Are there any lethal melee weapons?

Question: I've found plenty of lethal ranged weapons, but does Invisible, Inc. have any lethal melee weapons?
Comment: You know, of all the questions I've seen here, this one made me pause for the longest as I wondered what in the heck was going on. Congrats.
Answer: TL;DR: Invisible Inc has one lethal melee weapon, but you can't acquire it in an unmodded version.

There is an item hidden in itemdefs.lua. But first have a look at at scripts.zip/sim/abilities/melee.lua (186-192) for the melee ability (you can unzip the scripts.zip in the game's directory to get a look at the game logic and other interesting stuff):
local lethal = false

if simquery.getEquippedMelee( userUnit ):getTraits().lethalMelee then
    grapple = false
    lethal = true
end

So melee is by default non-lethal, unless the equipped weapon is lethal. itemdefs.lua now contains the following item:
item_baton = util.extend(melee_template)
{
    name = STRINGS.ITEMS.BATON,
    desc = STRINGS.ITEMS.BATON_TOOLTIP,
    flavor = STRINGS.ITEMS.BATON_FLAVOR,
    icon = "itemrigs/FloorProp_AmmoClip.png",
    profile_icon = "gui/icons/item_icons/items_icon_small/icon-item_tazer_small.png",
    profile_icon_100 = "gui/icons/item_icons/icon-item_tazer.png",
    --profile_icon = "gui/items/icon-tazer-ftm.png",
    requirements = {  },
    traits = { damage = 1, melee = true, lethalMelee = true},
    value = 500,
    floorWeight = 1,
},

All other items which extend melee_template don't set lethalMelee to true, so that one should be the only one. It's a monofilament baton, according to strings.lua:

MONOFILAMENT BATON
Melee strikes are lethal
Though it looks like a simple club, in reality it's a short whip, thanks to advances in molecular construction. The filament is nearly invisible to the eye, and the results are often as hard to look at.

But the item_baton doesn't come up in any other file. It doesn't get dropped by guards, nor will Monst3r ever sell it. So even though the game supports lethal melee weapons, you will never acquire one in the current version.
Comment: Thank you, this is an excellent answer! That baton sounds more like a [variable sword](http://larryniven.wikia.com/wiki/Variable_sword) than a baton! I hope they plan to implement it at some point.
Comment: You could probably modify the game's files so that either a) the weapon is gifted to you, b) can be looted from b1)special facilities, b2) containers, b3) guards, or c) be sold by either Monst3r or the ingame facility shops. Although I would probably change the requirements for that item, so that on needs a maxxed attribute.
Comment: Can you suggest a good resource for learning how to do that? Or is it a simple as modifying the lua files and putting them back in the zip?
Comment: @SaintWacko: Haven't tried it yet, but I guess it should be as easy as that, unless the game checks the checksum or something similarly. I didn't test that since I haven't finished the story yet.
Comment: @SaintWacko: Here's an update: Klei uses [MOAI](http://getmoai.com/) for this game and simply mounts the `scripts.zip` as a virtual file system. You can copy your original scripts.zip, change some files, and afterwards change the path in `main.lua`. I also found the debug console, Ctrl+\`, where (according to state-debug.lua), one should be able to generate every ingame object, but I haven't tried that yet (also not sure how to redirect input to the debugger). All in all, I still think it should be easy. Furthermore, you can probably add different armor piercing versions of the baton.

Are there any lethal melee weapons?


Find the equation of the circle which cuts the circle $x^2+y^2+2x+4y-4=0\;$ and the lines $xy-2x-y+2=0\;$ orthogonally

Question: The equation of the circle which cuts the circle $x^2+y^2+2x+4y-4=0\quad$ and the lines $xy-2x-y+2=0\quad$ orthogonally, is
$a.\quad x^2+y^2-2x-4y-6=0\;$
$b.\quad x^2+y^2-2x-4y+6=0\;$
$c.\quad x^2+y^2-2x-4y+12=0\;$
$d.\quad$ (not possible to determine.)
Let the equation of the circle be $x^2+y^2+2gx+2fy+c=0\quad$. As this is intersecting the circle $x^2+y^2+2x+4y-4=0\quad$ orthogonally, so $2g+4f=c-4\;$ by using the condition of orthogonality of Terri circles $2g_1g_2+2f_1f_2=c_1+c_2\;$
The second equation is an equation of pair of lines,$(x-1)(y-2)=0\quad$
But I dont know what is the condition of orthogonality of a circle and a pair of lines. I am unable to solve it further. Please help me.
Comment: Hint: What can one say about the location of the centre O of a circle C if C meets a line L orthogonally?
Answer: 1493485
For two figures to be orthogonal vis-à-vis each other means that at each of their points of intersection their slopes are perpendicular. In terms of analytic geometry, this would mean that the slope of one is the negative reciprocal of the slope of the other -- i.e., the product of the two slopes at the intersection equals $-1\;$.
$xy-2x-y+2=0\;$ is really the two lines $x=1$ and $y=2\;$. Any circle orthogonal to the two lines must therefore be centered at $A(1\mid 2)\;$ .
The two tangents from $A\;$ to the circle $B\equiv[x^2+y^2+2x+4y-4=0]\;$ can be constructed by drawing the circle whose diameter is the line joining the center of the given circle $C(-1\mid -2)\;$ to $A\;$. The equation of this new circle is $D\equiv[x^2+y^2=5]\;$. The two intersections $E_1\left(\frac{-1-6\sqrt{11}}{10}\mid\frac{-2+3\sqrt{11}}{10}\right)\;$ and $E_2\left(\frac{-1+6\sqrt{11}}{10}\mid\frac{-2-3\sqrt{11}}{10}\right)\;$ of the two circles $B\;$ and $D\;$ are the points of tangency.
Your required circle $[(x-1)^2+(y-2)^2=11]\;$, centered, as required, at $A\;$, passes through $E_1\;$ and $E_2\;$.
Oh, by the way, from the menu of choices you provided, the proper choice is $a.$


Selecting Multiple Sheets Simultaneously

Question: I'd like to copy multiple sheets to another spreadsheet, it doesn't seem selecting multiple sheets simultaneously is a feature. Is there a workaround, add on, perhaps an available script?
Answer: The Google app script and add on community continues to prove to be an industrious bunch, currently testing Bulk Sheet Manager.
Update: unable to "copy to" another sheet, resorting to copying entire spreadsheet and bulk removing unwanted sheets with add on.
Answer: How about this?
You make a copy of the original file.
Then rename the new copy of the file to FILE#2.
FILE#1 remains the same.
FILE#2 has a copy of all the sheets/tabs as FILE#1.
You then open FILE#2 and delete the sheets/tabs that you don't want.
Save FILE#2.
FILE#2 now has copies of the sheets/tabs from FILE#1. :)


Are these ring structures on $ (\Bbb{C} \oplus \Bbb{C},+) $ isomorphic?

Question: I have two binary operations, $ \bullet $ and $ \star $, defined on the abelian group $ (\Bbb{C} \oplus \Bbb{C},+) $ by
$$
(a,b) \bullet (c,d) = (a c,b d) \quad \text{and} \quad
(a,b) \star   (c,d) = (a c + b d,a d + b c).
$$
Each of these binary operations makes $ (\Bbb{C} \oplus \Bbb{C},+) $ a ring.

Question. Is it necessarily true that $ (\Bbb{C} \oplus \Bbb{C},+,\bullet) $ and $ (\Bbb{C} \oplus \Bbb{C},+,\star) $ are isomorphic rings? If so, what would be an explicit isomorphism between them?

Thanks for your help!
Comment: In fact, I think this is true even if $ \Bbb{C} $ is replaced by any field $ \Bbb{F} $ of characteristic $ p > 2 $.
Answer: Hint: Consider the map $ (\Bbb{C} \oplus \Bbb{C},+,\star) \to (\Bbb{C} \oplus \Bbb{C},+,\bullet) $ defined by $ (a,b) \mapsto (a + b,a - b) $.


"Pivoting" a part while moving faces

Question: Still a newbie to Blender. Trying to line the gray tube along the edge of the blue object, but there is still a slight lip. How do I rotate or pivot or whatever the gray tube so that it follows the edge of the blue object?
Comment: Maybe using bezier curves would be easier to fit your mesh
Answer: This may not apply in your case, but it would be much easier to copy than to follow:

Select the perimeter of your shape
ShiftD duplicate it and P part it off into a new object
Header Menu > Object > Convert to > Curve
Adjust the curve's bevel in its Data tab > Geometry panel

Convert back to mesh if necessary.
Answer:
Combine a circle with a semicircle.
Set pivot, cursor, at the end of the semicircle and spin everything 180 deg.
Set origin to cursor and use Mirror modifier.

"Pivoting" a part while moving faces


get_query_var not working for subdirectory

Question: I am using this code $pagename = get_query_var('pagename'); to get page name. Its working fine on localhost install under root directory. But when I have moved wordpress to run under subdirectory it returns no value
Answer: You shouldn't use get_query_var for getting the pagename (slug) - there is no guarantee that pagename will be set, depending on your permalink structure (or lack thereof).
Instead, check if the request is for a page, and then get the slug directly from the queried object:
if ( is_page() ) {
     $slug = get_queried_object()->post_name;
}


Could a multi-camera SLAM system that is accurate at low driving speeds be equally accurate at high driving speeds?

Question: Could a multi-camera SLAM system for self-driving cars that is accurate to under 10 cm (3.9 in) at parking lot speeds (i.e. very low driving speeds) retain this level of accuracy at high driving speeds (e.g. highway speeds or city driving speeds) if the cameras were a) 60 fps and b) had a global shutter?
Answer: It would probably be accurate at higher speeds, if the processing system that processes the information from the camera system can process the information in real time. It looks like it can, but you will also have to account for motion blur. If there is too much motion blur, you will probably not be able to do anything other than speeding up the camera and processing system. However, if the motion blur is not that bad, and the system has been trained on the motion blur, it should be able to classify everything correctly.


automatically open new buffer in new frame

Question: I use tiling window manager and usually prefer it to handle emacs frames instead of using emacs windows. Is there a way I could force emacs to spawn new buffers in new frames automatically? Ideally this behavior should be toggled via some command.
Answer: C-h v pop-up-frames tells you this.  It should get you much of the way there.

pop-up-frames is a variable defined in window.el.
Its value is t
Original value was nil
Documentation:
Whether `display-buffer' should make a separate frame.
If nil, never make a separate frame.
If the value is graphic-only, make a separate frame
  on graphic displays only.
Any other non-nil value means always make a separate frame.
You can customize this variable.

This, and its linked pages, might also help, at least by describing some of the problems of trying to use frames-only by default.
Answer: pop-up-frames certainly does the trick but it is too awkward to use. It will spawn everything in new frame.
Much finer control may be reached by using display-buffer-alist. It allows conditionally opening buffers in new frames.
I wrote a small minor mode pop-up-frames-mode using display-buffer-alist method:
;; https://stackoverflow.com/a/1511827/5745120
(defun which-active-modes ()
  "Which minor modes are enabled in the current buffer."
  (let ((active-modes))
    (mapc (lambda (mode) (condition-case nil
                        (if (and (symbolp mode) (symbol-value mode))
                            (add-to-list 'active-modes mode))
                      (error nil) ))
          minor-mode-list)
    active-modes))

(defun pop-up-frames-switch-to-buffer (buffer alist)
  "Pop up frames switch to buffer command."
  (member 'pop-up-frames-mode (which-active-modes)))

(setq display-buffer-alist
      (append display-buffer-alist
      '((pop-up-frames-switch-to-buffer . ((display-buffer-reuse-window display-buffer-pop-up-frame) . ((reusable-frames . 0)))
))))

(define-minor-mode pop-up-frames-mode
  "Pop up frames minor mode"
  :lighter " PUF")

(provide 'pop-up-frames-mode)

It spawns new frame only when pop-up-frames-mode is enabled in current buffer and does not create duplicate windows.


What is a better way to backup files than FTP?

Question: I want to backup my WP flies but the FTP is really slow.  Is there a better solution ? (assume CRON and SSH in a managed VPS)
Comment: *@Tal Galili* - Continuous daily backup, or occasional transfer of site files?
Comment: Hi Mike, I am thinking of daily/weekly/monthly backups
Answer: I recommend rsync. It only transfers what has changed since your last rsync so subsequent updates are very fast, and it works over SSH. Sample usage in crontab:
# backup rsync from example.com every morning
14 3 * * * rsync -az example.com:/var/www/example.com/htdocs/ ~/Backup/example.com/

The -a flag preserves many aspects of the original file (ie. symlink vs file) and -z compresses the transfer. There are some potentially confusing rules about trailing slashes on directory names, but the above example would put everything inside htdocs/ on the server into example.com/ on the local machine.
If your local machine is a Windows box, you can install rsync via Cygwin.
Answer: (assuming that FTP is slow due to amount of files) I use SSH to remotely give command to compress WP directory in single archive and then fetch that file.
On Windows this is relatively easily scriptable with WinSCP ( scripting documentation ).
This method greatly speeds up transfer, makes it secure, requires no plugins server-side, timestamps backups and is easy to schedule or launch with single click.
(assuming FTP is slow in general) I would suggest to research backup plugins that can email backups (although size can get restrictive) or upload them to file storage service.
Answer: As you probably know, there could be a number of reasons your FTP connection is slow. For the purpose of answering this question I am going to assume that you either have a huge amount of files, or either you or your web host has a very slow internet connection.
Personally, when I am dealing with a large number of files I tend to compress the files (tar/zip) and then initiate the transfer. It however could be that your web host has restricted this capability in which case you most likely have a web based control panel provided by your web host. In the majority of cases I have found these control panels allow you to initiate a backup and download this compressed file which hopefully you can extract and use. It's also possible (yet less likely) that you can upload and uncompress an archive file this way.
The is the only broad suggestion I can provide you given the information available.
If your question was aimed as finding a solution for continuous/routine backups I would suggest exploring rsync (incremental backups) which we utilize on 20 servers. If you are not familiar with rsync or it seems to much to involve yourself with at this time I can highly recommend jungledisk (the server edition) which essentially preforms the same thing and backs up all data to the cloud. Both of these tools however most likely require you to have root access to your VPS.
For more basic routine backup solutions I would search on wordpress.org as I remember seeing some plugins in there including ones that autobackup mysql.
Good luck :-)


Does discrimination law apply to prostitutes?

Question: Bob is a male prostitute who only services female clients. Charles is a homosexual male who would like to solicit his services, but Bob being straight and so finding this proposition unenticing, refuses. Has Bob unlawfully discriminated against Charles?
Comment: This is an interesting take on the "bona fide occupational qualification" exception. But that exception is related to hiring personnel, not to selecting customers.
Comment: The advertised service centers around a customer's vagina, much like a hair cutter's service centers around a customer's hair. Each one constitutes a material condition for having that respective service rendered. That is different from discriminating against traits unrelated to the actual service (like refusing to bake a cake for a homosexual etc.).
Comment: @Peter-ReinstateMonica  That "refusing to bake a cake" story got a really disingenuous spin how it entered popular consciousness. It was not like *"ah, so you're a homosexual, no cake for you"* how your comment might make it look like. It was about specifically ordering a cake with an inscription promoting something the baker disagrees with. The baker offered them to take any of the readily-made cakes, but they refused and insisted on the baker adding that message. Imagine if someone went to a Jewish baker and demanded him to write "death to all Jews" on it. Or a Muslim baker to mock Muhammad.
Comment: @vsz Re baker: I did not refer to a specific case, did I? In that specific case though, I assume the inscription was not "death to all cis males" or such.
Comment: @Peter-ReinstateMonica : No, it was not. But it was still not the case of those poor homosexuals staying hungry because the baker refused to serve them. It was them demanding the baker to write an ideological message on the cake the baker disagreed with, while the baker still offered them to choose any of the existing designs. That's completely different from how a large part of the sensationalist media presented the case.
Comment: A key piece of information is missing: Is this is a jurisdiction where prostitution is legal or illegal?
Answer: canada
It has not been adjudicated whether it is prohibited discrimination for a sex worker to not provide their services to all people, apparently discriminating on the grounds of gender or sex.
However, a somewhat analogous issue has arisen in the context of genital waxing. The BC Human Rights Tribunal found that a service that does not provide scrotum waxing is not discriminating against a transgender woman who "was seeking to have hair removed from a scrotum." See Yaniv v. Various Waxing Salons (No. 2), 2019 BCHRT 222:

Section 8 of the Code only applies to services which a person customarily provides to the public. ... "A grocer is not required to service a bicycle." ... In the case of genital waxing, I find that the differences in procedures, as well as its intimate nature, are important to defining the service. ... Second, I accept that this is an intimate service that a person must actively and specifically consent to provide. It requires the service provider to handle a stranger's genitals for a prolonged period of time, in a private setting. ... Ms. Yaniv attempted to draw parallels with other circumstances where LGBTQ+ persons have been denied services — for example, in connection with gay weddings. I do not find the circumstances analogous. There is no material difference in a cake which is baked for a straight wedding, and one that is baked for a gay wedding. Nor does baking a cake for a gay wedding require you to have intimate contact with the client. Taking another example, there is no material difference in renting a room to a gay couple or to a straight couple, and renting out rooms does not require intimate contact with the client. ... in the case of genital waxing, I have found there is a material difference in waxing different types of genitals and that, because of its intimate nature, service providers must consent to provide service on a particular type of genitals. What the law requires is that, having chosen to provide a particular service, they must provide that service without discrimination. For example, a person who customarily waxes vulvas cannot discriminate amongst their clients with vulvas, and likewise for a person who customarily waxes scrotums. ... This is largely dispositive of Ms. Yaniv's genital waxing complaints because she has not persuaded me that waxing a scrotum was a service customarily provided by these respondents.

I predict that a similar line of reasoning would be adopted to allow sex workers to choose their clientele.
The discussion in the comments is interesting, so I will more directly address the sex work context:

not all sex work involves contact with genitals
all sex work is likely "intimate service"
the Supreme Court of Canada has recognized the danger to sex workers when unable to screen clients (Canada (Attorney General) v. Bedford, 2013 SCC 72)

On balance, the above factors reinforce my prediction that courts will not allow anti-discrimination regimes to constrain the discretion sex workers have to choose their clientele.
Comment: I wonder if at least some discrimination laws *do* apply to sex workers, though: can they discriminate based on race? There is not a material difference in providing sexual services to people of different races, but it's an open secret that many sex workers prefer to avoid clients of particular races, so it seems like this is an issue that the courts will have to take up eventually.
Comment: @Brian: They probably do apply, but I assume actual prosecution is very difficult, because the sex worker could always claim personal reasons. You would have to prove that they *systematically* refuse service to members of a particular race etc. - that is probably hard to do in practice.
Answer: germany
tl;dr: In Germany, prostitution in general is covered by discrimination law. However, providing service based on gender would probably fall under one of the exceptions in discrimination law, thus would be legal. The law presumably still applies in other cases, such as for discrimination based on race or ethnicity.

In Germany, the main law against discrimination is the Allgemeines Gleichbehandlungsgesetz (AGG) (English translation: General Act on Equal Treatment).
The AGG generally outlaws discrimination based on
"race or ethnic origin, gender, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation" (Section 1). However, it also lists a number of exceptions where some forms of discrimination are allowed. While it does not explicitly list protitution, Section 20 ("Permissible differences of treatment") says (emphasis mine):

(1) Differences of treatment on the grounds of religion, disability,
age, sexual orientation or gender are not deemed to be a violation of
the prohibition of discrimination if they are based on objective
grounds. This may in particular be the case where the difference of
treatment
[...]

satisfies the requirement of protection of privacy or personal safety,

I believe that a prostitute only serving clients of the opposite gender would probably be covered under "protection of privacy", similarly to how bathrooms or changing rooms may be separated by gender. Note that the German original uses "Schutz der Intimsphäre", with Intimsphäre being a bit stronger than just "privacy" - I would rather translate it as "intimate sphere", so it refers to things such as a person's sexuality and other deeply personal issues.
Another parallel: There are many fitness centers that only accept female members, and I am not aware that this has ever been challenged in court, so it seems to generally be considered legal. That would seem to be a similar case.

For further reading, here is an article that specifically addresses the question when the AGG allows different treatment based on gender (only in German, unfortunately):
"Frauenparkplätze - Und ihr wollt emanzipiert sein?" ("Women parking - so you claim being emancipated?").
It is by the official "Antidiskriminierungsstelle" (the federal body against discrimination), so it is at least a semi-official statement.
The gist of it is similar to my answer - discrimination can be justified if it protects the personal safety or the intimate sphere.
Answer: england-and-wales
We will not address the legality of sex services but the core of the question, refusal to provide service because of a protected characteristic.
Under the equality law, generally, service must be provided regardless of the protected characteristic. Service providers are encouraged to accommodate and adapt their service, such as giving a free admission ticket to disabled clients so their caregiver can assist them. The only instances where this is not the case is when it falls under one of the statutory exceptions.
The Human Rights Commission says:

There are some exceptions to the general rules of equality law, when people's protected characteristics may be relevant to the goods, facilities or services you provide. For businesses, these are:
[...]

separate services for men and women or single-sex services

[...]
You are allowed to provide single-sex services (services just for men or just for women) where this is objectively justified and:
the services may involve physical contact between a user and someone else and that other person may reasonably object if the user is of the opposite sex
[...]

Separate services for men and women could be provided by a beauty therapist where intimate personal health or hygiene is involved

For example, a female masseuse is allowed to only service female clients because of the close contact she has with the clients.

A beauty therapist who operates on her own and provides massages in clients' own homes only provides this service to women. She believes the restriction is objectively justified and it also involves physical contact between the client and herself, which is something she has a reasonable objection to. It is likely that the provision of the service in this way will come within the exception

Conclusion
Given that sex services go above and beyond the physical contact of a massage, Bob has most certainly not committed any transgression against Charles' rights.
Comment: I ran a tiny edit to make the point stand out a little more.
Comment: @Trish you are most welcome to even add your own content. This knowledge base is a collaborative one.


Did the ancient inhabitants of Rome who spoke Latin refer to themselves as Latins?

Question: In Ancient Rome (8th century BC to 5th century AD), did the inhabitants use the terms Roman and Latin synonymously to describe themselves as a people?
Answer: When "Latins" was used as a demonym (Latini) by the Romans, it referred to the Latin-speaking inhabitants of Latium, the region in which Rome is situated (modern Lazio, though the Italian region is bigger than the original), often specifically in contrast with the inhabitants of Rome proper, and then usually as the people who lived in the region before the founding of Rome.This is the case in e.g. Vergil's Aeneid, where the Latins, under king Latinus, are hostile to the Trojan protagonist Aeneas, whose descendants would—according to the story—go on to found Rome.
Answer: No. Latin was normally used only to describe the language used in Rome, although sometimes there were references to "Latin rights" or Latin religious practices that dated to early periods in Roman history. For example, at one point in Livy it says this:
Latinae feriae fuere ante diem tertium nonas Maias, in quibus quia in una hostia magistratus Lanuvinus precatus non erat populo Romano Quiritium, religioni fuit. (The Latin festival was held on the third day before the Nones of May, and a religious scruple arose because at the sacrifice of one victim the magistrate of Lanuvium had not prayed for the Roman people, the Quirites.)
"Quirite" means a citizen of Rome. In general, the Romans considered themselves to be multi-ethnic from an early period and citizenship did not depend on ethnicity. In fact, one of the accomplishments of the second king of Rome, Numa Pompilius, was celebrated as being the integration of different factions into a unified Roman citizenry. If you know Roman history, you know that Rome was founded out of many non-Latin peoples, such as Sabines.
Comment: That's why I love SE: learn something every day!
Comment: I think you mean Latin "rites" not "rights".
Comment: @MTA No, I did mean rights. There were certain legal rights that originated in the Latin culture specifically, and they were handed down into Roman laws and traditions. There was even legal terminology for it, they were called the "ius Latini" or something like that, I forget the exact wording.
Comment: @MTA [Here's](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_rights) the Wiki on the topic.


Big Data: New Tricks for Econometrics

Question: I'm reading the paper "Big Data: New Tricks for Econometrics" by Hal R. Varian here. Can someone point out what does "p < 0.001 , p = 0.01" in Figure 4, Page 12 mean. They haven't been mentioned in the text. I guessed it's the fraction of people that survived in the subtree rooted at that node but that doesn't seem to be the case as the calculations don't match. Any help will be highly appreciated.
Answer: This is a p-value. Varian writes the ctree "chooses the structure of the tree using a sequence of hypothesis tests".
I don't know what those hypothesis tests are, but Varian cites Hothorn, Hornik, and Zeileis (2006) for the method. Maybe look at that paper?
Answer: In general, in research papers involving statistics, "p < 0.05" represents the fact that the results are statistically significant. "p" is the p-value. For example, "p < 0.05" formally means that you can reject the null hypothesis at a 5% level. On other (more comprehensible) words, it means that the results are significant, and that you can trust them (there are many limits in this sentence, but it's for a better understanding).

Big Data: New Tricks for Econometrics


The adverb 冷たく in そしてその後部座席は水に冷たく濡れていたのである

Question:
そしてその後部座席は水に冷たく濡れていたのである。

I was reading a story when I found this sentence. Why did the author use the adverb 冷たく? When I translate can I just skip it?
Answer: The story was a horror story, and the sentence was a punch line, wasn't it.
Japanese people feel chilly when listening to horror stories, and to emphasize it, the author used 冷たい (chilly or cold; adverb form 冷たく) in the line, I think.
Answer: Simply put, you shouldn't skip descriptive words like adverbs and adjectives. Adverbs, like this one you're asking about, add to the atmosphere and environment in the story much like how adverbs and adjectives add detail to a story in English. They're crucial in fully understanding what happened, as well as why people do what they do.
冷たく is the adverb form of 冷たい, which was formed by replacing the い with a く. If you clicked on the link for 冷たい, you would find that it meant cold, chilly, icy, or freezing. The second definition (coldhearted, unfeeling) doesn't really work here.
冷たく is modifying the verb 濡れる, which was conjugated to 濡れていた, or translated into English as "(something) was wet." Put together, 冷たく濡れていた means that "(something) was cold and wet."
By now, you probably know that the (something) that I referred to in the last paragraph is the 後部座席{こうぶざせき} (back seat), so without further ado, let's translate that sentence.

そしてその後部座席は水に冷たく濡れていたのである。
Then the back seat became cold and wet from the water.

So can you skip the adverb in translation? Sure, but you miss information. I don't know the context of the sentences before this particular sentence, so I am going to assume that they drove off a bridge into a body of water (river, 瀬戸内海、etc.) What if the passengers were so cold that they could not move, and ended up drowning? What if the desperation of the passengers was dramatically increased because of the cold water? If you don't explain that the seats were cold as well as wet, you could miss out on why the passengers reacted the way they did. I highly recommend that you avoid skipping translation on adverbs. They are just as important in English as they are in Japanese.


What value to place for data which has no lat/long value?

Question: i'm trying to create a shapefile from an excel spreadsheet. the spreadsheet contains some data such as "unknown record" for which no lat/long can be obtained while the rest of the data is related to states of a country.when i add spreadsheet to arcgis it displays "null" value under lat long field in front of unknown record and when i create the shapefile the null values are replaced by "0" which causes an inconsistent map extent. i don't want to create a csv as it distorts my rest of the data. i tried placing "0" for the unknown record in lat long fields but in that case lat long wont show in add xy dialog box.please suggest a workaround so that my problem of inconsistent map extent is resolved.
Comment: Do you wish to display the "unknown records" on the map? If so, where should they be placed geographically?
Comment: Have you tried splitting the data into two imports. One with coordinates, and one without. If so, did the one with coordinates produce the "inconsistent map extent" warning? The non spatial data you try to process by a different method ie geo-coding.
Comment: yes, the one with co-oridnates produced the warning
Comment: There's coordinates in your data that's either wrong or not in the coordinate system you think it's in. Confirm what your lat longs are in (ie WGS 1984) then hunt down the offending coordinate errors and fix them.
Comment: http://support.esri.com/em/knowledgebase/techarticles/detail/37732
Comment: no, there are no coordinates which are wrong.. when i deleted the row for which i have no coordinates i.e."unknown record" my shapefile was created and displayed without any inconsistent map extent warning. it's just those zeros that are being forcefully added by arcgis for null values in lat long field that create the problem.
Answer: Shapefiles use dBase databases, which do not support null values. Any null values in numeric fields are stored as 0 and strings as a blank space (regardless of software). If you want true null value support, you need storage format that is null capable (such as a file geodatabase).
Alternatively, you can import the records that do have coordinates and create the shapefile, then paste in/append the records that don't have coordinates to make sure they are created with null geometries (related: Joining blank shp with dBASE Table).
Note this resulting shapefile won't be valid, as a null geometry in a shapefile is technically an error and if repaired that record will be deleted (related: Polygon shapefile with null values? and Difference between empty and NULL geometry in file geodatabase?). Or you can just set the lat/long values to a known 'false' value, like Null Island.


Asking to shorten duration of 12 week internship

Question: I am very happy that I have an offer (haven't accepted yet) for a summer internship from a well regarded technology company. However, they are asking me to work 12 weeks, which is a bit too long for me because it leaves almost no time for break between semesters. What is the best way to ask them if they could shorten it to 10 weeks? My biggest worry is, would I seem uncommitted if I ask to shorten the duration?
Comment: Do you have a specific reason why you need 2 extra weeks off? I.e. family vacation thats already booked
Comment: Did you know that it was 12 weeks when you applied? Or did you ask if it wasn't in the job listing? In my experiences, companies tend to start and end internships around specific dates and have specific a specific duration that is planned well in advance.
Comment: This is a pretty bad idea. Likely, they will say no. This is more because 10 weeks isn't enough time to finish one of the projects, than it is about being mean. It takes a week for training, and then another week or two to get up to speed with things (at least). I definitely encourage you to go with the 12 weeks. 10 weeks would be potentially setting yourself up for failure.
Answer:
What is the best way to ask them if they could shorten it to 10 weeks?

Be direct.
Just says something like "I'd really like to work here. But could you shorten the internship for 10 weeks, so that I can have some time for a break between semesters?"
Most employers would be fine with that. And you probably don't want to work for one that isn't okay with allowing you a bit of time off.
When you want something, you have to ask the people that can make it happen for you.
Answer: This is your right to ask, and this is also their right to say refuse. Expect them to ask why, however. Saying "I want more summer break" is not an acceptable answer in the eyes of an employer, especially if the company has a lot of applicants. You have to walk a tight line, where you let them know you would prefer to finish two weeks earlier, but if this is not possible you will definitely comply with their preference.


Who were the US Representatives for East Bay in the 1990s?

Question: In the US House of Representatives elections in 1990, 1992, 1994, and 1996, who won and became the US Representative for East Bay (California)?
I would also like to know the correct congressional district for each of them.
Comment: What state is Easter Bay in?  And have you checked Wikipedia to see if they're listed?
Comment: @Bobson, sorry my mistake, it is East Bay in California, and I tried to look for it, but there was som much redistricting going on that I had hoped that someone more knowledgeable of the locality would be able to answer.
Comment: Thanks for clarifying.  Normally, I'd recommend [The Green Papers](http://www.thegreenpapers.com) for this, but they only go back to 2000.  I'm not sure where to look for older data.
Comment: A similar site is the [US Election Atlas](http://uselectionatlas.org), but it doesn't do House-level reporting.
Answer: From 2003 to 2013, it looks like the East Bay was part of the 9th and 13th congressional districts.  According to the Wikipedia links, both covered part of Alameda county since 1993.

The 7th covered Contra Costa county from 1975-1993.  It covered part of Contra Costa from 1993-2003.  The 10th also covered parts of Contra Costa and Alameda from 1975-2003.
Prior to 1993, it was the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th.  Wikipedia doesn't have a map for that period though.
For those interested, I found this by looking up the East Bay in Wikipedia and finding what it marked as the current district (the 9th).  Then I looked at how the 9th had been redistricted over time, paying special attention to representatives who had been redistricted into or out of the 9th.  Note that this method also tells me that the 11th and 15th currently represent parts of the East Bay.  For obvious reasons, I can't claim that this is a comprehensive result.
Someone who knows California better than I do might be able to say that the 11th or 15th represented parts of Alameda or Contra Costa in the 1993-2003 period.  The San Francisco Bay Area map on Wikipedia suggests that the counties are wider than the 9th and 13th districts.
1990:  George Miller (7th), Ron Dellums (8th), Pete Stark (9th), and Don Edwards (10th)
1992:  George Miller, Ron Dellums (9th), Bill Baker (10th), and Pete Stark (13th)
1994:  George Miller, Ron Dellums, Bill Baker, and Pete Stark
1996:  George Miller, Ron Dellums, Ellen Tauscher (10th), and Pete Stark
As I said, this may not be comprehensive.  Also, this may include some who only represented a small slice of what you might consider the East Bay.  All I can really say is that everyone listed covered part of Alameda or Contra Costa counties in the years given.
Comment: Nice sleuthing, Brythan.


How to find and repair the leak in the framing of a vinyl sliding window?

Question: The panel siding and exterior trim around this window was replaced and painted this Spring. But now seeing major warping and soft wood, inside the red box in photo. Unsure if this is DIY and how to approach. All the exterior seams seem to be sealed, so maybe water is coming in the frame at the sill then filtering down.
Answer: If you hired a contractor to do this work, get with them to fix it. It should still be under warranty. Otherwise, you'll need to start disassembling the trim and siding and investigate for leaking. You can't spend a lot of time theorizing because there's a fair amount of damage/rot based on your statement and you need to correct this fast or more serious problems can arise. Check inside the window frame to make sure there are no cracks exposed especially in the corners.


Keep showing log message

Question: How can I disable this message?
Comment: Do you want to fix the problem or just hide errors from your log? You can filter your log.
Comment: It isn't useful to disable any error logging. The point of the errors is so you can see them and do something to address them, not hide them.
Comment: This is the only log i need to hide/fix. so it isnt usefull for me to disaple them all :).
Comment: agree, just cant find the solution for the problem :)
Answer: If you have the Click Heatmap module enabled, either disable the module or add clickheat to the libraries folder.
Though, looking at the path that is output in the error, it seems that clickheat is probably being included in a template file somewhere, find the code and remove it. Do a search through your files to try to find 'click.php'.
Just disabling database logging will remove it, but will also not log anything else, so this is probably not your best option. Better to fix the problem rather than just hide it.
Answer: It's possible to disable logging.
admin/config/development/logging
Disabling logging means you'll have no trace that your page is failing to load. Instead of pretending it's not happening, it would be better to find the underlying bug - why are users requesting a page that is failing to load?
If you need to disable the messages in the UI but would like to continue debugging, you can run this command from anywhere within your Drupal directory, assuming you have Drush installed:
<code>drush watchdog-show --tail
</code>
This will give you all of the warnings / errors happening as you browse the site.
A truly robust Drupal installation will have an active log which is stored in a service like Splunk. Developers will intentionally add watchdog() functions in their code as a method of defense. Warnings and errors are critical for debugging problems with Drupal sites.

Keep showing log message


What to do about fights in Mother Base

Question: I got a message that a fight had broken out in Mother Base. I was at the Base at the time and couldn't see any signs of scuffle nearby, but didn't bother to check the other platforms. What does the fight mean, why does it happen, what should I do about it and what happens if I don't?
Answer: When the game notifies you that a fight took place at Mother Base it essentially means that one soldier with the Troublemaker (Violence) trait (that you can view from the Staff Management in the game menu by hovering over the soldier) got into a fight and sent another staff member and ultimately injured them.
To prevent future incidents you have a couple of options the first one is to remove any staff with the trait Troublemaker (Violence) from the organization. Usually this is a good idea for low-ranking soldiers (all skills C or below) but suppose you have a high skilled soldier that happens to have that trait.
Secondly, you can assign another person with the same Troublemaker (Violence) trait in the same skill group. Because there will be two or more Troublemakers with the same trait then they will keep each other on watch, and no fights will actually break out.
Finally, you can also use a staff member with the Diplomat skill. They will help preventing fights from breaking out at Mother Base.
On the other hand this doesn't apply for Troublemaker (Unsanitary); they can be negated since the other Troublemaker with the same trait will negate the effect, but it also depends on your Medical team's effectiveness.
These events cannot be seen take place real-time at Mother Base. My guess is that they are there to encourage you to regularly keep an eye on the staff.
Comment: From what I have seen and heard, fighting will occur more frequently if morale on your Mother Base is consistently low. One factor that can lead to this is your GMP being in the red (negative) for long periods of time.
Answer: I don't think those actually happen in the game world for you to stop.
They are caused by the ability 'Troublemaker' on one of your people, the chance they will start something can be lowered by the ability 'Diplomat'
People also seem to be having them stop hurting others if there is another 'Troublemaker' I haven't experienced this as I fire them

What to do about fights in Mother Base


Ground is rising up next to patio

Question: I'm not familiar with this effect. It seems to be getting worse by the day. Is there a common cause for something like this?
Comment: I'm finding it difficult to work out what's going on from the photos you've posted - can you post a couple more taken from further away, showing more of the area please? Are there any large trees, a river, a well, a spring or body of water nearby, or a water supply pipe? Is the soil that's rising very wet? How widespread is this effect in terms of size of area?
Answer: This phenomenon may be explained by the presence of moles in your garden. I am no expert on the lives of moles, but I have a similar situation around my house. They seem to prefer to dig soil up around fixed structures, such as walls, for some reason. When I first moved here, I would dig the soil back with a shovel or water the raised sections every time I see new activity, and eventually they appear to have given up and diverted their tunnels elsewhere.
Comment: I don't know why someone felt the need to down vote but you were correct. I found lines of mounds next to the patio today. He's been a busy mole.  I'll make him my pet.
Comment: Why in the world would they try an entire strip of my patio? Haha but really, its been 3 days and its worse everytime i look. Are they just repeatedly trying to get up?
Comment: so there should be vole holes somewhere?
Comment: Possibly some kind of rodent is digging just beneath the patio. Holes sometimes difficult to spot. Or the effect of water. Difficult to say.

Ground is rising up next to patio


Page property (New column - Choice type) only works for wiki pages not all site pages type

Question: I have created a new column "Choice" in SharePoint online site pages for categorizing News.
I am able to tag new pages with the "Choice" when these pages are "Wiki Page". I want to remove that constraint from the column and able to apply this choice on "Wiki Page", "Site Page" and "Web Part Page"
Answer: If you want to apply this column on "Wiki Page", "Site Page" and "Web Part Page", please ensure you have added the column in the following content types:

Update
Go to Site settings> Site Content Type>Site Page>Add from existing site columns to add the choice column in this content type.
Comment: I have already selected "Site Page", "Wiki Page", "Web Part Page" and "Report Page". Please see the attached image. Also, I am not facing any issues on my other Teams Site.
Comment: From your screenshot, the column not applied to Site Pages content type.Please add it and compare the result.
Comment: Could you please guide me on how to apply SIte Pages to Column. I am not able to do so
Comment: I updated my reply, please refer to it
Comment: My column is not visible in the list of "Add from existing site columns'. I am guessing that will work if the column is site column. Mine is a list column specific to site pages. Also, the site was created in late 2017 and according to this tread, the feature was rolled out in 2018 : https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/sharepoint/site-column-added-to-pages-library-is-not-added-to-the-site-page/m-p/214317


Can a self-educated physicist publish papers?

Question: I started self learning mathematics and physics .. but the thing is I can't join a college , but I watch online lectures and read textbooks instead .. I am interested in theoritical physics .. But I dont know if working on theories without formal education in a college accepted or not?
Comment: I'm voting to close this question because it is not about physics
Comment: This would probably be a better fit on [academia.se].
Answer: There are far more journals than there used to be, and getting a paper accepted by one of them is far easier than it used to be. But this is because many journals now are low-quality. Even with a degree it is not necessarily easy to get published in a top-quality journal.
Answer: Yes, it's possible.
Fair warning though, the barrier to entry is hard, and there's a good chance you won't be able to find anything worth publishing as a self-educated physicist. There's a reason why the traditional path to research is by doing a PhD - it's a skill you need to learn, and something that is best learned from someone experienced (i.e. a professor).
Comment: @AhmedMokhtar It is not *lack* of information on the internet. It is because there is far *too much* "information" for any single individual to figure out for themselves what "information" is actually useful, what is just plain wrong, and what is crackpot nonsense. If you don't know what other researchers in the same field are working on, and what the interesting unanswered questions are, you are very unlikely to produce anything the rest of the scientific community cares about.
Comment: It can often take many months of effort to make a small-but-measurable amount of progress on a research-level question. A very big risk is that you will go in a direction that others won't find interesting, or that was already done before, or already shown to be impossible... This is really where @alphazero's comment comes into play. You simply *can't* understand everything that's been written in any field at the level you need to in order to make a contribution, so you have to have a good idea in advance what is going to be worth working on... That's what an advisor should help  you with.
Comment: @AhmedMokhtar the latter, research is a skill that cannot be self-taught very well. It's certainly *possible*, but for the vast majority of people it will not work.
Comment: Is it because of lack of scientific information on the internet or because doing research is a skill that cannot be self taught .


Prove this equation represents a pair of straight lines.

Question: I am to prove that $(ab-h^2)(ax^2+2hxy+by^2+2gx+2fy)+af^2+bg^2-2fgh=0$ represents a pair of straight lines. I am aware of the condition that is represents a pair of straight lines if $abc+2fgh-af^2-bg^2-ch^2=0$ in the general equation for 2nd degree, but that would turn out to be very cumbersome. So, is there any shortcut to prove this?
Comment: Sorry, but where does $c$ appear in your problem?
Comment: @JunkaiDong c is the constant term so here it will represent the term where there are no x or y multipied
Answer: Here are two ways to answer the question.

1) A matrix oriented arguing:

It is clear that the following condition must hold:
$$\tag{0}m:=a b - h^2 \neq 0$$
(otherwise, the LHS of the given equation would become a constant).
The equation of the conical section can thus be divided by  $m$, and therefore be written
$$\tag{1}U:=ax^2+2hxy+by^2+2gx+2fy+c=0  \ \ \text{where} \ \ c:=\frac{a f^2 + b g^2 - 2f g h}{a b - h^2}$$
or, in a matrix form:
$U=X^TMX=0$ with $X^T=(x \ y \ 1)$ and:
$$\tag{2} M=\pmatrix{a& h& g\\h& b& f\\g& f& c}.$$
Expanding the determinant of $M$ along its third column gives $det(M)=0$.
Therefore $rank(M)\leq 2$.
But condition (0) expresses the fact that the upper left minor of $M$ is nonzero. Thus $rank(M)\geq 2$. Finally:
$$\tag{3} rank(M)=2.$$
Thus the conical section is decomposable into 2 straight lines (see for example (Decomposition of a degenerate conic)), but these straight lines might have complex coefficients!
It appears that a condition of reality is
$$\tag{3}h^2 > ab$$
(were you aware of it?) as we are going to see it in the second way.

2) An explicit way, by decomposition of $U$.

Under condition (3), (1) can be written
$$\tag{4}U=\left(s x + \frac{h y + g}{s}\right)^2-\left(t y + \frac{u}{t}\right)^2=0$$
by setting $s=\sqrt{a}, t=\dfrac{\sqrt{h^2 - a b}}{s}, u=\dfrac{g h - a f}{a}.$
Being a difference of two squares, (4) can be decomposed into two pairs of first degree equations which are the equations of the straight lines.


Blender 2.8 dosen't recognizing my graphics card

Question: I have GeForce GT610. I saw the settings of Nvdia control panel and add Blender for CUDA support but Blender 2.8 is not recognized my graphics card.
Comment: The essence of the link mentioned by @RobertGützkow is that the **Geforce GT610** mentioned, based on the list here: [CUDA version](https://developer.nvidia.com/cuda-gpus#compute) has CUDA 2.1 compute compatibility. So sadly not the needed **3.0+** for Blenders CUDA functionality.
Comment: But you can still use blender 2.7x or 2.6x and do a lot of things...
Answer: Cycles in Blender 2.8x requires a CUDA compute capability of 3.0 or higher. The Nvidia GeForce GT 610 has a CUDA compute capability of 2.1 which is below the minimum requirements for GPU rendering. This is documented in Blender's manual.

CUDA
CUDA requires graphics cards with compute capability 3.0 and higher. To make sure your GPU is supported, see the list of Nvidia graphics cards with the compute capabilities and supported graphics cards. CUDA GPU rendering is supported on Windows, macOS, and Linux.


MPPT power balance constraints

Question: I am implementing an MPPT controller with a battery charging controller to charge a lead acid battery. The question has to do with my understanding of how MPPT works. From what I understand is that the MPPT controller will vary the duty cycle so that the load impedance matches that of the panel to extract maximum power for the PV panel. I have been looking for a way to charge the battery and extract maximum power from the panel simultaneously and my struggles was how the power will balance in a case where the PV panel generates way more power than needed. After reading some Q&A here one answer mentioned that "The MPPT controller varies the load so that the load will accept as much power as possible OR so that the panel will deliver as much energy as possible" by Russell McMahon . Does this mean that the MPPT controller will only extract power that the battery can accept/sink thus the input and output power will be somewhat balanced.
Comment: The MPPT algorithm optimises the energy that is extracted from the source (here PV panel). What it does with the energy depends on the overall system design. A complete system includes a controller that delivers energy to the load appropriately. This does not have to be part of the MPPT system per se but can be. | Note that impedance matching the panel may produce energy at say 30V with a say nominal 12V battery. The energy is then "transformed" so that Vout matches the target load's requirements.  The TRUE MPPT part of the system is the variation of the panel load so it operates at max power.
Comment: All the rest is supporting bonus. Overall if the load does not require the available energy the overall system does not provide i. In that case the system is NOT delivering max power because it has been "told" not to.
Comment: This has already been answered many times. You just do not like the answer. https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/521551/novel-cascaded-battery-charging
Comment: Does this answer your question? [lead acid battery charger from solar input](https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/519935/lead-acid-battery-charger-from-solar-input)
Comment: Thanks for your response @RussellMcMahon this clarifies everything. much appreciated
Answer: The MPPT will do whatever it has been told to do.
If it has been told it's attached to a big battery, then it will attempt to supply a lot of power. If in fact it's got a small battery attached, then it could overcharge it, or charge it too fast.
Make sure you understand how your MPPT is programmed, and tell it the truth about its environment.
Answer: MPPTs vary the impedance of the load seen by the panel, but this is varied as needed to track the maximum power operating point.  They do not 'match the impedance' of a solar panel, but rather adjust the load impedance (typically by varying the duty cycle of a DC/DC converter) so the output current multiplied by the output voltage of the panel is at a maximum.  Current x voltage = Watts, or power, of course.
This is needed as the operating point (a specific output current and output voltage) of a solar panel will change substantially depending on environmental conditions, time of day, and temperature of the panel.
In reality, this is usually just a buck-boost converter that regulates the input as well as the output, along with some additional circuitry that uses one of several methods of perturbing the panel's operating point to determine if it would be better to move the operating point in a certain direction.
It is important to understand that this still works like any other DC/DC converter, and any other load.
For example, a lead acid battery of even relatively small size is typically capable of supplying hundreds of amps (at least, briefly) into a load that demands it.  But does that mean that the battery will dump 300 amps into any load?  Will it dump 300A into a 10K resistor?  Of course not.  The supply, be it a battery, solar panel, or wall-wart, determines how much power can be provided if needed.  But 12V N sized photoflash battery and a 600Ah AGM Lead Acid battery will both supply exactly the same amount of current through a given load (assuming the load's demands don't exceed either battery's current capability, anyway).  Even though one is tiny and the other is huge.
The load itself always determines power draw.  Hence the word draw - the load draws out the amount of power it wants (assuming a fixed voltage) and no more than that.
In the case of an MPPT, the whole point is to regulate both the input to a constantly changing operating point, while also regulating the output to a fixed voltage, as in a typical buck-boost converter.  This is assuming your MPPT is just an MPPT and your battery charging circuitry is separate.
The PV panel will always generate exactly as much power as is needed or as much as it is able to, whichever is the limiting factor.  It will never produce way more power than is needed because it only produces as much power as the load demands.  If you connect a tiny LED to a 10kW PV system, assuming you sized the series resistor correctly and the MPPT has decent output regulation, that LED will run just fine from that 10kW system.
This would, of course, be a huge waste since most of the theoretical power the panels could generate is simply charge recombining without ever doing anything, so at least while such a small load is connected, that 10kW PV system is effectively a 50mW system.
As the load varies on an MPPT, it will vary the operating point further and further away from the true maximum power point, simply because there is not enough load for that to even have any meaning anymore.  As long as the input voltage requirements are met, it doesn't really matter what the operating point is of the panel in such light or no load conditions.
That said, you cannot charge a battery directly from an MPPT for the same reason you cannot charge a battery from any standard buck-boost converter or other fixed voltage source - at least if you want the battery to not be overcharged or venting (exploding).
Most batteries will happily suck down substantially more current than they should ever be charged at if you connect it to a voltage that is already at your desired charge cutoff voltage.  This kills the battery.
You need a dedicated battery charger OR a combination MPPT/battery charger that lets you set the charge current and float voltage for the battery.
No matter what, you'll need some sort of additional regulation that will limit the charge current into the battery by adjusting the output voltage as needed.
However, most charging modules/circuits require an input voltage some what higher than the maximum charge voltage so it can buck this down as needed to limit the current during the first part of the charge.  After that, the battery will draw less and less current as it reaches the float voltage (this is usually a constant current stage which gradually increases the terminal voltage until that voltage reaches the maximum you've set for the charger, and after that, it goes into constant voltage mode where the current will fall off).
This is a problem because an MPPT doesn't have a known output power, and if the load on the MPPT exceeds the power it can supply, then it will need to reduce the output voltage to account for this.
Worse, you actually always need to be in this region - where you're trying to draw more than the MPPT can provide - to ensure that the panel is loaded enough that you are fully utilizing it.
What this means is that you must include the battery charger in the regulation loop of the MPPT.  In other words, you must charge a battery using an MPPT designed to charge a battery of that chemistry.  If your MPPT doesn't have a way to set the charge current or cutoff voltage, then it is not designed to charge a battery and you cannot use it to do so.  The realities of this aren't going to change even if you ask another question.
Yes, you can charge the battery using the MPPT by powering a battery charging circuit from the MPPT, but you will not be able to actually use the maximum power of the panel because the battery charger has no way of knowing that it needs to reduce the charging current dynamically.  Instead, you can just hope that it never tries to draw too much power, and if it does, it will probably just turn off due to under voltage lock-out circuitry.  Or worse, oscillate between on and off.
Simply put, you cannot charge a battery by connecting it directly to a regular MPPT and actually fully utilize (reach the maximum power point) of the solar panel.  If you want to charge a battery while staying at the maximum power point, you must use a MPPT that incorporates battery charging circuitry already (so it can regulate it as needed).
There is no way around this unless you don't use any sort of charge controller, and simply set the MPPT's output voltage to your desired cut-off voltage.  This is dangerous, and will almost certainly result in a much shorter life/cycle count for any battery abused in this way.  Don't do it.  It will cost you more in the long run by ruining your batteries than simply buying the right thing for the job would.
But if you don't care about money, safety, and longevity/capacity loss of the batteries, then the MPPT will simply drop the output voltage to whatever it needs to be for a given load.  So the battery will only ever draw the maximum amount of current at whatever voltage yields that current that the MPPT can supply.  This can potentially exceed the safe charging voltage of the battery (as you're MPPT is really trying to do a constant-voltage only charge of the battery, but is limited by the output power of the solar panel).  And you simply can't finish charging the battery at the maximum power point.  Simply because the battery stops drawing as much power, eventually falling to some fixed amount at a given float voltage.
Comment: Comment only: re " They do not 'match the impedance' of a solar panel, but rather adjust the load impedance ..." -> Arguably, as ever :-), they do both. At it's Wmp point the panel has a specific impedance. Maximum power transfer occurs when load impedance = source impedance. At Wmp point the panel is loaded with an impedance (usually pure resistance) equal to its current effective resistance. As the Wmp point moves the effective resistance changes and the MPPT tracker adjust the load to match it. Yes?
Comment: Thanks again for your responses they are very much appreciated. When i asked the question I was at the theoretical phase of my design and now I am done with the hardware. I have a boost cascaded by a buck converter for my system. The boost converter for P&O MPPT and the buck for the 3 stage battery charging algorithm. So now I am looking to implement the control. So on a theoretical base I understood that load determines the power drawn with the use of the battery charger and that as the load varies on an MPPT the operating point will move away from true maximum power point.
Comment: With that said, does it mean that the P&O MPPT algorithm can just be implemented independently and will move from true MPPT on its as when connected to a battery charger ? as in will the charging limits set by the battery charger "tell" the MPPT circuit to move further away from true MPPT or is there a combined algorithm for this ? Is there a source code for this that you guys can refer me to?

MPPT power balance constraints


Apache and URL rewriting to different names

Question: First off I am running on windows for my sins.
I have two tomcat instances of the same web application running on two different ports & I can access both OK directly
    http://localhost:7070/foo/
and http://localhost:8080/foo/
And I want to be able to go to the following URLs:
    http://localhost/foo1/
and http://localhost/foo2/
If I have the following simple setup for one site all is good and I can get to http://localhost/foo/:
ProxyRequests off
ProxyPreserveHost off
RewriteEngine On
<VirtualHost *:80> ]
  ProxyPass /foo/ http://localhost:7070/foo/
  ProxyPassReverse /foo/ http://localhost:7070/foo/
</VirtualHost>

With the following change to the config referring to 'foo1':
ProxyRequests off
ProxyPreserveHost off
RewriteEngine On
<VirtualHost *:80> ]
  ProxyPass /foo1/ http://localhost:7070/foo/
  ProxyPassReverse /foo1/ http://localhost:7070/foo/
</VirtualHost>

Two odd things appear to be happening:

I can then get to http://localhost/foo1/ & login OK & get to the default page, but oddly the sessionid is in the URL & I can not get to other pages within the web app.
when I look on the tomcat manager page I see a large number of active sessions after a few login attempts instead of just the one per user.

If I login directly to the tomcat webpage http://localhost:7070/foo/ there is no visible sessionid but all still works.
Any ideas on how my config should be set up please?
Answer: Have a look at ProxyPassReverseCookieDomain and ProxyPassReverseCookiePath directives http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/mod/mod_proxy.html#proxypass
I bet your app is setting cookies and since there is no cookie rewrite in your config it resorts to using jsessionid in url.


How to "nc -z " with socat?

Question: I want to get the behavior of "nc -z host port ; echo $?" with socat, since my network admins have disabled netcat. The purpose is just to test that a TCP connection is open between two servers. How would I go about doing this?
Answer: Since nc -z host port just attempt to connect without sending any data, it should be equivalent to socat /dev/null tcp4:host:port.
I think this can achieve your expected bahaviour with socat:
socat /dev/null tcp4:host:port > /dev/null 2>&1 ; echo $?
Answer: Hi if you want check connection between server with socat try below command and refer link ..
CWsocat [options] <address> <address>
CWsocat -V
CWsocat -h[h[h]] | -?[?[?]]
CWfilan
CWprocan

try this link for better understanding..
there are other method to check the connectivity..
Comment: It's just socat's man page. Doesn't answer the question.

How to “nc -z ” with socat?


Right vs privilege?

Question: Apparently both are similar.
How we can differentiate between right and privilege?
Please kindly explain with examples
Answer: <tl;dr> The difference between rights and privileges is critically dependent on the context in which the words are employed. That said, there are some general guidelines and common exceptions that are discussed below.
There are two closely related definitions of the word right that are relevant here:

proper claims that justly accrue to everyone; one's due

Consider the following quote from Plato's dialog Philebus (translator: Benjamin Jowett)

If, as is natural, we begin by thinking of ourselves first, we are easily led on to think of others; for we cannot help acknowledging that what is right for us is the right and inheritance of others.

But this definition is philosophically general and doesn't tell us any operational detail. So, a right is also

the justifiable legal or moral claim to the possession of something, the authority to take some action, or the ability to enjoy some situation without interference.

This enhanced definition tells us that a right is codified by some authority to which right holders may appeal to claim that right.  For instance, when you buy a house, you gain the right of ownership. You possess the house; it's yours. You also get the right of exclusion: you may take legal action to prevent trespassing. And you get the right of enjoyment of that property: no one may legally forbid you from holding a quiet lawn party at your house.
Note the general applicability of rights. Certainly you have to buy a house to have the bundle of rights that come with the ownership of real property, but these rights flow to everybody who owns a house. A privilege is a special kind of right, one enjoyed by a person or group of people, beyond (and perhaps even prejudicial to) the general rights of others. This can take the form of a special exemption from some duty.
For instance, members of the United States Congress hold a privilege of immunity for anything they say conducting public business on the floor of their chambers. They may not be arrested for making threats there, and they cannot be sued for defamation for speaking slander there. This is in stark contrast to the rest of us who have no such refuge from the law.
You will hear people recite the formulaic, "It was a privilege to know you." meaning that the benefits of your wisdom and sparkling personality were available to the speaker and not generally available to those you didn't make acquaintance with.
However, context is everything, and rights may be labeled basic rights, human rights, or (in the US) Constitutional rights. It is implied that claims to these kind of rights are particularly strong. In the US, the operating theory of government is that these rights are God-granted, and the state must take extraordinary care to protect them. In this view, some privileges have a lesser standing, and you may hear the statement:

Driving is privilege, not a right.

which means that the state has a far easier task to keep you from driving than say, from speaking freely. Driving is not a Constitutional right; free speech is. A conviction for drunk driving may erase your legal right to drive, but there are some Constitutional rights so sturdy that you may not waive them even if you wanted to.
A parent might say to a teenager

Remember that a midnight curfew is a privilege, so don't be late.

Children have a right to safety, food, shelter, and an education as mandated by law and parents may not legally violate those rights. But a late date-night curfew is entirely within parental control and may be revoked even on a whim.
But, as you may have noted, the privileged speech of members of the US Congress is as strong a right as any listed in the Bill of Rights. In fact, The US Constitution has a Privileges and Immunities clause (Article IV, Section 2) which prevents one state from discriminating against the citizens of another state. The Supreme Court has declared that in that context the meaning of the word privileges is basic rights.
Thus, see the warning at the top.
Answer: Too broad to answer it because the terms are actually flexible. But I'll answer it in general.
Privilege is made or granted by someone. On the other hand, rights are inherent. Rights don't require anything from anyone in general. Rights cannot be taken away; privilege can be.
Check out dictionaries for further information.
Comment: A _right_ is owed to you because of who you are (e.g. human rights). A _privilege_ is something extra, that you get because of high rank or because someone has kindly offered you a special favour.
Comment: @user105719 You cannot answer the question if you get into the nuances. I answered it 'broadly.' Adding that word!

Right vs privilege?


How do we know that the CMBR is the oldest light?

Question: How do we know that the CMBR is the oldest light which we can see? Is it based just on the facts 1.that waves redshift with expanding space, and 2.predictions of the big bang theory;
Or is there a way to know which light is older/younger?
How can You tell the difference between "normal" microwaves which could be emitted from anywhere, and Cosmic microwave background, when You are detecting it on somekind of light wave detector?
Or let me put it this way, whats the difference between a microwave generated in my oven, and the microwave with the same frequency as the one from the oven, but it was a lets say ultraviolet when it was generated but it redshifted to the frequency which is equal to the one generated in the oven?
Answer: You can't tell directly. But you can look at a bunch of it and notice that it is at the same temperature here there and everywhere in all directions in every single place where your view isn't blocked by some moon planet star or galaxy.
And that temperature is quite cold it is hard to get something that cold. And either there are many things with the same temperature or it is one thing. And if it is one thing it is big and old and far away since we see old things in front of it.
How do we know the things in front of it are old? Because first generation stars look different they are almost entirely hydrogen and helium so they have different spectra. And you see whole galaxies full of first generation stars when you look further out and farther back.
Plus there is the whole "cosmological ladder" which is a technical term. You know how bright some things are intrinsically and thus based on how faint they are you can figure out how far away they are. These are called standard candles. Then we can see what is nearby them and know how far away those things are and then you can try to find new kinds of things in those older kinds of galaxies and find out which of them seem to have a consistent intrinsic brightness (because now you know how far away they are so know how their original intrinsic brightness must have been to have them appear so faint to you). And then you use those same types that appear in other galaxies to find out how far away even older galaxies are and then knowing that you find new types of candles in those galaxies.
So you can start with things like parallax to find out how far away nearby things are and then use that (knowing how far away they are) to find out how bright they are intrinsically. Then you look for things that you can identify how intrinsically bright they were without knowing how far they were. Then knowing their brightness you can tell how far away they are without the parallax.
Then you find those same types of things in farther away places thus figure out how far away those places are thus how intrinsically bright the things there are. Then you search them for things that you can independently confirm how intrinsically bright they are.
Then find the same types in farther away places. Thus know how far so how intrinsically bright and look for new types of candles.
And it was only after we had these distances (based on how intrinsically bright thing become fainter) that we even noticed that farther away thibgs were red shifted. We wouldn't have figure that out if we didn't already know how far away they were.
You try to figure out something that works to explain all the data and everything you learn helps you figure out even more.
Comment: @pela I said we see it where ever it isn't blocked and that there were old things in front of it. I didn't think I ever claimed the oldest things in front of it did any significant blocking. My apologies if I implied it.
Comment: Thank You Timaeus, a really good answer that explained all my doubts.
Comment: Nice answer, but you don't actually see old objects in front, blocking the CMB. The CMB passes virtually unhindered through a galaxy. In total, on its 46 Gly long path through the Universe, less than ten percent interact with intervening stuff.
Comment: @Timaeus: Ah yes, I misunderstood. My apologies.
Comment: Good question, good answer.
Answer: Distance is equivalent to time.  The time at which the cosmic microwave background was emittied was the time when the universe made a phase transition from being a plasma to being atomic matter.  During this time, the universe finally became transparent.  Before this time, the universe was so hot that all matter was opaque.  The CMB is the wall that separates these two times, so trying to see back farther would be like trying to see beneath the surface of the sun.
Comment: Sorry, but it seems You misunderstood the question, maybe it was my poor english.I'm not asking why can't we see older light than cmb, I understand that.The questions is how do You know that CMB is the oldest?
Comment: @AlexAdic: because any older light would have had to have passed through the pre-recombination plasma, and would have been scattered.  Any older light would be the equivalent of shining a laser through one side of the sun, and expecting to see a beam on the other side.


How to add facebook as Web Service on Netbeans

Question: I'm following this netbeans tutorial to create a facebook app on Netbeans 7.1. http://documents.cofares.net/netbeans.org/kb/docs/websvc/facebook.html
In Step 12
When i am asked to select the REST resources "From IDE registered" gives me the sample ones such as Twitter, Amazon, Google . but NOT the "facebook",
So I tried to add facebook as a web service in Services window.
When I'm adding web service Netbeans asks me a local file Or URL.
I tried to give this URL for adding facebook as web service https://graph.facebook.com
but it says:
"can't determine whether service is WSDL or WADL"
What is the correct URL that I can use here?
Answer: http://documents.cofares.net/netbeans.org/kb/docs/websvc/facebook.html
NetBeans IDE Facebook support does not currently include support for OAuth, Extended Permissions, or the Graph API. Work on this is in progress.


Give iOS Developer Program membership as a gift?

Question: Is it possible to purchase a one-year iOS Developer Program membership for someone as a gift? I know the Apple ID of the desired recipient, but couldn't find how to offer the program membership.
Comment: The easiest thing to do would be to give them the money to buy. Unlike software and hardware it's [more like] a contract so it's best for the person to be involved from the start
Answer: No. Apple checks each developer's identity by checking with their credit card company, so it has to be paid with the developers credit card.
There are other ways involving faxing ID to them, but that's rather inconvenient.
Comment: Unfortunate, but thanks for the info!


animation not running perfectly on iphone

Question: i m making a game in which animation is running perfectly on iphone simulator but when i run on the device it crawls.I m using NStimer to repeat the function in which animation is running.NSTimer repeats after 0.4 sec and animation duration is also 0.4.It is running perfectly on simulator but on device when animation duration completes there is some gap between next animation start .Some blinking has been shown.If anyone has a solution pleae help me s
Answer: There is a big difference in the amount memory available to the simulator and the actual device.
You need to perform some performance optimizations. But without some sample code, we won't be able to help you.


Ctrl + c not working on continuous ping

Question: So, I am having this problem with the control key. It seems to happen on occasion.
Currently, I am trying to resolve my wireless connection to my router in Ubuntu Server 16.04.  I sent a command ping www.google.com without the -c 4 option.  It is attempting to ping google and coming back Destination host unreachable over and over and over again.  I am trying to press Ctrl+C, but all it does is put a C on the screen and try the ping again.
I have tried both control keys and other things like ctrl + alt, or ctrl + x.  Nothing works.
Has anyone else had this issue?
Comment: To end the ping, type on another terminal `killall ping`.  Sorry, I do not have a better answer by now
Answer: Try doing Ctrl+Alt+C. Tested on my Kali Linux. I wasn't able to find the reason for it. But it seems like something common and needed so I had to answer even if wasn't able to find the reason.
Comment: Ctrl + Alt + C works on Ubuntu.

Ctrl + c not working on continuous ping


bzip2 compression library not found error

Question: I get bzip2 compression library… no error when trying to install some software on a mac running osx 10.12. Some googling revealed that the headers for bzip2 should be there for the installer to recognize bzip2 and this could be achieved by installing the dev package. However, couldn't find one for osx. For example for Fedora this is bzip2-devel.
Comment: Can you tell us what it is that you're trying to install? Might make it easier for us to help.
Answer: By default header files aren't installed to /usr/include.
If you run xcode-select install in a Terminal window this will install the Xcode command line tools and also populate the /usr/include folder with a bunch of header files including bzlib.h.
This might be what you're looking for.


How to modify mesh after sculpting with multiresolution modifier?

Question: I've created a character and sculpted them to an extend I like them.  I realize now, however, that I did not model the inside of the mouth.  When I try and extrude from meshes, it screws up the normals badly.  How do I modify a mesh after using multires?
Answer: The Multires modifier does not like changes on the low-poly base mesh very much. It can mess up the high-poly levels and add spikes and other abnormalities.
You can try to select and separate the new extruded mesh, remove the Multires modifier from the separated mesh, then join it again with the body object (that has the Multires modifier). Make the body object the active object (selected last) to keep the Multires modifier.
If this doesn't work then it's time for plan B.
Plan B: Shrinkwrap
Make a copy of the original unchanged object, remove the Multires modifier from the copy, add the inside of the mouth to the copy, add the Multires modifier. Finally, add a Shrinkwrap modifier and shrinkwrap it to the original mesh to transfer the sculpted details. For a better result use Wrap Method Project, and tick the Negative checkbox (project direction). Then apply the Shrinkwrap modifier.
Example videos:

Blender Sculpting Tutorial: Full Advanced Creature Creation Workflow
Projecting High-Res Models in Blender 2.8 using Shrinkwrap  (use a Multires modifier not a Subdivision Surface modifier like in this video)
Comment: But won't that wrap the inside of the mouth as well?
Comment: Yes, it would. But you can separate the inside of the mouth directly after the lips and move it to a separate object (key P). Select the edge loop around the lips, mark it a seam (key U), then you can select the inside with *Select Linked* (key L).  Limited selection to seams in the popup. Done this, use the ShrinkWrap modifier on the head, and join the objects again if you're done. The same is recommended for the eye sockets if your model has them.


Did Alfred Tennyson ever read The Last of the Light Brigade?

Question: The Last of the Light Brigade, by Rudyard Kipling refers to Alfred Tennyson and his poem, The Charge of the Light Brigade. Do we know if Alfred Tennyson ever read The Last of the Light Brigade? If so, what was his opinion of it?
Answer: Did Alfred Tennyson ever read The Last of the Light Brigade?
In relation to this first question there is a paucity of direct evidence from documentary sources indicating that Tennyson ever read or  commented on Kipling's tragic poetic rejoinder. The absence of any answer to this question for almost 7 years bears witness to and highlights this lack of direct documentary evidence.
The absence of such evidence, however, is not evidence of absence. My aim is "To strive, to seek and not to yield". I believe that on the basis of indirect evidence a compelling case can be made to support the proposition that Tennyson was aware of Kipling's poem.
A chronology of events surrounding the publication of Kipling's poem gives context to its publication.(1)

15th April 1890: Pall Mall Gazette reported on a past interview (with another publication)  by Lt. James Wrightman of the 17th Lancers of the Balaclava Commemoration Society (BCS), which was a non-charitable organization for subscribers who were balaclava veterans to fund an annual dinner relaxing its rules to allow an appeal to charitable donations for its less fortunate members after an annual general meeting on 5th October 1889, and a fund for this purpose seeking donation was therefore established. The report from the Pall Mall gazette was shared with other papers. Ten days later the meagre sum of £24-00 had been raised.
Kipling responded with his Last of the Light Brigade which first saw publication in the St. James Gazette on 28th April 1890.
The Light Brigade Relief Committee was formed for the purposes of fundraising for the benefit of the indigent veterans as reported in the Pall Mall Gazette of 7th May1890 with £200-00 being collected.
Membership of the Light brigade relief committee included most notably Alfred Lord Tennyson, and others including the Marquis of Hartington, Viscount Wolseley, the Earl of Airlie and the Secretary for War, Edward Stanhope.
Further fund-raising activity by the relief committee included concerts, poetry readings and fetes. It is again notable that Tennyson took action with his recitation of the Charge of the Light Brigade and with Florence Nightingale's welcome to the Crimean veterans recorded on Edison cylinders, the   proceeds from the sales of which went towards the Light Brigade Relief Committee fund.
The Light Brigade Relief Committee wound up its operations after amassing funds  totalling £6,753 1s 4d in April 1891.

I believe that a chain of cause and effect is implied in the historic chronology of events as reported in the press.From this  appropriate inferences may be drawn.
Given the antecedent cause of publication of Kipling's poem, the subsequent effects were reported as news  events invovling Tennyson implying Tennyson's  was aware of Kipling's poem.The specific actions that were  reported on in the press included his membership of the Light Brigade Relief Committee so soon after publication of Kiplings poem and his fundraising through voice recording activitiess which again underline this point.
What was his opinion of it?
The answer to the second part of your question – what was Tennyson's opinion of Kipling's poem? – follows from and is implied by the answer to the first part of the question. He clearly considered it meaningful and was stirred to action in pursuit of its aims.
(1) THE SOLDIER SLIGHTED: THE LAST OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE – Glen Fischer, Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research 94 (2016), 198-207
Sadly, the newspaper references are barricaded by a paywall.


Where can I find a HOWTO for SAS connectors, cables and expanders?

Question: I'm building some data storage machines and want to use SAS disks. The backplane I've choosen has some iPass connectors (SFF-8087) channeling up to 4 HDDs. There are 6 of these channels. The problem is: how to connect all the 6 channels to one motherboard/controller card? I was unable to find instruction on how to serialize SAS disk connections. The mobo has 2 mini-SAS (SFF-8087 too) connectors and a dedicated LSI SAS2008 controller.
Answer: iPass is just a family of connectors, you need to determine what the actual connectors on the back plane are.
Mini-SAS is officially known as SFF-8087 (possibly but unlikely SFF-8086) or SFF-8088 for the external variety.  Each connector contains 4 device links.
From there you just need to google around for cable assembly for SFF-8087 to whatever is on the backplane.  There are lots of places to purchase the standard assemblies online.
EDIT - Based on updates to the question.
Your issue isn't cabling.  Your backplane is exposing all 24 drives as single ports and your controller only has 8 ports.
Your options are:

Purchase a 24 port RAID card.
Purchase a SAS expander which will allow more drives to be connected to the LSI SAS2008 example (despite the description this is not a RAID card, just a SAS expander taking 4x SAS lanes and allowing 24 drives to be attached).
Find a backplane with a SAS expander built in.

You also need to take a good hard look at the capabilities of the LSI SAS2008 to determine if it's actually going to provide the RAID levels and number of volumes your looking to create. For instance it only supports RAID 0, 1, 1E and 10.
Comment: The cable assembly is the tricky part. I've 24 HDDs to manage and have no idea how to do it.
Comment: @Jarretinha check my edit.
Comment: Perfect edit! That's exactly the type of information I was looking for!
Comment: Can 8087 controller work with a 8643 backplane using a mini sas to mini sas hd cable?


How to save a customer profile to address book in Drupal Commerce using JSON:API

Question: In the commerce order checkout page, if you use "Save to my address book" checkbox in the billing address section, the address is getting saved to the user's address book. But if I am doing this using JSON request, how can I save the address to the user's address book and how can I load the saved addresses.
Answer: How you save depends somewhat on your desired UX. If you look at the code in the BillingInformation checkout pane (in the checkout module) or the CustomerProfile inline form plugin (in the order module), you'll see some properties used to instruct Commerce how and when to copy addresses to the addressbook.
If it's fine for your addresses to be copied when the order is placed (i.e. not immediately upon them being entered on a checkout form), then you can simply get by with setting copy_to_address_book in the profile's data array to TRUE. This will get picked up by the AddressBookSubscriber (in the order module), resulting in the address being copied to the user's addressbook upon order placement.
Other options would be discoverable through the way the checkout pane functions. There is no way, as far as I know, to trigger an immediate copy merely by the save of the profile, but I haven't looked deeply at Commerce API to confirm.


Do VFX and 3D related questions belong here?

Question: Should all things related to 3D (Compositing of 3D Elements, 3Ds Max, Vray, Blender, Modo, Maya) be asked in this stack exchange?
Comment: I personally believe it belongs here especially when it is about compositing 3D elements in real life footage.
Answer: The faq mentions:

If you have a question about

broadcast, film or location recording techniques
shooting, editing, color grading, and distribution
post-production techniques
asset management, media, and file formats
installation, configuration, and operation of hardware or software related to these topics

… then you're in the right place to ask your question!

So I think VFX are inclusive of post-production and operation of software, so very firmly on topic.
Comment: @eundd - I think it is fine for there to be some overlap, but as both a video editor and a 3d animator, I can say that a lot of things about rendering and graphics is similar between video production and 3d animation and 3d animation plays a key role in the visual effects space, so there are always going to be questions that are asked and answered here about 3d graphics and modeling.  That said, the 3D modeling and rendering and computer graphics proposal doesn't really impact that.  Overlap is ok. (And in fact, Blender would already overlap even more heavily with that proposal.)
Comment: What about 3D Modeling and Rendering and Computer Graphics?http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/68361/visual-effects-and-computer-graphics
Answer: It definitely fits in here. Though very technical questions regarding a 3D package probably wont get that many answers as so far the majority of the users here don't do all too much 3D. Compositing on the other hand fits very well in here and will very likely receive many answers.
See also my answer here: https://area51.meta.stackexchange.com/a/19242/110996


PS3 Final Fantasy XIV: Realm Reborn USED.?

Question: I'm looking to buy a used copy of. FF XIV: Realm Reborn for ps3 but I wanted to know if the game would play or not. I've heard that used MMO games for PC are a very bad idea but is that rule the same for the ps3? I will buy it new if I have to but if I can save a little money buying a used version I would. Would I have to buy some sort of access code or pass key?
Answer: Like many MMOs, physical copies of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn include a product key which must be registered to your Square Enix account. If a PS3 copy of the game has been previously opened, it's extremely likely that the product key has already been registered, rendering it useless to everyone but the original owner.
If you want to buy a copy of the game to play it, make sure that you either buy a new-and-sealed physical copy, or a digital download copy.
Comment: Buying a new product key is equivalent to buying a new copy of the game. There is no difference. You can ask the retailer to just email you the product key to save on shipping, but the price will be the same otherwise. So there is no point insisting on getting  a used copy beforehand.
Comment: So could I buy a used copy and later buy a new product key?
Comment: Do not buy a used copy, it won't allow you to play the game. I don't believe that it's possible just to buy a "product key" without also buying a new full copy of the game (physical or digital).


Objects of com from a type library heap or stack

Question: When we create objects from a type library for instance
SomeClassPtr some_obj(__uuidof(SomeImplementation));

is some_obj created on a heap or stack ? I mean is it like
SomeClassPtr *some_obj = new SomeImplementation();

Answer: Wrong way to think about it.  Not the stack.
But that's where the guessing ends.  This COM object could live in a different process.  Or on a machine half-way around the world.  All you got is an interface pointer, what it points to you don't know.  Could be the actual object allocated on the heap.  Could be a proxy that talks to a stub located somewhere else.  Anywhere else.  That's a feature, avoid caring about it.
Comment: So are there any chances of it running out of scope of a method ?
Comment: Your *reference* can go out of scope without the *instance* of the object being deallocated, and vice versa; think in terms of the life-cycle of the reference to the object and the life-cycle of the object itself.
Comment: It's not a very meaningful question.  Stuff stops at the last curly brace of a method.  If you haven't called Release() on the interface pointer nor have it stored somewhere so you can use it later then you'll leak memory.  Somewhere.
Answer: In this case, your "pointer" (SomeClassPtr) is pointing to a block of memory which will be heap allocated.
However, it's not necessarily performing the heap allocation, as it's actually a reference counted type which handles the allocation and deallocation (via IUnknown::AddRef and IUnknown::Release).  This means it may be acquiring and incrementing the reference count of an object which was previously allocated, depending on the type stored in the COM pointer.
Answer: Actually, it's a little wierder than that.
Strictly speaking, the first example is a stack variable, and the second example is a heap variable (assuming new hasnt been overridden.
The wierd part happens because, by the nature of COM, you don't get know what or where or if (if the result is an AddRef, there might not be, for example) any other allocation happens; in particular, for allocations that need to cross thread/process boundaries (which will always be the case for out of process servers), the default implementation of IMalloc::Alloc (CoTaskMemAlloc()) is to allocate from one of the heaps of the process in which the COM object is actually created/instantiated.
As pointed out elsewhere, that's a feature; you shouldn't need to care.


Solr based Sitecore Blog Module

Question: Do we have any Solr based blog module available in Sitecore? We have looked for different blog solution but didn't find any blog module based on Solr.
Comment: I voted to close this answer because it really is too broad, but I don't want to leave you without a direction to go in. I believe that you may be limiting the modules you can use by looking for the wrong criteria. There are many blog modules available for Sitecore and the majority of them rely on Content Search. Lucene and Solr are both providers that Content Search has native support for. Most modules will work with either and those few that don't can most likely be customized to work with the desired one. Blogs are pretty straight-forward and you can always roll your own too, if need be.
Comment: Agreed. Also largely opinion based answers come from these types of questions.  This is better posted on the #Solr Sitecore Slack channel
Comment: Probably not worded properly but I needed to know if blog module works with Solr. Thanks for information.
Answer: WeBlog works with Solr. You can find more information at https://github.com/WeTeam/WeBlog/issues/172 that talks about the issue, but then in the comments below, SMRaxa and varitw provide the necessary fixes.
We have successfully used their approach.
Comment: Not sure if WeBlog was updated to use MVC, but xBlog supports both Web Forms and MVC. Also, its an enhanced  module with inputs from Alistair Dennis as well. You can try it, it can be downloaded from https://marketplace.sitecore.net/Modules/XBlog.aspx?sc_lang=en
Comment: WeBlog has MVC as well, yes

Solr based Sitecore Blog Module