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In [Infini (2015)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3327624/), the recon team returns to Earth and is met by a bunch of doctors performing health examinations on each of them. In the scenes before, the ooze organism heals them. So did the ooze become part of them as they went back to Earth and that's why the examination scene was so suspenseful? I'm wondering because just before they left the outpost, the ooze apparently formed into human-like structures meaning that it might have stayed on the outpost.

2015/09/23

**Let's say you replace a part in your car, it's still the same car, right? What happens if you replace half the parts in your car, is it half the same car? What if, over the years, you've replaced all the parts in your car... isn't that the same as just buying a new one?** I'M GONNA FIGURE THIS OUT YOU GUYS. HERE'S THE LONG ANALYSIS: ============================================================= The ending is supposed to be a little ambiguous. With movies like these, the ambiguity is meant not to make you wonder about what happened at the end, but make you think about the overarching message. This film is heavy with philosophical concepts about thought, emotion, and life. Descartes (a famous philosopher) said, "Cogito ergo sum" which means "I think, therefore I am." How does an organism survive if it cannot think? Instinct? What separates instinct from thought? Emotion? Rationality? These are the deep underlying questions that the movie explores and, purposely, doesn't answer. There are two general conclusions you can draw from the endings, and I'll explore them more in detail below: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1) Primordial Ooze (we'll call it Po) "copied" the crew members. It returned to Earth posing as humans, presumably to conquer. 2) Po "healed" the crew members. They returned to Earth healthy, but traumatized. So, evidence for the first conclusion... We get a TON of info on Po from the scenes in med-bay. First, we learn that Po replicates any organic material it touches, as shown by the jarred body parts. It does this at an extremely fast rate, as shown in the journal. Whit's microscopic evidence proves how Po is a predator on a cellular level, fighting to kill until there is one clear winner. Survival of the fittest. Evolution on fast-forward. It's also worth noting that, prior to this discovery, the crew considered Po to be a viral contagion; afterward, Whit realizes that it's actually a parasitic organism. He considers the possibility that the entire planet is one entire Po.  This is important because for the entire movie the crew thinks they are going to die. If Po is the predator, then they are the prey. Whit says that the organism is just doing what an organism does: it survives, regardless of what happens to anyone else. **He says, "It's not capable of understanding."** Alright, let's move on. Another point in favor of a species-dominating Po is the fact that EVERYONE DIES. Seriously. One guy gets an ax right in the chest, several people get shot in the head, another gets beaten, a unborn baby is unprofessionally aborted, and at least two people commit suicide. Not to mention all the people that were frozen and shattered to pieces. Over 1550 people. **By our current scientific knowledge, humans aren't capable of rising from the dead**. So, if the crew is dead, Po must have replicated them in their entirety, right? This is why the ending scenes are so tense - Po has evolved from a simple I-Eat-Things mentality to having to deal with human thought and emotion. Po suddenly has to use its new collective brains to manipulate ACTUAL humans who have been playing the human game for a lot longer than it has. But remember, it adapts and evolves exceptionally fast. But wait! If Po is just replicating dead humans, why not replicate the 1550+ dead humans it has on hand? Granted, a lot of them are shattered to pieces from being frozen, but not a single one was reconcilable? While it definitely seems that an extremely low temperature is a weakness for Po, a lot of those bodies were thawed and still usable... Shh. Po just learned how to use the human brain, remember? And it has smart brains, too. Surely it would have figured out that **it's extremely suspicious to revive a ton of previously-confirmed dead people**. That would lower its chances of infiltrating Earth and reproducing. Okay, that's enough for Theory 1. Let's move to Theory 2. --------------------------------------------------------- The easiest thing to dissect is the whole replication thing. The main argument seems to be whether Po is replacing human cells with new ones or if it's healing the crew by replacing... human cells with... new ones? What? Surprise surprise - **the actual healing process that our bodies perform on themselves could very well be the same that Po is doing to the crew.** It's a semantic argument. The next point is also pretty easy to break down: if the crew aren't actually themselves anymore, **what's the point in discussing an excuse to return home with?** The crew members, after being healed, gather and unanimously decide that depressurization caused them to have lapses in memory. They can't remember much, but they rescued Whit and stopped the hazardous materials from being teleported to Earth. The scene clearly shows how emotional and traumatic the experience was for them - all they want to do is go home to their families. Home. Family. It's a huge theme. -------------------------------- Whit has a pregnant wife. Huntington records an entry to his wife and child that he knows won't reach Earth until they're long dead. Claire has an unborn child with Morgan. Menzies has a daughter who didn't want him to leave. > > Daddy loves you all the way to the Milky way. The long way, not the short way. > > > So here is where I tell you that I've already made my decision. I whole-heartedly support Theory 2, and believe that the crew returned to Earth 100% human. Here's why, just bear with me. Po, simply put, is really freaking big. It's so big, it was mistaken for a planet. If Po has an exceptionally high rate of adaptation and accelerated evolution, how has it survived so long without developing higher intelligence? The answer is simple: there was no higher intelligence to replicate. Until now. In nature, higher intelligence doesn't necessarily equal better survival. But it does when you are trying to compete with intelligent organisms. When Po began to replicate cells (brain cells, as seen in the med-bay), it quickly adapted to its newfound awareness. It was suddenly smarter and craftier... the emotions came later. > > "You couldn't get past your own selfish, ignorant need to dominate. If you had time to grow, time to evolve, things could have been different... we could have worked together." > > > Home. Family. Why did Po save Whit's family photo at the end of the movie? It couldn't have served any practical purpose. It was a memento, a reminder of the experience of his emotion, of family and a sense of purpose. Why did Po decide to reveal itself as multiple human-like shapes? Family. Po made a family for itself. Why did Po heal the crew? So they could go home. And Po didn't have to travel to Earth because it was already home. Let's bring this full circle. ----------------------------- * **Whit Carmichael:** I was never meant to be here. All I was trying to do was make a better life for my family. And you took that away from me. You took that away from all of us. And now look where it's got us. Whatever you tried to do here. You failed. * **Claire Grenich:** I'm so sorry Whit. We were supposed to get you home. * **Whit Carmichael:** It's not capable of understanding, not yet anyway. * **Claire Grenich:** A child needs support on all levels. * **Whit Carmichael:** I promised my wife I'd be home for dinner. > > **Rex Mannings:** This moment right now, Whit, is life. And life is nothing, without choice. > ============================================================================================ > > >

I agree with the statement about the philosophy of continuity, as you replace parts of th car you consider it the same car even after you've replaced 50% of it... Now current topics in philosophy have covered theories of teleportation along the same lines... You teleport, who comes out on the other end? Yourself? A copy of yourself? Something completely different? If it isn't you, is it a copy of you that has all the same memories and has taken over your life? So even if the primordial ooze replicated/replaced all the cells in the human body, how is this any different from the metabolic process which obviously takes longer? I guess the big question that hasn't been answered in this movie are how the primordial ooze, in replacing a whole body, would differ from the regular metabolic process. Are they the same except now have primordial ooze cells? How do those cells differ. This is overlooked and Whit mentions that "it's not his thing" so we won't know. We also don't know whether Whit was infected or not. Are Whit's flashes and crazy twitches the affects of being alone for so long, or are they the affect of being integrated into the ooze? Last note, when looking at the problem of the question of body cell replacement, we commonly resolve this identity issue by tying "sameness" to memory. Whit seems to be trying to hold on to his identity at the end by holding onto a photo of his family. I think that this is what they movie is trying to portray that through all the challenges these characters face when deal with "sameness", through repeated teleportation, metabolic replication of cells, primordial ooze replcation/Takeover, the only thing that makes them the same is their memories. The interview on the other side of the slip/teleport shows them bring grilled, and they are believed to be the same people because they can remember details of their former selves. Cheers, Keith MacDougall

Should users say thanks either in the comments or in the question itself?

2010/11/11

I doubt it brings anything to the discussion, it only creates noise. Site will take longer to load if everyone will say thanks (yeah, not that much, but...), so I think it is not necessary.

@Bubby4j - Thanks for the question. I'm sure users new to the SE environment will be interested in this issue. Appreciation is always nice to receive, as well as polite and friendly to give. However, as this is a Q&A site with other means in place of showing (albeit anonymously) your gratitude, it is not something that should solely comprise the content of a post - whether it be a question, answer, or comment. While comments may not greatly affect the loading weight of a page, they do have a measurable impact on the vertical real estate that is taken up by the question or answer post to which they are attached. Over-commenting, even by only one or two, can quickly make a question or answer look very bloated and the entire thread just becomes cumbersome and unpleasant to scroll through. If you're making a post that actually furthers the discussion in some way, by all means do include an expression of your thanks in that post as long as you have enough characters left in your limit (if applicable) to do so. Otherwise, please don't make a post for the sole purpose of saying "thanks". That's what up-votes and answer acceptance are for. People do notice the bumps in their rep, and the numbers next to their posts, so your appreciation (while it may not be attributed) will assuredly not go unnoticed. Thanks.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of relying on Microsoft Office components, and using Microsoft Office documents in our software?

2009/09/24

Should you avoid office components? Yes. You are almost certainly using them to read or write office documents invisibly. While interop does allow this, it's not well designed for it and can lead to all kinds of bugs as well as the obvious dependency on an installed copy of office. In a server environment it's downright suicidal. Should you use office documents? Yes. You are probably operating in the real business world, so being able to communicate with file formats like Excel is both expected and efficent. However instead of using Interop (which by the way is rather slow for creating entire documents, even if you optimize to limit the number of calls made) use a stand alone library for reading/writing the files. For example SpreadSheetGear.NET would be used to manipulate Excel files from a .NET application quickly and natively.

For desktop software... (server side usage is outside of my experience) If you are an **ISV**, avoid ales you know all the customers will have Microsoft Office and you can afford to test on **all the versions** of Office that you customers use. > > Normally, spending a bit more on > development so as to avoid the > additional support costs of depending > on Microsoft Office is a good trade > of. > > > However a lot of customers like reports in excel format, so they can add graphs etc. So using Office as a output format is OK. **Any other use of Microsoft Office must provide great benefits to cover the support/testing costs.** --- If you are writing in-house software where you have a **standard desktop system**, then use Microsoft Office components if it saves you time.

I have a set of Logitech 5.1 speakers where each speaker and the source plug into the subwoofer. I'm using a [Griffin Firewave](http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/firewave) with output from my MacBook Pro, and output from my custom-built desktop with a switch in the middle (built it myself out of an old Belkin A/B parallel switch)).  Recently, I've noticed that I can hear a local Punjabi radio station being picked up by my speakers, and the volume of this interference increases as I increase the volume of the speakers. I'm fairly sure that this radio station is at the low-end of the FM spectrum, below 90MHz (or it may be at the high end, above 105MHz, my memory isn't infallible). It gets quite annoying as I can't put my audio very loud without the interference. I've tried to put a ferrite core on the input cable just before the 3.5mm jacks plug into the subwoofer. I don't know if putting the same core around all three of the cables (green, black, orange) would negate the effects, but I'm assuming not. There has been no change. Is there any reason why this would be happening? I'm assuming the interference is coming somewhere between the FireWave and the subwoofer, because the noise gets amplified with volume increases. If anybody has any suggestions, I'd be grateful!

2011/01/16

It's probably your cables picking up the signal from a transmitter that is close to your home. Usually this is caused by folded cables (Like when you neatly tie them together). If you have folded cables or lots of cables tied together, try if unfolding them or seperating the speaker cable from the rest helps.

Whoa, trippy dude! I assume that your audio cable (comp -> amp) is acting like an antenna. It seems surprising that it picks up only one station instead of a few at the same time, that is very selective. Drastically changing the shape or length of the cable should wreck your "antenna" ;) I would build a low pass RC filter with a cutoff around 1 MHz. For example: R = 160 ohms, C = 1 nF according to an online filter calculator. Or you could buy a filter I guess. It may be sold as a noise suppressor, they are used in car audio installation. Install it at the receiving end of the problem cable. You could instead wrap the cable in tinfoil, and ground it to the (metal?) computer chassis. If all else fails, just do what the voices tell you to do. YMMV.

I can't find that tool that minifies that javascript. Its a java based tool. I thought douglas crawford made it, but can't find it on his site even!

2009/02/04

I would use either [JSMin](http://crockford.com/javascript/jsmin) or [YUI Compressor](http://developer.yahoo.com/yui/compressor/) Both are good tools.

<http://www.crockford.com/javascript/jsmin.html>

I have two types of validation pop-ups (toasts). One is used to display error messages in red and another one is for warning messages in yellow. I have an (optional) image upload field in my form which accepts only one specific image type. If a user tries to upload a file which is NOT equal to the specified image type, should I then show the warning message or the error message?

2018/05/25

Both is possible, depending on the stage where you want to output the warning. * Check the filetype **when the user selects the file**: display a warning next to the field "the filetype is invalid and the image will be ignored" * Check the file only **after upload**: An error message "Invalid file uploaded" and possibly not storing the transaction at all before the user chooses a new image or chooses to remove the invalid one.

Simply limit the file types that can be uploaded (all other type files are grayed out). I also want to join the recommendation of specifying filt types in the placeholder text.

I had a stellar career in senior management in the construction industry. My career stopped at the C level. I started at the bottom and worked my way up. I have a degree in Business Management which I earned while working in the field as a union carpenter. My career stopped when I was executive vice president of a medium size ~$75 million dollar per year company. It was due to a freak, totally debilitating accident that took me 17 year to completely recover from. I want to create a resume that highlights my skills. How can I explain all this time away from my carreer?

2018/08/23

I think you can explain it just like you did here, but in your resume, mention the gap, for instance: > > **2001-2018** Unable to work due to an accident > > > And, in your cover letter, you can add details and say that you have now totally recovered from this accident and it won't be a problem for your work. I would not advise you to ignore it on your resume and wait for the interviewer to question the gap: with this kind of gap in a resume without explanation, there is a high probability that you won't be called for an interview (I interview people for my company, not a small one, ~40k employees, and if we have a resume with a huge gap without explanation, we won't call the candidate).

**Recovering from a 17 year battle against problems caused by an accident and having the determination to head back into the workforce isn't something to be ignored but a measure of character.** If you have a section about yourself - perhaps better suited to a CV or cover letter than a resume - then mention this battle and place that spin on it. You're a hard working person and determined to get back into things don't labour the point but don't ignore it either. When recruiting a lot of snap decisions are made based on first impressions, mentioning it will make you stand out against a simple 17 year gap. You can then explain in detail when, undoubtedly, you are asked about this period of your life.

I am looking for a word which best describes a person who cannot be convinced by strong evidence presented in support of a theory. He may or may not present counter-arguments, but he is adamant in his refusal to be convinced. For example > > I have shown her all the evidence which convinces me that the theory is > correct, but she is still \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ and says that the arguments are flawed. > > > The word ‘unconvinced’ would fit the blank here, but my request is for a stronger word than ‘unconvinced’ because the person in question will not discuss the evidence I have presented, but will only argue the case from other standpoints.

2017/07/20

**Skeptical**. Source: <https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/skeptical> > > Relating to, characteristic of, or marked by skepticism. > > > Example: > > She's highly skeptical of the researchers' claims. > > > **Skepticism** is defined as: > > An attitude of doubt or a disposition to incredulity either in general or toward a particular object. > > > In this situation, this is the most apt word. From the question's description, it's not at all clear that this person has been presented with irrefutable proof. He was simply presented with "all the facts". These is no mention that these facts constitute irrefutable proof. Thus other words such as **zealous**, **intolerant**, **denier** don't work because they convey the idea that the person is irrational, which cannot be implied based on the question. **Adamant** and **persistent** don't work because they imply imply some sort of effort, where as it's not the skeptic that is putting in the effort, it is the other party who is presenting the evidence.

Here are three words from Merriam Webster that you may find useful [Adamant](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/adamant) ============================================================= **adjective** 1. unshakable or insistent especially in maintaining a position or opinion. Or for a belief (usually religious) [Zealous](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/zealous) ============================================================= **adjective** marked by fervent partisanship for a person, a cause, or an ideal Or if you want to describe someone who could conceivably change their opinion. you could use [Persistent](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/persistent) =================================================================== existing for a long or longer than usual time or continuously: such as a : retained beyond the usual period a persistent leaf b : continuing without change in function or structure persistent gills c : effective in the open for an appreciable time usually through slow volatilizing mustard gas is persistent d : degraded only slowly by the environment persistent pesticides e : remaining infective for a relatively long time in a vector after an initial period of incubation persistent viruses

Is there a way or tool to generate list-definition projects/features from an existing list template? (Sharepoint 2010)

2012/01/11

I assume you want to create a list definition based on existing list definition that comes with SharePoint or installed by other solutions. I would just use the VS.NET > Add New Item > List Definition and select Custom List as base. Then locate the existing list template directory in SharePoint root and copy 1) schema.xml and 2) element file containing ListTemplate element Then replace VS.Net’s file with above files. Now you have a list definition which is exact copy of the existing list definition. Now you can change the name, type, base type etc. and claim it as your own list definition!

If I'm not wrong you can create site template and then import this template in Visual Studio 2010. When the template is imported, you can choose what elements do you want to include in new solution. You can choose your list. The VS2010 creates all needed files. After this you can simply package this solution.

Please assist me. I am pretty new to MS flow. I currently face a challenge with a flow that has 9 approvals. How can exceed the condition of the nested level? Any help will be appreciated. [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/06vrM.png) [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/W9XXv.png)

2021/01/06

**Unfortunately,** you can't exceed the nesting depth for actions, it's a boundary limit! > > For more details about Limits, Please check [Flow definition limits](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-automate/limits-and-config#flow-definition-limits?WT.mc_id=M365-MVP-5002973) > > > So, It mainly depends on your business logic. and you can add child flows as needed! * Break down the flow into nested child Flow, then * Run child Flow from Parent Flow. > > Check another case study at [Avoid Nested Levels in MS Flow](https://www.c-sharpcorner.com/article/how-we-can-avoid-8-nested-levels-of-conditions-in-ms-flow2/) > > >

You **can't** exceed the condition of the nested level from my point of view. If you try to put all of these actions into a single flow, it can be difficult to navigate and maintain that flow. You can use child flows to easily manage flows, avoiding flows with hundreds of steps. This approach is especially beneficial if you want to reuse tasks in multiple places in a cloud flow, or even across multiple flows. For more details about child flow and parent flow, please refer to the following articles: [Create child flows](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/power-automate/create-child-flows) [Helpful tips for using Child Flows](https://flow.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/helpful-tips-for-using-child-flows/)

My PC randomly restarts whenever there is load on it but not all the time. Examples are when I'm playing a game or watching a movie. Sometimes, I can get through hours of sessions and no restart at all. But sometimes it would just restart with no warning or message after the reboot. No BSOD whatsoever. I did a full HDD format and clean reinstalled Windows. Afterwards I only installed specific trustworthy Software I've been using on my same hardware for years. So I'm leaving out software as an issue as it STILL reboots from time to time. I've run stress tests on both my CPU and GPU. Both exceeded 66 C and remain turned on and yet when it usually reboots the temp is around only 50~55. So I guess that leaves heating issue out of the picture. I also did a BIOS reset. Nothing was fixed. **When I compress files of huge size using 7zip (or copy large files), it DEFINITELY reboots.** This is the only thing I can confirm. I've tried packing folders several gigabytes in size and it rebooted EVERY time. So is it the CPU? Or the Memory? Or anything else. Also any specific diagnostic method I should use. * EDIT - I've ran several Memory tests like you asked. But the tests show green. Should I try something else? My PC is configured to show BSOD like in the picture below but it STILL doesn't show any error messages. And Minidump doesn't exist either.  My Spec - * MOBO - Biostar G31D-M7 * CPU - Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5200 "Wolfdale" @ 2.50 GHz * RAM - JM667QLU-2G 2GB Single-Channel DDR2 @ 333MHz (5-5-5-15) * GPU - GT218 (Geforce 210) * VRAM - 1GB DDR3 @ 135MHz * PSU - 450W Output * HDD - 465GB Seagate ST500DM002-1BD142 (SATA) * OS - Windows XP Professional 32-bit SP3 (5.1.2600) I also use 2 External HDDs from time to time. I only use them for backups and so I don't use them that often. * 465GB Seagate Portable USB Device (USB (SATA)) * 465GB Seagate Expansion USB Device (USB (SATA))

2014/10/13

It sounds like the memory. have you tried checking the status on memory when ur working on a zip etc?

Well it sounds like a RAM Issue. Try starting Memory Diagnostics by going to Start Menu -> Click Run -> Type **MdSched** -> Hit Enter. Click on **Restart now and check for problems** , If the results are unclear, you can try the Free Software [Memtest86](http://www.memtest86.com/) Edit: 1. **CPU Overheat**. After some temperature our computer tries to keep the temperature down by restarting or shuting down your computer. Since you said that CPU operating at max at 60C, you should check your BIOS Settings for missconfigured values on Temperature Alerts. 2. **Virus** There are some viruses that causes your System to Restart after some specific actions. You can try cleaning your Computer with CCleaner, or some other Cleaning and AntiMalware software to ensure that your problem IS NOT any virus. 3. **Power deficiency**. This occurs when there isn't enough power to keep electricity flowing in your motherboard, or the power supply becomes faulty. 4. **Faulty Motherboard**. Malfunctioning capacitors on a Motherboard can create a wide range of issues. It is even possible for capacitors to fail due to a bad Power Source. A leaking capacitor is a very easy visual check. Open your case and take a look at the Motherboard. If you see a leaking capacitor (Google it), then replacement of the Motherboard is necessary. Be sure to check if your system is still under warranty before spending your money. 5. **BIOS**. Finally, the last and often trickiest to troubleshoot source of reboot problems: your computer's BIOS. If there is a problem in your BIOS, or sometimes even in the firmware for one of the other pieces of hardware installed in your machine, it could cause an instability and lead to one of those automatic restarts. Especially if the problem is in the Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) portion. The good news is that these problems are much less common than they used to be in the bad old days. But it never hurts to check with your computer manufacturer to see if there's an updated BIOS available.

This situation happened in the last session I ran: Evil wizard casts a Wall of Fire across the middle of a room. She's on one side, and the PCs are on the other. The party wizard decides he's going to cast a Cone of Cold through the Wall of Fire. My gut tells me this shouldn't work, but there's nothing in the rules that says it doesn't. People/objects can pass through the Wall of Fire (and take a bunch of damage doing so), so I guess a spell could also pass through? Can a Cone of Cold pass through a Wall of Fire?

2016/11/09

Yes. ---- There is no written rule that says that area of effect magical effects block other area of effect magics. However, the two spells, by the rules, also don't interact in any way. The best your party wizard could hope for is to hit the evil wizard with the *Cone of Cold* and end his concentration on *Wall of Fire*.

Nothing stops the cone ====================== There is nothing in the rules that would disallow this. However, it does sound like a great opportunity to grant advantage on the save to resist the *cone of cold*. DMG 239: > > Consider granting advantage when: > > > * … > * Some aspect of the environment contributes to the character's chance of success. > * … > > > Fire in the way of cold sounds like an environmental factor to me!

I've read [here](https://interpersonal.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2573/how-does-primarily-opinion-based-apply-to-questions-about-interpersonal-skills) that POB means that it is a "what should I do" question. My question is: How is any scenario on Interpersonal Skills not a "what is the best action to do [which adheres to whatever social norms apply]?" which can be turned into a "What should I do [in this scenario]?" type question. Just skimming through the first page of questions, should we close 60% of the asked questions or rather opt for a different policy on POB?

2018/04/04

The difference can seem subtle but is actually pretty important: **you set a goal to achieve**, when asking a question like, > > how do I best communicate X, > > > but on the other hand, asking a question like > > should I do X or Y or Z , > > > lands up being a question which is **so specific to the question asker** that it is unlikely to be helpful to other / future members of the site, and is thus closed as POB.

**Route A: Asking "How do I communicate X":** * OP decides what he wants to achieve * IPS answers different paths that try to led to the given goal * Goals are verifiable thus success is trackable **Route B: Asking "Here's situation A. How do I deal with it?":** * IPS has to decide what's the best course of action is * IPS answers get blown out of proportion because they state different goals and also multiple ways to achieve them * Situation K is (likely) complex and specific, thus rarely applicable for anyone else visiting IPS By going route A we can scope questions and answers. Without scope an answer could easily derail into "How to life your life". We do not choose what you want to accomplish. We can give advice how to get there.

I'm trying to find a Java library to highlight code. I don't want to highlight Java code. I want a library that will easily allow me to highlight a macro language of my own, in a code editor of my own written in Java.

2009/07/04

[GesHi](http://qbnz.com/highlighter/) is pretty good. There is a list of highlighters [here](http://www.webresourcesdepot.com/11-syntax-highlighters-to-beautify-code-presentation/). UPDATE: missed that you wanted a java lib. Try [jedit syntax](http://syntax.jedit.org/) package.

You may want to take a look at [xtext](http://www.eclipse.org/Xtext/) - it does a lot more than syntax highlighting; in fact, you only have to define a grammar, and it will generate an eclipse editor plugin with outline, syntax highlighting, syntax checking and autocompletion automatically. It could save you a lot of work if an eclipse editor plugin is an acceptable end result for you.

Yes, I know the answer for this is "no, that's unrealistic and ridiculous," but magic in my world may just change that. You see, mermaids have the (super)natural ability to create and manipulate seashells (and pearls, but that's outside the scope of this question). Now, I've decided that mermaids will use seashells as clothing (specifically seashell tops, but other seashell attire will exist too) in my setting, both for modesty and practical reasons (explained below), but that made me wonder. Could seashells even work as clothing? I mean, realistically, **there are only three justifications for seashell tops:** 1. Magic-This should come as no surprise. Only with magic can seashells be conveniently molded to the wearer and given the strap (or straps) necessary to hold them in place. 2. Supply/Availability-Seashells are pretty easy to obtain in the ocean, and with their magic, mermaids can easily bend and even merge them to suit their needs. (Merging fuses two shells together into one seamless object, essentially turning four small shells into one big shell.) Generally speaking, humanity works not just with *what is there* but with *what is easiest to work with,* and this makes seashells a prime candidate for mermaid clothing material. 3. Protection-I believe it goes without saying that the female chest is a vulnerability and must be protected. Which would be better at that, specially made seashells or seaweed? Yeah, I thought so. However, just because I came up with three reasons to justify seashell tops (or seashell clothing in general) doesn't mean they're actually viable. Perhaps they just can't be made comfortable enough, or maybe seashells have some irredeemable flaw that would prevent them being used in this way. So my question is, **Are Seashell Tops Viable Clothing For Mermaids?** **Specifications:** 1. The best answer will account for the variables that determine the desirability, usefulness, and popularity of clothing, then explain why seashells pass or fall as a viable clothing material. These variables are supply, workability, comfort, and cosmetic potential (as fashion *will* be important to mermaids, they'll want something capable of as many different colors and designs as possible). 2. The best answer will also contrast seashells to other options mermaids have for clothing to see how they compare. As far as I can tell, these options are seaweed, marine animal hide, sponges, sea stars, sea anemones (decorator and boxer crabs do it, so why not mermaids?), and maybe even fishbones. [Rubber](https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/118927/could-mermaids-feasibly-make-clothing-out-of-natural-rubber) was mentioned in this question, but I'm not actually sure how feasible that is, and while I *am* asking about seashells in particular, I am also willing to accept a better alternative as long as its pros and cons are explained alongside that of shells.

2021/09/04

To everyone saying that seashells are a no go because they are hard, remember that coconut bras are a thing in the real world. Mermaids would surely use some sort of padding to protect their [voice producing organs](https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/a/45803/21222). That said, who's to say that those bras are made of actual sea shells? They could be made to look like shells because that's underwater folk culture. Same reason why people cheering for some sports team in North America use hats with moose antlers, which are not actual moose antlers. The mermaids make their bras out of soft materials such as shark egg cases (which some people call "mermaid purses" BTW) and seahemp. They make them seashell shaped because it sells, but if you visit their markets you should also find some shaped like sponges, crabs and in their erotic shops there are even sashimi shaped bras. The latter are actually edible.

Don't kill the molluscs! ------------------------ It would be cruel, and then you would be left with hard shells and straps. Have you ever seen a mermaid with *straps*? There are more fundamental reasons: mermaids do appear to be mammals. Marine mammals have no trouble nursing young in the ocean, but mermaids might like to do better than nature. Maybe it started out for protection, to soothe baby-nibbled surfaces sensitive to sea water. Introducing a little magic to the breeding of pets, it should be easy enough to come up with a flattened gastropod or a one-shelled clam, bred to use its muscular foot and antimicrobial, healing secretions to conform closely to a soft substrate of varying shape. More importantly, these can be bred to accumulate milk in a sanitary internal sac, and to allow it to be sucked out through a separate small orifice in its shell by a determined infant. Filling several such shells with milk in advance allows the mother to prepare for a period of separation. The invention of this mollusc-pumping magic helped mermaids take part in longer marathon swims and elaborate festivities where the presence of infants might be an encumbrance. Now they leave them behind in communal babysitting creches for days at a time. Some may argue that this is not truly an altogether good thing, but natural sensibilities rarely stand up to convenience and obligation.

I would like to build a 6 x 8 ft playhouse with a deck covering the top. Is there a kind of roofing material that can (1) withstand a floating deck, (2) is DIY friendly (no blowtorches, hot asphalt, or custom pouring), (3) is reasonably cheap, and (4) will keep the water out even with a completely flat roof, or with a very minimal slope? Modified bitumen is said to be great for building deck on top of. The [GAP SBS Liberty](http://www.gaf.com/Roofing/Commercial/Products/Modified-Bitumen-Roofing/Self-Adhered/Liberty-SBS-Cap-Sheet.aspx) system is DIY-friendly, but [the instructions](http://www.gaf.com/Roofing/Commercial/Products/Modified-Bitumen-Roofing/Self-Adhered/Documents/Liberty_SBS_Self-Adhering_Roofing_System_-_DIY_Application_I-112-732-v1.pdf) call for a slope of at least 1/2" per ft. If using only the cap sheet, it's about [$1/ft²](http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xh3/R-100031918/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053). Building a deck on top of the roof is much easier if the roof is completely flat. Is that asking for trouble, or will it be OK for my application? Are there other roofing materials I should consider?

2011/01/03

No such thing, not even for a playouse! Even if it's flat the day you install it, it will cup over time. This is why all floating deck systems accommodate slope. Slope your roof, slope your floating deck the other way. No roofing material, not even seamless EPDM survives standing water (even if you can stand the mosquitoes and rotting debris that would collect). If you can build the playhouse to fit a single sheet of locally available EPDM, that would work well.

I've walked around on a ton of flat roofs (some with walkways/decks) - but they were all on commercial buildings (or large multi tenant residences). However, they all involved some kind of torch-down install with the roof material being contoured to direct towards roof drains. I don't know how well the material would support a floating deck, but you can use an EPDM liner for a flat roof. EPDM roof installs are common on older motorhomes (thankfully my roof is aluminum) so a roof with minimal penetrations should be a piece of cake!

Every thread on stackexchange that I've found says that you can only use the test set once and thats it. So for instance, if you used a linear regression model and got poor results on the test set, you cannot change the the model to say a random forest and evaluate this model again on the test set. This doesnt make sense to me. Example, we all know the MNIST dataset well. Lets say I download the data and split it into train, validation and test. Also, say I used a linear regression model and clearly I will do poorly on the test set. Now, what's stopping anyone else from downloading the same MNIST data set, splitting into train, validation, test and using a different model (e.g. neural network) and reporting their test result? According to our understanding of only being able to use the test set once, their test results are invalid because they have somehow "learnt" that a linear regression model was not good. This does not seem right to me.

2021/08/29

The reason for the train/validate/test distribution (which I found out in a painful way) is that you **will** get good results if you tweak a model to fit to a test set. It could be completely random data, but if you calculate enough features, and tweak the hyperparameters of your model, you will get a relatively high (and misleading) level of accuracy. not tweaking to your test set is a rule of thumb, which people treat like gospel because they've been burned by not following it. In reality, the more nuanced advise is this: 1. Train on a test set 2. test your model on a validation set 3. tweak your model based on the validation results 4. once you feel confident, test on a completely external test set. If you get bad results, you can go back to steps 1-3, but you should be careful not to use your test results from 4 to tweak your model, as that defeats the whole point of separating the validation and test set in the first place. there are systems that automate this process, like train/validate/test splits and nested kfold.

You can test multiple different models. In fact, in industry, it's pretty common to start out with a simple model and then build a more advanced model. The first test of a simple model might be a K-NN. Then you might build something more advanced like a random forest.

I am wondering if it is possible for my PHP script to navigate to a web page that has a web form on it, fill out the fields and click submit without human intervention. Is there a way to scan a page, extract the input text fields and supply a value? Or is there a piece of software that can do this, doesn't matter if it is not PHP.

2012/07/09

There are several tools for automated testing of webpages, such as [Selenium](http://seleniumhq.org/) and [Windmill](http://www.getwindmill.com/).

With PHP, [CURL](http://php.net/manual/en/ref.curl.php) is probably your best choice. In my experience, Perl's WWW::Mechanize is easier to use. If you have experience with Perl, you may wish to use it.

I am trying to extrude faces of a cylinder along local normals. 3dsmax can do it easy, couldn't find how to do it in blender. The extrude region option extrudes it as shown in the first example. I want it done like the 2nd example. 

2014/02/27

This is an answer to MrFlamey's question since I don't have 50 reputation to post a comment. To extrude faces along face normals, as opposed to vertex normals, extrude the polygons with Mesh -> Extrude -> Region, move them with Mesh -> Transform -> Shrink Fatten and hit S key to make offset even. 

Easy way: Select the ring of faces, goto Mesh > Extrude Individual Face (as shown in other answer) then press ESC then use ALT S to scale the out. If you don't press ESC you will scale faces, if you press ESC you will only scale along normal i.e. extrude out.

The artifact vehicle [Renegade Freighter](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Search/Default.aspx?name=%2b%5bRenegade%20Freighter%5d) has the ability > > Whenever Renegade Freighter attacks, it gets +1/+1 and gains trample until end of turn. > > > Given that trample is only generally relevant when attacking, this should behave basically identically to: > > Trample > > > Whenever Renegade Freighter attacks, it gets +1/+1 until end of turn. > > > At first, I thought that maybe this was because it would be strange to have a non-creature have trample, so it only gets trample at a time that it is a creature. But then I saw [Fleetwheel Cruiser](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Search/Default.aspx?name=%2b%5bFleetwheel%20Cruiser%5d), which is another vehicle that does always have trample. In fact, [Untethered Express](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Search/Default.aspx?name=%2b%5bUntethered%20Express%5d) is even more similar, in that it does have a when-attack ability, yet it also just always has Trample. Renegade Freighter could be seen as slightly weaker as worded, because something like [Stifle](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Search/Default.aspx?name=%2b%5bStifle%5d) could prevent it from getting Trample. However, that seems like a small enough thing that it wouldn't be specifically designed around. Is it known why this card only gets trample when it attacks? A good answer could either point to any statements about it from the development team, or to information about general templating choices where this is a consistent design choice. Or finally, perhaps there is an important difference between always having trample vs only having trample when attacking that I am missing.

2018/03/22

There are some more relevant edge cases where the difference actually matters. Two of the cards that were in standard at the same time as Renegade Freighter were [Odric, Lunarch Marshal](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Search/Default.aspx?name=%2b%5bOdric%2c%20Lunarch%20Marshal%5d) and [Majestic Myriarch](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Search/Default.aspx?name=%2b%5bMajestic%20Myriarch%5d). Both of those check for abilities including Trample at the beginning of combat, so in both cases, they can find Trample on Untethered Express, but not on Renegade Freighter.

Renegade Freighter is a Common. The Head Designer of Magic has stated twice ten years apart that a Common should only have one ability, I don't recall any posts where he ever recanted the position: <https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/common-courtesy-2002-06-10> <https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/common-knowledge-2011-04-18> > > Your card should do one thing. If it's a creature, just give it one > ability, whether that's a keyword, activated ability or a triggered > ability. > > > Clearly 'Crew' got a pass on that rule for this set; but it is otherwise adhered to among the Common vehicles. It seems like a feasible claim that the designer of this card was just being "clever" in "only having one ability."

When i carryout load testing in jmeter i have list of samples. Each sample returns its own throughput. However in the aggregated graph or summary result it has a total row at the bottom and adds all the throughput. What does this signify? Can i just use the total throughput as the total throughput of the entire test run. Why does summary report adds up all the sample throughput rather than showing the average throughput? In the following picture i ran load test with 2 user and 2 ramp up time.  As shown above the total actually sums up the throughput rather than aggregating it. However, when i carry out test with 1 user and 1 ramp up time then it aggregates the throughput and displays the average throughput of the samplers. In the below figure i carried out test with 1 thread and 1 ramp up time.  IS this a bug?

2016/06/03

**No, It's not a bug!!!** The **Throughput** is the number of **requests per unit of time** (seconds, minutes, hours) that are sent to your server during the test. **The Throughput is the real load processed by your server (Application under test)** during a run but it does not tell you anything about the performance of your server during this same run. As per [JMeter Glossary](http://jmeter.apache.org/usermanual/glossary.html): > > Throughput is calculated as requests/unit of time. The time is calculated from the start of the first sample to the end of the last sample. This includes any intervals between samples, as it is supposed to represent the load on the server. > **The formula is: Throughput = (number of requests) / (total time).** > > > So, In your case **For 2 User** : The application handled **10.7 requests/second**. And For the **Single user** : The Application handled **22.9 requests/second**.

In case of performance testing, average is something we all avoid. Going back to actual question. Consider you have 5 requests in one workflow. You are running this test for 50 iterations. So making 250 requests during the load test. Now you want to analyze individual request performance as well as overall system performance. In this case, when you want to drill down and look at individual request in order to find bottlenecks, you look at the throughput and response time of request. If you want to find the overall load your system can handle, look at the total throughput.

In the Indiana Jones movies whenever his hat is lost he'll always at least try to get it back. He's risked limbs amongst other things in order to make sure he always has it with him. This isn't limited to just the Indiana Jones movies either, sometimes you'll see a character that simply always has a particular object, and will go to very far lengths to keep it on their person. Is there a reason he loves that hat so much? if so what trope would it fall under?

2014/04/09

Appropriately, this 'trope' is actually named after Indy himself! The [Indy Hat Roll](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/IndyHatRoll) is a recognized trope: wherein a character will, given enough time (and typically the presence of a slow moving threat) cease their flight to retrieve a seemingly insignificant fallen item. It is often found paired with [Just in Time](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/JustInTime) and [No One Gets Left Behind.](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NoOneGetsLeftBehind) Indy's fedora is no different, and every adventurer knows you should never leave a good hat behind! *The Last Crusade* reveals a history which imbues Indy's hat with sentimental value, [however...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28sQaaMDpZU)

The Indy Hat Roll is more of a "last minute grab of something/someone before it is too late" but Indy's Hat itself (and similar objects you mention like it) is probably more an example of a [Number One Dime](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NumberOneDime): > > The Number One Dime is an item that is in and of itself of little to no interest or usefulness (i.e. it is not a usable weapon), but to the character, it is **ridiculously overimportant in a strictly sentimental way.** > > > Indy earns his hat as a child in the introduction to The Last Crusade, when he tries but fails to save the Cross of Coronado from some graverobbers. The lead robber gives him his hat, with the quote "You lost today kid, but it doesn't mean you have to like it..." Thus, the hat is a symbol of Indy's resolve to win, even in the face of overwhelmingly bad odds or previous losses. Overall, his hat is a [Nice Hat](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NiceHat): > > A discerning hero/villain just can't be seen without their Nice Hat! Harming the nice hat may be akin to kicking the dog, with disastrous results. > To show that you mean business, it's important to have style. Enter: the nice hat. It may actually have utility — even conveying special powers — **but more often than not it just looks cool, or even just sexy.** > > > In fact, Indy's hat is called out in the [film sub-page for Nice Hat](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NiceHat/Film): > > Indiana Jones' spiffy fedora, which he never leaves behind even when he's about to be crushed by slowly descending doors. Many fans know it simply as "The Hat". > > >

Many places in Europe are notorious for not being open on Sundays. This is especially true in Switzerland. Today, August 30th 2020, for some odd reason, some stores are open. [Coop](https://www.coop.ch/en/locations/coop-supermarche-geneve-augustins/1960_POS): > > [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/LMLbj.png) > > > [Migros](http://migros.ch) > > [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/jyMhU.png) > > > The only explanations, given here, are: > > ouverture dimanche > > > and > > Ouverture exceptionnelle > > > Which equate to something like Sunday opening and exceptional opening, respectively. Why are the shops open today?

2020/08/30

The exception to the rule are the main stations of SBB/CFF/FFS in larger cities which often include shops for basic needs like food (e.g., Migros) and a pharmacy which are open all days, including Sundays. Depending on the space available, you may find additional shops there, too. Since you mention Geneva, see the listing for [Cornavin](https://www.sbb.ch/en/station-services/at-the-station/railway-stations/geneva-station.html) in the city, and [Geneva airport](https://www.sbb.ch/en/station-services/at-the-station/railway-stations/geneve-aeroport-station.html).

It seems to be related to the start of the school year: <https://www.20min.ch/fr/story/magasins-ouverts-les-dimanches-30-aout-13-et-20-decembre-619890484636> Or long story short: The "shopping associations" applied the canton for particular stores to be legally open on three more Sundays of the year, so that people can shop pencils and stuff for school, and later in the year - holiday stuff.

What are some better solutions (apps or any ways) to manage files (folders and subfolders with PDFs, docs, video, audio etc.) on iOS device (iPhone or iPad) that can sync with OS X? Currently I'm using "USB Disk Pro" but I have to manually create the folders in iTunes and drag and drop each files manually. (Image if there are 10 folders with 50 files in each folders to be transfer from OS X to iPad.)

2012/04/28

I think [Dropbox](https://www.dropbox.com/) would be a good solution. 1. The Dropbox app will automatically create a folder on your OS X. Put files that you want to access on your iOS devices into the folder. 2. Install the iOS app on your iOS devices. You will be able to access all the files that's stored in the OS X folder easily. Note that there's a space limit for the Dropbox service.

I use GoodReader with SCP to my local Mac. I now have a directory tree recursively mirrored between iPad and OS X, and any changes made to either will be reflected on the other after a sync. Conflicts are handled manually. If you don't want to set up SCP/SSH, you can use DropBox too, it is just slower than a direct connection to your Mac on the local network. In truth, I use a combination, mirroring some folders (~5 GB worth) via SCP, and a few others via DropBox, just in separate trees on the Mac and on the iPad.

The question title says it all really: I have two devices that both require a 12V 2A power supply, so I'm assuming that I can I just use a **single** 12V 4A power supply to power them both? I'm also assuming that a 24V 2A power supply would **NOT** work in the same way? Any explanations as to why the two above assumptions are correct or not would be greatly appreciated. Sorry if this is a very basic question but I'm fairly new to electronics and just looking for a place where I can ask questions and learn from others. Thanks.

2022/05/07

Generally, yes. Devices in parallel share the voltage, not the current. Devices in series share the current, not the voltage. The only way to connect them in series is to connect the positive of one to the ground of the other, and with variable current devices that's not going to end up good. Connecting two DC devices in parallel with a single 12V 4A supply is like connecting two mains power devices to the same power strip. They both see the same voltage but take whatever current they need. There can be issues with supply quality or possibly noise but generally if you have a decent supply then you should be fine.

> > I'm assuming that I can I just use a single 12V 4A power supply to power them both? > > > Quick answer: **Yes** By theory, components connected in parallel will utilize the same amount of voltage while drawing their respective current needs. The source must have a rating that can supply the overall current requirement of the system. On this case, it was mentioned that it was a hard drive and a TV Box so they must be connected in parallel. Hard drive will utilize 12 volts from the source and will draw 2 Amperes of current and the TV Box will also utilize 12 volts from the source while drawing 2 Amperes as well. Therefore, a 12 Volts, 4 Amperes will suffice. > > I'm also assuming that a 24V 2A power supply would NOT work in the same way? > > > Quick answer: **Yes** We will go back to the statement that your Hard drive and TV Box will be connected to the source in parallel. In this case, each of them will utilize 24 Volts available from the source. This will turn very bad because **it can cook up the electronics inside!** Both devices will never operate, damaged, and at worst case scenario, can pose an electrical hazard that might result in injuries.

Ok, i've read most relevant questions asked here previously on this but I still don't see a clear "best in class" suggestion for WYSIWYG editors for ASP.net I've used fckeditor up to now (found it ok but many problems with config/permissions on folder etc.). I'm looking for something that has a lot of flexibility/config options and can integrate nicely with the sites css. Also i'd like something that minimises config requirements when moving from server to server etc. Any good suggestions are much appreciated. Ed

2008/11/21

Almost didn't open the question because I thought it would have been mentioned already, but [FCKEditor](http://www.fckeditor.net/) is a great freely available WYSIWYG editor with a good team behind it.

Not sure what budget you're working with, but it might be worth taking a look at Dreamweaver CS3+. It has support for ASP.NET and its WYSIWYG is quite good.

I get anxiety when doing coding for interviews and questions I normally would be able to complete I get stuck on in interview scenarios. I have read over [this question](https://workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/6128/how-do-you-overcome-interview-anxiety-when-writing-code) which is about overcoming interview anxiety. One of the main answers it gives is to practice. I just had a technical interview that didn't specify what to practice, so how can one prepare? Here is a particular example: reverse a linked list. I know what a linked list is, I've used them before, implemented them before and studied their time complexities. At some point in time I may have implemented a reversal algorithm, but certainly could not remember how to do it under the pressure of an interview. My thoughts were: 1) Many languages have a linked list library with a reverse operation (at least Java does and that was the language being used) 2) Even if you did need to implement a linked list and a reverse method, you would only have to do it once per project. So how can one be very familiar with such a method? I'm not arguing if it's a good or bad question, I'm asking how does one know to study things like that prior to a technical interview? Even if I had read up on data structures I still probably wouldn't have memorized such functions. The fact that the interviewer kept talking to me and telling me to explain things prevented me from figuring things out in the moment. At one point he asked "why do you need that variable?" and I replied "I may not I'm just thinking", was that a bad answer? Are there another ways to combat interview anxiety than being very familiar and having practiced the same questions?

2014/04/08

Your job as a software engineer isn't to write code, it's to solve problems. Unless you're recently out of college, I would expect you (read: anyone competent applying for a programming job requiring previous experience) to work out how to reverse a linked list given a bit of time. Why? Because you're going to have to do very similar things in your job, but not things that already exist in some standard library. Don't give me crap about interview pressure - your day to day job is very likely going to involve your clients or your boss pressuring you constantly. This may be harsh, but interviews aren't meant for you to study for them. They're there to make sure you can do your job. If you can't do your job (solving random problems, potentially under pressure), then you **shouldn't get the job**. Studying up to get past the interview just to get to a job where you *can't* study for every new problem is just setting yourself up for failure.

You shouldn't have to practice all questions and they likely specifically want to see you work on something you haven't specifically practiced. Exercises like that are useful because presumably you have some idea of what the problem is so it avoids the time wasting of them having to lay out all of the details, but since it's something you don't often do, they get to see an example of how you'd work in a real job scenario where you are programming out code of something you haven't done or don't normally do. Saying "I may not I'm just thinking" was an okay answer as long as you said it in a polite tone. Half of the reason of having you do a problem like that is to see the actual implementation you did (did you use way too many variables? did you have an O(n^4) solution where an O(n) solution was present?). In that case, do the best you can do and if you do see a problem in your solution, you can let them know (i.e. "For now I have a placeholder function here, I can make the more efficient with a little more time."). However, the other half is just to see how you work. In this way, your answer let them know that. They may have asked you because they wanted to see how you approach problems and what things you think through. If you get an interviewer that is really focused on the details and is asking questions like that, it might help to just think out loud: "Okay, so the given linked list is set up like this. It looks like I want to end up swapping these pointers with those. I could do it recursively. That would lead to ... If I did it iteratively then that would lead to... Hmm... On the surface it looks like this approach is good. So, first I'll need a variable to hold..."

In the accounts of Matthew and Mark both thieves on the cross mock Jesus, but Luke's account says that one of them didn't mock Him but on the contrary he rebuked the other thief and said "Lord, remember me when you come into you Kingdom." How do we understand these two contradictory accounts?

2015/11/26

Frankly, we don't know. There are [many theories](https://hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/q/12739/423) as to which Gospels were used as sources for others, and [plenty of disputes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel#Development_and_composition) as to whether or not any of the Gospels were written by eyewitnesses (the author of Luke does not claim to be an eyewitness, and the author of Mark does not appear to claim to be an eyewitness for *all* of the events). The other issue is that all of the Gospels record that Jesus' disciples deserted him the evening before his crucifixion, with the possible exception of John. As such, they would not be able to give eyewitness accounts of an event they were not present for. The reality is that we have no way of knowing which is more historically reliable for this account (if any). From a historical perspective, the evidence is inconclusive. What is clear historically is that Jesus was crucified beside bandits.

In fact, the accounts are only seemingly contradictory, but in reality they are not, for it is not a contradiction if I say that "I cheated during the math exam yesterday", and if I say "I honestly wrote my math exam yesterday", for both can be true: initially, by some trick, I took that exam card, that I have preliminarily prepared, but after half-an-hour I felt that that was very wrong and dishonest thing to do, and I took another exam card (that change reducing my grade with one point) and wrote in a proper way. So both are true, the cheating and the honest writing on the same day. Simlarly, Jesus and the robbers hang on the crosses for few hours, and it is not a contradiction at all that at some time both robbers mocked Him, whereas after a time a change happened in one of the robbers and he not only ceased mocking Him, but even rebuked the second robber. According to traditional interpretation, yes, both mocked, but when one of them saw and heard that He blessed and asked for forgiveness of His murderers ("forgive them, Father, they do not know what are they doing"), one of them repented and reprimanded the other, we do not know whether the other hearkened to this or not, but most probably, yes, and thus, both thieves were saved.

I have no idea what to play over a chord progression. I know my scales but I don't want to play scales up and down. How do I get licks ideas?

2020/08/12

A 'lick' is just scale notes in a 'random' order. By random I mean not merely going up and down through a scale. It could actually be completely random - using scale notes, of course, and sometimes - serendipity - something good comes out! A solid start note is 1 in whatever scale. Say you're in key A, and on a bar of E. That E note on the 1st beat always sounds good - one on one.Other good notes are other *chord tones*. On that E bar again, a 3 and a 5 will match exactly to that chord. So G♯ and B. Other notes in between can be (and often are) used. I call them 'stepping stones', and their best places are the non accented parts of bars, like anything *not* on beats 1 and 3. That's a very basic start point. Another is to listen and copy what others have done. And realise that often, a 'motif' is repeated, to fit with another couple of bars on other chords, either note-wise or rhythm-wise.

I'm just going to describe my own experience with learning to improvise and solo over chords. First I learned my scales, that's basic, and somewhat limited. Then I discovered a term called melodic patterns in a guitar book for jazz players. These were exercises that I practiced until I had them well established in my brain. At that point I noticed I could listen to a piece of music and I could hear places that those melodic patterns would fit. I also studied chord progressions and learned how to use common tones and leading tones that exist between one chord and another and I use this knowledge to move smoothly from harmonizing my improvized lead part to the chord progression I'm working with. Incidently, I don't play jazz, but I found this treasure trove of melodic patterns very valuable.

**Question 1:** Are there any deeper applications (in any field of mathematics) of polynomials (with possibly more than one variable) over the real numbers whose coefficients are non-negative? So far I have found only some vague mentions of control theory and maybe some approximations of functions, but don't know the details (e.g. www.math.ttu.edu/~barnard/poly.pdf). **Question 2:** There is a similar notion, namely "positive polynomials", but they are defined as "polynomial functions that are non-negative". Does anybody know some connection between these two kinds of polynomials? Thanks. All comments and suggested answers here (thanks for them:)) have certainly something to do with the mentioned type of polynomials. To specify more what was my intention - a desired answer (to Question 1) should fullfil the following: "Is the application in you proposed area of such a kind that it forces an (independent) research of polynomials with non-negative coefficients on themselves?"

2012/03/21

How about Rook polynomials? <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rook_polynomial> Or if you like examples in several variables, Schur polynomials, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schur_polynomial> Or a plentiful of other polynomials with combinatorial connections. The Schur polynomials have for example applications in representation theory.

Thanks to all for your comments and suggestions. The original motivation for this question was a connection between polynomials with non-negative coefficients and commutative semirings. After some search we found some papers asking for determining the least degree of a polynomial with non-negative coefficients that is divisible by a given (general) polynomial. Suprisingly similar questions were investigated repeatedly and independetly but without any deeper motivation. We deceided hence to make an overview, improvements of some results and suggested a few conjectures. The result (made before the latest updates of this webpage) can be found here <http://arxiv.org/abs/1210.6868>. (Suggestions and comments are welcome.)

Does anyone have advice for easily copying files between a Windows XP machine [#A] (NTFS drive) --> External Hard Drive [NTFS] --> another Windows XP machine [#B] (NTFS drive) and getting the permissions set proprely? Machine #A has all the data files setup so that User A [UUID] has full control on. When the files are copied over to the external hard drive, the permissions are fine. But when the external hard drive is then connected to Machine #B, the files will not copy. I tried running cacls and xcacls to get User B [different UUID] and it works pretty well, but it chokes on [atypical filenames](https://serverfault.com/questions/7448/using-xcacls-to-set-permissions-with-long-filenames). Is there a better way? Thanks in advance!

2009/06/23

If these machines aren't part of a domain and the permissions are naming local user accounts on each machine you're not going to see the permissions (which reference the SIDs from the security and accounts manager (SAM) databases on each machine) show the right users when moving machine-to-machine. The only SIDs that work moving machine-to-machine are the "well known" SIDs (things like "Authenticated Users", "Users", etc). Consider naming "Administrators" in the permissions-- that's a well-known SID and will work on both machines.

Use [Robocopy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robocopy), which can copy over the NTFS attributes and properties including ACLs.

My project has to deliver middleware components that will support a large, complex system development spanning multiple phases. My phase is due to implement in 6 weeks, with future phases being implemented in 6 months and 12 months from now. Most of my work is well on track, but we have one component that we are just starting to put in place. We know what is needed to support the current phase, and are confident in our plans to deliver that. However, we don't have a clear view of how the future development phases will be implemented, and so we have not been able to plan our implementation with the future phases in mind. Carrying out the necessary analysis would cost us a couple of weeks, which would delay the overall implementation of the current phase by a week overall. My question is this: should I opt for the quick implementation that fully meets the current requirement and meets current targets, but does not guarantee an easy future implementation, or should I request a delay to the project, with potential (but unproven) future benefits through avoidance of rework? We are using a waterfall-based approach, rather than agile, and the technology is relatively new to the organisation. Does this make a difference to your answer?

2012/04/18

I would go for the long term solution. Even you aren't doing Agile you can do the **"fail soon fail fast"** approach. If you fail do deliver at the beginning there will be some heat from top, but at least you won't have to redo a quick solution. You can save some time and money. Usually, **quick solution means dirty solution**. Build a system right from the beginning and **keep the technical debt low**. The additional 9.5 months should be enough to be on track after the first milestone, but it is definitely not enough to redo a quick solution.

I would try to go for the long term win. Why? You mentioned that additional time for the analysis and a "better" implementation would cause a week delay. In comparison to 12 months this is very little. So it sounds to me like a small investment with potential big benefits. But what is more important... > > we don't have a clear view of how the future development phases will be implemented, and so we have not been able to plan our implementation with the future phases in mind > > > The analysis will give you the big picture. That means you'll understand the requirements better which is a great value for the project and for the team.

Is it a good idea to create per day collections for data on a given day (we could start with per day and then move to per hour if there is too much data). Is there a limit on the number of collections we can create in mongodb, or does it result in performance loss (is it an overhead for mongodb to maintain so many collections). Does a large number of collections have any adverse effect on performance? To give you more context, the data will be more like facebook feeds, and only the latest data (say last one week or month) is more important to us. Making per day collections keeps the number of documents low, and probably would result in fast access. Even if we need old data, we can fall back to older collections. Does this make sense, or am I heading in the wrong direction?

2013/06/27

what you actually need is to archive the old data. I would suggest you to take a look at this thread at the mongodb mailing list: <https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/mongodb-user/rsjQyF9Y2J4> Last post there from Michael Dirolf (10gen)says: > > "The OS will handle LRUing out data, so if all of your queries are > touching the same portion of data that should stay in memory > independently of the total size of the collection." > > > so I guess you can stay with single collection and good indexes will do the work. anyhow, if the collection goes too big you can always run manual archive process.

Yes, there is a limit to the number of collections you can make. From the Mongo documentation Abhishek referenced: > > The limitation on the number of namespaces is the size of the namespace file divided by 628. > > > A 16 megabyte namespace file can support approximately 24,000 namespaces. Each index also counts as a namespace. > > > Indexes etc. are included in the namespaces, but even still, it would take something like 60 years to hit that limit. However! Have you considered what happens when you want data that spans collections? In other words, if you wanted to know how many users have feeds updated in a week, you're in a bit of a tight spot. It's not easy/trivial to query across collections. I would recommend instead making *one* collection to store the data and simply move data out periodically as Tamir recommended. You can easily write a job to move data out of the collection every week or every month.

I had started an answer with "Dear [username] " and I see that this heading was deleted by a moderator. Is this a general policy on this site ? I'm a new user and don't yet know the rules. Needless to say, I am not arguing and intend to comply but I just wanted to ask about this point of etiquette.

2011/05/10

The key thing to remember is that this site is not a traditional forum or a social network; it is all about questions and answers, not "addressing fellow users". When you write an answer, you don't write it just for the original poster, you write it for anyone and everyone who might have that question in the future. Personal salutations are extraneous clutter at best, and completely misleading at worst. Remember that anyone can change their user name at any time without notice, or even completely delete their account, so you will end up addressing a meaningless string of characters. For further reading, check out e.g. this question on the meta Meta: [Should 'Hi', 'thanks' and taglines and salutations be removed from posts?](https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2950/should-hi-thanks-and-taglines-and-salutations-be-removed-from-posts) Here I will quote just a paragraph or two. > > If this is supposed to be a website which is servicing more than just the primary author, we need to think about how we construct messages so that they appear more clearly to those searching on google for questions that match their own. If I am looking for a solution for question X, I want to find someone who had the same problem, not their short autobiography and formalities before getting to that actual question. — TheTXI > > > > > [I]f we had two parallel worlds, one with the [post] including the greetings etc, and one without, which would we choose? I'd choose the world where the [posts] just had the required information, as readably and concisely as possible. — Jon Skeet > > >

Greetings are polite, and generally used on forums. However, Stack Exchange sites are not forums, and greetings take up a line of space for no particular practical reason. Thus, per convention, the greeting is made implicit. There is no need for it on every single post... or, indeed, on any!

I have been told, and have found for myself, that lots of developers are not good at UI design (I don't know how true is this) but *it is true about me at least*. In web development good code development skills are not enough without great skills in UI design to go with them. So for me, and many developers like me, that only have half of the thing (good development skills) how should we complete our other half other than paying for a designer? Is using Open Source web templates with little modifications the best solution for this, or are there other options?

2011/09/26

I am a developer who is also not so great at design. I try to my hardest, when working on a project where I must do designing, to keep things as simple as possible. I take a very logical approach and design only for user experience. I cant make it look truly beautiful, but I can make it user friendly and relatively pleasing to the eye. I have read several of these books: <http://www.uxbydesign.org/2009/06/24/20-user-experience-books-you-should-own/> and they have really helped me out. **edit** my favourite on that list is Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, 2nd Edition by Steve Krug

Remember that design can be tested too, not only code. Start simple, try out your design on a small group of people, record their feedback and go from there. This can help you identify problems with your design and give you ideas about what could/should be done different. Then revise the design and iterate.

Any idea how to do performance and scalability testing if no clear performance requirements have been defined? More information about my application. The application has 3 components. One component can only run on Linux, the other two components are Java programs so they can run on Linux/Windows/Mac... The 3 components can be deployed to one box or each component can be deployed to one box. Deployment is very flexible. The Linux-only component will capture raw TCP/IP packages over the network, then one Java component will get those raw data from it and assemble them into the data end users will need and output them to hard disk as data files. The last Java component will upload data from data files to my database in batch.

2009/06/03

In the absence of 'must be able to perform X iterations within Y seconds...' type requirements, how about these kinds of things: * Does it take twice as long for twice the size of dataset? (yes = good) * Does it take 10x as long for twice the size of dataset? (yes = bad) * Is it CPU bound? * Is it RAM bound (eg lots of swapping to virtual memory)? * Is it IO / Disk bound? * Is there a certain data-set size at which performance suddenly falls off a cliff?

Define your own. Take the initiative and describe the performance goals yourself. To answer any better, we'd have to know more about your project.

i want to do some modification and development for VLC. i download its source code, vlc-1.1.5. and it is written by C. so usually which development environment should i use, xcode or some others? thx...

2011/01/25

The VideoLAN folks provide a wiki page with information about compiling their source on multiple platforms. The page relevant to OS X is here: <http://wiki.videolan.org/OSXCompile> > > Compiling VLC media player on Mac OS X is different from normal linux compiling and OS X compiling. We do not use Xcode, but a simple ./configure and then make isn't enough either. > > > The page provides a step-by-step guide to setting up a machine running either OS X 10.5 or 10.6.

Any editor of choice should suffice. Looking at the code, it seems that VLC uses Unix-style building (autotools, make, etc). On Win32, it uses MinGW, so plain old gcc and make is probably used on OSX as well.

I acknowledge the fact that we currently don't understand the causes of homosexuality nearly well enough, but I have read about the following points: * That homosexuality may not be a choice and could have genetic grounds (different studies and views presented in [this article](http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2014/11/study-gay-brothers-may-confirm-x-chromosome-link-homosexuality)). * That it may be a result of a traumatic experience (as [this article](https://stream.org/yes-childhood-sexual-abuse-often-contribute-homosexuality/) suggests). Without intentional cause of offense, based on these I am under the impression that homosexuality *could* potentially be a mental disorder. **Within psychiatry, how is homosexuality discussed or classified?**

2017/06/18

In 1973, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) removed the diagnosis of “homosexuality” from the second edition of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) (Jack Drescher, 2015). Theories of pathology which declared that some internal defect or external pathogenic agent causes homosexuality, have been rejected, such as the theories of immaturity which considered the homosexuality a "developmental arrest". It is rare to find a theory of homosexuality that does not draw upon gender beliefs that contain implicit cultural ideas about the “essential” qualities of men and women. Who is a real man? Who is a real woman? Since there weren't scientific evidences to claim: "Homosexuality is a mental disorder", after a vote, Homosexuality has been **depathologized**. Accordingly, the answer to your question is *no*. Homosexuality is not a mental disorder, it's just a normal sexual orientation. For further informations i suggest: "Out of DSM: Depathologizing Homosexuality" (Jack Drescher) 2015 : LINK: <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4695779/>

The idea that homosexuality is disadvantageous from an evolutionary perspective is, in my view, an example of how cultural bias is confused with biological process. While there is evidence that sexual identity has some genetic basis, it is certainly a complicated feature of our identity that cannot be explained by a single gene, and should not be oversimplified into saying 'gay men had so and so trauma'. To me, that sounds similar to the argument 'vegetarians were never taught to hunt', i.e we're taking a complicated matter and trying to explain it using an argument that is based on shaky and highly individual grounds. It sounds like you're not offering any evidence on this (correct me if I'm wrong), but instead basing your claim off of some stereotypes and anecdotes about gay men. Well, how about gay women? Or bisexual people? Crucially, we cannot, in a just society, consider homosexuality (or any sexual or gender identity) as a mental disorder, because that denies individuals the right to self-identify. If everyone who is gay is said to have a disorder, then we take away the right of those people to speak for themselves and describe their own experiences. Finally, we shouldn't base our mental disorders off of the question 'does this help one achieve the goals of living and breeding?' This would be an example of teleological thinking about evolution, that is, assuming that evolution has a specific end goal in mind. Evolution, instead, is a natural process based off of random chance. It does not make sense to assume that what is good for our species (classically, surviving and breeding) should be the same as what is good for an individual member of the species. I hope this answer was a helpful addition to the discussion.

I have two files in the Documents directory of the same image taken with the camera. One was saved using UIImagePNGRepresentation and the the other one using UIImageJPEGRepresentation. In other word, one is a png and the other is a jpg. Now, using the the instrument with a real device. if I load the png (initWithContentOfFile:), the 'Real memory' goes from 2.34 MB to 2.43 MB. But if I load the jpeg instead, the memory goes from 2.34 MB to over 23 MB!!! I had similar results loading any png versus jpeg. Can somebody can help me understand why?

2009/12/05

It's probably able to map the memory used for the PNG file directly to storage, whereas it has no ability to do this with a JPG which must be decoded. If you think about it, for a 1600x1200 image from the iPhone camera, 23 MB is very realistic while .09 MB is not enough space to hold the data for an image.

Apple has a special no-standard format for png files where the color bytes are in the same order as the color stripes on the iPhone display. Png images Resources are re-written when copied to the app bundle by Xcode. I suspect that png representations are special cased when used as images on the iPhone.

In issue #2 of Green Lantern (Oct 2011), Sinestro gave Hal Jordan a ring that he said he made himself. How can he make such a ring? When? Is it merely a construct?

2011/10/17

In the current iteration of the DCnU (new DC Universe recently revamped with 52 starting titles) it is too early to determine what, if any changes have occurred with the Green Lanterns, their limits, strengths or capabilities as determined by the new canon. Under the older DCU canon the rings and lanterns of the Corps were: * composed of Oanite, a material mined and shaped by the Guardians and their technology * receptive to the signal of the Central Power Battery * They could access the computer information core of the Central Power Battery as well * Were possessed of a limited AI interface offering support to the ringbearer * Could translate languages, navigate space, create wormholes and protect the bearer from space * in conjunction with the Lantern allowing access to the Central Power Battery energy supply * A matrix allowing the wielder of the ring to create energy constructions * able to create constructions which interacted with the real universe in a variety of ways * Most often those constructs acted as a form of hard-light hologram * Constructs performed with the same ability as a device created by the hologram * capable of producing copies of themselves for other Green Lanterns to use in emergencies. These copies seemed to function in every way the same as the originals. Here is a website called the Book of Oa, that lists previous powers of the [Power Rings](http://www.glcorps.org/rings.html) of the Green Lantern Corps. --- It has always been stated that a ring-bearer's performance with their ring was an expression of their willpower (or whatever attribute their ring functions on, with the appearance of other colored rings, some may utilize other emotional/mental triggers to perform their capabilities.) With the Green rings, willpower and intellect were the most effective tools used to manipulate the Green energy. Famed Green Lanterns such as Sinestro or Kilowogg, were known to be able to push their rings far beyond what the average Green Lantern seemed capable of. This made them legendary among the Corps and the most difficult tasks were often reassigned to them. Normally, the Green Lantern rings were not shown creating new things out of old things but it should be technically capable of doing so, if the person using the ring has the theoretical knowledge of how to a machine might perform the task or the fundamental knowledge to create the transformation directly using the ring. Sinestro rebuilding a bridge that can sustain itself as if it were never broken either attests to a prodigious intellect capable of understanding the mechanics of the bridge and rebuilding the bridge at the molecular level, and using the Green Energy to hold everything in place until the bridge could be placed anew as if it had never experienced any trauma. Or he used another unknown means to restore the bridge to its former glory, perhaps by moving the bridge backward in time until it simply is restored to its previous temporal state. Given the power of the rings potential, either could be a satisfactory conclusion. --- **In Summary** In the previous DCU, a Green Lantern ring was capable of producing a copy of itself that was a fully functioning copy. This might have been to create a spare device, since without a Lantern as a power source, it was merely a receiving platform. It might have been to create other rings to train potential Lanterns. It is unclear if the rings created were also made of Oanite (implying the ability to transmit matter or whether they were created from the Green Energy itself, converting energy to matter, physically possible, if very difficult). It is unlikely to be a construct since if it was, it would be subject to disappear if the primary ring's power were suddenly removed or depleted. As to whether he could control the ring after Hal had started using it, is a matter of debate. A sufficiently sophisticated will can take control of a ring even if another, less powerful will is using it. This is not something seen very often by Green Lanterns. As to making permanent changes using the ring, we are not currently sure if this is a new angle taken by the writers to allow the Green Lanterns the opportunity to use the rings in a new and different fashion or as an expression of Sinestro of Korugar's superior use of the ring and how he was once called the Greatest of All Green Lanterns.

(Most) Power Rings can replicate themselves, so that a Lantern in need of emergency assistance can temporarily "deputize" another person. The most famous example of this occurred in *Blackest Night*, when Ganthet triggered this process in seven rings, one of each color (even Orange, though that one didn't end entirely well). But it has happened a few other times in the series as well. We've never seen a Power Ring maintain more than one copy of itself at a time, and the copy is usually only temporary: even the deputies from Blackest Night were not permanent (Ganthet, the green deputy in that arc, later joined the GLC as a more permanent member, but he forged a "proper" ring for himself at that time). What you're seeing in this case is just an unorthodox application of that process. Sinestro "deputized" Hal on a more permanent basis than usually happens, but Hal is nevertheless wearing a deputy ring.

I'm newer to home brewing (about 8 batches extract, 1 partial mash) and looking to tackle this. It was absolutely amazing. Could somebody help me out with the recipe? Is this the right place to ask? Notes: The stout was very well balanced, with a strong and delayed (about 1 second) aftertaste of vanilla. I have never brewed with vanilla or oats, so please be specific about how to handle that. I'm ok with neglecting the 'Bourbon Barrel' conditioning. Thanks! <https://avbc.com/our-beers/anderson-valley-wild-turkey-bourbon-barrel-stout/> BITTERNESS: 14 IBU MALTS: Pale Two-Row, Crystal (40L & 80L), Roasted Barley, Munich, Chocolate, Oats HOPS: Columbus, Northern Brewer

2013/12/20

In my opinion, metrics and analytics are always important, and useful. The problem is pitching your idea to a broad enough audience to get it off the ground. Without mass data to back everything up, you won't be able to justify the work. If you intend to do it for yourself only, well I honestly wouldn't bother, since I know what I like, and what I don't like. I wouldn't need a spreadsheet to verify it. You say you are a computer scientist? There's repositories packed to the brim with recipes, and they may be willing to work with you, if you are willing to get your hands dirty and bust out your coding chops. I would recommend contacting the folks at Brewtoad, or Brad on Beersmith and pitch your ideas to them. To answer your question, on a homebrew level, no. I am unaware of any site or tool that parses through data to show trends and analysis for ingredients and techniques. A lot of it is subjective, since it really does boil down to (ba-dum-tiss) flavor, which is always subjective to each person. I would guess there's hesitation from developers since there really is no right or wrong way to brew a beer. You would have to keep everything factual.

I don't have enough reputation to add a comment, so I'll just post an answer to participate. This sounds sort of like a discovery service for beer, kind of like Last fm and Pandora are for music, correct? Although it seems like there would be more detailed match criteria with the ingredients included. After a quick Google search, I can only find a few (BrewGene, RateBeer). If I am understanding you correctly, you would have the following tables: brewery, beer, hops, yeast, fermentables and link tables for many to many relationships with maybe a few more tables for hop addition time, other ingredients, etc. Basically you'd have a recipe database for each beer so that relationships can be determined using the likeness of beers (beer A is similar to beer B in terms of the hop schedule or grain bill, etc.). Yes, you would have to find a good repository of beer recipes to work from, otherwise the research would obviously be a lot of work. There would also probably a degree of completeness/correctness of these recipes to consider. Maybe the users can submit the ingredients/recipes and suggest changes to existing recipes as a collaborative effort sort of like Wikipedia? As far as existing recipe databases go, all I can find are homebrew recipes rather than commercial ones. I am also a computer scientist specializing in web application development. I've never used QlikView, but looks interesting.

I purchase green chilies and in some days many of them turn red. Can I use my [mixer-grinder](http://www.bajajelectricals.com/GX-11-Mixer-Grinder-pc-275-9.aspx) to grind them into a powder, or is there some other way? Do I have to roast the peppers before grinding? Do the seeds have to be removed?

2011/07/18

Chilies are dried before grinding. There are several ways to dry them: * **Leave them in an exposed part of the fridge** for several weeks. There should be a lot of open air around it, to allow moisture to escape. * **String them up outside**. To do this, poke holes and run strings through them and tie the strings up so they're spread out. For best results, you should do this during hot, dry weather, and ensure they get plenty of sunlight. Expect it to take several weeks. * **Oven-dry them at low temperatures**. You want temperatures to be under 150°F/65°C so as not to cook them, and it will take several hours to a day or two. Reduce the temperature if you see the peppers darkening or turning black. Rotate the peppers regularly to allow even drying, and leave the oven door slightly open to allow moisture to escape. If you wish to have a little more roasted flavor, increase the temperature. * Use a freeze-drying machine or dehydrator. Discard any peppers with rotten spots, both before and after drying. **Before grinding, remove stems and seeds.** **Grinding:** I've successfully used a blade-type coffee grinder to grind dried peppers into flakes. A blender or food processor should also work, assuming you are handling larger quantities. I must confess puzzlement about what exactly a "mixer-grinder" is, even after consulting the link. I believe the appliance may not have an exact equivalent in Europe or the United States. However, if it is suitable for blending or grinding it should work fine for dried peppers. **I should add that you ought to wear gloves when handling the peppers, and beware of the fumes from the dehydrator or oven, as they may be very pungent. In extreme causes, protective goggles may be a good idea.**

The very best peppers I have ever dried were homegrown habaneros that I dried and smoked in our electric smoker at a low temperature ( maybe 145 degrees ) over a mesquite wood for several hours. I think you might be able to replicate this over a very low grill, and use another type of pepper. I have had good success with cayennes as well. It is a simple process to then grind it in a spice grinder, and I would use Yoda's good advice from #4 and #5.

I am alone in a room. The room is very quiet, except that one may hear a sound of something like snowing, and a sound of something resembling a cloak. In the next room behind the door, there’s also a persistent sound of something akin to an abyss. Suddenly, there's a sound of something close to a lamb. I jump up and run to the next room. What’s going on? Hint #1: > > This is a very casual situation for almost any person. > > > Hint #2: > > The abyss is treacherous and doesn't follow the rules. > > > Hint #3: > > What could be in the next room? What kind of a persistent sound could I hear? Why did I run there? > > >

2018/06/12

I think > > You are sleeping and an alarm goes off, making you run into the next room > > > Reasoning: > > as @Riley said, the title sounds like "that sounds weird" when spoken aloud > > > so taking that theme, > > something like snowing -> snoring > > something resembling a cloak -> a clock > > something akin to an abyss -> haven't figured this out yet :( > > something close to a lamb -> alarm > > >

Nicolas Budig’s answer was the closest to the truth, but still not complete. So I decided to answer my own question: The title, "That’s Ounce Weird", > > sounds like "that sounds weird", which is the key to most parts of the puzzle. > > > "snowing" is > > snoring, because I was sleeping > > > "a cloak" is > > a ticking clock > > > "An abyss", maybe the least obvious part, refers to… > > "a drop", which may be a drop into an abyss, but also a drop of water. So the persistent sound of "an abyss" refers to a sound of a leaking tap in the bathroom. The abyss is "treacherous" in the sense that it doesn’t follow the wordplay. > > > "a lamb" is > > the alarm clock ringing > > > "I jump up and run to the next room", because… > > it’s time to go work, so I run to the bathroom to take a shower. > > >

I'm working on a website using the Google Maps Javascript API v3. The free version of the API is limited by 25000 requests a day. But what happens if this limit is reached? Is there a way to detect that the request limit has been reached so a fallback Google Maps Image API map can be displayed instead?

2011/12/29

The usage limit is based on site or application, not the client IP address. You can use the Google API console to monitor your usage if you add an API key to each of your map requests. I have not seen a way to query the usage programmatically. <https://code.google.com/apis/console> Per the comment below by @alds, it does appear that JS Maps API v3 and Static Maps API are separate services, therefore having separate request limits. Falling back to a static Google map image could help. This also explains the usage limits in better detail: <http://googlegeodevelopers.blogspot.com/2011/11/understanding-how-maps-api-usage-limits.html>

You cannot detect via the API that the request limit has been reached. There are no events that are fired and the API does not expose a function or property to determine that the API quota has been reached. Google has decided that this is not a feature they will implement. <https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/35830575#comment12>

In the picture below, the input of the rectifier is 690VAC max, so the DC output can reach up to 1kVDC. The DC output goes to a low power DC/DC Converter. In the picture on the left, I'm using a single varistor for transient protection. In the picture on the right, I have three TVS diodes in series. Would the two cases accomplish the same task? As far as I know, TVS are faster than MOVs and can absorb less energy. [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/0wiqc.png)

2020/07/06

This would work in an ideal world. However, I'd be concerned that IRL one of those 450V TVSes may have a slightly larger reverse leakage than the others, and thus a much smaller voltage drop. Once one of those starts conducting even a little more than the others, it's a domino effect. You may be able to address it by putting a resistor across each one that will pass far more current than the diode leakage, forming a more reliable voltage divider.

An MOV is not the same as a TransZorb. An MOV has a soft avalanche while TransZorbs have a sharp zener-like cut-off. Both are transient absorbing devices. For constant voltage clamping zener diodes are better suited. In terms of protecting power supplies it is best to put MOV's or TransZorbs or RF noise filter capacitors (1 nF X2 rated)on the AC side of the diodes. Zener diodes, if used, would be installed after the rectifier diodes. I worked in the TVS / SPD industry for 15 years, and putting devices in series was common. They are more balanced than you think. As they do not make individual units (so far) with a rating over 1,200 VAC, to protect 4,160 VAC oil-pump motors we put 4 or 5 in series, then several of those in parallel to get the KA rating required by the vendor, and the safety margin required by UL and ISO.

I'm using a Nexus One on T-Mobile in the US. A couple months ago my OS was updated to Android 2.3. Since then I've had a weird problem with my calendar events. I can view calendar events just fine, and the calendar syncs with my Google Account bi-directionally without issue. When I create a calendar event, the "time zone" option defaults to my current time zone, "GMT -4, Eastern Standard Time", just like it did on Android 2.2. However, when I touch the time zone option to select a time zone, there are two time zone entries that match mine. One is "GMT -4, Eastern Standard Time", the other is "GMT -4, Eastern Time". The problem happens when I edit an event. Frequently, when I edit a calendar entry, the event jumps 4 hours ahead unless I manually edit it back down. For example, if I create a calendar event and set the starting time to 1:00pm, when I edit the event I've created the edit screen will show a starting time of 5:00pm. It still shows the correct time zone, but it adds the 4 hour GMT difference into the event's starting time. If I save the event without adjusting it back down, the next time I edit it it will say 9:00pm. This happens regardless of whether the event was originally created on the phone, or if it was created on my desktop PC by visiting <http://www.google.com/calendar>. It doesn't seem to matter which of the two "US Eastern Time" options I select when creating an event on the phone. This problem did not exist before I installed Android 2.3. It doesn't happen with every single event, but I haven't been able to figure out what the common element is between the unaffected events. It does seem that events that are freshly-created are less prone to this problem (possibly the problem starts after the data's been synced a few times?) If I create a calendar event on my phone, and then edit it on my desktop PC using <http://www.google.com/calendar>, the PC edit screen behaves normally, and the changes sync back to my phone without issue. Only when editing events on the phone do I experience this problem. It's very annoying that I have to dial my events back 4 hours every time I make a change to them. I've experimented with different settings but I haven't been able to figure out how to make this go away. Does anybody know how I can fix this?

2011/05/19

My Samsung S-iii/Android 4.4.2 causes a 4 hr shift on my outlook calendar, even if the event was originally generated by Google's Holiday posting...if it's a reoccurring event. Daily, monthly, annually, anything initiated on my android that is reoccurring displays the shift. And finding and turning on or off the time zone lock on either my Samsung calendar or my Google calendar doesn't seem to help. However, any one time event, such as a doctor appointment, seems to come out okay regardless of calendar of origin. So my personal work-around: if I need to post a one-time appointment, I do it on my smartphone without much concern (so far...). However, if I need to post a reoccurring event, such as a class, I only post the first event, with a occurrence reminder in the title, like "Handball, MWF." In this way, the next time, after a sync, I see the first event on Outlook, it will remind me to reenter it on my PC as a reoccurring event.

Uncheckinge the "use home time zone" option also fixed it for me, although I am at a loss to know why this is so, especially since I didn't travel outside of home. Now, if I could only figure out how to keep google calendar and contacts in synch with MS Outlook, I'd be a happy camper.

I've built a lot of villages, some towns and a city or two but I've failed to bring them to life and make the PCs feel like they belong there (maybe not much belong but to just make them care about the place); a troll could probably eat the entire community and the PCs wouldn't really care. **Does anyone have any methods for making players care about the Community they live in and grow to care about the people living there?**

2013/04/09

Give the town unique resources/opportunities. --------------------------------------------- This may seem callous and calculating, but [a town that gives discounts to the adventurers](http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0122.html) has a special place in the heroes' hearts (and pocketbooks). Services and opportunities help disguise the ploy a little better; perhaps the town is unusually good at generating cool quests or provides unusually good legal counsel (if that's the kind of game I'm running). I don't need to discount the services if they're superlative or difficult/impossible to come by elsewhere. Invite the players to help design the town. ------------------------------------------- I'll ask for their input designing the town, from naming the NPCs and taverns to even tossing them the whole job while I make some tea. (If I'm leaving it all up to them, I consider providing town-generation guidelines from the game book or elsewhere if my players aren't used to this kind of activity.) This gets players personally invested in the locale, and ensures that it's interesting to them. Make the PCs guardians of the community. ---------------------------------------- If the party saves the town as part of a quest, the townsfolk can acknowledge this effusively. Play it up to the PCs' egos: coming to the town means children following them, free drinks, and maybe checking the progress of the statue in their honor. Make the town memorable for its *people*, not its *stuff*. ---------------------------------------------------------- Elaborate setpieces are cool, but to engage my players with a town I need interesting people in it rather than fancy geography. Maybe the mayor is an inventor who spends his limited free time (the duties of mayorhood are endless) creating quirky labor-saving devices. Or the whole town is freakishly obsessed with a particular kind of animal, breeding them and hosting regular pet show style contests. Don't oversaturate. ------------------- I shouldn't expect my players to develop intimate connections to every hamlet they run across. I pick one or two locations that we'll be coming back to regularly --preferably they're related to the story at hand, to make it feel more natural-- and focus on them.

Here's what works well for our group: **Everyone comes from somewhere.** PCs in our group are required to have a hometown and a family background. But requiring it is only the first step. To make it matter, I give the PCs boons and hindrances because of their background. For example, one of the PCs is a local landowner; she can call on the farmers of the area for help, but she's also expected to offer hospitality to anyone who visits her land. If a PC is from a community, they're more likely to care about it. **Towns recur.** Keep bringing the story back to the same town. This way, each time the party returns, all the history they have there returns with them. In the [first adventure](http://joefatula.com/rpg_episode01.html) of our campaign, the party dealt with a city abandoned due to plague. They explored the city like it was a dungeon, exploring building by building. The next time they were in the area, the ruler of the city sent them an invitation to come and visit. Later on they followed up on the invitation, and the ruler gave them gifts in recognition of their service. Months later, an army besieged the city, and the party showed up to help with its defense. **Have an NPC identified with that community.** People are good at identifying with people. If you want the party to get to know a community, put an NPC in the story that is strongly linked to that community. This works with a town, but it works just as well with introducing a different tribe, ethnic group, or species. **The people of that place keep doing things in the background.** If the people who live there are always doing things, they can keep coming up in the story. In the example above, the city gets mentioned a lot because the people of that city travel around and do things. When the party hears about a place they've been to, it helps keep that place present in their minds. **Every town has a quirk.** Give a place something to distinguish it, even if it isn't much. Make that one thing stand out. For example, don't have a farming village, have a village that grows carrots. Don't have a town with plain stone walls, have the walls painted a brilliant white. Don't have an ordinary hamlet in the woods, have a hamlet at the base of a waterfall in the woods. **Make unimportant places unimportant.** If every *important* settlement has an interesting name, a quirk, important people, etc.; make sure that *unimportant* places have bland names, no special quirks, and no memorable people.

**Background** For my master's thesis in Applied Mathematics, I am looking for ways to apply game theory to problems related to the so-called "Smart Grid". I have found many papers in which all involved agents (that control energy management systems of, for instance, households) either all cooperate (see [1], [2], [3], and [4]) within the framework of cooperative game theory, or they all compete (see [5], [6], and [7]) within the framework of non-cooperative game theory, with one another. However, I haven't seen any papers or books (yet) that deal with the setting in which individual agents can join either team A or team B (not both), and these teams compete with one another. So the agents within the teams cooperate with each other (in the context of smart grids, this can mean they share their surplus energy for free or a cheap price with their team members) while they coordinate together how they can harm all agents from the other team as much as possible. I though such a setting could be plausible because a utility/retail company X might want their customers the cooperate with one another, while they might want them to compete with customers from another utility/retail company Y. So the companies X and Y compete *via* their customers. **Questions** 1. Is the setting I described, in which the utility companies compete via their customers, realistic in a sense that it could be a future scenario? 2. Has any research been done in which game-theoretic methods are used to model the setting I described (in individuals within teams collaborate, but coordinate to compete as good as possible against other teams) ? Could you point me to any articles/papers or books? 3. Which research areas, besides cooperative and non-cooperative game theory, that are particularly relevant to the team-setting I described above? **Sources** [1] Nishantha Ekneligoda and Wayne W. Weaver, "Game-Theoretic Communication Structures in Microgrids", IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, 2012 [2] Adriana Chris and Visa Koivunen, "Coalitional game based optimization of energy portfolio in smart grid communities", preprint, 2017 [3] Valentin Robu, Ramachandra Kota, Georgios Chalkiadakis, Alex Rogers, Nicholas R. Jennings, "Cooperative Virtual Power Plant Formation Using Scoring Rules", Proceedings of the Twenty-Sixth AAAI Conference on Artifical Intelligence, 2012 [4] Meritxell Vinyals, Valentin Robu, Alex Rogers and Nicholas R. Jennings "Prediction-of-Use Games: a Cooperative Game Theory Approach to Sustainable Energy Tariffs", Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems, 2014 [5] S. Rasoul Etesami, Walid Saad, Narayan Mandayam, and H. Vincent Poor "Stochastic Games for Smart Grid Energy Management with Prospect Prosumers", preprint, 2017 [6] Sarvapali D. Ramchurn, Perukrishnen Vytelingum, Alex Rogers, and Nick Jennings "Agent-Based Control for Decentralised Demand Side Management in the Smart Grid", International Foundation for Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems, 2011 [7] Amir-Hamed Mohsenian-Rad, Vincent W. S. Wong, Juri Jatskevich, Robert Schober, and Alberto Leon-Garcia,"Autonomous Demand Side Management based on Game-Theoretic Energy Consumption Scheduling for the Future Smart Grid, IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, 2010

2017/11/04

> > Is the setting I described, in which the utility companies compete via their customers, realistic in a sense that it could be a future > scenario? > > > The current competition is choosing whether to stay on the grid with no way to generate power, to install power generation (wind/solar) and use the grid for a backup or to go off the grid entirely. There are a few problems associated with this. The old pricing structure is based off of supplying power to the customer with power flowing one way, all costs are built into the rate the power company charges. This becomes a problem when a customer wants the power company to regulate their voltage and wants a fixed rate to sell power back to the power company, when the rates that the power company buys and sells power are not fixed and changes throughout the day. When energy is exchanged from one physical location to a cost is incurred. When there is too much energy the price can go negative. Another problem is as more customers switch to solar and return power to the grid, it destabilizes the grid (which costs money to stabilize) it also changes the average pattern of consumption throughout the day, since energy generation is based of of mostly solar from consumers and changes with the weather. > > Has any research been done in which game-theoretic methods are used > to model the setting I described (in individuals within teams > collaborate, but coordinate to compete as good as possible against > other teams) ? Could you point me to any articles/papers or books? > > > No, this question is off topic, we don't find resources or products for others. We do answer specific questions. This question also smacks of "doing someone else's homework for them". As part of your masters, you need to learn how to answer your questions with the resources available to you without leaning on other people. That being said, I recommend scanning the IEEE spectrum for every article on the grid and also solar installations and smart grids. That will give you a good background on the state of affairs when it comes to consumers, engineering and grids.

I do not think the competition between the consumers is a realistic and an applicable option. I think it is better that the aggregators should be the agents rather than the consumers. This will make your assumptions more realistic as the aggregators are the real players in the smart grid market. [1] and [2] may help you. Jumping to your third question, As a suggestion, I think cyber-physical attacks on smart grid is very good research area where game theory could be applied, in which the hacker/attacker is your opponent in the game. You may see [3] and [4] as example. Ref. [1] Nguyen, D.T., Negnevitsky, M. and De Groot, M., **Pool-based demand response exchange—concept and modeling**. IEEE Trans. Power Syst, 26(3), pp.1677-1685. 2011. [2] Gkatzikis, L., Koutsopoulos, I. and Salonidis, T., **The role of aggregators in smart grid demand response markets**. IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, 31(7), pp.1247-1257. 2013. [3] Farraj, A., Hammad, E., Al Daoud, A. and Kundur, D., **A game-theoretic analysis of cyber switching attacks and mitigation in smart grid systems**. IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, 7(4), pp.1846-1855. 2016. [4] Srikantha, P. and Kundur, D., **A DER attack-mitigation differential game for smart grid security analysis**. IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, 7(3), pp.1476-1485. 2016.

Why does electric charge flow direction depend on the potential difference and not the charge difference between two points?

2016/08/21

Systems try and minimise their potential energy. So if a charge is able to move from a position where it has a high potential energy to a position where it has a lower potential energy it will do so. Here is an example where there is a charge difference and no flow of charges: [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/7cLgZ.jpg) The metallic sphere is initially uncharged and because it is a conductor the potential of all parts of the sphere are the same. When the negative rod is brought close to the metallic sphere electrons in the metal sphere move away from the rod and leave a surplus of positive charge close to the rod. The electrons moved so as to reduce the potential energy of the system (rod and sphere) as compared with the potential energy the system would have had if the charges had not moved. Note that the negative rod had tried to make the region of the sphere closest have a lower potential than that region which is furthest from the sphere. The rod set up a potential difference across the metal sphere which become zero due to the redistribution of the electrons. You will note that the charge distribution on the metallic sphere is asymmetric but the charges do not move because in that position the potential energy has been minimized and the potential of the metallic sphere is the same everywhere. As the negative rod is removed there is a potential difference across the metal sphere and the electrons move to reduce the potential difference until it becomes zero.

The answer you want , I think can be found using energy considerations. Thomsons theorem states that given a certain total charge on a number of surfaces, the configuration of the system such that the field energy is minimised requires each of the surfaces to be an equipotential. For more rigorous mathematical proofs you can google for many papers on this theorem and its extensions. Hope this helps.

I'm working on a site where these bugs randomly appear in Safari and Chrome: [Safari http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/7860/screenshot20100217at314.jpg](http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/7860/screenshot20100217at314.jpg) i.e. tags appear not to have been closed off completely. The problem is when I view the source I discover it's completely valid. **Edit** Here's the offending HTML which I saved: <http://www.pastebin.com/f1e0edd24>

2010/02/19

Are you SURE it is completely valid? Also, whichever editor you view it in might be hiding something from you. It looks like something got escaped or encoded that shouldn't have been. Take a look at the source for the list item that is bad and compare that to a valid one. Try and find the difference between them. Also, view the response in Fiddler to analyze the actual response html before it hits the browser. This should help reveal if it is actually the browser or is some escaping/encoding issue like I mentioned before.

Try to export all your if else statements from the onclick event handler to a function. Then call this function. That makes the read of the source clearer and makes it easy to debug. However the html may be not valid, somewhere is some attributes not closed correctly. To help further we need the following information. **Does the Bug appear on all Browsers?**

We're hiring a contractor to take off the existing roof, repair/replace any rotted sheathing and rafters, and install a new roof. We've also asked that they add a new plumbing vent stack for a new bathroom we'll add later, a bathroom exhaust vent, a whirlybird to vent the attic, a dryer vent, and supports in case we want to install a roof deck later. This is a 4 floor row house with shallow pitch roof in mid-Atlantic US. There's a 6" to 3' pitched attic area with r30 batts on the ceiling joists. Also have HVAC compressor on roof and unit in attic. What else should we think about along these lines? Green roof supports? Solar panel mounts? Additional insulation? What should we prepare for now, or at least consider?

2011/07/17

1) Solar is something that goes on after the roof is installed, including the supports, and roofers should not even be doing the supports for it. Most solar installers screw it up anyways, but they'll at least get them in the correct position, whereas a roofer won't (especially for a system that's not even designed yet.) 2) Soffet vents aren't necessarily the roofer's job, but if they're going to be doing them, you'll want lots -- far in excess of what code requires. Make sure they don't get blocked up by insulation. They're installed for a reason, and being clogged up with insulation isn't one of them. 3) Passive roof vents, not electric or solar vents. 4) If you want to lower your A/C bill: radiant barrier in between the sheathing and the shingles, high-albedo shingles, etc. 5) Hurricane nails. (They have ridges on them that increase their pull-out strength.)

One thing to think of too is your bracing inside of your attic. There is nothing wrong with going above and beyond the code when it comes to bracing your roof. If you have noticed some sag spots in your roof you might want to think about this as well. Also, have the roofers use aluminum on your vallies. (if you have any) Many leaks happen in these areas because of poor application of tar paper before the shingles are put on.

I have a stand-alone PC with no network connection running Windows 7 (64bit) and the system clock loses about 1 minute per week. Is this level of drift considered "normal" or is it a dodgy RTC or a Windows configuration issue or something else? What is the expected accuracy (roughly) of a PC clock? EDIT: The PC is never switched off.

2014/05/28

I would also like to know what is the typical ("expected") clock drift of standard RTCs found in common PC hardware. The NTP FAQ from www.ntp.org provides some information on the topic: * [3.3.1.1. How bad is a Frequency Error of 500 PPM?](http://www.ntp.org/ntpfaq/NTP-s-sw-clocks-quality.htm#AEN1220) says that a 500 PPM error corresponds to a drift of 43 seconds per day, and "Only poor old mechanical wristwatches are worse." * From [3.3.1.2. What is the Frequency Error of a good Clock?](http://www.ntp.org/ntpfaq/NTP-s-sw-clocks-quality.htm#AEN1230): > > I'm not sure, but but I think a chronometer is allowed to drift mostly by six seconds a day when the temperature doesn't change by more than 15° Celsius from room temperature. That corresponds to a frequency error of 69 PPM. > > > I read about a temperature compensated quartz that should guarantee a clock error of less than 15 seconds per year, but I think they were actually talking about the frequency variation instead of absolute frequency error. In any case that would be 0.47 PPM. As I actually own a wrist watch that should include that quartz, I can state that the absolute frequency error is about 2.78 PPM, or 6 seconds in 25 days. > > > For the Meinberg GPS 167 the frequency error of the free running oven-controlled quartz is specified as 0.5 PPM after one year, or 43 milliseconds per day (roughly 16 seconds per year) > > > * [8.3.1.1.1. How accurate is the CMOS clock?](http://www.ntp.org/ntpfaq/NTP-s-trbl-spec.htm#AEN5674) mentions (typical?) frequency errors in the range of 12 to 17 PPM for one specific machine.

Most of my machines are around 20 ppm off, which is about 12 seconds per week. So you're seeing about 5 times the average. That's unusually high, but not so high that it means something is necessarily wrong.

While I am not too bothered about the level of questions *per se* on this site so far, I am slightly disturbed by the lack of any quantitative questions. The existing range from high-school to undergraduate level, with a lot of 'enthusiasts' questions. They also tend to be very qualitative/overview-based, and either very narrow or in the odd case very wide-scoped questions. So I wonder: where are the typical quantitative physics questions one might expect on a site like this? Exam questions, perhaps, or longer problem-solving based ones? Physics is a *quantitative science* (has been for over 400 years), and as such mathematics is highly important with in. I have however visited this site daily for the last week or so and seen astonishingly few "proper" (quantitative or semi-quanitative) questions. Has anyone else noticed this issue; does anyone share this view? If so, what can we do about it?

2010/11/12

Usually when you can formulate well a quantitative questions, then you can answer it as well. Of course there may be exceptions, but well, no one forbids to ask them! Existence of a definitive answer should never be a criterium of asking a question in physics. It is not maths and the most fundamental thinks usually are such in which we do not even now if we are asking the right questions. Definite numerical answer is only guaranteed for some textbooks problems. Anyway, sometimes quantative answers are natural, see e.g. [In optics, how does the vacuum state compare to thermal radiation?](https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/379/in-optics-how-does-the-vacuum-state-compare-to-thermal-radiation/446#446)

I'm much more likely to be able to answer a quantitative question on my own than a qualitative question. If I can't solve a problem I'm trying to work through, I usually can look up the solution online or in a book, or can put it in Mathematica, or can simulate it. What I need humans for is when I have a conceptual question that I'm not sure how to get at. What would be a decent model for XXX phenomenon? How can we give a clear operational definition of XXX concept? I think it's fairly reasonable to have more of these conceptual questions than quantitative ones.

How do you sort files in OS X Finder so folders appear at the top? There doesn't seem to be any option in View Options.

2010/09/07

You use a Finder enhancement like [TotalFinder](http://totalfinder.binaryage.com/), or a Finder replacement like [PathFinder](http://www.cocoatech.com/). There is a lot of functionality that Finder could - and in a lot of people's opinions, should - offer, but doesn't. Sorting folders first is one such.

Use an underscore. \_Folder Name

Apologies for the vague title, but I wasn't sure how exactly to put the situation. My 11-year-old sister refuses to read properly. (I am out of the house, but my parents discuss the problem with me frequently and are not aware of this forum.) She seems to *like* the idea of reading: she carries books out of the house with her (perhaps because I always did too), holds them open at appropriate times, and has ready answers to questions like "what's your favorite book [character]?" However, she almost certainly doesn't actually read the books. The answers to questions like that always pertain to books she has been "casually reading" for weeks and she cannot answer more in-depth questions about them. If books are assigned for school and there are questions to answer about the reading, she will answer them as directly from the text as possible. Based on the age recommendations on the backs of the books she has around (or online), she isn't being asked to read anything at all above her age level. For example, this past summer I was asked to help her with an assignment on *Number the Stars* by Lois Lowry. I was at home and monitored her reading each night until she finished the book. The first part of the assignment asked for a brief summary of the book, but when I asked her to describe "what happens in the book" to me, she gave a list of events: Annemarie and her friend have a race, then they run into soldiers, then they go home, then Annemarie's mother is made nervous by the encounter, etc. I had to use extremely leading questions to get her to arrive at any kind of plot, and she was essentially lost for the rest of the assignment, which concerned theme and character development. The same problem arises in speech and other written language. She likes computer games and YouTube videos (the kind that star tween girls of mid- to high-production value and look sponsored by some kind of media enterprise), but if a story is involved, she cannot recount that story. She speaks very fast, but repeats herself, uses filler words excessively, and is frequently irrelevant. She will laugh at things other people say (that aren't jokes), but when asked what she thought was funny, she either can't or won't explain. Placing hard limits on TV/computer time haven't improved these areas. (My parents ensure that she finishes her homework no matter what.) My sister was in a dual-language program where most of the students, like her, do not speak English at home and have overall very slightly worse English scores than the kids in the other classes at the same school. Though I went to entirely-English schools, I find it unlikely that this was a problem, as her friends/classmates seem to be fine readers and even speak more fluently than she does. Now that she is in middle school, her new teachers aren't cutting her any slack for being in the dual-language program (although I didn't think they were supposed to anyway) and she's falling behind even more. She has never been tested for a disability; however, the teachers of her small elementary school class have never recommended that. She seems to be fine at math and socialization.

2015/11/21

Different people read for different reasons, and have different levels of talent at the formal analysis aspects of it. I think your sister enjoys it as an escapist activity, and there's nothing necessarily wrong with that. She doesn't necessarily have a disorder either. Kids develop at different rates, and she probably just got a little behind at some point, which in today's standards-driven, test-based curriculum is sometimes very hard to come back from. Nor do I think it's a matter of refusal to do it. She probably just doesn't know how. The best thing you can do is avoid holding the questions until the very end. Good readers are constantly, although usually subconsciously, reevaluating questions about plot, theme, and character development. Readers who are struggling with comprehension need to be taught this consciously. So ask the same kinds of questions you were asking at the end, except ask them after every chapter. Add questions about changes, like, "Do you still think Sarah is mean? Why not? What made her change?" She will soon be able to do this naturally on her own. Good teachers used to do with books they read aloud in class. I don't know if they have time for it anymore. Parents can do this for books they read aloud to their kids in the summer.

Maybe she can't process the information. *Language Processing Disorders* refers to heard information, *Reading Disability* refers to problems with written language. About 20% of the US population may have some symptoms of a reading disability. If she's okay with heard information, but struggling with written information, she may have a reading disability. The most common and well known reading disability is *dyslexia*, but there are a range of different disorders. A lot of information will focus on dyslexia and people often use dyslexia when talking about all reading disabilities. Make sure that the tests you ask for cover more than just dyslexia. Here's a government source giving some information about [different types of reading disability](https://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/reading/conditioninfo/pages/disorders.aspx). The above site gives information about what's involved in diagnosis a reading disability, and some information about further sources of support. It's important to remember that there are sources of support, and things you can do to help her, and that this is not a sign of low intelligence or laziness. [One of the signs of a reading disorder is that the child's reading ability is lower than their general intelligence would suggest](http://www.minddisorders.com/Py-Z/Reading-disorder.html). **Language Processing Disorder** > > Students with this disorder have difficulty reading, spelling, > writing, or even speaking; basically anything having to do with > language becomes very difficult for them. There are other skills that > are needed to deal with auditory information, and are affected by LPD. > These skills include: attention, memory, following directions, > learning and hearing. > > > **Reading Disability** > > Symptoms can include: > > > * Problems sounding out words > * Difficulty recognizing known words > * Poor spelling > * Slow reading > * Problems reading out loud with correct expression > * Problems understanding what was just read > > >

In the 10 years I've been programming, I can count the number of data structures I've used on one hand: arrays, linked lists (I'm lumping stacks and queues in with this), and dictionaries. This isn't really surprising given that nearly all of the applications I've written fall into the forms-over-data / CRUD category. I've never needed to use a red-black tree, skip list, double-ended queue, circularly linked list, priority queue, heaps, graphs, or any of the dozens of exotic data structures that have been researched in the past 50 years. I feel like I'm missing out. This is an open-ended question, but where are these "exotic" data structures used in practice? Does anyone have any real-world experience using these data structures to solve a particular problem?

2008/12/23

[B-trees](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-tree) are in databases. [R-trees](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R-tree) are for geographic searches (e.g. if I have 10000 shapes each with a bounding box scattered around a 2-D plane, which of these shapes intersect an arbitrary bounding box B?) [deques](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deque) of the form in the [C++ STL](http://www.sgi.com/tech/stl/Deque.html) are growable vectors (more memory-efficient than linked lists, and constant-time to "peek" arbitrary elements in the middle). As far as I can remember, I've never used the deque to its full extent (insert/delete from both ends) but it's general enough that you can use it as a stack (insert/delete from one end) or queue (insert to one end, delete from the other) and also have high-performance access to view arbitrary elements in the middle. I've just finished reading [Java Generics and Collections](http://books.google.com/books?id=3keGb40PWJsC) -- the "generics" part hurts my head, but the collections part was useful & they point out some of the differences between skip lists and trees (both can implement maps/sets): skip lists give you built-in constant time iteration from one element to the next (trees are O(log n) ) and are much simpler for implementing lock-free algorithms in multithreaded situations. Priority queues are used for scheduling among other things (here's a [webpage](http://users.csc.tntech.edu/~algviz/priority_queue/applications.php) that briefly discusses application); heaps are usually used to implement them. I've also found that the heapsort (for me at least) is the easiest of the O(n log n) sorts to understand and implement.

I often use sets, sorted collections (always keep their elements in sorted order, and support fast element insertion) and lazy lists.

First I'm going to demonstrate a poor understanding of the stack, and then I'm going to ask a mildly coherent question that can't be answered well because the question isn't specific enough to elicit a well-composed answer. So, when a program runs functions are pushed to the stack - this means the stack pointer is incremented or decremented? What exactly is stored in the stack memory allocation? Pointers to variable data, pointers to the est of the program? I just don't understand what exactly is stored on the stack (what data types, what kinds of references, how they ae stored) I expect a function stores its local variable pointers and a pointer to the address that called it so it can return. Also, windows x86 virtual memory allocation actually maps a single block of virtual memory to arbitrary many physical memory addresses, so a stack is or is not contiguous in the physical memory of a windows x86 system? Finally, assuming a stack is stored in the user-allocated virtual memory of an application on 32-bit windows on x86, the stack pointer (which references the high or low memory address?) is a 31-bit (31 because user-allocated and the high 2GB are reserved for kernel allocated) little-endian reference, right? And when data reaches the stack (like a function is entered and allocates memory for a new DWORD) the data to store in that DWORD is pushed to the stack and the stack pointer is incremented or decremented? And how is the system aware of both ends of the stack simultaneously? ---- ESP HERE? |-reference address for variable x |-integer data to be stored in the memory address of variable x in function 1 |----function 1 block above ^^ | | ---- OR ESP HERE? And from here the reference address and integer data will be popped into registers, and a mov operation will store the integer data at the allocated memory location? When new data hits the stack, I've heard the stack grows "downward" but that seems irrational since there are only higher and lower memory addresses - I understand that only one end of the stack needs to be incremented/decremented, but is it the high or the low address, and how is the stack length(height) delimited? How does the system understand when the stack has "grown" too large? Sorry for all the questions, but I've been doing a lot of reading, and the terminology used to describe the concepts I've been reading about aren't well operationalized in my vocabulary. Also I checked a bit around google, wikipedia, and this site and couldn't find an explanation that addressed my specific concerns. Thanks.

2013/02/14

Ok. A stack is just an abstract data type. Good. An array of memory that you can place (puhs) data onto the end of and remove (pop) it back off. Grows up or down, off the front or back, or whatever depending on how its implemented. Good. Now the (a) system stack is a bit more defined. It is an area of RAM allocated by the program, or local thread storage or whatever. The pointer is placed at the "end" of its memory location and it grows back towards the top. A push places data onto the stack at its current location (minus the data size so that it doesn't go past the end), so decrement before write. When compelte, the new stack pointer points to the start of the last "pushed" value. Why backwards? Convention and ease of use. Consider an embedded system or some older system with more limited RAM resources. If we have the Heap start towards the top of RAM - just after the code and static/const data and we need another type of storage in the same RAM space, why not have it grow from the back? This way you need not worry about how big each section has to be. They will meet in the middle somewhere when all RAM has been used (and the next write will go boom, via stack overflow.) Easy to maintain and create and efficient - no guessing about proper sizes and such. Just start here. Virtual addresses and such shouldn't worry you too much at this point. They just help with the "go boom" part when and if you run out of space. I doubt the stack is ever split across multiple pages, but if it is, let the OS handle it and all is well (and slow, but that's another story.) Now what goes on a stack - whatever you want. Typically, parameter passed to functions that go beyond what can fit into registers, scoped variables that aren't needed beyond a function, c++ glue for this pointers on occasion, and sometimes more when using `alloca()` to treat stack like dynamic memory - you'll see this in thread code often to help prevent memory write race conditions and such. Also, values returned by value that won't fit within registers are typically returned on the stack as well. Basically, every local var you see in a function has a strong chance of living on the stack at some point as registers fill up and more space is needed. Hence, many systems try to make sure that stack memory is as fast as possible. To answer your remaining questions - the system may or may not be aware of both sides of the stack - depends on the platform. I'm guessing windows is aware of the stack start via tracking if a write geos out beyond an end. Unpaired push/pops will ruin a program's day and sometimes bring an OS hang as well (less so now days). I cannot answer your windows specific 32/31 bit address question as I have no direct experience there. Someone else can grab that part. Finally, stacks growth direction is confusing terminology. I usually think of system stack as growing "upwards", but that may be just me. Hope this helps and clears up some issues for you!

> > when a program runs functions are pushed to the stack - this means the stack pointer is incremented or decremented? > > > That depends on how the stack is implemented. If it grows from the end of memory backward, it is decremented. If it grows from the beginning of memory forward, it is incremented. > > What exactly is stored in the stack memory allocation? > > > Whatever a given program or programming language pushes onto the stack. This can include return addresses, value types, pointers to objects, and stack frames. > > windows x86 virtual memory allocation actually maps a single block of virtual memory to arbitrary many physical memory addresses, so a stack is or is not contiguous in the physical memory of a windows x86 system? > > > See here: <http://www.dirac.org/linux/gdb/02a-Memory_Layout_And_The_Stack.php> > > How does the system understand when the stack has "grown" too large? > > > It hits the top of the heap.

Is there any point to freeing memory in an atexit() function? I have a global variable that gets malloc'ed after startup. I could write an atexit() function to free it, but isn't the system going to reclaim all that memory when the program exits anyway? Is there any benefit to being tidy and actively cleaning it up myself?

2008/10/23

Not in C - it's like rearranging the deck chairs while the ship sinks around you. In C++ the answer is different, because objects can delete temporary files and so forth in their destructors, so you need to make sure those get called.

not freeing memory before process termination isn't a memory leak. it's a memory leak when you lose a handle to it. but memory is not the only type of resource, and other resources persist across processes (like window handles and file handles), so you do need to 'free' those.

What's your opinion on access to the Production or Live Systems by non sys-admins? Do you think this access should be provided with nominal usernames? Do you think access to the log files or the databases should be allowed?

2009/05/13

Apply the **Principle of Least Privilege**. If they need access to do the job, you give them the access. But you only give the access they need. If they don't need access to do the job, you don't give it to them. This doesn't just protect the person (can't be accused of overstepping his/her bounds), but also protects the organization, should the user's account be compromised. As to why they shouldn't be given such access... [A sad tale of mis-steps and corruption (from today)](http://www.sqlskills.com/BLOGS/PAUL/post/A-sad-tale-of-mis-steps-and-corruption-(from-today).aspx)

Yes. Full root access (granted via sudo ALL). And they get to be added to the oncall rotation, too. Many companies have one sysadmin who is on call 24/7, even for application issues. Some companies are fortunate and have two. It is completely unreasonable to expect that one person do all the day-to-day operations work *and* respond to system alerts at all hours of the night. However, many companies have a fair number of developers that are responsible for the application code running on the systems. Many of them may even have experience doing operations. No, they shouldn't be responsible for the mail system, unless it ties directly in with the application they work on. But there should be a clear run-book of things to quickly reason about so they can either gather information for the sysadmin, or even solve themselves if simple enough. Everyone's job is to enable the business.

Is there any book focusing on presocratic cosmological ideas? Such as [Heraclitus: The Cosmic Fragments](https://philpapers.org/rec/GSKHTC), but covering all of the presocratics. My main motivation is that I would like to give a lecture of sixty minutes about presocratic cosmology to my philosophy undergraduate students.

2015/04/05

For a very easily understandable discussion of the Pre-Socratics, I would check out the first dozen-or-so episodes of the [History of Philosophy podcast](http://www.historyofphilosophy.net/the-presocratics), or refer your students to them. Each episode has a list of further readings that would also be useful in putting together a lecture.

There's a good entry on SEP about Pre-Socratic Philosophy,where Cosmology is also mentioned. you might want to take a look over there. > > <http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/presocratics/> > > > **Presocratic Philosophy** > > > The Presocratics were 6th and 5th century BCE Greek thinkers who > introduced a new way of inquiring into the world and the place of > human beings in it. They were recognized in antiquity as the first > philosophers and scientists of the Western tradition. This article is > a general introduction to the most important Presocratic philosophers > and the main themes of Presocratic thought. More detailed discussions > can be found by consulting the articles on these philosophers... > > >

The Protagonist in Tenet takes part in the car chase twice—forwards in time (regular Protagonist) and backwards in time (inverted Protagonist). The inverted protagonist walks out of the shipping container and starts "driving" a *regular* car. As he drives away from the container the regular skid marks disappear. This means that *in forward time direction* this car has stopped near the shipping container. During the car chase, the inverted protagonist flips the car. Sator puts the car on fire and the car blows up. Due to inverted entropy, the inverted Protagonist almost dies due to hypothermia. In regular time direction, how does the blown up car ends up being driven to the port to stop near the shipping container? Is this a plot hole or am I misunderstanding something? Is it possible that the car is actually inverted?

2020/09/12

Because this will-be-blown-up car has not been driven by the inverted protagonist yet. From the normal timeline, what we experience as the end of a sequence is the start of a sequence of the inverted timeline. Therefore, in the normal timeline, the end of the car chase is marked by the protagonist becomes the inverted-protagonist; who has not yet driven this silver Saab, which parks at the port near the shipping container.

First of all, please note, that [**interactions between regular and inverted objects are inconsistent** in the film](https://old.reddit.com/r/tenet/comments/ilaaba/tenet_is_a_perfect_time_travel_film_with_zero/g4xwyrk/) ([archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20200914072236/https://old.reddit.com/r/tenet/comments/ilaaba/tenet_is_a_perfect_time_travel_film_with_zero/g4xwyrk/)): > > tl;dr: Inverted things impact puddles and the impact propagates forward in time. Inverted things impact walls (and, apparently, people) and the impact propagates backwards in time. A non-inverted wall and a non-inverted puddle can not propagate impacts from inverted things in different time directions. That is an inconsistency. > > > --- To answer the actual question: > > Is it possible that the car is actually inverted? > > > Yes, the car is inverted. Here's an explanation [suggested by u/Krystman on subreddit r/tenet](https://old.reddit.com/r/tenet/comments/immbs8/official_faq_megathread_spoilers/g42nquz/?context=3): > > > > > > How can inverted Protagonist drive a non inverted car at normal speed since it would have to be in reverse gear, severely limiting its drive speed? > > > > > > > > > The car may be inverted as well. It reverse-flips onto the highway and reverse-explodes. > > > To add to this, here's timeline of the silver car (adapted from [another reddit comment](https://old.reddit.com/r/tenet/comments/ilaaba/tenet_is_a_perfect_time_travel_film_with_zero/g3tzpp3/?context=10)): > > Timeline of the silver car: > > > Creation → Life as a regular car → Inversion → Parked outside at the docks (near exit out of Turnstile) → Crashed → Exploded > > > After the crash, inverted Sator lights it up with inverted cigarette lighter. But then it is *shown* that the explosion resulting from it is a regular explosion with regular entropy. The inverted car and inverted protagonist experience the increase in entropy caused by explosion in reverse—for them, it is a decrease in entropy, and thus they are freezing. The windows on the inverted car get covered in ice and the inverted protagonist gets hypothermia. It was very hard to catch in the film, but Neil explains that when two types of entropy (regular and inverted) interact, the regular wins: "It's like pissing in the wind". So regular entropy of oxygen wins over inverted entropy of fuel. --- And here's a related question and answer from an [FAQ of the subreddit](https://old.reddit.com/r/tenet/comments/immbs8/official_faq_megathread_spoilers/): > > **How did the reverse bullet holes get into the wall in the first place?** > > > **How long has the glass in the Oslo Turnstile been broken?** > > > **What happened to the flipped car on the highway? Shouldn't that have been there before the car chase? Who put it there?** > > > The Movie doesn't want you to worry about such details it too much. > > > This is a nasty little logic problem that throws the premise of a lot of the Movie's spectacular set-pieces somewhat into question. > > > The Movie does attempt an explanation. When in the container on their way to Oslo Neil explains that our universe has a prevailing direction of entropy - a "wind". Events that go against the wind will eventually succumb to it. > > > Here is how that could work in practice: At first the glass at the Oslo Turnstile is normal and unbroken. A few hours before the events the glass becomes somewhat brittle in some spots. A micro fracture develops which slowly grows to become more and more pronounced over time. Small pieces start falling off. Eventually the fracture starts looks like a bullet hole. This is when our Protagonist enters the room. > > >

I have Nikon D3500 with kit lens 18-55 VR and some other lenses af-p 10-20 among them. As I renewed my interest for photography some time ago, I have some images at the LR scrutiny that were taken more than six months ago, when I was still refreshing my knowledge and making many mistakes. Yet, I cannot realize how could I make some images look not so sharp when viewed on 100%. I mean, image at 18mm focal, f/14 has hyperfocal distance slightly over 1m and with my habit to focus at least somewhat longer than hyperfocal, how could I miss it? I know, depth of field is not a measure of ideal sharpness, yet, I don't Like many details on 100%. Am I too demanding or there could be some problem with camera? I'm simply wondering how to not take photo sharp enough with these settings. And shutter speed is 1/160, that shouldn't create a blur even with a bit shaky hands. Am I missing something?! (<https://flic.kr/p/2igQbst>) I have added one of typical pictures where buildings in the back lose definition.

2020/01/20

At least some of the visible light spectrum is diffraction limited on a 24MP APS-C sensor at f/5.6, and all of the visible spectrum is diffraction limited beyond f/8. Depending on the lens, your results could be slightly worse than that. However, looking at the image you linked to on flickr I would say that your main issue is atmospheric over distance... things like haze, moisture in the air, and heat turbulence. It's what's causing the mountains to obviously loose color/contrast/clarity as they recede into the distance, and it's affecting everything else as well.

The pictures you posted look like you're getting motion blur or bad processing. If you look at things zoomed in you can see the bad edges. The little halo of blur around the edges is what happens around moving objects in low res video. It definitely shouldn't be there. The bush zoomed in looks bad. It looks super blocky and low res. These pictures look like they have a bunch of bad processing and are way too compressed. Zoomed in: [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Ok2QC.jpg) [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/fo00S.jpg)

Is there a good **remote desktop software tool** that I can use to control my Windows and Linux PCs from my Mac, and vice-versa? I don't care if it uses up lots of internet bandwidth. Desired features: * Easy to set up * Secure * Gratis * Ad free * Able to work with different IPs * Windows, Mac and Linux compatible

2014/02/18

Most Microsoft Windows operating systems since Windows XP have included Remote Desktop functionality utilising the [Remote Desktop Protocol](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remote_Desktop_Protocol). Depending on the version you have depends on how it is configured, but in general you will need to do the following in order to be able to connect to a computer running Windows in this way: Enable remote desktop in System Properties ------------------------------------------ In System Properties, select "Allow remote connections to this computer"  Enable remote desktop connections through your PC's firewall ------------------------------------------------------------ If you have a firewall running on your computer, you will need to allow incoming connections on port 3389 (TCP and UDP) through it and/or enable "Remote Desktop" in Windows Firewall:  Open ports on your router to allow the connection to be routed correctly ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Most home networks consist of a single external IP shared between multiple PCs and devices with network address translation being done by your router. In these instances, your router will need to be told to forward incoming connection attempts to port 3389 (TCP and UDP) to the IP address of your PC inside of the network. If you've got multiple IP addresses and/or your router runs in bridged mode, you probably won't need to do this. Use a Remote Desktop client to connect to your PC ------------------------------------------------- From here, all you need to do is connect to your home IP address with a remote desktop client, which are available as standard on all Windows computers and have clients available for most other operating systems (OS X, Linux) and tablets. If you have a dynamic IP address you might want to set up something like [No-IP](http://www.noip.com/) on your PC so that your dynamic IP address is communicated to a third party that will provide you with a host name that doesn't change to connect to, saving you from remembering your IP address.

This is an OLD tool however, to my knowledge, it will cross platforms and allow administration. When I needed interactive tech collaboration, this is what we used in the 90's and it worked error free from Norway, to me in USA and it also worked to allow a friend to configure my USA California computer from UK Essex to turn on webcam/mic, open the logon across networks; (i.e: Xmachine->L/P->Ymachine: use current users account, open apps, Yahoo, cam, etc logon to yahooIM, etc). It works great BUT from what I recall it was SLOW. So there is the Pro & Con, bottom line it's great as you can interact as if your the real user sitting in front of the remote computer. The program is called RTVNC. I tried looking for the authentic copyrighted app online w/o success. I have it somewhere in a book of backup DLDVDs. If you want to contact me via social networking, you can find me [here](http://www.hi5.com/aaronhazard). While I might suggest for you to look into a tool called [RealVNC](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59m64L_eAPs) because and it seems to appear similar however, I cannot recommend it based on my lack of experience with RealVNC. Note; OPENVNC, is a developers platform for remote control administration GUI & Protocol.

The 'singleton-ness' of a class is an important aspect of how a class should be used. However, it usually doesn't have any explicit status in the exposed API of a class. Yes, conventional method names such as getInstance() are often used, but that's not exactly what I'm referring to here. A 'tag interface' is an interface which contains no methods or data. An example of a tag interface is [Serializable](http://java.sun.com/javase/6/docs/api/java/io/Serializable.html). Would it not be useful to define a tag interface for singletons? This would: * allow them to be easily identified in the code base of a project * be more explicit * provide a place to document how singletons should be treated. As one example, one could mention that long-lived objects are fruitful sources of memory leaks, and that singletons should never be wired to short-lived objects. This is a simple idea, but I have never seen it mentioned anywhere.

2009/08/28

It's an interesting idea, but I'm not sure how useful it is. Your third bullet point is a nice point. The better argument might be "Why Singletons?" You'll certainly be making life easier for the [Google Singleton Detector](http://code.google.com/p/google-singleton-detector/) to find them and identify them for extermination. Their FAQ can express my view at length.

I agree with TrueWill above about using a DI framework to handle the objects life cycles. And using Guice will give you a Singleton annotation to tag the singtons. :)

Let me rephrase the question... Here's the scenario: As an insurance agent you are constantly working with multiple insurance websites. For each website I need to login and pull up a client. I am looking to automate this process. I currently have a solution built for iMacros but that requires a download/installation. I'm looking for a solution using the .NET framework that will allow the user to provide their login credentials and information about a client and I will be able to automate this process for them. This will involve knowledge of each specific website which is fine, I will have all of that information. I would like for this process to be able to happen in the background and then launch the website to the user once the action is performed.

2009/10/11

Use [Watin](http://watin.sourceforge.net/). It's an open source .NET library to automate IE and Firefox. It's a lot easier than manipulating raw HTTP requests or hacking the WebBrowser control to do what you want, and you can run it from a console app or service, since you mentioned this wouldn't be a WinForms app. You can also make the browser window invisible if needed, since you mentioned only showing this to the user at a certain point.

It is not clear to me what difficulty you want to communicate when you wrote: > > I currently have a solution built for > iMacros but that requires a > download/installation. > > > I think here lies some your requirements about which you are not explicit. You certainly need to "download/install" your .Net program on your client's machines. So, what's the difference? Anyway, [Crowbar](http://simile.mit.edu/wiki/Crowbar) seems promising: > > Crowbar is a web scraping environment > based on the use of a server-side > headless mozilla-based browser. > > > Its purpose is to allow running > javascript scrapers against a DOM to > automate web sites scraping but > avoiding all the syntax normalization > issues. > > > For people not familiar with this terminology: "javascript scrapers" here means something like an iMacros' macro, used to extract information from a web site (in the end is a Javascript program, for what purpose you use it I do not think makes a difference). > > Design > ------ > > > Crowbar is implemented as a (rather > simple, in fact) [XULRunner](https://developer.mozilla.org/En/XULRunner) application > that provides an HTTP RESTful web > service implemented in javascript > (basically turning a web browser into > a web server!) that you can use to > 'remotely control' the browser. > > > I don't know if this *headless* browser can be extended with add-ons like a normal Firefox installation. In such case you can even think to use yours [iMacros](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3863)' macros (or use [CoScripter](http://coscripter.research.ibm.com/coscripter/)) with appropriate packaging. The more I think about this, more I feel that this is a convoluted solution for what you wrote you want to achieve. So, please, clarify.

What is the difference between routing protocols and routed protocols? -& the simplest way of understanding it? Thanks, Parash.

2016/06/04

**Routing protocols** allow routers to exchange routing information so they can learn about networks from other routers. A router in Barcelona can learn about networks in Zagreb via a routing protocol, so that it can forward traffic to Zagreb. Your ISP learns about networks from other ISPs via a routing protocol, so you can watch funny cat videos on YouTube. Examples of routing protocols are OSPF, EIGRP, BGP and IS-IS. A **routed protocol** is a protocol for sending data between end hosts. To be "routed," it has to have a hierarchical addressing scheme that indicates "where" the host is. The hierarchy lets a router (or host) determine where the packet should be sent in order to reach it's destination. Practically speaking, there is only one routed protocol in use, and that is IP (version 4 and version 6). IP addresses have a network portion and a host portion (the subnet mask tells you how to separate the two). The network portion of the address lets the host look in its routing table to determine what is the best way to forward the packet. Non-routed protocols are essentially obsolete in the age of the Internet, but NetBIOS might be one you're somewhat familiar with.

Really plain and simple: A routed protocol is one which is designed to be routed via a given routing protocol. Example 1: IP = routed protocol EIGRP = routing protocol EIGRP enables the routing of IP. Therefore it is a routing protocol which routes IP. Example 2: CLNS\CLNP = routed protocol IS-IS = routing protocol IS-IS enables the routing of IP and CLNS\CLNP. Therefore it is a routing protocol which routes IP and CLNS\CLNP.

There are two common views of the Nature of Man - [the Dichotomous, and the Trichotomous](https://christianity.stackexchange.com/q/8847/69). However, a Quadrichotomous view can also be drawn from Jesus' answer to the challenge of what is the greatest commandment ([Luke 10:27](http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2010:27&version=NASB)) > > And he answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself." > > > or ([Mark 12:30](http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%2012:30&version=NASB)) > > and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. > > > What other verses/teachings support the four-fold view listed in Luke and Mark? Is this a valid view, or is it something akin to a [Hebraism](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebraism) using repetition to enforce a point?

2012/08/02

I think you are reading too much into the text literally, which is very dangerous with something as the Bible. I believe the point of this verse is not to propose a Quadrichotomous view, but rather simply Love the Lord with everything you have.

I think we should love God with all our emotions, mind, will, body, personality, gifts, imagination, heart, etc. but expressing different aspects of the 'body and soul' does not imply absolute divisions.

I've met sound designers who meticulously write down every little thing that they do, and I've met sound designers who get done with a project and have no idea how they arrived at the final product. How do you document your work and ideas? Or don't you? Do you keep a notepad by your desk? By your bed? Do you use a voice recorder? Personally, I keep a moleskin journal on me at all times. It comes to my edit station with me, in the field with me, to the grocery store with me. I also like huge easel paper to brainstorm ideas on.

2010/08/24

Evernote is amazing for this kind of works. I use it a lot for different tasks. And you can have it on your mac, windows, iphone, android, blackberry, or just in your web browser :D Also, for collaboration on the net, Google Docs is perfect for me :)

On almost every project I've worked on I have had flashes of inspiration when I'm away from the studio. I often found myself scribbling down ideas on random scraps of paper. I'd then transfer these to a general notepad that I keep at my desk. I got pretty fed up with having tons of folded up paper in my pockets so now I always carry some sort of diary / notepad around. The ideas are still flowing and my pockets are lighter! As for my work flow, as I said, I always keep a notepad at my desk and will generally make a lot of notes as I go along. I also use Word or Text Edit to keep a digital version of the notes and very, very regularly make 'To Do' lists for the upcoming tasks. I find that the more I note things down, the more efficiently I work. Being able to back-reference older projects and / or how I created a certain effect has been very useful in the past.

There are people who behave like the stereotypical old woman who frets over the smallest concern and is constantly cautioning others about physical dangers. Such people can be either sex and barely middle-aged. They always click on buy travel insurance when booking an airticket, they regard a ladder as akin to a 5.14 climb. They are obsessed with germs. They are uncomfortable beyond the confines of a 4- star hotel. They set up absurd procedures "in case anything happens" (I don't mean writing a will). They cancel their indoor tennis game if there is one inch of snow on the ground. The males make an enormous deal out of a broken leg. Maybe they are mainly women, and maybe they are middle-aged or older, but is there another term (phrase, expression or word), one that is gender neutral? They can be very nice people, but they are dismissable as "old women". Even I do it in my mind (never out loud) and I don't like that in myself. **There are/have been many great old women — Jane Goodall, for example, and Golda Meir and many others** — and there will be more as people retain physical and mental strength deeper into old age. But there will still be a phrase needed for the "timid, over-cautious, dithery, person whose overriding goal is safety. I'd like a gentle term that could be used with humor but that will rachet down the twittering and fluttering whenever a competent person starts to do something that makes them nervous.

2016/01/23

My generation tends to call this type of person an **old fogey** (instead of old man or old woman), plural *old fogeys*. I can't do better than Word-Detective.com, so here's a post from that site that explains perfectly: > > "Fogey," of course, is, as the Oxford English Dictionary puts it so > well, "a disrespectful appellation for a man advanced in life, > especially one with antiquated notions; an old-fashioned fellow." The > word (also spelled "fogy," by the way) is probably Scottish in origin, > but its ultimate roots are a bit uncertain. It's possible that "fogey" > is based on an antiquated sense of "foggy," which meant > "moss-covered," but my favorite theory traces it to the Scottish word > "foggie," meaning a kind of brown bumblebee. > > > "Fogey" is almost always preceded by the slightly redundant "old," but > there are, indeed, "young fogeys." The term is most often used to > refer to a group of young but conservative writers and novelists in > England who came to prominence in the early 1980s. The novelist and > critic A.N. Wilson is probably the "young fogey" most widely known to > Americans. > > > Maybe it's my own age showing, but the term "fogey" doesn't seem quite > as pejorative to me as it used to -- my sense is that it is getting > harder to pin down exactly where good taste leaves off and "fogeyness" > begins. I would like to think that one doesn't have to be an "old > fogey" or even a "young fogey" to object to "tabloid TV," "shock > radio" and the popular fascination with "supermodels" which seem to > have supplanted what was left of American culture, but I may be wrong. > Maybe I'm a some sort of fogey after all. There are worse fates. > > > <http://www.word-detective.com/back-b.html>

It depends how much you are wanting to point and make fun. **Over-anxious** perhaps? *The over-anxious always click on "buy travel insurance" when booking a ticket.*

Why did Paul say we should wrestle against "principalities and powers" in Ephesians 6:12 and obey them in Titus 3:1? > > ESV Ephesians 6:12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but > against **the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic > powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of > evil in the heavenly places.** > > > ESV Titus 3:1 Remind them to be submissive to **rulers and > authorities**, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, > > >

2018/09/29

In Ephesians ------------ Broader context in Ephesians is the devil, not a physical but spiritual being > > “Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to **stand firm against the schemes of the devil**.” > ‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭6:11‬ ‭NASB‬‬ > > > I wish to draw on how the LXX translates the passage in Daniel > > “But the prince (**king of the king**) of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia.” > ‭‭Daniel‬ ‭10:13‬ ‭NASB‬‬ > > > My understanding is that behind the king of Persia was a king in the heavenly realm and it was that king that withstood the messenger who came to Daniel. In view of this Apostle Paul most likely had in mind in Ephesians those in the heavenly realm and he says as much in the verse > > “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers (**rulerships**), against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the **heavenly places**.” > ‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭6:12‬ ‭NASB‬‬ > > > The distinction is made that these are in heavenly places. They are therefore not human In Titus -------- > > “Remind them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed,” > ‭‭Titus‬ ‭3:1‬ ‭NASB‬‬ > > > These are indeed humans in positions of power. It does not follow that all people in power have an evil counterpart in the spiritual realm. It may be the case but even if it be the case, it is established by God or allowed by Him. > > “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. **For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God**.” > ‭‭Romans‬ ‭13:1‬ ‭NASB‬‬ > > > Same Greek word used here too εξουσια I would love to explain further how God allows some human leaders to be influenced by evil leadership in the heavens but it will deviate from your question. In Conclusion ------------- In summary Titus is speaking of humans in position of power without specifying or drawing a distinction between those leaders being led by God or led by satan. Ephesians cuts to the chase and exposes the real power brokers in the heavenly realm as having authority over (some) human rulers and therefore when fighting it needs to be directed right at the source and not toward the helpless humans. And since the true opponents are spiritual beings, the warfare and weapons ought to be spiritual.

Although Paul ends Ephesians 6:12 with "spiritual wickedness in high place" he is not talking about spiritual authority in the previous usage of the words, principalities, powers and rulers. He is talking about actual governors and those in authority. He is not only using the same words as Titus 3:1, but its the same meanings. He is speaking of governors, authorities and rulers on earth. he is saying we are not wrestling or fighting against them but against spiritual wickedness in high places. In other words its not the earthly government, its spiritual wickedness in high places. So yes, Paul was speaking the same language in Ephesians 6 as Titus 3. Sorry for going against your traditional understanding.

I decided to learn to play a guitar, I definitely will explore more into theory but for now I just want to get familiar with the instrument and play a couple of melodies so please don't judge this as a stupid question. I was experimenting with different chord sequences, and I tried this Em, Cmaj7, G, D. I didn't like how Cmaj7 sounded so I tried to replace it with something different and I tried E, but instead of the G string, I put my index finger on the B string and I liked the way it sounded. I googled what chord is it, it turns out there isn't any chord like that, but it suggested similar chord: Cmaj7, but I don't know; they sound kinda different to me. What am I doing wrong? Can I just use that wrong E chord or is there any better way?

2018/07/01

There is a lot of good information in the other answers but no actual answer to the question in the title. Historically a chord has been defined as two or more notes played simultaneously, with others defining it as three or more distinct notes played simultaneously. So in theory the answer is yes, pretty much any set of notes qualify as a chord. In classical music theory we usually begin with triads that are built specifically using the 1, 3, and 5 notes in any sequence. Modern treatments describe building chords by stacking thirds. The ordering of the notes will create very different harmony (inversions as described by others). When we name a chord by its root note, like C, this usually is taken to mean C maj triad (C, E, G).

There’s lots of good theory but I want to provide you with an answer to your question directly: Yes, any set of notes is a chord. It may not be “traditional” in the sense that it does not follow rules of “tertian” harmony or “diatonic” chord theory, but yes it is a chord. To be clear, there is a convention that is followed for naming chords. One can pick any set of notes and, using this convention, assign a name to that chord. As others have mentioned, you describe a chord that could be named as an inversion if a CMaj7 chord. However, another less conventional name would be an E minor b6 chord. We typically don’t use b6 in chord names because they can be easily respelled as an inverted chord (which is why CMaj7/E and Emin(b6) are equivalent), but you will sometimes find this convention in jazz books. Edit: here is an example of the exact voicing you describe with notation Em(b6) [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/H2JRs.jpg)

How can I determine the sites that are linking to a post within my blog? Or even just my blog in general? Thank you!

2009/09/17

In Google you can type "link:<http://stackoverflow.com>" (for example) to find all the indexed links to your site.

If you use wordpress in Blog Stats you can see Referrers. Referrers are other people pages that contain links to your blog.

Create Blueprint Templates functionality: • In the creation of a new Tier for my specific template, I can’t view and I can’t select the ‘POI data provider GE’ (poi\_dp 3.3.3) in the right panel ‘Software in Catalogue’, maybe I do something wrong? Instead if I click the ‘Open catalog’ button of Blueprint Templates I can see an existing template called ‘poidataprovider’ with a Tier called ‘poi\_dp 333’. thanks. Antonio.

2015/04/21

The FILAB Blueprint issue seems now to be solved and the poi\_dp 3.3.3 is back now there visible in the Software Catalogue.

Supposedly some support software updates in FIWARE Cloud or elsewhere have made the POI 3.3.3 unoperative. To get a working POI system, launch a Ubuntu 14.04 instance and install the POI DP 4.4 server manually as explained in <http://forge.fiware.org/plugins/mediawiki/wiki/fiware/index.php/POI_Data_Provider_-_Installation_and_Administration_Guide> .

I'm looking at getting a decent mountain bike that will probably spend quite a bit of time on the road. I found that the most common types of chainsetsare either: * Shimano Altus 2x9 * Shimano Deore 1x10 (on the more expensive models). * SRAM SX Eagle 1x12 (on the much more expensive models). When I compared the ratios of these three chainsets, the Shimano Altus seems to have lower low end speeds and higher high end speeds, so in general it seems like the better option to me. Yet I can't understand why the 1x Deore and 1x SX Eagle are the more expensive options, aside from the weight loss, is there any other benefit to them or is this really just a case that the Altus is better? At least in terms of speed (which is what I am mainly interested in). Am I missing any other important comparisons? Aside from weight and I guess it being easier to switch gears in a 1x setup (i.e. chain not crossing and stuff).

2020/08/17

First off, the higher end stuff is lighter. SRAM SX is built extremely cheaply, it is worse than Deore by far. Much like how cheap bikes are known as "bicycle-shaped objects", SX is known as a "groupset-shaped object". You also need to take into account your riding style: just how much gear range do you need? Seeing as you intend to ride on the road quite a bit, I would definitely go for a 2x system. So why is 1x better for MTB? 1. The shifting pattern is much simpler. You don't have to to worry about cross chaining or redundant gear ratios or any of that. It's simply "bigger number = faster, smaller number = slower". With a 2x or even worse a 3x, it is easy to lose track of which gear combo you're currently in. It's also less fun to be constantly thinking about gearing. 2. Having exactly the perfect gear ratio is not as important because of the constantly changing terrain. You also don't need to pedal as much on the downhills, so really all you need a drivetrain for is the climbs and flats. 3. Better frame design is possible without having to accommodate for the front derailleur. 4. Lets you run an under-bar dropper lever. 5. Lighter weight and more reliable as it has fewer moving parts (no need to adjust the FD anymore too). The "narrow-wide chainring" and "chainguard" are two examples of devices you can use on a 1x system to stop the chain from falling off as much.

Might I suggest two shopping options you may not have considered? 1. Buy a higher-quality used bike, say 5 years old, and have it thoroughly checked and prepped by a bike mechanic. You should be able to find a lighter, better frame and a good quality 2x drivetrain (or whatever you want). 2. If buying new, see if the bike shop will swap out stock components for those more to your liking. For example, a better quality rear derailleur (my Shimano rule of thumb is Deore or better). There are plenty of quality "NOS" (New Old Stock) components available from past model years, so a bike shop should be able to find and install (e.g.) a new Deore 2x drivetrain in place of a stock Altus. The shop will then later sell the "take off" components, so you should get somewhat of a discount on the NOS components or their installation.

**Background:** I just attended a talk on the security of critical infrastructure. The speaker spoke a bit on how adding the TCP/IP protocol to functions usually taken care of by dedicated protocols open up some security holes. The example he gave was the [SS7](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signalling_System_No._7) protocol for the telephone infrastructure. He gave figures (*can't remember the exact numbers*) on how adding TCP/IP functionality onto the protocol, SS7OIP, increased the number of threats against the telephone infrastructure. One of the reasons he stated was that it opened up the telephone network to the wider internet, and no longer required insider access to the SS7 network to perform attacks. **Question:** In the case of critical infrastructure - telephone, electricity, water to name a few, what does adding a TCP/IP layer accomplish? Is the threat real? Does adding a TCP/IP layer expose such systems to significantly more risk? If there is a real threat, is the added functionality (*if any*) worth the added risk?

2012/08/24

TCP/IP is a **best-effort protocol**. It is very efficient at maintaining connectivity in adverse conditions (including [use of nuclear weapons](https://security.stackexchange.com/a/18622/655)). It offers no *guarantee* of communication, but, when you come down to it, no system can (all communication systems involve using some kind of hardware, which may fail). The problem with TCP/IP is not with TCP/IP itself, it is with the others ("*Hell is other people*"). One very interesting aspect of TCP/IP is that it is what the Internet runs on, so, if you do TCP/IP, you can easily use the Internet infrastructure, rather than having to build your own. A transoceanic cable is a bit expensive... so switching to TCP/IP is a cost-killer. Unfortunately, you are not alone on the Internet. If you use the Internet infrastructure for your communications, then, necessarily, you expose your communications to whoever roams on the Internet. As some security specialists like to say, you have "enlarged your attack surface". Cryptography (i.e. SSL) can help to keep your data confidential, but TCP/IP is such that denial-of-service are possible (if only by clogging the tubes). So it is not really a question of TCP/IP or not. It is a matter of sharing the infrastructures, vs using dedicated links. For instance, the [Internet2](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet2) is a TCP/IP-powered network which is separate from the mainstream Internet. Sharing infrastructure makes your more vulnerable -- but dedicated links cost a lot. Choose your poison: risking to see your communications disrupted, or not being able to communicate because you wanted dedicated links but could not afford them. (In the [Inca Empire](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inca_Empire) at the beginning of the 16th century, there was a network of roads with dedicated lanes for messengers from the central power. Building dedicated lanes and guarding them -- trespassers could be beheaded -- was very expensive, but the Inca still found it worth the effort. Your question about TCP/IP is really the same situation, only with 400 years of additional technology.)

It's difficult to know *exactly* why the organisations that handle critical infrastructure choose to implement TCP/IP into such networks, but here are a few of my best guesses at their requirements for networking their control systems together: * Need a reliable and maintainable way to interface with infrastructure equipment remotely. * Need a way to address large amounts of equipment across a huge geographic area. * Must be able to interface with existing computer control systems. * Must be extensible, so that new devices can be added to the network easily. * Must be cross-platform, so that embedded devices, different OSes and different computer systems can communicate properly. * Must have low latency and high throughput for strong performance during critical tasks. As far as choosing TCP/IP goes, it has a lot of good qualities: * TCP/IP is mature, stable, fully documented, and one of the most analysed communications protocols in existence. * TCP/IP provides strong packet ordering, corruption detection (checksums), spoofing resistance, client identification, addressing, etc. with relative ease. * TCP/IP is patent free, and there are hundreds of open source implementations, for a large range of different processor architectures, under a variety of licenses. * TCP/IP is available on almost every modern computer device and operating system. * Existing network infrastructure is cheap to use, mature, reliable and self-healing. * There are thousands of pre-existing application layer protocols that sit on top of the TCP/IP stack. In terms of security, SSL and IPsec are two existing protocols that are designed to work with TCP/IP to provide endpoint-to-endpoint security, and both can be implemented with relative ease. Now, to perform a proper risk assessment on such a huge block of infrastructure, I'd need some specifics. Since I don't have any, I'm just going to make a guess. **At this point I'm working on conjecture alone, so don't assume my conclusions to be accurate.** Introducing networking into the infrastructure provides a huge benefit in terms of: * Monitoring the status and health of equipment without visiting the site. * Updating and configuring equipment remotely in a centralized fashion. * Immediate alerting and logging on equipment failure. * Reduced downtime of equipment due to ability to predict failure. * Reduce maintenance and inspection costs due to centralization of data. * Better planning through more accurate supply/demand and load statistics. * Integration of services for better consumer experience. The security implications are as follows: * Every device becomes a potential security vulnerability. * Potential for snooping in telecommunications channels. * A hostile entity (terrorist group, enemy nation, etc.) might exploit vulnerabilities to cripple the country's infrastructure. * Possibility for citizens to abuse/hack the system, e.g. free phone calls, free power, etc. Part of the perceived security of the system is through obscurity. These machines are likely to run on their own proprietary control systems, and are likely to be interfaced using custom application layer protocols. Furthermore, their addresses are not catalogued or distributed anywhere. It would take a team with strong reverse engineering / pentesting skills, specialised equipment and insider knowledge to identify and break the systems. Of course, we know this has happened before with Stuxnet and SCADA control systems. Assuming the control systems run custom embedded systems or \*nix, the potential for strong security controls is there. One would hope that a multi-billion pound (or dollar) industry would consider proper security and engage in active and frequent security reviews, but sadly this is often not the case. Without access to internal company information, there's no way to tell if such precautions have been taken. All in all, I think the benefits do warrant the potential security risks. Having working power, gas and water is critical, and 99.9% of the time we're not going to be in a war-time situation. During normal operation, we need the ability to monitor and control everything as quickly and reliably as possible, to ensure proper operation and minimal failure rates. On the security front, the obscurity factor is a useful time delay, and any real security that has been implemented is likely to be more than enough to determine all but the most advanced persistent threats.

What do the seven doors of Vaikuntam symbolize for us? I couldn't find any answer. I heard it in a movie that humans should cross the seven doors to finally reach the Lord. I also read in an article from the Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanam magazine that we should climb/cross the 7 hills of the Lord Venkateshwara to reach him. 7 hills representing 7 traits like greed, lust, anger, ego etc. but no scriptures were referenced. So may I know which scriptures mention the 7 doors and what do they symbolize?

2015/04/14

Seven entrances or seven doors are a reference to the mystical plexuses or lotuses of yoga - the muldhara, svadhisthana, manipura, anahata, visuddha, ajna, and sahasrara. It is only after one has gone through each one of these lotuses that the Lord is seen.

There are 14 "Lokas" or universes mentioned in Hindu scriptures. 6 are below or on one side of the universe we live in and 7 are above or on the other side. The 7 universes above are referred to as Bhu:, Bhuva: Suva: Maha: Jana: Thapa: and Satya Loka. This is there in Gayatri Mantra too. Each door opens to an universe. When you pass through each of the universe above, after passing through the 7th door, you reach Satya Loka or the Brahman or Lord Vishnu. I think that is the significance of going through the Sapta Dwara to get the Darshan of Lord Vishnu.

I'm currently working for small company that has few technically complicated products. I'm the one and only developer for one of them. About a year ago, I got the legacy version of the product and started "supporting" it. Customer only talks about new feature, business value and others of that kind. The problem is, though the code is in C#, it's quite procedural. There are no abstractions, classes are only used where Visual Studio requires them - Forms, for instance. The implementations of these classes are really awful and the code is really hard to maintain. For all these year I spend my own time for refactoring. In the latest version, there are pretty abstractions and such. I had to reimplement a number of components from scratch and I really feel that adding new feature or changing behavior to these components is MUCH easier than to others. The problem is, I spend my own time. I really like the results, but I don't like working 12 hours per day. Have you ever been to similar situation? What should I try? I've already tried discussing it, but still no success. I'm just scared of the moment when we decide implementing the new feature that requires a lot of changes to the legacy code. That just could be shocking to the customer: why do you need 8 hours for changing these icons? The customer just doesn't care that there are 500 places in the code that I need to change. And I should also find all these 500 places first. Any ideas?

2011/07/19

> > ... the code is really hard to maintain. > > > This is your way in with management. Demonstrate that the cost of "just" fixing the bugs and adding new functionality is greater than that of refactoring and rewriting the code. For example if with the current code a new feature would take 2 weeks to add and then a significant amount of time to maintain (e.g. 1 day a week), show that with a week's refactoring you can get the development done in 1 1/2 weeks but that you'll cut the maintenance down to 1 day a month (or less). These numbers will show that what you are doing is cost effective in the medium to long term even though there is a short term cost. While the company might not like spending the money now, they'll see that the potential benefits are much greater - i.e. you will be more productive generating more code in less time and that code will be better quality.

It seems like you could charge the customer for the time the change *"should"* take and still come out WAY ahead in the long run. If you enjoy cleaning up the code (and it seems like you do at least a little) then go ahead and keep doing it but don't burn yourself out on it. That doesn't do you, your company, or your other customers any good. Make sure that your management and anyone working with the customer knows that the code isn't in the best shape so they can make an informed decision - just because you own that code doesn't mean you should be making the business decisions about it, if they aren't aware of the problems with the code then they can't do their jobs.

I am a member of the managerial team at a large international school. I coordinate about 40 staff members. I am considering emailing them at the beginning of next academic year, and possibly at the beginning of every academic year thereafter, with the purpose of soliciting suggestions about how I can better do my job as a manager. In the email, I would probably specify: > > * Please list your suggestions in order of importance. > * Please identify any possible drawbacks of each suggestion. (Followed by examples.) > * Suggestions will be carefully considered, but not necessarily implemented. > > > On the one hand, it might bring to my attention simple, effective ways to make things better for various stakeholders. Sometimes staff have good ideas but don't let me know about them (maybe they don't want to be seen as a complainer, or they're just shy, or they just forget to mention it). Also, such an email would help foster a culture of open communication. On the other hand, it might cause animosity. For example, staff might think, "You asked for suggestions; I gave you some very good ones, but you ignored them". Or, I might think, "You're making a suggestion about that particular issue - after everything I've done for you regarding that issue, you're still not satisfied?" Also, implementing the suggestions might have a time cost, and thus negatively impact my work-life balance. **Do you think this is a good idea? If so, is there anything else I should include in the email? If not, is there a better alternative to achieve similiar positive outcomes?** **EDIT** (after reading Kilisi's pithy & effective comment) In my email, I would present the idea like: "Suggestions are welcome, if you happen to have any". So it doesn't come across as "homework". Then I would include a few examples of actual suggestions from the past that were helpful to me ("Could someone be put in charge of training students on email etiquette..." or "Could we have a consistent policy on when to return marked exam papers to students...")

2022/07/26

I think it's an awesome idea. Soliciting, encouraging, gathering actionable feedback and suggestions is a hallmark behavior of a good manager. The *how* can be a pickle though: * How do subordinates know it's not an attempt to gather exclusively positive feedback (i.e. praise)? Somehow you'd want to convince them it's an honest attempt at improving vs. patting yourself on the back via subordinate feedback. * With that in mind, you'd want to establish some rapport with them, so they know it's a genuine effort at improvement. * How do they know that potentially negative feedback (e.g. "1, 2 and 3 very much need improvement" suggesting there's a *lot* of room for improvement aka maybe you're not doing your job well?) will not result in some form of retaliation? So I'd divide this task (of gathering honest actionable feedback) into a few sub-tasks: * Reach out to allies and trusted coworkers (managers or not) and ask them the same question, what can be improved? What are my blind spots? What do you think I can do to help my subordinates? If they are resistant - that's one of the blind spots - that people you trust don't feel free to provide honest feedback. * Then make a list of those and perhaps engage more of your subordinates to anonymously vote on that list, along with leaving room for open ended free form anything goes suggestions and feedback. * Build up your reputation as someone who appreciates and rewards honest feedback and does not retaliate for criticism - by fostering such conversations perhaps in smaller groups first. * Build up your reputation for fostering ground level initiative, where subordinates' voices are encouraged, heard, and valued. It's not easy. Perhaps even very hard. So worth it though!

Make sure you are clear about your goals. You can pick 1. Improve yourself as a manager 2. Improve the situation of your staff 3. Improve the skill, processes and effectiveness of the team ultimately benefiting the students These are all fairly different things, so clarity if important. If you are primarily after self improvement, I believe 360 feedback would be the better tool. Send out a short anonymous questionnaire to manager, some peers, some staff members: Just four questions: 1. What did Dan do well? 2. What do you think could Dan have done better? 3. What should Dan be doing differently in the future? 4. Any free from comments about Dan you would like to share? In most places, HR can help administering a 360 survey to protect confidentiality If actually you want to solicit suggestions you should be transparent about it. What process will you use to assess the suggestions? Will you publish the result and the rationale behind each assessment? This is not without risk: you may get none (or only few) suggestions. That means people either don't trust you or don't believe you would actually act on anything. If there are no visible results after the survey, you will lose credibility.

Recently [Google has indicated that a HTTPS certificate will be used as a positive signal in it's search rankings](http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/https-as-ranking-signal.html). This has caused some discussion within our company as to if we should apply a HTTPS certificate to our new site. However, our site contains no login details, does not carry user data, and is effectively static content. This combined with the fact that Google has stated that it will only be used as a small factor, means that I feel like it would be overkill and not required. However others at the company are saying "what's the harm, it can only help". Other than the cost, are there any downsides to HTTPS?

2014/08/22

HTTPS gets you *confidentiality* (encryption), *authentication* (identity), and *integrity* (tamper-evident connections). You don't care about so much about the first one in your case, but you *should* care about the second two. The "identity" part implicitly protects you from certain DNS attacks, but there is the chicken-and-egg problem (hence [HSTS](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_Strict_Transport_Security)). There's also the "green URL bar" and all that nonsense, but that's mostly a side-show. HTTPS has at least the following drawbacks: * it's slower on both sides (but not by much, and possibly hidden by bandwidth constraints) * it's got higher latency (more round trips, but not many more), this can be minimised with [SPDY](http://www.chromium.org/spdy/spdy-whitepaper) * it complicates legitimate analysis and troubleshooting (e.g. packet capture) * it *may* prevent some users from accessing your site (corporate policy, content scanning etc.) * the cert and CA chain can really add to connection overheads (there are potential workarounds like [this](https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-ietf-tls-cached-info-16)) * you have do deal with a CA, and have an administrative process to deal with renewals (sadly more difficult in practice than it sounds) * more protocols means more configuration, more software, and a greater [attack surface](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_surface) (A less tangible drawback is getting on board the whole PKI/CA train, but let's not go there today...)

> > Other than the cost, are there any downsides to HTTPS? > > > Yes, HTTPS traffic cannot be cached by third party proxies. If your content is highly cacheable (very likely if your site is mostly static content) and you have lots of users that have slower internet connection (e.g. most people in developing countries rely solely on slow, congested mobile network), caching proxies set up by their ISPs or mobile providers or corporate/university network cannot return a locally cached result. Instead they all have to go all the way to hit your server even when the same content has been requested thousands of times around the neighborhood. This can be mitigated a little if these users install their ISPs proxy certificate, which allows the ISP to essentially do an MITM with the user's permission, but this will significantly compromise the security of sites that actually do need the security of HTTPS.

Is there any desktop notifier for stackoverflow.com? I'd like it to notify in the system tray when questions of my interest are posted, answers and comments to my questions are given, etc.

2010/04/24

You can find a list of desktop apps by [searching on Stack Apps](https://stackapps.com/search?q=desktop): * [StackApplet - Bringing Stack Exchange Notifications to Your Desktop](https://stackapps.com/q/83/3669) * [StackTracker - Cross-platform desktop notification app](https://stackapps.com/q/290/3669) * [Stack Notifier - Chrome extension for desktop notifications](https://stackapps.com/q/4400/22475) Check also the [notifier tag](https://stackapps.com/questions/tagged/notifier).

I'd like to mention that the chat rooms have web notifications you can enable for new chat messages. [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/eYWod.png) But for Stack Exchange updated answers and comments it's way too hard for the Stack Exchange developers to add.

Im wrapping up my Iphone app. Im just worried about security at our web server level. The data is being pulled over to the iphone app via web services. What security measures can i put on the web services so that I am not vulnerable? Thanks

2010/08/17

You can secure your services with normal HTTP Auth, SSL if you're not using the web service payload to implement authentication. Are you the server side programmer too?

It doesn't matter what you "put on" the WCF service if your WCF service is insecure. You must assume that an attacker can access your web service without the iPhone client. Is your web service vulnerable to sql injection? Are you exposing nasty functionality that could allow an attacker to read files on your server or to change another users account? Keep [OWASP Injection flaws](http://www.owasp.org/index.php/Injection_Flaws) in mind. Use HTTPS to keep your clients safe from spilling information. The rest should be making sure the functionality you expose is safe. An attacker will be able find any secret key or password you try and store in your iPhone binary or in memory. The attacker has more control over the iPhone than you do, he can jail break the device and then there is no place to hide.

I broke my wrist when I was a kid. I do body building but my wrist gets painful from time to time. I am looking for alternative workout plans without using my wrist, so I could give my wrist a rest for couple weeks.

2015/05/06

My wrist is sprained on 5/14/15, so I am sort of in the same boat as you. You should probably get your wrist checked out, but in the mean time, depending on the seriousness of pain there are options. In the case where the pain is pretty serious you could be out of luck. But if it isn't, there are workouts you can do: They include forward arm circles(shoulders and traps), leg press(quads), bikes(cardio), pretty much any lower body calisthenics, and butterfly machine(chest)-extend your arms in place of your wrists to move the weight. You can also try chest fly w/weight from machine but not on machine or chest fly w/bands(both using arms and not wrists as said earlier) However, I still wouldn't recommend it, because it will be very painful to your forearms after reps. Also, avoid workouts using grip until your wrist has healed or the doctor says you can use it.

I would recommend visiting a physiotherapist to have your wrist assessed and seek a rehabilitative program to strengthen the muscles around your wrist. I don’t usually go for general doctors as their prescriptions are usually painkillers and rest. We can rest, but active rest is still better if you can afford to. Here are a few things you can consider: * Solid warm up of your wrists before lifting (<https://youtu.be/mSZWSQSSEjE>) * Make sure your wrist is in an optimal alignment with the direction of force. For example, while doing a bench press, you want to make sure your wrist is lined up with your elbows (somewhat in line, to prevent unnecessary rotational forces on your wrists) * Strengthen your wrists via the link above * Doing lower body exercises (squats, leg press) that don’t require holding onto something * Swimming like someone mentioned before Ultimately, it boils down to your goal. Lose fat? Gain muscle? Regain wrist mobility and strength? Once you’re clear, you can have an attack plan and move forward. The worst thing is to do nothing.

**Background** I am reading [this book](https://www.routledge.com/Metaphysics-A-Contemporary-Introduction/Loux-Crisp/p/book/9781138639348). In the chapter "The Ontology of Metaphysical Realism" the author says: > > Many relations are such that pairs of objects enter into them only when taken > in a certain order. Thus, being the father of is an asymmetrical relation: if one > thing, a , is the father of another thing, b , then b is not the father of a . As logicians put it, it is the ordered pair, <a,b> ( a and b taken in just that order), that > exhibits the relation. The three relations we have considered are all two-place > or dyadic relations; but obviously there can be three-place, four-place, and, > generally, n -place relations. > > > I understand the idea of an ordered pair when we talk about different objects a and b. However, we do not require that a and b be different. That is, we can write (a, a) and order a and a. What does this mean? How can an object be ordered with itself? On the Internet, I found only a formal definition of an ordered pair, and this did not help me because these definitions are simply expressions for which the characteristic property holds. **Question** Can you explain what (a, a) is with clear examples?

2022/09/20

We wish to understand what an *ordered pair* is. First, we let go of any preconceptions based on the words "ordered" and "pair". The phrase is just a name. Then, we consider what is important about an *ordered pair*: 1. There is a *first component*, which is some object from the universe of discourse. 2. There is a *second component*, which is also some object from the universe of discourse. 3. Whenever two *ordered pairs* have the same *first component* and the same *second component*, they are the same *ordered pair*. And that's it.

> > That is, we can write (a, a) and order a and a. What does this mean? How can an object be ordered with itself? > > > This is a formal definition. The pair in (a, a) is not any pair of actual objects possibly referred to by a. In (a, a), you have only one variable but you have two occurrences of it, the first one and the second one. This is what allows the expression to avoid ambiguity. That being said, and although a dyadic relation obviously involves a pair of objects, interpreting relations in terms of pairs or n-uplets is just more mathematics, not formal logic. There is a long history of logicians discussing what is called "relational syllogisms" and this seems a more interesting perspective even if it doesn't seem to have gone very far.

I'm trying to upload a photo from my iPhone 4 to a website. However, the browse button to display the select file dialog is disabled. Normally this works fine on my Windows PC. Should I be able to select image files to upload from Safari on iPhone?

2010/11/17

As of iOS 6, Mobile Safari now supports file (image) uploads, from the Camera Roll, albums, and photostreams. Note that iOS 6 is only available for the iPhone 3GS and newer.

You can't upload files using mobile Safari. Even though, you can either use iCab Mobile browser which support file upload or can use native iOS applications which are seamless integrated with a webspage. Here are some of them: [QuickPic](http://www.cliqcliq.com/support/quickpic/) [Aurigma Up](http://www.aurigma.com/iphone)

I was Googling about the oldest galaxies in the Universe. Everywhere is written that their age is known by the light. Referring to this line *"Since light travels at a set speed, if you look at a star ten light years away, you're really seeing what it looked like ten years ago"* on [this site](http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/astronomers-have-found-the-furthest-oldest-galaxy). So my question is, as we know light is continuous, how do scientists know that a particular ray has started its journey some 1000 light years back? How is the age of stars determined?

2013/11/17

Measuring the ages of stars is an incredibly difficult process. It is not something that can be summarised adequately in an SE answer. Please take a look at these references. [Soderblom et al. (2013)](http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2013arXiv1311.7024S); [Jeffries (2014)](http://arxiv.org/abs/1404.7156). Methods split into - Fundamental - e.g. radioisotope dating - only possible for the Sun Semi-fundamental - kinematic traceback of stars to their birthplace; observing the depletion of lithium in a star. Model-dependent - comparing the luminosity and temperature (and composition) of a star with that predicted by stellar evolutionary models. Or equivalently, its surface gravity and temperature. Empirical - looking at how things like rotation and magnetic activity decline with age and using this to estimate the age of a star. Statistical - using the metallicity or galactic space motions of a star to provide a (crude) estimate of its age. There is also a lot more detail given in this SE answer. [Without using absolute magnitudes or isochrones, how might we tell a star's age and evolutionary status?](https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/1041/without-using-absolute-magnitudes-or-isochrones-how-might-we-tell-a-stars-age/8122#8122)

The most straightforward approach is to use a so-called Hertzsprung-Russell diagram: stars of a given mass "burn" in a fairly predictable way, so by looking at a star's spectrum and luminosity one can infer its possible age. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hertzsprung%E2%80%93Russell_diagram> Wikipedia also has an overview of some additional methods: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_age_estimation>

I'm not sure if the answers to [Appropriate ways to dismiss street vendors?](https://interpersonal.stackexchange.com/questions/3223/appropriate-ways-to-dismiss-street-vendors) apply to this situation, as it is about people asking for money without a compensation. That's why I'm asking a new question about an experience of mine, that got me thinking. Situation --------- I was at a public location where usually a lot of students are around. Since I was waiting for something, I was just standing there. Then someone, let's call them "Bob", approached me. **About Bob** Bob was around 20-30 years old and blended in perfectly with the other students. Nothing extraordinary about him, a very typical appearance. So this is not about a poor beggar. **The conversation** While I remember that person vividly, I don't remember the exact wording, so please do not take everything in the following conversation literally. It's more important, what kind of information were given and what was left unsaid. > > Bob: Hey > > > Me: Hi > > > Bob: Can you help me? > > > Me: What do you need help with? > > > *I thought he would ask me the way or the like.* > > > Bob: *Now followed a (somewhat) longer monologue about helping people. Sounded to me like a crowdfunding-related marketing text.* > > > Me: How can I help you? > > > Bob: I need money. > > > This is the decisive moment my question concerns. Back then, I said something to the effect, that I didn't have money (not a complete lie, especially considering that no information was given). This frustrated Bob so much that he went away immediately, mumbling something, sounding disappointed. Question -------- My question is: **How do I (politely) dismiss a request for money from a stranger?** My goal is: **I do not want to give them money, and want to end the conversation as soon as possible.** I would prefer a polite solution, but I became unsure about insisting too much on it and so only put it in brackets. Now, additional details/explanations: * Only in the last question did Bob actually mention money. He didn't do so before (also not during that monologue). * Bob never disclosed how much money (or in which form, i. e. bank transfer or cash) he wanted or what (or whom) he needed it for for. * I was surprised that the conversation ended so quickly. But I wonder, and that's also why I ask that question, how to react if they had continued asking for money. * I'm not sure if my reaction was overly polite. The conversation was short and not unfriendly, but that's hard to judge now. I tried to remain neutral.

2017/09/26

Bob gave you a long speech, which he most likely gave to many different people that day. This is a sales speech. A con artist is simply a salesman who went to the dark side. Instead of selling a product, he sells good feelings: if Bob is a good con artist, after he milks you for cash, you'll feel like a saint for helping him feed his twelve children! Look, he even has pictures! Bob doesn't look like a random bum. In that case you'd give him a buck or just a smile to acknowledge he's still a person even though he smells a bit funny, and that's it. So I'd cast Bob as a businessman. Bob aims to be efficient, and collect the maximum amount of money in the minimum amount of time. This means he has honed his target selection skills: it is in Bob's interest to select the right target and not lose time with people who won't pay. Thus the best way to get rid of Bob is to signal that you're a tough target. There's no need to be rude or anything: Bob: Can you help me? You: Girlfriend's waiting, well I guess I can be a minute late. This gives Bob an extra problem: he will have to convince you to stay long enough so he can deliver his sales speech, while knowing your GF is waiting. Bob will reassess his chances. This also gives Bob a way out: you have a minute to spare. Thus, Bob asks where to find the pet store, and leaves you alone. In this scenario, you don't know Bob is a con artist. He might just have been a random guy looking for the pet store and you helped. Good for you ;) > > Bob: Now followed a (somewhat) longer monologue about helping people. Sounded to me like a crowdfunding-related marketing text. > > > The longer you spend listening, the more Bob will view you as a gullible sucker. So when you guessed he was gonna ask for money, or maybe pull some marketing trick, or ask for a poll or to sign a petition... You should have interrupted immediately at this point with "Thank you, but my girlfriend's waiting, I don't have the time. Have a nice day." Then leave. Don't say you're broke, don't talk about money, don't weasel out, don't whine, you don't need to explain any more than that. It's really simple. Tone is important, you should cut him off with a raised hand, be assertive, maybe frown a bit. Using excuses ("I don't have any money...") signals weakness, and a con artist loves that, it makes you a better target. They can debunk your excuses. Let's be honest, you don't care about this guy's feelings, you're simply looking for a way to get out without making him angry, and this is a good one. Now, I will add some street smarts to the other answers here: > > Cucumber: > Stranger: Well, there is an ATM right around the corner/in that gas station. > > > Bob looks over your shoulder as you enter your PIN code. Then he produces a surprisingly large knife and begins to act unfriendly. You surrender your credit card, he has the PIN, and while you're at it your phone and your wallet. In the next five minutes, Bob busts your CC's cash withdrawal limit, then empties the rest of your account by purchasing bitcoins online using your phone. You can keep the knife that's planted in your gut ;) it's on the house. Stranger wants to walk you to an ATM = RED FLAG! > > If I genuinely don't have any cash, I take my wallet out and open it up and show it to them. > > > He grabs it and runs. Your credit card is inside. He doesn't have the PIN, but he can still purchase bitcoins online. > > Maxim: > Other answers suggested saying that you don't carry cash. I would advise against it, because while it can work sometimes, it can also backfire if the person simply asks you to buy something. > > > OK, he takes you to the tacos truck and buy him some. You got no cash, so you pull out your credit card. That's when you realize he wanted tacos because running away from a taco truck is a lot easier than from the inside of a shop. Oh, yeah, he also memorized your PIN when you typed it to buy the tacos. Location-dependent: CC insurance does not cover you when the thief has the PIN, unless you can make a good enough case that you didn't just surrender the PIN freely (a knife sticking out of your gut would certainly strengthen your case though). If you want to give him some cash, put your hand in your pocket and pull out a few coins. Exhibiting your wallet in front of someone you suspect to be a potential thief would not be a very good move. Do not pull out your shiny new iPhone to look at the time when you say you're late to meet your girlfriend either. If you are a girl and wear a "Very Small And Easy To Steal Purse" the same applies.

When these kinds of situations come up, it's better to be prepared, than to fumble over your words and allow any further manipulation of the conversation. For that reason, I recommend having something very generic but clear to say, regardless of what form the question comes in. Something like: > > Sorry, I can't help you. > > > If the question was about money, I might follow up with: > > I don't have any money to spare. > > > This is terse, clear, and is not lying in any form, given that your money should already be going somewhere through a designated avenue (savings, food, bills, charity, etc). You can have a clear conscience, and have an answer ready for when you are inevitably surprised.

Some studies show that there are big '[seas](https://futurism.com/is-it-raining-diamonds-on-uranus-neptune/)' of diamonds on Uranus and Neptune, there may be loads of it. I was thinking, wouldn't it be a great business opportunity to go to Uranus or Neptune (maybe lend some money, build a robotic ship), get some diamonds, and return back (and give back lend money)? How expensive and how realistic would this action be? It seems to me as a really great plan for rich people to multiply their assets.

2017/04/03

[This wikipedia article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraterrestrial_diamonds#Solar_System) suggests that the conditions for diamond formation *might* (the same article mentions considerable doubts) be found 7000-10000 km below the cloud tops of Uranus and Neptune at temperatures of thousands of degrees and pressures of close to a million atmospheres. Since the interior of these planets is fluid, any diamonds formed would promptly sink down to even deeper, hotter and higher pressure levels (where they might well melt again). Building any machines to work at that depth takes us deep into the territory of science fiction -- you need force fields or "magic" materials.

This would be done using a space crane. A space crane is a type of sattilite placed in a geosynchronous orbit. It lowers cables and other equipment into the atmosphere. While you could potentially mine diamonds this way, of equal or greater value would be the vast amounts of methane. You would suck this up into space and place it in collosal space balloons (you could use the extreme cold of space to aid in liquifying it). You would transport the methane back to earth for use as fuel. The balloons would be set in motion and basically float unmanned towards the earth, then captured and placed into Earth's orbit. Your challenge would be getting the mining equipment in orbit around Neptune and getting it assembled. It would most likely need to be manned by a skeleton crew. Keeping them alive some 2.5 billion miles from home would be a logistical challenge. Your next challenge would be controlling the equipment extending from space into Neptune's atmosphere. To get such operations started in this day and age would require the efforts of several multi billion dollar corporations, and the government, and probably a 40 year turnaround for planning, engineering, R&D, production, transportation out, mining, then return trip of first balloon. Transportation alone is about a 20 year round trip.

I recently picked up some pedals along with a Mackie Vlz 802. I was hoping to integrate the pedals with the mackie, and in turn, use them as external effects in Live. I'm aware that I have to connect the mixer to the nio (my interface) by connecting the tape outs on the mackie, to the inputs on the nio. I'm using the outputs 1-2 on the nio for monitoring. I'm getting lost in relation to integrating the pedals with the mackie, to Ableton. I'm aware that I could connect the pedals by using the outputs and inputs of the nio, but that means I won't be able to integrate the mackie mixer, as well. The mixer is great because it allows more inputs for some of my external gear, but i'd love to be able to use some pedals as external effects with Live. Has anyone any ideas of setting this up? How do I setup an external affect in Ableton? I'm sorry if this is really basic, but any advice would be greatly appreciated. Al. Here is a picture of the Mackie: <http://www.thomann.de/ie/prod_bdb_AR_20> ... ml?image=0 Here's a picture of the Nio: <http://www.thomann.de/ie/prod_bdb_AR_13> ... ml?image=7

2011/01/25

Well, your Mackie mixer has an ALT-Out and an aux-out. So connect your external effects to either the alt-out or the aux-out and route them back in via one of the channel input (or via the aux-return). (If you use guitar-effect pedals, you will need something to match the impendance, a cheap DI box will work , even if it is not the best solution)

I've always been curious about this from a sound design perspective - using pedals creatively instead of in-the-box or rack effects. How does it affect your workflow? I find anything that adds extra steps to the creative process is an inhibitor to experimentation, so I've never bothered throwing up pedals or making the investment. Your thoughts?

I am thinking about starting a project involving controlling the movement of a mindstorms robot depending on some input from a Kinect device; however the robot will require at least 6 motors. I have access to 2 NXT sets\* (provided by university) - is it possible to control both bricks using either one (or two) bluetooth dongles? I've read through the [Bluetooth SDK docs](http://mindstorms.lego.com/en-us/support/files/default.aspx#Advanced) but they only mention that a master NXT can control up to 3 slave NXTs. Reading through the protocol spec I see no reason why another NXT could not be controlled by just sending it "direct control messages". Can it be done in a simplistic way without having to make my own low level bluetooth api?

2012/02/29

Yes, this is definitely possible! You can connect up to 7 different NXT devices from one computer and one Bluetooth dongle (theoretical limit). I have tested this with the [RWTH - Mindstorms NXT Toolbox for MATLAB](http://www.mindstorms.rwth-aachen.de)) successfully with 5 NXTs on Linux and with at least 2 NXTs on Windows. In real life, it depends on your Bluetooth hardware. Your Bluetooth stack or driver software should provide several serial COM-ports. You can then connect each virtual serial port to a seperate NXT device, and access them via those different serial ports. If you go the direct way via the official LEGO NXT Bluetooth SDK you mentioned, you can retrieve different handles to multiple NXTs. Oh, and for the record: You can also connect multiple NXTs via USB, and you can also mix and match with Blueooth. Regards, Linus

The RWTH documentation about initiating connections has a sub-chapter called "Using multiple NXTs" which can be found here: [PC to NXT Communication - Using multiple NXTs](http://www.mindstorms.rwth-aachen.de/documents/downloads/doc/version-4.03/pc_nxt_communication.html#12) The C++ communication from norgesgade14.dk claims to support: "Open and close connections with multiple NXT units" on its [overview page](http://www.norgesgade14.dk/bluetoothlibrary.php). So it should be possible to do this, though I can't confirm since I only have a single NXT. I suspect that you only need one dongle though.

There are more people working on the project. I created like 50 tasks. The project is programming of an application. I am a project manager here. I have 2 options: 1. Assign all tasks to corresponding person and mark it by priority (1 to 5). If someone is faster, I re-assign the task to him. 2. Assign only a couple of task to each person and assign other based on their progress Questions for 1 & 2. 1. What if a person starts working and marks a task as Accepted, and I need to reassign it to another person? Mark it as New on re-assign? 2. If many tasks are of the same priority, a person in charge may chose which one to take. Good or bad? 3. How many tasks to assign for each person? How many active tasks should have each person? The main goal is to finish the project quickly but preserving quality. I noticed that guys take tasks as they want. That is why I thought if assigning all tasks to them is the wrong way to do it. Maybe the proper way is to have a bunch of unassigned tasks, which I assign to those person who finalize their tasks the quickest. So the main issue is how to properly assign tasks to my guys.

2013/11/27

The sense I get from this question is the degree of control the OP is trying have. Controls are certainly good but the cost of control is less fluidity, agility. At the level of assignments I infer from the question, my answer would be: ease up. Don't over think this. I think the control point is at a higher level. Assign all your available resources against the work package. Let them figure it out, maybe with the aid of a team lead, how to get it done.

Basically the things goes as re-assign. Previously I was using a tool called JIRA. There once a task is created a unique id is generated and when ever that particular task is being assigned to any other person automatically it was taken as re-assign. If new task is required to be created then it should be with a unique id. Secondly it doesn't matter whether the task is assigned immediately or one by one if a tool is used literally. Because everything is being organized and planned up there itself.

I'm very comfortable with Swift, Obj-C, and Javascript but for a new project I need to use a library that is only available in Python. How do I integrate python or python scripts into an OSX project? There is the option of going PyObjc or pyapp to build the entire application but that seems extravagant given that I only need Python for a small portion of that program. It seems the preferable route would be to push Python to the cloud. Is there a pre bundled solution for doing this or would it require me to set up my own environment?

2016/06/09

If the amount of data that needs to be passed is small, then for an OS X application, one can run some Python code via a system() shell command from Swift or Objective C code. For iOS, unless you want to build a Python interpreter into your app, it may be best to push running the Python library and scripts to a server "in the cloud".

For ways to embed Python code, see: * [Embedding Python in Another Application](https://docs.python.org/2/extending/embedding.html) and [a longer article on it](http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/8497) and [a tech talk video on it](http://realmike.org/blog/2012/07/05/supercharging-c-code-with-embedded-python/) * [Embedding Python using Boost](http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_62_0/libs/python/doc/html/tutorial/tutorial/embedding.html) and [a longer article about that](http://members.gamedev.net/sicrane/articles/EmbeddingPythonPart1.html) * [Cython](http://cython.readthedocs.io/en/latest/src/userguide/external_C_code.html) is an easy way to bridge Python with C family languages

I know metal detectors for walls, but in my house there are places where it has a plastic pipe. I wonder if there is a good detector to buy.

2010/08/05

I used a thermographic camera to detect pipes in my house. Let the hot or cold water run for 2-3 minuttes, and the pipes heats/cools the wall very slightly. This is very visible on even the cheapest thermographic cameras.

Old question but, bosch d-tect 120 can detect water-filled PVC/plastic pipe but it is a bit expensive.

She’s not very open so I have no idea whether their conversations are age-appropriate. She is a really intelligent and responsible kid, and she's definitely smart enough not to give out any personal information, and to disengage if things got creepy. But I also feel like an adult who chats with 13-year-olds on the internet can’t be normal, and might not have a normal sense for what is socially appropriate, so I'm pretty concerned about what they might be talking about. She lives with her mother, so I can't take away internet access. I could tell her mother, but I don't want to break her trust. I know telling her mother would completely destroy the trust she has for me. I could talk to her about the dangers of talking to adults on the internet, but she already thinks I overreact to everything, and in the future I doubt she'd tell me anything anymore. So 1) is it normal for a 13-year-old to be friends with an adult? And 2) if not, what can I do about this?

2017/02/22

I have certainly spoken with 13 year olds on the internet and I am in my 60s. Some of the time was in a game room chat and some of the time in my role as a moderator on a forum. I am quite friendly with a 14 y/o girl who is writing a book and she is quite good at writing. I think that your daughter should not be chatting on the net in private -- and that doesn't mean she can't have privacy, but that she is in a common area while she plays or chats. I have a niece who was informed by the RCMP that she had been chatting with an older man who was not another pre-teen, but an officer looking for predators. Her parents had quite the wake up call. You have to parent and that means you need passwords and access. It is a difficult balance and in our home, I am not always liked for my approach. Her father is just as strict, thank goodness because I of course cannot control what happens at his house beyond normal parent/child stuff. I have to trust him and I do. I think there is no way around you talking to your ex. Parenting is still your job together. You could possibly try not being specific but starting a conversation with all three of you about the internet, its dangers and cautions, as well as how you trust your daughter to do the right thing. I will see if I can find a movie that isn't ridiculously scary, but I am away from home with 'iffy' internet access. I'll ask my daughter but at the moment she's away with her Dad. I'm not seeing anything but horror flicks and if your daughter is like I was, that would back-fire. It has to be truth. Perhaps explain "catfishing". > > > > > > lure (someone) into a relationship by means of a fictional online persona. > > "he was being catfished by a cruel prankster" Google Dictionary > > > > > > > > >

I can't know possibly for sure and neither can you. First I would talk to her about the dangers of the internet ***again***, and show her a documentary about what can happen to young girls. As a woman in my early twenties I actually play a ***online game*** that has a rating 13+. So it is possible for me to play with 13 year old girls, even without knowing. Does the 20 year old know how old your daughter is? In this context it can be completly harmless. Talking about game strategies and a little small talk. But: in other contexts, for example ***Omegle***, it can be really dangerous. Where did they "meet" when did they decide to stay in contact? Most internet meetings end after a few minutes or hours. Did they swap phone numbers? What are the topics they are talking about? **To answer your questions directly:** 1) Of course! My cousin is now 15 and we have been friends since I can think of. (you can check my question on my profile). Internet friends? Sure, if they have common interests like gaming the same style of game. 2) If you still think it isn't "normal" or okay with you: Tell her how much you care for her safety! And that as soon as she doesn't feel comfortable you will be there for her. That you won't be jugemental and won't queston her further, and that you love her no matter what.

We recently adopted a new management methodology that says there are no roles on the team (a "cross-functional" team where "all team members are developers") and everyone should we doing everything so we now have UX designers and QA engineers trying to ship code with some copy paste and online courses. I have never been a manager before and I am not a manager of these people but since we have half the team suddenly becoming developers and as the only actual software developer (sorry if pejorative, but none of these people have written code before) not just ignoring newbie slack messages I am not getting anything done. It doesn't help that each developer has a certain number of points required per sprint and there is no difference between people based on experience. The newbie developers really shouldn't have the same point expectation as people who have coded for years. I approached my manager, but the project management method has been dictated from the top. Manager is also a dev and doesn't really want to deal with it. His manager finds the methodology strange but isn't willing to go against the people with the certs. Basically I dont think it can really be changed all that much so I need to learn how to work within the framework. What are my options for dealing with this? How do you manage an army of really green people and get useful code out of them?

2021/04/12

This isn't your problem, it's your managers, and further up the hierarchy. Just keep your back covered and handle your portions. Eventually if everything comes crashing down there will be changes, but you don't have the authority to make them and most importantly you don't want any responsibility for them. Your manager is the one who will need to deal with it. If he doesn't want to, he'll end as the scapegoat. Getting involved more than you already have is just putting a target on your back if/when things go South.

I don't disagree with the other answers, and read Xono and puck. This is such a mess that unless the company changes course the project is doomed, and I would be preparing my resume. You should also communicate the unworkability of this plan by every means available, as forcefully as possible, and I wanted to add some other options for doing that. 1. Absolutely tell your senior managers all the reasons why this isn't going to work. But you also need to give them concrete data to prove it. 2. Make a request for training for all the people who can't program. Ask to enrol them in programming courses. 3. If the above is denied, assign them to learning the language(s) you are using with free resources. Do this even if they don't complete any work because of it. 4. Make for yourself a rough estimate of the number of story points the entire project will take. You will need it later. 5. Make sure you don't allow any stories to be completed until they are of sufficient quality. You yourself spend time making sure that the newbie's don't introduce bugs, and making sure they understand what is needed from them. 6. The likelihood is that your team will be hugely unproductive in the first few sprints of this, completing only a tiny fraction of points. When this happens, tell the bosses that they are seeing the reality of this method of working.

I'd like to know an adjective to describe age between young and old. I know *middle age* is such a word, but it is a noun phrase. Is there an adjective for it?

2020/11/13

These might work depending on the context: * mature * seasoned * ripened * developed * grown-up

I'd suggest "prime age", and here **prime** is an adjective. Young age has no precise perception. It could be the infant stage, or one's adolescence. So it is a wide range of ages, unlike old age which is a considerably lesser range. Prime age is the age where one is usually at the peaks of their career. It also can be seen as a wide range, but definitely prime age is when one is older than what would be considered young. It could be from 25 years to 50.

It was demonstrated in the movie *'Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home'* that the transporter system aboard a Klingon Bird-of-Prey could be used to transport two adult humpback whales (George and Gracie) plus a massive 18,000 cubic feet of sea water into a transparent aluminum tank, built into the ship's hold to receive them. Combining both the whales and water results in a massive transport, which leads to the question: Has a larger single transport ever been done? How much can actually be transported in a single pass?

2014/05/07

Per my answer [here](https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/47246/what-was-the-largest-object-enterprise-d-could-transport-onboard), the largest object that a **Federation Transporter** can transport without special engineering assistance is 2.8L x 2.5W x 2.0H or 3.45L x 1.0W x 2.0H, equivalent to a [large cargo container](http://www.chesterfieldskips.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/8-yd-Builder1.jpg). The Bird of Prey contain several transporters and these can be used in "[site to site](http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Site-to-site_transport)" mode to transport a very considerable volume if they're all tied in together and used at the same time. --- As far as the largest transport *seen on screen*, in the episode "[Distant Origin](http://www.startrek.com/database_article/distant-origin)", the U.S.S. Voyager (which as Morgan points out in his comment above is a 344m long x 130m wide x 63m high, 700,000 metric ton Intrepid-class starship) is transported inside a massive Voth city-ship; > > **KIM:** *No response. They're locking onto the ship with an energy beam. It's cutting right through our shields!* **Some sort of > transporter.** > > > **JANEWAY:** *Report.* > > > **KIM:** **We've been beamed inside the alien vessel.** > > > 

In the VOY episode Prime Factors (Season 1 Episode 9) the aliens are found to possess a transporter-like technology that should have been able to transport the whole ship up to 40,000 light years. Of course there was a technical incompatibility that prevented it from working (and ruining the whole premise of the show), but it is a canon-use of a transporter with at least the potential to move a very large object.

I really hate the tinychat interface. I'm looking for a product that provides an: * XMPP/IRC gateway (to text chat obviously) * No external registration required (as in Google/Aim/Yahoo account creation) * Video chatting for those who want it? Anyone know of a service?

2011/03/07

Lifetime.fm satisfies #2 and #3 of your requirements. Text chat with optional video chat up to 9 people. No external registration is required.

Try ChatterPlace. It has all the features of TinyChat and Paltalk and more. Everything is free and you can totally customize your created chat room, background, layout etc. Another good thing is that you can allow guest access or make your room private. You also get admin powers and can add your friends as moderators. Video chat is another free feature along with text chat as standard. Here is the site <http://chatterplace.com> I hope this helps?

I'm looking for an open source Skype application that I can use instead of the current beta we have to install.

2010/10/24

There's a new version of Skype available - and it runs quite nicely too: <http://forum.skype.com/index.php?showtopic=799681> *Yes, this is intended as humor.*

You can use <http://imo.im> instead of skype

I'm working on a Linux/Apache/MySQL/Grails application and have the choice of build tools. I'm looking at Gradle or Gant. They look very similar to me, so I'm not sure what differentiates them. What are the major differences between Gradle and Gant that would make me pick one over the other?

2011/03/21

The major reasons you would likely pick Gradle over Gant: 1. The functionality of Gant is a subset of Gradle. (basically a groovy wrapper around ANT) 2. Gant is built with Gradle Beyond that Gradle has a plugin architecture, is DSL based, integrates with Maven and Ivy and has true incremental builds. Gant was a valuable innovation in its time, the lessons of which are in Gradle.

Grails already comes with a build system included, so you don't need to do anything. At the moment [it is based on Gant scripts](http://grails.org/doc/latest/ref/Command%20Line/Usage.html), but a switch to Gradle is on the [roadmap for Grails 2.0.](http://grails.org/Roadmap)

A year ago, I finished my Master's degree and ended 6 months of working for an incredibly manipulative and demanding supervisor. We started working on a publication of my Master's results, which is awaiting final approval (post-corrections) at the journal we submitted to. Last week, I read a paper this supervisor had published recently, which had a figure taken directly from my Master's dissertation. Our in-press article wasn't cited, and I wasn't co-author, referenced, or even mentioned in the acknowledgements. No direct reference was given for the figure, but the text surrounding it made it sound as if it had come from another article by my supervisor from last year. It seems pretty clear to me that this is plaigarism - we worked on this project together, certainly, but the final product was a result of my work and their guidance. My problem is, I don't know how to deal with it. We are currently co-authoring a paper, so I don't want to cause a rupture. I also plan to continue working in this field, and would like to avoid having a senior researcher and previous supervisor to be angry. At the same time, I don't want them to get away with using my work, and taking all the credit for it. I will certainly tell them that I feel uncomfortable with how they used my work, but realistically, what can I expect/hope to happen here? UPDATE - the figure in question is an overview of a simulation model I created, so is pretty much the core part of my Master's work.

2015/01/14

It's hard to fix the past... Rather think of the future... I would (and in past case have) let the person know that you feel you should have either been a coauthor on the paper (preferred outcome usually) or been acknowledged as contributing to the paper (specifically all non-original figures must be acknowledged as to source for copyright reasons and there is the right to be known as author and originator in relation to all aspects of the paper you have contributed to). If you are one of many students this supervisor has in this area, and/or the figure just encapsulates ideas that your supervisor has provided, then the shoe could be on the other foot, and the supervisor may not even be aware that you feel ownership of the figure (or other aspects of the "joint research"). In your thesis/papers you need to acknowledge where ideas have originated from other people - in a thesis this is likely to be restricted to a specific acknowledgements section. If a figure is likely to be needed in future papers, I tend to note that it is copyright by me and reproduced with permission in all papers, and thus copyright is not transferred to the first publisher of such a paper. When I circulate things (even just charts and figures) I sometimes add a copyright if it is something that I am particularly proud of and/or want to retain control of. If I were in your shoes my aim would be to ensure that I was consulted about future papers (given the opportunity to be an author, or acknowledged, or to waive my rights).

I have had a couple of similar cases before. This is a form of both plagiarism and copyright breach (these two are not necessarily always the same). They had to do 2 things before using your figure in their article: (1) cite you; (2) Provide the journal with the written permission obtained from you, for using your figure in their paper. The failure to do any of the above 2 items is problematic. In **theory**, you can (1) write to the journal and ask for the retraction of the plagiarizing article after providing sufficient evidence. (2) write to the publisher and ask the same. (3) write to the authors and ask them to send an erratum to the journal (or ask the journal to ask them). (4) If they did not do anything, sue the irresponsible parties. What happens in **practice** though? An article stole a figure and even a table of my article. Interestingly enough, they had not even bothered to re-write the content of my table, but had only take a snapshot of it, and had put it exactly as is, in their own article. They had not stated at any point of their article that those figure/table were picked from my article, nor had they contacted me previously. So I contacted the journal for many times, to no avail. Then I contacted the authors (there was no independent publisher to contact). They did not respond as well! So if I wanted to sue them, I had to fly abroad, and I doubt the court in their country had any stringent rules against such copyright breaches. **So in practice, there is usually little you can do, as journals heavily tend to sweep these issues under the carpet.** Another article had plagiarized most of the content of my article, without citing me. I contacted every one (journal, publisher, authors)... After numerous emails, the journal told me they will not retract it, and if I want to sue them, I can go to the court in their country!!!! --- I now understand the complexity of the case, in which the author of the copied figure is also the author of the original figure. Because **the journal owns the copyright** of the article content, not the authors themselves. So eventhough the author can claim that (s)he has used their *own* figure twice, the journal still has the right to sue them, since (s)he has breached the copyright of the journal. But if the original article was an **open access** one, I think it is fine to use the image twice as its copyright belongs to the author (although it is not a good practice to use repeated content).