Does radiant heat energy increase the temperature of any gases it passes through?

Question: I am in an HVAC/R technician certification class, and the instructor taught us that radiant heat energy only increases the temperature of solid objects, and the temperature of gases are not affected by radiant heat energy. Is this true? Electromagnetic waves have no affect of any kind on the temperature of any of the gases that make up the air in and around our homes?
Answer: Radiant heat energy is light, usually of wavelengths too long for you to see. If you heat an object hot enough, it glows red hot. That is, it gives off red light. It also gives off infrared. If you heat it less, the only light is the longer wavelength infrared.
When light hits an object, it might be reflected away, transmitted through, or absorbed. If reflected or transmitted, the light and its energy leave the object. If absorbed, the energy stays inside the object and heats it up. This is why objects get warmer if left sitting in the sun. A flashlight will do the same thing, but the temperature change is too small to notice.
Sometimes part of the light does one thing and the rest does another. For example, a blue object reflects blue light, and absorbs other colors.
The gasses in air are transparent in visible wavelengths. Visible light passes through without heating them. The same is true of near infrared light. Longer wavelength light is absorbed to a degree. But not very much energy is in those wavelengths. Air is not heated that way enough to notice.
Comment: This current answer seems to address the question only qualitatively (in binary terms), and only in the last paragraph. It might be more useful if the actual transmittance over the spectrum were discussed (shown [here](https://www.usna.edu/Users/oceano/pguth/md_help/remote_sensing_course/atmos_transmit.htm) for a distance of one nautical mile, for example). Then a connection could be made between the distances over which we *do* see notable absorption and the distances associated with the geometry of a typical house.


.Net sync menu item with toolbar button

Question: I'm creating a .Net3.5 Application (c#) and I want to write a generic code that
synchronizes certain properties between toolbar buttons and menu Items that have the same purpose. For example setting a button as disabled should set the respective menu item as disabled. My idea is to hold in a dictionary the lists of "paired" controls.
Any ideas?
Answer: There is a CodeProject article here that explains how to use the manager for the Edit Controls and how the menu gets synchronized. I know the code has not being updated in a while as it uses the .NET 2003 framework, but I am sure it can be recompiled cleanly to coer the .NET 2 Framework.
The real beauty of this code is that if you have edit controls, the 'Edit' menu automatically synchronizes based on the edit control, i.e. if it can be 'Cut', 'Copy' or 'Paste' and it will deactivate/activate the menu item for that 'Edit' menu.
Hope this helps,
Best regards,
Tom.

.Net sync menu item with toolbar button


Row Count of various files with in a For Each Loop Container

Question: I have a Row Count transformation in Data Flow Task and this Data Flow Task is in a For Each Loop Container. So when I am running the package I'm getting the row count for only one file but not all the files.Can anyone help me with this
Comment: Total of all rows for all the files.
Comment: You can use an expression task for this purpose i think it is more recommended then using a scrip task since you are just incrementing a variable you don't have any sophisticated logic to implement
Comment: Do you want a row count for _each_ file, or a total of all of the row counts for _all_ of the files?
Answer: Using an Expression Task

The Expression Task creates and evaluates expressions that set variable values at runtime, using the Expression Builder

Add 2 variables to your ssis package:

@[User::TotalRowCount]: To store the total count
@[User::RowCount]: To be used in the Row Count transformation

Add an Expression Task inside the Foreach Loop container with the following expression:
@[User::TotalRowCount] = @[User::TotalRowCount] + @[User::RowCount]

References

SSIS Expression Task
Expression Task
Answer: You can use a Script Task to do this.  Start off by creating another SSIS variable which will store the total count for all iterations of the Foreach Loop.  After this place a Script Task after the Data Flow Task inside the loop.  Add the variable holding the row count for each iteration as a ReadOnlyVariable and the variable that will store the total count for all iterations in the ReadWriteVariables field.  The following example uses C# to update the value of the total row count variable (TotalCount) by adding the count of rows from the variable holding this for the current iteration (CurrentInterationCount) to it.
int currentRows = Convert.ToInt32(Dts.Variables["User::CurrentInterationCount"].Value.ToString());
int totalRows = Convert.ToInt32(Dts.Variables["User::TotalCount"].Value.ToString());

Dts.Variables["User::TotalCount"].Value = currentRows + totalRows;


IPhone Memory management and CATransition

Question: Having some basic issues with managing the total  memory from adding and removeing a uiviewcontroller - but only when i add an animation to it using CAtransition. I set up a simple scenario below of the situation:
I have  a basic view controller that I init/alloc called IVC, and I  add to the current uiController:
IN the header file it is simply just declared:
IntroViewController* IVC;

AT START :3mb total memory shown in leaks
3.6mb total memory
IVC=[[IntroViewController alloc] initWithNibName:@"Intro" bundle:[NSBundle mainBundle]];
[IVC.view setUserInteractionEnabled:YES];
[self.view addSubview:IVC.view];

then  i release:
[[IVC.view layer] removeAllAnimations];
[IVC.view removeFromSuperview];//remove intro animation
[IVC release];

as expected here total memory goes back to 3mb
but when i remove the release code and add the following so that there is a fade in and then release the object shown here:
CATransition *applicationIntroLoadViewIn = [CATransition animation];
[applicationIntroLoadViewIn setDuration:.5];
[applicationIntroLoadViewIn setType:kCATransitionReveal];
[applicationIntroLoadViewIn setTimingFunction:[CAMediaTimingFunction functionWithName:kCAMediaTimingFunctionEaseIn]];
[applicationIntroLoadViewIn setValue:@"IntroFadeIn" forKey:@"IntroAnimation"];
[applicationIntroLoadViewIn setDelegate:self];
[[IVC.view layer] addAnimation:applicationIntroLoadViewIn forKey:nil];

and then :
i create a method to handle when the animation has finished:
- (void)animationDidStop:(CAAnimation *)animation finished:(BOOL)flag{
NSString* value = [animation valueForKey:@"IntroAnimation"];

if ([value isEqualToString:@"IntroFadeIn"]){
    //this def gets called NSLog shows up
    [[IVC.view layer] removeAllAnimations];
    [IVC.view removeFromSuperview];//remove intro animation
    [IVC release];
    IVC=nil;
}

there are no reported leaks, the view is removed , but the memory still stays 3.6MB in Leaks?  ANy reason why this would happen? I don't alloc the animation* so i feel that should not need to be cleaned up, but this suggests that something is still holding onto to my IVC view
Any help much appreciated.
Answer: Try applicationIntroLoadViewIn.removedOnCompletion = YES; in your CATransition setup code snippet!
Comment: default value of removedOnCompletion is already to YES, this line of code is useless


Is there anyway to run visualizations with Pandora Radio?

Question: On a PC, is there anyway to run visualizations with Pandora Radio.  I realized Pandora itself does not have visualizations, but is there some way to rig it up with another piece of software?
Answer: You can use use Winamp's visualizations, by configuring Pandora's output to plug into line-in, it should work.
Detailed steps at Winamp forums
Answer: It's possible to create your own stand-alone visualizer that will work with either Pandora or Spotify. I have mine hooked to a 4K TV. This is a Mac approach, but can be done with Windows. https://mhd.tips/spotify-visualizer-medium


please help me; my galaxy s duos2 keeps restarting

Question: I used wiping data by booting menu but that doesn't made any thing
I can't do anything because the phone always restarting within 15 seconds
I have installed firmware via "install ADB from sd card" but also nothing happened
another thing i can't ticking  usb debugging mode because its rebooting too fast
"com.google.gapps has stopped" this statement appear sometimes
i really want a help please!
Comment: If you don't mind losing your data in internal storage and just want the phone to work again, flash a stock firmware with Odin to reset the phone back to fresh state.
Comment: it doesn't connect to odin because "USB debugging mode" is off and I can't reach it before phone restarting (sh** on all my data I want my phone working correctly)
Comment: Odin doesn't need the phone to boot normally at all. Get the right key combination when powering up the phone and you'' be in Download Mode for use with Odin.
Comment: I did what you said and showed that all threads completed with "PASS!"  green logo when the start rebooting i thought it has repaired but when i saw  the pattern lock I realized that nothing happened I start opening my lock the restart before I open it :-) I think there is no solution for that I'am really upset now However thank you for helping if you have any idea tell me pls
Comment: Have you wiped data / factory reset after using Odin? If Odin doesn't do that automatically for you then you have to do it yourself.
Answer: If you have a stock ROM backup, then flash it with odin. Doing this will wipe all your data. But it is worth a try.
You will get installation procedures from xda forum


Window/tabs not closing

Question: I've tried joining, using the arrows and none of it's working.  I only want the window in green open and the ones in yellow closed and I don't know what to do.
Comment: Possible duplicate of [How to close view windows?](http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/5631/how-to-close-view-windows) and http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/21008/can-not-close-windows-in-interface and http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/51947/how-do-i-close-a-view-window-thats-not-the-same-size-as-the-ones-next-to-it and http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/8384/how-can-i-reset-my-menus/8394#8394
Comment: Read also: http://blender.stackexchange.com/a/34183/1853
Answer: In Blender, the way you get rid of a window is to merge that window into another one. There is a trick to this, however; two windows to be merged have to have the exact same common dimension, so sometimes you need to split one window in two to be able to merge part of it with another. Looking at your illustration, you can merge the window you want to keep with the window immediately above it by clicking on the splitter widget in the upper right hand corner of the window you want to keep, and while holding the LMB down, moving the mouse so the cursor moves into the region of the window just above it. You should see an faint arrow appear in the upper window showing that that window is being removed. For the window just below the one you want to keep, which extends across the whole screen, use the splitter widget to divide this into three windows, one the exact width of the window you want to keep, the other two windows with the exact width of the windows above them. Using the same technique as above, merge the three windows above into the three windows below.
Clearing the other windows is just a matter of applying the same techniques: finding two windows with a common dimension and merging them together, and if there are not two windows with a common dimension, splitting a window and sizing the resultant bits so that one of them has a common dimension with another adjacent to it.
There is another way: save your file, quite Blender, and start a new Blender instance. Navigate to the "file > open", and in the file browser, find the file you saved. Then, in the extreme lower pane of the file browser window, find the "Open Blender file" pane, and if the box labeled "load UI" is checked, uncheck it. This will load the contents, without loading the window layout.

Window/tabs not closing


Autophagy in eukaryotic cells

Question: What is autophagy? How and under which circumstances is it used by the cell? I believe The reason for autophagy is some kind of recycling, am I right? But why does it occur in infections?
Answer: Autophagy is a cellular process that is occurring all the time, but it can be elevated during times of need (see below).
In autophagy, cargo (can be anything - mostly macromolecules but also bacteria/viruses etc) is taken up by a lipid membrane which folds on itself to form an autophagosome, which is like a vesicle but have markers on it that makes it specialized in carrying out autophagy. These autophagosomes are then transported to, and merge with, lysosomes, releasing the cargo into the lysosome to be degraded. The broken down materials are then released back into the cytosol, where other processes can make use of them. That is the "some kind of recycling" you are referring to.
There are two types of autophagy - selective and general. In selective autophagy, receptors on the membrane of the autophagosome specifically selects for ligands (e.g. p62, ndp52 selects for ubiquinylated substrates, which usually marks molecules for degradation). In general autophagy, the uptake into the autophagosome is random.
So, you can think of general autophagy as maintaining a basic level of turnover - to ensure everything in the cell is not worn out; and selective autophagy as a response to specific ligands that needs to be degraded.
By this logic, autophagy activity increases during infection because those infectious agents, once gaining entry into the cell (either through phagocytosis or by forced entry), will need the autophagy machinery to transport it to the lysosome to be degraded. Interestingly, some bacteria actualy hi-jacks this process to ensure its survival in the cell. Here's a good review to get you started if you are interested.
Note that the proteasome also recycles macromolecules, although the things it can recycle is limited by size.
Comment: I like your answer. But in most sources I read there is a distinction between normal phagosomes which have one membrane layer and autophagosomes which have 2 to 3 membrane layers. Which is the only distinction I found so far.  Are there any other reasons to differentiate between these two processes?
Comment: Like I said, autophagosomes can take up any cargo - this includes other vesicles and phagosomes.

The autophagosome is double-membraned, so when it fuses with the lysosome, the inner membrane is 'released' into the lumen of the lysosome, whereas the outer membrane fuses with that of the lysosome. Thus, the outer membrane of the autophagosome would resemble more of the lysosomal membrane (and they do share similar markers and it's often hard to distinguish the two in microscopy). This is different from the the membrane of phagosomes, which originate from the plasma membrane.
Comment: Having said this, no one is sure as to the origins of the autophagosome membrane - where the lipids are sourced from.
Comment: To answer your question - you can distinguish the two processes as their place of origins, phagocytosis originates at the cell membrane and autophagy originates inside the cell. The phagocytotic process may feed into the autophagosomal process, although it may not be an requirement.

If you read the review I suggested, you'll appreciate that some bacteria that is taken in using phagosomes, break out of their phagosomes and replicate in the cell. This is when autophagy can come in and restrict their replication.

So I, a very crude distinction would be - phagocytosis outside, autophagy inside
Comment: Any papers by Daniel Klionsky and Beth Levine should definitely be used for reference, they are the two biggest names in the field today.

Autophagy in eukaryotic cells


Interpretation of Raoult law

Question:
In attachment I have tried to derive Raoult's law by using the concept of equilibrium constant. There is nothing mentioned in my text book about how this equation comes about, so I decided to do it myself. I may like to know whether there is some mistake in what I have done.
Comment: No, it looks fine.
Comment: If you want the derivation to be more rigorous, it can be done by using the concept of Chemical Potential. You can look into any standard text book of Undergrad Chemistry to find the derivation or you can search in the web too.
Comment: Hey, we were having a discussion about this in class, and I went hunting on this website for questions and found this. Could you explain why concentration cannot be ignored in the second case?
Answer: The partial pressure of a component in a mixture is always less than that of the pure component at the same temperature. (Calculating the chemical potential shows that if it were not the case the mixture would be unstable compared to the pure liquid).  The question then becomes what is the partial pressure of the component A above a mixture $p_A$ related to that above the pure liquid $p_A^*$.  Raoult's law states that the ratio is equal to the mole fraction $x_A$ of A, $p_A/p_A^*=x_A$.
Physically, this is justified by considering that the chance of finding a molecule of A in the vapour, relative to the chance for the pure liquid, is equal to its mole fraction. This is reasonable if dealing with ideal mixtures and assuming that the vapour behaves as an ideal gas. Thus there is no derivation as such, we proceed directly from the physical argument to the law.
Answer: As in the case of Henry's law, it is possible to use Raoult's law to derive a more formal relation between an equilibrium constant and the standard Gibbs free energy for evaporation of solvent in a solution containing solvent at a mole fraction $\chi$.
At equilibrium between the vapor and solution, the chemical potential of the solvent in the two phases is identical:
$$\begin{align} \mu(l)&=\mu(g)\end{align}$$
For the gas phase (assuming ideal behavior) we can write that
$$\begin{align} \mu(g)&=\mu^\circ(g)+RT\log\left(\frac{p_i}{p^\circ}\right)\end{align}$$
Raoult's law states that the partial pressure and mole fraction $\chi$ of solvent in the solution are related as
$$p_i=p_i^\bullet \chi$$
where $p_i^\bullet$ is the vapour pressure of the pure solvent at the same temperature (compare this to Henry's law). As before - and as you show - this equation suggests the definition of an equilibrium constant expression. Introducing this last expression into that for the chemical potential results in
$$\begin{align} \mu(l)&=\mu^\circ(g)+RT\log\left(\frac{p_i^\bullet \chi}{p^\circ }\right)\end{align}$$
Defining
$$\begin{align} \mu(l)^\circ&=\mu^\circ(g)+RT\log\left(\frac{p_i^\bullet}{p^\circ }\right)\end{align}$$
we can see that
$$\Delta G^\circ_m = \mu^\circ(g)-\mu^\circ(l)=-RT\log\left(\frac{p_i^\bullet}{p^\circ }\right)=-RT\log\left(K_{eq}\right)$$
As in the derivation involving Henry's law, this expression relates a standard Gibbs free energy change and an associated equilibrium constant (for the equilibrium $\ce{solvent <=> vapor}$) provided we define the equilibrium constant as
$$K_{eq} = \frac{p_i^\bullet}{p^\circ} = \frac{(p_i/p^\circ)}{\chi}$$

Interpretation of Raoult law


Upper Bound for Amount of Odd Composite Integers Divisible by 3

Question: I recently asked what percentage of odd composite integers was divisible by three here. The best answer proved that since the frequency in the amount of primes goes to $0$ as they approach infinity, $\frac{1}{3}$ of all odd composites are divisible by three. This proved very helpful to me, but I am now looking for an upper bound for the amount of odd composites divisible by $3$. I am hoping for an upper bound less than $100$% of all odd composites.
Comment: I'n not sure why you keep stressing "composites".  Other than $3$, any number divisible by $3$ is composite.
Comment: @lulu Well, $-3$ is also prime, but I doubt Linus was thinking about it. So alright, I'm just as puzzled as you are.
Comment: Also...in the header you ask for odd composites but in the body of the question you leave off the "odd".  I think that's what causes the confusion with the posted solution below.  The same method works, of course.  You want numbers less than $n$ of the form $6k+3$, excluding $3$.
Comment: @lulu Yes, but I am looking for the amount of composites divisible by 3. For instance, $25$ is composite, but not divisible by 3.
Comment: Well, I don't get it.  The posted solution (from @vrugtehagel) is correct other than for the confusion in your original post about "odd" or not.  If you define $f(n)$ to be the number of odd multiples of $3$, other than $3$ itself, which are less than $n$ then $f(n)=\lfloor \frac {n-3}6\rfloor$ by a simple variation on the argument given in that solution.  Thus $f(16)=\lfloor \frac {13}6\rfloor=2$ and we can check that by inspection ($9,15$ are the cases).  Is that what you wanted?
Answer: Exactly $n-1$ numbers below $3n$ are divisible by three, in other words, there are exactly $\lfloor \frac n3\rfloor-1$ numbers below $n$ are divisible by $3$. This is because $3$ is the only prime divisible by three and so the rest of the numbers divisible by three are composite.
Exactly a third of the numbers $1,2,3,4,\cdots,3n$ is divisible by $3$. Only one is not composite. Thus, $n-1$ numbers are divisible by $3$. We can tweak this to say $\lfloor \frac n3\rfloor-1$ numbers less than $n$ are divisible by $3$.
Since this is the exact amount, it is both an upperbound and a lowerbound simultaneously.
Comment: I'm not saying it's the same, it's one less. $3$ is the only prime divisibly by three. Of the numbers $1,2,3,\cdots,3n$, the ones divisible by three are $3,6,9,\cdots,3n$, and of those, only $3$ is prime and thus the rest is composite.
Comment: I agree with your result on the amount of numbers that are divisible by $3$. I do not agree that the amount of composites less than $n$ that are divisible by $3$ is the same amount. In your sequence $1, 2, 3, 4, ... , 3n$, $2$ is prime, $5$, $7$, $11$, $13$ ... are all prime. This leaves you only with $1, 4, 6, 9, 15 ... $, of which $2$ are odd composites divisible by $3$, which is definitely not $\frac{n}{3} - 1$
Comment: I've been hesitant to accept this answer because I was convinced that the answer was more complicated. Your reasoning makes sense to me now. Can I apply this same logic to the amount of number divisible by $5$ or $7$?
Comment: Yes you can. You can apply the same exact reasoning to find the amount of numbers divisible by any prime $p$.


How to write natural-sounding dialogue?

Question: Writing dialogue for my novel has proved to be more of a challenge than I anticipated. It all seems clunky and unnatural. Any tips for writing natural sounding dialogue?
Comment: Hi Jay! This is an extremely broad question with lots of similar questions already answered here - is there a way you could be more specific about the problem?
Comment: What kind of story are you writing (mystery, SciFi, Fantasy, spy novel, romance)? What kind of characters? Is there a central relationship you'd like to focus on? You need to either broaden your info to give context, or narrow the question  to give focus.
Answer: Natural sounding dialogue is a contradiction in terms. Well written dialog is more like the 'Best of Conversation' rather than like real people talking.
Tips for writing good dialog:
Reverse Engineering: read other writers you enjoy reading and try to see how they structured their dialog.
Eliminate the Negative: A common source of clunky dialog the writing trying to push exposition into the story through characters talking about stuff they'd already know about their backstory, or their common world, their situation, and so on.  If you are doing this, then read through your dialog and scratch out every word that conveys information all characters in the conversation would already reasonably know about anything in their world.  Interesting people don't tell other interesting people what they already know.
Minimization: People make idle chatter. "Hi. How are you? Fine. That's Great." Characters that do that are boring and dull. Have your characters only speak to move the story forward or create empathy for the reader or react to events (actions, dialog, movement, things happening in the environment). Ideally, every piece of dialog should do two or three things -- evoke interest or engagement with reader, communicate the character of the character, move story forward, etc. That's hard to do all the time, so at a minimum it should do at least one of those things.
Character's speak like they want to be heard: Just like vain people who speak in blustering praise of themselves or in humble brags, the characters reveal their nature or character in their lexicon.  Each character should sound like a different person, unless they are raised and educated to the same level and blah blah.  So dumb characters ought to sound dumb and highly educated characters should sound very well educated.  Highly educated characters trying to communicate with dumb characters should sound like ... Well, I am sure you get it by now.  One method to learn this is to use writing level tools to assess the grade level of your writing.  Then try to raise and lower your writing.
Lastly, don't worry about dialog on your first pass of the story.  Just get it on paper.  Then re-read your work and think about the juiciest core of what your characters are trying to communicate in that bit of the story.  Then distill it down to be the most effective and shortest dialog needed to communicate the character want, reaction and feelings in that moment of the story.
Answer: Tape record some real conversations.
Transcribe them.
Note that they are much more informal and interactive.
There are very few full complete formal sentences being used.
Sentence fragments abound.
They interrupt each other with other topics at the same time.
Forget small talk. The dialog must add to the plot or the characters somehow.
Use only the dialog that is necessary; don't overdo the dialog usage.
Comment: I think Quentin Tarantino might disagree with the forget small talk part
Comment: one size fits nobody
Answer: When it comes to dialogue, always remember, it is a way to characterize your characters. That is, part of what the reader understands about the nature of your character's comes from their dialogue (i.e., we infer traits about them through what they say and how they say it). That being said, how do you want your characters to be perceived by the reader? Are the characters highly educated? If so, then maybe craft their dialogue to be more academic and stringent when it comes to prescribed grammar rules. Are your characters from a specific subculture (e.g., South Boston vs. Up-state New York)? If so, then craft the structure of their dialogue to reflect how someone from that subculture might speak? As long as your dialogue conveys the same traits to the reader that you believe it conveys, then the dialogue is doing it's job (as far as the characterization part of it is concerned).
Answer: You have to really love conversation and the way people talk to write good dialog. So doing a lot more close listening is a good start.
One thing you'll notice is that people are very rarely direct in their communication. There's a ton of context and allusions, hidden meanings, repressed emotions and so forth. So you want to make sure your characters aren't too direct in their dialog, or it will sound clunky and too on-the-nose.
Conflict also helps a lot. Conversations where people agree too much sound fake. And real people tend to talk past each other. Realistic conversation has a lot of seeming non-sequiturs.

Her: It's such a beautiful day!
Him: Is it?
Her: Geez, when did you turn into such an old man?
Him: Careful, you're not that far behind me.
Her: That's a lie, you robbed the cradle when you met me.

That's what real conversation sounds like. Trivial on the surface, but there's a lot boiling underneath. Even in everyday smalltalk, people have hopes, fears, goals, schemes, vulnerabilities and so forth.
Answer: A tactic I use make human dialogue more realistic: write as quickly as I think, not paying too much attention to phrasing and grammar (in other words just as you'd speak to someone in the real world), and secondly, go back and make another pass, trying to take out as many words as possible (ie, unnecessary 'that' for example) while keeping the same meaning.  I generally use contractions whenever possible and sometimes use informal and made up words like 'gonna' instead of 'going to' for example.  Replacing longer phrases with slang is usually a good idea, as long as it's consistent with the character.  For example, you could replace 'we have to leave' with 'let's bounce'.
However, one thing I almost never do is try to spell words and phrases to match a particular character's accent.  For example, someone with an Austrian accent might pronounce 'get to the chopper' as 'get to za choppa' (ie Ahnuld in Predator) but if you do that then you pretty much have to be consistent the whole way through which can be a huge chore and probably not worth it.

How to write natural-sounding dialogue?


Can I add an arbitrary RSS feed to Flipboard?

Question: Would you please confirm that it is not possible to add an arbitrary RSS feed to Flipboard on my iPad? I find this so hard to believe that I'm in doubt I missed something...
Answer: Actually, it can be done very easily: Just put the name of the feed, or its URL, in the search box. Flipboard will find it. And then, you can select it, and add it.
Comment: Hooray for improvements to Flipboard! (I promise my answer was correct a year earlier.)
Comment: @passerby This does not work for every feed. For example `http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/` feed. It says `Sorry, we couldn't find the page you were looking for.`!
Comment: If your website is not showing just make sure you have removed http and www from the URL
Answer: Actually you CAN load a specific feed to Flipboard.  Start by adding Google Reader.  Then launch into it, and click on the downward facing Triangle next to the headline "Google Reader."  It will then pop up a window showing you your various feeds.  Select the one you want, and its name will appear as the new headline and you will only see stories from that feed.  Then click the little "+ content" symbol in the upper left, and it'll add just this single RSS feed to your main flipboard page.
Comment: wow, this is actually very cool! thanks for pointing out. however, i think passerby's answer is the most correct, because it tells how to add a feed _directly_, without resorting to google reader. imagine a dystopian world, where a user hasn't a google account... :)
Answer: You are correct that you cannot add an arbitrary feed, and as @Mike Scott noted, you have to add your entire Google Reader account.
Frustrating because Flipboard is absolutely not a good way for me to read the bulk of my feeds -- Reeder is perfect for them -- but I'd love to add a few feeds that I rarely read to Flipboard, feeds that fit its visual style.
Comment: Thanks for your answer. I really like flipboard, but this policy makes no sense to me. After all, _it is_ a newsreader...
Comment: i'm sorry i unaccepted your answer; flipboard has been updated, i guess, and it is now possible to add an arbitrary feed.
Comment: @ffact Totally fine, that's how SE works: answers that were once true but no longer are should definitely be unaccepted!
Answer: You can add an arbitrary RSS feed by creating a Google Reader account, adding the feed to that, and then linking it with Flipboard.
Comment: Good point. Sadly unpractical.
Comment: Unpractical? You can do this very quickly.
Answer: From the Flipboard tips page:

Discover Great RSS Feeds.
  You can use the Google Reader service to access RSS and then read and interact with your feeds right in Flipboard.  You can also use the Search feature to find any RSS feed by name, website URL, or RSS link.
Answer: More to the original point, unlike Twitter, Google Reader is not fully integrated with Flipboard as you can not add RSS feed to your Google Reader on your iPad app. Disappointing as Google Reader is a best archiver/database of all feeds you are following.
Answer: Yes, but it's based on blekko.com cached search result which may not be up to dated.
Comment: Welcome to Ask Different! Could you clarify what you mean by this and give us more details? Please take a look at the [FAQs](http://apple.stackexchange.com/faq) for more info. Thanks.


Is competitive Fortnite cross-platform?

Question: I'm aware that fortnite can be played cross-platform. Does the primary/official eSports format feature cross-platform play?
Answer: Yes and no.
The Arena modes, which are ranked and are required to qualify for tournaments, are fully cross-platform.
The online tournaments are separated by region and by platform, so mobile players play against mobile players, console players play against console players, PC players play against PC players, etc.
The major World Cup event in summer 2019 was played on PC. Most players used keyboard and mouse and some used controllers.

Is competitive Fortnite cross-platform?


How to select menu item in Android System Recovery? LG Optimus One P500

Question: I'm started my LG Optimus One in System Recovery Mode. Vol Up/Vol Down buttons works - moving up/down through the menu. But i can't start menu item, for example 'reboot system now', or 'apply sdcard:update.zip'.
Answer: What type of System Recovery do you have? On my P500 everything is fine.
In AmonRA Recovery there are such bindings:

VolUp/VolDown - moving through menus
Back - previous menu level, cancel action
Menu - select menu item, approve action

Also I've noted that from some time back button doesn't work every time as I press it. I think it is hardware problem. Maybe I need to disassemble phone and make it maintenance.
Answer: Normally you click the Power button to select items.  That's how my Galaxy S works, anyways.
Edit: According to this, try using the Send Call button.  And End Call for cancel.  Or according to this, use the Camera button.  I guess it depends on what recovery you have installed.  Try selecting something that won't do any harm -- a further menu, for example.  Not "factory reset" :P
Comment: LG P500 has Menu, Home, Back, Search, Vol Up, Vol Down, Power buttons. I'm tried all of them :(
Answer: if you're use the same custom recovery, according to this, on P500 to select item you press Menu button.


Why would Superman tell everyone that he was vulnerable to kryptonite and in effect how to beat him?

Question: From a tactical and realistic sense, this is a very stupid and foolhardy thing to do. Almost every time Sups has been in trouble or defeated by a bad guy they were just following his advise and used some form of kryptonite against him.
Comment: When did Superman share that information?  Every retelling I've seen has had Luthor or some other villain discovering it, or Superman himself discovering it the vulnerability in a public moment when there are people around to witness it.
Comment: Again, when did that happen?  Are you talking about the cover in Jack's answer?  Superman is just talking about Kryptonite generally in that image, not revealing that he's vulnerable to it, and the other parts of Jack's answer touch on retellings in which Luthor discovered kryptonite's effect in other ways.  The Superman story has been retold thousands of times, and I can't find a single one in which Superman was the one who outed his own weakness.
Comment: I would say that telling a reporter qualifies as sharing that information.
Answer: At least in the first Superman movie (1978) Lex Luther has this to say:

You mean, to us, they're just meteorites. Fair enough. But the level of specific radioactivity is so high, to anyone from the planet Krypton, this substance is lethal!

Now, Lex hides his kryptonite in a lead box. Superman revealed to Lois Lane that he couldn't see through lead, which she subsequently published in her paper. Superman probably wasn't smart to do that.
In the DCAU "A Little Piece of Home"

Superman's attempts to stop the criminals are progressing nicely until he comes near a display of minerals. He sinks to the ground in pain, allowing the criminals to escape.
Luthor discovers the phenomenon and has the display analyzed to discover what happened to Superman. He learns that one of the rocks is from an foreign solar system and realizes that he now has the perfect weapon against Superman.

On the other hand, if you can believe a comic cover, then yes, Superman is an idiot who reveals his weaknesses to his enemies.
Comment: As the saying goes. "Loose lips sink ships."
Comment: He isn't revealing anything in this picture.  It seems to be an educational program he's narrating, and the Kryptonite effect is already known (at least by Jimmy Olson, who seems to have come prepared).
Comment: As a note, I don't know about this specific cover, but based on every other cover I recall, ypu *can't* trust the cover. I have one where on the cover, superman, half in his Clark suit tries to convince Lois (Lana?) he's Superman, and she's not buying it.
Answer: I don't know the exact issue but sometime after Superboy discovered his own vulnerability to Kryptonite, a scientist found a meteor, figured out that it was a piece of Krypton and arranged to "present" it to Superboy at a public forum as a gift.  Whoops.


Is it safe to point a (sub)domain to my home IP address?

Question: I have my own website and I created a subdomain that points to my home IP address. It is useful for personal things like entering my domain for wake-on-lan and letting my friends enter it to join multiplayer games I host from time to time. But is pointing a subdomain to my home safe?
Answer: The real risk is having incoming access to your home network at all.  The fact that it is accessible through DNS does not significantly add to the risk.  The "bad guys" find open ports through port scanning, not through lookups by name.  Edited to add: Unless you are a high-profile target.  If your domain is something like, um, Target.com or HomeDepot.com then you may be singled out.
What is extremely important is that you know exactly which ports are open and have taken steps to be sure they're used only in ways that you intend.
Answer: Pointing a sub-domain to your home IP is reasonably safe. Consider that even if you have no domain name set up for your IP, it's being scanned constantly by worms, bots, etc. They generally scan for well-known ports, but the scanning is generally consistent anywhere on the internet. The typical caveats apply i.e. only open what you absolutely have to, make sure the internet facing systems are patched regularly, and if possible make changes to harden the configuration of the service(s) facing the internet.
I could perhaps provide more details but I'm not sure what exactly you mean by entering your domain. If you provide more details on that I could provide more specific information for you.
Comment: By entering my domain, I just mean that I (or my friends) write my domain as opposed to my numerical IP to connect to my wake-on-lan or game server.
Comment: Given what you've described, adding the sub-domain just makes things easier for you. Just be sure to patch your Wake-on-LAN and game server as often as you can and use strong passwords that you rotate occasionally and you should be reasonably safe.
Comment: The game server's port usually stays open but it is very rarely running. If it's not running, vulnerabilities won't be able to be exploited, but so is it safe (as long as I don't just that logic to open hundreds of ports)?
Comment: Yes, if nothing is listening on the port then it can't be exploited. The only time it would be vulnerable is when the game is running and listening to network traffic.


Does the bearing stress vary along the bolt?

Question: I'm currently working on problems for my mechanics of material course, and I just learned how to calculate the shear stress on a bolt holding stacked plates. That whether it be a single or double shear, I have to account for every shear plane. However, what happens for the bearing stress? I know that it depends on the area of contact, which is diameter * thickness of the plate. If there were three plates (double shear) and I looked at only the portion of the bolt in each plate, would the bearing stress not differ? Do I have to look at the entire bolt at once to calculate the bearing stress?
Answer: Bolt shear is a limit state for the bolt, whereas bearing stress is more a limit state for the connected plates. Therefore, it makes sense to evaluate bearing stress on a plate-by-plate basis. When two or more plates are sharing the load, you can consider the total thickness in each loaded direction versus the total applied load.
I suppose that in principle, when two or more plates are sharing the load you could split the load between the plates based on relative bearing area and evaluate adequacy on a plate-by-plate basis. However, since the loaded 'width' is the same for all plates (i.e. the bolt diameter) this approach would give the same result.
A little qualitative thought experiment:

There are two shear planes and three bearing 'areas'
The stress on the two shear planes is equal
The $Plate_1$ load + $Plate_2$ load = $Plate_3$ load
Load in $Plate_1$ > load in $Plate_2$ (because $t_1$ > $t_2$)
Bearing stress at $Plate_1$ = bearing stress at $Plate_2$ = $\frac{P}{bolt diameter(t1 + t2)}$
If ($t_1$ + $t_2$) = $t_3$ then the bearing stress is uniform along the bolt length, otherwise it will vary
Answer: I think answer to the question would the bearing stress differ   is ==>
YES!
bearing stress would vary along the bolt in different sections in plates...
and you cannot look at the entire bolt at once to calculate the bearing stress
here is a pictorial explanation why do we need to consider it in different sections &  how to calculate bearing stresses (if you want to).
let us assume that we have a 3 plate arrangement like shown in pic.

where this blue thing on the right is called CLEVIS and on the LHS we have a plate.
Looking at the cross sectional view let us say:

that
This connection consists of a flat bar A (which i will refer here as just plate), a clevis C, and a bolt B that passes through holes in the plate and clevis. Under the action of the tensile loads P, the plate and clevis will press against the bolt in bearing, and contact stresses, called bearing stresses, will be developed.
Bearing stresses being contact stresses depend upon the contact between two surfaces so the answer to * Do I have to look at the entire bolt at once to calculate the bearing stress * is answered here and the answer is  NO
you have to look at each contact area not just because you want to calculate but more because looking at the entire bolt at once to calculate the bearing stress is CONCEPTUALLY WRONG!!!
&
NOW, assume that clevis has upper and lower plate of different thickness... even if it doesn't look like...
but let's just say it for a moment.
these two plates of CLEVIS (upper and lower) are under forces say: $P_1$ and $P_3$ (respectively).
and using equations of static equilibrium:     $P_1$  +   $P_3$  =  $P$
The Bearing stresses exerted by the clevis against the bolt appear on the left-hand side of the free-body diagram (see 1 and 3) .
&
The Bearing stresses from the plate appear on the right-hand side (see 2).
Here, we make an assumption i.e.:
Since, The actual distribution of the bearing stresses is difficult to determine, so we customarily assume that the stresses are uniformly distributed.
Based upon the assumption of uniform distribution, we can calculate an average bearing stress $\sigma_{b}$ by dividing the total bearing force $F_b$ by the bearing area $A_b$ , since stress is Force divided by acting area.
The projected area $A_b$ on which they act is a rectangle having a height equal to the thickness of chosen plate (upper or lower) of the clevis and a width equal to the diameter of the bolt.

SO,following would be the EXPRESSIONS for bearing stresses at different contacts:
$plate_1$ (of clevis) \begin{align} \begin{pmatrix} \sigma_1 = \dfrac{P_1}{d * t_1}  \end{pmatrix} \end{align}
$plate A$ \begin{align} \begin{pmatrix} \sigma_2 = \dfrac{P}{d * t_2}  \end{pmatrix} \end{align}
$plate_3$ (of clevis) \begin{align} \begin{pmatrix} \sigma_3 = \dfrac{P_3}{d * t_3}  \end{pmatrix} \end{align}
and until and unless $t_1$ == $t_3$  bearing stresses would differ
Answer: For a single bolt clamping one middle plate between two side plates (assume both of the same thickness but not necessarily the same as the middle plate), the joint can fail by:

shearing of the bolt, but it is double shear, so double the bolt
area.
bearing (i.e crushing) failure of the hole in the middle plate alone, so bolt diameter x
plate thickness.
bearing failure of the side plates but both have to
fail for the joint to fail, so double the bearing area of one hole.

The essential question you should ask is 'what area of material must fail for the whole joint to fail?'
You must also check for the possibility of tensile failure of the plates:  if the holes are large compared to the plate width, this might be the failure mode.


Disabling StyleCop rules

Question: I'm using StyleCop. But there a couple of rules I want to ignore, for instance using this. in front of class members.
How do I turn off a StyleCop rule. I've looked but can't find how to do it.
Answer: In your StyleCop install, there's a Settings.StyleCop file.  You can edit this to turn off rules globally.  Drag that file onto the Settings Editor executable in that file to edit it.
You can also put copies of the settings file into your projects to override the global settings.
If you're using Visual Studio integration and not just MSBuild integration, you should be able to get to the settings editor on a per-project basis by right clicking on your project and choosing StyleCop Settings or something like that.
Comment: @Wardy If you have all of then in the same solution, you can have the `Settings.StyleCop` file at the same directory as your `.sln` file.
Comment: @Harrison, have you tried using StyleCopSettingsEditor.exe on your Settings.StyleCop file, instead of editing it by hand?  It's in `C:\Program Files (x86)\StyleCop 4.7`
Comment: Where's that settings file? Does that apply if you have resharper installed too?
Comment: For version 4.7, it's `C:\Program Files (x86)\StyleCop 4.7\Settings.StyleCop`.  The ReSharper integration will also look there (as well as looking at any overriding settings files in your project)
Comment: ah thanks :) ...annoying when i have over 100 projects and i need to turn off 1 rule for them all.
Comment: @bdukes:  I am using StyleCop 4.7 with VS 2012 express and would like to turn off a rule.  Can you expand your answer to say what has to be put in the file in order to disable a rule.  I'm looking at the XML and can't figure it out.
Comment: @Wardy: you don't have to copy the file to 100 projects, go with this option: "Sharing StyleCop Settings Across Projects" https://stylecop.codeplex.com/wikipage?title=Sharing%20StyleCop%20Settings%20Across%20Projects&referringTitle=Documentation
Comment: i dont seem to have a  settingseditor.exe (or any exe with a remotely similar name)...what gives?
Comment: Extra tip.  If you have a directory struture like   \root\Pres\Pres.csproj, \root\Bal\Bal.csproj, \root\Dal\Dal.csproj and \root\Solutions\MySolution.sln, you can right click any of the projects.......create the rules......(\root\Bal\Settings.StyleCop for example) BUT you can manually move that file to \root\Settings.StyleCop..........and it will be "global" for \root\, aka, your entire solution.
Answer: Stylecop is configurable at Project level. Manage rules easily using graphical interface instead of editing settings file.(Some time in some versions mentioned as Stylecop settings)
You should see a search/Find Option once you select the settings option as in the below image.
Ex: If you want to remove a rule where // comments are not allowed and //// are allowed by stylecop, then search for stylecop rule id. In this case it is SA1005. You can see this in the warnings section when you run stylecop in your project. Find with key word SA1005 and you should see that in result section. Just uncheck.

You can manage rules as below
Comment: I think you can setup ONE csproj this way, then "move" the Settings.StyleCop file to a higher up folder (..\.. for example) and it will apply to everything at/under that folder.
Comment: (repeat comment from another answer, but helpful to prevent extra work) ::: Extra tip.  If you have a directory struture like   \root\Pres\Pres.csproj, \root\Bal\Bal.csproj, \root\Dal\Dal.csproj and \root\Solutions\MySolution.sln, you can right click any of the projects.......create the rules......(\root\Bal\Settings.StyleCop for example) BUT you can manually move that file to \root\Settings.StyleCop..........and it will be "global" for \root\, aka, your entire solution.
Answer: That specific rule is under Readability Rules - Member Access - SA1101: PrefixLocalCallsWithThis.
If you turn that off it should stop screaming at you... I had to do it. Stylecop has been giving me a headache.

Disabling StyleCop rules


LTspice: is there a simple way to make pulse voltage source resettable?

Question: I have a circuit in which I have to have a retriggerable one-shot pulse generator. The trigger event is an edge from a comparator. After the edge, a single positive pulse should be generated, duration given in (n)seconds. I'm aware that this task can be realized with a complicated mixed-signal circuit (like building a complete controller from discrete parts), but perhaps there is a simple and easy way?
Comment: Are you already trying PWL() to generate that initial single pulse?
Comment: Why would the PWL be different from a usual pulse generator? PWL does not make the generator triggerable
Comment: No, it's not triggerable. That's why I was asking what you were using for the initial pulse. You can make a .SUBCKT that will do what you want, though. Look at the sw part, to start.
Answer: There are three methods I can think of now: one method is to use the trigger keyword for the voltage source, another is to use the dflop, and the other one is to use two AND gates:

V(ctl) is randomly chosen as the controlling voltage.
The trigger solution seems to transform the voltage source into a behavioural source, internally, because the edges are affected and the time resolution can suffet (e.g. try with ton=100n and no pulses will be seen). Imposing a tighter timestep can overcome this limitation. The advantage is that the pulse comes exactly on time.
The dflop is used here as a self-resettable latch, with td setting the pulse width. The advantage is that you can use the temporal helpers, tau and tripdt to get very nice edges, but the disadvantage is that the pulse will come delayed by td.
I'd recommend the third solution, which has the advantages of both of the two previous examples, and two gates are hardly an encumbrance. A2 is really an inverter, so it can be replaced if it doesn't suit you.
Comment: Always enjoy your contributions with LTspice! +1 of course.
Answer: LTSPICE doesn't have a primitive element to do this. You will need to design a circuit that does what you want.


I have my buddy Feebas and have walked 20km with it. Is it too late to evolve?

Question: Is it too late for me to complete this special research?
Feebas with 20km and over 109 candies still will not evolve?
Comment: Something has gone wrong in that rightmost screenshot. It should be showing the CP values and the league names. Restart your app and that screen should fix itself (and make more sense)
Comment: What exactly is the research asking? Can you add a screenshot?
Comment: I still can't see the special research you're talking about...
Answer: To evolve Feebas you are required to set it as your buddy and walk a minimum of 20km with it. Once you have completed this task, you can then freely evolve it.
The notification you are receiving about choosing to evolve it, is only in regards to the Pokemon Go Battle League. There are "caps" of 1500 CP, and 2500 CP. Evolving your pokemon may automatically boost their CP beyond one of these caps, which is unavoidable.
There is nothing in regards to this choice being "too late", as this is standard practice for Feebas/Milotic evolution
Answer: That specific error screen appears when the game thought that you were able to evolve, but upon clicking the button you were no longer able to. This can occur for any of the following reasons:

The selected Pokemon is no longer in your storage (has been transferred)
You no longer have the required evolution item (obviously not relevant to Feebas)
The selected Pokemon was already evolved
You no longer have the required candy

The first two options there likely can not happen unless you're running multiple copies of the game simultaneously, but the 3rd and 4th options can occur if there's significant network or server issues while you attempt to evolve.
I believe that it is also possible during Adventure Sync synchronisations for distance to correct itself downwards, in which case this error may appear if the game estimates that you've walked 20km, gives you the evolve button, and then right before you click it synchronises with your phone's fitness tracker and realises you haven't actually quite gotten there yet.
In all cases, simply restarting the application should resolve to the correct application state. You may see that an evolve was actually successful and you already have your Milotic, or you may just see an unevolved Feebas that should now be possible to evolve without error. In either case, there should be no major blockade to completing that evolution requirement after an application restart.


How can I cut a tree trunk into more manageable pieces?

Question: I live in the UK and I just had a tree surgeon round to cut down a tree. He cut the trunk up into 6" pieces and my grandad plans on using one of the cuts to make a table. However, the trunk, which is about 60cm in diameter, is too thick and heavy at the moment and I need it cut down into 1-2" thick pieces.
Because of the size we don't have any tools which will get through it neat enough.
Does anyone know of a company/tool which can provide this service/effect?
Shame to see all this good wood go to waste.
Answer: I don't know about the UK, but in the US I'd look in the phonebook or online for "portable lumbermill service". There are indeed devices which can be brought to a jobsite and set up to slice boards from a felled trunk. Definitely worth considering for hardwoods, if you have a place to store the resulting lumber until it dries (typically a year per inch of thickness for air-drying). Cost per board-foot is usually quite reasonable.
The tools can also be purchased, of course. Some are as simple as a guided chainsaw with a longer than usual cut and a chain ground specifically for ripping. Others are guided bandsaws. The guides can be as simple as rollers following the surface of the previous cut (using a 1x12 nailed to the log to guide the first cut), or can be full frames with built-in tracks for the saw and mechanisms to assist with rotating the log to obtain the best grain patterns.
Or, if the wood's at all interesting, you could see if any local sawmill would be interested in buying the logs, and ask them if they could cut the slabs you want as part of that deal.
Answer: You need a large band saw and a cradle to hold the tree. Alternatively, a chainsaw will work, but it won't be as neat.


How do you make a story as scary as possible?

Question: How do you make a story as scary as possible? The two things that I've been told is to make the story suspenseful by first making sure your readers know something terrible is going to happen, but not know what exactly is going to happen and when it's going to happen. The second thing is by making sure that the threat or monster has some kind of human feature and looks like a human but doesn't look completely human.  I feel that comibint the two is not enough to write the scariest story possible. There's something like a secret sauce that you need to add to make it really scary, but I don't know what it might be.
Comment: In which medium is this story told? The slasher genre (which reveals something else about horror: a gun would be objectively more dangerous because of its greater range, but a blade is more visceral) has to work very differently in TV or film as opposed to novels.
Comment: This is far too general a question. There are many types of scares and frightening literature. You could tell people that human life is futile and short and existence is meaningless and virtue is unrewarded. Or you could make them think there's a monster hiding under their bed. There's not a special thing you can add to any story to automatically make it scarier. The techniques used by HP Lovecraft are completely different to those used by Stephen King.
Comment: _The second thing is by making sure that the threat or monster has some kind of human feature and looks like a human_ if this was true, cosmic horror could never exist.
Comment: Coat the pages with a subtle poison that is disclosed to the reader after they have read enough of your story to start feeling the effects.
Answer: Might be counter intuitive, but make it hopeful. Maybe I am a bit of a sadist, but when I watch a movie where I know the good guys will get slaughtered like lambs it desensitizes me and makes me laugh/bet on how long they will survive because the outcome is inevitable... and why fear the inevitable?
I'm currently playing a story driven game, I have been postponing the ending for two weeks now simply because I'm afraid the main character is going to die. If I knew her death was a sure thing I would have finished the game by now.
Additional make the viewer/reader care about the people who are in the danger zone. If the character is unlikeable people won't fear his death or pain but hope for it. If the character is likeable and innocent people would hope for a happy ending and fear the opposite.
And lastly make them relatable, a god like being in a (for him) dangerous scene doesn't really instill fear... a normal person just like the reader/viewer in a scenario where he/she would be in the same danger gives a better sense of dread.
Comment: To expand on "hopeful", I would say that the key trait it leads to is *suspense* — not knowing where or when the next attack might come from.  The moments of "it might be over… but is it really?"
Comment: Yep! Even better you reveal in a sudden and dramatic way that this hope was a false hope! Perhaps, when that hope is dashed, the protagonist grasps for a smaller hope, which is later dashed as well.
Answer: Realism
One thing I've noted from reading horror (e.g. Stephen King) - the evil human characters are far scarier than any of the supernatural monsters presented. You fear for Rose Madder's life not because she's being chased by a werewolf, but a violent but well-connected husband.
Convince the reader that perhaps your story could happen in reality.
Comment: this, more than anything. You can make a horror story without any "really" supernatural element - the things that human beings are actually recorded to do to each other can be so dreadfully evil that it seems supernatural just because we can't really envision such things happening without the narrator's help. Read a few cases of sadists torturing their prey or about what happened in war-torn countries or in Russian or CIA labs during the Cold War or what mafia can do to people... basically, they can easily beat any vampire or werewolf by a mile or two.
Comment: tl;dr The real horror is to realize what amount of pain, torture and cruelty a human being is capable to inflict upon another one, even without any real cause or reason.
Answer: Spiders
Not necessarily spiders; also snakes, skeletons, etc.  If you want to make a story frightening, then evolved human instincts, as well as conditioned cultural fears, are your friends.  What promises the most horrifying fate?  A high Geiger counter reading, a ticking clock attached to something that might be a bomb, or a staring human corpse with flies buzzing around it?
Radiation poisoning is not a nice way to go, and finding out you're in the middle of serious radiation is probably what ought to frighten you most, but the corpse is likely the most viscerally disturbing thing, followed by the culturally-conditioned fear of what might be a bomb.
Uncertainty
Lovecraftian horror, some kinds of ghost stories, certain philosophical propositions (Roko's Basilisk for some people, the Truman Show for others)...
Very peculiar things can be frightening to small children, who are not at all sure what is possible and what isn't.  When I was very young, I was shown a cartoon of a "sewer monster" emerging from a toilet.  I'm sure to an adult it was actually a silly picture.  After being shown that picture, I got up in the middle of the night and put the heaviest thing I could on top of the toilet lid to hold it closed.  (An empty ice cream bucket, used to hold bath toys, which I had filled with water.  Yes, this caused problems for someone else.)  The idea of something coming up from the toilet is terrifying - if you believe it can happen.  Small children don't always know what is possible and what isn't, and that can sometimes be very frightening indeed.
If you can make adults unsure about what can happen, they might be frightened, too.  What if the universe is full of awful, uncaring things which might torment you for eternity?  What if there's something in the dark, waiting?  This of course also plugs back into the "spiders" idea.  Or rather, tigers.  What if some hungry beast is lurking in the dark?  Our instincts definitely err on the side of fearing that there might be tigers, or poisonous spiders, or whatever - because being too careful generally hurts you less than not being careful enough.
Body Horror and the Uncanny Valley
Some human reactions can blend into each other.  If you can engage a person's imagination in grossing them out (what if your arm was cut off and a giant squirming maggot was sewn on in its place!), the sheer revulsion might be indistinguishable from fear.
On the other hand, that dissonance from things which are just slightly off can make people uneasy.  Again, this can blend into fear.  The photo-realistic face which doesn't move correctly.  Hands drawn convincingly, but with the proportions slightly off.  A body moving like a puppet, and not fluidly like a person.  Your mileage may vary, but small inconsistencies which tell your audience something is wrong, which they may not even be able to pin down, can add up to an uneasiness which contributes to a fearful uncertainty.
Helplessness
The difference between an adventure story and a horror story is helplessness.  The moment your characters have a fighting chance to actually overcome the monsters, you are telling an adventure story.  An adventure might be scary in places, but the emphasis has changed.  "We can do this!" naturally contrasts with a sense of dread.  What makes a nightmare a nightmare (well, for my nightmares, anyway) is the certainty that if the thing catches up, it's all over.  At the end of Invasion of the Body Snatchers (the black and white one), it stops being a horror story in the last few minutes, after the accident with the truck which spilled a bunch of pods.  Suddenly, it was the military mobilizing to fight an invasion - not the growing dread that falling asleep might mean the end of you, and your replacement with a copy just like you but working against everything you care about.
Alien also experienced a turn at the end (after including "Spiders", Uncertainty, Body Horror, and Helplessness), where the final crewmember successfully fought back to overcome the alien and kill it.
The Fine Line
When I was talking about uncertainty, I mentioned my childhood fear of the toilet monster.  But it's comical now that I have more life perspective. If you attempt to inspire fear through uncertainty, sometimes you just get amusement.  If you attempt to inspire fear through revulsion, sometimes you just get revulsion.  And some people aren't afraid of spiders or snakes.
Trying to take something scary and make it more frightening may tip you into campy silliness, dull intellectual abstractions, or stomach-churning (but not frightening) gore...  Scary stories cannot always be made more scary by doing more scary things.  If your reader loses engagement with the story, because they don't care about the characters, or your list of awful things is tediously long or absurdly implausible...  Then you've gone past the mark.
There is a fine line between frightening and merely repellent (or uninteresting, or silly).  And that line will be different for different people.
Comment: Fun fact, Cameron originally wanted Ripley to die gruesomely in the pod. The execs forced him to kill the alien instead so Ripley and Jones got to survive.
Answer: It's all in your mind.
What did I watch recently? It was a Scandinavian thriller, I think. Anyway, instead of showing us the slashed-up bodies, the film showed the detectives who were looking at the pictures. They were fine actors, and it really got the message across without the sadism-porn. At the same time you made your own pictures in your head and this was actually worse.
Ditto a book I read once. "Flight of the storks" by Grange. The hero finds the dead body of his mentor in a stork's nest. Instead of a description, he just says; "well, as you know, storks are carnivores." That's just - horrifying.


Importing objects from 3Ds Max to Blender with instancing

Question: What format or method is necessary to transfer a scene from Max to Blender without breaking instancing? I am trying to get some terrain, buildings, and trees from a large city scape working. They were made in Max, and have proper instancing. Right now I have them as .objs. The instancing breaks, causing any renders to require a huge amount of resources. Is there something I can do on either the Max end or Blender end to make this work? I can have it re-exported with different settings or formats.
Comment: Not sure an automated way exist. If you are familiar with python you could write your own exporter. Export only point reference from max and automatically assign instanced objects to it in blender (or face if you need some kind of orientation/scale support).
Comment: The only thing I can think of, short of scripting, would be to manually re-instance the objects in blender. You can do this by either deleting all the objects except one, pressing `Alt-D` to instance it, then place the instance where you want it in the scene. Or you could select all the objects that need to share the same mesh, then press `Ctrl-L > Object Data`.
Answer: FBX supports instancing. I'm not familiar with now Max handles FBX, but I transfer between blender and maya with FBX all the time to keep my instances. As far as I can tell, Autodesk has done a pretty decent job of making FBX work between their own packages, so my guess is it will work for Max as well. Make sure you export from Max with the proper plugin version or blender won't be able to read it properly. Blender supports the 2014 version (7.4) for binary and 2010 (6.1) for ascii. I use binary constantly and have never had issues with it. All my stuff is simple geometry, though. It obviously won't transfer rigs properly.
Hope that answers your question. I don't have Max installed, so I can't test it myself.


Raspberry Pi 2 Model B v1.1 alsa & jackd Headphone Jack Configuration

Question: My end goal is to do headless remote audio streaming with jacktrip on some older Pi 2 boards using the built-in headphone jack (I know the quality of it is lacking but I don't really care).
To narrow the scope of my issue, I am trying to get jackd (jack2/jack2-dbus) working with alsa on a Pi to just play through the headphone jack. Here is the issue that I am currently running into and I have not been able to find the solution online.
When I do a jackd -dalsa -r44100 -p512 -n2 -P, it fails to connect to alsa. Specifcally this line is what I suspect is the issue
ALSA: poll time out, polled for 17413109 usecs

Here is the full log
> jackd -dalsa -r44100 -p512 -n2 -P
jackdmp 1.9.12
Copyright 2001-2005 Paul Davis and others.
Copyright 2004-2016 Grame.
Copyright 2016-2017 Filipe Coelho.
jackdmp comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY
This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it
under certain conditions; see the file COPYING for details
JACK server starting in realtime mode with priority 10
self-connect-mode is "Don't restrict self connect requests"
audio_reservation_init
Acquire audio card Audio0
creating alsa driver ... hw:0|-|512|2|44100|0|0|nomon|swmeter|-|32bit
configuring for 44100Hz, period = 512 frames (11.6 ms), buffer = 2 periods
ALSA: final selected sample format for playback: 16bit little-endian
ALSA: use 2 periods for playback
jackd -dalsa -r44100 -p512 -n2 -P
ALSA: poll time out, polled for 17413109 usecs
JackAudioDriver::ProcessAsync: read error, stopping...
^CJack main caught signal 2
Released audio card Audio0
audio_reservation_finish

Here is a list of my hardware devices
> aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Headphones [bcm2835 Headphones], device 0: bcm2835 Headphones [bcm2835 Headphones]
  Subdevices: 8/8
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
  Subdevice #1: subdevice #1
  Subdevice #2: subdevice #2
  Subdevice #3: subdevice #3
  Subdevice #4: subdevice #4
  Subdevice #5: subdevice #5
  Subdevice #6: subdevice #6
  Subdevice #7: subdevice #7

OS Version (Raspberry Pi OS with desktop)
> cat /etc/os-release
PRETTY_NAME="Raspbian GNU/Linux 10 (buster)"
NAME="Raspbian GNU/Linux"
VERSION_ID="10"
VERSION="10 (buster)"
VERSION_CODENAME=buster
ID=raspbian
ID_LIKE=debian
HOME_URL="http://www.raspbian.org/"
SUPPORT_URL="http://www.raspbian.org/RaspbianForums"
BUG_REPORT_URL="http://www.raspbian.org/RaspbianBugs"

Alsa config file
> cat /etc/asound.conf
pcm.!default {
     type hw
     card 0
}

ctl.!default {
     type hw
     card 0
}

In trying to do some additional troubleshooting, I have tried jackd with a dummy interface and everything works
> jackd -ddummy -r44100 -p512 -P
jackdmp 1.9.12
...
self-connect-mode is "Don't restrict self connect requests"

A decent number of articles online say that jack and pulseaudio cause issues if running together. I have uninstalled pulseaudio for the above
sudo apt-get remove pulseaudio
sudo apt-get autoremove

I have tried configuring it through qjackctl and jack_control (jack2-dbus) and run into similar errors with alsa timing out.
Does anyone know how to get jackd and alsa to work correctly on the Pi 2?
Answer: Sorry... noob here...
But dont you have to specify your selected output?
I am using the following on an OrangePi:
/usr/bin/jackd --realtime -P70 --silent -d alsa -P hw:1 -p 128 -n 2 -r 44100
Where hw:1 refers to my USB sound card:
orangepi@orangepipc:~$ cat /proc/asound/cards
0 [Codec          ]: H3_Audio_Codec - H3 Audio Codec
H3 Audio Codec
1 [AUDI▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒   ]: USB-Audio - USB AUDIÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ
BurrBrown from Texas Instruments USB AUDIÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ at usb-1c1c400.usb-1,
2 [sun9ihdmi      ]: sun9i-hdmi - sun9i-hdmi
sun9i-hdmi


Idiom for: making something sound plausible

Question: I'm looking for an idiom for
making something sound plausible
that captures the full flavor and imagery that some foreign languages have (such as in Hebrew, where the idiom would be literally rendered as: appeasing (or soothing) the ear)
Comment: ... *has the ring of truth*
Comment: *His argument **carries weight, stands up, holds water, ...***
Comment: I think more context would be helpful. Do you want to imply that the speaker is making something sound better than it actually is to persuade his/her audience (is what they're saying in any way false)? Or is the speaker trying to represent a situation in a way that will make someone feel better (appease him/her)? Or does the speaker just have a way with words? There are so many different possibilities depending on what you want to convey.
Comment: Make a "pitch" for something involves advocating a point of action by presenting it's benefits in a positive light and possibly addressing potential obsticals as surmountable.  "spin" is another way of recasting an issue ... not so much about a point of action though.
Answer: One that closely parallels your "appeasing the ear" is Paint a pretty picture.

(Adult / Slang)
  (Expression)    to make a situation or thing seem better than it is, often through exaggeration or lies
  Usage: A drug addict is in recovery, his/her marriage is on the rocks, he tells his family that he and his wife are fine, that his marriage is solid, and things will be fine when he gets out of rehab. The family relaxes because this is a positive thing as part of his rehab. He painted a pretty picture over an ugly one.

Paint a pretty picture: definition-of.com https://www.definition-of.com/paint+a+pretty+picture
Answer: For literally meaning "news that is appeasing (or soothing) the ear" you can use music to (someone's) ears. There's also easy on the ears but that's typically about music and not about news.
TFD(idioms):

music to someone's ears
Fig. a welcome sound to someone; news that someone is pleased to hear.   A: Here's your paycheck for this month. B: Ah, that's music to
  my ears!
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by
  The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Answer: There are expressions using 'honeyed' that convey this:

honeyed 1. adjective [usually ADJECTIVE noun]
You can describe someone's voice or words as honeyed when they are
  very pleasant to listen to, especially if you want to suggest that
  they are insincere.
His gentle manner and honeyed tones reassured Andrew.
They could not understand how anyone could believe her honeyed words.

[Collins CoBuild}


In scrum, how do you track/estimate points when multiple tickets overlap their work?

Question: I've never been fully able to answer this question, and from a lot of searching I haven't been able to get the right keywords to find anyone who's asked this question in the way I mean it.
Say that there are two user stories, A and B. In order for either of them to be completed, some backend work C must be done.
How do we estimate the work for stories A and B? We have attempted a few approaches:

Estimate them both assuming that C needs to be done in both, meaning that A and B have some "overlap" in their point estimates. This doesn't feel right because when you add A and B up, it includes C twice, which feels unrepresentative of the work needed
Estimate one higher than the other, and lump C's work into specifically one of the tickets, the one with the highest priority. That way you know C will be done, but it means that B is relying on work from the A ticket, and so it basically requires us to work in serial if we're not careful about it
Create another ticket specifically for C, and prioritize it above A and B. This is the best approach we've found, but it breaks some idea of vertically slicing the tickets, as C can end up being hard to see/reason about backend work, and so delivering it doesn't really provide notable value if we don't have A or B to accompany it

Tangentially related is one final question: If we have stories (Most likely bugs) A and B that we believe are separate, and we bring A onto the sprint, finish it, and realise that B is actually completed as a result of doing A, what do we do with points? Again this references overlap of tickets. We've had some arguments back and forth on whether the estimated points for A and B are put into Done and counted as completed by the team, but that feels wrong because we put no extra work or effort into it, it was basically a planning/understanding mistake that they were separate tickets with individual point values. What is a good approach to take for this situation?
Answer: Vertical Slicing is a Best Practice, Not a Framework Requirement
Your prerequisite tasks (by definition) must be prioritized over their dependencies, so a separate task or user story for C should be created to track it. The only reason this feels a little icky to you is that you're making at least one of the following implementation errors:

Allowing your tool (presumably a ticketing system like JIRA) to drive your process, rather than using tools that support your empirically-designed process.
Conflating the general guidance to deliver a vertical slice of functionality in each iteration for INVEST criteria.
Treating an ideal best practice (e.g. decomposing stories into thin vertical slices) as a framework requirement rather than focusing on coherent functions that deliver value for the iteration.

Scrum doesn't require "vertical slices." It's not mentioned even once in the Scrum Guide. Instead, Scrum requires a Sprint Goal that delivers a coherent function, which is an often-overlooked aspect of the framework. It's that central coherence that should ideally represent a vertical slice, not necessarily each of the various user stories or individual tasks needed to deliver it.
It should also be noted that Scrum only requires that Product Backlog Items should have "value" as an attribute. How value is defined is up to the Product Owner; its definition is not limited by the framework, and is most certainly not limited to being a full-stack, end-to-end slice.
By decomposing user stories into items that are small and independently testable (like your A, B, and C tickets), and ensuring that each Product Backlog Item selected during Sprint Planning is sized to fit within a single Sprint, you can then sequence the dependencies so that you can prioritize within or across Sprints as needed.
Answer: It seems that you are considering certain things to be immutable. Like having to always split stories vertically, or that there shoudn't be dependencies like C, or that once allocated story points can't be changed. These are not immutable.
All the projects out there, all the products, all the features, and all the stories, will never fit entirely with all the good practices one is supposed to be following. Sometimes you just get a fly in the ointment, and that's that.
What is a good approach then? A good dose of pragmatism.
Right now you seem to be in some sort of analysis paralysis in which you don't procede because you try to figure out what the best way to do so is. Instead, just think what will be the reasonable thing to do next and do it. You are then in a new situation. Think what will be the next reasonable thing to do and do it... etc. You get the idea.
Going back to your questions, the reasonable thing to do looks like that of having a story for C. Estimate it and do it. Then have stories for A and B estimated by themselves with the assumption you already have C in place. If they all fit into one sprint then you are golden, if not, then that's that. There is no problem. Having just C in place adds value to the product, it just does not add value right now for the user. But it will once A and B are done. Don't think at value as absolute. C is valuable otherwise you wouldn't do it at all.
Then with your other example of working on something which in turn takes care of another item. If you don't need extra work on the second item, just change its points at zero because that reflects the reality of not doing any work to burn down its points. Then you can decide if you want to pull something else in the sprint in its place (as long as it does not negatively impact the sprint goal).
All of these things get resolved by the team working together and taking decisions together, in a pragmatic way, about what is the most reasonable thing to do next. And if you make mistakes, at least you'll have something to talk to and learn at the retrospective :)
Answer: I see three options.
My preferred option, in this case, is to have stories A and B. The work for C would be denoted as something that needs to be done in both of them. If the team is estimating, then I would estimate both as if the other didn't exist, and the set of work C was part of both. This enables you to choose which one you do first without missing the estimate. Of course, it also means that one is overestimated, but it's also easier to spend extra time doing something valuable than underestimating and not reaching your goals.
A second option would be to split work C out into technical enablement work. However, this adds a dependency: C must be done before A or B. At the very least, C and A or B must be in the same iteration. It puts a lot more constraints on the team concerning how they order work, both in the backlog and in the iteration itself. I believe that dependencies should be reduced where possible and minimized where not.
However, the approach of splitting C away from both A and B would be viable if neither A nor B could fit into an iteration with C. One of the ideas is that each work item should be something that can be designed, implemented, tested, and delivered in an iteration. If that means splitting it out, it could be worth it even if it means adding a dependency.
I think the worst option would be to estimate C with one of A or B. It adds an invisible dependency. There's otherwise no dependency between A and B, yet if you choose the wrong one first, your scope of work will be incomplete and you could run into a case where you can't complete the work within the iteration.
Answer: It's a common problem when managing soft dependencies between stories. If A and B are small enough to fit in a single sprint then that's the most logical split. Avoid creating technical story for C if you can.
For estimation purposes it's up to the team. If there is a clear priority order then you can build the technical effort (C) into your estimate for the first story you intend to do and estimate the later stor(ies) as being smaller. Alternatively, if you aren't sure which will come first then you could average out the estimate across all of them and just accept that velocity will drop when you work on the first one and then pick up when you work on the others.
If A and B are both in the same sprint then it doesn't really matter, just allocate (A+B+C)/2 to both A and B.
Answer: Agile is all about responding to change. If you favour responding to change then you are likely to be doing the estimating relatively close to the time the work is to be done.
In this context, the situation in your question is far less of a problem.
Say, for example, we are estimating these stories a few days before work starts. A decision can be made about the order of A and B and hence deciding which story should incorporate C is easy. If change happens between the time when the estimates are made and the work starts then the team re-plans (possibly moving the C work to a different story).

Tangentially related is one final question: If we have stories (Most likely bugs) A and B that we believe are separate, and we bring A onto the sprint, finish it, and realise that B is actually completed as a result of doing A, what do we do with points?

Story points are a way of helping a team to decide on their capacity to get work done for future sprints. If both bug A and bug B have been done then the story points for both should be counted.
However, it would also make sense for the team to learn from what has happened. Perhaps if it is discussed in the team's retrospective they may work out how to better identify this situation in the future and so improve the team's capability at estimating.
Answer: It depends.
In my current role, we try to minimise the amount of effort we put into the Scrum process, and focus on actually building software. As a result, our estimates tend to be a bit rough. On that basis, we tend to include C in both estimates if and only if the overlap is relatively small. Although this messes up our estimates a bit, the error we introduce is small compared to the error we already tolerate. This might not be 'by the book' Scrum, but it works for us.
Again, in my current environment, the priorities of stories shift frequently (not ideal, but not something we can fix easily). As a result, if C is a large-ish story then including C in one of the other stories (A for example) is generally a mistake because it would make the other story (B) misleadingly small. This almost guarantees that the POs will ask us to do B first, as it appears to offer more value out compared to effort in. The exception is when A is for the current Sprint, and B is known to be for something later. In that case, we might break our own rule of thumb and combine C with A.
In all all other cases, we fall back on making another story for C. My team tends to avoid this, as our management tooling doesn't visualise dependencies very well. This is far from ideal, in that we allow our tooling to drive our method. This is something we plan to fix, and when we have done so this will become our default option, I think. In the mean time, we need to be pragmatic, and get the job done with the tools we have.
Answer: Combine the back-end work with one of the front-end tickets
Welcome to pm.stackexchange!

idea of vertically slicing the tickets

You are right that you should vertically slice the tickets because each story should deliver value to the users. If the back-end work is not done, there is no value.
Also, in more practical terms, when you combine the back-end work with the corresponding front-end work, you can test it end-to-end and be sure everything works well.
Bug question: If "you bring A onto the sprint, finish it, and realise that B is actually completed as a result of doing A" you close B and that is the end of the matter!
Comment: Nothing in the Scrum framework requires that value to be defined from the user's perspective, only that the users *of Scrum* must inspect progress towards the Sprint Goal to identify undesirable variance. "Value" is ultimately defined by the Scrum Team and managed by the Product Owner, and should generally target the *project* or the *product* to avoid needless contortions.


How do I add an H2 tag to a page?

Question: How do I add an H2 tag to a page? The site already runs many months now. All pages are okay but some are lacking an h2 tag. Is there a simple way to add an h2 tag to these pages?
Answer: All of the templates that generate the HTML files for the front-end of your site will live in the templates folder on the server Craft is installed on.
You can edit the HTML there to add
 tags anywhere you wish.
The most important thing to note about Craft CMS is it is a platform used to build bespoke solutions for clients. It is light on traditional "out-of-the-box" features and instead provides developers with a modern toolset and content teams with a great author experience. In practice, this means that every Craft site is made specifically for the client which is great and why clients and developers love us.
Here are a bunch of learning resources that should help get you up to speed quickly.
Craft Official Docs & Support:

Craft CMS docs - The official Craft CMS documentation
Support Services - Both free and paid first-party support options.
Craft Discord group - The Craft development team is in Discord every day along with thousands of other Craft developers and users from all over the world.
Craft Stack Exchange - The best place to ask "how do I" type questions. Our development team monitors Craft Stack Exchange on a regular basis.

Learn Craft:

CraftQuest - CraftQuest is our official education and training partner. They have a number of excellent free and paid resources for Craft CMS & Craft Commerce. Ryan Irelan, Mijingo's founder, also offers customized training online or on-site.
Tuts+ Tutorials - Not official but [very good and low cost].
nystudio107 Blog — Andrew Welch is one of the best Craft developers around and the creator of the popular SEOmatic plugin. His regularly posts some excellent developer-oriented posts on Craft and web development.

How do I add an H2 tag to a page?


Can someone help me identify my voice type?

Question: I am Male/14. My morning voice is C2 and my normal speaking voice is D#2. The highest note I can hit is A2. Is this considered bass or low baritone?
Comment: Identifying vocal range is a lot more complex than that. It requires a session with a professional and doesn't simply boil down to "lowest note" or "currently available range".
Comment: I think your octave notation is probably different to the normal scientific pitch notation.
Comment: Whatever it is now will probably be quite different from what it could be in two or three years time.
Answer: I will try to help you out by quoting a very good friend who teaches singing professionally. But, ideally, as I had stated in my comment to your original post, you want a session with a professional to identify your range. It's not as simple as finding out what your lowest note is and what range you can squeeze yourself into.

Voice types originate from the classical world of opera. They are literally a "type cast" for actors. In a choir context, it is the literal note/pitch range which that voice will sing in, so it has nothing to do with the instrument of the vocalist and everything to do with the written part/sheet music. In opera, the concern is different. Opera is sung without a microphone, and you can't rely on numbers to carry the sound, so operatic singing has to resonate very loudly. It is this resonance that will determine the voice type of the singer. An easy exercise for finding your voice type is to play at 3 standard ranges (e.g. bass, baritone, tenor) without making any changes or adjustment to what you're doing and trying to figure out in which of those three ranges your voice sounds loudest without you trying. This sounds simple, but within the context of singing lessons I often find people really struggle at not making any adjustments whatsoever. So the goal is to find the range at which you resonate loudly with little effort. The idea is to cast voice types in order to ensure longevity of the instrument and increase likelihood that the audience will be able to hear all roles.

Additionally, given you have provided your age and gender:

For most boys the prime voice change period is 14-15, while for girls it tends to range from 12 to 18 (this also includes massive variability with onset of periods). Most classical teachers will refuse to take on a student, male or female, until they are 16, and the lessons will be cautious until the mid-twenties often...

So please be very careful and, ideally, find a professional to help you out. Especially at such a critical age.


How can I find this info in the console?

Question: Is there a way to know in the console when you die and when a round starts or ends? Can I get info for shots fired, hit, and headshots on a single round?
Answer: Yes, of course you can. There are certain keyword that appear in the console when you shoot/kill/hit and enemy player. For this, you can use filters in the console. Here is a guide for it.
Where to Enter Commands:
config/autoexec/valve.rc or console
Commands:
developer "1"
con_filter_text "Damage"
con_filter_text_out "Player:"
con_filter_enable "2"

To create a bind for quick access:
bind "Key" "displaydamage"

//Displaydamage - Switch Script by 3st
alias displaydamage "displaydamage_off"
alias displaydamage_on "con_filter_text Damage; con_filter_text_out Player:; con_filter_enable 2; developer 1; alias displaydamage displaydamage_off"
alias displaydamage_off "con_filter_enable 0; developer 0; clear; alias displaydamage displaydamage_on"

Just copy it into your *.cfg and replace "Key" with a key of your choice.

If you do not have an autoexec.cfg or valve.rc or any other way to
  execute scripts in game don't panic. You have two choices: If you do
  not want to use the switch script you can go the easy way and simply
  enter "The Commands" from above into your console in game.
If you want to use the script you will have to create an autoexec.cfg.
Step 1: Go to your Windows desktop, click your right mouse button and
  create a new text file.
Step 2: Open it and copy my script from above into it. Be sure to
  replace "Key" with a key of your choice. I myself use "KP_HOME" - it's
  the 7 on the keyboard's numpad.
Step 3: Write "host_writeconfig" in the last row of your text file.
Comment: While this does answer the question you may want to summarize a the information in the link since the link may go down making this answer not helpful anymore.


Cheapest mac for latest xcode?

Question: I am doing a uni course which is called iPhone Software Engineering and it says that I need a mac that is able to run latest version of 'Xcode' for app developement and current SWIFT and the Apple iOS SDK will be used. So far I have done many programming languages using windows and this is the only course that requires a mac so I need suggestions to buy a cheap mac that will only be good for programming purposes. I don't need any good graphics and all that. Since I am low on budget I would be happy if my mac could fulfill my course requirements.
Comment: Check out developer transition kit, something like a mac mini
Answer: The least expensive mac is the Mac mini. It comes without a monitor, keyboard, or mouse so you can use the items from your PC. A new Mac Mini sells for $800. If that is still too pricey you could maybe find a used older mac on Ebay or similar sites. Beware because Macs have a high resale value. So always check the price.
If your needing the latest XCode, be sure that the computer can run Mojave or Catalina operating systems. A computer from 2013 or later should be fine. If you are just learning to code then you can maybe get a cheap laptop or the Mac Mini.
You should check the Apple site to confirm what models can run the latest version of Xcode. My 2013 number was just from memory. The actual compatibility list is given below.
<code>MacBook (Early 2015 or newer)
MacBook Air (Mid 2012 or newer)
MacBook Pro (Mid 2012 or newer)
Mac mini (Late 2012 or newer)
iMac (Late 2012 or newer)
iMac Pro (2017)
Mac Pro (Late 2013, plus mid-2010 and mid-2012 models with recommended Metal-capable GPU)
</code>
Comment: It might be worth getting a generation later as some of those will not run the new OS/Xcode which is in beta now. This is irrelevant for a current course but if you want to keep up with newer versions.

Cheapest mac for latest xcode?


Can you push Tenser's Floating Disk?

Question: Can you push Tenser's Floating Disk so that it doesn't just hang out behind you? If so, how hard would it be to push?
Answer: RAW, the text of the spell says "No":

The disk is immobile while you are within 20 feet of it.

Immobile is pretty clear (emphasis mine).
That said... I don't see any reason why a DM should not allow the spell and its cargo to be moved around at the expense of an action by the caster.
Answer: No
It isn't described as having any weight, but it is described as immobile in it's description, at least while it is within 20 feet of you.
Answer: Immobile could mean it stops moving on it own. It could mean nothing can ever move it.
This really is not something the RAW answers. No amount of interpretation will make this clear. There is no way of parsing this that will be immune to abuse.
If you take immobile to be an absolute you've just given the player an immovable object to counter the DM's irresistible force.  They could stop a charging dragon with one of these and build a cage with three of them.
So don't think being conservative with how you read a spell makes it immune to abuse.
Tenser's floating disk is fun because you can invent uses for it. A DM that insists the only use is to escape the encumbrance rules is running a poor game.
The best way to answer this question is to go buy a scroll of Tensor's Floating Disc. Use it. Give the disc a push. See what happens. Now decide if you want to learn the spell.
Comment: Charging dragon that weighs less than 500 pounds tho ;)
Comment: @geoidesic Or doesn't think to climb on it.  Spell only ends when 500 pounds is placed on it. Says nothing about slamming into the side of it.

Can you push Tenser's Floating Disk?


Büchi automaton with modified acceptance condition

Question: Consider a Büchi automaton $\mathcal{A}$ with the modified acceptance condition, that an $\omega$-word $\mathcal{w}$ is accepted by $\mathcal{A}$ iff every run $\rho$ of $\mathcal{A}$ on $\mathcal{w}$ is accepting (rather than at least one run being accepting). I need to show that this automaton also accepts only $\omega$-regular languages. How do I go about doing that?
Comment: ?! thats a pretty good CS program over there in india if they get into Buchi automata as [sophomore undergraduates](http://vh4x0r.wordpress.com/about/)... does that happen much in the US or elsewhere? hint, think you need to use the defn of Buchi automata =)
Comment: This seems to be a homework assignment to be. What have you tried?
Answer: Let $S$ and $F$ be the set of all states and all accepting states of $\mathcal{A}$, respectively. For $t \in S \setminus F$, let $\mathcal{A}$ be the automaton obtained by making $t$ the only accepting state. For $t \in S \setminus F$, let $\mathcal{B}_t$ be the automaton obtained by removing all states in $F$, and making $t$ the starting state. We think of $\mathcal{A}_t$ as an NFA, and of $\mathcal{B}_t$ as a Büchi automaton. The following language is $\omega$-regular:
$$ L = \overline{\sum_{t \in S \setminus F} L(\mathcal{A}_t) L(\mathcal{B}_t)}. $$
An $\omega$-word $w$ is not in $L$ if and only if on some run of $\mathcal{A}$, no accepting state appears infinitely often. Therefore an $\omega$-word $w$ is in $L$ if and only if on all runs of $\mathcal{A}$, some accepting state appears infinitely often.