What is the source of Paul's teachings on a bodily resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15?

Question: Is there any reason to believe from the Apostle Paul's expression of his view on bodily resurrection in 1st Corinthians 15 that his view is a carryover of his pharisaic beliefs? Or does it more directly traceable to something Jesus taught?
Comment: Perhaps it is only my interpretation that I found Jesus did not teach bodily resurrection although I believe his resurrection was bodily as described in the scripture. Can you kindly show me where I can find more teaching on resurrection from Jesus? Thank you.
Comment: Where do you see the line between something Jesus taught and something that was Pharisaic? Jesus supported the resurrection when he refuted the Sadducees, so one could say that both Jesus and the Pharisees taught it. Is there a specific element of the resurrection you think was specific to the Pharisees? Or maybe this was just one area Jesus thought the Pharisees had right? (Jesus doesn't really criticize their theology more than anyone else, just their hearts.)
Comment: You might find something helpful in this account:  http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/12087-pharisees
Comment: Interesting comparing the answers. Dottard seems to be claiming that a resurrection of the physical body will take place, while Ray Butterworth seems to claim that it is only the human spirit that will be revived. It is of course possible to unite the two views. That a spiritual resurrection happens first for all. And that it is these spirits that will gather to be judged. Some to life in a new body, on the new heavenly earth. And some to the outer darkness in a continued body-less, spiritual form.
Comment: When Jesus said:"I am the resurrection and the life" he must have referred to the bodily resurrection. Jesus also rose bodily on the third day, after having rissen spiritually already on the first day, because the journey to paradise with the good thief happened "today".
Answer: That the apostle Paul's was a pharisee who believed in the resurrection even before his conversion in the Damascus road is well documented.  Acts 23:6-8
Jesus teaching about the resurrection is also well documented:

Luke 14:14 - Since they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.
Luke 20:35 - But those who are considered worthy to share in the age to come and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage. In fact, they can no longer die, because they are like the angels. And since they are sons of the resurrection, they are sons of God.
John 5:28, 29 - Do not be amazed at this, for the hour is coming when all who are in their graves will hear His voice and come out—those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
John 11:24, 25 - Martha replied, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."  Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me will live, even though he dies.

Paul's teaching on this subject closely reflects Jesus' teaching because Paul confessed:

Acts 24:15 - I have the same hope in God as these men themselves have,
that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the
wicked. - compare John 5:28, 29.

Similarly, the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead is found in a number of places in the OT such as:

Job 26:25-27 - But I know that my Redeemer lives, and in the end He will stand upon the earth. Even after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God. I will see Him for myself; my eyes will behold Him, and not as a stranger. How my heart yearns within me!
Isa 26:19 - Your dead will live; their bodies will rise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust! For your dew is like the dew of the morning, and the earth will bring forth her dead.
Dan 12:2 - And many who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, but others to shame and everlasting contempt.
Dan 12:13 - But as for you, go on your way until the end. You will rest, and will arise to your inheritance at the end of the days.

The Resurrection is implied in a few other places as well:

1 Sam 2:6 - The LORD brings death and gives life; He brings down to Sheol and raises up.
Job 14:14 - When a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait, until my renewal comes. [Compare Matt 19:28 where the renewal is at the final judgement.]
Ps 17:15 - As for me, I will be vindicated and will see your face; when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness.
Ps 49:15 - But God will redeem my life from Sheol, for He will surely take me to Himself.
Hos 13:14 - I will ransom them from the power of Sheol; I will redeem them from Death.
Where, O Death, are your plagues? Where, O Sheol, is your sting?  [Paul quotes this passage in 1 Cor 15:55.]

Thus, it appears that Paul drew his teaching from both that of Jesus and the Old Testament.
Answer: Is there any reason to believe from the Apostle Paul's expression of his view on bodily resurrection in 1st Corinthians 15 that his view is a carryover of his pharisaic beliefs?

Acts 23:8  For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection,
  neither angel, nor spirit: but the Pharisees confess both.
Acts 23:6  But when Paul perceived that the one part were Sadducees,
  and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, Men and
  brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee: of the hope and
  resurrection of the dead I am called in question.

We know that Paul was a Pharisee and that as such he held to a resurrection view. We do not have the specific information as to if the Pharisees held to a spiritual or physical (or both) resurrection view. We do know that the view they held was not complete;

Mark 12:23-24  In the resurrection therefore, when they shall rise,
  whose wife shall she be of them? for the seven had her to wife.   And
  Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because ye
  know not the scriptures, neither the power of God?

We have an example of someone who had Biblical knowledge that was incomplete and was instructed;

Acts 18:25-26  This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and
  being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things
  of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John.   And he began to speak
  boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard,
  they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more
  perfectly.

We know that Paul received instruction directly from God;

Galatians 1:16-18  To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him
  among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood:
  Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me;
  but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus.   Then after
  three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him
  fifteen days.

We also know that the Apostles wrote and spoke via the Holy Spirit;

2 Timothy 3:16  All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is
  profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction
  in righteousness:
Matthew 10:19  But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or
  what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what
  ye shall speak.

We do not have information detailing the specifics of the Pharisees resurrection beliefs and therefore are unable to surmise how accurate or detailed they might have been. We do know that what Paul wrote the Corinthians was true because it was inspired by God.
Comment: Just wanted to point out that your Mark 12:23-24 quote is actually of the Sadducees speaking ([Mark 12:18-27](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark+12%3A18-27&version=NKJV)). The way your answer is structured makes it seem like you were referring to the Pharisees saying this.
Answer: In 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, Paul proclaims the gospel of the resurrection that he has taught the Corinthians:

1 Corinthians 15:1-4: Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

To Greeks, the notion of a resurrected body was distasteful, so we learn in 1 Corinthians 15:12 that the Corinthians said that resurrection was impossible:

1 Corinthians 15:12: Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?

Paul asks how some Corinthians can say there is no resurrection of the dead if Christ is preached as raised from the dead, because if there is no resurrection of the dead, then neither has Christ been raised, in which case their faith is for nothing (15:12-14).
Burton L. Mack says, in Who Wrote the New Testament, pages 132-133, that Paul assured the Corinthians that the resurrection should be understood as a bodily transformation to a spiritual body. He argues this forcefully, saying:

There are many kinds of bodies among animals and human beings, and the bodies of plants are different from the 'bodies' of the seeds from which they come (1 Corinthians 15:36-38)
There are earthly bodies and heavenly bodies (with reference to sun, moon, and stars - 15:40-41).
The first man, Adam, had a "physical body"; the "man from heaven" (Christ) had a "spiritual body" (15:45-47).

In summary:

1 Corinthians 15:44: It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.

Paul tells the Corinthians that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures;

1 Corinthians 15:4-8: And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.

John Shelby Spong points out, in Why Christianity Must Change or Die, page 235, that Paul seemed to believe that the appearance to him of the risen Jesus (which clearly was not physical) was like the appearance to the other apostles. Here it appears he did not know that the risen Jesus had actually appeared in the flesh.
Paul likens the spiritual resurrection of Jesus to the general resurrection:

1 Corinthians 15:20-23: But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.

Mark D. Given says in 'Paul and Writing', published in As It Is Written: Studying Paul's Use of Scripture (edited by Porter and Stanley), page 244, Paul insists that a resurrection body is constructed entirely of pneuma [spirit]. He says that, in spite of this, traditionalist interpreters attempt to reconcile chapter 15 with the quite different conception in the gospels and later orthodox Christian doctrine.

Paul expressed a different view to the Romans, who were not averse to the notion of a bodily resurrection, but in 1 Corinthians he writes of a spiritual resurrection.
Comment: Thank you for elaborations. Please clarify: did Apostle Paul believe in bodily resurrection of Jesus or the believers or both? If he did, why was he writing about spiritual resurrection. Furthermore, I believe 1 Cor. 15 is a teaching about Jesus' bodily resurrection, am I correct? Was Paul using the bodily resurrection as example to show the Corinthians that they would have resurrection although such would be a spiritual one? Is the scripture telling us that believers' resurrection is spiritual and NOT bodily?
Comment: Hi Sam. I have added a further citation, from Mark Given, in partial answer to your questions. It appears here, and is the conclusion reached by many scholars, that **Paul does believe that the resurrection of both Jesus and believers is spiritual**. Paul seems unaware of the fact that Jesus rose bodily from the dead, which may be explained by him not having been in Palestine during the time of Jesus.  Elsewhere, he writes of the resurrection and the ascension to heaven as if he thought they were the same event.
Comment: Hi Dick, thank you for additional citation. However, simply from the wording of 1 Cor. 15 and Apostle Paul's pharisaic background, it is difficult to take that he believed in Jesus' resurrection "not bodily". Although I seriously doubt that he was advocating bodily resurrection for believers of which many teachers of the Bible are preaching.
Comment: That's fine, Sam. All I can do is tell you what scholars are saying about Paul's views.
Comment: I think we should all be very careful about supposing that Paul "was unaware of" certain things.
Answer: It would help if the question gave specific verses corresponding to what is claimed in the question.
In fact, I don't see anything in 1 Corinthians 15 to indicate that Paul was talking about a physical resurrection.
A buried body is like a planted seed; what arises is not the original:

But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?
Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die

When a saved Christian is resurrected, it is not of physical flesh, but of spirit:

All flesh is not the same flesh …
So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption
It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.

It is only after spiritual resurrection that we can become part of God's Kingdom:

And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God …
… the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
… this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality
l was talking about a physical resurrection.

A buried body is like a planted seed; what arises is not the original:

But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?
Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die

When a saved Christian is resurrected, it is not of physical flesh, but of spirit:

All flesh is not the same flesh …
So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption
It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.

It is only after spiritual resurrection that we can become part of God's Kingdom:

And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God …
… the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
… this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality

There doesn't seem to be anything in this chapter to support the view assumed in the question.
Comment: @user48152, a spirit can choose to appear as a physical human.  Compare with all the instances of angels dealing with humans in the OT.
Comment: When he said he wasn't a "spirit" he meant he wasn't a ghost, or spectre or apparition, which is something that actually could be seen.  He did not mean he was not a spirit being, which is something entirely different than a "spirit".  He was a spirit being manifested as a human being, not a  "spirit" (ghostly apparition).
Comment: thanks, how do you accommodate Jesus saying, "Touch me and see; a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have." Jesus, the man, was resurrected to have a spirit life, but he said he was not a spirit. 1 Pet 3:18 having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit.
Comment: He said he wasn't a spirit, he said he was a man John 8:40. We will be like he is and have transformed bodies, 'and there is a spiritual body' as you quoted. There is no expression of manifesting as a body here or anywhere else regarding the resurrection to new life... Jesus is not an angel so that angle doesn't help.


Why can adding delay improve the phase fit in fitting complex transfer functions?

Question: When you fit an IIR filter to a complex transfer function you can use a delay to get a stable filter and improve the fitting results in your phase response. Can anyone explain me the reason for this and/or link me to some literature explaining this? I can't find any good literature on this.
Answer: Even though an IIR filter of a given order can in principle approximate any given phase response, you will get a better fit if you choose the total delay such that it "matches" the chosen filter order. The problem is that there is no formula to help you choose such an ideal delay; you simply have to find out by trial and error. As you've already mentioned, filter stability is also determined by the choice of the total delay. You have to choose the total delay such that the given desired phase response can be reasonably approximated by a stable IIR filter of the chosen order. Also here there are no formulas for how to choose the total delay. With a bit of trial and error you will gain some intuition for it.
In sum, if $\phi(\omega)$ is your desired phase response, you should specify the phase to be approximated as
$$\tilde{\phi}(\omega)=\phi(\omega)-\tau\omega\tag{1}$$
where the delay parameter $\tau$ (which can be positive or negative) is an additional design variable.
The reason why an additional constant group delay term can make such a difference is that each pole and each zero contribute to the total group delay. The closer to the unit circle they are the bigger is their contribution. So for a given filter order, if the total delay is too small, some poles will move outside the unit circle causing a negative contribution to the group delay. This can be viewed as a non-causal approximation of the desired response. However, since we can only implement causal IIR filters, the corresponding filter is unstable. Increasing the total delay will move all poles inside the unit circle, hence the designed causal filter will be stable. Then the approximation error can be minimized by choosing the ideal total delay such that it best matches the chosen filter order. Note that knowing the filter order is not sufficient for choosing an optimal total delay, because the latter will depend on the exact positions of all poles and zeros.
The following example hopefully illustrates these points. The desired frequency response is low pass with a constant group delay in the pass band. The pass band edge is $\omega_p=0.2\pi$, and the stop band edge is $\omega_s=0.25\pi$. So the desired frequency response is
$$D(\omega)=\begin{cases}e^{-j\omega\tau},&0\le\omega\le\omega_p\\
0,&\omega>\omega_s\end{cases}$$
where $\tau$ is a design parameter. I chose a numerator order $M=16$ (i.e., $16$ zeros), and a denominator order $N=6$ (i.e., $6$ poles away from the origin of the complex plane). It turns out that for $\tau<17$ samples, the designed filter is unstable, i.e., there are poles outside the unit circle. For $\tau=17$ samples, we get a stable filter, but with two poles very close to the unit circle (pole radius $r=0.99576$). This filter is very hard to implement, and its frequency response has a large peak close to the pass band edge (see blue curve in the figure below). Choosing a slightly larger desired pass band group delay of $\tau=19$ samples decreases the pole radius to $r=0.98725$, and hence removes the frequency response peak (see green curve below). Finally, further increasing the desired group delay will further decrease the maximum pole radius, but the approximation error will increase. For $\tau=30$ samples the maximum pole radius is $r=0.97253$, but the approximation error is considerably larger (red curve below).

Also have a look at these answers to related questions: link 1, link 2, link 3, link 4.
You might also be interested in this article, which presents an algorithm that automatically chooses an optimal delay.
Comment: Thank you Matt L.. So with "there are no formulas" you also mean that there is no evident explanation why adding delay is helpful to improve the fitting?
Comment: @user967493: The explanation is that each pole and zero add a certain contribution to the total group delay. For the zeros you also have to distinguish whether they're inside or outside the unit circle. But the problem is that you can't easily predict where all those zeros and poles will be located.
Comment: @ Matt L.: by the way, i tried to do some IIR filter designs with the programm in your thesis (mpiir_12) but i can't get it to work since Matlab renewed the qp() method to quadprog() and i get an error:
"The number of rows and columns in H must equal the
number of elements of f". You know how i can get it to work?
Comment: @user967493: I use octave now, but I have a version of my code for a newer Matlab optimization toolbox using `quadprog`. Send me an email via my profile (go to my website => 'About Me') and I'll send you the updated code.
Comment: @ Matt L.: Sent :). Thank you thats great.


Block users using auto-clickers

Question: I'm having some problems with users cheating my online game by using macros to automatically click certain spots on the screen in a certain order to automate various tasks without having to actually be playing the game.  Are there any methods that can be used to block this kind of activity without having to plaster CAPTCHAs all over the site and ruin the experience for the honest users?
Edit: I forgot to mention, this is a website-based game, and not using flash.
Answer: As a programmer, I say to look for patterns in volume or timing of clicks.  Simple bots will hit the exact same spots at very regular intervals and do it much faster than a human would be able to.  This makes for fairly easily-identified patterns.
As a gamer and game designer, I say fix your game so it's not so mindless.  Although there will always be a few power gamers who will do anything to get ahead, if more than a percent or so of your player base is resorting to this kind of thing, it's probably because you're making them repeat some mind-numbingly boring task a ridiculous number of times.  Make playing your game fun and people will be more likely to actually play it instead of having bots stand in for them.  Since making it fun typically involves building gameplay that is more varied than just "click these three spots over and over and over and over and...", then this will also naturally make the game more bot-resistant, since there won't be such a trivial pattern for the bot to repeat.
Comment: @Zifre, bots can play chess, poker and super mario :)
Comment: Is World of Warcraft not sufficiently complex?  http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-9904532-52.html
Comment: Well I was actually able to get ahold of the program that a user made specifically for the site.  They've set it up so that it varies the times between clicks and tries to simulate a real player clicking.  Also, it is a little more complex than just clicking a button over and over, and 99.9% of the players actually do play the game.  However, I want to stop this program before it even has the chance to get broader use.
Comment: I totally agree with making the game more fun. That is the only solution that will actually work. If bots can play your game, it's a bad game...
Comment: Well yes, that's true. But that is because those games are relatively simple (i.e. the game mechanics, not the necessarily playing the game). A MMORPG is sufficiently complex that bots should not be able to play it.
Answer: As Dave Sherohman said, make the game more fun.
If you can't do that, there are a few things you could do. It may be possible to change the UI in certain ways so that the bots can't just repeatedly click. If that isn't realistic, you could try to detect the bots by recognizing the patterns, and then alter the UI or give a CAPTCHA, sort of like how StackOverflow does it. This shouldn't annoy users too much, as they should almost never see it unless they are a bot.
Answer: Yes, the issue with your game is wrist - killing, mind - numbing, RSI - inducing "non - content".
You can fix the issues easily by making the game fun instead of a terrible grind.
No one should be forced to click the same button over and over again like a monkey to get ahead in a game - and I actually APPLAUDE everyone who fixed this bad gameplay issue by using his brains well enough to use a bot.
Actually, programming the bot is more fun than stupid clicking I guess and causes much less RSI.

Block users using auto-clickers


Wave equation in $ \Omega\times(0,T) $

Question: Let $ \Omega $ be a smooth bounded domain in $ \mathbb{R}^d $ and $ T>0 $ be a positive number. Consider the wave equation in the domain $ \Omega\times(0,T) $
\begin{align}
\left\{\begin{matrix}
\partial_t^2u-\Delta u=F&\text{ in }&\Omega\times(0,T),\\
u=0&\text{ on }&\partial\Omega\times(0,T),\\
u(x,0)=f(x),\partial_t u(x,0)=g(x),&\text{ on }&\Omega\times\left\{0\right\}.
\end{matrix}\right.
\end{align}
It is well known that for $ f\in H_0^1(\Omega) $, $ g\in L^2(\Omega) $ and $ F\in L^2(\Omega\times(0,T)) $, we can construct a unique weak solution $ u\in W^{2,2}(0,T;H^{-1}(\Omega))\cap W^{1,\infty}(0,T;L^2(\Omega))\cap L^{\infty}(0,T;H_0^1(\Omega)) $. I am interested in the a priori estimates for $ u $. I have already know that for $ \Omega=\mathbb{R}^d $, we can get Strichartz estimates. I wonder if there is similar Strichatz estimates for the wave equation with $ \Omega $ is bounded. Moreover, if we change $ -\Delta $ to $ -\operatorname{div}(A(x)\nabla) $ what is the result? Can you give me some references or hints?
Comment: If you are content with just energy estimates instead of Strichartz estimates (the difficulty in obtaining which was pointed out in detail by Willie Wong's answer), these do exist for mixed Dirichlet-Cauchy problems such as yours. See e.g. Volume III of L. Hörmander, "The Analysis of Linear Partial Differential Operators", more precisely Section 24.1. These are used e.g. to establish the results you quoted. On the other hand, any dispersive / decay information you may want is of course lost in such estimates.
Answer: Strichartz estimates on domains is a difficult problem!
First: on bounded domains you cannot have any global in time Strichartz estimates. This is because of the presence of standing waves. (Set initial data to be an eigenfunction of the Laplacian.)
On the other hand, there is still the possibility of local in time Strichartz. But recall that Strichartz estimates capture dispersive phenomenon, where two wave packets starting out at the same location with different velocities will separate spatially. When you work on a domain, the wave packet may now hit the boundary and reflect back. So you will expect some degree of losses due to such "singularities".
There is a lot of research on how to understand this. I would suggest starting by looking up papers by Oana Ivanovici and tracing through the literature.
(The problem on "exterior" domains are somewhat easier, especially when the domains have nice boundaries such that each wave packet can only hit it at most once and reflect. [For example, when the domains are convex.] In those cases Strichartz estimates have been proven.)
Finally: Strichartz estimates for variable coefficient wave equations (on the whole space) have also been previously studied. Look up papers by Hart Smith and Daniel Tataru (together and separately).
Comment: I believe the 1993 JAMS paper by Mockenhaupt, Seeger and Sogge was the first to establish the (space-time) local Strichartz estimates for varying-coefficient wave and Klein-Gordon equations in full generality. These are also discussed in the last chapter of the book "Fourier Integrals in Classical Analysis" by the last author.
Comment: @PedroLauridsenRibeiro Thanks for the addition! I have not looked deeply at that case so my knowledge of the literature is definitely spotty. My answer above is intended to give the OP some places to start looking, and is absolutely not meant to be exhaustive.

Wave equation in $ \Omega\times(0,T) $


How can I download a free copy of Battlefield 1943?

Question: Anyone know how to download the free BF1943 game on PS3?  I read the following on Wikipedia,

Shortly after EA was threatened with being taken to court over its failure to deliver the free game BF1943, as announced at E3, EA announced they will offer owners of the PlayStation 3 version of Battlefield 3 a free downloadable copy of Battlefield 1943.
Comment: Just to be clear: do you own Battlefield 3 for PS3?
Answer: The downloadable version of Battlefield 1943 is located on the playstation store. All you have to do is type it in the search bar.


Wheel alignment based on different vehicle model

Question: I have a Toyota Solara 2006, and the auto repair has done wheel alignment on my vehicle based on the specifications of Toyota Solara 1999-2003 models. Is this a problem?
Comment: Welcome to the site. Yes, it could be. Obviously something is different or the year range would include yours. How do you know it is wrong? Did they admit to doing it wrong? Have them do it correctly.
Comment: This is why you should always request a print of the alignment measurements.  Even if you don't know or care about the numbers it forces the tech to actually key in the correct vehicle to the computer.
Answer: From Auto Zone these are the alignment specs for 2003 and 2006 Toyotas:As you can see, front caster and camber are quite different; toe-in is the same. I would either find a different mechanic or ask yours why they're using the wrong specs for your car. Personally, I'd opt for the former, as they've obviously shown a proclivity towards dishonesty or laziness, which isn't going to be fixed by your calling them on it. In my experience, when cheaters get caught cheating, they just find other ways to cheat (just my $0.02).
Answer: Without researching the Solara, I can't say conclusively that it's a problem. However.. Did you ask them why they did that? The second generation Solara is based on a completely different platform to the first generation.
You could call a Toyota dealer and ask them to check it. An alignment check wouldn't cost much compared to new tires if it's badly out of spec. If the repair is going through your insurance company, they might be interested to know if a repairer is cutting corners.


Easy To Clean New Machine

Question: I bought a Breville Barista Express machine about 3 years ago now, and I've been thinking about replacing it soon. I loved the quality and the cafe-style coffee, but I find the pieces of the machine difficult to clean.
Do you have any recommendations for high quality machines that are easy to clean?
Thanks in advance.
Yotam
Comment: Which pieces are difficult to clean? I can't say I consider it difficult, even compared with other espresso machines I've owned, so I'm curious...
Answer: Firstly, cleaning would be a lot easier if you had a seperate grinder and a separate machine (which has the added benefit of being able to replace only one of both should something break). I found that the Barista Express has a lot of parts with a lot of grooves and holes which make cleaning a bit of a mess if there are grounds stuck everywhere.
Depending on your budget and your location you may have different options so it's difficult to recommend an exact model. Also your willingness - or lack thereof - to buy used machines or grinders would factor into the equation.
For a similar price range, I would recommend going with a used Lelit machine and a new grinder, like the Eureka Mignon. Gaggia and Rancilio also make machines in that entry level price range.
You might want to check out this video about espresso machines for under 500£ (TL;DW don't buy the delonghi Dedica) or maybe even this video about getting a whole setup for under 250£.
Answer: I would be hard pressed to recommend a better full operation espresso machine than the Breville line. Since you stated you still have the desire for a cafe-style coffee I would assume you would like to have the frothed milk option.
In this case the only option that comes to mind that fits this criteria would be the Nespresso Lattissima. I personally would stay with the Breville line as the ease of use combined with the quality of the result are quite good for the price point.
If you do not require frothed milk the best option for ease of cleaning would be a Chemex. Dishwasher safe and single user filters make maintenance a breeze.

Easy To Clean New Machine


Smoothing OSB plates

Question: Planning to build a wardrobe out of OSB plates, however, I fear clothes might get stuck on the material and tear up. What's a simple and cost-effective way to get this smooth? Coating or sanding maybe? Does anyone have some experience with this and can offer some advice?
Comment: Is the price difference between that and sanded plywood so great that OSB is worth messing with?  MDF is also a good choice, is cost effective, and is splinter/snag free.
Comment: If you haven't purchased materials yet melamine panels are probably going to be price competitive once you factor in finishing either OSB or MDF. If you're already locked into OSB then the ghetto answer is shelf paper on the inside. The high class way is applying a laminate or veneer with contact cement, but it's likely that works out to more than plywood.
Answer: Straightforward enough job.  We stabilize wood like that all the time.
I'd start by painting the piece with a thin coat of either Amercote or West System Epoxy, just to freeze the splinters so they won't keep redeveloping as you prep.  Then a very thorough sanding with a jitterbug sander until there are no high spots whatsoever.  Then one more shot with the West System, then a sand-down just to knock the high spots off, if any.  Then prep & paint.
How much money did you say you'd be saving by using OSB instead of finish plywood?
Comment: Good ol' polyurethane does just as well. Water-based may penetrate better to lock the strands.
Answer: Paper it!
It doesn't need to be wall paper, you could use old news paper then paint over the paper.
Answer: OSB comes in various grades.  Often the two sides are different grades.

7/16 and 1/2 inch are used as sheathing.  The inside face isn't as solid as the outside face, but doesn't have inked stuff all over it.
5/8 and 3/4 are often used for subfloors and subroof.  They are sanded flat on the top face, and are tight on the bottom face.  They make an acceptable living space floor with an optional coat of stain and a coat of varnish.

Given how much time even making a wooden crate takes, I wouldn't use OSB for furniture, but instead would either do it right, and make it out of baltic birch.  Catch it on sale.
OR I would make it from dimension lumber throughout.  2x2 framing, 1x4 or 1x6 sides.  Dimension lumber will look nicer, is easier to sand.  If you go with a wood stain, read up on staining softwoods first.  There are tricks to getting it even.

Smoothing OSB plates


When capturing dialogue in a marina

Question: When you are capturing dialogue in a marina or most busy city places, is it good technique to boom from above and capture or is it ok to point the shotgun at the talent?  I think I have seen it both ways and I am working on a student film right now.  The dialogue has a lot of off axis noise and probably due to improper booming technique but I wanted to ask here.
Answer: General rule is boom from above and point directly at the talents mouth and get as close as possible without being in frame. The reason is that the body of the talent will block a lot of noise. If you point a mic directly from front or to the side of the talent then you run the rise of booming the background if the mic goes off the talent. This isn't such a problem from above as you will be technically booming the ground. A good shotgun mic should minimise the background to an extent, but alway do an atmos track for the editor to work with, especially in a nosier environment.
Answer: Always try and boom from above with the mic pointed at the mouth of the actor who is currently speaking.  Students, sometimes, incorrectly try to place the mic where it can pick up two actors at once, rather than memorise the dialogue so that they smoothly move the mic from character to character.
Comment: Why (when there is room to boom from above) is it not recommended to point the mic with the pistol grip at talent's mouth.
Comment: Sometimes if an actor is sibilant, pointing slightly towards the nose can help, especially if you are close, at distance it shouldn't make much difference.
Comment: If you're at a marina, you'll have the worst of both worlds: Clattering lines on masts overhead, and water below. Consider the vocal tones of the talent being captured and pick the lesser evil. One of those rare times that a long shotgun and a flatter booming angle may help.
Comment: I see a lot of television sound recorded with the mic held at waist height pointing upwards.  This is quite useful if you need to work quickly or discretely.  The disadvantage is that with a shotgun mic all of the off axis sound is not attenuated equally according to frequency so off axis sounds can sound really weird.  Having the mic  up in the air means there is less clothing, movement and all of the other sounds associated with people to be picked up.

When capturing dialogue in a marina


Are there any tweaks for Lion's autocorrect?

Question: I've found that Lion's autocorrect handles technical terminology abysmally.  Are there any configuration tweaks that adjust its behavior around words that might represent technical terms?
Answer: For specific terms you find are getting "corrected" often, you could add them to the text substitution list as substitutes of themselves. That should work as a sort of whitelist to stop them from being autocorrected improperly.
Open up the Language & Text panel in System Preferences, and on the Text tab, click the + to add a new substitution. Enter the word you want whitelisted into both fields.
Comment: Interesting approach, but simply clicking 'learn spelling' sounds easier.  In any case, I'm asking about general solutions, not teaching it every stupid acronym.  If anything, that'll make matters worse by decreasing my paranoia.  Apple should have made shift-space disable autocorrect, but a plugin could likely achieve this.
Comment: Yes!!! I've been trying to make the auto correct to correct my name from Ramon to Ramón... I just don't want to do the key sequence to place the accentuation mark over the "o" (command key+"e" then the vowel to be accentuated) every time I type my name.


Do Neon Lights Work Do To Stokes Shift?

Question: I was wondering whether or not the reason some noble gases, like neon, fluoresce at particular frequencies of the visible spectrum is because of a Stokes effect? I mean, do the neon dimers get stretched out dramatically at a more LUMO state, resonating with high energy electricity due to the high stability of noble gases, and then contract back to a more HOMO state, releasing red light, which has a much lower frequency? Noble gases, like neon, have a high quantum yield, correct?
Comment: Short answer: no. Please look at the spectra in the second figure in this recent answer   https://chemistry.stackexchange.com/a/126980/79678    It is just a matter of excited atoms and ions emitting their characteristic color photons as they relax back to their ground states. In a simple Ne lamp bulb, Ne atoms are excited and ionized by the electric discharge in the bulb. Same in a He-Ne laser.
Comment: From wikipedia: "The Ne*2 molecule exists in an excited state in an excimer lamp using a microhollow cathode. This emits strongly in the vacuum ultraviolet between 75 and 90 nm with a peak at 83 nm."
Answer: Ed has already explained the main ideas. Stokes shift is associated with the concept when you excite a substance with light (or electromagnetic radiation). In neon discharge tubes you are using electrical energy to excite the neon atoms. All the emission you see is from neon atoms. Also recall, that molecular emission has band like structure. Neon light spectrum is nowhere close to this band structure.

Buy a small pocket spectroscope or build your own and see how the spectra look like. The black and white picture has not done justice to the actual extremely beautiful spectrum of Swan bands (observed due to diatomic carbon species).

a more LUMO state, resonating with high energy electricity due to the high stability of noble gases, and then contract back to a more HOMO state, releasing red light, which has a much lower frequency?

This has no scientific meaning, because molecules do not resonate with electricity or electrical energy. I do not know the exact mechanism how electrical energy or even heat is "transformed" into electronic energy, but electrical discharge is quite efficient at exciting atoms or molecules in the gas phase. I am sure it is quite complex, which involves ionization, collisions, recombination etc.

Do Neon Lights Work Do To Stokes Shift?


How do I see the milky way?

Question: I've travelled to farms at night, and away from civilation. I don't really know alot about astronomy, but my goal is to see something like this:

Stars, lots of them, but that "thick purple cluster of gas right in the center". I want to see that.
I assume that on a very very dark day, we would be able to see this, but sometimes I only see stars, just lots and lots of stars, something like this:

I want to see this "thick cloud cluster, which I assume is the milky way". How do I see this? How on some days do I only see just stars and stars, when I really want to see this main beauty?
Comment: Your second photo is a reasonable recreation of what one might expect to see with the naked eye. The first photo has likely been taken with an exposure time of at least 30 seconds at ISO 1600 and is a good example of how one can see much more in an astrophotograph than with the naked eye. If you can, repeat the trip and take a DSLR and tripod and have a go!
Comment: @MartinV is correct. Unless you want to believe everything you read on the internet!
Comment: @KSplitX That "photo" is not real - the top showing the Milky Way and the bottom showing LA are from 2 separate photographs: https://hoaxeye.com/2017/05/28/photo-of-la-blackout-in-1994/
Comment: @MartinV, actually the first image you can actually see with the naked eye. If you recall the los angeles blackout in the 90's, they say this, with their eye only. https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/9c/8d/6b/9c8d6b87da4801ff77d5d4da4dbd49fa.jpg
Comment: @KSplitX But there again that photo was taken with a camera that can capture things the eye can't. I would be highly skeptical if that image was really what the human eye could see.
Answer:
"thick purple cluster of gas right in the center". I want to see that.

First off, the human eye is a wonderful device, but it's no match for modern cameras. We can't see colors at such low levels of light. We're all colorblind in those conditions. Only cameras continue to see color when illumination is low.
As a result, when looking at objects such as nebulae or galaxies, including our own, all you see is a black-and-white image. Even with telescopes, the human eye still doesn't see colors in these objects.
There is exactly one single exception - the Orion nebula, which is by far the brightest of all. Some observers, after a bit of practice, can begin to distinguish a few shades of color there.
Planets, and some stars, are different. These objects are much more bright. The human eye has no trouble seeing color where color exists here. E.g. Jupiter is a slight shade of yellow, Betelgeuse is quite clearly red, etc.

purple

I'm pretty sure the Milky Way is not purple. That's probably just a processing artifact. Go on Astrobin and search for "milky way" for a lot more examples - they tend to not look very purple usually.
https://www.astrobin.com/

I want to see this "thick cloud cluster, which I assume is the milky way". How do I see this? How on some days do I only see just stars and stars, when I really want to see this main beauty?

There are two main obstacles to doing astronomy at the bottom of an ocean of air: atmospheric turbulence (a.k.a. "seeing") and light pollution.
Seeing affects observing high resolution objects such as planets and double stars when seen in telescopes. It's caused by air eddies and vortices that muddy the image. It's of no interest here so we can ignore it for this discussion.
Light pollution affects observing faint objects such as galaxies (including our own), nebulae, and star clusters. It's caused by light from artificial sources (city lights, industrial lights, cars, etc) going up, being reflected on particles in the air, then going back down. It makes the sky seem to "glow". It drowns out those objects which are not very bright - and galaxies tend to not be bright.
There's only one way to avoid light pollution: go far away from human settlements and facilities. The desert and the open sea are not light polluted.
Google "light pollution map" for some websites that will help you choose a dark site. Here's one example out of many:
http://www.jshine.net/astronomy/dark_sky/
Recently I've visited Death Valley. The surrounding area has essentially zero light pollution. Even driving 30 minutes out of Ridgecrest you're already under a very dark sky. I took the opportunity to show my kids how a dark sky really looks like.
The Milky Way is very clearly visible. Wherever you look, there are stars upon stars. Take a pair of binoculars, point them at random places in the sky, and even more stars are visible. There are star clusters that you could chance upon just by sweeping the sky with the binoculars, and they look like someone threw a handful of diamonds on black velvet. Little shooting stars are visible often. It's extraordinary.

It should be noted that the Milky Way is not visible during the winter months (December – February). It's best to try to watch it in June – August. Even later in the year (September – November) it's still visible in the West, just before it sets, a short time after nightfall. If you're an early riser, you can see it before daybreak in the spring (March – May).
You need to wait until the sky goes completely dark after sunset. That means 1.5 hours after sunset, or more. To determine the precise moment of sunset, go on Google or Wolfram Alpha and search for "sunset today". Then add 90 minutes to the result.
You will also need to time your visit to a night when the Moon is not visible. The Moon must be below horizon, otherwise it would cause some "light pollution" of its own. A few days before and after the new moon are the best time for this.
You could go on Wolfram Alpha and search for "next new moon" or even "new moon in september" and it will give you the date. Several days plus or minus that date should be fine.
http://www.wolframalpha.com/

TLDR: A moonless night in the summer, in a desert or some other unpopulated area, 1.5 hours after sunset or later.
Comment: Thank you very much for the information. I enjoyed the entire read. I have a question though. "It should be noted that the Milky Way is not visible during the winter months". Why not? I'm currently in North America, does this effect anything?
Comment: @KSplitX The Sun appears to move slowly in relation to the fixed stars. In one year it makes a full circle, going back to where it started. During the winter months, the Sun appears to be close to the portion of the sky where the Milky Way is seen. That means the Milky Way would rise and set with the Sun - it's high in the sky during the day, when you cannot see it. During summer, the Sun is pretty much opposite to the Milky Way in the sky. That means the Milky Way rises at night, when you can see it. It does not matter where you're located, we all see the position of the Sun the same way.
Comment: The Milky Way (MW) passes through Perseus, Gemini, Monoceros, Puppis, -- constellations visible in the northern hemisphere winter. So the MW is definitely "up" and not blocked by the Sun. However, the winter MW is not as brilliant as the summer MW (Aquila, Sagittarius, Scorpius), so you need to very dark sky to see the glow of the winter Milky Way.
Comment: @FlorinAndrei How did the Milky Way appear to your naked eye from Death Valley?  Was it any better than OP's second photo?
Comment: @pacoverflow There's no real way to compare a photo with what the eye actually sees; a photo is dead, it's nothing like the actual living image. All I can say is - if you've only seen the sky from urban areas, in a dark sky region it's mind boggling. It's like a river of stars. Stars like dust, everywhere you look. With binoculars it gets even better. Totally worth it. Plan your trip well ahead of time, and do it.
Answer: You might want to try a very dark night instead of a "dark day". :-)
The "cluster of gas" that you mention is from countless stars. From a dark site, it looks like clouds, but you soon realize that they are not moving. It is not as well defined as in the photo, but it is impressive.
In addition to needing a dark site far from lights, you need to look at the correct time of day and night. You want to look when the constellation of Sagittarius is at its highest.
Comment: Do you know how I can find that out?
Comment: The "cluster of gas" is from gas, not countless stars (not to mention the fact that astronomers have counted the stars and wind up with 100-400 billion stars in our Milky Way and ~5000 visible by the naked eye from Earth). Most of that gas is obscuring dust from the interstellar medium.
Answer: Darkest skies I've seen were in the outback of Australia, perhaps 20km from the nearest (small) town.  Still couldn't see purple clouds though.  The naked eye view was more like your 2nd image.
Comment: this really sucks doesnt it

How do I see the milky way?


Can Sinn Fein join a minority coalition in a no-confidence vote?

Question: I'm just wondering if Sinn Fein having a stated boycott, can enter parliament in a vote of no confidence. It seems to be otherwise consistent with their message. Perpetual no-confidence.
Comment: Just to be clear, who are you assuming would stop them? Or are you actually asking whether they'd have to take the oath of allegiance before voting?
Comment: @Carpetsmoker Yes, the question is tagged UK and parliament, and Sinn Fein only have a boycott in that context. The Ireland tag should probably be removed to reduce confusion.
Answer: In order to participate in any parliamentary business (including a confidence vote), Sinn Fein MPs would need to swear an oath to the Crown, or take a solemn affirmation:

Until the oath or affirmation is taken, an MP may not receive a salary, take their seat, speak in debates or vote.

Sinn Fein MPs consistently refuse to do this, so cannot take part in any business of the House of Commons.


Which parts of Tachnun to skip

Question: In one of the Shuls that I Daven they often say Tachnun so quickly (especially Monday & Thursday) that by the time they say Kaddish I am still way behind. If one finds himself in such a situation is there a preferred list of what to say and what to skip? Or should one just fall behind?
Comment: I can't provide a source o I'll leave this as a comment -- in our school, we have the students just say the first v'hu rachum paragraph and then jump to nefillas apayim.
Comment: Related: http://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/28020/catching-up-when-saying-tachanun-m-th
Comment: And an answer with a source: http://judaism.stackexchange.com/a/23493/3483
Answer: See this - You're not the 1st person to have asked this.
Excerpt:

Is it more important to say Vehu Rachum or to say Tachanun?
What happens if there is insufficient time to recite both Vehu Rachum
  and the rest of the Tachanun together with the tzibur?
It seems that one should recite Tachanun with the tzibur and "Vehu
  Rachum" after davening.
It should be noted that the commentaries dispute what is included in
  the takanah of reciting Vehu Rachum. Some contend that the takanah is
  to say Vehu Rachum, and to say it while standing (Shulchan Aruch,
  Orach Chayim 134:1), whereas others explain that the takanah included
  only reciting Vehu Rachum, but did not require one to stand (Levush).
  (They all agree, however, that one should recite Vehu Rachum while
  standing.)
Vehu Rachum should be treated with the kedusha of the Shemoneh Esrei
  (Magen Avraham). Therefore, there are those who contend that it should
  be said quietly (Rama 134:1). However, the Beis Yosef rules that one
  may say Vehu Rachum aloud, as is the custom of many people.
Comment: I would love this answer more if they supplied a source for it.

Which parts of Tachnun to skip


How to change the number of stores showed into the left panel with Google storelocator library?

Question: I'm using the Store Locator Library for Maps API that you can find here
I've customized the custom.html example like I need.
The last thing that I need to do is: change the default value of stores showed to the left panel from 10 to all stores inserted in the .csv file. How can I change it? Could somebody help me please? Thank you very much!
Answer: The line of code you need to change is found in 'store-locator.compiled.js'.
<code>for( var b = function(){ a[A]( this.store, d ) }, i = 0, k = h.min( 10, c[B] ); i < k; i++ )
</code>
Search for the above line and change the '10' to whatever you require.


Engine Reving Up in Park and Neutral?

Question: I have a 2001 Chevy Silverado 1500, it has about 118000 thousand miles on the engine, lately it is taching up to over 2000RPM only when i put it in park or neutral. Once i put it into drive or any other gear, it comes down to earth at around 1000 rpm give or take. What would be things that would cause this issue?
Comment: At a glance, I'm wondering if the Throttle Position Sensor (TPS) either needs to be replaced or recalibrated.
Answer: Most of the time when this occurs it is because of a dirty throttle body. You need to take it off carefully and clean it carefully (throttle body or carb cleaner), then re-install. You'll want to pull the negative lead to the battery when you do this. Then, upon re-install, you'll find it will probably idle just fine, but will want to rev high on its own after putting it in gear. The PCM will need to recalibrate itself. To fix this, you can take it to the GM dealership and have them put a TechII on it for the throttle relearn, or you can take it out for a drive which usually consists of about 200 miles.

Engine Reving Up in Park and Neutral?


Outlining the climax made me lose interest in writing the actual story

Question: I am a discovery writer. I wrote  more than 50% of my first novel's first draft.
I got really confuse about some aspects of writing, so I took a break and analysed my plot. I've started developing my world much better and made an outline for the remaining story.
But once I finished it, I couldn't start writing the remaining portion. I feel like that I have already completed the task with the outline, so I'm struggling finding the will to write out the story.
How can I overcome this issue?
Comment: What is a discovery writer?
Comment: https://writing.stackexchange.com/questions/4027/what-is-a-discovery-writer
Comment: I had this problem too.. I scrapped a story that I loved and put months of work in. It now sits in my archive as inspiration of my other stories. I have made too many plans too far ahead and it broke me up inside.
Comment: If it becomes obvious to you where your characters are going, maybe it'll obvious for them, too? Do they like the path there on? Now that they have some foresight, would they like to make any changes to their plans so they can achieve what they really want? This sort of feedback loop can make the future constantly surprising.
Answer: I am a discovery writer, I have been for many years, and I complete stories.
Scrap your outline.
Most discovery writers (including me) have struggled with what you are talking about; finding the climax, resolving the character arcs, dead-end "mysteries" that we could never figure out.
The solution to that is simple, but it is NOT outlining. For a discovery writer, outlining kills your characters. It turns them into machines that can't make decisions, and you feel you are forcing their emotions upon them.
I think you feel like you finished the story because you (as the author) have no more choice in how the story goes, your characters are no longer fluid, you are no longer excited to see what they will do, or what they will encounter. You have become a typist, instead of a story teller.
The solution to finishing books as a story teller is to have a logical conclusion for the story from the beginning. As an example, consider a film like Independence Day, which I did not write. The premise is aliens attack Earth, and we can't beat their tech. The final solution is we infect their systems with a computer virus, thereby defeating their tech, so our military can defeat them.
That is all a discovery writer should need to write the story, a main problem, and its solution. I do not consider this an outline, I consider it a direction to write in, and a provisional direction at that: If I think of a better ending, and I love it, I'll write toward that, even if I have to revise the book-so-far to some extent.
If while I am writing, my characters do something that would preclude that ending, I have to come up with a better ending right then, still consistent with what has happened, or within the realm of revision for what has happened. I don't want to rewrite ten chapters (although Stephen King, also a discovery writer, once scrapped something like a few hundred pages to save The Stand).
Revision is part of discovery writing, to create a coherent whole out of your wanderings. If character actions make the provisional ending illogical or dumb or impossible, then go back and find something else plausible for the characters to do that doesn't ruin the ending. Save a backup, in case you have lines you loved that might be re-used, but cut and start over. Or find a different ending that would work, a better ending, and revise what you need, throughout the book so far, so the better ending fits.
I do the same thing for a few other important "endings" in the book; I usually have a love story as a subplot in my books, a love story with an obstacle. I decide some provisional ending for that story too, a note on how their obstacle might be overcome, and they get together. If I introduce a mystery, I keep a note on how to solve it. I don't write any of the details, just a plausible notion of how it can be done; a direction to write in.
Scrap your outline. Put it aside, forget it, free your characters. Whatever you devised for the various endings, maybe keep them as notes, a direction to write in, but not too many of them.
Go back and let your characters be free, to make their choices in the moment like real people, to develop their plans on the fly, react and feel on the fly. Both villains and heroes. Let Jack be surprised when the present circumstances warrant surprise, don't try to force it on him. Where discovery writers shine is precisely that, what the characters do, say, think and feel seems organic and natural, it flows, because the writer has that moment in his head as he invents every line and action.
Sometimes I think of this as a football game; American version or European: The goal in every game is the same: You have to get from a starting point to the end of the field, against opposition. But the path to the goal is completely different every time. Different setbacks, mistakes and victories. No two games are ever the same.
Take your characters, and play a new game. Even if your final goal is the same, you don't have to get there exactly the same way as you outlined. Your outline found A story, one game. Screw up your outline with adversity, you can always add that: A fumbled ball is recovered by the opposition, a player falls and breaks an arm. It doesn't have to be a villain, it can be an environmental problem; a fire or storm or accident. A wild animal. They've run out of food and water. They encounter a mountain or river they can't cross, screwing up their timeline.
Kick your hero in the face and make yourself write a different game for them. Even if your note on how to resolve the main conflict stays exactly the same, let them react to different circumstances on the fly, make new plans. You need to give them new life so you are looking forward to seeing what they do when you sit down to write, and looking forward to figuring it out.
Answer: The only way to resolve it is to write.
I'm a discovery writer too. I get excitement from just "imagining" how things could go, how the world might be, and how the character should react. Did you notice? I used verbs in conditional form.
That's because - no matter what your brain tells you - a story isn't done until you write it. It doesn't matter if you outlined the next 50 scenes perfectly in your head: if you don't write, they didn't happen. So put aside your outline for a moment, decide what you should write next, and start typing.
As you write, allow yourself to "discover" new things. Sure, you have everything planned out; but maybe as you are putting your ideas on paper you'll find better solutions.
A discovery writer needs, in my opinion, to treat every outline as a "vague guideline". Sure, you know what the ending might be, but you need to trust your insticts as you write and let it happen in a different way, if that what's feels right.
Answer: Your brain is convinced it's done with the first draft, which means it's time to start the second draft on the story cleaning up everything and filling up any missing details as needed. Which is a new task and one that you have to do regardless of how complete the first draft is. Yours just happens to be pretty barebones in the second half, but that's ok, each pass you make the novel more complete until it really is.
Answer: Try breaking your outline into chunks, and write small novelettes for them.
At the moment, you "feel like [you] have already completed the task" - you look at the skeleton in place, and think "that looks the right shape".  There's nothing wrong with that.
But, if you look at the outline from a different angle, you have actually turned 1 task (write a story) into a dozen or more tasks.  As Amadeus says, most Discovery Writers work best with "this is where we start, this is where we are aiming to finish", with minimal "in between".  So, turn each of the key points in your outline into both a start line and a target - take each bone or limb of your skeleton in isolation, and flesh it out.
If we take The Hobbit as an example:
As a (fairly densely-packed) bullet-point Outline:

• Bilbo (a hobbit) talks to Gandalf (a Wizard)
  • Gandalf invites himself and some friends to dinner with Bilbo
  • A dozen dwarves show up and insist on dinner
  • The dwarves persuade Bilbo to join them on their journey
  • Braving danger, they travel to Rivendell, and meet the Elves
  • While in Rivendell, they learn clues for their quest
  • Continuing their journey, they are kidnapped by Goblins
  • While hiding from Goblins, Bilbo finds a magic ring
  • Everyone escapes the Goblins
  et cetera

(Depending on how detailed your outline is, the first 4 points might just be listed together as "Dwarves persuade Bilbo to join them on an adventure")
While you can look at that and see a story, you can also turn it into a series of 8 different snippets:  The first novelette starts with "Bilbo is talking with a wizard", and then (after several paragraphs, or even chapters) ends with "the wizard makes an appointment for dinner".  What they talk about, what history they share, even whether the meeting is cordial or strained - all of that is still waiting to be discovered.  The next mini-story starts with "the wizard has made an appointment for dinner", and ends with "everyone arrives for dinner"...
Some of these chunks turn into larger or smaller stories, with twists you may not have seen in your outline (what danger do they brave on the journey to Rivendell?  Apparently, trolls), some of the starting positions will move as the previous sections complete, and you will probably have to go back through and tie things together for flow later - very few authors can write one draft and call it finished - but you will, hopefully, no longer be seeing a "finished story".
Comment: I like this a lot since you can easily adjust storypoints, replace them, scrap them, and still have a story without wasting too much work.
Answer: There are two kinds of discovery, not one! I am a outliner, not a pantser. I am also a plot-driven, not a character-driven writer. I love outlining, but always the finished product has huge departures from the outline. What I outline is plot, with very little character work. The plot is my creativity set free to do what comes easily: creating worlds and puzzles and mysteries and then solving them.
I save the best part for the actual writing. What happens when I actually write the chatpers? Discovery. But if I already know the plot, what is there to discover?
Character. As I write, I discover the character of my heroes and villains. I find out who they are, what they want, and how they refuse to act the way my initial plot dictates, forcing small or large changes to the story.
I find that the dicovery of character is a greater mystery to me than the discovery of what happens next. Why? Because I am so bad at it! Because character development is my weak spot, discovering it, refining it and polishing it is the great challenge for me.
What is the result? Instead of "planned" people and spontaneous plots, I write of spontaneous people with plots that are part planned, and part an adaptation to the surprises I find in my characters. It all just works better, and it keeps me engaged at writing throughout the whole process. In fact, what used to be for me the "sagging middle" where I had the most problems continuing and keeping the story interesting, is now my favorite part of writing any book.
One example should suffice. I had a female cook on a wagon train in one scene, put there for the sole purpose of making the heroine jealous in one scene. Thedarra was a throwaway character. But then she started to grow on me. She refused to be killed off or sidelined. She grew into a real person, an important character who makes courageous choices and saves the day, which of course made the jealousy factor and conflict grow magnificently. Thedarra eventually became my favorite character in the whole story, but first I had to discover her.
If you can't see what there is left to discover in your own story, try to understand its people. It will be worth it.
Comment: This is also a good approach when certain events are out of the characters' control - such as environmental disasters, or a villain who rarely *directly* appears in the novel.  These "fixed points" are then things the characters and story have to *react* to (or try and stop!).  You don't just "discover" an earthquake or volcanic eruption - they have a habit of interrupting whatever else is trying to go on at the time.
Answer: Don't do it top-down, do it bottom-up.
Break your story into chunks of index cards.
Sort your cards in the order you felt most natural. Then put 95% of the index cards into a jar.
Congratulation, now you can work on the most significant 5% of your story. The index cards in the jar now only functions as a source of inspiration, you should not put it in your working draft ever again.
Extend the 5% the way you wanted, be creative, be bold, take risks, don't get trapped by your initial plan.
After you're quite satisfied with your extension. Take a look back at the notes in your jar, and reflect whether the new direction of the story is better.
After that, start the process again, break your working draft into chunks of index cards, but this time put 90% of it to a jar. Then extend the remaining 10%.
After that, start the process again, break your working draft into chunks of index cards, but this time put 85% of it to a jar. Then extend the remaining 15%.
Repeat the process until you don't need to put any notes to a jar anymore/you're very satisfied with the result.
Comment: this seems it wroth a try
Answer: A change that I made that reawakened my interested and excitement about my story was to stop writing in linear, chronological order. I've been thinking about this current story for nearly a decade, so I already had a solid idea of the overall plotline. And I've been doing a lot more world-building and research than I usually do, so I knew a lot about the world and the characters. But now that I'm actually writing the book, I'm not just proceeding from start to finish. Instead, I'm writing the parts and scenes that are most compelling to me at any given moment. I don't know if I'll keep the scenes in this order at the end, or if I'll reorder them more chronologically, but what I do know is that I'm not writing any filler, or any dutiful scenes. It's all in there because it is compelling to me.
And in doing so, I'm not only keeping my enthusiasm high, I'm also discovering a endless number of things I didn't know at the start. One of the things I've learned is that even when knowing the overall arc, and having a concept of the characters, there is magic to be found in the small moments. I didn't know that one character hated the other, or that there were birds singing at dawn, or that the love interest was aging backwards. Those were all things I "discovered" while writing their scenes.
Very few people are 100% to an extreme. We are all discovery writers sometimes, and we all do some planning and plotting. It's good to be able to handle aspects of both --it gives you more range as a writer.


Seeking name of encryption algorithm

Question: I found an algorithm described in my old math notes that I wanted to dive into further, but the name I noted is apparently completely wrong ("Bolson Adding"), so now I am trying to find the actual name of it.
You have an array of digits 0-9 and add them up in pairs, starting with first+second, then third+fourth, etc., and create a new array from that. Results above 9 are subtracted 10, to keep it single digits. Next, you do the same, but with second+third, fourth+fifth, etc., finishing with last+first. You attach that array at the end of the first and get a new array the same size as the original (it must be an even amount of digits). You can then repeat the process on this new array, and so on and so on. You can always get from the original to the result, but you (supposedly!) cannot get from the result back to the original.
Does anyone know the name of this?
Comment: Indeed one can not get back from the result to the original, because 10 originals match any given result; e.g. 0000, 1919, 2828, 3737, 4646, 5555, 6464, 7373, 8282, 9191 all yield 0000 if I get the system correctly. My reading is that this is a bad PRNG which key is the initial state. Any PRNG can be turned into a stream cipher. This one would not be secure, I'm afraid.
Answer: Without a key or the ability to decrypt this isn't a cipher.
Possibly the second part of the string of digits could be a key, but in that case just performing modulo addition would result in the Vernam cipher and you would not need the whole construction.
If it were a hash then it is a terrible one, just start with a string of all zero digits to see why. The output would also not be compressed.
Comment: Yeah, my old notes are horrible, that's why I wondered what this really is. It took me about 15 minutes to make a reverse engineering function, so what I wrote is clearly useless, but I wondered if there is more to it. Without knowing what I was writing about, however, I can't know if there is more....

Seeking name of encryption algorithm


Meltdown and Spectre when using encryption and VPN

Question: Can the Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities affect also computers with encrypted home directory and usage of a VPN service? In Other words, would hackers still be able to steal passwords when encrypted transmissions and VPN services are implemented?
Comment: While the answers are technically correct, none of them address the fact that Meltdown and Spectre are local attacks.  A VPN would only be useful against a remote adversary, and encrypted home directories are only useful while the machine is turned off--neither of which are relevant to Meltdown and Spectre.
If the attacker is not on your machine, Meltdown and Spectre (to a degree) cannot be used.
Answer: Yes.
Disk encryption protects against access to the disk when it is not in use, for instance if someone steals your computer. VPN protects against anyone sniffing the wire.
Meltdown and Spectre can give attackers local access to the data, before it is encrypted.
For the system to use any kind of information, it more or less has to be available in un-encrypted form. Whenever it is available in un-encrypted form any attacker with superuser access to the computer can copy it at will.
Comment: Passwords may not be stored on disk, but they are transmitted through networks and do reside in memory before being hashed either for storage or comparison with another hash.
Comment: And also, a password manager (one of the favourite targets in stories about Meltdown/Spectre) _must_ store [encrypted] passwords and decrypt them at times to do their job.
Comment: "For the system to use any kind of information, it more or less has to be available in un-encrypted form. " - this isn't true. The well-known counterexample are passwords, which should never be stored, not even encrypted. Password verification relies on secure hashes. This can be Meltdown-safe; obtaining the hashed value won't give you the password which hashes to that value.
Comment: But it is true for encrypted network traffic and disk content *in general*. Passwords are a special case. And nor are they encrypted; they are hashed with a one way function.
Comment: @MSalters When it comes to VPNs, the packet encryption password *must* be stored, because the data is encrypted/decrypted via a symmetric key after the initial handshake.  Regardless, it would be extremely difficult to find and copy a password from memory. It would be less work just to keylog.
Answer: Yes, in fact this is one of the hypothetical situations where these vulnerabilities might be attacked: when using encryption and trying to access the in-memory encryption key normally unavailable to other processes.
Answer: Yes. It might allow an attacker, say, by you visiting his website, to read memory of apps you have currently running. The memory content could be cookies to website you're currently logged in, saved passwords in your password manager, configuration of your VPN connection or even an encryption key you use for home directory.
On the other hand if you're 100% sure you're not going to run any 3rd party code (by downloading some untrusted software or running a browser/visiting websites), you're pretty much save. Actually that's the Microsoft's view on that matter: they assumed most Windows Server instances run in an "isolated" environment, where users put only trusted apps, so Meltdown/Spectre fixes aren't needed to be enabled there on default.
Answer: Yes. Encrypting your disks and network connections still leaves your entire random access memory readable by a malicious process running on the same computer. Local storage, network traffic, and RAM are 3 completely different things.
To exploit the meltdown and spectre flaws, the malicious process needs to be running on your computer. This can happen, for example if you run a program from some unknown/untrusted source, or if some webpage manages to maniplate the JIT compiler of your browser's javascript engine into running such code.
Answer: The vulnerabilities allow reading data from other programs, so if any other program has the unencrypted data, a malicious program can read it. So if you type your password into another program, your password can be stolen. Moreover, if you access any encrypted data, then it has to be unencrypted for you to see it, so it can be stolen. Depending on how your disk encryption works, data on your disk may be unencrypted even if you don't directly access it. If you're using end-to-end encryption, such as a VPN, well, your computer is an end, so the data is being unencrypted once it gets to your computer, so it's vulnerable.
If you have an encrypted file, and the password is not stored on your computer, and you don't ever access it, then the unencrypted data is not vulnerable (unless the encryption can be otherwise broken). But as soon as you mount an encrypted drive, it's vulnerable.


text extraction from bank statements from pdf format

Question: I have bank statement memos containing transaction tables I need to extract. I only need to extract the transactions list. I have tried to use the Amazon text extractor, LayoutLM but since every bank has different formats, These models don't work well. Any suggestions?
Answer: I think the most convenient way to do that in Python is by using a tabula library. I happened to do similar task with pdf files and probably the easiest way to do so is to use tabula.read_pdf function. I see also that Tabula has an online tool, but I haven't tried it.
Unless it works, you can try to create a parser a little more manually with PyPDF2 library. I can also recommend just asking ChatGPT to write a parser for you based on a snippet of your document. However, with this approach remember to anonymize your personal data.


Query Layer to access data on Sharepoint

Question: I want to connect to a Sharepoint list from ArcMap.  Without knowing very much about these things I thought that it would be possible to read this non-spatial data to create lookup tables in my file geodatabase.  In searching for an answer, I can't seem to get away from ArcGIS for Sharepoint, which isn't what I'm looking for at all.  I'm using ArcGIS 10.0
Answer: I have not tested this, but I suggest looking at a Python library like python-sharepoint to copy data from the Sharepoint list and then use ArcPy to write it into a file geodatabase table.
Comment: That one is tricky.  It has dependencies that need to be compiled from C and it's beyond my knowledge right now. Otherwise it looked like what I need.
Answer: I need this functionality and asked Esri about it, with no success...
Another way to link ArcGIS and SharePoint is to show the ArcGIS attributes table in SharePoint as a list.
It is even possible to update it from SharePoint with SQL commands. This can be easily done with Tools like Layer2 bdlc or SharePointBoost Data connector. It is supported by Esri whith some restrictions (you can't use versioned database, shouldn't update ID columns or shape colums, etc.). I did it with an SQLServer Database but should work with Oracle.
Hope this helps
Comment: Thank you for the tip, but I expect if it comes to 3rd party applications we'll end up using Access (which integrates well with sharepoint) to make a table from Sharepoint and then Arc can easily get at the table in Access...  Although I was hoping there was a more direct root that was easier to get at.  Oh well...


How to install FreeNAS

Question: Can FreeNAS be installed on a Raspberry Pi 3?
Comment: IS possible if you use http://www.freenas.org/blog/freenas-0-7-2-6694-sabanda-released/ 130Mb software+ BOOT is nice work on 128MB ram
Comment: include 4x 4Tb drives over USB and boot from SD card = need a little configurations BUT will work this Super Cloud Disk Storage over net + make DDNS configurations for domain
Answer: I think it's unlikely that a Pi would work well, if at all, with FreeNAS.
Note the recommendation on their download page:

The new recommended boot device size is 8GB. FreeNAS 11 requires 8GB of RAM to run properly.

The Raspberry Pi 3 has 1GB of RAM.  So that requirement seems to not be met, and it's not looking great so far for FreeNAS.
obarthelemy of the Raspberry Pi forums also suggests that because FreeNAS is built on a BSD variant, that is also likely to be problematic:

Yes, you can use the Pi as a NAS server.
But not FreeNAS per se: FreeNAS is built on a flavour of BSD, not Linux, and as far as I know, no ports of any *BSD in general, nor FreeNAS in particular, are planned.
So you\'ll have to build your NAS starting from scratch, from a regular Linux distro which is a little more work. Also, the Pi does not have very good I/O (everything goes through a single USB2 port, even on the model B), so don\'t expect high performance nor high capacity. Anything beyond 1 disk (USB2 only) and 2-3 users will be very iffy.

Note that this was written in 2011 for the original Pi, not for the Pi 3. Support for BSD seems better now in 2017, so whether this is still a concern or not is something to investigate.
MakeUseOf wrote a guide for setting up a NAS using Samba, which might be easier to follow than trying to force your Pi to use FreeNAS when it probably isn't suitable.
If you want to see why using the Pi as a NAS might not be the best idea, you might like to read Raspberry Pi 2 vs. Synology NAS on the DataHoarder subreddit.
Comment: Thanks for your answer. I am fully aware that the Pi is absolutely not ideal for FreeNAS. I have a free Pi sitting around and wanted to play with FreeNAS to see if it fits my requirements, so installing it on that Pi would have been handy.

How to install FreeNAS


How can i get my application shortcut to show up in the device?

Question: I am using Activity-alias in AndroidManifest.xml to specify another entry point to my application using shortcut. I am seeing the shortcut in the shortcut list. How can I get my 2nd icon (shortcut) to show in the Home?
Answer: If you are not seeing your launcher icon at all, see the third activity in this ApplicationManifest.xml for an example of an  declaration.
If by "shortcut list" you mean the app menu, then you can just hold and drag the icon with your finger and it will allow you to drop it on your Home screen.


What is the purpose of undercutting the plywood sheets used as subfloor in this video

Question: The idea is to make the subfloor flat. By cutting the plywood that way the oposite is achieved the plywood will be more flexible and it will fillow the existing surface on which the subfloor is installed on
https://youtu.be/7l6ts1YwnfU
Answer: The video shows the installer adding thickness under the new flooring material so that the new floor will be level with the existing tile that was 1.5 inches taller (I got that from the video description) . The video was not talking about leveling a wavy floor. The installer was using 3/4" plywood as an underlayment, and as you pointed out, by cutting the kerfs into the plywood, it will follow the waviness (if any) that already exists in the subfloor.
Comment: The title says leveling the subfloor and then adds a clarification which I missed. However it does not make a lot of sense.I would have used self leveling cement first otherwise you are just copying the uneveness from below
Comment: If the floor was not level, I agree with you. If the floor was level, then this will be fine. If you like my answer, please accept it.
Comment: This method is far superior to leveling compound for increasing the height of a large area +(and much cheaper) leveling "cement" doesn't work as well for large areas. The plywood makes a better base that holds up better for any type of flooring. The back cut allows the plywood to adjust to minor deviations in the floor.


Emacs Terminal mode treats mouse clicks as keypresses

Question: When using emacs in the terminal (with evil mode) clicking on another window causes the mode of emacs to switch to insert and it starts inserting '[]' around random words in whatever buffer is open. This only happens in terminal mode and I'm not sure how to prevent.
Comment: Please don't post the same question to both StackOverflow and emacs.SE. Please delete one and keep the other. Thx.
Answer: The issue was that I bound M-[ and after using describe key to see what was being sent from clicking the mouse I found a question that described the inability to use M-[ as a binding in terminals
binding M-[ causes mouse focus to insert characters
Answer: Everything that you communicate to an application inside of a terminal is sent in the form of bytes. Keyboard button presses are bytes, mouse clicks are bytes, all kinds of back–and–forth communication between the application and the terminal happens by sending bytes back and forth.
If the application and the terminal are not using exactly the same byte sequences, then this kind of miscommunication happens. The most important information to know is what value the TERM variable has in your shell before you run Emacs, and what terminal emulator you are actually using.
Comment: I'm using kitty but I'm seeing the same error in xterm and xfce terminal
Comment: $TERM doesn't work on kitty so I put `export TERM="xterm"` in .zshrc but the behavior is still taking place
Comment: `echo $TERM` will print out the value of the `TERM` variable. Never set `TERM` to anything in your shell config files (such as `.zshrc`), as that is usually how this type of bug happens. Binding something to `M-[` is the other most common cause :)


Why is the NFL considering an 18-game season?

Question: I'm confused as to why they might implement this next year. What are the pros of an 18-game season? What is the reasoning behind it?
Answer: It's all about money: teams make money from fans buying tickets, from fans paying for parking, from fans buying beer, from fans buying hotdogs, from fans buying nachos, from fans doing everything else fans do on game days at the stadium. 17 games gives them 6% more game day income than 16 games. 18 games gives them 12% more game day income.
More games also makes for a more attractive package for the NFL's television (and other media) partners, so they can sell the rights for more.
Comment: Sort of buried the lede there :)  The TV rights are absolutely the biggest reason for this (over 50% of the NFL's revenue comes from TV).
Comment: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/18/sports/football/nfl-tv-contracts.html for example - it's baked into the new media deals, which push that percentage up significantly.
Comment: @Joe while game day incomes will pretty much go up proportionally with the number of (home) games played, it's not so obvious that applies to the TV rights deals as well.
Comment: Can you provide a citation backing up the idea that teams get 6% more revenue with each game added to regular season? It looks like you used arithmetic to find that 1 game is 6% of the season, but I don't think that logic holds up. Going back to the 1978 expansion from 14 to 16 games (at the latest), the NFL adds games to the regular season by reducing the preseason by the same number of games. As I understand it, teams charge the same amount for preseason tickets as regular season. Preseason games aren't part of national TV contracts, but that is offset some by local TV deals.
Answer: It comes down to money and revenue.
Now you might ask if more games bring in more money for the NFL, how come the number of games hadn't increased years ago? That's because of the current CBA signed by the league and the NFLPA in 2020 allows for it. The agreement allowed for an extra regular season game by reducing a preseason game.
So now, we must ask, why would the NFLPA agree for an extra game, when the players don't get paid more as their contracts remain the same? Money is the answer here too. It's because the players would get a bigger share of the NFL revenue once the 17th game was to be added. For the extra game to kick in the NFL had to sign more media contracts and raise players' revenue share. The extra media contracts were part of the agreement to ensure higher revenue.
With both the league and players financially gaining from the deal, it was just a matter of time for the 17th game to be added once the CBA was agreed upon. Covid-19 had a big impact on the league's revenue, and also lead to a decreased salary cap for the 2021 season. This contrasts a yearly raise of $10 million or in the recent years. So in 2021, the league signed more media contracts, which allowed it to add the 17th regular season game, helping itself and players earn more, and teams to have higher salary cap in the coming years.
It's also noteworthy that the extra game will result in revenue from the sales of tickets, venue food, merchandise, etc, as well as new inter conference rivalries.


Cannot package signed Java security providers with JMOD

Question: I'm reading this documentation about implementing a provider in the Java cryptography architecture and it states that

You cannot package signed providers in JMOD files

The article also states:

Only providers that supply instances of Cipher, KeyAgreement, KeyGenerator, Mac, or SecretKFactory must be signed. If your provider only supplies instances of SecureRandom, MessageDigest, Signature, KeyStore, etc., the provider does not need to be signed.

I am trying to develop this provider using the JDK 11 version, which makes use of .jmod files in replacement of .jar files.
And I was looking at the functions used by the standard security policies
and many of them use Cipher, KeyAgreement, KeyGenerator, Mac, or SecretKeyFactory, but are somehow packaged into .jmod format in the JDK 11 I'm using.
Can anyone explain this further?
Answer: The providers in the jmod files packaged in the JDK are not 'signed', because jmods don't support signing. If you inspect the .jmod files with jmod list you will not find any .SF signature files for instance.

I am trying to develop this provider using the JDK 11 version, which makes use of .jmod files in replacement of .jar files.

Note that .jmod files are not full replacements for jar files. jmod files are link-only artifacts. From the jmod doc:

The JMOD file format lets you aggregate files other than .class files, metadata, and resources. This format is transportable but not executable, which means that you can use it during compile time or link time but not at run time.

In other words, the jmod files bundled with the JDK are not loaded directly for execution, but are instead meant to be fed to tools such as jlink, which pull them apart and re-package them. This re-packaging would invalidate any signature hashes any ways, so there is less reason why jmod files need to support signing.
If you want to distribute custom providers, you will have to distribute them using jar files, and then sign those jar files. Whether the signing is required when loading the providers depends on the JDK distribution.
Note that the JDK's own providers are not loaded from the bundled jmod files, but from an implementation specific archive whose validity is verified using another mechanism.

Using jmod files is only necessary if you want to package native libraries into an archive, and then distribute that archive. In that case, your users would have to re-package and then re-sign whatever artifact they end up generating based the jmod files.
If you don't need to distribute native libraries, my advice would be to distribute .jar files instead, which can be signed with jarsigner and then used for execution directly. As also stated in the jmod doc:

Note: For most development tasks, including deploying modules on the module path or publishing them to a Maven repository, continue to package modules in modular JAR files. The jmod tool is intended for modules that have native libraries or other configuration files or for modules that you intend to link, with the jlink tool, to a runtime image.


Logical model in workbench

Question: I have a physical data model of db in MySQL Workbench, how i can create an a logical model of this db(like in Allfusion data modeler(ERwin))? May be
Sorry for my english!
Answer: While the naming "physical model" seems to imply there would also be a way for a logical model, there isn't any. MySQL Workbench does not support logical models and tbh. this is the first request for that I saw in years.

Logical model in workbench


Published article on Arxiv: Elsevier Gold Open Access

Question: Am I allowed to publish the final manuscript PDF (as it is in the journal) on Arxiv if the paper is published as "Gold Open Access" in an Elsevier journal?
Comment: Ask Elsevier, but I'd think they have rules against it. What is the point? It complicates citation to some extent.
Comment: @Buffy How does an arXiv posting of a published paper complicate citations in any way at all?
Comment: @Buffy Obviously OP should be diligent in providing full metadata at the time of upload to arXiv, in which case the full journal link is added to the arXiv abstract page. Any readers who find the arXiv version and fail to discover the canonical journal reference are, to be frank, hopelessly clueless. arXiv has worked just fine, on this basis, for decades. This is a non-problem.
Comment: @p.egli The answer seems to be "it depends", as the Elsevier offerings seem to include multiple choices of end-user license for authors. Have you chosen one already?
Comment: @E.P., some people will see one and some will see the other. Depending on how they cite, they won't be unified.
Answer: Yes, with reservations.

[Gold open access articles] May be shared according to the author-selected end-user license and should contain a CrossMark logo, the end user license, and a DOI link to the formal publication on ScienceDirect.
Comment: IANAL, but I don't think that they can legally enforce these 'reservations'. Copyright remains with you, and especially if you chose a CC license with your open-access option this kind of additional restrictions is usually explicitly forbidden.
Comment: @FedericoPoloni I believe these are not "reservations" but guidance regarding attribution. Note that Elsevier has copyright regarding the typesetting / layout. They can require attribution for their derivative work.


download docx file from PHP REST API with angularjs

Question: I have a PHP REST API has written with SLIM Framework, I have an api call which creates a docx file and force the file to be downloaded.

    $filename = 'invitation.docx';
    $templateProcessor->save($filename);
    header('Content-Description: File Transfer');
    header('Content-type: application/force-download');
    header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename='.basename($filename));
    header('Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary');
    header('Content-Length: '.filesize($filename));
    ob_clean();
    ob_flush();
    readfile($filename);
    exit();
the file is created and i can read it via the server.
but the problem is in the client side the file is corrupted
  Data.get('downloadInvitation/'+ id).then(function(results) {
        var file = new Blob([results], { type:    'application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document' });
       saveAs(file, 'invitation.docx');
       });

does anyone has an idea?
Answer: I had the same problem. Just add responseType: 'arraybuffer' to your get configuration.


I have animal crossing new leaf amiibo and i wanna transfer my data to the plain animal crossing new leaf game

Question: I bought animal crossing new leaf amiibo a while ago and i got the plain animal crossing new leaf game for my birthday by mistake. I wanna transfer my game data to the plain game because i couldn't join my friend's towns before because they had the plain version. How do i transfer the data and can it be done?
Answer: Animal Crossing: New Leaf and Animal Crossing: New Leaf - Welcome Amiibo are basically the same game. Installing updates will transform New Leaf into the Welcome Amiibo edition. It doesn't matter which edition of the game a player owns for multiplayer, so long as they have installed the latest updates.
If you have the cartridge version of each edition of the game, your save file cannot be moved or copied from one cartridge to another.


How to downgrade all headers in a word file

Question: How to downgrade all headers? e.g. make all Header 4 becomes Header 5, Header 3 becomes Header 4 and so on. Of course this can be done manually one by one, but I wonder if there's an easy way to do it.
Answer: You can find and replace styles.  Start with the highest number "4" and replace with "Heading 5".  Then replace Heading 3 with Heading 4 etc, as you have set out in your question above.
Comment: OK i guess this is the best way to do..
Answer: There is a more convenient way:

Mark all (Ctrl+A)
Demote (Alt+Shift+Right)

This demotes all outline elements, which are usually linked to the header styles.
These are the default accelerators used in Word 2010. You can also switch to the outline view (Ctrl+Alt+O by default, or click View and Outline – Alt, W, U), mark all, and in the "Outlining" ribbon select the single green right arrow (Alt, U, M). Get back to print view with Ctrl+Alt+P or to normal view with Ctrl+Alt+N.
Comment: It seems someone is downvoting all my posts indiscriminately. Please give me some advice if there is actually anything I could do to make my posts better, thanks.