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--- layout: post title: Atoleiros rough storyboard date: '2018-06-12T01:39:48+02:00' categories: - Storyboards - Sketches - Atoleiros Battle picture_url: https://film-Storyboards.tumblr.com/post/174812974301/atoleiros-rough-Storyboards ---


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You had these Illuminators brought to Amador?” Many would have flinched to hear such a cold tone from Pedron Niall, but not the man standing on the inlaid golden sunburst before Nial’s plain high-backed chair. He exuded confidence and competence. Niall continued, “There is a reason I have two thousand of the Children guarding the border with Tarabon, Omerna. Tarabon is quarantined. No one is allowed across the border. Not a sparrow would cross if I had my way.”
Omerna was the picture of what an officer of the Children of the Light was supposed to be, tall and commanding, with a bold, fearless face, a strong chin and waves of white at his temples. His dark eyes seemed more than capable of surveying the harshest battlefield undismayed, as indeed they had. At the moment they seemed to indicate deeply considered thought. The white-and-gold tabard of a Lord Captain, Anointed of the Light, suited him. “My Lord Captain Commander, they wish to establish a chapter house here.” Even his voice, deep and mellifluous, fit the image. “Illuminators travel everywhere. It should be possible to slip agents among them easily. Agents welcomed into every town, every noble’s manor, every ruler’s palace.” Supposedly Abdel Omerna was a relatively minor member of the Council of Anointed. In truth, he was the Children of the Light’s spymaster. After a manner of speaking. “Think of it!”
What Niall thought was that the Guild of Illuminators was Taraboner to the last man and woman, and Tarabon was infected with chaos and madness that he would not let loose in Amadicia. If cauterizing that infection had to wait, he could at least isolate it. “They will be treated like anyone else who slips through, Omerna. Kept under guard, allowed to talk to no one, and escorted out of Amadicia without delay.”
“If I may insist, my Lord Captain Commander, their usefulness is worth the little gossip they might spread. They keep to themselves. And aside from their use for my agents, the prestige of having an Illuminators’ chapter house in Amador would be considerable. The only chapter house, now. The one in Cairhien has been abandoned, and the one in Tanchico surely has been, too.”
Prestige! Niall rubbed his left eye to soothe an involuntary flutter. Little point in getting angry with Omerna, but restraint took an effort. The morning heat cooked his temper over a slow fire. “They do indeed keep to themselves, Omerna.  Do you mean to have these agents marry Illuminators? They rarely marry outside their guild, and there is no way to become an Illuminator except by birth.”
“Ah. Well. I am sure a way can be found.” Nothing could dent that facade of confidence and competence.
“It shall be done as I say, Omerna.” The man actually opened his mouth again, but Niall forestalled him irritably. “As I say, Omerna! I’ll hear no more on it! Now what information do you have today? What useful information? That is your function. Not providing fireworks for Ailron.”
Omerna hesitated, plainly wanting to make another plea for his precious Illuminators, but in the end he said portentously, “The reports of Dragonsworn in Altara are more than rumor, it seems. And perhaps in Murandy as well. The infestation is small, but it will grow. A strong move now could settle for them and the Aes Sedai in Salidar in one—”
“Do you dictate strategy for the Children now? Gather information, and leave its use to me. What else do you have for me?”
The man’s response to being cut off was a calm bow of acquiescence. Omerna was very good at remaining calm; it was perhaps what he did best. “I have good news. Martin Stepaneos is ready to join you. He hesitates to make a public announcement, but my people in Illian report that he soon will. He is reported eager.”
“That would be remarkably good,” Niall said dryly. Remarkable, certainly. Among the banners and pennants lining the cornices of the chamber, Martin Stepaneos’ Three Leopards, silver on black, hung next to a gold-fringed Illianer Royal Standard, nine bees worked in thread-of-gold on green silk. The Illianer king came out on top in the Troubles finally, at least to the point of forcing a treaty that affirmed the border between Amadicia and Altara where it was at the beginning, but Niall doubted the man would ever forget that he had had the advantage of terrain and numbers at Soremaine and still been defeated and captured. If the Illianer Companions had not covered the field for the rest of the army to escape Niall’s trap, Altara would be a fief of the Children today, and very likely Murandy and even Illian. Worse, Mattin Stepaneos had a Tar Valon witch for an advisor, though he hid the fact, and her. Niall sent emissaries because he dared not leave a path untried, but yes, Mattin Stepaneos joining him willingly would be remarkable indeed. “Continue. And be brief. I have a busy day today, and I can read your written reports later.”
Despite those instructions Omerna’s rendition was long, delivered in a sonorous voice full of certainty. Al’Thor had barely extended his control in Andor beyond Caemlyn. His lightning onslaught was clearly stalled at last—as Omerna carefully pointed out that he had predicted. There was little chance the Borderlands would join the Children against the false Dragon any time soon; lords in Shienar, Arafel and Kandor were taking advantage of the Blight’s quiet to rebel, and the Queen of Saldaea had gone into seclusion in the country, in fear of the same according to Omerna. His agents were at work, however, and the Borderland rulers would be brought to heel as soon as these small rebellions were quashed. On the other hand, the rulers of Murandy, Altara and Ghealdan were ready to fall into line, though making ambivalent noises at present to soothe the Tar Valon witches. Alliandre of Ghealdan knew her throne was shaky, knew she needed the Children to avoid plummeting as abruptly as her predecessors, while both Tylin of Altara and Roedran of Murandy hoped that the Children’s weight would make them more than figureheads at last. Plainly the man considered those lands already as good as in Niall’s coat pocket.
Within Amadicia, the picture was even better, by Omerna’s reckoning. Recruits flocked to the Children’s banners in greater numbers than for years. Strictly speaking, that was none of Omerna’s concern, but he always larded his reports with any good news he could find. The Prophet would not trouble the land much longer; at present his rabble squabbled over looting villages and manors in the north, and might well scatter back into Ghealdan at the next push by Ailron’s soldiers. Little room remained in the jails, because Darkfriends and Tar Valon spies were being arrested faster than they could be hanged. The search for Tar Valon witches had found only two so far, but over a hundred women had been put to the question, an indication of how vigilant the patrols were. And fewer refugees from Tarabon were being apprehended, proof the quarantine was becoming more effective; those caught were being thrown back into Tarabon as fast as they could be taken back to the border.
Niall listened just enough to know where to nod. Omerna had been an adequate commander in the field, so long as someone told him what to do, but in his present position, his credulous stupidity was trying. He had reported Morgase dead, her corpse seen and identified beyond doubt, up to the very day Niall brought him face-to-face with her. He had ridiculed “rumors” that the Stone of Tear had fallen, and still denied that the mightiest fortress in the world could have been taken by any outside force; there had been treason, he insisted, a High Lord who had betrayed the Stone to al’Thor and Tar Valon. He maintained that the disaster at Falme and the troubles in Tarabon and Arad Doman were the work of Artur Hawkwing’s armies come back across the Aryth Ocean. He was convinced that Siuan Sanche had not been deposed at all, that al’Thor was insane and dying, that Tar Valon had murdered King Galldrian to deliberately set off the civil war in Cairhien, and that these three “facts” were somehow tied into those ridiculous rumors, always from somewhere conveniently far away, of people bursting into flame or nightmares leaping out of thin air and slaughtering whole villages. He was not sure how exactly, but he was working on a grand theory he promised to deliver any day, a theory that supposedly would unravel all the witches’ schemes and deliver Tar Valon into Niall’s hands.
That was the way with Omerna; he either invented convoluted reasons for what happened, or else seized on gossip in the streets and swallowed it whole. He spent a good deal of his time listening to gossip, in manor houses and in the streets. Not only had he been seen drinking in the taverns with Hunters for the Horn, it was an ill-kept secret that he had laid out huge sums for no fewer than three supposed Horns of Valere. Each time he had carried the thing off to the country and puffed on it for days, till even he had to admit that no dead heroes out of legend were going to come riding back from the grave. Even so, the failures were unlikely to stop him from future purchases in dark alleys or the back rooms of taverns. The simple form of it was this: where a spymaster should doubt his own face in the mirror, Omerna believed anything.
Eventually the man ran down, and Niall said, “I will give your reports due consideration, Omerna. You have done well.” How the fellow preened, smoothing his tabard. “Leave me, now. On your way out, send Balwer in. I have some letters to dictate.”
“Of course, my Lord Captain Commander. Ah.” In the middle of his bow, Omerna frowned and fumbled in the pocket of his white undercoat, pulling out a tiny bone cylinder that he handed to Niall. “This arrived at the pigeoncote this morning.” Three thin red stripes ran the length of the cylinder, meaning it was to be brought to Niall with the wax seals intact. And the man had almost forgotten it.
Omerna waited, no doubt hoping for a hint of what the cylinder contained, but Niall waved him toward the door. “Do not forget Balwer. If Mattin Stepaneos might join me, I must write and see if I can add a little weight to his making the right decision.” Omerna had no choice but to make his bow anew and go.
Even when the door closed behind the man, Niall only fingered the cylinder. These rare special messages seldom brought good news. Rising slowly—of late he sometimes felt age in his bones—he filled a plain silver goblet with punch, but then left it sitting on the table and flipped open a folder of scroll-worked leather lined with linen. It contained a single sheet of heavy paper, crumpled and partly torn, a street artist’s drawing in colored chalks of two men fighting in clouds, one with a face made of fire, the other with dark reddish hair. Al’Thor.
All his plans to hinder the false Dragon had gone awry, all his hopes to slow the man’s tide of conquest, to divert him. Had he waited too long, let al’Thor grow too powerful? If so, there was only one way to deal with him quickly, the knife in the dark, the arrow from a rooftop. How long did he dare wait? Did he dare risk not waiting? Too much haste could spell disaster as surely as too long a delay.
“My Lord sent for me?”
Niall eyed the man who had entered so silently. On the face of it, it hardly seemed possible that Balwer could move without a dry rustle announcing his presence. Everything about him was narrow and pinched; his brown coat hung from knobby shoulders, and his legs looked as if they might snap under his desiccated weight. He moved like a bird hopping from limb to limb.  “Perhaps not. I would not count on it, myself.”
Niall nodded. “And do you think Mattin Stepaneos will join me?”
“Again, perhaps. He will not want to finish dead or a puppet. His first and only concern is to hold on to the Laurel Crown, and the army gathering in Tear must make him sweat for that.” Balwer smiled thinly, a bare compression of lips. “He has spoken openly about accepting my Lord’s proposal, but on the other hand I’ve just learned he has been communicating with the White Tower. Apparently he has agreed to something, though I don’t yet know what.”
The world knew that Abdel Omerna was the Children’s spymaster. Such a position should have been secret, of course, but stableboys and beggars pointed him out in the street, warily, lest the most dangerous man in Amadicia see them.  A man no one would ever suspect, or credit if he was named to them.
Where Omerna believed everything, Balwer believed nothing, perhaps not even in Darkfriends, or the Dark One. If Balwer did believe in anything, it was looking over men’s shoulders, listening to their whispers, rooting out their secrets. Of course, he would have served any master as well as he did Niall, but that was all to the good. What Balwer learned was never tainted by what he knew had to be true, or wanted to be true. Disbelieving everything, he always managed to root out truth.
“No more than I expected out of Illian, Balwer, but even he can be brought round.” He would have to be. It could not be too late. “Is there any fresh word from the Borderlands?”
“Not yet, my Lord. But Davram Bashere is in Caemlyn. With thirty thousand light horse, my informants claim, but I think no more than half that. He would not weaken Saldaea too far, however quiet the Blight, even if Tenobia commanded him to.”
Niall grunted, the corner of his left eye trembling. He fingered the sketch lying in its folder; supposedly it was a fair likeness of al’Thor. Bashere in Caemlyn; a good reason for Tenobia to be hiding in the country from his envoy.
There was no good news from the Borderlands, whatever Omerna thought. The “minor rebellions” Omerna reported were minor, but not rebellions of the sort the man thought. Along the Blightborder men were arguing over whether al’Thor was another false Dragon or the Dragon Reborn. Borderlanders being as they were, sometimes those arguments flared into small-scale battles. The fighting had begun in Shienar about the time the Stone of Tear was falling, confirmation of the witches’ involvement if any was needed. How it would all be settled was yet in doubt, according to Balwer.
That al’Thor remained confined to Caemlyn was one of the few things Omerna had right. Yet why, with Bashere and Aiel and the witches? Not even Balwer had been able to answer that. Whatever the reason, the Light be praised for it! The Prophet’s mobs had settled in to loot the north of Amadicia, true, but they were consolidating their hold, killing or putting to flight any who refused to declare for the Prophet of the Dragon. Ailron’s soldiers had only stopped retreating because the accursed Prophet had stopped advancing. Alliandre and the others Omerna was certain would join him were in fact dithering, putting off his ambassadors with flimsy excuses and delays. He suspected they no more knew how they would leap than he did.
On the surface everything seemed to be going al’Thor’s way at the moment, except for whatever held him in Caemlyn, but Niall had always been at his most dangerous when he was outnumbered and with his back to the wall.
If the rumors could be believed, Carridin was doing well in Altara and Murandy, though not as quickly as Niall would have liked. Time was as much an enemy as al’Thor or the Tower. Yet even if Carridin was only doing well in the rumors, that should be enough. Perhaps it was time to extend the “Dragonsworn” into Andor. Perhaps Illian, as well, though if the army gathering in Tear was not enough to show Mattin Stepaneos the path, a few farms and villages raided would hardly make a difference. The size of that army horrified Niall; if it was half what Balwer reported, a quarter, it still horrified him. Nothing like it had been seen since Artur Hawkwing’s day. Rather than frighten men into joining Niall, an army like that might intimidate them into falling in behind the Dragon banner. Could he have found a year, just half a year, he would have accounted it worth al’Thor’s whole army of fools and villains and Aiel savages.
All was not lost, of course. All was never lost as long as you were alive.  If Saldaea was lost, which he would not concede, Shienar and Arafel and Kandor still hung in the balance, and balances could be tipped. If Mattin Stepaneos wanted to ride two horses at once—he had always liked to try that—he could yet be forced to choose the right one. Altara and Murandy would be prodded to the proper side, and Andor would drop into his hand whether or not he decided a touch of Carridin’s whip was required. In Tear, Balwer’s agents had convinced Tedosian and Estanda to join Darlin, turning a show of defiance into real rebellion, and the man was confident the same could be done in Cairhien, and in Andor. Another month, two at the outside, and Eamon Valda would arrive from Tar Valon; Niall could have done without Valda, but then the great majority of the Children’s strength would be in one spot, ready to use where it could do the most good.
Yes, he had a good deal on his side yet. Nothing had solidified, but everything coalesced. Time was all that was needed.
Realizing he still held the bone cylinder, he cracked the wax seal with a thumbnail and carefully drew out the thin paper rolled up inside.
Balwer said nothing, but his mouth compressed again, not in a smile this time. Omerna he put up with, knowing the man a fool, much preferring to remain hidden himself, but he did not like Niall receiving reports that bypassed him, from men he did not know.
A tiny, spidery scrawl covered the slip in a cipher that few besides Niall knew, none of them in Amador. For him, reading it was as easy as reading his own hand. The sign at the bottom made him blink, and so did the contents. Varadin was, or had been, one of the best of his personal agents, a rug seller who did good service during the Troubles while peddling his wares through Altara, Murandy and Illian. What he earned there had set him up as a wealthy merchant in Tanchico, regularly supplying fine carpets and wines to the palaces of King and Panarch, as well as to most of the nobles of their courts, and always leaving with his eyes and ears full. Niall had thought him long since dead in the upheaval there; this was the first word from him in a year. From what Varadin wrote, it would have been better if he truly had been a year dead. In the jerky hand of a man on the brink of madness, it was a wild disjointed ramble about men riding strange beasts and flying creatures, Aes Sedai on leashes and the Hailene. That meant Forerunners in the Old Tongue, but there was not even an attempt to explain why Varadin was terrified of them or who they were supposed to be. Plainly the man had taken a brain fever from watching his country disintegrate around him.
Annoyed, Niall crumpled the paper and threw it aside. “First I must sit through Omerna’s idiocy and now this. What else do you have for me, Balwer?” Bashere. Matters could become nasty with Bashere to general al’Thor’s armies. The man had earned his reputation. A dagger in the shadows for him?
Balwer’s eyes never left Niall’s face by so much as a flicker, but Niall knew the tiny ball of paper on the floor would end up in the man’s hands unless he burned it. “Four things that might be of interest, my Lord. The least first. The rumors about meetings between the Ogier stedding are true. For Ogier, they seem to be showing some haste.” He did not say what the meetings were about, of course; getting a human into an Ogier Stump was as impossible as getting an Ogier to spy. Easier to have the sun rise at night. “Also, there are an unusual number of Sea Folk ships in the southern ports, not taking cargo, not sailing.”
“What are they waiting for?”
For a moment Balwer’s mouth tightened as though drawstrings had been pulled shut. “I do not know yet, my Lord.” Balwer never liked admitting there were any human secrets he could not ferret out. Trying to learn more than the surface of what went on among the Atha’an Miere was like trying to learn how the Guild of Illuminators made fireworks, an exercise in futility. At least the Ogier might eventually make known the decisions of their meetings.
“Continue.”
“The news of middling interest is . . . peculiar, my Lord. Al’Thor has reliably been reported in Caemlyn, in Tear and in Cairhien, sometimes on the same day.”
“Reliably? Reliable madness. The witches probably have two or three men who look like al’Thor, enough to fool anyone who doesn’t know him. That would explain a good deal.”
“Perhaps, my Lord. My informants are reliable.”
 “And the news of greatest interest?”
“I have it from two sources in Altara—reliable sources, my Lord—that the witches in Salidar claim the Red Ajah encouraged Logain to become a false Dragon. All but created him, in fact. They have Logain in Salidar—or a man they say is Logain—and are showing him to nobles they bring there. I have no proof, but I suspect they are telling the same tale to any ruler they can reach.”
Frowning, Niall studied the banners overhead. Those represented enemies from nearly every land; no one had ever defeated him twice, and few once. The banners were all faded with age, now. Like him. Yet he was not too faded to see an end to what he had begun. Every banner taken in bloody battle, where you never really knew what was happening beyond sight of your own eyes, where certain victory and certain defeat could be equally ephemeral. The worst battle he had ever fought, armies blundering into one another in the night near Moisen, during the Troubles, had been clear as a bright summer’s day compared to the one he fought now.
Could he have been wrong? Could the Tower really be broken? A struggle of some sort between the Ajahs? Over what? Al’Thor? If the witches were fighting among themselves, there would be many in the Children ready to advocate Carridin’s solution, a strike to destroy Salidar and as many of the witches as possible. Men who believed thinking of tomorrow was thinking ahead but never considered next week or next month, let alone next year. Valda, for one; perhaps it was just as well he had not reached Amador yet. For another, Rhadam Asunawa, the High Inquisitor of the Questioners. Valda always wanted to use an axe even when a poniard was best for the task at hand. Asunawa just wanted every woman who had ever spent a night in the Tower hanged as of yesterday, every book that mentioned Aes Sedai or the One Power burned, and the words themselves banned. Asunawa never had a thought beyond those goals, nor a care for costs. Niall had worked too hard, risked too much, to allow this to become a struggle between the Children and the Tower in the eyes of the world.
In truth, it did not matter whether he was wrong. If he was, it still could be very much to his advantage. Perhaps more than if he was right. With a little luck, he could shatter the White Tower past repairing, splinter the witches into shards easily ground to dust. Al’Thor would surely falter then, while remaining enough of a threat to be used as a goad. And he could hold closely to the truth. Fairly closely.
Without taking his eyes from the banners, he said, “The split in the Tower is real. The Black Ajah rose up, the victors hold the Tower and the losers were driven out to lick their wounds in Salidar.” He looked at Balwer, and nearly smiled. One of the Children would have been protesting that there was no Black Ajah, or rather that all the witches were Darkfriends; the newest recruit would have. Balwer merely looked at him, not at all as if he had just blasphemed against all the Children stood for. “The only decision to make is whether the Black Ajah won or lost. I think they won. Most people will think of whoever holds the Tower as the real Aes Sedai. Let them associate real Aes Sedai with Black Ajah. Al’Thor is a creature of the Tower, a vassal of the Black Ajah.” Lifting his winecup from the table, he took a sip; it did not help the heat. “Perhaps I can fit it in with why I haven’t moved against Salidar yet.” Through his emissaries, he had been using the failure to move as proof of how dire he saw the threat from al’Thor; he was willing to let the witches congregate on Amadicia’s doorstep rather than be diverted from the danger of the false Dragon. “The women there, appalled after all these years at how pervasive the Black Ajah is, repelled at last by the evil they’ve been immersed in . . . ” His inventiveness ran out—they were all servants of the Dark One; what evil could repel them?—but after a moment Balwer took it up.
“Perhaps they’ve decided to throw themselves on my Lord’s mercy, even ask my Lord’s protection.  Perhaps . . . ” Balwer tapped bony fingers against his lips in thought. “Perhaps they are ready to repent their sins and renounce being Aes Sedai?”
Niall stared at him. He suspected the Tar Valon witches’ sins were among the things Balwer did not believe in. “That is absurd,” he said flatly. “It’s the sort of thing I might expect from Omerna.”
His secretary’s face remained as prim as ever, but he began dry-washing his hands the way he did when he felt insulted. “What my Lord might expect to hear from him, but just the sort of thing that will be repeated where he does most of his listening, in the streets and where nobles gossip over wine. Absurdities are never laughed at there; only listened to.  I will start no rumor of the Children dealing with witches.”
“It would only be rumor, my Lord.” Niall’s gaze hardened, and Balwer spread his hands. “As my Lord wishes. Each retelling always adds embellishment, so a simple tale has the best chance of the core surviving. I suggest four rumors, my lord, not one. The first, that the division in the Tower was caused by a Black Ajah uprising. The second, that the Black Ajah won, and control the Tower. Third, the Aes Sedai in Salidar, repelled and horrified, are renouncing being Aes Sedai.  For most people, each will be a confirmation of the others.” Tugging on his lapels, Balwer gave a narrow self-satisfied smile.
“Very good, Balwer. Let it be so.” Niall took a deeper drink of wine. The heat was making him feel his age. His bones seemed brittle.  Even if he did not live to lead in the Last Battle, the Light would surely grant him that much. “And I want Elayne Trakand and her brother Gawyn found, Balwer, and brought to Amador. See to it. You may leave me now.”
Instead of going, Balwer hesitated. “My Lord knows I never suggest any course of action.”
“But you mean to suggest one now? What is it?”
“Press Morgase, my Lord. More than a month has passed, and she still considers my Lord’s proposal. She—”
“Enough, Balwer.” Niall sighed. Sometimes he wished Balwer were not an Amadician, but a Cairhienin who had taken in the Game of Houses with his mother’s milk. “Morgase is more committed to me every day, whatever she believes. I would like it better had she accepted immediately—I could have Andor raised against al’Thor today, with a thick leavening of Children to stiffen it—but every day that she remains my guest ties her to me more tightly. Eventually she will discover she is allied to me because the world believes she is, tangled so tightly she can never escape: And no one will ever be able to say I coerced her, Balwer. That is important. It is always harder to abandon an alliance the world thinks you entered freely than one you can prove you were forced into. Reckless haste leads to ruin, Balwer.”
“As my Lord says.”
Niall gestured a dismissal, and the man bowed his way out. Balwer did not understand. Morgase was a rugged opponent. Pressed too hard, she would turn and fight whatever the odds. Yet pressed just hard enough, she would fight the enemy she thought she saw and never see the trap building around her until it was too late. Time pressed down on him, all the years he had lived, all the months he desperately needed, but he would not let haste ruin his plans.
The stooping falcon struck the large duck in an explosion of feathers, and the two birds separated, the duck tumbling toward the ground. Banking sharply in the cloudless sky, the falcon swooped back onto her falling prey, clutched it in her talons. The weight of the duck burdened her, but she struggled back toward the people waiting below.
Morgase wondered whether she was like the falcon, too proud and too determined to realize when she had latched on to a prize too heavy for her wings to support. She tried to make her gloved hands loosen their grip on her reins. Her wide-brimmed white hat, with its long white plumes, provided a little protection from the unrelenting sun, but sweat beaded on her face. In a riding dress of green silk embroidered in gold, she did not look a prisoner.
Figures mounted and afoot filled the long pasture of dried brown grass, though they did not crowd it. A cluster of musicians in white-embroidered blue tabards, with flutes and bitterns and tambours, produced a light tune suitable for an afternoon over chilled wine. A dozen handlers in long, elaborately worked leather vests over billowing white shirts stroked hooded falcons perched on their gauntleted arms, or puffed short pipes and blew streams of blue smoke at their birds. Twice as many brightly liveried servants moved about with fruits and wine in golden goblets on golden trays, and a band of men clad in bright mail encircled the pasture just short of the largely bare-branched trees. All in aid of Morgase and her retinue, to insure their hawking went safely.
Well, that was the reason given, though the Prophet’s people were a good two hundred miles north and brigands seemed unlikely this close to Amador. And despite the women clustered around her on their mares and geldings, in bright silk riding dresses and wide-brimmed hats resplendent with colored plumes, their hair in the long ringlets currently in fashion in the Amadician court, Morgase’s retinue in truth consisted of Basel Gill, awkward on his horse off to one side, with his jerkin of metal discs straining around his girth over the red silk coat she had procured him so he would not be outshone by the servants, and Paitr Conel, even more awkward in a page’s red-and-white coat and displaying the nervousness he had shown since she added him to her party. The women were nobles from Ailron’s court, “volunteers” to be Morgase’s ladies-in-waiting. Poor Master Gill fingered his sword and eyed the Whitecloak guards disconsolately. That was what they were, though, as usual when escorting her out of the Fortress of Light, not wearing their white cloaks. And they were guards. If she tried to ride too far or remain out too long, their commander, a hard-eyed young man named Norowhin who hated pretending to be other than a Whitecloak, would “suggest” that she return to Amador because the heat was growing too great, or because of a sudden rumor of bandits in the area. There was no arguing with fifty armored men, not with any dignity. Norowhin had come within a hair of taking her reins from her the first time. That was the reason she never let Tallanvor accompany her on these rides. That young fool might insist on her honor and rights if there were a hundred men against him. He spent his spare hours practicing the sword as though he expected to carve a way to freedom for her.
Startlingly a sudden breeze brushed her face, and she realized that Laurain had leaned from her saddle to fan her with a white lace fan. A slender young woman with dark eyes set slightly too close together, Laurain wore a permanent simper. “It must be so gratifying for Your Majesty to learn that her son has joined the Children of the Light. And to have attained rank so quickly.”
“That should be no surprise,” Altalin said, fanning her own plump face. “Her Majesty’s son would of course rise quickly, as the sun in splendor does.” She basked in the appreciative murmurs from some of the other women for her pitiful pun.
Morgase kept her face smooth with difficulty. Niall’s news last evening, during one of his surprise visits, had come as a shock. Galad a Whitecloak! At least he was safe, so Niall said. But unable to visit her; the duties of a Child of the Light kept him away. But assuredly he would be part of her escort when she returned to Andor at the head of an army of the Children.
No, Galad was no more safe than Elayne or Gawyn. Perhaps less. The Light send that Elayne was secure in the White Tower. The Light send that Gawyn was alive; Niall claimed not to know where he was, except that he was not in Tar Valon. Galad was a knife to her throat. Niall would never be so crude as to even suggest it, but one simple order from him could send Galad where he would surely die. The one protection he had was that Niall might think she did not care as much for him as for Elayne and Gawyn.
“I am pleased for him if it is what he seeks,” she told them in an indifferent tone. “But he is Taringail’s son, not mine. Taringail was a marriage of state, you understand. Strange, but he has been dead so long, I can hardly recall his face. Galad is free to do as he will. It is Gawyn who will be First Prince of the Sword when Elayne follows me on the Lion Throne.” She waved away a servant with a goblet on a tray. “Niall could at least have provided us with decent wine.” A wave of anxious titters answered her. She had had some success in drawing them closer to her, yet none could be easy about offending Pedron Niall, not where it might get back to him. Morgase took every opportunity to do so in their hearing. It convinced them of her bravery, important if she was to gain even partial allegiance. Perhaps more importantly, for her own mind at least, it helped maintain the illusion that she was not Niall’s prisoner.
“I hear that Rand al’Thor displays the Lion Throne like a trophy from the hunt.” That was Marande, a pretty woman with a heart-shaped face, somewhat older than the others. The sister of the High Seat of House Algoran, she was powerful in her own right, perhaps powerful enough to have resisted Ailron, but not Niall. The others reined their mounts aside for her to heel her bay gelding closer to Morgase. There was no question of gaining any sort of allegiance or friendship from Marande.
“I have heard as much,” Morgase replied blithely. “The lion is a dangerous animal to hunt, and the Lion Throne more so. Especially for a man. It always kills men who seek it.”
Marande smiled. “I also hear he gives high places to men who can channel.”
That produced uneasy glances among the other women, and a worried buzz. One of the younger women, Marewin, slight and little more than a girl, swayed in her high-cantled saddle as if she might faint. News of al’Thor’s amnesty had spawned frightening tales; rumors only, Morgase fervently hoped. The Light send it was all rumor, men who could channel gathering in Caemlyn, carousing in the Royal Palace, terrorizing the city.
“You hear a great deal,” Morgase said. “Do you spend all your time listening at cracked doors?”
Marande’s smile deepened. She had been unable to resist pressure to become one of Morgase’s attendants, but she was powerful enough to show her displeasure without fear. She was like a thorn driven deep into the foot, impossible to dislodge and giving a sharp jab at every step. “I have little time left from the pleasure of serving Your Majesty to listen anywhere, but I do try to catch what news I can of Andor. So I may converse with Your Majesty. I hear the false Dragon consorts daily with Andoran nobles. Lady Arymilla and Lady Naean, Lord Jarin and Lord Lir. Others, friends of theirs.”
One of the falconers lifted a hooded, sleek gray bird with black wings up to Morgase. Silver bells on the falcon’s jesses tinkled as she shifted on the handler’s gauntlet.
“Thank you, but I have had enough of hawking for today,” Morgase told him, then raised her voice. “Master Gill, gather the escort. I am returning to the city.”
Gill gave a start. He knew very well that all he was there for was to ride at her heels, but he began waving and shouting orders to the Whitecloaks as if he believed they would obey. For her part, Morgase turned her black mare immediately. She did not take the animal faster than a walk, of course. Norowhin would have been on her like a flash if he saw a possibility she was considering escape.
As it was, the cloakless Whitecloaks were galloping to form up their escort before the mare had gone ten steps, and before she reached the edge of the meadow, Norowhin was at her side, a dozen men ahead and the rest close behind. The servants and musicians and falconers were left to gather themselves up and follow as quickly as they could.
Gill and Paitr took their places behind her, and then came the ladies-in-waiting. Marande wore her smile like a badge of triumph now, though some of the others frowned in disapproval. Not too openly—even if she had had to yield to Niall, the woman was a force to be reckoned with in Amadicia—but most of them did try to do their best at a task they did not want. For the greater part they would likely have attended Morgase willingly; it was residing inside the Fortress of the Light they did not like.
Morgase would have smiled herself if she could be sure Marande would not see it. The only reason she had not insisted weeks ago that the woman be sent away was how free she was with her tongue. Marande enjoyed pricking her with how far Andor had fallen from her grasp, but the names she chose were a balm to Morgase. All men and women who had opposed her during the Succession, all sycophants of Gaebril. She expected no less of them, and no more. Had Marande named others, the result would have been different. Lord Pelivar or Abelle or Luan, Lady Arathelle or Ellorien or Aemlyn. Others. They had never been part of Marande’s stabs, and they would have been if even a whisper from Andor had made her think of them. So long as Marande did not mention them, there was at least hope that they had not knelt to al’Thor. They had supported Morgase’s first claim to the throne, and they might yet again, the Light willing.
Nearly leafless forest gave way to a road of hard-packed dirt, and they took it south toward Amador. Stretches of woods alternated with coppiced trees and fallow stone-fenced fields, with thatch-roofed stone houses and barns standing well back from the road. A good many people crowded the way, raising dust that made Morgase tie a silk kerchief across her face, though they scrambled aside onto the verge at the first glimpse of such a large party of armed and armored men. Some even darted into the trees or leaped fences and scurried across the fields. The Whitecloaks ignored them, and no farmers appeared to shake a fist or shout at the trespassers. Several of the farms had an abandoned look, with no chickens or animals in sight.
Among the people on the road there was an ox-cart here, a man with a few sheep there, somewhere else a young woman herding a flock of geese. Plainly they were all local people. Some had a bundle shouldered or a fat scrip, but most were empty-handed, walking as if with no idea where they were going. The numbers of the latter sort had increased every time Morgase had been allowed to leave Amador, no matter in which direction.
Adjusting the kerchief over her nose, Morgase eyed Norowhin sideways. He was about Tallanvor’s age and height, but there the resemblance ended. Red-faced under his burnished conical helmet and peeling from the sun, he had never been handsome. A lanky build and a thrusting nose made her think of a pickaxe. Every time she left the Fortress of the Light, he led her “escort,” and every time she tried to engage him in conversation. Whitecloak or not, every inch she could shift him from being her jailer was a victory. “Are these people refugees from the Prophet, Norowhin?” They could not all be; as many were heading north as south.
“No,” he said curtly, without even glancing at her. His eyes scanned the roadsides as if he expected a rescue to appear for her any moment.
That, unfortunately, was the sort of response she had had so far, but she persevered. “Who are they, then? Not Taraboners, surely. You do a very good job of moving them on.”  Only the bitter knowledge that she could do absolutely nothing had enabled her to hold her tongue. “Amadicia is a rich land. Even this drought cannot have driven so many from their farms in just a few months.”
Norowhin’s face worked. “No,” he said finally. “They are refugees from the false Dragon.”
“But how? He is hundreds of leagues from Amadicia.”
Again a struggle was plain on the man’s sunburned face, either for words or against speaking. “They believe he is the true Dragon Reborn,” he said at last, sounding disgusted. “They say he has broken all bonds, according to the Prophecies. Men forsake their lords, apprentices desert their masters. Husbands abandon their families, and wives their husbands. It is a plague carried on the wind, a wind that blows from the false Dragon.”
Morgase’s eyes fell on a young man and woman huddled in each other’s arms, watching her party pass. Sweat streaked the dirt on their faces, and dust coated their plain clothes. They looked hungry, their cheeks sunken, their eyes too big. Could this be happening in Andor? Had Rand al’Thor done this to Andor too? If he has, he will pay. The problem was making sure the cure was not worse than the disease. To deliver Andor, even from this, and hand it to the Whitecloaks . . .
She tried to keep the conversation going, but having delivered himself of more words than he had ever before spoken to her at one time, Norowhin retreated into monosyllables. It did not matter; if she could crack his reserve once, she could again.
Twisting in her saddle, she tried to see the young man and woman, but they were hidden behind the Whitecloak soldiers. That did not matter either. Those faces would reside in her memory, alongside her promise.


Three men jailed for murder and torture of three elderly people in France
The men were convicted of the maximum sentences allowed.
by AFPA COURT IN France has jailed three young men for the maximum sentences allowed after convicting them of the murder and torture of three elderly people in 2017.
The court in the central region of Allier found the two men, now aged 20 and 21, guilty of the murder “accompanied by acts of torture and barbarity” of Ginette and Massimo Degl’Innocenti (85) and (71) and Jeannine Ponce (74) in March 2017 in the central town of Montlucon.
The Degl’Innocentis were found dead in their apartment on 3 March 2017. Massimo was lying in a pool of blood while his wife, who was recovering from a stroke, was found dead in her bed.
A few days later Ponce was also found in a pool of blood in her home. One of the suspects was given a life sentence and the other 30 years in jail – in his case the maximum allowed as he was a minor at the time of the attacks.
They were also convicted of the gang rape of a young woman in front of her partner on the night of Ponce’s murder.
The accused had pleaded guilty to the charges and said they were drunk and under the influence of drugs. The assailants claimed that their aim was to steal money from the three old people, but only a small amount of money was taken during the incident.


Checkout is configured by the parameters passed in the URL of a GET request. The key/value pairs of the query string are secured by passing a hashed string created from the query string, in addition to the query string itself.
URL: https://web.na.bambora.com/scripts/payment/payment.asp
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| merchant_id | Your 9-digit Bambora merchant ID |
| hashValue | The value for hashValue is generated by appending a hash key to the transaction request query string and using a hash algorithm (either MD5 or SHA-1) on the resulting string. |
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| trnAmount | The total amount for the transaction including tax and additional fees. Max 2 decimal places. Max 9 digits total. |
| trnOrderNumber | The invoice or order ID you want associated with the transaction. Up to 30 characters. |
| trnType | P - Purchase. PA - Pre-Authorization. |
| trnCardOwner | The name of the cardholder. 4-64 characters. |
| trnLanguage | eng - English, fre - French. |
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| ordName | The billed contact’s name. Up to 64 characters. |
| ordEmailAddress | The email address of the billed contact and destination for email receipts in a valid email format. Up to 64 characters. |
| ordAddress1 | The billing address for the card holder. With Address Verification, this will need to match the card issuer’s records. Up to 32 characters. |
| ordAddress2 | The second line for the card holder’s billing address. Up to 32 characters |
| ordCity | The city associated with the billing address. Up to 32 characters. |
| ordProvince | The province or state associated with the billing address. As a variable, the two-letter ISO code. |
| ordPostalCode | The postal or ZIP code associated with the billing address. Up to 16 characters. |
| ordCountry | The country associated with the billing address. As a variable, the two-letter ISO code. |
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| shipName | The name of the contact receiving the shipment. Up to 64 characters. |
| shipEmailAddress | The shipping contact’s email address in a valid email format. Up to 64 characters. |
| shipAddress1 | The shipping contact’s destination address. Up to 32 characters. |
| shipAddress2 | The second line of the shipping contact’s destination address. Up to 32 characters |
| shipCity | The shipping contact’s destination city. Up to 32 characters. |
| shipProvince | The shipping contact’s province or state destination. As a variable, the two-letter ISO code. Provinces and States. |
| shipPostalCode | The shipping contact’s postal or ZIP code. Up to 16 characters. |
| shipCountry | The shipping contact’s destination country. As a variable, the two-letter ISO code. |
| shipPhoneAddress | The shipping contact’s phone number. Up to 32 characters. |
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| approvedPage | The URL the cardholder will be sent to after their transaction is approved. |
| declinedPage | The URL the cardholder will be sent to after their transaction is declined. |
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| hashExpiry | The time when the hash secured link will expire. The format is YYYYMMDDHHMM on PST. |
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| ref1 | A custom identifier. 256 characters. |
| ref2 | A custom identifier. 256 characters. |
| ref3 | A custom identifier. 256 characters. |
| ref4 | A custom identifier. 256 characters. |
| ref5 | A custom identifier. 256 characters. |


AUD/NZD: Remains undervalued despite last week’s pullback – Westpac
by Sandeep KanihamaAnalysts at Westpac point out that AUD/NZD fair value has recently fallen, from 1.15 in late October, to 1.12 currently.
Key Quotes
“Yield spreads have fallen mainly in response to the RBNZ’s “hawkish” surprise last week, but the disappointing AU jobs report also contributed. Commodity spreads have fallen due to 36% fall in iron ore prices since July against a 6% rise in dairy prices over that period.”
“The fall in fair value means the cross is not as extremely undervalued as it was (third chart), but it does remain undervalued. We attribute the undervaluation of the past 18 months to the US-China trade war. Recent thawing in that relationship has seen the undervaluation shrink slightly, but we see scope for it to shrink even further, taking the cross to around 1.10 over the next few months. We see last week’s pullback, should it extend to 1.0550, as an opportunity to buy the cross for a reversion towards fair value.”


Thank you for sponsoring Global Game Jam!
During Global Game Jam, 31 participants created 7 games.
View the games on the Global Game Jam website.
We couldn't have done Global Game Jam 2017 without your support.
Thank you, Echosec!
UVic GameDev Club


674
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|
Oracle Performance Tuning and Optimization
by Edward Whalen
Sams, Macmillan Computer Publishing
ISBN: 067230886x Pub Date: 04/01/96
|
22
1000
Chapter 38 Tuning the Network Components
The last chapter reviewed the basics of how the various network components operate; this chapter looks at how to tune these components. The chapter considers both the hardware and software and how to optimally design a computer network. Once you have quantified the limitations of the network, you can design a network that will function within those limits.
As you saw in the last chapter, the primary cause of network performance problems is because the bandwidth of the network itself has been exceeded. The network itself can support only a certain amount of traffic. When that amount has been reached, the network experiences delays. In turn, these delays can cause noticeable increases in response times.
There are few optimizations you can do to the OS to tune performance, but these fall into the category of fine tuning. There is really not very much you can do to the OS to overcome the limitations of the network itself.
NOTE: When I talk about the limitations of the network, I refer to the actual limitations of the medium you are using. If you use traditional Ethernet, this limitation is 10 megabits/second. If you use 100Base-T, the limitation is 100 megabits/second.
The network limits are fixed by software and hardware standards and the limitations of the hardware. There is nothing you can do to increase the limits of these mediums. By knowing your limitations, you can design your network to fit within the bounds. When the application and database need data faster than the medium can supply it, the network becomes a bottleneck.
The next section starts by looking at some of the tuning you can do to the network software. The following sections provide some design hints that can help you put together a high-performance network. By properly designing the network segments to handle the requested load, you can enhance the performance of the system.
Software Tuning
Several things can be done within the operating system to improve performance. The most important of these are to reduce system overhead caused by networking and to use a sufficiently large packet size to increase throughput. Depending on your operating system, you may or may not be able to change anything to increase performance. The following sections review a few of the network parameters that can be modified on a per-operating system basis.
NetWare
There are a few networking parameters you can modify to increase NetWares efficiency. By making sure that you have a sufficient amount of packet receive buffers, you can avoid dynamically allocating them at run time. The packet receive buffers are used to buffer the incoming network requests while the processor is busy. Do this by making the NetWare parameter MINIMUM PACKET RECEIVE BUFFERS sufficiently high. This parameter is set in STARTUP.NCF. A good starting point is 200 for 40 users or fewer.
Monitor this change on the NetWare monitor screen to see whether the buffers are being dynamically allocated. If the number of packet receive buffers frequently exceeds the value you have set for MINIMUM PACKET RECEIVE BUFFERS, think about increasing this value.
If you never achieve more than the minimum, you may
dde
be wasting space. If the value is too high, you waste memory. Try setting the value down until you begin to see dynamic allocation at run time. At this point, add 2 to 5 percent and monitor the change on a regular basis. If dynamic allocation starts up again, increase MINIMUM PACKET RECEIVE BUFFERS until dynamic allocation stops.
Windows NT
Although there is little network tuning you can do with Windows NT, there are a few things you can do to streamline the network. By prioritizing the network bindings, you can increase performance. Do this with the Control Panel Network Configuration utility. Put the network protocol you use most frequently first in the list to give it the highest priority; follow it with the next protocol you use, and so on.
Remove any protocols from the list that you do not use; this benefits performance by reducing both memory consumption and CPU overhead. Also be sure that the system is configured as a server on the Network Configuration screen.
OS/2
There is very little you can do with OS/2 to tune the network. By installing only the network protocols you will be using, you can streamline the network subsystem. By removing any unneeded components, you also benefit. By removing any unneeded protocols, you save both memory and CPU utilization.
UNIX
With UNIX, there is also very little you can tune to improve network efficiency. The only parameters you may have to adjust relate to increasing the available number of connections and user resources. These parameters are covered in Chapter 12, Operating System-Specific Tuning.
As with the other operating systems, you can streamline the system by removing any protocols or network applications that are not necessary for the function of the system. By removing any unnecessary protocols, you save memory and CPU usage.
Oracle Tuning
The best way to improve network performance in software is to design your application to eliminate the transmission of unwanted and unnecessary data. By using stored procedures, you not only reduce the amount of data transmitted but also improve performance by taking better advantage of the shared SQL areas.
Only retrieve useful data from your stored procedures and queries. Any unnecessary data transmitted from the server to the client wastes valuable network bandwidth.
Another way to reduce network traffic within Oracle is to take advantage of local tables. If part of your data is never updated and is heavily used locally, you may see a benefit from replicating the data to your client machine. The replicated data not only reduces network traffic, it speeds access to the data as well.
Optimize the amount of data transmitted across the network as much as possible. The network subsystem in the OS should also be streamlined to provide optimal performance. If you still have a network bottleneck, you have no alternative other than increasing the bandwidth of the network.
55e
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There are about 1,500 potentially active volcanoes worldwide
on January 21st, 2000, half a million people were made homelss
by the Taal volcano eruption in the Philippines...MoreInfo
Scroll down for more
Disaster Data Around the World
Click on pictures to see disaster data in specific countries


We exchange metrics!
- e-enable cross-media relationships
- syndicate customized metrics
- matrix turn-key networks
- disintermediate customized interfaces
- orchestrate proactive web services
- extend best-of-breed convergence
- transition cross-platform mindshare
- enhance 24/365 channels
- morph best-of-breed infrastructures
- repurpose 24/365 e-commerce


What is xargs? xargs is a UNIX command line utility for bulding an execution pipeline from stdin (standard input). xargs can be used with any command that need the stdin as argument such as echo, mkdir, rm to cite the simplest command
Illustration The default behavior of xargs is to take items from the stdin and execute a command once for every argument.
In this following example xargs takes the output of the command echo and pipes the output as arguments for the command mkdir. Read More...
This article offers a sample of basic Markdown syntax that can be used in Hugo content files, also it shows whether basic HTML elements are decorated with CSS in a Hugo theme.


Stanford Language and Cognition Lab
In this survey, you'll be asked to judge how 300 different sketches were made. Sometimes, we may draw something by constructing an outline of the entire object (see examples on left). Sometimes, we can make drawings by first drawing common shapes, like circles, and then putting them together (see examples on right). Your job is to rate the degree to which a sketch was made using by drawing outlines vs. putting simple shapes together.
Note: you won't be able to preview this HIT before accepting it.
By answering the following questions, you are participating in a study being performed by cognitive scientists in the Stanford Department of Psychology. If you have questions about this research, please contact us at<EMAIL_ADDRESS>You must be at least 18 years old to participate. Your participation in this research is voluntary. You may decline to answer any or all of the following questions. You may decline further participation, at any time, without adverse consequences. Your anonymity is assured; the researchers who have requested your participation will not receive any personal information about you. Note however that we have recently been made aware that your public Amazon.com profile can be accessed via your worker ID if you do not choose to opt out. If you would like to opt out of this feature, you may follow instructions available here.
To what degree was this drawing generated drawing outlines vs. putting together shapes?
Putting together parts
Making an outline
Value:
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Do you have any comments about this survey?


{% extends 'scriptus/sw_base.html' %} {% block sw_content %}
The following characters have been imported successfully
| Whole name | Nickname | Gender | {% for chara in results.charaters %}
| {{chara.chara_whole_name}} | {{chara.chara_nickname}} | {{chara.chara_gender}} |


Simple IBM Bluemix Sample accessing IBM Connections Social Cloud
Log in against
IBM Connections Social Cloud
Sign In
You are logged in as ...
Name: {{profile.displayName}}
ID: {{profile.id}}
Log in the IBM Connections Social Cloud user interface
Learn more about this sample
Learn more about IBM Connections app dev


Projects Responsive Web Design Project Simple Game: JavaScript & HTML Ruby vs JavaScript Loop Cheat Sheet


Execution Plan
Configuring Execution plan
You can configure execution plans through the management console as explained below or by
manually adding an XML file as explained in step 5.
-
Start the CEP, log in
to its
management
console,
select
Execution
Plans
and click
Add Execution Plan.
- Enter details in the form that appears and click the Add Execution Plan
button at the end of the form. For example,
The fields in the above configuration are described below:
- Execution Plan Name : Can contain only alphanumeric characters and '_' character
- Description : This is optional
- Snapshot time interval : Defines how often the state of the processing engine should
be persisted, which is used to restore after a system crash. The default value is 0,
which disables this feature. If snapshot is enabled, you must start the CEP with the
embedded Cassandra server enabled. To do this, specify -Ddisable.cassandra.server.startup=false
option at server startup.
- Query expressions: See Siddhi Language Specification documentation on how to write
queries. When writing query expressions, you must import the required streams from
event builders. The As field maps the incoming stream to a stream
name suitable for the Siddhi processing engine. It can contain only alphanumeric
characters and '_' character.
In the text field that follows imported
streams, you can enter any number of CEP statements, each ending with a semicolon.
For example,
The Exported streams section allows you to expose the output
streams from Siddhi to the event formatter with preferred stream IDs. For
example,
For the StreamId, provide a character string that starts with
an alphabetic because it is considered as a java variable in Siddhi. Stream Id is a
combination of stream name and version. E.g., testStream:1.0.0.
- After an execution plan is successfully created, you can change its configuration and
redeploy it. To do this, click the Edit link associated with it.
- An XML based editor opens allowing you to edit the event builder configuration from the UI
itself, without having to edit the file in the file system. Do your modifications and click
Update.
-
Alternatively, you can specify an execution plan configuration using an XML file and save
it in <PRODUCT_HOME>/repository/deployment/server/executionplans
directory, which is the execution plan deployment directory. Since hot deployment is
enabled, you can simply add/remove files to deploy/undeploy from the server.
Create
the XML file with the following XML based configurations. Execution plan implementation
must start with <executionplan>
root element as in the example
below:
For more details on creating execution plans, Please refer the official
documentation Here.


For security reasons your internet connection has been temporarily suspended. A high-priority firmware update is available for your D-Link router and needs to be installed before internet connectivity can be resumed.
End User License Agreement
I have read and agree to the End User License Agreement
More Information
Security and performance is of the utmost importance to D-Link across all product lines, including networking, surveillance, storage and entertainment solutions.
D-Link Security Advisories are published for security issues that directly involve D-Link products and require an upgrade, fix, or other customer action. In all security publications, D-Link discloses the minimum amount of information required for an end-user to assess the impact of a vulnerability and any potential steps needed to protect their environment.
D-Link does not provide vulnerability details that could enable someone to craft an exploit.


Example use of the validation API: try to submit with different passwords, and with same passwords
Password:
Repeat password:
Submit


procedure BlockTransfer(
Dst: TCustomBitmap32;
DstX: Integer;
DstY: Integer;
DstClip: TRect;
Src: TCustomBitmap32;
SrcRect: TRect;
CombineOp: TDrawMode;
CombineCallBack: TPixelCombineEvent
= nil);
BlockTransfer is similar to the BitBlt function from Windows GDI. It performs copying of a bitmap fragment specified by SrcRect into location (DstX, DstY) with optional alpha blending or using user-specified combining function. This operation is constrained to the DstClip rectangle specified in the destination bitmap coordinates.
If CombineOp=dmOpaque, the fragment simply replaces destination pixels. In dmBlend mode it is blended to destination using its alpha channel and MasterAlpha property. In dmCusom mode, the function calls CombineCallBack function for pixel combining.
It is not required for DstRect and SrcRect to lie entirely inside the corresponding bitmap, since the function provides necessary clipping.
The result is not specified when transferring data inside the same bitmap (Src=Dst) and if in the same time SrcRect intersects with DstRect. In this case it is recommended to use a temporary bitmap buffer.
Neither Src nor Dst bitmaps may be equal to nil. In this case, function will generate an exception. They may be empty however, in this case no transformation will be performed.
This routine used in TCustomBitmap32.Draw and TCustomBitmap32.DrawTo methods.


Expectation: should announce flattened text string.
- JAWS 2019 (june) with IE11: ??? .
- JAWS 2019 (june) with Edge 76 dev: ??? .
- JAWS 2019 (june) with Chrome 75: ??? .
- JAWS 2019 (june) with Firefox 67.0.3: ?? .
- NVDA 2019.1.1 with IE11: ??? .
- NVDA 2019.1.1 with Edge 76 dev: ??? .
- NVDA 2019.1.1 with Chrome 75: ??? .
- NVDA 2019.1.1 with Firefox 67.0.3: ??? .
- Android 8.1 TalkBack 7.3 with Firefox 67.0.3: ?? .
- Android 8.1 TalkBack 7.3 with Chrome 75: ?? .
- iOS 12.3.1 VoiceOver with Safari: ?? .
- macOS 10.14.5 VoiceOver with Safari 12.1.1:
When focused with VC, accessible name, role and current value announced. No live announcements made.
- macOS 10.14.5 VoiceOver with Chrome 75:
When focused with VC, accessible name, role and current value announced. No live announcements made.


An Independent Driving School which operates within most North West London locations.
Driving Lesson prices starting from £21
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Hyper Driving School covers most North West London Locations such as Hendon, Kingsbury, Kenton, Harrow,
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We at Hyper Driving School offer competitive rates with lesson prices starting from £21
Our driver is a Qualified Driving Instructor and DSA Approved.
Door to Door Lessons within most areas in North West London.
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Enjoy a stress-free, positive atmosphere while your learning to drive.
Ready to start your Driving Lesson with us or require additional information?
Give us a call or send us an email and we will get back to you as soon as possible!


Run around the house at 4 in the morning lay on arms while you're using the keyboard for steal the warm chair right after you get up meow all night having their mate disturbing sleeping humans. Prance along on top of the garden fence, annoy the neighbor's dog and make it bark break out into full speed gallop across the house for no reason.


Links Home Station Equipments LOG Photos/Videos
VU6P Lighthouse Station Aug 15, 16 2015 Log
12 Contacts so far
| Frequency | VU6P Stn | Station | Details of Station | India Time | UTC Time | Our Signal | His Signal | Remarks |
| Enter. Freq | VU3RGK | UNKNOWN | Not found in qrz.com | 30/Jul/15 02:40:20PM | 30/Jul/15 09:10:20AM | 59 | 59 | |
| Enter. Freq | VU3RGK | VU2AKW | M.S.ASHOK KUMAR CHENNAI India | 30/Jul/15 02:41:45PM | 30/Jul/15 09:11:45AM | 59 | 59 | |
| Enter. Freq | VU3RGK | VU3CNN | C.K.NANDAGOPALAN MADRAS 600020 India | 30/Jul/15 02:41:55PM | 30/Jul/15 09:11:55AM | 59 | 59 | |
| Enter. Freq | VU3RGK | VU3MOA | R. MOHAN MADRAS 600017 India | 30/Jul/15 02:42:04PM | 30/Jul/15 09:12:04AM | 59 | 59 | |
| Enter. Freq | VU3RGK | VU3USI | CHRISTOPHER TILAKAR CHENNAI 600008 TN India | 30/Jul/15 02:42:10PM | 30/Jul/15 09:12:10AM | 59 | 59 | |
| Enter. Freq | VU3RGK | UNKNOWN | Not found in qrz.com | 30/Jul/15 02:42:19PM | 30/Jul/15 09:12:19AM | 59 | 59 | |
| Frequency | VU6P Stn | Station | Details of Station | India Time | UTC Time | Our Signal | His Signal | Remarks |
| Enter. Freq | VU3RGK | VU3CNN | C.K.NANDAGOPALAN MADRAS 600020 India | 30/Jul/15 05:46:50 PM | 30/Jul/15 12:16:50 PM | 59 | 59 | |
| 145.677 | VU3RGK | VU3MOA | R. MOHAN MADRAS 600017 India | 30/Jul/15 05:47:08 PM | 30/Jul/15 12:17:08 PM | 59 | 59 | |
| 145.677 | VU3RGK | VU2MOA | ANIL KUMAR MAHESWARI SECUNDREBAD 500025 India | 30/Jul/15 05:47:15 PM | 30/Jul/15 12:17:15 PM | 59 | 59 | |
| 145.677 | VU3RGK | VU2MO | Details cannot be fetched from QRZ | 30/Jul/15 05:47:25 PM | 30/Jul/15 12:17:25 PM | 59 | 59 | |
| Frequency | VU6P Stn | Station | Details of Station | India Time | UTC Time | Our Signal | His Signal | Remarks |
| Enter. Freq | VU3RGK | VU2LLL | Details cannot be fetched from QRZ | 31/Jul/15 10:40:48 AM | 31/Jul/15 05:10:48 AM | 59 | 59 | |
| Enter. Freq | VU3RGK | VU3LLL | KALYANA SUNDARAM P ERODE TN India | 31/Jul/15 10:41:01 AM | 31/Jul/15 05:11:01 AM | 59 | 59 |


Dad performs citizen's arrest on on-the-run paedophile he saw on a bus
A paedophile who was released by mistake is back in prison after he was caught by a father on a bus.
Yesterday we ran a police appeal about Valerijs Gordijs who was wanted after being let out by accident while serving a sentence for sex offences against children.
He was spotted by Graham Lamb, 45, who performed a citizen’s arrest after recognising him thanks to that appeal then posed for a selfie with him.
Graham said: ‘He got on and I thought “t can’t be.
‘I was checking Facebook and it popped up saying convicted paedophile was out of prison, and he was right in front of me on the bus.
‘I kept looking at him and he kept looking at me. I brought up his picture on my phone and that was when I realised it was the same guy.’
Advertisement Advertisement
Police had warned people not to approach Gordijs, 46, but Graham said he couldn’t just sit back and let him go free.
He said: ‘I said to the bus driver it was him and that she needed to stop the bus so I could ring the police.
‘I showed her the picture and he looked at the phone and tried getting off the bus so I went after him. He tried to avoid me so I said “stay there” and I rang the police.
‘I was ready to grab him and pin him down but I did not need to. He was only a small guy and would not have put up much of a fight.
‘As soon as I said “stay there” he had a worried look on his face. He had the same scar above his left eye. I knew it was him.
‘As soon as the bus pulled away there was a police car right next to it so I flagged it down.

The Ministry of Justice said: ‘Releases in error are very rare but we take them extremely seriously and are working closely with police to bring offenders back into custody quickly.’
Advertisement Advertisement
A Humberside Police spokesman added: ‘Following our media appeal, Valerijs Gordijs was located on Hessle Road this morning. He was arrested and will be returned to prison.
‘We want to thank everyone who shared our appeal.’
Got a story for Metro.co.uk?
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at<EMAIL_ADDRESS>For more stories like this, check our news page.


That old, familiar smell
stupidity makes courage.
innocence creates possibility.
tony takes pictures.
the person who presses the shutter: he does not.
When I was 10 years old, I got my first (and my last) DSLR. With no experience using any cameras or doing any kind of image processing, I just kept on pressing shutters. 7 years later, I still keep on doing so.
These were the days when photography was simply a hobby of mine. Nothing more.


|
DoctorDumpSDK
|
This interface used to add custom data to crash report. More...
#include <CrashRpt.h>
Public Member Functions | |
| virtual bool | AddFileToReport (LPCWSTR path, LPCWSTR reportFileName)=0 |
| virtual bool | RemoveFileFromReport (LPCWSTR path)=0 |
| virtual bool | AddUserInfoToReport (LPCWSTR key, LPCWSTR value)=0 |
| virtual bool | RemoveUserInfoFromReport (LPCWSTR key)=0 |
This interface used to add custom data to crash report.
|
pure virtual |
You may add any file to crash report. This file will be read when crash appears and will be sent within the report. Multiple files may be added. Filename of the file in the report may be changed to any name.
| [in] | path | Path to the file, that will be added to the report. |
| [in] | reportFileName | Filename that will be used in report for this file. If parameter is NULL, original name from path will be used. |
|
pure virtual |
You may add any key/value pair to crash report.
| [in] | key | key string that will be added to the report. |
| [in] | value | value for the key. |
|
pure virtual |
Remove from report the file that was registered earlier to be sent within report.
| [in] | path | Path to the file, that will be removed from the report. |
|
pure virtual |
You may remove any key that was added previously to crash report by AddUserInfoToReport.
| [in] | key | key string that will be removed from the report. |


|
KratosMultiphysics
KRATOS Multiphysics (Kratos) is a framework for building parallel, multi-disciplinary simulation software, aiming at modularity, extensibility, and high performance. Kratos is written in C++, and counts with an extensive Python interface.
|
Aitken convergence accelerator Aitken formula-based. More...
#include <aitken_convergence_accelerator.hpp>
Public Member Functions | |
Life Cycle | |
| AitkenConvergenceAccelerator (Parameters rConvAcceleratorParameters) | |
| AitkenConvergenceAccelerator (double rOmegaInitial=0.825) | |
| AitkenConvergenceAccelerator (const AitkenConvergenceAccelerator &rOther) | |
| virtual BaseTypePointer | Clone () |
| virtual | ~AitkenConvergenceAccelerator () |
Operations | |
| void | InitializeSolutionStep () override |
| void | UpdateSolution (const VectorType &rResidualVector, VectorType &rIterationGuess) override |
| void | FinalizeNonLinearIteration () override |
| Public Member Functions inherited from Kratos::ConvergenceAccelerator< TSparseSpace, TDenseSpace > | |
| ConvergenceAccelerator ()=default | |
| ConvergenceAccelerator (Parameters ThisParameters) | |
| ConvergenceAccelerator (const ConvergenceAccelerator &Other)=delete | |
| virtual | ~ConvergenceAccelerator ()=default |
| virtual void | Initialize () |
| Initialize the convergence accelerator Operations that are required to be done once before the resolution of the problem. More... | |
| virtual void | InitializeNonLinearIteration () |
| Operations before each non-linear iteration Performs all the required operations that should be done before each non-linear iteration. More... | |
| virtual void | FinalizeSolutionStep () |
| Operations after solving the solution step Performs all the required operations that should be done (for each step) after solving the solution step. More... | |
| virtual void | Finalize () |
| Finalize the convergence accelerator Perform all the operations required after the resolution of the problem. More... | |
| virtual void | Clear () |
| Clear the internal storage Clears all the internal data (e.g. previous observation matrices) More... | |
| virtual void | SetEchoLevel (int Level) |
| Set the Echo Level object Set the echo level of the convergence accelerator. More... | |
| int | GetEchoLevel () |
| Get the Echo Level object Get the echo level of the convergence accelerator. More... | |
| virtual bool | IsBlockNewton () const |
| Checks if the update direction is unique or double For the current convergence accelerator, this method returns information about the nature of the coupling If it is block Newton, the update is done in both directions. Otherwise, it is done in one direction. More... | |
| KRATOS_CLASS_POINTER_DEFINITION (ConvergenceAccelerator) | |
Protected Attributes | |
Protected member Variables | |
| unsigned int | mConvergenceAcceleratorIteration = 0 |
| double | mOmega_0 |
| double | mOmega_1 = 0.0 |
| VectorPointerType | mpResidualVector_0 = nullptr |
| VectorPointerType | mpResidualVector_1 = nullptr |
| Protected Attributes inherited from Kratos::ConvergenceAccelerator< TSparseSpace, TDenseSpace > | |
| int | mEchoLevel |
Type Definitions | |
| typedef ConvergenceAccelerator< TSparseSpace, TDenseSpace > | BaseType |
| typedef BaseType::Pointer | BaseTypePointer |
| typedef BaseType::VectorType | VectorType |
| typedef BaseType::VectorPointerType | VectorPointerType |
| KRATOS_CLASS_POINTER_DEFINITION (AitkenConvergenceAccelerator) | |
Additional Inherited Members | |
| Public Types inherited from Kratos::ConvergenceAccelerator< TSparseSpace, TDenseSpace > | |
| typedef TSparseSpace::VectorType | VectorType |
| typedef TSparseSpace::MatrixType | MatrixType |
| typedef TSparseSpace::VectorPointerType | VectorPointerType |
| typedef TSparseSpace::MatrixPointerType | MatrixPointerType |
| typedef TDenseSpace::VectorType | DenseVectorType |
| typedef TDenseSpace::MatrixType | DenseMatrixType |
| typedef TDenseSpace::MatrixPointerType | DenseMatrixPointerType |
| typedef TDenseSpace::VectorPointerType | DenseVectorPointerType |
| Protected Member Functions inherited from Kratos::ConvergenceAccelerator< TSparseSpace, TDenseSpace > | |
| virtual void | ComputeJacobianApproximation () |
| virtual DenseMatrixPointerType | pGetInverseJacobianApproximation () |
| virtual std::size_t | GetProblemSize () const |
Aitken convergence accelerator Aitken formula-based.
| TSparseSpace | Linear algebra sparse space |
| TDenseSpace | Linear algebra dense space |
| typedef ConvergenceAccelerator<TSparseSpace, TDenseSpace> Kratos::AitkenConvergenceAccelerator< TSparseSpace, TDenseSpace >::BaseType |
| typedef BaseType::Pointer Kratos::AitkenConvergenceAccelerator< TSparseSpace, TDenseSpace >::BaseTypePointer |
| typedef BaseType::VectorPointerType Kratos::AitkenConvergenceAccelerator< TSparseSpace, TDenseSpace >::VectorPointerType |
| typedef BaseType::VectorType Kratos::AitkenConvergenceAccelerator< TSparseSpace, TDenseSpace >::VectorType |
|
inlineexplicit |
Constructor. Aitken convergence accelerator
|
inline |
|
inline |
Copy Constructor.
|
inlinevirtual |
Destructor.
|
inlinevirtual |
Clone
|
inlineoverridevirtual |
Updates the Aitken iteration values for the next non-linear iteration
Reimplemented from Kratos::ConvergenceAccelerator< TSparseSpace, TDenseSpace >.
|
inlineoverridevirtual |
Initialize the internal iteration counter
Reimplemented from Kratos::ConvergenceAccelerator< TSparseSpace, TDenseSpace >.
| Kratos::AitkenConvergenceAccelerator< TSparseSpace, TDenseSpace >::KRATOS_CLASS_POINTER_DEFINITION | ( | AitkenConvergenceAccelerator< TSparseSpace, TDenseSpace > | ) |
|
inlineoverridevirtual |
Performs the solution update The correction is done as u_i+1 = u_i + w_i+1*r_i+1 where w_i+1 is de relaxation parameter computed using the Aitken's formula.
| rResidualVector | Residual vector from the residual evaluation |
| rIterationGuess | Current iteration guess |
Reimplemented from Kratos::ConvergenceAccelerator< TSparseSpace, TDenseSpace >.
|
protected |
|
protected |
|
protected |
|
protected |
|
protected |


The code to set iframe height to match its document's height is brief and includes just two functions.
The getDocHeight
function obtains the height of the document cross-browser for both standards and quirks mode documents. The setIframeHeight
function sets the iframe element's height to match the contained document's height.
View the source code of the main document to see these functions.
A call to the function setIframeHeight
is added to the iframe element's onload attribute:
<iframe id="ifrm" src="pages/height1.html" onload="setIframeHeight(this.id)"></iframe>


The Last Days of Disco (1998) Chloe Sevigny, Kate Beckinsale, Christopher Eigeman , MacKenzie Astin, Matthew Keeslar, Robert Sean Leonard, Tara Subkoff, David Thornton, Jennifer Beals, Mark McKinney. Written and directed by Whit Stillman. 115 minutes. R, 3 stars (out of five stars)
Review by Ed Johnson-Ott, NUVO Newsweekly www.nuvo-online.com/film/ Archive reviews at http://us.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Edward+Johnson-ott
After seeing this film, I think I understand why disco died. Everybody was so busy yapping that they simply forgot to dance. At least that's the way it seems in "The Last Days of Disco," Whit Stillman's entertaining film about a group of dreadful people. While the satire features a talented cast maneuvering through a perfunctory storyline and romantic subplots, the real star here is the English language. Stillman is intoxicated with words and the film overflows with urbane conversations. His characters talk about social manners. They talk about the politics of dating. They talk about group dynamics, the origins of environmentalism and Disney's role in reinforcing stereotypical male and female behavior. They talk and talk and talk until you want to scream "For the love of God, would you people just shut up and dance!?!"
With "Metropolitan" and "Barcelona," "The Last Days of Disco" completes a trilogy of Stillman films containing many of the same characters. Set against the world of disco in the early 80's, the production focuses on a handful of horrible young adults. Alice (Chloe Sevigny) and Charlotte (Kate Beckinsale) are co-workers at a publishing house. The pair spend their evenings at a glittery disco packed with extras dressed in colorful outfits. Doormen stand guard at the exclusive club, admitting only people with the "right" look and social status. The disco is the center of Alice and Charlotte's lives and they never venture to other nightclubs. Perhaps that's because this is the only disco on Earth that plays its music quietly enough to allow casual conversation.
Charlotte, the consummate bitch, spews an endless stream of offhand nasty remarks to her "friend." With a reassuring touch to the forearm, she tells Alice "In physical terms I'm cuter than you." In front of a group, she mulls over why Alice isn't drinking that evening, sorts it out, then cheerfully announces "Oh, I get it. It's because of that medication you're taking. You've got gonorrhea!" Later, she apologizes for her "compulsive honesty," while opining that getting VD can be a plus, because notifying your past partners is a great excuse to renew relations with old boyfriends.
Charlotte isn't the only gem in this tiara of humanity. There's junior club manager Des (Christopher Eigeman), who dumps girlfriends by "discovering" that he's gay (he explains that his moment of realization came when he noticed his unusual attraction to Marlon Perkin's assistant in "Wild Kingdom"), advertising executive Jimmy (MacKenzie Astin), who ferrets clients into the club by wearing Wizard of Oz costumes, and Tom (Robert Sean Leonard), an activist who theorizes that the modern environmental movement began when thousands of baby boomers were simultaneously traumatized by the death of Bambi's mother. And let's not forget Josh (Matthew Keeslar), a manic-depressive assistant DA who, when not furtively investigating the club's finances, waxes rhapsodic about the disco "movement" ("something this big and important will never really die," he says unconvincingly).
In-between conversations, they...wait, that's wrong, these people are never in-between conversations. DURING conversations, they date each other, break up and make up, and have periodic ugly confrontations with the outside world. Despite the almost total lack of action, the film is engaging and often funny. One of the highlights is a deep group discussion about Josh's deconstructionist theory that Disney's "Lady and the Tramp" was designed to "program women to adore jerks."
Unfortunately, the characters are so incredibly annoying that it becomes difficult to appreciate the humor, as the urge to belt these pretentious, self-absorbed idiots grows stronger and stronger. These are stagnant people. They accomplish nothing, they do nothing except dissect life's minutia while celebrating their own mediocrity. While their vapidity may be the core of Stillman's satire of the social mores of the period, it doesn't make it any easier to watch. Thank goodness for the "Love Train" sequence that ends the film. I won't spoil things by describing it here, but the scene is both funny and lyrical, breaking the inertia that weighs down the rest of the film. How odd that a movie set in a disco suffers from lack of movement.
In an ideal world, Whit Stillman would have got together with "Godzilla" creators Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich and combined their character- deficient movie with his. By blending both films into one, they could have created a stunning fusion, an event film with brains. Think about it. A giant lizard attacks Manhattan during the disco days. While the military battles the creature, Whitman's characters wander the New York streets prattling endlessly, oblivious to everything except the sound of their own voices. Then, just before the final battle scene, Godzilla takes a surprise step and squishes the entire cast of "The Last Days of Disco." Now that would be a five star movie.
© 1998, Ed Johnson-Ott
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews


Advanced search operators are query words or symbols that perform special actions in Gmail search. These operators allow you to find what you're looking for quickly and accurately. They can also be used to set up filters so you can organize your inbox automatically.
Some of the most useful operators are listed below.
from:
Used to specify the sender.
Example: from:amy
- messages from Amy
Used to specify a recipient.
Example: to:david
- messages that were sent to David (by you or someone else)
Search for words in the subject line.
Example: subject:dinner
- messages that have the word "dinner" in the subject
Search for messages matching term A or term B.
Note: OR must be in all caps.
Example: from:amy OR from:david
- messages from Amy or from David
Search for messages by label.
Example: from:amy label:friends
- messages from Amy that have the label "friends"
Example: from:david label:my-family
- messages from David that have the label "My Family"
Used to exclude messages from your search.
Example: dinner -movie
- messages that contain the word "dinner" but do not contain the word "movie"
Used to search for an exact phrase.
Capitalization isn't taken into consideration.
Example: "i'm feeling lucky"
- messages containing the phrase "i'm feeling lucky" or "I'm feeling lucky"
Example: subject:"dinner and a movie"
- messages containing the phrase "dinner and a movie" in the subject


MIMIC
A Film Review by James Berardinelli
RATING (0 TO 10): 6.0 Alternative Scale: **1/2 out of ****
United States, 1997 U.S. Release Date: 8/22/97 (wide) Running Length: 1:40 MPAA Classification: R (Violence, gore, profanity) Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Cast: Mira Sorvino, Jeremy Northam, Charles Dutton, Giancarlo Giannini, F. Murray Abraham, Josh Brolin, Alexander Goodwin Director: Guillermo Del Toro Producers: B.J. Rack Screenplay: John Sayles, Steven Soderbergh, Matthew Robbins Cinematography: Dan Lausten Music: Marco Beltrami U.S. Distributor: Dimension Films
It's dark, dank, and gloomy. The human survivors are trapped, prisoners in a structure from which all the escape routes have been cut off. The enemy, nightmarish creations of some special effects creature workshop, are closing in slowly but inexorably. One-by-one, the valiant heroes are picked off, several of them giving their lives so that their compatriots will have a better opportunity to survive.
What I have just described is the premise of James Cameron's action/science fiction classic, ALIENS. Without much alteration, it is also the premise of MIMIC, the newest release from Miramax's horror label, Dimension Films. In fact, the title of this motion picture is quite apt -- MIMIC does an excellent job of imitating not only ALIENS, but several other science fiction and horror features, including such odd choices as LEVIATHAN and THE THING. The derivative result is, as one might expect, moderately entertaining, but far from groundbreaking in its approach or execution.
What's perhaps surprising about this film is the quantity and quality of ability involved. On the acting side, two Academy Awards are represented (F. Murray Abraham and Mira Sorvino), in addition to the recognized talents of Charles Dutton, Jeremy Northam, and Giancarlo Giannini. The director is Guillermo Del Toro, who reinvented the vampire legend with his critically-acclaimed Mexican horror film, CRONOS. The script includes contributions from two indie giants, John Sayles and Stephen Soderbergh. With so many luminaries involved, therefore, it's a bit of a disappointment that MIMIC is so... ordinary.
The most interesting aspect of the film is probably the backstory that sets up the "bug hunt." This postulates that a devastating disease has stricken New York City. One by one, children are dying, and there's no end in sight. An etymologist by the name of Susan Tyler (Mira Sorvino) determines that the disease is being spread by cockroaches. In order to save thousands of lives, she heads a team of experts to genetically engineer a vicious-looking insect called the "Judas Breed" that is designed to kill the roaches. As developed in the lab, it is infertile and has a six-month life cycle. Tyler's team releases their creations onto the streets, the cockroaches are killed, and the disease is eradicated. All is calm, but only for three years. Then Tyler learns John Hammond's lesson from JURASSIC PARK -- supposed sterility isn't the definitive way of stopping procreation. The entire species of Judas Breed did not die out when it was supposed to. Mutated and evolved, the creatures now haunt the subways of New York city, awaiting an opportunity to swarm. Along with her husband, Peter (Jeremy Northam), a cop (Charles Dutton), and a concerned grandfather (Giancarlo Giannini), Tyler must venture into the dark, dangerous depths of New York's underground world to confront what her Judas Breed has become.
All of this is background, however. MIMIC's centerpiece is the survival game played out between humans and giant insects, and, while it's marked with moments of tension, the film is a little too familiar to get the adrenaline flowing. Del Toro is masterful at creating atmosphere, but there's only so far that can take a film, and the plot isn't strong enough to elevate the proceedings to a higher level. Most of MIMIC's true scares are of the obvious variety -- those that are enhanced by sudden surges of music. In fact, it has been a while since a movie has really given me the creeps, and this one doesn't change that.
Mira Sorvino seems miscast as the brainy, no-nonsense Dr. Tyler. Maybe the problem is that she's so good at playing bimbos (as in MIGHTY APHRODITE and ROMY AND MICHELLE'S HIGH SCHOOL REUNION) that it's hard to accept her as an egghead. More successful is Jeremy Northam as Susan's husband, the deputy director of the Center for Disease Control. Giancarlo Giannini is a pleasant addition to the cast, even if an early subplot involving his relationship with his grandson (Alexander Goodwin) is dragged out. F. Murray Abraham is on hand in a small role as "the voice of wisdom." The real star of MIMIC, however, is Charles Dutton, who plays a NYC cop with the kind of gusto that makes him the most real and likable member of the group.
With MIMIC, Miramax is probably hoping to reproduce the success of last year's SCREAM, the highest-grossing horror movie of all time. However, while this atmosphere-drenched film offers a few shocks, it lacks the knowing wit and genuine scariness of Wes Craven's 1996 offering. In essence, MIMIC is a B movie with an A-grade cast and production team. And that may be all you need to know to determine whether or not this is your kind of flick.
Copyright 1997 James Berardinelli
- James Berardinelli e-mail<EMAIL_ADDRESS>ReelViews web site: http://www.cybernex.net/~berardin
"A film is a petrified fountain of thought." - Jean Cocteau
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews


{{/*
This partial was modified from the AllinOne theme
https://github.com/orianna-zzo/AllinOne
*/}}
{{/* Minimum heading level to include; default is h1. */}}
{{- $minLevel := 1 -}}
{{/* Minimum heading level to include; default is h3. */}}
{{- $maxLevel := 3 -}}
{{ if .Params.toc }}
{{- $regex := printf "(?ms:


Inference Tasks Documentation¶
OpenSeismic allows users to not only conduct regular inference on data, but it also helps users conduct critical inference tasks on seismic data. Below introduce the functions responsible for conducting inference. Read their descriptions in order to understand how to specify them in your configuration JSON file.
Regular Inference¶
-
core.python.infer_regular.
infer_sync
(arg_obj, logger, get_functions)¶ Synchronously infer as normal. In order to use this in your configuration, specify
infer_type
assync
.- Parameters
arg_obj – Arguments object that holds parameters needed for inference.
logger – Common logger object for logging coherence.
get_functions – Functions associated with parameters given.
- Returns
None
-
core.python.infer_regular.
infer_async
(arg_obj, logger, get_functions)¶ Asynchronously infer as normal. In order to use this in your configuration, specify
infer_type
asasync
.- Parameters
arg_obj – Arguments object that holds parameters needed for inference.
logger – Common logger object for logging coherence.
get_functions – Functions associated with parameters given.
- Returns
Coarse Cube Inference¶
-
core.python.infer_coarse_cube.
infer_coarse_cubed_sync
(arg_obj, logger, get_functions)¶ Infer on 3D seismic data synchronously with coarse cube output. In order to use this in your configuration, specify
infer_type
ascoarse_cube_sync
. Fine cubed inference requires that additional parameters such asim_size
andwindow
be specified in the JSON configuration file. This function’s specific arguments will be filled according to your configuration inputs.- Parameters
arg_obj – Arguments object that holds parameters needed for inference.
logger – Common logger object for logging coherence.
get_functions – Functions associated with parameters given.
- Returns
None
Fine Cube Inference¶
-
core.python.infer_fine_cube.
infer_fine_cubed_sync
(arg_obj, logger, get_functions)¶ Infer on 3D seismic data synchronously with fine cube output. In order to use this in your configuration, specify
infer_type
asfine_cube_sync
. Fine cubed inference requires that additional parameters such asslice
,subsampl
,im_size
,slice_no
, andreturn_to_fullsize
be specified in the JSON configuration file. This function’s specific arguments will be filled according to your configuration inputs.- Parameters
arg_obj – Arguments object that holds parameters needed for inference.
logger – Common logger object for logging coherence.
get_functions – Functions associated with parameters given.
- Returns
None
-
core.python.infer_fine_cube.
infer_fine_cubed_async
(arg_obj, logger, get_functions)¶ Infer on 3D seismic data asynchronously with fine cube output. In order to use this in your configuration, specify
infer_type
asfine_cube_async
. Fine cubed inference requires that additional parameters such asslice
,subsampl
,im_size
,slice_no
, andreturn_to_fullsize
be specified in the JSON configuration file. This function’s specific arguments will be filled according to your configuration inputs.- Parameters
arg_obj – Arguments object that holds parameters needed for inference.
logger – Common logger object for logging coherence.
get_functions – Functions associated with parameters given.
- Returns
None
Section Inference¶
-
core.python.infer_section.
infer_section_sync
(arg_obj, logger, get_functions)¶ Infer on section data synchronously. In order to use this in your configuration, specify
infer_type
assection_sync
. Section inference requires that additional parameters such asslice
,subsampl
, andslice_no
be specified in the JSON configuration file. This function’s specific arguments will be filled according to your configuration inputs.- Parameters
arg_obj – Arguments object that holds parameters needed for inference.
logger – Common logger object for logging coherence.
get_functions – Functions associated with parameters given.
- Returns
None
-
core.python.infer_section.
infer_section_async
(arg_obj, logger, get_functions)¶ Infer on section data asynchronously. In order to use this in your configuration, specify
infer_type
assection_async
. Section inference requires that additional parameters such asslice
,subsampl
, andslice_no
be specified in the JSON configuration file. This function’s specific arguments will be filled according to your configuration inputs.- Parameters
arg_obj – Arguments object that holds parameters needed for inference.
logger – Common logger object for logging coherence.
get_functions – Functions associated with parameters given.
- Returns
None


step1
click
anchor
span
step2
background animation
position
align center
extra
something out of my idea
scale
transform
position
I think I can try more.
step3
Combine them simply.
Now I choose button, but in the future I think the text with "none" of "user-select" is better.