What is the origin and scope of usage of the phrase "Voodoo That You Do So Well"?

Question: I heard it in the couple movies and podcasts, and was able to trace it to the Cole Porter song "You Do Something to Me" from 1929. I think it's where it came from, but I just want to be sure. Also, how popular it is among native speakers/Americans, and what group of people using it the most? Age, race, gender, type of a person if possible.
Comment: You're right that Cole Porter wrote the song in 1929, but it obviously didn't catch on for a long time. The earliest instance of [that voodoo that you do](https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=%22that+voodoo+that+you+do%22&sa=X&ei=2ilHUvq2E8iv4QTKvYHIBw&ved=0CCcQpwUoBA&source=lnt&tbs=cdr%3A1%2Ccd_min%3A01%2F01%2F1900%2Ccd_max%3A01%2F01%2F1965&tbm=bks) in Google Books is 1954, and it doesn't turn up again for another 10 years. Realistically though, I'd say it's known to many, but actually used by very few.
Answer: It was created by Cole Porter, a songwriter who was known particularly for his exceptionally clever and inventive wordplay. This phrase is just one example.
It is not, however, a commonly used phrase. I find that references to it really are only making allusions to the original source. It isn't in common speech at all. It is and was just a clever line from a lovely song.
Comment: Given how long ago it was actually "coined", it was effectively hopelessly passé long before it even became well-known. Besides which, to me at least, this particular form of words sounds even more "nerdy" today than [The Force is strong with this one](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheForceIsStrongWithThisOne). But I guess that doesn't really matter, since it's unlikely to be used in anything other than a facetious manner.
Comment: Interesting. I had the impression that this phrase is more common, for example among the old people, trying to be charming and young hipsters, who using it ironically :) Thank you for the answer.
Answer: The phrase "do that voodoo that you do so well" has been used in two films other than the films that the song has appeared in. Most know it was spoken by Harvey Korman in the movie "Blazing Saddles", but it was also spoken by Col. Sherman Potter in the "MAS*H series, Season 8/Episode 24, "Back Pay", March, 1980, six years after Blazing Saddles was released.
Blazing Saddles.  For the Mash Episode, the script is here.
Comment: Can you support your answer with links and sources? Answers without them usually get dismissed, by people who visit this post, for have no backup or proof that the statements are true.
Comment: I added sources.  For the MASH episode, I didn't have the patience to read through the entire script to find the phrase, so I can't vouch for it.
Comment: MASH episode: "Wu, do that voodoo that you do so well." (@ab2 use Ctrl+F and type "voodoo")
Answer: Let's not lose sight of the underlying meaning. When she sings Youdoo voodoo youdoo, she is saying a few things aside from silly wordplay. She is hinting, strongly for the times, that she wants him to do more of the magic that he 'does' to her.
You do something to me = You turn me on.
Something that simply mystifies me = You turn me on.
You have the power to hypnotize me = You turn me on.
Let me live 'neath your spell = You turn me on, and the position suggested is not accidental.
For clarification, listen as Marlene Dietrich sings it.
Answer: I know this is an old answer and you probably don't care anymore, but while the expression is not exactly popular, I wouldn't say the expression is totally unused, either. Probably because of the movie Blazing Saddles, I think it is used occasionally by people - and neither ironically nor charmingly, but simply jovially. Google ngrams shows an increased usage starting around 2010, and clicking through shows it being used in several books. In some cases, they are references to the original song, but in other cases not. Here's an example from "Bombshell: A Novel" in 2013:
"Hell, I'll do whatever voodoo that you do, Nona."
It's fiction, but I think that's a pretty accurate example of how somebody might use it. I know I will use it occasionally just as a joking reference, because I know my audience will understand it because of the movie.
Answer: The song line has not just one "do" but two:
"Do do that voodoo that you do so well."
The wordplay is brilliant. First the use of the command "do" followed by the ordinary verb "do," and the rhyme with voodoo.
It's one of the cleverest lines in all of songdom, and very very famous; it's so incredibly sad that so many of you didn't seem to know the song and had to research it. Suggest you listen to other Cole Porter songs too ("You're the Top," "Anything Goes," "Let's Do It," "Let's Misbehave," "Live and Let Live" just a few examples) and make them part of your body of knowledge.
The reference in Blazing Saddles is simply to the song; it prompts the audience to laugh because presumably they know the song.
Comment: This is more of an analysis of the phrase and less of an answer to the question though.
Answer: A slight difference of phrasing, perhaps - but "that's the only voodoo I do" is a line spoken by Othello, in Shakespeare's play of c.1603! Othello, of course, being a character constantly referred to by his race.
Comment: It might improve the answer if you include a full citation for the quoted line.
Comment: This answer is nonsense. Othello says no such thing.


What is the maximum number of child processes a supervisor can supervise?

Question: Is there a maximum number of child processes a supervisor process can supervise? I'm coming from Elixir, but I imagine the limit (if there is one) would be inherited directly from Erlang.
Answer: I'm no expert but found this in the erlang docs:

10.2  System limits
The Erlang language specification puts no limits on number of processes, length of atoms etc., but for performance and
  memory saving reasons, there will always be limits in a practical
  implementation of the Erlang language and execution environment.
Processes
The maximum number of simultaneously alive Erlang processes
  is by default 32768. This limit can be raised up to at most 268435456
  processes at startup (see documentation of the system flag +P in the
  erl(1) documentation). The maximum limit of 268435456 processes will
  at least on a 32-bit architecture be impossible to reach due to memory
  shortage.

This doesn't mention gen_server but it puts an upper bound on the number of concurrent processes in a default erlang system: 32768. So perhaps the answer to your question is simply 32768 - 1. :) And you can use the +P switch to increase that number.
Comment: In the book `Erlang Programming`, early on they have you start 4 million processes on your laptop.  As I remember, they took about 45 seconds to spin up.
Comment: @7stud That is *so* cool. Especially since that's, as you said, early on in the book. Good luck doing that anywhere else! :) Were all those processes under a single supervisor?
Comment: @AshtonWiersdorf, No supervisor.  Each process waits in a receive for message that will cause the process to break out of the receive and end.
Comment: Thank you for your answer! I'm marking the other one as accepted because they answered specifically about supervisor limits. I upvoted yours though because it is still relevant to the question. I wish I could mark them both. :-/ Thanks again!
Answer: gen_server itself doesn't impose any particular restriction on the number of processes it can manage (apart from system limits) but if you add large enough amounts of children, you will (of course) eventually run into performance issues. gen_server tries to be efficient regarding large number of children by e.g. not storing them in a linear list.
(If you really need to know the exact answer, you're probably designing your system in a suboptimal way, I would say.)
Comment: This is mostly a curiosity-driven question—I'm not actually building something where I need *ONE* supervisor to watch all processes. :) Do you have a link to documentation on this?


Can I transfer from Pokémon Moon back to Pokémon X?

Question: I have tried to use Pokébank to transfer xerneas from Moon back to X. Is there a way to do this? I need to transfer back.
Answer: Unfortunately No.
Pokemon X is a Generation 6 game, Pokemon Sun is Generation 7. One-way transfer exists for moving your Pokemon from Gen 6 to Gen 7 but the reverse is not possible.
Here's a visual guide for using the Pokemon Bank with various Pokemon games, from the Official Pokemon site:

As you can see, once a Pokemon is on to Sun/Moon or Ultra Sun/Moon, it can't go to an earlier generation game.


Creating a Linux (or Minecraft) Macro that would change the seed number to a random number and start the server

Question: I am new to Linux so any help is good help. I am trying to make a Minecraft Hardcore server for me and friends, where once you die, you are dead and can only spectate, but that is not what I need help with. I want to try to find a command or macro on either Linux or minecraft itself to go in to the properties file, change the seed to a random number, and start up the server again (a nice feature would also be to turn off the server first, but I can do that if I need to) The whole idea of this is so it is like a one life server, but the map changes every time we all die. Any help would be awesome. Thank you.
Comment: Nice idea, but I'm pretty sure the best way to start up a new world with a new seed is by simply creating a new world. If you change only the seed file, the generation of terrain would be affected, but anything that would already be generated from the previous session would remain. You might as well delete the whole content of the world save file.
Comment: It's definitely possible. You can edit the file using `sed` and delete the old world using `rm`. And Linux comes with a random string generator, so generating a new seed is pretty easy too. But unfortunately  this has not much to do with gaming.
Comment: Yeah that is a good idea, I should do that. I still want to figure out if I could do this automatically with a Linux macro or something. Anyone else have any ideas? Thank you @Quijibo!
Comment: Glad I could help! Unfortunately, I don't have the skills to answer your question, but if you don't get any answers here, try figuring out how to create such a macro yourself. If you encounter any problems, fell free to ask your coding/macro questions on [Stack Overflow](https://stackoverflow.com/).
Answer: If you are OK with the world being deleted, you can just delete the world folder (using rm). When you restart the server a new world will be generated.
If you do not specify a seed in server.properties, it is only stored in level.dat, meaning that it gets reset when you delete the world folder and chosen randomly the next time you start the server.


Definition of smallest equivalence relation

Question: I came across the term 'smallest equivalence relation' in the course of a proof I was working on. I have never thought about ordering relations. I googled the term and checked stackexchange and couldn't find a clear definition.
Is someone able to provide me a definition of what a smallest equivalence relation is and an example of one equivalence relation being smaller than another?
Answer: I'm going to guess that the actual context was more like the smallest equivalence relation on $A$ satisfying such-and-so conditions. If that's the case, what is intended is the intersection of all equivalence relations on $A$ satisfying the given conditions: the intersection of equivalence relations on $A$ is an equivalence relation on $A$, and this intersection is the smallest subset of $A\times A$ (smallest in the sense of $\subseteq$) that is an equivalence relation on $A$ and satisfies the given conditions.
Answer: An equivalence relation is a set of ordered pairs, and one set can be a subset of another.
For any set $S$ the smallest equivalence relation is the one that contains all the pairs $(s,s)$ for $s \in S$. It has to have those to be reflexive, and any other equivalence relation must have those. The largest equivalence relation is the set of all pairs $(s,t)$.
For some in between examples, consider the set of integers. The equivalence relation "has the same parity as" is in between the smallest and the largest relations.
Think about how the relations "is congruent to mod $n$" are related by inclusion.
As @JiK comments, the equivalence relations get their "less than" order from the natural way that sets have such an order. That order is "partial" since there are pairs of equivalence relations such that neither is a subset of the other.
If you know the theorem that says that equivalence relations naturally correspond to partitions, you can translate the order structure. The partition $P$ is finer than the partition $Q$ if every block of $P$ is completely contained in some block of $Q$. Finer partitions correspond to smaller equivalence relations. In the finest partition every element of $S$ is in a block by itself - the smallest equivalence relation. In the coarsest partition all of $S$ is one block - the largest equivalence relation.
Comment: To be more explicit I'd add the following: Being subset defines a [_partial order_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partially_ordered_set) of equivalence relations. In general, a partially ordered finite set doesn't necessarily have a smallest or a largest element. But in this case, it happens that the smallest and the largest do exist, that is, there is an an equivalence relation that is a subset of any equivalence relation, and there is an equivalence relation of which any equivalence relation is a subset.
Answer: Equivalence relations are (partially) ordered by implication; $\Theta \leq \Phi$ if and only if
$$ x \Theta y \implies x \Phi y $$
is an identity.
In fact, this partial ordering is a complete lattice; the meet operation (a.k.a. the greatest lower bound) is given by logical and. That is, the equivalence relation $\Theta = \bigwedge_{i \in I} \Theta_i$ is the one defined by
$$x \Theta y \Longleftrightarrow \bigwedge_{i \in I} x \Theta_i y$$
or in terms of quantifiers rather than infinitary operations,
$$x \Theta y \Longleftrightarrow \forall i \in I: x \Theta_i y $$
If you look at the graph of the relations, this can all be rephrased in terms of subsets and intersections.

A simple source of examples is to use the first isomorphism theorem — there is a bijective correspondence between congruences and quotients.
e.g. in terms of sets, quotients can be viewed as partitions of the set, and the correspondence is that the equivalence classes of an equivalence relation are the parts of the partition.
The smallest equivalence relation on a nonempty set $X$ corresponds to the partition whose classes are all singletons; it is equality. The largest equivalence relation is the one with just a single partition; the corresponding equivalence relation is the one where everything is related. The ordering on equivalence relations corresponds to whether one partition refines another.
Answer: I don't know what you want it for, but it is possible to define the smallest equivalence relation on a set $S$ containing a given relation $R$. Here's the formula:
$$R^e = \bigcup_{n=1}^\infty [R\cup R^{-1} \cup 1_S]^n$$
We know that when $n=1$, we'll have $1_S$, satisfying reflexivity.
Symmetry follows by induction; the base case is clear because we added $R^{-1}$ to get the initial symmetry. Now let $(x,y) \in S^n$. If $(x,y) \in S^{n-1}$ we're done. Otherwise, $(x,y) = (x,a)(a,y)$ with each of those in some $S^k, S^{k'}$ for $k,k' < n$ and $k+k' = n$. In particular, that means that $(a,x),(y,a)$ are in each of those by the inductive hypothesis, and so $(y,a)(a,x) = (y,x) \in S^k S^{k'} = S^n$.
Finally, we know it is transitive because if we have $(x,y) \in R^e$ and $(y,z) \in R^e$ then each is in some $S^m,S^n$, and so their composition will be in $S^{m+n}$.
Finally, note that if $E$ is an equivalence relation containing $R$, we know that it contains $R\cup R^{-1} \cup 1_S$. Moreover, $EE \subseteq E$ because it is an equivalence relation, and so $E^n \subseteq E$, but that means any subset composed $n$ times with itself is in $E$, and that means $R^e \subseteq E$. This means we've found the smallest (by containment) equivalence relation containing $R$.


Is it possible to plays Fallout 3 like a FPS (on PC)?

Question: Is it possible to change behaviour of Fallout 3 ? I would like to modify the the RPG combat system to play like a FPS. Is there a mod or something to do for that ?
Comment: If you don't use VATS, doesn't Fallout 3 play pretty much like a traditional FPS during combat?
Comment: @Beofett: no, most would argue that skill points have way too much influence on the outcome of events still.
Answer: Take a look at Fallout Wanderer's Edition. It's probably the best regarded overhaul for the game, and should be tweakable to get whatever you happen to define as 'playing like an FPS'. If FWE doesn't float your boat, the Nexus is home to other overhauls that might suit your needs better, but FWE is the big one, and it's the one I'm familiar with.
Oh, and don't use VATS, but that goes without saying.


Mac OS LACP Connection Can't Ping Certain Hosts

Question: I have a Mac OS Machine that I've set up a LACP connection with a cisco SG300.
bond0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
    options=23<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,TSO4>
    ether 00:0a:cd:26:c3:f6
    inet6 fe80::20a:cdff:fe26:c3f6%bond0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x9
    inet 192.168.16.10 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.16.255
    nd6 options=1<PERFORMNUD>
    media: autoselect (1000baseT <full-duplex,flow-control,energy-efficient-ethernet>)
    status: active
    bond interfaces: en8 en6

en6: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
    options=23<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,TSO4>
    ether 00:0a:cd:26:c3:e3
    media: autoselect (1000baseT <full-duplex,flow-control,energy-efficient-ethernet>)
    status: active
en8: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
    options=23<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,TSO4>
    ether 00:0a:cd:26:c3:f6
    media: autoselect (1000baseT <full-duplex,flow-control,energy-efficient-ethernet>)
    status: active

When using the lag connection I can only ping certain IP addresses for some strange reason.
When I disable the lag connection I can ping all addresses fine. I can also ping remote IP addresses fine when connected.
220.127.116.11       yes - google
192.168.16.2  no - vsphere vm (dns)
192.168.16.28 yes - vsphere vm
192.168.16.3  no - physical device (backup dns)

I see no correlation between why some addresses respond and others do not. I've tried disabling all the firewalls.
Of course all these IP's respond when using a different connection.
I've tried arp -a. it shows these ips on the network.
? (192.168.16.1) at 0:50:56:b3:7d:54 on bond0 ifscope
? (192.168.16.2) at 0:50:56:b3:e:37 on bond0 ifscope
? (192.168.16.3) at b8:27:eb:7a:b8:c1 on bond0 ifscope
? (192.168.16.28) at 0:50:56:b3:52:b0 on bond0 ifscope
? (192.168.16.50) at 0:50:56:b3:e:8a on bond0 ifscope

One other thing I noticed is that the connection can ping all addresses if I remove one of the connections.
tried clearing arp cache. tried restarting mac and cisco.
Answer: If only some remote hosts are working and not others, it's likely there's something wrong with the LACP either on Linux or on the switch.
Only the traffic which hashes to one slave is working, which is why some hosts work and some don't.
On Linux, check /proc/net/bonding/bondX and make sure you have the same Aggregator ID on both ports.


Magento 2 - Load knockout content in modal popup

Question: I want to load knockout content in modal popup on the cart page.
And to be able to bind button/click events.
Answer: Yeah, this was hard to figure out.
I could not find any example of this in Magento docs.
I wanted to be able to bind button/click events and data to the popup, so I could call methods in my component based on user input in those popups.
Just putting a click bind on the model dom did not fire as when Magento model copies the content it does not have knockout bindings applied!
First your js needs to define the appropriate things like Magento_UI/js/modal/modal
        onRenderComplete: function () {
            var viewModel = this;
            var popupOptions = {
                type: 'popup',
                responsive: true,
                innerScroll: true,
                modalClass: 'my-popup',
                title: 'Save Thing',
                'buttons': [{
                    text: 'Cancel',
                    class: 'action'
                }],
                opened: function () {
                    // Because magento modal copies the dom... we need to apply bindings. But it only copies once. So we want to only apply the bindings on first open.
                    if (this.appliedBindings === undefined) {
                        ko.applyBindings(viewModel, this);
                        this.appliedBindings = true;
                    }
                }
            };

In our content.html we want to add a popup such as.

    <button data-bind="click: showMyPopup">Show My Popup</button>

Blah.

        <input class="mything-name" data-bind="value: myName" type="text" required placeholder="Enter name">
        <button data-bind="click: doSomething, enable: name().length > 0">Do Something</button>

There is probably a proper way to do this, it feels like a hack but hey I've spent way too long on this.
I did find some examples/discussion which could be handy but seemed way complex/verbose...
Doing it on separate records.
https://jsfiddle.net/BitWiseGuy/4u5egybp/
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/10626780/knockout-js-deferred-databinding-for-modal
Yes I could have used bootstrap but I figured magento already has a way to do it.


Cavity radiation and number of modes

Question: Cavity radiation says the number of modes in the cavity increases with frequency, or shorter wavelength, because more modes can fit in. But consider a square box with sides L with a small hole. EM radiation of wavelength 2L can fit a half wavelength in the cavity horizontally exactly with nodes at the walls. In all resources on black-body radiation I have seen, this lowest frequency is called "one" mode. But I can fit an almost infinite number of halfwavelengths inside the box just horizontally, let alone vertically and diagonally. What am I missing? Why can wavelength 2L only fit once?
Answer: In a three-dimensional resonator the wave modes are usually characterized by three numbers: in a rectangular box these simply correspond to the numbers of wave lengths fitting along different directions parallel to the box edges.  That is, we have something like
$$
2L_x=N_x\lambda, 2L_z=N_y\lambda, 2L_z=N_z\lambda.
$$
This ultimately comes from solving the Maxwell equations by separation of variable technique.
Here are the first notes on rectangular cavities that popped-up in Google: Cavities with Rectangular Boundaries (there are likely a lot more.)
Comment: Thanks for input, unfortunately my math skills are very limited (so wave functions are definitely out!), so should have mentioned I'm looking for a more "heuristic" explanation, if there is one!
Comment: What exactly do you mean by *"I can fit an almost infinite number of halfwavelengths inside the box just horizontally"*? Just before that you state that only half a wave length can fit for a given wavelength.
Comment: I mean that I could fit a halfwavelength horizontally at the vertical middle of the box (i.e. half way up). I could then move up a millimetre and fit another halfwavelength horizontally in the box. And then another millimetre up for another halfwavelength, and then another, and so on. If the amplitude of the wave was infinitessimally small, then I could fit an almost infinite number of halfwavelengths horizontally. Hope that helps.
Answer: "Fit a wave in the box" does not mean drawing a horizontal wave with nodes on the walls with its vertical position being meaningful. You can indeed put very many such drawings there, stacked on top of each other. This kind of drawing, with multiple stacked waves, is meaningless in physics of cavity radiation.
What "fitting wave in the box" means is that 1) we assume that along single direction, there is only one wave in the box 2) its nodes coincide with the walls.
There is only one wave in the box because value of the wave at $x$ which we sometimes draw represents amplitude of electric field at the whole plane $yz$, as function of $x$. Because there is only one electric field at one time, there is only one wave. Thus a drawing of multiple stacked waves on top of each other does not correspond to the physical system being described.

Cavity radiation and number of modes


Using Lagrange multiplier to find all extrema

Question: It is given that
$$f(x,y,z)=x^2-y^2+z^2$$
and the constraint is
$$g(x,y,z)=x^2+2y^2+3z^2-1=0$$
I started to take Lagrange multiplier approach, here is my work
$$
\left\{
\begin{array}{c}
2x-2xλ=0 \\
-2y-4yλ=0 \\
2z-6zλ=0 \\
x^2+2y^2+3z^2-1=0
\end{array}
\right.
$$
Which gives
$$
\left\{
\begin{array}{c}
x(1-λ)=0 \\
y(1+2λ)=0 \\
z(1-3λ)=0 \\
x^2+2y^2+3z^2-1=0
\end{array}
\right.
$$
Then, I have no idea how to plug equation (1) to (3) in the constrain since x, y and z equal to zero. If x, y and z equal to zero, then equation (4) will not work.
$$$$
If x, y and z not equal to zero, then
$$
λ=1 \ or \ λ=-1/2 \ or \ λ=1/3 \
$$
What's wrong in my approach, do I missed other constraints?
Answer: The system of equations that you obtained, that is
$$
\begin{cases}
x(1-\lambda)=0 \\
y(1+2\lambda)=0 \\
z(1-3\lambda)=0 \\
x^2+2y^2+3z^2-1=0
\end{cases}
$$
is correct. Now looking at $x(1-\lambda)=0$, you should say that if $x\not=0$ then $\lambda=1$ and
$$
\begin{cases}
3y=0 \\
-2z=0 \\
x^2+2y^2+3z^2-1=0
\end{cases}
\implies y=z=0,\; x=\pm 1.$$
Can you take it from here and see what happens when $y\not=0$? What if $z\not=0$?
Note that the constraint $x^2+2y^2+3z^2-1=0$ implies that at least one of $x$, $y$, $z$ is different from zero.
Answer: so far you calculation is correct
now for each value of $\lambda$ you have to find a solution
then you will check the value of f(x,y,z) for each one and determine max/min)


Plant gel growing medium

Question: I recently found a product (http://www.theartofscience.eu/en/negozio/plantarium-activities-of-botany/plantarium-pet-plants-grow-in-gel/) where plants are grown in a gel soil that's supposed to contain nutrients to feed it. I was wondering if this is actually possible, and if it is I wanted to know if anyone here knows how to make that gel at home, because I live in Argentina and can't buy the product.
Comment: In the lab they mostly use agarose ([agar](https://cropgenebank.sgrp.cgiar.org/images/file/procedures/agar%20germination%20method.pdf)) for gels, but usually only for germination.
Comment: To be honest, that's so unnatural and unnecessary I wouldn't recommend it to my worst enemy. The evidence is clear, plants like dirt lol just look outside.
Answer: I've seen this or something like this used in propagation labs, but that is a very limited circumstance and the new plants are quickly moved to more "normal" media once they make roots.
It looks like the inventor/manufacturer is trying to broaden the commercial appeal.
This is what I found: Plant gel is a water-absorbing polymer such as a polyacrylamide (frequently Poly(methyl acrylate) or Sodium polyacrylate). Don't know if those substances are available near you. If it provides nutrients, you'd have to include that when you mix it up. Interesting as a novelty, but I wouldn't put my favorite plant in it.
Comment: Thanks for the help, I was planning to use this as decoration but guess I'll stick to traditional gardening
Answer: I am very glad you felt something was wrong!  The only soil that should ever be used in pots is sterilized potting soil.
These water holding gimmicks go AGAINST great drainage.  Fertilizer added to the soil means you'd better know what you are doing with fertilizer and include what it was that was added.  Far better is to purchase potting soil without these gels or sponges and added fertilizer.  Plain old potting soil medium has very little soil incorporated if at all.  Perfect for plants in pots.  People try to improve stuff by adding a gravel layer beneath the soil and above the hole at the bottom of the pot. That causes a perched water table.
Adding compost in the thought that compost is fertilizer just unsterilizes the environment.  Compost is not fertilizer.  Compost is not a soil replacement.
You have to add a balanced fertilizer with all three numbers; N-P-K  If you are growing something for just leaves then a trio of numbers with N being higher than P and K is fine.  If you want flowers or fruit, you have to keep N at least equal to P and K or better, N should be lower; 5-5-5 or better 3-5-4.
Always go half the directions and observe your plants.  "Less is Best, More is Death and None is Dumb" concerning fertilizer.
Those gels and sponges that hold water in the soil are contraindicated for all plants.  They promote fungus by holding moisture too long in the soil. Drainage also adds to aeration of the soil.  As the water drains it PULLS the air into the soil.  These gimmicks hold moisture in the soil and do not allow for re oxygenation.  Products don't talk about this stuff when they are trying to sell...

Plant gel growing medium


Are ARG-related questions allowed?

Question: Am I allowed to ask questions on Worldbuilding for an ARG (Alternate Reality Game) that I'm creating?
Comment: If you wish, you could try your question in the [sandbox](https://worldbuilding.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/7183/sandbox-for-proposed-questions) without fear of downvotes. It could be interesting to see what you're wishing to ask and see if it can be accepted or not.
Comment: @elemtilas ARGs don't have to be actually set in the real world as a setting. Pokemon GO allows users to interact with the Pokemon world within the real world. Maybe a better example of something more original: the previous game by the same developer is called *Ingress* and it creates a fictional narrative of secret organisations engaged in an invisible (to most of the world) struggle for control. The "real world as a platform" doesn't mean ARGs are about the real world. Just that whatever alternative reality they tackle is overlaid on the real world.
Comment: Good question, I don't have a clear, simple answer right now. However, I feel a good part of the discussion will be about real-world (off-topic) and fictional world (on-topic). It might be hard to distinguish one from the other.
Comment: The only caveat I'd offer is that the very definition you link to --- [*that uses the real world as a platform*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternate_reality_game) --- tells us that your questions would most likely be off topic. We don't really take "real world" questions here. We'd refer you to another SE forum for questions about Earth climate, weather, history, culture, etc. That said, if the game you're designing is set in an entirely fictional world (think Discworld, Middle Earth, Barsoom, etc) ***or*** here on Earth but within the framework of an alternate history, then you'd be okay!
Answer: It depends.
We don't have any particular prohibitions on asking worldbuilding questions related to an ARG. However, like any other Stack Exchange site, questions need to be more than topically adjacent to be permitted. The standard requirements for any Stack Exchange still apply. A question needs to:

Not be a duplicate
Be about building a fictional world
Be clearly asked
Not be too broad
Not be too opinion based

We also have a custom close reason for questions about building a story, or about the actions and decisions of a character or organization. While we don't have a custom close reason, questions about 3rd party worlds, i.e. any world that you yourself didn't build, are considered to not be about worldbuilding for the purposes of this site. You can read more about the specifics by searching meta, or visiting the help center.
How can I determine if my question about worldbuilding for an ARG is appropriate?
The two common problems I've seen from other questions related to games are; asking about game design, and mechanics, instead of about the world of the game, and asking for brainstorming, or idea generation.
Game design and mechanics are off topic for this site. If you want to thematically incorporate the rules of your game into your world, we can help with that, as long as the focus is on the game world. If a valid answer to your question need to include novel mechanics for your game or modifications to existing mechanics, rather than treating the mechanics as a fixed quantity, your question is off topic for this site.
We're also not here to build your world for you. Brainstorming and idea generation are explicitly called out in our help center as inappropriate for this site. The more specific your question, and the smaller the possibility space of valid answers the better.
As long as your question is otherwise suitable for this site, the fact that it's related to an ARG should not be an issue. If you're still unsure whether your question is appropriate, you can use our sandbox, as Tortliena suggested to get feedback on a post before posting it to the main site.
Answer: You're allowed to ask for help developing your world. You are not allowed to ask for help developing your game.
There's an important distinction between the game and the world and it's not always obvious. For example, you might ask (and someone once did ask) what sounds the player should hear to indicate a particular world event is occurring? Such a question is actually off-topic because even though it sounds like a question about the world, it's actually a question about game mechanics.
Here's the rule of thumb:

We help you create and consistently use rules governing an imaginary world of your own creation wherein an infinite number of stories may be told (or games played).

We do not help you write stories or build games.

In your case it's a bit more difficult, because ARGs are fictional stories, not fictional worlds
From the link you provide we learn the following:

An alternate reality game (ARG) is an interactive networked narrative that uses the real world as a platform and employs transmedia storytelling to deliver a story that may be altered by players' ideas or actions.

Here's the problem: on this Stack, "alternate reality" means the Real World with changes in the underlying physics rule set. "Alternate history" is the Real World with changes in the underlying cultural rule set. If either of those are what you're trying to achieve, we can help you.
For example, while we do allow Real World questions on this site, those questions are expected to be in the context of developing and consistently using the rules of an imaginary world. Thus, it's reasonable to ask about fictional interplanetary space travel from the perspective of Real World physics.
But it's not acceptable to ask a Real World physics question with a Real World application that would be as easily asked on Physics.SE.
And that's a potential show stopper for you. Because as I understand it, ARGs are games based in the Real World. All those rules are already developed and known — you just need to ask about them on the appropriate Stack. And since we don't answer story questions, you quite literally may not have a question you can ask here.
Comment: Thanks for summing up the difficulty; I'll just bring a game-design hint if something is about the game or the world : If it's [extradiegetic](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/extradiegetic), it's clearly not the world; If it's [intradiegetic](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/intradiegetic), it *could* be on-topic... If you focus on bringing consistency to said world, rather than focusing on the player needs (feedbacks, Camera/Controller/Character #3C, level design...).
Comment: While most ARGs are played in the real world, they have their own fictional world, lore and narratives as well. The gyms of Pokemon Go, don't physically exist, but they exist within the fictional world of the game. Similar to how playing pretend can result in the organic construction of complex and diverse worlds in the minds of children an ARG will   construct a complex world and present it to their player base. Ultimately whether or not a question is for an ARG should have exactly 0 influence on whether the question is suitable for this site.
Comment: That's correct. The ARGness of a question is irrelevant to the analysis in my answer there or my answer here. If you're asking about a game mechanic, no matter what for your question is not appropriate. Show me even one question where adding "it's for an ARG" will salvage it or make it unsuitable for this site. That would prove that is can matter. You'd need to show that for every question to prove 100% influence.
Comment: It would be worth linking [this other meta question about the suitability of game mechanics](https://worldbuilding.meta.stackexchange.com/q/9876/40609) to this post. Whether or not a question is for an ARG should have 100% influence if the question is about player interaction with the world rather than the world itself.

Are ARG-related questions allowed?


Mirror Image and shield combo

Question: On the topic of mirror image and shield combo, lets say a creature successfully attacks the real one and then the defender decides to use shield as a reaction, which comes first and which has priority?
Comment: Anyway, welcome to the stack! Take the [tour] and review the articles at the [help] to get acquainted with how we do things here.
Answer: Mirror image is resolved before shield can be cast.
Shield requires that you be hit by an attack, having a casting time of 1 Reaction:

which you take when you are hit by an attack or targeted by the magic missile spell

Mirror image is triggered before you are hit with an attack:

Each time a creature targets you with an attack during the spell's duration, roll a d20 to determine whether the attack instead targets one of your duplicates.

So mirror image is always resolved before the trigger for shield can even happen.
Comment: @Clarus_Nox OP seems to ask specifically about attacks. But the ruling is that *magic missile* ignores *mirror image* entirely.
Comment: Might be worth going into further explanation for if the caster is targeted by magic missile instead since the wording for the shield spell differs.

Mirror Image and shield combo


Does a Mercenary run's Life Insurance pay back money that is in town before a run?

Question: In Heroes of Hammerwatch, Mercenary mode allows you to play as a new character starting at level 20, and allows you to do multiple runs, in ever-increasing New Game+ runs.
As a part of this game mode, the player can purchase Life Insurance for 5000 x (NG+ Level) (For example, NG+5 would be 30,000g.) This allows your Merc's money to go back to your non merc run, ONLY IF you die, in your current run.
What is unclear to me, is, if you buy life insurance for a NG+1 Mercenary run, does the money that you had from previous runs apply to the money returned upon death to your town?
For example, John has 30,000g in his bank, while he's at town, having purchased everything he possibly could before his next run. If he buys Life Insurance for 10,000g, will his main characters recieve base 20,000 gold, the moment he dies in the upcoming run?

Image attached for vague description of in game text on this.
Note that "That Adventure" could refer to just the NG+ run, or to the entire adventure of the Mercenary.
Answer: I just tested this myself given no reliable sources online.
I beat the game as a mercenary, then, with my 300 Ore and 70,000 gold, bought life insurance and purposefully died to the first creature at the start of my NG+ run.
I can now say, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you will get none of it.
The gold and ore provided by life insurance comes exclusively from that which you make in that New Game+ iteration ONLY.


Replaced 3-way lamp socket and cap doesn't fit

Question: I bought a replacement 3-way lamp socket and the cap on the new one is too small to thread into the lamp base.  I went to the hardware store and purchased an adapter so it would fit on the new lamp socket cap.  BUT now with the extra height of the adapter my harp is too short.  I found a floor lamp in the house to put on the lamp but now the lamp looks ridiculous as too much of the lamp socket shows and it is much taller than the matching lamp.  Is there a socket I can purchase with a larger socket cap so I don't have to remove the original thread from inside the lamp and can have the right size harp on the lamp?  I have been searching online but do not see offering for a larger cap on the socket.  Any help will be appreciated otherwise I suppose I am going to have to take to a lamp specialty shop.
Comment: A plumbing and electric specialty shop may have what you need. These are getting fewer in number because of the big box home stores, but the guys inside usually know there stuff and are helpful (The few that are left).
Comment: The people at the older hardware stores in town also usually know their stuff, and can find you the correct pieces.
Answer: You are looking for a 3-way socket with a 1/4" base.

Search for that on the internet and you will find them for sale: 3-way lamp socket with 1/4" threaded base


Did Anakin and Obi-Wan use the Force to protect themselves from the heat on Mustafar?

Question: While duelling that close to lava, I would suspect that they would get dangerously hot and dehydrated, and possibly burned. Did they use the Force to protect themselves in some way, for example lower their body temperatures and cool the air around them while duelling?
Comment: @Jared That's what I thought too, but then there's also the part of the battle when they were fighting on the gantry and swinging back and forth like Tarzan above a literal river of lava.  Despite the exertion and furnace-like conditions, neither of them were even sweating at that point.  Once Anakin got Ginsu'd, he held out a while longer but eventually went up like a Presto log.  So I think Force-protection is as good an explanation as any.
Comment: The droid gatherer that Anakin stepped on had some sort of shielding, possible this protected Anakin. You can clearly see the shielding effects in the movie. Not sure but guessing Obi-wan's platform had the same shielding.
Comment: Not according to the novelization
Comment: How so? What did the novelization specify?
Comment: Didn't mention the head
Comment: In light of the quote from the DVD commentary, I was wondering if you'd like to consider offering an acceptance (or if you're still not happy, some indication of why)?
Answer: The DVD commentary for Episode III (with producer Rick McCallum) explains this in more detail. In short, the blue haze you see is not only a repulsor field but it also creates a form of cooling for the Jedi:

Rick McCallum : This blue light around the bottom of the light and the platforms was added later on, in Production. George felt that
  at one point, that we needed to feel that there was some cooling
  effect, some kind of shield...a reason why our actors aren't burning
  up being around this intense heat so Roger Guyett and his team added
  these shields, this shield generator into this shots as another pass
  after they'd completed a lot of these shots...to help tell that story
  of the cooling.
Comment: @JustinTime - Indeed. Although it's kinda dumb, based on the tech seen elsewhere in the films, it's actually pretty consistent with what can be done in the Star Wars universe.
Comment: This plus the force?
Comment: Thus making this one of the few cases where the (apparent) lack of convection is actually justified.
Answer: There are many planets in the EU that are unrealistic.  One of them is Mustafar.  That much volcanic activity would not only raise the temperature of the air but fill it with toxins so as to make the air poisonous to breathe.   The land was also shown as basically stable.  But the forces required to maintain heat so as to keep the rivers of lava flowing molten on the surface, would require the entire landscape to be tortured by tidal  forces, resulting in a constantly shifting landscape that is basically a flat shelf of rock floating on a molten see just a few dosen yards at its thickest.
The Star Wars EU requires some suspension of disbelief.  One of them is that there is a planet that has molten lava flowing all over it surface is small streams that does not destabilize the crust, create excessive heat, or completely poison the air.
Comment: "But the forces required to maintain heat so as to keep the rivers of lava flowing molten on the surface, would require the entire landscape to be tortured by tidal forces" except for the fact that only a small amount of internal heating comes from tidal forces.  It's mostly from radioactive decay and heat stored since formation.  Heating can even potentially come from dark matter (and yes, there are physics papers about this).  The EU is a mess, but the presence of magma itself isn't a part of that.
Comment: @AlanSE - But mustafar is crisscrossed with rivers of molten lava.  Look at what happens in Hawaii.  The lava forms tubes that isulate it from the loss of heat.  You would need instability to maintain open rivers of lava.  And if there is enough heat being generated by radioactivity to melt and maitain a molten state... then Mustafar is even more dangerous than if it is the tidal forces causing the heating.  I am sure there are lots of ways this could work... but none that would also permit humans to walk around basically unprotected in normal gravity and atmosphere.
Comment: In the case of Mustafar it's _definitely_ tidal forces.  Mustafar is the moon of an even larger world and in the movie we can plainly see that Mustafar is close to, if not well inside, its own [Roche limit](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roche_limit).  Mustafar is well on its way to disintegrating and forming a ring system and that explains the monstrous lava flows and general chaos over the whole surface of the planet.
Answer: As Chad answered, there are a lot of things which are considered in our world unreal, like the Jedi powers themselves. We see that Jedi can do a lot by using the force and I cannot see any reason why it should be in this case otherwise.
For example, in the Episode 1, in the very beginning, we can see that they are able to hold their breath in a poisonous environment longer that normal human being. So they definitely posses the ability to survive in hostile environment.
You can also see that Anakin, after the combat with Obi-Wan, caught on fire. My understanding "why not before(?)" is: because his ability to use the force diminished.
So my answer is YES, they used the force to survive under the hostile condition, like they do all the time.


If US Treasuries at yielding 4-5% right now, why can't I find an ETF that yields that amount?

Question: If US Treasuries at yielding 4-5% right now, why can't I find a 1 month US Bond ETF or 6 month US Bond ETF that yields 4-5%? The best I can find is SGOV but it only yields 2%.
Picture of US yields on 3/8/2023 for reference:
Comment: @MindwinRememberMonica - your feedback seems counter-intuitive on formatting rules.   Why limit formating to code only?
Comment: Hello and welcome to the site. Please consider not using code formatting for non-code highlights. There are plenty of other options to give a term emphasis here https://stackoverflow.com/editing-help
Comment: @Haroon The code formatting in Stack Exchange uses `<code>` HTML tags, meaning that if you're using a screen reader or other accessibility software, it's going to treat things formatted in that way as code, not formatted text. It's an accessibility issue to use them as generic formatting.
Comment: @MindwinRememberMonica, ChrisHayes: A ticker symbol *is* "code".  It is machine-readable and the exact spelling matters.  You'd actually want a screen reader to treat it in the same way as identifiers (variable names, function names) in computer code.
Answer: Over the last 12 months, SGOV yielded 1.84%, but the current SEC yield (30 days ending on the last day of last month) is 4.41%. If you want to know what a fund or ETF yielded most recently, look at the SEC yield.
Answer: The average yield to maturity of SGOV is 4.41%. The 2% is the 12-month trailing yield. From https://www.ishares.com/us/products/314116/ishares-0-3-month-treasury-bond-etf:

Note that the average yield to maturity of SGOV is a bit lower than newly issued Treasury bills, as the yield to maturity has been increasing steadily over the past 1 year. From https://ycharts.com/indicators/3_month_t_bill:
Comment: Do you have a recommendation for an ETF that is more closely tied to the actual 3 month yield than SGOV?
Comment: This might be its own question, but the way these ETFs work, would you expect the minimal return to be at least the the minimum yield of 0-3 month treasuries during the previous 12 week period?  Since theoretically every treasury has rolled over at that point?
Comment: I think you'd just look at the ETF's avg effective duration and look at the yield based on that. Open to being corrected on that.
Comment: @Katsu blend SGOV and SHV
Answer: If you're trying to immediately capitalize on higher rates, your best bet might actually be a money-market mutual fund in the current environment. These funds have access to the Fed's Overnight Reverse Repo ("ONRRP") facility for parking their excess cash, and as of the most recent rate hike, the ONRRP facility is paying 5.30%.


Sequentially defined probability density function and it's UMVUE estimator.

Question:
Let $f_{0}(x)$, $-\infty<x<\infty$ : probability density
  function(p.d.f.) and  $$ F_{0}(x)=\int_{-\infty}^{x}f_{0}(t)\ dt $$
  be the corresponding distribution function.
And let $X_{1}$, $\cdots$, $X_{n}$ be a random sample from
  distribution function
  $F(x;\theta)=\left(F_{0}\left(x\right)\right)^{\theta}$.
I want to find UMVUE of
  $1/\theta$.
Answer: Consider $n=1$. We want an unbiased function of the complete sufficient statistic $\log F_0(X)$ or equivalently $F_0(X)$:
$$
E_\theta [h(F_0(X)] = 1/\theta
$$
This translate to $\theta^{-1} = \int h(F_0(x)) d [F_0(x)^\theta] = \int_0^1 h(t) d t^\theta = h(1) - \int_0^1 t^\theta h'(t) dt$. It seems like Beta integrals might be helpful.
From the integral above, $E h(F_0(X)) = \int_0^1 \theta t^{\theta-1} h(t) dt$, we see that $F_0(X)$ has a distribution with density $\theta t^{\theta-1} 1\{ t \in (0,1)\}$. This is a Beta distribution with parameters $\theta$ and $1$.
Guessing $h(t) = \sum_i a_i t^{\alpha_i} (1-\theta)^{\beta_i-1}$, have $E h = \sum_i a_i \theta B(\theta + \alpha_i,\beta_i)$. Something like this might work (no guarantees).
Comment: You mean I need to choose $h'$ as a beta distribution? Hmm.. any more suggestions?
Comment: It is a bit tricky. Take $h(1) = 1$ and look at what the mean of a Beta distribution looks like. That mean also has an integral representation in terms of the density of the Beta.
Comment: $\frac{\alpha}{\alpha+\beta}=\int_{0}^{1}\frac{x}{B(\alpha,\beta)}x^{\alpha-1}(1-x)^{\beta-1}\ dx$
So choose $\beta=1$, $\alpha=\theta-1$. Then $h'(t)=\frac{1}{B(\theta-1,1)}\frac{1}{t}$.
Is that $h(x)=\frac{1}{B(\theta-1,1)}\int_{0}^{x}\frac{1}{t}\ dt=\infty$???
Comment: OK... that won't work. I missed the Beta factor. $h$ shouldn't depend on $\theta$. Another alternative equation is $\int_0^1 h(t) t^{\theta-1}dt = \theta^{-2}$. Not sure what the solution is, if it has any solution at all.


Is this a potential community wiki question?

Question: Should this question be made into a community wiki post, so we can just mark any "How do I go from iOS {x} to iOS {y}?" questions as a duplicate of this? Of course, we would need to rephrase the actual question be quite generic, but my answer on it has already been made as generic as possible. Perhaps it should just be a new question that I just ask and answer myself and mark as a wiki. Thoughts?
Answer: I do not see why this sould be CW.
The question could be made a bit more general re the iOS versions but the answer seems to stay the same. Both seem good enough and covering an explict question so that they can be a normal answer
Comment: Would it then be acceptable for me to ask a new question in a very general way and then answer it myself in a very general way? (without making it a Community Wiki)
Comment: The question can't be too broad - but I would try and see. And Community Wiki is not relevantt here - mainly used for open ended questions asking for lists
Comment: The problem is this: they all have the same exact answer, and the questions can all be formatted the exact same way, too.
Comment: So theyare duplicates - not CW
Comment: But which one are they a duplicate of? Maybe a Community Wiki isn't what I think it is...
Comment: If they all have teh same answer then they are all but one  duplicates


Drawing 30fps chart in Windows Forms

Question: I'd like to draw a high-framerate (30fps+) graph/chart in a Windows Forms app.
How?
Windows Forms gets TERRIBLE frame rates drawing a clear-background drawing over a window.
(I come from the land of GNU, so I apologize if this is obvious.)
Answer: If you're using Windows Forms (as said in your question):
If you need to get >30FPS, you'll probably need to change to a different technology.  GDI+ drawing is not too efficient.
DirectX would work well for this.  You can do the charting in Direct3D using DirectX embedded in a Window.  SlimDX is a good way to do this from C#.
That being said, you tagged this with WPF - if you're using WPF, everything is retained mode graphics, so there should be no "clear-background drawing" required.  You would just put in the chart elements as needed.  In that case, 30FPS should be doable.
Comment: So Windows Forms is incapable of "retained mode" graphics, and I need to move the app over to WPF?
Answer: Running full tilt I get about 180FPS using a System::Windows::Forms::DataVisualization::Charting::Chart plotting 128bins of an FFT using a 'FastLine' style for the series of data. That's running on an Intel Core 2 Duo (2.53Ghz) IBM Thinkpad.

Drawing 30fps chart in Windows Forms


Failure of ubuntu 16.04 clean installs

Question: I have two machines one has been running ubuntu for a while and the other was a windows machine both were updated to ubuntu 16.04 by a clean install about 3-4 weeks ago and both worked well. Today both machines have failed with similar messages Ivmetad is not active, no cache page mode found assuming drive cache writethrough, recovering journal and then clean files blocks. same messages appear when I try to load an earlier kernel. Im not clear how long the clean process will take so I have left the machine although it has advanced the cursor to the next line
Answer: Modify your /etc/default/grub file.  Replace your GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT option from quiet splash" withnomodeset`
Change from:
GRUB_TIMEOUT=15
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"

Change to:
GRUB_TIMEOUT=15
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="nomodeset"

Also add this line to your grub configuration:
GRUB_TERMINAL_INPUT="console serial"

It should look like:
GRUB_TIMEOUT=15
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="nomodeset"
GRUB_TERMINAL_INPUT="console serial"

Then update your grub with:
$ sudo update-grub

Now reboot.
This is taken from:
Lvmetad is not active yet
lvmetad is not active yet; using direct activation during sysinit

Failure of ubuntu 16.04 clean installs


NoClassDefFoundError with Android Studio on Android 4

Question: I'm in the process of converting an existing app from Eclipse to Android Studio. However, when I run it on a device running 4.x (I've tested several versions on emulators), it immediately crashes with a NoClassDefFoundError.
I've tried commenting out references to the classes it can't find, but there's always another. As far as can tell, the offending class is always

Within my own code
An inner class (Update: With more investigation, this one isn't always true)

Everything works fine on a 5.0.1 emulator (I don't have a device to test on). My build.gradle file is fairly long, but looks like this:
apply plugin: 'com.android.application'
apply plugin: 'android-apt'

def AAVersion = "2.7.1"

android {
    compileSdkVersion 19
    buildToolsVersion "21.1.1"

    defaultConfig {
        applicationId "com.myapp.android"
        minSdkVersion 8
        targetSdkVersion 19
        multiDexEnabled = true
    }

    buildTypes {
        release {
            minifyEnabled false
            proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'), 'proguard-rules.txt'
        }
    }

    packagingOptions {
        *snip*
    }
}

buildscript {
    repositories {
        mavenCentral()

    }
    dependencies {
        classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:1.0.0'
        classpath 'com.neenbedankt.gradle.plugins:android-apt:1.4'
    }
}

repositories {
    maven {
        url "https://repo.commonsware.com.s3.amazonaws.com"
    }
}

apt {
    arguments {
        androidManifestFile variant.outputs[0].processResources.manifestFile
        resourcePackageName 'com.pact.android'
    }
}

dependencies {
    *snip compile project(':...') declarations

    apt "com.googlecode.androidannotations:androidannotations:$AAVersion"
    compile "com.googlecode.androidannotations:androidannotations-api:$AAVersion"

    compile 'com.actionbarsherlock:actionbarsherlock:4.4.0@aar'
    compile 'com.android.support:support-v4:21.0.3'
    compile 'com.google.android.gms:play-services:3.1.36'

    *snip many more compile declarations*

    compile fileTree(dir: 'libs', include: ['*.jar'])
}

Some examples of classes that cause trouble:

An anonymous class that implements an interface inside the facebook library (as a library project)
Parcelable.CREATOR implementations in my models
An inner class that extends android.os.Library
An inner class in my own code
A class that implements an interface in a library from maven

What's going wrong, and how do I fix it?
Answer: I was incompletely implementing MultiDex support, so some of my classes weren't in the proper dex file. To fix it, you have to do more than just set multiDexEnabled = true in your defaultConfig block. You also have to:

Include compile 'com.android.support:multidex:1.0.1' in your dependencies
Have your Application class extend MultiDexApplication instead of just Application. Alternatively, you can call MultiDex.install() in attachBaseContext() of your application.

See https://developer.android.com/tools/building/multidex.html for more details.
Answer: 1) Add multiDexEnabled = true in your default Config
2) Add compile com.android.support:multidex:1.0.0 in your dependencies
3) Application class extend MultiDexApplication instead of just Application
Answer: 1) add multiDexEnabled = true in your defaultConfig in build.gradle.
2) You also have to Include compile 'com.android.support:multidex:1.0.1'
3) add the following to your "application" tag in your manifest:
android:name="android.support.multidex.MultiDexApplication"
its working with me , hope that help
Answer: I solved the problem by removing multiDexEnabled = true in my case.
Comment: It's doesn't work when you just added `multiDexEnabled = true` ...  karl's answer is right.
Answer: I also issue get resolved after doing following steps
1) add multiDexEnabled = true in your defaultConfig in build.gradle.
2) You also have to Include compile com.android.support:multidex:1.0.1
3) add the following to your "application" tag in your manifest:
android:name="android.support.multidex.MultiDexApplication"

Answer: I got the same issue, tried all solutions suggested on StackOverflow but they did not work in my case.
After that I found out that one of libraries compiled by Java 8. So, I need to enable Java 8 in my project too.
  android {
    //...
    compileOptions {
      sourceCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8
      targetCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8
    }
  }

There are many reasons which leads to this error. Hope it helps.
Answer: In my case, it was Kotlin forEach was causing the exception.
More info here: java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError $$inlined$forEach$lambda$1 in Kotlin


In the end of Gattaca, Dr. Lamar calls Vincent by his true name. How did he know Vincent's name?

Question: It doesn't show Vincent's name on the ID card after Lamar tested the urine sample of Vincent/Jermone:
Answer: The film script states that Doctor Lamar already knows who Vincent/Jermone is. He was already aware of Jerome's true identity, to the point that he's been able to discuss with his own son that there's an in-valid working in the heart of the Gattaca program.

LAMAR: Did I ever tell you about my son, Jerome?  He's a big fan of yours.  He wants to apply here.

and

Jerome exits up a long enclosed escalator, realizing that Lamar has
  known all along.

So the fact that the card doesn't say his name is irrelevant. Doctor Lamar already knows Jerome/Vincent's identity, noting that he was in charge of blood testing to try to find him earlier in the film. There's also every possibility that Vincent's name was included in the "Gattaca Bulletin" that all members of staff were instructed to read during the 'flight path' scene.
Answer: I'm pretty sure he picked up on a right-handed/left-handed slip by Vincent at some point, but did not call Vincent out, as Dr. Lamar's son was just like Vincent in that he needed to "beat the odds" to make it into space.
Check out some of the dialogue right before Vincent gets on the flight.  Dr. Lamar says:

"For future reference, right-handed men don't hold it with their left. It's just one of those things"

Jerome was right-handed, Vincent left-handed. Dr. Lamar just wanted Vincent to prove to his son essentially that you can beat the odds and make it to space, even if the genetics aren't all that they promised to be.
The ID of Vincent shows up, but Dr. Lamar overrides it with Jerome's passing ID.
Answer: I agree to a point what both have said that the doctor knew from the beginning that he was an invalid, but his real name is never brought up since the beginning until he tells Irene when she goes to his house and find both of them.
Even though his brother thinks it's him because of the picture, he never tells anyone. So it's either a mistake, or something else edited out of the movie.


real frog video to animation

Question: I'm a behavorial ecologist, and work with an animal that does a visual display.  I came upon blender as a way to make 3d models to animate and test receiver response - for example, showing an animal the display where different parts of it vary a little bit. I'm a little overwhelmed with all that blender offers, and where to begin to learn.  I have in real life videos of an animal doing a display, and want to build an as life-like as possible rendering of that that I can manipulate. Should I start with modeling? I don't want to build my own animal from scratch - can blender use video that I have to help me build a model?
Answer: I am a bit concerned about the reason why you need to do this. Is this for your research work? If yes, I guess it adds some constraints on your project, as I suppose you can't spend months or years just learning how to do 3DCGI. Because that's the thing you will have to do in order to be able to "build an as life-like as possible rendering of that that [you] can manipulate". Do you also want to be able to manipulate it in an interactive manner? That would probably require even more work...
If you were not aiming for "life-like" rendering and manipulable, that would be way more reasonable. It would just be a few weeks or months of learning to get your assets ready to rumble. But "life-like" is really on another level of mastery.
Comment: Thanks so much for your comment and thoughts - this is exactly the sort of feedback I'm looking for.  I would need this for research, and while I could spend months learning and practicing, I don't have years.  And honestly I'm not sure exactly how life-like I need this to be.  The frogs I'm working with respond to very crude physical models, so it's possible a not-entirely life-like video model would suffice.  In any event, I contacted our digital arts program to see if students were looking for a project I could learn alongside them.  Thank you again for your feedback.

real frog video to animation


Read-only DC lost connection and client can't sign in

Question: we have two site (office & factory). in factory site we have read-only Domain controller. connection of two sites is radio wireless and yesterday we lost connection because of storm. now users can't sign-in factory's clients. they see error about lost trust relationship. and repairing connection maybe last two days. if users unplug network cable in factory, they can sign-in and access files but shared drive in factory can't accessed. I change permission of drive share to "everyone" and turn off firewall of client both side(on has shared driver in factory and other clients want to use it) but no chance. what should i do in this position until connection repairs?
Answer: You could physically move server the read only DC is running on to other site, connect it to the the network there then demote it and re-promote it as a full DC and take it back to the other site. You should avoid running without a connection between the DC's for too long as it would eventually get tombstoned but as in the short term it would be OK.
Alternatively you could create another DC on a temporary server and take that to the the other site. If you don't have a spare server you could run a DC on pretty much any hardware as a temporary measure, even an old desktop or laptop.
Comment: I am not sure I got it right, in first solution you mean I put away RODC? and what happens after connection get repaired? I would have two distinct DC, how they would be synchronize?
Comment: Yes demote the RODC and then promote it as a full DC. You'd need to have connectivity to the other DC to do this and the initial promotion and replication which is why you'd have to physically move it to the other site. When you move it back replication won't work until the connection is back up but that will be OK for a few days. Too long without replication and you'd have a problem but for a short period it's Ok. You should avoid making conflicting changes while you've got no  replication.


What is a radar fix?

Question: Sometimes fixes found on approach plates are labeled radar. What are these radar fixes and how to they differ from fixes usually found on approaches?
Comment: I know from experience that minimally equipped aircraft can have ATC identify these fixes from radar, but I'm not sure where the concept of a radar fix on an approach is documented by the FAA. I also assume that in the real world most aircraft are able to identify these fixes on their own, but when is it legal to do so?
Answer: Since this an FAA instrument approach procedure, this answer is specific to the FAA.
The RADAR label indicates that these fixes are marked on the approach controller's screen and he/she can advise the pilot when the aircraft is over the fix.
The use of Radar for arrivals and approaches is outlined in FAA JO 7110.65, Chapter 5, Sections 9 and 10. FAA Order 8260.19, paragraph 8-2-5(a) states that "Radar vectoring may be provided through any approach segment up to and including the final approach fix."
You'll note that the approach plate does NOT indicate RADAR REQUIRED because it is not the only method of determining or defining the fixes. In this particular approach, arrival at a fix can be determined THREE different ways: with Radar, LOC with DME (or GPS lieu of DME), and LOC with VOR radial. Per 8260.19, paragraph 8-6-6h, all IFR aircraft are assumed to have at least one VOR receiver, thus no equipment requirement note is required for this particular approach.
In practice, I've found that ATC will not call out crossing a fix unless you specifically request the service, though they will usually identify your position prior to hand-off (e.g. November 1234, two miles from SHAGY, contact tower on 120.5).
Comment: If you asked ATC to identify the radar fixes for you, would the approach controller or the tower controller do that for you? I want to say the approach controller, but you're in a high workload environment, and you would have to tell tower if you had to go around. Also, AFAIK, most towers don't have their own radar.

What is a radar fix?


Create App_Data and register Excel application on ASP.NET deployment? (IIS7.5)

Question: I am deploying an ASP.NET MVC3 application in IIS7. I already deployed other applications but they never made use of the App_Data folder or any additional component such as the Interop library.
I used the one click deployement and I sue the default application pool. When I launch the application I immediately get an error stating:
[web access] Sorry, an error occurred while processing your request.
[browse from IIS7] Could not find a part of the path 'D:\Data\Apps\OppUpdate\App_Data\Test.xlsx'.
Then I manually added the App_Data folder inside the deployment directory and the application starts regularly. Then when it comes to the taks that uses the Interop library, I get the following error:
[web access] Sorry, an error occurred while processing your request.
[browse from IIS7] Retrieving the COM class factory for component with CLSID {00024500-0000-0000-C000-000000000046} failed due to the following error: 80040154 Class not registered (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80040154 (REGDB_E_CLASSNOTREG)).
Is there any way to automatically add the App_Data folder when using 1 click deploy? How can I register the Interop services?
Thanks you,
Francesco
Answer: Apparently the problem is linked with Server 2008. The Excel application to be executed on server side triggers the security popup which is now present in MS OS, such as Win 7 and Vista. This is the dialog it appears to the users everytime they run an application and warns them about the damages a not trusted application might bring to their PC. Obviously when the application, in this case Excel, is run by another application, in this case a web application,the dialog does not popup and the server does not get the authorization to run Excel.
The solution for this appalling BUG in Microsoft IIS & Excel is terrific:
Create directory "C:\Windows\SysWOW64\config\systemprofile\Desktop" Set Full control permissions for directory Desktop (for example in Win7 & IIS 7 & DefaultAppPool set permissions for user "IIS AppPool\DefaultAppPool")
source: http://forums.iis.net/t/1148371.aspx
Answer: You shouldn't be using COM Office interop in a multithreaded environment like a web-application.

Try using a library that can read and write excel files. (for .xlsx)
http://epplus.codeplex.com/

Or Excellibrary (for .XLS)
http://code.google.com/p/excellibrary/

Be aware the ExcelLibrary (not epplus) has a bug that makes sheets with less than 50 cells not working (4096 byte buffer bug).

NPOI writes XLS files bug-free, but since it's a java-port, it's less comfortable to read .xls files with it (ExcelLibrary reading is bug-free).
http://npoi.codeplex.com


Can I use single phase 220v AC to power a rectifier designed for 3 phase AC?

Question: I want to use a use a rectifier (Eltek Aeon SMPS 4000 Rectifier, used in telecom) as a stand alone DC power supply (puts out 24v/125a).  The unit was designed for 3 phase 220v AC input.  I have only single phase.  Is the unit likely to function on single phase?  If so, would there be any performance loss on single phase vs 3 phase input?
Answer: The answer is.... Maybe.
It depends on the input topology of the power supply.
Their calling it a "Rectifier" is very confusing. What you have is really just a big DC power supply.
Generally, (ignoring the power-factor-correction electronics), the input of a switch-mode power supply is simply rectified to high-voltage DC, which is then converted to the desired output voltage using a DC-DC switching converter (hence the "switch mode" in the description).
If you're lucky, the power-factor correction electronics won't cause an issue with only a single phase, and you simply need to de-rate to 66%, as Spoon said.
You have to derate as you're only using part of the input rectification. Normally there are six input diodes forming a three-phase bridge rectifier. Since you would be only using two of the three power connections, you would only use four of the six diodes, hence the derating.

Really, the only way we can say anything definite about how the power supply will work would be to get a copy of the schematic, or trace out the PCB.
It will probably work, but there can be non-obvious side-issues, like reduced lifetime, etc... If this is just for your own experimentation, you're probably OK.
Answer: If I'm reading this correctly each "rectifier" is a single phase unit; 3 phase installations use banks of six of them, possibly 2 on each phase for failover. See waveform on slide 6, functional diagram on slide 10.
In which case it would work fine. It comes from a country where 230V AC single phase is the normal domestic supply.
Comment: Link is broken - can you copy & paste the relevant content?
Answer: Short answer is No, unless you know something specific about your power supply.  Even if it does work, you have to derate to 1/3 the normal output at the very least as others have said.
There are two likely AC input topologies: brute force rectification and individual rectification with PFC (Power Factor Correction).
Brute force rectification means that the rectifiers are arranged to take the max of the abs of the three power signals.  This effectively switches between the phases to pick off only the peaks.  One important feature of this is that the result is always actively driven to some minimum voltage.  The circuitry making use of that voltage may very well rely on that.  With a single phase you are not only supplying 1/3 of the possible input power, but the DC voltage after rectification goes to zero twice per line cycle.  This can cause more problems than just not having as much power available.  The supply may be unable to hold up the DC output during parts of the AC line cycle, whether you derate according to the lower input power or not.
The best scenario is you have separate PFC front ends on each phase without special circuitry that checks for a phase dropout.  The supply then draws current from each phase separately as a function of its voltage.  This will allow making use of a single phase, but again keep in mind that the input power goes to 0 twice per line cycle, which never happens when all three phases are available.  The available output power may be considerably less than 1/3 of the 3 phase case.
You are basically asking if you can use a carefully designed piece of equipment out of spec.  The answer is always "no", unless you know something more than just the specs.  You can't count on how exactly the designers made use of the promise that all three phases would always be present.  It might work, but you should not assume so, and you can't complain when it doesn't.
Answer: Short answer is Yes.
However you have to de-rate the rectifier to 67% of its current rating.... that's from memory.
Comment: Your answer reads as if you didn't actually look a the component the OP asked about.  Note that while it's called a "rectifier", it is far more than a simple diode bridge.
Comment: I haven't had a chance to dig out a Drive manual but they let you do it... a Drive is a rectifier input stage and an inverter output stage.  However there are good answers already so I'll leave it to them....
Answer: Of course it it possible.
I work with these equipments and i have no doubt about that.
Regardless the AC Fase R S ou T. the output é DC (continuous current) So the potencial ate the exit of each rectifier module is the same.
Comment: I don't see how this answer contributes to the other answers. Also it has been stated it it not really "of course possible" but may depend on several factors.


Why does the TARDIS console room change?

Question: In several episodes, you see that the TARDIS has a new console. Why doesn't it just fix the old console instead of building a new one?
Comment: Which episodes do you mean? The episodes in which the Doctor regenerates (because that's usually the time when the console changes)? Other episodes?
Comment: On at least one occasion, the doctor refers to it as a "desktop", the clear implication being that it's a personal preference.
Comment: The Fourth Doctor used the secondary control room for a while whilst the first was being re-decorated (I think it was stated in the Masque of Mandragora).
Comment: where's the fun in that...
Answer: The look, feel and even control systems of the TARDIS seem to change according to the whim of the current incarnation of the Doctor.
In the minisode "Time Crash", the fifth Doctor compares the control room's appearance to that of a computer's desktop theme;

FIVE: What have you done to my TARDIS? You've changed the desktop
  theme, haven't you? What's this one? Coral? It's worse than the
  leopardskin.

Additionally, in the episode "Eleventh Hour", we see that the TARDIS itself is capable of selecting a new Control Room when the previous one is destroyed during by the Doctor's regeneration cycle.
As to the specific question of why they don't simply fix the old one when it gets broken, the answer is that the TARDIS contains a considerable number of "themes" from both the doctor's past (and future) that can be selected at will. Changing between them seems to require a trivial amount of energy compared to fixing a broken one.

DOCTOR: How's he going to be able to take down the shields anyway? The
  House is in the control room.
IDRIS: I directed him to one of the old control rooms.
DOCTOR: There aren't any old control rooms. They were all deleted or remodelled.
IDRIS: I archive them, for neatness. I've got about thirty now.
DOCTOR: But I've only changed the desktop, what, a dozen times?
IDRIS: So far, yes.
DOCTOR: You can't archive something that hasn't happened yet.
IDRIS: You can't.

If you'd like a breakdown of the various control rooms seen in the TV show, there's an extensive list (with pictures) here.
Answer: It's stablished in I don't remember which chapter, that the control room of the TARDIS changes to match the personality and taste of each incarnation of the Doctor.
The TARDIS does this automatically and has stored every main control room that the Doctor used or will use.
That would be the "canon" answer, but it´s really an excuse to keep updating the scenario to match the times in which the show is aired and the particular taste of the director of the season.
Comment: Agree with the last sentence, and if the console hadn't changed, it would still be plain, white and boring.
Comment: @nidunc: Actually, if had *never* changed it would be green.  During the Hartnell/Troughton years, the console was painted a pale green rather than gray because the green looked better on the black and white cameras of the day.  After the show went to color with the introduction of Jon Pertwee, the old console appeared in one story where the Doctor had moved it outside the TARDIS; after that the prop was junked and replaced.  Because it appeared on screen in color, however, I would consider the green console "canonical".  Incidentally, color photographs from the earlier eras show that...
Comment: ...the TARDIS exterior prop was charcoal gray rather than blue; that may explain why some characters referred to it as a "black" box rather than a "blue" one.
Answer: It could be that the TARDIS has just one of all these interiors that she can swap out and use as the console room. So when the console room is destroyed, she has to  use a different one.
Comment: Welcome to SciFi.SE! Please don't capitalise the first letter of every word, it makes your post extremely hard to read.


Pegged Orders Positioning

Question: I have a strategy that involves being first in the order queue in a tight market where the tick can change from bid to ask or ask to bid by one tick. I am looking at pegged orders so when the bid changes to ask or the otherway around i want to be first position on that tick change. I was wondering if that is possible with pegged orders?
Answer: Pegged NBBO/MidPoint orders, each exchange has algo check documentation or contact them about time/price/Fifo and most importantly pro-rata allocations for peggged orders.
Here is a doc from NYSE to have a look at: https://www.nyse.com/publicdocs/nyse/markets/nyse/Pillar_Differences.pdf
Answer: On nasdaq, their pegged orders do not operate inside the exchange matching engine as you would expect.. they have some undocumented method that does not gaurantee fifo order is conserved when the order stack moves from one level to another, the re-reinsertion is random at best and they are secrely letting other people jump the queue at worst.    IEX does this inside the matching engine, and they actually have specific order types to mitigate against adverse selection due to sub-millisecond latency arbitrage by other market particpants. Specifally, the D-Peg and D-limit order types you may want to look into .
Comment: > "IEX does this inside the matching engine". Interesting... do you have a source for this? Their rule book is non-committal with respect to time priority: '... Due to the way in which the Exchange processes re-pricing, orders' relative time priority is generally preserved.' I decode this as 'best efforts' which is comparable with other venues.
Comment: @SergeiRodionov yes, myself, by talking to iex and nasdaq via phone and email and reading the specs of each
Comment: This is important, but it's better to verify repricing priority with a full order log. I would use two orders with same limits but different display sizes and check if their priority is maintained. Or spot anonymous orders with fairly unique display sizes and see if they keep their relative priority.
Answer: As far as I know, pegged orders are never "pegged" to the same orderbook you add them to. For instance

you can peg an order to the NBBO, for instance: at the mid of the NBBO
you can peg an order in the dark to the touch of the BBO of an orderbook belonging to the same operator, for instance: at the best bid for a buy and best ask for a sell.

This second case is the most common since in most regulations, you cannot "create a new price in the dark": a trade in the dark has to be done at a price that would exist in a lit pool. This is especially very clear since MiFID in Europe. To be accurate this rule is for small orders only, and is called the "imported price waiver" (see Market Microstructure in Practice by L and Laruelle, any of the 2 editions).
From the viewpoint of the trader, the mechanism in the dark is that you hope that someone will try to go to the dark before crossing the spread and hitting the best opposite. If you wait at the mid in the dark you will be hit first and capture this aggressive liquidity flow: each of you will spare half of a spread (compared to crossing the spread).
Of course this comes at the cots of a lower probability to obtain the trade: the probability that the aggressive flow effectively accepts to potentially loose the roundtrip to this dark orderbook times the probability that it paid the fixed costs (and the fees) to trade in the dark is between you and this flow. Hence you can see a trade done on another orderbook at your price on the reference orderbook without your order being hit.
Some operators claim that it reduces your footprint in the market (ie market impact). This is not that true because if you are sophisticated enough, obtaining a transaction via a limit order means suffering from an opportunity cost: does this half spread worth it?
For instance, if there is really a large aggressive flow coming in your direction, it would have been better to move your order away, to be paid more than at the mid or the touch to provide liquidity to these guys.

Pegged Orders Positioning


Setting Action Visibility using multiple field values

Question: Does Salesforce lightning filtering allow action visibility to be set using a single filter with multiple field values yet? Cannot create a formula field to handle this due to number of fields and maint. My need is to show an action button on the highlights panel only for (2) unique task record types. Tried several string formats using single/double quotes, commas, semicolon,.... nothing seems to allow for this. Hopefully there is else I add multiple logic conditions.
Answer: You can add the same field in multiple filter with different values (single value only) and use the Custom Filter logic to handle your requirement.
For Example. Case Object having 3 available record types and I want to display the button on any 2 record types only.


Change HD in Macbook Pro Retina Display 13" - SSD 250GB

Question: I have a Macbook Pro Retina Display 13" model with a 250GB SSD which was brought in January this year. I always knew that there wouldn't be enough storage space for me at 250GB however always planned to upgrade with external storage and eventually replace the hard drive with a larger one. The time has come and now I am deciding on the most cost effective, most stable SSD to replace my original one with. I ideally would like to spend around £150 to £200 and want at least 500GB.
Comment: Apple sells several "generations" of retina MBP at the same time. Is yours the Late 2013? (Open System Information and look under the About this Mac window - Command I)
Comment: Yes its late 2013 I bought it a few days after xmas and its was listed as "new' in the catalogue/shop
Answer: Changing a SSD for a larger one is usually pretty easy. I have done it myself via a kit OWC (macsales.com) sells. We also use cruical.com at work and buy SSDs from them. As for brands and make/model... I've always shopped price as HD/SSD are all made by about 5-6 companies and all are good and should work with any Mac that supports SATA.
You will find good instructions at ifixit.com so you know what you are in for (you may possibly need some specialized "screwdrivers." That guide will tell you.
However as you seem to be in the UK I am unsure if these places sell overseas and/or will be price competitive with a reseller in the UK.
Regardless iFixit is a great resource and will help regardless of where you get the drive.
Comment: Thank you for the reply i assume its simple once the base is open on the computer -Ill have  look at your recommendations; as for using the original drive I'm going to replace do you think it will be easy or worth it to get a wire and casing to connect to SATA/USB back to use as an external drive?
Comment: Absolutely, in fact OWC's kits come with a case for your old drive. The instructions on ifixit.com are completely free to get to and reviewing them will help you decide if it you could do it. I believe OWC has video installation instructions as well, but I used the ifixit.com instructions just because I was familiar with it.


Autolaunched (Scheduled ) Flow not sending out Email after Last Item in the Loop

Question: I am trying to build a flow where it checks for Inactive opportunities over seven days through Last Modified Date. The Get Record Element is followed by a Loop Element and then a E Mail is sent out for notifying the Inactive Opportunities. However when I choose the "After Last Item " in Loop connector to Email Action ,it doesn't send out any email although flow runs without error. It works if I choose "For Each item" but ends up sending many emails which I want to avoid . How do I create a flow to send out only one Email at the end of process with cumulative information and not 40+ emails!
Comment: If you only want to send one email you will need to either iterate over all of your records, grab relevant information from each, and store them in a collection variable to be used in your email. Flows are, IMO, not a great tool for this because this approach is cumbersome and the email action is very limited. You may consider using a Visualforce email template instead where you have a lot more control over the formatting.
Comment: Thanks @nbrown! Will try that route out.
Answer: I used to use an unofficial email component that gives you a lot of flexibility. You are able to send emails to a csv string or a collection of email addresses. You can still use this component, but it is not the only solution out there. Send rich text email action does the same trick. Check here: https://help.salesforce.com/articleView?id=release-notes.rn_forcecom_flow_fbuilder_send_rich_emails.htm&release=230&type=5
Either collect all the email addresses by adding them to a collection or append them to a string adding a comma before every value.
P.S. No, you don't need to do Visualforce.


Positioning objects around a sphere

Question: I'm working on a spaceship. its basic form is a Sphere, with an additional torus around it´s middle. The ship has 48 engine nozzles (is that the correct english term?) around the torus. (Using the mirror modifier I still have to work on 24 of them.) Is there a way to position objects- like the engine nozzles) with equal distance around the Sphere? They should all have a 15 degree "distance" along the same (z) axis, but so far i didn't find a simple way to do this. and with movements around the 3 axis its trial and - mostly error - and takes forever. I hope the description of my problem is more or less helpful. I'm no nativ speaker so that makes it a bit harder to find what I'm looking for.
Comment: Welcome to BSE @Rolf please provide screenshots in your question or/and upload the .blend file and include the link in your question.
Comment: you can upload the .blend file here https://blend-exchange.giantcowfilms.com/ then copy the link, edit your question and add the link.
Answer: Instead of working under a Mirror modifier, on 24 nozzles, you could be working under an Array modifier, on 1.

Cut out 1/48 of your spaceship. (If necessary, P temporarily split off the part of your spaceship you don't want to be duplicated in rotation)
Set up a rotational array: Object offset only, targeted on an empty at the spaceship origin, rotated through 360/48 degrees, 'Merge' and 'First and Last' checked
Get to work on the nozzle(s)

It can help to keep a copy of the torus before cutting the piece out, to Shrinkwrap to. In the cut-out section, create a Vertex Group of the vertices you want to remain on the surface of the original torus. Assign a Shrinkwrap modifier to the section, target the intact torus,affecting only that Vertex Group.
Answer: Not an expert but my first try would be this.
(In Edit Mode) Create a new sphere at center with cursor to center (Shift + S and click 'Cursor to Center').
Use the Alt + R method and slice it into the equal parts you need  (Alt + R while hovering over your new sphere, a pink/purple dividing line should appear, now scroll your middle mouse wheel to create the amount of cuts you need, now right click to place.)
(Alternatively you could create a cylinder turned on its side, and simply type in the amount of edges you would need).
Then again the opposite way but only once down the center.
Now you have sphere (or cylinder) with equally spaced edges, all divided by a center edge, creating perfectly centered vertexes around at each intersection. Now you can attach copies of your nozzle to each of these vertexes (do this part in Object Mode) by snapping the center point of their geometry to each vertex.
Next just delete the spheres geometry and center and scale them over you original ship.
Answer: If I understand well you could use array and screw modifier, add your mesh with origin in your ship(?) them use array modifier to create some copies of your mesh and them use screw modifier to make them surround your mesh

Positioning objects around a sphere


Find the last updated date time of SharePoint Column

Question: I am using the default new list form for adding and editing the item. Now i have a requirement where i need to get the last modified date/time of a particular column(Not item) based on which the timer job will run. So is there a way where we can get the last modified date/time for a particular column or can store date time in additional column ?
Answer: You did not specify how you want to achieve it (get it only onetime or display it in the display form...).
First you should enable versioning. Then you can create some function (server side code, PowerShell) that will iterate all versions and find first version that contains some value in your column. The version you just found contains Created property that you can use.
Example in PowerShell:
<code>asnp *sharepoint*
$web = Get-SPWeb http://server/sites/site
$list = $web.Lists["Some list"]
$item = $list.GetItemById(1)
$sortedVersions = $item.Versions | Sort-Object VersionId

foreach ($version in $sortedVersions)
{
    $value = $version["Your column"]
    if ($value -ne $null -or $value -ne "")
    {
        Write-Host $version.Created
        break
    }
}
$web.Dispose()
</code>
Answer: What do you mean by last modified date for column? if you modify a item(ex. a single column) then also the modified date column will be updated. You can get the last modified date/time by Modified column which is there for each list item and this column get created by default when you create a list.


SQL Server: Creating a user database with permissions

Question: At work, I am tasked with creating a user database.  It needs to account for (end)user permissions for 8 different installed programs.  The database will be hosted by each client containing their specific information behind a firewall.  I have the majority of it built out (tables below), but I don't know how to incorporate permissions.
I could put all available permissions in a table, and then link them to users/groups and applications in another table.  Or I could put all available permissions in a table, then link them to users/groups in another table, and then applications in yet another table.  Problem is that both of these options don't play well with the applications because I cannot think of a way to actually search for a specific permission (ex: call to database to find if user can do 'x') without the programmer hard-coding the permission Ids into the program.
I could have a table per application with each of that application's permissions as a column, but there are 70+ permissions for each application and the tables would get huge (also not very expandable if we need to add more permissions later).
So the end questions is; How do I set up permissions for end-user accounts in a way that the programmer does not have to know and hard-code the Ids into the applications?
Table - Description

Applications - Basically a list of our applications so we have an Id to link the permissions to
GlobalSettings - Settings used for all users, mostly password requirments
Groups - Lists all end-user administrator defined groups of users (this way a permission can be tied to a group of users at one time)
PreviousPasswords - Lists the last x hashed passwords for each user (the ones they can't use again)
UnusablePasswords - Lists passwords we won't let our end-users use (such as password1)
User_Group_Link - Links a User to a Group
Users - Lists all end-users and their needed data (birthday, name, etc)
Comment: Have you looked at the schema that SQL Server uses for modeling permissions within a database? You might try using that as a starting point, and update your question with any pros/cons you see in that permission model. In particular, I highly recommend a role-based approach to user-permission assignment.
Answer: Some Ideas (Anyone: please feel free to Edit/Add)
ApplicationPermissions (Application Level Permissions)

ApplicationID
PermissionID
Allow (Y/N/1/0)
Value (As in a Max Number of "X" allowed)
CreatedDate
CreatedByUserID
LastUpdatedDate
LastUpdatedByUserID

User_Application_Permissions (User Level Permissions)

UserID
ApplicationID
Allow (Y/N/1/0)
CreatedDate
CreatedByUserID
LastUpdatedDate
LastUpdatedByUserID

UserPermissions (Descriptive/Attribute Table)

PermissionID
PermissionDescription
CreatedDate
CreatedByUserID
LastUpdatedDate
LastUpdatedByUserID

Users (Descriptive/Attribute Table)

UserID
UserName
CreatedDate
CreatedByUserID
LastUpdatedDate
LastUpdatedByUserID


What are all those "spots" on the Mediterranean Sea floor?

Question: This is the location. It is close to the French coast.
Comment: Likely an artifact of the way the data was collected or the imagery was made.
Answer: Since this is the "satellite view" and the features don't show up in a bathymetry map, they are most likely surface artifacts from something like the large cruise ships that frequent the French Riviera. (The depth at this location is about 2,700 meters.)
Here is the base sonar map of the ocean floor at those coordinates, from NOAA's National Center for Environmental Information's bathymetry data viewer.
Comment: Those blips appears to be 1km by 2km so they'd have to be pretty big cruise ships. And a lot of them. It could just be a processing artifact.
Comment: @Spencer Yeah, all I can say is they're not features on the ocean floor. There's some texture in this part of the Mediterranean, but not much. I see another cluster of this spots off the northeast coast of Corsica and some near the boot heel of Italy, but not really where you'd expect ships to be, and nothing on the terrain maps.
Comment: Sometimes bathymetry maps have dots where soundings were taken. Google uses a jigsaw puzzle of different data sources.