Can a contract add liquidity to an Uniswap pair as owner?

Question: I am not so familiar with Uniswap but I was wondering if a contract could add liquidity to a pair and be the owner. This is to prevent the developer from removing the liquidity. Thanks.
Answer: Yes a contract can call Uniswap to add liquidity into any pair. The contract simply needs to provide the required assets for the liquidity. Furthemore, the contract will then own the LP tokens, and therefore only the contract can remove liquidity - remember to add such functionality, otherwise you can never remove that liquidity anymore.
You can look here for an example: https://github.com/safemoonprotocol/Safemoon.sol/blob/a2a1b922b1260b618427183ec8d4475d70cf4daf/Safemoon.sol#L1098
Comment: Thanks! This works great. If I don't set the remove liquidity function, will only users with tokens be able to pull out money from the liquidity? My goal is that only mined tokens can be swapped for eth, and nobody can withdraw liquidity from the pool.
Comment: If you don't add "remove liquidity" functionality in the contract, and you don't add functionality to transfer the LP tokens onwards from the contract, then that liquidity can't be removed. Of course if somebody manually adds liquidity, they can also remove that. If your pair is for tokenA and tokenB, then anyone who wants to trade needs to own either one of these tokens.
Comment: The example contract is helpful. Is it possible to have the same contract to be able to add liquidity also for another external token? I tried to create the addLiquidity2 function for such purpose and couldn't get it to work.
Answer: Yeah it's possible if the contract is using an auto LP function.
Also ask the developer to transfer the ownership and the tokens that are minted in the moment of deployment to you.
If you want to talk more about this, leave me a message: https://twitter.com/polthedev
Comment: Thanks. I mean nobody should be able to remove liquidity, only the contract itself under certain conditions.
Comment: Also you can lock the liquidity for a certain amount of time using DXlock or DeepLock


White guitar turned yellow

Question: Im not sure if this is necessarily the right place for this but i figured someone might have had a similar issue. I have a Yamaha RGX A2 in white but over time its turned yellow. I assume its the clearcoat rather than the actual colour underneath. Is there a way to reverse this?
Comment: I wouldn't even try. It's not an expensive guitar, but ruining the paintwork isn't going to improve its value or endear it more to anyone. I've a 70's Rikki that I affectionately call 'tobacco white'.. meaning it's about a mid-beige/yellow these days.
Comment: There will be a way, but it'll cost more than the guitar is worth, and probably will go the same way in the future. It's called *patina*.
Comment: _Patina_, an elegant for for _rust!_ :-)
Answer: Everyone has a right to their own preferences, but the music store that I worked at just loved to see those older guitars with a yellowed finish come into the store in trade for the shiny new guitars. Many customers would choose the older, yellowed, heavily played instruments over the shiny new guitars sometimes at higher prices. There seems to be a certain mystique about aged instruments, but it seems they need to show their age to be desirable. Go figure.
Comment: With very rare exceptions, I have always preferred buying good used guitars. And it's not about esthetics. If they have been kept and used well, if they have aged and settled well, they beat any new guitar any day of the week, at least for me.
Comment: You buy a vintage guitar for the oldness of the wood, but be sure the quality of electric guitar production has improved greatly over the years. There is also the issue of certain era of pickups cannot be reproduced because of environmental concerns in the manufacturing process. Also a lot of big manufacturers had eras where they had slumps. CBS era fenders and 90s Gibson are guitars I would avoid. You cannot think it is good just because it is old
Comment: @Neil Meyer- Your final sentence is very true, but many folks don't seem to understand and make purchases based on patina. As I stated before, Go figure.
Comment: It is actually also worth noting that the PRS led 90's rock scene was greatly inspired by the poor quality of gibson guitars at the time. Would a band like Collective Soul have played a PRS in the 90's if Gibson had there act together? I wonder!
Comment: But still look at this and say to me that the guitar does not get your motor running - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9nFP-p_TZE&ab_channel=NormansRareGuitarsNormansRareGuitars
Answer: I am not a chemist, but I believe this can be an effect from sun exposure. Something about UV rays can cause it to turn yellow. Possibly by Lessing the whitening agents in the paint (titanium dioxide?). However, polyurethane also yellows over time, which, like you, I'm guessing is the culprit. It is possible to sand off the outer layer, and recoat it, but like others have said: it might not work, and the yellowing is cool.

White guitar turned yellow


What UK Visa Is best for my Girlfriend?

Question: My Girlfriend has completed her bachelors degree and we are currently looking at her coming to UK to live with me or do her masters. However, I am torn between Fiancee visa or paying for the masters then apply for spousal visa at some point during her study. Just exploring the best option for us and also which option with minimal cost effective even though they all come at a cost. Shes in Ghana but we've been on a number of holidays. I am british. I earn 39k + 15% bonus a year = 45k. What would you kindly advise.
Comment: Duplicate: [What visa would my girlfriend need to live in the UK with me?](https://expatriates.stackexchange.com/questions/20498/what-visa-would-my-girlfriend-need-to-live-in-the-uk-with-me)
Answer: You do have a range of options. A Study Visa may be a good option if your girlfriend has been accepted into a UK tertiary institution for her masters. If she enters on a Finacee Visa you'll need to get married (or enter into a civil union) within 6 months of her arrival in the UK. Your girlfriend will not be able to work on the Fiancee Visa.
To see more details on the Student Visa and other options this page on UK Visas may be helpful.

What UK Visa Is best for my Girlfriend?


What is the meaning of "often mistaken, never in doubt"?

Question: What is the meaning of "often mistaken, never in doubt"?  In what context is the phrase used?
Comment: My opinions may change, but never the fact that I am right.
Answer: It's often used in a military context, where senior officers often give authoritative-sounding answers without actually knowing anything about the topic. (In junior officers, this may be no bad thing; most training establishments teach 'better a bad decision than no decision'.  But this is going off-topic.)
Answer: It means a person who voices opinions with great confidence, even though he is often wrong. Someone who thinks very highly of his own intelligence or judgement but who is not really that smart.
I often say, "He's someone who never lets complete ignorance of a subject get in the way of having strong opinions about it."
Answer: It is a derogatory statement referring to someone who makes inaccurate assumptions without second-guessing or thinking through those assumptions.
Answer: The phrase is a longer, slightly expanded way of describing someone who is cocksure.

feeling perfect assurance sometimes on inadequate grounds
Answer: This means giving an answer even thou you could be wrong. The only wrong answer is no answer.
Comment: Not sure what you mean by "the only wrong answer is no answer". The first part of your answer makes sense, the second part no so much. Can you expand on it a bit?


Effect of graphics card on game programming

Question: I know the question can be pretty funny to some, but I have been thinking, does a gaming  graphics card like agtx and a professional graphics card like quaddro have any effect on game development during texture rendering, materials, importing assets, shader compilation, etc..
Comment: To clarify: Are you asking if the graphic card used by the developer leaves any detectable traces in the artifacts generated by the developer?
Answer: In practice, the same features should be exposed to you, so it shouldn't make a difference in terms of functionality. It may be worth developing with a consumer (gaming) graphics card just to be more like the users who'll eventually play it, but your users will have such a variety of different cards it may not make a difference, really :) (And you'll want to test the end product on a variety of consumer cards anyway).
For a detailed description of the actual differences, the accepted answer to this SO question is informative: Difference between Quadro and GeForce
Ultimately, you don't have to work differently in any way. But you may have better performance in some of your asset creation tools (which doesn't seem to me to relate to your particular concerns -- actual rendering/importing/shader-compilation).
Answer: The boards are simply made for different tasks it's just a question of time efficiency. Otherwise, there is no "effect" on the end product
Think of it as a calculator. 1+1 will always equal 2 whatever calculator you use but some calculator does some type of calculations faster than others.


Wordpress Admins or Roles per Page

Question: I would like to define an admin that has Administrator rights to everything - thats of course possible, its the default functionality. then i would also like to create an admin (or role) that can only edit and see certain PAGES in the backend. i have gone through many plugins but i can't seem to find this functionality anywhere!
any ideas?
thanks!
mark
Comment: http://wordpress.stackexchange.com/ is a better place for this.
Answer: I recommend 2 plugins:

User Role Editor: This plugin allows you create new roles and adjust their capabilities.
Hide Admin Menu: This plugin allows you hide menu items based on user role. You just need to select which menu items will be hidden for curtain roles.
Answer: There's only one plugin that I know it does that right now. It's called Press Permit, and you will need the Pro (paid) version if you want the functionality of editing specific pages. I am still looking for another alternative as the UI of this plugin is not the best.
Answer: I haven't seen any plugin that can do what you want.
You didn't cited any programming possibility, but if you want to scratch a plugin to do this exactly as you want, you might look at the user levels and admin hooks. Starting from there, you'll have to apply rules and modify the admin query for getting pages.
Perhaps, maybe the built-in user permissions (author and editor) can already do that, as authors can't edit things created by other users.
Hope it helps... somehow.
Answer: Try using http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/adminimize/ its a great plugin I use on all the sites I do. You can leave admin as default but specify exactly what you want and dont want all other users to see. So you can hide everything but the pages section for all editors if you wanted.
Hope this helps.
Answer: Role Scoper (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/role-scoper/) is another option.
You can set permissions on a page or post basis, if you like. It is something I am looking into using for some of our forms. Has anyone compared it with adminimize and other similar plugins?
Answer: I share your frustration, I've searched a fair amount and was a little surprised. Most user role management plugins only give you the control to edit users' permissions on an entire post_type basis (i.e. managing the ability to edit ALL or No pages, posts, etc) or control permissions to edit plugins and settings.
I have found two that specifically manage users' permissions to edit specific pages but both require you to purchase their pro versions to have this ability

Press Permit
User Role Editor.
Role Scoper had this option and it was free but its development was discontinued in 2016 and its author referred people to use Press Permit.

There is also Capability Manager Enhanced and advanced access manager but the major disadvantage is that you cannot enable more than 1 user to have edit permissions to a specific page.

Wordpress Admins or Roles per Page


Embedding interactive map maker in external website

Question: I'm currently developing a new website that will allow users to submit project proposals via an online form for assessment and feedback. The system is currently working well, but I'd like to extend it to allow people to submit spatial information as part of their project submissions (it's for global landscape projects). Within the current form, I'd like users to be able to create maps either from fresh or via upload of existing spatial data that they can then save and submit.
I have access to ArcGIS Online and ideally would like to embed the map creation functionality within my form on my external site that is then saved and submitted, however I'm not sure if this is possible?
I've read through the API documentation but couldn't spot anything that describes embedding in external sites. I'm also open to using alternatives such as embedding Google Map Maker (if possible?), but I'm guessing this will run into problems where each form user will require a Google account and be pre-authenticated somehow before submitting the form (a big disadvantage).
Does anyone have any ideas on how I could achieve such a task?
Comment: Google Map Maker has Closed: https://support.google.com/mapmaker/answer/7195127
Answer: You could try using the ArcGIS Web AppBuilder and embed that on your page:
Widget for adding data to the map: http://doc.arcgis.com/en/web-appbuilder/create-apps/widget-add-data.htm
Embed the app: http://support.esri.com/technical-article/000012322


How did "Draw" come to mean pull, as in draw drapes?

Question: Common phrases are draw drapes or shades, draw a bath (pull water?), draw a conclusion (out of someone) and other uses of pull. Why does draw mean pull? It becomes confusing when something that had a visualizable meaning - pulling drapes across a window - has been extended to something that does not make sense - turning Venetian blinds from the open position to closed position. How did this happen?
Answer: Oh Gosh, apparently "pull" is the original meaning of "draw", not producing artwork! Draw comes from a word meaning "to drag", so "drawing" a picture is about dragging the pencil across the paper! I guess I thought that producing artwork as a verb was important enough to have a word of its own, but apparently dragging things is more important. I hate language.
Comment: It's not a matter of "more important": it is simply the older meaning of the word. Words gain new meanings (and sometimes lose old ones): that's in the nature of how language works.
Comment: Take care! If you despise Great Mother Language, She will take care to put you in a despicable profession with others of the same mind, such as Politics or Marketing.
Comment: @StoneyB: I used to work as a computer programmer, don't get me started on language! The deliberately designed ones are worse than accidental ones! The more "helpful" the worse they are.
Answer: There is a children's book called 'Amelia Bedelia,' wherein a young girl is hired as a maid and takes things literally.  When she is told to dress the chicken, she puts clothes on it, when she is told to dust the furniture, she throws powder on it, draw the drapes, she draws a picture, put out the lights, she hangs them all on the clothesline, and so on. Charming!  But yes, in definition, as a verb, to move things towards each other, so water to a tub, curtains towards each other.  I suspect the origin is European, but can't find that to be factual.  Sounds British and formal, yes?  Interesting question though, and thought provoking as to where some of these expressions really come from, love it, keep those brain cells circulating, language can be fun.  Would be interesting if you asked a few children what they thought, like Amelia.
Comment: Can you provide citation from a recognized source?   (Though thanks for the memories of Amelia Bedelia! :-)
Comment: I think this answer makes as much sense as anything else, and it is endearing. Words that do double duty as nouns and verbs are tricky. Not to mention intent: compare income protection and fire protection?


Day organising app

Question: I am looking a sort of a day organiser for my Ubuntu laptop with Google calendar integration and preferably cross-platform so I could use it on my Android phone. Basically I need a to-do-list with an option to track the progress, a nice visualisation of the day, ability to see my Google calendar events and appointments. I wonder if anything like this exists. Any recommendations are welcome!
Answer: GNOME Evolution
From my personal experience I can recommend GNOME Evolution. You can install it as usual:
sudo apt-get install evolution evolution-plugins

It has Mail, Contacts, Calendar, Tasks and Memos.
Calendar works normally with Google Calendar. Not sure about Tasks.
KOrganizer
KOrganizer from KDE may help too. I did not tried it.
sudo apt-get install korganizer

GNOME Calendar
If you need only calendar you can start with GNOME Calendar:
sudo apt-get install gnome-calendar

Emacs OrgMode
You can try OrgMode as productivity platform too. But it is terminal based.

Day organising app


Uitableview when scrolling past a certain point

Question: i have looked through basically every single stack overflow question on this, but i cant find an answer. None of the answers seem to work.
I am writing an application that has a tableview in it, with a uitableview as a subview.
The uitableview is datasource and delegate connected to a class called xvalues, which is a subclass of uitableviewcontroller. i also have a class, where i load a custom uitableviewcell. This all doesn't cause any errors.
Here is my code for the uitableview, in xvalues:
    - (NSInteger)numberOfSectionsInTableView:(UITableView *)tableView
    {
        // Return the number of sections.
        return 1;
    }

    - (NSInteger)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView numberOfRowsInSection:(NSInteger)section
    {
        // Return the number of rows in the section.
        return 1;
    }

    - (UITableViewCell *)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView cellForRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
    {
        tableviewcell *cell = [[tableviewcell alloc]initWithFrame:CGRectZero];

        return cell;
   }
    - (void)tableView:(UITableView *)tableView didSelectRowAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath
    {
        // Navigation logic may go here. Create and push another view controller.
        /*
         <#DetailViewController#> *detailViewController = [[<#DetailViewController#> alloc] initWithNibName:@"<#Nib name#>" bundle:nil];
         // ...
         // Pass the selected object to the new view controller.
         [self.navigationController pushViewController:detailViewController animated:YES];
         [detailViewController release];
         */
    }

I removed some commented out methods such as can edit row at index path and commit editing style.
In cellforrowatindexpath, tableviewcell is my custom cell class.
From this, when i run my code, it loads up my uitableview, with 1 cell, with my custom cell.
However, now, if i click and drag, it works for dragging about an inch, and then suddenly crashes with the error:
2012-07-16 12:14:16.957 spreadsheet[68717:f803] -[__NSCFString tableView:cellForRowAtIndexPath:]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x6894400
2012-07-16 12:14:16.960 spreadsheet[68717:f803] *** Terminating app due to uncaught exception 'NSInvalidArgumentException', reason: '-[__NSCFString tableView:cellForRowAtIndexPath:]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x6894400'
*** First throw call stack: blah blah blah

It also happens when i click on the row, but i think that is because of my did select row at index path method.
If anyone could help me it would be amazingly helpful.
Answer: Your table view controller is getting deallocated. Make sure you're retaining your xvalues instance (or assigning it to a strong property on something, like your app delegate) wherever you're creating it.
Comment: But even if i create a new uitableview application, it still crashes.
I dont think its my code. i think it is part of the default uitableview code... Any ideas?


What are the Rules of Baroque chess?

Question: I want to do an AI project implementing a Chess agent, so can anyone please let me know the Rules of Baroque chess?
Comment: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baroque_chess
Answer: Baroque is a very apt name for this variant because the rules are complicated and intricate.
Similarities
The main similarities with normal chess are that the game is played on the same 8x8 board with the same pieces, the king is called the king, the king moves and captures the same way, the object of the game is to capture the enemy king and white moves first. Everything else is different.
Names of the pieces
King = King
Pawn = Pincer or Squeezer
Queen = Withdrawer or Retreater
Rook = Coordinator (if right way up) or Immobilizer (if upside down)
Knight = Long leaper
Bishop = Imitator or Chameleon
All the pieces (apart from the king) capture in a completely different way to the way they move
How the pieces move
The king moves one square at a time in any direction, just like the king in regular chess
The pincer moves like a rook in regular chess. There is no promotion and obviously no en passant or special first move
All the other pieces move like a queen in regular chess
How the pieces capture
The king captures the same way as in regular chess, by moving one square in any direction to a square occupied by an enemy piece and removing that piece
The withdrawer captures an enemy piece on an adjacent square by moving away from that piece in the opposite direction. For instance if an enemy piece was on e1 and the withdrawer on d2 then to capture the piece on e1 the withdrawer would have to move along the e1-a5 diagonal. Moving off in some other direction, e.g. to d5 would not capture the piece on e1 because the withdrawer would no longer be in line with e1.
The pincer captures the same way that pieces capture in Hasami Shogi. That is, the pincer moves in an orthogonal line (i.e. not diagonal) up to the square next to an enemy piece. If the square on the other side of the enemy piece is occupied by a piece on the same side as the pincer then the enemy piece is captured.
The coordinator's (rook the right way up) capture is rather complicated. After the coordinator has moved (like a queen) any enemy pieces on either of the squares where the orthogonal lines from the king and coordinator intersect are captured. So, if the king was on e1 and the coordinator moved to f4 then any enemy piece on e4 or f1 would be captured.
The immobilizer (upside down rook) doesn't capture enemy pieces. Instead it immobilizes them. Any enemy pieces a king's move away from the immobilizer are immobilized. They may not move until the immobilizer moves away. This includes the enemy king.
The long leaper captures by jumping over enemy pieces, landing on an empty square on the other side. It can capture several enemy pieces in one turn a bit like in draughts or checkers by landing on an empty square between two enemy pieces, leaping again to land on the other side of the second enemy piece, etc. It cannot jump over one of its own pieces and if two enemy pieces are on adjacent squares it also cannot capture. Only "isolated" enemy pieces can be captured.
The imitator captures an enemy piece by capturing the way that piece would capture. So, to capture a long leaper it would have to jump over the long leaper the same way the long leaper would. To capture the enemy king it would need to be on an adjacent square to the king and then move to the same square as the king. Obviously (?) imitators can't capture enemy imitators. Furthermore, if an imitator moves to a square adjacent to an enemy immobilizer then the enemy immobilizer is itself immobilized.
The Wikipedia article has diagrams and more explanations of how the pieces capture which is well worth while reading.
The start of the game
Before the game starts each player has to choose one of their "rooks" to be an immobilizer and turn that "rook" upside to indicate that. The other rook is the coordinator.
Additionally each player can decide which way round to have their king and withdrawer, either as in classical chess or as in a bong cloud position. All other pieces are placed as in regular chess.
Comment: A source reference for those rules would be appreciated.
Comment: Goal of regular chess & I guess baroque chess is not to capture the king but to checkmate it

What are the Rules of Baroque chess?


When should you buy Cull and on which champions?

Question: I play a lot of adc, especially Vayne, and I know she is a late game champion and needs a few items. I don't currently use Cull because I don't see other people build it, but I don't understand why. Why don't you buy Cull on scaling champions? Have I been doing something wrong all this time or is it just an underpowered item?
Comment: it's riskier as it's easier to die. but it's cheaper, so if your enemy bot + jungler won't be able to kill you, you may consider starting with it.
Answer: Cull is essentially the "I want to get to mid game safely" item for an adc that can farm. It's safe because using its stats only requires you to last-hit minions and will give you back its cost in 100 cs. This is unlike Doran's blade, which lends itself to trades (via HP and lifesteal) with the enemy duo.
You don't see Vaynes build Cull due to her kit's design towards trades (auto reset, 3 hit passive proc, hard cc, invis on ult). She also has short range which makes farming much harder to do without engaging in a trade so you probably won't end up getting the Cull gold passive as easily as you would with Ezreal or Caitlyn.
I think your mistake with Cull is thinking that it lends itself to scaling adcs. Instead you should ask yourself if:

a) You don't want to make lots of early trades in lane
b) If the champion you are on can safely and quickly get the 100 cs required to proc the Cull passive.

If those are both yes you're fine getting a cull. Also Doran's into cull is pretty good if you find yourself behind in lane because at that point a) is true and b) might not be true but farming might be all you can do if you know you will lose trades form being behind.
Comment: Another good time to get Cull is if you are forced to back early, and have some gold.
Answer: Summary
The reason you don't see it often is because Cull is an item that is somewhat risky. It is very gold efficient, since it literally pays for itself over the course of the laning phase (meaning you got stats "for free"), but the cost is that you are somewhat weaker than an ADC who chooses Doran's Blade.
Comparison to Doran's Blade
Cull gives you 7 attack damage and restores a flat 3 health on hit. Doran's Blade gives 80 health, 8 attack damage, and grants 3% life steal on hit.
Cull's flat health restore is good for early laning phase when you don't do much damage. However, it is outclassed by Doran's 3% lifesteal as soon as you can do more than 100 damage (since 3% of some number greater than 100 will be greater than 3), which usually happens once you get B.F. Sword or other damage items.
The 80 health difference is also very important to note. That 80 health makes you just a smidge tankier, which usually translates to at least one extra auto attack. In a duel, that one extra AA can mean the difference between a successful dive and a free kill.
And of course the one extra damage helps on Doran's a little bit. Not a whole lot. A little.
Cull's main point of attraction is that it gives you its stats "for free", since once you've farmed 100 minions, you will have earned 450 gold from the item. Heck, if you decide to sell it, you actually turn a profit.
Conclusion
Doran's Blade is a better item if you're planning on dueling or skirmishing. Cull is better if you're planning on farming. Most ADCs take Doran's Blade because they know that farming in peace for 10-15 minutes is rare, and they would rather be prepared for ganks or fights. However, if you're playing a very passive laning ADC and actively try to avoid fighting (perhaps on Vayne, Ezreal, or Varus, for example), it might be an okay purchase.


How do I know if a patent is pending or granted?

Question: How do I get the current status of this patent:
Publication number  WO2006064303 A1
Publication type    Application
Application number  PCT/IB2004/004129
Publication date    Jun 22, 2006
Filing date         Dec     15, 2004
Priority date       Dec 15, 2004
Also published as   EP1824719A1
Inventors           Sudesh Kumar Mittal, Mehar Alam Shamshi, Sandeep Kalra, Bal Kishor Sharma
Applicant           Council Scient Ind Res, 4 More »
Export Citation     BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan

Patent Citations (4), Non-Patent Citations (1), Classifications (5), Legal Events (7)

Is it pending or granted? What is current situation?
Answer: This is a PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty) application. As such, it is never granted. The PCT system allows one application to stand for 140+ applications in as many locations. Only those actual patent offices can grant a patent. In any case, even if you pulled up the publication of a US application that had subsequently resulted in an issued patent, that publication would still not be labeled as granted. The grant results in a new publication with a patent number rather than a publication number but the original application publication remains unchanged.
In general a patent application may not have resulted in a patent after nine years because it was rejected and the rejection was not responded to.
Comment: No, a PCT application cannot be granted as is. For a patent to issue from a PCT application, the applicant must initiate a national stage application in a PCT signatory country within the appropriate time frame and convince that country to grant the patent. Each country decides to grant or not individually.
Comment: so does the PCT application gets granted only after the 140 countries have issued accompanying grants for it?
Answer: To search the current status of a PCT application, based on the publication number, start at http://patentscope.wipo.int/ Type in the publication number without the final A1. Click on the publication number to view the application information. Move across the header to NATIONAL PHASE and click. Look down the list to see if any national stage applications have been filed, and if any patents have issued. This application entered the national stage at the European Patent Office, but was withdrawn and never issued, and in India. No Indian patent has yet issued.
Comment: After searching I did not see a "NATIONAL PHASE" listed (ex: US20160037217) however it did say "publication kind A1" perhaps that's enough?
Comment: Most national phase deadlines are 30 or 31 months from the priority date. If there are no national phase deadlines after 42 months, then I don't see how there could be any, except possibly a US matter under some circumstances.
Comment: If the "national phase" button is grey, does it mean there has not been any national filing?
Answer: It would say GRANTED vs Application.
Comment: But wondering why not granted even after 9 years?
Comment: @AronStein, He is asking why isn't it listed as "rejected". Why is it still listed as "Application" after a whole decade?
Comment: If the answer to my question is too big,  kindly give me a link where I can educate myslef..
Comment: There's a lot of reasons why a patent doesn't say GRANT.  There could have been too much prior art, or the applicant couldn't afford to finish the process, and so forth.  The bottom line unless it says GRANT it's not approved by the patent office. If this were a brand new patent, I would consider it patent pending indeed, but this one is obviously dated.  Keep in mind, that another application for a patent could have been submitted based on this one though.
Comment: The A1 at the end of the publication number shows that this is the first publication of this application. This is never changed. If the PCT application published again, there would be an A2, etc. at the end.
Comment: To elaborate on @LouisIselin 's comment: The document you are looking at is a "published document" to use an archaic example, like a phone book. When someone moves in 2004, the 2003 phone book doesn't list the new address. A patent publication is published and then, as a document, does not change. Other documents and databases may tell you what happened since the document was published but a published document is not a living thing.
Answer: On the Google Patent page, on the right hand side you can see "Also published as."
This shows what other forms of this application have been published.  This case has been published in the European Patent Office, as an A1, meaning pending application.  That means it has not been filed outside the European Patent Office, otherwise there would also be a listing for example for Japan, the US, or India.
The classification (A1, B, C, etc.) can be found here: http://www.thomsonfilehistories.com/docs/RESOURCES_Kind%20Codes%20by%20Country.pdf
Generally As are applications, Bs are patents.
So no, this application has not yet issued.  In fact, checking on the EPO site, it has been withdrawn:  http://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/inpadoc?CC=EP&NR=1824719A1&KC=A1&FT=D&ND=4&date=20070829&DB=worldwide.espacenet.com&locale=en_EP
Event date :    2012/11/14
Event code :    18D
Code Expl.:     -   DEEMED TO BE WITHDRAWN
EFFECTIVE DATE :    20120524

So, no patent will issue.
Answer: For US patents please visit USPTO PAIR: http://portal.uspto.gov/pair/PublicPair
Type in Patent Number and run search
Check Status: If Status Says"Patent Case" Then it means Patent Granted
Status: Patented Case
Status Date:    02-03-2010
Comment: Welcome to 'Ask Patents' and thank you for providing answer, but your answer is some how irrelevant as question relates to WIPO application Not US patent. You might be interested in taking our [tour](https://patents.stackexchange.com/tour) and visit question [help center](https://patents.stackexchange.com/help) for FAQ. I look forward to seeing you around our homely forum.


How to initiate connection to a GPRS enabled tracking device

Question: I am trying to work with a few GPS-enabled tracking devices one of them being a TK-303 GPS tracker that uses SIM-powered GPRS to access the internet. currently, I can receive messages on my python TCP socket server. but when I tried initiating a connection to the devices using the public address that is broadcasted when the device sends a message, the connection wouldn't connect. my question is how is this done, I would like insight on how to go about doing this. thank you.
Comment: Note that GPRS is a 2G technology, and that most 2G networks have either already been turned off or are scheduled to be turned off in the near future. If you want anything that will last at least a few years it would be a good idea to switch to something a bit more recent. Also having a wireless device constantly waiting for incoming data will usually require optimisations if you want the device to last more than a few hours on battery.
Answer: Data transfers have to be initiated by the GPRS module; your cellular provider will have a firewall that blocks all connection requests that originate from the internet.
The usual way round this is to send an SMS to the tracker, which can either return its position in an SMS, or be triggered to initiate contact with a server.
Comment: If SMS is not reliable, then GPRS data connection is likely to be none existent. SMS uses the 2G management channels that are used to setup/manage new calls/data connections and cell hand off. If they are not working nothing will work. Also unless you are paying for a dedicated IoT SIM that comes specifically with a public IP address then your connection will be behind a CGNAT deployment and there will be NO direct route to your device from the public internet. The only way to communicate with it will be if it initiates the connection.
Comment: Yeah, I currently use the SMS functionality. but the documentation of the device states that one can communicate with it also using a TCP connection. since that would be easier and less costly was why I was thinking of that option and also the fact that SMS is not that reliable, especially in the region where the module will work.
Comment: Interesting, thanks very much. that clears a lot. is it possible though to reuse the connection created by the devices for sending commands to it? i.e if the device sends a message, can I reply with the response and also a command to execute ?. because I always think of the connection from the device as a single request -> single response kind of connection.
Comment: TCP/IP is a bidirectional pipe, what you send in either direction is entirely up to you once the connection has been formed.
Comment: Once the remote unit has set up a connection, you can transfer data bidirectionally, but do bear in mind that your GPRS connection is quite unreliable; the connection may be set up, but then the mobile unit loses the wireless signal, so the transaction is stalled for a while. To avoid this, it is best to keep transactions brief, and close the connection as quickly as possible. Alternatively, use UDP instead of TCP, with a lightweight retry layer on top, which can quickly detect when the network connectivity drops out.
Comment: Thanks. I think I will go this route, SMS is just a mess here.


"Unknown user name or bad password" when accessing NAS through WCF service

Question: I have a web application client that is communicating with a WCF service.  Both the client and the service are running impersonation due to their need to write to a similar location on the NAS for purposes of writing logs and working files.  The issue is that while the client can write fine, the service can not.  Both are using System.IO.FileStream to write to the NAS.  We initially thought it may be due to an improperly passed credential so enabled delegation for the domain user.  We have still received the same error.  If I check the ServiceSecurityContext.Current.WindowsIdentity I can see that it is the domain user that I would expect but the strange thing is that the IIdentity.AuthenticationType value is "Kerberos".  Using this article we have checked our IIS NTAuthenticationProviders and verified that it is set to "Negotiate,NTLM".  I realize this IIS setting is for the communication between IIS and not the NAS but we wanted to be sure.
We have also performed a trace and can see the negotiation between the server in question and the NAS location.  After the request is sent we do see it try to contact a Domain Controller but since this is not configured it fails authentication.
In the end, I'm simply trying to find out if there is a configuration directive that I can set to prevent it from trying to use Kerberos authentication when writing to the NAS and, secondly, why the service is using Kerberos when the client is not.
I will gladly edit this and add any further configuration items requested so please let me know.
WCF Service web.config binding section
    <bindings>
        <wsHttpBinding>
            <binding name="default" maxReceivedMessageSize="200000">
                <security mode="Message">
                    <message clientCredentialType="Windows" negotiateServiceCredential="true" />
                </security>
            </binding>
        </wsHttpBinding>
    </bindings>

Thanks for any help!
Answer: Have you looked through the items in this?
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff650591.aspx
Items in step 8 might help or point you in the right direction.


Connecting C-wire to Nest Thermostat for Lennox HVAC

Question: My Nest thermostat has been running fine for quite a while, but recently it started complaining about low battery and wi-fi gets shut down due to power issues. I've been looking for the answer, and I found out that my Nest is not connected to the C-wire. Weird thing is that my Lennox furnace control panel has C-wire connected to blue wire, but Nest does not seem to recognize the C-wire (it says power is not detected to C-wire). Right now, I disconnected C-wire from Nest back panel, because it complained that C-wire does not have power. Can you please tell me what could be wrong? I am posting the pictures below (click to enlarge them). Any help is appreciated!
Answer: So you have two C terminals on the control board?  I see a blue wire on one of the C terminals and then a red wire on the C terminal next to it.  The red wire goes to the outside unit to make it turn on and off, so that one should have power for sure.  If you don't have a multimeter, you can just move the blue wire to be with the red on the other C terminal.
If you want to troubleshoot a bit more, you can use the continuity testing mode to make sure the two C terminals are connected.  Also check the AC voltage between the R and C terminals to make sure they both have around 24v.  Also check the wires at the thermostat to make sure there is 24v between R and C.  There is a chance that the C wire circuit on the Nest has died, so verifying voltage at the board and at the thermostat is your best bet.
Comment: Thanks so much for your help! I tried with your suggestions and here's what I found: I confirmed that R and C terminal in the furnace control board has 24v. I tried blue and other two spare wires connected to both C terminals but weirdly none of them has 24v linkage at the nest thermostat end lines with Rc line. I also checked Rc and G or Y lines and they have good 24V. That's where I stuck. The only explanation is that blue and two other spare wires are cut somehow in the middle. Is there any other suggestions you can provide? Thanks in advance!


Should it be allowed to ask for religious text which are there in the books but not available over the internet?

Question: Should it be allowed to ask for religious text e.g. Text of the condolence which is given to Muhammad(saww) on the Day of Ashura?, which is available in religious books but not available over the internet, along with the translation and possibly the transliteration as well?
Comment: Sometimes it's better to bring it up *and* assume, i.e. post your question on the main site normally, then bring up the discussion on meta pointing to and/or defending your post.  Seeing a concrete example, and how the community reacts to it, can be valuable for discussion.
Comment: Why not allow this?
Comment: Just a discussion. Plus I didn't want this to be characterized as [Religious/spiritual healing and prescriptions](http://meta.islam.stackexchange.com/q/853/3487).
Comment: Plus the community should have say and it's better to bring it up rather than assume.
Comment: are you sure reputable duas are not available on internet? http://duas.org/ if you mean books like deviated sufism, then that is a different matter. but authentic duas have no problem.
Comment: @goldPseudo Point noted and concurred.
Answer: In general, I don't see a problem with this. It mostly sounds like a case of source-identification, which is to say you are searching for a particular and specific reference, rather than a vague "Are there any dua for..." (which would effectively just be a list question).
In other words, it's objectively answerable.  You're not seeking items, or ideas, or opinions, you're seeking an answer, and you know (or reasonably suspect) that there is an existing text out there which does answer your question.
As long as the question itself is good (i.e. not just an excuse to copy-paste text verbatim from a third-party), the requested source being online or offline shouldn't make a difference (although, under the principle of Making the Internet a Better Place, I'd love to see more offline-specific requests since that information is otherwise so difficult to find online).
Whether the question and requested source is any good (which is to say useful) would have to be left up to community voting; even if we wanted to, I doubt we could really set any hard and fast rules on what is, and is not, useful to the community.  Like any question, the onus is still on the questioner to prove its value.


FBX not showing current version of mesh

Question: I updated my mesh on an animated armature. When I export as FBX none of my changes appear to have been made. When I drag the blend file itself into Unity, the mesh appears perfect. I need to use FBX in Unity however due to diffusing materials, but the FBX is showing the old mesh. I've saved this FBX as a new file, not replacing the old. Any direction on what could be wrong? Thanks
Comment: Either Blender is possibly exporting some default pose or some different animation frame, or Unity is displaying or importing a different pose than what you expect to see.
Comment: Thanks for helping. I have saved the blend file, and I selected all objects and exported with that option ticked
Comment: Just figured what I did wrong! And you're on the right track Duarte... I had actually edited the mesh in a shape key rather than in basis. I realised this when I tried editing the blendshape in Unity. Rookie mistake, but may be helpful to someone with the same issue in the future!
Answer: I had accidentally changed the mesh in a custom shape key rather than on the basis shape key - meaning the head enlarged when she blinked! I needed her head to be enlarged for every animation. For future reference, if you want to edit the mesh for all animations (shape keys), ensure you have basis shape key selected in object mode, then go into edit mode. As I had already made the mistake of editing another shape key, I just deleted it, edited the basis key as I should have done, and recreated the blinking shape key.

FBX not showing current version of mesh


Is there space between plaster ceiling lath and joists?

Question: Two story, midwestern suburban colonial built in 1947. Gable roof. Plaster walls and ceilings. House faces north, and ceiling joists run north-south direction. I am hearing rodents inside of interior bedroom walls and then running across my ceiling in a diagonal direction, i.e., northwest to southeast. I didn't think there would be any space between the ceiling and the joists that would allow free range movement like that. Am I misunderstanding how it's constructed, or is this a sign of a problem (other than rodents)?
Comment: There is a type of construction called "Balloon" framing I thought this style went out of style by the 20's maybe slightly later the bottom plate is below the floor level and the top plate is above the ceiling level , if you have this kind of construction critters can use the walls as a passageways to the attic as fire blocking was not required back then. I am leaving as a comment as I have only worked on a couple of this style construction. Rare on the west coast, I thought the Chicago fire was part of the reason for its downfall but high quality vertical grain lumber may have been part also.
Comment: Thank you Ed...I believe I have that type of construction. I see top plates of my walls when I look between the joists and dig through the insulation. Might explain why I don't see any wiring leading to ceiling lights? Seems like my bedrooms are a series of boxes built within the box of the entire upper floor.
Answer: No there is no space between your plaster/wall and the joist.  However, old house walls were sometimes constructed without a top plate or bottom plate so it would be no problem for a rodent in your wall to get to the attic and run around.
Comment: Okay this is very unlikely the case but I suppose it's possible that if this house was remodeled and the ceiling was really unlevel at the time the contractor might have run 3/4" thick by 2" wide lumber in the opposite direction of your joists shimming where necessary to make the ceiling level then drywalling thus creating a gap. However you say it's lath and plaster ceiling so this wouldn't be the case. Your electrical wiring likely runs through small holes drilled through the joist, not big enough for rodents, or at least certainly should not be.
Comment: Agreed that it's _possible_ that furring strips were added to the bottom of the joists to level them out (leaving small rodent sized gaps) then new plaster & lath applied, but unlikely. By the time this kind of repair work would have been done to level the ceiling, drywall/plasterboard would have been a _much_ more likely option instead of plaster & lath. It's possible that what you're seeing _is_ plaster over a plasterboard-type substrate and that the critters are making their way between the joists and the plasterboard.
Comment: Is there no insulation in the ceiling? If that's the case, you would not likely be able to distinguish that the rodent is moving diagonally OVER the joists. Even if there is insulation, they may have, over time, dug tunnels in it to move rapidly in that direction.
Comment: Ok, but how do I hear them run across the ceiling in a direction crossing the joists? I went up there since I first posted - the space between the joists is filled with that insulation that looks like shredded newspaper. They couldn't run along the joists either, so there must be space above the ceiling for them to run. Also, how is electrical wiring run to my ceiling lights? No wiring visible in my attic, so is the wiring running in the space that I think the mice/rats/squirrels are in? Sorry for being so dumb.
Comment: Mice really do not need a lot of space to squeeze through.  A knothole that has popped free is more than enough. So is an electrical or pipe access that isn't tightly enough fitted. And they are likely to explore every available surface, and can climb and jump better than you might expect, so any such gaps _will_ be found eventually once the mice discover that you have a nice warm winter apartment for them. Re the diagonal, there are multiple possibilities; is there another room above the bedroom or just attic?
Answer: My house was built in 1880 - balloon construction.
The plaster & lath ceiling on the 2nd floor is secured to furring strips that run on 16in centers, perpendicular to ceiling joists/rafters.
I was surprised to find my ceiling sagging because all furring strips are spaced approx 4" below the joists and not secured to the joists.
Comment: That sounds like something is very, very wrong. I'm not sure what kind of span you're looking at for the furring strips, but it's no surprise that lath on unsupported furring strips is sagging.


restoring files with VShadows does not work

Question: I've been developing a vss-writer based on this microsoft sample.
At the beginning I was using BETest.exe to test my app
> betest.exe /B /S backup.xml /D C:\BackupDestination /X BetestSample.xml
> betest.exe /R /S backup.xml /D C:\BackupDestination /X BetestSample.xml

It worked fine. I was able to:

Backup files from c:\testPath
Delete them
Restore them (to a chosen alternate location c:\testPath2.)

But as soon as I tried to backup/restore a 10GB file, the BETest was crashing at the restore operation. Everytime. I looked at other tools:

VShadow
VSSAdmin
WBAdmin

With VShadow, I Typed:
> vshadow -p -t=c:\bc.xml c:

I could see my Writer printing:
enter: DepWriter::Initialize
enter: DepWriter::OnIdentify
enter: DepWriter::OnPrepareBackup
enter: DepWriter::OnPrepareSnapshot
enter: DepWriter::OnFreeze
enter: DepWriter::OnThaw
enter: DepWriter::OnPostSnapshot
enter: DepWriter::OnIdentify
enter: DepWriter::OnBackupComplete
enter: DepWriter::OnBackupShutdown

I was able with MKLink to link the shadow copy and to browse it:
> mklink /D c:\snapshots \\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy6\

I could see the files I wanted to backup.
Then I typed:
> vshadow -r=c:\bc.xml

output contained (among other things):
Sending the PreRestore event ...

(Waiting for the asynchronous operation to finish...)
Set restore status for all components components for restore...
  * Writer 'DFS Replication service writer':
    - Select component \SYSVOL\3E53186A-7D53-4667-A3D1-D278B3564CDC-DF424FA9-3080-403E-B7CE-2A81A03A79FA
  * Writer 'MSDNSampleWriter':
    - Select component \TestFiles

Sending the PostRestore event ...
Restore done.

And I got my writer printing printing:
enter: DepWriter::OnIdentify
enter: DepWriter::OnPreRestore
enter: DepWriter::OnPostRestore

But there was no trace of my files in either c:\testPath or c:\testPath2. They were not restored.

My VSS Writer is a straight moification of the sample Writer from MSDN and it worked fine for small file with betest.
Why does VShadow fail to restore my files and tells it is done?
I'm using it on windows Server 2008 R2 64Bits
Answer: I found a way...
One needs to use the exec={command} switch.
in my case command is a simple:
vshadow -p -t=c:\bc.xml -exec="robocopy pathA pathB"

I guess normal requester would do something smarter than this though. Most likely it would find alternate locations on its own, have a policy in case of failure... But I can't figure out a better tool than vshadow so far.
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa384575%28v=vs.85%29.aspx


Using pygame2exe and having font issue with sysfont/.ttf

Question: I tried py2exe, cx_freeze and got nowhere with those even using this site, made some progress with pygame2exe.  I read the two or three other posts dealing with this, but despite having my setup file the same as instructed, and also putting in the freesansbold.ttf I still get the 'has requested the runtime to terminate in an unusual way' error.
I will go into some details, but what is strange is if I set my text to a standard thing like "Arial" like was suggested here (Pygame Distribution - Runtime Error) and the app it creates DOES work, but the problem is my game is an rpg, and if the text is not the freesanbold it spills everywhere and is unreadable, so basicly I HAVE to have that text.
Here is how I had my font code initially:
font=pygame.font.SysFont(None, 48)

Then I changed it to:
font=pygame.font.SysFont("freesansbold.ttf", 48)

and included the .ttf in the folder, but to no avail.
AGAIN if I change this to 'Arial' then the pygame2exe creates a working file, but I need the freesanbold because of text issues.
Here is the pygame2exe code, which i copied exactly from the wiki:
def isSystemDLL(pathname):
    # checks if the freetype and ogg dll files are being included
    if os.path.basename(pathname).lower() in ("libfreetype-6.dll", "libogg-0.dll","sdl_ttf.dll"): # "sdl_ttf.dll" added by arit.
            return 0
    return origIsSystemDLL(pathname) # return the orginal function
py2exe.build_exe.isSystemDLL = isSystemDLL # override the default function with this one

I have tried putting .dlls in the folder, nothing.  It is probably a super simply fix, but I have been at this for days, and I can't figure it out.
Likewise I followed the wiki (http://pygame.org/wiki/Pygame2exe) here exactly but the problem is I get the runtime error even when the .ttf file is placed in the folder.
I am out of ideas, thanks for any help...
Answer: I had this same issue with the default system font. Really quite silly. I ended up using pygame.font.SysFont("Arial", 16) which worked without me having to include anything.
Comment: This will work, but the problem is all my text was placed using that specific font, if there is nearly an exact same size font that i can use that.
Answer: My workaround for this problem was to copy freesansbold.ttf to my project directory, and to use pygame.font.Font("freesansbold.ttf", 16)


Why is something immoral if it does no harm?

Question: Imagine someone wants to steal money, and the pockets of whoever they want to steal from are empty. There's potential for theft. But the pockets are empty and it's impossible for the theft to happen. No harm is done, so why is that immoral?
Comment: The answer will depend on what moral framework is considered. You mention the fact that no harm is done, which points to consequentialism (no bad consequences). But obviously under virtue ethics, failing to do theft is just as bad as theft itself: the wannabe thief has demonstrated their lack of virtue by their attempt (if respect for private property is considered a virtue, of course). Under a form of social contract ethics, one would certainly be justified in losing trust into someone who demonstrated their lack of concern for others' property rights.
Comment: If you're asking why a desire that happens to be harmless is still wrong, the concept of [moral luck](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_luck) is worth a read. Because if the scenario you describe _weren't_ immoral, that would be an example of moral luck, which is a very controversial prospect.
Comment: Why do you think harm has to do with the definition of MORAL?  How do you define HARM? Do you strictly mean physical harm as in pain? Do you believe in psychological harm as real? Imagine I break onto your home at 3 a.m. every morning to watch cable television. Suppose I somehow managed to copy your key because you dropped it outside your home for 20 minutes and you could not find them for that time. I go copy the key and place them around where you dropped them. You find them. This morning I am found watching TV eating popcorn at your place. I caused no harm. Is it okay for me to do the act?
Comment: in para. 1 you give an example where the action just happens to not have a negative impact.  in para. 2 you switch to "if no harm /can/ be done"; these are very different cases to consider.
Comment: Related: https://philosophy.stackexchange.com/q/14271/3733
Comment: You're getting close votes probably, in part, to having two questions: 1) immorality in the absence of negative consequences, and 2) what about inanimate objects.  I'd suggest that you eliminate one or the other of them to better focus this question.
Comment: many inanimate objects are harmful. really weird non-argument, if you're trying to to prove your point from the fact that they aren't immoral.
Comment: anyway define harm.
Comment: The action is to steal, the reaction/consequence is harm (or not, if the pocket was empty). Morals are rules that govern actions, not reactions/consequences.
Comment: exactly @RodolfoAP like we can't mistreat or be immoral to someone who bounces back? it'd be insane and degrading for yourself to take that as your single moral principle
Comment: Purely depends on your ethical theory. If you are a utilitarian, for example, you could say that the rule followed by the would-be thief diminishes utility. If you are a Kantian, that's not what you want to become a universal rule. If you are a virtue ethicist, the thief hadn't virtue behind their actions, etc.
Answer: Sometimes something has the potential to harm, if you do it in excess. Then it can be considered immoral to do at all. For instance, overeating one day won't make you obese but it is frowned upon.
Answer: I think the answer is that it is appropriate to judge the morality/immorality of the action from the point of view of the knowledge/intention of the actor.  This is why we use the concept of mens rea in criminal law, and why we generally treat accidents that cause harm as not being immoral (so long as the person was not grossly negligent).  Similarly, it also explains why we adopt a lower standard in judging the morality of actions from children or people who are mentally deficient in some way.  In each such case, we recognise that there is an important distinction between the knowledge/intention of the actor and what actually happens in reality.
The situations you raise in your question are cases where the actor has an intention to do some activity that would (inn general) cause harm to another person, but they are thwarted by an exogenous circumstance for that specific case that they are unaware of.  This would include various kinds of inchoate crimes and other thwarted actions that would cause harm if not for exogenous circumstances.  In these cases there might still be a minor harm by virtue of the anticipation of the victim that the actor intended to cause them harm.  In any case, we judge such actions as immoral (notwithstanding minimal/no harm) on the basis of the types of results that are intended to accrue, and would usually accrue, from those actions.
Of course, all this somewhat begs the question: why is it appropriate to judge the morality/immorality of the action from the point of view of the knowledge/intention of the actor, and having regard to the usual consequence that accrues from the action?  To answer this part you really need to delve into specific ethical theories, but let me posit a common thread.  Since ethical theories are concerned with prescribing modes of behaviour that will lead to "good" outcomes they will tend to operate at the level of evaluating/discouraging/encouraging certain classes of action at a level that can be judged by the person adopting the ethical theory.  It is no good telling people "do no harm" if you adopt a standard of ethical judgment that ignores their actual ability to determine whether or not their actions will cause harm.  Ethics operates as a system to assist people to make good decisions, so it is appropriate for that system to operate at a level that has regard to knowledge, context, intention, etc.
As a final note, it is worth observing that the cases you use here are more than mere potentialities --- the person is actually formulating and executing a plan to do something that would cause harm if not for an exogenous circumstance that they are unaware of.  This is quite distinct from the potentiality in the fact that a person might decide to do something bad a week from now, or a month from now.
Answer: In law, something is an "attempted crime" if it would have been a crime if everything had happened as planned. The thief planned to take the victims money, and if everything had gone to plan (money in the victims pockets) it would have been a crime. Things like trying to buy cocaine but the dealer just sells you a bit of powder sugar are "attempted crimes".
Crimes + immoral behaviour go close together. Attempting to commit a crime (without a very unusual excuse that makes it moral) is immoral.
Answer: An account of obligation that only talks about "harm" is impoverished, in a similar way to a society that only allows for ethics (not aesthetics or a meaningful community). One version of the Hippocratic oath includes "first do not harm", which allows us to withhold life saving treatment that they may or may not have a right to; it is clearly incomplete as a medical ethic. Likewise, justice and fairness don't reduce to 'harm'; I can treat someone unfairly by just not benefitting them enough, if I have agreed to or they have me (reciprocity). And so on.
It's not a bad starting point, but not what people mean by 'morality', and while "why be moral" is a difficult question, the same goes for the harm principle.

But the pockets are empty and it's impossible for the theft to happen.

Does this mean there's nothing wrong with a capitalist underpaying their employees?
He or she allows them to keep on living, and they invested nothing; their employer did not whip or verbally abuse them, merely exploited them with an unfair wage.
In conclusion: if you define 'harm' wide enough to include all viscousness, all immorality and wrongness in the world, then sure. The onus is on you that such a pursuit would not just be trivial.


Need reactants for a rocket

Question: I am doing a project in chemistry at the moment to build a rocket out of materials that can be easily bought and that react strongly to create thrust.
I was wondering if anyone knew a good chemical formula for my rocket fuel? I know lots of good fuels and reactants used in amateur rocketry however commercial fuels have been banned from the project.
Any help would be appreciated.
Comment: See [this](http://www.jamesyawn.net/) excellent site about all things rocketry-related for suggestions. There are also other answers on this site so poke around.
Comment: I remember school days where sodium chlorate NaClO3 has been widely used as total herbicide called Travex . We used as the solid propelent the filtration paper, soaked by concentrated Travex solution and dried. It had to be kept dry, as sodium chlorite is hygroscopic. Not sure if it is still available. Generally, in context of terorism, public access to resources for violent chemical reactions are rather limited. For similar purposes could be used KNO3, but solution must be hot because of solubility. Other option could be classical black gun powder.
Comment: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-2_rocket used oxygen and *climate neutral* ethanol. Whatever you use, it must burn fast enough to be a good propellant, but slow enough not to burst your rocket. A cardboard rocket for new years day will need different propellant from a high performance steel casing.
Answer: Put some potassium nitrate $\ce{KNO3}$ plus powdered charcoal and sulfur in a mortar. Wet it carefully and grind the whole until you get a black homogeneous paste. Let it dry overnight in the mortar. The obtained black gun powder may be detached from the mortar with a wooden spoon. It is a safe rocket fuel. The proportions of the powders are defined by stoichiometry. They must allow the chemical reaction : $$\ce{2 KNO3 + 3 C + S ->  K2S + 3 CO2 + N2}$$
I have done it many times with my students. It's a good exercice of stoichiometry. Never had an accident ! And remember : Never ! Never grind dry powders ! Grind as wet powders as possible ! In case of doubt add more water ! Pastes are even a better choice for grinding purposes !
Answer: The chemistry is a safety issue, but the mechanics of rocket guidance is important too. Take it easy with grinding: I was grinding a little mass (maybe 10 grams) of propellant when it ignited (did not explode!), and I jerked back and banged my head.
I made small rockets by winding paper around a pencil, then filling the tube with $KClO_3$ + sulfur + sugar.  Ignited in a copper tube about 2 feet long, they would fly straight out and go about 200 feet, except one that made a right angle turn right out of the tube and sailed right by an observer, hitting a garage door, where the rest of the propellant exploded, leaving a clean spot on the rusty door about 6 inches in diameter.  It probably burned thru the paper tube unsymmetrically, deviating the thrust from a straight flight. The propellant burned well, but had an unexpected impact sensitivity.
With the high energy reactions, scale-up is problematic: you know that at some point, your mix may change from burning fast to exploding very fast. Do things cautiously, small scale at first and do not scale up too fast. Have several layers of safety measures, because you know that you will not stop building bigger rockets until you have a catastrophic failure. Plan to have the catastrophe some considerable distance from you and others.
Answer: try 65g of KNO3 per 35g of sugar. Dissolve the mix in the smallest possible amount of hot water on a pan, and boil off the water, once you start seeing large bubbles and it turns into a paste start mixing. Make sure it stops sizzling when you push it down with a spatula. Sounds dangerous but really it's reliable, just do it outside. Coalesce it into a large blob with the spatula while it's still hot. It will harden within a few minutes so you better put it into the motor immediately.
Push a pencil in the middle of the fuel to create a hollow cyllinder, that will make it burn much faster.
Also, it's much easier to set off with an ember than flame

Need reactants for a rocket


Can't install extensions on site, GNOME SHELL 3.6

Question: Can't install extensions. I just slide from "off" to "on" and nothing happens. Using Gnome Shell 3.6 on ubuntu 12.10 while browsing on google chrome. Tried to install on epiphany and firefox. Same issue.
Comment: in about:plugins appear gnome shell plugin ?
Answer: just a guess..
but maybe the the proxy settings were set?
I've got the same problem
i had set a proxy in the gnome-networksettings couse i need them at work
but overwrite them with the firefox-settings.
After i disabled the proxy the firefox plugin worked fine again.
Answer: I'll take a wild stab in the dark: If you're using Chrome/Chromium, navigate to about:plugins and make sure "Gnome Shell Integration" is enabled. Then navigate back to extensions.gnome.org and when the ribbon appears at the top make sure you "Always Allow for this Site"
On Firefox you'll have to do something similar if you've turned extensions off. Browse to about:plugins and make sure libgnome-shell-browser-plugin.so is present / enabled. If it's not, upgrade Gnome Shell, or find it on your filesystem and link to it from to ~/.mozilla/plugins (you shouldn't have to do this though).


Where is the auto-reset jumper on the Wanhao i3 PLUS?

Question: I'm having some issues when connecting to the printer via USB, see Wanhao i3 PLUS restarts when connecting USB.
After some research I thought I would try to remove the auto-reboot jumper. Now that the i3 Plus uses a custom board instead of the standard Melzi, I'm not sure where to find it.
See pictures attached:
Answer: The pictures don't help much, and I don't know the board. But if it is as described here, Elec Freaks Wiki - RAMPS Melzi, then you need to look for the FTDI Chip FT232. The reset is caused by the DTR Signal. There needs to be a copper trace from pin 2 to the capacitor and then to the jumper. From the jumper a trace leads to pin 4 of the Atmel ATmega.
If it is a clone, the jumper might have been "optimized away". If so, desoldering the capacitor gives the same result.  Be certain to desolder the right one. If unsure keep the capacitor and solder it back in if it was the wrong one.


Is the Divergence of a Vector Field Defined by a (Positive) Point Charge Negative?

Question: I was wondering whether the divergence of a vector field which is defined by a (positive) point charge is positive, zero, or negative everywhere. It is assumed that the charge is at $(0,0,0)$. Intuitively, I would think that it would be negative since the field gets weaker the further you get from the charge, which would cause the vectors "pointing away" from a point to have less magnitude than the ones "pointing towards" it. But when I tried using a formula, I found that the divergence is 0 everywhere. Is my intuition wrong or my calculation?
Comment: Are you talking about the divergence of the electric field of the point charge? This is just Gauss' law then. What formula did you use? You should provide precise details of your attempts in order to receive helpful responses here.
Comment: @N.Steinle I used the following formula for the electric field: $$\displaystyle{\vec{E} = \frac{Q}{4\pi\epsilon_0}\frac{\vec{x}}{||\vec{x}||^3}}$$ Calculating the divergence from this gets me $0$, but $0$ doesn't feel right intuitively
Answer: The Gauss law specifies the divergence of the electric field in every circumstance as
$$
\nabla\cdot\mathbf E = \frac{1}{\epsilon_0}\rho,
$$
where $\rho=\rho(\mathbf r)$ is the volumetric charge density. For a point charge $q$ at the origin, the charge density is given by a Dirac delta function:
$$
\rho(\mathbf r) = q \:\delta(\mathbf r).
$$
As such, for $\mathbf r \neq \mathbf 0$, the charge density is zero and so is the divergence of the electric field.
Your intuition,

I would think that it would be negative since the field gets weaker the further you get from the charge, which would cause the vectors "pointing away" from a point to have less magnitude than the ones "pointing towards" it,

is incorrect. Consider, as an example, a unit volume of cubical shape, with one face facing towards the unit charge. In this case, it is true that the electric field at this face is stronger than at the face at the back of the cube, so the electric flux going into the cube in the forwards face is more than what goes out of the back face. However, the walls on the side are not orthogonal to the point charge, and they subtend a nonzero solid angle from the origin, which means that there is a nonzero electric flux going out of the cube through the side. When you add all of this up, the net flux into the cube is exactly zero $-$ as guaranteed by the Gauss law.


Why 3 wire CMOS coin battery?

Question: I found that some laptops use a 3 wire CMOS coin cell. The construction is simple, 1 wire is spot welded to the positive side of the CR2032 and the other 2 to the negative. There is nothing like a sensor of any kind. Why is that so? I can't see the purpose.
Comment: @tomnexus It could have been designed to prevent reverse connection but from the photo clearly is not. There is definitely harm in trying it both ways but fortunately that connector is polarized.
Comment: Perhaps so that if you insert the connector the wrong way around, you don't apply -3 V to the circuit? Normally you make connections with the power off, so there's no harm in trying it both ways, but a battery is always live. Or, perhaps the third wire is for charging, and a non-rechargable battery would leave it out.
Answer: The extra terminal would allow the CPU to sense if such a battery is plugged into the connector. I don't know if that's what it's used for, but that would make some sense.
Alternatively, perhaps the wire is connected to the + terminal if a rechargeable battery is used, and the trickle charge is just shunted away for the primary cell setup, similar to what @tomnexus is suggesting in a comment.
If it was for reverse polarity protection, the red wire would go to the middle terminal, so it isn't that.
Comment: I have seen other of such batteries, and they white wire is on the negative terminal, so I think that this might be used for detection.

Why 3 wire CMOS coin battery?


Do lost souls still increase soul memory?

Question: If my soul memory was 200k and I lost 20k souls would my soul memory stay at 200k or show as 180k?
Answer: The Souls Memory is basically the sum of every soul you've possessed, whether you used it to buy something, to level up, to repair items or simply lost it.
Note: The souls of fallen bosses or the souls you find in corpses (eg. Soul of a Hero) do not count towards your Soul Memory until you actually use them.
Second Note: Answering specifically your question. By the time you lost those souls, they were already part of your Soul Memory, in other words, every single soul you receive adds to your current souls (the ones you have to spend) and your soul memory, what happens to those souls after that doesn't matter, they will stay as part of your soul memory.
As mentioned by @3ventic in the below comment, it is worth noting that the retrieved souls DO NOT add to your soul memory, as those are souls you already acquired.
Comment: Worth noting that retrieval does not increase soul memory.
Comment: It is laughable how many ways I have tried to cheat this system. There is just no way to kill a boss and the souls not go towards SM.


Are Mersenne prime exponents always odd?

Question: I have been researching Mersenne primes so I can write a program that finds them. A Mersenne prime looks like $2^n-1$. When calculating them, I have noticed that the $n$ value always appears to be odd. Is there confirmation or proof of this being true?
Comment: The value of $n$ will in fact always be prime, and therefore odd, except for the single isolated case $n=2$.  The proof of this fact is not difficult, but a bit too long for a comment.
Comment: @Progo Well, $97$ is then special as well. It is the only prime which is divisible by $97$ (being even means being divisible by $2$).
Comment: @Progo: Well, all prime numbers are odd. The fact that $2$ is the unique even prime makes him quite the odd prime number, I'd say.
Comment: What about $2^2-1$?
Comment: @AsafKaragila There's a saying I like, "Two is the oddest prime."
Comment: @illysial Well, that is prime, but remember that two is a bit of an outcast in the prime numbers.
Comment: Ah of course.. Sorry for the trivial example
Comment: @illysial Don't feel sorry. It was good to point out.
Comment: @Progo Why is $2$ an outcast? Since it is the only even prime number?
Comment: @Antoine That is why id is an outcast. All the other primes are odd, two is special.
Comment: @Antoine This is true.
Comment: Another question to ask would be "What is the density of primes such that 2^n - 1 is also prime?"
Comment: Why is this question generating so many upvotes?
Comment: I believe that one of the reasons is that it was  a 'Hot network question'.
Answer: Theorem.  If $2^n-1$ is prime then $n$ is prime.
Proof.  Suppose that $2^n-1$ is prime, and write $n=st$ where $s,t$ are positive integers.  Since
$$x^s-1=(x-1)(x^{s-1}+x^{s-2}+\cdots+1)\ ,$$
we can substitute $x=2^t$ to see that $2^t-1$ is a factor of $2^n-1$.  Since $2^n-1$ is prime there are only two possibilities,
$$2^t-1=1\quad\hbox{or}\quad 2^t-1=2^n-1\ .$$
Therefore $t=1$ or $t=n$.  We have shown that the only possible factorisations of $n$ are $n\times1$ and $1\times n$.  Hence, $n$ is prime.
Comment.  If $n$ is prime it is not always true that $2^n-1$ is prime.  For example, $2^{11}-1=23\times89$.
Comment: @Progo Don't be sad about having to wait to accept an answer. It's usually best to wait a couple of days anyway, just in case an even better answer is posted.
Comment: Man.  I which my undergrad textbooks had had proofs as well written as this.  +1 good sir; +1.
Comment: Thank you for providing proof, it really helps me see why this is true. Sadly, I have to wait three minutes to accept your answer.
Answer: Note that for $m\ge 2$
$$2^{2m}-1=(2^m)^2-1=(2^m-1)(2^m+1)$$
is not a prime number.
Answer: Yes, the formula $2^n-1$ may only yield a prime if $n$ is prime, therefore the only even value of $n$ which yields a prime is $2$, which yields the Mersenne prime $2^2-1=3$. However for some prime values of $n$ the result is not prime, for example $2^{11}-1=23\cdot 89$.
In general $a^x-1$ is composite if $x$ is composite. This can be seen very easily by writing out the numbers in the base $a$. The number will have $x$ digits, and where $x$ is composite, possible factorisations involving $a^y-1$ (where $y$ is a factor of $x$) become obvious.
$2^4-1$ in binary is $1111$ which can be factored as $101\cdot 11$
$2^{15}-1$ in binary is $111 111 111 111 111$ which can be factored as $1001001001001 \cdot 111$ or $10000100001 \cdot 11111$

$10^8-1$ is $99999999$ in decimal which can be factored as $1010101 \cdot 99$ or $10001 \cdot 9999$. For $a$ greater than $2$ we can also separate out the factor $a-1$ (in this case, $9$): $9 \cdot 1010101 \cdot 11$ or $9 \cdot 10001 \cdot 1111$
As an aside, the presence of $a-1$ as a factor means that all $a^x-1$ with $a>2$ and $x>1$ are composite.
Answer: Sorry everyone, but the question clearly states if Mersenne prime powers are always odd.
22 − 1 is a Mersennse prime which power is 2 which is an even number.
Therefore the only possible answer is no.
The only thing we can be certain is that if 2n − 1 is prime, then n is prime as it has been proved in other answers.
It just happens that 2 is the only even prime number.
Comment: Ditto! There's no "if", "else", "or". The answer is ONLY 1!
Comment: +1 on a technicality.
Answer: Yes, if $n$ is positive and even, then one can factor into integers:
$$2^n - 1 = (2^{n / 2} + 1)(2 ^ {n / 2} - 1).$$
Thus in this case $2^n - 1$ is composite if $2^{n / 2} - 1 > 1$, that is, if $n > 2$.
Answer: If $n$ is composite then $n=ab$, where $a\ne n$, $b\ne n$. So:
$$
2^{ab}-1 = (2^a)^b -1 = (2^a-1)(1+ 2^a + 2^{2a} + \ldots + 2^{a(b-1)})
$$
So $(2^{a}-1)$ divides $(2^{n}-1)$
Answer: If $n=2k$ then we can show that $3|(4^k-1)$ by induction. When $k=1$, $3|3$ and we are done. Suppose $ 3|(4^m-1)$. Note that $$4^{m+1}-1=4(4^m-1)+3.$$ Which is divisible by $3$ by the induction hypothesis and the fact that $3|3$.
So $2^{2k}-1$ is not prime when $k>1$.
Alternatively: $4^n-1=(4-1)(4^{n-1}+...+1)$ (used David's idea here).
Comment: A mersenne prime is a prime. The answer proved that $3$ divides $2^n-1$ if $n$ is even.
Comment: the question is prove that for $n$ even, $2^n-1$ is not a prime. It suffices to show that it is divisible by $3$ for even $n$. The question is about even $n$.
Comment: How does (lack of) divisibility by $3$ prove it to not divisible by all other primes till $2^n-1$? Or do you mean to show similarly for all primes till $2^n-1$? If so, what would you take as $a$ in $n=ak$, for showing for (lack of ) divisibility by prime $5$?
Comment: @SiongThyeGoh why only for even $n$, it could be a multiple of any other prime like $5,7$. Is there no need to show for such cases, and showing just failure for even $n$ suffices?
Answer: There is an extremely simple proof of this fact if you simply write the number in binary and realize that $2^n - 1$ is written as $n$ $1$'s.  If $n$ is a composite number (i.e. non prime) then it can be grouped into a subset of $1$'s.  Here's an example, $2^{10} - 1$:
\begin{align}
2^{10} - 1 =&\ 1111111111_2 = 1023
\\=&\ 1111100000_2 + 0000011111_2 \\
=&\ (2^5 - 1)*2^5 + (2^5 - 1)\\
=&\ 31*2^5 + 31 \\
=&\ 31(2^5 + 1)\\
=&\ 31 * 33
\end{align}
or
\begin{align}
2^{10} - 1 =&\ 1111111111_2 = 1023
\\=&\ 1100000000_2 + 0011000000_2 + 0000110000_2 + 0000001100_2 + 0000000011_2 \\
=&\ 3*2^8 + 3*2^6 + 3*2^4 + 3*2^2 + 3*2^0 = 1023\\
=&\ 3*(2^8 + 2^6 + 2^4 + 2^2 + 2^0) = 1023 \\
=&\ 3*341 = 1023
\end{align}
If $n$ is composite (i.e. non-prime) then the $1$'s can be grouped into sets which will make $2^n - 1$ non-prime.  Basically, assume that $n$ is non-prime such that $n = \alpha \beta$, then $2^n - 1$ will be divisible by $2^\alpha - 1$ and $2^\beta - 1$.
It's worth pointing out that (obviously) $n$ prime isn't enough--because all we've proved is that "if $n$ isn't prime $2^n - 1$ definitely isn't" (I just showed how to find a factor for any $2^n - 1$ where $n$ isn't prime). And you probably already realize things like $2^{11} - 1$ exist where that's not a prime number (also definitely not divisible by $11$ btw) and thus not a Mersenne's Prime.
A couple of quick examples:
\begin{align*}
2^4 - 1 &\ \leadsto 4 = 2*2 \leadsto 2^4 - 1 \text{ is divisible by } 2^2 - 1 = 3& 15 =&\ 3*5 \\
2^{12} - 1 &\ \leadsto 12 = 4*3 \leadsto 2^4 - 1 = 15 \text{ and } 2^3 - 1 = 7 & 4095 =&\ 7*582, 15*273\end{align*}
Super Late Edit
I realize now the question was, "does the exponent always have to be odd"? Well I guess I didn't answer that--I showed that the exponent always has to be prime which implies it's virtually always odd--always unless $2^2 - 1$ is a Mersenne prime, which it is, so that's your one and only counterexample.
p.s. Also I always find it a little silly to say something like "$2$ is the only even Mersenne exponent". That would be like saying "$3$ is the only Mersenne exponent divisible by $3$"...of course we could say something like "no Mersenne exponent is divisible by $11$"!


How long is the train in the Snowpiercer?

Question: I could not find any information on how long the train is in Snowpiercer. I know there is a Graphic Novel the movie is based on. Is there any indication in the graphic novel as to the length of the train.
Comment: In carriages, in meters, in Olympic-sized swimming pools?
Comment: I just watched this movie tonight, I was wondering the same thing. I took a screenshot of the longest shot I could see of it in the movie: http://i.imgur.com/Dz9eWL5.png. From the screenshot, it looks to be much longer than the parts you see the characters walk through in the film.
Answer: The snow piercer train is 1001 carriages long - http://www.onemetal.com/2014/03/08/snowpiercer-volume-1-escape-by-jacques-lob-and-jean-marc-rochette/
So if you make an assumption that the snowpiercer train carriage is based on a North American standard Amtrak Superliner railcar which is 26 meters
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superliner_(railcar)
then the length is going to be 26,026 meters long plus the length of the engine, which would need to be very powerful so probably quite big! (For those reading in imperial that's just over 16.15 miles)
The caveat with any answer to do with railways is always that there are different gauges in different part of the world (and country) so the only real answers is that it's 1001 carriages long.
Comment: @Maggick it seems to me like the length of the train in the movie and the graphic novel (which I haven't read) may well be different. In the movie, the characters need to travel in a believable progression from the very last car to the first in the space of the movie's running time. A graphic novel doesn't have that limitation, so the movie train may have many fewer cars than the graphic novel version.
Comment: Thank you. That is a perfect answer. I feel like in the movie they don't do a good job showing the length of the train.
Answer: Martin and Richard both have great information regarding the graphic novel and the physical set of Snowpiercer, but the director, Bong Joon-Ho, has also gone on the record specifying the size and length of the movie-universe Snowpiercer.
Including the engine, there are 60 cars at 25m each, totaling 1.5km in length.

Click for full size.
Answer: Adding to @MartinJevon's excellent in-universe answer, according to this interview with the film's director, the real-world train set was some 650 meters in length.

A visualist if ever there was, Director Bong described the process of designing 'Snowpiercer'. "We designed and built 26 different train cars [650 meters in total length], but because we had a limited budget, we had to plan ahead and use everything that we shot. But if you look at it on a bigger scale [for example], you can take the greenhouse section and the water section of the train, and divide it in two. . .you get to the greenhouse, and after that, you see the aquarium and the swimming pool, and you see where all of the rich people live. It is one train, but you see two different worlds inside of it. And then, at the very front is the engine. The design of the engine is different from the comic book."
Comment: Comparing this and phantom42's answers makes this one seem like a misunderstanding.  They built sets for 26 train car sets for filming, but in universe there were 60 cars, many of which we never saw the inside of during the film.
Comment: @Keen - Yes, this was the "out of universe" length.


Geometric Shapes on images in Adobe Photoshop

Question: How can I create something like this in Photoshop?
Comment: Hi Gesa, I voted to close your question as Too broad, because we are not a tutorial-on-demand site. If you [edit] your question to show us what you tried and at what specific point you got stuck or what detail you can't get right we'll be happy to assist. You can find more info on what we require from a question in the [help].
Answer: Have two versions of a photo in 2 layers:

bottom layer = the photo as is
top layer = the photo with heavy blur, maybe darkened, too

You can simply make selections with polygonal lasso tool and delete pieces of the top layer. Better idea would be to insert a layer mask and make there those areas black which should vanish, white=stay as is. Layer masks are recommended, because  they can be edited removed and redone without destroying the image.
NOTE1: Masking like this needs a photo which has a good contrast between the background and the foreground. Otherwise the result is messy.
An example:

The blurred version is 25% darker. It has a layer mask.The mask was originally white, but I painted some black to it (=made selections in the mask and painted with black those selections, the mask icon was clicked at first in the layers panel to change the focus to the mask instead of the image)
Complex symmetric geometric shapes are easier to make in Illustrator. From there they can be pasted to Photoshop to be used to make selections or to be placed into a layer mask.
Another example:
A simple pattern is made in Illustrator.

The pattern is copied and pasted to a layer in Photoshop. It was pasted as pixels and stretched a little at the same time.

Next the pattern could be used to make a selection with magic wand and to delete a part of the blurred copy. A selection was made, but nothing was deleted, only generated a layer mask to the blurred layer. It got automatically the right shape. Magic wand was used to select the black shapes.

This all can be done in Illustrator.  Opacity Mask does the same as the layer mask in Photoshop.
Answer: Use the Rectangle Tool to create some shapes. Rotate, move and arrange them like in the previews.
Use color white and opacity 30% for the shapes.


CTRL+ALT+FX Equivalent in OSX

Question: I am working on some OpenGL development and I get to the point where I can move the mouse but nothing responds (Sometimes I can wait for a really long time). The mouse still moves just none of the apps respond. This is especially strange since I have the sandybridge with 16gbs RAM. I would like to try to go and kill an emulator I am running to fix the issue, in Linux I would do this with ctrl+alt+fx to get to a terminal and type my kill command. This doesn't appear to work in OSX, is there another option?
Answer: There are no virtual consoles like in Linux; there is no way to interact with the system using the connected keyboard/mouse/display outside of the regular GUI which you have already found to be unresponsive.

To bail out with a minimum of needed interaction, there is a shortcut to kill the frontmost application directly: ⌥⇧⌘⎋, Command-Option-Shift-Escape. This is precisely the same action as the usual Force Quit dialog, except that it does not ask you to choose an application.
(Tip: If you press modifier keys while a menu is open, in this case press Shift while the Apple menu is open, shortcut variants like this one will be displayed.)
If you have another machine or even a phone around, another thing you can do is connect via SSH (turn on Remote Login in Sharing preferences) and use that to kill the runaway process. However, if your runaway program is hogging the RAM then I recommend you SSH in before you start work, as making a new SSH connection while the system is stuck in swapping will be just as sluggish, but using an existing connection is less problematic.

(Note that in the unfortunate case where your OpenGL program is hitting glitches in the graphics driver, as opposed to merely consuming resources itself, you may find that the system continues to be unusable even after your process exits, since the entire GUI rendering is based on hardware-accelerated graphics processing.)
Answer: i have never used Linux.. but alt + cmd + esc will open up force quit which will allow you to force quit an application. You can also do cmd+ [space] to open Spotlight and then you can open any app, including terminal.
Comment: I will try these and let you know if they work. Ctrl-Alt-Fx is a bit more than ctrl-alt-delete in Win32 because it can be used even when x11 hangs etc. I am worried that key presses may not even work (Since hitting my power button doesn't work till it comes back from lunch)

CTRL+ALT+FX Equivalent in OSX


Configuring conditional compilation symbol in app.config file

Question: Can we configure conditional compilation symbol in app.config file? If it is possible then let us know how to do it.
Answer: They are done at different times - one at compile time one at run time. If you are compiling code at run time (e.g. dynamic creation of code) then you could use a simple appSetting. Finally there is an option where you add a entry in the VBPROJ/CSPROJ/MSBUILD file to parse the config file and add an appropriate symbol using the CreateProperty task.


Do 10V 100μF and 16V 100μF capacitors have the same capacity and output?

Question: I vaguely remember that 100μF represent the capacity of a capacitor, but I also kinda remember that it has to do with the voltage. So my question is, do 10V 100μF and 16V 100μF capacitors have the same capacity and output (meaning does the 16V 100μF capacitor is the same as 10V 100μF capacitor only capable of working in a higher voltage system)?
Comment: Just as a word of warning, capacitors are quirky. In a perfect world, you would only look at capacitance, or maybe capacitance and series resistance. But in the real world, some types of capacitors have other non-linear behavior, such as ceramic capacitors where capacitance depends on voltage, and series resistance depends on frequency. So, it is good to read the fine print if you are relying on these things. But conceptually, you are on the right track as far as ideal capacitors goes.
Answer: Consider a glass of water: -

I vaguely remember that 100μF represent the capacity of a capacitor

No, capacity is how much something can be filled without spilling. Capacitance is the term measured in farads and is equivalent to the area of the glass above.
The height in which water is filled is equivalent to the voltage and therefore capacity is capacitance multiplied by voltage. This equals charge i.e. Q = CV.

So my question is, do 10V 100μF and 16V 100μF capacitors have the same
capacity

No they have the same capacitance. Capacity is how full you can safely fill the capacitor and that related to charge (Q = CV).
Comment: I see. In german both terms translate to the same word, so I probably never made a difference.
Comment: @jusaca it hardly ever gets called capacity (maximum charge that can be held aka C.V) but, the OP called capacitance "capacity" and I used the water glass to point out the difference between the terms.
Comment: I'm probably using the term capacity more like how we use it for a battery. You could argue that \$I\cdot dt = C\cdot dv\$, hence "ampere seconds" is like battery capacity and it equates to capacitance x voltage change.
Comment: I never was aware of this difference. Is this some official definition, that the capacity is given by capacitance and voltage rating? I can completly follow the logic, but I never heard somebody use the term capacity like that before (in regard to a capacitor).
Comment: Thank you! When the capacitors are set to release energy, would they release the same amount of energy (meaning the same voltage and the same amperage)?
Comment: The energy stored is \$\dfrac{CV^2}{2}\$ so if both have the same capacitance and are at the same voltage then yes.
Comment: Yes, It definitely makes sense.
Comment: You can continue the analogy by calling it a pressurised water tank instead of a glass jar. If you have a higher pressure (voltage) then you can store more water (charge) in the same volume (capacitance). But if you exceed the pressure (voltage) the tank can handle then things go bang.
Comment: @Graham, I've always been told that water doesn't really compress under pressure, so a tank of gas might be a better example.
Comment: @ilkkachu Everything does compress, but liquids need more force to get them to squash up. :) Gas is more squeezable, so you're right, it might improve the analogy.
Comment: The analogy works better with a water tank. The voltage corresponds to the pressure at the bottom of the tank. The charge corresponds to the volume of water in the tank. Current flow corresponds to volumetric water flow. Once it is too full, it overflows or blows up or whatever. The voltage rating is the pressure at the bottom of the tank once the tank is full.
Answer: Up to 10 V, both capacitors behave as a 100μF capacitor.
Between 10 V and 16 V, the 10 V capacitor may behave as a capacitor for a while, but it may increase its leakage current, it may go off with a bang, we just don't know. The 16 V capacitor will continue to behave like a capacitor.
Above 16 V, neither capacitor can be trusted.
Answer: Assuming (from the high capacitance) you are talking about polarized caps, then yes, both will behave pretty much the same below 10V.
That you remember a correlation with the cap's voltage might be due to the fact that ceramic caps DO change behaviour with voltage.  A ceramic cap loses capacitance with increasing voltage. Depending on the dielectric, you might have only something like 20% of the rated capacity at full voltage (at least for X5R, others can be better). So a higher voltage rating will give you more capacitance at your working voltage.
Comment: I see. So do 10V 100μF and 16V 100μF tantalum capacitors behave the same under 10V? The only difference is that I am assuming if the voltage is 12V, the former would break and the latter would withstand, right?
Comment: Correct, up to 10V they will behave pretty much the same. The higher voltage one might have a larger package and therefore a slightly increased parasitic inductance, but in typical applications for these high capacitance values this will probably be of no concern. Be aware that tantalum caps are very sensitive to voltages above their ratings and can literally explode with only half a volt or so above.
Comment: Thank you! When the capacitors are set to release energy, would they release the same amount of energy (meaning the same voltage and the same amperage)?
Answer: In most circuits they will behave the same, but as the voltage rating goes up, generally the ESR goes down and the maximum allowed ripple current goes down
Answer: They have the same capacity for voltages below 10V.For voltages above 10V the 10V 100uF capacitor no longer acts like a capacitor more like a resistor. For voltages above 16V the 16V 100uF capacitor no longer acts like a capacitor more like a resistor.
Comment: What makes you say that a capacitor will behave like a resistor above it's rating? Depending on the type of cap it will more likely either fail short or open!
Comment: The last thing we need is someone seeing this and drops in a capacity in place of a resistor and amps up the voltage.
Comment: This doesn't seem right to me.  A capacitor doesn't automatically fail once it reaches its rated voltage.  Your 10V capacitor may continue to function just fine as a capacitor, at 11V or 12V.  The rated voltage is a bit like the best before date on a litre of milk.  Don't trust it past this voltage, but don't expect immediate failure.
Comment: But that is not guaranteed, you can not rely on that at all. Sure, a lot of caps won't blow up with a few percent of overvoltage, but espacially tantalum caps (which the OT seems to refer to) are very sensitive in this regard and are known to blow up pretty quickly.