Does decrease in voltage decreases the speed of electrons in a series circuit?

Question: Let's say we have a 5V battery and a ohmic conductor that consumes energy connected in a series circuit with constant resistance. When we increase the voltage, the number of electrons flow through a point per second increases as well. But when the component consumes the energy and creates a potential difference of 5V, the energy per unit of charge decreases, therefore, will the current in a series circuit always changes after the component? Or is it that the change in rate is too insignifant and we ignore it. Of course, current in a series circuit is the same everywhere, if not, there would be a 'traffic jam' of electrons in the wire which is weird. So can I know why?
Comment: *when the component consumes the energy and creates a potential difference of 5V, the energy per unit of charge decreases,* - wrong way round - it increases.
Comment: Be very careful with your language. The velocity (rate) of charge is not the same as current. These are independent concepts.
Comment: Since drift velocity is also proportional to voltage and so the drop in voltage would also affect the speed of the electrons and eventually the current because there will be less electrons passing through a point per second? Perhaps I should just accept the fact with my very limited high school physics...
Answer: Neil's explanation is a good one but I thought I'd give just another way of looking at it.
You were completely correct saying that the current is constant throughout the circuit. Say we have a 5V source and use wires to connect it to a resistor.
I think where you may be getting confused is thinking all the energy the current contains is in its movement (kinetic energy) whereas it is almost all potential energy (you don't really notice it until connected to a location with a different potential) which is why there are a lot of references to gravity. Here is another image of the problem:
You are holding the marbles at the top of a hill - they have 5V of potential energy. You let them go onto this -almost- perfectly smooth ice which has a very small gradient - this is the electrons passing through the wire - they lose a little bit of potential energy. Then you get to a resistor - this is an extremely rough patch of grass but on a very steep bit of the hill. The marbles maintain their movement but it requires a loss of a lot of their potential energy moving against the grass. Finally there is another section of a small gradient of slightly rough ice of the wire the other side. Overall the marbles maintained their movement throughout but at the cost of different potential energies at different locations.
On a different note about how electrons actually act in the metals which I think you may find interesting. Without a voltage applied - electrons are flying about in both directions of the wire - at about a million km per hour - really fast but in both directions so there is no overall current flow! When a voltage is applied, they are still flying about extremely fast in both directions, but now there is also a small overall trend of movement (this is called the drift velocity). And when I say small, I mean only about a few meters per hour - really small! It is this mass movement we describe as the current flow.
Keep asking these sorts of questions though, it is good thinking!
Answer: Consider a series circuit like a cascade of small waterfalls.
Water arrives at the top at the same flow rate that it leaves at the bottom, flow rate is equivalent to current. Place a cross section at any point in between and you'll still have the same volume of water crossing that plane. You could equate average speed of charge carriers to the speed of the water, higher through a thin pipe, slower in a wide conductor.
The height of the water is equivalent to voltage. It's the potential energy that the water has at that point, its ability to do work. The total drop from top to bottom is equal to the sum of the individual drops on the way down. It doesn't matter whether there's a big drop first and then a small drop, the heights will sum to the total height.
'Why' is somewhat trickier to answer, it can only be answered in the context of what you think is obvious. We observe that it just does. If you chase explanations all the way down, then you end up at quantum mechanics, which isn't obvious to anyone.
Comment: I use dodgy water analogies from time to time but a *waterfall*? The water accelerates as it falls and thins out.
Comment: @Transistor - But wouldn't it be similar to a circuit with a single 18 awg wire branching off to a whole bundle of 16 awg wires?
Answer: Yes, the speed of the physical electrons decreases when voltage drops, because it causes a current drop when resistance remains unchanged. Less current (ampere), means less electrons (coulomb) travelling through the wire.
If the wire and paths stay the same, less electrons enter and leave the wire and components of the circuitry. Thus if the density of the electrons and diameter of the wire remain unchanged, they have to move slower travelling the same traject.
Please take a look at the Wikipedia article about Drift Velocity; The numerical example will give you some extra insights.
Comment: I think your first sentence is worded poorly and mixes up cause and effect. Velocity drops when **current** drops; **if the current is through a resistor** then the current will drop when the voltage drops.
Comment: @ElliotAlderson, I started my first sentence with a direct answer to the question; I prefer doing it that way.
Answer:
But when the component consumes the energy and creates a potential difference of 5V, the energy per unit of charge decreases, therefore, will the current in a series circuit always changes after the component?

The current in a circuit will be consistent. What goes in from the source must return to the source.

Or is it that the change in rate is too insignificant and we ignore it.

No, there is no fudging or cheating.

Of course, current in a series circuit is the same everywhere, if not, there would be a 'traffic jam' of electrons in the wire which is weird. So can I know why?

simulate this circuit – Schematic created using CircuitLab
Figure 1. Equivalent circuits.
Maybe Figure 1 will help. Here your 5 V supply is powering a load R1 and 50 mA is flowing. In the equivalent circuit we have split the load into five equal parts. The voltage drop across each part is now 1/5 × 5 V = 1 V through 1/5 the resistance so the current remains the same, 50 mA. You can divide up R1 as many times as you like and the voltage across each element will decrease proportionally but the current will remain the same through the whole circuit.

Figure 2. A closed circuit of bicycle chain. Image source: Technology Student.
It may help you to think of the charge flow as more like a bicycle chain. The pedal chain wheel is the power source and the rear sprocket is the load. When pedaling the top is in tension and the bottom is slack but no links are consumed or go missing during the ride. The chain flows in a closed circuit and links into the drive = links returned from the drive.
Answer: I decided to give this another try using the drift velocity formula.
I = nAvQ, where n is the number of electrons/m^3, A is the cross sectional area of the wire, v is the drift velocity of electrons, Q is the charge of an electron.
In order to keep the current same in a series circuit when there is a voltage drop across the resistor, one of the value must increase since drift velocity decreases. This should, I think, cause the material to have higher electron density in order to deliver the same current. But then electron density is a constant.
Do correct me so I can delete the answer.


How to correct for gender in Mann-Whitney U test?

Question: My statistical knowledge is very limited.
I have two groups (patients and controls) and a measured concentration value  for each indivdual. Not normally distributed: Mann-Whitney
How do I correct for gender in Mann-Whitney? (I want to know if the difference between patients and controls is due to difference in gender distribution, since males have higher values than females).
Answer: You cannot correct for gender in Mann-Whitney. Mann-Whitney is a location test for two groups, and that's all.
There are at least two options here:
1) Stratify by gender. That is, analyze the men and women separately.
2) Do some sort of regression, perhaps OLS or, given your use of Mann-Whitney, perhaps quantile regression, with "concentration" as the dependent variable and two independent variables: Gender and group (patient vs. control)
Comment: Can I perform a Kruskal-Wallis with 4 groups? (male+patient, male+control, female+patient, female+control)
Comment: Is there any other non-parametric test that allows me to correct for gender?
Comment: "Nonparametric" covers a wide range of things, including types of regression. I don't know of anything like the Mann Whitney U that corrects for another factor - it's almost part of the definition: Mann Whitney U is simple precisely because it doesn't allow such things.
Comment: regression is ANOVA.
Answer: The closest I think you could get with some existing test, is if your data came from a randomized complete block design, but if I recall correctly, this requires people to be randomly assigned to the genders (blocks): this may be rather hard :). If you could, however, you could use a Mack-Skillings test.
You state that your statistical knowledge is limited, so the only true solution I have to offer may be somewhat out of your league: you can build a probabilistic index model (see http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-9868.2011.01020.x/full ). These can be used to extend the classical distributionfree tests (like Mann-Whitney) in a similar fashion as you would do through a GLM (a colleague of mine should have a paper published on that any day now), but it would lead me too far to try and explain everything around that theory here.
So: unless you're willing to go the PIM-route, I don't think there is a solution, currently, for distributionfree tests.
Comment: Thank you for your answer, unfortunately it sounds to complicated for me. Can I perform a mack-Skillings test in SPSS?


How To Deploy Standard Field & Permissions?

Question: When I create a change set, there is no option to pick the Contact.Email field. How can I deploy a standard field and include permissions for it?
Answer: There is currently no way to perform this task if you are exclusively using change sets. This is something which will have to be manually done via the point and click interface for every profile / field.
Here's an idea people voted on in order to support this feature.

ChangeSet functionality improvements
  Globalization & Custom Schema
Would like to see the functionality to deploy standard objects via change sets.
This should include picklist changes and all page layouts.
It is frustrating that we need to replicate all picklist changes on standard objects when deploying from sandbox to live as changeset do not support standard objects.
Close Case page layout is missing from the changeset options and cannot be deployed.
It does not work properly for deploying email templates if they are in a sub folder. Even when adding the folder to the changeset it fails. the folder must manually be creating in the target ord before the change set can work.

That being said, there is a way to perform this task if you chose to use the metadata api. This does require either the use of tools such as Salesforce Migration Tool Kit, Eclipse (if the project is small enough), or 3rd party paid solutions which leverage the metadata api.
Here's some documentation in regards to what the profile metadata contains

You can retrieve and deploy access settings for the following managed components in profiles and permission sets:

Apex classes
Apps
Field permissions
Object permissions
Custom tab settings
External data sources
Record types
Visualforce pages

Documentation of Salesforce Migration Tool Kit
Comment: Can you include some relevant citations from those links? It will make your post much more accessible and durable over time (links can break).
Answer: With the below, it could be entirely possible that you could grab a profile from sandbox with all the necessary permissions and save it directly to production via an IDE (non-deploy, just compile and save) and it should do the same thing.....You would have to be extremely careful not to introduce artifacts that you do not want to update permissions for though.
Unfortunately, I do not have a production org I am able to test this out on, a bit of a scary prospect to do it without the safeguards of the deploy for profiles. ;)
Update
Not sure if this is any better than manually doing it but I was able to to this using VF and JS. You will have to get the XML for the permissions but this shows that it works. Tested in a production NON DE org
Now that I think about it, would be cool if I built this out to allow the picking of object/field permission and selecting profiles to apply to and do it all in one shot......Could be a neat tool and if done right reduce the amount of clicks to apply field permission across multiple objects to multiple profiles at once
Setup to test:

Create a profile named MyTest
Ensure that the profile DOES NOT have access to the Contact.Description field - I used description before I saw you were using email
Save profile
Create a Remote Site Setting for the Visualforce URL you put in the page JS variable sfHost

VF Page
<apex:page id="Test_Metadata_Setup">

    <apex:includeScript value="{!URLFOR($Resource.[YOURJSRESOURCEHERE])}"/>

    <apex:form >
        <apex:commandButton onclick="updateProfileTest(function(msg){console.log(msg)}); return false" value="click me" reRender="msg"/>
    </apex:form>

</apex:page>

JS -- Put in a static resource
function getRequestHeader() {
    return '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>' +
        '<env:Envelope xmlns:env="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">' +
        '<env:Header>' +
        '<urn:SessionHeader xmlns:urn="http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata">' +
        '<urn:sessionId>' + sessionId + '</urn:sessionId>' +
        '</urn:SessionHeader>' +
        '</env:Header>' +
        '<env:Body>';

}

function sendMetadataRequest(request, callback) {
    var binding = new XMLHttpRequest();

    binding.open('POST', 'https://' + sfHost + '/services/Soap/m/37.0');
    binding.setRequestHeader('SOAPAction', '""');
    binding.setRequestHeader('Content-Type', 'text/xml');
    binding.onreadystatechange =
        function () {
            if (this.readyState == 4) {
                var parser = new DOMParser();
                var doc = parser.parseFromString(this.response, 'application/xml');
                console.log(doc);

                var errors = doc.getElementsByTagName('errors');
                var faultstring = '';
                var messageText = '';

                faultstring = doc.getElementsByTagName('faultstring');

                if (faultstring.length != 0) {
                    messageText = faultstring[0].innerHTML;
                } else {
                    for (var errorIdx = 0; errorIdx < errors.length; errorIdx++)
                        messageText += errors.item(errorIdx).getElementsByTagName('message').item(0).innerHTML + '
';
                }

                console.log(faultstring.length);

                console.log(errors.length != 0 || faultstring.length != 0);

                callback(
                    messageText == '' ? doc : ('Error ' + 'Making Configuration Changes: ' + messageText),
                );

            }
        };
    binding.send(request);

}

function updateProfileTest(callback) {

    var request =
        '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>' +
        '<env:Envelope xmlns:env="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">' +
        '<env:Header>' +
        '<urn:SessionHeader xmlns:urn="http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata">' +
        '<urn:sessionId>' + sessionId + '</urn:sessionId>' +
        '</urn:SessionHeader>' +
        '</env:Header>' +
        '<env:Body>' +
        '<updateMetadata xmlns="http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata">' +

        '<metadata xsi:type="Profile">' +
        '<fullName>MyTest</fullName>' +
        '<fieldPermissions>' +
        '<editable>true</editable><field>Contact.Description</field><readable>true</readable>' +
        '</fieldPermissions>' +

        '</metadata>' +

        '</updateMetadata>' +
        '</env:Body>' +
        '</env:Envelope>';

    sendMetadataRequest(request, function (msg, err) {

            callback(msg);
    });
}

Then load the VF page and click the button. In the JS console you will see the output. You can then goto the profile you created and see that the profile now has access to the Contact.Description field
Note: Removed previous details as the other answer covers it
Comment: `supposevely`? I'm pretty sure this is why IdeaExchange needs a built-in spell-checker.
Comment: Thanks Eric, Can DreamFactory do that?
Comment: @DavidMycka - Doubt it, since it is all metadata API. I am going to throw a test together to see, gimme 30 mins or so
Comment: @DavidMycka - ok, I was able to do this in Prod via a VF page and JS Metadata API. Only downside it you have to get the FullName of the profile and the XML for the field permissions to build the string.....Updating answer
Comment: @DavidMycka - answer updated. Make sure you replace the `includeScript` placeholder with the name of the JS file you save. Not sure if this is any better but hey, it was still fun


Would it be appropriate to ask for a general overview of available file systems that are suitable for Linux root partitions?

Question: I am interested in getting a general overview of available file systems for Linux (specifically to be used for the root file system), with pros and cons of each, but I am wondering would that be considered too broad a topic for this website? This is as opposed to asking about a specific file system.
Comment: Sounds reasonable to me.
Comment: Thanks, well I asked the question, so I'm hoping you're not the only one that believes it is suitable [here](https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/371490/what-are-the-pros-and-cons-of-the-various-file-systems-available-for-root-partit) it is and it's already got a vote to close!
Comment: If you ask a question on Meta, you should wait longer than an hour to get replies. Unless you're in a hurry, at least a day or two.
Comment: Fair point, thanks. I was in a bit of a hurry, though.
Answer: Without a very specific use case with explicit requirements mentioned, this would be a question that would be primarily opinion based and/or too broad, in my opinion.
It would be primarily opinion based, because Linux people have their favourite filesystems that they use for various reasons. Some swear by this filesystem, others by another filesystem, and sometimes on purely emotional (or other non-technical) grounds.
It would be too broad, because specific filesystems may be better for specific use cases, such as a private laptop, a server room RAID array, a high throughput genomic sequencing storage machine, a router, etc.
To alleviate these issues, the question would have to be on the form

I tried doing this on this kind of filesystem, but this happened. What filesystems would better handle this scenario?

The question "Filesystem for Gentoo root?" does this. The problem is specific: user has performance issues on a Gentoo workstation using ext4 when there are many small files.
Comment: And the list of filesystems changes, and their features change...


Back when the CMB was predominantly in the visible spectrum, would it have been visible to the naked eye?

Question: The CMB is a near-perfect black-body spectrum, and assuming this has been true since the de-coupling, we should have been able to see the glow. In fact, at a certain point, it should have been almost exactly like staring into the sun in all directions. Is this correct?
Comment: A minor point, but because the CMB *is* a black body spectrum, it does still have a visible component right now. It's just that visible component is soo diffuse that it's too dim for the human eye to pick up on.
Comment: Sure. See https://physics.stackexchange.com/a/133943/123208 but also see [David Hammen's comment](https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/477758/what-wavelength-was-the-cmb-originally/477768#comment1072798_477768) on a related question.
Comment: I'm not able to parse the question title. Is there some word missing in "... would have been visible to the naked eye" ? Perhaps "it"? That would make the title read "... would **it** have been visible to the naked eye".
Comment: @DavidHammen You caught some typos. Thanks.
Comment: @zephyr For large frequencies, the intensity decays exponentially with the photon energy. And the visible spectrum would need many hundred times larger photon energy than the average CMB photon. I doubt than even a single free eye-visible CMB photon exists today in the Universe.
Answer: The cosmic microwave background (CMB) was emitted as a blackbody at a temperature of about 3000 K. The CMB temperature then falls as the universe expands and is currently at a temperature of 2.73 K. Since brightness scales as $T^4$ (and the brightness of a blackbody spectrum only depends on temperature$^{1}$), then the brightness has fallen by a factor of $\sim 10^{12}$ over that time.
In contrast, the solar photosphere has a temperature of 5780 K.
Thus the CMB has never been as hot or bright as the photosphere of the Sun.
To be sure, the CMB would have been visible and very bright when it was first emitted at 3000 K. It would be a factor of 10 fainter (over all wavelengths) than the Sun, but with the peak wavelength shifted into the near infrared. In fact using this calculator for the blackbody spectrum, the brightness at 500 nm (centre of the visible band) would be about a factor of 100 fainter than the Sun. However, this occurs only a few hundred thousand years after the big bang and there were no stars and planets then.
The first stars probably formed at about a redshift of 20, corresponding to around 100 million years after the big bang and also about 100 million years after the CMB formed.To work out what the temperature was at any given redshift, we can use
$$ T(z) = 2.73 (1+z)\ ,$$
where $z$ denotes the redshift.
At $z=20$ the CMB had already cooled to 57 K. This is far, far to cool to emit any significant amount of visible radiation, and would be about $10^8$ times less bright than the Sun overall, with most of that radiation at far infrared wavelengths. The calculator suggests it would be hundreds of orders of magnitude fainter at 500 nm!
$^{1}$ Note added: Brightness and luminosity aren't synonyms. Brightness is a flux per unit area at the detector (your eye in this case). If a source of radiation covers a solid angle on the sky that is large enough to be resolved, then the brightness (the flux per unit area at any point on the image of the source in the back of your eye) is independent of the size of the thing emitting the radiation or how far away it is. In this question, this applies both to the Sun, which is half a degree across, and the isotropic CMB. For example, how bright the Sun is would not change if you got closer to it - clearly your eye receives more flux, but the Sun's image is spread over a larger area at the back of the eye (or any other detector) and these two effects exactly cancel. It is also true for the CMB which arrives at your eye almost isotropically from the whole sky.
[NB: Stars appear to be of varying brightness with distance/size because their images are unresolved point sources on our eye however far or big they are, unlike the Sun.]
Comment: But to the OP's implied question - was the irradiance (power density) at any time sufficiently high for the equivalent of our Mark-I eyeball to detect or be blinded by?
Comment: @ProfRob Yeah you're right on both accounts; I was thinking comparing absolute magnitudes where the observed flux distance terms cancel out and you can use luminosity to compare relative brightnesses. I also forgot that for resolvable bodies like galaxies (or in this case, all of space), surface brightness doesn't change by distance. My bad, sorry about that!
Comment: @CarlWitthoft I think, if GR or Lambda CDM does not affect things too strongly, then we can approximate the scenario with the brightness inside an infinite, 3000K hot black body radiating gas. In this case, thermodynamics says, the intensity was enough to heat the observers to 3000K, and it was partially in the visible spectrum. But I think it depends a lot on the density and the expansion rate of the 300000 year old Universe.
Comment: Luminosity (brightness) depends on temperature and the area over which it is emitted, as well as the distance from the source (hence red giants being brighter than hotter white dwarfs). I think it would be more precise to say flux depends only on temperature.
Comment: @JustinTackett brightness and luminosity are *not* synonyms. Brightness is a flux per unit area (in this case, at the back of your eye) and is $\sigma T^4$ for a blackbody. If the blackbody is resolved - I E. not a point source, (true here for the surface of the Sun, or an isotropic CMB) then the flux per unit area at the back of your eye does not depend on the area of the source or how far away it is.
Comment: @JustinTackett stars are of different brightness at different distance/size because they are unresolved point sources on a detector. I E. How far away or big they are does not change the image size on the detector/eye.
Answer: It wouldn't be like staring into the Sun so much as being inside the Sun (its photosphere, anyway).
What we really see is not distant objects, but light that enters our eyeballs. The CMB radiation that we detect now is here, not billions of light years away. If you were magically transported back to a time when the C"M"B temperature was 3000 K, you would be immersed in a photon gas of that temperature, and I'm not sure you would survive long enough to consciously perceive anything.
The reason the Sun doesn't melt us is that it occupies only a small part of our field of view (about 0.0005% of the 4π sr total), and the rest glows at a much lower temperature.
If you flew a heat-shielded spaceship from here to the Sun's photosphere, the Sun would seem hotter and hotter as it occupied more of the sky, though its areal brightness and associated temperature wouldn't change. Ultimately it would fill the entire sky, not just half of it, because the photosphere has a significant thickness. What you'd see and feel at that point, for as long as you survived, is similar to what you would see and feel in the early universe at around the photon decoupling time, except that the early universe was much more homogeneous and somewhat cooler.


Character wiping fog off a mirror using dynamic paint

Question: I've been making a scene where a character wipes fog and water droplets off a mirror to reflect themselves. I made a dynamic paint sequence using the character as the brush, but i cant work out the way to make the material so the paint brush paints a mirror texture on and leaves the fog texture. I can only get it to either paint the fog on or leave a black background.
 How can i make the brush work as a layer on top of the original water droplets texture?
Comment: Hi rob, thats what i was using there originally, but it made the wrong bits foggy and clean. I got it to work somehow by putting a logorithm math node in the mix and playing around. Not sure why it worked but my nodes are a bit of a mess after much trial and error
Comment: we would need to see the Nodes, but I would guess you just need to use your Dynamic Paint image sequence as the Factor to a Mix Node that controls the Mirror vs Fog
Comment: Post an answer with a screen shot of your Nodes to help others.
Comment: I used a dynamic paint in image mode with a wetmap and put that through a colour ramp and a logorithm set at 0.9. If anybody knows why that worked I'd love to know. I will make some screenshots now
Answer: So using a LOG math node at 0.9 with a colour ramp into the factor did the trick. If anyone knows exactly why I'd love to know.


Is it ok to have many characters who only appear for a few chapters?

Question: At least 40% of the characters in my novel appear for only 2-3 chapters and I don't really have the chance to develop them. Is this too many? How can you determine you have too many characters appearing for a very short duration?
Comment: Related: https://writing.stackexchange.com/q/41378/14704
Comment: Do you expect the reader to keep track of these characters?
Comment: Generally, "how do I mitigate the disadvantages" or "what are the concerns with" are more interesting questions than "is it OK". :-) Your question is fine, but you could push it to the next level, if you like.
Answer: I have characters in every chapter that have personalities, and often significant and lengthy communications with the main character. They don't appear again, they are basically in the place where the MC meets them, and she is on a journey or quest of some sort. So she talks to them for awhile, they may show her something, she may do a favor for them.
I think this is realistic. People know other people, they can have conversations with them. When I am out in the world (not chained to a keyboard) I know by name the waitresses at the coffee shop I go to, for some of them I know the names of their kids and their ages. Same with my neighbors.
It would be strange, I think, to go on a quest and not have any conversations with the locals. Half the time, you are explicitly looking for somebody that knows something, or trying to find records with somebody that keeps them. You're not traveling from Miami to Chicago for nuthin', there is someone or something in Chicago you need to see, and if it is something, there is probably someone there guarding it, or keeping the records, or that can help you understand the something.
The more my MC has to interact with a character, the more time I invest in thinking about that person's personality and attitudes, and how I can create conflict with my MC to keep the story from getting boring. (You can't just deliver the information, you need to make it hard won.)
Don't worry about walk-ons, or characters with a limited window of appearance. Make them realistic in proportion to their importance and time "on the screen".
Not every character that you think should be naturally important is actually important. If you watch "Sleepless In Seattle", notice that Meg Ryan is actually engaged to some guy for most of the movie, and in the end dumps him. Analytically you might think that her fiancé should be an important character, but he gets very little screen time and is pretty much a cardboard cutout, he only exists to create a conflict for Meg (or a more dramatic moment of decision and commitment when she decided to dump him). The same can go for parents, siblings, lovers, etc. An important character influences the MC and their course (positively or negatively), even if present for only half a chapter, or a few chapters. Important characters should feel like real people. Walk-ons and Extras don't need much development, they are necessary for realism (as Rasdashan says, the E.R. isn't empty) but don't need any personality; there are four men at a table in the bar playing nickel poker to pass the time.
Answer: I have a large assortment of walk on characters who appear briefly. Some of them might return, but most will at best be referred to by another character and just disappear.
I find this realistic and reasonable since no one walks through an empty town.
For example, let's say your MC is injured and taken to an ER. You will need a few nurses, a couple of doctors, some other patients waiting - maybe a few with friends or family. Most of them are wallpaper, atmosphere just so you don't have the bizarre situation of going to an empty ER. After your MC is treated and released there will be no real reason to bring any of those characters back, but the scene plays better if they are still real characters with lives they will live - just glimpsed for a moment.
Having a large cast of characters adds dimension to a work and some can be sources of levity or wisdom.
This is not to say that a novel cannot be compelling with just a few characters, but it limits one's options.
I think of my walk ons as the seasoning in my story - too much and it just needs help, not enough and you have a bland story - a fine balance adds dimension and flavour.
Answer: I hate to give the old standby answer, "it all depends ..." But, it all depends.
Of course in most stories there are characters who appear briefly to perform some specific function and then disappear, and the reader thinks nothing of it. Like if the main character rides on an airplane, you might briefly mention that the pilot came over the PA system and announced that the plane is arriving in Chicago where the local time is, etc, as a device to say where the hero was going. The reader is not baffled or disappointed if the pilot is not a fully developed character and does not turn up again later in the story.
Some stories are naturally episodic. For example, in many detective novels, the brilliant detective investigates some crime, solves it, and then moves on to the next crime, one after the other. The reader expects characters related to each crime to appear, to be extremely important to the story for a chapter or two, and then to disappear, never to be mentioned again.
But in general, the reader expects their to be a cast of characters who move through the story together. While it's true that in real life we make friends and then move to another town and never see them again, we get a job and get to know our coworkers and then get a different job and have a new set of coworkers, etc, in fiction we expect more continuity than in real life. In real life I have years to get to know these people before I move in. In a novel there may be a few pages. Characters who come and go too quickly don't have a chance to grab the readers attention.
I read a novel once that consisted of a series of episodes aboard a star ship, where the heroine met people who were traveling on this ship, learned they had some problem, solved their problem, and then the characters disappeared from the scene and she met new people with new problems. While it was a good story, and I cared about the heroine's problems, I found that I didn't care much about the minor characters' problems. They were introduced and a page or two later, when I had not had time to "get to know" them at all, suddenly the writer expects me to care about their personal problems. I just didn't. They weren't around long enough. If my brother tells me that he's having problems with his marriage, I care because I've known him for decades. If a stranger walked up to me on the street and started telling me about his marriage problems, I'm sorry but I just don't care.
That's not to say that every character has to be around for the entire story. But they have to be around long enough for the reader to get invested and care about them.
Oh, and remember: The characters can be much more interesting to the author than they are to the reader. You've spent months thinking about this character and developing this character and getting into the life of this character. But to the reader, if it's just a few pages, he's only spent minutes.


SSL error only on certain sites

Question: I'm on Windows 10 and getting an ERR_SSL_PROTOCOL_ERROR on some sites that use SSL, but not others. For example, https://superuser.com uses SSL and the site works fine, but https://psych.ubc.ca/ and https://www.thesslstore.com/ do not work and I get the SSL error
This doesnt seem to be an issue with their server because 1) a number of SSL sites dont work and 2) all sites work when I try using my laptop
This is also not an issue with Chrome, because I get the same SSL error when attempting with Firefox
I've attempted the usual things like restarting my computer/router/switch/modem, and I've even cleared my browser cache, my SSL state cache, flushed windows DNS cache, and flushed chrome DNS cache (as per the answer here: Chrome ERR_SSL_PROTOCOL_ERROR on known working site)
Any thoughts on why I'm getting this error only with certain sites, and only on this particular computer?
EDIT with additional information:

I'm not using a proxy on this computer. My server used to have privoxy set up but 1) it has since been turned off and 2) my desktop computer was never using that proxy to begin with
Answer: I have try to resolved this problem today on my mother's girlfriend's computer.
Caused it Bitdefender Free.
I think it's some bug in the antivirus, which must be repaired.
Try turning off your antivirus for a while.
Comment: This should be a comment

SSL error only on certain sites


Metamask (and other wallets) don't show tokens on balance despite of transactions are in blockchain

Question: I've generated thousands of addresses with my seed phrase and deposited some USDT tokens to one of them (m/44'/60'/0'/267) and ensured that I'm able to spend that tokens. But after I've imported this seed phrase to Metamask and Trust wallet, I see no tokens on the balance.
Comment: If the tokens really are in the address you may need to add the token manually in Metamask - click the "Add token" button
Comment: Yes, I tried to add token from templates and as a custom token but in both cases metamask provides info about only frst generated address instead of all addresses
Comment: Can you disclose what tool/library/app you used to generate the addresses?
Comment: @TheRenaissance py_crypto_hd_wallet. It generate proper address that I successfully imported to MyEtherWallet but it was not an action of 3 clicks
Comment: good night .. i needed your help, i had my metamask wallet and tried to recover, as i had done with other wallets, only with Seed .. but i don't know my private key, there is some possibility of recovering my account 2 , where do I have all my funds? I was forever grateful
Answer: You can try to import the wallet into myetherwallet.com or mycrypto.com app. What you need is add the contract address for the token if its not included as standard in your wallet of choice.
Comment: Myetherwallet allowed me to access 267th address, thanks! But it's so annoying process to scroll to it with 5 addresses per click. Is there any better solution?
Comment: In my etherwallet after entering the words there is an option to add custom derivation path right next to HD Derivation path (scroll down to bottom of list - Add custom path). Name it in alias and in path enter that of yours for example m/44'/1'/0'/267 and by choosing that you will always go to that one directly
Comment: I tried this way but it's not offering me to choose desired 267th address. Instead of that it generates another set of addresses where first is different than first in `m/44'/60'/0'/0`'s one
Answer: Let's talk about what's going on, and then talk about a potential solution for the OP's specific case. When generating many accounts from one seed, there is a master keypair (public and private keys, just like a regular keypair), and then the other accounts have their private and public keys generated from that keypair. The generated accounts do not have the same private key as the master keypair. As a result, when the master private key is used to import an account in MetaMask or similar, only the master account is imported. In order to import the specific address holding the USDT, you'll need the private key from that specific keypair.
Now for a potential solution: First, a caveat. I'm out of my league a bit here, but will try to mention a path that might totally work, and might have a chance of working, and might be very unlikely to work.
The OP mentioned in comments that the accounts were generated using py_crypto_hd_wallet. Looking at their README (here), we can offer a few solutions in Python. I strongly recommend verifying my solutions - I've just familiarized myself with this library now.
Assuming that you can recreate the wallet either using the mnemonic, seed, or private key as detailed here, we should be able to set up a script that tries to find the private key of your USDT-holding account so that you cna import it into MetaMask. We'll be calling the wallet hd_wallet in the code (following the README).
# this skips the imports and generating the wallet, as detailed above

hd_wallet.Generate(addr_num=10000)
addresses = hd_wallet.GetData(HdWalletDataTypes.ADDRESSES)
USDT_address = "PUT_THE_ADDRESS_WITH_THE_USDT_HERE_STARTING_WITH_0x"

for address in addresses:
    if address == USDT_address:
        print(address.GetKey(HdWalletKeyTypes.EX_PRIV))
        break

One thing I don't know is if given the same master key, if the same key pairs are always generated in the same order. As such, you'll see that I've set the generate event to generate 10K addresses. If the keypair generation has entropy in it (meaning that different accounts are generated when the same master is run through the generator), than I do not know what the probability of this working is. If someone here knows key generation stuff better than me, please comment if this is a waste of time.
Assuming it's not a waste of time, even if you don't find the key the first time, you can always generate more accounts at once. This may be resource intensive, and will likely run for a long time.
Comment: Finally, I don't found a better solution than to access funds by private key every time I need to send it to my wallet. I'm so sad that the industry still doesn't offer software that cat do it for me. Anyway, I will accept this answer and give the author a bounty since this answer was the last point before I decided to stop the research
Comment: Thanks! Please leave feedback if this works, or if it doesn't.


PhpStorm - How to detect PHP error "Non-static method should not be called statically"?

Question: With PHP, static method can be used in both static method and non-static method, and non-static method can only used in non-static method. That's why calling a dynamic method statically generates the E_STRICT error.
For example:
<?php

class Example
{
    public function foo() {
        return "Foo";
    }

    public static function bar() {
        return "Bar";
    }
}

$ex = new Example();

// Non-static call
echo $ex->bar();

// Static call on a non-static method
// PHP Error "Strict standards: Non-static method should not be called statically"
// ERROR NOT DETECTED BY PHPSTORM!
echo Example::foo();

The last line will generated this PHP error (it's logic):

I am currently working on a large PHP application that calls, in some PHP files, non-static methods statically.  It was not a problem with an very old version of PHP but we have decided to migrate to the latest PHP version.
Manually check all the project files to identify this bad syntax will be too long (+ 1000 files)!
The built-in code inspection features of PhpStorm doesn't detect this type of error within the analyzed source code. Why? Should I configure something? How?
Below, my PHP code inspection configuration in PhpStorm:

Thanks!
Comment: Works fine: http://postimg.org/image/y82q2zzuj/  1) Try `Code | Inspect Code...` on this file; 2) or even `File | Invalidate Caches...` and restart IDE.
Comment: To run this inspection only -- use `Code | Run Inspection by Name...` (it's faster that doing full `Inspect Code` for each file).
Comment: I think that `Invalidate Caches` and a full restart of PhpStorm did the trick. Inspection of this specific error seems to be buggy, I don't understand why (totally OK with other PHP errors/warnings). @LazyOne : in any case, thanks! http://s28.postimg.org/gr2aoquyl/phpstorm_php_inspection_3.png
Answer: That inspection works fine here (proof).

Please try Code | Inspect Code... on this file -- it will force re-analysing of this file from scratch. Any better?
If nothing -- please do File | Invalidate Caches... and restart IDE

P.S.
If you are interested of running this inspection only on whole project -- use Code | Run Inspection by Name...  -- it's much faster that doing full Inspect Code for each file.
Comment: I think that `Invalidate Caches` and a full restart of PhpStorm did the trick. Inspection of this specific error seems to be buggy, I don't understand why (totally OK with other PHP errors/warnings). @LazyOne : in any case, thanks! http://s28.postimg.org/gr2aoquyl/phpstorm_php_inspection_3.png
Answer: Static code analysis may hint some potential errors. It never guarantees there are no errors, and one really shouldn't rely on it.
As a practical advice, you can search for all static calls with something like
grep -roh "\w\+::.\+\?("

and analyse the list yourself.
Answer: Change the error reporting in your php.ini file
error_reporting = E_ALL & ~E_NOTICE & ~E_WARNING & ~E_STRICT & ~E_DEPRECATED


Unable to check mulitple files in "Manage Files with no checked in version" - SharePoint online

Question: I am able to check in the files one at a time, but I should be able to choose multiple files by clicking the check box. Problem is...there are NO check boxes to click. Help.
Answer: Unfortunately, this feature is still not available in SharePoint online, under review/development: https://sharepoint.uservoice.com/forums/329214-sites-and-collaboration/suggestions/13396893-bulk-check-in-check-out
Answer: Yes, there is no check boxes in "Manage Files with no checked in version" - SharePoint online
But you can check in multiple files from the document library, choose all files which need to be checked in, click "check in":


How do I disassociate my Gmail account from Google Maps?

Question: I use Gmail at the office strictly for work and I use Google Maps for personal use on my iPhone. It seems that my personal search history on Google Maps is now linked to my work Gmail account. How do I sever this tie? I don't use Gmail on my phone, only on a laptop at work.
Answer: Google Maps and Gmail are simply two of the products which Google makes available to you via your Google account.
Make yourself a second, personal Google account.   Quite possibly the simplest tool to do this in is Gmail, since every Google account does need to have a working email account associated with it.    Set it up on your phone (you don't have to use it, just set it up and receive any messages that Google sends you on it).   Remove your work Gmail account from your phone.


DCS RGU-366 Oven will no longer heat

Question: I have:
DCS RGU 366-N oven
What happened:
Wife ran oven with the door slightly open, heating up all control knobs.
Symptoms:

Oven will no longer heat up.
Ring-light for oven knob no longer lights up.

I checked:

Gas supply: OK
Electrical Power: OK
Stove burners work, including Stove control knobs and lights.
When turning up oven temperature, the relais clicks ON and OFF as I set it higher or lower.

What should I be replacing for this oven, to repair it? There was a schematic on the back of the oven, as depicted below.

Specification Label:

UPDATE:
I removed the front panel, and then removed the over temperature control knob, depicted below:

I used the Ohm Meter to check that the relais indeed closes and opens as I set the temperature. I am going to assume that unit is still good.
I also have this part, which I suspect is the "Stalled Fan Thermostat?"
Comment: UPDATE: It was indeed the L85C part, a thermostat that sits on the control panel, behind the turn knobs.
Answer: I'd check that and the High Temp Cutout as well
Assuming the "ring light" is either the Oven Heating or the Oven Ready light (or both), I'd check both the Stalled Fan cutout and the High Temp cutout (which will look similar to the cutout you have) to make sure that they have continuity.  If they're both working, though, I'd send for a new oven thermostat at that point.

DCS RGU-366 Oven will no longer heat


What happened to my imported music?

Question: I have no idea what I'm doing wrong ... or what iTunes is doing wrong ... but when I go into my Library, the only music that shows up is the stuff I actually purchased from iTunes.  Over the years my husband and I have gradually imported pretty much our entire CD collection ... but suddenly NONE of that is accessible.  Where did it go?  How do I access it?  It's like iTunes suddenly broke.  I can't update any of my playlists, because the music no longer exists.  I'm so frustrated I could just cry!
Comment: Are the files still in /Users/[your username]/Music/iTunes/[your iTunes library]/iTunes Media/Music/?
Answer:
While iTunes is open, click the menu: iTunes > Preferences.
Click the Advanced (gear) icon.
Look at the "iTunes Media folder location." Is that where your files are located? You can click the Change button to point at the correct location (which is generally, as someone already commented, in your user folder > Music > iTunes > iTunes Media > Music).

What happened to my imported music?


As of the 2014 NEC code do tamper resistant receptacles need to be installed on a GFCI circuit?

Question: Replacing 2 prong with 3 prong. Want to protect the entire circuit with a GFCI.
Do the outlets I replace have to be tamper resistant if they are protected by a GFCI?
Comment: Good question... Were these non-tamper-resistant receptacles installed prior to NEC 2014's effective date?
Answer: With the latest code yes even gfci protected outlets require the tamper resistance feature. In fact outdoor gfci outlets that are weather resistant or stamped WR need the tamper resistant feature also. Got hit on that one last year.


Nexus 7 (2013) slow USB transfer, messy file browsing

Question: Working with Ubuntu 13.04, connecting my Nexus 7 (2nd gen, 2013) via MTP works fine. I just connect the Nexus 7 and Nautilus immediately opens up in the correct directory. No more need to fiddle around with third-party tools as suggested here.
There are two issues that are really bugging me, though:

Transferring files via USB is really slow. I am using USB 3.0 but Nautilus says my transfer rate is fixed at about 1MB/s which is way too slow for USB 3.0. This might be a problem of calculating the correct transfer rate but I can tell you that the transfer speed is nowhere near the full potential of USB 3.0
Navigating files on the Nexus 7 is quirky. This might be an MTP issue but it just feels odd. If I create a new directory on my Nexus 7 via Nautilus, I need to "refresh" the current directory (i.e. move to the parent directory and enter the subdirectory again) so that the newly created directory becomes visible for me.

My USB works fine using other devices such as flash drives and USB HDDs.
I haven't found any advice on these problems yet and I'm not sure whether this affects others as well.
Answer: i have the same issue and after replace the microusb with new fresh one the problem solved altough channging the cable may solve it easier


Limited editing time for Django model

Question: My model have field with time of creation. How can I allow user to edit item only for 24 hours from created time? Also I want to make an exception from this rule for admin user.
Comment: Since you need to have the user, you have to do this in a place where you have the `request` object, i.e. in your view or form. Just show what you have tried and if you have a specific issue, show your code.
Answer: You can override the save() method of the model and check the time difference between your creation time and the current time, also if you have a relation within your model and the User model, you can manage the exception you want for the admin user checking if the user is_superuser.
edit: fix a typo
Comment: The problems with doing this in the model's `save` method are: 1. you don't have access to the `request.user` and 2. it's difficult to make this user-friendly, because `save()` is usually called after the form is shown and validated. It's much better to do this much earlier in the process and actually disable editing all-together in the view (not show a form at all). The method to actually check whether or not the model instance is editable should be a model method.
Comment: I added `is_editable(request)` method with permission logic implementation in the model and use it in overriden `ModelAdmin.change_view()`. This works fine, but also this model can be editable in related model with `TabularInline` class. So I need to add check here. There is `has_change_permission` method, but this doesn`t suite me, because it work for all related objects together, not separately.

Limited editing time for Django model


Xbox One-Xbox 360 connection via hdmi not working

Question: I hooked up my 360 to the One via HDMI cord. When I select "TV" I do see the 360 homescreen, but out of proportion. When I move the stick to select my account, the Xbox one displays the play/pause/fast forward menu whenever I move the stick as if I was watching a youtube video and I can't use the 360 at all. I'm pretty sure that I set up my two Xbox's correctly. What is going on?
Comment: @TimmyJim is correct, you just access the TV app with your Xbox One controller. You navigate everything else within the TV app, which is displaying your Xbox 360, using the old 360 controller.
Answer: This seems to be the intended way it's suppose to work. The Xbox One input HDMI doesn't allow you to use your Xbox One controller with the Xbox 360 (it doesn't make sense for it to work that way). You will likely still have to use the 360 controller, since the 360 console can only detect the signals produced by the 360 controller. You can still use some of the Xbox One features, but you'll probably have to use the Xbox One controller to navigate them.
Connecting you Xbox 360 up to your Xbox One like this allows you to play Xbox 360 game while still being able to reap the benefit of the Xbox One features. You will just have to switch between controllers to do so.
As for the out of proportion screen, try this

Scroll left on the Home screen to open the guide.
Select Settings.
Select All Settings.
Select Display & sound, and then select Video output.
Choose the display and picture settings appropriate for your TV.

There should be an option called calibrate HDTV, which may be able to help solve your problem.
Answer: I had the same problem.  I was using older HDMI cable and as soon as I switched from 480p to 1080p I only received a black screen. I couldn't figure out what was wrong or get to settings again.  I switched to a Ethernet fast HDMI cable and all worked fine.

Turn both devices off.
Plug in TV HDMI. Then Xbox 360.
Turn on TV then Xbox 360.
Go to settings on Xbox and change to 1080p.
Put in disc and away you go.


Can I use my smartphone as a controller for XBox One?

Question: Left my controller in different state, won't have money for a new one and the controller won't be back. I tried smartglass but can't use that unless my XBox is connected to same Wi-Fi.
Answer: Yes, you can connect your smartphone to work as a controller, but not without a few caveats. To do so, you need the Xbox One Smartglass app, or if you have a Windows 10 phone, the Xbox app works as well.
As you have noticed yourself, your phone needs to be connected to the same network as your Xbox. It doesn't have to be the same Wifi, though. As long as your smartphone is connected to a Wifi antenna connected to the same home network the Xbox is connected to, it will work. It is possible that you have multiple networks if not properly configured, though. For instance, if your Wifi access point is configured to act as a DHCP server, everything connected to your Wifi will indeed belong to a different network from everything that isn't, while your access point will belong to both networks.
Finally, even if you do manage to connect your smartphone to your Xbox One, you won't be able to play many games. The Smartglass and Xbox apps only offer face buttons, which is A, B, X, Y, Menu, View, the D-pad, and the Guide button (the button with the Xbox logo).
A lot of games would require you to make use of the analog sticks, or the shoulder buttons (RB/LB and RT/LT) as well.
In other words, without an actual controller, your control over your Xbox One will be rudimentary at best. Good enough to watch Netflix, but not good enough to play Halo.
Comment: I don't think you'd actually be able to play any games, only use apps. Even the core buttons, such as the A button, do not register in most games. But they can be used in apps such as Netflix.
Comment: From testing half a dozen games, I couldn't find a single one that responded to the "buttons" pressed by the smart glass app.
Comment: @Nolonar Did you test the Smartglass buttons in any game?
Comment: @A.L. No, not in games. I did test it in the Dashboard and in apps, though. I didn't bother trying it on games, since there was no apparent analog stick or shoulder buttons.
Answer: As already stated in Nolonar's answer a smartphone is not going to be viable for playing games.
However, there are other options if you have the equipment lying around...
It is possible to use an old Xbox 360 controller by streaming your Xbox One through a Windows PC/laptop.  I'm not sure about older Windows versions, but the (official) Xbox app on Windows 10 lets you do just this.
The controller either needs to be wired (and plugged directly into the usb port on your PC/laptop) or you will need a wireless adapter.  You'll still need your PC/laptop on the same network as your Xbox One.
As well as solving a problem of not having your Xbox One controller, it is also a viable method for playing coop games when you don't have enough Xbox One controllers at hand.
Comment: In terms of answering the question actually being asked, all your doing is stating "the other guys answer is correct". This should be a comment, not an answer.
Comment: @Timelord64 - You need to read past the first line in my answer.  Below that line is a method that solves the problem of not having a controller, which is the problem the OP is explaining.
Answer: Unfortunately, that is not possible without smartglass. You need to be on same wifi as you stated, and that is necessary as there would be a good amount of input lag.


Minimum item processing time for using Parallel.Foreach

Question: Suppose I have a list of items that are currently processed in a normal foreach loop. Assume the number of items is significantly larger than the number of cores. How much time should each item take, as a rule of thumb, before I should consider refactoring the for-loop into a Parallel.ForEach?
Answer: This is one of the core problems of parallel programming. For an accurate answer you would still have to measure in the exact situation.
The big advantage of the TPL however is that the treshold is a lot smaller than it used to be, and that you're not punished (as much) when your workitems are too small.
I once made a demo with 2 nested loops and I wanted to show that only the outer one should be made to run in  parallel. But the demo failed to show a significant disadvantage of turning both into a Parallel.For().
So if the code in you loop is independent, go for it.
The #items / #cores ratio is not very relevant, TPL wil partition the ranges and use the 'right' amount of threads.
Answer: On a large data processing project I'm working on any loop that I used that contained more than two or three statements benefited greatly from the Parallel.Foreach.  If the data your loop is working on is atomic then I see very little downside compared to the tremendous benefit the Parallel library offers.


Would a 1/1 token with persist dying trigger on death effects a second time?

Question: If I had a 1/1 token with persist, would it come back as a 0/0 and die a second time? Would it still trigger on death effects?
Answer: Presumably you are doing this with Cauldron of Souls.
Persist doesn't do anything on tokens because they stop existing when they leave the battlefield and can't change zones once not on the battlefield.  See the card ruling on the Cauldron:

If a token with no -1/-1 counters on it has persist, the ability will trigger when the token is put into the graveyard. However, the token will cease to exist and can't return to the battlefield.

The relevant rule behind this is:

110.5g A token that has left the battlefield can't move to another zone or come back onto the battlefield. If such a token would change zones, it remains in its current zone instead. It ceases to exist the next time state-based actions are checked; see rule 704.

However, if you gave a non-token 1/1 persist (such as Raging Goblin), then it is as you suggest.  The creature would return to the battlefield, and then promptly be put back in the graveyard the next time state-based actions are checked (whenever a player would gain priority) due to having 0 toughness:

704.5. The state-based actions are as follows:
704.5f If a creature has toughness 0 or less, it's put into its owner's graveyard. Regeneration can't replace this event.
Comment: Ah, thx I wasn't aware of that ruling on the cauldron.
Comment: Even if SBAs didn't destroy the token, a token that's left the battlefield can't change zones.
Comment: @ikegami I would read the answer again as you seem to have missed that the SBA explanation is for non-tokens (even prior to last edit).
Comment: @fireshark519 It was in the card specific ruling; I added it to my explanation after ikegami's comment
Comment: @fireshark519, Your comment doesn't make sense. *You* should be the one rereading. I mentioned there is a second reason the token doesn't come back: Tokens can never come back. [CR 110.5g]
Answer: A token that leaves the battlefield won't return at all. This is due to the following rules in the permanents section of the rules:

110.5f A token that's in a zone other than the battlefield ceases to exist. This is a state-based action; see rule 704. (Note that if a token changes zones, applicable triggered abilities will trigger before the token ceases to exist.)
110.5g A token that has left the battlefield can't move to another zone or come back onto the battlefield. If such a token would change zones, it remains in its current zone instead. It ceases to exist the next time state-based actions are checked; see rule 704.


Would the Irish military have the right to claim ownership of an employee's invention?

Question: I work in the military in Ireland and have an idea for an invention based on my military experience and knowledge. I am wondering whether the military hierarchy would have the legal right to claim ownership of my invention as I'm still employed by them.
Answer: Possibly. In the absence of an explicit agreement, it turns on whether you made the invention in the course of your duties as an employee. In this manner, Ireland appears to be in line with other Commonwealth jurisdictions.
Thus if the invention relates to weaponry, and you were employed solely as a cleaner, this would likely be outside of your duties (so that you would retain the rights to any patent).  However, if the invention related to wireless communications, and you were employed as a signals operator, your employer may arguably be entitled to the patent.
References
Mason Hayes & Curran provide:

... any work made by an employee in the course of employment belongs to the employer, unless otherwise agreed. Therefore, the two crucial factors in an employer/employee IP dispute are (1) whether the employee is in fact an employee; and (2) whether the works were done in the course of employment.

FR Kelly argue similarly

Where an employee makes an invention in the course of his/her duties, the right to the patent usually belongs to the employer.
Comment: I disagree with your interpretation of "done in the course of employment." In my understanding, the invention has to be done in working hours / as part of the job.
Comment: @DonQuiKong I will try find some legal support for this. But  an employee's duty does not stop outside of work hours. The ownership of an invention cannot turn on whether its genesis occured at 4.59pm or 5.01pm.
Comment: You might be right, but I'm not sure about it. Might be dependent on the jurisdiction, too.  I would appreciate a source, the ones you cited have not convinced me ;)
Comment: https://www.historyireland.com/20th-century-contemporary-history/leaving-the-commonwealth/


Letter closing other than "Love"

Question: I am writing an email to a family member (in-law or brother/sister). While in the past I used "love" and signed off with my first name for closing, I usually wondered if there are better words I could use instead of "Love". For one thing, it sounds uncreative and a little trite. For another, it seems phony as I do not feel a close relation to some family members. What are the alternatives?
Answer: off the top of my head, you could use the old "yours truly" but that is distant and formal. How about "Fondly" or "Best Wishes" and "Have a great day!"
Answer: In a personal letter, while there is some traditional etiquette, you can largely close it however you'd like. Any sort of well-wishing or expression of affection/sincerity is acceptable. A few examples:

"Best Wishes"
"Yours Truly"
"See you soon"
"Wishing you good fortune in the New Year"
"God bless"

Anything works really.
Answer:
"Regards"
"Best Regards"
"Best Wishes to Your Family"

(I agree that "Love" is not always the most appropriate closing but as long as it won't be misconstrued, I err on the side of using "Love" because it is not "said" often enough!)
Comment: @inewbie, I realize this is entirely based on opinion - but if imposing or not said with sincerity, it's not the best closing - but if it is someone who may be a long-time family member by marriage or someone who is not immediate family but you're close to, (like my sister-in-law or uncle's 3rd wife), I would still say "Love" - ***if*** the communication was of a personal nature.
Comment: I agree. Love is not said often enough. However, doesn't it sound a little imposing (or insincere?) if you are not that close to the other side?
Answer: Fond regards,
Warm regards, or
All the best
Closer relative:
With warmest affection,
With much love, or
Much love to you, Dad,
Answer:
Sincerely, [name]

or

–[name]

Using an en dash before the name. (It may supposed to be an em dash, but w\e IMO, just as long as it isn't a hyphen or a plan old dash.) Personally, I omit the space to denote attribution, to avoid confusing it with any other use.
Another option is to omit the sign-off entirely or phrase it into a TL;DR:

I hope to see you at [that party I mentioned]. Don't forget to bring your towel!

Also, emotes ;)
Answer: Make a regard to an upcoming holiday such as Christmas, Halloween, The new year, or really any holiday
examples:
Merry Christmas, [name]
Happy New Year, [name]
Have a Spookly-good Halloween, [name]
Love and good wishes this Valentine's, [name]
but really, saying 'love' isn't so bad.
love,
anonymous
Comment: Where in the world is Halloween a holiday?
Comment: @KillingTime Christmas Eve is considered to be a "partial" holiday...whatever that means. It is not much of a stretch to consider "All Hallow's eve" the same for "All Saint's day"...
Comment: @KillingTime Halloween is considered a holiday in the USA, especially for families with children, although not in the sense of school/work closures.  The holiday is connected with the Christian observance of All Saint's Day as well as the pagan festival Samhain.

Letter closing other than "Love"


How to cook liver in microwave?

Question: Delicate parts such as liver, kidney and heart can be quickly fried in a little oil. I wonder if there any way to cook them in the microwave while preserving the tender texture?
Comment: I would be more concerned if it would explode.
Answer: I haven't tried this myself, but I have a suggestion. You could slice the liver as you might when frying it. Then put butter/oil and a single layer of the meat in a glass pan. Cover with a paper towel. Microwave only a few seconds at a time and always keep an eye on it. It could explode or burn. Rotate the meat a few times.
You could also try boiling it, but I'm not sure that's what you want.
I fear the meat will never be as tender as you would with other cooking methods :(
But try it, it'll still be edible, unless you burn it

How to cook liver in microwave?


Not able to start FIM Services

Question: I am trying to configured new SharePoint 2013 SP1 farm environment on one VM and another VM has sql server 2014.
I am getting an issue when trying to start FIM service and FIM synchronization service form window service panel.
Can anyone please point me to step by step process of setting up FIM services. Additional knowledge on what it does will be even more helpful.
Thanks
Hitesh
Comment: Please look (search this forum) for all the other questions asked about FIM.
Comment: why you starting them manually from services? why not start them from Sharepoint? what error you are getting? check the event log for more clue and share it
Answer: Although listed as SharePoint 2010, the guide at http://www.harbar.net/articles/sp2010ups.aspx is the best place to start!
Answer: I had the same problem. I used the following articles which were really helpfull.
http://www.harbar.net/articles/sp2010ups.aspx
Eventhough it refers to SharePoint 2010 it works for SharePoint 2013

Not able to start FIM Services


Change working directory of glassfish

Question: How can I change the working directory of glassfish from domains/domain1/config to my WebAPP directory such as WEB-INF/myfiles
Comment: for what you need this can you explain, so that we can suggest you solution better
Answer: You cannot rely on current working directory being set to anywhere in a Java EE application.
You can, however, ask the JVM for where a given resource is physically located, and go from there.
If this is for log files, I've found that it works the best for us if our log statements end up in java.util.logging and then let Glassfish manage them.

Change working directory of glassfish


Does yoga support raw food over cooked food?

Question: According to yoga scriptures, is intake of raw food recommended over cooked food?
Comment: In one word Yes. When you cook food, it loses its nutrients.
Answer: The answer depends on the purpose. Since it is mentioned "Yoga" I assume the end goal is "Union" - with the Self. Short answer therefore is Yes.
To achieve a union with the inner Self, the mind has to be transcended. To transcend the mind, one should have attained Asana Siddhi (the ability to remain in a posture for more than 3 hours without being bodily conscious).
Assuming one has attained Asana Siddhi, the next goal post remains taming the mind (the flow of thoughts). This is where the above question comes into picture. This involves observing the mind as it functions - with sense organs feeding their inputs to the mind, thoughts emerging, transitioning, triggering more thoughts and eventually getting stored as taste (Ruchi).
Now all this observation needs a person who is awake, aware and alert. Food consumed determines how aware and awake a person is. The more fresh the food, the greater is the quotient of awareness. This definitely means the life energies derived from the food increases as we go from left to right in the list below:
Frozen Food | Fried Food | Cooked Food | Semi Cooked / Steamed food | Raw food | Freshly plucked Fruits / Vegetables | Cow milk / Juices | fresh water (from mountains/streams)
The more one consumes the items listed to the right, that much lighter they feel (due to the increase in the Udana Vayu) and that much alert and awake the mind becomes.
So the scope (of this question) of selecting appropriate food comes primarily between the stages of Asana and Pratyahara.
Comment: Welcome to HSE! Answers posted here must be backed up by authentic sources. Kindly do so. Also I would encourage you to take a [tour of the site](https://hinduism.stackexchange.com/tour) to learn more. Also if you need any help related to main site, feel free to ping me in [main chatroom](https://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/15189/hinduism).


What is the cost of the propulsion system and thrusters as a % of the total satellite?

Question: Small (nano) satellites and cubesats are between \$100k and \$500k. What percentage of the total is the cost of the propulsion system?
Comment: The overwhelming majority of cube and nanosats do not have propulsion systems. You can however buy these systems and the prices are listed here: https://www.cubesatshop.com/product-category/propulsion-pressurisation/
Comment: What makes you think that nano-satellites have a propulsion system?
Answer: This is an extremely difficult question to answer, firstly CubeSats and Nanosatellites can cost upwards of 5-10 million depending on the mission type, hardware, and organization developing the spacecraft.
Getting into propulsion systems, this is again a very difficult question to answer accuracy, mainly because of the different types of propulsion systems available widely vary in cost. Cold gas systems for rcs are relatively cheap on the order of around 10-15k per thruster, while chemical thrusters can range between 20-500k+ it largely depends on the technology. Moving into electric things get even more tricky, as EP (Electric Propulsion) systems usually cost more then traditional chemical (mono/biprop).
However, in general cold gas thrusters are usually the cheapest, chemical (mono/biprop) are in the middle, and electric are usually the most expensive. In terms of what percent of the spacecraft it is, largely depends on the mission type and size of the spacecraft (CubeSat, 3U vs 12U).


How can I change the color of this black icon to orange, as shown in this image?

Question: How can I change this black icon to the same shades and colors as this orange / gold icon?
Answer: I think most of the answers are overly complicated.
It's been a while since I've used photoshop, but you'll want to pick one of two color adjustment tools. Either 'Colorize' or 'Hue/Saturation'.
Then simply adjust the color and saturation and brightness until you get a match.
No need to redraw anything or use layer masks.
Comment: @TroyWoo What do SVGs have to do with this?
Comment: @TroyWoo the OP is asking about a raster image.
Comment: Yeah...who would not want to have svgs...
Comment: I infer from your words that you focus rather on vector art illustration...
Answer: On Photoshop CS5:
1.  Click on the layer with the black graphic 2.  From top menu:  Image > Adjustments > Selective Color.  3.  On Selective Color palette: a.  Preset (drop-down list) > Custom.  b.  Colors (drop-down list) > Black.  4.  Now adjust color sliders.
This works on any black graphic and will colorize it so that the grey feathered edges will be lighter shades of the chosen color, and the black center of the graphic will be a darker shade of the chosen color.  Once the item is colorized, you can further adjust the colors with any other functions from the Image > Adjustments list.
Answer: A few options:
1) Select. Adjustments → Hue
2) In the Layers palette, Layer Style → Color Overlay (you'll have to experiment with the blend modes)
3) Select. Eyedropper the color you want. Option-Delete fills it. (this is crude and may not work for you.)
Answer: If you only have one icon, the fastest way would be to redraw it using shapes.
Draw a circle using the Ellipse Tool, and substract a tick shape (I used Exclude Overlapping Shapes) using Custom Shape Tool. Photoshop comes with one, but it's a bit different from your icon, so you can instead download a shapes pack that has a similar one. This site has a nice freebie.
Answer: If it is pure black you could use it as a mask.

select and copy the layer with the icons.
create a new solid color fill layer (any other layer filled with the color you wish will also do fine)
Add a layermask to the newly created layer.
press Alt and click the layer mask
paste the icons into the mask.
press Ctrl + i to invert the mask.

Condition for this to work is that you have pure black or it won't take the color 100%
//
it just occured to me:
Another way could be to use "Image" > "Match Color..."
You start the command from the image with the black icon and select as Source file and layer with the right colors


LEGO Power Function PF 2.0 specification

Question: Does anyone have the new Power Function 2.0 specification or pin out?
Comment: I don't think an official one has been released, but there are some people who have looked into reverse engineering it. Here's one example I found: https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/162288-powered-up-a-tear-down/
Comment: Why is this tagged with powered-up, are we not confusing power functions with powered up here?
Answer: I'm not sure exactly what you are looking for in terms of a spec, but here's the pinout from the Eurobricks thread mentioned by Alexander O'Mara with some help from this post:
Pin 1 - Motor
Pin 2 - Motor
Pin 3 - GND (0v)
Pin 4 - VCC (3.3v)
Pin 5 - ID 1 (UART TX for active devices)
Pin 6 - ID 2 (UART RX for active devices)

The basic spec for motors is that they are given continuous 3.3V power on pins 3 and 4, voltages to drive the motor on pins 1 and 2, and pins 5 and 6 are used to identify the type of motor that is attached. For the basic motors, I believe that this is simply a known resistance between pins 5 and 6.
Answer: LPF2 is also known as Powered Up - ref.
The Bluetooth hub is documented: https://github.com/lego/lego-ble-wireless-protocol-docs . This carries a large gh-pages branch & corresponding web site.
Philo also has useful information.
This doesn't answer the original question but I believe anyone searching for info will benefit from the connection.


Are B'nei Noach prohibited from learning Torah? Why/why not?

Question: I am compelled to ask this because from personal observation, more and more Noahides are studying the Torah WITH the supervision of some Orthodox and non-Orthodox rabbis, although it is also the case that there are those who learn on their own (with the aid of Rashi and other commentaries.) Yet, I thought gentiles are NOT allowed to learn Torah. Is the prohibition only in effect if a gentile is learning on their own?
Comment: The gemara says it doesnt apply to 7 mitzvos and reishonim have a bunch of other cases it doesnt apply to. But im sure theres already a similar question to this somewhere on this website.
Answer: In the Talmud, Rabbi Meir said that a Gentile who studies the Torah is like a High Priest, because the Torah says: "וּשְׁמַרְתֶּ֤ם אֶת־חֻקֹּתַי֙ וְאֶת־מִשְׁפָּטַ֔י אֲשֶׁ֨ר יַעֲשֶׂ֥ה אֹתָ֛ם הָאָדָ֖ם וָחַ֣י בָּהֶ֑ם --
Keep my statutes and my judgments, for the man who obeys them will live by them."  [Lev. 18:5]. He adds: It does not say "Priest, Levite, or Israelite", but adam -- "man".  So we learn that even a Gentile who studies the Torah is like a High Priest!   But another rabbi countered that Gentiles should study only the parts of the Torah that pertain to their own seven Noahide laws, and not the rest. [Sanhedrin 59a, Bava Kamma 38a]  The latter became the rule.
Comment: No, the Rambam said that Judaism is a package deal:  No picking some parts of it and rejecting the rest: "The principle is that one may not make innovations in religion or create new commandments. [Gentiles] may become true converts by accepting all the commandments or they must observe their own (seven Noahide) laws only, and not add or detract from them." [Mishneh Torah, Kings and Wars 10:9]
Comment: chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1188355/jewish/… " 10 We should not prevent a Noachide who desires to perform one of the Torah's mitzvot in order to receive reward from doing so, provided he performs it as required. If he brings an animal to be sacrificed as a burnt offering, we should receive it."
Comment: There's at least one exception. Rabbi Nachman said, Not only do you have need for me, but the gentiles need me as well. Accordingly you'd have learn about him from his books or his followers.


When do you check for terror in an encounter?

Question: When facing an abomination with a terror rating, when is the terror check triggered in the encounter? Is there only one check per encounter?
Answer: The terror check is triggered when the combatants first become aware of the abomination. There is only one such check per encounter.
This is excluding certain Edges (Nerves of Steel, maybe - I might be getting that name confused with an "All Flesh Must Be Eaten" Quality) that can allow a player to forgo the check.


Creating a win32 modal window with CreateWindow

Question: I create a window with CreateWindow() and show it with ShowWindow(). But the parent window on which this was created should be disabled until user returns from this window, i.e. it should simulate modal dialog box.
Answer: Make sure you set the hwndParent in CreateWindow and use EnableWindow(hwndParent, FALSE) to disable the parent after showing the pop up window. Then enable the parent with EnableWindow(hwndParent, TRUE) after the pop up window has been closed.
Comment: You have to `EnableWindow(hwndParent, TRUE)` *before* the popup window is closed, see [The correct order for disabling and enabling windows](http://blogs.msdn.com/b/oldnewthing/archive/2004/02/27/81155.aspx)
Comment: @AlexeyIvanov Link broken, new link is https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20040227-00/?p=40463
Answer: Modality, part 1: UI-modality vs code-modality explains how to do this, and why you might not want to.
Comment: Old New Thing references are great, but too bad it's a link only answer. You might want to rephrase some content from the article in your own words.
Answer: You need to consider what it means to be a modal window - basically, the window's parent is disabled. The only automatic way of doing this (that I am aware of) is to call DialogBox() to create a modal dialog box. However, since you want to use CreateWindow(), then all that you need to do is to manually disable the parent window yourself.
Ideally, it would be better to go the dialog box route (since the OS knows exactly what must be done in order to create a modal window), but I suppose this option is there if you must use it.
Answer: You could also run a "secondary message loop" which keeps the parent window inactive till your work with the "modal" dialog is finished.
Answer: Okay I just wrestled with this same problem myself.  I needed a quick dialog that behaved like it would if I used DialogBox() but I didn't want to create a template for the particular project I was using.
What I discovered is that if you disable the parent window of the dialog you also disable the dialog.  And you can't enable that dialog without re-enabling the parent dialog.  So that method won't work.
I also discovered that you can't use SetCapture() / ReleaseCapture() because then the child windows of the dialog won't get messages.
I did find a solution that works:  Use a local message pump, driven by either PeekMessage() or GetMessage().  Here is the code that worked for me:
  while (!m_bFinished)
  {
     BOOL bEat;

     if (PeekMessage(&msg, NULL, 0, 0, PM_REMOVE))
     {
        if (msg.message == WM_CHAR)
        {
           if (msg.wParam == VK_ESCAPE)
           {
              m_bFinished = TRUE;
              continue;
           }
        }

        bEat = FALSE;

        if (msg.message >= WM_MOUSEFIRST &&
           msg.message <= WM_MOUSELAST)
        {
           RECT rectMe;

           pcMe->GetWindowRect(&rectMe);
           if (!::PtInRect(&rectMe, msg.pt))
              bEat = TRUE;
        }

        if (!bEat)
        {
           ::TranslateMessage(&msg);
           ::DispatchMessage(&msg);
        }
     }
  }

What this effectively does is "eat" any mouse messages that are outside the client area of the window for all messages delivered to that application.  It does not prohibit clicking outside the application, just clicking anywhere inside the application that isn't within the client area of the "modal" window.  If you add a MessageBeep() when you eat a message you'll get the exact same behavior as a real modal dialog.
m_bFinished is a BOOL member of the class and it gets set if either the OK or Cancel buttons are accessed on the "dialog," and under certain other conditions that are outside the scope of the code snippet here.


cryptsetup and passphrae restrictions

Question: I'm trying to encrypt a new HD to add to my Red Hat server. I have two other drives that are already encrypted with a passphrase. However, when I try to use the same passphrase on the new drive I get:

Password quality check failed: The password contains more than 4 characters of the same class consecutively

I've tried disabling/commenting out pam_pwquality line item in both system-auth and password-auth in the /etc/pam.d folder with no luck.
Is there a way to disable this passphrase check temporarily to get this drive encrypted with the same passphrase as the other two drives?
Answer: ok it turns out I had to use the --force-password switch

cryptsetup and passphrae restrictions


WordPress Uploading Thumbnail for Custom Post Meta

Question: I have set up a custom post meta field for Thumbnail on each of my posts. This function is being called correctly, and everything works up until the very last line of update_post_meta
What's interesting is that I can echo out $imageURL and get the correct address, and the file uploads fine. I can even update_post_meta with any other value whether it be a string, or another variable within the function but as soon as I try to use $imageURL or $uploaded_file['url'] it just sets the post meta to a blank string.
I've used this snippet on projects that were developed with WordPress earlier than 3.1, but this one is 3.1. Could that have something to do with it? I kind of doubt it, since this seems to be one of those super weird bugs.
function tcr_save_thumbnail($post_id, $post) {
    if ( !wp_verify_nonce( $_POST['eventmeta_noncename'], plugin_basename(__FILE__) )) {
        return $post->ID;
    }

    if ( !current_user_can( 'edit_post', $post->ID ))
        return $post->ID;

    if(!empty($_FILES['tcr_thumbnail_meta']['name'])) { //New upload
        require_once( ABSPATH . 'wp-admin/includes/file.php' );
        $override['action'] = 'editpost';
        $uploaded_file = wp_handle_upload($_FILES['tcr_thumbnail_meta'], $override);

        $post_id = $post->ID;
        $attachment = array(
            'post_title' => $_FILES['tcr_thumbnail_meta']['name'],
            'post_content' => '',
            'post_type' => 'attachment',
            'post_parent' => $post_id,
            'post_mime_type' => $_FILES['tcr_thumbnail_meta']['type'],
            'guid' => $uploaded_file['url']
        );
        // Save the data
        $id = wp_insert_attachment( $attachment,$_FILES['tcr_thumbnail_meta'][ 'file' ], $post_id );
        wp_update_attachment_metadata( $id, wp_generate_attachment_metadata( $id, $_FILES['tcr_thumbnail_meta']['file'] ) );
        $imageURL = $uploaded_file['url'];
        update_post_meta($post->ID, "tcr_thumbnail_meta", $imageURL);
    }
}

Answer: This is a functionality that has already been implemented in a plugin. try it http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/taxonomy-images/ It is so complete!


Would an Alderson Disk be possible around a White Dwarf Star?

Question: I have seen the ideas of Alderson Disks around Sun-Like Stars. It would be utterly massive to say the least. Would an Alderson Disk be more 'possible' around a White Dwarf Star, how large would it be around an average White Dwarf Star? Assuming this Disk has an Earth like atmosphere, how would such a thing look and act?
Answer: First, you want a very old, very cold white dwarf.  One such star (but you don't want it because of the neutron star nearby) has a surface temperature under 3000 K ... this is called white hot, but the temperature would put it firmly in the category of a red dwarf, if it weren't a white dwarf.
Such a dim star can have a "habitable zone" less than 1% the size of the Sun's (150 million km -> 1.5 million km or less), reducing the size of any "disk" with area by the same amount as the luminosity (over 10000-fold).  Even more importantly, stars cooler than the white balance setting on your monitor shouldn't subject you to UV or worse radiation.  Of course, that's still over a million km in radius, so I wouldn't book a trip just yet.
To come as close as I can think to plausibility, I'd suggest you postulate a natural ring of debris around the dwarf.  You would like to condense some of that into a sturdy artificial moon, but your ring is somewhat closer to the star than the habitable zone.  So you make it into an edge-on disk so the amount of light it absorbs is less, giving it a habitable temperature.  With one of these you make a small gap in the rings over time, using up all the material in the gap.  You can spin the built habitat to provide pseudo-gravity.  Then you make another similar structure a little further in or out.  As your collection grows, you loosely tether these objects together in a higher order frame with transport links, moving them each toward your optimal orbit.  Eventually you have enough that you can call them collectively a thin or partial Alderson disk.
Comment: That makes sense. How large would such an object be around the white dwarf? It would be much smaller than something around the sun, yes.
Comment: I clarified the habitable zone dimensions above.  As for the minimum size of a "partial Alderson disk" ... I think it could be one satellite, as long as the flat side isn't facing Earth.  Otherwise it's a partial Ringworld. :)


Who is the highest rep user that has earned the tumbleweed badge?

Question: I was looking through some of the highest rep users' profiles and noticed none of them had earned the tumbleweed badge. I can think of several reasons why, but which user who earned that badge, currently, has the most rep?
Comment: I would think that high-rep users would be _more_ likely to earn Tumbleweed. When you're the best person on SO, and you have a question, who's going to be able to answer it?
Comment: @Unitato You're right! I just took a quick glance at the top few all-time SO users, and they've mostly asked a decent number of questions (though far less than they've answered). Almost all are high-scoring and answered, so, so much for my seven-year-old prediction. New thoughts: just because you know a lot about a lot of things doesn't mean there aren't specific fields where your expertise is low; in other words, high overall rep doesn't make you "the best person on SO" for _every_ topic. Also, high rep probably correlates with knowing how to effectively ask a question/communicate generally.
Comment: @Pops but such questions will also get votes won't they? Super-hard questions by SO legends definitely get super-high upvotes too right?
Answer: Here's a query using the data dump which would be data up to the first of the month:
SELECT TOP 10 u.DisplayName, u.Reputation
FROM Badges b
INNER JOIN Users u ON b.UserId = u.Id
WHERE b.Name='Tumbleweed'
ORDER By u.Reputation DESC

The top 10 results:
DisplayName               Reputation
------------------------- ----------
tvanfosson                121740
paxdiablo                 106246
Darin Dimitrov            102569
marc_s                    84944
SLaks                     80588
Pekka                     71504
Bill Karwin               66385
Bozho                     57980
skaffman                  55425
Remus Rusanu              54865

Comment: I don't know how I missed that one. The question that awarded the user the badge was a good but obscure question.
Answer: Here's a data dump query: http://odata.stackexchange.com/stackoverflow/s/591/users-with-the-tumbleweed-badge-ordered-by-reputation
select top 10 * from badges b join users u on b.userid = u.id
where b.Name = 'Tumbleweed'
order by u.Reputation desc

Of course, the data dump is missing some data, so it cannot tell you which question got the badge, or how much reputation the user had when s/he got it.


Low effort questions with lack of basic troubleshooting

Question: I have been active trying to help people here on serverfault and have been in IT for 15 years, and it's a problem on a lot of communities. But it would be great if we could provide feedback with something lacks basic troubleshooting and with a link to a faq article for basic troubleshooting
Comment: I use the https://github.com/Benjol/SE-AutoReviewComments browser extension with my own  stock comments that I often use when the limited number of serverFault specific close reasons don't quite cover my reason to VtC. I  like to point to https://meta.serverfault.com/questions/3608/how-can-i-ask-better-questions-on-server-fault that addresses most important information that people need to include in a question including basic debugging
Answer: I have been playing the ServerFault game for almost as long as you have been an IT professional.
I have learned that, 'no one who needs to, reads anything'.
There are so many questions posted with an excerpt from their terminal that clearly tells them to run systemctl ...  or journalctl ... to get more details and ... they just don't do that.
My advice for helping people with low effort and lack of basic trouble shooting.

Ask them for relevant excerpts from their logs in a comment.
Downvote for lack of effort.
Vote to close for lack of detail (Closing-> A Community-specific reason -> Option 2)
Get on with the est of your life, safe in the knowledge that you have helped the OP and the internet in general be better.

If, in the unlikely event that the OP does provide further information,and edits it into their question you can always remove your downvote and closevote. Rest assured though that this will be an exceedingly rare event.
Answer: Our comments and close-voting are the intended feedback avenue for "insufficient troubleshooting." People are quite active with close-votes for this reason, believe me.
As for a FAQ list or similar, we've deliberately not built that framework; "read the docs, come back after you've done that," feels like that great 1990s phrase:

Talk to the hand.

And that isn't nice. Most historic sysadmin communities self-police this way; with best-practice and knowledge bars required for continued existence in the community, often enforced through sarcasm.
The way most StackExchange sites work is we don't require askers to be familiar with our canon of knowledge before asking questions. In part this is because there isn't a canon of knowledge!

Documentation often doesn't cover every use-case.
Documentation often goes stale, especially on volunteer-run sites like this
Documentation often does a bad job of covering all versions of a thing in use
Writing good documentation requires skills, which are not evenly distributed on volunteer sites like this
Understanding what documentation is telling you is also a skill
Remembering what documentation actually covers is not the same as what's actually in there, leading to cases of "READ THE FAQ BEFORE POSTING!!!" when the FAQ hasn't covered that in a while.

FAQs are best used for insular communities invested in gatekeeping membership.


lpr command is not printing A5 correctly

Question: I am currently trying to print a PDF via lpr command. The issue is I am able to print, but half the data is missing.
Process
Chrome downloads the PDF into Downloads directory. I have a shell script that monitors the directory and prints any incoming document then deletes it.
The printout should be in A5 size, so I use the command lpr -o media=A5 -o fit-to-page some_file.pdf.
Issue
It prints, but the document is printed only half (let's say 30% of the content is missing from the left/A5 setting for printer is to put the page at the center of the printer).
I did some digging and found out the PDF and normal documents are treated differently by the printer.
One way is to put the printer hardware to A4 and put the paper to the left which seems to work. But this is a bad solution for me. When I try to print the PDF from Chrome or Evince, I put the printer hardware and software setting to A5 and it seems to work without any issue.
Any Suggestion to fix this is highly appreciated .
Answer: I managed to fix this issue.
The problem was with the wrong printer driver.
I installed recommended printer driver provided by ubuntu but this did not work .
Installing the exact printer driver and the a5 was printed correctly .
Hope this helps someone. Cheers