Installed a new PSU and GPU and performance doesn't improve

Question: I installed a new 500w PSU and a Geforce GTX 660 GPU. And after installing all the newest drivers from Nvidia. I upgraded from a Geforce 9600 GT. And I should be seeing a MAJOR upgrade. But it seems like I never changed GPU's. Games and graphics heavy applications like Unigine Benchmark haven't had any improvements at all. What could be wrong?
Comment: What CPU do you have? How much RAM do you have? Most likely, some other component is significantly holding your GPU back. (Also, is your monitor actually connected to your new graphics card and not some other port such as one on your motherboard?)
Comment: How are you measuring this MAJOR upgrade? Are you using a benchmarking app to measure the performance before & after?
Comment: it seems to me his RAM is the bottleneck? please tell us full hardware details
Answer: The power supply upgrade won't have effected your machines performance, but the Graphics card should, subject to your motherboard supporting at least PCI Express 2.0, and your CPU and system memory being fast enough to feed it.
I'd suggest you have a look at using the likes of Novabench or Passmark to compare your set-up with similarly equipped machines, if your performance in significantly slower than the results shared by others, on similar kit, your likely to have a software issue somewhere and may need to consider a reinstall.


Rest assured vs Http client for Api testing?

Question: Which approach or should I say framework is better and which are let say 3 facts you should consider when making final decision?
Comment: Rest assured is a wrapper around Apache  HTTP client that makes writing tests easier for the price of flexibility. I would start with the Simpler one, i.e. RESTassured.
Answer:
Which approach or should I say framework is better?

I don't think you can compare them just like that when you don't mention any context, any goals you might have, what you want to achieve with the tool, how big your project is, who is on the team, and many more.

Which are let say 3 facts you should consider when making final decision?

Some things I'd consider:

who will participate in the project, what are their (including mine) skills (can they handle the tool, if not, will there be some time for learning?)
how big the project is - http clients are great for exploratory testing and tend to be a bit clumsy when it comes to managing many endpoints, a lot of test data, or when you want to reuse some parts (code)
what intergations we need - how well the tool supports CI/CD pipelines, reporting, ...
how easy it will be for someone completely new to take over - it's easier to start working with a http client than learn to code and then use a library like Rest-assured

The best setup is when you have enough space to fail. If you're not under a lot of pressure, pick one of the two, start using it and if it doesn't prove efficient on the project, change it. Yes, there'll be some rework, but you have to learn somehow, don't you?
Comment: Re: "http clients are great for exploratory testing". It really depends what you mean by HTTP client. [Apache HTTP Client](https://hc.apache.org/httpcomponents-client-5.0.x/)? [Postman](https://www.postman.com/)? [curl command line tool](https://curl.se/docs/manpage.html) ? The first is definitely not the best for exporation, the latter two are definitely easier to explore APIs.
Comment: Let exclude people knowlage, team knows booth tehnologies since they are not complicated. ... And let say project can be small but can be big, we have differet projects, but assume we want to use same technology.  Thank you for your answer it has good points.
Comment: Yes, http client can mean many different tools. I had an image of something like Postman in mind.


Could nature have no "physical laws" at all?

Question: Why scientists assumes that nature have laws? Is it possible to have no laws at all? I mean that how nature behaves may vary with space and time but this doesn't mean it is unpredictable at all. It behave in its own way. If I let an object fall from a height then it could drop/explode/do anything. But something must happen. The fact that predicting this behavior is difficult doesn't mean that nature has no laws at all. So why it is considered a priori that nature has laws?
Comment: *"So why it is considered a priori that nature has laws?"* - basically because such conjecture appears consistent with all evidence and human experience.
Comment: Which scientist assumed a priori that nature has laws? Provide a reference.
Comment: Scientists do not assume *a priori*, nor do they need to. Some laws (inertia, gravity) were vaguely obvious, so their precise forms were conjectured and confirmed. Then others came to light as a result of more systematic study and sharpening observations and experiments. But it may well happen that some phenomena escape the reach of known laws if no conjectures are forthcoming or confirmed. Human history, for example, is not subject to any currently known cogent laws.
Answer: To answer this question you first have to know what physicists mean when they refer to physical laws.
To a physicist, a physical law is a rule which appears to account for the behavior of a physical system in such a manner as to allow the physicist to apply that rule to predict the outcome of an unperformed experiment or to explain the outcome of a performed experiment.
That rule must 1) furnish the correct answer within its range of applicability and 2) always furnish the correct answer every time it is applied, within its range. The rules of greatest utility in this context are those which can be concisely described in the language of mathematics, which means those physical laws are usually written as equations.
Physicists do not automatically or simplistically assume that nature has laws of this sort. They observe the behavior of physical systems and thereby discover regularities in that behavior that hint at the presence of some sort of underlying principle which might then be mathematically expressible as a "law". Because most working physicists believe that the universe they inhabit is causal, they carry an expectation that the universe contains laws that account for effects in terms of causes, and it is their job to uncover those laws.
A universe without physical laws would be one in which for example a planet could exhibit a stable orbit around a star on one day and then on the next day suddenly become unstable for no cause. If the universe were acausal in this regard, it is unlikely it would contain any humans to take note of it because a planet on which life might evolve would be just as likely to fall into the star as it would to be flung away into deep space at any instant in its existence.
A universe without laws would be one in which counting objects would be not just impossible but meaningless, because objects could pop into existence and wink out of existence at any time. Because of this, the discipline of mathematics could not have a meaningful existence in an acausal universe.
Comment: Consider then, without universal, or permanent laws - ie an emergentist picture. As 'laws of nature' is usually assumed, isn't that 'no laws'? Many good laws, like say the ideal gas laws, have frequent exceptions, like where hydrogen-bonding is important - the 'failure' is part of the utility, highlighting different dynamics. Prediction is aboyt distinguishing explanations - but *explanatory power* is far more important. In cosmology, large uncertainties on key universe parameters are common, and sets of possible outcomes result, rather than specific predictions.
Answer: If we assume an universe as any possible flow of qualia, then physical laws are not necessary. Take, for instance, the world you find yourself in in the night dreams. There are no physical laws, even mathematics and logic may act differently.
Yet, you still have feelings, thoughts, observe objects and interact with them.
One can imagine worlds which have laws, but not of physical nature. For instance, a world where everything you think is true, is in fact true. Or a world where everything you fear is true. Of a world where everything you desire is true.
Answer:
Why scientists assumes that nature have laws?

They don't.
To start, we cannot know nature.
The fact that we perceive colors doesn't mean that nature is colored. Following the same consideration: the fact that we perceive time doesn't mean that nature has time; the fact that we perceive space doesn't mean that nature has space; the fact that we perceive causality doesn't mean that nature follows a causal behavior; etc.
In consequence, we (science) cannot know if nature has rules.
But inside each one's subjectivity, patterns are perceived. For example: things have colors. That's a pattern we perceive. In addition, colors manifest according to specific rules; that is, our subjective experiences tell that colors obey some laws.
Therefore, nature has no laws, but we grant nature of laws, which are biased by our subjectivity. Nature might have no space or time, but within our subjectivity, Einstein's Relativity laws allow a very precise description of the space-time patterns we perceive.
Do not forget that science does not seek for final truth. Science seeks for empirical truth, that is, the truths that are coherent with our experience. That is because metaphysical considerations (knowledge, ontology, perception, causality, etc.) are excluded from science.
Philosophy, on the contrary, seeks for final truths. But the most developed philosophical branches tend all to suggest that everything that exists do so only in our mind; outside of us, something happens, but it seems to be a reality quite different to the one obtained by perception. Read about the empiricists and rationalists debate.
Comment: Why can't we know nature? I know my wife, and she is part of Nature, so we should at least know a part.
Comment: The perceptions may be just perceptions (color, sound, space, time, etc.), but we are not limited to them only in investigating Nature.  We are made up out of the same constituents out of which Nature is made up, so we should be able to tell something about them. .
Comment: @Methadont: A _wife_ is not part of nature, is part of your ideals. The term _wife_ implies a legal status, which you cannot expect to exist as part of nature. Moreover, nobody can know, just by looking at a woman if she's a wife or not. Read &3.4.1 in https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/kant-transcendental-idealism/
Comment: But I am part for sure.
Comment: That I cannot know. But it's clear you will not lose. Be my guest.
Comment: "Kant argues that space and time are merely formal features of how we perceive objects, not things in themselves that exist independently of us"  That's exactly the question. I think the form has a content. Which can exist independently of us. The content will affect its perceived form.
Answer: What you are talking about at root, is the problem of induction. Hume suggested skepticism as a response. Popper reckoned induction to be a myth, & evidence turned to only for choosing between explanations.
What is explanatory power? It seems like it is about being able to model something in the world, in an efficient way: capturing dynamics; not 'multiplying entities without necessity'; providing a framework that unifies experiences with a common language, or a versatile model. The hallmarks of good science are about efficient abstraction.
In a very real way, efficient abstraction has to be possible for intelligence, for self-consciousness. We have to be able to make a model of the world, and of ourselves, that is less complicated than the reality, but captures it's dynamics enough to navigate between possible outcomes. We call 'being more intelligent' being better at making abstractions, & so better at choosing among possible outcomes.
We are meat-robots driven by genes, to manipulate our environment. Now with a socio-cultural intelligence or meme-sphere, driven by language, and including tools & technology. When we say 'that's a rule' or a law, it provides a constraint that helps us have to think less. A salience landscape, focusing us on things we can act on. But also hiding the complexity and chaos of the world from us, to save processing power.
Answer: I think Newton started this trend (continued until our time, in full force since the 20th century) of realizing that our mathematical models/theories for how nature works do not equal how nature actually works. In other words, one must separate actual nature and the universe we inhabit from our description of it, or even from our ability to describe it. There are then no "natural laws"; instead, what we have is different species with an ability to perceive some regularity in some aspects, and maybe even to be able to make predictions, but this says a lot about the organism doing the modeling, and little about the universe.
To address your point of what would nature look like with no laws, a good example one can take is the mind. It seems like problems concerning understanding our own minds (or even those of much more basic animals) are completely out of reach to us. It is very conceivable that a more advanced species could look at the workings of human minds and to them things could appear regular enough to formulate predictions, etc., but to us things look completely incomprehensible. I suppose this is what our ability to predict planetary motion must look like to cats, for example. In any case, our ability to formulate certain phenomena in theories that allow us to make predictions seem restricted to certain phenomena, and highly species-specific, so I definitely wouldn't call these properties of nature.
Answer: A simpler illustrative question is whether there is such a thing as 'sanity'. We all prefer to think of ourselves as being 'sane', but immediate problems arise if a definition is examined: 'The ability to think and behave in a normal and rational manner; sound mental health."
Which raises further problems of what is 'normal', what is 'rational', and what constitutes 'sound mental health'. To illustrate, it is obvious that one of today's biggest problems is environmental degradation, especially that caused by industrial waste and the enormous amounts of non-degradable plastics in EVERYTHING. These in turn derive from modern consumer society and the billions of eager 'consumers' ultimately responsible. The obvious solution is to reduce consumers to a manageable number, perhaps by killing ninety percent of the world's human population. This is simple, obvious, and rational, and so should count as an acceptable conclusion; i.e. as a sane recommendation.
From this it is obvious that mere 'rational thinking' - sc. sequential logical deduction - does not necessarily meet the commonly accepted notions of 'sanity'. Physical laws result from applying sequential logical deduction to observations of natural processes, and are carefully worded to ensure consistency of interpretation; but if continued beyond a certain point, their conclusions eventually become meaningless, and then absurd.
A good example is the Standard Model of so-called 'sub-atomic particles'. Protons are fine: we can bang them about in particle accelerators with great confidence. Neutrons, being uncharged, are a bit more problematic, but do enough 'banging about' to convince us of their reality. Electrons are still more problematic since they appear to have no mass (other than the energy-equivalence of their charge) but are far too useful to dismiss as illusory - think the heater with 'electricity' running through it that's keeping your feet warm.
The REAL problems start with quarks. The most useful - indeed ESSENTIAL - of their properties is that they can never be observed in isolation: it's IMPOSSIBLE to observe - sc. detect - individual quarks. Now science is founded on observation: anything that cannot be observed cannot be real - scientifically. So quarks cannot be real - SCIENTIFICALLY.
Here, then, is one boundary of Physical Law: anything 'smaller' than quarks in the Standard Model is SCIENTIFICALLY NON-EXISTENT. There are other boundaries of Physical Law equally unrecognized, but phenomena beyond them are accepted as real to prevent confusion, and so enable more papers to be published about them. And without ever more papers, where WOULD today's 'Science' be?
This may serve to introduce a completely different perspective on the question. Modern Western Science believes that the Universe resulted from the 'Big Bang': a gigantic explosion of sorts creating a state of total chaos. Out of this maelstrom arose the tightly-ordered Universe we observe today, apparently because pre-existing 'Laws' of some sort forced matter and energy to behave in certain pre-defined ways. And all of this is the result simply of chance, completely without premeditation, meaning or purpose.
Buried deeply in some of the oldest literature on the planet are the fragmented remnants of an ancient Science of Consciousness that, when reconstructed, offers an entirely different explanation. In this view the most fundamental property of the Cosmos is consciousness; NOT human consciousness which is a much later development, but a primitive awareness imbued with a creative urge and capability. Its first attempts do not produce 'things', merely 'tendencies' so to speak. Most are transient and formless, but eventually some take various shapes and survive for a time. These 'tendencies' are themselves conscious, and so attempt to form creations of their own.
The Reader is invited to extrapolate this idea through the aeons of time needed to create the gigantic swirls of debris that form galaxies, then stars, finally planets and the many life-forms that eventually take shape in and on them, including humans.
From this point of view, the original question is both true and false, and also meaningless. Yes, in a free-will Universe, all attempts at creation are permitted; but a creation without form or structure - 'Laws' if you prefer - has nothing to offer, and even if created will soon disappear.
From this can be seen that the question is NOT about the reality we inhabit, but about certain concepts in Modern Western Science, which is well overdue for critical examination, and preferably replacement with something less absurd.
Added in reply to:

Your particle-physics ontology us positively Victorian.

Let's look at REALITY. A quark star is a HYPOTHETICAL exotic star wherein extremely high temperature and pressure form quark matter. Note that it's HYPOTHETICAL. So if I go out and look at the night sky, I might see a faint pin-prick that is CERTAINLY a quark star; but only if it's close enough to see, and emitting visible light. Otherwise it's completely invisible even if it DOES exist.
For a few millionths of a second after the Big Bang, the universe supposedly consisted of a hot soup of elementary particles known as quark-gluon plasma. So if I went back to the first few microseconds of the Universe, I could take a luxurious bubble bath in quark-gluon plasma. YUMMM! Getting back that far might be a problem, though, and microsecond baths have never been a favourite - WAY too short!
Black holes are another popular fantasy of modern scientists. Whether locked up safely in the stable or roaming around on the loose, there's no proof whatever of their REAL existence.
The most convenient feature of everything you've described is being so far away in space, time or both that nothing about them can be tested, least of all their existence, so you're on safe (but imaginary) ground. Like all modern scientists, you've spent so long cultivating favourite fantasies inside your head that they're now more real than reality. All of those things are merely mathematical constructs in the minds of scientists and have no bearing on reality.
Yep! I'm so old-fashioned that I prefer reality to fantasy. As Einstein put it:
"As far as the propositions of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality."
Added in reply to:

It seems like problems concerning understanding our own minds ... are completely out of reach to us.

Well thought and worded. Ultimately, ALL we ever have is our own consciousness. Many only realize this on their death-bed. HOW we interpret reality is FAR more relevant than "what is reality", which we can never truly know.
Comment: Quark-stars & quark-gluon plasma are examples of falsifiable predictions. Your simplistic definition of observe as 'directly see' would put stable blackholes outside of reality. But of course, indirect observations count. Electrons have a rest mass. Sure that's it's energy equivalent - but that's the same for all massive particles! It interacts with the Higgs field. Your particle-physics ontology us positively Victorian.
Comment: I appended the Answer in reply to the above comment.
Comment: Quark-gluon plasma has been made, & investigated, in a lab: https://www.space.com/amp/first-matter-perfect-liquid.htm Doubtless you will have some other quibble, like I guess you must have for the exact match between predictions & observation of blackhole collusion gravity wave ring-down.
Answer: Speaking in the language of World Semantics (The model theory for modal logical systems), a world without physical laws would be a world that is, for example at one point a 4 dimensional lorentzian spacetime and then, without cause, fully transforms into a 18 dimensional newtonian spacetime. That's still logically possible, mathematically possible (Well, if you interpret "transform" freely enough), yet for our world physically impossible.
Let's assume you take away the logical and mathematical laws as well.
A world, let's say one like ours, could collapse without reason into an abstract concept like the number 3 and turns into an unicorn simultaneously. See where this goes? "Where" (Referring to a world) there are no longer physical laws required, anything not violating the logical possible can still happen. I suppose in some way the logical laws could, in a mathematical realist sense, interpreted as minimal necessary metaphysical laws for a world. Where even mathematics and logic no longer apply, anything goes.
These type of worlds have a very fitting name,
"Impossible Worlds"
Comment: You may have answered the question but it is likely only a small percentage of people who view your answer could parse it's technical language, let alone understand the concepts you use, let alone evaluate your response. If you can't answer this question without a load of mathematical jargon or if you cannot reformulate the answer without the mathematical jargon then maybe you shouldn't answer the question until you can. Apologies for being blunt.
Comment: That's fine - In retroperspective, you may very well be right. However, it's not obvious to me what I can expect from a potential reader in regards to pre existing understanding. It's not exclusive to me either to use mathematical terminology here. If philosophers are the target audience on phil- stackexchange, I believe many philosophers are familiar with modal logic and its world semantics, the only reference I made which is more specific to mathematics is that of lorentzian spacetime and dimensionality. Do you have a suggestion what I should explain further in this specific answer?


Save Java Applet Variable to Mysql

Question: Hi
I've done a lot of research on the best way to communicate between a java applet and MySql Database.
I have a tune player which I have students logging onto, it's a java applet with a speed slider. I want to save the speed that they play each tune at so it goes back to the same speed the next time they open that tune.
It seems I have a number of options, none of which seem very neat.

Use a javascript function to
periodically check the speed and
save it to a cookie, then each page
of the site would have to check
cookies relationg to each tune.
Make each link on the page call a
javascript function to check the
speed variable in the applet and add
it to a perameter in the url then
redirect so the next php page can
save the speed to a database. This
way when the user navigates away the
speed will be saved, but this won;t
work if the back button is used.

Is there a better way of doing this?
Comment: why use javascript when you can do the logic in the java applet code itself?
Answer: Use the JNLP API and the problems should be solved.
Since Java 1.6.0_10+, it is possible to use the Java Web Start API services (JNLP API) within an embedded applet.  The JNLP API provides the PersistenceService.  Here is a small demo. of the PersistenceService.
If the user hits the back button (or otherwise leaves the page), the destroy() method will be called.  Override the destroy method and persist the data at that time.
Answer: I'd suggest you get the applet to update the database. Whenever the speed slider changes you can fire off an update to the database, or you might need to coalesce multiple changes into one request depending on usage.
When the applet changes tune it can also do its own lookup of the correct speed.
Note that the applet will probably not be able to hit the database directly - browsers should restrict what I/O operations are available to applets - but you should be able to get the applet to hit a URL on the server that will actually perform the update. Signing the applet may let you hit the database but you should read up on the applet security model and the various browser quirks first.
Answer: It's not really clear how all of this is set up since you don't have a lot of details. However, assuming that you have an actual Java applet, I'd say the following:

If the Java applet requires a login (that is, it knows who the user is) then it can store the preference on the server.  To do this you could have the applet connect to the server using JDBC, which isn't generally a good idea for internet-facing applets, or you could have the applet send a message to a server process such as a web server.  That process connects to the mysql server.
The applet can communicate directly with the browser using Javascript. So you can have the applet set the cookie when the slider changes, instead of having the Javascript set it.
Answer: No need to use JavaScript.
The java code below posts variables to a PHP script on the web server then
shows the server response on the console
<code>private void post()
  throws MalformedURLException, IOException
{ URL url;
  URLConnection con;
  OutputStream oStream;
  String parametersAsString;
  byte[] parameterAsBytes;
  String aLine; // only if reading response

  parametersAsString = "msg=hi&to=memo";
  parameterAsBytes = parametersAsString.getBytes();
  // send parameters to server
  url = this.getCodeBase();
  url = new URL(url + "scriptfile.php");
  con = url.openConnection();
  con.setDoOutput(true);
// setDoInput(true); // only if reading response
  con.setDoInput(false);
  con.setRequestProperty("Content=length", String.valueOf(parameterAsBytes.length));
  oStream = con.getOutputStream();
  oStream.write(parameterAsBytes);
  oStream.flush();

 // read response from server & show the server response on the Java console or whatever ...
  BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(con.getInputStream()));
  aLine = in.readLine();
  while (aLine != null)
  { System.out.println(line);
    aLine = in.readLine();
  }
  in.close();

  oStream.close();
}
</code>
Comment: Thanks for your answer, this seemed the simplest option in the end. I pass the speed in as parameter to the applet, whenever the speed is changed I send a page request with the new speed toa php page.

Save Java Applet Variable to Mysql


I am trying to map R into the R, such that my map fixes some finite set of rational numbers and sends one element from R\Q into Q.

Question: I am not sure how to do this map. I don't know how I can place in particular that element that is in R/Q to R while still being an bijection.
Comment: Do you mean $\Bbb{R/Q}$ or $\Bbb{R\setminus Q}$?
Comment: Hi, I meant R\Q. Thanks
Answer: You can just use straight lines between the points.  Say you want to fix $0,1,2$ and send $\sqrt 2$ to $\frac 32$.  Then you have have
$$f(x)=\begin {cases} x & x \le 1 \\\\ 1+\frac {.5}{\sqrt 2-1}(x-1) & 1 \lt x \le \sqrt 2 \\\\ \frac 32+\frac {.5}{2-\sqrt 2}(x-\sqrt 2) & \sqrt 2 \lt x \le 2 \\\\x & x \gt 2\end {cases}$$


Discarded by Relativity

Question: Both the General & Special Relativity discarded Newtonian mechanics of absoluteness. According to Einstein's view, Time, Mass, Length and Space are interdependent. So, Did Relativity discarded only absoluteness in space and mentioned that all motions are relative... What else suffocated in Physics due to Relativity..?
Comment: "all are relative" is precisely the wrong way to think about relativity. One of the tenets of relativity theory is that "the laws of physics appear the same to all inertial observers"; one may argue from this that relativity postulates a _more absolute_ law of physics compared to the Newtonian version.
Answer: In short Newtonian mechanics with Galilean relativity allowed that all observer could agree on both

The spatial distance $\mathrm{d}r^2 = \mathrm{d}x^2 + \mathrm{d}y^2 + \mathrm{d}z^2$
The time difference $\mathrm{d}t$ between two events

Special relativity holds that neither of these differences are invariant, but that all inertial observers can agree on the interval $\mathrm{d}s^2 = c^2\mathrm{d}t^2 -\mathrm{d}x^2 - \mathrm{d}y^2 - \mathrm{d}z^2$ between two events.
General relativity complicates the matter more by inserting a possibly non-flat metric intro the calculation of the interval.
Comment: Basically, relativity simply replaces the absoluteness in Newtonian mechanics with a different kind of absoluteness. Relativity is a rather misleading name.
Comment: Relativity is a very misleading name.
Answer: With SR, the absoluteness of simultaneity was discarded, i.e., two events may have the same time coordinate in one inertial frame but not in relatively moving others.
In GR, where the geometry of a general spacetime evolves, the very notion of simultaneous is arbitrary.  From "Gravitation" by MTW:

In Newtonian theory or special relativity, one chooses hypersurfaces
  of constant time.  But in dynamic regions of curved spacetime, no
  naturally preferred time coordinate exists.  This situation forces one
  to make a totally arbitrary choice of hypersurfaces to use in
  visualizing the time-development of geometry, and to keep in mind how
  very arbitrary that choice was.
Answer: The assumption of absolute spacial references was easily disprovable even in Newton's time, from the fact that his laws of motion were preserved in inertial frames, making it impossible to state that something is objectively not moving. However, this pseudo-religious standpoint of Newton's fit in well with the then generally held belief of an absolute time reference, which was surely a more forgivable mistake due to the nearly imperceptible effect of time dilation in normal life. Another of Newton's prejudices was handed down to him through centuries of teachings in geometry, namely that the universe was entirely Euclidean. That this idea was inevitably to give way to general relativity echoes what relativity did to the idea of absolute space/time.

Discarded by Relativity


Kubuntu - Can't move/max/min windows

Question: All of a sudden it seems when ever I open a window on my Kubuntu (9.10) system, the windows dock in the upper left corner and can't be moved.  There is nor border on the windows, no min/max/close buttons in the upper right corner of the windows.  I tried opening a term window but it seems I can't type in the window.  Any ideas what might be causing this?
Answer: Loss of pointer focus and window decoration are clear symptoms for a kwin crash. Unlike other KDE applications, you will not get the crash manager.
If you still have the term window open, you can attempt to revive it by copying/pasting the characters k, w, i, n and a newline with the mouse. When it crashes again, you will see the reason in the terminal.
Answer: I see this too on a fresh install of Kubuntu 14.04.3 (current LTS).  Not a very flash start...
In this case at least it's an Intel graphics/Mesa problem.
As reported at the link below, a workaround is to disable OpenGL, via:
System Setting / Desktop effects / Advanced / Compositing type: XRender
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=185650

Kubuntu - Can't move/max/min windows


Token deploy on mainnet, create metadata custom program error: 0x4b

Question: We are trying to deploy our token (AIDS) on mainnet: https://explorer.solana.com/address/ExCgGC6CEegjjif7yqxpcreEaarb83K8YaXzmf3PRWAZ .
When we are trying to create metadata for this token, we call method: sendAndConfirmTransaction from @solana/web3.js - library and get the following error: SendTransactionError: failed to send transaction: Transaction simulation failed: Error processing Instruction 0: custom program error: 0x4b .
Can You help us understand what this error means and how to deal with it?"
Answer: If you're trying to create metadata using the metaplex token-metadata program, you can look at the error codes in the source.  0x4b corresponds to the number 75, which is the Removed error code: https://github.com/metaplex-foundation/mpl-token-metadata/blob/965b60860afdf5c73092563b83e534411d088327/programs/token-metadata/program/src/error.rs#L314C1-L314C160
This means the instruction you're trying to use has been removed, so you'll need to update the tools to use a newer instruction.


FontLab Studio and font editing

Question: I have this problem, how i can solve?
Answer: The general workflow is to open your existing fonts, save your working files as .vfb and export new OpenType fonts. There are quite a few potential issues you need to check for before doing this though.
I would suggest you read the manual in detail.
(And to be cynical, I'm not convinced that someone who would spend US$649 on an application of this complexity wouldn't have worked through this issue).
Comment: thanks! this "Font \l_tmpb_font has only 8 fontdimen parameters" error what could be caused?
Comment: No idea, sorry.
Comment: don't worry! the last thing, tell me if this workflow is right to exchange characters between the Asana Math and the Latin Modern Math Fonts. 1: open the .otf file in fontlab 2: copy the character from Asana Math that i want to exchange and paste it into the Latin Modern Math in the corresponding position, (on the same character but in the Latin Modern Math font) 3: save the modified font as .vbf file 4: open it in fontlab and using the generate font command generate the .otf file than rigth click on it and install.
Comment: Did you really spend US$649 on the software?

FontLab Studio and font editing


Using ChatGPT to format references in manuscript being submitted to peer-reviewed journal

Question: I have a list of references in a pre-print article that I'm getting ready to submit to a peer-reviewed journal. I will need to change the format of the references according to the journal that I submit to. I have used citation generators in the past, but that takes a lot of time. I am wondering if people have tips on how to format references with ChatGPT. In addition, I'd appreciate advice on whether I'll need to disclose my use of ChatGPT, and if yes, whether that might lead to the manuscript being perceived less favorably.
Comment: Interesting. Many (most?) reference managers will reformat as needed, and they might solve a number of other issues now and into your journal future.
Comment: Did you manually format the citations initially? In my experience, if you have your citations stored in a reference manager or library switching formats is a non-issue.
Comment: At this point the references are in an ms word document in Vancouver format. I didn't use reference management software. I entered them manually. Thanks for the advice.
Answer: In my experience using a reference manager, this is accomplished with one click or one command assuming the format is already available in the software; if not available, it's often downloadable in a template from the journal, and if even that isn't available then there are just a few more steps to create a format. With a long reference list it can take some time to process, but we're talking a couple seconds, nothing compared to the time it would take to check for errors that ChatGPT might introduce.
My advice would be not to do it, this is a task that is already solved well by multiple dedicated software packages; even among AI aficionados, this seems like a very low-opportunity area for the technology.
If you do choose to do it, you'll need to check that no errors were introduced in the process, which likely means checking each individual reference manually, and yes, you should disclose the use of ChatGPT for this purpose.
Answer: Assuming the references are currently in a format that cannot be processed by dedicated reference managing software, I think there are two ways that GPT could be helpful in getting them there:
a) Show GPT (some of) your references and ask it if it knows of some reference management software that can read them, and how to do it. It is possible that it knows a way that you don't.
b) Show GPT your references and ask it to write a piece of Python code that will parse that format and convert it to something a suitable reference manager can use.
Obviously, in both cases you should check that the results work. For pathway (a), if you have access to GPT-4, probably the version with web browsing will yield the best results. For (b), GPT-4 with the advanced data analysis plugin can likely do it directly (i.e. it can write the conversion code, run it in a sandbox, and give you the result), but I would expect you might have to iterate, depending on how easy your references are to parse mechanically.
With GPT-3.5, (a) is still worth a shot if you do not have any other ideas, since it will be easy to see if it suggests a tool and if that tool works.
In either case, your paper would not contain text generated by AI, so you should check the applicable policies of whatever journal you are submitting to, but I would think reasonable policies would not require such tool use to be disclosed any more than we disclose that Joe from Library Services at one point showed us how to use a reference manager.
Answer: I don't think this is something that has to be disclosed. Most people in academia use LaTex that automatically formats references for your depending on your commands (e.g. APA). I never seen anyone disclosing they are using LaTex to format references even if they do and I don't see chatGPT being different in this regard.
To do it just provide chatGPT with the information about paper X and then prompt it by saying "provide citation in APA style" or whatever style you want.
Comment: Another difference is that ChatGPT does not necessarily generate accurate contents (it will seamlessly create fake content) so you would have to check and likely fix everything that it produces, which is.. counter-productive at best, likely to generate mistakes and misinterpretations at worst.
Comment: I guess the difference is that a number of journals and publishers have sweeping policies dictating that use of AI tools must be disclosed; see [this set of examples](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/193895/17254).


filter / generalize elevation points on the basis of some conditions

Question: I wanted to generalize many elevation points in a rectangular area (about 700 square km).  I need to take about 3 points for square km. These points must satisfy some conditions:
One of these conditions is to find the highest point in a buffer of 500m: I would loop on all the points / "raster cell" (I think vector analysis will be too heavy, so I thought to do a "raster approach" creating an elevation grid from points) and give a score of "5" to the highest points / "raster cell" 500m around each.
I wanted to do it in an ArcGIS ModelBuilder flow.
Comment: Another solution could be:
1) create a polygon feature buffering the points (buffer radius = 500m)
2) select the highest point inside each buffer
Is it possible? How could I do?
Thanks in advance!
Paolo
Answer: The highest point within a 500 m radius is obtained by comparing its elevation to a 500 m circular neighborhood maximum based on the same elevation grid.  In pseudocode, this is
"elevation" >= FocalStatistics("elevation", NbrCircle(500, "MAP"), "MAXIMUM", "DATA")

The result is a boolean indicator grid whose true (1) cells designate such highest points.  This example covers a 5 by 6 km region, overlaying a hillshaded DEM (greens and yellow) with the result (in blue):
Comment: Thank you very much Whuber... and I'm sorry to thank you so late!
It worked fine!
Thanks again!
Paolo
Comment: Thanks very much for your precious help, but, I'm sorry... I'm really a newbie with Phyton scripts. Could you please suggest me how to "use" the pseudocode? Just an input....
I suppose I've to use it in an Arcgis "field calculator". I copyed and pasted the pseudocode in the "expression field" of the field calculator but I receive and error.
Thanks in advance for all!
Paolo
Comment: You asked for a model, so just use Modelbuilder to (1) compute focal stats and (2) compare the original grid to it.
Comment: Thanks very much Whuber!
I put the focal statistics tool in a flow and it worked (ArcGis 10.0)! but...
the "focal statistics grid" I got is not a boolean indicator grid (with true (1) = cells with highest points) but another elevation grid with a cellsize = buffer size
(NbrCircle(500, "MAP") = 500m) and cell value = height value. I need the cellsize remains of the original size (5m), and cell value indicates me the highest pixel inside each single buffer.
I can't understand what's wrong...
Thanks in advance for your help!
Paolo
Comment: That's correct: the focal max returns maximum elevations. It seems you have forgotten to compare that to the original elevation grid: the comparison returns boolean values only.
Comment: @Paolo You should mark this as the answer it sounds like.


QueryFirst fails using Dapper

Question: I'm using Dapper and I'm calling QueryFirst method that returns the following error:

ERROR [42000] [Microsoft][SQL Server Native Client 10.0][SQL
  Server]Must declare the scalar variable \"@NombreDivision\

    public static int GetSegmentoDivision(string division)
    {
        int res = -1;

        try
        {
            string query = "SELECT [SEGMENTID]  FROM [ACCESSCONTROL].[dbo].[SEGMENT] WHERE [NAME] = (SELECT SEGMENTO FROM M4_DIVISION_SEGMENTO WHERE DIVISION = @NombreDivision)";

            res = _odbc.QueryFirst<int>(query, new { NombreDivision = division });
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            LogHelper.Log(ex.ToString());
        }

        return res;
    }

I cannot find what is it that I´m doing wrong. I even have other similar queries that are working. Can anyone help me out with this one?.
Thanks.
EDIT: I´m using OdbcConnection not sure if that helps.
Answer: I already found the problem. It seems that OdbcConnection does not accept parametrized queries using '@' for preceding the parameters. Instead you have to use '?'. And then send the parameters in the strict same order as they are expected to be replaced on the string.
The solution I found was to send the value right into the query. This is nor reccomended tho. But in my case I just control all the flow of the application so this solution was not Sql Injection vulnerable.
More information:
https://stackoverflow.com/a/16481004/637840
https://stackoverflow.com/a/43651335/637840

QueryFirst fails using Dapper


Origin of the surname Bargfleth

Question: What do Barg and Fleth mean when put together? This is a family name of mine and I'm trying to trace it. There is a place called Barg in either northern Germany or southern Denmark and Fleth I'm a little more vague on.
Comment: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fleet
Comment: And there is the ship type: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barge
Comment: For "Barg/Bjerg" i only found it as a district https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barg in Schleswig-Flensburg (in Schlewsig-Holstein/Germany)
Comment: Könnte _Fleth_ etwas mit Kanälen zu tun haben, wie in Hamburg, wo diese _Fleet_ heißen?
Comment: @Martin Peters: Laut dem von mir verlinkten WP-Artikel ist die einheitliche Hamburger Schreibweise jung.
Answer: This is one of the instances where English and northern German languages show their relation:
A fleet is a saline waterway, channel or inlet, literally meaning "something that flows" - the spelling varies a bit over time, but is recognizable. "Fleth" instead of "fleet" isn't far off. Especially 'h' often sort of a appears/disappears over time in many words. A few today examples are the "Fleet" in Hamburg, the river Fleet in London and various villages in England that are located along marshy waterways by the same name.
Fleets sometimes were used for the transport of goods, a kind of natural equivalent to artificial channels. Especially in Hamburg, they are one of the important mehods of accessing the warehouses build along them and still a landmark today.
On these channels or fleets the typical vessel was a flat-bottomed boat, often without own engine, that was pulled or pushed along: A barge or Barg (German).
And of course a number of ships are called a fleet again.
So Bargfleet could either be:

a fleet (=multiples) of barges or
a navigable waterway
Comment: These were some of the possibilities I had been mulling over in my mind.  I was just worried that there might have been something I was either overlooking or a nuance of the language I didn't know about.  Thank you all.

Origin of the surname Bargfleth


Word for benevolence but with a desire to also be self servingly sadistic

Question: Is there a singular adjective or noun in English to describe a leader or ruler, who is both benevolent but also enjoys seeing their subjects suffer?  I. E.  In a video game like "The Sims", the player not only enjoys making the sims happy, but also enjoys the game as circumstances make life hard/bad for the sims.  I want to find a word that describes a person or being that enjoys the suffering as much as the joy when observing it from an outside perspective?
Comment: This sounds to me like an idea that requires more than one word to convey, at least in English.
Answer: How about ambivalent:

having or showing simultaneous and contradictory attitudes or feelings toward something or someone
Americans are deeply ambivalent about the country's foreign role. Isolationist yearnings coexist uneasily with superpower policies

[MW]
Answer:
Despot
A ruler or other person who holds absolute power, typically one who exercises it in a cruel or oppressive way.

or

Autocrat
an absolute ruler, especially a monarch who holds and exercises the powers of government as by inherent right, not subject to restrictions.
  a person invested with or claiming to exercise absolute authority.
  a person who behaves in an authoritarian manner; a domineering person.


Changing CiviCRM events partcipant status

Question: After all good things said about civicrm my question is: Is it any possibility to allow participant after an event registration to change status or other information related to that event?
I'm using drupal and civicrm.
Help will be appreciate.
Tanks
Comment: Hi 7480 (do you have a name?) - update your Q with your CMS, eg if using Drupal then a webform can do the above I expect, also in WP perhaps Caldera can
Comment: Hello thanks for repliying i've updated my question i'm using drupal. and civicrm
Answer: Normally it would be a civicrm user/ administrator that would update participant details after an event. (Rather than the participant themselves).
As Pete said you can configure a Drupal Webform to update participation details.
The answers to this question How do I get Retrospective feedback for an event using a Webform (participant Custom Data)?
Shows how someone else has configured a webform, and the webform url (including event id and contact id) for use in a schedued reminder.
Comment: Yes i have permission to create and edit webform content.I've cleaned all caches thanks.
Comment: finally have a solution with webform. thanks
Comment: Hello Craig thanks for replying. Yor answer seams very usefull i was trying it but faced another weird thing: My webform is not showing civicrm tab. Do you have any idea what can cause this behaviour. Webform civicrm integration is well installed in my application. thanks
Comment: Can you check you have the drupal permission to create/ edit webform content?

Also in the webform permissions do you have the following permission:
Content authors: access and edit webform components and settings

If the answer is yes, to all these- I'm stumped- perhaps try clearing drupal and civicrm caches?


Can someone explain Rule 110 in the simplest way possible?

Question: I can't wrap my head around what the Wikipedia article or the answer here say.
Can someone explain Rule 110 in simple terms? How does it guarantee Turing completeness?
Comment: This is a great question and I'd love to hear the answer, but I think it's a better fit for cs.stackexchange.com.
Comment: Are you just asking how encoding Rule 110 shows that it's turing complete (that's easy if you are willing to just *accept* that rule 110 is turing-complete on its own)? Or are you interested in the proof that rule 110 is turing-complete?
Comment: @delnan I'm trying to get an explanation of Rule 110 in layman's terms. I don't think the question is off-topic considering there have been questions about it before, here on SO.
Comment: Yes, your question is interesting.  Can I ask: do you understand what Rule 110 actually does?  The wikipedia article explains this, very briefly admittedly.
Answer: My attempt at a succinct, layman's terms explanation:

Rule 110 is an elementary cellular automaton: a rule for transforming a finite pattern of 1's and 0's into another pattern of 1's and 0's.
When Rule 110 is iteratively applied on certain input bit sequences, patterns emerge depending on sub-sequences found in the input bits.  Given enough iterations, the following can happen:

The original sub-sequence appears in the same location as in the original input.
The original sub-sequence is preserved but 'moves' to a different location in the bitfield.
Two sub-sequences moving toward each other interact and 'pass through' each other.
Two sub-sequences combine to create a new sub-sequence.

Different sub-sequences can be given symbolic meaning like '1', '0', 'clock pulse', or 'production rule' that correspond to the elements of a cyclic tag system.
With many iterations of Rule 110 on a carefully constructed input bitfield, the interaction of the sub-sequences simulates the behavior of a cyclic tag system.
A cyclic tag system can be used to simulate a universal Turing machine.  Thus a cyclic tag system is Turing-complete.
Since Rule 110 can simulate a cyclic tag system, it too is Turing-complete.
Answer: I'll have a go at elaborating: I don't think you are looking for more details of the proof which is already quite complex in the article, although it clearly omits many details.
To quote from the article you cite: "In an elementary cellular automaton, a one-dimensional pattern of 0's and 1's evolves according to a simple set of rules. Whether a point in the pattern will be 0 or 1 depends in the new generation on its current value, as well of that of its two neighbors. The Rule 110 automaton has the following set of rules..." (see the wikipedia table that follows)
The starting point, which you can view as the data, but which can be taken as a representation of code (representing code as data is necessary for any proof of Turing-completeness; this goes back to Turing's original results), is a sequence of 0's and 1's, often, but not necessarily, surrounded on both sides by cells containing just 0.  Rule 110 shows how that sequence evolves. For instance, if there is a pattern of 3 1's in one row, the middle 1 will "die" (turn into a 0) in the next row.  What happens to its two neighbours depends on how the pattern extends beyond them. The triangular diagrams you see are a graphical representation of the evolution of the automaton from the original state, coding 1 as black and 0 as white and representing evolution from above to below.  The initial state is often very short in length to show how very complex patterns can evolve from simple initial states.
Two unusual features of the proof of Turing completeness are that, firstly, it looks highly unlikely that such a very simple rule could do everything your favourite programming language could do, and secondly, which makes the first fact rather less amazing, is that the proof requires an infinitely long repeating background on which to work its magic.  I cannot see anything fundamentally dishonest about this though; no more so than assuming a potentially infinite or semi-infinite blank tape, as Turing originally did.
To understand the proof properly you would need to get to grips with how data (and later, code) is encoded in the starting pattern, and it also looks as if familiarity with cyclic tag systems would help enormously.  I'm not the person to explain those.
Although it may seem harder to understand the situation with a 2-D cellular automaton, such as Conway's "Game of Life", I found it instructive to play with that game, studying "gliders", "glider guns" and "puffer trains" and other amusing constructions. (A puffer train constructs glider guns and a glider gun fires gliders). These can be used to establish Turing-completeness for this automaton as well.
You may also find the talk page informative (you are not alone in not grasping the point, see the entry beginning "the pictures don't make any sense to me..").
Comment: Also you can experiment with 1-D and 2-D cellular automata using [Golly](http://golly.sourceforge.net/).  One of the examples provided is a Turing machine simulation using the Life 2-D automaton.
Comment: There's a nice [page at Wolfram Mathworld](http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Rule110.html) clarifying rule 110.
Comment: Nice answer. I understand what the rules actually mean now, but still can't correlate to the CSS3 [jsfiddle](http://jsfiddle.net/Camilo/eQyBa/) here. How is this exhibiting Rule 110?
Comment: You can click on the array of checkboxes (e.g. on the first row) and it shows the fate of your clicked cell in the next row, in orange.  Click on an orange cell and it shows its fate on the next row.  Once all orange cells in a row have been clicked, that's the true state of that row according to Rule 110, based on the previous row.  I don't know how exactly this is supposed to show Turing completeness of CSS3 but presumably this manual process of computing can also be automated in CSS3. I also don't know how the array of checkboxes can be automatically extended when necessary.
Comment: Oh, that does make sense. However, the automation cannot be done in CSS, meaning it isn't actually turing complete?
Comment: The authors claim it can be!  But I am not saying they are wrong: I don't know.
Comment: @AnirudhRamanathan It counts, because you are not computing anything when you select the cells the CSS tells you to select. You are just acting as a power source, and it is not "fundamentally dishonest" because the CSS is doing all the thinking. In the same way, a Turing machine would need an unlimited amount of energy to move the tape, and the [PPTTM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNjxe8ShM-8) also uses mindless user clicking as a power source.
Answer: In 1970 John Conway has invented Game of Life.
Ever since, I think almost every programmer tried to write its implementation - I certainly did long time ago, and it was a lot of fun.
This game is actually cellular automaton, which sets simple rules between generations of cells in infinite 2-dimensional plane. For example, if in current generation cell has less than 2 neighbors alive (bit value 1), then it should die in next generation of loneliness. If it has more than 3 neighbors alive, it should die of overcrowding. If empty (bit value 0, or dead) cell has exactly 3 neighbors, it will cause it to be born (become 1).
Since then, it was found that Game of Life is surprisingly complex - it can generate a lot of very complex patterns that continue to evolve. Also, it was shown that it is Turing-complete, that is, you can encode arbitrarily complex algorithms using starting cell combination as a program, and final combination as a result. However, it took few years to find how to actually generate complicated forms, like gliders or guns.
Now back to what rule 110 is. Simply put, rule 110 is one-dimensional variation of Game of Life.
110 is just a decimal number representation of binary string 01101110 which is short form of rule system of how current generation of cells (bits) will be translated into next one, similar to Game of Life's rule system of cells dying of loneliness or overcrowding and being born of having exactly three neighbors.
Much like Game of Life, it has been proven that rule 110 is Turing-complete. You can encode arbitrarily complex algorithm using starting cells (bits) combination as your program, and final bits combination as a result.
Answer: An implementation in python:
(Be adviced: actual python programmers would kill you for this)
import time

seed = raw_input("Feed me a string! (At least 3 characters long please)\n>")

lastline = '>'
iterator = 0

while (iterator<len(seed)):
    temp = (ord(seed[iterator]))%2
    if (temp == 1):
        lastline += '#'
    else:
        lastline += ' '
    iterator += 1

stop = 0
while (stop != 1): #Keep printing as long as CTRL-C isn't pressed
    #dummy = raw_input(lastline)
    print lastline
    iterator = 0
    nextline = '>'

    while (iterator<len(seed)):    #Convert entire string

        if (len(seed) < 3): # if wrong
            print "You had ONE JOB!"
            stop = 1

        elif (iterator == 0): # if at start
            if (lastline[1] == ' '):
                nextline += ' '
            else:
                nextline += '#'

        elif (iterator+1 == len(seed)): # if at end
            if (lastline[iterator+1] == ' '):
                nextline += ' '
            else:
                nextline += '#'

        else: #if in middle
            if (lastline[iterator] == '#' and lastline[iterator+1] == '#' and lastline[iterator+2] == '#'): #111
                nextline += ' '
            elif (lastline[iterator] == '#' and lastline[iterator+1] == '#' and lastline[iterator+2] == ' '): #110
                nextline += '#'
            elif (lastline[iterator] == '#' and lastline[iterator+1] == ' ' and lastline[iterator+2] == '#'): #101
                nextline += '#'
            elif (lastline[iterator] == '#' and lastline[iterator+1] == ' ' and lastline[iterator+2] == ' '): #100
                nextline += ' '
            elif (lastline[iterator] == ' ' and lastline[iterator+1] == '#' and lastline[iterator+2] == '#'): #011
                nextline += '#'
            elif (lastline[iterator] == ' ' and lastline[iterator+1] == '#' and lastline[iterator+2] == ' '): #010
                nextline += '#'
            elif (lastline[iterator] == ' ' and lastline[iterator+1] == ' ' and lastline[iterator+2] == '#'): #001
                nextline += '#'
            else: # (lastline[iterator-1] == ' ' and lastline[iterator] == ' ' and lastline[iterator+1] == ' '): #000
                nextline += ' '

        iterator += 1

    lastline = nextline
    time.sleep(0.02)


8051 Microcontroller & Oscillator

Question: What should be the potential drop across the Oscillator? I am facing a problem that a simple flashing program also does not work. I checked Oscillator pin and found out that the potential drop across these pins is 2.17 VDC. The Microcontroller has 5VDC. What does this 2.17VDC indicate? Does it mean Oscillator is not working?
Comment: If the oscillator is working and you connect a voltmeter to the oscillator pins then it will probably stop oscillating.  It will probably start again when you remove the voltmeter probes, but may not (cycle power to restart.)
Comment: The clock is 'probably' working since your meter is showing something near half Vdd. You need to put an oscilloscope probe on the oscillator output pin to tell for sure.
Comment: Are you able to download your program? If so, then your osci is correct
Answer:
What does this 2.17VDC indicate? Does it mean Oscillator is not
  working?

The diagram below shows a simple inverter powered from a 9V supply. It shows the gate voltage being raised from a little below half supply to a little above half supply: -

The output changes from about 9V down to about 1V i.e. this is an inverter and quite often features in the heart of a CMOS oscillator. The gain of the circuit is about -18.8 (at the centre area) and, if there was a high value resistor placed from input to output, negative feedback would ensure that the voltage on the input and output settled at around 4.5 volts (half rail).
If this inverter were on a 5V rail the inputs and outputs would settle at about 2.5 volts. Next apply a XTAL and capacitors around this device and you get an oscillator.
Use a multimeter on either input or output and you'll measure the average voltage on those pins i.e. the standing DC voltage. Your meter won't see the high frequency oscillations because it measures DC. If you tried your meter on AC it probably wouldn't work any better because the meter just won't work at several MHz.
I would estimate that your oscillator is working fine based on your crude DC measurement - it certainly give me no cause for concern.

8051 Microcontroller & Oscillator


Does the "Find" in questions such as "Find the solution" imply the process of finding must be laid out?

Question: I am currently marking a set of math assignment at university, and I am wondering about the following general point: in a question such as "Find the solutions to the equation $x^2 - 3 = 0$", does the term "find" in and of itself imply that the reasoning that led to finding the solution must be laid out as part of a perfect answer? I.e. does the phrasing of the question imply that $x = \pm\sqrt{3}$ is insufficient to completely and appropriately solve the problem at hand?
Comment: What you're asking should be included in your grading instructions, which should include what work needs to be shown, what is partial credit to be based on, what to do with a correct final answer in which their prior work is incorrect in a major way but their work still results in the correct answer (i.e. they should be getting $4$ by adding $2$ and $2,$ but their work shows that they got $4$ by multiplying $2$ and $2),$ etc.
Comment: It's ambiguous and I think the instructor should be asked to clarify if work should be shown.
Comment: In and of itself, "find" does not imply that the reasoning needs to be shown. Of course, in the context of a class in which the instructor has announced general rules about such matters, the situation might be quite different, but that's not what you asked about.
Comment: I own [this exact same shirt](https://1ba238b114016b166035-0faff6120e10ee25937ffc06d7ea86b0.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/product-hugerect-2889832-74925-1552988206-49d28a7c97ae6d42d60c3b9591bcf464.552988207_type_hugerect_nid_2889832_uid_74925_0), and a year ago I wore it (for the first few minutes, over my other "dress shirt") at the beginning of one of several item writer workshop segments I gave for a company that I do math/quant contract work with, for a couple of graduate/professional high stakes tests. That particular segment was on the importance of being aware of possible misinterpretations.
Comment: What does the grading scheme that the lecturer gave you say about that?
Comment: @Polygnome None given, unfortunately
Answer:
does the term "find" in and of itself imply that the reasoning that led to finding the solution must be laid out as part of a perfect answer

No, definitely not.
The conventions for what's expected in an answer very wildly across individual schools, classes, and professors.  No single word or phrase is going to convey what's expected of students dealing with a new assignment; if you want particular information included in the answers, students need to be told that explicitly.
Comment: Oi... I started writing an answer before going to teach, then came back to finish it.  After posting, I see that we both used the same phrase "no single word or phrase..."  Great minds?  (+1)
Answer:
Does the "Find" in questions such as "Find the solution" imply the process of finding must be laid out?

No.  No single word or phrase is ever going to convey the idea that a student should solve the problem and explain the solution process in some particular level of detail.  An entirely appropriate response to "Find all solutions to [equation]" is "Okay, I found all of the solutions.  Now what?"  Alternatively:

You cannot, therefore, rely on a single word or phrase to convey your intentions.  Rather, you must establish expectations, both early and often.  Such expectations should become part of the culture of the class.
If you expect students to "show their work," tell them so.  Start early in the term by giving examples of correctly written solutions, and non-examples of poor solutions.  Mark formative assessments with a critical eye, and point out anywhere that steps you consider vital are skipped.  When giving formative assessments, include language which clearly communicates to the students what the expectation is.
For example, in a precalculus course which I have taught multiple times, students are told over and over again that they must show how they arrived at a solution, but that they are not required to simplify.  The syllabus for that course (which is very nearly a textbook) contains hundreds of problems, about a third of which have completely worked out solutions in the style expected on exams.  Prior to each exam, the students are given a sample exam—significant numbers of office hours and a small amount of class time are devoted to working through those problems, including how they should be written up.  Finally, every exam contains an instruction of the form

You must justify your answers—describe the process which leads to your solution.  You will not receive credit for correct answers if insufficient work is shown.  You will not lose points for correct statements (even if they are not relevant to the problem), so while keeping argument simple is a valuable skill, it is a good idea to err on the side of writing more, rather than less, on this exam.  You do not need to simplify your results.
Answer: I think instead of trying to get some legalistic interpretation of the words (that will apply to all classes/instructors), you have to look at the individual teacher/class expectations.
For instance, it is understood on AP tests, that the questions are "essay questions".  So find the general solution for y'' + 2y' + y = 25x requires a solution that shows the method.
Another example is Navy Nuclear Power School, where the acronym "NWNC" stood for "no work, no credit".  All it takes is a couple marking of that, to drive the requested behavior.
I think in general, most teachers and classes require that students show the process for getting the answer.  (For the legalistic pedants...Yes, and more than guessing.  Yes, more than plugging the answer back in and showing it works.)
But in any case, the way to resolve this is to ask the instructor what he expects.  Then mark versus that expectation.  There's no way we can anticipate every instructor's quirks.  Nor any reason to think that every instructor wants cats skinned in the same fashion.
P.s.  And yes, it is a judgment call what is a complete answer.  And yes, it is more work to have to look at different methods (by the student) to answer a given question,  So?  This is how the normal, non-Euclidean world works.  Not everything is an exact equation, when doing complex practical tasks, like grading.
Comment: Thank you for your comment -- although I'm taken aback by your somewhat passive aggressive post scriptum. I never insinuated that I wanted to make my grading work as simple as possible.


How can I add language for spell checking in Windows 10 (IE in particular) without adding another input language?

Question: I want to keep only one English keyboard layout (US keyboard) but need spell checkers for English (United States) and English (Australia), probably English (United Kingdom) as well. When I added all flavors I end up with multiple entries for US keyboard layouts (this is what I use for all English types) in my list for input keyboards that mess up this list. I switch between other non-English languages and don't need this list to be any bigger than number of languages I use by merely increasing occurrences of same keyboard layout (or unneeded layouts).
Answer: In previous versions of Windows(95/98) long time ago I used a global spell checker called Tequita or something like that. That stop being compatible with newer Windows.
They were not that efficient.
Later the spell checkers started going by application like MS Office, Browsers and more. Being add-ons, plug-ins or settings.
In the case of IE, I am aware of Speckie(free for personal use) being an add-on for that browser(read the compatibility info. on their download page):
https://www.speckie.com/dload
In the case of other browsers like Chrome is a setting in this page:
chrome://settings/?search=lang
In the Case of Firefox is an ad-on or extension depending on the version. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-do-i-use-firefox-spell-checker
In the case of MS Office, in prior versions was included in the installers. More on the newer versions below:
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/add-or-edit-words-in-a-spell-check-dictionary-56e5c373-29f8-4d11-baf6-87151725c0dc
On Windows 10, whenever you're typing on the web using Microsoft Edge, or an app like Mail or OneNote (mobile), they use the Windows Language.
You can add or modify to the Default Diccionary as per this link below:
https://www.windowscentral.com/how-edit-custom-spell-check-dictionary-windows-10
As per prior Superuser link here: How to change spell check language in Microsoft Edge
Microsoft Edge does not support multiple spell-check dictionaries that are switchable on-the-fly. You need to change the keyboard language for that and also restart the browser, which is sort of useless as most people only have one connected keyboard.
This is a common complaint which Microsoft simply fails to understand, not understanding at all the needs of users dealing with multiple languages in their daily life.
Until Microsoft does something about this lack, the only solution is to use another browser.
More on that here:
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/edge/forum/all/how-do-i-change-microsoft-edges-dictionary/532034ce-c839-4b42-80ac-9b320c16bd12?page=3
As stated, goes by application. Some of us that use different Languages and/or Dictionaries want this to be simple, but as you can see is not.
I hope this somehow helps,
Ramon
Answer: Please see section D in this Microsoft page:
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/ie/forum/ie11-iewindows_10/spelling-correction-and-checking-in-internet/a1321c59-3623-49a2-8fce-388ecc2cb057
In Win 10 the spelling is built-in to Windows 10 rather than just the browsers.
Comment: My question is exactly on Windows. IE is provided as a clarifying reference. The link you posted does not have an an answer to how I can add a language to spell checker without adding extra keyboard layout.


How does region proposal network (RPN) and R-CNN works?

Question: I would like to know where I could find useful articles/papers about the basic concepts of RPN and R-CNN.
Answer: There are many articles and papers that cover the basic concepts of RPN and R-CNN. Here are a few sources that you may find useful:

The original RPN and R-CNN papers by Girshick et al. provide a detailed description of the algorithms and their performance on various object detection tasks:

Girshick, R., Donahue, J., Darrell, T., & Malik, J. (2014). Rich feature hierarchies for accurate object detection and semantic segmentation. In Proceedings of the IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (pp. 580-587).
Girshick, R., Iandola, F., Darrell, T., & Malik, J. (2015). Fast R-CNN. In Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Computer Vision (pp. 1440-1448).

The official TensorFlow Object Detection API tutorial provides a high-level overview of RPN and R-CNN, along with code examples and implementation details.

The blog post Object detection with R-CNN by Kaiming He provides a brief but informative introduction to R-CNN and its applications in object detection:

The paper R-CNN, Fast R-CNN, and Faster R-CNN Explained by Yuxin Wu provides a comprehensive review of the RPN and R-CNN algorithms, including their evolution and performance on various benchmarks.

A blog post by Adrian Rosebrock that provides a high-level overview of RPN and R-CNN.

In general, RPN and R-CNN are used in object detection systems to generate high-quality region proposals and then classify those proposals using a convolutional neural network. RPN uses a sliding window approach to generate region proposals, while R-CNN uses a region proposal network to generate proposals and then applies a convolutional neural network to classify them. Both approaches have been shown to be effective for object detection tasks.
These resources should provide a good starting point for understanding the basic concepts of RPN and R-CNN.


Managing Director in a School below university level

Question: Is the title, "managing director" used in American or European nonprofit organizations, specifically in elementary or high schools? And if so, does that person stand below, equal to or above the principal?
Answer: In Britain, most independent schools and some state schools have a bursar, whose remit is the finances rather than the educational side. Whether the bursar is senior to the head is a very thorny question; in theory they are both supreme in their own sphere, and the spheres do not intersect. Wise school governors do not press the point.
Answer: Managing director is not a common title for a school official in the United States, though it does exist.
In a traditional public school (i.e. government-funded and government-managed), the principal is both the chief administrative and chief pedagogical official, and usually overseen by the superintendent of schools (or simply superintendent for short) who is the chief executive for the school district, hired by the school board.
There is considerable variation outside of this model: there are all manner of charter schools (government-funded, independently managed), parochial schools (church-funded, church-managed or independently managed), and various other non-profit and for-profit private schools. The head of such a school may be a principal but headmaster or headmistress is not uncommon, after the British fashion.
In a parochial school, oversight of the head may lie in the ecclesiastical hierarchy, e.g. a pastor will have ultimate oversight over a parochial school, or a Catholic diocese or religious order may appoint a commissioner or superintendent for their schools. Otherwise, like other private schools and charter schools, the school is commonly overseen by a board whose members may be known as directors, trustees, rectors, governors, and so on.
Where a member of that board possesses executive powers and duties, he or she may be known as the managing director or executive director, and may be analogous to a superintendent. In an independent private school, particularly, educational/pedagogical and administrative/financial functions may be split, with the latter being a managing director or executive director, but also president or other titles. I attended a high school operated by a Catholic religious institute; we had both a principal and a president.
I would not say that school director, managing director, or executive director are common. A web search turns it up mostly in charter school networks and in newer, non-sectarian private school systems, whether non-profit or for-profit. I surmise they choose that title over superintendent or commissioner specifically because it is nontraditional and exudes a business-oriented or technocratic approach to education. Parents dissatisfied with traditional public schools and considering other options might find that appealing.
Answer: For most US school systems there is a School Board then Superintendent then Directors (can use "managing" descriptor) then Principals then Assistant Principals and so on.


Microsoft Master Data Services - When to utilize?

Question: I'm wondering if anyone is currently utilizing Microsoft's Master Data Services? How you are utilizing it? Whether you find it useful? When you believe it would be useful? Thanks!
Answer: I have been working with MDS since it was first released as part of a feature pack for SQL Server 2008 R2.  While MDS has some compelling features - most notably detailed data lineage, I am not confident in recommending it to clients yet.
My reason for this hesitation is the nature of the install and the tendendency to fail on upgrade or system change.  I struggled mightily with the both the SQL Server 2012 RC0 MDS and the RTM installs.  There are simply too many brittle aspects of the install (such as the hard requirement that the service be installed on a domain-joined machine and the need to install the Silverlight 5.0 SDK for the client to work properly).  I also experienced flakiness in the the Excel add-in.
I see where Microsoft is going and I think the product will eventually be useful.  Considering it's purpose (master data repository), MDS must be more 'rock solid' before I would use it in production.
Answer: We aren't using it currently in our office, however the presentation Microsoft did in town a while back seemed very interesting.  I saw it as sort of a competitor to Oracle's OBAW warehouse.  You've probably already looked at these, but Microsoft has a decent set of webcasts that cover how to install and use MDS out here:
http://www.msdev.com/Directory/SeriesDescription.aspx?CourseId=155
I'm anxious to see if anyone else is using it as well, we tend to have a hard time talking our management into letting us try these types of services without being able to point to other corporations that have successfully implemented said product.
Comment: crosan, one place to start looking for others who have used MDS (or indeed other Microsoft tech) is http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/default.aspx. Looking for "master data services" brings up close to 19 results. Of course, these are only the large publicly documented implementations. There are probably loads of small department level MDS implementations out there.
Answer: We're just starting to investigate the use of MDS to support our consulting practice, specifically around data analytics and ETLs to deduplicate, standardize, and sanitize client data. It's probably just scratching the surface of MDS, but we were led to MDS initially for its inclusion of regular expression capabilities in SQL to transform free-form text data.
Answer: Before MDS/DQS, part of the sustainability / enduring-success of a custom database application was heavily dependent on one or both of the following items...

Having a full-time technical resource to manually update the master data.  Someone who can work with the Business Experts and make the necessary adjustments to the data in the database.
Developing (in addition to the database/application/etc) a custom UI that is intuitive enough for the less-technical Business Experts to use for managing the master data themselves.

Neither of these were ideal from a cost-perspective.  With MDS/DQS, a developer/contractor can come in, design an end-to-end Data Warehouse/BI solution including full integration with DQS/MDS (probably via SSIS packages) with relative ease.  The Business-Experts can be trained to manage the master data using a UI they are already very familiar with (ex. Excel), and the developer/contractor can move on to the next project/client.
Also, if the business already has other data sources (via acquisitions or silo'd-yet-overlapping efforts or whatever), MDS can be used to manage all the master data in one centralized location.
Comment: I am still evaluating MDS, but the idea, that an MDS will help to manage a Data Warehouse solution, I currently do not see anymore. I see the opposite:
MDS is getting its data usually by an SSIS process in the end and an SSIS process is what it takes after the MDS to create a dimensional model to do BI analysis on it. This means if the original data source (model) changes, a non IT-Guy may change the MDS model, but never the two SSIS processes that are used.
So as long, your data source are not just manually handled excel imports, the data quality service (DQS) is helpful but not the MDS.
Comment: yes, i like the way you phrased that... the DW utilizes/feeds from MDS during the dimension load processes.

i think the main point I was trying to make is that MDS/DQS come with an excel plugin that allows the non-technical users to manage the (master) data and (data quality) rules.

From a high-level, there are several approaches to MDM (MD management) solutions... use it to clean up the source systems that feed the DW and other downstream systems... or use it to clean the data once it leaves the source systems on its way to the DW and downstream systems.
Answer: It might not be the best MDS product available yet however it does come with SQL Server. Compared to most of the bespoke efforts for accommodating meta-data or master data in warehouse loads it's a pretty good option since most of the time is spent concentrating on the warehouse and the mastering of ancillary or other data isn't normally well accommodated for leaving questionable results. I prefer to use it than create some other flaky option that the customers will find it difficult to maintain. If you have budget however I would consider looking around for something more polished.
Like anything though give master data the respect it deserves. If it is going to be used then it's worth spending the time to model the entities, flow of data and usage correctly. The data stewards will need to savvy and will require training (it's not the most usable interface in the world - to say the least).
Answer: As we are a small consulting and development company we don't use MDS internally but we do implement it at customers with a focus on managing the Golden Record as the customers have a myriad of databases and applications all using the same data (customer, product …)
I agree with Lynn Langit's comment about installation and SilverLight dependency and the general comments about the UI. There are also a lot of smaller companies that don't run SQL Enterprise Edition but whom could benefit from MDS.
Those are the reasons why we are now developing a modern web application which we will host for our customers (probably on Azure).
If you're thinking about MDS I'd recommend to have a look at the API to replace (parts) of the UI.
Answer: Master Data Service is very useful for managing Master Data,
We have used Master Data Services 2012 and 2016, there are not too many features present in 2012 ,2016 is much better than 2012 with some new features , but I think still Microsoft needs to improve Master Data Services, they should include some flexibility in business rule's area.


How to inflate a tire with a Presta valve?

Question: My new bike has these thin tires with a type of valve I haven't usedbefore. I searched online and found out it's called a Presta valve, and it's pretty common and popular. I'm finding it annoying and fiddly and don't know how to use it properly. I have a floor pump, and I know the valves and pump are fine, because the guy in the shop had no trouble using the same one. But after reading online and watching YouTube videos I still can't figure out how to do it properly!
Here's what I'm trying:

Rotate wheel so that the pump can comfortably reach the valve (guides online say the valve should be at 12 o'clock position, but I can't do that because the hose on the pump isn't long enough)
Remove valve cap, unscrew thingy in valve, and tap it a little - a jet of air shoots out. OK.
Push pump onto valve. This is where I get into trouble...

I can't seem to get the attachment onto the valve in the right way. I'm pushing it on with the elbow lever thingy down, and then pulling the lever up as you can see in the pictures, to make the attachment grip onto the valve.
Now, either it flops around loose and leaks air out the sides (when I push it on gently), or sometimes it goes on but then the tire doesn't seem to inflate any, the pump just gets stiff really quickly as if the valve was blocked - then I remove the attachment and it goes pffffft like all the pressure was just backed up in the hose and not actually going into the tire.
I was able to pump up the tire eventually, but it took me about an hour of stuffing around and my "project manager" got angry, because I was supposed to be in the kitchen making her a salad, not mucking around in the garage.
The time I got it on properly I had to deflate the tire completely, and even then it was difficult because with the tire completely deflated the stem of the valve just pushed into the rim. Surely this is not normal? What's the trick of attaching the darned thing?
Also, how can I just check the pressure? When I attach the thing I expect the guage to jump up and show me what pressure it's at, but it just stays at 0.  The tires say on the side to inflate to 110 psi (7.5 atm), but my pump only goes up to 100.
Comment: I always put the valve at 6 o'clock (closest to the floor) when filling.  That way when you push the pump head onto the valve, the bike doesn't go anywhere. With my pump, I have to get the valve quite deep into the head and it's difficult to do this in any position other than having the valve at the floor.
Comment: Looking at the picture, it seems you may not have enough of the stem protruding to actually connect it properly to the pump head. I have similar rims on one of my bikes, and I ended up getting a valve adapter as @Zippy mentioned below instead of buying longer stems, as they cost more than the shorter stems, and the adapters are quite cheap anyway (75 cents at my local bike store).
Comment: @kibbee - I like the stem high, so I don't need to bend over as far.  But I don't have aero rims.
Comment: Presta valves are typically used in cases where a higher tire pressure is required - the pump you are using may not be able to handle pumping a tire up to 110 PSI. (or the guage may simply not show the pressure, in which case you may need to be careful of a blowout.)
Comment: Presta valves are an invention of the devil.
I have bee using them for years and still have trouble. They are fragile and must be used just so.
Answer: Those valve stems are too short for those deep deep rims you've got on there. You can tell just from the photos that the valve stem isn't sticking out far enough from the rim for the pump to fit all the way on it. Hence, it's not contacting the valve enough for you to inflate your tires.
Comment: You're absolutely right. There should also be a jam nut to keep that stem from wiggling around when you try to get the pump head seated.
Comment: I've done this before by accident - you need to get tube with a 60 mm valve instead of a 42 mm value
Comment: It's possible the bike shop got it to inflate by pressing into the flat tyre with finger before inflating to support the valve stem (doing the job of the nut) whilst shoving on the pump. Pumps differ in the clearance/depth of stem they need pushed inside to get a working connection, so yours might be unfavourable to this combination. Removing the nut lets you get another 3mm of stem inside the connector which can be enough to get it inflated. I've seen shops chuck the nut (like this) when they've supplied the wrong part! Ultimately, chuck the inner tubes for 60mm versions.
Comment: Yep, I think you've got it.  Who supplied those wheels with too-short stems??  (I've had the problem that it's hard to find shorter stems for my regular box rims anymore -- surprised that this situation would ever occur.)
Answer: For shorter stem presta valves in deep rims the trick to fill air is to first deflate the tyre about 50%, then push the pump head onto the stem with one hand while at the same time pushing the stem through the rim from the tyre side with your other hand. Then use the lever to get a good seal.
When you pump it up, the increase in pressure in the head of the pump will depress the presta valve on its own. As Daniel Hicks said in a comment in this thread:

There is no need to depress the stem in a Presta valve, since air
  pressure will open the valve when the pump develops more pressure than
  is inside the tire. All that's necessary is to briefly tap the stem
  before putting on the chuck, to make sure that the rubber gasket is
  not stuck closed.
Comment: Welcome to Bicycles.SE. Formatting and grammar can make a big difference in how easy it is to understand your answer. I have attempted to edit your answer and keep your meaning. If I have missed the mark you can edit it again. For an intro to how this and other Stack Exchange Q & A sites work, please [Take the Tour](https://bicycles.stackexchange.com/tour).
Answer: "Remove valve cap, unscrew thingy in valve, and tap it a little - a jet of air shoots out. OK."
You've got that right.  If you have the proper pump, and the chuck is working properly, then simply pushing the chuck on and flipping the lever should do it.
Normally, when you press the chuck on far enough a little button in the middle of the chuck will press the "thingy" down to let air out and let you read the pressure.
It may be that your chuck is poorly designed (or not really "stem agnostic") and you'd do better with a screw-on adapter.  (And some chuck designs require changing out the innards to do Presta valves.)
(It really isn't that difficult and fussy with the right pump and the right technique.)
Answer: Inside the Presta pump head there will be a peg behind a rubber washer, which depresses the valve on the stem which is engaged when you move the lever into the elevated position. At the same time, typically a set of jaws will clamp onto the body of the stem holding it in place. It sounds very much as if your pump isn't able to activate the valve sufficiently to break the seal, and therefore when you pump, the air is backing up against the rubber washer rather than inflating the tyre.
As mentioned above, this could be an artifact of the exposed stem not being long enough and you should look to: use either a chuck which doesn't require as much stem to be exposed; to replace the inner tube with one with a longer valve; or use a valve extender (that leaves the existing core intact), or if the tube has a replaceable core to screw in a valve extender (like those available from Continental).
Sometimes, I find it useful when pumps aren't functioning as I'd expect them to, is to use an inner tube with a known working valve without it being installed in a tyre. This will remove the potential for insufficient stem being exposed to be a limiting factor and permit the pump to be exercised to ensure it is functioning correctly.
Comment: There is no need to depress the stem in a Presta valve, since air pressure will open the valve when the pump develops more pressure than is inside the tire.  All that's necessary is to briefly tap the stem before putting on the chuck, to make sure that the rubber gasket is not stuck closed.
Answer: The pump appears to have a valve which is supposed to switch automatically between Presta and Schrader as needed. In my experience, these valve don't always work. I have a similar pump where the valve has become stuck, and I can only use it for inflating Schrader valves now.
If this is at the root of your problem as well, among many alternatives, you can 1) buy a new pump, or 2) get a Presta-->Schrader adapter.
My guess would be that if you operate the pump off the bicycle tire, air should come out the Schrader valve side. This will show you in which mode the valve is operating.
Comment: I've got a pump that switches quite well, but it's a good quality "Joe Blow" unit.  The OP's pump appears to have a chuck with two holes in it, one for Presta and one for Schraeder, so it doesn't really need to switch.
Comment: Yes it has two holes like that
Answer: You need a special Presta valve suited to the tire pump or an adapter to convert your bike tire's valve temporarily to a Schrader tire valve, so you can use a standard tire pump. After filling, you remove the adapter till the next time.
Comment: Welcome to Bicycles SE. This answer would be more complete with links and/or pictures to the type of pump and adapter that you're talking about. Please consider adding them.
Comment: A presta->schrader adapter was already mentioned in Zippy's answer, and the original user already has a pump compatible with presta valves.
Answer: One trick I have used in a pinch when my stem was too short for the rim depth (as your picture is showing) is to place my thumb against the tire at the point of the stem and carefully press in until the stem is being held out of the rim. This can give the leverage needed to attach the pump head to the short stem length. While the stem extender solution is a good one, your rims are not the super deep rims that require such a long stem that are not readily available. Go for a nice long stemmed tube and your particular issue should be solved. Also, I had trouble with unthreaded presta stems causing the pump head to slip off before the tire was fully inflated. I purchased a new pump head, and now it is difficult to remove the pump head on threaded stems, but the pump stays attached to the stem all the way to 120+ pounds on the unthreaded stems.
Comment: The purpose of the threaded stem and nut is to hold the stem out so you don't have to do the thumb thing.
Answer: Had the same problem—the trick is that the threaded sleeve at the very tip of the valve needs to be unthreaded and floating free in order for the valve to work under the pressure of incoming pumped air. So the order of operation is:

valve cap off
ensure the valve stem collar nut is seated snug against the surface of the wheel
spin the tiny threaded sleeve counterclockwise to open the flow of air to the body of valve itself (the missing step that stumped me)
attach the pump head to the Presta valve (and, if you have a Joe Blow adaptor pump like I do), close off the yellow adaptor selector valve arm in the opposite direction of the open (dark grey) Presta valve adaptor
inflate to appropriate pressure
unsnap the yellow selector valve arm — there will be a quick release of air pressure in the pump proper...and none from the Presta valve (yahoo!)
spin the tiny threaded sleeve clockwise to close the valve and preserve existing inner tube/tire pressure
replace the Presta valve cap...and hit the road!
Comment: The OP said "Remove valve cap, unscrew thingy in valve, and tap it a little - a jet of air shoots out. OK."
Answer: I can't address the issue of the length of your valve stem, but I was lucky enough to have my bike shop include a pair of presta to schraeder adapters when I bought the bike. The bicycle shop showed me how to use the adapters and told me to leave them on the valve stems so that I would always have the adapters with me if I needed them. This has saved me several times when I didn't want to use a CO2 cylinder and was able to use the air machine at a gas station instead.
Comment: You're absolutely right, but this information is already in user7696's answer from Aug 6  2013, so 4.5 years ago, and ZippyThePinhead's answer on  Dec 3 2012, and Kibbee's comment.    Saying it again adds nothing new.   It might be worth mentioning presta-specific valve extensions as an option.   Do please have a read of our [tour] because SE is a bit different to a common web chatty forum.   And welcome to the site.