Is there a specific "convenient parking" trope?

Question: Is there a name for the trope where the characters in a car always just so happen to get a spot exactly in front of whatever location they're driving to?  It's certainly the norm in movies, and I'm just wondering if a name has ever been given to it.
Comment: I've assumed, in some of these shows, that the character either doesn't care (might get towed), or that it's valet parking and we don't see the valet exchange. For example, in the Doris Day answer, I'd assume she gives the keys to someone inside.
Comment: Counter to Rock Star Parking's description, it's not just for heroes and it's not just for when they're in a hurry.  It happens **all the time** for heroes and villains alike.
Comment: @JohnnyBones: It does, however, not happen when someone is about to get mugged or otherwise assaulted somewhere between the car and the destination. In particular, when those passengers who could fight off the assault are at the destination and hence sufficiently far away from the parked car.
Comment: Ahhh.  Right!  So, only when seen arriving at a destination do they get Rock Star Parking.  Or, if there needs to be some extra dialogue on the way to the location, then they have to be shown parking in some other location.  But if they cut straight to a restaurant scene, then the car can be anywhere, depending on the story's needs.
Answer: If you consider TvTropes an 'official' trope namer, they call it Rock Star Parking:

Any time the hero is really in a hurry, there is always an empty parking space directly in front of their destination. Even if in, say, downtown New York. This is generally seen as an Acceptable Break from Reality as really, no one wants to watch an hour of the heroes searching around to find parking... unless, of course, it's the point of the episode.

They name the Beverly Hills Cop film series and Kojak as especially egregious examples.
Comment: True, but sometimes it's averted, like Geroge's dad on *Seinfeld* who, once finally managing to find a good spot, won't go out for weeks just so he could keep it.
Comment: Maybe because they do a lot of driving in BHC, but really it's in EVERY FLIPPIN' MOVIE.  But the description is right; we just accept it because it speeds the movie along.  And I love that name: "Rock Star Parking".  Awesome.  :o)
Comment: @Walt That's because _Seinfeld_ is the anti-trope show and its awesome for it! Haha...
Answer: There is a second lesser used trope name that pre-dates "Rock Star Parking", although "Rock Star Parking" is today's standard. I'm adding this answer just to add history, after all tropes evolve just like language.
This trope was originally called "Doris Day Parking"
Here's a clip that shows Doris Day getting Doris day parking ( :59 )


How to publish the entire publication?

Question: After creating a new publication, what is the quickest way to publish everything? I tried right click on the publication and select "Publish", it failed in my setup. I am not sure whether it should work to start with.
Comment: Nuno describe the behavior but if you're seeing an actual error, it's typically a server limit. Share any errors from the publishing queue in that case to help pinpoint what needs to change on the server.
Answer: By default, Tridion will NOT publish new content when you publish an Organizational item (publications, structure groups).
There is a checkbox in the publishing dialog that changes this behavior, something along the lines of "also publish new content items" or similar.
This is done to prevent accidental publishing of new, not ready content by editors.
edit
New in this context means "content that has not been published to this target from this publication before".
Answer: In addition to what Nuno has suggested, and if your Tridion System is properly maintained as per the SDL Tridion Maintenance Guide (In specific if the Indexes are maintained), then you may also make use of "Advanced Search" functionality to quickly publish everything.
For example: You may search for all pages with in the publication and publish all of them at once from the Search Result pane.
Alternatively, If you are using Dynamic Templates, you may search for all components with in the publication and publish them - this will publish all the Components based on the Dynamic Component templates as well as All the pages which are using those components.

How to publish the entire publication?


How to rotate a 3D character on top of a plane with an isometric picture on it

Question: How to calculate the angles of the 3d charater so that it fits into the isometric environment projektet on a 2d plane?
Also, how do you calculate the rotation of my character?
What I want to achieve:

Describing the scenario:
Answer: First off, you probably want to switch your camera to orthographic, so that you don't get perspective distortion in the image. Then I wouldn't put the image on the ground like that, but rather a plane perpendicular to and linked to the camera. Then rather than rotating the player around, I'd be orienting the camera so that the player looks correct.
The exact position and rotation of the camera is specific to your isometric image, but it looks something like 45 degrees to the right and 45 degrees down.
Answer: Changing your camera, like the other fellows said, is probably the best, but if you still need the Camera to have perspective projection, you can use LookAt(), like this:
3dGameObject.transform.LookAt(camera.transform);

Basically it makes your game object to rotate in order to look at something. Take a look at the documentation for more information on which side of the object (forward) will be looking at the camera and how to specify your "up" coordinate.
Answer: You can tell Unity3D to use isometric rendering in the camera settings.
Secondly, you dont use isometrical graphics on a plane, you just build the world in 2D/3D and let the camera make it isometric.
I know this isnt a direct answer about rotation, but if you use my approach, your problem is solved. :-)
I quickly did a Google search on the topic and found this tutorial on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqIMbWKeXCA
I also got some articles/tutorials on it, I think this one could be of usage for you too:
http://indiehoodgames.wordpress.com/2013/07/21/tip-designing-a-isometric-game-in-unity3d/
Remember, most of the time, someone else has had the exact same problem as you, so Google first. :-)


Where has the "consecutive days visited" counter gone?

Question: I'm trying to find the figure somewhere on my profile so that I can track progress toward attendance badges; it used to be prominent on the account page. Where has it gone - and am I missing something?
Comment: It's still on your profile, switch from the Activity (default when you view your own profile) to [the Profile tab](http://stackoverflow.com/users/599393/rainydaymatt?tab=profile) and it's at the bottom of the right-hand bar.
Comment: You can also manually track the attendance badges with the track the next badge feature on your activity tab.
Answer: It's still on the profile page, but you need to switch from the Activity tab (which is the default when you visit your own profile) to the Profile tab. You can then see the counter at the bottom of the right-hand bar.

...yes, I know I have a problem.
Comment: Nah, you don't. [This guy does](http://i.stack.imgur.com/iqPoc.png) (and no, that's not me)
Comment: @ryanyuyu ah, I see, that makes sense! Indeed, checking the calendar, I was (only!) inactive on the 18th of November, 2013. I wonder if I was doing anything interesting?
Comment: 632 consecutive days.  That's... impressive.
Comment: Actually that can't be right, because that's exactly how long I've been a member. I can't have visited every day for 20 months... right? And wow @Martijn that's at once terrifying and a little bit impressive!
Comment: @jonrsharpe: that is exactly right; you've been active every single day but one since you joined.
Comment: @MartijnPieters that doesn't make sense, how can I have been inactive for one day, but without breaking the streak? The day I joined?!
Comment: @jonrsharpe: click on the line, and a calendar pops up. Every day you were recorded as active is coloured green. What is activity is enough to be counted 'active' is secret, simply logging in is not enough.
Comment: @jonrsharpe Active on day 1.  Inactive on day 2.  Active the rest of the time.  That only counts days visited, not days since account creation.


A word for sling's big brother

Question: When playing Stone Soup I've stumbled upon a weapon which name I've never heard before. The description said, more or less, that it's a sling's big brother, with its missile pouch attached to a long stick instead of a string. I've had no use for it, so I've left it where I found it. In half an hour, I've promptly forgotten the word for it, and it bugs me now greatly. How is such a weapon called?
Comment: That is a catapault.
Comment: Do you hold tbe stick in your hand, ir is is a really big stick (log)  with a counterweight mounted on a frame?
Comment: The word wasn't 'catapult'. Exact dimensions weren't mentioned, but it was a hand-help weapon.
Comment: A catapault is of no particular size. It can be an elasticated sling shot, a hand held stick, or a major artillery peice.
Comment: @WeatherVane  I didn't know that about catapults, thank you. But it wasn't the word, it was something more obscure.
Comment: Was it a trebuchet? A trebuchet or siege engine was really a large device for throwing stones at castle walls but [this website](http://slingshotforum.com/topic/5509-handheld-slingshot-trebuchet/) shows a "handheld trebuchet"
Answer: There are a large number of sling variants, but you are probably referring to the fustibalus.
(More wikipedia here):

The staff sling, also known as the stave sling, fustibalus (Latin), fustibale (French), consists of a staff (a length of wood) with a short sling at one end. One cord of the sling is firmly attached to the stave and the other end has a loop that can slide off and release the projectile. Staff slings are extremely powerful because the stave can be made as long as two meters, creating a powerful lever. Ancient art shows slingers holding staff slings by one end, with the pocket behind them, and using both hands to throw the staves forward over their heads.

Popular Mechanics has an article where they describe two types of projectiles used by fustibalus-wielding Roman soldiers. Ome was large and lemon-shaped, and the other was smaller and used more like buckshot. The article speculates on the purpose of holes drilled in the smaller projectiles, namely that they made a whistling noise whose purpose was to inspire fear in the enemy. ("Incoming!")

(Wikimedia commons)
Two men on the stern castle of the ship in this medieval drawing are wielding pole slings, ready to let their missiles fly.
Comment: What does that interesting device look like? Adding an image will make this excellent answer *awesome.*  [1 picture speak 1000 word.] Note that the image in your wikipedia link does not show the device very clearly. Better images can be found by google search. Please edit the picture directly into the answer and not as a link.  I already upvotes!
Comment: @EnglishStudent The only satisfactory non-copyrighed image I could find was this one from Wikipedia. The hand-drawn circle is beyond what I want to attempt on this phone

A word for sling's big brother


Can't find references (xref) to function

Question: I am reversing a function and when I trying to see its references, it doesn't show me the calls to the function. It only show the place of the object in RVA.

Is there a plug-in or something that I can find all the call to this function?
Answer: Could it be an indirect call to the function? Like described here
One of the suggestions is to search for cross-references to that data area you found. For example off_.... looks suspicious.


Plain English Follow Up

Question: This is a follow up to my previous question: Plain English Meaning Of Trust Language, which I included a picture of for clarity. The trust article outlines what happens if an heir is deceased but what would happen if one of the successors chose to forfeit their share of the trust? Would that same hierarchy of distribution still apply, allowing their share to pass to their children instead of themselves or being that it is not specifically mentioned, would forfeiting their share be the same as severing their ancestral branch from the trust all together?
Answer: I think that you are asking about a "disclaimer" which is a formal refusal to accept a donative transfer.
In the absence of express language in a trust stating what happens where there is a "disclaimer" (which is not unusual to find, there are so called "disclaimer trusts" that specifically have such terms), a disclaiming party is treated as pre-deceased for purposes of the trust if the disclaimer is made in a timely fashion and in the proper manner.

Plain English Follow Up


use {block:More} in custom tumblr theme

Question: I am making a custom tumblr theme. i want to use substr in my theme and a read more link, but i am not able to do it. How to cut text in custom tumblr theme, the text is coming through {caption}.
Answer: You should use JS for it, tumblr allows all kinds of (jQuery) JS tricks to "re-render" your content after the page is loaded (dom ready). Give the concerning HTML element an id or class to refer to it by JS.
So, your post title "use {block:More} in custom tumblr theme" is confusing. Tumblrs block:More construct is not for your purpose, but "Rendered on index pages for posts with Read More breaks" as http://www.tumblr.com/docs/en/custom_themes states.

use {block:More} in custom tumblr theme


how to convert .tib fille to .vhd/.vmdk

Question: I#ve been looking for ways to convert a .tib file to a .vmdk file, however all solutions i was able to find on the topic rely on old discontinued software that i can no longer find online (for example acronis true image 2014, or vCenter standalone converter).
are there any alternatives for what i am attempting to do? even if i can only convert the .tib file to a .vhd file i would be happy since the conversion from .vhd to .vmdk is not as problematic.
any help would be greatly appreciated
Answer: found the way to do it myself, used acronis true image 2018 to convert the .tib file into .vhdx files, then used virtualbox in the windows cli to convert from .vhdx to .vmdk files the  way it is described in this article
https://www.fabozzi.net/convert-vhdx-to-vmdk/
and was able to boot in virtualbox
Answer: 1: Create a New VM with the Hard Drive Size you want.
2: Create a Shared Drive on your VM or a Secondary VMDK that has your TIB file on it, this is so your rescue media can get access to it.
3: Boot the VM using your mounted Acronis rescue media.
4: Restore the image to your Newly Minted VMDK that you created in Step 1.
5: Now you have your VMDK do with it as you desire.
Have fun with your brand new super exciting VM.

how to convert .tib fille to .vhd/.vmdk


Grad school and pregnancy

Question: I 'm planning to apply for Masters in Computer Science (Non-thesis). I 'm wondering if both, pregnancy and school, can be managed at the same time. Or is better to wait until I get my baby and then apply for the school. I 'm trying to learn from others experiences.
Comment: Completely up to you, there are even examples who did Ph.D. while giving birth to a child at the process.
Comment: Are you asking only about _being pregnant_ while studying (i.e., you would time it so that you give birth after graduating), or also about giving birth mid-course?
Comment: One of my professors gave birth to her daughter during her PhD. She's pretty successful now. Not that much to worry I guess.
Answer: Since I'm not female, I can't give direct evidence. However, there are a couple of things you might think about.
The first is your general health. If it is good, then the stress of pregnancy will most likely be manageable. Then your studies will also be manageable. Note that the stress can be both physical and mental.
The second, is stress itself. Both a pregnancy and a graduate education can add to your stress. If you have other stresses in your life (financial, ...) it can get pretty high. That isn't a recommendation against it, however, but a recommendation that you will need ways to manage stress. If you do this well already, then there is likely no problem, otherwise, find active stress reducing activities.
In fact, having something to think about other than your studies can actually be a help because of the way the mind works. If you do nothing but try to force your mind to action it can stall.
Also, it is probably a mistake to delay your dreams unnecessarily, either for a child or an education.
Answer: I think that anyone is capable of going to school even while having a kid. All the more power to you and pride you would have! It could be hard but any person knows what they're capable of and if you think you are, why wait on having a kid or getting the degree/why choose between school and parenthood?
Answer: It can absolutely be done but you should be realistic up front with yourself regarding the challenges. You know yourself best.
Anecdotally, in my graduate school there was a PhD student who ended up pregnant and gave birth at the end of her second year. She had to make some adjustments such as working from home more, video and voice conferencing with her advisors, but she made it work. One of the strongest students in the program.
I think this is a question that you decide the answer to.
Answer: You should / could check in advance how open your university actually is. We are very supportive and try to help wherever possible, since many of our professors are young(er) parents as well, and sometimes we are stretching rules a bit which makes it much easier and reduces stress.
In general, having a kid during grad school might be wise, because when it comes o employment questions afterwards, you can always declare that you already have a kid ;-). (yes, I know that you should not be asked about it, but I know of several companies which are not employing younger women because of the risk of them becoming pregnant).
So in short: Do whatever feels good to you!

Grad school and pregnancy


Imessage security

Question: If someone has my Itunes password and phone number/email address, are they able to set-up their iphone/ipad to see my imessages without my consent?  If so, is there a way for me to trace this?
Answer: Yes, in a way, it is possible to "trace" it.
The good news for you, is that (I'm speaking in regards to Mountain Lion and iOS 6, not necessarily for older versions) every time a device authorizes and uses your Apple ID and phone number it will alert you on all your other devices. For example, if you are signed into your Apple ID for Messages on your Mac, and you purchase a new iPad Mini, and sign into it, it will display an alert on your Mac that says (something like) "[Your] iPad Mini is now using [your Apple ID] for iMessage". There is no way for you to deny that request (it is just informational) but that would alert you to possible abuse of your account if someone else has maliciously set up your Apple ID on your account. With this information you can easily change your Apple ID password and render the abusive user's information useless.
I'm not aware of a way to view all of your devices that are using your Apple ID for Messages and Facetime, but if you are careful to be aware of those prompts that come up, and change your password if something suspicious comes up, you will be set.
Comment: Thanks for your prompt response - I feel better but it still seems that Apple should make it easier to determine what devices can access your chat on an ongoing basis.
Comment: @SuperK, yes, it would be nice to have somewhere to see all the devices that are currently signed into Messages, but keep in mind, if someone apprehends your Apple ID and password combination, there is a lot more damage that can be done such as purchasing iTunes content. Just another good reason to have a strong password.
Comment: @SuperK, please feel free to accept (the checkmark below the arrows to the left of my answer) my answer if it has proven helpful. This benefits you (with reputation), me, and future visitors by letting them know what has answered your problem.

Imessage security


Suspension for Plagiarism

Question: If a user is suspended for plagiarism, is it possible for non-moderators to view the plagiarism? If not should it be possible? It seems that this would be a good idea from the perspective of transparency. As far as reputational damage goes, it seems that being suspended for plagiarism already constitutes reputational damage. Allowing inspection would simply allow any interested party to verify the plagiarism.
Comment: Occasionally people claim to be treated unfairly by moderators. I have not seen this and I am aware that some people on the internet are essentially pathological people who constantly cause problems and think it is anyone's fault but their own. However it is also the case that sometimes there is real bias in moderation, or a person may be singled out by a group unfairly. It seems to me that on this site there is little visibility into the actions of moderators vis-a-vis third parties. We just have to trust them. I guess, big picture, you might want to think about that.
Comment: I'm also wary when I see someone shout "plagiarism" after I learnt that [academia](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/self-plagiarism) thinks it's plagiarism if you post _your own_ work in two places.
Comment: What is your definition of "moderator"? Dimaond mods? Or regular users with >=10000 rep who have access to moderator tools? As I see it, those users can already verify by themselves the validity of plagiarism accusations from the ability to see deleted posts. The only difficulty is to get a link to the post in question, but if it is recently deleted, it will appear on the moderator tools page. Given your rep, you can do it already. So, is the question "should this be available to users with rep lower than 10000"?
Comment: As for transparency, the company is a "benevolent dictator" and may do as they like, at a whim. If you don't like that, then don't use a Q&A site owned by a private company, but use the community managed, open-source alternatives.
Comment: See also this question on Stack Overflow Meta: [Suspension for almost 6 months for plagiarism?](https://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/274698/suspension-for-almost-6-months-for-plagiarism).  Although SO is a different site and the question is different, I imagine the answer will be the same: it is a private matter between the Moderators and the user.
Comment: Allowing everybody to see in high definition what was done leads to a more permanent loss of reputation in the minds of those who see.  The purpose of the actions of the moderators is to reform and eventually restore the member, with as little loss of reputation as possible.  If you see what actually happened, you will form your own judgement -- but will you let it go when the penalty box has ended? Many people can't so easily overlook, once they've seen up close and personal. We must let the moderators do their jobs and trust them and the process.
Comment: But a part of me is with you.  I, too, want to make sure that my **friend** has been treated fairly and is safe.
Comment: @MicroservicesOnDDD if you like there is a link at the bottom of the page, you can contact a Community Moderator and have them look into any issue that you have.
Comment: @dim how would I find the plagiarism? If a user has been suspended for plagiarism I would have to search through all their deleted posts one by one trying to find the one that is marked as being plagiarism. Maybe there is an easier way and I just don't know it.
Comment: "As far as reputational damage goes, it seems that being suspended for plagiarism already constitutes reputational damage." All users will get displayed as having rep 1 while suspended. That's only temporary though and the purpose seems to be blocking them from all earned privileges during the suspension.
Answer: A commenter noted that "I, too, want to make sure that my friend has been treated fairly and is safe." I'll note up-front that I consider everyone my friend, and that I desire that everyone be treated fairly. Ensuring that people who get involved in any process are "safe" is harder - but I both wish and actively seek to ensure that this is the case. Those may sound rather grandiose claims. Notwithstanding, I mean them.
The rules on privacy, both societal and for this site, make it hard to satisfy others users' requests for relevant information. As a moderator I have an "insider's view" of what is involved. However, this answer is a personal response.
In any specific case it is not possible to talk about not just the material involved but issues of extent, frequency, reason and intent.
For the purposes of this discussion I suggest an informal definition of plagiarism that should serve the purpose is "unacknowledged posting of licensed material as if it was your own work in a manner that does not meet the requirement of the licence AND which would get you barred from any course at a school, university or any other body of learning." ie actions which would be clearly and universally recognised as plagiarism. This is not an attempt to 'stand on ceremony' but to deal with action that is clearly unacceptable. Major action is not taken on single instances.  Significant action is liable to be the result of an ongoing problem.
In all cases, citing licenced material used in answers is a requirement of this site - both to protect the integrity and value of the site and also as a legal requirement. eg even Wikipedia, which is widely viewed as an essentially open source of information, is covered by a CC by-SA licence, as is this site.
Citing internet based material used is trivially easy. In practice some latitude is allowed (essentially observing the spirit and maybe the letter of the law) - provision of a live link to the source material is generally accepted as adequate.
For the purposes of this post plagiarism can be divided into two forms.

In some cases plagiarism is just a matter of someone trying to appear more capable than they are, while

In other cases (generally less common) the person concerned may be
extremely capable and the reasons and background to the actions may
be both more complex and harder to understand.

In the latter case it can be very or completely unclear what lies behind the plagiarism. Moderators are liable to attempt to work with people in such cases to point out the site requirements (even though they are liable to be already clear enough) and to indicate the unacceptability of such action. It would be expected that this would be adequate to solve the problem. Sometimes it isn't.
As ever E&OE. Hopefully I have not mis-spoken anywhere above. Comments and input welcome.
Comment: You I do not question, as I respect and value you highly. But with the Monica Cellio incident and the likes of Olin Lathrop leaving for less political pastures, I question... What is going on? And that is what makes me question the fairness -- though I know nothing at all about the related happenings. I have also had my own struggles here, and I'm also a 55 year old curmudgeon who thinks I've earned a right to bark a little at what I think is wrong with the world. As far as the safety of my friend, I had one friend take his life, and you never know when it is the last straw for a friend.
Comment: @MicroservicesOnDDD If people disappear from this site and their "real" names are known it is often possible to find them elsewhere on the web. [This](https://www.facebook.com/SunnySKyTONY) is an example only.
Comment: @brhans It is often hard or impossible to contact a site member by other means - even if they would be happy to be contacted. Some hide their true ID on both this site and others. Sometimes they use the same or similar nomdeweb here and elsewhere making it easier to locate them. All this I know you know - but it somewhat relates to your comment re social networking and contact. It is permissible to place ones contact details - email or other - in one's profile. In my case I list my email address and telephone number in my profile. I am occasionally contacted by group members by this path.
Comment: and I now tend towards trying to keep people safe (from themselves?) rather than just assume that everybody is doing okay (especially at Christmas time). I sure would like it if, when a member is taken out of fellowship for a while, that we would have an arm of our own organization constantly reaching out to them every few days. A "Shepherds Anonymous" organization, sort of having as their mission to chase down the lost sheep, both reminding them to behave, yet telling them we value them.
Comment: I am glad that you consider yourself to be everyone's friend. I value you highly. And the other moderators as well. I'm sorry if what I said was unclear. Please accept my apology.
Comment: @MicroservicesOnDDD do you not have some way outside of Stack Exchange to contact your friend? SE is not intended to be a social networking site, so relying on it for that kind of thing doesn't seem like the best idea.
Answer: Russell has provided a useful answer regarding general principles. I will address your questions with specifics about the Stack Exchange network.
If you want to "verify the plagiarism" then you will have to find it yourself -- moderators are not going to give you a list of plagiarized posts. While you may think this is useful to "protect" a user and check that he wasn't unfairly (in your judgment) suspended, it is also an unnecessary airing of that user's dirty laundry...especially if such a list is provided while the user is suspended and unable to respond in any way to defend himself. Furthermore, moderators have access to additional information about the user's history which non-moderators do not -- and that history is likely relevant to the moderators' decision on how to handle the plagiarism (e.g. edit in attribution or delete the post), whether or not to suspend, and how long to suspend. Therefore, even if you were given a list of plagiarized posts you would not have access to all the relevant information that the moderators have -- especially for longer suspensions. Minor infractions will result in a (usually private) warning with no suspension or a short suspension (perhaps a day, 3 days, or a week), and most non-moderators will not even notice such action taken against a plagiarist. Only major infractions or a history of past incidents will result in longer suspensions.
If you are concerned about verifying plagiarism, transparency, moderators abusing their powers, etc., then the Code of Conduct tells you what you should do:

If you have concerns about how a moderator has handled a situation, contact us directly.

(Where "us" is the company.) If you contact the company your concern will be reviewed by a Community Manager (CM), who does have access to all the relevant information the moderators do. The CM also has the authority to take action against any moderator if abuse is detected.
That said, you may be able to verify plagiarism on your own, depending on the action taken and your site reputation. If a plagiarized post was edited rather than deleted then any user can see the edit history of a post and check if an older revision contained plagiarism. If a plagiarized post is deleted then you will need sufficient reputation to see deleted posts, but if that is the case then you can look for such a post and see for yourself if there was plagiarism. Finding those posts is your affair, though -- moderators are not going to give them to you.
Comment: There is no way I can have a concern about how a moderator handled anything because I have so little visibility into it. I am not sure if you see it or feel the same way but the process seems to me to be so byzantine that it is actually designed to just prevent people from ever taking any action or getting a straight answer. I have no first hand reason to think the moderators are doing anything unfair. I will say that your condescending tone toward me ruffles my feathers a bit.
Comment: @mkeith The system is designed to give non-moderators very little visibility on suspension matters. That's not my design -- it's Stack Exchange the company -- but I think it makes sense because there is no need to broadcast bad behavior. I wouldn't say the process is "byzantine" (i.e. complex), but it is opaque by design. If you have any concern about how the moderators handled anything (even if your concern is that you have so little visibility about an action) then you should contact the company.
Comment: @mkeith I deleted that previous question "why is a specific user constantly suspended?" because it's impossible for us to answer. We can't reveal private information like that. If it was intended to be public then it would be publicly available on his profile. I don't mean to come across as condescending but it really is the truth: why another user was suspended does not concern you. The only reason you might be concerned is if you thought a mod(s) were acting inappropriately, in which case the solution is not to ask on meta but to contact the company.
Comment: @mkeith I did re-read my comment from the previous question and I can't come up with a way to say "it is none of your business" or "it doesn't concern you" without being condescending...but it is the truth. It really does not concern you. Policy prohibits us from answering (and the system does not show non-mods any details about previous mod messages, previous or current suspensions, etc.) because it does not concern you. I deleted your question not to prevent you from replying to me but because we cannot answer and so it has no purpose.
Comment: @mkeith As for being "judgy" that cuts both ways: asking if a suspension is "legit or [if a user is] somehow being targeted unfairly" is rather judgy with regards to the moderators.
Comment: @mkeith Like I said, I can't come up with a nicer way to convey the truth that the exact details of a suspension of another user do not concern you. I thought perhaps "it is not your job/responsibility so you don't need to know" would be nicer, but that's not entirely accurate as all users are responsible for at least flagging plagiarized content. Transparency of moderator action is fine so long as it does not conflict with more important considerations such as the privacy of the suspended user, which [the system was designed to prioritize](https://meta.stackexchange.com/a/23548/299342).
Comment: @mkeith Transparency of moderator action would also cause harm to the site in other ways. For example, the moderators' tools for detecting sockpuppet accounts is not publicized so that users won't know how best to try to circumvent those tools...yet complete transparency would require exposing those tools. Transparency is therefore nice to have when possible, but it is at best a secondary or tertiary consideration.
Comment: If you re-read what you wrote on that question you will likely see what I mean. If the question needs to be closed because policy prohibits you from answering then just say that. It is not possible to say "it is none of your business" or "it doesn't concern you" without being condescending and judgy. Then you closed the question so I couldn't even reply to your comment. Nobody can be perfect all the time. Moderation is a soul sucking endeavor because you have to constantly try to hold yourself to a very high standard. So I am grateful to those of you who do it. But you did ruffle my feathers.
Comment: I see you have doubled down. Interesting. I apologize for sounding judgy. My question was meant as a question not an allegation. I will try to do better in the future. Reading between the lines, I gather that there is much about the user in question that I didn't know but which is material. I am at peace with that. I still think transparency of moderator action is an ideal to aspire towards. But it is very clear that all moderator action is subject to review only by basically higher level moderators.
Comment: @mkeith Also, I don't intend to have a condescending tone toward you. Is there something in particular which seems condescending to you? If so I can edit it.
Comment: not so much in this answer but in my previous question which was closed.
Comment: Why would the cause of the suspension even be mentioned?  No other reason ever gets mentioned.
Comment: @ScottSeidman - Hi, "*Why would the cause of the suspension even be mentioned? No other reason ever gets mentioned.*" FYI that is not true. Although old, [this Meta.SE topic](https://meta.stackexchange.com/q/23385) explains the thought which went into the "public reasons" which SE chose to display. I'm not claiming anything is perfect, just saying that I've always seen *a* public reason for a suspension and *some* of them relate more to the specific issue than others. As always, if you want to change an SE-wide system like that, you would start on Meta.SE; we can't change it just on EE.SE.
Comment: Let us [continue this discussion in chat](https://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/141417/discussion-between-null-and-mkeith).
Answer: Any user with 10k rep can view deleted questions. Another thing I think you can check is how many flags a user has (but I can't verify this myself). There are certain users that create many problems on the site by violating the CoC or plagiarizing. For users with multiple offenses are usually not given a second chance (or a 10th chance) if they are belligerent towards other users on the site.
Comment: Sure 10k users can view them, but only if they can find them. Regular users cannot get a list of another user's deleted questions/answers, afaik only moderators can. You can get a list of your own deleted ones from the user profile, but you can't view such a list of another user. Meaning you'd have to know the direct URL of the post in order to view it.
Comment: Maybe, I've never tried to search for a users deleted questions. The tool descriptions are here https://electronics.stackexchange.com/help/privileges/moderator-tools
Answer: If the issue is supposed to be between a user and a mod, then wouldn't specifying that a suspension is because of plagiarism on the user's profile be a violation of that idea??
Comment: @Null, so is a banned user not suspended on Meta, where the suspension can be discussed??  If the is suspended on Meta, there doesn't seem to be much freedom to discuss.
Comment: As Sam linked in a comment to you the reasoning is given on main meta [here](https://meta.stackexchange.com/q/23385/299342). The idea is that a basic suspension reason is provided in order to avoid too much speculation by other users. For example, if a user is suspended for plagiarism you won't start looking for rude posts/comments to "verify" that the user needs to cool down (which is one of the other publicly given suspension reasons).
Comment: However, exact details of the specific problems that caused the suspension are not publicized as (1) it is not necessary for other users to "verify" why a user was suspended and (2) it would only serve to (unnecessarily) air the suspended user's dirty laundry. As SE founder Jeff Atwood stated in the linked thread: "I believe it is the re[s]ponsibility and right of the user who was placed in timed suspension to have the freedom to discuss (or not discuss) what happened to them. It is a basic matter of respecting other users' privacy."
Comment: FWIW, I agree with mkeith that a suspension for plagiarism doesn't seem to be the same than every other suspension I've seen from the standpoint of reputational damage.
Comment: Suspended users lose their privileges on both the main and meta sites. Suspensions for a particular user are not meant to be discussed on meta, either during the suspension or after. If you wish to discuss a particular suspension you may do so in chat (without the suspended user, until his suspension ends) or on another site, but the moderators will not be providing you with any private details about the reasons for the suspension nor any past violations which factored into the length of the suspension. The suspended user may share such details with you, if he chooses.

Suspension for Plagiarism


Examples of a non-commutative division ring

Question: What are some examples of a non-commutative division ring other than quaternions?
Comment: The endomorphism ring of a simple $R$-module is always a division ring. I would expect them to be in general non-commutative.
Comment: http://www.researchgate.net/post/Can_anyone_give_an_example_of_a_skew_field_other_than_the_quaternions_and_their_field_extensions
Comment: The Wikipedia entry for *division ring* has [an example](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Division_ring#Examples).
Answer: Noncommutative domains which satisfy the right Ore condition allow you to build a "right division ring of fractions" in an analogous way to that of the field of fractions for a commutative domain.
This division ring is necessarily not commutative if you pick the domain to be not commutative :) Not commutative right Ore domains are pretty easy to come by: in particular, right Noetherian domains are right Ore. So for example, you could look at the division ring of quotients for $\Bbb H[x]$.
Answer: You can find many examples in:
R. S. Pierce, Associative algebras,Springer-Verlag, 1982


Need to find value of NDSolve at specific value in range

Question: I am working with NDSolve to plot an ODE as a function of time. I need to find a way to figure out the exact value $X$ of the solution for some specific time, say $t_*$. Even better, a way to figure out the time $t_*$ at which the $F[t_*]=X$.
It's probably straightforward but don't have much experience with NDSolve!
Answer: You can use WhenEvent. Let's say we want the points that the solution takes the value of 2.5:
{sol,points}=Reap@NDSolve[{D[y[x],x]==Sin[x], y[0]==1, WhenEvent[y[x]==2.5,Sow[{x,y[x]}]]}, {y[x]}, {x, 0, 10}];
pointsis our desired set of points:

{{{2.0944,2.5},{4.18879,2.5},{8.37758,2.5}}}

You can see them on a plot:
Show[Plot[y[x] /. sol, {x, 0, 10}],
 ListPlot[points, PlotStyle -> Orange]]

Also, the exact value at any point, e.g. $x=1$ can be retrieved by y[1]/.sol
Sometimes I find it easier to use NDSolveValue which is exactly the same, but gives the values instead of rules. Look it up and you might find it useful.
Answer: It would be better if you had supplied an example problem. It is possible that the answer below will not work in general.
Let's use a simple gravity example where we start with an object 10 feet above the ground and let it free fall.
sol = NDSolve[{h''[t] == -98/10, h'[0] == 0, h[0] == 10},
  h, {t, 0, 10/7}]

{{h -> InterpolatingFunction[{{0., 1.42857}}, <>]}}

The method I use to define a function of time from this output (there is more than one method) is:
f[t_] := sol[[1, 1, 2]][t]

Now one can plot it:
Plot[f[t], {t, 0, 10/7}]

If we wanted to know at what time the object would be 4 feet above the ground one could use:
solN = NSolve[f[t] == 4, t]
(* {{t -> 1.10657}} *)

This will give you a warning message about Inverse functions but that is OK.
Comment: That's great! Thanks. Will get right back to trying it out :-)


Vie d'après vs après-vie vs vie d'après la mort?

Question: I saw that these seem to all be translations of "afterlife" - la vie d'après, l'après-vie, and la vie d'après la mort. Is there a difference in register or connotation between these? Are they just interchangeable?
Answer: I'd say the most common is "la vie après la mort" (without d').
There is no connotation or register difference (death is death, after all).
I have never heard of "après-vie", and a quick search shows it apparently doesn't exist in traditional dictionaries (Larousse, Robert). "Après-vie" sounds like a literal translation of the English word "afterlife", and was used to translate the Stephen King novel that bears this title.
Both "la vie d'après" and "la vie après la mort" are commonly used and interchangeable.
Answer: I agree with Ety that la vie après la mort would be the most common translation for "afterlife", when that term refers to the fate of one specific person. I disagree about la vie d'après though - that would be life after any event (a change of jobs, a divorce, etc.), possibly including death, but that would be highly context-dependent.
Another common term that would be more appropriate in certain contexts is l'au-delà (literally: "the beyond"; the best translation would likely be "the afterworld"). It refers to a collective place where the souls of the deceased would go after death, without much detail about what happens there exactly; it could refer to the Christian paradise (paradis), the Greek Elysium (Champs Élysées), or other belief systems.
The register is almost the same; maybe "au-delà" is slightly more formal. It also has (to my ears) a more "mystical" aspect. For instance, if I were a psychic trying to fleece a gullible mourner, I would rather claim

Je peux communiquer avec l'au-delà

I can communicate with the afterworld

than

Je peux communiquer avec les esprits des morts

I can communicate with the spirits of the dead

because (in French at least) the latter claim sounds more specific / technical.


How do I program Python so that it outputs to all terminals in Linux

Question: I am programming a python program for the raspberry pi.
Is there a way for me so that when the raspberry pi outputs text, it will show up on all terminals that are currently remotely logged in via SSH?
Comment: I migrated this here instead of S.O. because, although it involves programming, I think this particular question will get better answers here.
Comment: Can you install [tmux](http://tmux.github.io/) or [screen](https://www.gnu.org/software/screen/)? Both can run a session in the background and you can just connect to (or disconnect from) it when needed.
Answer: You can try to use the wall program, but the logged in users may be able to override that and avoid seeing any wall messages. Alternately, you can attempt configure and use syslog to send a message from a given facility to the * location, which (in my experience) will show up on all logged in shells.
Comment: Using a syslog interface (I presume python has one) with sufficient priority ("emergency") should get the output posted everywhere including `ssh` logins on most systems by default (you shouldn't have to configure syslog) -- and it seems you don't even need special privileges to do so...
Comment: You *shouldn't* have to configure syslog, no, but there's no guarantee that syslog will have a default configuration or a sufficient configuration for this. I myself tend to disable the "emergency" syslog spam on all my systems - if I don't know about an emergency without syslog telling me about it, I have bigger problems.
Comment: The fact that this method is dependent on syslog configuration is indeed important.  Its advantage over writing directly to the tty's/pty's is that you can target everyone without needing root privileges.
Answer: In a very simplistic way: you can look at all the pseudo-ttys in use
and write to all of them. Use who to list all the current logins and
their tty, eg:
$ who
me       tty1         Jun  1 07:09
brian    pts/0        Jun  1 07:15 (:pc1)
john     pts/1        Jun  1 07:15 (:pc88)
sue      pts/2        Jun  1 07:15 (:pc7)

The 2nd column shows e.g. /dev/pts/0 is being used by login brian.  You can simply write to it, if you have sufficient permission, eg:
echo 'Msg from me: hello!' >/dev/pts/0

On my system (not a pi, sorry), you need to be in group tty, or be root:
$ ls -l /dev/pts/0
crw--w---- 1 brian tty 136, 4 Jun 28 20:55 /dev/pts/0


Is it easier for native speakers to remember the pronunciation of new words they see? How?

Question: An issue I often face as an English learner is that I forget the pronunciation of words, given that their spelling gives a little hint about the actual pronunciation. As an example, I just saw a word today morning, written as "clairvoyance" and pronounced as /ˌkleɚˈvojəns/ . I came back to the word again a few hours later and I was not sure if the world should be pronounced/ˌkleɚˈvojəns/ or /ˌkleɚˈvəjəns/, so to speak. I don't have this issue for the words that I listen/use frequently but if the word is not common, I would feel doubtful about the right pronunciation.
For some reason, I don't think English speakers feel the same way. I guess they listen to the word for one time and that's it. How much is this true? And if it is the case, how and why?
Comment: Do you find that to be true of "new" words in your native language? I suspect the answer is universal. (Although I could be wrong.)
Comment: Yes. But my native language has specific structures on the pronunciation and formation of words so it is less of a struggle.
Answer: When an adult native speaker sees a word written down it is likely that they already know the word in spoken language, so there is no need to learn the pronunciation, only to learn the spelling.  We have lots of trouble learning spelling (as is evidenced by the number of red underlines that I can see in this answer, but will fix before posting), we have relatively less trouble learning to say the word, since the patterns and structures of English phonetics are learned at a very early age.
Native speakers have a passive vocabulary of tens of thousands of words (estimates vary) so we have lots of examples that help us to remember how a word is pronounced. Even so, words with unusual spellings can be hard to remember.  I recall when I was younger not realising that the word "epitome" was the same as the spoken word "/e-pit-tow-mee/" I knew both the written word and the pronunciation, but didn't realise that they were the same word, I had assumed that the "epitome" rhymed with "home". Genuinely new words which we see written down without knowing the pronunciation would cause native speakers problems, but this situation is rare.
Comment: I've always been an avid reader, and often made mistakes in pronunciation of words I had read but hadn't heard much (if at all) in conversation. Some examples of words I had "creative" pronunciations for as a child: "omnipotent",  "obfuscate", "anemone", and "gala". My pronunciation is a lot less interesting now that I'm an adult and people feel free to use big words around me :)


Shadow options are not showing

Question: I am using the latest blender version but as i was trying to change the softness and exponent of my lamp shadows there was no option. It only showed the clip start and Bias. Any way i can bring these options back
Comment: Hi, welcome! Can you use the question editor to add (image tool) a screenshot showing the Properties panel where this is happening? Which rendering engine are you using?
Comment: i just updated the question and attached a screenshot but i am new to blender and dont know how to check what render engine i am using
Comment: See my updated answer: those options are gone since 2.81, but you have alternatives to follow tutorials that use older versions...
Answer: I think the youtube video you are referring to, in commenting another answer, was realized using an older version of blender. I tried an old 2.80 I had installed, and it shows the options you're missing (they're missing in my 2.82a, too):

Those options are gone in 2.81. This release log (related to python API usage of those options) points this out and cites a developer change in code_ https://wiki.blender.org/wiki/Reference/Release_Notes/2.81/Python_API#EEVEE
Anyway it is always possible to download any previous version as a zip package, and just extract them in a folder and run them launching the blender file. You find all released versions here: https://download.blender.org/release/
Answer:
The features you want--Clip Start and Bias--are visible in the Object Data tab of the Properties Panel while your light is selected, under the Shadow menu. If you can't see them, the Shadow menu header may need to be expanded. (Please disregard my colorless tabs. They are the same tabs as your much more colorful ones, only mine are much less exciting)

The current rendering engine is visible from the Render Properties tab of the Properties Panel, in a pull down menu near the top.
Comment: no thats not what im looking for i attached an image from a youtube video where there are options on his that are not on mine and we are using the same version of blender
Comment: My apologies. I do now see that you have added another image.

Shadow options are not showing


STM32F4 - can I use delays in interrupt routines?

Question: I'm using an STM32F4 discovery board for a project and am wondering if I'm approaching the problem correctly. When I press a button, an external interrupt is triggered which runs a routine; without using a delay, this part works fine. As the routine moves a servo then returns it to its original position, a delay is added to allow the servo to catch up with the new PWM output before returning to the original position. When I run the new interrupt routine with the delay, the board locks up. In debug the code appears to stall at the delay loop.
The delay is a simple systick routine. Is it bad practice (thus the reason for my crashes) to put this inside my interrupt, and should I use a different method? For example setting a one shot timer inside the external interrupt routine which returns the servo after a set time?
Thanks!
Comment: It is absolutely terrible practice to put a delay inside an interrupt handler. If you really have to, make it re-entrant, and re-enable the interrupt ASAP.
Answer: As you've discovered, interrupt routines are intended to perform quick handling of an external event, and defer additional work to other facilities. This is why, in your case, the delay loop causes the board to lock up: no other work is being performed while the code is sleeping inside the interrupt handler. That is a typical characteristic of all interrupt handlers.
If you need to perform a separate task (moving the servo again), schedule it just like you described:

if the servo is guaranteed to have reached the intended position during a specified amount of time, set a timer to fire after that amount of time
if the servo mechanism can notify you, perhaps via another interrupt, when it reaches a specified position, use that to handle its movement back to the original position.
Comment: You've confirmed my suspicions, thank you! I'll start enabling a bunch of timers!
Answer: Assuming you have a spare timer that can generate an interrupt, you can have the interrupt handler setup a timer interrupt handler that starts the next step. I use pointers to functions that are setup and later called by interrupt handlers to advance an interrupt driven process through a sequence of logical steps. In some cases, I'll have a set of hierarchical pointers to functions, where each pointer to function is used to call an end action handler for a logical function. For example, the end action function pointer for a high level function (like a wait for ready function) is set, and the high level function is called. That high level function in turn sets an end action function pointer for a low level function, and calls the low level function to start it. The low level function then sets the interrupt end action function pointer, and starts some type of interrupt driven sequence, advancing the low level interrupt function pointer through a series of interrupt functions to follow a sequence, then calling the high level end action function pointer when the sequence is complete to return back to a step in the high level sequence.
To maintain accurate timing and avoid drift over a period of time, you need to base all "delays" off an original reading of the timer. For each step, you add a fixed count to a variable that was initialized with a original reading of the timer in order to determine the next delay point. For frequencies that aren't an exact multiple of the timer, you can use division to produce a quotient and remainder, accumulating the remainder to round up the quotient as needed for each interval step.


Can my old iTunes libraries be transferred to my new computer?

Question: It took me long, tedious hours and a lot of effort to digitalise vinyl and taped music (from the 60s onwards) as well as copying umpteen CDs to my iMac that I bought in 2011 and now uses Sierra 10.12.6 and iTunes 220.127.116.11.
I now want to buy the newest M1 computer using Ventura and I've found out that iTunes no longer exists. Everything I've read so far only talking about transferring music bought from Apple.
Can my old iTunes libraries be transferred to the new Music app. If so, how, or do I just give up and keep my old computer?
Comment: BTW, Ventura is not out yet - probably Sept/Oct. Any Mac bought now will come with Monterey, which you can always update later.
Answer: Apple Music [without any subscription] is really just iTunes with a different label.
Funtionality has been split, so iPhone/Pad interaction is now done from Finder. Instead of launching a separate app to sync/backup your iPhone etc, the functionality [& most of the look] is now right there in the Finder instead.
Music itself still looks similar to how iTunes looked, with Artists, Albums, Songs, Playlists etc down the left.

It still defaults to trying to sell you new tunes from the Store, but if you're not interested in that you can ignore it, same as iTunes.
If you migrate* your old Mac to your new one, everything should transfer intact.
*Make this the first thing you do as part of your initial setup on the new Mac. It makes things much easier than trying to do it later.


How can I install and configure windows 10 dll driver onto RP2 windows 10 IoT?

Question: I'd like to compile a run a code on RP2 but in order for me to do that i need to install the drivers for it on the RP2 and I'm not sure how to even approach that. I've installed WDK on VS 2015
Comment: There's an outside chance, albeit a slim one, that this might be possible. You will need a version of the DLL specifically compiled for the Raspberry Pi's ARM architecture. Do you have access to a precompiled ARM version, or access to any source code which could be recompiled for ARM?
Answer: You need an ARM driver for Windows 10 "IoT Core" - if you don't have the complete source code for it you must ask the hardware manufacturer for such a driver (except if you like reverse-engineering for hundreds of hours).
A "normal" Windows 10 "Home" or "Professional" (x64- or x86-only) driver will not work .


Is there a way to skip Deathtrap summoning animation?

Question: An Assassin can skip Decepti0n's initation hand animation by ADS. Is there a way for a Mechromancer to skip her similar Deathtrap summoning animation?
Answer: The only way that I've found to skip the animation is to go into a menu. So inventory, Badass Rank menu, Mission Logs and so on.
I have not tested this in multiplayer, so it might not work there.
Should it work in multiplayer you usually can enter and exit it quickly enough so that it shouldn't put you at too much risk of dying.


Is ESM available for free for personal use?

Question: I'm unclear whether ESM (Extended Security Maintenance) for Ubuntu is actually free for personal use, or is it always a paid solution?
Comment: Just out of curiosity, why would someone require ESM for personal use when you can upgrade for free? Do you have a very old machine or what?
Comment: @warsong FWIW, I've learned that upgrading is very easy when you 1) Install the "upgrade" to a new partition instead of upgrading in place, and 2) already have `/home` on a separate partition, so that it can survive upgrades without much fuss. Just choose a custom partition layout when installing, and set the proper mount points for the two partitions (`/` and `/home`).
Comment: ESM probably stands for Extended Security Maintenance https://ubuntu.com/esm
Comment: Yes, old machine but also just curious to see how long I can keep using a single install for (without doing an actual upgrade).
Comment: If you don't really care about newer packages (since newer packages may have dependency issues), you can keep until ESM ends. If you don't care about security updates, you can keep for indefinite time.
Answer: Since November 2019, Canonical has stated that Ubuntu ESM is now available for free for personal use, though it is up to three machine.

Canonical is happy to announce that all community users are entitled
  to a free Ubuntu Advantage for Infrastructure account for access to
  Extended Security Maintenance (ESM) and Kernel Livepatch* for Ubuntu
  14.04 LTS (Trusty Tahr) for up to three machines, and up to 50 machines for all official Ubuntu Members.

Taken from https://ubuntu.com/blog/ua-services-deployed-from-the-command-line-with-ua-client
You can get started here → https://ubuntu.com/esm
Answer: I guess the answer is on the ESM website:

Canonical provides Ubuntu Advantage Essential subscriptions, which
  include ESM, free of charge for individuals on up to 3 machines. For
  our community of Ubuntu members we will gladly increase that to 50
  machines. Your personal subscription will also cover Livepatch, FIPS
  and CIS hardening tools.

So, it's free for personal use. And paid for other cases.
Comment: @WinEunuuchs2Unix I think they refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Membership/NewMember
Comment: Can you elaborate on the statement: ***"For our community of Ubuntu members we will gladly increase that to 50 machines"***? For example does "community" mean **Ask Ubuntu** members?


Can Aperture be migrated or reinstalled from iMac to MacBook Pro (which has no DVD drive)?

Question: Can Aperture be migrated or reinstalled a new MacBook Pro which has no DVD drive? Would target disk mode work to simply copy the file? I think Aperture usually runs an "installation" rather than just drag onto the Applications folder. But I can't remember since it has been years since I installed it on my iMac.
Answer: Two options:
Option 1) Share the DVD drive from your iMac to your MacBook Pro.
Go to the "Sharing" panel in System Preferences on your iMac.
You can then install the software over your LAN connection.
However, this doesn't always work, and it's very slow.
Option 2) Make an ISO of your installation CD/DVD.
This requires using the Terminal.app, but it's fairly painless.

Insert the disk in the iMac
Go to Terminal.app and type mount and press return, and you will see something like this:
/dev/disk1 on / (hfs, local, journaled)
devfs on /dev (devfs, local, nobrowse)
map -hosts on /net (autofs, nosuid, automounted, nobrowse)
map auto_home on /home (autofs, automounted, nobrowse)

except that you will also see a "/dev/disk" entry for your DVD drive. I'll use "/dev/disk2" as an example but yours will (probably) be different.
Then you want to enter this in Terminal:
/bin/dd if="/dev/disk2" of="$HOME/Desktop/Aperture.iso" bs=2048

once you press enter you will hear the DVD drive spin up, but Terminal won't say anything.
Note: if you get a message about the device being "busy" launch DiskUtility.app and "unmount" the DVD (but do NOT eject it).
Terminal will just work quietly for awhile and then after 10-20 minutes (or more or less, it depends) it will say something like "18397+0 records in" and "18397+0 records out" (note: I just made up '18397' as an example, the point is that the records "in" and "out" should be the same.)
This will leave you with a file called "Aperture.iso" on your Desktop.

Eject your Aperture DVD/CD now (if you used DiskUtility to unmount it, use DiskUtility to eject it now)
Once the DVD is ejected, double click on the Aperture.iso file, and it should "mount" just as if you had inserted the DVD again.

If it did not work, you probably had the /dev/disk wrong or there was an error reading the disk.
If it mounts as expected, simply copy the ISO file to your MacBook Pro and use it as the installer.
I have been doing this with all my DVD installers since I bought my MacBook Air a few years ago. It's a nice backup and installation from an ISO is a lot faster than from an actual DVD too.
Comment: I've not had slowness using Remote Disc unless the sending machine is very busy - but the rest of this looks to be very similar to what I've seen work in practice.
Comment: It probably has a lot to do with whatever is being sent across the network too, and if you're on Wi-Fi… lots of variables. In all fairness, once I figured out how to make a disk image of my DVDs I never tried it again, and it may have gotten better since then too.
Comment: WiFi is clearly sub-optimal if you can wire an Ethernet or FireWire connection directly for a fast network connection.
Answer: There is a great detailed answer covering two of these options, but here are your possible options:

Get/borrow the MacBook Air SuperDrive and use it to re-install from the CD.
Use the iMac to share the drive (remote disc style) over the network
Use the iMac to duplicate the disc to a disk image that can be mounted
Use Migration Assistant to move the Application itself over
Figure out which folders in /Library and elsewhere need to be copied in addition to /Applications/Aperture.app
Buy the latest version of Aperture from the App Store and skip the time needed to do the above

Without knowing exactly which version of Aperture you have, the simple finder copy of the Application might work and my memory is that it will prompt you to insert the DVD if it detects missing support files, but works fairly well as not much is actually stored in /Library for Aperture.
Answer: I have had no trouble just copying the Aperture.app folder from one mac's Applications folder to another.
On the source mac, share the applications folder.
On the destination mac, connect to the shared folder.
If you do this over wifi, it won't be quick.  We have a wired network in our house, and it took about 5 mintues to copy the nearly gigabyte folder over.


Generate a diff between current /etc/ and default configuration

Question: After installation and various custom configurations, is it possible to use eg. apt and some shell-fu to produce a diff for every file in /etc/ that differs from the standard configuration? This would provide a means to generate a short summary of the configuration state after the fact, rather than having to rely on manual logging along the way, should one desire to remember what was changed at a later time.
Answer: You should take a look to etckeeper :

etckeeper is a collection of tools to let /etc be stored in a git,
  mercurial, darcs, or bzr repository. It hooks into apt (and other
  package managers including yum and pacman-g2) to automatically commit
  changes made to /etc during package upgrades. It tracks file metadata
  that revison control systems do not normally support, but that is
  important for /etc, such as the permissions of /etc/shadow. It's quite
  modular and configurable, while also being simple to use if you
  understand the basics of working with revision control.
Answer: I'm in the middle of developing a solution to the same kind of problem.
Basically, my objective is a system allowing undo and redo with file-level granularity.
Starting with your question and working backwards...

In order to compare to the default configuration, we have to store the originals of all those files somewhere first. Then we can produce what you want with something like...

DIFFDIR= ......
ARCDIR=./.archives                         # see below

function getlastarchive() {
  ... code to return last archived version ...
}

for FILE in /etc/*
do
  ARCFILE="$(getlastarchive $FILE)"
  diff $ARCDIR/$ARCFILE /etc/$FILE  >$DIFFDIR/$FILE.diff
done

To store the originals, I've chosen to adopt the convention of having a single .archives subdirectory in any directory with an altered file. It's created as necessary by a file-archive script.
If you only want one level of undo, you only need copy the unaltered file to the .archives directory before it is changed.
For unlimited-undo, we need a versioning scheme. An obvious choice is a datetime stamp appended to the name of the archived version. Something like...

Files:                      /etc/hosts
                            /etc/resolv.conf

Archived Versions:          /etc/.archives/hosts.20121219015459
                            /etc/.archives/resolv.conf.20121219015459

Instead, I'm using just an auto-calculated incremental version#, as in...

Files:                      /etc/hosts
                            /etc/resolv.conf

Archived Versions:          /etc/.archives/hosts.00
                            /etc/.archives/resolv.00.conf

The version# is before the extension since I also use this for edited versions of images which need their extensions (.jpg, .png, etc) intact in order to be detected properly by a lot of software. If a file has no extension, the version# is just appended to the end. The code to do this is more complex, but runs instantly so no problem. A case can be made for a number of other schemes but this works for me.

Hope this helps!


In the proof that $DSPACE(S)\subseteq DTIME(2^{O(S)})$, why precisely do we require that $S=\Omega(\log n)$

Question: I have read and understood various proofs, but have not been able to understand precisely why we require $S=\Omega(\log n)$.
Answer: We believe that $DSPACE(X) \subseteq DTIME(X)$ is false. As a consequence, $X$ must be chosen so that $X \neq 2^{O(X)}$. Additionally, considering $DSPACE(X) \subseteq DTIME(Y)$ we want $ Y = 2^{O(X)}$ to allow the Turing machine requiring $X$ space to halt on all of its inputs: this is because the number of configurations is $O(2^{O(X)})$ and any accepting computation must halt within $O(2^{O(X)})$ steps, i.e. this is $2^{O(X)}$ if $X = \Omega(\lg n)$. Moreover, the function $X$ must be space constructible as well, and $\lg n$ is space constructible. This is also consistent with the definition of the complexity classes $L$ and $P$. The former is the class of the languages (or problems) requiring at most $O(\lg n)$ space, the latter the class of languages requiring at most polynomial time. The relationship $L \subset P$ holds because a Turing machine requiring at most logarithmic space can use at most linear time, so polynomial time.


UK driving licence

Question: My Problem: I had a UK driving licence (year 2000) and travelled a lot since ( Europe) so no UK address, now I lost my licence and I am kind of homeless. How can I get my UK driving licence without having a UK address. Thank you for your help.
Comment: What kind of license do you have now?
Answer: You can't.
UK drivers licenses can be replaced, even from overseas, but only if the applicant resides in Great Britain. See this UK govt page on getting a replacement license, which contains this text:
Get a replacement provisional or full driving licence online with DVLA if yours gets lost, stolen, damaged or destroyed...
...To replace your licence you'll need to:
be a resident of Great Britain (there's a different service in Northern Ireland), not be disqualified from driving for any reason
pay £20 by MasterCard, Visa, Electron or Delta debit or credit card
provide addresses where you've lived for the last 3 years.
Thus, to replace your lost license, you'll have to lie to DVLA about your residence. None of us would recommend that course of action.
Comment: Thank you David
Comment: @Weber You're welcome. If this answers your question — even though it isn't the response you wished — please upvote and mark the Answer as "Accepted."

UK driving licence


Do conformations arise from vibrations?

Question: Cross-posted on Chemistry SE.
I was wondering how a molecule transforms from one conformation into another. Surely, since the conformations are separated by a potential barrier, some activation energy must be required. The energies related to a molecule are translational, rotational, vibrational, and electronic. Out of these, translational and rotational motion do not change the intrinsic coordinates of a molecule, and these won't bring about a conformational change. The electronic transitions are too fast on the conformational time scale. This leaves, at least for an independent molecule, vibration as the only candidate for bringing about conformational transformations. Although collisions may also be considered, my focus is on independent molecules. I tried searching for a relation between conformations and vibrations but couldn't find any relevant results.
Comment: You can't really divide rotational vs vibrational movement for a floppy molecule
Comment: Look at crest: https://github.com/crest-lab/crest It is ready to use, fast, and published. They also explain the background there.
Comment: If you are talking about the conformational changes like the one that happens when a carbohydrate molecule like glucose goes from 4C1 to 1C4, I think it is mostly due to the rotations along the bonds in the molecule or at least that is how they are modeled. You can check this [paper](https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jcim.2c01286) for further details.
Comment: If you run a potential energy surface calculation, you will get that the system have minima representing each conformer, so, in other to got from one to another, you need to add energy in order to "break" the energetic barriers. As you will always have vibrations, they cannot make the system to undergo conformation changes.
Comment: @KarstenTheis I have included the link to cross posted question on CSE.
Answer: Yes, you can think of conformations as arising from vibrational modes, typically low-energy ones. In fact, some conformational search methods use low-energy dynamics or projection to find new conformers.
I think Paul Hawkins still has the best review:
"Conformation Generation: The State of the Art" (2017)

Stochastic methods based on Monte Carlo-simulated annealing (23) (MC) are often faster than MD methods. (24, 25) Methods based on low-mode or normal-mode searching attempt to retain the sound physics of MD while requiring still less computation time. (26-29) However, all these methods can still require many CPU minutes to produce conformations for a single molecule and are therefore unsuitable for processing even a few thousand molecules. Additionally, for MD and MC approaches (but, to a lesser degree, low-mode MD methods), the input conformation, which is required in all these methods, can bias the sampling, requiring the use of either multiple input conformations or longer sampling time.

Thus, many conformer search techniques either drive torsional angles or use distance-geometry (e.g. RDKit / ETKDG) as ways to stochastically project new conformer minima without needing MD or biasing the search.

Do conformations arise from vibrations?


Why does Rin have sharp, pointed teeth?

Question: In Free!, Rin is shown to have sharp, pointed teeth (like a shark). I would say it was just stylistic, but it has been canonically mentioned by one of the characters. Has the author (or the light novel) given any canonical reason for his teeth to be pointed, or is it just symbolism of him being like a shark?
Comment: [dic.pixiv.net claims](http://dic.pixiv.net/a/%E6%9D%BE%E5%B2%A1%E5%87%9B) claims that he apparently only had a couple of sharp teeth back in elementary school, fwiw.
Comment: There is no official info indication that it is anything but a stylistic choice.
Answer: I think Rin's teeth are depicted as sharp to give off Rin's attitude towards his former teamates Haruka, Makoto and Nagisa. If you remember during the series Rin had went to Australia to become stronger and faster in swimming. But a couple years later even though he put so much effort in whilst in Australia he still couldn't beat Haruka.
This is probably the most accurate time to say when Rin became more aggressive and serious. I think his sharp teeth are suppose to tell the viewer that he is serious and gives off his more aggressive personality and persona.
This is just my impression though. I dont actually think they made his teeth sharp for an actual purpose rather than to display his change from when he was a kid to when he lost and decided he had, had enough of losing to Haruka.
Answer: I personally just think that it's supposed to represent that Rin is the shark to Haru's dolphin. They're yin and yang, it's just a metaphor.

Why does Rin have sharp, pointed teeth?


lack of page numbering

Question: What do you put in a reference when the page lacks numbering? Is there any abbreviation to denote such a case? I'm working on some manuscripts that are numbered only on the front side. I refer to them as folium, abbreviated fol. Unfortunately, some of the sheets aren't numbered at all(???)
Comment: If there is no consistent and explicit numbering of any kind (page, paragraph, or chapter), then all you can do is cite the source itself without being specific. Specifying something that might work for one person but fail for another is worse than not specifying anything at all. You could give at least a general location in the narrative ("close to the start") outside of the citation itself.
Comment: Are the remaining sheets numbered consistently? E.g. Do you have page 1, (no page number), (no page number), 4, …? If so, consider using the implied page number.
Comment: Unfortunately, not. I have a few files of separate documents and letters, and now one of the files turned out to contain a set of sheets without any numbering. In my native language there's an abbreviation that translates to _l.n. (lack of numbering)_, but I've never seen such a thing in English.
Comment: If it's a manuscript then page numbers are useless anyway.  Better to identify the reference through some semantic association, such as "section on potatoes".
Answer: Two examples of page references from manuscripts from a book I have at hand (Thomas, Religion & the Decline of Magic):
E. Bulkeley, A sermon (1586), sig. B4v. [referring to the verso side of the fourth sheet in the second signature of a bound manuscript]
Ely D.R., B 2/15, f. 4v [verso side of fourth sheet (f=folium); I assume this is for unbound papers, volume 2 of 15 (B=Band??), not sure]
Comment: @shogun if you are dealing with some loose sheets, do they even have a canonical order? if not, there's no point in a page reference. otherwise just pick a logical system. also it might be a good idea to pause your main work and create a table of contents for the file you are working from. if the archival institution permits, you can also make copies of the documents and produce an edited volume which will henceforth define the canonical citations.
Comment: jlovegren, you are absolutely right, the _v_ stands for _verso_  – the back side of a sheet. But from _f. 4v_ I understand that at least the sheets are numbered on the front side. In my case there's no numbering neither on the front nor on the back.
Answer: The Chicago Manual of Style provides a list of abbreviations used in scholarly works.
n.p. stands for no place, no publisher, no page (presumably whichever one is missing).

lack of page numbering


Will the quality of my JPEG images taken by my iPhone deteriorate if I rotate than on my Mac?

Question: Can I safely rotate JPEG images on my MacBook or would this be lossy?
Answer: Using Preview.app, the rotation applied is not lossless. You need to use a special tool that will either add an EXIF rotation header (which is then applied only on display) or simply keeps the encoding coefficients constant, but shifts them accordingly. One tool that supports this that has a UI is Xee, on the commandline you could use jpegtran or imagemagick.
Answer: I would of thought that any differences would be negligible however:
Create a copy of your picture then rotate that, compare file sizes / image quality after.
JPEG is already a lossy compression format in either case.
Comment: This does not answer the question, I guess.


Free monitoring and inventory software like ms system center configuration manager?

Question: Free monitoring and inventory software like ms system center configuration manager?
I know about spiceworks but there you have to log in with account and I don't know if they are sending some of our information online.
Answer: I've successfully used OCS Reports and WInventory in the past
links:
http://www.ocsinventory-ng.org/
http://winventory.sourceforge.net/
Comment: I will check the links 10x
Answer: You could probably do with some more detail on what you actually need, SCCM is a big beast.
You might have better luck searching for CMDB software...
I have setup http://www.virtu-al.net/2009/10/26/workstation-server-audit-script-v3/ this in the past.. basic but very useful. It could be modified to output data to a database for you to report from.
Comment: I need software that can tell me for example which workstation what hardware have, how many free disk space have left. Mainly for inventory and monitoring. I have WPKG for remote install. It has to be free and not to require AD, because we have only Samba. If it has only basic features it is good but if it has additional features it is better.
Answer: Depending on exactly what you want the software to do, you might want to check out OpenNMS. It has inventory tools, but also manages/monitors your environment.
Nagios doesn't really have the inventory features, and you can't scan your network (out of the box), but perhaps it's something you want to check out as well.
Answer: Not free, but is cheaper than full SCCM, have you looked at System Centre Essentials?
It's a cut-down version of SCCM (and a couple of other System Centre components) that is designed for smaller businesses that don't need/can't afford the full-blown System Centre components.
Comment: I think Essentials requires AD. We don't have AD we have only samba.
Answer: I'm quite keen on OneCMDB (onecmdb.org), for its easily extensible schema. For monitoring, Nagios is just awesome for its simplicity, and versatility - even if the configuration is awkward..


Applying synchronization filter, can it affect All Contacts count?

Question: We have been using the Marketing Cloud Connect for a few months. However, during the initial sync we did not turn on any filters, which resulted in having over 1 million records in our synchronized data extension of the Account object (we are not using the Contact object). Fast-forward to today, after turning on a relevant ID filter (email consent), the number was greatly reduced to 80,000. However, in All Contacts menu, the billable count is still showing 1 million. Since we did it today, does it take time for the billable number of contacts to decrease in the All Contacts section over the next few hours/days to 80k, or is the 1 million count going to remain until we manually delete the surplus contacts via API or something? Mind you, we have not sent any emails beyond the 80k we have consent for communication. Thanks
Answer: That's correct. If you filter or update the filter or delete it will get updated in synchronise data extension. But it won't reduce the contact count.
You can do it with an API or just import the data from salesforce to marketing cloud. Go to Contact Builder in the All Contacts tab, click on the Delete can icon in the top right of the page and choose "Delete contacts from data extension". Select your data extension you created then click the delete contacts button.
Note if this is a new org you would need to enable contact deletion. Please follow the link - https://help.salesforce.com/articleView?id=mc_cab_enable_contact_delete.htm&type=5
Hope this helps.
Comment: Support doesn't need to enable contact deletion
Comment: Thanks Naveen! And for this contact deletion, does this data extension has to contain anything else other than the Contact Key (e.g. email) ?  Also, if I would re-sync the Contact object again just to get the data for for import into the deletion data extension, would this result in duplicates or does SFMC recognize the same contact key and does de-duplication during sync ?
Comment: @nix9247, you would need only contact key others are optional. You can do re-sync get the contacts, update the filter and post that you can delete. If you delete and change the filter, then contacts count will be back to the same. To your last question, if you re-sync it SFMC recognize it will be the same contact key. It won't result in duplicate. Thanks EazyE for your comment , i have updated my answer.
Comment: Great! Thanks again Naveen


What is this square stemmed waxy houseplant?

Question:
Please help me identify this plant.
Answer: This is Plectranthus verticillatus. It grows well if the soil is kept dry for a few days between watering and it will gain a bit of colour on the stems. If watered regularly when the light is not too strong, the plant grows bigger and the stems and the venations on leaves remain green, like in your picture.
Yours looks pretty good for a plant that size and if you are wondering when to water, just take a look at the leaves as they will become a little bit softer and will start to roll on the edge when they are thirsty.


Can I connect the LoRa Module pin to SMA Antenna with wire?

Question: I have RFM95W LoRa Module and an antenna with an SMA connector (you can see in the image below). The module does not have an SMA connector. There are just pins. Can I connect the SMA connector with some wire soldering to the LoRa module? Will this make any communication problem?
Comment: @MarcusMüller yes, this is not for video sending. This module will just send/receive commands and some of the telemetry data.
Comment: um, I hope this isn't about sending video data to a model satellite as your previous question covered, but commands only?
Answer: It's not ideal but if you keep the connections as short as possible then the losses will be minimised.  You could use a short length of 50-ohm coax, although that would probably be no better since you'd have two connections rather than one.  Electrically the best option would be to solder the SMA connector directly onto the module, although mechanically you might prefer to mount the connector rigidly and then use some very short wires (5mm).  Normal hook-up wire will be ok, you don't need anything special.


Apple id security questions not allowing me to download apps

Question: I bought an iPhone 4S. I am trying to download apps from the App store but it is not letting me do it. Every time I try to download an app, a window pops up asking me to type in my Apple ID password. When I enter my password another window pops up asking me to answer to three security questions. If I click on continue it keeps on asking me to enter the password. I have already answered one security question (as there is only one question) by going on appleid.apple.come manually. It still is not working. Any advice appreciated.
Comment: I have the same issue - I cannot buy apps from my phone (i can install free ones).  I can however buy them in iTunes on my computer and the iPhone 4s will download and install them...
Answer: Have you tried resetting your phone? Otherwise known as Powering Off ... and then, like, On again.
"Hold down Sleep/Wake button and Home button for at least 10 seconds, until the Apple logo appears."
(Direct quote from Apple graphic, as seen on Gizmodo, in an attempt to thin down the Genius Bar crowds.)
Answer: The guy that said to turn off your phone doesn't know what he is talking about. Okay so I have the same problem. If you don't have any money on your account that you wouldnt risk losing, then reset your phone with a new apple ID. To do that, go to your general settings and there should be a reset button somewhere on there. Another thing you can do is schedule a call with apple and talk to them about it, that's the only other option that I know of.
Comment: Just so you know, having multiple Apple IDs can cause FairPlay/authorization headaches in the future.


(should we have) Rules on "why isn't" questions

Question: Currently (as far as I know) there are no rules on "why doesn't xxx have yyy or do zzz", and the answer (most of the time) is just "why would they?" "There's no reason to." "They didn't see a point to it", etc. Are there any rules regarding these types of questions, and if there aren't, should we make some?
Answer: I'm not sure if a general rule is needed. Whether or not it makes for a good question depends on the specifics of the question. Searching for questions containing 'why isn't' sorted by relevance shows some closed questions but also many well-received questions. In many cases, I think it's just a way of phrasing the question, in brackets I'll show that an alternative way of phrasing is also possible:

Why isn't the concept of diplomatic immunity rejected? (Why is diplomatic immunity a thing?)

Why isn't approval voting used more often in elections? (What are downsides of approval voting?)

Why isn't demilitarization used as a defensive strategy? (Why is there no mutual scaling back of conventional forces in the same way that we see with nuclear disarmament?)

Why isn't it a woman's choice to be a prostitute? [duplicate] (Why do some countries prohibit prostitution?)

Why isn't Malawi part of the East African Federation? (not sure)

Explain for kids — Why isn't Northern Ireland demanding a stay/leave referendum like Scotland? (How does the Northern Ireland dispute differ from Scotland's desire for independence?)

Why isn't Austria's vice chancellor simply replaced instead of going for new elections? (How is the Austrian vice chancellor chosen?)

In Australian Senate elections, why isn't the quota recalculated based on exhausted votes after each count? (How does this Australian parliamentary procedure work?)

Why isn't the Mueller report being released completely and unredacted? (What process allowed the Mueller report to be publicised?)

In some cases the alternative phrasing of the question may be preferred. For example, the 'why isn't' phrasing may seem speculative while the alternative asks for something more tangible.
On the other hand, even the 'why isn't' phrasing can make for good questions if the question is on-topic and answerable. That's also an important criterion from the help center:

You should only ask practical, answerable questions based on actual problems that you face. Chatty, open-ended questions diminish the usefulness of our site and push other questions off the front page.
Your questions should be reasonably scoped. If you can imagine an entire book that answers your question, you're asking too much.

Currently (as far as I know) there are no rules on "why doesn't xxx have yyy or do zzz", and the answer (most of the time) is just "why would they?" "There's no reason to." "They didn't see a point to it", etc.

The main discrepancy in the case you describe is that the asker thought it would make sense for xxx to have yyy or do zzz. If answers explain why that isn't the case then the asker benefits from that answer.
If the answer is really obvious then it's probably not a good question and it may be downvoted or even closed as a result.

Are there any rules regarding these types of questions, and if there aren't, should we make some?

No, I don't think there are any rules for this. I don't think additional rules are needed either. User can vote to indicate if a question is good or bad. If a question is so bad that it should be closed for existing reasons, then the tools are already there.
To end with a variant on 'why would they?':

Why should we have additional rules? What problem are we trying to solve?
Comment: Just to add: If you think the "why isn't" phrasing is odd, just go ahead and submit an edit.
Answer:
the answer (most of the time) is just "why would they?" "There's no reason to." "They didn't see a point to it", etc.

I'm not sure if you agree with such answers, or object to them. In the latter case, I'm sorry to inform you, that those answers are there because most of the time, they are the correct ones.
This site is about politics as a political process, not just political science - and those questions surely are in that realm. Politics isn't science (I mean political process, not the PolySci science of studying said process). Things happen or do not happen, simply becaise a certain set of people make a certain decision - usually, voting (in parlament, ministry, election or referendum). Often, that caused by other people making certain decisions (e.g. parlament votes X way because people voted Y parlamentarians in, or answered poll questionx Z way, or contacted their representative W way, or made noise on Twitter, or staged a protest, or highjacked an airliner).
And answering "why did someone make a decision XYZ" is incredibly hard and often impossible even for one person - never mind for a large conglomerate of people, for a variety of reasons:

People aren't logical overall. They make decisions using what is known as motivated reasoning. See a lot of modern psychology and economics, starting with Daniel Kahneman and on.
What's worse, they lie (even - and mostly - to themselves) as to why they make specific decisions. "I voted for X because it's the right thing". No, you voted for X so you feel emotionally good about a certain decision because a visible majority of people whose opinion you care about said it's good - and more often than not that
person had a differing opinion in the past.
People's decision making is often complex and affected by many conflicting factors, even when it is logical (and it rarely is - see the first bullet).
People are very hard to convince of something they do not already believe in (also see modern psychology research).

And, even in aggregate, in the process, the answer will often boil down to inertia. Doing something (anything) effective is usually/always hard in an out of itself. Changing anything is even harder because you also have to go against entrenched interests in any topic, since most things either are - or at least are percieved - as - zero sum game.
Comment: My problem isn't with the answers, but (was) with the questions that caused the answers.

(should we have) Rules on “why isn’t” questions


Gimp edit all layers simultaneously with brush?

Question: I want to edit all layers of the gif simultaneously by applying brush on all layers, I was applying brush on each layer but there are many layers and I can't do this again and again!
Solution for editing multiple layers with the brush tool in Gimp?
Answer: No direct solution. My suggestion is to make your change by adding a layer to on which you paint, and then run a script(*) to apply the paint layer to all layers.
(*) see for instance ofn-interleave-layers.


Introductions to Camus on absurdity

Question: For a layman, what's a good, accessible introduction to Camus' work on absurdity?
Comment: You can start from [Albert Camus](https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/camus/) and then try a dedicated book : David Sherman, [Camus](https://books.google.it/books?id=X2zuGq1BCBYC&printsec=frontcover), Wiley-Blackwell (2008).
Comment: It would be useful if you could say something more about your own background and what kind of level you are looking for.
Answer: You can't go wrong by reading Camus himself, especially "The Myth of Sisyphus".
Comment: Probably, Not_Here takes the question to be specifically about secondary literature. However, a recommendation for a specific starting point in primary literature indeed answers the question as well. [The question needs to be refined](https://philosophy.stackexchange.com/questions/52436/introductions-to-camus-on-absurdity/52437#comment138232_52436), anyway.
Comment: This is a comment, not a an answer to the question
Comment: @Not_Here Excuse me? Read the question again. Why is what I wrote not an answer to that question?
Comment: @Keelan "introduction to Camus' work on absurdity" In no sense of the English language does the phrase "introduction to `specific work`" mean the actual work itself. Saying "his work itself is good" is a comment, not an answer to the question.
Comment: @Not_Here The question was for an accessible introduction to Camus' work on absurdity. Camus' opus has many tomes on the subject, and some of them not so simple. His "Myth of Sisyphus" is very accessible, and a great introduction to the subject. Saying that "the Myth of Sisyphus" is a great introduction to the rest, and more complex, of Camus' work on absurdity is a perfectly reasonable answer to the question-your take on the English language notwithstanding.
Answer: In addition to Herman Hofman's recommendation to read Camus, here are a few places providing information about Camus and topics associated with him.
Aronson, Ronald, "Albert Camus", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2017 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2017/entries/camus/>.
David Simpson's "Albert Camus (1913-1969)" in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
The Wikipedia article on Camus may also be helpful.
All three of these articles provide bibliographies where more information can be found. These three sources, being encyclopedias, are also good for other topics besides Camus.
Having more than one source is good in case one finds one of the sources inaccessible or for some reason confusing.

Introductions to Camus on absurdity


How to fix mouse scroll delay/threshold/deadzone

Question: I have a Logitech VX Nano and a MBP running Sierra 10.12.1 (16B2555). The problem isn't that mouse scrolling is choppy or slow, the problem is anything but a rapid 20%+ turn of the scroll wheel is completely ignored. I'm also able to turn the scroll wheel as far as possible very slowly and not have any scrolling occur. When using this mouse on other OSes, the slightest scroll wheel turn will result in a proportional scroll on the screen.
Answer: I was having this problem in Mac OS 10.12 and 10.12.1.  I searched and could not find a good answer related to this.  I did upgrade to 10.12.2 a couple of days ago and, even though there is no mention of changes related to mice in the release notes, my problem went away.
Comment: Just upgraded to 10.12.2 and now single scroll ticks are working, thanks!
Comment: Well, they're not in 10.12.4 :-(
Comment: occurs in macos 12.5 (Razer Deathadder Essential mouse)