How to find points of a reflected 2d bezier curve about a line

Question: Pardon me if this sounds primitive. I have created a bezier curve with control points A, B, C, D, which are known (see image below). How can I find control points B1, C1, D1 for a new bezier curve reflected in AR1 and A2, B2 and C2 for a new bezier curve reflected in DR2?
Comment: Can AR1 be an arbitary line segment or only paralell to the y axis?
Comment: @Bálint AR1 should be arbitrary, but as a reflection line the distance from D1 to R1 should be the same as R1 to D and so on.
Comment: Still trying to get this solved
Answer: Take the line going through AR1, the equation of this lines is
(x-A.x)(R1.y-A.y)=(y-A.y)(R1.x-A.x)
(R1.y-A.y)x - (R1.x-A.x)y = A.x(R1.y-A.y)-A.y(R1.x-A.x)

So the normal vector of this line is (R1.y-A.y, R1.x-A.x). This is the direction vector of the line perpendicular to it and since that goes through D, we can get the equation of that as well:
(R1.x-A.x)x-(R1.y-A.y)y=(R1.x-A.x)D.x-(R1.y-A.y)D.y

From this we isolate x for later use:
x = ((R1.x-A.x)D.x-((R1.y-A.y)(D.y+y))/(R1.x-A.x)
x = D.x - (R1.y-A.y)(D.y+y)/(R1.x-A.x)

Then we replace x in the other line's equation using this
(D.y+y)(R1.y-A.y)^2/(R1.x-A.x) - (R1.x-A.x)y = A.x(R1.y-A.y)-A.y(R1.x-A.x)

We then isolate y
y = (A.x(R1.y-A.y)-A.y(R1.x-A.x)-D.y*(R1.y-A.y)^2/(R1.x-A.x))/(R1.x-A.x+(R1.y-A.y)^2/(R1.x-A.x))

This is the only equation you actually need to implement.The right side should be given. After you find y, use it to calculate x using the
x = D.x - (R1.y-A.y)(D.y+y)/(R1.x-A.x)

equation
You should now have the coordinates of the closest point on the AR1 line to the D point (I suggest abstracting it and implementing a function, that given a line and a point does this, since you need to use it a couple of times). Now you just get the vector pointing from D to this new point, multiply it by 2 and add it to D to get D'. Repeat this process with C and B and you should have every control point.
Comment: I am trying to understand your answer. I don't know R1 and everything seems to be in terms of R1. I would be grateful if you would explicitly show how to calculate the points (or some of them) using C#, since I I used the Unity tag for the question.
Comment: @coderificated Those are points, in unity You'd use vectors. If you do that, then you can almost just copy and paste it and they should work apart from the ^2 (which should be changed to a squareing) and how I didn't use * between some expressions
Comment: To be honest with you, I'm really not sure how to arrive at D1 or the other points from your answer. You have provided the coordinates of the equation of a line AR1 but none of the points I asked in the question.
Comment: @coderificated there's no D1, only D, and you should already have that since **you used it to define the bezier curve**
Comment: From the question I posted I don't know B1, C1, D1, A2, B2 and C2
Comment: @coderificated Yes, this gives you those, D' is D1
Comment: This just reflects a point based on a line
Comment: `Now you just get the vector pointing from D to this new point, multiply it by 2 and add it to D to get D'`. This isn't very clear to me. Generally, explicitly showing how to calculate one point D1/D' would really help.
Comment: @coderificated Subtract D from the new point and add it twice back to D
Comment: I still don't know what R1 is. Everything is in terms of R1
Comment: @coderificated It's on the picture you posted, you should define it yourself, you can't mirror something to a line segment if you don't have a line segment


Send data from ASP.NET pop up window to parent window using code behind

Question: I have a ASP.NET pop up window. On click of the button in the pop up window there is some processing done on the server side and creates a complex object and then the child window closes. Now on closing the child window, i want to send this complex object to the parent window without using javascript. How can this be achieved?
Answer: Do not open a popup window to create this "complex object". Create it at server side and then render it in your response. Will come back to your original window.
There is nothing wrong in using javascipt where it does the task. Asp.net itself uses a lot of javascript.
Answer: Since you need close interaction between the main page and the popup, do you want to keep it as a separate page? A better solution might be to include the controls for the popup within an asp:Panel, and use the AJAX Modal Popup Extender to show it as a modal popup. This way, you have access to all the state of the main page on click of controls in the popup.


iTunes 11 does not sync apps updated OTA

Question: With earlier versions of iTunes, if I updated an app OTA, the next time I synced my phone, iTunes would download the new version to my local library. However, this does not happen anymore. I have to manually check for newer versions of apps in iTunes and then download them again. Is this by design, or am I missing something? I am on Windows 7, 64-bit.
Comment: Not by design, it downloads them locally in the most recent version for Mac.
Answer: if you don't want to download again, next time you plug in the phone:
in itunes right click on phone and tell it to transfer purhases.
i do this pretty regularly since i have multiple devices and don't need to download each app 4 times.  download on phone / transfer purchases to itunes / sync to others.


how to read in a texture picture into opengl

Question: What is the easiest format to read a texture into opengl? Are there any tutorials -good tutorials, for loading image formats like jpg, png, or raw into an array which can be used for texture mapping (preferably without the use of a library like libpng)?
Answer: There is a handy OpenGL texture tutorial available at the link: http://www.nullterminator.net/gltexture.html
Answer: OpenGL itself does not knows nothing about common image formats (other than natively supported S3TC/DXT compressed and alikes, but they are a different story). You need to expand you source images into RGBA arrays. Number of formats and combinations are supported. You need to choose one that suits you, e.g. GL_ALPHA4 for masks, GL_RGB5_A1 for 1bit transparency, GL_BGRA/GL_RGBA for fullcolor, etc.
For me the easiest (not the fastest) way are PNGs, for their lossless compression and full Alpha support. I read the PNG and write RGBA values into array which I then hand over to OpenGL texture creation. If you don't need alpha you may as well accept JPG or BMP. Pipeline is common Source -> Expanded RGBA array -> OpenGL texture.


What are good books on general exercise principles?

Question: I'm looking for a good book that will teach me general principles of exercise. I don't want to learn about any specific workout programs. I'm really just seeking to learn more about fitness so I can put together my own workouts.
Comment: @EricKaufman That is a book about a very specific thing, i.e. heavy barbell training for strength. It doesn't say a single word about cardio, flexibility, diet (well, all it says about diet is: drink a gallon of whole milk a day and eat whatever you want - no need to be a rocket scientist to see the crap in that dieting advice). It is nearly useless for any other thing. It is even useless for things as close to barbell training as bodybuilding. No machines, no plyometrics other than the (barbell) power clean, no dumbbells, no machines, no martial arts, no swimming. Absolutely nothing at all.
Comment: @Mephisto You're making a caricature of the book's diet recommendations. He does not say what you describe. And part of the point regarding bodybuilding (which is true also of most of the rest of your list) is that it's not necessary or productive for the vast majority of people.
Comment: http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-3rd-Mark-Rippetoe/dp/0982522738
Comment: Everyone's entitled to their opinion :)
Comment: @JasonBaker Have a look also at the info in [EXRX](http://www.exrx.net/).
Answer: I'm partial to Tom Kurz' Science of Sports Training. Supertraining is well spoken of. Part of the problem you'll run into is that this is an incredibly broad topic that can span multiple distinct research disciplines. Going from the high level overview down to the biochemistry will take a long time if you're just looking to put together a workout program.
The CDC physical activity recommendations and similar WHO recommendations are a good place to start for the skeleton of workout programming. I'd start from there and fill in the blanks with topic-specific books like Rippetoe & Kilgore's Practical Programming.
Answer: A few years back, while working on writing some fitness software, I came upon a book by Jim Bennett called The Weight Training Workbook.  I was so impressed by the content that I decided to package it with the software.  The book opens with a foreword by Bill Pearl former Mr. America, Mr. USA, and Mr. Universe.

"This no-nonsense book leaves little to the imagination.  It covers all
  the basics and has everything necessary to start a sound fitness
  program. The Weight Training Workbook takes the guess work out of
  weight training and shows you how to design and track your training
  programs.  It leads you through the do's and don'ts that are so
  important when striving to achieve personal fitness goals."

That's followed by "The Basics of Weight Training" which provides all aspects of training including goals, equipment, specific exercises, designing routines, nutrition and much more.  The book contains illustrations of all the mentioned exercises and includes a "workbook" at the end for designing a routine and tracking your progress.
Two other books that may be of interest were written by three time Mr. Olympia Frank Zane.  Known as the "Zen" bodybuilder, Frank was not your typical bodybuilder as he stressed symmetry and pleasing proportionals over total mass.  His books stress exercise programs, nutrition, psychology, dreams, meditation, motivation, and inspiration.  The two I would recommend are Mind, Body, Spirit and The Zane Way to a Beautiful Body.
Answer: One book that's been helpful is Jim Stoppani's Encyclopedia of Muscle & Strength. It has information on core concepts, workout programs, and nutrition along with a handy list of exercises. It also breaks down how to organize your workout program for various possible fitness goals (losing weight, gaining muscle mass, and gaining strength).


Removing an element from text in Illustrator

Question: I want to remove the dot above the "i" in Illustrator but still keeping the text as an editable vector object, is this possible?
Comment: expand and do what you want.
Answer: Right click your text and select Create Outlines. This turns your type in to "an editable vector object" which you can select with any of the selection tools and delete the dot above the "i".
I suspect what you meant though was keeping your text as live editable type. In which case, no you can't do that. Theres no way to edit the path data of a font in Illustrator whilst keeping it as editable type. You could cheat and hide the dot above the "i" by using a clipping mask, you would need to adjust the mask every time you edit your type though.
Another thing to keep in mind... There is a dotless i character. Check to see if your font has that character. If so, problem solved.


Has a protest during a game ever worked?

Question: I've constantly heard a protest being called by the manager of team (baseball, football, etc) who felt that there was an unfair ruling. Yet, after each of these games, the protest never goes through. Why is there a protest option in place, if it never works, or has it ever worked because in my lifetime, I've never seen it work.
Answer: In baseball, possibly the most famous game that was protested and resumed from the point of protest was the "Pine Tar Incident" game between the Yankees and Royals originally played on July 24, 1983.  The game was replayed (again, from the point of protest which was 2 outs in the top of the 9th inning) on August 18th, 1983.
The last baseball game that where a protest was upheld was on June 16,1986 between the St. Louis Cardinals and Pittsburh Pirates, where it was argued that the umpires didn't wait long enough for a rain delay before stopping the game: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PIT/PIT198606160.shtml.  It was resumed two days later.
Here is a list of baseball games that have been resumed due to protest, but the author acknowledges it might not be complete: http://www.retrosheet.org/protests.htm
Answer: The primary and overarching rule in any sports league is that the on-field staff is infallible. Even for booth reviews in football, the replay must show that the call was clearly wrong in order for it to be reversed (and that aspect of the ref's on-field ruling must be reversible; you can't, for instance, assert that a penalty should have been called when there wasn't one).
That said, most major leagues have adopted some sort of "appeals process", both in game and after the game is over. In some cases, rulings can be overturned on appeal even after the game is over, but in most cases, the spirit of the game and the assumption that "the referee is always right" still prevails, and the overwhelming majority of protests are unsuccessful on those grounds.
What a protest can change is the outlook of the officials. When shown that they made a bad call, officials learn from their mistakes even if there is no official action taken as a result of the protest. If the call was obvious enough and blown badly enough, the referee can be removed as incompetent and replaced for future games (I refer you to the Packers/Seahawks game and the controversial call that ended it; that was a major factor in getting the NFL owners to strike a deal with the officials' union and get the replacement officials off the field).
Answer: There have been a few cases in the German Bundesliga where games have been repeated because of so-called "phantom goals", where the ball missed the goal to the side but a goal was given nonetheless.  You can (try to) read about these here: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantomtor#Fu.C3.9Fball.  It's dubious why these protests were allowed, but there you go.
Also, protests are routinely allowed (or at least considered) when they concern matters other than "facts connected with play" (which are final).  For example, when ineligible players participated, or in case of fan violence, or perhaps in lower leagues if there are concerns about inadequate pitches or equipment.  In these cases, if the protest is successful, games are typically awarded to the other side without a repeat.  This isn't exactly a protest about an unfair ruling, which you asked about, but it shows why the protesting procedures exist.


Simple way to backup event log on Windows Server

Question: Is it possibile to create a simple way to backup the event log, with such as a batch file or a simple app ?
I need to make it working on a customer's site, where the reference is an non-expert user.
Thanks
Answer: If you're using Windows 2008, use the built-in wevtutil command. Example:
wevtutil epl Application c:\temp\foo.evtx
Otherwise, get dumpel.exe from the resource kit, or psloglist from http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897544.aspx
Answer: With powershell and export-clixml its oneliner.
  get-eventlog -list | %{ get-eventlog $_.Log | export-clixml -path ($_.Log + ".xml") }

Answer: The Microsoft Script Center has some sample code for Backing Up and Clearing Event Logs using VBScript and WMI.
Frank-Peter Schultze's Scripting Site has some code to clear an event log ( http://www.fpschultze.de/uploads/clrevt.vbs.txt) that you can modify to backup or backup then clear.
If you have access to the server you can backup from the Event Viewer by right-clicking on a log and using the "Save Log File As..." command. You can save to a binary, tab delimited or comma delimited file.
Answer: Finally I made a little winapp using this method found on the internet:
public void DoBackup(string sLogName)
{
    string sBackup = sLogName;  // could be for example "Application"
    EventLog log = new EventLog();
    log.Source = sBackup;

    var query = from EventLogEntry entry in log.Entries
                orderby entry.TimeGenerated descending
                select entry;

    string sBackupName = sBackup+"Log";
    var xml = new XDocument(
        new XElement(sBackupName,
            from EventLogEntry entry in log.Entries
            orderby entry.TimeGenerated descending
            select new XElement("Log",
              new XElement("Message", entry.Message),
              new XElement("TimeGenerated", entry.TimeGenerated),
              new XElement("Source", entry.Source),
              new XElement("EntryType", entry.EntryType.ToString())
            )
          )
        );

    DateTime oggi = DateTime.Now;
    string sToday = DateTime.Now.ToString("yyyyMMdd_hhmmss");
    string path = String.Format("{0}_{1}.xml", sBackupName, sToday);
    xml.Save(Path.Combine(Environment.CurrentDirectory, path));
}

this is the source link:
It simply works great!


Are there any alternate module for qq_import module (Quiz Questions Import Module)?

Question: Are there any alternate module for qq_import module (Quiz Questions Import Module) ? It seems it has no Drupal 7 version for it.
Answer: It turns our that there are some similar existing modules on D7 but not as close as qq_import module. Instead, I just created my own custom D7 quiz question importer. It only imports multiple choice type of questions though
Comment: I did the same. May be we should join hands to create a module at leaset for the multiple choice questions.. :-)
Answer: I have the same problem too.
I want to import my multiple choice questions from one D7 to another D7 website but there is no easy way of doing it. I have tried the Node Export module but it does not import the Multiple Choice questions with the answer choices, only the question stem is imported.
It seems like you have written your own custom module. Do you think it would help to try your module on my D7 site as well? If so, could you share some more information.
Thanks


How can two conductors of unequal lengths exert a force of same magnitude on each other?

Question: I understand Newton's 3rd Law states that if Object (conductor) A exerts a force on Object B, Object A will experience an equal and opposite force. However, in a current carrying conductor Lorentz force is given as: $F=\frac{\mu_0I_1I_2l}{2\pi r}$ where $\mu_0$ is the permeability of free space, $I_1$ and $I_2$ are the currents of flowing in both conductors, $l$ is the length of the conductor experiencing the force, and $r$ is the distance between both conductors. Therefore, if there were two conductors of same current but unequal lengths (e.g. 10m and 3m), how would you get the same force magnitude on both wires? I would really appreciate your help in understanding this. Thank you in advance.
Comment: You misunderstood. I know that is the correct equation. The point I was making is that there exists a force _because_ there is a magnetic field in _both_ wires. It's the magnetic field in each that creates the force. So, in your unphysical example, there cannot be a force exerted by the longer wire on the shorter for any length greater than 3m. The 3m on one and a 3m segment on the other will be the only segment where forces are exerted. No wire means no force.
Comment: That's not how the force between two current carrying wires works. How is there a force where there is no wire?
Comment: That is why I am asking as I do not understand this concept @joeph h. The equation for Force exerted on a conductor is, however, the one that I posted
Answer: The formula you have given is for two wires of infinite length.  The formula for two wires of finite length is more complicated, and satisfies Newton's third law.
In section 7.2 of my EM textbook, I derive the $\bf B$ field for a wire of length L in the x direction:
\begin{equation}
{\bf B}(x,y)=\frac{{\bf I\times{\hat j}}}{cy}\left[\frac{(L/2-x)}{\sqrt{L/2-x)^2+y^2}}+\frac{(L/2+x)}{\sqrt{L/2+x)^2+y^2}}\right].
\label{bxy}
\end{equation}
Using this field, you can find the force on the second wire by integrating
I$\bf dl\times B$ over that wire.
Comment: Can direct me to this equation?
Comment: See my new answer.
Answer: I agree with Jerrold Franklin's answer. I'll just add a general proof that the magnetostatic force obeys Newton's third law. Say you have two conductors of respective current densities $j_1,j_2$ producing respective fields $B_1,B_2$. The force of $a$ on $b$ is:
$$
F_{a\to b}=\int j_b\times B_ad^3x
$$
Newton's third law is equivalent to:
$$
F_{1\to2}+F_{2\to1}=0
$$
The key is that the magnetostatic self force is always zero. You can see this from the Maxwell stress tensor:
$$
j\times B=\nabla\cdot \sigma\\
\sigma=\frac{1}{2\mu_0}\left(B\otimes B-\frac{1}{2}B^2 1 \right)
$$
Thus the total self force $F=\int j\times B d^3x$ is just a boundary integral which vanishes if the field decays fast enough (which is the case when the current is compactly supported).
Applying this result to $j_1,j_2,j_{1+2}:=j_1+j_2$, you get:
$$
F_{1\to1}=0\\
F_{2\to2}=0\\
F_{1+2\to1+2}=0
$$
but the force is quadratic, so:
$$
F_{1+2\to1+2}=F_{1\to1}+F_{2\to2}+F_{1\to2}+F_{2\to1}
$$
which leads to Newton's third law.
Btw, this only holds in statics, as in dynamics the field stores momentum and can radiate some to infinity, so you don't have a zero self force and the third law does not apply anymore.
Hope this helps.
Answer: The setup with infinite straight wires is only a special case of the most general setup. It's possible to retrieve it using the expression for the magnetic field generated by an elementary part of a circuit, as done below.
Let's consider two wires where currents with intensity $i_1$ and $i_2$. Each segment of the wire 1 induces on a point of the wire 2 a magnetic field
\begin{equation}
    d \mathbf{B}_{1}(\mathbf{r}_2) = - \dfrac{\mu}{2\pi} i_1 \dfrac{\mathbf{r}_2 - \tilde{\mathbf{r}}_1}{|\mathbf{r}_2 - \tilde{\mathbf{r}}_1|^2}\times d \tilde{\mathbf{r}}_1 \ ,
\end{equation}
using $\tilde{}$ to identify the "active" element, and the force acting on it reads
\begin{equation}
    dd \mathbf{F}_2(\mathbf{r}_2) = - i_2 d\mathbf{B}(\mathbf{r}_2) \times d \mathbf{r}_2 \ ,
\end{equation}
where the magnetic field at point $\mathbf{r}_2$ is the sum of the contribution of the two wires, $d\mathbf{B} = d\mathbf{B}_1 + d\mathbf{B}_2$,
\begin{equation}
    dd \mathbf{F}_2(\mathbf{r}_2) = - i_2 \left( d\mathbf{B}_1 (\mathbf{r}_2) +  d\mathbf{B}_2 (\mathbf{r}_2) \right) \times d \mathbf{r}_2 \ ,
\end{equation}
Explicitly writing the expression of the contributions of the magnetic field,
\begin{equation}
  dd\mathbf{F}(\mathbf{r}_2) = \dfrac{\mu}{2\pi} \left( \dfrac{\mathbf{r}_2 - \tilde{\mathbf{r}}_1}{|\mathbf{r}_2 - \tilde{\mathbf{r}}_1|^2}\times d \tilde{\mathbf{r}}_1 \right) \times d \mathbf{r}_2 \, i_1 i_2 + \dfrac{\mu}{2\pi} \left( \dfrac{\mathbf{r}_2 - \tilde{\mathbf{r}}_2}{|\mathbf{r}_2 - \tilde{\mathbf{r}}_2|^2}\times d \tilde{\mathbf{r}}_2 \right) \times d \mathbf{r}_2 \, i_2^2 \ ,
\end{equation}
it should be readily clear that the contribution of the elementary element of one circuit on the elementary element of the other circuit (the first term) is the same inverting the role of the "active" and the "passive" circuits, i.e. switching the indices 1 and 2 in the first term of the latter expression. Since the elementary contributions are "equal and opposite", you get macroscopic (integral) "equal and opposite" actions between the two circuits.


Who can please recommend some PCB Manufacturers?

Question: Who can please recommend some PCB Manufacturers?Better with much details, such as the delivery time, the minimum quantity, the mode of transport, etc.
Now I am in China, the search engine can search out a lot of manufacturers but I have not used before and don't know which one is better so I want someone with experience to recommend to me.
I want to buy 10pcb, 2 layers, 50 * 50
Thanks in advance.
Comment: Google is your friend.
Comment: You usually get what you pay for.
Comment: It is impossible to recommend anybody without knowing where you are, how many PCBs you want for example.  If you know other people nearby who have had boards made I'd ask them for recommendations otherwise try an internet search engine as suggested in another comment.  This question will probably be closed soon as buying recommendations are off topic on this site.
Comment: EE.SE is not a recommendation platform. You'll get downvote(s) for this and probably your question will be closed. Anyway, I personally recommend you to talk to some electronic equipment manufacturers because they know how to find a PCB manufacturer based on needs. I'm sure they will be happy to help you.
Answer: There's a site that compares prices from different manufacturers. This could be a good place to start. Keep in mind that it searches 25 manufacturers (listed on the site) so there could be better prices elsewhere.


How to determine scale degrees by ear?

Question: I am trying to learn to determine scale degrees by ear. I stumbled across this exercise: https://tonedear.com/ear-training/functional-solfege-scale-degrees, but so far my guesses are not much better than chance. Is there any method to hearing them? I know that I need to practice more, but I can't figure out any strategy that would allow me to determine the step.
Comment: Are you asking for single tones of a scale or the chords of the dehrees?
Comment: Single notes for now, once I get that down I'll move on to chords)
Comment: Look up  the related questions and answers on the right side (green squares). You'll find many good hints. Sing motifs and triads from the beginning, not only isolated degrees, always make the references to the root tone!
Answer:
Sing the intervals (sequencing 2nds, 3rds, 4ths etc.)  scale up and down: domi refa miso and dofa reso mila ... etc.

practice the scale going back to the  root tone: dore, domi, dofa, doso ...

sing  the triads from all degrees

sing all 7th chords  and their resolution: e.g. sotirefa mido.

each degree has a function and tension: stable, unstable, lead tone, root note, home feeling, dominant. always be aware of this function, e.g. fa-ti-do.

sing the pieces you play on your instrument and all songs you know or learn on the syllables of do re mi.

Also practice the cadence, singing the voicing 4 parts as a canon: dodotido, solasoso, mifaremi, dofasodo.
There's also a trick to memorize intervals by song beginnings: here's always mentioned Maria (augm 4th) and Somewhere (minor 7th) rom Westside Story. But this makes only sense if you know  this songs very well.
Thus you have to choose songs that are printed in your heart from your childhood: Baby songs, folks songs, making groups of similar beginnings, turns, endings for
the motives where you feel the root tone (home-tone) like:
doremido, mifaso
domiso, sofamiredo
doremifasososo, sofamiredododo
Mozarts first composition all ended: lasofa mi re do.
somi is the most important to start from - in our curriculum: the coucou third.
you can go on: solasomi (silent night, blowing in the wind, we shall overcome ... etc)
Comment: Why sol-mi is the most important?
Comment: well I said, it is the starting point in our curriculum. Everybody knows the coucou, but it's even not sure whether the coucou sings a minor or major third. You can as well start the up beat fourth: so do, or the scale doremifasososo, also miredoremimimi, or with the motif: so so la la so mi, which is well knwon in children songs and also in silent night, oh du fröhliche, we shall overcome, where have all the flowers gone, how many roads must a man walk down and so on.  (by the way: sol mi is also named the  Rufterz, that means the third of calling, the first interval which children shout.
Comment: Try it out: call the name of anyone, e.g. Johnny, come home, dinner is ready: you may use the motif so mi, do somi, do so so so mi mi.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKY29mEh5z4&ab_channel=BlueSilverstar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LT64G9d69ME&ab_channel=Seniorens%C3%A4nger
Answer: Being able to sing up and down the major scale is a good starter. And each note needs a name. That's where 'movable do' comes in. Listen to the Sound of Music's song - Doe, a Deer, to get started. It may be twee, but it is actually spot on - specially later, where the notes are moved around, still using their names.
Always use an instrument - piano/keyboard is best - so you can physically see distances, as well as hear and possibly feel them. Stick to the white keys, hence key C, for now. You may consider using actual note names instead, there's no problem in that. (It's getting into 'fixed do ' territory, but that won't matter as long as you don't try to combine the two!)
Initially, always start with the tonic - here, do. Sing up (and down) the major scale a few times. Then do something like C>E, first by going up C, D, E, then singing only C and E out loud, the D being inside your head. Go through the whole scale this way. Mix it up by singing (and playing), say, E>G, G>B etc.
You'll benefit from knowing what intervals are called, and why  Find some songs that alternate between two notes of specific intervals - Over the Rainbow uses m3 at the beginning of its middle section, for example - and sing along with them.
Consider that you are the teacher, and you have a student with your problem. Come up with some strategies of your own that will help them. Almost like inventing your own app.
Answer: Practice.  This is not easy for beginners.  It's like learning a new language and at first you my forget the sound of different intervals.  Constant regular exposure is key for developing a good ear.
I use a commercial s/w called EarMasterPro.  It may be no better than what you've found so I'm not endorsing it, but I like it.
One thing that helps is that the lessons are very focused.  Rather than just identifying any interval it has a lesson on 2nds, then 3rds, 4th and 5th, then dim 5th, each comparing only two intervals.  After those are mastered it combines all 2nds and 3rds, then adds the 4th through 5th.
After the intervals up to P5 if goes through 6ths and 7ths.  This systematic approach helps you develop good recognition.  Similar exercises exist for triads, 7th and extended chords, modes, inversions, progressions, etc.
Comment: ...each comparing two intervals - or each comparing two notes  - one interval? (3rd para.)
Comment: 2 intervals.  A lesson might be to identify M2 from m2 with notes played ascending, then descending, then together, then any of the three previous states.  You are not comparing M2 to m2 to ID which is smaller (though that is a beginner lesson).  What makes it easy is that you know the answer has to be a 2nd, and you just need to hear M or m.  For beginners that is not easy.  After some time anything in the chromatic scale is fair game.

How to determine scale degrees by ear?


How to delay command blocks until player respawns?

Question: I have a command block line set up so that it detects for a players death, then gives them weakness for 600 seconds. It applies weakness to soon before they get out of the respawn time. If there is not way to delay a command is there a way to detect a player respawn?
Comment: @Zoma They mentioned command blocks, so this is not about modding. If you want to help with mod development, this is the place for you: https://gamedev.stackexchange.com/
Comment: you may try to use the event fired when the player respawn. I don't create an answer as I don't know if it is feasible, but [this](https://hub.spigotmc.org/javadocs/bukkit/org/bukkit/event/player/PlayerRespawnEvent.html) may be a good start.
Comment: If you need a specific timing on the command block, you use redstone.
Comment: @SF. No, redstone is generally evil for performance, response times, safety and much more. See also here: https://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/345884/frequency-redstone-vs-loop-command-block-performance/345885#345885
Answer: Your real problem is that the players can wait arbitrarily long until they click "respawn", so no fixed delay would help you. What you can instead do is detecting when they have respawned. This can for example be done by checking if they are at a location (because dead players are nowhere*):
/execute as @a[scores={deaths=1..},distance=0..] run <command>

This distance=0.. might seem useless, because you're testing for a distance of 0 or more from the command block, but what it does is only activating if you have an alive player in the same dimension. You could also do the same for Nether and End, but since you want to detect respawning, that's not necessary. Dead players have no location, so their distance from the command block isn't 0 or more, it's nothing.

*This got a bit more complicated in 1.15, because the player is still registered as being at their death location for about a second after dying. That could be very helpful in some cases, I think it even used it in an answer here already, but it complicates this case. Now you need to check if they are not at any location first and then at a location again:
execute as @a[tag=!dead,scores={deaths=1..}] unless entity @a[scores={deaths=1},distance=0..] run tag @s add dead
execute as @a[tag=dead,distance=0..] run <command>
execute as @a[tag=dead,distance=0..] run scoreboard players set @s deaths 0
execute as @a[tag=dead,distance=0..] run tag @s remove dead

The first command is the real magic: Every player who died gets tagged, but only once no player who died can be found at any location anymore. This still fails if another player is currently in its death animation, I don't think this can be avoided.
Then you just run whatever command you want at a player that used to be at no location, but is at some location now. Finally, you reset the scoreboard (implied in my 1.14 solution) and the tag.
Comment: Oh this is very good. I tried writing out a commands thing like that but couldn't think of a way to figure out if the player had clicked respawn.
Answer: Can you use repeaters? If you can, have one command block that detects the player's death and then have a few redstone repeaters lined up to delay the signal to the block that gives the effect.
Answer: Target a player who died only once they've respawned by using the @e target selector instead of @a or @p and specifying [type = player] along with any other selector arguments you're using to pick the correct player (probably a tag or scoreboard value).  This works because @a targets any player while @e only targets alive entities as of 1.18.1 Java Edition.  So, to solve your problem, you'd do something like execute as @e[type = player, tag = dead] run effect give @s weakness 600 1 true or execute as @e[scores = {deaths=1..}] run effect give @s weakness 600 1 true.  Note that if you're using a scoreboard, specifying the type is redundant because only players can have scores.
Answer: The repeater is a redstone block that when you give a redstone signal from the back, there will be a delay and then will transmit the redstone signal from the front. Try adding a repeater between the redstone source and your command block. Each repeater can be set to give a different delay, and if you need a longer delay, try lining up several.
Answer: You can make a scoreboard that detects when they spawn back in and set a /execute command when the scoreboard reaches a certain value. Depending on the spawn location, you can use /execute at or execute if to detect when a player spawns and we're they spawn. There are probably better videos of explaining this but I use this a lot


Setting non-contiguous text selection on iTerm and Chrome in OS X

Question: How do I set a selection of non-contiguous text in the latest version of iTerm2 and Chrome in OS X 10.8.3?
Answer: The majority of applications – iTerm2 and Google Chrome included – don't support this function. You cannot select non-contiguous text here.
In fact, this only works in apps like TextEdit or Pages, but not even in other OS X native apps such as Safari. Non-contiguous selection isn't even a feature of the most basic NSTextField, because you can only set one range for selection here. For non-continuous selection you'd use NSTextView, but then again applications don't use this to render text (like a browser or terminal does) – you'd use it to edit text.
In short: Not possible unless the developers implement this.
Answer: Firefox supports non-contiguous text selection.  Simply hold ⌘ while selecting multiple text regions with the mouse.


About topological B model

Question: I was heard (by an expert) that, in mirror symmetry, we have constructed a Quantum Master Equation associated to topological B model, and a solution to it. But I can't find any material about this. Is there anyone know anything about this, so you can give me some help? Is that Kontsevich and Bananikov's paper (for genus 0 topological B model on Calabi-Yau)?? And is the sullivan's paper "Sigma model and string topology" related to this to some extent?(but I can't see what the useness is of this one).Thank you very much for your help!
Comment: That's the master equation associated to a (dg)BV algebra.
Comment: What do people mean when they refer to a 'master equation'?
Answer: This is the subject of this paper by Kevin Costello -- he constructs a solution to a master equation associated to a Calabi-Yau category, which one could take to be the category of branes in the topological B-model.
(See the article for references to work of Sen and Zwiebach in the physics literature).
String topology can be thought of as a kind of simplified B-model, so Sullivan's paper is also related I presume but haven't looked..
Comment: Thanks!(I once assumed that's the paper by Kontsevich and Bananikov) Can we get the same thing for A model?(using his method). That's what exactly Costello once guided me, there is no such construction for A model currently. That's what I am confused here. But I do construct similar things for A model recently.
Answer: Lets briefly explain the whole of picture:
A-model and B-model is study of twisted conformal field theory
If you want to study the invariants of complex manifolds , then you will face with two notion due to Edward Witten philosophy
A) Closed string B-model which is study of Hodge structure or periods of holomorphic differential forms
B-model on Calabi-Yau three-fold can be described by a Kodaira-Spencer gauge theory(due to Bershadsky-Cecotti-Ooguri-Vafa). sometimes called BCOV theory.
B) Open string B-model is study of Category of coherent sheaves on complex manifold(for example complex submanifolds equiped with holomorphic vector bundles)
If you want to study the invariants of symplectic manifolds, then we are facing with two object
A) Closed string A-model , which is study of Gromov-Witten invariants about counting holomorphic curves
B) Open string A-model which is Fukaya category (object is lagrangian submanifolds and morphisms is Floer chain )which corresponding to the Calabi–Yau category
From homological mirror symmetry point of view (due to M. Kontsevich conjecture), the A-model is dual to the B-model. $$D^\pi\mathcal F(M)\cong D^b Coh(M^\vee)$$ which called Meta-Mirror symmetry
Moreover, in the language of moduli spaces if $M$ and $M^\vee$ are two mirror to each other then $$\mathcal M_{sym}(M)\cong \mathcal M_{cpx}(M^\vee)$$ where $\mathcal M_{sym}(M)$ and $\mathcal M_{cpx}(M)$ are moduli spaces of symplectic structures and moduli spaces of complex structures respectively. This gives an equivalence of A-module and B-module for families
For your question see the Kontsevich paper
M. Alexandrov, M. Kontsevich, A. Schwarz, O. Zaboronsky, around page 19 in The geometry of the master equation and topological quantum field theory, Int. J. Modern Phys. A 12(7):1405–1429, 1997
and this thesis

About topological B model


Autocomplete not working in Terminal local to folder

Question: When I go into any folder via cd and then press tab a whole list of options is displayed. How do I make the autocomplete local to the folder?
Answer: If you want to see only binaries in the current folder, press ./tab (dot slash tab).
If you want to see all folders in the current folder, press cd tab
In your screenshot, pressingm tab is showing all binaries that start with m found in the path.
In all cases, pressing tab a second time will show all matches if there are more than one.
Answer: You're looking for bash-completion. This post describes how to get it (tl;dr - for an easy install you'll need a package manager like Homebrew or MacPorts) for example:
brew install bash_completion

With bash-completion, typing cd and then Tab the results you get should be limited to folders.
Out-of-the-box bash-completion covers a wide range of possible completions, but there may be more - check your package manager. For example, on Homebrew try this:
brew search completions

This returns additional completions for macOS tools like open and launchctl, virtualisation tools like docker and vagrant, and many others.
You can create your own completions, for example I use this one to show me only .png files for a script (png2icns) I hacked together.
complete -f -X '!*.png' png2icns

However this really isn't necessary for most cases - bash-completion will cover all the common uses.
For completeness I need to mention that fans of the zsh shell will no doubt tell you that zsh's support for completion is far superior to bash's! Personally, bash does what I need, albeit with a little help from brew.


Time to finish a SmartContract

Question: I understand it takes time to include a legitimate transaction in the blockchain. And I understand to execute a SmartContract function is nothing more than sending a transaction. My question is that if it takes more time to finish a SmartContract function execution than to include a plain transaction in Blockchain.
Answer:
My question is that if it takes more time to finish a SmartContract function execution than to include a plain transaction in BlockChain.

Both events - executing a smart contract function, and sending a plain transaction - both bring about state transitions. That is, they change some data in the blockchain.
At a transaction level, it may be the case that the smart contract call causes a larger state transition. In which case, technically, yes, such a transition would take physically longer to perform on a given machine's CPU/GPU. The transaction would take up more space in a block (i.e. it would cost more gas), and it would take longer for other miners to run and verify that the transition is valid.
However, at a block level, a full block is still limited to a certain size. It could be that the smart contract call is twice as complex as a plain transaction, takes twice the amount of gas, and takes twice as long to run, but the time to run and verify to contents of the whole full block is still the same.
(For reference, a full block - ~8M gas - takes in the order of 100-150 milliseconds for a miner to run and verify.)
Comment: Thank you for your answer, Richard. A follow-up question is, from an end-user point of view, if she submits a SmartContract function call which is computationally expensive (gas consuming), should she expect larger latency for this call to finish? If yes, how much longer in orders of magnitude?
Comment: Hi @JuChen. I'll edit my answer later to include an explanation to what you're asking. In the meantime: the time taken for either a plain transaction or smart contract call to be registered as a state change in the blockchain doesn't just depend on the time it physically takes to make the state transitions (which is what I thought you were asking). When a transaction is submitted to the network by a client, it needs to be included in a block. The time taken to be included isn't dependent on how computationally expensive it is. It's dependent on whether a miner _wants_ to include it in a block.
Comment: A miner is more likely to want to include it in a block if you're paying him a good wage to do so. Which is where gas _price_ comes in. A smart contract call with a high gas price will be included in a block more quickly than a plain transaction with a low gas price. (Statistically speaking, anyway.)

Time to finish a SmartContract


Troll usurps opponent's user name – What to do?

Question: A well-known crank, let's call him "Wolfgang", uses ten different sock-puppets to dump his pseudo-scientific nonsense into several Stack Exchange sites. Every time another user, let's call him "Uwe", notices Wolfgang's questions or answers, he adds a comment "Warning: "Forte" is one of Wolfgang's ten sock-puppets, and discussing with Wolfgang is known to be pointless". Then Wolfgang changes the display name of his sock-puppet "Forte" to "Uwe", which not only confuses other readers, but makes commenting quite difficult for Uwe. Is this considered as acceptable behaviour, or is it something that moderators (have to?) deal with?
Comment: it's called flagging for moderator attention ...
Comment: Would expect comments that indicate possible duplicates in that case
Comment: Impersonation is against the rules. Flag it, let the mods in question know its cross site. If its really bad, maybe use the contact us link
Comment: @Vogel612'sShadow For each site individually?
Comment: @Uwe Yes, for each site.
Comment: @Ramhound because there's more or less (on MSE more) well known protocol for such issue, which is also detailed in multiple places, not only the explanation for the flagging privilege
Answer: In general, these sorts of confrontational asides are not useful on SE, as they leave moderation up to underinformed public opinion and a he-said/she-said muddle. (On the plus side, the popcorn industry gets a boost.)
Don't post these passive-aggressive comments, especially not preemptively. Instead, flag for a ♦ mod if someone is using sock puppets to evade account restrictions on posting (including suspensions), or to create confusion with other users' names. Disruptive usernames will likely be changed by ♦ mods, per What are the rules governing display names and avatars?
Also flag for a ♦ mod if an account is routinely posting low-quality posts that do not trigger the automatic bans. There is a suspension reason for this. If you don't have enough room in the flag reason box, use either a deleted answer of your own to contain the overflow (linking to it from the flag) or use the Contact form. Make sure you have at least some evidence that does not depend on the mods being subject-matter experts in the particular tags involved. (Although, of course, expecting e.g. Physics SE mods to know something about physics in general is perfectly reasonable.)
Comment: @Uwe: No, but mods can and do cooperate with each other and with SE staff to handle cross-site problems.
Comment: The comments were typically not preemptive. Wolfgang likes to hide behind the mask of the innocent student who asks a curious question. Then people who try to be helpful spend a lot of time to explain the facts and get involved in lengthy discussions, so somebody has to tell them that they're talking to a crank. If I flag Wolfgang's posts based on their content, I have exactly this he-said/she-said problem (unless the moderator knows Wolfgang already). The second problems is that Wolfgang doesn't really about being banned  – after all, he's got ten accounts.
Comment: @Uwe: The question says 'Every time another user, let's call him "Uwe", notices Wolfgang's questions or answers, he adds a comment', strongly implying that it's a preemptive response to the post, not to the existence of a prolonged discussion. Even if it was reactive, my advice stands: this sort of interference is seldom helpful and often harmful, despite how tempting it is to publicly correct someone who is Wrong On The Internet.
Comment: @Uwe: Also, you may not be aware of this, but ♦ mods *are* actually capable of applying various sanctions across sock puppets, including merging accounts, deleting accounts, using IP patterns and similar to preemptively and automatically treat accounts the same, and so forth.
Comment: We're talking about at least 11 accounts and (so far) 7 sites. Is that something that a moderator of an individual site can do globally?


In cycles, do negative lights actually remove light or are they casting "Black" light?

Question: In cycles, I just learned, that you can set a lamp's value to a negative number to create a "negative lamp". But in a few tests, instead of removing light, it seemed to just cast black light? What are the lamps actually doing?
Comment: somehow related: http://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/8930/how-can-i-cast-artificially-darker-shadows/8931#8931
Answer: Regardless of what render engine you are using (either Cycles or Blender Internal),If you are using a point lamp. it is actually removing light, because it is impossible for a lamp to cast black light. Set a lamp's emission color to pure black. and set the strength as high as you want, if you have any other lamp in your scene, emitting light of any other color, with the strength any higher than 0.00, your scene will not show any traces of "black light"
If you are using an emission shader, set to pure black, then yes it is emitting "black light"
Lamps can not cast black light, but an emission shader can, and does.
You should also note that there is a difference between setting a lamp to black, and having a positive strength, and setting the lamp to white and having a negative strength.
When using an emission shader,  there is also a difference between emitting black light and having a negative lamp.

In this file, the black cube is emitting black light, the white cube with negative strength is literally removing light. Both appear to be casting a shadow. the white cube with positive strength is emitting light.
Comment: But it also casts "bright shadows". I love it when you can do things that are impossible in real life. http://i.stack.imgur.com/7ExnR.png
Comment: It is possible to cast black light, It just looks like a shadow
Comment: Think of negative lights like can of black spray paint...
Comment: @cegaton so casting "black" light, In my tests it seemed to make stuff black at very low strengths with other brighter lights casting white light.


Review lasting 6 weeks

Question: The status of my paper which is in review since 3/02 is "A review is overdue. Two of 4 Assigned reviews are completed". I read in the journal site that review generally takes 1 month and the minimum number of reviews to make a decision by the editor is 2. The number of reviews is 2 since 1 March and the editor didn't make any decision? What should I do?
Comment: Write to the editor and ask kindly what the current status is.
Answer: It's not true that just because your manuscript already has two reviews that the editor will make a decision. For example, maybe the two reviews disagree with each other, or one of the two reviews is poor and the editor is waiting for the third review as a tiebreaker. The third review is ten days overdue which is not a good sign, but you can't tell from the outside. For example, maybe the reviewer had emailed the editor saying the review will be late, and the editor is (sensibly) waiting as a result.
As for "what should I do", the answer is always the same. If you're concerned/impatient, write to the editor and ask what the status is. Otherwise just wait. The review process for your manuscript doesn't seem that long to me, so I would wait, but it's up to you.
Comment: `The third review is ten days overdue which is not a good sign` Ha! In my experience with journals (in computer science), lateness is measured in months, not days.
Comment: To echo @Thomas 's comment, this varies a lot by field. Some fields this is a big deal. Others this is routine.
Comment: @Thomas true, but being late in the first place is not a good sign =)
Comment: I've once had to wait 14 months and it was accepted with minor corrections

Review lasting 6 weeks


If $X_n\rightarrow X$ in distribution, how to show that $\mathbb{P}(X_n=x)\rightarrow 0$ if $F$ is continuous at $x$?

Question: We know that $$\lim_{n\rightarrow\infty}F_n(x)=F(x)$$ whenever $F$ is continuous at $x$ (where $F_n$ and $F$ are the corresponding distribution functions), but it should also be true that
$$\lim_{n\rightarrow\infty}\mathbb{P}(X_n=x)=0.$$
I tried some things with $P(X_n\leq x)=P(X_n<x)+P(X_n=x)$ and $P(X\leq x)=P(X<x)$, but don't see it...
Comment: You can use the fact that $F(x)=P[X\leq x]$ is nondecreasing in $x$ so it has at most a countable number of discontinuities.  So for a fixed value $x$ at which $F$ is continuous,  there are points $y_i<x$ that are arbitrarily close to $x$ and such that $F$ is also continuous at $y_i$ (why?) Can you answer the problem now? You can perhaps type your solution as an answer, which is standard practice when solving a question based on hints.
Comment: Just try to follow @Michael 's hint (and btw Mau you need to tag him so that he notices). The hint pretty much says that there are points arbitralily close to $x$ where $F(x)$ is continuous. Can you conclude from this? Additional hint: What can you say now about $P[X_n < x + \varepsilon]$
Comment: @HartoSaarinen Thank you. Well, taking a sequence $(x_k)$ of points of continuity converging to $x$ from below, I suppose we could argue $\lim_{n\rightarrow\infty}P(X_n=x)=P(X\leq x)-\lim_{n,k\rightarrow\infty}F_n(x_k)=P(X\leq x)-\lim_{k\rightarrow\infty}F(x_k)$, where the latter expression is zero if and only if F is continuous at $\lim_{n\rightarrow\infty} x_k=x$. If you mean that, I'm not sure how $P(X_n<x+\epsilon)$ is considered?!
Comment: @Michael Thank you for the hint. I posted a solution using the continuity property you're mentioning, but it seems to me you have an easier solution?
Comment: @Mau314 my hint was exactly what Michael wrote in his answer but instead of limit $i \to \infty$ I considered $\varepsilon \to 0$.
Answer: I developed a solution that is perhaps more complicated than what Michael was thinking of, but I like how each ingredient is used very explicitly:
In the situation described above, we assume that
$$\lim_{n\rightarrow\infty}\mathbb{P}(X_n=x)\neq 0,$$
which means that for some $\epsilon>0$ there is an infinite index set $I_\epsilon\subseteq\mathbb{N}$ such that
$$\forall n\in I_\epsilon:~\mathbb{P}(X_n=x)\geq\epsilon,$$
so that in particular
$$\forall n\in I_\epsilon~\forall x'<x:~F_n(x')\leq F_n(x)-\epsilon.$$
Furthermore, the fact that $\displaystyle\lim_{n\rightarrow\infty}F_n(x)=F(x)$ and the continuity of $F$ in $x$ tell us that for some $K\in\mathbb{N}$ and $\delta>0$ we have
$$\forall k\geq K:~F_k(x)\leq F(x)+\frac{\epsilon}{3},~~\forall x'\in[x-\delta,x):~F(x)\leq F(x')+\frac{\epsilon}{3}.$$
Putting all this together, we see that for any element $m$ of the infinite index set $I_\epsilon\cap [K,\infty)$ and $x'\in[x-\delta,x)$ the following holds:
$$F_m(x')\leq F_m(x)-\epsilon\leq F(x)-\frac{2\epsilon}{3}\leq F(x')-\frac{\epsilon}{3}.$$
Therefore, on the uncountable set $S=[x-\delta,x)$ we have
$$\lim_{n\rightarrow\infty}F_n(\cdot)\neq F(\cdot).$$
However, by the definition of weak convergence, this entails that $F$ is discontinuous on $S$, which is impossible for any distribution function.
Comment: This looks like a good alternative way.  Below I fill in details on what I was thinking from my comment.
Answer: Mau answers it another way, here is what I had in mind from my comment:
Let $x$ be a point of continuity of $F$.  By my above comment, we know there is an infinite sequence $\{y_i\}_{i=1}^{\infty}$ such that $y_i<x$ for all $i \in \{1, 2, 3, ...\}$, $F$ is continuous at $y_i$ for all $i \in \{1, 2, 3, ...\}$, and $\lim_{i\rightarrow\infty} y_i = x$.
Now fix $n \in \{1, 2, 3, ...\}$ and $i \in \{1, 2, 3, ...\}$.  By considering the interval $(y_i, x]$ we have
$$P[X_n=x] \leq P[X_n\leq x] - P[X_n \leq y_i] $$
Taking a limit as $n\rightarrow\infty$ and using $F$ continuous at both $x$ and $y_i$:
$$ \limsup_{n\rightarrow\infty} P[X_n=x] \leq F(x) - F(y_i) $$
Taking a limit as $i\rightarrow \infty$ and using the fact that $F$ is continuous at $x$ gives the result.
Comment: Yes, thank you. That would be a more rigorous version of what I made of your hint in my comment above.


automatically convert low-quality tracks when added to iTunes library

Question: When I add new tracks to iTunes, some of them are too low-quality to add to iCloud.  I have to manually convert them to AAC.  How can I have iTunes automatically do this so all of my tracks can go straight to the cloud?
Answer: If you are using Windows, you should be able to go through these steps:

Choose Edit > Preferences, click General, and click Import Settings.
Choose AAC format from the Import Using pop-up menu.

In that same window, you can also choose other import settings that may be of interest to you.
Comment: That won't *automatically* convert newly added tracks. Thanks tho.
Comment: It will automatically when you do an import.  Perhaps I misunderstood your question.  What do you mean by "automatically"?
Comment: so this will automatically convert tracks that are ripped from a CD.  most newer computers don't use those anymore.  when i download a file using safari it's automatically played in iTunes.  i can manually convert the file to AAC using the settings i specified in Import Settings.  However, I'd like it to automatically convert that file when it is added to my library.  thanks!


YouTube videos play back at unwatchably fast rate with Safari on the latest Big Sur beta... anyone else?

Question: I have trouble.  When I try to play YouTube videos, they play super fast.  I'd include a video of the problem but it would be too large.  Suffice it to say that a 24 minute video finishes in less than 5 seconds when I hit the Play button.  This is new with Big Sur.  I just installed beta 9 last night.  I have turned off all extensions, deleted my history, restarted Safari, all to no avail.  The problem happens with Chrome too so might be a QuickTime problem or something underlying.
Comment: Having a similar issue. When watching a YouTube video on my 2019 Mac – the video will play at a normal speed then, seemingly randomly, will start fast forward at maybe 3-5x speed uncontrollably until I refresh the page. This is an odd bug.
Answer: This is a commonly reported bug that occurs 'sometimes'. Another solution, short of rebooting, is to kill the coreaudiod process.
You can do this in Activity Monitor, or in the Terminal with sudo killall coreaudiod
https://9to5mac.com/2019/07/29/macos-fast-video-playback-bug-fix-coreaudiod-video/
Comment: I would just like to add that it isn't always coreaudiod. I had this exact same issue, but no coreaudiod listed in Activity Monitor. I saw an Apple community post mentioning that coreaudiod would have multiple hours of CPU Time in Activity Monitor. I instead had either Microsoft Remote Desktop or another program listed with many hours of CPU Time. I killed those two processes and it resolved the issue immediately. I am not sure which one it was, in all I had killed RDP, Discord, and one other thing and one of those three items fixed it.
Answer: "Solved" by rebooting!  Sorry to waste your time... lesson for the next guy I guess!  Cheers.


Case Correction when editing questions

Question: Really, what's the point? It seems a little heavy-handed and discouraging to new users, and doesn't add / change anything for search engine results of the question. Non-native English speakers, dyslexics etc may be really offended by it. Can it be toned down please.
Comment: I am a non-native English speaker, and I'm a bit offended that you'd want me to suffer from the additional cognitive load of wading through misspelled questions. It's a good thing that the first person to notice corrects what needs correcting.
Comment: Can you clarify what you're complaining about? What do you think may offend non-native English speakers and dyslexics?
Comment: I'm having a hard time seeing how this is being "heavy-handed". The action of editing has *no negative effect* on you.
Comment: Are you talking about comments regarding people's spelling, or about edits? How could editing a question to correct the spelling be offensive or discouraging?
Comment: You keep saying "heavy-handed", but I don't think you understand what it means. Editing a post does not penalize anyone. And please [be nice](http://softwarerecs.stackexchange.com/help/behavior).
Comment: You might not have understood how this site works then. Editing other people's posts is one of the most normal things on SE, all content being understood as placed under CC-BY-SA (see the very end of the page for a link to more details, and Undos answer). As Gilles already pointed out, there are already language barriers for non-native speakers. Being a native, you might not know what that could mean to someone not fluent in English at all. I didn't see anyone offended yet, quite the contrary I was even thanked for this, as it also improves chances of good answers.
Comment: Case correction, and minor typos
Comment: I'm talking about others editing questions just to change the case of a word. It's really minor, and well useless/pointless. Hoe could it be offensive or discouraging? It's pointless, the site is about software recommendations not, how to type English goodly.
Comment: From what I can see, you're trying to build your community, being heavy-handed with very minor typos / capitilisations is off-putting and anally retentive.
Comment: I am a native English speaker, and I understand fully what it means. Just because it doesn't penalise in terms of rep, it doesn't mean that it affects anyone. Heavy-handed and over-used editing just signals a site where precise use of the Queen's English is more important than good answers which I don't think is the route any SE site should go down.
Comment: y'all better keep off irc then.
Answer: The Stack Exchange system is built around peer editing. Everyone is encouraged to correct mistakes when they see them. If they have the editing privilege, they should use it to correct what's wrong. If not, they're encouraged to suggest an edit.
It's not offensive, and it's not meant to be at all. It's simply the community helping you make your post better. And through doing that, they help make the site as a whole better. This is exactly how it's supposed to work.
If you can bring up a specific case of this being offensive to you, then we can talk more specifically.
Comment: It doesn't *need* to be, but if someone donates some time to help make your post better by capitalizing it correctly, that's a *good thing*.
Comment: @user3791372 Yes, a word that isn't spelled properly (whether the problem is capitalization or something else) should be corrected. Why would you want to force every reader to make the correction mentally, which (especially with non-native readers) may increase the cognitive difficulty considerably?
Comment: @user3791372 HTML is much easier to read and parse than Html is, and HTML is correct. So Html should be corrected.
Comment: To pick up this very example: with lowercase "html" my mind makes a tiny "loop" to figure the *word* first before recognizing the *term* behind the letters (I often find myself reading it twice). With uppercase "HTML" it directly snaps the term, as I no longer need to "capitalize it mentally" – exactly as Gilles put it in his comment, which I'd upvote twice if I could. We do not really read by putting together letters, our brains are capable of recognizing proper groups of them like pictures.
Comment: So, are you stating that a word that hasn't got the correct casing is "wrong" and needs to be corrected? e.g. "html" to "HTML"
Comment: *needs* to be corrected is a bit strong but I would say if there are other correction than yes fix that as well. I often fix typos and minor grammar and capitalization but usually only fix minor things if I'm doing more - or there is multiple minor things.
Comment: Html vs HTML vs html all use the same letters, so are not spelt incorrectly. ThmH would be a different issue.

Case Correction when editing questions


How to know the vulnerabilities of my website?

Question: My website had been hacked. Hackers were able to access my database and inject some script into my database, now although I have recovered my website but I want to protect my website from further hacking incidence. So how can I know the vulnerabilities of my website, exploiting which they were able to hack it or how they can hack my database in future and place those types of scripts?
Comment: @Tej if you do not know yo have no business  running any public service!

Logs are an integral part of any service and you should not only know where they are but also collect and read them on a regular basis!
Comment: This question is extremely broad and as such will probably be closed.  You either have a significant (but fun) learning curve ahead of you in pen testing and secure software engineering or you need to hire someone to help you which will not be cheap. If you go the learning route, I suggest you start with the OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities and review your application for those.
Comment: Investigating an incident starts by looking into logfiles. Do you keep any?
Comment: yes . i have purchased my server space . so where do i have to look  ? @Arminius
Comment: There are software for automatic pen testing, you could start by that. Note : to check if your site is vulnerable to sql-injection, check every query if they're parametrized (using `?` or `:xy` notation instead of the putting the value straight in the query). For logs, Arminus was probably talking about logs generated by your application.
Comment: ok sure . i will @Walfrat
Comment: where i can find these logs ?
Answer: Finding out the vulnerabilities of a website isn't an easy task. It's quite time consuming, and laborious work. Finding the vulnerabilities in any site goes through following phases:-

Reconnaissance :- Which is the act of gathering preliminary data or intelligence of your target.
Scanning :- The phase of scanning requires the application of technical tools to gather further intelligence on your target, but in this case, the Intel being sought is more commonly about the systems that they have in place. A good example would be the use of a vulnerability scanner on a target network.

Even after all those hard work, there's a lot of chance that you would get nothing at your side.
There are numerous situations when the vulnerability might be of the hosting site or of the database admin or any 3rd party database handlers.
I would definitely advise you leave the Information Security task to be handled by the professionals.
It would rather be beneficial to leave it to the well reputed local security firms.
Comment: This is sort of true, but blindly running automated pen test tools without really understanding what they do or the output they provide can either leave you with no benefits or worse than you were before (it it wasn't, most of us wouldn't have jobs). Review the OWASP top 10,try to spot what you did wrong,  get yourself a copy of XSS Me and SQL Inject browser tools. To be honest this is the place to get specific help on specific issues, so if you come back with a question we're happy to answer, but how was my site hacked with out access to it is very difficult for us to answer.
Comment: as i mentioned that . i'm the owner of my website and  i don't want to hire professional  . that's the reason of this forum . to become aware about security . So leaving this task to be handled by professional is not the answer i suppose.


Fast repeats/flashes video clip

Question: So I've been pulling the last bit of my few hairs out of my skull for half a day now trying to figure out why my rendered video is NOT smooth like it is in the preview.
Demo: http://seodagger.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/1111-2222.avi
It's like it loops each soft cut (in the video strip) a dozen times before it moves on. This does not happen when I play it in the editor, but happens every single time I render it. Any ideas?
Been following a bunch of "rendering tutorials" just to make sure I am not missing anything but I'm starting to go nuts :(
Comment: Should be a workaround: http://blender.stackexchange.com/a/49219/2843
Answer: Codecs.
Prefaced with my usual "very difficult to diagnose from a distance."
All codecs are not created equal, and are complex beasts when it comes to decoding. This is especially true for encoded files that could be subject to massive frame compression such as screen captures.
Best test is to render each source file long sequence into a  stills or AVI JPG format from within Blender prior to editing, and then edit the resultant output.
If this works, and if you are so inclined to learn about the dark alchemy of codecs, I could explain further if required.
Comment: Hmmm... ok. I get what you're saying. Does that mean I lose the 7 hours worth of editing I put into it? Ouch :(

For the record, this is my first time using Blender so the learning experience alone would have been worth it, but still. My head hurts just thinking about redoing it all, lol
Comment: Assuming your media is soft linked to the same file, possibly not. Just replace that soft link on the strip with your new AVI JPG and you might be fine.
Answer:
Best test is to render each source file long sequence into a stills or
  AVI JPG format from within Blender prior to editing, and then edit the
  resultant output.

Boom. That worked. Followed your advice and it worked like a charm. I sure am glad I did not have to redo it from scratch. Thanks a bunch troy_s!
Comment: Alright alright... I said it worked, and it is now watchable, but it is still doing it a LITTLE bit. I tried rendering the 16 minute video in 3 parts in hops it might fix it completely but it does not appear to fix it. Anything I might do wrong with the codec this time?
Comment: I would suggest that a still image format *should* fix it, but that may be a challenge to conform to an existing edit that used a single file codec. AVI RAW should be full frames for every frame. If it still jumps at a cut, it is likely there are still P / B frames in the source, and *not* non-GoP. Hard to know at this point. Other thing to try is to generate timecode (not LTC) indices within Blender to hopefully sort out those few remaining pinch points.

Fast repeats/flashes video clip


Is tunneling of a proton in our DNA a cause of mutations?

Question: Our DNA strands are tight together by hydrogen bonds. Can the proton of Hydrogen tunnel to the other complementary strand, and by this during the replication bind to a different/wrong nucleotide, causing a point mutation?
Comment: Perhaps of interest, though not specifically about complementary strand: Florian et al. 1996 (a highly cited paper) http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ja951983g
Answer: Keto-enol tautomerism involving proton transfer within a single DNA base can lead to mispairing and mutation during replication.  This is touched on in the previous citation provided by tsttst as well as this section from An Introduction to Genetic Analysis. 7th edition: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK21897/  I have not found a clear statement of whether the proton transfer is over sufficient distance to constitute "tunneling".


How do i make the first of two strokes on text transparent so it shows through the bottom stroke layer?

Question: I was wondering if it's possible to put a double stroke on text so that the inner stroke makes it transparent and you can see the background. Basically it will be a solid text, then an outline which you can see what's behind it, then another solid outline. And keeping it all editable as text.
Answer: You don't need to apply two strokes for that you can simply apply one stroke and then off-set the path to positive number. It automatically leave some space between your solid fill colour and the stroke.
Here's the method

Type the Text and add the fill colour and outer stroke colour you want.

Go to you your appearance panel(Shift+F6) select the stroke.

Now in appearance panel select Add new Effect > Path > Offset path

Enter an appropriate value to get the desired result

DONE!
Note: You might need to set the tracking to some Positive number as when you offset the path characters do not attach themselves to each other
Comment: This works for the example shown, but I also would like to off set the fill or stroke in the back so it appears as a shadow with empty space between the top fill and the "shadow" fill. Is there a way to do that?
Answer: You need to use a stroke offset effect to push the stroke away from your type. I believe it's doable with live type.


Why don't many start-ups go for web hosting?

Question: Why don't many big start-ups opt for a web-hosting company, but instead get their own servers even at the beginning. Take for example Facebook or Google. Facebook could have gone for a VPS. Is getting your own server better than a VPS or is it just additional learning? I know this is not a very straightforward question but didn't know any other place where it can be better answered.
Answer: That depends very much on what the startup is trying to do. For us, our main product was an app that performs data-processing, so shared-hosting, or even dedicated hosting, made very little sense. Especially considering the nature of the data we work with, where questions surrounding "who has access to this data, exactly, I want a list," can come up. Our main website was and still is in a hosting environment. Our one web-service is fully hosted by us for several reasons, not the least of which is that it is a full off the shelf .NET webapp with multiple components, and the same "who has access, prove it," requirements; while shared hosting for that does exist, data-control concerns trumped the cost efficiency concerns.
And that's just the startup I work for.
Also consider scale. A startup is built on hopes of being the next Facebook/Google, and you don't scale to that level by sharing your stuff. Plan from the beginning to be able to scale from one up to many, up to massively many, and so on. If there is sharing going on, it'll be VPS/Cloud, not shared hosting, as the startup can control the entire web environment in a way that can't be done with shared hosting.
Answer: When Google and Facebook both started, virtualization technology hadn't come as far as it had now.  The IT world was very different when Google started, certainly.
But I'm afraid you're not likely to get a very good answer on this, for the simple reason that companies don't know if they are going to become huge when they first are founded.  They may hope they will become the next Google or the next Facebook - in fact, most of them probably do - but ninety-nine times out of a hundred, they don't.  There isn't a point in buying Google or Facebook level dedicated hardware which will cost an arm and a leg if you're never going to grow out of the "two founders and a dog" phase.
Comment: my point is that what is the difference in buying a server and surviving on a dedicated hosting for say 6-8 months. it costs the same. is the advantage in buying your own server is the knowledge u gain in administering the server?
Comment: The risks really don't justify bring this sort of infrastructure in house for most organizations anymore honestly.  With what it costs to host this at an EC2 or better, you're better off than giving an attacker a stepping stone to your proprietary network.


How do you go faster in minecraft(Without useing the potion of swiftness)?

Question: So, a friend showed me a thing where you go super fast in Minecraft and I totally forgot it. So, I was wondering if any of you knew what it was.
Comment: Your tag doesnt make much sense, ftl is a game, and your question is a little too vague to try and answer. You might want to add more details about the thing your friend showed you.
Comment: There are many, many ways you can go faster. You will need to narrow down your question before we can provide you with an answer.
Comment: I think I have a video sitting on my channel [somewhere](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXT7wnOLzWI) with almost exactly that title...
Comment: Ok so, my friend showed me something that included typing it the typing area and you include your Minecraft online name.
Answer: If you are looking for a way to go fast without commands then here is a helpful video:

This part will only work in creative mode or with cheats enabled on LAN:
If what you want is a command to give you speed then this command will make you go as fast as you want: Just type in the chat /effect (name) minecraft:speed 10000 100 the first number is how long you wish the command to last, and the second is how fast you wish to go. To get rid of the speed type /effect *player* clear (or drink milk).
Comment: Yes! That was it and it worked!
Comment: Hitting the answered button is always appreciated (:
Answer: By pressing forward twice, you'll sprint. But this can deplete your hunger and when it's at a certain point, you can't sprint. Sprinting and jumping at the same time increases the speed. Sprinting and jumping in a 2 block space area makes it even more faster. With ice added on the ground, you go even more faster! And with closed trapdoors, you run the fastest without a potion of swiftness. [I learned this all and tried it out and it worked.]


Traveling for study

Question: I have been issued a D visa to travel to Sweden(malmo) for studies.but am to travel through Copenhagen.hope it will not be a problem.
Answer: There is no problem. Your D visa is for Sweden, because that's where you're studying, but it is well understood that you may transit through other countries on your way there.
You'll pass through immigration when you arrive in Copenhagen, but your Swedish D visa is fine for this purpose. If you're asked about your plans, just answer honestly that you're going to Malmö for your studies. Indeed, your D visa allows you to stay in other Schengen countries as long as you do not exceed the 90/180 day rule, so you can use it to visit Copenhagen and not just pass through.

Traveling for study


Is kiln dried jack pine suitable for a kitchen table?

Question: My wife wants a farm house table and prefers conifer wood; i.e., not a hardwood. I have some 5/4 jack pine that has been kiln dried and aged somewhat. Is this a suitable wood for a kitchen table? How about the thickness? What is the typical thickness for a pine table? The sap content looks little higher than white pine but the grain is much nicer. The wood choices I have are native to central Wisconsin, USA. Thoughts?
Comment: Welcome to Woodworking.  In order to give definitive answers to your thickness questions, you should give some idea of the table size and how you propose to support the table top.
Answer:
Is this a suitable wood for a kitchen table?

Just about any wood one cares to name is good enough for a kitchen table. Obviously not balsa, but then who can buy enough of that to build a table from anyway? :-D
Kitchen tables were, and still are, very commonly made from pine and while modern sensibilities are that softwoods aren't tough enough for this kind of thing the historical examples prove that they can more than hold up to use. Oldest pine table I've seen with my own eyes (still in service and possibly having been continuously in service) might be celebrating its 200th birthday round about now, and there are older examples.

How about the thickness?

5/4 is fine as far as thickness goes, but you might want to install stiffening battens on the underside or attach very well to the leg assembly to help prevent any tendency to warp (a waterproof finish will help greatly in this regard also).

What is the typical thickness for a pine table?

I'm not sure that there is one. These days with the modern Internet-driven design ethos the answer is probably as thick as possible — made from a glue-up of 2x4s or something like that.
Historically I'd hazard somewhere around the 2" mark might have been common, if not typical.
5/4 might seem overly thin in relation to those but that's still quite substantial, even with the minor loss in thickness you'll experience planing, scraping or sanding to finish off.
Comment: Thank you for your responses. I see now why Ast Pace asked about the size and base. I am in the design  phase so the responses are very timely. If you have any recommendations on where I could read more about table design and/or table plans please let me know. I just found stack exchange so I'm searching posts here. Thanks again, Steve
Comment: Welcome Steve. If this is your first build of a table like this, if you keep the design conventional and don't do anything unusual and you should be fine — the apron on conventional tables supports thinner tops very well over a wide area, as well as providing ample space for [fixing hardware](http://woodworking.stackexchange.com/questions/2720/will-these-table-legs-support-this-table/2731#2731).


What is happening over the 15 minutes it takes a neutron to decay?

Question: I've read that free neutrons decay into a proton, electron and neutrino with an average lifespan of about 15 minutes. Is there anything physically different about a neutron that has existed for 14 minutes and one that has only existed for one minute? Does a random outside event trigger the decay or is something internally in the neutron slowly falling apart?
Comment: If you like this question you may also enjoy reading this [post](http://physics.stackexchange.com/q/3228/2451).
Comment: Related, on the more technical side: [Can we find the exponential radioactive decay formula from first principles?](https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/178233/can-we-find-the-exponential-radioactive-decay-formula-from-first-principles)
Answer:
Neutron decays into a proton, electron and electron anti-neutrino. Not only electric charge but also (electronic) lepton number has to be conserved (I'm not very sure in this statement). In short: you start and have to finish with 1 matter particle (anti-matter counts as -1).

Mean time $\neq$ half-life. More on wikipedia.

Physically there is no difference between a 14 minutes old neutron and a fresh neutron. Both will eventually decay. If you would observed a neutron for 14 minutes and then started observing another one, the older one would most probably decayed first. If you would started observing two neutrons after 14 minutes, both would decay with same probability. Why? Because neutrons are indistinguishable. You can't tell which is older. Basically, neutrons don't get older with time. Also decay is purely random and doesn't depend on neutron's past.
The opposite is for humans. Of course an 80 years old person will die first with much greater probability then a child. But what can you say about two human beings, if you wouldn't know anything about them?

There is no trigger for decay. Internal nor external. But there are physical reasons for decay, of course. One of them is, that neutrons are slightly heavier than protons and therefore decays to lower energy state ($E=mc^2$). Why are neutrons heavier, I don't know. But there are reasons for that, too. And this is not because $u$ and $d$ quarks have different weight. Quarks mass is only a small part of neutron and proton mass
Comment: "If you would observed a neutron for 14 minutes and then started observing another one, the older one would most probably decayed first." Not sure what you mean here. The rest looks good though, including lepton number conservation.
Comment: This is a good answer and it perfectly fits the OP's needs. However technically 3. is not correct. A neutron that is prepared at time t=0 will be at time t in the state $|n\rangle(t) = \exp{(-\lambda t)} |n\rangle + (1-\exp{(-\lambda t})) |p+e^-+\bar{\nu}_e\rangle $
Comment: Thank you for pointing out that mean lifetime and half-life are not the same.
Comment: @Jannick You should square root those coefficients.
Comment: @J.G. You are perfectly right.
Answer: The quantum mechanical description of the process gives you probabilities for all possible events and the 15 minutes happen to be the mean life time for this process. It's random and you don't have a guarantee for anything, except that the average result will converge against the propability distribution if you let many neutrons decay. There is "no need to talk about something internally happening" in a different way to end up with the two different possibilities of 14 and 15 minutes. And there is nothing really different between the neutron which decays after 14 minutes and the neutron which decays after 15 minutes aprart from the latter decaying 1 minute later.
Comment: Downvote because you did not look up the actual half-life of neutrons and because your discussion of probability is not written to the level of understanding demonstrated by the OP.
Comment: @AdamRedwine: Thanks Adam. As a matter of fact I did both, I took a look at OPs profile and I checked the [wiki article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_neutron) where they claim *While bound neutrons in stable nuclei are stable, free neutrons are unstable; they undergo beta decay with a mean lifetime of just under 15 minutes (881.5±1.5 s).*
Comment: I'll remove the downvote because of the link.  I still think the language and explaination needs clearing up.
Comment: @AdamRedwine: You're welcome to edit it if it's too complicated.
Answer: I think you are misunderstanding what is meant by a half-life.  When you start describing quantum mechanics (and nuclear decay is a fundamentally quantum mechanical event) you have to incorporate statistics.  A half-life is the amount of time in which, on average, half of a large number of identical specimen will have decayed.  When someone says the half-life of a neutron is 10.4 minutes, what they mean is, given any random neutron, if you wait for 10.4 minutes, there is a 50% chance that the neutron will have decayed during that time.
Answer: There is a possibility that a one minute old neutron will beta decay. The probability is very low, but it can decay before the 14 minute old neutron. I think this answers the question does the neutron have a past before it decays, and the answer is no. It is how like a photon is dependent on the observation of the event.
Comment: This is incorrect. If I prepare a neutron at time $t=0$, wait for 14 minutes, verify that it hasn't decayed, and prepare a new neutron at that time, then both neutrons are equally likely to decay over the next minute (and indeed over any subsequent time span).
Comment: What does your last sentence mean?


21st Century Jazz Theory?

Question: I know that the Mark Levine Jazz Theory and Jazz Piano books were widely used theory books in jazz instruction and almost considered the standard. However, they are both over a quarter century old now. Have there been widespread evolutions in jazz theory since these books have been published? If so, what are some of them? How has playing changed from a theory perspective since the mid 90s?
Comment: IMO this is a great example of what *could* have been a request-for-resources question (and gotten closed), and instead asked for knowledge. This is what "Can someone point me to a more up-to-date jazz book" wants to be when it grows up. I hope someone with more jazz knowledge than I has a good answer—but I fear that the answer is "Well, the main developments in the past 3 decades have been to blur categories and boundaries, more than to rewrite the theory books..."
Comment: I disagree about closing this Q. IMO it's phrased in a way to ask for a high-level overview, and it invites high-quality answers that fit within the guidelines of the site. I think it's an extremely high-quality question. The expertise required may make it difficult to get good answers, but I do still think concise, high-quality answers that fit within the site guidelines are still very possible for this Q.
Comment: I have a hunch that the answer highly depends on jazz sub-genre, and that for most sub-genres, this theory hasn't changed.
Comment: This is a great question, and would be a great book topic. There's a ton here. The work of musicians like Mehldau, Rosenwinkle, Redman, Turner, and Glasper is now very well-established (and mimicked). They introduced new techniques, structures, and approaches that are definitely not described in those books and warrant the addition of some new theoretical descriptions. There's also some less pervasive but equally cutting edge stuff that's also very incredible. But I'm not sure either of these have been formalized in new theory, which has kind of always been the challenge with jazz education.
Comment: I asked about one specific technique from Mehldau's trio in [this question](https://music.stackexchange.com/questions/98559/improvising-in-two-pulses-tempos-at-once). There are tons that could be discussed on every topic (rhythm, harmony, melody). Obviously there are still people out there trying to emulate Coltrane or Parker, as @Dekkadeci alludes to, but it seems you're not asking about that so much as the newer trends that have emerged in more contemporary jazz. They definitely exist (many at the highly advanced level), and it makes me wonder if any books have been written about this.
Answer: Although this change isn't necessarily "widespread" yet, one change we are starting to see is a shift from "vertical" thinking to more "horizontal" thinking.
For years, jazz pedagogy was very much focused on the chords (hence "vertical") as determinants for what scales to use when improvising. This emphasis on chords sometimes obfuscated the small changes in voice leading between two harmonies. As a really simple example, consider the chords Cm and A♭/C. Written this way, it's easy to miss that the only difference between these two chords is a G moving to an A♭.
As a response to this vertical focus, some recent authors—most notably Dariusz Terefenko—have pursued jazz theory from a voice-leading (almost Schenkerian) viewpoint that emphasizes prolongational structures in jazz as opposed to the chord-by-chord approach.
But as I said, this new view isn't exactly widespread yet, so it's unclear if this is the new path for jazz or not. My sense is that jazz is still very vertically minded.
Terefenko also has discussions of post-tonal and atonal jazz, something which I'd never seen before, so this may also be an example of a new approach.
Comment: Yes, Terefenko is addressing it theoretically while also introducing the ideas pedagogically (something that is typically missed in the overtly chord-based approaches).
Comment: Cool. What distinguishes Terefenko's approach from the horizontal, playing "across" the chord changes of bebop or, more significantly, modal jazz — Coltrane specifically? Is it that he's addressing in formal theoretic terms what those and other musicians were doing in practice?
Comment: There have always been players who though 'horizontally', that is melodically. Chet Baker was a very good example.
Answer: Having thought about this question for a while, I would actually say that much of the jazz theory evolution in the past several decades has been more in rhythm than in harmony. Examples of this would be jazz musicians being able to play everything from swing, to funk, to Afro-Caribbean, to J Dilla rhythms and various combinations of those and other styles.
For that I'll reference the sections in the recent book Dilla Time about J Dilla's influence on jazz rhythm as well as Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah talking in this interview about the importance of rhythm.

21st Century Jazz Theory?


How to increase the amount of times one can use REDO option?

Question: Can the number of redos be increased? My limit is like 5 and I need at least 100 because I am new to this and mess up ALL THE TIME. I tried ... [EDIT] [PREFERENCES] [INPUT] but can't seem to find how to solve this. Anybody know?
Comment: Welcome to Blender stack exchange. Did you try looking in the System tab in the preferences window? There is a tab for Memory and Limits with Undo Steps
Answer: Don't you mean by any chance UNDO steps?
They can be increased here:
Edit > Preferences > System > Undo steps

The maximum is 256, but that should be enough in most cases.
Comment: Thanks a lot... was looking in the wrong places.


Minecraft: clear items WITHOUT custom name

Question: I am using emeralds as currency in my adventure map, so they have a custom name and lore. When they are crafted into an emerald block and back into emeralds, the lore and name is gone. I want to add a repeat command block that permanently checks the player's inventory for emeralds WITHOUT the custom name. Is that possible?
Comment: Have you made any attempt to solve this yourself? Arqade works better when askers show effort to solve their own problems; we see that you have a problem you've worked on, and answerers respond to that. You also get a more specific answer that's tailored exactly to the part you're stuck, and Arqade gets a very specific question. Everybody wins!
Comment: Are you asking about a workaround instead of the actual solution? Why don't you instead try to pretend them from losing their name at all?
Answer: Use clear command to detect how many emeralds you have, and how many named emeralds you do. If they are different, you have some unnamed emeralds.
Answer: Yes it is possible. You just need to check the players inventory and clear the item.
/clear [player] emerald 1

then you have to put the custom name into it and give it back plus you need to put it on repeat
/give [player] minecraft:emerald 1 0 {display:{Name:"[Custom Name]"}}{display:{Lore:["Lore"]}}

Comment: That way you'd be constantly clearing and giving one emerald to the player.
Comment: You also swapped `data` and `maxCount`. This command searches for an emerald with metadata 1 (which doesn't exist).
Comment: First I thought that the constant item in your face would be the only downside, which could be solved with entity models, but no, it also has a number of weird effects on single item stacks.


How do I tell if my graphics card supports OpenGL 2.0?

Question: I'm using a game development library that requires OpenGL 2.0 and am having issues running it.  A mod on that library's forum asked if my machine support OpenGL 2.0, and I have no idea how to figure this out.  Any ideas?
Comment: First find out what graphics card you have then search google.
Comment: **Brand new** to linux (as in, this morning). What system menus will show me what kind of card I have?
Comment: You can use glxinfo.
Answer: I am afraid you'll have to open the command line of your first day of Linux (don't worry, happened to me too). Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal. Type lspci and hit Enter. This lists everything connected over PCI or PCI express, including the video card. Read through the list until you have seen something about ATI or nVidia or one of Intel's models.
Then go to Wikipedia's comparison tables for video cards to find out the OpenGL version your card supports.
Intel Graphic cards
nVidia graphic cards - here you have to click to the page for the correct generation, e. g. GeForce  7 series if you have a GeForce 7600 GS
ATI grapchic cards
Remember that these only say which version the hardware supports. To be able to run OpenGL libraries, you also need a driver which supports them. There are multiple video drivers for each chip generation for Linux. Ubuntu comes with open source versions, which are not bad, but generally a step behind the proprietary drivers released by the graphic card manufacturers (which are often referred to as binary drivers or proprietary drivers). If your check turns up that your hardware supports OpenGL 2.0 (which most do), you can try the proprietary drivers. They are called nvidia-current for nvidia and fglrx for ATI. For Intel, there are only open source drivers.
Comment: Answer is too generic.
Answer: Use dmidecode to find out the name of your graphics card.
then find information about the version of opengl in google.
Answer: The first tool you use should probably be lspci, but if you are interested in more details is you can use lshw.
Example from my laptop:
prompt>lspci | grep VGA
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 02)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation Device 0df0 (rev a1)
prompt>

and the corresponding extract from lshw:
    *-pci:0
         description: PCI bridge
         product: Core Processor PCI Express x16 Root Port
         vendor: Intel Corporation
         physical id: 1
         bus info: pci@0000:00:01.0
         version: 02
         width: 32 bits
         clock: 33MHz
         capabilities: pci pm msi pciexpress normal_decode bus_master cap_list
         configuration: driver=pcieport
         resources: irq:42 ioport:2000(size=4096) memory:fb000000-fbffffff ioport:f0000000(size=167772160)
       *-display
            description: VGA compatible controller
            product: nVidia Corporation
            vendor: nVidia Corporation
            physical id: 0
            bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
            version: a1
            width: 64 bits
            clock: 33MHz
            capabilities: pm msi pciexpress vga_controller bus_master cap_list
            configuration: driver=nouveau latency=0
            resources: irq:16 memory:fb000000-fbffffff memory:f0000000-f7ffffff memory:f8000000-f9ffffff ioport:2000(size=128)
    *-display
         description: VGA compatible controller
         product: Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller
         vendor: Intel Corporation
         physical id: 2
         bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0
         version: 02
         width: 64 bits
         clock: 33MHz
         capabilities: msi pm vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
         configuration: driver=i915 latency=0
         resources: irq:47 memory:fd000000-fd3fffff memory:d0000000-dfffffff ioport:1800(size=8)

Answer: type dxdiag in run window in windows
Comment: Running dxdiag wouldn't help you determine if your GPU supports OpenGL