does not.
Note that making things completely organic would still pose a problem :
C2 is better protected from D than C1, because the southern corner is closer to the hex behind than the northern one.
The representation needs to support the gameplay : it would be very weird that hiding behind the south corner gives better protection than going hiding the north.
The best solution would be to rework the walls so that the northern corners are closer from their nothern hex border, but that implies lot of artistic rework.
cepheiden Novice
I don't want to insult your work or anything, but are you really sure you want grid based combat?
Sure it's fun and tactical, but only a few times.
After a while it's just annoying having to fight all your battles in such a slow manner, always needing to move towards every enemy, waiting for all the turns, move again and so on. It's just so incredibly incovenient, especially for fights that you know you will win but still have to fight. That problem becomes even worse when you have to do a lot of fighting in the game. This is what always made me stop playing these games for longer than a few hours.
Not to mention that it kind of breaks the games immersion if you suddenly have your screen filled with those giant tiles and are always forced to move exactly into one of those. Can't it be free form?
Also it complicates things so much, to the point that you can't even place your trees where you want and surely a lot of other inconvenient stuff. Is that really necessary?
All those things considered, what do you think is attractive about this style?
cepheiden said: ↑
We plan to make fights tense to the end. They managed to do so in invisible inc, so it can be done.
If you don't like fighting in these games, I don't see how free form solves any of the problems (unless you want to make it real time too).
The problem with free form is that it makes combat even more tedious. Instead of selecting the best tile available nearby, you have to go pixel hunting instead. How does it solve the problems you mentioned earlier?
I think the solution has nothing to do with grid, and more to do with pacing (by encouraging the player to take risks, and not advance too carefully). That is why we will make things harder the longer you wait (by adding reinforcements after some time, like in Invisible Inc, or Descent : JiTD).
But if you don't like this kind of combat, that probably won't be enough to make you look forward to it.
Edit : on top of that, a freeform movement system does not really make LoS any easier :
You still have to compute how much of the target is seen from the attacker, which reference you use to determine LoS (one point of the attacker to one point of the target? Center to Center?).
At least, with tiles, we can easily slap an overlay that would tell the coverage from a given target on each tile, and how much this target would be covered compared to us.
It would be much harder to convery such informations on a freeform grid.
Good answer. I see you have already thought about all this stuff. Hope you can pull it off.
The free form part was just so you don't have to show a grid anymore. But I think you hit the nail on the spot with the pacing thing. The Grid style combat was great for strategy games like Age of Wonders, because you would a lot of other stuff inbetween fights.
Jun 10, 2015 Stats Ignoring
I think it looks closer to a real forest this way (I scaled them 200%, as it is just a test), unfortunately, it completely messes up the informations conveyed to the player about the tactical situation. The trees are not centered, because I didn't modify the position to make up for their bigger size.
So it would require cutting them like 100% of the time (except for screenshots) to see the terrain in the 2 or 3 tiles that are masked.
I will try with 150% up, but I think it would still be too messy, even with transparency.
But at least, now, it is obvious that they block the whole tile
If it doesn't work, I will just put 2 trees per tile that has a neighbour, so that it is obvious there is no room to pass through.
Now concerning the UI, do you prefer circles or squares for the HP?


text:
Talks and Appearances
The Latest on Obama's Free Community College Plan
January 9, 2015 in Students
Last night President Obama announced a plan to partner with states to make two years of free community college available to all Americans. The proposal, introduced with a YouTube video from the president and a press release factsheet, will be the focus of a presidential speech at Pellissippi State Community College in Tennessee later today.
I've written a number of times before about why I support free public higher education — about why it's a worthy concept in general and about the potential of Tennessee's implementation of it on the community college level. Hell, I've even written a manifesto on the subject, complete with tee shirt.
Obama's proposal is not the one that I would have put forward. There are a lot of details yet to be fleshed out, and some real reasons for concern about the plan as described. As a prod for a new national discussion, however, and as a starting point for organizing, I welcome it wholeheartedly.
I'll be watching and reporting on Obama's speech when it happens in a few hours, and writing more about my thoughts then and later. First, though, a roundup of others' initial reactions:
American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten says the AFT, a union of K-12 and college educators, is "delighted" with the initiative.
History professor David Perry likes the plan, and calls for a push to incorporate mandates for full-time faculty hiring into the program's college credentialing process.
The New York Times notes that Tennessee's governor and both of its senators — all Republicans — will be at today's speech.
Politico adds that he'll be joined by Vice President Biden, as well as Jill Biden — herself a community college professor.
Matt Reed, a community college dean who has a regular column in Inside Higher Ed, is concerned about sustained funding for such a project, and doubts it'll get through Congress before the next presidential election.
The Institute for College Access and Success released a stinging attack on the plan last night, which it has partially walked back as more details have become public. TICAS remains, however, opposed to free tuition plans that aren't targeted through means testing.
Forbes columnist Andrew Kelly worries about costs, standards, and undercutting for-profit colleges.
On that last subject, at this writing (10:15 am ET) for-profit education stocks are down an average of about 1.5% from yesterday's close.
That's just a start. I'll have a lot more in a bit.
StudentActivism.net is the work of Angus Johnston, a historian and advocate of American student organizing.
To contact Angus, click here. For more about him, check out AngusJohnston.com.
Took my dad to see @LadyRizo tonight. It went just as well as I could have dared to hope. What a lovely night. 19 minutes ago
Angus Johnston on Free Fight Fascism Stickers
Joan on Free Fight Fascism Stickers
Will Shetterly on Was Derrick Bell's "Space Traders" an Antisemitic Work?
Joan Johnston
…..after you get back from teaching at a community college…..
Ain't No Sunday Like an MLA Sunday Links | Gerry Canavan
[…] Obama Just Introduce a 'Public Option' for Higher Education? Angus is happy. Who Has a Stake in Obama's Free Community-College Plan? Of course, it's a Republican […]
« Obama Endorses Free Community College
#FreeCommunityCollege Interview on WBAI »

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
James Hinchcliffe (Oakville, Ontario, Canadá; 5 de diciembre de 1986) es un piloto de automovilismo canadiense. Desde 2011 compite en la IndyCar Series, la mayor categoría de monoplazas de América del Norte. Obtuvo seis victorias, 18 podios y 33 top 5 a lo largo de su carrera. Asimismo, obtuvo el octavo puesto de campeonato en 2012 y 2013. Su mejor resultado en las 500 Millas de Indianápolis fue un sexto puesto en la edición 2012.

Inicios

Luego de competir en karting en distintas regiones de América del Norte, Hinchcliffe se inició en los monoplazas a los 17 años de edad, al finalizar tercero en la Academia Bridgestone de Fórmula 2000 de Mosport con cinco victorias en 12 carreras. En 2004 ascendió a la Fórmula BMW Estadounidense, donde logró tres victorias y 10 podios en 14 carreras, resultando subcampeón. El canadiense progresó a la Star Mazda en 2006, donde ganó 3 carreras y terminó tercero en el campeonato.

Los dos siguientes tres años, Hinchcliffe participó en la Fórmula Atlantic. Fue décimo en 2006 corriendo en Forsythe, cuarto en 2007 en Sierra Sierra y cuarto en 2008 nuevamente en Forsythe, logrando en total dos victorias y doce podios. Asimismo, disputó siete fechas de la temporada 2006/07 del A1 Grand Prix como representante de Canadá, obteniendo un segundo puesto y cinco arribos entre los primeros seis.

El canadiense continuó ascendiendo en la pirámide de categorías escuela norteamericanas, al entrar ser fichado por el Schmidt de la Indy Lights para la temporada 2009. Cosechó cinco podios que lo dejaron quinto en el clasificador final. En 2010 pasó al equipo Moore, donde ganó tres carreras y subió a ocho podios de trece, con lo cual se quedó con el subcampeonato.

IndyCar (2011-presente)

Hinchcliffe consiguió butaca en la IndyCar en 2011, en concreto en Newman/Haas Racing. Con tres cuartos puestos y 8 arribos entre los 10 primeros en 17 carreras, finalizó 12º en el campeonato. Fue nombrado Novato del Año, al sumar más puntos que los demás debutantes, y recibió el premio Estrella Naciente de la IndyCar.

El equipo Newman/Haas dejó de competir en 2012. Ante la muerte de Dan Wheldon en la fecha final en Las Vegas, el equipo Andretti se decantó por Hinchcliffe como segunda opción para reemplazar a Danica Patrick como el piloto patrocinado por GoDaddy. Utilizó el número 27, el mismo que llevaran los exitosos pilotos canadienses Gilles Villeneuve y Jacques Villeneuve. Hinchcliffe logró dos terceros puestos, dos cuartos, un quinto y dos sextos (uno de ellos en las 500 Millas de Indianápolis), de modo que quedó octavo en el clasificador final.

En 2013 comenzó de la mejor forma posible, obteniendo su primera victoria en la ronda inaugural de San Petersburgo. Tras dos abandonos, volvió a ganar en la cuarta carrera, en Sao Paulo, tras un adelantamiento a Takuma Satō en la última curva. Más tarde logró su tercera victoria en Iowa, así como un tercer puesto, un cuarto y un quinto. No obstante, no tuvo mucha fortuna en las demás pruebas, por lo que repitió el octavo puesto de campeonato.

En las 500 Millas de Indianápolis de 2014, Hinchcliffe clasificó segundo paro abandonó al chocar con Ed Carpenter. Obtuvo un tercer puesto en Mid-Ohio, tres quintos, dos sextos y ocho top 10, por lo que resultó 12º en la clasificación final.

Hinchcliffe se unió al equipo Schmidt Peterson Motorsports para la temporada 2015, reemplazando a Simon Pagenaud. Ganó en la segunda fecha en New Orleans, pero sufrió un terrible accidente en la preparación a las 500 Millas de Indianápolis, en la que un elemento de suspensión del monoplaza le atravesó la pierna derecha hasta la pelvis, provocándole una severa lesión, y pérdida de sangre en el momento del accidente. Por las lesiones, quedó descartado para el resto de la temporada, siendo reemplazado en el equipo por Ryan Briscoe.

Recuperado de las lesiones, el canadiense volvió a la categoría en 2016. Estuvo cerca de ganar en Texas, pero finalizó segundo, a ocho milésimas de segundo del ganador Graham Rahal. Finalizó 13º en el campeonato con tres podios. En 2017, venció en Long Beach y obtuvo dos terceros lugares, terminó 13º en el campeonato.

El año siguiente Hinchcliffe ganó en Iowa, pero los malos resultados en las últimas fechas y la no clasificación para las 500 Millas de Indianápolis, lo dejó décimo en la tabla de pilotos. En 2019, consiguió un tercer lugar y 8 top 10, colocándose 12° en el clasificador general.

Hinchcliffe disputó un calendario parcial de 6 fechas con el equipo Andretti, siendo séptimo en las 500 Millas de Indianápolis.

En 2021, el canadiense volvió a disputar una temporada completa, ahora con el equipo Andretti. Llegó tercero en Nashville, pero ese fue su único podio y top 10. Finalizó 20° en el clasificador general.

Otras actividades

Hinchcliffe disputó dos fechas de la Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series. En 2006 disputó las 250 Millas Paul Revere de Daytona en un Riley Lexus de la clase DP para AIM, donde abandonó. En 2012 disputó las 24 Horas de Daytona en un Mazda RX-8 de la clase GT para SpeedSource, acompañando entre otros a Marino Franchitti, que llegó sexto en su clase.

El canadiense participó en el Gran Premio de Surfers Paradise del V8 Supercars de 2012 con un Holden Commodore del equipo de Garry Rogers, pero abandonó en ambas mangas.

Además de su actividad como piloto, Hinchcliffe se desempeñó como comentarista de la Champ Car y la IndyCar durante su época en la Fórmula Atlantic y la Indy Lights respectivamente.

En 2016, participó en el concurso Dancing with the Stars. Llegó a la final y logró un segundo puesto junto a la gimnasta Laurie Hernández.

Resultados

IndyCar Series

Referencias

Enlaces externos

 James Hinchcliffe en el sitio oficial de la IndyCar
 James Hinchcliffe en Driver Database
 IndyCar 36: Hinchcliffe - Documental de la IndyCar (en inglés)

Deportistas de Ontario
Nacidos en Ontario
Pilotos de automovilismo de Canadá
Pilotos de IndyCar Series
Participantes de Dancing with the stars
Pilotos de Indy Lights
Pilotos de WeatherTech SportsCar Championship
Pilotos de A1 Grand Prix
Pilotos de Indy Pro 2000

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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UPDATE: This post originally ran on March 28th but we're still in love with this DIY and had to share it again!
For the first time in a long time, I bought a roll of film.
Brigette and I are so used to shooting digitally that the process of buying film and using a film camera was something we almost forgot how to do. There's something about shooting on film that gives an image such character. It's clean and crisp, yet moody. You never know what you are going to get; one click and you advance the film, leaving the image unseen until it's processed. Such an element of surprise is incorporated that it makes each image a bit more special.
If you've recently shot some film and are looking for a fun little project to do with your images, Brigette and I worked on something this week that blew our minds: blender pen photo transfers.
This is the process of taking a photo and transferring it onto a specific surface using a special little gadget called a blender pen.
These incredible pens can be bought at specialty craft stores. They're so easy to use — and your photo transfers are basically completed instantly. There's no waiting here. Just be warned that they give off a very strong smell, so make sure to use them in a well-ventilated area — outside works best, if possible.
After you get your film developed, make photocopies of the images you'd like to transfer. This step is very important — simply printing a photo from your computer unfortunately won't work.
Next, decide where you want to transfer your image. Paper seemed to be the easiest for us, but this can also be done on wood, ceramic, and tin.
As you go, you'll see the image appear through the back of the photocopy — it's so cool to look at!
Here you'll see the original photo, the photocopy, and the image transfer. We're obsessed with the vintage, almost eerie feeling the transfer gives off. How awesome!
We decided to add a few more images into the journal, as well.
Then, we tried a wooden cutting board! We first cut the photocopy to make uneven edges so that there wouldn't be a clear line showing the perimeter of the photo. If you do this to a cutting board (and plan to use it for food), make sure you use a coat of food-grade sealant over your image transfer.
We also transferred a single image onto a piece of antiqued paper that was left over from making this botanical wallpaper!
What would you make with a blender pen?
Follow FP Jana and FP Brigette on Twitter.
wow this it really cool. is it skin safe?
This has seriously just made my week, I cannot wait to play with these all weekend!
It might be important to mention that the reason photocopies are a necessity is because you need a laser-printed image rather than an inkjet-printed image!
After you transfer the image is the original print still the same or does it become ruined?
Hi Olivia! The original print becomes somewhat transparent. In the first photo, the picture of the cat taped to the notebook is an example.
Ahhhh!!! I am so thrilled about this! I can't wait to give it a try. Just amazing. Thanks for posting!
did you ladies get these pens at michaels? Or are they found at places like dickblick or utrecht?
Hi Melissa! I bought the pens at dickblick!
Workable fixative works for photocopy transfers as well. You'll want to spray a little bit at a time and smooth the fixative into the paper with something rigid like a piece of cardboard or bone.
this is fantastic…I have a 6'x6′ drawing/painting to do for my Drawing2 class at Moore, and this would be a really cool thing to add!
THIS IS SO COOL AHHHHHH. I can't wait to make my friends one of a kind presents with this method!
This is AMAZING!!! What a great project!
You can use nail polish remover instead guys!! And I think prints from a laser printer (NOT an inkjet printer!!!) work too… Just throwing that out there.
Wonderful images you guys have photographed and transferred!
That's amazing. I never knew u could do that!!
This is incredible, Ive been wanting something like this for my travel journal whilst I'm in NZ, and this is PERFECT. Defiantly going to try this out soon. Thanks for the post!
This is so fun, I have to try!
This is really cool, what camera are you guys using in these pictures? I'm looking for a camera that will take nice pictures but will be fairly simple enough to use.
Can you explain why? I would assume its the inks on the photocopy not the original, could you use the original photo if desired? Would it work on fabric?


One nice advantage provided by POWER systems is the availability of structured and well-defined reference codes. Besides indicating errors or conditions that otherwise require attention, these codes are also used to indicate the progress of boots or dumps. If your system failed to boot for some reason, the last reference code on the operator's panel (op panel) would provide a good clue as to what the system was doing just before the failure.
On Linux, besides appearing on the op panel, these reference codes are also found in events that are surfaced in servicelog. While servicelog contains a lot of details that are useful for servicing errors, more information can always be obtained by looking up the reference code.
There are a few kinds of reference codes; the key for decoding these refcodes is the IBM Hardware InfoCenter. I'll briefly explain the three different types of reference codes (SRCs, SRNs, and menugoals) before showing how they are displayed in servicelog.
SRCs are sequences of alphanumeric characters (usually 8 — just enough to fit snugly on the display of the operator's panel — but sometimes 6). They were first introduced on POWER5 systems, and exist on both System p and System i (formerly pSeries and iSeries). SRCs are documented in InfoCenter: "Service provider information"/"Reference codes"/"Using system reference codes".
An example of an SRC used as a progress code is C7004091; that refcode indicates that the partition is in a standby state, and is waiting to be manually activated. If the partition is set to be activated automatically, the partition will not stop at this SRC, but will continue to the Open Firmware boot phase.
Linux does not generate SRCs as progress codes, but will generate some as error codes. Additionally, if you have a POWER5 or POWER6 system, events with SRCs may be written to servicelog to indicate platform-level errors.
SRNs are an older formatting method for progress or error codes. They are generated by diagnostics in AIX, and by the firmware on POWER4 (and earlier) systems. If the progress/error code has 5 digits, or has a '-' character somewhere in it, it is an SRN. These are documented in InfoCenter: "Service provider information"/"Reference codes"/"Using service request numbers".
As an example, the SRN 747-223 indicates that there was a "miscompare during the write/read of the memory I/O register." Many SRNs point to a repair procedure called a MAP; in this case, the SRN points to MAP 0050, "SCSI bus problems", which provides procedures for analyzing and repairing the problem.
Linux does not generate SRNs, but you may still see SRNs generated by older POWER platforms. They may also be generated if you boot the eServer Standalone Diagnostics CD to run device diagnostics.
Menugoals are reference codes that begin with a '#' character. They are generated by diagnostics, and indicate procedures that can be performed by a system admin rather than by a trained service representative. Menugoals don't typically indicate errors, but instead convey additional information about the state of the device being diagnosed. As an example, a menugoal might indicate that a tape drive requires cleaning.
Memory subsystem including external cache Informational (non-error) Event.
Refer to the system service documentation for more information.
In addition to that, the InfoCenter entry for B125E500 indicates that this event is the result of a hardware failure. The FRU callout indicates which piece of hardware should be replaced to resolve the error.
I wrote a little bit about kernel markers before, but I've since found a wiki with some more information: http://sourceware.org/systemtap/wiki/UsingMarkers. Besides information on adding new markers to the kernel source and building kernels that include marker support, it also has information on using markers in SystemTap.
The obvious first question from someone sitting down to write a SystemTap script that uses markers: where are the markers, what are their labels, and what are the arguments you can access using them? Perhaps the marker developers could write a tool that parses the kernel source and spits out a document that provides the names and locations of the available markers, along with the arguments that they expose.
The wiki page notes another failing with the current implementation: if a marker is a structure pointer, the struct type can't be obtained from a SystemTap script. Consequently, the members of the struct are not easily accessible. Perhaps the documentation that results from post-processing the source could also be used to provide the type of each of the arguments. Just a suggestion.
I've spent a little time recently looking through IBM's DEMOcentral, a repository that collects and displays demonstrations of both software and hardware products, and found several of interest. These pre-recorded and sometimes interactive demos play in a browser window, are available in several languages, and range from high-level overviews to tutorials covering installation or specific features; if you're interested in IBM systems, WebSphere, Tivoli, or any other IBM software technologies, it's well worth your time to browse through the collection. Here's a quick tour of what I found to be interesting.
The JS21 flyover shows the blade from the front and back, as well as inside the cover.
The System p 570 flyover shows the system from the front (with or without the cover) and the back, and allows you to zoom i to view the detail of the processor books (other flyovers allow that as well, like the p5 550Q flyover). It also shows how to interconnect multiple systems to make an 8-, 12-, or 16-core system (select the "upgrade" graphic to see the interconnections).
For the big iron junkies, there are even System p5 590/595 and System z9 flyovers.
Unfortunately, I haven't found any flyovers of POWER6 systems yet; I assume it's just a matter of time.
There are a number of recorded demos that are of interest to users of IBM systems, describing things like the BladeCenter Management Module, IBM Director, PowerExecutive, and IBM Virtualization Manager. There are many more; look at the complete list of systems demos to see if any others interest you.
Besides the systems demos, there are also demos of many IBM software products. For example, here is a demo detailing how to install DB2 Express on Linux. In addition to DB2/Information Management, there's a several demo collections that cover topics like Workplace, SOA, WebSphere Portal, Rational and other software development tools, the OmniFind Yahoo! Edition, even Lotus Notes and Sametime.
The latest version of the powerpc-utils and powerpc-utils-papr packages have been released; source tarballs are available at http://powerpc-utils.ozlabs.org.
In addition to a few minor bug fixes there is a significant addition to the powerpc-utils-papr package: the newly open sourced DLPAR (Dynamic Logical PARtitioning) tools. These new tools are the drmgr and lsslot commands. Both of these commands were previously shipped from the IBM website in the (proprietary) rpa-dlpar and rpa-pci-hotplug packages. The inclusion of these tools in the powerpc-utils-papr package will now mean that DLPAR capabilities will be present at system install instead of having to download and install additional packages to enable this on System p.
So, what do these fancy new tools do? Good question. The drmgr command enables users to dynamically (at runtime) add and remove I/O, processors and memory. (Yes, memory remove is not currently supported on Linux for System p but that will be changing soon.) The drmgr command is meant to be driven from the HMC/IVM, not the command line, although it can be. This explains its slightly cryptic usage and limitations when used directly.
The lsslot is a command line tool that lists all DLPAR or hotplug capable I/O, PHBs (PCI Host Bridges), processors and memory slots on the system. Although its (unfortunate) naming implies that it will list all slots on the system, it does not.
Hopefully the powerpc-utils and powerpc-utils-papr packages are familiar to you. If not you may recognize the names they appear as in the various distros such as ppc64-utils on RHEL or just powerpc-utils on SuSE. Both of these distros combine the packages into one, whereas Gentoo ships them separately. Merging the packages is most likely a hold-over from when the they were the combined ppc64-utils package. Community requests asked to split the previous ppc64-utils package into a set of tools generic to the POWER platform (powerpc-utils) and those specific to PAPR based POWER platforms (powerpc-utils-papr).
Sun frequently touts their "predictive self-healing" implementation in Solaris 10. I wonder if that bullet point would be further down the list if they were familiar with the error detection, prediction, and correction capabilities of Linux on POWER platforms. In fact, the Linux on POWER implementation precedes the Solaris 10 implementation by at least a year (Solaris 10 was released in January 2005; SLES 8 had this solution for POWER in 2003, and RHEL 3 had it in 2004 at the latest).
I'll take a moment to explain the superior aspects of the Linux on POWER implementation. The Solaris implementation consists of a number of diagnostics in the operating system that poll hardware devices for errors, and then perform notifications and/or recovery actions if a problem is detected. On POWER, hardware problem detection is largely done by the hypervisor and low-level firmware. That's where it should be done; it means that the OS doesn't even need to be booted for detection to occur, and doesn't need to waste cycles polling. A huge number of devices are monitored this way: memory, CPUs, caches, fans, power supplies, VPD cards, voltage regulator modules, I/O subsystems, service processors, risers, even I/O drawers (and the fans, power supplies, etc. that those drawers may contain). PCI devices are also monitored; more details on that later.
If a failure (or impending failure) is detected, the hypervisor provides a report to every affected operating system installed on the system and to Hardware Management Consoles, if any are attached. On Linux partitions, the data is logged to the syslog and servicelog, and a number of actions may occur. Predictive CPU failures will cause the affected CPUs to be automatically removed via hotplug, so that the operating system may continue to run even after a catastrophic CPU or cache failure occurs. Severe thermal or voltage issues, and fan or power supply failures when redundant units aren't available, will result in a shutdown to prevent hardware damage. In many cases, failures are automatically recovered by the hardware or firmware (for example, single- and double-bit memory errors are corrected via ECC, memory scrubbing, redundant bit-steering, and Chipkill), and the message to the OS is simply an FYI, or possibly an indication that the degraded device should be serviced at the administrator's convenience. When a repair action is needed (device replacement, microcode updates, etc.), administrators are notified of the location code of the FRU and an indication of which repair procedure to follow (as documented in InfoCenter).
On a side note, the fact that this monitoring is done at such a low level means that self-healing on POWER platforms is completely OS agnostic; the reports are provided to Linux, AIX, and i5/OS partitions. The OS just has to know how to get out of the way. For that matter, there doesn't even need to be an OS installed: the platform error log is viewable using the service processor, which is also capable of driving repair procedures. Conversely, if you are running something besides Solaris on Sun hardware, or if the error occurs during boot time, Sun's "self-healing" feature is useless.
An OpenSolaris presentation that I found indicates that their Fault Management includes "improved resilience for all PCI I/O failures," but is vague on details. I'd like to compare it to PCI Error Recovery/EEH on Linux on POWER, but it is difficult to do so without more information. It seems to be (again) an OS-only implementation, which almost certainly wouldn't be able to match the functionality provided by POWER platforms. On POWER, the hardware and hypervisor again provide assistance by fencing off adapters the instant a problem is detected (to avoid the possibility of data corruption) and then notifying the operating system, which then directs the appropriate device drivers to restart the failed adapter.
Predictive Self-Healing always tops the list of Solaris 10 features (along with ZFS, Containers, and DTrace, which are reserved for other posts and/or other bloggers to discuss). Hopefully I've shown why it shouldn't.
I've been looking into EDAC (Error Detection and Correction) a bit recently, to see how it compares with the error detection that is native to IBM's POWER machines (and to see if there are any features we can better exploit on POWER). If you aren't familiar with EDAC, it's a collection of modules for querying the internal registers on some devices (most notably memory modules and PCI devices) to gather failure statistics. To some extent, EDAC is also moving to take action based on those statistics.
Here is the first and most difficult problem: How do you know what number of errors is acceptable before a device should be replaced? It's entirely acceptable for a device to experience an occasional, sporadic failure; they are typically recovered by the hardware itself (parity or ECC within a memory module, for example), with only a minute effect on performance (if any). A repair action should only be taken when these problems become more common. A good metric in this case would be the number of errors within the past hour; if the error count exceeds a threshold, then the device should be replaced. That threshold is the nut of the problem, as it can vary wildly depending on the device.
On POWER machines, the firmware takes care of thresholding these errors, and sends an event to the OS (including Linux) when the threshold is exceeded. The users don't need to know how many errors have occurred; all they need to know is that the device at a specific location code is failing, and should be repaired.
Here's another issue: EDAC polls, say once per second, and reads status registers on certain devices. It then clears the contents of those registers so that only new errors will be registered on the next poll. On many enterprise systems appropriately equipped, the service processor will also poll those same registers to perform predictive failure analysis (PFA). Unfortunately if EDAC is running on the system and clearing the registers, the service processor will be unable to obtain an accurate count of errors for thresholding.
When it comes to PCI errors, POWER includes EEH support for both detection and seamless recovery. EEH seems to be vastly superior in this regard, as the system firmware will cause the bus to be immediately frozen (to ensure that erroneous data is not written or read), and the Linux kernel/driver will reset the device and bring it back online, frequently within the space of a second. I'm not sure how well EDAC plays with AER (Advanced Error Reporting, for PCI-Express systems); I'll probably write about that when I learn more.
EDAC in its current form seems to be only useful for home users, who are using systems that are not equipped with service processors and who are wondering why their system is suddenly misbehaving. I think it has promise for the enterprise space, but step one is to have it not stomp on any data gathering done by service processors, and step two is to provide information on when the error statistics become meaningful (thresholds).
The SystemTap scripting language takes a little getting used to, but the intent here is clear: each time quicklist_trim() is run in quicklist.c, a message should be printed that displays some kernel data.
Kernel developers understand that there are places in the kernel that cannot be debugged by the printk() method; kprobes (simplified via SystemTap) provide a method to extract debug data from many of those locations, and this is an example of that in action.
When using SystemTap to gather debug data, the system doesn't need to be rebooted with a new kernel. In this particular scenario, that didn't matter so much, as the problem was discovered by a developer who could modify his own kernel and reboot the system as needed. However, if an issue is discovered on a production system, this allows for root cause analysis to proceed without the need to take the system out of production.
Source code for the servicelog library and utilities is now available from the linux-diag project on SourceForge: http://linux-diag.sourceforge.net/servicelog.html. There is user-level documentation (PDF) for servicelog available on SourceForge as well.
System management tools can register to be notified when new serviceable events are created (the Service Focal Point on the Hardware Management Console will be updated when a serviceable event is logged on a Linux partition on System p). When a failure is fixed (for example, a failed PCI adapter is replaced via a hotplug action), a repair action should be logged to servicelog, which will cause all of the relevant open serviceable events to be marked as "closed" (i.e., fixed). This will provide a complete history of all of the failures that have occurred on a system, as well as all of the repair actions that have taken place.
Servicelog is particularly useful with Linux on System p right now. The superior First Failure Data Capture (FFDC) facilities provided by System p will result in very informative servicelog entries to indicate a wide range of possible platform failures, and each reference code and repair procedure is documented in IBM's eServer hardware InfoCenter.
VPD, Vital Product Data, is information associated with system hardware that is useful for easing system configuration and service. The lsvpd package for Linux provides commands that can be used to retrieve an inventory of system hardware, along with the VPD associated with each device. The lsvpd package will install three commands: lsvpd ("list VPD"), lscfg ("list configuration"), and lsmcode ("list microcode"). The lscfg command is the human-readable command of the three; lsvpd and lsmcode provide output that is more easily read by scripts/applications.
The lsvpd package requires the libvpd library. The libvpd library can also be used to retrieve inventory data from within an application; in fact, that's how lsvpd, lscfg, and lsmcode work.
The location code, description, model, and manufacturer are all there, along with the FRU and part numbers (for ordering new parts), the serial number of the device, and its current microcode level ("ROS Level and ID").
See my previous article on pSeries and System p firmware for a description of the dual firmware banks, and information on updating your system firmware level. Currently, device microcode must be updated using a microcode update utility specific to the device in question (iprutils for the onboard RAID SCSI HBAs on POWER5, for example).
Unfortunately, the data in the lsvpd database can become stale as devices are added or changed (via hotplug or DLPAR, for example). Running /usr/sbin/vpdupdate will cause the data to be refreshed. The developers of lsvpd are currently working on having vpdudpate run automatically in response to hotplug events.
Hardware location codes provide a method for mapping connectors or logical functions to their physical locations in the system's enclosure. For example, it allows you to easily identify the physical port on the system that corresponds with eth0, or to identify which of the fans on the system is failing. Besides hardware inventory and diagnostics, location codes are also used on HMCs (hardware management consoles) and IVMs (integrated virtualization managers) to identify the devices to be assigned to (or moved between) logical partitions.
Starting with POWER5, both System p and System i started using the same format for location codes. The POWER4 (and POWER3 and JS20) location codes are much shorter (and differ between pSeries and iSeries), but you'll be able to deal with them once you get the hang of POWER5 (and later) location codes.
The initial U indicates that the label represents a "unit" (like a CEC, central electronics complex, or an I/O drawer). The DNZ00Z5 at the end of the label is the serial number of the unit. The "P1" indicates the first planar on the system (i.e. the motherboard). The "C3" indicates the third PCI slot on that planar. Looking for labels on the system chassis will help you find the C3 slot, or the slot might also include an LED that can be turned on to identify the slot (with the usysident command, to be detailed in a near-future article).
In other articles on this site, I explain how you can obtain and use location codes using hardware inventory and diagnostic tools. Quick preview: you can use the lscfg command to view a list of devices with their location codes, and several diagnostic tools will provide the location codes of failing components.


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OPF70
OPF104
LA Ash markets the CFB ash products (commonly known as fly ash and bed ash) that remain after combusting petcoke and limestone in CFB steam generators under the names OPF70, OPF90, OPF42, OPF57 and OPF104.
Following are only a few of the many processes for which CFB calcined limestone products can be used:
Reduce the plasticity index of clayey soil
Neutralize acidic waste
Stabilize hazardous compounds
Solidify sludge and saturated soils
A base course surfaces
In some cases, as an alternative to portland cement for soil stabilization
Do not mix OPF products with any other chemicals or byproducts, including but not limited to Cement Kiln Dust (CKD), portland cement or lime, due to certain chemical reactions and/or swell potentials. Questions should be directed to your sales representative.
OPF70, LA Ash's CFB fly ash brand is a product of coke combustion. OPF70 is unmodified circulating fluidized bed combustion deposit consisting primarily of calcium oxide (CaO) and calcium sulfate (CaSO4).
OPF90, LA Ash's CFB bed ash brand is a product of coke combustion. OPF90 (commonly known as bed ash) is unmodified circulating fluidized bed combustion deposit.
With lower unit weight than limestone and CBRs greater than 100, OPF42 is the easy choice for lightweight material.
LA Ash's OPF57 is a manufactured lightweight material similar to 57 limestone.
LA Ash's OPF104 is similar to an overburden rock.
OPF1 is LA Ash's hydrated lime by-product.
What Is Petroleum Coke (Petcoke)?
Petroleum coke (petcoke) is a carbonaceous solid residual byproduct of the oil refining coking process. As crude oil is refined, lighter fractions or products, such as gasoline and jet fuel, are driven off leaving a residual oil of relatively little value. In refineries with cokers, this residual oil is processed further to yield additional amounts of light products, along with petroleum coke. Over 75% of the petcoke produced is considered to be fuel grade and has about 15% higher heating value than coal.
Some 40 to 60 percent of the sulfur in the oil feedstock remains in the coke, which means that the sulfur content of this refinery byproduct is usually quite high. While the actual amount of sulfur in the coke will vary depending on the sulfur in the crude oil entering the refinery, the sulfur content of coke typically ranges from four to eight percent – much greater than even high-sulfur coal. Therefore, control of sulfur emissions is very important when using as a fuel.
What Is Fluidized Bed Combustion?
Fluidized bed combustion (FBC) is a technology used in the design of "clean coal" power plants. It evolved from efforts to find a combustion process able to control pollutant emissions without external emission controls (such as scrubbers). The technology suspends solid fuels on upward-blowing jets of air during the combustion process. The result is a turbulent mixing of gas and solids. The tumbling action, much like a bubbling fluid, provides more effective chemical reactions and heat transfer.
FBC technology controls emissions in two ways. First, the fuel is burned at temperatures of 1,400 to 1,700 degrees F, which is well below the threshold where nitrogen oxides form. Second, sulfur dioxide (a priority gaseous pollutant that is generated when sulfur from high sulfur coal or petcoke is burned in the presence of oxygen) is captured inside the combustion chamber by burning the fuel with lime or dolomite. Sulfur dioxide is removed via this reaction: 2CaO + 2 SO2 + O2 = 2CaSO4.
The mixing action brings the flue gases into contact with the sulfur-absorbing chemical. More than 95 percent of the sulfur pollutants in coal can be captured inside the boiler using this technology.
Combustion Residue
There are two primary residues that remain after petcoke is combusted in a CFB steam generator: calcined limestone residue (commonly known as fly ash) and calcined limestone sand (also known as bed ash).
Fly ash is a generic term used to define fine residue that is removed from stack gases using various types of air quality control equipment. However, all fly ash is not equal. Petcoke fly ash is unique because there is virtually no ash from petcoke combustion. The residue that remains after petcoke is burned consists primarily of lime, calcium carbonate, and calcium sulfate.
Bed ash is the coarse, solid particulate matter that sinks to the bottom of the fluidized bed combustion chamber and is periodically removed. Petcoke bed ash has a similar chemical composition to fly ash, but is produced in gradations ranging from fine sand to small aggregate.
© Copyright 2020, LA Ash, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Beware utility scam calls, says city of Alexandria
The city of Alexandria is urging its utility customers not to fall victim to a recently reported scam.
Beware utility scam calls, says city of Alexandria The city of Alexandria is urging its utility customers not to fall victim to a recently reported scam. Check out this story on thetowntalk.com: https://www.thetowntalk.com/story/news/2019/02/22/beware-utility-scam-calls-says-city-alexandria/2953983002/
Alexandria Town Talk Published 2:53 p.m. CT Feb. 22, 2019 | Updated 6:50 p.m. CT Feb. 22, 2019
The city of Alexandria is urging its utility customers not to fall victim to a recently reported scam. (Photo: Courtesy)
Some customers have reported receiving calls from people claiming to represent the city, threatening cutoffs within hours if payments aren't received.
"The city will not call customers requesting a credit card or wire payment for utility bills," reads the release. "Should you receive a call and question its validity, hang up and call the city to verify the information with a customer service representative at 318-441-6311."
People can assume the call is a scam if immediate payment is demanded or if the call is from an out-of-state area code. The city asks people who receive the calls to report them to the Alexandria Police Department at 318-449-5099.
Read or Share this story: https://www.thetowntalk.com/story/news/2019/02/22/beware-utility-scam-calls-says-city-alexandria/2953983002/
Avoyelles roads, CLTCC campus closed because of flooding
When will downtown community college campus be ready?
Alexandria Mega Shelter prepares for Tropical Storm Barry
What does Tropical Storm Barry have in store for Alexandria?
Former Pineville artist leaves mark at Whitney Museum
Juveniles cited in string of England Oaks vehicle burglaries


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Габријела Коукалова, Соукалова (, Јаблонец на Ниси 1. новембар 1989) је чешка биатлонка, освајачица олимпијских медаља у биатлону.

Биатлоном је почела да се бави 2005. године. На Светском јуниорском првенству 2009. године освојила је златну медаљу у штафети. Најбољи пласман у појединачној конкуренцији био јој је осмо место.

У сезони 2008/09. дебитовала је у Европа купу. Најбољи пласман остварила је 2010/11. када је заузела осмо место, а у спринту је освојила мали глобус. У Европа купу укпуно је остварила четири подијума, од тога две победе.

У Светском купу почела је да се такмичи од сезоне 2010/11. У сезони 2012/13. заузела је 6. место у генералном пласману, а 2013/14. четврто, када је освојила и мали кристални глобус за појединачну дисциплину. У Светском купу има 11 индивидуалних подијума и осам победа. Са чешким женским и мешовитим штафетама 12 пута се попела на подијум, 4 пута на највише постоље.

На Европском првенству освојила је једну сребрну медаљу, 2011. године у спринту, а на Светском једну бронзану у мешовитој штафети 2013.

На Олимпијским играма дебитовала је 2010. године без већих успеха. На Олимпијским играма 2014. године постала је прва Чехиња, освајачица олимпијске медаље у биатлону, када је освојила сребро у масовном старту. Сребро је такође освојила у мешовитој штафети. У појединачној дисциплини на 15 километара, у потери и у женској штафети заузела је четврто место.

Њена мајка, Габријела Свободова, позната је чехословачка скијашка тркачица, која је на Олимпијским играма у Сарајеву 1984. освојила сребрну медаљу у штафети. У вези је са играчем бадминтона Петром Коукалом.

Спољашње везе

 Профил на сајту ИБУ
 Профил и олимпијски резултати на sports-reference

Види још
 Биатлон на Зимским олимпијским играма
 Освајачи олимпијских медаља у биатлону

Рођени 1989.
Чешки биатлонци
Биатлонци на Зимским олимпијским играма 2010.
Чешки олимпијци на Зимским олимпијским играма 2010.
Биатлонци на Зимским олимпијским играма 2014.
Чешки олимпијци на Зимским олимпијским играма 2014.
Освајачи медаља на Зимским олимпијским играма 2014.
Освајачи олимпијских медаља у биатлону
Освајачи сребрних олимпијских медаља за Чешку


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Posts by Topic: Joe Bosshard RSS feed
Colorado's Emma Coburn wins NCAA steeplechase title, teammate Kipp third
By Daniel Petty
[media-credit name="Daniel Petty, The Denver Post" align="alignnone" width="495″] [/media-credit]
University of Colorado junior Emma Coburn, left, leads during the 3,000-meter steeplechase final at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
DES MOINES, Iowa — All season, Colorado's Emma Coburn has run away from any of her competition in the steeplechase.
She held the world's fastest team earlier this season and an NCAA-best after the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational at Stanford on May 1, cruised through with wins at the Big 12 Conference meet and the NCAA preliminary round in Eugene, Ore., and then relaxed through her semifinal heat here Thursday.
But for the first time this season when she awoke, she felt butterflies in her stomach. Maybe it was the expectations of being a frontrunner, but she also expected — for the first time — a fight from someone: University of Virginia senior Stephanie Garcia.
"I hadn't had that all year in the steeple," said Coburn, who nevertheless earned her first NCAA title in 9 minutes, 41.14 seconds, despite warm conditions. "I wouldn't have run that fast is she hadn't been pushing me."
She didn't start pulling away from Garcia until about two laps remaining. "It was definitely a mental fight with four laps to go, three laps to go — and she was still there," said Coburn, a junior. "I just had to tell myself, 'relax, relax.' But when it came down to it, I was getting myself ready for a big last 150 (meters)."
Categories: Running, University of Colorado
CU's Bosshard, Air Force's Tyner earn All-American honors at NCAA Championships
University of Colorado redshirt sophomore Joe Bosshard competes in the men's 10,000 meter run at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa, on Friday, June 10, 2011.
DES MOINES, Iowa — It was touted as one of the deepest 10,000 fields in NCAA Outdoor Track and Field history — perhaps ever: three men seeded 27 minutes, 30 seconds or faster, and seven of the top 10 finishers from cross country nationals in the race, too.
So the race was far different from the same one University of Colorado's Joe Bosshard saw last year, when he finished sixth as a redshirt freshman to earn first team All-American. And the redshirt sophomore decided, as he often does, that going out conservatively was the best plan.
"I like to start out a little conservative to see how I'm feeling to see what kind of the race it's going to be like," Bosshard said. "We didn't start out incredibly fast, but also not slow. Those guys up front were throwing a bunch of surges in there, so it was a little uneven in the beginning. But we came through the 5K faster than I ever have in a 10K."
Comments Off on CU's Bosshard, Air Force's Tyner earn All-American honors at NCAA Championships
Men's 10,000 delayed again at NCAA Track and Field Championships
[media-credit name="Daniel Petty, Denver Post file" align="alignnone" width="495″] [/media-credit]
Joe Bosshard competes at this year's NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships on Nov. 22, 2010, in Terre Haute, Ind.
DES MOINES, Iowa — The start of the men's 10,000 meter run at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships has been delayed again because of threatening weather.
The race — which includes University of Colorado redshirt sophomore Joe Bosshard, who finished an All-American sixth place last year in this event — was delayed last night after pouring rain and lightning first hit the track around 8:15 p.m. local time on Thursday. Meet officials eventually canceled all remaining events, leaving unfinished the 10,000, the two events in the men's decathlon and a heat from the women's 4×400-meter relay.
Competition has resumed today for the decathlon, 4×400, women's heptathlon long jump and the hammer throw, but meet officials have pushed the 10,000 start back another hour, at least, from its original 3:30 p.m. start time today, fearing that if they start the event, they'll have to pull competitors off mid-race. Officials did as much last night at New Jersey's high school Meet of Champions, with Stanford-bound phenom Joe Rosa on state record pace with one lap remaining in the boys' 3,200-meter run.
CU's Emma Coburn and Shalaya Kipp advance in NCAA steeplechase
University of Colorado junior Emma Coburn competes during the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Drake Stadium at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, on Thursday, June 9, 2011. Coburn advanced to Saturday's final by winning her heat in 10:00.43.
DES MOINES, Iowa — University of Colorado steeplechasers Emma Coburn and Shalaya Kipp easily advanced to Saturday's 3,000-meter steeplechase final in yesterday's qualifying rounds at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
Coburn, who has the nation's No. 1 collegiate time in 9:40.51 (a time that earlier tops in the world this season), won the second qualifying heat in 10 minutes, 0.43 seconds after leading most of the race. Kipp, a sophomore, finished in 10:02.09 in the first heat. Both are seeded second and third behind Virginia senior Stephanie Garcia.
"We've never raced head-to-head," Coburn, a junior, said of Garcia. "I have my eye on her, but there are girls who can run low 9:50s and I need to be ready."


Swelling interest in travel to Vietnam is about to give rise to a wave of tourist development, but for the time being, visitors can still enjoy the country's innocent charm, exquisite food and beautiful coastline, as well as the chaotic energy of ebullient Ho Chi Minh City. Nothing prepares you for the city at rush hour: the crush of scooters and motorcycles is mind-boggling, a daily drama played by a cast of thousands. Above the streets, large billboards advertise everything from washing powder to beer. The city formerly known as Saigon may be named after the Communist leader Ho Chi Minh, but its spirit is more Richard Branson. While there are plenty of cultural stops, the city's main attractions are its restaurants, bars and shops. New boutiques are popping up all over the city, driving a new fashion dynamic. The city also claims to have the best food in the country, and it deserves this title for its version of pho, the noodle soup most commonly served at breakfast.
(www.parkhyatt.com). This will further broaden the luxury field when it opens in April.
(00 84 8 827 2828; www.sheraton.com/saigon). This opened in 2003 and is giving the Caravelle and the atmospheric Hotel Majestic a standard to aim for.
(00 84 8 823 4999; www.caravellehotel.com). Most visitors stay here and the location is hard to beat, although rooms are comfortable rather than remarkable.
Ho Chi Minh city claims, as does every city in Vietnam, to have the best food in the country, and it deserves the hype for its local versions of pho (pronounced 'fur'), the noodle soup most commonly served at breakfast but available throughout the day.
16 Cao Ba Quat (00 84 8 824 3148). For a taste of the continuing French legacy in the city, book a table on the beautiful terrace.
11 Le Thanh Ton (00 84 8 823 7694). You may want to start your education in Vietnamese food here, and at Mandarin, below.
11a Ngo Van Nam (00 84 8 822 9783).
64 Le Thanh Ton (00 84 8 829 2757). This will give you an introduction to the mini-empire of silk merchant Hoang Khai. As well as multiple silk shops around the country he owns several restaurants including Emperor in Hanoi and Brother's café in Hoi An, plus the Riverside Resort in Hoi An. While the spaces he designs are absolutely beautiful, the food is more comforting than exciting.
260 Pasteur, District 3 (00 84 8 829 7943). For the best pho or noodle soup, in the city, visit Pho Pasteur.
The best 'street food in a restaurant' can be found at Quan an Ngon (138 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia; 00 84 8 825 7179). That the communal tables are packed with locals as well as foreigners is testament to the authenticity of the food and its value for money. You can watch your spring rolls, soups and main courses being made at little stations around the restaurant.
29-31 Ton That Thiep (00 84 8 829 9244). This is a seductive, rarefied space lined with ceramic elephants; it serves cocktails and dinner, and all the furniture and accessories are for sale. Downstairs, Fanny's has very good ice cream to finish off your meal.
2c Thi Sach (00 84 8 824 1463). It's entertaining if you are in the mood for a noisy crowd of tourists and locals.
20 Thi Sach (00 84 8 824 4922), around the corner from Camargue (see Where to eat), this is a new wine bar with a great selection of vintages by the glass.
7 Cong Tuong, Lam Son Square (00 84 8 823 3479). Right across the street from the Caravelle Hotel is the Q Bar, the city's hippest watering hole, where expats and fashionable Vietnamese congregate in equal numbers.
For a good perspective on the city at night, consider a 'three-tiered' approach, with the kitschy Rex Hotel's 'rooftop bar' as your first stop, Saigon Saigon Bar at the Caravelle for the mid-level view, and Level 23 at the Sheraton Saigon, a sort of city eyrie, for soaring views over town.
There are plenty of cultural stops, the War Remnants Musuem, the Reunification Palace, the terrace of the Continental Hotel (where foreign correspondents once congregated) and the classic, French-colonial General Post office.
New boutiques are driving a dynamic fashion-and-design scene, with modern versions of traditional items such as the ao dai (the beautiful tunics that women wear here) and lacquerware updated in vibrant colours.
Le Thanh Ton. This will make you rue the day that sterile supermarkets became the West's one-stop shops: crab, scorpion wine, Calvin Klein knock-offs, pickled vegetables, ducks, silk, watches, frogs, flip-flops, curry powder and rice are only a fraction of what's on offer.
51 Ton That Thiep (00 84 8 914 4697). This is a good place to load up on chopsticks and plates.
39 Ton That Thiep (00 84 8 914 3769). This is a three-storey shop with everything from Seventies-style, beaded lamps to fitted shirt-dresses in silks and cottons, and wonderfully soft bedding. Upstairs, you can recharge your batteries in the sweet little café.
128b Hai Ba Trung (00 84 8 829 5714). Monh Hahn stocks ao dais and couture kaftans of the type Sadie Frost would favour.
48 Nguyen Hue (00 84 8 829 8934). This also has an updated take on Vietnamese staples.
29a Dong Khoi (00 84 8 825 6817). French designer Michelle de Anbe has taken the tiny storefront of Precious Qui and filled it with lacquerware - plates, trays, chopsticks and bowls in beautiful shades of green, white and red.
43 Ton That Thiep (00 84 8 821 8019). Next door to Gaya, Saigon Kitsch lives up to its name with alarm clocks sporting Maos, Communist army tanks and jet planes, vintage propaganda posters and piggy banks in swirling kaleidoscope patterns.
76d Le Thanh Ton (00 84 8 824 6986), you'll find light silk and linen dresses and shirts.
41 Dong Khoi (00 84 8 824 7092). This sells the softest silk pillowcases and duvets, and embroidered sheets.
Bargain massages are available all over town, but it's worth spending an additional £5 or so to find a setting to match the service. Spa tropic (187b Hai ba Trung (00 84 8 822 8895; www.spatropic.com) is in a renovated French villa and offers outstanding facials and massages. Get to your appointment early and hang out in the garden steam room beforehand.
The nearest airport is Ho Chi Minh City airport.
There are no direct flights from London. Singapore Airlines (0870 608 8886; www.singaporeair.com) flies from Manchester and Heathrow to Ho Chi Minh City via Singapore (at least two connections to each daily). Thai Airways (0870 606 0911; www.thaiairways.com) flies from Heathrow to Ho Chi Minh City via Bangkok (two connections to each daily). Vietnam Airlines (0870 774 5450; www.vietnamairlines.com) flies all over the country and tickets are inexpensive, although they can cost more when bought in advance from outside the country.
Contact the Vietnam Toutist Board.
There is also a wealth of literature about Vietnam. Books to take with you include David Halberstam's The Best and The Brightest, a comprehensive history of the Vietnam War; and Andrew Pham's memoir, Catfish and Mandala: A Two-Wheeled Voyage through the Landscape and Memory of Vietnam. Fodor's and The Rough Guide are the best guidebooks.


胡永江, 男, 副教授, 主要研究方向为无人机测控技术。E-mail: hyjbwcx@163.com.
Objective With the development of military reconnaissance mission equipment, infrared and visible light target reconnaissance techniques have already become the main means of reconnaissance among military equipment. Research on infrared and visible light object tracking technology is important for the improvement of intelligence equipment related to battlefield acquisition and precision strike in military missions, such as all-weather target reconnaissance, object tracking, and target location. Presently, with the rise of computer vision technology, visual object tracking technology has gradually become the focus and challenge of research, and the methods and kinds of object tracking techniques are increasing. In this study, four kinds of visual object tracking methods, which are extensively used at present, are reviewed. This work serves as basis for follow-up research on the theory and development of object tracking. Method By analyzing the difficult problems of infrared and visible object tracking technology, the visual object tracking method is divided into generative and discriminative model methods, the different modeling methods of object tracking. The mean shift and particle filter object tracking in generative model algorithm and the correlation filtering and deep learning object tracking in discriminative model algorithm are reviewed in this paper. First, the basic principles of the three standard object tracking algorithms, namely, mean shift object tracking and particle filter object tracking methods and correlation filters for object tracking method, are comprehensively analyzed. Then, the limitations of the basic principles of the three tracking algorithms are listed, and the corresponding difficulties in object tracking that need to be solved are presented. By analyzing the difficult problems in object tracking, the mainstream improvement scheme of the corresponding object tracking algorithm is given. According to the characteristics of infrared image and the difficult problem of infrared object tracking, the improved algorithm of infrared correlation filter for object tracking is presented. We analyzed the methods of object tracking using deep learning and divided them into two categories. One is to take the neural network feature as the target feature extraction method. We analyzed its feature extraction principles and characteristics and feature extraction strategy in object tracking. Moreover, the corresponding improvement scheme is also provided according to the characteristics of infrared object tracking. The other one is the neural network framework. We summarized its principles and characteristics and analyzed its various architecture advantages and disadvantages in object tracking. To address the problem of infrared object tracking, an improvement scheme is proposed. Finally, we summarized the present situation and discussed the practical application and future development trend of object tracking technology. Result Presently, the visual object tracking technology has a reliable performance under short-term object tracking condition. However, in long-term tracking required in practical application is difficult because the application scene is complex, making the difficult problem of object tracking prominent. Given the key and difficult problems in object tracking, such as target occlusion and target out of view, the robustness and precision of object tracking technology are required to be high in practical application, and corresponding solutions to the problem of long-time object tracking should be put forward. In view of the progress in the research on technology related to visual object tracking, along with the demand of unmanned aerial vehicle reconnaissance mission and the high maneuverability of unmanned aerial vehicles, this study analyzes the key problems, gives the current solutions of the existing weaknesses and explores the development direction. Conclusion Thus far, the visual object tracking technology has performed remarkable progress, and its accuracy and success rate have been significantly improved. Visual object tracking technology is becoming widely used in the reconnaissance missions of military equipment. However, the technology of object tracking remains challenging. The related theories of object tracking need to be further tested and improved, especially in view of the characteristics of infrared object tracking. To improve the object tracking effect in infrared image, the corresponding object tracking method and improved scheme should be further studied. The object tracking is challenging because the application scene is complex. The robustness and accuracy of the object tracking algorithm should be high to avoid failure, and its real-time performance and tracking speed should meet real-time requirements. Considering the application characteristics and application scope of different military equipment, finding a visual object tracking algorithm is important. The algorithm must be relatively accurate and robust and meets real-time requirements to enhance the equipment's all-weather reconnaissance ability and target battlefield information acquisition capability.
 Li J C, Liu X M, Xue F L, et al. Infrared target tracking with adaptive bandwidth mean shift[C]//Proceedings of the 32nd Chinese Control Conference. Xi'an, China: IEEE, 2013: 4656-4660.
 Zhao Z N, Kumar M. An MCMC-based particle filter for multiple target tracking[C]//Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Information Fusion. Singapore: IEEE, 2012: 1676-1682.
 Fan H, Xiang J H. Robust visual tracking via local-global correlation filter[C]//Proceedings of the 31st AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence. San Francisco, California, USA: AAAI, 2017.
 Wang N Y, Yeung D Y. Learning a deep compact image representation for visual tracking[C]//Proceedings of the 26th International Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems. Lake Tahoe, Nevada: ACM, 2013: 809-817.
 Wang N Y, Li S Y, Gupta A, et al.	Transferring rich feature hierarchies for robust visual tracking[J]. arXiv preprint arXiv:1501.04587, 2015.
 Nam H, Baek M, Han B.	Modeling and propagating CNNs in a tree structure for visual tracking[J]. arXiv preprint arXiv:1608.07242, 2016.
 Liu Q, He Z Y, Wang H Z, et al.	Hierarchical Siamese network for thermal infrared object tracking[J]. arXiv preprint arXiv:1711.09539, 2017.
 Wang Q, Gao J, Xing J L, et al.	DCFNet:discriminant correlation filters network for visual tracking[J]. arXiv preprint arXiv:1704.04057, 2017.


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RMP with Benton Basham of Tennessee and Weslaco, TX. Ben is a top birder and butterflier who has been extremely helpful to me. Photo by Jan Dauphin.
My dear friends of almost fifty years, Floyd and June Preston, and major field contributors to our knowledge of the U.S. butterfly fauna. Photo by Ben Basham.
A rare and pristine Gold-spotted Aguna, encountered at the NABA Butterfly Park. Photo by Ben Basham.
A fabulous fig sphinx moth (Pachylia ficus) found as a pupa in Weslaco, photo by Ben Basham.
Pitcher plants photographed at The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Field Station by Susan S. Borkin.
Susan Borkin photographed on the bog boardwalk at The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Field Station.
Bob Pyle on the Bog boardwalk at The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Field Station. Photo by Susan Borkin.
Swamp metalmark larva photographed at Riveredge Nature Center, Ozaukee County WI by Susan S. Borkin.
Swamp metalmark adult photographed at Riveredge Nature Center, Ozaukee County WI by Susan S. Borkin.
Ann and Scott Swengel looking for karner blue eggs. Photo by Bob Pyle.
Bob Pyle looking for karner blue eggs. Photo by Ann and Scott Swengel.
Bob Pyle and Ann Swengel at the Bauer Brockway Barrens. Photo by Scott Swengel.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008 at 6:49 pm	and is filed under Bob Pyle's Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.


Elizabeth Jamae, Partner at D'Alessio Law Group explains the visa options available for startup founders.
Typically I like to advise founders, in particular, to plan ahead, because visa for founders is challenging but very doable. Some of the visas that are available are the E-2 visa, the L visa, the O1-A and sometimes when appropriate the H1B visa. Let's talk a little bit about the E-2 visa. An E-2 visa is an investor visa. You have to be a national of a country that participates in our treaty, the E-2 treaty. Some of the key metrics of that visa are that you are coming to the U.S. to open up a business or purchasing an existing company. You're going to invest some funds into that business. The typical amount that is pretty industry standard is about 100-150 000 USD dollars. I typically like for the client to have spent between 10-25 000 dollars on that initial investment prior to going to the consulate. We also want you to build a company that is not marginal and what that means is a company is going to have growth and support more than just the one foreign national. If the investment is too high for a founder to use the E-2, we typically will look at the O-1 visa or the L visa.
The O1-A is for individuals with extraordinary ability in business, arts, and science. Typically, where we use O1-A for founders is in business. For example, a founder who starts his or her company in their home country and that company receives a lot of press or that founder has patents or the founder or executive team, also important is that we can also do this for other essential employees at the company, then we can apply for the O1-A. We have been using the O1-A in the past couple of years in particular for founders because of the type of landscape we are working in with for US immigration.
Then we can move on to the L1-A and L1-B, this visa is an inter-company transfer visa for executive and managers. The L1-A and the L1-B are for specialized knowledge individuals. The requirements for this visa is that the company has a qualifying relationship with the new or existing US entity. And the applicant for the visa has worked for the foreign company for at least 365 days. In addition to that, for either the executive, managerial or for the specialized knowledge individual we must prove that the individual has worked in that particular capacity for at least 365 days. Sometimes the L1 can be a little bit difficult for the founder to use either because of the timing of the incorporation of the business in their home country or for the cheer factor that there is not a lot of evidence for them to pull from. While the O1-A is focused on the individual themselves and not necessarily the company.


text:
Why is League of Legends (LoL) Worlds so Popular?
Casino/Betting, eSports, Tech
Out of all the competitive online multiplayer games that have since raised to great providence, none have come far greater than the battle arena title that is League of Legends, as this PC game has since become a staple in the gaming industry and a popular commodity amongst fans of major Esports titles.
Almost a full decade since its initial release on Microsoft Windows devices, League of Legends still remains as one of the industry's most popular and frequently viewed titles across a number of streaming platforms as well as a title that is still profusely played by an extensive player base.
The title has become one of the gaming industry's most influential multiplayer games as it still amasses a great following across all social programs with more players looking to sink their interests into a marquee name that has since defined all multiplayer games for years to come.
With League now garnishing such a prominent reputation for all avid PC gamers, it has since spanned into the competitive world of Esports as the world's most elite names now look to face off in various captivating encounters to determine who can lay claim to call themselves the very best League players.
This sudden uproar of attention in Esports has since been elevated into the betting industry and markets as fans can now place wagers on their favourite names competing at the upcoming events including LoL Worlds.
Some of the latest Esports events saw fans use vendors such as 888 Sport, given that it is the premier betting site to all things sport related whether they are physical or virtual mainstream titles.
Considering that League of Legends and various Esports titles have since become such a major sector for a range of target demographics, how has such a competition like Worlds been able to obtain such a vast following and become the favourite tournament for all fans of League to tune into?
LoL Worlds' popularity and rewards:
Given how popular the title is even after a decade since its initial release, the LoL Worlds tournament still remains as arguably the globe's most coveted and widely broadcasted event as it still attracts an unprecedented array of viewers to tune into the latest showings.
The 2018 event remains as one of Esports most widely viewed events as millions of eager viewers indulged their interests into the tournament's yearly broadcasts.
Not only does such an event produce such a wide following from spectators across the world, but it also comes with a hefty share of winnings for each of the competitions most outstanding teams.
While the winning prize money is still not believed to be on the same figures as the Fortnite International Cup and DOTA 2's International, the overall earnings of the LoL's World still see a respectable total figures of $6.7 million for the 2018 competition compared the winnings of $4.5 million the previous year.
As League is a team-based game, the winning team will also receive the prestigious Summoner's Cup which in turn is a further testament to the overall skill that it will take for any team to accomplish this feat given that this year's coemption saw a total of 22 of the world's best League teams competing to take home this title.
The number of teams competing in this tournament has changed frequently over the years as next year's event will see a further two teams registered to compete in the Worlds event which has since increased from the inaugural event that saw just eight teams competing in the tournament with Fnatic taking home the trophy back in 2011.
The number of teams has also changed this year as some global teams were unable to travel to this year's event that was housed in Iceland.
The competitions unique format:
Most Esports competitions heavily depend on an individual's/team's form when deciding the outcome of a title, but the Worlds event takes a completely different approach.
This event takes inspiration from a number of European and American sporting leagues as it features an initial Play-In Stage and then moves into a Group Stage to decide on which teams will advance to the next leg.
Any teams that pass through the Group Stage will then compete in the Knockout Stage which consists of a Quarterfinals and Semi-Finals which eventually culminates in the tournament's best two teams competing in the Finals to decide who will claim the coveted trophy and the title of the best team in the major gaming community which is League of Legends.
Esports' popularity has skyrocketed in recent years with League of Legends still remaining as a highly engrossing and heavily played title amongst gaming fans which has certainly transpired into competitions such as Worlds.
With the event garnishing over a million viewers for its annual broadcasting, this year's tournament has already seen a multitude of viewers tune into the broadcast that witnessed Edward Gaming claim victory over DWG KIA in the finals.
European and American sporting league, gaming industry, League teams, Legends (LoL), PC gamers