AAA??May. 27, 2013?6:04 PM ET Britain: EU ends embargo on Syrian opposition By RAF CASERT and JAMEY KEATENBy RAF CASERT and JAMEY KEATEN, Associated Press??
In this photo released on Sunday, May 26, 2013, by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad take their position during a clashes against Syrian rebels, in Aleppo, Syria. Syria's Information Ministry says rebels have killed a TV correspondent who was covering clashes near the border with Lebanon. (AP Photo/SANA)
In this photo released on Sunday, May 26, 2013, by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad take their position during a clashes against Syrian rebels, in Aleppo, Syria. Syria's Information Ministry says rebels have killed a TV correspondent who was covering clashes near the border with Lebanon. (AP Photo/SANA)
British Foreign Secretary William Hague, left, talks with Belgium's Foreign Minister Didier Reynders, during the EU foreign ministers meeting, at the European Council building in Brussels, Monday, May 27, 2013. The European Union nations remain divided on Monday whether to ease sanctions against Syria to allow for weapons shipments to rebels fighting the regime of Syria's President Bashar Assad. (AP Photo/Yves Logghe)
British Foreign Secretary William Hague, seated, talks with German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, during the EU foreign ministers meeting, at the European Council building in Brussels, Monday, May 27, 2013. The European Union nations remain divided on Monday whether to ease sanctions against Syria to allow for weapons shipments to rebels fighting the regime of Syria's President Bashar Assad. (AP Photo/Yves Logghe)
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, center, listens to Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger, right, and other counterparts, during the EU foreign ministers meeting, at the European Council building in Brussels, Monday, May 27, 2013. The European Union nations remain divided on Monday whether to ease sanctions against Syria to allow for weapons shipments to rebels fighting the regime of Syria's President Bashar Assad. (AP Photo/Yves Logghe)
Italy's Foreign Minister Emma Bonino, left, talks with Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, during the EU foreign ministers meeting, at the European Council building in Brussels, Monday, May 27, 2013. The European Union nations remain divided on Monday whether to ease sanctions against Syria to allow for weapons shipments to rebels fighting the regime of Syria's President Bashar Assad. (AP Photo/Yves Logghe)
BRUSSELS (AP) ? British Foreign Secretary William Hague says the European Union has decided to lift the arms embargo on the Syrian opposition while maintaining all other sanctions against Bashar Assad's regime after June 1.
Hague said after the meeting Monday that the decision "sends a very strong message from Europe to the Assad regime."
The all-day meeting laid bare EU hesitation on feeding arms in a foreign conflict only months after it won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Hague insisted that Britain had "no immediate plans to send arms to Syria. It gives us flexibility to respond in the future if the situation continues to deteriorate."
PARIS (AP) ? Serena Williams won her opening match at the French Open, and then achieved a career breakthrough by speaking French to the crowd for the first time.
"I'm a beginner," Williams said ? referring to her French, not tennis.
Her play spoke volumes Sunday. Williams returned to the red clay that tripped her up in the first round a year ago, channeled any lingering frustration into her overpowering strokes and ? voila ? drubbed Anna Tatishvili 6-0, 6-1.
Roger Federer, the 2009 champion, remained unbeaten in first-round matches at major tournaments since 2003 by sweeping qualifier Pablo Carreno Busta 6-2, 6-2, 6-3. Sam Querrey, the highest-ranked American on the men's tour, equaled his best showing at Roland Garros by reaching the second round when he beat Lukas Lacko 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.
Williams lost her opening match at a Grand Slam tournament for the only time in her career a year ago, when she was beaten by France's Virginie Razzano. That was the most shocking in a succession of losses for Williams at Roland Garros, where she hasn't won the title since 2002 and hasn't reached the semifinals since 2003.
"I just keep trying, and it hasn't been working out for me," she said. "I may have gotten nervous in the past or may have basically choked a few matches away. Some matches I just lost because maybe I wasn't intense enough, or maybe I didn't do enough work before I got here."
Determined to avoid another bad start, Williams won the first nine games against Tatishvili, and 30 of the first 37 points. There was no letup from there, and she was still pumping her fist and shouting "Come on!" a game from the finish.
The No. 1-ranked Williams won 56 of 78 points, including 28 of 33 on her serve, and hit eight aces. She extended her winning streak to 25 consecutive matches, and since the loss to Razzano, she's 68-3, including championships at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.
Beginning her bid for a 16th Grand Slam title, Williams maintained a stern expression throughout the match, and allowed herself only a brief smile when Tatishvili pushed a forehand wide on match point.
Williams, who keeps an apartment in Paris, was then interviewed on center court and spoke French with only a slight accent.
"I have been speaking French for years and years, but I don't really have a lot of confidence," she said later in English. "It's way, way more nerve-racking than playing tennis."
Federer also spoke French to the crowd, and also won easily. He lost only seven points on his first serve and was broken just once by Carreno Busta, a 21-year-old Spaniard was making his Grand Slam debut after winning seven consecutive Futures events.
"He has played a lot of matches on clay in comparison with me," Federer said. "I knew it could be tricky if I don't sustain a certain level of play and certain aggressiveness and get caught up maybe in long rallies, maybe what he's looking for. Overall I thought I did well."
Others advancing on a chilly, gray first day of play included Sara Errani, the 2012 runner-up to Maria Sharapova, and 2008 champion Ana Ivanovic.
American Mallory Burdette, whose ranking has climbed to a career-best 80th from 142nd at the start of the year, made a successful Roland Garros debut by beating Donna Vekic 6-3, 6-4.
Burdette, a 22-year-old Stanford alum, said she has enjoyed learning how to play on clay.
"It's a bit of a challenge," she said. "You have to change up your strategy a little bit, especially if you're a big hitter. It takes a little bit of effort, but it's fun."
Dominant serving helped Querrey advance. He had been eliminated the first round at Roland Garros five times, and his only previous victory in the tournament came in 2011 on remote Court 7, where he played again Sunday.
"That's the only court I can win on here," he said with a smile. "I played the best match I've played all year on any surface."
Former No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt lost a seesaw marathon to No. 15-seeded Gilles Simon, 3-6, 1-6, 6-4, 6-1, 7-5. No. 4 David Ferrer, a semifinalist last year, eliminated Marinko Matosevic 6-4, 6-3, 6-4.
An hour into the tournament, Errani was into the second round. The tenacious Italian beat Arantxa Rus 6-1, 6-2 in the opening match on Court Suzanne Lenglen.
Errani reached a Grand Slam final for the first time a year ago at Roland Garros.
"Last year was an unbelievable tournament, the best tournament of my life," Errani said. "But I don't want to think about that. I just want to come here and play another tournament. I try to concentrate on my tennis, not too much about last year."
Now ranked a career-best No. 5, Errani dominated Rus from the baseline and won four games at love. Rus double-faulted seven times and lost her 13th consecutive match on the WTA Tour.
Ivanovic, seeded 14th, beat Petra Martic 6-1, 3-6, 6-3. Ivanovic improved to 30-4 in the first round of Grand Slam tournaments.
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Ok, I know how much people hate these questions, the whole "Shader runs slow" or "Code runs slow.." But I seriously do not know what to say about this. I'm making point lighting with, well, multiple lights that will blend. I have no trouble uploading the data, and it draws, at about 70 fps. Here's the code that runs, but if you follow the logic, you will see that only the last light is drawn whereas the other lights are drawn over. I know why, it makes sense, but anything i try to include the other lights causes the fps to go below 20 fps. Keep in mind, this is for a game. Here it is:
Vertex Shader:
void main() { gl_TexCoord[0] = gl_MultiTexCoord0; gl_FrontColor = gl_Color; // Set the position of the current vertex gl_Position = gl_ModelViewProjectionMatrix * gl_Vertex; }
Fragment Shader where only one light is drawn:
void light(const float loc, const float redDiff, const float greenDiff, const float blueDiff, const float redDist, const float greenDist, const float blueDist) { //the size of the light const float lightSize = loc; //the color of the fragment lowp vec4 value = {0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0}; float locX; float locY; //this is actually the distance x and y components locX = loc - gl_FragCoord.x; locY = loc - gl_FragCoord.y; //the value of a^2 + b^2. value.r = (locX * locX) + (locY * locY); //the hypotenuse of the triangle value.r = sqrt(value.r); float distance = value.r; //then the light value, depending on how big the distance away from the light it is float lightRed = (lightSize - abs(distance * redDist)) / lightSize; float lightGreen = (lightSize - abs(distance * greenDist)) / lightSize; float lightBlue = (lightSize - abs(distance * blueDist)) / lightSize; red = ((lightRed) * redDiff); green = ((lightGreen) * greenDiff); blue = (lightBlue) * blueDiff; } void main() { //how many lights there are, currently 64. i can change that, but this isn't where the problem lies for(int i = 0; i < 64; i++) { light(i * 16, 1, 0.5, 0.0, 1, 1.125, 0.0); } gl_FragColor = vec4(red, green, blue, 1) * texture2D(color_texture, gl_TexCoord[0].st); }
The above code runs at about 70 fps, which is fine. But only one light is drawn. Now, any attempts at adding more lights drops the fps badly, to about 20. The lights all blend well, but 20 fps is bad. A few things i tried was if gates, to see if the new light is brighter than the old value, and if so, the color changes to the new light value. I also tried to find the difference between the new and old, and add it if its positive, but so far that hasn't worked either. So, if anyone could point in the right direction how i can allow blending while keeping 70 fps, that would be appreciated.
Also, something weird is, take:
red = ((lightRed) * redDiff); green = ((lightGreen) * greenDiff); blue = (lightBlue) * blueDiff;
And make it this:
red += ((lightRed) * redDiff); green += ((lightGreen) * greenDiff); blue += (lightBlue) * blueDiff;
and frameRate drops considerably. That makes no sense why it does that, and it doesn't draw the lights either. However, if only the blue is changed from = to +=, then no frame drop occurs. What could be going on? Anyone know?
Is This A Good Question/Topic? 0
Replies To: Shader Running really slowly for some reason?
#2 ButchDean ?
Reputation: 879
Posts:3,355
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Re: Shader Running really slowly for some reason?
Posted Today, 07:29 PM
Before I put any thought into this are you running the shader routines in debug or release mode?
#3 zehawk ?
Reputation: 3
Posts:212
Joined:23-February 12
Re: Shader Running really slowly for some reason?
Posted Today, 07:47 PM
I'm just loading the shaders into the program normally, not using a debugger. How would i know the difference? I'm new to glsl, sorry...
#4 ButchDean ?
Reputation: 879
Posts:3,355
Joined:26-November 10
Re: Shader Running really slowly for some reason?
Posted 4 minutes ago
It would depend on what you are debugging. It's a very long story.
If you knew how to used the tools of your chosen IDE and a shader debugging tool you would most likely nail the bottleneck.
LONDON (AP) ? Counterterrorism police on Saturday questioned a friend of alleged Islamic extremist Michael Adebolajo, one of two suspects in a savage killing of a British soldier on a London street that has horrified the country.
The friend, Abu Nusaybah, was arrested immediately after he gave a BBC Television interview Friday describing how Adebolajo may have become radicalized in Kenya and alleging that Britain's security services tried to recruit him six months ago. Police said Nusaybah was wanted on suspicion of involvement in unspecified acts of terrorism.
Adebolajo, 28, and Michael Adebowale, 22, are suspected of killing soldier Lee Rigby by hacking his body with knives and a meat cleaver in front of dozens of passersby Wednesday in the southeast London district of Woolwich. The horrific scene was recorded on witnesses' cellphones, and a video has emerged showing one of the two suspects making political statements and warning of more violence as the soldier lay on the ground.
Police shot both men as they arrived minutes after Rigby's slaying. Both suspects remain under armed guard at two London hospitals.
The attack has sparked fears of anti-Muslim sentiments in Britain. Police on Saturday arrested three people on suspicion of posting racist comments on Twitter ahead of a march organized by the far-right group English Defense League in the northern city of Newcastle. Police said some 1,500 people took part in the march.
The group, which has clashed violently with police in the past, has used Rigby's murder to criticize the British government for not paying enough attention to radical Islam in the country. About 350 people staged a counter-demonstration.
Faith Matters, a charity campaigning against extremism, said its helpline has received 162 calls since Rigby was killed from people reporting anti-Muslim incidents including attacks against mosques.
Questions abound over what could have led the two men to attack Rigby, a 25-year-old ceremonial military drummer and machine-gunner who had served in Afghanistan and was off duty when he was walking near his barracks. Nusaybah's interview offered one possible narrative. He said Adebolajo's behavior changed after he allegedly suffered abuse at the hands of Kenyan security forces.
Nusaybah said Adebolajo became withdrawn after he was allegedly arrested and then abused both physically and sexually while in jail.
"Although that change wasn't necessarily one that became overt, aggressive or anything like that, he became ... less talkative. He wasn't his bubbly self," Nusaybah told the BBC.
He claimed that agents from Britain's domestic spy agency, MI5, approached Adebolajo after he returned to Britain and initially asked him if he had met specific Muslim militants, then asked Adebolajo if he was willing to act as an informer.
"He was explicit in that he refused to work for them," Nusaybah said.
The BBC said police arrested Nusaybah outside its studios Friday night immediately after recording the interview.
"This interviewee had important background information that sheds light on this horrific event," the BBC said in a statement. "And when we asked him to appear and interviewed him, we were not aware he was wanted for questioning by the police."
London police confirmed that a 31-year-old man was arrested Friday night on suspicion of "the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism." Police declined to identify Nusaybah by name or provide further detail.
It was not immediately possible to verify the information provided by Nusaybah, who said he had known Adebolajo for about a decade. MI5 does not publicly discuss its efforts to recruit informers.
It is not uncommon, however, for special services officers to occasionally visit communities to ask people if they know potential terror suspects or others under MI5 surveillance.
Potential informants go through a screening process to determine if they should be trusted, what their motivation might be and whether their information would be likely to be accurate.
Nusaybah said Adebolajo was converted to Islam around 2004. His account corroborates those provided by two Muslim hard-liners who said they also knew Adebolajo.
Anjem Choudary, a former leader of a banned British radical group called al-Muhajiroun, said Adebolajo was a Christian who converted to Islam around 2003. Choudary told The Associated Press that Adebolajo participated in several of the group's London demonstrations before Britain outlawed the group in 2010.
Omar Bakri Muhammad, another former al-Muhajiroun leader and radical Muslim preacher, said Adebolajo is a Nigerian who was born and raised in Britain. He said that Adebolajo attended his London lectures in the early 2000s, but added that he had not stayed in touch with the suspect since then. Muhammad fled London and resettled in Lebanon in 2005 after suicide attacks on London's public transit system killed 56 people, including four bombers.
"I don't know what Michael did since 2004 or 2005," Bakri told the AP. "Two years ago he stopped attending our open lectures and lessons as well as our activities."
The University of Greenwich confirmed Saturday that records show Adebolajo was registered as a student there between 2003 and 2005. His academic progress was unsatisfactory and he did not complete his studies there, vice chancellor David Maguire said. The university did not have records for the second suspect, Adebowale.
University officials are investigating whether there was any evidence of extremism on its campus, Maguire added.
Police have not officially named the two suspects ? officials in Britain usually wait to name suspects until charges have been filed. The AP has received confirmation of the identity of Adebowale from a British official speaking on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to disclose the information.
Few details have emerged about Adebowale besides one reported brush with death as a teenager.
The Guardian reported Saturday that Adebowale was stabbed in 2008, when a man attacked him and two friends in a London apartment. One 18-year-old friend died and the attacker received a life sentence for murder, the newspaper said.
Both suspects had been known to Britain's security services as part of previous terrorism investigations. Authorities said they have arrested three others, a man and two women, on suspicion of conspiracy to murder, but it is not yet clear whether the killing was part of any larger plot. The man remains in custody and the two women have been released without charge.
MI5 Director-General Andrew Parker is expected to deliver a preliminary report next week to Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee detailing what the agency knew about both suspects and whether MI5 could have done anything to stop the attack.
The directors of Britain's foreign spy agency, MI6, and Britain's eavesdropping agency, GCHQ, also are expected to give reports on what intelligence they had on the two men.
___
Associated Press writer Paisley Dodds in London and Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed to this report.
MADERA, Calif. (AP) ? After Paulino Mejia crossed the border illegally into the U.S. in 1980, he picked grapes, peaches and other crops in California's agricultural heartland, lived in crowded rental housing, hid from immigration agents and sent paychecks to family in his native Mexico.
His life, however, changed in 1986, when Congress agreed to allow immigrants who were in the country illegally to get legal status ? with a special provision that focused on farmworkers.
Mejia then stopped living in fear. He left agriculture to join a construction company that hired only legal workers, sent his two daughters to college and bought a house in Madera, near Fresno, instead of wiring money to Mexico.
"Immigration reform changed my life. It gave my family freedom," he said. "It allowed us to reach the American dream."
With Congress considering a new immigration proposal that includes a speedier process to legal status for farmworkers, experts say the best indicator of how such an overhaul would play out is to look at the fate of the generation of farmworkers legalized over two decades ago.
In Central California, the nation's agricultural powerhouse and a region with one of the highest poverty levels, the 1986 law had a profound impact on people like Mejia.
And like him, many other farmworkers legalized after 1986 have left the fields, moving to jobs in packing houses, warehouses and factories, attending college and working as professionals. And many who remained in agriculture became supervisors, crew leaders or labor contractors.
As their wages soared, they bought cars, houses and trailer homes ? and many airplane tickets to visit family south of the border.
Workers, advocates and experts say immigration reform could again lift many farmworkers, one of the poorest groups of immigrants, out of poverty. But this time, they say, legalization's impact would be much bigger: in 1986, many farmworkers were single men; today most have families.
Unlike in 1986, growers and worker advocates say the current reform proposal would also ensure that a poor, illegal class of farmworkers isn't created again ? by including a viable guest worker program that would allow for a flow of legal temporary workers into California's fields.
"Nobody knows the future, but if the past is any guide, the farmworkers who get legalized, many of them will leave agriculture pretty quickly," said Philip Martin, professor of agricultural and resource economics at University of California, Davis.
More than 1 million farmworkers applied for legalization under the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986.
After the corresponding drop in the number of farmworkers in the country illegally, federal data show that farmers failed to retain their legalized workers and turned again to hiring employees from the groups of people entering the U.S. illegally.
Today, experts say, at least two-thirds of the nation's farmworkers are in the country illegally and those legalized thanks to the 1986 changes make up just 12 to 15 percent of the agricultural workforce.
Experts say newly legalized farmworkers sought non-seasonal, year-round employment with a steady income and benefits such as health insurance or vacations, which are rare in agriculture.
"If you're a seventh-grade educated worker, after legalization you're still a seventh-grade educated worker, but you have more confidence that you will get another job and more opportunities are open to you," Martin said.
Even those who remained in the fields due to lack of language skills, little education or other barriers still benefited, because they were able to claim unemployment insurance and other benefits when farm work dried up for the season.
Other farmworkers went to college.
Fausto Sanchez, of Arvin, Calif., left agriculture for a job as a certified interpreter of Mixteco, an indigenous Mexican language spoken by many farmworkers.
He then got his high school diploma in adult school and an associate's degree in human services. He now works for a nonprofit, educating farmworkers about pesticides, heat rules and workers' rights. He and his wife own a house and two cars ? and he is planning to return to college to become a social worker.
"If I didn't get legalized, all this would not have been possible for me," Sanchez said.
California growers and labor contractors acknowledge many farmworkers would leave the fields if granted legal status.
"There's no question that once farmworkers get a green card, many will apply for other jobs and leave agriculture," said Tom Nassif, president of Western Growers, an industry group that represents California and Arizona growers. "We support the pathway to citizenship at our own peril, knowing we will lose the people who are most skilled and most productive employees within a short time."
But the flight from agriculture may not happen as fast, Nassif said, because the current version of immigration reform requires farmworkers to remain in agriculture for at least five years to qualify for the speedier legalization process.
The current reform proposal, Nassif said, also includes a viable guest worker program to provide a future flow of workers.
And once legalized, some farmworkers will choose to stay in the fields ? as was the case with Julia Cervantes, Mejia's wife, who still occasionally picks grapes and other crops. "I like fresh air. I sincerely like working in the fields," she said.
For Mejia, it came down to wages: He and his wife could not make ends meet with what farmers paid in the fields. "Our family started growing, and we didn't have enough to survive," Mejia said.
Legalization allowed Mejia to get a job erecting the metal frames of big box stores. His brother became a roofer. Other friends became plumbers and electricians, or field supervisors. "The work is easier and the money is better," Mejia said of his new profession.
Prior to the 1986 Amnesty, Mejia wanted to return to Mexico and wired money to build a house in Oaxaca, in southwestern Mexico. But after reform, Mejia's new construction job and his newly acquired social security number allowed his family to buy a home in California. Paying a mortgage and taxes cemented their decision to remain in the U.S.
"Before reform, we were afraid to buy anything or to settle here, because if they deported us, we would lose everything," he said. "Reform helped us to invest here."
STOCKHOLM (AP) ? Swedish police say they are looking for perpetrators involved in the weeklong riots in Stockholm suburbs that have resulted in some 220 reported crimes.
Summing up a week of violence and destruction, police spokesman Kjell Lindgren says around 60 people have been detained, suspected of various crimes, although most of them have been released awaiting charges.
He says the police investigation shows both organized rioters, seasoned criminals and young teenagers have been involved in burning cars, smashing windows and throwing rocks at police in the low-income, predominantly immigrant areas of the Swedish capital.
The unrest in the Stockholm suburbs, which has now largely subsided, was sparked by perceived police brutality after officers shot and killed a knife-wielding man who had locked himself in his apartment.
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