Can you sell constructed items?

Question: I was browsing through the Cleric spells a minute ago and rediscovered Enhance Water, which allowed the castor to turn a pint of water into wine or beer with varied appearance. I know that the spell can be used as a relatively discrete and effective way to deduce if the drink you have has been contaminated, but can you sell the drink for a profit?
Answer: Yes, you can.
There's no reason to assume that it can't be sold, after all.
However, the potential to make a profit is very low.  Assuming level 20, you can convert 20 pints of water into beer per cast of the spell.  Ale (beer) is priced at 4cp per mug (pint).  Since you are selling the beer, you get half the market price: 2cp.  20*2cp = 40cp, or 4sp, for 20 pints of beer.  At level 20, you can cast ~36 level 1 spells per day (not counting bonus spells from a high WIS score or your domain slots), so if you spent all of your slots to prepare this one spell 36 times and cast it 36 times, you could make, at most, 14gp and 4sp per day.  One day of adventuring nets you far more than that at level 20 (even at level 1 a full day of adventuring nets you more than that), so why even bother?
To clarify:  the reason the cleric could cast Enhance Water 36 times is because the rules allow a caster to prepare lower level spells in higher level spell slots.  Clerics at level 20 receive 4 slots (+1 domain slot) per spell level, not including bonus slots granted from high WIS scores, so the assumption is that for maximum profit, the cleric would prepare Enhance Water in every available spell slot, all the way up to 9th level spells.
Comment: As an aside, a level 1 cleric can sell on the open market a 1st-level spell for 10 gp. Which means, "Hey can you turn this water into beer for me?" earns more money than, "Hey, I'll turn my own water into beer!"
Comment: Note that this is worse off than even the pathetic Profession check rules.
Comment: Note that this assumes you can sell it in a market that can absorb a new "brewery" supplying 90 gallons of beer per day without flooding the market and lowering the price. If you have a DM who adjusts prices from the book-price default to reflect local conditions, then your actual return could quickly become even worse than this suggests. If your DM *doesn't* make such adjustments, but just sticks with the book prices, while at the same time not shooting down such schemes with thrown books, then you'd get much better returns chopping up ladders for poles and selling the rungs as firewood.
Answer: Sure, why not? It's non-magical beer or wine; if you can find a buyer, you can sell it.
Of course, it's worth coppers to the pint, so probably nobody will want it. An innkeeper is unlikely to be interested in anything you can't deliver barrels full of and if people in the street want a drink they'll probably just get it a tavern instead of from some weird guy selling half a jug of whatever he has in there.
Answer: Yes
As noted, you can sell this for half the market price, as you can do with any item you make or otherwise acquire which is valued below twice the settlement you wish to sell it in's purchase limit.  In addition to cheap drinks like common ales, your spell can specifically create wines, beers, and meads, and is definitely able to create some other unspecified alcoholic beverages, while not necessarily being able to create any arbitrary alcoholic beverage.  Whiskeys and such thus may be possible to create but also may not be, at the discretion of your DM.
Regardless, the most expensive mundane base alcoholic drink I am aware of in Pathfinder is Sealord Wine1, which is a wine and so within the category of definitely producible drinks.  Sealord Wine sells for 15 gp per 1/2 pound, which means you can sell it for 7.5 gp per 1/2 pound, or 22.5 gp per Imperial Pint2(Wines, predictably, have approximately the same density as water).  At level 1 you're looking at something like 67.5 gp/day assuming you don't specialize in this at all.

Some people argue that, on account of it being expensive, Sealord wine must be high quality wine, and the spell cannot make a Sealord wine of middling quality.  This reasoning is, of course, wrong for a variety of reasons, not least of which that Sealord wine is not, in fact, high quality wine, but if your GM subscribes to such reasoning, you can get by nearly as well by substituting in the next most expensive broad category of alcoholic beverage your DM's houserules allow.
Pathfinder actually officially uses US wet pints/gallons/etc instead of Imperial ones, so if you're constrained to those, you may make somewhat less coin.  A US gallon is derived from the wine gallon, so that would actually make some sense here, whereas the Imperial Gallon is derived from the larger ale gallon.
Comment: Sealord Wine simply seems to be a specific, very high quality wine. Saying you can use the spell to create a middling-quality version of a high-quality wine that sells for the same price, seems to be a bit of a stretch. I'd say all Sealord Wine is innately high-quality, and a middling quality version of it, is simply Wine.

Can you sell constructed items?


How To List Other Academics' Conference Papers Discussing My Artwork?

Question: I am a Fine Artist, and art historians have discussed my work in conference papers... how would I cite these papers on my CV? Would I include them under "Publications", as I do catalogs, books and art reviews of my work, or should it be under a separate heading? Also, if someone discusses my work in a Master's Thesis, is it appropriate to list that as well?
Comment: They aren't your publications, which is what people assume(?)to be inside any sections that say 'publications' etc. However, they show the significant external impact of your work and I would list them under a section that is labeled something like that (Evidence of External impact)?. It clearly points out it is other people writing papers, reviews, including your work in their scholarship which I assume is a big deal for someone reading your CV.
Comment: This probably needs input from someone in your field.  In most academic disciplines, a CV should only include works authored by you - it would never include works authored by other people that are *about* you.  Perhaps art is special in this regard, but we would need someone who knows the practices of this field.
Comment: Perhaps list them under a heading of "Contributions to published work" with a description of each piece?
Comment: Are you going to use this CV to apply to a university position? Otherwise I am afraid that this question is off-topic here.
Answer: Looking at some example guidelines on fine arts resumes, it seems that one's "publications" or "bibliography" is handled quite differently than in the STEM world, being a collection of things written about you rather than things that you have written.
As such, the particular venue of publication should not matter: a conference article about your work goes in the same general section as an art review.  Now, if you've got a lot of these, you might choose to organize into subsections to make it easier to see the most significant publications, but that's a refinement rather than a high-level guideline.


Battery failing on Acer Aspire One 722 when starting

Question: I have been running Ubuntu 13.04 on my Acer about month ago, it has worked perfectly, but some days ago the battery hasnt allowed the computer to start. It starts normally with the computer connected and without the battery. A friend told me that it could be the battery that is failing. But it never happened before when using Windows 8. I am not saying that Windows is better because in fact I love Ubuntu; but I don't want to buy a new battery which could present the same problem.
Apologize my English, I am an ignorant on this and that's the reasong why I'm asking; thanks so much
Answer: Different operating systems put different loads on the battery at different times. Although, in general, Linux uses less power overall, it could be asking your machine to do multiple things at once which generate a greater load from the battery. The Linux load shows your battery's capacity is declining, and me, I have no doubt, the problem will appear with Windows 8 soon, for certain.


85 octane gas causing engine knocking and retarded CAM time?

Question: I'm about to betray my ignorance of cars but here goes:
I am a driver from Minnesota (where the lowest octane rating is 87) vacationing in Colorado and have noticed that after I put 85 octane gasoline in my tank I have been experiencing engine knocking and difficulty going up hills. An error message (code P1383 or P1381--can't remember) read from my car's computer mentioned retarded CAM timing. Would this be related? I'm a medical student so I have very little car knowledge; but from my Google searching this seems to be related. Can anyone speak to this?
Comment: What make and model of vehicle is it? Engine size?
Comment: FYI you can check your owner's manual for the minimum require octane for your vehicle.
Comment: Thank you all so much! Apparently the problem was the timing belt and had nothing to do with my fuel.
Answer: Two things:

Running fuel with a lower octane rating than what your engine needs will cause "knocking" (premature detonation). Colorado has fuel with a lower octane rating because higher altitude reduces the need for octane, but this isn't fool-proof.
Engine controllers generally deal with knocking by retarding the timing.

You fix this by either:

returning to 87 octane, if your tank is almost out of 85 octane
there are off-the-shelf "octane boosters," you may want to try some in your tank if you have a lot of that 85 octane left
Answer: Adding to tlhIngan's answer:
You can mix fuels of different octanes (actually, it's not unusual for a gas station to have a blend valve to get the mid level octane fuel to eliminate the need for additional underground tanks). The new octane is a linear combination, you can calculate it as:
% fuel x * octane x + % fuel y * octane y
So if you've got a half tank of 85 and you fill up the rest with 89 you'll end up with:
0.5 * 85 + 0.5 * 89 = a full tank of 87.
If you've got 3/4 tank of 85 and you top it off with 93 you'll end up with:
0.75 * 85 + 0.25 * 93 = a full tank of 87.
So if you've still got a lot of 85 left in your tank just fill it up with something higher and it should correct the issue (presuming that's the issue, but it is a reasonable and likely explanation) once it runs through a bit. You don't really need additives, or to wait until your tank is empty.


Why generate long serialVersionUID instead of a simple 1L?

Question: When class implements Serializable in Eclipse, I have two options: add default serialVersionUID(1L) or generated serialVersionUID(3567653491060394677L). I think that first one is cooler, but many times I saw people using the second option. Is there any reason to generate long serialVersionUID?
Comment: How is that exact duplicate? I dont ask why generate it at all, but why generate long serialVersionUID.
Comment: When Jon Skeet uses serialVersionUID, he uses 0L: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/605828/does-it-matter-what-i-choose-for-serialversionuid-when-extending-serializable-cla/605832#605832 ;)
Comment: @HannoFietz: The exact sentence is: "For simplicity I'd suggest **starting** with 0 and **increasing it by 1** each time you need to." So, it sounds like he uses `0L` only initially.
Comment: @O.R.Mapper: Are you implying that Jon Skeet ever needs to go back and update code he has written? Even to the point of structural incompatibility. Gasp! Heresy!
Answer: As far as I can tell, that would be only for compatibility with previous releases. This would only be useful if you neglected to use a serialVersionUID before, and then made a change that you know should be compatible but which causes serialization to break.
See the Java Serialization Spec for more details.
Answer: The purpose of the serialization version UID is to keep track of different versions of a class in order to perform valid serialization of objects.
The idea is to generate an ID that is unique to a certain version of an class, which is then changed when there are new details added to the class, such as a new field, which would affect the structure of the serialized object.
Always using the same ID, such as 1L means that in the future, if the class definition is changed which causes changes to the structure of the serialized object, there will be a good chance that problems arise when trying to deserialize an object.
If the ID is omitted, Java will actually calculate the ID for you based on fields of the object, but I believe it is an expensive process, so providing one manually will improve performance.
Here's are a couple of links to articles which discuss serialization and versioning of classes:

JDC Tech Tips: February 29, 2000 (link broken as of February 2013)
Discover the secrets of the Java Serialization API
Comment: The idea behind using 1L is so that you increment it every time you change the class properties or methods.
Comment: There is no runtime performance impact of allowing the serialversionUID to be generated automatically - it's generated at compile time by javac...if you decompile the class's bytecode, you'll actually see the variable statically in the bytecode.
Comment: @ Jared
According to Item 75 in Josh Bloch's Effective Java: 2nd Edition: "declare an explicit serial version UID in every serializable class you write.... If no serial version UID is provided, an expensive computation is required to generate one at runtime."
Comment: @coobird This seems to be the main reason why the default serialVersionUID is not recommended   `Note - It is strongly recommended that all serializable classes explicitly declare serialVersionUID values, since the default serialVersionUID computation is highly sensitive to class details that may vary depending on compiler implementations, and can thus result in unexpected serialVersionUID conflicts during deserialization, causing deserialization to fail. `  The above comment was taken from Java Object Serialization Specification version 6.0
Comment: One more note - by managing the number explicitly you get to decide when you consider versions of a class "compatible", rather than requiring the class definition to be exactly the same.
Comment: I thought it was to distinguish ANY serialized object of any class lol. In which case, it's quite non-sense to manually type it. But now, I understand better. Versions make more sense. Thanks.
Answer: The main reason for the generated one would be to make it compatible with an existing version of the class that already has persisted copies.
Comment: OK but the same will be If i have always 1L. Everything will be compatible  even if I will made any change.
Comment: @grep the point is that if you have a class that omitted the serialVersionUID before, it would've gotten the generated one automatically. So now, you want to start setting it explicitly, setting it to 1L would make it incompatible to the existing class, whereas using the generated value keeps it compatible.
Comment: @grep try renaming a field and then see what happens.
Answer: You absolutely should create a serialVersionUID every time you define
a class that implements java.io.Serializable. If you don't, one will
be created for you automatically, but this is bad. The auto-generated
serialVersionUID is based on the method signatures of your class, so
if you change your class in the future to add a method (for example),
deserializing the "old" versions of the class will fail. Here's what
can happen:

Create the first version of your class, without defining the
serialVersionUID.
Serialize an instance of your class to a persistent store; a
serialVersionUID is automatically generated for you.
Modify your class to add a new method, and redeploy your application.
Attempt to deserialize the instance that was serialized in step 2, but now it fails (when it should succeed), because it has a
different auto-generated serialVersionUID.
Comment: As a matter of fact, deserializing old versions of the class should indeed fail because they are not the same anymore. You suggest generating serialVersionUID by oneself to prevent (de)serialization failures when the class signature changes. Although your suggestion is appropriate, your explanation of its purpose is simply wrong and misleading. It would be wise to modify your answer.
Comment: It can be both good and bad - if all you've changed is some method body (eg, added null-check) and you've not changed / added any field then you don't really want the serialVersionUID to be different.
Answer: The "long" default of the serialVersionUID is the default value as defined by the Java Serialization Specification, calculated from the default serialization behaviour.
So if you add the default version number, your class will (de-)serialize faster as long as nothing has structurally changed, but you'll have to take care that if you change the class (add/remove fields) you also update the serial number.
If you do not have to be compatible to existing bit streams, you can just put 1L there and increment the version as needed when something changes. That is, when the default serialisation version of the changed class would be different from the default version of the old class.
Answer: If you don't specify a serialVersionUID then Java makes one on the fly. The generated serialVersionUID is that number. If you change something in your class that doesn't really make your class incompatible with previous serialized verisons but changes the hash, then you need to use the generated very-large-number serialVersionUID (or the "expected" number from the error message). Otherwise, if you are keeping track of everything yourself, 0, 1, 2... is better.
Comment: You meant ==> 1. If you want different changes of classes to be compatible use the generated one.
 2. If you want different versions of classes to be incompatible use default one, and be prudent in incrementing. Did I understand it correctly ?
Answer: When you use serialVersionUID(1L) rather than generating serialVersionUID(3567653491060394677L) you are saying something.
You are saying that you are 100% confident that no system that will ever touch this class that has an incompatible serialized version of this class with a version number of 1.
If you can think of any excuse for it's serialized version history to be unknown, that might be hard to say with confidence.  In it's lifetime, a successful class will be maintained by many people, live in many projects, and reside in many systems.
You can agonize over that.  Or you can play the lottery hoping to lose.  If you generate the version you have a tiny chance of things going wrong.  If you assume "Hey I bet no one used 1 yet" your odds are larger than tiny.  It's precisely because we all think 0 and 1 are cool that you have higher odds of hitting them.
-
When you generate serialVersionUID(3567653491060394677L) rather than use serialVersionUID(1L) you are saying something.
You are saying people may have either manually created or generated other version numbers over the history of this class and you don't care because Longs are freaking big numbers.
Either way unless you perfectly know the history of version numbers used when serializing the class in the entire universe of where it has or will ever exist, you're taking a chance.  If you have the time to make 100% sure 1 is AOK, go for it.  If that's to much work, go ahead and blindly generate the number.  You're more likely to win the lottery than to have that go wrong.  If it does, let me know and I'll buy you a beer.
With all this talk of playing the lottery I may have given you the impression that serialVersionUID is generated randomly.  In fact as long as the range of numbers is evenly distributed over every possible value of a Long that would be fine.  However, it's actually done this way:
http://docs.oracle.com/javase/6/docs/platform/serialization/spec/class.html#4100
The only difference you get with that is you don't need a source of random.  You're using the changes in class itself to change the result.  But according to the pigeonhole principle there is still a chance it could go wrong and have a collision.  It's just incredibly unlikely.  So good luck getting a beer out of me.
However, even if the class will only ever live in one system and one code base, thinking that incrementing the number by hand gives you zero chance of collisions just means you don't understand humans. :)
Comment: This is false! When you generate serialVersionUID, and declare that value in your source code, rather than 1L or nothing you are actually saying: I want a possibly undetected collision in the future with undefined effects, and I don't want java or any humans to prevent this. Java is paranoid, but obedient. Humans usually don't mess with big numbers. This way, when the class changes, java can still de-serialize old incompatible versions of it. MwoaHaHa... ;)
Comment: If a "system" touches the class, i.e. changes the class in a way that the serialization becomes incompatible then the question is if that system will also change the serialVersionUID. I don't think that the odds are smaller that it will remember to change it when it is long. I think rather the opposite is true, if the number are easier to remember changes are higher that I notice that I accidentally didn't change it.
Comment: The auto-generated numbers are generated only once; but they have to be changed every time the class implementation is changed in an incompatible way, too. Starting with 0L or 1L makes it more likely humans will see and update the number. And there is an additional risk the big "magic number" is left untouched on changes because people don't know what it is for, or what they are supposed to do with it.
Answer: Well, serialVersionUID is an exception to the rule that "static fields don't get serialized". ObjectOutputStream writes every time the value of serialVersionUID to the output stream. ObjectInputStream reads it back and if the value read from the stream does not agree with the serialVersionUID value in the current version of the class, then it throws the InvalidClassException. Moreover, if there is no serialVersionUID officially declared in the class to be serialized, compiler automatically adds it with a value generated based on the fields declared in the class.
Answer: To add to @David Schmitts answer, as a rule of thumb I would always use the default 1L out of convention.  I've only had to go back and change some of them a few times, but I knew that when I made the change and updated the default number by one each time.
At my current company they require the auto-generated number so I use that for convention, but I prefer the default.  My take is, if it's not a convention where you work, use the default, unless you think you will be constantly changing the structure of you serialized classes for some reason.
Answer: Because in many cases default id is not unique. so we create id for making unique concept.
Comment: Can you edit your answer to flesh it out more?  This seems like a comment here.  THanks.


Shimano Hydraulic Disc Brakes vs Tektro Hydraulic Disc Brakes

Question: My current bike has this brake set: "Tektro HD-M285 post mount hydraulic disc brakes with 160mm 6-bolt rotors and Tektro levers."
I have read many places online that people prefer "Shimano M315, hydraulic disc, 160mm." I am considering an upgrade, but I have yet to see any scientific fact behind which brand is more appropriate for certain environments. Is this truly a matter of opinion or is there factual evidence to prove that one is more efficient and durable than the other?
Comment: Based on Amazon pricing, you are looking at the Shimano brakes being more than twice as expensive.  If longevity is your main concern, I would ride what you have until you have an issue then look to upgrade.
Comment: Are you happy with your current set up?  What exactly would you be looking for? less weight? better stopping power? more modulation?
Comment: I am not terribly concerned with weight. The brakes I have worked well, but I am wondering if either has been proven more durable. Like is one expected to last for a greater number of miles than another because I would prefer to invest in a long-term component rather than a short-term component?
Comment: Thank you, @BenKickert This makes sense. I saw the price difference, but I just wasn't sure if there is any more to it than just a name. I appreciate your help!
Comment: If you are going to upgrade, I would go at least to the M7000 to add the extra adjustability and also interoperability with the top of the line Shimano components.
Answer: It all depends on what you are looking for.  Both the Tektro HD-M285 and the Shimano M315 are considered entry-level hydraulic brakes (despite the fact the M315s are over twice the cost), so if your current setup works for you, I wouldn't change it.
If you were looking to upgrade your brakes, I would go with the Deore (M6000) or SLX model (M7000).  At that point you are going to get quite a few additional features.  For instance, the M7000 has tool-free reach adjustment along with a few other weight savings and some minor increased performance upgrades (better pistons for instance).
The nice thing about getting into this upper range is you can easily swap individual components with the higher Shimano ranges.
Personally I would save up for the M7000s.


NGINX for TCP DDOS Protection

Question: I require a TCP reverse proxy to protect my server's IP. I need something like this which works fine https://xhosts.uk/ddosprotection or https://www.hostsavor.com/proxies
I was wondering if I could use NGINX to achieve this, as NGINX is what I currently use as my ddos protection.
Comment: How are you using NGINX as DDoS-Protection? You can limit rate per IP but DDOS is a whole different thing. If you're in an professional environment you need a provider to handle this for you. I'm not advertising a specific provider here, just search for ddos-protection. If it's just for your private/small business site: Are you actually under attack? Then contact your ISP for help. If not: Don't bother with it, this can be quite costly. You only need DDOS protection if high availability is crucial for your business and you're actually a potential target of large-scale DDOS.
Comment: The backend server is being used to host a game which is known to have particularly toxic players, many of which have proper botnets. I've already got an nginx server setup as a http reverse proxy with a fully configured firewall. My mate DDOSed it with my permission and it had no affect on either server, handling 60,000+ connections easily. He said he could use alot more but I simply just rate-limit too much and nginx would ban the IPs - so yes it can be done :) Was wondering I could use this same setup (since it works for me) but for TCP protection.
Comment: 60000 isn't that much and there are way more angles of attack, e.g. which connection type, what methods to use, DNS amplification etc. If it's really a productive environment you should at least consult a company in the DDOS prevention business, that consultation is money well spent. You obviously test your environment for this case which is great because many people don't really think about it but let a professional company look over your setup just so you can sleep well, is all I'm saying.
Answer: There some ways to use Nginx for DOS Protection (see Rate Limiting with NGINX and NGINX Plus or Mitigating DDoS Attacks with NGINX and NGINX Plus) but for real DDOS attacks - I emphasize the first D which stands for "Distributed" - you need a little more than Nginx, especially on network level.
However I assume that the linked approaches gives you already a good start into this issue.

NGINX for TCP DDOS Protection


How do I get publishers and agents to read my full book?

Question: My problem is that my first few chapters are decent but the last few chapters of my book are superb writing that is capable of becoming famous.
How do I get publishers and agents to read my full book?
Answer: Rewrite the first few chapters and make them superb.  There is no law that says that yesterday's writing has to stay in the story.  If the story's definition has improved, or if you yourself have improved in writing skill and creative voice, then throw away yesterday's inferior work.  Make every page shine!
Publishers and Agents are like every other potential fan of your work.  The only tool you have for seducing them into reading the next page, is the excellence of all the pages they've already read.
Comment: Yes, I don't think there is any other way. The start sells the book. Realistically if you were capable of writing such a great ending, you will be able to write a great beginning. In fact, if you really hit your stride at the end and do not have a major time constraint you should write all of it up to the same level. Would make selling the book much easier...
Answer: Agents and publishers are irrelevant. The real question here is: How do you get readers to read your full book? And the answer to that is that your book won't leave the book store if the beginning is not  superb. And that is why agents and publishers read only the beginning: because the reader will.

Also, congratulations on a healthy dose of overestimation of your own abilities. Research has shown that it's not ability but bigheadedness that better predict success. Bad writing has consistently made the bestseller lists – in fact most beststelling authors are at best mediocre stylists –, but self-doubt rarely has. So I'm sure you're gonna go far.
Comment: @Jimmery Me neither.
Comment: BWAHAHAH. This had me laughing for a good minute.
I cant tell if I was just insulted or praised.
But whatever, Arrogance is simply a byproduct of superiority.
Comment: Both. I do think that a firm belief in one's superiority is useful, while I personally like people best who don't flaunt it. Being superior and not acting superior don't exclude each other, and since as a writer you will be a brand or celebrity, some modesty might make you more likeable. People love Tolkien's books also because of their author's character. That said, I have also seen too many people who thought themselves great artists but simply weren't. The claim of greatness in your question lacks proof and is unnecessary.
Comment: Cant tell if that second paragraph is sarcastic or not...
Answer: Hook your readers from the first sentence and don't let them go until the very end. You can't tell literary professionals to hang in there till your story gets interesting: you'll be tagged as an amateur straight away. Do your homework. Serious writers know this stuff. I wish you well.
Answer: Consider dropping the first few chapters.  Most books can stand some tough-love editing, and if the first few chapters don't stand out as great, even to you, the author, maybe it means they are dispensable.  It might be that you needed them to get your start on the story, but --like the sketch on the canvas that the artist later paints over --they aren't that important to the final product.
You could also see if they might work better if placed elsewhere in the book.  For instance, if the book is fairly linear, you might experiment with starting in the middle of the action instead.


Does a hardwood flooring patch require the whole room to be sanded?

Question: I'm looking for someone to fix holes in my floor from radiators. They're going to cut out the boards with holes in them and replace those. One says they can't sand them unless they sand the whole floor and it'll be a little higher and different color. Others say they'll sand it and it'll look more or less like new. Who's right?
Answer: "Sand the whole floor" is your default old-school flooring guy approach to anything with a hardwood floor. Because they'll be starting with an incredibly coarse grade of sandpaper to grind wood quickly, it's hard to blend, and they don't want to bother to take the time to just sand a couple of boards and slow down/stop when they become level with the rest of the floor, so they just grind the whole floor to a new lower level.
It provides a very consistent "look" but it also spends the remaining life (board thickness) of the rest of the floor if it's not otherwise in need of a sanding.
Spot-sanding a few boards, slower, with finer grit, and blending take more care, and despite that might also result in less cost to the homeowner, so you can see where the "less fuss, make more money" math favors the wholesale approach for those guys.
New boards will start out thicker as they haven't been partly sanded down over the years as your existing floorboards most likely have. Your folks taking only those down to the point of blending have several options, including doing some bulk reduction by measuring the surrounding boards and thinning the new ones before they even install them. That might imply a different toolset as well as a different mindset. On the floor, they might work with a smaller and more easily controlled sander and finer grits to get the new boards to blend, and then spot finish the area.
Spot-finishing will always show up to a casual glance when it's first done, (because the new spot is shiny and the rest of the floor has been lived-with) but soon settles back to something you would only be able to notice if you were looking for it, specifically, if it's well done. The new spot gets lived with too, and becomes less obvious. Ask to see examples (pictures, at least) of their previous work. At some point when the whole floor needs it, you can always do the complete sand and refinish routine, later.
Comment: Thanks very much for this thorough response. Since I certainly don't want to sand the whole floor, it sounds like my best bet is one of the guys who said they'd just sand the new boards and try to match/blend?
Comment: Ask to see examples of their work. Really.
Comment: Thanks. Just did. To be clear, the guy who says you'd have to sand the whole floor is proposing to do it without sanding at all, even just the new parts, because it would make it look too different from the rest. I don't know if that changes your perspective. I'm asking to see work for sure.
Comment: It will then not only *still* look different, it will stick out of the surface and be a toe-stubbing hazard.
Answer: By refinishing the whole floor they are confident that they can do an acceptable job.
Only refinishing the new boards, or patching holes will give a less predictable result, and  the thing they want most is for you to pay them happily.
Oxalic acid will probably take out those black iron stains  after which the square hole can probably be patched in a way that's not too obtrusive. about the same as, or possibly better than, those two smaller round patches)
You could perhaps contact a carpenter instead of a flooring contractor.
Comment: My read on the intended fix is to cut out the sections of the boards with the stains and holes and replace them with unstained, un-holed boards.
Comment: Correct, Ecnerwal — one contractor says if we aren't going to sand the whole thing, not going to sand the new boards alone.
Answer: This looks like 1920 oak strip flooring.
Call around and find a guy who has some in stock or from a previous project.  I used  habitat for humanity store and they not only had the same flooring I could spec the width.  Or find a tear down house of the same vintage in your neighborhood and get the same boards.
The salvaged floor still has the same stain...   for any cuts or dents you can just touch up the stain.  If you can only find wider then you can have a flooring guy rip it to width just not as ideal.


How to not notify fans when posting on my Facebook page?

Question: I have old stuff to post on my Facebook page and I would like my "fans" not to be notified about it.
Is it possible ?
Answer: A Facebook page is a public profile, so anytime you post anything on page it will be visible to page 'fans'. If you want 'fans' did not get notify just unpublish your page.
Published Page is visible to the public. Unpublished Page is only visible to the people who manage the Page. Unpublishing your Page will hide it from the public, including the people who like your Page.
To unpublish your Page:

Click Settings at the top of your Page.
Click Page Visibility.
Click to check the box next to Unpublish Page.
Click Save Changes.

Your Page won't be visible to the public until you publish it again.
Note: You'll need to be an admin to unpublish your Page.
Answer: Okay, so there are a few ways... One, under the "liked" button on page is a drop down menu. Users clicking "notifications" under that can specify what they receive from the page.
The only other real way to do this, through Facebook, alone, is through paying for advertising, now... Facebook has unethically strangled organic reach so that  page admins have to literally pay just to reach the fans they used to be able to, for free..
Then 3rd party apps MUST do this, although I have not looked into it, yet. I intend to, tonight.


Should I mention studying during high school in academic CV?

Question: I am a postdoc, applying for tenure track jobs in mathematics.
I did my bachelor degree as a kid (was 14 when started).
I wonder if I should/could mention this in my academic CV?
Comment: I wouldn't do this in the US, for the simple reason that age discrimination is illegal. Formally, I'm not _allowed_ to care how old you are, or how old you were when you got whatever degree; I'm only allowed to care about what you've _done_.
Comment: Of course I can do what I want, my question is it is advisible to do that.
Comment: It is your CV, you can do what you like with it.
Comment: That all depends on who is reading it. The answer is simple: if you are proud of it, mention it. If not, don't. There are no rules for a CV: it is your personal CV so do what you like.
Comment: I'm not sure I understand the question.  Do you mean that you did high school and college concurrently?
Comment: You should clarify the title, since I think everyone "studied" in high school (at least a little bit)
Answer: In my academic CV, I have included all my university education, which naturally includes my undergraduate degree.
I don't think it makes any difference that you started when you were 14. You came out with the same piece of paper as everyone else in the end up.
Comment: I am fairly sure that the question is about whether to just mention the BSc, or whether to also mention that it was obtained in parallel to attending highschool.
Answer: It possibly depends on where you are sending the CV. For a research position, it clearly indicates intelligence and thus probably would help or at least not hurt (as long as you don't overplay it). For more of a teaching job (e.g. at a 4-year college) I could see how it might potentially hurt: if you didn't have the typical high school math background you might have difficulty teaching students who have just come from that (with all of the gaps and weaknesses such a background so often entails).
Perhaps you can prepare two different versions of your CV, one that contains the parenthetical (started at age 14) and one that doesn't. For each job you apply to, make a judgment call about which one to send, taking into account both the job description and the nature of the school.
Answer: I was in a very similar situation: Started my BSc with 13, got it with 16 and was looking for a faculty level position in Math or CS [plenty of other things happened in between].
My CV does mention this. It never came up during an interview, or informal feedback, neither in a positive or negative way. I got a position.
Of course, this is just a single data point, but maybe it helps.
Comment: This is a good thing though. It is indeed an achievement in starting Bachelor study at the age of 13 (or 14). In my country, it is not allowed. It should definitely be mentioned. I don't know how much it is normal it is in other countries.


search with inadmissible heuristics

Question: I was told that search algorithm such as IDA* or Beam Search with any inadmissible heuristic is not guaranteed to find a solution. Can someone explain why that is the case? I was thinking sure the solution may not be optimal as the agent is too pessimistic to try out a potentially optimal path, but as least it will try some path and which could be a sub-optimal solution (i.e. the search algorithm is at least sound and complete)?
Answer: Beam Search can fail to find any solution even with an admissible heuristic. (Suppose the beam has width $k=1$ and the root node has two children, $a$ and $b$, with $b$ being a solution and there is no solution reachable from $a$. Let $C(v)$ be the true cost of an optimal solution via vertex $v$ and $\infty$ if no solution via $v$ exists, and $H(\cdot)$ be an admissible heuristic for $C(\cdot)$. Then it could be that $C(a) = \infty$ but $H(a) < H(b) \le C(b) < \infty$, in which case the only solution, $b$, is discarded immediately.)
IDA* will find a (possibly suboptimal) solution if an inadmissible heuristic is used.
Comment: IDA* comprises a series of DFS passes that each start from scratch and proceed until a pass-specific cost cutoff. At some point during each pass, _every_ node below that pass's cost cutoff will be generated -- but none of them are saved in memory. The cost cutoff increases with each pass, so each pass will generate all nodes generated in all preceding passes (plus a few more).
Comment: I just read a textbook which says that IDA* will not keep all the reached states in memory. Maybe that's why it can fail to find the solution when the heuristic is inadmissible, as when it choose to ignore a node it will never expand it again?

search with inadmissible heuristics


Can I buy the gas within the contract code?

Question: The contract contains ether. Can I buy the gas within the contract code?
Comment: You want to steal the gas ? find an exploit in the smart contract code! If there is no hack/exploit you can't. Otherwise if you're talking about the gas fees, only the miner who mines the block wins the gas.
Comment: no, if i see, that msg.gas is small, i want bay gas for miner.
Answer: Yes and no.
The gas has to be paid for, up front, by the original sender. There's no way to add more gas inside a transaction.
However, it's possible for a contract to reimburse the sender. It's also possible for the transaction to have a gasPrice of 0, and then the contract reimburses the miner via sending to msg.coinbase. In the latter case, a miner would have to be specifically programmed to accept that kind of transaction.


how to send verification code from asp.net website to mobile

Question: i want to send the verification code  when user registered in asp.net website to his mobile but i do not know anything about how i can do it
please can any one help me
Answer: You'd need an SMS gateway, such as Esendex (which I've used) or Intellisoftware's SMS Gateway (which I haven't).
Answer: You don't need an SMS gateway for this task at all. Simply email the cell phone, it'll come across as an SMS. See the article here http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/email-to-sms/ for how to email a cell phone, this article tells you how to send email from asp.net https://web.archive.org/web/20211020121616/https://www.4guysfromrolla.com/articles/072606-1.aspx


Why does my gpx layer go to the wrong spot even if they have the same CRS?

Question: Help! I am a QGIS beginner with a big problem! I am trying to load a gpx file from Garmin into my map.  The project CRS is WGS 84, and the incoming data is in CRS WGS 84.  When I look at the bottom of my map in QGIS or on the coordinate capture, all of  my locations appear to be in the UTM format.  However when I load in the gpx files, the points go to their long/lat locations, which is of course very far away from everything else because everything else as UTM coordinates in the thousands. I have on the fly enabled... but I am not sure how to fix this.  Even if I save the GPX data in coordinate form, it still loads to its lat/long numbers as UTM coordinates.  I am hoping there is an easy fix that I am too inexperienced to know about?
Comment: Welcome to gis.SE. Its hard to tell what is wrong here - can you show a small sample of your data (both the GPX data, and the source data)? Showing which version of QGIS might also be useful.
Answer: Why dont you try the swapping lat/long:

Load your gpx data
use the swapxy plugin to swap between latitude and longitude
save the swapped gpx data in any vector format
Answer: Assuming you have more than only the GPX data:
Rightclick on every layer, and look up the extent values under Properties, metadata tab.
If they are greater than +/- 180/90°, the data is not WGS84, but UTM. Then check Set CRS for layerto see if the CRS is set for EPSG:4326 for those layers that are limited to +/-180/90, and the UTM of your part of the world for others.
If that does not help you, set the project CRS to EPSG:3857, add the Openlayers plugin with a Google or Openstreetmap background layer. Then you will see which layer is right and which is misplaced.


Trying to find values that are greater than the average. SQL Developer from ORACLE

Question: I have a table of words that come up in a table of series. I am trying to find which series have more words used (unique id's) than the average of all the words used in all the series. So far I've got this code.
POSTING contains the primary key IDT which is the unique word ID and the foreign key IDS which is the SERIES primary key.
SELECT s.NAME, COUNT(UNIQUE p.IDT) as vocSize
FROM POSTING p, SERIES s
WHERE s.IDS = p.IDS
AND (SELECT AVG(IDT) FROM POSTING) < p.IDT;

Comment: Sample data and desired results would really help.  What is a posting?  What column contains a word?
Answer: You can do what you want using window functions and aggregations.  If I understand correctly, the query looks like this:
select *
from (select s.name, count(distinct p.idt) as vocsize,
             avg(count(distinct p.idt)) over () as avg_vocsize
      from series s join
           posting p
           on s.ids = p.ids
      group by s.name
     ) s
where vocsize > avg_vocsize;

Comment: Yes, thank you. Exactly what I needed to do. Could you explain how the JOIN is used here?
Comment: The join is simply used to access the `p.idt` field.  It seems necessary because the necessary information is split between the two queries.
Answer: Without sample data, I'm somewhat guessing, but the fact you were trying to do unique within the count makes me believe you need two grouping elements.
SELECT
   s.NAME,
   p.IDT,
   COUNT(*) as vocSize
FROM
   POSTING p
      JOIN SERIES s ON (s.IDS = p.IDS)
GROUP BY
   s.NAME,
   p.IDT
HAVING
    COUNT(UNIQUE p.IDT) >
      (SELECT
          AVG(IDT)
       FROM
          POSTING pp
      WHERE
          p.NAME = pp.NAME);


What's the relation between Shin Megami Tensei and Persona games?

Question: What does Shin Megami Tensei (Games like Shin Megami Tensei IV) have to do with the Persona series (Persona 3, IV, etc)? How are they related, if at all?
Comment: Shin Megami Tensei is Persona 4.
Comment: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shin_Megami_Tensei:_Persona_4
Answer: The Persona series is a spin-off series of the main (Shin) Megami Tensei series of games. While the two series have no direct connection in terms of story, they do share a number of common thematic and mechanical elements, such as the recruitment, summoning, and fusion of demons. In the Persona series, of course, they're usually called "personas" instead of "demons" and are explained somewhat differently in the story. Many of the individual demons/personas themselves are present across both series as well.
While the main-line Shin Megami Tensei series generally features a heavier emphasis on combat and mechanics, the Persona series has generally been positioned more as a traditional JRPG series, with more focus on story and character interaction. The third and fourth Persona games also introduce social sim elements, which are entirely absent from the main SMT games.
Aside from Persona, there are other SMT spin-off series as well, such as Devil Summoner, Digital Devil Saga, Devil Survivor, and so on.
Answer: The main Shin Megami Tensei games have no story link to the Persona games. What they do have are mechanical links.
For example, where you can collect the persona cards in P3 and P4, you convince demons to join your party in the main SMT games. From there, though, you can fuse demons just like in P3 and P4, complete with skill inheritance and the like.
Answer: The Persona games are technically related to the mainline series, but they are really meant to be enjoyed as standalone games. The Persona games are  a spin off of Shin Megami Tensei If, and Shin MegamI Tensei If is a spin off of the orginal series where the nuclear apocalypse that takes place in Shin Megami Tensei II never happens. In Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne it is revealed that there are multiple universes that are connected. More information can be found here

P.S - I'm sorry if I got some of the details wrong, I haven't played/finished all of the games.


Secure a WF4 Workflow Service with ADFS2/WIF?

Question: I have a .xamlx Workflow Service that I would like to secure so that it can only be called by clients that have obtained a token from my STS (ADFS v2.0). Normally this is very easy to do if you're using a "Web Site" project template, and you've added a .SVC service - the "Add STS Reference" wizard will find the service you want secured and will secure it individually for you as a relying party.
Problem is, when you do "Add STS Reference" to the Workflow Service application, all you get is "passive redirect" security, not active federation which is what you need when securing individual services.
Anybody know how to do this?
Answer: Looks like this might be the answer: http://zamd.net/2010/07/04/using-wif-with-workflow-services/


Disable ANR messages while debugging

Question: While debugging an application and stopped at a breakpoint, Android repeatedly displays "<Application> isn't responding. Do you want to close it?" dialogs with a "wait" and "ok" option. Is there any way to disable those while an application is being debugged?
Comment: This is still an issue, other questions are years older and their answers actually explain how to get this level of behaviour that we now want to get past. I need time to actually analyze the debug info. The app should not be killed while at a breakpoint.
Comment: is this still a thing nowadays?
Comment: I noticed it just a day or two ago.
Comment: I can't reproduce it on Android 11
Comment: It still happens for example while in lldb session, my app is in "Select debugging app".  The only solution is to not stay too long in debug session :-( I use newest AndroidStudio, device is pixel 4a with android 13.
Answer: In the Developer Options scroll down to the Debugging section and choose your app in "Select debugging app". This way it will not trigger any ANR when paused in a breakpoint.
The setting value will be remembered even if you remove/reinstall your app.
Note that this option may not be available depending on your API level.
Comment: Thank you. This is the perfect solution for ANR during debugging
Comment: This is the ONLY solution, and it's really far from perfect. It's actually pretty annoying as soon as you work on more than 1 application. I still don't understand why ANR security is enabled in debug apps in the first place…
Answer: When the app stops at the breakpoint
ANR is thought to have occurred by the system
But really you're just waiting for the break point
The system doesn't know that
dialog show by System
No need to pop anr when debug is not considered
I think unless you modify the system source code, Take that into account
I hope I can help you : )
Answer: An ANR will be triggered for your app when one of the following conditions occur:

While your activity is in the foreground, your app has not responded to an input event or BroadcastReceiver (such as key press or screen touch events) within 5 seconds.
While you do not have an activity in the foreground, your BroadcastReceiver hasn't finished executing within a considerable amount of time.

I'm not sure what is your case here but when debugging just don't interact with the app (such as click button, tab on screen) and then the app will wait for the debugger.
Answer: If your applications shows that message when is not staying on breakpoint there is definitely too much computation on the main thread and you should get rid of complex calculations on main thread and move them to background threads
Comment: The question is specifically about Android showing the message while stopped at a breakpoint.

Disable ANR messages while debugging


file is corrupt

Question: i have a laptop , and i have a eksternal hard disk , and my frien borrow my hardisk to backup something's file .. i dot now what him copied file .. After that, my delete files that have been her backup because he had completed his affair with files that are on my hard disk, hence my delete..after deleted , and how many files deleted in file .Trash -1000 .. and wanted me to delete again , to be cleaner . why can not be removed and writing "can not moving files to trash " .. and all files are erased as it was all . how his solution in order to remove the file without formatting the hard disk ? Sorry if my language is less clear, because I have not yet fluent in English..
Answer: Go to your Trash and delete the Trash with the drive plugged in. This automatically deletes the content of the <code>.Trash</code> folder(s) from all plugged in devices.

file is corrupt


uninitialized constant [Incident::Involf]

Question: I have a rails app that is using Active Admin. Basic flow is that I have an Incident model has associations with other models. Connections other models seem fine but for one model (Involves) in particular I get the error uninitialized constant Incident::Involf when creating a new Incident.
Incident model looks like this
class Incident < ActiveRecord::Base
 # Relationships
 belongs_to :admin_user
 has_many :images
 has_and_belongs_to_many :incident_types
 has_and_belongs_to_many :involves
 has_and_belongs_to_many :special_considerations

 belongs_to :county
 belongs_to :location

 # Nested Attributes
 accepts_nested_attributes_for :images
 accepts_nested_attributes_for :county
 accepts_nested_attributes_for :location
 accepts_nested_attributes_for :incident_types
 accepts_nested_attributes_for :involves
 accepts_nested_attributes_for :special_considerations
end

The Involve model looks like this
class Involve < ActiveRecord::Base

  # Relationships
  has_and_belongs_to_many :incidents

  # Aliases
  alias_attribute :name, :involved

end

The active admin model for nested Incidents look like this
f.inputs "Vehicles Involved" do
    f.input :involves, :as => :check_boxes
 end

f.inputs "Special Considerations" do
    f.input :special_considerations, :as => :check_boxes
end

Where Special Considerations work if I have f.input :involves, :as => :check_boxes commented out, but I get this error if I don't have it commented out.
Looked at the database and the associations and the code is very similar to others that I am not sure what the problem is.
Answer: This issue is resolved.
It looked liked to be an issue with either the pluralization of Involve or involve is a keyword.
I changed the model name to Incident_Involvement and that resolved the issue.


HTML table with writable cells?

Question: I've been trying  to build a simple GAE app and to be able to manipulate the position of the text on the screen. I asked the same question on several forums; so far with no solution. I apologize if my question has not been clear.
Now I thought of achieving the same functionality with a grid, like a spreadsheet. Do you know how I can simulate a spreadsheet-like table in GAE? Or an html table where you can enter a string in each cell?
I feel like I am trying to re-invent the wheel. There must be a simple way to achieve this functionality. I would appreciate any suggestions.
Here are the links to previous questions:
Stackoverflow
comp.lang.python
Hacker News
Hacker News
Thank you!
Answer: There is a jquery plugin called UI Table Edit.  That may be a good place to start.  Dig around for already implemented grid tools or plugins in javascript that have done most of the work for you.  I think Yahoo! has released a nice data grid that allows for editing as well.
Answer: What you are looking for is a data grid -- if you're fine with a client-side solution, and you're up for using jQuery then you might try DataTables.  Here is an example of datatables with a pair of plugins to simulate a spreadsheet.
Answer: AbsolutePanel and LayoutPanel are part of GWT and allow you to place any element at arbitrary x- and y-coordinates.  I recommend some client-side solution like GWT for any serious application where javascript will be available.
If you want to solve this with just GAE and no code on the client side, you could use CSS positioning to achieve your effect.  Just generate a top: and left: attribute with position:fixed and you can cause the text to appear anywhere.
I'm not sure what you mean by "manipulate the position of text," but I don't think a table will be a good solution if you want pixel-level control.

HTML table with writable cells?


Is the first-order theory of complete atomic Boolean algebras finitely axiomatizable?

Question: A complete atomic Boolean algebra is one that is isomorphic to a power set algebra, that is, a power set along with the operations of union, intersection, complement, the empty set, and the universal set. Is the first-order theory of the class of complete atomic Boolean algebras finitely axiomatizable? I conjecture that it is, and in fact all you need besides the Boolean algebra axioms is an axiom stating that it is atomic. Is this true? If not, what other axioms do you need?
Comment: That's not the definition of "[complete Boolean algebra](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complete_Boolean_algebra)." A complete Boolean algebra is one in which every set (of arbitrary cardinality) has a greatest lower bound and a least upper bound. In particular, complete Boolean algebras don't have to be atomic.
Comment: user107952, please clarify two points. (1) By "complete Boolean algebra" do you mean (a) complete **atomic** Boolean algebra (which is isomorphic to a power set algebra), or do you mean (b) any complete Boolean algebra? I'll put the second question in a second comment.
Comment: user107952: Let $K$ be the class of Boolean algebras you're talking about. Let $\Sigma=Th(K)$ be the first-order theory of $K$, i.e., the set of all sentences holding true in all members of $K$. When you asked if the first-order theory of $K$ is finitely axiomatizable, did you mean (c) is the first-order theory of $K$ axiomatizable, i.e., is there a sentence $\alpha$ such that the theory $\Sigma$ is the set of all logical consequences of $\alpha$? Or did you really mean to ask (d) is there a sentence $\alpha$ such that $Mod(\alpha)=K$?
Comment: @bof I mean a complete atomic boolean algebra. I meant your (c). I know that complete atomic boolean algebras are not an elementary class.
Comment: I believe the (first order) theory of complete atomic BAs is the same as the theory of atomic BAs, which is of course finitely axiomatizable. In fact I believe all infinite atomic BAs are elementarily equivalent. A back and forth argument (game) should work to prove that.
Comment: @bof Yes, in fact the theory of infinite atomic BAs is countably categorical (by back and forth)! You should post your last comment as an answer.
Comment: @AlexKruckman Are you sure about that? The theory of infinite **atomless** BAs is countably categorical. A countably infinite **atomic** BA may or may not have an element $a$ such that $a$ and the complement of $a$ both contain infinitely many atoms. The finite-cofinite BA is not isomorphic to its square. By "back and forth" I meant proving elementary equivalence by means of Ehrenfeucht–Fraisse games. I can't write an answer, don't know enough logic.
Comment: Haha oops. I was thinking "atomless".
Comment: In any case, complete Boolean algebras (by either definition) are not an elementary class.
Comment: The class $K$ of all complete Boolean algebras is not an elementary class, but that isn't what the OP asked. The question is whether the $Th(K)$, the first-order theory of complete Boolean algebras, is finitely axiomatizable. It's been a long time since I studied this stuff, so I'm not sure, but I **think** it's the same as the theory of the class of Bookean algebras in which the set of atoms has a least upper bound, which is finitely axiomatizable.  I could be all wet
Comment: Let's call a BA "separable" (probably the wrong word) if the sum of all the atoms exists. It seems to me that a "separable" BA is the sum of an atomic BA and an atomless BA, which is elementarily equivalent to the sum of a complete atomic BA and a complete atomless BA, which is a complete BA. So every "separable" BA is elementarily equivalent to a complete BA, so the first-order theory of complete BAs is the same as the first-order theory of "separable" BAs, which is finitely axiomatizable. But I could be wrong.
Answer: Yes, the first-order theory of complete atomic Boolean algebras (BAs) is finitely axiomatizable, since it is equal to the theory of atomic BAs, as suggested by bof in the comments. So this theory is axiomatized by the finitely many  axioms for BAs, together with the additional axiom: $$\forall x\, (x = \bot \lor \exists y\, (y \leq x\land \forall z\, (z \leq  y\rightarrow (z = y\lor z = \bot)))).$$
To prove this, we need to show that every atomic BA is elementarily equivalent to a complete atomic BA. This is trivial for finite atomic BAs, since every finite BA is complete. So it remains to show that every infinite atomic BA is elementarily equivalent to a complete atomic BA. This follows from the fact that the theory of infinite atomic BAs is complete, so any infinite atomic BA is elementarily equivalent to any infinite complete atomic BA, such as $\mathcal{P}(\omega)$.
As bof also suggested in the comments, you can prove that the theory of infinite atomic BAs is complete using a back and forth argument / Ehrenfeucht–Fraïssé game. Instead of outlining this argument, I'll just tell you about a much more general theorem: Tarski's complete elementary invariants for Boolean algebras.
Let $B$ be a BA. We say an element $x\in B$ is atomic if for all $y\leq x$ with $y\neq \bot$, there exists an atom $z\leq y$. And we say an element $x\in B$ is atomless if there is no atom $z \leq x$. Let $I(B)$ be the ideal generated by the atomic and atomless elements. That is, $$I(B) = \{y\vee z\mid \text{$y$ is atomic and $z$ is atomless}\}.$$
Now define a sequence of BAs by induction: $B^{(0)} = B$ and $B^{(n+1)} = B^{(n)}/I(B^{(n)})$. Tarski's first invariant $n$ is the minimum natural number such that $B^{(n)}$ is the trivial algebra or $\infty$ if there is no such $n$.
If $n = 0$ (i.e. $B$ is already trivial) or $n = \infty$, then this is the only invariant. Otherwise, $B^{(n)}$ is trivial, but $B^{(n-1)}$ is non-trivial, and we define two more invariants by looking at $B^{(n-1)}$. Tarski's second invariant is just the question of whether $B^{(n-1)}$ is atomic, and Tarski's third invariant is the number of atoms in $B^{(n-1)}$, which could be any natural number or $\infty$ if there are infinitely many.
So for example, any infinite atomic BA has invariants $(1,\text{atomic},\infty)$. A finite BA has invariants $0$ if it is trivial or $(1,\text{atomic},n)$ if it has $n$ atoms. Any atomless BA has invariants $(1,\text{not atomic},0)$.
Now the theorem is that two BAs are elementarily equivalent if and only if they have the same Tarski invariants. The classic reference for this is

Tarski, A., "Arithmetical classes and types of Boolean algebras," Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society, vol. 55 (1949), p. 63.

But I couldn't easily find a copy of this paper online. You can also find a proof in the Handbook of Boolean Algebras, Volume 1, where Section 18 (the first half of Chapter 7) is devoted to the proof.
Since you're interested in the quesiton of finite axiomatization: By looking at the form of the axiomatization of the Tarski invariants, it follows that a completion of the theory of BAs is finitely axiomatizable if and only if none of its invariants are $\infty$.
Comment: If Tarski 1949 is on just one page of the *Bulletin* then it's probably just an abstract. A detailed proof was published by Ershov in Russian, probably that was the first published proof of Tarski's result.
Comment: @bof I don't think that it's true that every BA is elementarily equivalent to a complete BA. In a complete BA, you can take the join of all the atoms, and its complement is atomless. So the FO theory of complete BAs is the theory of BAs with first Tarski invariant $0$ or $1$ (which is indeed finitely axiomatizable).
Comment: Duh. Brain malfunction. What I mean to say was that every Boolean algebra in which the join of all the atoms exists (what I called "separable" BA in my comment way back) is elementarily equivalent to a complete BA.
Comment: @bof Yep, I agree with that.
Comment: The Ershov reference is: Yu. L. Ershov, *Decidability of the elementary theory of relatively complemented distributive lattices and the theory of filters*, Algebra i Logika Sem. 3 (1964), 17-38 (Russian). I suppose that is cited in the *Handbook of Boolean Algebra*. I should get myself a copy of that, next time I win the lottery.


Regression for Multiple different Groups in SPSS

Question: I have a data set With multiple different people who fill out a survey for multiple days. I have added examples but these are not the real data points we pulled from the survey. I would like to do a correlation or regression test for each subject to see if there is a relationship between individual subject happiness value and the increase and decrease of weight. In SPSS is there a way to do regression analysis for each subject individually then to compare the results of if there is a significant relationship.
Answer: This sounds like a mixed model situation. An example is shown in the Case Studies for SPSS Statistics at Using Linear Mixed Models to Fit a Random Coefficients Model. This model fits a common fixed slope and intercept across subjects, as well as random slopes and intercepts for individual subjects to see how they depart from the common values. To show the individual deviations check the box to "Display parameter predictions for this set of random effects" in the Random dialog box.


How can light be stretched (redshifted) if the speed of light is constant?

Question: If light travels at the same speed how can it be stretched to provide red shift that is used in measuring the expansion of the universe?
Answer: The statement "the speed of light is constant" refers to the local speed with which light passes through any given point in spacetime, according to an observer that is also passing through that point. The significance of this caveat for cosmology is explained here:
What does general relativity say about the relative velocities of objects that are far away from one another?
For the present question, the "local" caveat is important because successive wavecrests are spatially separated from each other: successive wavecrests cannot both pass through the same spacetime point. So there is no contradiction between "the speed of light is constant" and cosmological redshift. Whenever a given wavecrest passes through a given point in spacetime, its speed is the usual constant $c$ according to an observer who is also passing through that point. In contrast, the relative "speed" between two spatially-separated entities (such as successive wavecrests) is not fundamentally limited; it's not even obvious how such a speed should be defined. This is related to the possibility of a cosmological horizon.


Snapshot fails in ESXi "The virtual disk is either corrupted or not a supported format"

Question: We migrated all of our VMs to new storage using vMotion.  However, one of our VMs, we had to move manually.  Even though some data files didn't transfer over completely, the VM operates fine since the main vm files are available. However, when we take a snapshot using vSphere, the following error shows up "The virtual disk is either corrupted or not a supported format."
Comment: What data files didn't copy over and why?
Comment: Have all the snapshots failed since you brought the machine to the new storage?
Answer: The best way I have found to fix problems with disks like this (and it's good that you can still read the VMDK file :-)) is to use a tool like GParted (the live CD) or Ghost to copy the contents of the disk over to a new VMDK file and replace the VMDK.  The process I used the one time I had to do this was:

Create a couple backups of your data.  With the VM having corrupt/missing data files you might want to copy all the VM files to your workstation or in another folder in the datastore.
Create a new virtual disk for the VM of the same size (or greater).
Boot from the GParted Live CD.
Using GParted copy the partition from the old disk to the new disk.
Shutdown the VM.
Remove both of the Virtual disks from the VM (making sure that "Remove from virtual machine and delete files from disk." is NOT checked).
Add a new virtual disk to the VM and select the option "Use an existing virtual disk" when prompted.
Boot the virtual machine and try taking a snapshot.
Answer: If you moved the files manually and you had a snapshot when you moved it you might want to check the parent and child IDs in the delta files, if the links don't line up right snapshots won't work properly.


How does chaotic situation arise in planetary motion in solar system?

Question: So I have been recently reading about chaotic motion in the solar system. Some research articles particularly emphasize on sensitivity to initial conditions as a prime governing factor behind the rise of a chaotic situation. But what does that physically mean for let's say our solar system? I may be asking a really question, but one thing that I am just not getting is how exactly can I make sense of sensitivity to initial conditions for our planetary motion?
Comment: *sensitivity to initial conditions as a prime governing factor behind the rise of a chaotic situation* – a slight correction: sensitivity to initial conditions is not a governing factor of chaos, it is a necessary requirement for chaos by definition. If there is no sensitivity to initial conditions, there is no chaos by definition.
Comment: A simple simulation ( dynamics all known) showing chaotic motion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXf95_EKS6E
Answer: An easier to understand example of chaos is a frictionless billiard table. Suppose you have several perfectly spherical billiard balls in a perfectly straight line. Suppose you shoot the end ball perfectly straight toward the next ball. All the balls will bounce off each other. The end ball bounces off the table and returns to the next ball. All the balls will stay on the line forever.
Suppose your aim is slightly off. The first ball hits the second slightly off center on the left. The second ball is deflected slightly off the line to the right. In this way, each ball is deflected. The longer you watch, the farther each ball travels from the line. When struck again, the misalignment will be larger. Soon this will look nothing like the first solution.
The reason for the sensitivity to initial conditions is the curvature of the balls. A larger misalignment means a larger deflection angle. If the imperfection was a slight misalignment of one edge of the table, balls would be deflected the wrong way but the from between a perfect table would not grow as quickly.

For the solar system, several planets in nearly circular orbits isn't obviously chaotic. Replace them with many planets in random initial directions. Every so often two planets will pass close to each other and deflect each other strongly. Just how strongly depends on exactly how close they pass and their relative velocities. Small changes in these parameters make a large different in deflection.
Answer: If you imagine a single sun with a single satellite, the orbital dynamics can be described quite simply. That's because the sun is only exerting a gravitational field on the satellite and the satellite is only exerting it's gravity on the sun. So they'll orbit about their gravitational center. When you introduce a second satellite, each body exerts gravity onto each other body. This makes each satellite either slow down or speed up about the sun. This also means that each satellite will also either get closer to the central mass or further away over time [like if the two satellites are both on one side of the sun or on opposite sides]. It then follows that the position and movement of each body effects the position and movement of each other body.  Because of the back and forth requirement for calculating how everything moves, you have to have a starting point from which you calculate the motion of things, which then allows you to calculate the position of things, which allows you to calculate the movement of things etc. This also means that, to a certain degree, the chaotic nature of the system is not dependent on the number of bodies. That is to say, 4 orbiting bodies isn't inherently more chaotic than 5 orbiting bodies. There's more to calculate, but it's not more chaotic.


How to view the work of individual SharePoint Office Online Server(OOS) 2016 co-authors?

Question: We have installed Office Online Server OOS with SharePoint 2016. Multiple people can co-author the document. We want to see what each author typed or wrote into the document. After the whole document is done we want to keep track who wrote what into the document? Also is it possible that each author work be done in different color as each author has different color cursor with their name?
Answer: This functionality does not exist Out Of The Box in OOS / SP2016.  I assume that you have versioning enabled, that is about as close as you will be able to get to your requirement, unless your users manually change the color of the text they are entering.


What is the edit command for 64-bit Windows 7?

Question: I am using Windows 7 64-bit. I could not find a command that enables me to write a text file in the command prompt. Is there a command for this on Windows 7 x64? I tried edit but it is not supported by Windows 7 x64. Is there another command to do this?
Comment: If you are coming from a nix background, or if you do a lot of work in the console generally it can be really helpful to have a bare-bones text editor - for hacking scripts etc (like vim or nano)...
Comment: Why would you need a console text editor exactly? Is this something related to SQL query composition?
Comment: `notepad filename.txt` should do the trick, although I freely grant that it's not `edit` and will launch a separate window. (`wordpad`, I believe, is not on the path by default, although you may need to use it if editing *n?x-originated files.)
Comment: As for when this was useful: I believe I used to view Windows shortcut (.lnk) files using `edit`. (I think when the links were broken, Windows couldn't edit them anymore--or maybe I was just curious.) Trying to edit them from within a GUI just followed the shortcut. This still works from the command prompt: `notepad whatever.lnk`.
Answer: Execute copy con note.txt
and type text, finish with Ctrl-Z.
Comment: So how do I edit existing 10-MB files?
Comment: Very cool trick that.
Answer: There is none. EDIT is a 16-bit DOS program, and Windows 7 x64 doesn't support 16-bit applications. If you need to edit text files via the command line in 64-bit Windows, you will need to use a third party application like VIM.
Answer: If you are looking for a replacement console text editor, Brief Basic is a single .exe file and uses pretty standard keyboard shortcuts.
The original 16-bit version of Brief was widely used in the MS-DOS days.
Comment: Brief requires installation; Edit did not; I do not have administrative privileges.
Comment: That might be the case; but, their website's Download link brings me to downloading Brief450.msi , which is pretty obviously an installer.
Hmm, for some reason SU removes the [at]paradroid at the beginning of my text...
Comment: @Alex Brief does not need installation. It's just a single .exe file that needs to be added to any directory in your `%PATH%`, and any user can edit their user `%PATH%`.
Comment: @Alex That's because I get a notification anyway, as the comments are under one of my answers.


Is 天的数月 the correct way to say "days of the month"?

Question: Is Tiān de shù yuè (天的数月) the correct way to state "days of the month"? I am looking for a term that will encompass all of the days of the month. This will be the heading for a paragraph that lists each day of the month. In English, the words "these are the" is implied in this phrase, so I suppose "(these are the) days of the month" is the term I am looking for. This will then be followed by Chūyī (初一) 1st, Chūèr (初二) 2nd, etc... listing them as the days of the month. I am looking for an expression similar to "Days of the week" are Monday, Tuesday, etc through Sunday. "Days of the month" are 1st through 28th, 30th or 31st depending on the month. I am looking for the Chinese term for "days of the month"
Comment: No. It is not correct. Can you provide more context?
Comment: I am looking for a term that means "days of the month" like one would says "days of the week" or, another way to put it "(these are the) days of the month".
Answer: "一個月中的幾天" might be the right translation

update
Now I understand your question!
If you want to list every days of the month, the answer might be

這個月有 (這些日子), 初一, 初二, 初三 ...
這個月有 (這些日子), 一日, 二日, 三日 ...
這個月有 (這些日子), 一號, 二號, 三號 ...

They are all right, but I prefer the second one or the third one
For example, if you want to list every days in February, it can be "二月有, 一號, 二號, 三號 ... 二十八號"
Comment: @Walter Yes! you got it!! :D
Comment: and usually "初一初二" means days in Lunar(Chinese) calendar
Comment: This phrase translates to "a few days in a month".
Comment: @Tyr You are getting me very close to what I am looking for. Using your phrase, I came upon a single word 号 Hào. Google translate says one of it meanings is "day of the month". Is this correct?
Comment: Thank you, @Tyr, I am doing a comparison of ancient calendars, like Norse, Persian, Roman, Japanese, etc... most of which are lunar. So, I'm extremely grateful for yours, and everyones help.
Answer: No it is incorrect. I assume you want to say '(The number of)days of the month'.
It should be:
这个(This as in the current one or one that was mentioned in previous context) or 本 (This as in the current one) 月 (month) 的 ('s) 天 (day) 数 (number).
天的数月 makes no sense to me as a native speaker. It would be if I say day's number month in English.
Comment: @Walter My previous comment still holds. There is no one term that encompasses all the days of a month. I asked for complete sentences because translation simply doesn't work like what you might think it should. A noun (phrase) may not have a ready equivalent noun (phrase) in another language. A good translation is not necessarily word-for-word. With context, a good translator will be able to express the same idea in the most natural way in the target language. I think this is what people looking for a translation need to be aware of.
Comment: @Walter In that case I guess I would say 一个月里(within a month)有(have/there are)这些(these)天(days).
Comment: I am looking for a term that encompasses all of the days of the month. In English, with the term "days of the month" there is an implied "these are the". so, what I am looking for, is a Chinese term that means "these are the days of the month"
Comment: Still unsure what your question is. There is no term that encompasses all the days of a month. If you'd make a couple of complete sentences, it may help.
Comment: @monalisa Have heard of the terms "days of the week" and "days of the month" before, in English? "Days of the week" are Monday, Tuesday, etc through Sunday. "Days of the month" are 1st through 28th, 30th or 31st depending on the month. I am looking for the Chinese term for "days of the month"
Comment: @monalisa Ok. I now understand what you are requesting. The full sentence for this should be: "These are all of the days of the month." or "This is a list of all the days of the month
Answer: No.
days of the month should be translated to: "某月几日"
例如, 3th April means  四月三日,  or 四月初三
Answer: With the help of everyone who took the time to answer this question, I was able to find the correct term I was looking for. The answer is Hào (号), which means "day of the month". I especially want to thank @Tyr and @monalisa for the help in getting me in the right direction to find this answer.
Comment: Is this what you are looking for "今天几号"? (Like for a week, we say "今天周几")
Comment: @Shaw, your phrase is a question. It isn't what I was looking for, but it is helpful!


the whistle on the kettle keeps popping off

Question: Is it safe to use Teflon tape on a kettle whistle? I have a stovetop stainless steel kettle with a whistle so I don't walk away and forget it. The two parts of the whistle keep falling off (one outside and the other into the kettle). Is it ok to put the two pieces together with the Teflon tape between them?
Answer: Given that PTFE (Teflon) tape is meant for use on drinking water pipes, and PTFE is used for non-stick cookware (which gets much hotter than a kettle spout), I'd happily use it (the type for potable water).
Making a habit of consuming it probably isn't a good idea but flecks of non stick coating do sometimes get into food, without poisoning anyone.
I've recently read a research paper suggesting that PTFE could be used to bulk out food as a weight-loss aid: Polytetrafluoroethylene Ingestion as a Way to Increase Food Volume and Hence Satiety Without Increasing Calorie Content.  I'm not sure I fancy it, and it would contribute to microplastic pollution - but the paper proposes PTFE making up 25% of foods, while the worst that could happen here is a few scraps.  They say it's safe. In rats.
Comment: What a horrifying bit of research. Can't they just use sawdust, like the good old days.
Comment: The TiO2 thing is funny, because we paint our houses with it, but as a biochemist, fluorocarbons just give me the willies. Technically, there's probably no problem with it, but I'd sooner wash my hands in HCl.
Comment: @WayfaringStranger or (it came up in work) very fine silica, or several other stable minerals (e.g. TiO2, which is used as a white food colouring)


What is the genre of "why not me?"- Carrie the musical?

Question: What is the genre of the song "Why not me? - Carrie the musical? I've already looked through many pages but can't seem to find it.
Comment: It is a song from a piece of musical theater. What more do you need to know? You have already correctly identified the source of the song, and its composers and performers. Why do you need to know what "genre" it is?
Comment: All the information is here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrie_(musical)
Comment: Its style could be described as "Broadway musical" or "West End musical" or "musical theater" of course. Is this not obvious from the name "Carrie, The Musical"?
Answer: This is a Broadway theater song, not a radio hit, but it's probably closest to the "Adult Contemporary" genre.
As has been mentioned elsewhere here, genre is often primarily based on marketing categories.  This song would definitely be marketed primarily to theater fans --you might hear it on a "Theater Songs" internet channel.


Connection conrol MySQL on RDS

Question: I am trying to implement a connecton control/login failure audit on MySQL RDS instance but my MySQL CONNECTION_CONTROL PLUGIN isn't capturing and storing the attempted login failures.
I installed the plugin using the following commands:
INSTALL PLUGIN CONNECTION_CONTROL
  SONAME 'connection_control.so';
INSTALL PLUGIN CONNECTION_CONTROL_FAILED_LOGIN_ATTEMPTS
  SONAME 'connection_control.so';
They completed with no errors. I run the following query and both plugins are active.
SELECT PLUGIN_NAME, PLUGIN_STATUS
       FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.PLUGINS
       WHERE PLUGIN_NAME LIKE 'connection%';
But when login attempt fails, no data will be insert into CONNECTION_CONTROL_FAILED_LOGIN_ATTEMPTS table. I tested this feature on my on-premise instances as well as EC2 instances and it's working fine but for some reason, failed login attempts will not be captured and stored on MySQL RDS instance. is this feature limitation? Any ideas? workarounds?
Answer: Please check https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/UserGuide/Appendix.MySQL.Options.html I think not all plugins are supported. Try to these plugins.
I think you are looking for this option SERVER_AUDIT_EVENTS

Connection conrol MySQL on RDS


Practicing notes with strain?

Question: Should you practice the notes which you can reach but feel strain or only practice with those where you are comfortable?
I apologize for any mistakes in the terminology. I am a beginner in music theory.
Answer: You mentioned the term strain. Strain is a big problem in the voice; if you feel strain, you should stop immediately. Pain is a message from your body telling you to stop.
You also mentioned that you don't know precise terminology, however. You said strain, but is it possible that the note is simply high and it is difficult for you to sing it? Depending on what you meant by strain, either you should be working on singing those notes to improve your range/voice, or you absolutely should not continue.
Two big things to take away from this thread: Stop if it hurts, and see a vocal instructor of some sort. Strangers on the internet (as qualified as we often are) won't be able to help you very much with this situation; ideally, in-person meetings with someone who can teach you singing technique would be preferable.
Answer: I would say no.  If you cannot hit it without strain in is not really in your range.  If you think the note should be in your range and for some reason it is straining on a particular day you might not be supporting the note properly, or have some issues with a cold coming on etc.  Try lip trilling the note or some other resonance or vocalization exercise before "singing" it.
Answer: Avoid strain. Practice recognizing the difference between strain and discomfort. A good stretch can feel a little bit uncomfortable and moves one closer toward reaching what may be currently out of reach. Stretching in and of itself is a good practice to incorporate into your musical occupation.
In year forty-something of playing music, there still seems to be an endless amount of relaxation toward which to reach.

Practicing notes with strain?


Spontaneity of reversible reactions

Question:
If a reaction has positive $\Delta G$ then reverse reaction has negative $\Delta G$. How can both occur simultaneously, e.g., in a reversible reaction such as dimerisation of $\ce{NO2}$ to form $\ce{N2O4}$? Do forward and backward reactions occur spontaneously? How can both directions be spontaneous at the same time?

I read in some book that  Haber's process to form ammonia is spontaneous at a temperature below $170\ \mathrm{^\circ C}$ (the author proved this using $\Delta G < 0$ for spontaneous process). This means that above this temperature $\ce{N2}$ and $\ce{H2}$ shouldn't combine to form $\ce{NH3}$. But industrially Haber's process is performed at temperature around $400\ \mathrm{^\circ C}$. Isn't this a contradiction?
Comment: I just want to be really picky about your use of the symbol $\Delta G$. The symbol $\Delta G$ can be used at any stage of the reaction and in fact, *gives no information about the final position of equilibrium*. The correct symbol to use is $\Delta G^\circ$. (Actually it's not a circle, it should be the standard state symbol, but whatever.) The former varies as the reaction proceeds; the latter is a constant, defined to be equal to $\Delta G$ when $Q = 1$, that determines the position of equilibrium.
Comment: Refer to this question for more info - http://chemistry.stackexchange.com/questions/28644/what-is-the-difference-between-%CE%94g-and-%CE%94g-with-an-o-on-top
Comment: If a reaction is not reversible, spontaneity depends on free energy being positive or negative. If a reaction is reversible, it can be spontaneous in both direction until equilibrium is reached.
Answer:
You seem to be mixing up thermodynamic and kinetic considerations. All reactions occur spontaneously all the time, and their backward reactions too. If left alone for long enough, a system will eventually reach the point where the forward and backward reactions go at the same rate (and it's not like they both stop altogether!) - that's an equilibrium. Where that equilibrium will be is judged by $\Delta G$; if it is negative, then the equilibrium will be closer to the products.
As for ammonia, that's where the kinetics kicks in. At room temperature $\Delta G$ is in our favor, but the equilibrium would take forever to reach. We raise the temperature so as to make the reaction faster, but that also shifts the equilibrium in the wrong direction. So we raise the pressure, too. This does the trick: now the reaction goes the way we need, and at reasonable rate.
Comment: Great explanation but I just want to be picky (same thing with the question text) - the correct symbol in this context is $\Delta G^\circ$ and not $\Delta G$.
Answer: The sign of $\Delta G^\circ$ is not an indication of whether a reaction will occur spontaneously.  For a reversible reaction, if you start with a mixture of only reactants, the reaction will proceed to produce products until the system reaches equilibrium.  If you start with a mixture of only the products (i.e., the products of the forward reaction), the reverse reaction will proceed to produce the reactants (of the forward reaction) until the system reaches equilibrium.
Answer: $\Delta G^⦵$ is the free energy change, for the reaction as written, of the reaction of the reactants and products in their standard states to their concentrations at equilibrium. The reaction written one way will be the negative of the reverse.
$\Delta G$ is the free energy change for the actual concentrations involved. At equilibrium $\Delta G = 0,$ the activities are the equilibrium activities, and $\Delta G^⦵ = -RT\ln K_\mathrm{eq}$.
As Chet Miller states, if there are only reactants, regardless of the reaction direction $\Delta G$ will be negative and the reaction will proceed to equilibrium. The extent of the reaction is determined by the equilibrium constant. Of course, the reactants must be properly mixed, have sufficient activation energy or catalysis, and there must be a possible mechanism.
Comment: Please familiarize yourself with [recommended notations for standard state](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_state#Typesetting) and refrain from using ALL CAPS for emphasis. Structure your answer with paragraphs for readability. Please visit [this page](http://chemistry.stackexchange.com/help/notation), [this page](http://meta.chemistry.stackexchange.com/q/443/) and [this one](http://meta.chemistry.stackexchange.com/q/86/) on how to format your future posts better with MathJax and Markdown.

Spontaneity of reversible reactions


Compacting gravel on wet ground

Question: I'm building a retaining wall from concrete blocks. The foundation will be 8 inches of 3/4 inch gravel compacted with a plate compactor. The trench is dug, but it has rained a good bit the last two weeks, and while not soggy things are wet. (There are no puddles in the trench, all the rain has been absorbed into the ground. I can walk in the trench and hardly leave footprints.) How much should I allow the ground to dry out before adding my gravel and compacting? Is it bad to compact onto ground that is wet but not soggy?
Answer: The rain helped compact the soil for you. In the current state your ground is good to go for gravel and compaction.
Comment: And if it wasn't then you should go get a hose and wet it. Ideally *as* you're back filling. With a tamper you probably don't want any puddles splashing you, but with a compactor? Go nuts.

Compacting gravel on wet ground


"você não quer me emprestar o carro" - how many different meanings for this statement?

Question: Depending on stress and intonation, a sentence can have several different meanings.  The above sentence in written Portuguese and without any supporting context, would certainly be ambiguous. In the spoken language, however, stress and intonation help clarify what is meant by the speaker, even without any context. What different meanings can we have from "você não quer me emprestar o carro." by changing stress and intonation?
Answer: The meaning of the sentence can be changed by stressing almost all words (for instance for correcting information). In your sentence:

você não me quer emprestar o carro. (É você quem não me quer emprestar o carro.)
você não me quer  / quer emprestar o carro. (É vontade que lhe falta.) This reading is more salient with the stress just on "quer".
você não me quer emprestar o carro. (É emprestar que você não quer.)
você não me quer emprestar o carro. (um carro notável em específico.)
você não me quer emprestar o carro. (O que você não me quer emprestar é o carro.) The stress begins on o.

The pronoun "me" cannot be stressed, but you can say:

você não me quer emprestar o carro a mim. (É a mim a quem você não quer emprestar o carro.)
Comment: It would be useful for those who are still learning the language if you could add a possible alternative for each example, i.e., "não quer emprestar mas provavelmente quer alugar", "você não quer mas teu marido quer", etc. –
Comment: "você não quer me emprestar o carro" is current usage in pt-BR.
Comment: ou "você não quer emprestar o carro pra mim"
Answer: If you don't put any stress, it turns out to be a simple statement.
If you said all the sentence out loud in a flat tone, it could potentially indicate some disappointment of yours towards the person (try to say it as flat as possible with a little decrease in the tone at the last word; it mostly works in English too I believe).
In case you raise your tone at the end, it is a question that could mean various things, like @Artefacto pointed out in his great answer.
I find it somewhat difficult to give a simple response without some context, because there could be so many...
For instance, giving the first word (você) the stress in the sentence, I could imagine a scenario where you ask someone how you probably would expect to lend you the car, but surprise surprise, that person actually, for whatever reason he/she might have, won't do you this favour.
Based on Artefacto's answer, I believe the meanings could be thought just as if the sentence were in English.
I mean, sure you change the meaning depending on which word you stress the most, but I am pretty convinced it would, in your example, be very or equally similar to an English speaker saying the same sentence in each possible word where tone can be stressed.