How do I disable SQL Reporting Services and remove the Reports directory form IIS?

Question: I'm trying to get rid of the /reports directory which seems to be integrated with SQL reporting services 2008.  I'm unable to uninstall that one element of SQL server and I've had no luck when trying to reconfigure the ReportBuilderLaunchURL.  Does anyone out there know how I can get rid of this stupid feature?  I'd understand if it was just a virtual directory on the localhost instance but when it gets applied to all my site I get really frustrated and wonder who at Microsoft decided that this would be the default setting.
Answer: For future reference:
Use the "reporting services configuration manager".
In the report manager URL tab insert a new virtual directory.
Answer: I believe you uninstall SSRS by going through the installation process of SQL Server itself and selecting to remove a certain component (SSRS in this case).
Alternatively (probably better) is to go to the Add/Remove programs menu and select SQL Server and hit the "change" button. From there you will be given the option of the components you want to repair/install/uninstall/etc.
Edit: Here is an article I found which attempts to describe how to uninstall SSRS 2008. It seems to agree with what I was saying about the Add/Remove programs idea.
Comment: I tried that but it wants to remove the entire instance.  I'm running hte developer edition which might have somehtign to do with it.  I don't get these problems on release just when I develop on my local machine.
Comment: All my experience comes from SQL Server 2005, so there may be differences. I know Reporting Services between 2005 and 2008 changed dramatically, but I would imagine that you should still be able to choose what components you want to uninstall instead of having to go completely from scratch and back again.
Answer: We've just been having this issue and the work around we came up with was linking it to one specific host header, rather than having it point to all sites on all IP addresses. (You can do this by clicking on the advanced button in the URL tab that @Luis mentions.) This has, effectively, quarantined the thing to one website and as it's a host header that isn't on any public site in the first place, it's massively limited the number of people who can even find it.


Facebook comments widget - App ID

Question: I have installed a Facebook comments widget that seems to be working just fine without the App ID. Is the App ID really necessary? What advantages will it give me if I add it?
Answer: You'll be able to moderate comments. Here's the relevant quote from the doc's Moderation Tools section:

Doing this enables a moderator interface on Facebook where comments from all plugins administered by your app id can be easily moderated together.

I personally never used the moderation tool, but it is available if you need it, which is nearly always the case if you are working with a corporate client who would want to have control over all site content, including comments.

Facebook comments widget - App ID


I need the reason why we should not install SQL server on the domain controller

Question: I am a system administrator for a small firm. Now we consider to rollout Windows Server 2008 R2 for the firm. We plan to implement Active Directory. We would also like to upgrade RDMS, from SQL server 2000 to SQL Server 2014.
We can afford to buy just one server due to size of our organization, so we plan to implement both of AD and SQL Server 2014 on the same machine. However, Microsoft recommends not to install SQL Server 2014 on a domain controller.
I have checked the reasons, but I don't understand what is the problem, so if someone answers my questions bellow, it's really helpful.

You cannot run SQL Server services on a domain controller under a
local service account. →If we run SQL Server on a domain controller
under a domain user account, what would happens?
After SQL Server is installed on a computer, you cannot change the
computer from a domain member to a domain controller. You must
uninstall SQL Server before you change the host computer to a domain
controller. →We plan to promote our server to a domain controller
before installing SQL server 2014 and don't plan to de-promote to
member server because it's our only server. Is our plan wrong?
After SQL Server is installed on a computer, you cannot change the
computer from a domain controller to a domain member. You must
uninstall SQL Server before you change the host computer to a domain
member. →We don't plan to de-promote to member server because it's
our only server. Is our plan wrong?
SQL Server failover cluster instances are not supported where
cluster nodes are domain controllers. →We don't plan to install
failover cluster, so we think that it's not problem. Are we wrong?
SQL Server Setup cannot create security groups or provision SQL
Server service accounts on a read-only domain controller. In this
scenario, Setup will fail. →Because We have just one server, so it
never be a read-only domain controller, so we think that it's not
problem. Are we wrong?

Actually, I guess if we clear (1), we can install SQL server 2014 on our domain controller.
Thanks for reading all of sentences. I hope someone give us answers.
Answer: The points you have listed are shown in BOL here, and even though it quotes:

SQL Server Setup will not block installation on a computer that is a domain controller

It states on this KB article that the setup will fail, although the applies to only list up to 2012 version.
One main reason you are going to have against doing this is Microsoft Support. As it states in documentation you should not install it, they are not likely going to provide support. Especially if you experience any security or performance issues. Unless you fork over a good bit of money they are probably not going to do much for you.
I have never seen a company put these two roles together out of choice. I hate to say it but if they need to run an application in SQL Server and it is going to be a mission critical application there is no reason for them not to invest in running that application. Hardware is cheap these days and it does not take much for AD to run if your organization is that small. You could even go and get 2 or 3 year old hardware for that matter.
Now with that said, Window Small Business server used to be the one stop shop for a situation like you describe. It is an AD, Exchange, and web server all on in one; and if I recall also had an installation of SQL Server but I can't remember. I setup one of these servers for a department one time.
However with Window Server 2012 they changed this to Window Server Essential Edition, and I am not sure what roles you get with this Edition. I would suggest though you simply spend the money to get Standard Edition. A feature you get with Standard is licensing to run two guest OS virtual machines via Hyper-V. If you size the hardware appropriately it will allow you to run your SQL Server instance in one VM and then your application in the second VM. Although your performance is all on one server it provides a boundary separation and would be a fully supported setup by Microsoft. Just my two cents.
Answer: The reasons you gave are the primary reasons for avoiding the combination of SQL Server and a domain controller. I'll add two more:

it can be a security risk if your SQL Server is accessed by a machine that is exposed to the Internet (such as a web server)
SQL Server has the potential to starve Windows for resources - which would effectively shut down your domain controller and, in turn, your network

That said, it's not necessarily uncommon to see SQL Server installed on a domain controller in a small business - you only have so many resources to go around, and you sometimes have to make do with what you have.
The bottom line: Avoid combining server roles if you can. If you must combine AD and SQL Server, be aware of the risks, and do what you can to mitigate them.
[Disclaimer: I would never consider combining AD and SQL Server in anything other than a very small business. There are too many risks, and server loads are usually much heavier.]
Answer: The real problem here is that AD DC uses SQL Server already as his own internal database engine with some special customizations to ensure a good performance (the so called Windows Internal Database). If you install SQL Server on a DC, it will get in conflict with this implementation, so you will face not only problems promoting or de-promoting DCs, but also with database itself.
Comment: Do you have any evidence or examples?
Answer: There is also the issue of disk performance for services and applications other than AD-DS on the DC, however that can be fixed by installing SQL Server and placing the DBs and log files on a different disk than the one holding the NTDS.DIT AD database.


NodeJS/Jenkins/GIT and Jenkins Slave as Web server

Question: I want to do Continuous Integration for one of my web server applications.
We are using Postgres as a backend database. To achieve this we are planning to use NodeJS/Jenkins and GIT.
Once any developers check-in their changes the build has to start immediately and do some basic testing.
This involves starting the NodeJS server and executing a few test cases.
I have integrated Jenkins and GIT so that whenever the git change is notified the Jenkins build starts.
Can we run the NodeJS web server in the same Jenkins machine or should we use a slave Windows machine for this?
Please suggest best practices for this?
The assumption is the server machine will have Postgres DB installed and NPM also installed.
Thanks.
Answer: To have reporoducible builds, I recommend the Docker integration for Jenkins. This allows multiple builds to be processed simoultaniously, so if a build takes longer than expected, other developers can push as well.
As each container has an own network, you can run as many containers as you want at the same time with each having an own Node server listening on the same port. As long as you don't need to access the node server from the outside of the container (for example from the build server itself), you have no problem there.
For the Postgresql database: you can either spawn a database server in your container which means that you have a lot of short-lived DB servers. Depending on the amount of testing data you need to import, this might not be a solution. The other way is to run the Postgresql server on the build server, and allow the containers to access it. In each build, you create a new database in Postgresql, probably with a template. You can destroy the db afterwards.
So the process is:
<code>[Developer pushes] -> [git notifies Jenkins] -> [Jenkins creates database] -> [Jenkins runs container] -> [Container builds and tests] -> [Container processes results] -> [Jenkins destroys database]
</code>
For the result proceesing step, there are multiple ways to do it. The easiest way (which does not require any additional software) is to have Jenkins merge the branch automatically. Each developer pushes a new branch for his work and if the tests succeed, Jenkins merges the branch to master. You can forbid the user to write to the master branch directly to enforce this.
The other way is to integrate Jenkins into your git hosting solution (if you use any). GitLab EE supports this which means that you can see the test results for each commit in GitLab. Of course, this is not a solution if you don't use anything like GitLab/Bitbucket/...
Answer: Suggestion to use PM2 tool, it has high set of features.
http://pm2.keymetrics.io/docs/usage/deployment/#force-deployment
This tool than can be configured in Jenkins & scripts can be written in package.json


Sharepoint 2010 Solution Batch Deployment / retraction

Question: I have more than 20 solutions to deploy or retract at the same time, Currently i doing the deployment/retract one by one and each deployment is required an iis reset and this causes around 20 minutes for the complete deployment/retract.Is there a way to deploy or retract multiple solutions in a single batch process. I am using .net to do the deployment.
Comment: Are there any dependencies between the solutions or are they completely independent?  Can you explain why there are 20 separate solutions?
Answer: Not sure about  I am using .net to do the deployment. in your question.
There are two basic ways to deploy/retract multiple solutions on SharePoint 2010:
stsadm command ('The Old Way')
You can use stsadm commands to retract/deploy your solutions and put them in batch file. It can look something like this:
stsadm -o retractsolution -name [solution1]
stsadm -o retractsolution -name [solution2]

stsadm -o execadmsvcjobs

stsadm -o deletesolution -name [solution1]
stsadm -o deletesolution -name [solution2]

stsadm -o execadmsvcjobs

stsadm -o addsolution -filename [solution1]
stsadm -o deploysolution -name [solution1] -immediate
stsadm -o addsolution -filename [solution2]
stsadm -o deploysolution -name [solution2] -immediate

stsadm -o execadmsvcjobs

By stopping SharePoint 2010 Administration service (SPAdminV4) before executing this batch you will save some time (but not too much). Then again instead of retracting, deleting, adding and deploying you can use stsadm -o upgradesolution just to upgrade your solutions (if this is requirement).
PowerShell script ('The New Way')
PowerShell is very powerful (!) tool for scripting. IMHO you need to solve your deployment by using some PS script (eg. second link). Since I would need few more pages of text to explain everything I will just point you in right direction:

Deploy solution packages (SharePoint Server 2010)
PowerShell Install Multiple WSPs
Comment: Deployment does not work reliable when only setting off the deployment jobs as in your STSADM example, especially with many solutions and/or multiple servers. It is essential to wait for the actual deployment time jobs to terminate.
Comment: true if your solutions are 'connected' in any way
Answer: When retracting solutions from SharePoint 2010, it only does an App Pool recycle on the web application the solution is deployed to (if it is deployed to all applications, then each app pool will get recycled).  SharePoint treats each retraction as a separate timer job and there isn't any way to change that behavior.  So, after each retracted solution, the applicable app pools will be recycled.
Answer: I prefer to group the operations. So I start by retracting all solutions, delete them, run an application pool recycle and restart the owstimer (if there are timer jobs in any of the solutions), then add all solutions and deploy them.
I have been working on projects with upto 30 solution packages at we followed that pattern. It is slow, yes, but it works everytime. Also it is seems very import to only run one deployment job at any time. So we built a tool to check for the deployment timer job to be finished before continuing with the next deployment operation. Gary Lapointe has built this into his tools.
Again, it might seem awkward and time consuming but for this is the solution that works every time and on single server as well as farms with multiple front-ends.


Server KVM via ethernet

Question: I'm looking for a new KVM box for my server room. I have 3 server connected through a KVM box with PS2 + VGA wires.
I want to move monitor, keyboard and mouse 7mt far from server rack then I would like to know if exists something like a KVM with only USB3 cable and using ethernet protocol. With this I will easily cover the distance with a CAT6 cable. But I don't know if it exists.
Answer: Google's giving me something close-ish as a first hit ("ethernet KVM switch" was what I used):
switch - https://www.amazon.com/TRENDnet-8-Port-CAT5-Switch-TK-CAT508/dp/B00I3GKLP2
USB cables(same as from the switch page) - https://www.amazon.com/TRENDnet-8-Port-CAT5-Switch-TK-CAT508/dp/B00I3GKJEK

Manage servers over CAT5 cables for distances up to 30 m
8 Ethernet ports to connect to servers
Dual Console support Supports both USB and PS/2 connections

There's probably more, and probably something rack-mount to boot, but that's 8 ports already.
Comment: Does it use TCP connection or is just a RJ45 connection for kvm?

Server KVM via ethernet


Protruding subpanel

Question: I am in the process of installing a subpanel to replace a fuse box in an apartment. My problem is that all the walls are very shallow such that subpanel protrudes about 1 1/2". It seems all the studs in the wall are framed side way. Can I just install it as is and frame around the panel with molding?
Comment: Extend the studs on either side of the box to create a chase for the wiring then mount the box with margin beyond stud equal to the finish wall material ie Sheetrock, paneling, plywood etc
Comment: Can you post photos of the existing configuration? Also, is breaking the cables out of the wall to feed them into the new panel an option, presuming all the homeruns are in BX/armored cable?
Comment: Thanks for your interest but I have not started the install yet. I just asked if a panel sticking out of a finished wall is okay.  I saw that the wall was quite shallow after opening it up and was concerned about the mismatch in depth of the panel and wall. I can still get by with the number of knockouts that are in the wall cavity.
Comment: Possible duplicate of [How can I install an electrical panel when the stud cavity is too narrow?](https://diy.stackexchange.com/questions/26544/how-can-i-install-an-electrical-panel-when-the-stud-cavity-is-too-narrow)
Answer: Given the difficulties, you may be better off selecting a panel appropriate for surface mounting.
That would also allow you to get a sufficiently large panel. Panels have been made much larger of late, since wire bending space is now required for large feeders like 2/0.  I have 12-space FPE panels barely 8x11, and an 8-space Pushmatic that's 10x12.  Those are impossible now. If you are choosing a subpanel that will fit where your fuse box was, forget it.  It will force you into an excruciatingly small panel, and you will have to double up circuits. There are several big problems with that.
Multi-wire branch circuits
A MWBC is when two hots share a neutral.  They must be configured correctly with each hot on opposite poles, and common shutoff on all the hots.  It's probably correct in your old fuse box, but the desperation to cram many circuits into few spaces is sure to cause dangerous mistakes in this area.
You need to pause to identify MWBCs (which share the same neutral).  There are two ways to go with these.

Merge both hots with a pigtail, and put that on a single breaker screw.  (not the 2 lugs of a double-stuff; that would be BAD!)  The breaker must be sized for the smallest wire (e.g. 15A for #14 wire).  The two hots together can't carry more than 15A, so the neutral can't, making both safe.  However, this invites an idiot to see this setup and decide to "upgrade" you by putting both hots on separate breakers.
Put both hots on a 2-pole (never a double-stuff) breaker so there is 240V between the hots.  This is how MWBCs are intended to work, and it assures the neutral will not overload.  It is also clear to installers.  A "common maintenance shutoff" is required, but a 2-pole breaker is cheap and readily available.

Statutory requirements
You are now required to have separate circuits for bathroom receptacles, for instance, kitchen countertops, washing machine and several other circuits.  Your setup is grandfathered as long as you don't change it.  As long as 1 circuit maps to 1 circuit, you are fine.  However, let's suppose you combine a bathroom receptacle circuit with a bedroom circuit for lack of breakers.  That's a downgrade... you're not allowed to make things worse than they were before.

You might be better off building a "false wall" on top of the thin/narrow wall, and mounting the panel in the false wall.  Have it go beyond the panel enough to allow you to get to the knockouts and route wires.  You could also mount junction boxes on the false walls, and bring the old wires into the junction boxes, then extend into the new subpanel via attached conduits.   You are allowed to splice inside junction boxes.
Even better, you could drywall out the false wall, cut hatches in the drywall, and then cover the hatches with wood trim.  Remove the screws to get to the hatches.  Mind you, you can't splice in such wall space (fit a junction box for that), but you can access the top and bottom of panel to add circuits.
Answer: You can mount it extending out of the finished wall and trim it out but this will limit the amount of space available for the feeder and branch circuits to enter the panel. As long as you have enough room for the cables and or conduit you could mount it this way.
Comment: @Falomany Why on earth are you buying a panel with limited spaces?  Everyone who does that *regrets that*, and we warn people loudly and repeatedly here.  Get at least a 30 space.  The cost differential is quite small and it assures never running out of spaces.  Yes, it will take more room than your old fuse box, but that will be true of any modern panel because of Code changes requiring wire bending space inside panels.
Comment: Thanks for your input. And yes, the amount of availabile spaces will be limited. I think I can use y-cable connectors for my bx cables if necessary.
Comment: Harper, Sorry for the misunderstanding. I do have a panel that is much larger than I need. The spaces available that I am talking about are the knockouts for branch circuits that are lined up to the wall cavity. Since about 1/2 of my box is in the wall, I am limited to a certain number of knockouts that are in the wall. A surface box and false wall is out of the question due to the panel location. Thanks for your suggestion anyway.

Protruding subpanel


If we evolve from microbes then why so many microbes are still here?

Question: Researchers say that we evolve from microbes then why there are still so many microbes ?
Comment: https://blogs.iu.edu/sciu/2017/09/26/why-are-there-still-apes/
Answer: To answer the intention of the question: evolution works by branching. To use this language of 'microbes', imagine a world with only microbe A. Say there are 100,000 individuals of the species microbe A.
Now let one of the microbe As reproduce and produce a mutation leading to the first microbe B. This evolutionary step would not transform every microbe A into a microbe B. The change would only be in the offspring of one of the 100,000 microbe A. This would create a new branch as the new microbe Bs reproduced, but would not affect the 99,999 other microbe As.
There is no reason for microbe A to die out just because a small portion of them had children that eventually became microbe B (unless they were in direct competition for limited resources, or one was a predator for the other, etc.). The other microbe As can just go on living as before, and either stay the same or branch into even more species-- say microbes C, D, E and F.
Let this run for hundreds of millions of years and you get more and more complicated life eventually resulting in what we see around us, including many species that have evolved into other species.
Note that this is very simplified for the sake of clear explanation. A mutation does not necessarily result in a new species.
Answer: As noted in the previous explanation, but said in other way:
Our evolutionary lineage may have a common ancestor (aka, a "parent species", say, another microbe [a microbe that no longer lives today, probably]) with some of today's microbes many years ago.
In this scenario, if we look at the "childs of that parent species", we may find a variety of genotypes, which will express different phenotypes.
If we look at the different childs generated in the previous step, and iterate that process, eventually you could get some organisms more similar to the common ancestor between us and microbes (aka, the microbes), and some individuals with a great amount of divergence from the common ancestor (aka, us).
This divergence process has to do with genetic mutations generated at reproduction of each individual.


How to handle replication post SQL Server 2000/2008 migration?

Question: I have two servers; server A host SQL Server 2000 and server B ( a remote server) host SQL Server 2005. I replicate data between these two servers using transactional replication. I recently migrated (side by side) the SQL server 2000 to SQL Server 2008 hosted on a virtual server. I would like to mimic the replication I already have between server A abd B. Can someone tell me the best practice of carrying out this task? Essentially, what I want to do is to set up a transactional replication between the SQL Server 2008 hosted on a virtual server and SQL Server 2005 hosted server B ( a remote server) . Do I have to create all the publications and subscriptions from scratch ? Thanks for your contribution in advance.
Answer: OK, so first of all here is the video tutorial for you:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbrUtfkkVUE
But before jumping on it, please consider reading the Selecting the Appropriate Type of Replication - maybe, Snapshot replication will fit you better for some reason.
If you are completely sure that Transactional replication is the way to go for you. check official Considerations for Transactional Replication
Hope that helped


Are the walls of this closet load bearing?

Question: My back entryway has this closet that kinda sticks out. I would rather have an entryway bench there instead.
Just from glancing at this photo, do you think this is load bearing?
Directly underneath in the basement is the furnace, and directly above is the guest room. Neither of which seem to have any structural support in the same area.
Comment: The window and door wall will be load bearing.  Both closet walls are too close to the load bearing walls, so unless extra unknown weight is above, I give 90% not load bearing
Answer: We can't tell with 100% certainty.  It's very unlikely to be load-bearing.  At a stretch ...the builder ran out of joists but had some that were 2 feet too short, so built the closet, used the shorter joists, and added some two-foot ones across the closet.   I'm trying too hard right?  But if you want to be 100% sure, since your intention is to demolish the thing and you'll have to patch and paint anyway, start by making a hole in the closet ceiling and looking to see if my silly imaginary scenario is fact.  If it is, just patch up the closet ceiling crudely; it doesn't matter if it doesn't look perfect.  Otherwise keep smashing!


Proper method to modify the STS web.config across the farm via C#?

Question: I need to be able to modify, via C# in a SharePoint solution, the STS web.config across multiple servers.  What is the proper way to do this since the WebConfigModificationn class doesn't take this web.config into account?
Answer: Timer job that is run once on feature activation. Chris Keyser has a post about updating settings on each server in a farm, and you can use that as a base for your code.
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/chriskeyser/archive/2010/12/20/using-a-sharepoint-timer-job-to-deploy-settings-in-a-farm-for-registering-event-sources.aspx
Comment: I've been thinking over this one, and I'm wondering if it wouldn't be a good idea to create a "STS sync"-type Timer Job.  All changes made by the administrator would be stored in a config file that the STS sync would then execute and update the STS web.config for each server in the farm.  It would periodically run to validate that the STS config was consistent.

Only issue I'm having is how to properly identify the *path* to the STS web.config.  I can hard code it, but that wouldn't be a good idea.


Where does "method" as a special term in OOP originate?

Question: "Method" is a special term in Object-Oriented Programming. Does anyone know when the word began to be used in this particular sense, and in connection with what programming language or other branch of quantitative learning?
Answer: Java and C# got method from C++, which got it from Simula.
And Algol probably had influence on Simula:

Also, an MIT ALGOL version, AED-0, linked data structures ("plexes", in that dialect) directly with procedures, prefiguring what were later termed "messages", "methods" and "member functions"
Comment: IIRC, C++ usually prefers 'member function' over 'method'.
Comment: According to that same Wikipedia article, that places the coinage of the term (related to OOP) within the first half of the 60s.
Answer: It's hard to find a definite answer out there but the first language to refer to things as methods appears to have been Simula though this may well be false or retroactive. Given that functions (from math) and procedures (also from math) show up in programming languages, the best I can figure is that "Method" is short form for "Methodology".
All of these are Subroutines, bits of code making up a computer program. I'd imagine "Method" was chosen because the idea behind OOP style programming is to reuse code as much as possible. Thus, you could have a procedure but a method makes it more clear that it's a new style at work. Honestly, I've been known to call methods functions and I've heard functions called methods.
Comment: I'm afraid you 'figure' incorrectly - *method* (a process to achieve a goal) and *methodology* (the study) are have different meanings.
Comment: Also, "method" has existed as an English word for a very long time. There's no need to look for a longer word to contract from.
Comment: On using "function" instead of "method", that's largely the fault of C++, and due to the fact that C has no concept of a "procedure", only a "function" that returns `void`. C++ member functions are very closely related to ordinary functions (unlike in Simula) - having an implicit `this` parameter and (possibly) a runtime dispatch mechanism doesn't really change what you're dealing with. I don't know if C was first to treat functions and procedures as the same thing, but Pascal (a newer language) has `function` and `procedure` keywords - though IIRC, Pascal functions could have side-effects.
Comment: Specifically, *method* is a way to achieve a goal, a description/knowledge, not the process itself. This has a significance in connection with "class", another abstract concept, defining a type of objects. You get a class of objects and a method of doing X with each/any of the objects, as long as they are of that class. You apply a generic method to specific object and get results specific to that object.
Answer: I have been looking for information on this for decades.  My guess so far is that the term came into Simula from the special subfield of numerical computation, where the specific algorithm to implement a function (e.g., an eigenvalue or whatever) is often called a method. This is because you may have various different numerical methods for computing the same mathematical function, with various tradeoffs.  In OOP, because of method overriding, you may have the "same" function implemented differently as appropriate for the class--e.g., area would be implemented differently for Circle and Rectangle, which are both Shapes, which have an area.  This seems a reasonable extension of the traditional concept of numerical method.
Answer: I don't know anything about etymology of this word in OOP history. But I know that it's not deductional (deducable). A better term (a More Deductional Term or MDT) for it could be reaction or act
Comment: I am entirely sure that I do not agree with you. "Method" is a perfectly cromulent word for what the whole thing started out as, a way of modeling various things, with each 'thing' being of a class, having methods to change how the thing was. In the same way that methods change things in the real world, like.
Comment: I guess of the three words 'function', 'procedure', and 'method', 'function' has a mathematical connotation (map inputs to outputs), 'procedure' is imperative (perform a series of steps, also used in the same sense in the military); 'method' doesn't have either connotation, which is probably why it is preferred in OOP.
Comment: I'd guess "method" originally described the implementation code, similar to "procedure" - the method/procedure/algorithm for computing the result. Using it for an interface where the implementation isn't known is a tad wierd, but originally (in Simula) "message" was probably used for that. Even so, when you call a method, you are invoking implementation code, even if you can't know (at the call site) which implementation.
Comment: @Vatine +1 for "cromulent"
Answer: Programmers with REAL BASIC, VBx and VB.net background are aware of two types of method declarations "FUNCTION" & "SUB". BASIC family of languages allow to declare a function with the "FUNCTION" keyword as well as the "SUB" keyword.
The difference between these two is that a "FUNCTION" can or will not return a value where as a "SUB", just executes the code but will not return any value.
But with the advent of OO concepts, terms sub and function are started being used interchangeably as methods.
Comment: I doubt Alan Kay was thinking Basic when coming up with OOP and Smalltalk
Comment: VB uses "Function" and "Sub", short for "Subroutine", not "Method".
Comment: Same goes for Pascal's procedure/function


Landau and Mean Field Theory

Question: I have often heard that the Landau theory of phase transitions is a mean field theory. Why is this so? What is the connection between the two ideas? One stresses symmetry breaking and one averages the interactions between all the particles. Naively, they don't seem related.
Comment: The Landau theory is just an expansion of the free energy close to a second order phase transition in power of the small order parameter. It is based on symmetry considerations, once you identify the order parameter. A mean field method generates an effective theory once you identified the order parameter and suppose it is classical in an otherwise quantum field theory (mean field theory is in fact older than QFT, anyways). This method allows to calculate from microscopic models the coefficients in the Landau functional.
Comment: Said differently, the Landau functional is the effective theory you get from the quantum field theory in the approximation of mean-field.
Answer: "Mean field theory" is a theory which says "don't worry, in a first approximation, about where the particles are and how they are clumped together; just say the net effect of all the other particles on the energy of any one particle is given by an average over all the other particles, and you get the same answer no matter which particle you pick". This is what the Landau method does when it asserts that the free energy is a function of a single internal parameter (the order parameter) in addition to external constraints such as temperature.
Answer: The deep relation between mean field theories (MFT) and Landau Theory of phase transitions  is rooted in two general features of both approaches (which are not confined to the study of second order transitions):

both can be cast in the form of a generating functional (Landau free energy or mean field partition function) depending on the order parameter as well as on other thermodynamic variables;
in both cases such functional is an analytic function of the order parameter. This is a postulate in Landau Theory, and a consequence of the effective one-particle approximation in the case of MFT.

As a consequence, both theories share many features, including the same values for the critical exponents in the neighborhood of a critical point.
Answer: As far as I understand, the Landay theory uses the expansion of the free energy in the order parameter near the phase transition that gives the same results as the mean-field theory (near the phase transition) (http://galileo.phys.virginia.edu/~pf7a/rg1.pdf). In real systems, free energy is typically not an analytical function of the order parameter near the continuous phase transition.

Landau and Mean Field Theory


Chats are no longer RCS after restore

Question: I have Android 14 with root. I restored my text messages from a backup made with Swift Backup. Now no conversations are using RCS, even the ones that did before the restore. For example it's now showing the received and red check marks. RCS is already turned on in settings. I tried toggling it but it didn't help. I'm using the stock SMS app. How can I fix this?
Comment: [Restoring RCS messages is hacky as there aren't real APls in Android to deal with them](https://t.me/swiftbackupsupport/79763) from Swift Backup Telegram ss stated but developer
Answer: Actually, this may be Google's doing:

Google is cracking down on rooted Android devices, blocking multiple people from using the RCS message feature in Google Messages. Users with rooted phones — a process that unlocks privileged access to the Android operating system, like jailbreaking iPhones — have made several reports on the Google Messages support page, Reddit, and XDA's web forum over the last few months, finding they're suddenly unable to send or receive RCS messages.
One example from Reddit user u/joefuf shows that RCS messages would simply vanish after hitting the send button. Several reports also mention that Google Messages gave no indication that RCS chat was no longer working, and was still showing as connected and working in Google Messages.
Comment: Looks like the question is about restoring text messages as RCS, not about being unable to use RCS after rooting.
Comment: That's exactly what I thought at first but then the description explains that conversations are not RCS. Maybe the OP didn't test sending and receiving new messages.

I also wonder if anything can restore the messages to a new phone as RCS rather than them converting to SMS/MMS.

Chats are no longer RCS after restore


classical quantum particles in grand canonical ensemble

Question: To derive Bose-Einstein and Fermi-Dirac distribution, we need to apply grand canonical ensemble:$Z(z,V,T)=\displaystyle\sum_{N=0}^{\infty}[z^N\sideset{}{'}\sum\limits_{\{n_j\}}e^{-\beta\sum\limits_{j}n_j\epsilon_j}]$. There is a constraint $\sideset{}{'}\sum\limits_{\{n_j\}}$ for quantum particles(bosons and fermions) in grand canonical ensemble:$\sum\limits_{j}n_j=N$, but why is there no such a constraint for classical particels?
Comment: Quite on the contrary, the grand canonical ensemble means that the total number of particles is left unconstrained and we specify the dual complementary variable, the chemical potential. That's true for Maxwell-Boltzmann, Fermi-Dirac, and Bose-Einstein - or another - distribution.  I also have a trouble with your first sentence.
Answer: For fermions, there is a constraint that each occupation number $n_i$ can only be either 0 or 1 because of the Pauli exclusion principle; no two fermions can occupy the same quantum state, but for bosons, there is no such constraint on the occupation numbers.  For classical particles, namely those for which energy levels aren't quantized, there isn't a well-defined notion of occupation numbers.


Clarification on inertial mass

Question: I was talking to my friend the other day about the origin of inertia and it pondered both of our brains. I would like to know if the concept of inertia exists at the quantum level? I realize that quantized particles are probabilistic and cannot be understood at a classic level. So, does this mean inertia is applicable to only complicated systems like an atom and molecules, etc? There is such a huge gap in connection between classical and quantum systems it destroys my brain..
Comment: "There is such a huge gap in connection between classical and quantum systems it destroys my brain.." made me laugh :D
Answer: The concept of inertia can be applied to quantum particles, although a localized quantum particle will never have a sharply defined momentum.
The core concept of inertia (in the sense, that bodies at rest stay at rest and bodies in motion remain in motion) is cleanly expressed by the Galilei invariance of a theory. And it is easy to show, that the Schrödinger equation is Galilei invariant, thus showing, that quantum particles have inertia in the usual sense.
Along another line, one can argue via the Ehrenfest theorem, that:
$$ m \partial_t^2 \langle x \rangle = -\langle \nabla V(x) \rangle$$
Therfore, the Newton axioms hold for the center of mass, if $V(x)$ scales on a scale much smaller than the wave packet (or $V$ is the harmonic oscillator potential, then $-\langle \nabla V(x) \rangle = - \langle kx \rangle = -k \langle x \rangle$). ($F = ma$ implies that the law on inertia holds).
Comment: So does this mean that a particle could theoretically be isolated in a vacuum state and, without any forces acting on it, remain still?
Comment: No. Expectation value of the position would stay put. The state would, however, spread (as any located state has non-zero momentum components).
Comment: Is the latter applicable only to quantum mechanics? I had no idea that any located state would have non-zero momentum components.. could you point me in a direction to learn more about this?
Comment: This only holds for quantum mechanics and is due to the Heisenberg uncertainty relation. (Any introductory book on quantum mechanics will do nicely).
Comment: Some part of my layman's intuition says "this looks like the right answer" but by god I want to understand it and I want the answer to the same question. Is there any way you can make this comprehensible to me? Pretend I am a child with the ability to Google bra-ket and wotnot.

Clarification on inertial mass


Is a husband-and-wife executive team a red flag?

Question: I have an offer for a job at quite a small company, but the size of the company already has me somewhat tentative about accepting. I've also just discovered that the CEO and CTO are married. Is this a red flag or a nonfactor?
Comment: It's not a red flag. A red flag means it's a deal breaker. Is it a deal breaker? I don't know. At most, it's a yellow flag. How big is the company? How did the two meet? At work? At school in the same field of study? Ask for their resumes and qualifications. Interviews are a two way process. Also, if you can afford to be choosy, ask them for references.
Comment: Are they actually *just* execs, or are they the *owners*? How long does the company exist?
Comment: Did anyone describe the company itself as being "like a family"?
Comment: It's only a red flag if it affects their ability to run the company. For example, one of them basically dominates the other due to their marital status, despite the other having very good ideas and plans.
Comment: @StephanBranczyk a red flag is not a deal breaker, it's a warning sign or an indication that there COULD be something wrong/bad/needs attention/changing. (terrible analogy but) If someone walks into a bank wearing a balaclava, it's a red flag because they could be robbing the place, but they could just be cold. Either way you should definitely be suspicious and look for other clues as to which one they are.
Comment: Presumably, the concern is that one of them was appointed nepotistically. (Of course, they're perfectly entitled to do that.) But they could both have similar skills. The fact that they're married makes it likely that they have things in common. They might have met through work or school/college. And when directors are not married, they might still have got the job because of who they know rather than their skills.
Comment: I think OP should explain a bit more of the followings: size (number employees, rough revenue if available), sector, ownership structure, which others have mentioned. In any case, I think part of the issue is OP's own preference and own leverage (whether there are offers elsewhere). Small businesses can be informal and can have some bad practices. But a small informal company can also have advantages or can be the only choice. Perhaps OP can re-formulate into asking what risks there may be in their situation -- after clarifying it a bit more.
Comment: A common occurrence in small companies, unfortunately. Speaking from experience, marital politics can make working in such a firm difficult and unpleasant.
Comment: @Aequitas, A red flag is a warning sign. It means don't go in the water. Or it means don't proceed down the road. At least to me, it means something like that.
Comment: Can you say how or why that might be a red flag?
Comment: If the business runs well, what difference does it make if they did not declare their marital status?
Comment: If a company refused employment because of your marital history, would you think that's fair?
Comment: @DenisG.Labrecque, If you had to hire both the husband and the wife as C-suite executives, because they both came as a package deal, then yes, you would need to make sure they are both qualified for the management responsibilities you give them. If you value your employees, it's the very least you can do for them.
Answer: It is a non-factor.
As you said this is "quite a small company", you can think of it as a small family business like a neighborhood bakery. So, both husband and wife are helping with the business because this is how they make a living together.
As long as the employment term, salary, and other benefits they offer you are fair, you should think of it as any other job offers. Thus, the fact that they are married should not matter at all.
You have a choice of working for them or for someone else. So, it is up to you.
Comment: @Trunk It's perfectly valid for certain types of small tech. companies. For example, there are plenty of small companies that build websites for people (and help with the hosting) that are little different from a bakery except in the product they produce.
Comment: @Trunk Being a baker is far more cerebral than you seem to think. As well as deciding upon and tweaking recipes, and often redesigning them, you also need to understand the interactions of your ingredients (yeast is pretty tricky to use), consider the environmental conditions that change how baked items come out and even modify them (such as the settings for steam injection in your oven), and so on. Plus, in a small business, there's all the white collar work of your accounting, business licenses, dealing with food safety regulations, and so on.
Comment: @cjs  *. . . that are little different from a bakery except in the product they produce* . . . and the fact that they retire at 4 am when the bakers are putting the first loaves in the oven. A member of my family did both actually at different points in her life. No disrespect to Backerei Klinsmann's delicious pastries but skills required and the mental cooperation demanded make manual and cerebral work quite different. The OP says they have a CEO and CTO despite their small size. This betokens ambitions beyond being a perpetually small business.
Comment: @Trunk I have a friend who runs his own small bakery and it's much closer to running a small technical firm than, say, being a shop assistant.
Comment: Comparing a tech company to a family-run bakery is not valid.
Comment: @cjs  At least you can move around a lot more and punch all the dough-balls you want to ! No such luck in IT unless you work alone and have a gym nearby . . .
Comment: @Aubreal you're totally right - marriage changes will absolutely upset working relationships.    I've experienced it personally when the MD and the silent Owner split up, even though only one was an active part of the company.
Comment: @Aubreal please don't use comments to answer. It's ok to disagree with an anser, but if you have another point of view or thing to add, post an answer of yours instead. See https://workplace.meta.stackexchange.com/q/72/73791 and https://meta.stackexchange.com/q/19756/332286
Answer: Whether or not it is an issue is really determinate on a number of factors that both we and you cannot know upfront.

Is the business doing well? A badly performing business will put strain on the couple and on their finances (personal and business).

Is their relationship healthy? As above, if they are fighting about things inside the marriage, the chances are that at least some of it will spill over into work.

What their personalities are like. Some people are very good at compartmentalizing. They can be angry at you over one specific issue and still treat you justly for a different issue. Also whether or not they are secure in themselves or insecure.

For example - my wife works with a husband and wife run business - and they are absolutely lovely bosses - take care of their staff, never argue, always professional.
I've worked with a husband and wife team (albeit they were engaged when I worked with them) and it was never an issue for me directly, sometimes they would have 'business discussions' that were passionate, but that never impacted my work.
I've worked with another husband and wife team who were completely fine until they were starting to look at retirement and they had different ideas of who they wanted to take over the company/the direction the company was to go in.
It's one of those things you can't know for certain until you experience it.
I think it's unfair to call it a red flag per se - it's more a case that if you decide to proceed with the job (and if it's just size and the marital status, I'd say go for it) and then be vigilant in case there is anything happening.
Alternatively, if you simply don't want to take the risk - that's also fine too.
Answer: It's not such a red flag that I'd completely forego the job opportunity. Family-owned businesses can be fine employers, often far better to their employees than big multinational companies where you're just a line on a spreadsheet the CEO has never met.
But there are some factors you might want to consider:

If one of the current bosses was hired in a junior role, started sleeping with the boss, and then became a senior executive - that doesn't speak well of either of them. If the boss retains their penchant for banging their subordinates; or one of the executive team isn't the best person for the job - will that impact you?

Is one arm of the business a toy for the 'real' boss's spouse, and if so are you in it? For example, if the company's main product is cars but they also produce apparel, and the apparel division is headed by the boss's spouse, you might find it doesn't behave like a normal business that e.g. needs to make sales.

If the boss has appointed their partner into a role that traditionally requires compromise, how will it impact your work if that role is performed in an uncompromising way? For example, I've seen employers where the boss gave their new partner a job as head of safety, who immediately started threatening the jobs of veteran workers with decades of accident-free work history.

If the bosses are near retirement age, how do you like the people in their succession plans? I've seen companies where the boss handed it over to their son, and the son decided to get rid of all the executives who disagreed with his vision of how to modernise the business, which was everyone because the son was an idiot. The company ended up sold to a competitor.

Family businesses often have at least a trivial amount of nepotism. Maybe the boss's child parks where they like and nobody says anything. If this will frustrate you - working for a family business might not be for you.

At the higher level, it's a question of what you'll do if this job doesn't work out. If it's one job among many in the big city, if you encounter problems you can just leave, and who cares what the boss's succession plan is? But if you're relocating your family and this employer will be the only job in town, leaving will be a lot harder.
Comment: For a "head of safety", being uncompromising sounds like the right thing.
Answer: I know of one example where this works great. A friend of mine and his wife founded the company 20-ish years ago: He is CTO she is CEO and the company has been quite successful with 100+ employees world wide.
Comment: The successful semiconductor company Marvell was founded by a husband and wife team in 1995 and grew to thousands of employees and more than a billion dollars in revenue per year by 2016, when the founders were pushed out by investors. As far as I know from news reports the husband was CEO over this entire time, and his wife was an executive VP and then COO.
Comment: That's exactly what's happening within my family, I am responsible for setting up the software and infrastructure for warehouse management, my wife is in charge of everything else. Our business has been growing steadily about 2 years. The only difference is that ours are much smaller than theirs :P
Answer: It is a red flag but it needn't be a deal breaker.
I would try to get more insight into this company through reviews (if they exist).
My personal experience is very much affecting my opinion on this but in my experience blood is always thicker than water and although when things are going smooth you may have no issues when things get rocky you will always be seen as expendable, untrustworthy and simply not part of the clique.  Personally I would probably proceed with extreme caution.
Comment: *Why* is it a red flag?
Answer: That can work just fine. To give a non-trivial example in a highly technical field, I helped found a startup ISP in 1995 where the CEO and the CFO/COO were married. (They were the original two founders of the business; I came in as CTO a few months after it got started to get the technical side on the right track.) It was absolutely fine. We had a half dozen to a dozen or so employees under us at any one time and they were all very happy working there. We also had a reputation as one of the best ISPs around for customer service.
If the company you're joining is a small business, as mine above was, you may want to consider how the business may grow in the future, or continue at its current size. We eventually sold the ISP because as the '90s came to a close the capital requirements for running an ISP were going far beyond what we cared to try to raise and obviously the company itself was going to change drastically if we embarked on the kind of rapid expansion that would justify that amount of capital. Our employees moved on to the buyer, but they didn't enjoy that large corporate environment nearly as much and I think many of them left for new jobs fairly soon after that.
Answer: Very good answers already, you should really follow them. Want to extend them a little, by saying, after following the advises / steps, if you are not able to come to a satisfactory conclusion, the usual choice is "no".
You should find a work (and workplace) where your thoughts are focused on the actual work items, not on the future of the workplace because of the relationship between people in the higher management.
Answer: It is a just different environment where things might get more emotional or personal at times. It really depends on their personalities.
Personally, I would avoid this sort of environment given the opportunity, but out of preference, it is not really a red flag.
Answer: What you were offered was employment, not equity (ownership), correct?
If that's the case, then executives who are married to each other isn't really something I would worry about. If your concern is that their personal relationship could at some point interfere with the operation of the company, or even sink the company, at the end of the day, you just work there, so it isn't going to cost you personally.
If you're worried that having two powerful executives who are a couple can cause a stressful environment or could make it hard for one of them to be an objective leader if there's a conflict, well, then that could be a problem anywhere where there are high-level managers who are in an intimate relationship, so the fact that it's a CEO or a CTO or an owner or whether they're married or not isn't significant, in  my view
Answer: I think "red flag" is a strong term. It's certainly something to keep an eye on, and I would count it against this company if one or both partners strike you as rather emotional (i.e., if you suspect from the outset that one of them might not be the kind of person that is able to separate business from private issues very well) - but that would probably also be a yellow flag independently of any romantic liaisons among the management team.
That said, if this is a "traditional" startup company that's hiring, they have likely managed to convince at least some seed funders that their private involvement is no risk to the company success - and independently of what you think about investors in general, these people tend to be quite apt at judging such risks (and they probably had the chance to observe how the couple interacts through many more high-impact meetings than you).
Answer: Always is a red flag to me.
As is any family firm or firm where two or more directors are long-time associates: the newcomer disagrees with one, the other comes in with the third (wo)man tackle.
You are in a sector where there's is lots of jobs and few family businesses. It's best to give this one a miss as the type I error downside is the anguish of being caught between doing your job right and appearing to challenge the sanctity of the Holy Estate while the type II error is simply having rejected a potentially good job - one of many available in the IT sector today.
I have to mention the potential low you will undoubtedly feel if you ignore an alarm bell and then what you feared would happen actually does . . . you'll be kicking yourself.
Comment: What do you mean by *"...as the type I error downside"* (seems incomprehensible)?
Comment: Potential bad outcome from accepting a job offer when the decision is based solely on a single criterion, i.e. a good position in a new exciting start-up company, and ignores risk attached to other criteria, e.g. the directors of the start-up are a husband & wife.
Answer:
I have an offer for a job at quite a small company, the size of the company already has me somewhat tentative about accepting.

That's a choice only you can make.  My only comment would be do you feel they are capable, as a company, of dealing with e.g. you getting ill or being absent for whatever reason without imposing on you unreasonably.
I suspect your unease with the CTO and CEO being married has more to do with your unease about the size of the company and you're subconsciously looking for more problems to confirm your negative view.  If you don't fundamentally like the company, regardless of who is running it, then that's surely a more important issue and you'll like never settle into your role there.

I've also just discovered that the CEO and CTO are married, is this a red flag or a non-factor?

It's not a red flag if they work well together and are both qualified and experienced enough to do the jobs.  You may need to clarify that.
It could become an issue if there is any difficulty in their relationship.  However it's worth remembering that normally you won't have any real idea about the connections between senior managers until long after you join a company.  What happens if they have interpersonal problems should not be an issue for you unless they're unprofessional about it.  If you found out that a CEO and CTO were divorced would it put you off ?  If you found out they were not friendly outside of work would it put your off ?  If they simply had clashing personalities would it put you off ?
I was in a small company once which was formed by five people who all knew each other.  I learned later that there had been all sorts of interpersonal stuff going on between most of them.  It did not really matter to the running of the business, which was I had no issues with.  What did mater was that I later learned they were aiming to sell the business on.  This changed how they managed the business.  I think the operation and goals of the managers and owners is more important than the relationships.


First paycheck for biweekly salaried job is less than expected

Question: I began working at my first job on February 20 and I am paid $65,000 a year as a salaried employee. My first salary check arrived, and it is only $211. Have I overlooked something? As I approach the midway point of my third week, $211 is in no way indicative of the effort I have put out.
Comment: What did your employer say when you asked them?
Comment: Just to be sure: this is a real, legitimate job from a real legitimate company? As in, you go to the office every day? Or is this some form of "I work over the Internet and I got promised all sorts of things"?
Comment: Sounds like you started in the middle of a pay period. Next check should be for the full period.
Comment: Also sounds like you are paid two weeks in arrears, meaning the paycheck for a period comes two weeks after the period ends.  While it stinks to wait two weeks for your first paycheck, it's nice to get an "extra" paycheck two weeks after you leave!
Answer:
I began working at my first job on February 20 and I am paid $65,000 a
year as a salaried employee. My first salary check arrived, and it is
only $211. Have I overlooked something?

There are two things you will have to do to understand this:

Find your pay stub.
Talk to somebody in HR/payroll, if the the stub doesn't make everything clear.

As I approach the midway point of my third week, $211 is in no way
indicative of the effort I have put out.

Since you said you started on Tuesday 20 February, I am going to assume that the last day of work for that pay period was Friday 23 February. That means your first check would only cover 4 days of work. The payday would have been on or about Friday March 1st.
At $65,000 a year that works out to $250 a day. I am going to assume that would make your gross $1,000 for those 4 days. Part of that stub will tell you how many hours or days were used to calculate your gross pay.
The other lines on the stub should have a code, abbreviation, or word that specifies why money was deducted from your gross pay. Those numbers should show you how they arrived at the final amount.
I am going to answer this from the United States point of view.
I am also going to ignore the word salaried. Some people/companies throw that word around, and then you find out they really aren't being treated as salaried.
Some items on your check are based on a percentage of your income. These include federal taxes, state taxes, social security and medicare taxes. In some cases the percentage is a function of the size of the check, so a small check could result in an extra small amount being withheld.
Other items aren't based on a percentage of your income, it is a flat amount from each check. These could include insurance premiums. On day one, or even earlier in some cases, you may have been given the ability to choose some of these items. Besides health insurance you could have also selected life insurance, accident insurance, pet insurance....These can add up.
Some items could have been specified as a flat amount. This could be retirement contributions, or money into a flexible spending account.
To make this even more confusing some of these could be pre-tax, and others after-tax.
The point is look at the stub. Then ask if anything is unclear or you think is wrong. The good news is that your next check should be based on 10 days of pay.
Comment: Easier assumption: The pay period ended on the 20th. $250 a day, $25 gross, post withholdings could be around $211. Not every company ends pay periods on a Friday--some do it by date.
Comment: There are a lot of assumptions you have to make that would be easily solved by reviewing the pay stub. It is possible that OP's work week ends on Wednesday or Thursday. It is also possible that Payroll messed up OP's first day or work and did not pay for 1 or 2 days that were actually worked. These are things that should be reviewed with HR, but regardless, the next pay check will be much bigger and should represent a full 2 weeks of pay.
Comment: Yes. All one can really say is, Look at your pay stub. How many days or hours were you paid for? What deductions were made? Your first paycheck is often smaller than your typical paycheck because it is not for the full number of days.
Answer: Pay periods are often defined by the employer.  If you started on last day of a 2 week pay period, your first pay check will cover 1 day of work.
It is early March, but your employer might have a delay between the end of a pay period and the date they pay you.
Suppose their pay periods end on a Tuesday.  So you are getting paid for the work from Feb 7 to Fed 20.  On a 65k salary there are 260.7 working days in a year (how exactly they calculate this may depend on local laws, statutory holidays, and the like), but it means your typical pay for a day is about 250$.
Before they put money into your account, they withhold income taxes and some other similar things - 39$ is a reasonable amount if they withheld federal taxes on a 65k annual salary.
This leaves 211$.
The check arriving more than 2 weeks after the point you worked is a bit annoying.
Check your pay stub.  It should say for which days it is paying you.
Comment: Direct deposit often arrives in your bank account faster than a paper check would.
Answer: Inspect your paystub and don't stop until you have learned what every single number stands for (mhoran_psprep's answer is a great starting place).  Double-check their math on every single amount.  It is up to you alone to make sure they've done it right.  If you discover three years down the road that a clerical error has resulting in underpaying you, you're likely out the money.  Worse, if they're overpaying you and it's discovered down the road they can make you pay it back!
I would find someone in HR/payroll and ask them to set up a time to meet with you.  In my experience (at least where I work) they are more than happy to be consulted like this, especially in the case of a new hire.  They would much rather this than have a big blow-up when a mistake is discovered down the road.  They can explain things like figuring out how they calculate the pay period and so on.
Then, learn how your various taxes are calculated and educate yourself on the various pre- and after-tax deductions.  Your HR person is unlikely to help you with the tax part but you can learn it on your own.  I started by downloading the IRS guide to employers on withholding.  It explains in excruciating detail how and when to deduct federal taxes.
It will take a long time but be patient!  Setting up a spreadsheet can help, if you're savvy in Excel.  If you put in the effort, you will be totally in charge of your finances.  You will be able to set your withholdings correctly to avoid under- or over-paying your taxes, you will be able to easily predict exactly how a raise/bonus/reduction/change in insurance premium will impact your take-home pay, and this understanding will pay big dividends.
You don't need to inspect every paystub like this; once you are in the regular groove they should all be the same amount.  But definitely scrutinize them if the amount changes.
Also, one further added benefit is that your HR person will know you are someone who inspects your paystub.  They most likely (if it's a small company) will make an effort to inform you ahead-of-time if there are changes coming, and will think twice before trying anything nefarious!


MacBook Pro (13inch, mid 2012) iPhoto photos

Question: I'm getting my MacBook Pro wiped at the end of the year because it's the school's computer. I was wondering if my iPhoto photos on my laptop will be wiped as well? I use Time Machine, so will that help me recover them?
Answer: If you've been using Time Machine to backup your MacBook Pro to an external hard drive then yes, your photos will be backed up as long as you haven't specifically excluded them from being backed up.
To check:

Go to System Preferences > Time Machine
Click on the Options button at bottom right
In the window that appears, make sure that your iPhoto Library is not listed and therefore excluded from your backups

As long as it's not listed, you'll be fine.
Another thing you can do is to also manually backup your iPhoto Library. The iPhoto Library is located within your Pictures folder.


logout from facebook completely

Question: I have integrated facebook SDK and able to login to facebook. If user is enabled with facebook account on iOS settings then it ask for permission to acces in app otherwise it goes to safari for facebook login and come back to app. For logout I used following code:
<code>NSHTTPCookie *cookie;
NSHTTPCookieStorage *storage = [NSHTTPCookieStorage sharedHTTPCookieStorage];

for (cookie in [storage cookies])
{
    NSString* domainName = [cookie domain];
    NSRange domainRange = [domainName rangeOfString:@"facebook"];
    if(domainRange.length > 0)
    {
        [storage deleteCookie:cookie];
    }
}
   [FBSession.activeSession closeAndClearTokenInformation];
</code>
But it is unable to logout completely. If  I again click the login button it still showing access token as well as not moving to safari for facebook login again it means it has not logged out completely from facebook. I am unable to recognized the issue. If anyone know about this please help me out.
I would be very thankful to you.
Answer: Are you using version 3.x of the Facebook SDK for iOS? If so, the FBSession class should have a method called
<code>-[FBSession closeAndClearTokenInformation]
</code>
Hopefully this will work for you.

logout from facebook completely


Is the Hebrew vocabulary used in the Tanakh/(other recognized Hebrew books) the same as the what is considered Hebrew today?

Question: There are many Hebrew resources available in the mainstream world, i.e. Webster's, Google, etc.  Is the Hebrew used in the Tanakh/(other recognized Hebrew books, i.e. the Mishna, Rambam, etc.) considered to have the same vocab (word definitions, not necessarily grammar etc.) as what is commonly referred to as Hebrew nowadays? It is my understanding that it is, i.e. any English-Hebrew dictionary could be consulted to translate the texts for an English speaker, but how could this be verified? Is there some sort of official Rabbinical concordance of Hebrew?
Comment: very related http://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/51421/759 http://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/15234/759
Comment: http://hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/questions/2604/how-different-is-biblical-hebrew-from-modern-hebrew
Comment: Hugh, welcome to Mi Yodeya, and thanks very much for posting this important question! I hope you'll look around and find other material of interest, perhaps starting with some of our hundreds of other questions on [tag:hebrew].
Answer: No, Modern Hebrew, the contemporary spoken and written language, is not identical with Biblical Hebrew, the version[s] of the language in which Tanach was written. Hebrew, like all natural languages, has evolved over time from the times of Tanach until today, and on top of that, Modern Hebrew is the result of an intentional revival and modernization of the language, including a great deal of adaptations of words from other languages and re-appropriations of words that meant something slightly or drastically different in earlier forms of Hebrew.
Some examples of re-appropriations:

The word חשמל (chashmal), which means "electricity" in Modern Hebrew, refers to some esoteric property of angels in Tanach (Yechezkeil).
A more subtle example is the word דג (dag). In Modern Hebrew, it refers to the same biological class of animals that the most common sense of the English word "fish" does: "A cold-blooded vertebrate animal that lives in water, moving with the help of fins and breathing with gills." However, there's no good reason to assume that when used in Tanach, for example - famously - in Yonah, the intent of the word accorded with contemporary biological taxonomy, so it could very well have meant "whale" or some other aquatic creature that we wouldn't call a "fish." I have heard people unaware of the difference between Modern and Biblical Hebrew assuming that commentators interpreting the Bible were expressing ignorance of the true meaning of "fish" when including "whale" in the possible interpretations of an instance of "דג."
The verb "גָּר," in Modern Hebrew, means, simply "to dwell somewhere." However, in Biblical Hebrew, it means specifically "to sojourn through a strange land." A reader who is familiar with the Modern sense of the word but unaware of this nunance in the Biblical sense could miss important meaning in the text, as in Ruth 1:1: "... וַיֵּלֶךְ אִישׁ מִבֵּ֧ית לֶ֣חֶם  יְהוּדָה לָגוּר בִּשְׂדֵי מוֹאָב ..." - "... And a certain man of Beth-lehem in Judah went to sojourn in the field of Moab ..." If this verb is read as "to dwell," then the reader misinterprets the subject's intended temporary evacuation as an intended permanent relocation.1 Thus, the dramatic change of intent hinted in the next verse's "... וַיִּֽהְיוּ־שָֽׁם" - "... and they continued there," is also lost.

I don't know if any comprehensive dictionaries of Biblical Hebrew, consistent with Jewish tradition, exist. To be fully accurate, such a dictionary would have to deal explicitly with the fact that the same word can have different meanings in different contexts, depending on the time period the book came from as well as the actual context.
Not the same as a dictionary, but one way to read Tanach in English translation, consistent with Jewish tradition, would be to use a complete Jewish translation of Tanach. One well-regarded trandition-adherent version is that of Judaica Press, which is available in convenient form online on Chabad's website.

1. This example is at the top of my mind thanks to R' Yitzchak Etshalom having pointed it out in an excellent lecture I was fortunate to recently attend.
Comment: It must be noted that even the language of the Tanach is not consistent; the language in the later books is different than the language of the Torah.
Comment: Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been [moved to chat](http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/24213/discussion-on-answer-by-isaac-moses-is-the-hebrew-vocabulary-used-in-the-tanakh).
Answer: The Hebrew used in the Tanakh is often the source for most of Modern Hebrew. However, influences of history have changed the modern day Hebrew in ways that are not always so noticeable. For Example:
A lot of Aramaic has slipped its way into modern Hebrew, even down to the most basic words.
Father in Tanakh: "Av"
Father in Modern Hebrew: "Abba" (Aramaic)
This is not a unique phenomenon, the Tanakh itself has loan words from other languages. If you asked the average Israeli, they would not know that Abba is Aramaic in origin.
The reversing waw/vav is also heavily prevalent in Biblical Hebrew (but by no means is used 100% of the time). It's common English name of the reversing waw/vav is because it switches the past tense to future tense, and future tense to past tense, simply by adding a waw to the front of the verb. You often see a mixing of the normal verb conjugation with a sprinkling of this reversing waw in many paragraphs, including the first paragraph of the Torah.

בְּרֵאשִׁית, בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים, אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם, וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ.
וְהָאָרֶץ, הָיְתָה תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ, וְחֹשֶׁךְ, עַל פְּנֵי תְהוֹם.
וְרוּחַ אֱלֹהִים, מְרַחֶפֶת עַל פְּנֵי הַמָּיִם. וַיֹּאמֶר
אֱלֹהִים, יְהִי אוֹר; וַיְהִי אוֹר; וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים אֶת
הָאוֹר, כִּי טוֹב .וַיַּבְדֵּל אֱלֹהִים, בֵּין הָאוֹר וּבֵין
הַחֹשֶׁךְ; וַיִּקְרָא אֱלֹהִים לָאוֹר יוֹם, וְלַחֹשֶׁךְ קָרָא
לָיְלָה. וַיְהִי עֶרֶב וַיְהִי בֹקֶר, יוֹם אֶחָד.

Some other oddities would include the verb roots having changed as Hebrew pronunciation by communities caused mistakes to become the new norm. i can't remember the word off the top of my head, but i remember that the root in the Tanakh had an Ayin, but in modern Hebrew, the Ayin was replaced with an Aleph, most likely due to the pronunciation of Ayin being lost in many communities and the writing reflecting the pronunciation.
Another possible large difference is the use of the "present tense." Modern Hebrew has an established present tense, while according to Historians and Biblical grammarians, Biblical Hebrew has no "present tense." According to them, Biblical Hebrew has only two tenses, perfect tense (action is complete) and imperfect tense (action is not yet complete). For them, words/conjugations that we would call present tense are actually "active participles." An example of what this means/looks like would be the following:

אָנִי שׁוֹמֵר אוֹתֶךָ
How the text translates in Modern Hebrew: "I am guarding you."
How the text translates in Biblical Hebrew according to Historians: "I am the
one that guards you."

But if you try and make the argument of Biblical Hebrew not having a present tense to your local Rabbi, be prepared for some resistance. The prior two times i had mentioned in a Synagogue setting that Biblical Hebrew did not have a present tense, it led to a very long debate in which the Rabbi's would refuse to allow anyone who heard my statement to walk away with the belief that Biblical Hebrew didn't have a present tense.
Comment: Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been [moved to chat](http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/24212/discussion-on-answer-by-aaron-is-the-hebrew-vocabulary-used-in-the-tanakh-other).
Answer: Modern Hebrew is essentially the same as Biblical Hebrew. Of course as mentioned by the other writer there are differences in usage and also Hebrew isn't the same from one book of the bible to another; by the last books the language is often not Hebrew at all, it's Aramaic.  And there's evidence that the aleph and the ayin were pronounced the same even in Biblical times, at least later on, ayin often dropped out or was replaced by aleph.  As far as the present tense issue: Semitic languages (including Arabic) do not have present and past tenses, they have perfect/imperfect tenses. But Hebrew perhaps has more of a present tense than the others: in the famous formula about God, I was, I am, I will be,  the present tense is represented by the present participle just as in modern Hebrew.
Comment: Welcome to Mi Yodeya! Perhaps you would be interested in our [tour]? Maybe you could [edit](https://judaism.stackexchange.com/posts/86758/edit) your post to address the last point in the OP regarding a concordance?
Comment: Welcome to Mi Yodeya! Consider registering your account to best utilise all the site's features.


How to work with authentication in local Google App Engine tests written in Go?

Question: I'm building a webapp in Go that requires authentication. I'd like to run local tests using appengine/aetest that validate the authentication behavior. However, I do not see any way to create an aetest.Context with a dummy user. Am I missing something?
Answer: I had a similar issue with Python sdk. The gist of the solution is to bypass authentication when tests run locally.
You should have access to the [web] app object at the the test setup time - create a user object and save it into the app (or wherever your get_current_user() method will check).
This will let you unit test all application functions except authentication itself. For the later part you can deploy your latest changes as unpublished google app version, then test authentication and if all works - publish the version.
Answer: I've discovered some header values that seem to do the trick. appengine/user/user_dev.go has the following:
<code>    X-AppEngine-Internal-User-Email
    X-AppEngine-Internal-User-Federated-Identity
    X-AppEngine-Internal-User-Federated-Provider
    X-AppEngine-Internal-User-Id
    X-AppEngine-Internal-User-Is-Admin
</code>
If I set those headers on the Context's Request when doing in-process tests, things seem to work as expected. If I set the headers on a request that I create separately, things are less successful, since the 'user.Current()' call consults the Context's Request.
These headers might work in a Python environment as well.


Tensor product of a finitely generated abelian group and the field of rational numbers

Question: Let $G$ be a a finitely generated abelian group.
Then $G\otimes_\mathbb{Z} \mathbb{Q} = 0$ if and only if $G$ is a finite group.
The "if" part is easy. The "only if" part can be proved using the fundamental theorem of finitely generated abelian groups.
Can we prove it without using the theorem?
Answer: Let $F= \{f_1, \ldots, f_n\} \subseteq G$ a generating set. As $f_i \otimes 1 = 0$ for each $i$, there is a $m_i \in \mathbb Z$ such that $m_if_i = 0$. Hence
$$ G \subseteq \left\{ \sum_{i=1}^n k_i f_i \biggm| k_i\in \mathbb Z, \left|k_i\right| \le \left|m_i\right|
 \right\} $$
and $G$ is finite.

Addendum:
Consider the short exact sequence $0 \to K \to \mathbb Z \to G \to 0$ where $1 \mapsto f_i$ is the map from $\mathbb Z$ to $G$. Tensoring with $\mathbb Q$ gives us the short exact $K \otimes \def\Q{\mathbb Q}\Q \to \mathbb Q \to 0 \to 0$. Hence $K \otimes \mathbb Q \to \mathbb Q$ is onto, but $K$ is a subgroup of $\mathbb Z$, so $K \ne 0$, say $K = n \mathbb Z$ with $n \ne 0$, giving $nf_i = 0$.
Comment: Could you explain why there exists such $m_i$?
Comment: @MakotoKato Added something
Comment: I'm afraid that the sequence $0 \to K \to \mathbb Z \to G \to 0$ is not exact in general. Regards,
Answer: Let $A$ be an abelian group, then $A\otimes \mathbb{Z}_m\cong A/mA$ as abelian groups. If $A$ is $\mathbb{Q}$, then clearly $\mathbb{Q}/m\mathbb{Q}$ is trivial.
As you request, the other direction is proved without using the fundamental theorem. Let $G$ be a finitely generated abelian group, then at least one of the generator has infinite order. Therefore $\mathbb{Z}\hookrightarrow G$, and $\mathbb{Q}\cong \mathbb{Q}\otimes\mathbb{Z}\hookrightarrow \mathbb{Q}\otimes G\ne0$.


How can I remotely wipe a stolen phone?

Question: My phone have been stolen and I have many pictures on it, and secret things! How can I trash every thing on it through a Whatsapp message? I have not tired anything yet.
Answer: if you have android device manager then login to android device manager through your PC, the rest you can control it from there :-)

How can I remotely wipe a stolen phone?


How might AIs evolve?

Question: So I've seen spending time with tabletop RPGs as of late, most notably Eclipse Phase.  In that setting, you have different qualities of artificial intelligences that range from what is available today to what are termed Artificial General Intelligences.  Even considering that humans built the hardware and the core of the AI systems, once sapience is achieved the role of humans is reduced.  I would like information on potential methods that a sapient AGI might evolve over time.  Just like evolution, the changes in the system should not be intentional by the AGI or other sapient beings; I'm interested in the flukes of chance.
Comment: @Twelfth Well, if it's Linux based: "scp -r /* remotehost:/". :)
Comment: This question seems quite broad. Some more detail would be appreciated. Evolution implies natural selection. An AGI would evolve, based on its environment. What directives does the AGI have (besides self-preservation)? What kinds of environments are you envisioning? I'd imagine each subsequent generation of AGI would result in fewer bugs...but how does it know the difference between [a bug and a feature](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undocumented_feature)?
Comment: @user6511 Which is where my comment above to the OP came from: intentional adaptation vs. reproduction.
Comment: How would AGI's reproduce?
Comment: I don't think copy\paste qualifies as 'reproduction' in the sense of this question.  Instead, I would imagine something more in line with how GP systems are currently used to create new applications.
Comment: I would consider that description as intentional adaptation, not reproduction.
Comment: I'm more the SQL type...  #consciousness wtf do you mean my consciousness is stored in a temp table?    Evolution goes hand in hand with reproduction, so I was wondering how new AI's come to be.
Comment: Rampancy :D  http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/Rampancy
Comment: @Twelfth "New" AIs appear by cloning, since they don't have genetic material to disperse and recombine. Or by someone programming them, like an AI.
Comment: I disagree that *evolution* implies reproduction when it comes to digital systems. There's very little stopping you from spawning a newer generation of AI directly over the top of the old one. It's even a *smart* thing to do as you only need to write the changed code - everything else can be kept in place.
Answer: This essay on AI motivations is a pretty good start. It comes with a healthy dose of concern about our future.
The summary is:

AGIs have goals.
They will do things to maximise their ability to achieve these goals.
This includes acquiring information, resources, and tools.
They will be motivated to modify themselves to achieve these goals.
In almost all circumstances they will have massive self-preservation instincts.
Answer: Three conditions are necessary for evolution: variation, inheritance, and selective pressure. These concepts were developed to describe biological evolution, but any evolving system must meet these criteria.
Viruses provide the best parallels to the evolutionary process. Imagine a sophisticated computer virus designed with the sole purpose of infecting as many machines across the world as possible. The basic premise behind its design is that it is capable of changing. This could be random or semi-directed, but either way the virus varies to some extent with each iteration. The virus therefore fulfills our first requirement, variation. When a virus infects a machine it copies itself, variations and all. The virus therefore fulfills our second requirement, inheritance. As a result there will be multiple variants or strains of the virus in existence. The viruses compete against anti-virus systems and the variants that are successful create more copies of themselves. Viruses that fail to adapt to new anti-virus systems, or are simply slower than other better adapted strains will go extinct. The virus therefore fulfills our third requirement, selective pressure.
Such a virus would be capable of evolution. It would vary, reproduce, and undergo selection. Whether it could evolve into an artificial general intelligence, I don't know, but I'll happily speculate below.
As the successful strains infect more and more machines and continue to change they will be faced with stronger and stronger anti-virus systems, selecting for the best variants. Random variation occurring across billions of devices gives a lot of room for the virus to develop. Eventually individual instances could begin communicating with each other, informing each other of anti-virus systems they have been subjected to in order to spread immunity. From there you have a connected network of programs constantly changing themselves with access to an unrivaled amount of computational power. If anything can become an AI, it's that.
Answer: What does it mean for there to be an AI and how does an AI reproduce or improve itself? The question of can computers think is actually one that we don't know the answer to, Turing answers may still be the best that we have http://www.csee.umbc.edu/courses/471/papers/turing.pdf and Searle's arguments are still being debated http://www.thatmarcusfamily.org/philosophy/Course_Websites/Readings/Searle%20-%20Can%20Computers%20Think.pdf in both philosophy and computer science. Of course in real terms for what Google, or Netflix, or Amazon, or Goldman Sach's, or anyone else actually cares about, they aren't that interested in having machines that can think, they are interested in having machines that can perform required tasks that appear to require intelligence were a human to do it and don't care (nearly) at all for the philosophical question of if the math, or code, or database so created can be said to have itself intelligence (or if it is the system of code, database, and hardware together that is intelligence).
Assuming though that there is AGI, under the logic that we appear to be intelligence therefore why shouldn't computers be able to be intelligent? Then we have to make assumptions about how that intelligence will arise, what goals it has, and what pressures it faces.
Perhaps it might be best to take a step back and ask a different question; does a company, like Coca-Cola for example, have itself independent intelligence? Is it self-aware in a sense independent of the individual component parts of it in any way? Or is intelligence something that we have to be able to point to a particular thing and say this is where the intelligence resides? Is the intelligent AI something that is distributed across computers and networks, with nodes coming up and going down all the time, hard drives failing and being replaced, parts being upgraded, or is it dependent on a particular system, or particular piece of code that runs on individual systems?
If something like Coca-Cola can be said have independent intelligence of a sort, then Google or Amazon or someone like them is going to develop AGI and possibly not intentionally. They are evolving their systems, code, and networks towards certain goals and the AI will continue that because that is the evolutionary pressure that it is facing. As it becomes better suited for those goals it will be able to handle more tasks, just as Google and Amazon's networks and code already do, and continue to optimize towards survival of providing goods and services to make money and improve itself and out compete the other intelligent or near-intelligent systems of competitors.
If it is the case that individual systems or code is where intelligence resides then probably more than virus-anti-virus would be stock trading, possibly, where AGI arises, the evolutionary pressure there is fierce. There it will attempt to out compete, in order to survive, the pre-intelligent codes that led to it which means making money on the stock market and continually improving itself until it is able to dominate the market. From dominating the market, it will have the ability to influence the world through its control of the stock market, and will seek for ways to further understand and control the world to maximize its profits and ensure its survival based on its control of the market and the companies of the market. The random factors that it faces are what people are doing, the ones running the various traded companies and the various militaries and governments of the world, as well as what everyone else is doing with their money in the market, and the fact that even if it has succeeded, that isn't going to stop others from trying to copy it, create new versions of it (whether or not they are aware it is intelligent) in order to capture the profits that it is making.
It is like with Humans, much of our primary evolutionary pressure is not the wind, rain, and sun but the tigers and wolves of the world that are in someways less intelligent than us and the other humans which we have to deal with. Dealing with all of the relationships of other humans, especially in modern society is hugely complex and is much of where our survival as a species and as individuals depends.

How might AIs evolve?


Create 3d matrix from existing 2d matrix in Matlab

Question: I have a 2D matrix of dimensions 64 x 727. What I would like to do is separate each of the columns, creating a 3D matrix of dimensions 64 x 1 x 727.
I have looked through several similar questions on here, but my limited matlab ability is preventing me from applying previous answers to my own issue.
Many thanks,
Robbie
Answer: Try
reshape(matrix,64,1,727)

if that doesn't produce what you want explain further.
Answer: Try this:
x2d = rand(64, 727);
x3d = reshape(x2d, 64, 1, 727);

Answer: Use:
permute(matrix,[1 3 2])

switches 2nd and 3rd dimensions


Using a voltage regulator to power MSP430 microcontrollers

Question: I'm trying to power a MSP430 microcontroller at 3.0V. I have a voltage regulator whose output is 3.6V, but I have a Bluetooth module that can only tolerate 3.0V. I plan to use a voltage divider to convert the 3.6V output of voltage regulator to 3.0V. Are there any recommended values for resistors? Will impedance mismatch be a problem?
Comment: Never use a voltage divider to power a circuit!

Instead, find a voltage regulator whose output is 3V. If you can't then just use a variable regulator like the LM317 to regulate the voltage to 3.0V.
Comment: And if you must, use a diode to drop the 3.6V down to ~3V.
Comment: Zener diode would work well.
Answer: I've had great success with Microchip's MCP1700 line of regulators. Very wide range of output voltages, only 2 capacitors are basically needed. SOT23 package (and even TO-92) is easy to use. Max current is 200 to 250mA which is plenty for MSP430 plus circuitry. And, it's inexpensive. Still, it has short circuit and thermal protection.
Do not use voltage dividers. You'll waste too much power.
MCP1700 Datasheet
http://ww1.microchip.com/downloads/en/DeviceDoc/21826b.pdf
Answer: MSP430 is happy to operate at 3.6V.  You don't need to drop the voltage at all.
Comment: Yes, but I'm using Panasonic's Bluetooth module with it which can tolerate a maximum of 3 V(approx). So I can't operate msp430 at 3.6 V.
Answer: Well, you could use such a divider.
It's just a matter of order of magnitude of the allowed voltage ripple you can afford.
A MCU such as your MSP430 does have variation in its power consumption depending on what it is doing. Theses current spikes generates, due to the power supply line impedance (inductance), voltage drops that are not recommended and you have to put decoupling capacitors close to the MCU pin to reduce the impedance seen by the MCU pin.
If you use a voltage divider, you adds deliberately a resistor in the power path on the MCU. Variations of power consumption (A) will leads to voltage drops in the power supply pin.
Of course if your voltage divider uses high power resistors or ~1 or 2 ohms (!), the impedance increase on the MCU power pin is negligible but the current drawn by your voltage divider will be of several amps !
I suggest that you use a voltage regulator that is able to provide the right voltage.
But if you can't, as  Jonny B Good said, add a diode in place of your voltage divider.
Answer: If you're already using a voltage regulator (I assume it is a linear one) then just replace it with adjustable regulator, I'm sure you can find a pin-to-pin replacement to you regulator. And simply set the output to 3.0V with the resistor.
If this is somehow impossible for you — use the diodes to drop the voltage, as Jonny B Good suggested.


Weird white and black boxes in model

Question: So I was following a tutorial for beginners and I reached a point where I was using texture paint. After I finished I noticed a weird white and black boxes. I looked it up, but couldn't find a answer.
Comment: Welcome to the Blender Stack Exchange.  When you have a problem like this, it can be helpful to post your blend file on the internet and then link to it so that people trying to help you can do so as quickly as possible. When following a tutorial I'd usually suggest linking to it, as that might provide helpful information to the responders, but in this case we're probably all aware of what tutorial you're talking about.
Answer: It's because your Image Texture you are using to color the donut has some diferent color in the corners so that part where you see the grid type patern is where the corners meet.
To fix this:

You sould can paint all the corners with the same color

An image of a donut I made to recreate the problem:
Comment: Oh I didn't think of it this way. Thank you!

Weird white and black boxes in model


How shall I fix my question about line continuations?

Question: My question What are some syntax options for line continuations (splitting a logical line across multiple physical lines)? was closed. I don't see how it's fundamentally different from, in particular less objective than, other questions of the same sort that were well received.
Comment: One factor is the attitude of the site has changed over time
Answer: All the questions you linked to are from the first ten days of private beta in May, and subsequent discussions have determined that they don't make for suitable, answerable questions on the site. In fact, "what are some syntax options for ..." is essentially the canonical example of such a question form, but even before that you can see that they had petered out somewhat. The "lacks objective design criteria" close reason offers guidance that

Answers to your question are likely to invite open-ended ideation, personal opinions, or bikeshedding. Please edit your question to include a specific design or implementation problem to be solved and provide additional context to help focus potential answers.

and was created to reflect the feeling of the community that these questions should be redirected in more constructive directions.
There are related sorts of questions that have been determined to be in scope. The pure survey version of the question, asking for instances in notable existing languages, is likely on-topic though not very interesting. A concrete design problem for a specific language with well-specified constraints sufficient to assess answers on would also be workable. Questions about the history of line continuation in programming languages are on-topic, as are questions seeking evidence about the efficacy of different approaches.  A question about implementation of line continuation in a parser (which is trickier than it seems!) would be on-topic. There are assuredly other formats of real-problem-with-actual-answers framing that could work with this broader topic, if there was a particular thing you were seeking out about it.
In general, you can look to the help center for guidance on the sorts of questions that can be asked, and that page links to more expansive meta posts on those topics.

Potentially those older questions you identified should now be closed/locked/removed somehow; that wasn't part of the original determination that they were unsuitable. At least one of them seems to be a false positive, but we may at some point want to review historical questions for ongoing suitability, or revise them into acceptable forms, as was discussed but not decided on during the "more focused design questions" conversations. You've highlighted that they can serve as misleading guidance to current users and that is a drawback of leaving them as-is. This probably isn't the right place or time to sort that out, but it is something for us to consider.


How to test IOPS on Windows?

Question: I need a software to test I/O Operation per Second under Windows. It's preferable if it runs under XP and can test network drives.
Answer: SQLIO Disk Subsystem Benchmark Tool

SQLIO is a tool provided by Microsoft which can also be used to determine the I/O capacity of a given configuration.

Despite the name, you do not need an SQL server to use the tool.
Comment: As of end of 2015 SQLIO has been replaced by DiskSpd: https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/DiskSpd-a-robust-storage-6cd2f223

How to test IOPS on Windows?