Will cutting section of 2x4 reduce strength

Question: I have a 2x4 nailed to two other 2x4's protruding from ceiling. This is used to hold up garage door opener. There is a light socket behind it and I wanting to attaching motion sensor socket to it but I believe 2x4 cross piece will block line of sight of sensor. If I was to cut a section of 2x4 cross piece, would it reduce the strength of 2x4 cross piece as far as it being able to hold up garage door opener?
Any ideas on motion sensor light socket line of sight issue other than moving socket?
Answer: 1: Yes it will reduce the strength and depending on how you cut it will determine how much and to what catastrophic point it will fail. A Drilled hole for line of sight is one thing a cut out is another.
The following two comments do not directly answer your question but need to be stated. I am not trying to hurt anyone's feelings by posting them just trying to provide some constructive feedback and I am saying ti because someone needs to say something to help you.
2: That protrusion of 2 x 4's from the ceiling down - that is a terrible (atrocious) mounting for a garage door opener installation! The 2 x 4 should be mounted between above the ceiling between the rafters then your metal mounting for the opener should be on the ceiling side mounted to that 2 x 4  - taking up minimal space and would not be such an eye sore. Of course if this part was done right you would not be asking your question here about your motion sensor.
3: I see that free romex wire running down and I am assuming it is rigged to an electrical outlet for the opener or maybe hooked to it directly - I will state this if you are in the USA ..it is a code violation. You should have that fixed and done right too - install an outlet box in the ceiling and plug your opener power cord into it.
I am not trying to be snobby or anything like that .. normally I don't answer this way but in this case I feel compelled to so that perhaps you will make it right and will not have any issues in the future, especially with your wiring .. like perhaps a fire!
EDIT 3-29-2018 Wiring fix:
Comment: 1. I was leery of cutting it even before I asked. 2. I understand criticism and am not mad or anything. 3. It is wired to junction box not between rafters but at another location in the attic not far from rafter location. Even at that, I suspect it is still in violation of code because there isn't a ceiling mounted junction box. Am I correct?
Comment: @dwhorne Your romex wired in the attic to a junction box is not the issue. What is on the outside is. 1: Your romex wire is exposed like an extension cord it is not concealed (within a 15 minute fire rated wall ceiling, floor etc..)  nor is in conduit. NEC 334.10.
The easy fix is to put your electrical box in the attic and plug your openers power cord into it.
2: What is your romex connected to I know in the attic you said a junction box (where that is, is not an issue). But what does it connect to on the outside of the attic - the garage opener ?? a Junction Box, a receptacle?
Comment: The romex you see comes down and is wired into garage door unit hanging from hanger ties. I don't believe it had a power cord option, just the hard wired version. Would the easiest solution be to use conduit?
Comment: I think it is easier and cheaper to add the ceiling fixture (an outlet box $4 with a receptacle $2) and then add a power cord $5 to the opener than it is to run conduit. Running conduit is much more complex and costly in your situation ($$) as you would most likely need two junction boxes and the conduit. Another advantage to just the receptacle box is you have an additional receptacle as well. What model opener; I can't imagine one with out a power cord connection. See my added picture on how to fix that.
Answer:
would it reduce the strength of 2x4 cross piece as far as it being able to hold up garage door opener?

Yes it would reduce strength. To the point of failure, who knows? You only say that you would "cut a section" but you do not describe exactly how much.

ideas on motion sensor light socket line of sight issue other than moving socket?

Yes, extend the bulb down using a "bulb extender" available at your local hardware store:
Comment: Regarding the bulb extender, could you install motion sensor socket in it and then install led bulb or would I be better off installing bulb with sensor built in. The only thing about that type is they don't stay on long when out of range of sensor-around 10 seconds.
Comment: I don't see why you couldn't "piggy back" the sensor onto the extender, then screw the bulb into that. Hopefully it would hang down low enough to clear the 2x4.
Comment: I am sure it would clear after that. You don't think weight of all that would be an issue? Heat? Connectivity through that many connections?
Comment: I don't think those things will be an issue, and suggested the extender as the simplest fix. A better way would be to use a metal *4/O box extension* (https://cdn2.rexelusa.com/medias/sys_Rexelusa/images/images/hb6/h9c/8840470560798/EGS-4OE-3-4-IMAGE-jpg-300Wx300H.jpg) to lower the actual electrical box, then reattach/rewire that lamp socket cover to it.
Answer: Move the 2x4 to the other side of the protruding 2x4's.
Comment: In place of the 2x4, you could use a piece of angle iron (kind with predrilled holes for example) , or move the hanger straps to mount directly to the two protruding 2x4's, which will place them at an angle.
Comment: The cross piece 2x4 is what the garage door is hanging from.
Comment: I understood that. reattach the opener to the new 2x4.
Comment: Of course, I wouldn't go through that until knowing for sure that there is an issue.
Comment: I don't think that would be a possibility. I added a picture to main question showing side view. If I put 2x4 on back side of 2x4's coming from ceiling they would go right across where the light bulb is. I think the motion detection won't work where currently set up because sensor on sockets are near the base of motion sensor socket and the 2x4 would block it. They do make some bulbs with motion sensor built in but from what I read they don't stay on very long once out of sensor's range . (Around 10 seconds on most)
Comment: I am thinking the angle iron could still block it even with holes in it unless it was small piece which wouldn't be able to hold much. Do you think second idea-mounting to protruding 2x4 -will cause any issue with the straps supporting garage door opener since they are angle vs straight up and down. In other words, is there any disadvantage to mounting at angle?
Comment: First thing is to determine if there really is a problem.  The holes in the suggested  angle iron are ease of mounting, not line-of-sight
Comment: Could you explain last sentence a little more? What I meant was there a disadvantage to mounting hanger strips at angle vs straight up and down.


Show only specific transforms in timeline/graph editor

Question: I have a scene with hundreds of objects of which I want to animate the rotation, location and size. If I select all objects, the timeline gets a little messy. That's why I want to hide everything except the rotation keyframes. Then I want to hide everything except the location keyframes and so on. (I know I can lock the transforms of each axis manually but with hundreds of objects this is not feasible.) I am searching for a kind of shortcut that makes it possible to show only one transform at a time.
Answer: I know this is a slightly old thread now but just in case anyone else comes this way looking for the same answer I was. You can just type thee graph your want in the filter and it will only show that channel for all selected pbjects or bones. I believe what you are looking for is this:
Answer: In the Graph Editor you can select a track (for example X Location) and press ShiftH to hide all the other ones, which will allow you to manipulate this track's keyframes only. To unhide, press AltH.


How to interpret Poisson bracket of fields in terms of causality?

Question: In quantum field theory, the fact that space-like separated observables commute, i.e. $[\hat {\phi (x)}, \hat{\phi(y)}]=0$, is taken as the test for causality. The equivalent statement for classical fields would be that the Poisson bracket of space-like separated observables is zero, i.e. $\{ \phi (x), \phi (y)\}=0$. Why and how can this Poisson bracket be interpreted in terms of causality of the theory?
Answer: Poisson brackets measure the linear independence of two function over classical phase space on the basis of the dependence $m \dot x = p$ in the free case. It boils down to $[x_i,p_k] = \delta_ik$ as always in the differential algebra.
This fact. applied to characteristic functions of volumes in space time  at equal time,
$$[\chi_{(a,b)(x,p),\chi_{(c,d)(x,p) ]$$
with overlap $\emptyset$ says, these two functions don't interfere and a single  particle or a group can be prepared in an ensemble with different state values and probabilties without entangling.
The two phase space volumes then evolve until the they overlap in the future and interact for the following future.
This is - as Pauli says - the reason, why the electron behind the moon can, but is not obliged to take part in the anitisymmetrization concept of fermions. Spaclike separation generates tensor products and statistical independence of the factors.


Luzern: Walking from Pilatus Kulm to Frakigaudi Toboggan

Question: I cannot find information about walking from the top of Pilatus to the toboggan station at Fräkmüntegg. There seems to be path, and Google Maps shows the walk as being 3.6km with 713 metres of descent, plus 105 of ascent. That sounds decently steep, so I am wondering how doable it is for casual visitors.
Comment: I advise to plan your hikes in Switzerland using official topographic maps that you can find here for example: https://schweizmobil.ch/en/map?E=2661549&N=1204064&resolution=1.78&bgLayer=pk&layers=wanderland&detours=yes&logos=yes&photos=yes&season=summer
Comment: Could you do it upward? My recommendation in mountains: "be prepared to go back, at first large difficulty" (really, and before it is too late, and so you may be tired and do something stupid), so in your case you must hike up a lot. And in general you will not enjoy so much such difficult hiking paths (but if you go up, just for accomplishment). I advice you to walk something lower (and less steep): you see much more the nature and the view.
Answer: I have done this hike, up one path and down the other:

I would class them both as T3 (challenging mountain hike) on the official hiking scale (explanation). You will definitely need hiking boots with ankle support unless you're a trail runner or otherwise "extreme".
The common part from the summit to the Klimsen (across the text "Oberhaupt" on the map) is, as you might tell from the zig-zags and the 300m descent over less than half a 1km grid square, steep and rocky. If you then turn left/west, you get a path that is fine for most part (around T2) except for one "big step" where you need to scramble up or down about 3m of rocky outcrop, and you will probably need to use your hands unless they've changed that part since I was there last. Most of the path below that is on grass.
If you turn right/east at Klimsen, the path overall is steeper and rockier, with one or two places having a metal wire handrail to hold on to, but there is no one hugely challenging spot like the eastern route.
EDIT: for a photo of part of the western route (called "Heitertannliweg"), see this photo from Hikr: https://www.hikr.org/gallery/photo405904.html?post_id=30248#1
which shows the level of difficulty to expect on both paths.
Comment: There seems to be a path going north to/around Klimsenhorn and then down its northern flank. Do you know that path as well? On the map above it looks... adventurous...
Comment: That is the (in)famous Bandweg. Adventurous is about right - it is officially closed due to risk of rockfall. The incident that prompted the closure was a boulder the size of a car falling on the path and taking out a section; a geological evaluation concluded that further rockfalls are likely (and indeed, some have occurred since).

Rockfall and bans aside, in the past this was always a scrambly route where you needed to use your hands for some of the sections (T4 at least) - not a route I'd want anyone attempting unless they have mountaineering experience (and certainly not in sneakers).
Comment: thanks for the update. Given what you said it is sadly not going on my trails-to-do-list... for now. ;)
Answer: OpenStreetMap classifies the path as "mountain hiking" (marked with white-red-white markings), which means that you should be somewhat used to hiking. There might be passages that are secured by ropes or (rarely) you might need to use your hands, but there are no unexpected dangers on the path. You should be wearing walking shoes with a good grip. Things like high heels or open sandals are out of the question here.
On this page, the tourism office discurages hiking on that path (from Fräkmüntegg to Kulm) before June 17th, when they will check and service all hiking paths. After that date, it should be fine.
The fact that you intent do go the path downwards means that you should better not have any knee or back problems. Going so steep downhill is typically a big load on those.


is depth buffers mandatory

Question: I am just trying to better understand the directX pipeline. Just curious if depth buffers are mandatory in order to get things work. Or is it just a buffer you need if you want objects to appear behind one another.
Answer: The depth buffer is not mandatory. In a 2D game, for example, there is usually no need for it.
You need a depth buffer if you want objects to appear behind each other, but still want to be able to draw them in arbitrary order.
If you draw all triangles from the back to the front, and none of them intersect, then you could do without the depth buffer. However, it's generally easier to do away with depth sorting and just to use the depth buffer anyway.
Comment: well, that, and it's _faster_ to draw front-to-back. You don't have to run shaders on pixels that are occluded.
Answer: Depth buffers are not mandatory.  They simply solve the following problem:  suppose you have an object near to the camera which is drawn first.  Then, after that is already drawn, you want to draw an object which is far away, but at the same position as the nearby object on-screen.  Without depth buffers, it gets drawn on top, which looks wrong.  With depth buffers, it is obscured, because the GPU figures out its behind something else that has already been drawn.
You can turn them off and deal with that, eg. by drawing back-to-front (but this has other problems solved by depth buffering), which is easy in 2D games.  Alternatively for some reason you might want that over-draw as some kind of effect.  But it is by no means necessary for basic rendering.

is depth buffers mandatory


what type of rendering engine is cycles

Question: I don't know what type of rendering engine cycles is. is it path tracing ray tracing
Raydiosidi ray casting photon maping? I would like to know
Comment: Cycles is a Monte Carlo path tracer
Comment: @GiantCowFilms Shouldn't that be an answer, instead of a comment?
Comment: @And jerryno got the answer!
Answer: Cycles is a ray tracing renderer.
Can use different tracing strategies (under integrator option):

Path tracing: pure path tracer.
Branched path tracing: path tracer with branching on the first bounce.

It uses Monte-Carlo for sampling, that means repeated random sampling.
Soon Metropolis Light Transport should be also available which is a variant to Monte-Carlo, it uses Bidirectional path tracing and Metropolis sampling.

what type of rendering engine is cycles


Iframe not filling whole div on IE9

Question: I have a site with a header div and an iframe used to display a map in the rest of the page, resizing to the maximum space it can under the header div.
I can get the method working on Firefox and Chome, but the iframe won't fill the div on IE9. Anyone know what the issue is? Rather than post html, here's a few links to the problem page and the old page I'm re-designing that does work in the same way in IE9.
New problem page (doesn't resize div in IE9):
http://permitmap.paydirt.co.nz/devtest/permitmap.html
Old page using the same technique that does work in IE9:
http://permitmap.paydirt.co.nz/
It might be my abuse of Twitter's Bootstrap? I use bootstrap it as it's meant to be used on normal content pages, but this page is a one-off that needs to display a map in as much of the page as possible while still following the styling for the header as the rest of the site.
And my use of tables for layout is also bad practice I know, but it's the only method I've found to achieve the desired effect with the iframe (believe me, I've tried a lot of ideas out that don't use tables!).
Thanks in advance any CSS / HTML gurus out there that can help!
How much time is lost making IE behave like other browsers!? Microsoft must cost the planet an incredible amount in lost man hours and extra expense supporting IE.
Answer: Ah, just noticed I had to solve this issue with the original page.
Removing the DOCTYPE element from the top of the page resolves the issue in IE9!

Iframe not filling whole div on IE9


What happened to the Pattern?

Question: In Season 1 of Fringe, the over-arcing villain was known as The Pattern.  They were the ones behind the Fringe Events, the super-science experiments that the Fringe team investigated.  In Season 2, ZFT became the over-arcing villains.  What happened to The Pattern?  Did ZFT take them down, or did their work cease for some reason?
Comment: Just a note (that Joe touches on), the Pattern was what Fringe division named the series of events they were keeping track of, it was never an actual distinguishable "villain".
Comment: to be honest/cynical, I think a part of the answer is that the writers began to realize that the show needed an overall story that bound all the episodes together - and "the pattern" didn't provide that well.
Answer: ZFT was the cause of the pattern. They were creating situations to try to draw out the abilities of the Cortexiphan children (and others with native abilities), in an attempt to train soldiers for "the coming war" against the shapeshifters coming into our universe.
It is also possible that some of the pattern events were related to actions taken by the shapeshifters themselves; at that early point in the series, Fringe division would not have been able to distinguish a "training exercise" from "real engagement".
At the end of season 1, William Bell (who was funding ZFT and wrote their manifesto) successfully contacted Olivia and brought her into the alternate universe. Presumably this ended the need for the pattern (and training), and marked the start of the actual war.
The shapeshifters, not ZFT, were the primary villains in season 2.

 In season 3, we learn Walternate is the one behind the shapeshifter invasion.
Comment: And in four we learn...
Answer: The group known as the ZFT was behind the Pattern.  They found and followed the ZFT manifesto, but in Season 1 were not led by the person who wrote it.  And the Pattern is only indirectly related to the Cortexiphan children in that the group was following the manifesto that mentioned them.
Truth is, it's still really hard to tell where Jones fit in during Season 1.  He could have been activating Olivia in Season 1 for the same reason as

 he did in Season 4, because Bell planned on using her as a power source.  On the other hand, if he hadn't yet made contact with Bell, it could be he was blindly following the manifesto he knew Bell had a hand in, and figured she'd be necessary for the war, but not much else.

But that's diverging from the question a bit.  This is the effect of the Pattern, as seen 28 minutes into the Season 1 finale:

The white spots are Fringe events suspected to be related to the Pattern.
The red spots on the lines are Fringe events related to the Pattern that point at "soft spots" in our universe.
The black spots are the soft spots in our universe.

Advancements in science and technology are what are causing the soft spots.  David Robert Jones and the ZFT group was accelerating the formation of the soft spots by way of the Pattern-related events, because he planned to cross over and contact Bell, but his device wasn't as powerful as Walter's (and had less chance of upsetting the balance between the universes).
If you look closely, there's several more of the white-dot Fringe events that look like they point to other locations.  The times Jones tried to make a portal but failed, he was most likely at one of those locations, because he hadn't yet identified the weakest points between universes.

What happened to the Pattern?


Best statistic to compare frequencies in two datasets

Question: I am looking for a statistical test to compare frequencies in a particular dataset. In a long string, a particular sequence of characters occurs at a frequency of x per 1000 characters. In some portions of the string, the frequency is higher at y per 1000 characters. Can we tell if y and x are significantly different or not?
Comment: OK, then it's important to disclose the criteria you have used to identify this sequence.  For instance, did it stand out among other sequences as having more variation in its frequency within the string?  It will also help to say something about how the string is generated, because serial correlation among the characters can account for such variation.
Comment: Did you select x and y *before* looking at the dataset or in response to what you're seeing in the data (such as focusing on the highest or lowest frequencies, for instance)?  Is this the *only* such comparison you're making for this dataset, or will you be looking at other sequences as well?
Comment: Ok. The string is a genomic sequence (can be assumed to be random for this purpose). The sequences are known binding sites for certain proteins. The portions where the frequencies are higher were identified by an experiment. I am trying to see if a certain binding site (sequence) occurs more frequently in the portions identified by the experiment as compared to the rest of the genome.
Comment: It is in response to what I am seeing in the data. For the moment this is the only such comparison I am making, though I may look at other sequences in the future.
Answer: This might be a good question for BioStar as well.
In a region of $N$ base pairs, you have $2(N-(L-1))$ possible positions for $L$ base pair binding sites ($L-1$ is the number of overhanging positions past the left, $N-(L-1)$ is the number of leftmost positions, and there are 2 strands).  $k$ of them are real binding sites.  If the underlying probability of a position being a binding site is $q$, then $k$ followed a binomial distribution with parameter $q$ and number of trials $2(N-(L-1))$
If what you want is a $p$-value, then you would take the parameter $q$ you calculated from the genome outside of the regions you found, and calculate the probability of a binomial distribution with that $q$ producing at least as many binding sites as you see.


using std::chrono::steady_clock for timing

Question: I was wondering if it would be a good idea to use the steady_clock class (in the C++ std libraries) for game timing.
What are the pros/cons of using it as opposed to using a game library's timing mechanism?
Comment: Perhaps you should take a look into the source code of a game library's timing functions; behind them you should simply find some system-specific API calls, nothing custom or arcane. The game library should simply be using the best standard timer choice, that is, one which is high resolution and accurate.
Answer: As far as I understood std::chrono you cant be sure to get a high resolution timer with std::steady_clock. So you might loose some accuracy on some system if the high resolution timer is not available as steady clock. I considered that too a while ago but than I read about steady clock and high resolution. I just can't find the reference at the moment.
Edit:
Here it is http://www.cplusplus.com/reference/chrono/high_resolution_clock/ there you can see that the high resolution clock has a is_steady member. So for me it seems you can also get unsteady high resolution clocks. And on my system this member returned false. If you are fine with low resolution I think theres nothing against using steady_clock.
Answer: Try this:
   typedef std::conditional<
       std::chrono::high_resolution_clock::is_steady,
       std::chrono::high_resolution_clock,
       std::chrono::steady_clock >::type ClockType;

Also note, that sometimes steady_clock is not steady, so include this so there are no surprises:
static_assert( ClockType::is_steady,
   "Clock is not monotonically-increasing (steady).");

Note that Steady clock is not enabled by default on GCC4.7 (and others, I'm sure), but you can enable it with a flag.
Answer: Using the game's timing library, if one is provided, has an advantage in terms of consistency.  If you only interact with your own timing, this may not be important, but if you ever have to compare a time that you measured against a time reported by the game engine, it's very helpful to be using the same clocks.
If you choose to use the C++11 timers anyway, there's a choice you have to make.  You have to choose between high_resolution_clock and steady_clock.  There is no one-size-fits-all choice here, you have to pick the right one for your application.  high_resolution_clock is typically very high resolution (duh) and very light weight because its job is to measure things as precisely as possible.  A common implementation of it is to read the processor's instruction-count register: very fast, very high resolution.  However, there's no guarantees that the rate of these ticks is very reliable.  In particular, some implementations can change speed significantly if the CPU is put into a low power mode which decreases the CPU frequency.  There's some odd behaviors that have shown up in cases where a laptop does some processing, then stops and waits for a few hundred milliseconds for the next bit of processing.  Meanwhilem the OS drops the CPU frequency to conserve power.  This slows the high_resolution_clock on this particular OS/platform, and the program wakes up late, missing its timing window.
steady_clock is guaranteed to not have this problem.  However, in trade it has to be a more "heavy" clock in terms of processing work.  While a high_resolution_clock may just read a register, a steady clock may need to make a system call to go get the "real" time.
If you're measuring very tiny amounts of time (such as profiling the cost of a block of code), then high_resolution_clock is the correct way to go.  If you need the user to feel like your interactions are actually occurring "on time," you should pay the extra price to use steady_clock so that the measured time is representative of real time.
What about system_clock you say?  You can use that too.  However, one of the greats of C++ (I believe it was Herb Sutter) has stated that he believes system clock should be removed for the following reasons:

On all existing implementations, system_clock is a typedef for steady_clock or high_performance_clock.
You don't know which clock you're getting with system_clock, so you might as well take the extra time to figure out which clock you really wanted, and use it instead.
Comment: I believe it's the other way around.

"Class std::chrono::high_resolution_clock represents the clock with the smallest tick period provided by the implementation. It may be an alias of std::chrono::system_clock or std::chrono::steady_clock, or a third, independent clock." --https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/chrono/high_resolution_clock
Comment: Nonsense see: `using high_resolution_clock = system_clock;` In implementation and documentation...
Comment: @DawidDrozd C++ is permitted to have legacy functionality which was thought to be useful at one time.  After all, that's why "auto" was a reserved keyword before we repurposed it.


What denomination of Christianity did Anne Boleyn believe in?

Question: It is agreed upon by historians that Henry VIII's second wife Anne was a reformist against the Roman Catholic Church during the Tudor period. But what sect of Christianity did she favor in particular as the ruling religion in the church of England?
Comment: The title could be improved : you believe in God, Christ and so on as a Christian, you follow one of the denomination.
Answer: Ann Boleyn and her brother, George, were executed in 1536.  It appears that her family had taken a great interest in the early writings of Martin Luther, some of which he translated.
Though there were a number of protestant sects by 1530, the reform movement of John Calvin was not yet in existence, nor were Anglicans, Presbyterians, or most other modern denominations.  This does not necessarily make Anne Boleyn a Lutheran, for that would have required a Lutheran Church, which was lacking in England.
Comment: Tyndale was executed in Vilvoorde (now in Flemish Brabant in Belgium) by the Hapsburg Imperial and Catholic authorities, not by Henry VIII of England
Comment: Earlier she had been very interested in the writings of Tyndale (later executed by Henry), which mixed religion and politics and seemed to point a way for Henry to have sovereign power over the church rather than vice versa.  https://www.theanneboleynfiles.com/anne-boleyn-william-tyndale-henry-viii/
Comment: Tyndale's thought was closer to Zwingli and the other Swiss reformers than it was to Luther's.
Comment: Trust @Henry to know who henry had executed.


What happens if I double Meddling Mage's 'enter the battlefield' trigger?

Question: Let's say I play Meddling Mage while I have Panharmonicon out. What happens? Do I get to name two cards that can not be cast? Or does the second card I name overwrite the first one?
Answer: Nothing happens; you can't double Meddling Mage's 'enter the battlefield' trigger since it doesn't have one.
But then... what is the thing that happens as the Mage enters the battlefield? Well, it's a replacement effect:

614.1c Effects that read "[This permanent] enters the battlefield with . . . ," "As [this permanent] enters the battlefield . . . ," or "[This permanent] enters the battlefield as . . . " are replacement effects.

while triggered abilities are always worded differently (at least in Oracle, but Meddling Mage is modern enough):

603.1. Triggered abilities have a trigger condition and an effect. They are written as "[When/Whenever/At] [trigger condition or event], [effect]. [Instructions (if any).]"

The rulings below Panharmonicon also note this:

Abilities that apply "as [this creature] enters the battlefield," such as choosing a creature to copy with Clone, are unaffected.

In most Magic games, the difference between these kind of replacement effects and triggered abilities can be neglected, but not in this particular case. Another difference is that after Meddling Mage starts to resolve and it's on the battlefield 'banning' a specific card, nobody gets priority so you can't sneak in a final casting of the named card - you'd have to do so while the Mage is still on the stack.
Comment: The wording is a shorthand for the more usual form of a replacement effect: "If [this permanent] would enter the battlefield, instead it enters the battlefield and you choose a cardname as it enters the battlefield."
Comment: Interesting. 614.1 claims that replacement effects "completely or partially replace the event with a different event", which is obviously not true since Meddling Mage does enter the battlefield.
Comment: @Fax The new event that it is replaced with is "choosing a name as it enters the battlefield". This replaces "it enters the battlefield".
Answer: Glorfindel's answer correctly covers the case of Meddling Mage and Panharmonicon, but to answer what happens if you did manage to choose two different card names for a similar ability:
This could either happen if the first ability actually were a triggered ability instead of a replacement effect; or if there were some replacement effect (which does not exist on any actual Magic cards) such as "if you would choose a card name, choose two card names instead".
If you did choose 2 different card names with such an ability, the second ability would refer to either of the card names; and your opponent would be unable to cast cards with either name.
The 2 abilities printed on Meddling Mage are called linked abilities:

Linked Abilities

607.1. An object may have two abilities printed on it such that one of them causes actions to be taken or objects or players to be affected and the other one directly refers to those actions, objects, or players. If so, these two abilities are linked: the second refers only to actions that were taken or objects or players that were affected by the first, and not by any other ability.

And more specifically:

607.2d If an object has an ability printed on it that causes a player to "choose a [value]" and an ability printed on it that refers to "the chosen [value]," "the last chosen [value]," or similar, those abilities are linked. The second ability refers only to a choice made as a result of the first ability.

In the case of Meddling Mage; the second ability is referring to any card name that was chosen by the first ability.
Note that certain cards such as Shapeshifter use the phrase "the last chosen" instead of just "the chosen"; to differentiate abilities where you would not be able to get the second ability to apply to multiple choices made by the first ability.
Comment: There does not appear to be any examples that involve naming a card (or making a choice other than a specific object); Isochron Scepter and other Imprint cards are similar; but because there are other rules dealing specifically with "the exiled card" wording; I don't want to use those.


In biochemistry, when do rate constant units matter in calculating free energy changes?

Question: In my experience, it is always been the ratio of products to reactants that mattered, so as long as your units are consistent; what they are doesn't matter. However, an in-class problem today required that the units be changed to molar (M) from millimolar (mM). Can you summarize when/why this matters in some cases, but not in others?
Answer: $K$ should be a unitless value. Otherwise, you'd get a nonsensical unit when you try to take the log of the unit. Each component of the product $K$ is usually an activity, which is frequently similar in value to the molar concentration, or a fugacity, which is frequently similar in value to the partial pressure of a gas.
Comment: IUPAC permits the "equilibrium constant" to have units https://goldbook.iupac.org/html/E/E02177.html , but not the "standard equilibrium constant"  https://goldbook.iupac.org/html/S/S05915.html
Comment: Good clarification to have. Though converting to a free energy with units is ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
Answer: If the equilibrium constant is defined as a ratio of quantities having units (concentrations, partial pressures, molalities), then unless the sum of the exponents in the numerator happens to equal the sum of the exponents in the denominator, the units matter.


Torque kgcm (what is kgcm)?

Question: I know what torque is but I find difficult to understand what Torque: 3kgcm means ?
I am not sure, how much weight that motor can carry, and I want to know how I can calculate that.
Please give me some hints :)
Comment: kilogram-centimeters?
Comment: More likely the maximum torque it can produce is (the force exerted on a 1 kg mass in a 1 g gravitational field) x (1 cm). Why they didn't use proper units is unclear, but many many people mix up mass with weight.
Comment: kg.cm should really be written as kgF.cm (kilograms-force . centimetres). kg is a measure of mass, kgF is a measure of force.
Comment: "I know what torque is" - you do? Think again... :-)
Comment: kg-cm is an abuse of metric, since kg is not a unit of force. changing it to 'kgF.cm' is an improvement, but the proper unit of force is the Newton ( = kg m /s^2), torque should be measured in Nm (newton-meter).  1 N-m = 0.7376 foot-lbf.
Comment: The torque 3 kg-cm depends what planet you are on.   On the surface of Jupiter, for example, it is a lot of torque.  On the surface of Phobos, it is not very much.  And if you are in space with your propulsion and warp drive turned off, it is no torque at all.
Comment: Yeap I got that, but is mining of that that that this motor can in theory carry max 3kg ?
Comment: There are still ways to make it more confusing, for example, the "kilo" and the "centi" could be combined to "deka", giving us "dagm" as the new unit.
Answer: Torque is a measure of "twisting force".
Power is a measure of twisting force x speed.
Torque is usually expressed as a Force x a distance
So for the same Torque if you double the distance you halve the force to get the same answer.
So kg.cm is kg force x centimetre distance.
In fact kg is a unit of mass and not of force BUT kg is sloppily used as unit of force in many cases.
Other torque units include foot-pound, Newton-metre, dyne-centimeter (!) ...
In your case 3 kg.cm means that a "force" of 3 kg acting at a radius of 1 cm would produce the same amount of torque as your motor.
Equally that could be 0.1 kg x 30 cm, or 10 kg x 0.3 cm or ...
FWIW - kg is a unit of mass and Newton the corresponding unit of force.
Where the "weight" of 1 kg = g Newton where g = 9.8 m/s/s.
Close enough g = 10 here so 1 kg weighs 10 Newton.
BUT pound IS in fact a unit of force.
The corresponding unit of mass is the Slug where
1 Slug weighs ~32 pounds force.
You will not find people selling vegetables by the slug, or by the Newton :-).
A Newton glass of beer is about 4 ounces.
A useful approximation

Power in Watts ~= kg.m torgue x RPM

This is just happenstance as various constants cancel almost exactly but it is extremely useful. Accurate to about 1%.
So in your case 3 kg.cm = 0.03 kg.m
So the power that your motor makes at a given RPM at this torque is
Power = 0.03 x RPM Watts.
ie about 30 Watts at 1000 RPM at 3 kg.cm torque.

I have spent many long hours playing with dynamometers while developing alternator brakes and controllers to act as loads for exercise equipment.
The approximation

Watts = kg.m.RPM ......was a useful approximation to remember.
Comment: It may be helpful to note that while the units for torque and work may appear similar, the force and distance vectors related to torque are always perpendicular, while those for work are always parallel.  Torque is the cross product of the force and a distance vector between the applied force and the pivot point, and is thus a vector; work is the dot product of the force on an object and a distance vector representing its motion; it is thus a directionless quantity.
Comment: @JonRB My original formula is correct. You have perhaps missed g (9.8 m/s/s) on the top line which ~~= cancels with your 10. || Power ~= Kg.m torque x RPM. || Real power = F x d /time = kg x g x 2 Pi x R x RPM/60 = (kg.R. RPM) x (2.g.Pi/60) and 2.g.Pi ~~= 60.   Yes? || The Power ~= kg.m.RPM works very nicely and I have used it extensively.
Comment: Actually it's not a good idea to measure goods by weight as weight per mass is not a constant (not only compared on different celestial bodies but also on different locations on earth): 10N of vegetables near the equator have more mass than 10N of vegetables near the poles.
Comment: @Curd Usually :-). Note the "not for trade" labels on many spring based weighing systems and the use of ratiometric weight against unit weight weighing systems to cancel out g variations. The situation is worse on the Moon due to Masscons - but there are liable to be greater concerns there. I think the distinction is made as well in the above as it's liable to be in the circumstances. For extra points argue for or against expressing rocket motor fuel efficiency term "Specific Impulse" in 'seconds'. To do this you need to cancel lbf with lbm (or kgf with kgm or other unit of your choice) :-).
Comment: watt = kg.m.RPM/10    is a useful approximation since P = Tw (not T rpm) and w <=> RPM is a factor if pi/30 = 0.104719 ~ 0.1 for quick calcs
Answer: A motor with 1 kg.cm torque is capable of holding a 1 kg weight at a radial distance of 1 cm.
Here is a diagram to explain.

Torque is the cross-product of force and distance: \$ \tau =  F \times d \$. So the same weight, at twice the radial distance, will require double the torque.

Note that the measurement 'kgcm' is 'kilograms-force × centimetres' and would be clearer if written as \$ kg_F.cm \$, which avoids confusion between kg (mass) and \$ kg_F \$ (force.)
The \$ kg_F \$ unit is not used for engineering work any more because \$ 1 kg_F \$ is defined as the force on a 1 kg weight in 'standard Earth sea-level gravity', but no-one can agree on a precise value for 'standard Earth sea-level gravity'. Plus, it's not a very intuitive unit when you aren't on Earth.
The SI unit of N.m, which doesn't depend on the exact value of Earth gravity, is preferred instead.
Comment: What planet are we talking about-- Jupiter, or Luna?
Comment: @richard1941 Your concerns are addressed further on in the answer. *"The kgF unit is not used for engineering work any more because 1kgF is defined as the force on a 1 kg weight in 'standard Earth sea-level gravity'..."*
Comment: The diagrams make it so much easier to understand.
Comment: @Li-aung Yip, how is the weight stationary in the second case? Wouldn't the torque be higher than the force due to the 1kg mass? So the weight would actually move up, right?
Answer: kgcm would be kilogram-centimeters, the motor is very old or the manufacturer does not like SI units. Anyway, 1kgcm is 0.09807Nm.
The weight that your motor will be able to lift will depend on how big the pulley is. If the pulley is 2cm diameter (1cm radius) the motor will be able to lift 3kg. If the pulley is 20cm, the motor will be able to lift ~300g.
If you want to lift more than that, you need a gearbox that reduces the speed, but increases the torque.
Comment: Huh.  I thought kgcm was the way the world was going now.  I keep seeing it pop up everywhere these days.  I used to see more Nm, but that seems to be fading away.
Comment: @BrianKnoblauch - well, with SI insisting that 1024 bytes must be called a kibbidibibidibibibyte, I feel I must insist on newton-meters. =)
Comment: Thanks, I understand better now, now I need to calculate stuff for my wheels :)
Comment: Nothing against NM, I prefer it.  It just seems to be fading away from what I've seen.
Comment: I'm also seeing 'kg-cm' - in a servo spec most recently - but it's still just plain wrong. Confusion between mass and force in the imperial measurements is not mitigated at all by making the same error in metric, where there are distinct units for these.
Decades ago, I owned a torque wrench, the scale was calibrated in "foot pounds" and "metric kilograms". Never even tried to figure out what that was supposed to be. I've also seen oil pressure gauges in "kg/cm^2". Arggg. That's a measure of fertilizer application rate, not pressure.
Comment: Also, there may be a limitation on the amount of force the motor bearing can support.  It may have nothing to do with the torque generated by magnetic fields inside the motor.
Answer: Torque is a measure of force times distance. Think of turning a nut with a wrench: the further out the wrench you pull, the easier it is to turn the nut. This is because the same force, further out the handle, gives higher torque, because it has to apply that same force over a longer movement distance to do the work. A gearbox also uses the same principle, it's a way to exchange distance from center for distance of movement to step up the torque.
US units are dumb, because they use the same unit ("pound") for both force and mass, even though they are different. SI units are better, because they use one unit (kilograms) for mass, and another unit (Newtons) for force. A kilogram of mass will typically exert 9.81 Newtons towards the center of the Earth under normalized gravity (varying depending on where you are.)
I've seen a lot of motors with torque expressed in kgcm, and I don't quite understand why that is. Perhaps someone translated pound-inches (or the 12 times stronger foot-pounds) and used the wrong destination unit at some point, and the convention stuck. In countries that use real SI units, you want torque in Newton-meters, and if you have small stepper motors or whatnot, you may get Newton-centimeters.
So, can your motor hold 3 kg? Yes, if the distance between the center of the axle, and the center of mass it's holding, projected along the axis of gravity to the plane of the axle, is 1 cm or less. If the distance between center of driveshaft and center of mass is longer, then you need a gearbox, or a lighter load, or a stronger motor.
Comment: torque actually the cross product, work is the scalar product
Comment: In engineering work, when dealing with pounds, it's common to use lbf and lbm to distinguish force and mass, so torque is actually in ft-lbf. Failing to make this distinction results in abominations like torque in 'kg-cm' and pressure in 'kg/cm^2'. So when faced with a torque spec given in  oz-in and kg-cm, you have a choice between the one with a vague unit (oz) and the one with incorrect dimensions (kg instead of N). Not a good situation, I wish people would use metric correctly.
Comment: US units are dumb because we got them from ... .  Actually, everything in science and electrical engineering here is metric, and our money is decimal
Comment: FWIW - the "US" unit of mass is the Slug, which has a mass of   which weighs g lbs or about 32 lbs in a "standard" gravity field.
Answer: The best way I use to test stepper motors is just using a known diameter pulley, hold the motor in the corner of the table with a vise, wrap a wire in the pulley and tie a container (plastic small bucket) at the end of the wire, run the motor to move the bucket up and down while slowly applying weight into the bucket until the motor could not lift it anymore. Normally I use screws, bolts, nuts, heavy metal parts as weight. When the motor stalls, I remove some until the motor is able to lift the bucket again. The total weight (kg) of the bucket multiplied by the radius (cm) of the pulley, badabim, there is the torque of the motor in kgf-cm.  Also, by doing that you can test different ways to drive the motor, with PWM or microstepping, and see different torque responses from the motor.
Answer: There is nothing "sloppy" about using kg/pound/ounce/gram for both mass and force simultaneously as long as you recall that torque is rotational.
A kilogram-meter torque can move (twist) a kilogram held at a fixed radius of 1 meter (or half that at 2 meters). A pound-foot torque can move (twist) a pound held at fixed radius of 1 foot (or half that at 2 feet). An ounce-inch torque can move (twist) an ounce held at a fixed radius of 1 inch (or half that at 2 inches).
All of the units of torque: kg.cm, lb.ft, oz.in, g.cm can all very easily be thought of as the amount of torque needed to move a point mass of the stated weight on the edge of a disc being spun by the motor that has the torque rating. Rather than the example of suspending the mass above, think of the mass on the edge of the disc going around as the motor drives the disc around. Not all motors can move all masses on these discs. Only the motor whose torque is equal to the mass times the radius of the disc can be moved. If a 3 kg mass is at one point on the perimeter of a disc of radius r cm, then in order for that disc to be turned, the motor must have a torque of 3r kg.cm.
Comment: Yes, it's sloppy. kg is not a unit of force. lbf is a unit of force (which converts to N). lbm is a unit of mass (which converts to kg).  Confusing those two is sloppy too (but happens all the time).
As @Transistor has pointed out, your entire discussion assumes that standard gravity is acting in a tangential direction, which is only true if the axis of the wheel is horizontal and the 3 kg mass is at the point where it is moving up. The advantage of stating the torque (properly) in terms of force, is that you can easily apply the calculation to other situations (force due to a spring, e.g.)
Comment: Is the last sentence correct? For a horizontal (ideal, frictionless) disc any load could be turned with any torque. The _acceleration_ would be proportional to the torque, would it not?
Answer: If you are having problems because of the metric unit, then changing them to English units might help.  As a "first approximation," a kg = 2 lb, and 2.5 cm = 1 in.  So 3kgcm would be (3 x 2) / 2.5  = 2.4 lb-in.  If you use a 2in diameter pulley, you would be able to exert/hold a 2.4 lb force.

Torque kgcm (what is kgcm)?


Water damaged door casing repair

Question: Our laundry room recently flooded with some water and the door casings have swelled at the very bottoms . They are MDF. I'm hoping to not have to remove them. Can I scrape the paint, sand and repaint? I've included pictures
Answer: The MDF has swelled and now is most likely mush, or dried mush ready to fall apart. The paint is holding it on.
You can get a wood chisel and try to shave off just what has been ruined by the water. Then fill it smooth with a hard setting filler like Durhams Rock Hard  Then sand and paint.
<code>              Or better
</code>
Cut out the damaged area and replace it with new wood.
<code>            Or Best
</code>
Replace all the casing with finger jointed wood or even PVC molding, and you will not have an issue if there is flooding again.

Water damaged door casing repair


What is the most resource hungry Linux distribution?

Question: Trying to find the Linux distribution with the highest system requirements? What is the most demanding of all the Linux OS according to the published minimum specifications of each distro? Based on default graphical installation.
Comment: Your question is a bit vague. What is highest system requirements? Example: RHEL 7 is available only for 64 bit systems whereas SLES 12 is available for 32 bit and 64 bit systems. Which one has the highest system requirements? In addition, some distros are dropping support for little used architecture (e.g. 486), but on those architecture it was anyway not possible to run Gnome Shell, whereas the same distro support Gnome Shell for high end systems. I guess you need to reformulate your question.
Answer: Very interesting question. Usually everyone's goal is to make his distribution as lighter as it can be. Also i think there is no big difference between the different distributions base installation, as most of them use more or less the same things (graphical interface, linux core, file system etc.). So to give you some sort of answer I will give you some numbers according to the most used distro websites:
Debian:

Recommended system requirements are 1GHz processor, 512MB memory, 5GB hard-drive.

Ubuntu

Recommended system requirements are 800MB memory, 1GHz processor, and 5GB hard-drive.

Linux Mint

Recommended system requirements are 1GHz processor, 1GB memory, and 10GB hard-drive

Fedora

Recommended system requirements are 1GB memory and 10GB hard-drive

As you can see all of listed above require more or less the same resources. You can find pretty good article(and more complete list) here: Click
Comment: The answer is highly subjective; the distros are pretty much the same thing, and the distinction between Debian and Ubuntu is suspect as they derive from the same code base. At the end of the day it boils down to what you install and use. I have servers using from 30MB of memory to other application servers using 16GB of memory. In the past I standardised in a 2GB OS base partition, nowadays I feel more comfortable with 5GB, with setups having at minimum 300MB of installed software. (...)
Comment: Thanks Svetlin, a good list. Although I would have assumed there is a "bleeding edge/always running latest" tech distro out there. It is the most demanding based on the default graphical installation of the distro I am looking for.
Comment: Each distro have "bleeding edge/always running latest tech"  version. For example on debian if you switch to unstable repository you will always get newest and latest releases, yet that does not means it consumes most resources. If you are looking for best looking graphics my personal choice is gnome-shell: https://www.gnome.org/gnome-3/
Comment: @flint781 there are a few bleeding edge distros, but none that particularly stand out as what you are looking for (I'm actually hoping to make one though). These would include Arch and Gentoo, always pretty much bleeding edge. And Sabayon which is based on gentoo but doesn't require you to compile everything the same way gentoo does (so best of both arch and gentoo, and ships with an out of the box desktop environment unlike these other two) that might be what you are looking for.
Answer: Everyone had every different expectation of the Linux distributions.  I believe you are looking at the memory usage and disk space.  I had installed many different distributions Slackware, Gentoo, Ubuntu, RedHat, CentOS, Knoppix, and PuppyLinux.
Consider the scenario you compile the kernel yourself, and turn on all the kernel modules.  Then the system memory will grow very fast, as you have enabled many features.  Due to the modules and the applications installed, the disk space requirement will grow as well.
A more layman answer would be the more features you enabled, more memory and more disk space will be required.
From personal experience, PuppyLinux had the lowest memory and disk space requirement.  You just have to try whether it fits your needs.
See
kernel modules and puppy Linux
Answer: I would shoot for a KDE based distro like OpenSUSE or Kubuntu. KDE is probably the heaviest desktop environment.
Requirements for SUSE:

Pentium* 4 1.6 GHz or higher processor (Pentium 4 2.4 GHz or higher or any AMD64 or Intel64 processor recommended)
Main memory: 1 GB physical RAM (2 GB recommended)
Hard disk: 3 GB available disk space for a minimal install, 5 GB available for a graphical desktop (more recommended)
Sound and graphics cards: supports most modern sound and graphics cards, 800 x 600 display resolution (1024 x 768 or higher recommended)
Booting from DVD drive or USB-Stick for installation, or support for booting over network (you need to setup PXE by yourself, look also at PXE boot installation) or an existing installation of openSUSE, more information at Installation without CD

Oh no wait, I got it.
Qubes OS is most likely the most resource hungry distribution. https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/system-requirements/
Minimum Requirements:

64-bit Intel or AMD processor (x86_64 aka x64 aka AMD64)
4 GB RAM
32 GB disk space
legacy boot mode (UEFI not supported yet)

But that distro is pretty specialized (it's based on a security through compartmentalization approach, and it prioritizes security over convenience, so it's VMs don't even support hardware accelerations; and yes it runs all programs inside VMs which is why it is pretty damn hungry)
However, seems like the OP was looking for the distro that is most bleeding edge, so I'd like to include that Sabayon is probably what he is looking for. It ships with the latest KDE packages, and the latest packages of everything else in general, it is gentoo based and doesn't seem to mind stressing the hardware a little. It is also one of the few distros that seems to make gaming a priority and ships with proprietary drivers (or at least I think they do; they at least don't make them hard to install like some distros >_> (I'm looking at you, mint!))


Right time to reach professors requesting to be my guide in Ph. D

Question: I am completing my masters in a few months, and going for a job. I want to pursue my doctorate after 3-4 years of working. Is it better to speak with professors now, if they want to be my guide once I come back? Or better to reach them when I finally decide to come back to the university and start preparing for the entrance exam for Ph.D. ? (That is a few years from now).
Comment: I don't see any downside doing it as early as possible.  It's probably too far off for them to make a final decision, but you can clarify if they are interested and potential issues.
Answer: Even if you don't want to work with them in the future, or change your mind one way or another, it is good to reach out while you still have an active connection to them. If nothing else, you will want letters of recommendation from them and it is all too easy for a professor to lose track of you over a few years. They have other students they are more actively thinking about after even a couple of years.
If you speak to them (preferable to writing) you can also ask what you might do in the interim to increase your chances of success in a doctoral program.
Note that in some places a professor might have little to say about graduate admissions (US, in particular, where it is a committee decision). But you still want to prepare them for a future ask. A wise professor will keep some notes about you, or even preemptively write a LoR and file it for future use so they don't forget details that might help.
I've been in that situation as a professor and had to ask the student to remind me of a few interactions we had to jog my memory.
No one, of course, will agree now to admit you in 3-4 years as things will likely change. They might not even be around then for various reasons.
Answer: No harm in engaging with your current supervisor about this as you have that connection already. They may also provide advice about things you can keep in mind while working, and what to do when ready to start your PhD. So for that reason, I'd recommend talking with them now than after 3-4 years working without contact.
Comment: My current supervisor is a good person, but he is retiring in a few years, so i am thinking, he will not be here once I come back. But yes, good suggestion, I can always seek advice from him on this regard.


Error while exporting to unity

Question: I am relatively new in blender, I learned how to use it last week so I am pretty much a noob. After finishing a character (incluiding the animations)that I was making for unity, when I exported it, it just got completely messed up and all the parts were ditributed everywhere. looking at my blender character I notice this orange points everywhere and I think this had something to do with the problem. Is this fixable? shall I start from 0? Help please
Comment: Those orange dots are origin points check your outliner to see what they are and delete them if they are not needed, maybe you have objects in your scene without any mesh detail it's just like an empty object since your new to Blender maybe accidentally created these during the modeling process.
Comment: Looks like you might have repositioned the meshes in edit mode and the object's origin stayed where you originally created them. You can move the origin to the correct position, you don't need to start from scratch.
Answer: Object > Origin > Origin to geometry. The orange dots are the center of your mesh, but need to actually be where the center of the mesh is. Credit to the people in the comments.

Error while exporting to unity


Cant download any other app

Question: My ocean t1 can't install any app except Facebook and whatsapp.
It says i have insufficient memory every time i try to install another app yet it has RAM of 1.1GB and ROM 8GB
I wonder why?
Comment: Welcome to Android Enthusiasts! Have you already checked with our [insufficient-memory tag-wiki](/tags/insufficient-memory/info)?
Answer: If it's about installing, then ram got nothing to do with it. If it was about opening after installing, then yes, ram could be a problem. You mentioned that you had 8 GB of space, which I could see be the problem. 8 GB space is just not enough today. Even 16 gb struggles to barely install some apps after the OS has been installed.

Cant download any other app


DACPAC Deployment Rebuilding All Indexes

Question: I'm in process of deploying a DACPAC provided by our ISV.  The DACPAC is rebuilding every index in the database.  We're testing in a Lab now, however, this will create a significant impact to our maintenance window when we move into production.  Is anybody aware how I can skip this index rebuild process in the DACPAC deployment?
Answer: The most likely reason this is happening is because there are different options / settings on the indexes in the model (the dacpac file) and the target (your actual database).  The deployment, by default, will rebuild the index with the new options to get the target to match the model.
There are two deployment options you can enable to avoid this.  I would try them one at a time to see which one is causing the rebuild:
/p: IgnoreIndexOptions=True
/p: IgnoreLockHintsOnIndexes=True

There are two more options that ignore index-related things (IgnoreFillFactor and IgnoreIndexPadding).  These are enabled by default, but you might want to check and make sure your publish process isn't explicitly setting them to False.


Is it true that by doing chairty one can get rid of his sin?

Question: Is it true that by doing charity (giving daan) one can get rid of his sin ?
Answer: Yes it's true.

Manu Smriti 11.227. By confession, by repentance, by austerity, and by
reciting (the Veda) a sinner is freed from guilt, and in case no
other course is possible, by liberality.

Similar verse from Baudhayana Dharma Sutras (from here):

Baudhāyana (Do.).—'Abandonment, Austerity, Charity, Repentance,
Proclaiming the deed, Devotion to Learning, and Bath,—these are the
seven factors in the destruction of Sin.'

So by liberality or charity one get rid of their sins.
In Kali Yuga making gifts is even more effective and according to some scriptures the foremost method. Tula Purusha is an effective method of getting rid of one's sins through charity. See this answer -- https://hinduism.stackexchange.com/a/17008/4732
Comment: Suppose the parents have given their child some money then that wealth no longer belongs to the parents it's owner is the child. Now if the child donates that money to the needy then he earns Punya and destroys sins by doing so. @Hope
Comment: In that case one needs to consult a Punditji who can tell donating exactly what will be equivalent to those penances. @Hope Highly meritorious gifts are those where land, gold, cows,maiden daughter (in marriage) etc. are gifted.
Comment: 1) If a child/teenager donates from parent's money, parents are freed of sins or child. Same question for age old people who don't earn 2) let's suppose there is a bad sin(not great sin like crimes) , one commits it now he/she leave it forever but don't do prayyachit recommend by smritis but just donates whole heartedly. Can he consider him free from sin??
Comment: Please answer second question like a person is recommend Prājāpatya' penance, santapam penance or any xyz penance but he doesn't do it and leave that bad act forever and just do charity (but not that penance). Is he free from sin????


Preventing new NVRAM areas from being defined in a TPM

Question: Is there anyway to prevent new NVRAM areas from being defined on a TPM until the next reboot (similar to power-cycle types of protection)? The reason I ask is because firmware could check for NVRAM areas at certain hard-coded indices at boot and these could conceivably modify its operation. An example would be the FWMP in Chromebooks.
Answer: To clear an NV index or define a new one, you need to have access to the owner auth data. If you control this data, then you control the erase and write portions of the TPM's NV storage. The access controls for reading NV data are established when each NV index is defined. If the index is defined to require owner auth to read, then that is what the TPM will enforce.
The TPM is the sole authority over its NV storage, but it doesn't really care about its contents. (There is NV space used by the TPM for internal purposes, such as the storage of the private endorsement and storage root keys, but this portion of the NV is not exposed to the TPM owner or user.) The TPM does not read, write, delete, or modify anything in NV without explicitly being requested to do so. Anything in the OS that works with TPM NV needs to be TPM-aware. The TPM's NV is not treated like other forms of non-volatile storage that an OS has at its disposal.
Comment: I understand that the TPM doesn't care about an NVRAM area's contents, but I am asking if there is some setting that would prevent new NVRAM areas from being defined, like a one that prevents them from being defined until the next power-up. Is the owner authorization data necessary? What I want to use an all-zero owner password. Is there a way to stop it from being defined then? If one does have the owner password, then could they release an NVRAM area that has the `PPWRITE` permission when physical presence has been locked?


Basis of polynomial vector space with conditions

Question: I understand that the monomial basis proposed in this answer: $\{1,x,x^2,x^3,\ldots,x^n\}$ spans a regular polynomial vector space, but what process would I use to create a basis when there is additional criteria regarding the polynomials? I.e. how would I construct the basis of a vector space of polynomials of degree 3 or less where $p(1) = p(-2)$?
Comment: Hint, if $p(x)$ is such a polynomial then $p(x) - p(1)$ has zeros at $x = 1$, $x = -2$, so you can factor it in the form $q(x) (x-1)(x+2)$.
Comment: No, I don't think it has to include all polynomials of degree $3$ or less.  Just all polynomials $p(x)$ of degree $3$ or less such that $p(1) = p(-2)$.
Comment: Do you mean that $p(1) = p(-2)$ for every $p$ from the basis? If that is the case then I believe it is impossible. Indeed, if the equation holds for every polynomial in the basis then it must hold for every polynomial of degree 3 or less, but we know that it is not true for, among others, $p(x) = x$.
Comment: @blamocur How do you know $p(x) = x$ is in the span? As you show, it cannot be.
Comment: @JairTaylor because $x$ has degree 3 or less, and the span of the basis is supposed to include all polynomials of degree 3 or less.
Answer: If $p(x) = a_0+a_1x+a_2x^2+a_3x^3$ is a such polynomial, then $$\begin{align}
a_0+a_1+a_2+a_3 &= p(1) \\
&= p(-2) = a_0-2a_1+4a_2-8a_3,
\end{align}$$ which is equivalent to $3a_1-3a_2+9a_3=0$, or $a_2=a_1+3a_3$. Hence $$\begin{align}
p(x) &= a_0+a_1x+(a_1+3a_3)x^2+a_3x^3 \\
&= a_0 \color{red}1 + a_1\color{red}{(x+x^2)} + a_3 \color{red}{(3x^2+x^3)}.
\end{align}$$ Thus, we see that every polynomial $p(x)$ with $p(1)=p(-2)$ is a linear combination of the polynomials $1$, $x+x^2$ and $3x^2+x^3$. One can easily verify that these two indeed form a basis for that vector space (i.e. they are linearly independent).
Comment: For anyone wondering the so-referred to easy verification, your best bet is probably to use repeated differentiation.
Answer: Using @Jair Taylor's hint:
If $p(x)$ is a polynomial that is in $V$, we can "shift" the function down so that $p(1)$ and $p(-2)$, would be zeroes, i.e. $p(x) - p(1)$ or equivalently $p(x) - p(-2)$. This can then be factored into the form: $q(x)(x - 1)(x + 2)$ so then
$p(x) = q(x)(x - 1)(x + 2) + p(1)$,
which is a set of polynomials (of degree 3 or less) spanned by:
$\{(x - 1)(x + 2), x(x - 1)(x + 2), 1\}$
Answer: 1 will also come in the basis because, p(x) =C also satisfy the condition. Therefore all constant polynomial will come in the span. Here dimension of basis will be 3.


Log in without password using SSH, knowing authorized_keys?

Question: During a pentest, I was able to get the contents of authorized_keys file which has a single client's entry. So, can I generate a private key using the public key from this file, and login to the server using this pair? If yes, how to do that? As this public key in the file is encrypted using a passphrase, I will have to use John the ripper (JTR) to extract the pass first. Is my thought flow correct? Could you please let me know how to use JTR for this?
Comment: I don't mean this to come across as snarky, but I think you should take a moment to think about what "public" means in "public key." Then you will have your answer.
Answer: You cannot generate a private key from a public key. That's the whole point of public-key cryptography.
The public key is not encrypted. Even if you don't understand what the numbers do, they're in a form that's ready to use. No password is involved. (Private keys are often encrypted with a password, but you don't have a private key.)
Having the contents of authorized_keys will not help you log into the machine. The only consequence it might have is on the user's privacy, since it tells you something about who is allowed to log into this acccount.
Comment: Maybe you can change your sentence to include the case where the cryptographic primitives are not met. Indeed in some specific case when the crypto is wrong/weak you can actually recover private key from public key (e.g. for rsa if you use too small primes p & q)
Comment: @Whysmerhill Any crypto can be broken if you do it wrong. As breakable keys are not a common occurrence with SSH today, I don't think it's relevant to mention it in my answer.
Answer: If anyone comes across this situation, it is actually possible to brute force and find the keys with the help of authorized_keys file, but the system should be using  very old ssh library.
Refer (CVE-2008-0166) https://github.com/g0tmi1k/debian-ssh for more details.
Comment: That is ONLY for Debian based system generated keys that have been generated by one of the affected versions of ssh-keygen. Basically the keygen was broken by only having a small number of possible settings for the PRNG. You can test if your keys are affected by this and reissue them if needed!
Comment: What matters is where the keys were generated, not what the system is using. Keys generated by the broken Debian ssh have pretty much disappeared nowadays.


Bookdown gitbook only generating 1 page (can't navigate to view other pages)

Question: I've been having trouble building a bookdown book into Gitbook. I downloaded the bookdown-demo, opened the RStudio project, and used the Build Pane to build all formats.
This appears to generate the PDF and EPUB outputs with no issues, but the navigation bar in the Gitbook don't work and all I can see are the book's cover page. The links appear to be anchor links, but when clicked on, there are no changes to what is displayed. Also, there are no links at the bottom of the content for me to navigate forward and backwards. This is the same in both the RStudio viewer and in my browser when I open the /_book/bookdown-demo.html file in Chrome. Only 1 .html file is generated, rather than 1 per chapter, which is supposed to be default. I've tried changing the self_contained back and forth between true and false, but that doesn't seem to affect my results.
I've gone through the documentation multiple times and it sounds like it should be easy enough. Am I missing something? Please help.
EDIT: I am able to build the Gitbook with no issues on Windows, but cannot build it successfully on my Mac. On my Mac, I get the following warning message:
Output created: _book/bookdown-demo.html
Warning messages:
1: In split_chapters(output, gitbook_page, number_sections, split_by,  :
You have 7 Rmd input file(s) but only 0 first-level heading(s). Did you forget
first-level headings in certain Rmd files?
2: The label(s) intro, methods not found

Answer: Silly me. I wasn't using the dev version of bookdown. I've now installed the dev version and it works fine.


What does teaching of nicolaitans mean...?

Question: In revelation 2:6
"yet this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the nicolaitans,which i also hate"
What are the teachings and deeds of nicolaitans ?.
Comment: It is noteworthy that false doctrine is not expressed in detail in scripture. No platform is given to, first, describe false doctrine, then to counter it. Expressing false doctrine in detail is, in effect, propagating that false doctrine.
Answer: Historically (prophetically) it appears to me that the meaning of 'Nicolaitans' in the context of the 7 local churches and in their use as 7 broad conditions or stages that the church consecutively goes through during the church age (that is, up to the end of the age, the last 3 1/2 years, and the Millenium), is the meaning of the word. 'Nico' is to conquer or dominate (Nike) and 'laitan' is laity or people. There's a common worldly practice (Rv 2:6) which God hates in His assembly, among His Body, that of 'clergy-laity,' where some 'professional' or simply dominant ones destroy the God-ordained mutuality of the assembly and its meetings (cf 3 Jn 9-11; 1 Cor 14). Apostles are not that. Elders/overseers are not that. It's neither Christ's nor the apostles' pattern. But it is the worldly 'dictatorship' model, that turns the church into a 'spectator sport.' Present in works in the very beginning of the church, it actually became a 'teaching' in Pergamos, the 'worldly assembly' in Rv 2:15. This is more than visible in church history.
There's no reason to suspect or blame Nicodemus or Nicolas for either this or any evil teaching
Answer: I really do not think I could explain this any better than Benson so I will simply quote from his notes on this text.

"The meaning here may be, either that, in addition to those who held
  the doctrine of Balaam, they had also another class who held the
  doctrine of the Nicolaitanes; or that the Nicolaitanes held the same
  doctrine, and taught the same thing as Balaam. If but one class is
  referred to, and it is meant that the Nicolaitanes held the doctrines
  of Balaam, then we know what constituted their teaching; if two
  classes of false teachers are referred to, then we have no means of
  knowing what was the uniqueness of the teaching of the Nicolaitanes.
  The more natural and obvious construction, it seems to me, is to
  suppose that the speaker means to say that the Nicolaitanes taught the
  same things which Balaam did - to wit, that they led the people into
  corrupt and licentious practices. This interpretation seems to be
  demanded by the proper use of the word "so" - οὕτως houtōs -
  meaning, "in this manner on this wise, thus"; and usually referring to
  what precedes. If this be the correct interpretation, then we have, in
  fact, a description of what the Nicolaitanes held, agreeing with all
  the accounts given of them by the ancient fathers. See the notes on
  Revelation 2:6. If this is so, also, then it is clear that the same
  kind of doctrines was held at Smyrna, at Pergamos, and at Thyatira
  Revelation 2:20, though mentioned in somewhat different forms. It is
  not quite certain, however, that this is the correct interpretation,
  or that the writer does not mean to say that, in addition to those who
  held the doctrine of Balaam, they had also another class of errorists
  who held the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes. 'Which thing I hate' - So,
  the common Greek text - ὅ μισῶ ho misō. But the best-supported
  reading, and the one adopted by Griesbach, Tittmann, and Hahn, is
  ὁμοίως homoiōs - 'in like manner'; that is, 'as Balak retained a
  false prophet who misled the Hebrews, so thou retainest those who
  teach things like to those which Balaam taught.'
  Blockquote


What's the best place to level up before the World of Ruin?

Question: I'm not to the World of Ruin yet and I want to level up, can anyone tell a good place to grind?
Comment: Do you really have to ask? It's usually the same process with any game. Find a place with enemies that gives high XP and preferably can be defeated with relative ease.  Or maybe mix in enemies that drop money or other valuables. Usually, it's the last area you were just in or if endgame, some highly inaccessible place.
Answer: Probably going to get the best XP gains right before you go to world of ruin, so that would be the Floating Continent, before you trigger the point of no return.


Stuck at "Updating Blizzard Update Agent" when installing World of Warcraft

Question: I've tried searching through most of the other posts on here about getting WoW to work, but most people say they can execute the .exe and have no problems loading the launcher. I also tried looking for the game in the Play on Linux database but it doesn't appear to exist anymore. I tried using a playonlinux script but that failed after selecting the .exe. How can I get WoW to run? It always gets stuck at the same spot 1/3 of the way finished with Updating Blizzard Update Agent" screen. I'm using Ubuntu 12.10.
Answer: Apparently, you can also install it through playonlinux. This answer seems appropriate: https://askubuntu.com/a/10782/48105.
Comment: This is much better, I did not see WoW in PoL when I was installing  it, probably because I was using the version in the repos.
Answer: Update to Wine 1.7. Follow the guide here: http://geebzor.com/tech/linux/wow-ubuntu-linux-wine/ Worked well for me!


What is causing the remote not to work properly when the light is connected up to the ceiling fan?

Question: I installed a 220v DC ceiling fan.  Prior to installing the LED light, I tested to ensure the fan motor worked with the remote control and it did at all speeds.  I hooked up the LED light as specified in the diagram (pretty easy, just snap the connectors together and screw down the plate). When I went back to the remote, it didn't work.  I have a wall power switch (nothing fancy just an off and on switch for power) that I turned off and then back on and then I pushed the light button on the remote and the light came on but I pushed the light off button on the remote and it didn't turn off.  So I went to turn the power switch off on the wall and then back on again.  I pushed the light off button on the remote again and this time the light went off (strange).  This also worked the same way with the fan speed.  I disconnected the light and I could operate the speed of the fan motor as well as turn it off and on with no problem.  Hooked back up the light and the remote went back to the somewhat non-functional way of not working like it suppose to. Thought it was the ceiling fan and swapped it out with a new one; same issue.  What is causing the remote not to work properly when the light is connected up to the ceiling fan?
Comment: What make / model is the fan? What are you using to convert to DC? Can you post pictures of the wiring, making sure all connections are clear?
Answer: I believe that when you installed the LED portion it covered up the radio receiver for the remote, which is as it was designed - you said you followed their instructions.
The only reason for it not to work right would be lack of reliable radio connection, esp if it works sometimes.
So first, try the remote right up near the fixture.  It should work better when it is closer.
Radio works by the inverse-square law, which means that as you double the distance it receives a quarter of the power from the transmitter.  As you triple the distance it receives 1/9 the power, and so forth.
So if it works close but not far away, I would say that is diagnostic of a weak battery in the transmitter.
Replace it and see how well it works then.
Enjoy your new fixture!


SharePoint Online Page Stats

Question: Can someone help me on my requests below. Please let me know if it's possible?

To be able to get the LifeTimeViews and LifeTimeUniqueViews for all the News posts in the News Webpart of the Homepage(/sites/Home) of our tenant.
To be able to get the "Views and Unique Views" for /sites/Home.aspx page month over month i.e., every month report for the last 180 days.

I would like to know if there is anyway I shall create a script that can get into Home site > News Webpart > All News Posts; and get the LifeTimeViews and LifeTimeUniqueViews properties of the All news posts particularly in that webpart.
*It's SharePoint Online Modern Sites.
*New Posts will be selected multiple SharePoint sites in our Tenant.
Answer: I don't think it's possible to achieve this.
SharePoint does not support customizing modern web part.

SharePoint Online Page Stats


openbsd pf squid transparent proxy using a bridge

Question: I want to use OpenBSD 5.7 as a filtering bridge in front of my router, and as part of that run a transparent proxy (squid 3.5.1) to manage web access. I have set up the openbsd machine as a bridge, and this works fine. However, I cannot get pf to divert web traffic to squid.
This is how my network looks
[Internet]
      |
      |
[OpenBSD]
      |
      |
  [       (Router)     ]
     |                 |
     |                 |
 [Wired Workstations]   [Wi-Fi]

Squid works correctly if I connect the OpenBSD machine to my network and manually configure a workstation to use it as a proxy. I have the following in my squid configuration to enable transparent interception
http_port 127.0.0.1:3129 tproxy

This is my pf configuration:
# internet facing
ext_if = "em1"

# internal facing
int_if = "em0"

#scrub provides a measure of protection against certain kinds of attacks based on incorrect handling of packet fragments
match in all scrub (no-df max-mss 1440)

# Prevent spoofing
antispoof log for $ext_if label "antispoof"

# Block anything coming form source we have no back routes for
block in log from no-route to any label "no back route"

# Proxy http
pass in quick on $int_if inet proto tcp to port www divert-to 127.0.0.1 port 3129
pass out quick from 127.0.0.1 divert-reply

pass in on $int_if
pass out on $int_if

pass in on $ext_if
pass out on $ext_if

Does anyone know why my divert-to rule doesn't work? I've looked in the logs
pass in quick on em0 inet proto tcp from any to any port = 80 flags S/SA divert-to 127.0.0.1 port 3129
  [ Evaluations: 36248     Packets: 544       Bytes: 355122      States: 29    ]
  [ Inserted: uid 0 pid 15666 State Creations: 29    ]

pass out quick inet from 127.0.0.1 to any flags S/SA divert-reply
      [ Evaluations: 72399     Packets: 0         Bytes: 0           States: 0     ]
      [ Inserted: uid 0 pid 15666 State Creations: 0     ]
I can see that the rule is 'working', however nothing shows up in the squid logs, and I can still access websites.  This is basically the rules recommended by the squid how to.  I've tried using this rule instead
pass in log quick on $int_if inet proto tcp from any to any port www rdr-to 127.0.0.1 port 3129

When I use this I see that the rule redirection occurs, however nothing shows up in the squid logs.  Also requests to websites time-out.
pass in log quick on em0 inet proto tcp from any to any port = 80 flags     S/SA rdr-to 127.0.0.1 port 3129
  [ Evaluations: 25213     Packets: 8         Bytes: 496         States: 1     ]

This is the output from ifconfig
ifconfig
lo0: flags=8049<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST> mtu 32768
    priority: 0
    groups: lo
    inet6 fe80::1%lo0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x4
    inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128
    inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 0xff000000
em0: flags=8b43<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,PROMISC,ALLMULTI,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
    lladdr 00:e8:4c:68:1a:f1
    priority: 0
    groups: egress
    media: Ethernet autoselect (1000baseT full-duplex,rxpause,txpause)
    status: active
em1: flags=8b43<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,PROMISC,ALLMULTI,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
    lladdr 00:e8:4c:68:1a:f2
    priority: 0
    media: Ethernet autoselect (100baseTX full-duplex,rxpause,txpause)
    status: active
enc0: flags=0<>
    priority: 0
    groups: enc
    status: active
bridge0: flags=41<UP,RUNNING>
    groups: bridge
    priority 32768 hellotime 2 fwddelay 15 maxage 20 holdcnt 6 proto rstp
    em0 flags=7<LEARNING,DISCOVER,BLOCKNONIP>
            port 1 ifpriority 0 ifcost 0
    em1 flags=7<LEARNING,DISCOVER,BLOCKNONIP>
            port 2 ifpriority 0 ifcost 0
pflog0: flags=141<UP,RUNNING,PROMISC> mtu 33144
    priority: 0
    groups: pflog

How can I get this to work?  What is wrong with my pf rules?
Update
This is getting a bit weird
If I use
pass in quick log on $int_if inet proto tcp to port 80 divert-to 127.0.0.1 port 3129
pass out quick log from 127.0.0.1 divert-reply

I get the following in the log:
rule 3/(match) pass in on em0: 233.222.214.171.124880 > 220.127.116.11.87: S 2656450467:2656450467(0) win 65535 <mss 1460,nop,wscale 5,nop,nop,timestamp 605332037 0,[|tcp]> (DF)

If I change it to
pass in quick log on $int_if inet proto tcp to port 80 rdr-to 127.0.0.1 port 3129
pass out quick log from 127.0.0.1 divert-reply

I get the following in the log, however nothing shows up in the squid logs, and unsurprisingly requests to web sites time out
rule 3/(match) pass in on em0: 233.2126.96.36.199091 > 127.0.0.1.3129: S 409217949:409217949(0) win 65535 <mss 1460,nop,wscale 5,nop,nop,timestamp 605394683 0,[|tcp]> (DF)

Answer: If you have OpenBSD 4.1 or 4.3 , You have to do :
rdr pass inet proto tcp from 192.168.231.0/24 to any port 80 -> 192.168.231.1 port 3129

block in
pass in quick on $int_if
pass in quick on $wi_if
pass out keep state

And if you have OpenBSD 4.4 or higher You have to do :
set skip on $int_if
set skip on $wi_if
IPv6:

pass in quick inet6 proto tcp from 2001:DB8::/32 to port www divert-to ::1 port 3129
pass out quick inet6 from 2001:DB8::/32 divert-reply
IPv4:
pass in quick on inet proto tcp from 192.0.2.0/24 to port www divert-to 127.0.0.1 port 3129
pass out quick inet from 192.0.2.0/24 divert-reply

UPDATE:
OF course, You need some changes according to your interfaces.
Comment: Sure, I get that.  But bridge interfaces do not have ip addresses, which is why I only reference the interface, otherwise I would have copied exactly the rule from the squid guide
Comment: pf has good solution for do it : you can enclose your interface in `$()` such as  `$(int_if)`
Comment: Based on your suggestion, I updated the rules to be  pass in quick on inet proto tcp from ($int_if) to port www divert-to 127.0.0.1 port 3129
pass out quick inet from ($int_if) divert-reply but there is a syntax error with the first line
Comment: check your version... of course, did you initilize int_if macro?
Comment: I'm using OpenBSD 5.7 and I have "int_if = "em0"" at the top of pf.conf
Comment: I've read things that say divert won't work on a bridge (i.e. https://github.com/jeffmurphy/DAQ) does anyone know if this is actually true


Hangfire doesn't create tables in IIS

Question: I have installed Hangfire in my ASP.Core 2.2 project using this guide https://docs.hangfire.io/en/latest/getting-started/aspnet-core-applications.html .
When I delete my MyProject_devMSSQL db and run Update-Database only my custom tables are created. After I run the project, the Hangfire tables are added.
In appsettings.production.json I have configured the db to be MyProject_prod and I click on Folder publish with checked Entity Framework Migrations so the build process can create a .sql file in the EFSQLScripts folder with the SQL I need to apply to the MyProject_prod database.
The problem is that the .sql file contains only my custom tables. When I run the IIS site the Hangfire tables aren't created in MyProject_prod db, in comparison to when I run the project with F5 locally, where they are created in MyProject_dev if they do not exists. Looking at the logs I see that the connection to the MyProject_prod db is made, the error is:
[ERR] Execution BackgroundServerProcess is still in the Failed state for 00:20:45.1406056 due to an exception, will be retried no more than in 00:00:15
System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException (0x80131904): Invalid object name 'HangFire.Server'.

I could export the tables from my MyProject_dev db and import them in the MyProject_prod db, but I don't think this would be the right approach. Why aren't the tables created when the app is run under IIS?
Comment: Also related: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/44073911/hangfire-does-not-process-recurring-jobs-unless-dashboard-is-open
Answer: Try creating the database manually in production, without adding any tables. In your config, point it at the newly created db. This may be an issue with hangfire bot having the permissions to build create the database.

Hangfire doesn't create tables in IIS


'disambiguate' something unto something?

Question: If x is initially ambiguous between y and z, can one disambiguate x unto y? or is there a semantically and syntactically similar, more idiomatic, expression?
Comment: Prefer "towards". But, a better formulation would be "can one disambiguate x so that it refers to y".
Comment: Technically, in most cases one would be disambiguating X and determining whether it does or doesn't refer to Y.  Disambiguation is not usually taken to mean coercing the object into a new form, rather it's just removing a disguise, if you will.
Answer: Let's take an example: "John's green". This could mean "The golf course named after John", "John is new", or "John isn't feeling well". If we say that the context is apprenticeship, then we understand "John's green" to mean "John is new".
Referring to the OP's question (different Lawrence, by the way), one could say that the context of apprenticeship disambiguates the phrase "John's green", specialising it to the meaning "John is new".

Specialise
  3. to render special or specific; invest with a special character, function, etc. - dictionary.com
Answer: To my knowledge, "disambiguate" is a grammar term, not a mathematical one. If you are a theoretical mathematician, then I apologize for my lack of knowledge (but I do have mathematics through Dif EQ and Quantum 2). I would use the term "uncertainty," akin to Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, where one cannot simultaneously know an electron's location and velocity. The terms "certainty" and its various forms with their corresponding adverbs should solve your problem.
Such as: "Initially, there was complete uncertainty in the position of X relative to Y and Z; however, as the function progresses, we see X approaching Y in a predictable fashion."
Comment: I was not asking about mathematics.

‘disambiguate’ something unto something?


LP Approximation for Vertex Cover Problem

Question: In Cormen's Introduction to Algorithms, he states the the LP relaxation for the minimum vertex cover approximation problem is $        \begin{align*}
            &\sum\limits_{v \in V}w(v)x(v) \tag{35.15} \\
            x(u) + x(v) &\geq 1 \text{ for each } u, v \in E \tag{35.16} \\
            x(v) & \leq 1 \text{ for each } v \in V \tag{35.17} \\
            x(v) &\geq 0 \text{ for each } v \in V. \tag{35.18}
        \end{align*}$
However, I am wondering why the constraint $x(v) \leq 1$ is even necessary? If it was greater than one, wouldn't the optimal solution still be most optimal? If this isn't the case, could someone please explain why? If it is the case, would you also explain? Thank you.
Answer: You could delete this constraint, but it would still be verified in a solution: if there is a solution satisfying all other contraints and $x(v) > 1$ for a certain $v$, then the same solution with $x(v) = 1$ still satisfy the constraints. Since weights are positive, the sum with $x(v) = 1$ would be lesser than the sum with $x(v) > 1$.


Any downside to using multiple mail and calendar apps on iOS?

Question: I am wondering if there is a downside to using multiple mail and calendar apps on my iOS device?  Specifically the iOS devices come with apple provide apps for both, but I have found 3rd party apps that work better for me.  If I have both (Apple's app as well as the 3rd party app) configured, am I doubling the amount of data & memory I am using on the iOS device?
Comment: No downside. Either the apps will use the system's shared calendars and/or mail accounts or they will be accessing remote accounts such as a gmail account.
Answer: Yes, you definitely will double the data sent, if one uses two apps for the same account.
However, using different programs may be useful.  For example, if you want to separate your professional Exchange E-mail from your personal accounts.  This way, there is a logical separation, and you run less risk of accidentally sending out a personal mail on a business acount, and vice versa.  Some mail apps even have password or PIN protection (for example, Divide), which will keep your E-mail accounts safe, even if someone swipes your phone when you are using it.
Answer: If you use two mail apps for the same account you will be downloading the same information from the mail server twice. Which will result in around double data traffic. Emails isn't usually so much data per email but that depends of course on what you receive and how many emails that is going to be downloaded.
If you want you can check how much data that your email app used under Usage in iOS settings.


Is it safe to swap cards with Magic Lantern on them between two identical Canon cameras?

Question: I have two similar cameras, both 7Ds. Both have Magic Lantern installed and both use their own CF card. Is it safe to borrow a card from the other camera when needed? Or should I uninstall ML from one card before inserting it to the other camera?
Comment: Are you using the exact same version of ML on both? The same firmware version in both 7Ds?
Comment: Yes, both cameras have downgraded to 2.0.3 and use same ML.
Answer: There's no real way to "install" Magic Lantern (ML) to a camera. It always remains on the memory card that is used to boot the camera into ML when it is turned on. Put in a card without ML on it and that camera can not be booted with ML, it will use the Canon firmware already in the camera.
As long as the version of ML on your memory card is compatible with the firmware version installed in the camera there should be no issues.
Comment: Thank you! I know ML is just a file on the card. I wasn't sure about added boot command in camera.. that does it look for any ML files startup or does it look for same exact file that was used to add the bootflag.


Google Account without a mobile number

Question: I would like to make a Google account (email, youtube etc.) and it requests a mobile number. It makes sense, so it can stop robots making spam designated email accounts, but I don't own a mobile and I don't want to be forced into buying one simply to make a Google account.Is there any other form of verification that I can take?
Answer: Yes I believe there is. When creating an account you can choose for not filling in a phone number. In order to check you're not a robot Google will ask you to complete a captcha code.
This is what I saw, maybe it is different in your region/device? Please let me know!

Google Account without a mobile number


What is the use of Callout function in SharePoint 2013?

Question: What is the use of Callout function in SharePoint 2013
Comment: Did you got the information from below answer or do you need some more information on it?
Answer: In SharePoint 2013, Microsoft has Introduced a new Framework to Create CallOuts that is somewhat similar to the Dialog Framework Introduced in SharePoint 2010.
The new CalloutManager class in Callout.Js (path – C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\Web Server Extensions\15\TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS) is responsible for Creating and editing Instances of a CallOuts in SharePoint 2013.
CallOuts In SharePoint 2013, are displayed only for Specific Lists and Libraries. For example, by default, CallOuts are displayed for Document Library,Assert Library,Task Lists etc and not for Custom Lists,Announcements Lists,Calendar List and Discussions Lists etc.
Refer below URL to implement it.
CallOuts in SharePoint 2013


Nervous system : Nerve signals

Question: If the electrical signals from all the various organs throughout the body eventually connect to the nerves in the spinal column traveling up to the brain, how does the brain differentiate the different signals.  Is the nerve in the spinal column like an electrical conduit with many wires inside?
Answer: Yes is the simple answer. A nerve will go up to a specific part of the brain which the brain knows corresponds to a certain region of the body. It isn't perfect though e.g. pain in the diaphragm confuses the brain which doesn't recognise that pain must be coming from there so instead tells the body there is shoulder pain, however this is useful in medicine. Another infamous example is pain from heart disease (angina) which causes pain in the jaw and arm. Perhaps even more interestingly, if a nerve is cut and then grows back linking to the wrong nerve it may lead to the completely wrong part of the body being identified when touched. Also if the brain itself is stimulated in these corresponding areas, a person will feel he or she is indeed being touched in a certain part of the body.
Comment: Would you have any references for the wrong innervation?

Nervous system : Nerve signals