Can you translate 'speaker of French' as 'locuteur du français'?

Question: For obvious reasons, if you're in a French language group for non-native speakers, the word 'speaker' comes up quite a lot.
I've asked two native speakers the question asked in the headline and they both said emphatically no, and one verified it with her husband.  Yet this guy at 4:15 of this  video  uses the word. Then this graph shows that 'locuteurs' is used roughly a third of the time as 'speakers' in English at least since 1980.  This website shows five uses of the word, though I'm aware that there are some machine translations or bad translations on the site.  So let me know what you think.
Comment: *L'élocution et les circonlocutions de mon interlocuteur montrent que ce n'est pas un locuteur natif du français, je redoute son allocution...*
Answer: Of course locuteur / locutrice du français is a correct translation of "speaker of French". But it is not the only one. What to say comes down to register.
I will try to address all the points in your question but in a different order.
The ngram in your question shows that the word locuteur wasn't used in French before the 20th century whereas English has used  the word "speaker"  since at least the 14th century (OED gives 1303 for the 1st occurrence). This of course doesn't mean that the concept of speaker didn't exist in French before that time.
Locuteur was introduced in French by Damourette (a grammarian & linguist) and Pichon (a grammarian & psychoanalyst) in their monumental1  work:  Des mots à la pensée, essai de Grammaire de la langue française, published between 1911 and 1927. In the glossary they define the word as personne qui parle. The word is first used in vol. 1, § 48. Damourette et Pichon have been remembered by linguists as the "inventors" of the concept of locuteur2.
This explains that the French word locuteur is  used in linguistic contexts. Using it in everyday speech shows a certain degree of schooling. I would say locuteur is used in French when the word "locutor" can be used in place of "speaker" in English3. "Speaker" has also much broader uses than locuteur since it is not restricted to linguistic uses, hence the relative non significance of the ngram shown in your question.
The video you link to in your question is made by a linguist, so the use of the word  locuteur is expected in this context. Most of the time, in everyday casual conversation in French, the "speaker" is celui qui parle. Celui (celle, ceux) qui parle français, celui qui parle anglais etc... sometimes there are specific words (anglophone, francophone etc...) as said in another answer. But these specific words would not be used under any circumstance, here again we have to consider context and register. Most of the times if I want to say that, for example, someone is a good English speaker, I'd say il/elle parle bien anglais, because being francophone or anglophone or whatever -phone, situates the person in a community, it's not just a casual remark about themself.
Where I will say "I'm a French native speaker" to an English person I've just met, I would say ma langue maternelle est le français in a similar situation to a French person, but here on FL saying je suis locuteur natif du français is not a problem because I know I won't make people uncomfortable using a linguistic register. When studying a literary work in an educational context locuteur is also the right choice of word.
If talking about the speaker on a stage, at a meeting, etc... I'd use the word  oratrice / orateur.

1 7 volumes + table of contents and glossary.
2 La grammaire nationale selon Damourette et Pichon : l'invention du locuteur, a thesis by Valelia Muni Toke.
3 The wiktionary says that "[Locutor] was very rare until the mid-1900s, and is still less than a thousandth as common as speaker.
Comment: It is indeed. There is also *beau parleur* ;-)
Comment: @None, excellent answer.  I appreciate your help.  At the end of the day, I would say that saying: 'il est le meilleur locuteur francais de notre group' would be like answering in familiar setting the question: 'what do you do in your free time' with 'my free time is spent in the intersection of hiking and reading'.  'Intersection', to me at least, seems to be a fad in academia.
Comment: We borrowed "speaker" to make the French *speaker* and *speakerine* but the latter disappeared with the job and the former is out of trend except maybe in stadiums.
Comment: @jlliagre sure, I haven't used the French word speaker for ages. But I hope it's clear in my answer *orateur* is not an option for the OP.
Comment: @bobsmith76 exactly. A dictionary lookup will also give you a hint that it is not an everyday word (big LING upfront = linguistics): https://www.cnrtl.fr/definition/locuteur
Answer: To improve what LPH said, there is one other translation to speakers. We will often use the -phone suffix, for example :

French speakers -> les francophones
English speakers -> les anglophones
German speakers -> les germanophones (even though German is allemand in French)
Chinese speakers -> les sinophones

And we will use -phonie to describe every speaker from the language, e.g., la francophonie is the community of French speakers around the world.
Comment: They are also recent words dating from the 1960's. Do you know why usage appears to have waned (amoindri) significantly since 2005 here? https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=anglophone%2Cfrancophone%2Csinophone%2Cgermanophone%2Citalophone%2C+hispanophone%2C+lusophone%2C+arabophone%2C+&year_start=1780&year_end=2012&case_insensitive=on&corpus=fr-2012&smoothing=3
Comment: @bandybabboon To be accurate they started **being used more widely** in the 1960s (*francophone* thanks to Léopold Senghor, 1960), but the words, at least *francophone* and anglophone (I'm not sure for the others), **date** from the 19th century (so I would not use "recent" ). Both appeared at about the same time in the late 1870s. *Francophone* was coined by [Onésime Reclus](https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/On%C3%A9sime_Reclus#Inventeur_des_mots_%C2%AB_francophone_%C2%BB_et_%C2%AB_francophonie_%C2%BB).
Comment: @bandybabboon, I would say that it's just statistical noise.  having looked at several ngram views there are lots of ups and downs that defy explanation.
Comment: @reclus (fortunately, not many people know what onesime means) Senghor is practically the only subsaharan poet i'm familiar with, but i'm working on correcting that ignorance.
Comment: In Québec one also speaks of *allophones*, i.e., anyone who is not a *francophone* or an *anglophone*.
Answer: I can't understand that the fact you find three times "speaker" in English for each time you find "locuteur" in French proves something about the translation of "speaker".
Be that as it may, one can say that there is no doubt that "locuteur" is a proper translation, if not the translation of "speaker" in such expressions as "speaker of French" and "speaker of Basque". Here the ngram for "locuteur du français".

The Google page of examples  corresponding to this graph shows numerous cases of use in works dedicated to teaching,  the art of language,  and certain matters in sociology and other academic disciplines: "examples of use of "locuteur du français"
You can also find "locuteur de français", but it is much less used although found in similar books. However, you can use this option if you feel like it, as it must be reckoned with as correct. Let's notice however that "locuteur d'anglais" is not used, which fact, again, is not tantamount to saying that it is not an allowed expression.

locuteur de français
Personally, I see no other translations. There is "utilisateur du français", but it is muxh less used and the meaning is not quite the same: "utilisateurs are necessarily "locuteurs" but not vice versa.
Comment: @Frank *Locuteur du [français]*  est un terme habituel dans un contexte linguistique ou sociologique, ça  fait partie du sociolecte de certains milieux, mais pas dans d'autres.   Un ngram ne renseigne pas sur le contexte (disons qu'analyser le corpus serait chronophage), mais une [recherche dans Google Books](https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=%22locuteur+du+fran%C3%A7ais%22) donne plus facilement une idée des contextes dans lesquels les mots sont employés. Je doute qu'on trouve l'expression dans un roman ou qu'on l'emploie en parlant entre potes.
Comment: @None. Tout à fait d'accord.
Comment: @bobsmith76 _c'est lui qui parle le mieux français dans notre groupe_, pour rester assez neutre.
Comment: Il y a aussi _francophone_, et après, une série de périphrases. Personellement, _locuteur du_ ne sonne pas très bien. On dirait plus facilement, à mon avis, _il/elle parle français, allemand, espagnol..._.
Comment: @Frank En lisant « dedicated to teaching, the art of language, and certain matters in sociology and other academic disciplines: "examples of use of "locuteur du français" » on a le renseignement voulu.  Tout d'abord, la question est "peut-on traduire par "locuteur du français? " ; ensuite "speaker of French" est assez formel : https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=speaker+of+French%2Cspeak+French&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=en-2019&smoothing=3.  Malheureusement je ne connais pas la langues des "potes", ou très peu.
Comment: @Frank, (bon nom pour un francophone, soit dit en passant), il semble donc que 'locuteurs du francais' ne soit utilisé que dans certains contextes académiques. alors comment diriez-vous entre potes, 'il est le meilleur locuteur de français de notre groupe'?


C# simple encryption

Question: Hi' I'm learning C# (as a hobbyist) and am trying to figure how to write a simple encryption program.
Converting characters from ASCII is fine, got that sorted, but it is the shift I am stuck on. If I want to code for (n + 3) for example, what line of thought should I be following?
Comment: Yes it is the Caesar cypher I'm after. Sorry for the vague question!
Answer: Are you trying to do something like a Caesar cipher? (i.e. take every letter and shift it a certain number of letters to the left or right?)
If so, you will want to work with individual characters on your string. There's a datatype char that allows this, and you can do arithmetic operations. To get an array of chars from a string, call (string).ToCharArray(). Then you can iterate through the characters and shift each character.
char key = (char)3;
string toEncrypt = "abcdef";
char[] cArray = toEncrypt.ToCharArray();

for (var i = 0; i < cArray.Length; i++) {
   cArray[i] = (char)(cArray[i] + key);
}

One thing to keep in mind is that you'll need to "wrap" your characters if they go past the end of the alphabet. I'll leave this as a challenge to you. :)
Keep in mind that while this is a fun way to learn the language, it's not useful in the real world for encryption and is extremely easily broken.
Answer: There are tons of encryption options built into the .net framework.  Since you are hobbying around, maybe you want to do it by hand, but your test program could simply use the framework.
System.Security.Cryptography Namespace
Also could use the Cryptography Application Block
Perhaps using these is more than you need, but using built in frameworks to meet your goal may help teach you the .net framework and c# as well.
Answer: What you are looking at is a Caesar cipher

In cryptography, a Caesar cipher, also
  known as a Caesar's cipher, the shift
  cipher, Caesar's code or Caesar shift,
  is one of the simplest and most widely
  known encryption techniques. It is a
  type of substitution cipher in which
  each letter in the plaintext is
  replaced by a letter some fixed number
  of positions down the alphabet. For
  example, with a shift of 3, A would be
  replaced by D, B would become E, and
  so on. The method is named after
  Julius Caesar, who used it to
  communicate with his generals.

This is a good way to start learning, but please read the section on Breaking the cipher
You could try something like
string val = "abc";
string encrypt = "";
for (int iChar = 0; iChar < val.Length; iChar++)
{
    encrypt += (char)(val[iChar] + 3);
}
string decrypt = "";
for (int iChar = 0; iChar < encrypt.Length; iChar++)
{
    decrypt += (char)(encrypt[iChar] - 3);
}

Another simple option to look at is
Simple XOR Encryption

What that means is that you only need
  one method, "EncryptDecrypt". Pass a
  string into it and get it back
  encrypted. Pass the encrypted string
  into it and you get back the original
  text, as long as the XOR character is
  the same.
Answer: Something like (char)('n' + 3) could give you the character you are looking for and then you can convert it to number once again, as you like..
Answer: If you aren't trying to roll your own encryption, the framework has got encryption functionality built in. See this article for more info.
edit: fixed link

C# simple encryption


What do I do when I reset a device and it says I have to sign in with a Google account that was previously synced on this device it's Alcatel Pixi 4

Question: Help
Please help me I bought this phone from a friend and I factory reset it and this is what shows up
Comment: I trust you don't want the sync'd data.  If so, then start over and don't give it your email address.  Or create a new gmail address and use that one.
Answer: If you bought the phone off a friend, bring it back to him and tell him to sign in and then delete his account after he signed in.
However, you could try going into recovery mode and wiping the phone from there.


Antonym for gormless?

Question: I was sitting at the card table this evening looking gormless (as I am wont to do) when it occurred to me to wonder, are the other players gormful? Is there such a word? Is there such a thing as gorm, that one can either have or lack?
Comment: Given its derivation from gorm/gaum, one might be able to say "gormful", but the version "have gorm" seems more acceptable (and was afaik also once regularly used).
Comment: I'd go with feckful: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/feckful
Comment: A post like this would almost seem to be self-contradictory. Either that, or the malady ironically cured itself. :)
Answer: According to merriam-webster.com, "gormless" does indeed mean "lacking in gorm", which was originally the middle-English word "gaum" or "gome", meaning "understanding, or attention".  I would have to say that "gorm" as its own word has fallen out of the modern lexicon, though, and is not at all likely to be understood.  (Hopefully someone who can do searches of the Corpus of English Language Texts or the like can provide extra information....)
Comment: Nor have I ever found *gormful* in a dictionary, but people usually recognize the intent. I use it only in informal situations.
Comment: @Cerberus Why oh why is *gormandize* already taken?
Comment: The OED knows no adjective that begins with "gorm-" and means the opposite of "gormless".
Comment: If you're going to go with a whimsical coinage, why not _gorm-packed_?  Too much?
Comment: So a gormful person would seem to be the sort of person who is engaged and attentive in a way that denotes a razor sharp understanding of the world and/or the current situation.
Answer: Enlightened would be a good antonym for this, as the other answers suggest that Gorm means 'understanding'. Someone full of understanding is enlightened.
Comment: As per my comment on the answer above I feel the meaning would be more specific.

Antonym for gormless?


how to plugin orientation of 6R robotic arm in inverse kinematics

Question: I had all the DH parameters and calculated transformation matrix. From that I know the end-effector value position. But I don't understand how to integrate orientation.
Answer: Orientation is already integrated in the transfomration matrix.
A transformation matrix is a $4x4$ matrix, which can be written as:
$$\begin{pmatrix}R_{3x3} & P_{3x1}\\\ 0_{1x3} & 1\end{pmatrix}$$
$R_{3x3}$ represents a $3x3$ matrix, the upper left part of the transformation matrix which is the describes the rotation. For the 6 DoF inverse kinematics, you can build up such a transformation matrix by multiplying pure transfomration matrices. This will result in a matrix with know values which then equals the DH chain of unkown values.
$T_{TCP} = X_{trans}(x)\cdot Y_{trans}(y)\cdot Z_{trans}(z)\cdot X_{rot}(\alpha)\cdot Y_{rot}(\beta)\cdot Z_{rot}(\gamma)$
You can plug in here the end-effector coordinats, translations $x, y, z$ and orientation $\alpha, \beta, \gamma$. You can also change the types of rotations to XYX or ZYZ if it better suits your application, see here.
Plaese see also this R.SE question and answer here.


My Bither Hot Wallet

Question: Purchased a Bither bitcoin machine and can't figure out how to work it.  I keep getting bitcoins but don't know how to send them to my Coinbase wallet and therefore exchange them for cash.  Help
Answer: It is so easy to use Bither app.
Generating Coinbase bitcoin receiving Address
first of all you need to check your Coinbase bitcoin receiving wallet address which is shown by a QR-code (you can find out how, from here).
Sending fund
Then you should try scanning that QR-code by your Bither app. for doing it, you need to choose one of your wallet (from the middle menu which is indicated by a big B and showing total amount of your funds) then you should choose the preferred wallet. then use the send icon and scan QR code and type the amount go ahead and send funds.
caution
by the way, you should be aware of your transaction fees. Bither does not propose any offer automatically; so you should choose your own policy for transaction fee by monitoring mempool to get informed use this website to see which tx takes how long to get confirmed.
Answer: Bither is simple to use, you can either copy your coinbase address and paste in your Bither wallet or use the scan QR code function. Then imput the amount and send. 3 more things you shall know:

Bither also support segwit address.
Bither can use to create a cold wallet when you set up in a phone without any sim card or internet connection.
You can use Bither hot to monitor Bither cold, you can find the function by click the 'gear' button above.

My Bither Hot Wallet


Korean or Chinese manhua about a girl who reincarnated into a noble family

Question: The previous owner of her current body was a mean and ill tempered girl. The story revolves around how she wants to fulfil the previous body owner's wish to become the queen, to do that she has to become rivals with the prince's lover. Sorry I didn't give enough information I don't actually remember much But I remember that the mc' body's previous owner was a mean girl and she used to bully the prince's lover because she liked the prince. Long story short after mc got reincarnated she tried to become friends with the girl the previous body owner used to bully  but discovered later that the prince's lover wasn't actually a naive girl but a calculative cunning one. Mc didn't really like the prince (at least when I stopped reading) and became FRIENDS with his half brother the fifth prince. To ruin the mc's image, the prince's lover sent a spy that told her that the relationship between the fifth prince and mc was suspicious and so prince's lover tried shaming her in front of everyone but failed (because crown  prince took action) . Sorry I know I'm might not be giving enough information but that's all I can remember.
Ps. I don't remember the last time I read it but it might have been 3 months ago or so
Comment: Can you remember when you read this? How old it would be? What happens i.e. does she end up becoming queen? Do things all pan out as expected? etc. You can [edit] your question to add in any other detail.
Comment: Do you remember if the main character was engaged to the prince and there was someone else who the prince would fall in love with?  When you say the prince's lover, do you mean his fiance, or merely that he is interested in someone who is not the main character?
Comment: If it is chinese manhua, then there will be a lot of it. Mostly all girl(doctor, assassin, ...) reincarnated in a noble family.
Answer: I finally found out the name of the manhua I was searching for. It's called "the justice of a villainous woman". I'm so happy I found it after so long~ シ thank you guys for trying to help♀
Comment: You can self-accept by clicking on the checkmark by the voting buttons as per the [tour].


Faraday's Law From two different Frame of Reference

Question: Let's take Faraday's experiments of induce emf where He take a loop and a magnetic field, for instance let's suppose we have an coil and a magnet, Now If we move the magnet towards the coil there will be an induce electric field and Thus the force $\vec{F}=q\vec{E}$ on charges of loop and thus the induce electric field but Now suppose I'm in frame of reference that is moving along with magnet with the same velocity as the magnet so that magnet is rest in my frame but coil is moving, in this case I will say charge in coil is moving in magnetic field and thus there is an Lorentz force $\vec{F}=q(\vec{v}\times\vec{B}) $ and thus the induce emf. So How the same phenomenon is explained from two different Frame of reference with two different principals? Or my reasoning is wrong? Is it possible that a same phenomenon( as here) In general,  Can be explained with two different principals from two different frame of reference?
Answer: Your reasoning is actually right! And it is one of the key arguments that brought Einstein to formulate the special theory of relativity.
In the context of special relativity, the transformations that links two different inertial frames of reference (IFR), are called the Lorentz transformations, and it happens that a phenomenon described by an electric field in one IFR, is described by a magnetic one in some other IFR.
My answer is more of a hint rather than a serious and detailed explanation that you can find in every textbook that treat special relativity. I suggest you in particular the chapter Electrodynamics and Relativity of Griffith's Introduction to Electrodynamics, where he starts right from this "duality" of electrodynamics (i.e. same phenomenon, two different physical origin in two different IFR).
Comment: So what's the reality?
Comment: The "reality" is that the event you observe, happens and is the same in every FoR (frame of reference) but the physical cause may somewhat change (electric or magnetic). In a more fundamental view, the magnetic and the electric fields, are no distinct objects, but rather, their components form a single object, namely a 4x4 antisymmetric tensor called the electromagnetic tensor. In this way you can see that what you call electric, or magnetic field are actually the components of a tensor, and as every tensor...[continue in the next comment]
Comment: ...his components change under a coordinate transformation and it may happen that some of them vanishes in some particular FoR.  However, the tensor itself does not change under a coordinate transformation, but just his components that we "naively" picture as separate distinct objects.

You can make an analogy with a vector, when you rotate the FoR, the vector doesn't change, but his components do. If you give a physical meaning to the vector, his components are what you measure.  In some FoR it may happen that it has no x-component altough it is always the same vector.
Comment: Thanks So it means that the quantities we learn so far may uninvarient through Lorentz transformation but there may be some quantities that must remain invarient.


Can't even install just xcode from iphone sdk on my Mac OSX 10.4

Question: I'm trying to do the iphone sdk workaround for my Tiger Mac OSX and it seems that step one is just to install whatevr can be installed...well I can't even select my harddrive for destination because it's not Mac OS X 10.5.
Any thoughts on why I can't even do this first step?
Comment: This is not programming related.
Answer: If you don't have an intel processor based Mac, then you can't run the SDK. If you do, then you might as well upgrade to Snow Leopard which is only $30 and will definitely let you install it.
Answer: To do iPhone development there are some minimum requirements. The first is you have to have an Intel based Mac, and the second is that you have to be running 10.5.7. So until you get off of Tiger, you're dead in the water for iPhone development.
If you can't upgrade to Leopard or Snow Leopard, but you want to do Cocoa based development, then you can still install XCode on 10.4. It's on the CDs that came with your Mac. But, of course, you can't use the iPhone SDK. It would probably be good to get some experience developing under Cocoa on the Mac while you wait to get a development environment that will run the iPhone SDK.
Answer: You really do need to keep up to date on OS installs. New versions of Xcode will typically only run on the most recent version of OS X.

Edited to add: If you want to download a version of Xcode that actually will install on the version of Mac OS X that you have (if you can't upgrade for some reason), you might be able to find older versions on developer.apple.com, but they're kind of hard to find. You will likely need to sign up for (at least) the free ADC online membership to be able to see them.
Comment: ADC does have older versions, including ones that will run on 10.4.
Comment: Once you're logged into the ADC member site, you can find XCode 2.5 in the "downloads" section.


Remove the querystring on url by facebook comment box on my site

Question: i need to remove the querystring that come when someone uses the facebook comment box on my site. Their friends see a link to a whole new page with no comments. Please let me know the full javascript and html to use. http://vhdmedia.com/detail/B005DLP0GK
Answer: Oh, i found out this: http://records.photodharma.net/computing/facebook-comments-dynamic-urls-on-static-pages/comment-page-1#comment-49477 and added my contribution to it!


How do unicode block characters affect accessiblity?

Question: I'm formatting an online poem that uses blackout text for erasures. My plan is to use an XML block character ( █ █) or █) to replace the appropriate characters. Does this have any specific impacts on accessiblity? I'm especially curious how screen readers will handle it. I found this recent article but the block character is not addressed.
Comment: Is it an idea to use a black background on erased characters and make the characters also black with a strikethrough? This makes them invisible but screen readers still read them with notification of the strikethrough/deletion.
Comment: That was my initial solution, but the characters are still visible. In this case the poem is re-written and the block simply represents the removed characters.
Answer: Yes, it does affect accessibility. Most screen readers can't read symbols, and those that can only read a limited set. In these screen readers, your specific case is usually covered and they will render it as "block" or "solid block", but many screen readers will simply ignore it. For example, JAWS's latest version can read it, but Mac VoiceOver can't. It also depends on the level of verbosity the user has selected in the settings, so depending on this is quite iffy and risky.
In general, if this is for decorative purposes, then it won't be a problem. Otherwise, if this is functional, I suggest you use an image with an alt description.
Resources

https://business.scope.org.uk/article/accessibility-screen-readers-special-characters-and-unicode-symbols
https://www.pubcom.com/blog/2013_12-03/unicode-accessibility.html
Comment: Thank you. The blocks in this case function similar to ellipses–they represent a string of removed characters. In some cases that is a group of multiple blocks. Visually the blocks blend together and are easy to scan. If they are each individually announced it would be a poor experience.
Comment: well, but the thing is that you can't think of how they visually look, it's a completely different paradigm. Nevertheless, you can use conditionals, like `if block = 1 (use 'alt=deleted content'); else --> group blocks in one single element --> 'alt=N blocks deleted' `. Not sure which language are you using, but this kind of code is quite trivial in Javascript


Static initializer in Objective-C upon Class Loading

Question: I am trying to build something to dynamically instantiate an object from class-name similar to how Java's Class.forName method works, e.g.
Class klass = Class.forName("MyClass");
Object obj = klass.instantiate(...

I didn't see any such behavior in Objective-C so I would like to call a method to register Class when an Objective-C class is loaded. Basically, I would like to call a method that registers my class, e.g.
+ (void)mystatic {
  [NSKeyedUnarchiver setClass:[self class] forClassName:"MyClass"]
}

Is there a way to do this in Objective-C on OS X platform?
Thanks.
Answer: You want to use NSClassFromString, like this:
Class klass = NSClassFromString(@"MyClass");
id obj = [[klass alloc] init];

Comment: it's "Class" instead of "Class *"
Comment: I should never write code in a webform while I am tired ;-) Thanks, fixed.
Answer: First, there is indeed such an equivalent in Objective-C — as @Louis suggested, use NSClassFromString().
Second, if you want a static constructor like in Java, you can do that as well with the +initialize method. See this related SO question.
Answer: You can also say
Class myClass = [[NSBundle mainBundle] classNamed: @"MyClassName];
id myInstance = [[myClass alloc] init];

This frequently helps with cases when the runtime may not have come across your class yet.


Workflow Git FTP for old projects with potential external non-git users

Question: I have a few old legacy projects on which I work occasionally from time to time, which i would like to integrate in a git workflow - mainly just for me, but it could be nice to have the option to collaborate on some level later.

The first problem is that the only method of accessing the project's code is (s)ftp-only.
There is no shell-access given by the provider.
The second problem or contraint is that 3rd parties might change the files on the live ftp server (I know ugly) without using git at all, when i use some post-hook pushing method, this would break. Unfortunately, teaching those external users a git workflow is no option as ignorance is bliss.

What I really would like to do is to somehow keep track of those external changes (2) and benefit for my development workflow by using git.
Imagine I have not touched a project for a while and when i come back i'd like to see what has been done.
But I'm really confused on how and where I should setup repositories.
Answer: A super-nice to do Git deployment over FTP is git-ftp. Unfortunately, it's one way, i.e. it assumes the destination files are only ever updated by you (and via git-ftp).
So for your case you'd have to create some sort of synthetic history of remote changes when they occur, and the only way to do that is to get the files and then manually create "the delta" between them. So, for this, I'm with @VonC — you'd have to transfer the files back (rsync does this efficienly, if it's not available, google for an utility which is able to crawl the remote hierarchy using the FTP protocol itself and fetch only the missing/more recent files) and then make the changes be known to Git.
This process may be either done on a separate branch or on a temporary throw-away branch. Basically you fork a branch off a point you think represented the state of remote files last time you looked at them and then run a syncronization program over the checkout.  (Note that such a program have to track removals, that is, it has to remove files locally which were removed at the remote side.)  Then run git add --all . to make Git stage for commit all updated files, all removals and also add all the presently untracked files.  Then record a commit.  This commit will actually represent the changes made to the remote.  You can then base your further work on this state.
Comment: I didn't know about `git-ftp`. +1
Answer: If you don't have shell access, that means you need to setup your repo locally.
Its content would be the one you would get from the server through ftp.
The question " How to use rsync over FTP " contains some ways to mirror the content of a remote set of file over sftp.
Once you have that content, you can do:

one mirror branch, that you would update with a mirror image of the server (before pushing anything back)
one dev branch, that you would merge the mirror branch into, and where you would add new features. You could push new files from there through ftp back to the server.

Having a branch mirroring what is on the server is a good way to quickly compare what you left on dev, and what is currently on the server.


How to add a float or integer number (i.e 255) to a raster layer?

Question: Is there any code to add a float or integer value with a raster layer? I can easily do mathematical operations between two raster data. But I am unable to do the same between float or integer number and  raster layer. For example if want to execute (256-band3), how can I execute?
Comment: What software are you using?
Answer: Try the raster package in R. Something like:
r = raster("foo.tif") + 255
writeRaster(r,"foo.tif",overwrite=TRUE)

Comment: it is not so much difficult. use the following expressionIMapAlgebraOp mapAlgebraOp;
Answer: If you have a copy of FME then you can use the RasterExpressionEvaluator transformer.
In this case (256-band3) the expression would be simply:
256-A[2]

(FME labels bands as 0,1,2 rather than 1,2,3).
The nice thing is that it also allows IF statements, so you can work up to complex statements like:
if ((A[0]+A[1]+A[2])==0, 255, A[0])

This page on FMEpedia has a bunch of examples.
Answer: Try RasterCalc plugin for QGis.


windows server 2008 100% CPU

Question: I am on Service Pack 2.  My CPU is running at 100% with either svchost.exe or services.exe.  I know that this was common in XP, server 2000, etc.  But now I only seem to find posts for Vista.  What is the reason?
Answer: Try using Process Explorer and Task Manager to figure out what service is hogging the CPU. Once you know that much, edit it in to the question and we might be able to help.
Comment: +1 for procexp...it's almost essential for diagnosing these types of issues
Answer: Since you're running Server 2008 and if you don't want to install software to figure out what's causing this (and really, process explorer is very good), you can now do this from Task Manager. The process is to...

Go to View -> Select Columns.
Ensure that "PID" is selected.
Identify the consuming process and note the process ID (PID)

(source: sysadmin1138.net)

Select the "Services" tab in Task Manager
Click the PID column to sort it by PID
Identify the service(s) that is associated with that process, by locating that PID

(source: sysadmin1138.net)
With SVCHost a single instance may be associated with multiple services. As it happens, ProcessExplorer also can't distinguish between them. This is new with Server 2008, and is a very nice addition.
Comment: Actually you can save a step, right click the suspect process in the Processes tab and there should be an option for Go to Services; you'll wind up there with the matching service(s) highlighted.
Comment: Very helpful comments!!

I am also seeing OWSTimer jump in with high CPU which appears to be a sharepoint issue.  Is that true?  How is it fixed?

The services that I am seeing related to svchols are WinRM, TermService, NlaSvc, KtmRm, Dnscache, and CryptSvc.

Task Manager makes these pretty obvious but didn't know how to see this in process explorer.

We are running this server on VMWare with McAfee OAS
Comment: I am also seeing PlugPlay and DcomLaunch for a different svchost
Comment: @SqlACID See? ProcessExplorer is no longer required kit for figuring out what process belongs to which service.
Answer: the following will give you a run down of whats being hosted by these process
wmic service where "pathname like '%svchost.exe%' or pathname like '%service.exe%'" get name,pathname,processid

windows server 2008 100% CPU


Best Practices for Change Set and Deployments

Question: If we built an entire web of objects and tons of flows and apex code that goes along with them. Would it make sense to split this into 2 pieces. The first one containing only the object and fields, and the second containing flows and apex codes? What is the best practice for a large deployment, rather than just uploading from sandbox, then validate, fix any error, revalidate, repeat, then deploy
Answer: I suggest packaging is the answer here.
The benefit here is that you can apply some form of control, including versioning, putting all your complex metadata into a version control system like git (there are lots of cloud-based git repository managers, like github, Bitbucket etc.).
Packages also require your test suite to successfully execute at the time of packaging, rather than at the time of installation, which means you are protected from test failures due to validation rules and the like on the production org.
Of course, this take time and effort to set up, and you need to start working in a much more structured manner within your team, but you'll find quality of deliverables will rapidly improve.
Comment: Is there a time to use change set vs packaging?
Comment: For metadata that cannot be packaged but can be in a change set. Otherwise, for me, only for emergency fix based on quick changes made on a full sandbox, but even then this would be less preferred to a package update. Honestly, switch to packages and sfdx. They are the future direction in Salesforce.
Answer: You can use package to push the changes. Packages offer the ability to put your change set in a little, well packaged bundle and have it accessible for installation via the AppExchange.
You can also have a look at Salesforce DX and Salesforce CI which provides a much powerful and new alternative to change sets. Many third-party CI tools are available for you to choose from.
In short, packaging is a better option here as apart from what's mentioned above, you can also use version control with this. Also, note that there is NO Rollback available option for change sets, so that's another issue with change sets in addition to the fact that you can only test during deployment and if it fails, it's just a lot of rework.
In addition to this, if your company is ready to pay, then there are some really good Third-Party release management tools that are available in the market. This includes in-org tools like Flosum, hybrid solutions like Copado and AutoRABIT, cloud applications like Gearset and Blue Canvas and desktop tools like Metazoa and AppirioDX.
Comment: BTW, `sfdx` with `force:source:push` and `force:source:pull` is exactly what you would use while developing a package. The benefit of using packages, even unlocked ones, is that traceability back to the package is visible on the org on which the package is installed.
Comment: Yes, & though this will require some preparation time, but in the long run it's worth it. Also, package is also much more useful compared to change sets when there are multiple developers or teams involved. I also prefer packaging and deploying using packages because of all the awesome tools available for this process and that's a nice alternative to have.


How dow I install adobe flash player

Question: I have the latest version of the RPI . I have tried wget http://odroidxu.leeharris.me.uk/PepperFlash-18.104.22.168.r2-armv7h.tar.gz but that gave me a error which means the website could not be found. Can some one please help me?
Comment: Could you give an output of the error, we have not got a lot to go off here.
Answer: There is a free Flash implementation on Linux called gnash. You can install it standalone (apt-get install gnash), or as a browser plugin (apt-get install browser-plugin-gnash).
I tested it in Iceweasel (now Firefox again) some time ago and it worked, but the performance wasn't exactly stellar.
Answer: You need a more recent Chromium browser by following this tutorial. then you need to install Pepper Flash following this other tutorial.
Adobe Flash itself is not available for the Raspberry Pi.
Answer: flash is included by default in chrome/chromium ARM for raspberry in raspbian

How dow I install adobe flash player


In a galvanic cell from where does the electron in the external circuit come from?

Question: I know that in a galvanic cell anode donates electrons through the external circuit. Is that the same electrons that the electrolyte gives it ?
Comment: Electrons don't come with serial numbers. In a way, all electrons in the world are the same electron. Also, I fail to see how is your title related to your question. Anyway, welcome to Chem.SE.
Answer: Anode is the terminal where oxidation occurs.
In galvanic cell, anode is the negative terminal while in electrolytic cell anode is the positive terminal.
And the electrons you are talking about are the free electrons which are liberated in the oxidation half after the oxidation.
Consider:  m A + n Bm+  ->  n B + m An+
Actually what happens is in the oxidation half cell, electrons are liberated because of the oxidation reaction and in the reduction half reaction, for the reduction to take place of the B metal, the required electrons are pulled from the oxidation half container (which are liberated during oxidation of atoms A) via wire which joins the two electrodes.
So basically electrons which flows in the external circuit are the electrons liberated from the oxidation of atoms A in the oxidation half.


How to use FFT for large chunks of data to plot amplitude-frequency response?

Question: I am a programmer and not a good mathematician so FFT is like some black box to me, I would like t throw some data into some FFT library and get out a plottable AFR (amplitude-frequency response) data, like some software like Rightmark audio does:
http://www.ixbt.com/proaudio/behringer/3031a/fr-hf.png
Now I have a system which plays back a logarithmic swept sine (with short fade-in/fade-out to avoid sharp edges) and records the response from the audio system.
As far as I understand, I need to pad the input with zeros to 2^n, use audio samples as a real part of a complex numbers, set imaginary=0, and I'll get back from FFT the frequency bins array whith half length of input data.
But if I do not need as big frequency resolution as some seconds audio buffer give to me, then what is the right way to make, lets say, 1024 size FFT window, feed chunks of audio and get back 512 frequency points which take into account all the data I passed in? Or maybe it is not possible and I need to feed entire swept sine at once to get back all the AFR data I need?
Also is there any smoothing needed? I have seen that the raw output from FFT may be really noisy. What is the right way to avoid the noise as early as possible, so I see the noise only as it comes from the AFR itself and not from FFT calculations (like the image in the link I have given - it seems pretty smooth)?
I am a C++/C# programmer. I would be grateful for any examples which show how to process chunks of swept sine end get back AFR data. For now I have found only examples which process data in small chunks in realtime, and that is not what I need.
Answer: Window function should help you reducing the noise
All you need to do is multiply your input data by w(n) :


How to show the well-definedness of a lift of a continuous map via a covering map?

Question: Given a topological space $X$ is path-connected and locally path-connected. Say $p:Z \rightarrow Y$ is a covering map such that $p(z_0)=y_0$. A map $f:X \rightarrow Y$ is continuous and $x_0 \in X$ be such that $f(x_0)=y_0$. Also given that $f_*(\pi_1(X,x_0))\subset p_*(\pi_1(Z,z_0))$.
I am trying to show that $f$ can be lifted to a $Z$ via $p$ and the lift maps $x_0$ to $z_0$.
I have proceeded like this:
As $X$ is path connected so given $x \in X$, we have a path $\alpha$ from $x_0$ to $x$. Then I have a unique lifting of $f \circ \alpha$ to a path $\widetilde{f \circ \alpha}$ in $Z$ starting from $z_0$. I defined $\tilde{f}$ from $X$ to $Z$ as $\tilde{f}(x)= \widetilde{f \circ \alpha}(1)$.
I believe that $\tilde{f}$ will be the required lifting of $f$. And to show only the existence of such a lift local path-connectedness of $X$ is redundant. All it remains to finish the proof is that $\tilde{f}$ is well-defined i.e. independent of the path $\alpha$.
Am I proceeding correctly ? How do I show the well-definedness of $\tilde{f}$?
Answer: I have found the answer to this problem. This is proved as a theorem in Allen Hatcher's Algebraic Topology (Proposition 1.33)
Anyway, thanks.


Batch csv import, styling and image export from QGIS

Question: I have a folder of several hundred csv files with point data. I need to import each into QGIS as a layer, apply the same style to each, and then render a map (same extents) for each (these will be frames in a video). The tutorials I've been able to find for batch processing in QGIS refer to producing maps of different areas of the same layers (with the Print Composer Atlas tool) or running plugins / 3rd party algorithms (with the Processing Framework tool), but not to automating batch usage of the basic functions of QGIS (importing and styling layers, exporting images). Is there a way to do this?
Comment: I do all these things relatively frequently. I have python script which turns csv into shp. I have python script which duplicates qml file (style) for all the shp files in the directory. But usually I load all the layers, make style for first one and then copy paste style to all others in project. And finally I have still unpublished working version of QGIS plugin which loops over all layers in group and export selected composer after every loop as jpg or png and at the end uses ffmpeg to generate video out of images. I will try to get back to your question later when I will have more time.
Comment: Ok, to be fair I think this question is really 3 questions in one and very broad. And because of rules here it is going to be most likely closed. I would suggest to break it into sub questions: batch csv import; batch style (if you load all the layers you can copy style from one layer and paste to selection of layers); automatic export of composer for multiple layers (group)
Comment: Then for your first question there is already something: https://gis.stackexchange.com/questions/61664/use-quantumgis-to-bulk-import-csv-files and https://gis.stackexchange.com/questions/68389/batch-convert-xy-to-shapefile - looking at these question the answer is there is no way without coding yet. I think I have already answered the style batch - in QGIS or whatever tool will copy your qml for all csv/shp files. For the last question I have my own plugin which is still not ready to be published, not sure if there is something else, worth asking...
Comment: okay thanks, I'll follow those up! I don't have any background scripting with qgis, so it might take me a while - if/when i get stuck, if this q has been taken down, i'll repost the smaller sub-parts as you suggest :). thanks again for the links!
Answer: I think I have this figured out! Thanks to Miro for pointing me to some relevant past qs. This is largely building on the script from this question: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/27033261/import-csv-into-qgis-using-python. This assumes that (1) you have a style .qml file in the same folder as all the .csvs and it's called style.qml; (2) that the csvs are numbered (in this case from 1250 to 1550) and each just called "x.csv"; (3) that you have a composer manager template made and open, with a label selected which will change to display the frame number. It creates images each named "frame x.png" in the same folder. Here's the code:
<code>#--- get starting stuff
composers = iface.activeComposers()
c=composers[0].composition()
frameLabel=c.selectedComposerItems()[0]

#--- Load a csv file and set CRS
#---1 Reference library
from PyQt4.QtGui import *
from PyQt4.QtCore import *
from qgis.core import *
from qgis.utils import iface

for x in range(1220, 1550):
    #---  2 Turn of the CRS dialog box
    s = QSettings()
    oldValidation = s.value( "/Projections/defaultBehaviour")
    s.setValue( "/Projections/defaultBehaviour", "useGlobal" )
    #--- 3 Set file name here
    InFlnm=str(x)+'.csv'
    #--- 4  Set pathname here
    InDrPth='C:/your path here'
    #--- 5 Build file name an path for uri
    InFlPth="file:///"+InDrPth+InFlnm
    #---  6 Set import Sting here note only need to set x and y other come for free
    uri = InFlPth+"?delimiter=%s&xField=%s&yField=%s" % (",","long","lat")
    #--- 7 Load point layer
    bh = QgsVectorLayer(uri, InFlnm, "delimitedtext")
    #--- 8 Confirm something is loaded and valid
    bh.isValid()
    #--- 9 Set CRS
    bh.setCrs(QgsCoordinateReferenceSystem(4326, QgsCoordinateReferenceSystem.EpsgCrsId))
    #--- 10 Display the layer into QGIS (but it asks for CRS before displaying_
    QgsMapLayerRegistry.instance().addMapLayer(bh)
    #--- 11 turn CRS dialog box back on again
    s.setValue( "/Projections/defaultBehaviour", oldValidation )
    #--- 12 load style
    bh.loadNamedStyle(InDrPth+"style.qml")
    bh.triggerRepaint()
    frameLabel.setText(str(x))
    #--- 13 Render and save
    image = c.printPageAsRaster(0)
    image.save(InDrPth+'frame '+str(x)+'.png','png')
    #--- 14 Delete layer
    QgsMapLayerRegistry.instance().removeMapLayers([bh.id()])
</code>


Is my title part of my legal name or does it hold any legal meaning?

Question: When filling out a form there is often a field for entering a title (such as Mr, Mrs, etc.). Am I free to put whatever I want in this field or do titles have a legal meaning?
Comment: Say you're applying for a job by using a company's web site where job applications are submitted. Before uploading your resume you have to fill in identifying information --- name, address, phone number, etc. When you come to the "title" menu you choose "Dr". If you know the company will prefer applicants who have a Ph.D., I could imagine that being considered fraud. (But of course if you have a doctorate that would normally be on the C.V. that you upload as well.)
Comment: The answers and comments focus on professional or educational titles, but your question only provides examples of gender/marital status identifiers. So, it isn't clear that the questions are really addressing your concerns. This said, the law is highly context dependent and the question you are asking doesn't have a well defined answer at the level of generality at which you pose it. Sometimes it may not have legal meaning, other times it might. Without knowing more about the purpose and nature of the form it is impossible to know.
Answer: Although your "title" may not of itself have legal force, that doesn't necessarily mean you can do as you please in every situation without fear of liability. For example, if you falsely claim to be a medical doctor or lawyer, you could find yourself liable for civil damages to defrauded clients; you may also violate criminal laws.
(An anonymous bureaucratic form probably won't create that problem, because as another answerer pointed out nobody really cares or pays attention to titles most of the time. But stranger things have happened; and by "form" you could mean "tax form" or some declaration made under penalty of perjury. Lawyers generally avoid blanket "that's fine" answers, because there are almost always many ways that it might not be fine.)
Comment: A more subtle situation might involve a magazine subscription where you claim to have a title "professor" in order to get the professor's discount, when you are, in fact, no such thing.
Answer: Unsurprisingly, it depends on the country, the title and the form, amongst other things. A similar question focusing on a specific title got closed on Academia SE: Is the title Ph.D. or Dr. meaningless in the sense that anyone can use it? but might contain some interesting pointers.
E.g.:

The Regulated Professions Act restricts the use of title "doctor", in the context of providing or offering to provide health care
  to individuals in Ontario, to only those people who are registered with the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Optometrists,
  Chiropractors, Psychologists and Dentists.
Answer: Titles like these have no legal meaning whatsoever - they are only a way of passing on respect to people by knowing their formal title and using it in the future. I am not aware of any government organization that includes your title as part of your legal name.
Having worked in a government organization myself, no verification goes into checking these titles whatsoever. We really couldn't care less - in a huge majority of cases, you're the only one that's ever going to see it anyways so... whatever. We crossed out and ignored a vast majority of them, especially any time someone used Mr, Ms, or Mrs. Most organizations that do record them likely just record them because there's a space for it and you filled it out, then probably never pay attention to it again.
Answer: The use of Dr. is regulated in Germany, as you can see from this article on liberalization to allow American Ph.D.s to use it.
I believe the article is not quite correct: Germany maintains a database of foreign institutions whose doctorates are considered acceptable (to avoid diploma mills?). Not all USA institutions are on it, but all with any significant reputation are.
As you can see from the article, criminal and civil prosecution were considered against highly-qualified American academics, leading to change in the law. I doubt similar lenience would be shown to someone who claimed a spurious degree as a joke.


Can divine magic users learn arcane spells from a spellbook?

Question: In Tomb of Annihilation, there's a character who offers a spellbook containing some random spells as a reward. My players don't have an arcane magic user, just a druid, so would they be unable to use this item? It's not a big deal if so, I'll just substitute some magic items or scrolls instead.
Comment: You should remove the words "arcane spells" from the title I guess, since there is no arcane nor divine *spells* in 5e - the same spell can be granted by a deity or be learned by studying the arcane. So it's more about magic source, not about classification of spells.
Answer: Not even being an Arcane Magic user would be enough. You need to actually have the Spellbook feature, which generally means being a Wizard.
So in this case, yeah, there's not much a Druid can do with the book.
Comment: Just note that the Spellbook is not a regular magic item.  It doesn't generally increase the Wizard's power.  It gives them more versatility based on the spells found and whether the Wizard knows them already or would ever use them.  There are many ways for Wizards to find new spells (such as paying another Wizard gold to copy their book).  I don't think you should replace the spellbook with more than a single common or uncommon magic item, or you may end up giving out much more treasure than is expected (unless you are already playing that way).
Comment: Thanks! I'll just have the party being presented with some magic items from a tantalisingly large storeroom instead.
Comment: Cool, I'll keep that in mind. I'm pretty bad at remembering to put magic items around, so any at all will be a boon to them!
Comment: @chooban Not that I'm trying to steal the acceptance, but it is generally beneficial to wait a few days before awarding it. If you accept right away, it discourages other people from creating answers that may provide a better or more thorough answer to your question.
Answer: Sources of Spells
From a mechanical perspective, there is no such thing as "arcane" and "divine" magic anymore. In 5th Edition, they've harmonized a lot of the spellcasting rules each spell has a level, and has identical effects regardless of the class that grants it. Half-casters (Ranger, Paladin) and third-casters (Arcane Trickster, Eldritch Knight) may get a particular spell at a later character level due to slower progression, but the spell works the same way as any other caster.
Using A Spellbook
In order to make use of a spellbook, the character has to have a feature that allows them to copy over spells.

All Wizards have a Spellbook; an ever expandable collection of knowledge. Given sufficient time, money, and exposure, they can copy any and all spells on the Wizard list into their spellbook.
Some Warlocks have the Pact of the Tome boon and the Book of Ancient Secrets invocation, allowing them to scribe and cast rituals from any class.
Any character can take the Ritual Caster feat, and be able to scribe and cast ritual spells from one particular class.

Other Spell Knowledge
Each class has a (sometimes subtly) different way to determine spells known and spells prepared. Druids and Clerics, in particular, already "know" all the spells it is possible for them to know. The other classes methods are beyond the scope of this particular question, but should serve as good reading.
Answer: Reiterating small parts of T.J.L.'s answer because I want my answer to be complete, but have important aspects to add.
Divine versus Arcane
Distinctions between the two do not exist. Magic is magic, and even psionic abilities radiate as magic, even if they do not count as spells.
Spellbook
There are only two RAW reasons to use a spellbook:

Wizards prepare all spells from their spellbook.

Characters with Ritual Caster can cast spells tagged with the Ritual descriptor.

Alternate Spell Knowledge
That said, if you desire it to be a worthwhile item, what it can do is introduce players to spells that they haven't seen in the Player's Handbook.
In Adventurer's League, they specifically only allow expanded spells from the "+1" source-book that is chosen during creation, so the concern about issues like spell list bloat are dealt with, and Wizards can learn from outside their "+1" if they can find a scroll with a spell from outside the PHB and their extra source book.
There's no technical RAW method for casters outside of Wizards and ritual casters to gain new spells if they become available. Technically, by RAW, if you include the spell, it is simply an available option to non-Wizards, but logically, they would at least have to be exposed enough to be able to learn them. In the case of Clerics or Druids, conversation and observation with other casters could provide this, but a spell-book of sorts could be a reasonable buy-in for an in game reason to gain access to spells that, for example, come from Xanathar's Guide to Everything that they hadn't seen before.
It makes more sense than saying that the character didn't know that a single spell existed until they knew a ton of new spells did.
If you take this approach, it can make the 'spell-book' a collection of notes by a more academically inclined caster of the right type, and reading through the book would add these spells permanently to the spells available list of the character in question. For clerics and druids, this means they can choose them when they prepare their known spells every day. For classes like warlock or sorcerer this could make them available as a "spells known" choice when they level.


Is there any difference between SNPs 'AG' and 'GA' in association analyses?

Question: I am using plink to check the association between a phenotype and the SNPs of a gene. plink says the phenotype is significantly associated with a SNP on that gene, and when I check the SNP alleles, for 6 out of 49 samples, the nucleotides are 'GA', and for the rest, they are 'AG', so only the order is different. I am not a biologist, but my basic genetics knowledge says that those two are semantically the same. However, obviously, plink does not agree with me and it associates this SNP with a small p-value since 'GA' samples have a higher value for the phenotype than 'AG' samples. I am very new to SNP analysis, any help is appreciated.
Answer: Could you please show us the context in which this appears, as you seem to be interpreting this differently to Devon.
If it's appearing as you say, GA and AG, then Devon is right, this usually means that the sequence goes ###AG### or ###GA###, which are two very different sequences.
If, however, as you're implying, the sequences are actually ###G### or ###A###, then semantically, the two ways of writing it have the same outcome. Normally, however, this is written as A/G or G/A.
Alternatively, you're looking at genotypes, which would usually appear as A|G and G|A. In this case, both individuals are heterozygotes, and in terms of the individual SNP they are the same. However the side of the pipe is relevant as this tells you which homologous chromosome it is on. This allows you to calculate LD with respect to neighbouring SNPs, and to determine the actual sequences of the proteins in that individual.
Comment: Thanks for the reply. I am looking at genotypes. I realized that I had a bug while retrieving the genotypes, so what plink thinks as being different was not in fact GA vs. AG (each of which would really refer to heterozygous individuals as I replied to Devon), but it was GA and AA, where one is homozygous and the other is heterozygous. So, it is totally normal that those alleles are different for SNP association analysis.
Comment: If you have two variants, separated by, say 50, bp and they both fall in one gene. The genotype in one individual is G|A for the first variant and C|A for the second. That means that one of their genes contains a G and a C, the other gene contains an A and an A.

This might be relevant in various ways. In a population study, you might just be generally interested to know whether G...C and A...A are more common than G...A and A...C. This would also matter in a phenotype association study, as only one may be causative, but if they always turn up together then how would you know which?
Comment: (ran out of space!) It could also be that the phenotype only occurs when both variants occur, or is perhaps alleviated by the pairing. If both those variants affect amino acids, and those two amino acids are in contact, mutating one only could disrupt the connection, but mutating both the connection is maintained. Or if they're functionally redundant amino acids, one is able to compensate for the other, so when only one occurs, there's no phenotype, but when both do there is a phenotype.
Comment: There's a pair of courses here on introduction to genetic variation, which explains a lot about things like LD, effect on proteins etc: http://www.ebi.ac.uk/training/online/course/human-genetic-variation-i-introduction http://www.ebi.ac.uk/training/online/course/human-genetic-variation-ii-exploring-publicly-available-data
Comment: "However the side of the pipe is relevant as this tells you which homologous chromosome it is on. This allows you to calculate LD with respect to neighbouring SNPs, and to determine the actual sequences of the proteins in that individual." -- Could you please explain this a little further?
Answer: Is "user5054" the same as "user5504"? No? Exactly. Not only does order matter, it's incredibly vitally important. AG and GA are completely and totally different from each other. If this is in a coding region, then the resulting amino acid is undoubtedly changed (fun fact, the only exception is TAG and TGA). If it's at a splice site then splicing is likely altered (AG is part of a splice acceptor site). If it's at the binding site of something then it wouldn't be surprised if it didn't bind any more.
Comment: Yeah, this is a SNP analysis. I should have been clearer when I asked the question. Please see my comment to Emily_Ensembl above. The statement in my previous comment to your reply saying "...the ordering of the strands matter, because maybe the transcribed strand's nucleotide is written first while representing the SNP?" was completely out of confusion due to being new to genetic analyses. Apparently, Each of G or A in "GA" or "AG" do not refer to different strands of DNA, but refer to the different chromosomes of an individual.
Comment: I think "user5054" vs. "user5504" example is misleading. My example would be that the sets {1,2} or {2,1} mean exactly the same thing, while if those represent permutations, they are different. So it depends on the case. In the SNP case, each of 'G' or 'A' in 'GA' or 'AG' are the nucleotides in the one of the two strands of DNA, right? So, both 'GA' and 'AG' are heterozygous alleles for the same SNP.Then what I understand is that the ordering of the strands matter,because maybe the transcribed strand's nucleotide is written first while representing the SNP?I think your reply needs more detail.
Comment: Is this actually a SNP or is it an InDel? If it's a SNP then you're correct that it doesn't matter (assuming no phasing information). My presumption is that this is not a SNP, but rather an InDel.
Answer: Most association analyses are carried out at a single SNP level, so AG and GA are likely to indicate a heterozygous genotype at a particular location. However, the precise notation matters.
As @Emily_Ensembl has alluded to, for VCF files, A/G indicates unphased SNPs (order unknown, and shouldn't be considered in analyses), whereas A|G indicates phased SNPs (order matters).
It is possible to carry out association analyses by combining multiple variants into a single haplotype, in which case the order would also matter. It's unlikely that this is the case, because such haplotype variant analyses are substantially more complicated to carry out, and will typically be paired with information about SNP linkage (statistic D´ or r²).


What does Class::MethodMaker exactly do?

Question: I want to know what exactly is the sequence of calls that occurs when a getter/setter created through Class::MethodMaker is called?
How much costlier are getter/setters defined by MethodMaker than the native ones (overwritten in the module)?
Answer: I don't have a simple answer for your question regarding Class::MethodMaker performance. As a previous answer mentioned, you can use the debugger to find out what's going on under the hood. However, I know that Class::MethodMaker generates huge amounts of code at install time. This would indicate three separate things to me:

Regarding run-time, it's probably on the faster side of the whole slew of method generators. Why generate loads of code at install time otherwise?
It installs O(Megabytes) of code on your disk!
It may potentially be slow at compile time, depending on what parts of the generated code are loaded for simple use cases.

You really need to spend a few minutes to think about what you really need. If you want simple accessor methods auto-generated but write anything more complicated by hand, maybe look at Class::Accessor::Fast. Or, if you want the fastest possible accessor-methods, investigate Class::XSAccessor, whose extra-simple methods run as C/XS code and are approximately twice as fast as the fastest Perl accessor. (Note: I wrote the latter module, so take this with a grain of salt.)
One further comment: if you're ever going to use the PAR/PAR::Packer toolkit for packaging your application, note that the large amount of code of Class::MethodMaker results in a significantly larger executable and a slower initial start-up time. Additionally, there's a known incompatibility between C::MethodMaker and PAR. But that may be considered a PAR bug.
Answer: This is exactly what debugging tools are for :)
Have a look at the perldebug docs, particularly the section on profiling.
In particular, running your script with perl -dDProf filename.pl will generate a tt.out file which the dprofpp tool (distributed with Perl) can produce a report from.
I used the following simple test script:

#!/usr/bin/perl

package Foo;
use strict;
use Class::MethodMaker [ scalar => ['bar'], new => ['new'] ];

package main;
use strict;

my $foo = new Foo;
$foo->bar('baz');
print $foo->bar . "\n";

Running it with perl -d:DProf methodmakertest.pl and then using dprofpp on the output gave:

[davidp@supernova:~/tmp]$ dprofpp tmon.out
Class::MethodMaker::scalar::scal0000 has 1 unstacked calls in outer
Class::MethodMaker::Engine::new has 1 unstacked calls in outer
AutoLoader::AUTOLOAD has -2 unstacked calls in outer
Total Elapsed Time =  0.08894 Seconds
  User+System Time =  0.07894 Seconds
Exclusive Times
%Time ExclSec CumulS #Calls sec/call Csec/c  Name
 25.3   0.020  0.020      4   0.0050 0.0050  Class::MethodMaker::Constants::BEG
                                             IN
 25.3   0.020  0.029     12   0.0017 0.0025  Class::MethodMaker::Engine::BEGIN
 12.6   0.010  0.010      1   0.0100 0.0100  DynaLoader::dl_load_file
 12.6   0.010  0.010      2   0.0050 0.0050  AutoLoader::AUTOLOAD
 12.6   0.010  0.010     14   0.0007 0.0007  Class::MethodMaker::V1Compat::reph
                                             rase_prefix_option
 0.00   0.000  0.000      1   0.0000 0.0000  Class::MethodMaker::scalar::scal00
                                             00
 0.00   0.000  0.000      1   0.0000 0.0000  Class::MethodMaker::Engine::new
 0.00       - -0.000      1        -      -  DynaLoader::dl_undef_symbols
 0.00       - -0.000      1        -      -  Class::MethodMaker::bootstrap
 0.00       - -0.000      1        -      -  warnings::BEGIN
 0.00       - -0.000      1        -      -  warnings::unimport
 0.00       - -0.000      1        -      -  DynaLoader::dl_find_symbol
 0.00       - -0.000      1        -      -  DynaLoader::dl_install_xsub
 0.00       - -0.000      1        -      -  UNIVERSAL::VERSION
 0.00       - -0.000      1        -      -  Foo::new

The two most expensive calls are the Class::MethodMaker::Constants::BEGIN and Class::MethodMaker::Engine::BEGIN blocks, which are obviously called at compile time only, so they may slow the compilation of your script slightly, but subsequent object creation/accessor usage is not affected by it.
Answer: The real question is: does it matter?
It's yet another accessors generating module. These modules all have a speed/functionality trade-off. Just pick one that offers everything you need. It's not like accessors are likely to become a bottleneck in your application.
Answer: @Leon Timmermans
I am aware of the fact that there is some speed/functionality trade off but want to get idea of how good/bad is it? And much better, if I can get specific of the implementations so that its easier to decide.
Answer: Further to my previous answer, if you want to see exactly what's going on under the hood in detail, run your script in the debugger with trace mode on (perl -d filename.pl, then say "t" to trace, then "r" to run the script; expect a lot of output though!).


SQL Server Transactional Replication between SQL server 2019 Standard and SQL server 2016 Web Edition

Question: We have SQL Server 2016 Web Edition on production currently. Since this edition supports replication as Subscriber only, I set up a new server with SQL Server 2019 Standard edition. I want to configure SQL Server 2019 as Publisher and SQL Server 2016 as subscriber. To initialize data for Publisher database on SQL server 2019, I created a backup on SQL Server 2016 and restored it on SQL Server 2019. Since our database is very large, I tried to initialize replication from a backup. So I did reverse backup-restore again by creating a backup of Publisher on SQL Server 2019 and restoring it on Subscriber on SQL Server 2016. But this did not work because [SQL Server 2019 backups cannot be restored by any earlier version of SQL Server] (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/relational-databases/databases/copy-databases-with-backup-and-restore?view=sql-server-ver15). Could you please tell me what is the best method for initializing the replication in this case?
Thank you very much for reading my question!
Comment: How large is "very large"? Initializing via Snapshot is usually the best way when going down a version. Do you have specific criteria that leveraging the (default) Snapshot method won't work? Including the pertinent details for why you think that won't work will be very helpful to answers
Comment: Hi @AMtwo,
The DB size is about 70GB. I think Snapshot will take time in this case and I don't want to make our services unavailable for too long so I'm going to initialize using backup.
Answer: After doing some research I go with Initialize a Subscription Manually


Question regarding the timing of prayers

Question: Assalam Alaikum, my dear brothers, and sisters of Islam. I am 16 years old and have an interest in playing outdoor sports. Our playtime starts at 4 pm but the asr prayer's time is 4:46 pm. I wanted to ask that can I pray before 4:46 to go out early and have more time to play? Also, I wanted to add that there is a Masid near our ground, but my family is not yet convinced to send me to the Masjid as there are many people there.
Please can anyone guide me on this?
Comment: Is the prayer congregation @ 4:46PM or does the Asr time start from 4:46pm? If the latter than you can't pray before the Asr time begins.
Answer: Can I pray before Asr time to go out early and have more time to play?
No. It is not allowed to intentionally pray before the time of prayer starts. If you do that, your prayer of Asr would not be valid. It would not count, and it would be obligatory to do it again when the time actually starts.
Allah says:

Indeed, prayer has been decreed upon the believers a decree of specified times. (4:103)

Either try to finish your play time before Maghrib starts so you have time to pray Asr or delay starting your play time until after Asr time starts and you pray it. Another possibility is for you to take a break in between your play time and do wudhu and pray then.


deformable object squeezing

Question: I have the problem following. There is a deformable sphere with radius r. It goes inside a constriction channel with d*d cross section. Assuming that the sphere volume is constant and the sphere shape after squeezing is a rectangle cube, what is the value of force or pressure exerted on a wall? Is there any analytical solution and how should I calculate the force?

Many thanks for your time.
Comment: It's easier to think of the problem if you start with a cube of side $2r$ and then squeeze the cube until it fits the tube.  The stretches will be $\lambda_1 = \lambda_2 = d/2r$ and $\lambda_3 = 1/(\lambda_1\lambda_2)$.  To calculate the stresses that cause those stretches you will need a material model $\boldsymbol{\sigma} = f(\lambda_1,\lambda_2,\lambda_3)$.  The wall pressures will balance those stresses.
Comment: @BiswajitBanerjee That's certainly easier, but it's a different problem. Do you have an estimate for how much that solution deviates from the actual problem at hand?
Comment: It's the same problem in the following sense: the sphere can never be converted into a rectangular parallelepiped without applying extra forces to the corners using pistons.  In the absence of pistons, the free surfaces at the two ends have zero forces and are free to take up whatever shape is energetically appropriate. You are left with having to consider only the faces that are in contact with the tube, which will be nearly identical for the two cases.  You may be able to find an analytical solution for the cube, but it's easier to use numerical simulation.
Answer: It's straightforward to model very slight deformation of the sphere (i.e., slightly flattening its surface). It's also pretty straightforward to model the case when the sides are already fully flattened and meeting at the corners. It's trickier to bridge the gap.
The small-deformation case has an exact solution for a single side (Case 2 here): the deformation $\alpha$ (retaining the nomenclature used in the link) is $$\alpha=\frac{(3\pi)^{2/3}}{2}P^{2/3}\left(\frac{1-\sigma^2}{\pi E}\right)^{2/3}D^{-1/3}=\frac{1}{2D^{1/3}}\left(\frac{3P}{ E^\star}\right)^{2/3},$$
where $P$ is the applied force, $\sigma$ is sphere Poisson's ratio, $E$ is the sphere Young's modulus, $D$ is the sphere diameter, and $E^\star=\frac{E}{1-\sigma^2}$ is the reduced Young's modulus.
To add a second side (the other side), we apply symmetry to obtain Case 3 in the link.
To add two more sides connected by an orthogonal axis (i.e., a sphere very slightly flattened on four sides), we can refer to generalized Hooke's Law and guess that we need to apply the same force as calculated from the two-side case, plus an additional force to suppress Poisson expansion (Example 5 in the link). In other words, $E$ has to be replaced by a modified biaxial modulus $E^\prime=\frac{E}{1-n\sigma}$. (For a cuboid, $n=1$; I'm not sure what value to use for a sphere and request guidance. For small deformations of a sphere, $n$ may in fact be essentially zero, with no correction required.) In other words, squeezing an object along axis 1 causes lateral strain in axes 2 and 3, so if you want to obtain a certain strain along axis 2, you have to consider these Poisson effects.
(Two minor points here: (1) If Poisson's ratio were negative, then this form of the biaxial modulus would predict easier contraction, which accords with intuition (because the axes would be precontracted from the orthogonal stress; this behavior is unusual in engineering materials, but it's a good check). (2) If we proceed to apply compression along all three axes, then the modified elastic modulus—the triaxial modulus—for a cube is $E^\prime=\frac{E}{1-2\sigma}$, which is one-third the bulk modulus, so that's consistent as well.)
When the four faces are fully compressed to meet at the new corners, then we might idealize the object as a rectangular cuboid and again apply generalized Hooke's Law to give
$$\varepsilon_{11}=\varepsilon_{22}=\frac{s_{11}(1-2\sigma)}{E},$$
where $\varepsilon_{11}$ is further strain in the 1 direction and $s_{11}=s_{22}$ is additional stress applied by the constriction channel on each of the four faces; i.e., we apply the biaxial modulus because the strains in the 1 and 2 directions are being controlled and the stress in the 3 direction is idealized as zero.
For the tricky intermediate case of large deformation of the sphere before it assumes its square cross section, you could look into extensions to the small-deformation relations (e.g., here) or use large-displacement finite element analysis. You may also find this report on packing deformable spheres useful.
Edit: See also this paper on the packing of elastic spheres.

deformable object squeezing


Problem with UV mapping (single face dis formed)

Question: I, in my opinion would not label my self as an advanced person with blender, so there may be something I am not doing or missing. I was trying to make a model when I stumbled upon a problem with UV mapping. I originally was not surprised as I often mess up UV mapping in some shape or form but this time it was different, a solid face with no brakes was being dis formed and i had no clue why. It cant be the seams because its one face, and I set the scale to 1,1,1. I still have yet to fix this problem or what or why its happening. I would still consider my self new to blender and if anyone has a solution to my problem please inform me of any mistakes I have made. Thanks
Answer: Use a different operator with N-gons
N-gons are very handy, but they come at the cost of not having a precisely defined topology between the vertices. Blender is struggling to recognize the shape of the surface, the proportion of each branch, with the Unwrap operator due to the algorithm that's behind it.
I'll suggest to simply use another operator for this specific task, for example the Smart UV Project operator:
Comment: I tried it and it work, however should I use smart UV unwrap for the rest or alternate.
Comment: There is usually no need to use the same operator for all. Choose the one that best suit your needs.


Issue with classpath in Java project

Question: I'm currently working on a Java project which uses Tibco rendezvous control.
I have the tibrvj.jar file on my build path. But I'm not able to see the classes which are there in the package "com.tibco.tibrv".
This package is in the jar which is on my build path.
When I try to open the class in that package , the message displayed on class editor is : "Source not found. the jar file tibrvj.jar has no source attachment".
Is there anything that could be done to set it right ?
Comment: Please consider changing the heading to make it more specific.
Answer: This looks like an IDE specific message. Which IDE are you using?
The jar in your classpath only contains the java classes (bytecode) and not the source files (.java files). It looks like you are trying to open the class in your IDE/editor. Since you do not have the java files corrsponding to these classes, the editor is comlaining.
As these are Tibco specific classes, the only option is to "decompile" the classes to see the corresponding java code. Consider using a decompiler like DJ Java Decompiler
Answer: It depends on what you mean by "I'm not able to see the classes." If you mean you're getting build failures, that's possibly a matter of not actually having it properly in your build path (how are you building?) or maybe not having the right imports.
If you mean you can't see the source code, you'll need to get hold of it somehow (is Tibco open source?) and then configure your IDE so that it knows where the source is. Of course you don't need to source just to be able to build your app which uses Tibco.
If you could give more information about exactly which problem you're facing, along with what IDE you're using (if any) we could probably help more.

Issue with classpath in Java project


Prove that if $G$ is a finite group and $H$ is a proper normal subgroup of largest order, then $G/H$ is simple.

Question: We define the group action of $G$ on the set of left cosets of $H$ in $G$ by left multiplication. Let $\Phi$ be the associated permutation representation.
Then by Generalised Cayley's Theorem, $G/ \text{Ker}(\Phi)$ is isomorphic to a subgroup of symmetric group of order equal to index of $H$ in $G$.Would this mean that $H=\text{Ker}(\Phi)$ ($\text{Ker}(\Phi)$ is the largest subgroup of $G$ contained in $H$)?
And if so, does this help prove this?
Answer: Suppose $K$ is a nontrivial normal subgroup of $G/H$. What can you say about its inverse image in $G$?
Answer: Recall that the normal subgroups of $G/H$ are in bijection with the normal subgroups of $G$ which contain $H$. This is the famous fourth isomorphism theorem, also called correspondence theorem.
Suppose that $G/H$ isn't simple: then there there is a proper normal subgroup $M$ of $G/H$, which corresponds to a proper normal subgroup $M'$ of $G$ which contains $H$, but this contradicts the hypothesis.
Answer: A normal subgroup of $G/H$ is of the form $K/H$ where $K \le G$ is a normal subgroup containing $H$. By maximality of $H$ you have $K=H$. Hence $G/H$ has no proper normal subgroups.


Origin of "milady"

Question: Until a few months ago, I had always assumed this was "my lady".  Is this anything more than an odd contraction of "my lady"? I couldn't find much on the etymology of this.
Answer: According to the Oxford English Dictionary, milady emerged in 1778 that partially came from French:

Partly < French milady , title used when addressing or speaking of an English lady of high rank (1727 in Voltaire; 1754 as milédi ) < English my lady (see lady n. 3a), and partly representing a colloquial pronunciation of my lady (see above). Compare Italian miledi (18th cent.; < French).

This first definition was:

Originally, representing the usage of foreign (esp. French) speakers: a form of address to or title for an English (occas. French) noblewoman or an Englishwoman of wealth and influence, usually substituted for the person's name.

This was gradually adopted by the English, so it was not solely a contraction of "my lady". Similarly, milord came from French as well:

< French milord (1610 or earlier in form milord ; 1552 in Middle French in form milourt with reference to an English nobleman (Rabelais); c1480 in form millourt with sense 'nobleman, rich man'; also in form milor (1634 or earlier)) < English my lord (see lord n. 15; compare milord , milorde as occas. spellings of my lord in early modern English).
Answer: Yes, milady comes from "my lady".

Milady (from my lady) is an English term of address to a noble woman. It is the female form of milord.

And here's some background on milord:

In the nineteenth century, milord (also milor) (pronounced "mee-lor")
  was well-known as a word which continental Europeans (especially
  French) whose jobs often brought them into contact with travellers
  (innkeepers, guides, etc.) commonly used to address Englishmen or male
  English-speakers who seemed to be upper-class (or whom they wished
  to flatter) – even though the English-language phrase "my Lord" (the
  source of "milord") played a somewhat minor role in the British system
  of honorific forms of address, and most of those addressed as "milord"
  were not in fact proper "lords" (members of the nobility) at all.

Origin of "milady"


Inquiry about source of income, haram or halal

Question: Question is about a gynaecologist who sees patients in her private clinic and takes care of them throughout pregnancy then refer them to a hospital for delivery in turn she gets paid for every patient she refers for delivery from the hospital is this incentive halal or haram, she does not conduct the delivery herself.
Answer: This is a form of marketing. Marketing is not basically Haram but there is recommended in Islam that treating with fairness (انصاف) with customers in business. And also it is Mustahab if an owner of a business has earned enough profit during a business say sell to customers at rest of day without profit.
If the hospital she market for it is not a valuable hospital according to its service price so it can be considered without fairness to refer patients to there.
Fairness is recommended in Quran and many different Hadith.

O you who have believed, be persistently standing firm in justice,
  witnesses for Allah, even if it be against yourselves or parents and
  relatives. Whether one is rich or poor, Allah is more worthy of both.
  So follow not [personal] inclination, lest you not be just. And if you
  distort [your testimony] or refuse [to give it], then indeed Allah is
  ever, with what you do, Acquainted. http://tanzil.net/#4:135

Messenger of Allah Muhammad SAWW said:

Who has sympathy with poor people and treat with fairness with people
  is a real believer.

Imam Sadiq a.s. said:

The best of deeds are three: having fairness about people so that you prefer for them
  what you prefer for yourself. helping your brothers and reminding
  Allah in every situation.

Reference:
Firness on WikiFiqh
Another point is that a Muslim should not receive one work two times. if the finding a suitable hospital is among the paid services of the gynaecologist so she is hired to do this job for patient as well as she can and receiving a money from hospital is not permitted unless with permission of patient.

Reference:
www.islamquest.net


Is it okay to use left-over pasta water to water plants, including edibles?

Question: We are having a drought in California, so I'm just wondering if I could reuse salted pasta water (after it cools) to keep the plants hydrated. Is this a good idea?
Comment: Cook without the salt and your fine.  There is a fundamental difference between plants and animals that can handle a higher level of salt than those that can't.  There are benefits to reduced salt to you too so this could be good everyone...plants included.
Comment: You can easily build a desalinator with a couple of  plastic bottles, and let the distilled water drip into the soil.
Comment: I'd like to see answerers address the possibilty of the pasta water making the soil mold.
Answer: If you're having a drought, I'd say you'll be fine using it for a short period of time. You mentioned adding salt; this will build up in containers every day you use it, and eventually will harm the plant. Don't use for prolonged periods, and dilute it if possible, as far as possible.
Pasta water contains residue full of carbohydrates, so the bacterial activity in the soil will benefit, but it may cause a layer on top of the soil. Also, be sure the water was well strained, because it's not best to leave pieces of pasta in the plants' pots. The fact that the plants are edibles shouldn't be a problem. The pasta water is non-toxic to humans, so safe to use on edibles.
Comment: and to underline the "leaving bits of pasta" - these might attract pests such as rodents...
Answer: I wouldn't recommend it long term but in the short term, it should be fine EXCEPT it's salted. Cook your pasta without salt while there's a drought and then use the water. It doesn't really need salt to cook anyway, usually any kind of sauce you're using on the pasta is salted, so its not essential. If you notice a difference in the pasta, return to using salt when the drought is over. Best used on open ground rather than pots, but won't do any harm in pots in the short term (minus the salt). I'm intrigued that you use salt at all when you cook pasta, frankly, I never do.
Comment: Agreed - salt in the water will build up fast in a container and the plants will begin to die from it.  I would not use salted water.
Comment: Too insignificant to suggest an edit, but I think you left out a word here: "_should be fine EXCEPT it's salted_"
Answer: If you're like me, and use some vegetable oil in the water to keep the noodles from sticking together, you'll want to be careful not to get it on the plant itself. The oil will heat up in the sun and burn the plant.
As for the soil, as long as there is good drainage, I think you should be fine. I might consider not doing so if it's in a container. I'm not sure what effects the oil might have if it sits around the roots, but I would imagine it would suffocate them if it was allowed to collect.
Comment: Salt build up in the soil and will harm potted plants. It'd be fine out-doors, because it would be in such a low concentration. How much salt per gallon would you guess you use?
Comment: Hmm.. This is for containers, but it's just salted water.  So in that case sound okay?
Comment: What kind of plant it is, and what kind of salt also matters, I believe. Peppers, even in small, indoor containers without drainage, in my experience, appreciate sea minerals quite a bit (my plant became significantly greener and much more resistant to fungi and spider mites); sea minerals are essentially evaporated seawater (unrefined sea salt). I imagine cooking sea minerals (and/or refining them) would change the structure, though (perhaps in a way plants might not like), and you probably want to wait a few weeks between uses of sea minerals. Every watering would probably not be good.
Comment: Sea minerals are supposed to have about the mineral composition of blood. So, they're not pure sodium chloride. I imagine sodium risks that exist with blood meal would be similar with sea minerals, but I don't know.
Answer: oil and salt in it might indeed be an issue if you are using just this water and in a container or a place where the drainage is poor. I would not do it personally.
Also, the gain is low considering that you will need to make a pot dirty to gather the water and let it cool down, the water you saved is lost when washing that pot...
Comment: You can water plants in wash-water, if there is no soap. And if she cooks pasta like we do, the insert pot can be removed, and the water drains into the main pot, so it would be dirty anyway.
Comment: yes, not wrong for the wash water, though you can as well cook pasta without oil nor salt... ;) (can do, does not means ideal :)). With your special pot, you can indeed save the extra washing.
Answer: The other answers give good advice, but nobody is mentioning the one fatal error that could be lurking unnoticed: make sure the water has had time to cool before pouring it on. While you might have thought of this, new gardeners might not.
Answer: The water is not lost when washing pot because if it's not salted and no oil is used, its fine to water non-potted plants with it, and therefore the water from the pot is re-used and the pot is just washed, versus if water was not re-used it would be wasted along with water to wash pot.
Answer: Provided you're not using cooking oils and heavy salts you should be fine. Proteins and starches will boil in the water, they're fine.


Enumerating "Cyclic Double Permutations"

Question: This is a generalization of a question first asked by loopy walt on Puzzling Stack Exchange: https://puzzling.stackexchange.com/q/120243. I asked the following version of the question in the comments, and I couldn't resolve it myself. I will re-phrase this question to make its combinatorics more apparent.
Definition.

The given is an alphabet with $n$ letters $\mathfrak{A}=\{\mathrm{A,B,C,\ldots,N}\}$ and $m$ numbers $\mathfrak{N}=\{1,2,3,\ldots,m\}$. I call a finite sequence $\sigma$ of alternating letters and numbers a "cyclic double permutation" if

The consecutive letter-number pairs in $\sigma$ is a permutation of all letter-number pairs in $\mathfrak{A}\times\mathfrak{N}$;
If the initial letter of $\sigma$ is moved to the end of $\sigma$ to form a new string $\tau$ of alternating numbers and letters, then the consecutive number-letter pairs in $\tau$ is a permutation of all number-letter pairs in $\mathfrak{N}\times\mathfrak{A}$.

Examples.

Take $(n,m)=(3,4)$. The string $$\sigma=\textrm{C3A3C4B1B2B3B4C2C1A2A4A1}$$ is a cyclic double permutation because $\sigma$ is a permutation of $\mathfrak{A}\times\mathfrak{N}=\{\textrm{A1},\textrm{A2},\ldots,\textrm{C4}\}$ and its companion (as in item 2 above) $\tau=\textrm{3A3C}\ldots\textrm{4A1}\underline{\textrm{C}}$ is a permutation of $\mathfrak{N}\times\mathfrak{A}=\{\textrm{1A},\textrm{2A},\ldots,\textrm{4C}\}$. In particular, every cyclic double permutation $\sigma$ should start with a letter, and it should contain precisely $mn$ letters and $mn$ numbers.
When $n=1$, there are precisely $m!$ many cyclic double permutations. Namely, those are all the permutations of the set $\{\textrm{A1},\textrm{A2},\ldots,\textrm{A}m\}$.
The linked PSE question contains many answers with proofs that when $n=2$, there are precisely $2^{m-1}(m!)^2$ many cyclic double permutations that start with the letter $\textrm{A}$. (See for example xnor's answer.) By a symmetry argument, there are precisely $2^m(m!)^2$ many cyclic double permutations in total.

Question

Is the number of cyclic double permutations always equal to $(n!)^m(m!)^n$?

I have checked using a computer that this holds whenever $n+m\le 7$, and to my best knowledge this sequence has not shown up on OEIS yet.
Comment: I don't understand where the "cyclic" part comes from. It seems that you interpret the sequence $\sigma$ as a cyclic permutation, but then how is every permutation of $\{A1,\dots,Am\}$ cyclic? Is $(A1A2)(A3A4)$ considered a cyclic double permutation when $(n,m)=(1,4)$?
Answer: Nice problem.  As you observe in comments, the objects in question are (essentially) Eulerian cycles in a complete bipartite graph.  Eulerian cycles can be counted by the BEST theorem, in terms of (essentially) the number of spanning trees of the graph; the spanning trees can be counted by the matrix-tree theorem.
Comment: @EdwardH Nice write-up; glad I could help!
Comment: @EdwardH Also "in slightly more detail" is a very funny (at least to me) understatement of your contribution :)

Enumerating “Cyclic Double Permutations”