Word for when you think of anyone and they call you

Question: Is there a word when you think of someone and he suddenly shows up or calls you ?
Comment: Yes, there is: **coincidence**.
Comment: OK. So, we can use "coincidence" not just in events but also when we think of them.
Comment: @Bobson: corrected the title
Comment: Looking for 'Love'?
Answer: Could the word you want be synchronicity:-

Coincidence of events that seem to be meaningfully related, conceived in Jungian theory as an explanatory principle on the same
  order as causality. [American Heritage Dictionary via the Free Dictionary]
Comment: As I understand the theory, for this word to apply, you need to have 2 or more events that are seemingly very similar or identical, but causally unrelated  ("an apparently meaningful coincidence in time of two or more similar or identical events that are causally unrelated" Collins English Dictionary from thefreedictionary.com)  For instance, one person drops dead of a heart attack and the same day so does his brother-in-law who lives in another state.  That's nothing like what the question describes!
Answer: Probably most accurate is "anomolous experience".
I've heard this meaning associated with "premonition".  Some people say "sixth sense" (but, more technically, psychologists will call it an "anomolous experience" which is why I mentioned that first).  I've also heard this intended meaning from the phrase "feminine intuition".  Men will often say "gut feeling" or something more along those lines.
Here's an on-point article from Psychology Today:  http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/201206/your-sixth-sense
Comment: this one also seem to relate to what I was searching for but this is more of a technical word. Isn't it ?
Comment: Are you asking is it more technical than synchronicity?  They are equally technical, but I think the most important thing to consider is that synchronicity DOES NOT describe what you ask in the question - you would need 2 nearly identical but seemingly unrelated events for it to apply - such as you and 3 long-forgotten classmates from years ago all decide to vacation at the same hotel in Athens, Greece at the same time.  What your question describes is "anomolous experience" not "synchronicity"; black and white difference between the two.


How could I output audio to the microphone port on Macbook Pro 15" Late 2011?

Question: I've seen cases where people record audio with the headphones port, so is it possible to listen to audio with the microphone port? I do not have any torx or triwing screwdrivers right now so a headphone port replacement is not possible.
Thanks!
Answer: Recent Macs (from 2012) have a headphone jack which also has a contact for a microphone, using the same contacts as the iPhone headset. That's how you can record from the headphone jack.
Unfortunately, the microphone jack is not wired to support audio output, so there is no way to do it.
If you want to listen to headphones with your MacBook without a hardware repair, USB Audio devices are cheap and widely available. That would be the best way to go.


Changing a batch file when its running

Question: I am running a long running batch file. I now realize that I have to add some more commands at the end of the batch file (no changes to exisiting content, just some extra commands). Is it possible to do this, given that most batch files are read incrementally and executed one by one? Or does the system read the entire contents of the file and then runs the job?
Comment: You gotta love SO quick responses. You already started running the batch > posted a question > got an answer > edited you file before execution completed!
Comment: Also note that when the batch file is removed or renamed, the moment the current instruction has finished an error will be thrown: "The batch file cannot be found."
Answer: I just tried it, and against my intuition, it picked up the new commands at the end (on Windows XP)
I created a batch file containing
echo Hello
pause
echo world

I ran the file, and while it was paused, added
echo Salute

Saved it and pressed enter to contine the pause, all three prompts were echoed to the console.
So, go for it!
Answer: The command interpreter remembers the line position byte offset it's at in the batch file. You will be fine as long as you modify the batch file after the current executing line position byte offset at the end of the most recently parsed line of code.
If you modify it before then it will start doing strange things (repeating commands etc..).
Comment: This is true in my experience.
Comment: Is that documented anywhere please, or is this from your own experience?
Comment: Actually, what it will do is the parser pointer will stay at the same index in the file, so adding/removing text before the index will shift what's under the instruction pointer. Weird things happen, indeed.
Comment: Case in point - a real-life [funky bug](https://github.com/conda/conda/issues/6968#issuecomment-371341034) causes by doing this.
Comment: Normally I would not edit someone else's answer like I did, but people were interpreting line position to mean line number, which is wrong. The many up votes were causing people to come away with incorrect information.
Comment: Does this apply to `*.cmd` files as well?
Answer: jeb's example is a lot of fun, but it is very dependent on the length of the text that is added or deleted. I think the counter-intuitive results are what rein meant when he said "If you modify it before then it will start doing strange things (repeating commands etc..)".
I've modified jeb's code to show how dynamic code of varying length can be freely modified at the beginning of an executing batch file as long as appropriate padding is in place. The entire dynamic section is completely replaced with each iteration. Each dynamic line is prefixed with a non interfering ;. This conveniently allows FOR /F to strip the dynamic code because of the implicit EOL=; option.
Instead of looking for a particular line number, I look for a specific comment to locate where the dynamic code begins. This is easier to maintain.
I use lines of equal signs to harmlessly pad the code to allow for expansion and contraction. Any combination of the following characters could be used: comma, semicolon, equal, space, tab and/or newline. (Of course the padding cannot begin with a semicolon.) The equal signs within the parentheses allow for code expansion. The equal signs after the parentheses allow for code contraction.
Note that FOR /F strips empty lines. This limitation could be overcome by using FINDSTR to prefix each line with the line number and then strip out the prefix within the loop. But the extra code slows things down, so it's not worth doing unless the code is dependent on blank lines.
@echo off
setlocal DisableDelayedExpansion
echo The starting filesize is %~z0
:loop
echo ----------------------
::*** Start of dynamic code ***
;set value=1
::*** End of dynamic code ***
echo The current value=%value%
::
::The 2 lines of equal signs amount to 164 bytes, including end of line chars.
::Putting the lines both within and after the parentheses allows for expansion
::or contraction by up to 164 bytes within the dynamic section of code.
(
  call :changeBatch
  ==============================================================================
  ==============================================================================
)
================================================================================
================================================================================
set /p "quit=Enter Q to quit, anything else to continue: "
if /i "%quit%"=="Q" exit /b
goto :loop
:changeBatch
(
  for /f "usebackq delims=" %%a in ("%~f0") do (
    echo %%a
    if "%%a"=="::*** Start of dynamic code ***" (
      setlocal enableDelayedExpansion
      set /a newValue=value+1, extra=!random!%%9
      echo ;set value=!newValue!
      for /l %%n in (1 1 !extra!) do echo ;echo extra line %%n
      endlocal
    )
  )
) >"%~f0.tmp"
::
::The 2 lines of equal signs amount to 164 bytes, including end of line chars.
::Putting the lines both within and after the parentheses allows for expansion
::or contraction by up to 164 bytes within the dynamic section of code.
(
  move /y "%~f0.tmp" "%~f0" > nul
  ==============================================================================
  ==============================================================================
)
================================================================================
================================================================================
echo The new filesize is %~z0
exit /b

The above works, but things are much easier if the dynamic code is moved to a subroutine at the end of the file. The code can expand and contract without limitation, and without the need for padding. FINDSTR is much faster than FOR /F at removing the dynamic portion. Dynamic lines can be safely be prefixed with a semicolon (including labels!). Then the FINDSTR /V option is used to exclude lines that begin with a semicolon and the new dynamic code can simply be appended.
@echo off
setlocal DisableDelayedExpansion
echo The starting filesize is %~z0

:loop
echo ----------------------
call :changeBatch
call :dynamicCode1
call :dynamicCode2
echo The current value=%value%
set /p "quit=Enter Q to quit, anything else to continue: "
if /i "%quit%"=="Q" exit /b
goto :loop

:changeBatch
(
  findstr /v "^;" "%~f0"
  setlocal enableDelayedExpansion
  set /a newValue=value+1, extra=!random!%%9
  echo ;:dynamicCode1
  echo ;set value=!newValue!
  echo ;exit /b
  echo ;
  echo ;:dynamicCode2
  for /l %%n in (1 1 !extra!) do echo ;echo extra line %%n
  echo ;exit /b
  endlocal
) >"%~f0.tmp"
move /y "%~f0.tmp" "%~f0" > nul
echo The new filesize is %~z0
exit /b

;:dynamicCode1
;set value=33
;exit /b
;
;:dynamicCode2
;echo extra line 1
;exit /b

Comment: EDIT - I modified the last code to demonstrate that even labels can be prefixed, so they can easily be included in the dynamic code.
Comment: Can I comment some lines before the executing position? (If it only counts the lines, it should be fine with some extra characters on it, right?)
Comment: @JinSnow - No, [Rein's answer](https://stackoverflow.com/a/906641/1012053) was not accurate. Batch remembers the byte offset (offset from the beginning of the file), not the line number. I've edited Rein's answer.
Answer: Short answer: yes, batch files can modify themselves whilst running. As others have already confirmed.
Years and years ago, back before Windows 3, the place I worked had an inhouse menu system in MS-DOS. The way it ran things was quite elegant: it actually ran from a batch file that the main program (written in C) modified in order to run scripts. This trick meant that the menu program itself was not taking up memory space whilst selections were running. And this included things like the LAN Mail program and the 3270 terminal program.
But running from a self-modifying batch file meant its scripts could also do things like load TSR programs and in fact could do pretty much anything you could put in a batch file. Which made it very powerful. Only the GOTO command didn't work, until the author eventually figured out how to make the batch file restart itself for each command.
Answer: Nearly like rein said, cmd.exe remember the file position (not only the line position) it's currently is, and also for each call it push the file position on an invisble stack.
That means, you can edit your file while it's running behind and before the actual file position, you only need to know what you do ...
A small sample of an self modifying batch
It changes the line set value=1000 continuously
@echo off
setlocal DisableDelayedExpansion
:loop
REM **** the next line will be changed
set value=1000
rem ***
echo ----------------------
echo The current value=%value%
<nul set /p ".=Press a key"
pause > nul
echo(
(
call :changeBatch
rem This should be here and it should be long
)
rem ** It is neccessary, that this is also here!
goto :loop
rem ...
:changeBatch
set /a n=0
set /a newValue=value+1
set /a toggle=value %% 2
set "theNewLine=set value=%newValue%"
if %toggle%==0 (
   set "theNewLine=%theNewLine% & rem This adds 50 byte to the filesize.........."
)
del "%~f0.tmp" 2> nul
for /F "usebackq delims=" %%a in ("%~f0") DO (
   set /a n+=1
   set "line=%%a"
   setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
   if !n!==5 (
       (echo !theNewLine!)
   ) ELSE (
       (echo !line!)
   )
   endlocal
) >> "%~f0.tmp"
(
  rem the copy should be done in a parenthesis block
  copy "%~f0.tmp" "%~f0" > nul
  if Armageddon==TheEndOfDays (
   echo This can't never be true, or is it?
  )
)
echo The first line after the replace action....
echo The second line comes always after the first line?
echo The current filesize is now %~z0
goto :eof

Comment: Does that means it's safe to comment some lines before the executing line (while runing)?
Comment: @JinSnow No, because adding comments with `REM` will add characters and the code under the current file location will be changed. It works only when you don't change the file size. Example, it's allowed to modify `set myVar=Test` to `REM myVar=Test`
Answer: The command interpreter appears to remember the byte offset within each command file it is reading, but the file itself is not locked, so it is possible to make changes, say with a text editor, whilst it is running.
If a change is made to the file after this remembered location, the interpreter should happily continue to execute the now modified script. However if the change is made before that point, and that modification changes the length of the text at that point (for example you've inserted or removed some text), that remembered location is now no longer referring to the start of that next command. When the interpreter tries to read the next 'line' it will instead pick up a different line, or possibly part of a line depending on how much text was inserted or removed. If you're lucky, it will probably not be able to process whatever word it happen to land on, give an error and continue to execute from the next line - but still probably not what you want.
However, with understanding of what's going on, you can structure your scripts to reduce the risk. I have scripts that implement a simply menu system, by displaying a menu, accepting input from the user using the choice command and then processing the selection. The trick is to ensure that the point where the script waits for input is near the top of the file, so that any edits you might wish to make will occur after that point and so have no nasty impacts.
Example:
:top
call :displayMenu
:prompt
REM The script will spend most of its time waiting here.
choice /C:1234 /N "Enter selection: "
if ERRORLEVEL == 4 goto DoOption4
if ERRORLEVEL == 3 goto DoOption3
if ERRORLEVEL == 2 goto DoOption2
goto DoOption1
:displayMenu
(many lines to display menu)
goto prompt
:DoOption1
(many lines to do Option 1)
goto top
:DoOption2
(many lines to do Option 2)
goto top
(etc)

Changing a batch file when its running


How to store time series data in a list (or any other data structure) to get reasonable trends over a variety of horizons?

Question: Say I want to store a forex rate trend in which, I receive two updates every second on average. But I don't want to store all updates against the timestamp over a day as the data would be huge. But I want to show every update in the last two minutes, every second update in the last 1 hour and so on with reducing frequencies over a day. Which algorithm/data structure is best for this?
Answer: You could use a circular buffer. But generally StackOverflow is not for questions like that.


Can a ringlight be very useful on cloudy days outside?

Question: I want to to know if a ringlight can be very helpful for a cloudy/overcast weather outdoors for portraits & fashion? Will it help remove some shadowing or help much at all outside for portraits & fashion photos during overcast weather? Or not really? I seem to only be able to find ringlights being used outdoors during dusk/nighttime which doesn't help me with what I want to know! I'm specifically looking at the Diva Ringlight Nebula.
Comment: I'm confused by the question. Overcast skies cause there to be a *lack* of shadows (varying with your degree of overcast). A light being used in overcast conditions *helps* create shadows for depth, not get rid of them.
Comment: Oh I'm sorry I'm new to photography! I guess I mean, will the ringlight make the portrait look better and give more nice light on the face during overcast weather outside?
Comment: Looks like *that* ringlight needs to be powered via outlet or a sold separately battery pack. That's a LOT of money to be spent on something that doesn't list how bright it is. You may have issues using it to overpower the sun, even on a cloudy day.
Comment: If you're trying to learn about portrait photography and mixed lighting - I'd highly suggest NOT spending a ton of money right off the bat. Go with a strobe and a radio trigger and explore from there. Simply adding a light won't magically make the photos look "better".
Comment: We all have our favorite articles, but I'm a fan of this one: http://strobist.blogspot.com/2008/04/on-assignment-controlling-daylight-pt-1.html - shooting in shadow means very little contrast. This article shows how the strobe is used to add contrast and depth - not take it away.
Answer: Ringlights renders a very specific type of illumination. If you unbalance these, the "ring light effect" is gone.
That is why people use it in dark environments.
They are usually not that bright because they are pointed directly at people's eyes and normally for close illumination.
The specific light you mention is a video light so it is continuous light, and it is for close-ups, like for makeup artists. I doubt will help you in a "fashion photo shoot" but you need to look at the specs.
A continuous light makes part of the overall ambient light.
If you want to somehow overpower the ambient light you need to use a flash.

I am a little worried here because it seems you have not a clear idea of what you want.
Do you want to reduce contrast in a low contrast illumination? Will it help to reduce an already reduced contrast illumination? yes to some degree.
But depends on the aperture speed, distance, weather conditions distance to the background, aperture.
You need to clarify if what you want is to get a specific "style" or you just want to "reduce" shadows.
Answer: We generally light a portrait using a main light that is placed high to simulate afternoon sun. When working outdoors in bright sun, shadows are often too harsh, void of detail. To avoid, photographers often prefer cloudy-bright conditions or open shade.
Mitigating shadows under natural conditions is not always possible. Now the photographer brings to bear reflectors or fill lighting. The fill is a subordinate light source, its job is to fill the shadows making them softer. As a rule, the fill light is set about 1 to 2 f-stops weaker than the main light (might be sunlight). Such a lash-up preserves the one light source illusion that enhances the portrait.
A ring light can be used as the fill light. The pitfall is; ring lights are generally tasked for close-up work thus they tend to be somewhat weak.  I think most ring lights will be too weak to be of much use in bright sun.


Indoor Rock Climbing (Boulder) - Finger Skin Coming Off - How to Treat and Avoid It?

Question: I started indoor rock climbing 3 weeks ago. I do it 2-3 times a week. I noticed after today's climb that my pinky finger right hand skin is coming off. Also two other fingers skin is kinda loose. How can I avoid it next time? Should I cover or wrap the fingers with tape or something?
Answer: This is really common with beginner climbers. If you don't have enough time between climbs to give your skin a chance to recover, then yes, taping is possibly the simplest way to protect them. It can reduce some of your grip and sensitivity but can help, especially until your skin is strong enough to cope.
From MountainKnowHow.com:

The idea is to make a second layer of skin with tape to protect your actual skin from ripping apart. Usually, you do it at the end of a long and hard climbing session when your skin is becoming raw and torn down. Using tape this way can save you from days of pain with large flapping injuries.

But they also discuss the reduction in grip, and how this slows down your ability to strengthen your hands, so they also mention improving technique. There are useful videos on that page showing correct taping technique.
Answer: This problem is mainly caused by you skin not being accustomed to the friction of the holds. Another factor contributing to skin loss is the jug nature of the holds in beginner routes. I find that a lot more abusive to my skin than medium level holds. This is especially true for bouldering which tends to have much steeper walls at beginner level than roped climbing.
However, I would only use tape when absolutely necessary as this will prevent your skin from adapting to climbing. Instead I would focus on the following solutions

stop climbing when your skin is about to be worn through. There is absolutely nothing to gain by climbing until your skin is totally ruined!
do not go climbing with skin that has not recovered yet
improve your technique towards a more controlled grip. Avoid sliding around on holds
If you get raw edges on your skin, you can sand them down (I rarely do this)
Avoid climbing very newly set routes (1-2 days after setting). The texture of cleaned holds is a lot more aggressive
Keep your hands dry. Consider using liquid chalk as a base layer in hot weather if your skin gets along with it

An most importantly: give your body time to adapt. Not only your skin and muscles (which respond fast) but also your tendons which take a longer time.
Answer: I would strongly discourage taping your fingers to protect against skin coming off for various reasons.
The first an most obvious is, that it doesn't really help (in my opinion). There are two causes for damaged skin. One is the slow abrasion, mostly on the fingertips where the tips start turning pink. Taping your tips isn't practical. The tape just comes of too fast and the loss of grip an feeling in your fingertips makes you climb a lot worse. The other is the large flapping pieces of skin that can come off. These are caused by the skin being squished and rolled onto itself and separating from the flesh underneath. While the tape can give some support, the whole skin/tape can still move. If the tape rolls and bulges a bit, it can even worsen the problem.
Secondly, if done incorrectly, taping can cause damage. I.e. by cutting of blood flow in your fingers or incorrectly supporting your tendons. If done correctly, taping your fingers can provide a massive support to your tendons etc. In some cases this can be extremely beneficial or help when recovering from an injury. The downside is, that it can hinder the tendons getting stronger on their own (they don't need to because of the external support). This can also mask out any issues you are having, like over-training/inflamation etc. If it hurts, take it easy. Maybe you can go on climbing when taping your fingers, but the problem will just get worse.
So finger taping can be a great quick fix when out climbing for a week or so and you really want to continue for a couple of days, but I wouldn't recommend it in your day to day routine.
Apart from that, I find taping all 10 fingers each session a bit impractical and it just looks strange ;)
What can you do to prevent it:

Lessen the "death grip", beginners tend to try and crumple each grip. Try and hold on just as much as you need to.
Work with your feet more. If you put more weight on your feet, your fingers have to carry less weight, which in turn is less likely to rip skin off your fingers.
Give it time. For your skin to heal and for it to get tougher. This unfortunately takes a lot of time. Depending on your fitness 2-3 times a week may be a lot. For an average beginner I'd suggest 1-2 times a week. This will also prevent other injuries.
Climb slow and controlled. Avoid jumps or "falling" into a hold. Make deliberate moves and place your fingers so they don't move around when you put weight on that hand.
Avoid overhangs and routes with big jugs as holds towards the end of a session, when your skin gets weak.
Help your skin recover. Chalk can be pretty nasty for you skin. Put on some creme or lotion. I'm personally a big fan of the "Climb On" bars. I don't have scientific proof, but I feel like they help a lot with skin recovery.


Configuring NUT for old serial connected UPS (Tripp-Lite)

Question: I have an old Tripp-Lite UPS (SU2200RTXL2UA) which I need to communicate with via it's RS232 Port (this model doesn't have a USB port). I'm trying to figure out which Serial NUT driver would be most appropriate to receive communications from this UPS. The serial protocol is very simple, as explained by this excerpt from the user manual below:

Dry contact communications are simple, but some knowledge of
electronics is necessary for configuration. The DB9 port's pin assignments
are shown in the diagram. If the UPS battery is low, the UPS sends a
signal by bridging pins 1 and 5. If utility power fails, the UPS sends a
signal by bridging pins 8 and 5. To remotely shut down the UPS, short
pin 3~pin 9 for at least 3.8 seconds.

When checking the list of available drivers for Tripp-Lite UPSs, I didn't see any Serial ones listed at all my model (or similar ones in the series). Are there any other generic serial UPS drivers that that would work for this scenario? I mainly just want to capture the signal from pins 8 and 5 being bridged so I can execute a script to shut down some servers which are attached.
NOTE: I'm using NUT with an Ubuntu 18.04 LTS server and a NAS running NAS4FREE (FreeBSD).
EDIT: After reviewing the NUT manual, it appears that the genericups driver with upstype=5 is the appropriate configuration that matches my UPS's RS232 pinout. Now, I just need to figure out how to set it up on my NAS through the GUI I'm using NAS4FREE.
Answer: Correct me if I am wrong but I believe that your UPS is not compatible with the NAS. You may need to get a different one.


Tab between input fields

Question: I am new to working with Unity3d, I need to navigate between several inputField, for this I have looked at the solution that is in: tab-between-input-fields, but always the FindSelectableOnUp() or FindSelectableOnDown() returns null, so my next is always null and always ends in: next = Selectable.allSelectables[0];
Answer: I did a small improvement to @virtouso answer.
I start always with the first inputfield in my list and after the last inputfield I am reseting my counter to start again from beginning.
public  List<InputField> fields;
int _fieldIndexer;

private void Update()
{
    if (Input.GetKeyDown(KeyCode.Tab)) {
        if (fields.Count <= _fieldIndexer)
        {
            _fieldIndexer = 0;
        }
        fields[_fieldIndexer].Select();
        _fieldIndexer++;
    }
}

void Start () {
    fields = new List<InputField>{PreNameInput, FamilyInput, BirthdateInputField};
}

Comment: You can also change the List type to `List` to tab cycle through inputs and buttons, so users can tab to a button and hit enter to submit.
Answer: It seems you want to change focus between input fields by TAB button. I'm not sure there is a built-in function for this but you can simply write some code for this solution. For this, you have to make a list of your input fields. Then, on Press Tab Button, change the index and call the Select function. This is my example but you have to handle other things too:
public  List<InputField> fields;
int fieldIndexer;

private void Update() {
    if (Input.GetKeyDown(KeyCode.Tab)) {
        fieldIndexer++;
        fields[fieldIndexer].Select();
    }
}

Answer: A possible cause for the FindSelectableOnUp and FindSelectableOnDown returning null could be the value set under Navigation. Each Selectable (InputField is a Selectable) has in its inspector a section called Navigation.

This influences what FindSelectableOnDown and FindSelectableOnUp return. If vertical is not checked for any of the 2 InputFields you want to link for instance, they won't be able to navigate to each other. (Also note, the visualize button should show arrows in the scene view if Navigation is enabled for both elements)
For more info about how Navigation works, see this section in the manual
Answer: All you're wanting to do here is:

check if the user has just pushed the tab key
find what they're selecting (and its index in the list)
select the next thing in the list, or wrap around to the beginning

So:
public Selectable[] UISelectables;
private EventSystem eventSystem;

private void Start() {
    eventSystem = FindObjectOfType<EventSystem>();
}

private void Update() {
    if (Input.GetKeyDown(KeyCode.Tab)) {
        for (int i = 0; i < UISelectables.Length; i++) {
            if(UISelectables[i].gameObject == eventSystem.currentSelectedGameObject) {
                UISelectables[(i+1) % UISelectables.Length].Select();
                break;
            }
        }
    }
}

Tab between input fields


SIC code for company name

Question: Can any one please suggestion me where can I get SIC (Standard Industry Classification) code for US based companies. Have list of US - based companies name and web site info, addition to it - in want of SIC code. It would be great if i get free data set. You suggestion and info would help me a lot...
Comment: https://opendata.stackexchange.com/questions/11626/business-name-to-naics-code-mapping may or may not be helpful
Comment: You are on an international website. Please [edit] your question and tell us what SIC codes are (preferably with a link), for what countries and in what format you want them. You should [read this](https://opendata.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/284/how-a-good-data-request-question-should-look-like)
Comment: What countries you are interested in?
Comment: @marfi am looking for US based companies...
Answer: I may be misreading the question, but it sounds like you have a set of company data and are looking to grab SIC codes based on this. This may not be possible using company names alone, but working on two assumptions:

That you are looking for UK limited company data
That you have the company numbers

You can request the relevant data from Companies House at data.companieshouse.gov.uk/doc/company/[URI], where [URI] is the company number e.g. 02495927. You can get the data as RDF, JSON, XML, HTML, CSV or YAML by appending the relevant extension, so http://data.companieshouse.gov.uk/doc/company/02495927.rdf grabs the relevant data (including SIC code) for that company in RDF format. How you then extract that and combine it with your own data is left as an exercise for the reader...
If, however, you are looking for a large set of company data (including SIC codes) to play about with, you can grab the current complete Companies House dataset at http://download.companieshouse.gov.uk/en_output.html
Comment: Dear friend, thank you for your valuable data and time. But have already got data from companieshouse.gov.uk - for UK companies have collected SIC code. Am looking for US based companies.  Any idea or suggestion for US companies would be much helpful for me....
Comment: Afraid I don't know much about US company data, but the answer just below mine looks like it should help
Answer: For US companies, especially public ones you can use the Unigraph API, here is a sample query how to the get Microsoft's SIC:
<code>{subjects(property: "label", text: "Microsoft", lang: "en") {
    industry {us_sic_code_id}}}
</code>
What is does is it starts to traverse the graph by the name (label) of Microsoft. When it finds the node with that name it goes into its industry and fetches its code.
Replace Microsoft with any US company of your choice and try it yourself.
From the sources available in Unigraph by far SEC's EDGAR is the biggest supplier of such codes. Wikidata is second, freebase third.

SIC code for company name


measuring spiritual growth

Question: We are living in a world where everything and anything is/can be measured. My daily grind goes like this -
have a goal
take action
measure the result
fine tune / control the deviation.
and Do it every day. This got me thinking , how do i measure my spiritual growth?
What do i measure ? How do i know i have reached my goal or deviated from the Path? What are the units of measurement? Can spirituality be measured?
Answer: I think the word measurement really is the wrong term, because the spiritual path lies beyond the world and gain is literally a worldly concern.
There are 8 wordly dhammas

gain and loss
acclaim and slander
status and loss of status
happiness and suffering

The Buddha gave this simile about progress in the practice:

Just as when a carpenter or carpenter's apprentice sees the marks of his fingers or thumb on the handle of his adze but does not know, 'Today my adze handle wore down this much, or yesterday it wore down that much, or the day before yesterday it wore down this much,' still he knows it is worn through when it is worn through. In the same way, when a monk dwells devoting himself to development, he does not know, 'Today my effluents wore down this much, or yesterday they wore down that much, or the day before yesterday they wore down this much,' still he knows they are worn through when they are worn through. - SN 22.101

Also keep in mind that it's not important how "much growth" you have in the practice, because you cannot change your past which conditions this. Your only concern should be to practice now and keep your practice on the path. There is a good explanation by Ajahn Brahmali about how you know that your practice is going in the right direction: in summary, it's going in the right direction if good states (peacefulness, mindfulness, gentleness inside, virtue, morality, kindness, understanding of the dhamma, all these things come together) are increasing and bad qualities (restlessness and desires) are declining, within the span of one meditation session or more powerfully over months and years.
Answer: Read "how to measure and deepen your spiritual realization"... it's the best book to answer this question as well almost all spiritual questions. Some would say it is somewhat too extraordinary but it has kept me motivated throughout my youth.
Here is an excerpt.
With that recommendation in mind, here you go:
Important Buddhist measuring sticks (most of them analyzed in-depth in the 700 page manual mentioned above):

The 5 skandhas and how liberated one is from them. See Surangama Sutra's last chapter.
The Stages of Insight as a direct correlation towards Awakening.
The 37 Wings of Awakening.
The Mahayana paramitas.
The level of achievement of the Trikaya: dharmakaya, sambhogakaya, nirmanakaya
The 8/9 samadhis
One's chi/chakra purification status (this is a very low form of correlation though as the real brilliant students of dharma attain the formless attainments before the much slower form/desire-based achievements--the former of which are superior anyhow).
Answer: You spiritual growth can be measure by the power you have acquired in your life as your cycles of past and future lives come to bear on yourself and those around you. You will find that when you do as you should you will find wealth and position as befits your new understandings. This is the meaning of the parable of the treasure tower, which is one of the teachings of the Buddha.
Comment: I think that most users of this site are from traditions which aren't familiar with "the parable of the treasure tower". Also, the idea that spiritual growth correlates with wealth and position sounds to me like an unusual (i.e. possibly mistaken) belief or statement. On this site (and on every Stack Exchange site), good answers are usually either based on personal experience, or they're referenced. So I recommend or ask you, to add references to your answers, to demonstrate or explain what Buddhist teaching[s] or teachers they're based on.

measuring spiritual growth


Do asterisks representing significance in figures refer to the p-value or to the significance level?

Question: In scientific papers there are asterisks representing the significance.
Do these asterisks represent the significance level of the performed test or do they represent the obtained p-values?
For example if you perform a t-test with a significance level of 0.05 and you get a p-value of 0.003. Then you have to reject the null-hypothesis. But can you put one asterisk (p<0.05) or two asterisks (p<0.01) above the graph if you make one?
Comment: I don't understand the question: what do you mean by "make one"?
Comment: @whuber "if you make one" refers to the "the graph", i.e. "when one is making a figure, what are the rules for deciding on the asterisk".
Comment: @amoeba That interpretation occurred to me, but I gave it a low probability of being correct because asterisks are usually applied to tables, not graphs.  I haven't any definite idea what kind of "graph" is being referred to here, either. It seems one has to make a lot of assumptions in order to follow this question, which is why I have specifically requested clarification.
Comment: @whuber Oh, it is very *very* common in some fields to use asterisks in figures. Look at this: https://www.google.com/search?q=figure+asterisk+significance&tbm=isch.
Answer: There's not a single convention for asterisks. Sometimes they are for 10, 5 and 1% significance, or 5, 1 and 0.1% significance. Other times they could be in standard deviations and so on. You always have to read the table captions to see what they represent.
For instance, a table caption may say that the significance levels are given by stars: * - 10%, ** - 5% and *** - 1%. In this case a coefficient with ** would mean that the p-value was under 0.05. It's like Michelin rating - more stars, better. At least, that's what I see in papers.
Comment: (+1) But do they indicate achieving a prespecified significance level - so that if you were conducting all tests at a significance level of 5% you'd give one star only to all p-values under 5%, say, and no stars to all p-values over 5%? Or does one star indicate an observed p-value between 5% & 1%, say, & two stars indicate ones between 1% & 0.1%, &c.? I think that was part of the question. (And I don't recall having seen or heard of the former convention.)
Comment: Conventions for how many asterisks corresponds to what number may differ, but asterisks *always* refer to the actual p-values, I agree with @Scortchi.
Comment: Giving one star to $p=0.1$ is weird. What fields are using this convention?
Comment: @amoeba, I do it in economic forecasting :) when you have 50 observations, it's a gift to get $\alpha=0.05$. The point is that it's not a convention. I put the mapping in the table caption, so the reader knows what's it about. My table captions tend to be long, so you don't have to read the text to browse the tables and plots.
Comment: @amoeba Apparently it is (was?) a thing in political science. If you have access to it, see Goldstein, J. S. (2010). On Asterisk Inflation. https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S104909650999059X p.59: "*One might consider the standard of one asterisk for .05 set in stone. However, in the past decade the use of asterisks has changed in political science. Today, frequently, one asterisk means p < .10. The magic level of p < .05 that used to receive an asterisk now receives two, and .01, which used to get two asterisks, now gets three. I call it asterisk inflation.*"
Answer: I tend to find that the following notation is common in psychology papers, with the first and last rows being more rare than the middle two which are almost standard.
p <.0001 ***
p <.01 **
p <.05 *
p <.1 †
Where the latter (dagger/obelisk) is usually referred to as a non-significant "trend."
That said, even the centre two rows are only almost standard, not standard, so you should make it plain in the paper. In an oral conference presentation with slides. I would expect my audience to understand the meaning of the middle two rows however.
Comment: Did you make a type for ***?
Answer: Trying to answer the question that was actually asked: it varies, but I would lean towards the achieved p-values rather than the pre-planned significance levels. (I personally would definitely use achieved p-values, but I think that's also more common in the literature).  In written text there has been strong movement towards requiring explicit p-values rather than significance statements.
Two specific notes:

Software that gives you stars will do it based on the p-value, because it usually doesn't know what significance levels you had in mind.
In a publication, reporting (and basing stars on) the achieved p-values lets other people, who might be using different pre-specified significance levels or none, apply their own criteria


Does an infinite conducting plate entirely shield off the magnetic field?

Question: Let's say we have an infinite current-carrying wire parallel to an infinite conducting plate. Is the magnetic field behind the plate zero? I would say yes, because the field in the plate is zero. Also is the field in front of the plate, so the region containing the wire, given by the field produced by the wire only or is the field altered by the presence of the plate?
Answer: If the plate has a finite thickness, then there will be a magnetic field on the other side. This is because the magnetic field inside a superconductor does not vanish discontinuously, but instead decays exponentially over a distance the order of the London penetration depth $\lambda_\mathrm{L}$:
$$B(x) = B_0 \exp\left(- \frac{x}{\lambda_\mathrm{L}}\right),$$
where $B_0$ is the field at the surface. $\lambda_\mathrm{L}$ can be determined from the properties of the conductor. For a plate of thickness $d$ the field on the other side would therefore be
$$B(d) = B_0 \exp\left(- \frac{d}{\lambda_\mathrm{L}}\right).$$
If $d \gg \lambda_\mathrm{L}$ the field on the other side of the plate would be negligibly small. But for $d \sim l $ there will be an appreciable magnetic field making it through to the other side.
Comment: Thank you. In case of infinitely thin plate: how does the magnetic field look like in the region containing the current-carrying wire?


An application where we always delete the oldest object?

Question: In what king of application, in which we insert or delete objects, we always delete the oldest one (the least recently stored, more precisely which was the first object stored) ?
Comment: What research have you done? Where did you look? Can you be more specific about what you consider an application, since you used the databases tag only. One obvious example is the LRU (for Least recently used) page replacement algorithm. This is also used in cache systems in general, and specifically for databases.
Comment: In any application that uses a queue.
Answer: There are plenty such applications. To give some examples:

(windowed) data streams: Assume a sensor that sends new data every second. You want to know the average of the last minute. You keep the latest 60 elements. Every time you get a new element, the 61-st old element belongs to the previous minute, and you then delete it.
queue: when each elements is a task, and you service them in a FIFO manner, then each time you service a task you delete it. The FIFO ordering guarantees you always deletes the oldest task.
staleness: when space is limited (e.g., in cache memory), when you wish to remove old items in order to make room for a new one, a good heuristic is to remove the oldest accessed element, as it got "stale" and has low probability to be accessed again.

I'm sure there are plenty other examples, but your question is too general to answer. Feel free to edit it if you wish a more specific answer.
Comment: Thanks for your answer. Your first example is OK for me. I'm looking for an application in which we delete the oldest object stored.
Answer: You do not define what you mean by oldest. In a cache system, the
oldest object may be the one that was first to be introduced in the
cache, or the the least recently updated, or the least recently used.
This is a fair interpretation since an item that is used is to be
loaded when used, if not already in.
So a possible answer would be a cache operating under the LRU
strategy, for "Least recently used". It may be a virtual memory cache,
or a web cache for example.
Obvious answers are all systems using a FIFO memory, i.e. a queue.
An other example could be a running average on some function, for
example when you control the noise bandwidth by averaging the $n$ last
measurements, according to some formula.
Another possible example, though probably not best, is a backup systems where you keep only the most recent version.
Comment: Thanks. This is your first example " the oldest object may be the one that was first to be introduced in the cache" which interests me !


SQL Query to Identify All Contacts?

Question: I am looking for a way to identify all contact within Marketing Cloud who don't have an email or sms activity within the past 2 years. I've already done a data extract to get that activity but I want to cross match it to something. I've tried _ListSubscribers and _Subscribers but that doesn't get me everyone I've ever contacted on each of my BU's. Is there a method like a _Contacts table or something I can use to pull them?
Answer: I think you need to JOIN the _Subscribers view with the _Sent view and the _SMSMessageTracking view.

_Sent will show you the subscribers who received emails, however, this is limited to the subscribers emailed in the last 6 months (not 2 years like you asked).
_SMSMessageTracking will give you subscribers who received SMS messages. In the documentation, I don't see any limitations on how far back you can go.

The SQL query you need would look something like this:
<code>SELECT SubscriberID, EmailAddress
FROM _Subscribers
LEFT JOIN _Sent ON _Subscribers.SubscriberID = _Sent.SubscriberID
LEFT JOIN _SMSMessageTracking ON _Subscribers.SubscriberID = _SMSMessageTracking.SubscriberID
WHERE _Subscribers.SubscriberID = NULL OR _SMSMessageTracking.SubscriberID = NULL
</code>
You can write this SQL query in a Query Activity or a more user-friendly tool like DESelect which does not require you to have SQL knowledge.
The reasons your subscribers view may be different from what you expect could be related to the following:

The contacts you're expecting might not be defined as a Subscriber. If they were uploaded in data extensions, a Subscriber relationship needs to be defined for that data extension.
If you have the feature enabled described in this answer, your contacts could have been deleted from your Subscribers view because of the Data Retention Policy of the data extension.
I'm not sure if the Contacts definition in Mobile Studio is the same as Subscribers in Email Studio.

I hope this helps.
Comment: Thank so much for the suggestion, I think this helps answer the question in some aspect but unfortunately I still need the entire history of my BU's, and that's really what i'm looking to get. A full historical extract of my active contacts so that i can match it to a list of people that i have mailed to in the past 2 years. The remaining is what will be deleted.
Answer: You can use a Filtered Mobile List to create a list which you can query which. I would suggest following this help doc You will need to modify the filter in step 2 to get the results you desire.

SQL Query to Identify All Contacts?


Who uses Boost ASIO?

Question: I would like to know how popular is Boost ASIO.
Is it being used in any popular network-intensive software ?
Answer: The systems software for managing an IBM Blue Gene/Q supercomputer uses Boost.Asio extensively.  The source code is available under the Eclipse Public License (EPL) if you're interested.
Comment: I know this was some time ago... but the link to the source code does not work.
Answer: http://think-async.com/Asio/WhoIsUsingAsio
Comment: Am I supposed to delete it or what? You made your point already. It's been 6 years. Get over it.
Comment: I'm frowning upon your answer. :<
Answer: Boost is extensively being used in serious networking software, take example of HPX uses boost libraries. HPX is implemented in C++11 and utilizes over 20 Boost and candidate Boost libraries. Have a look at http://cppnow.org/session/hpx-a-c11-parallel-runtime-system/
Also for more details you can refer Official "Boost library" Support for Android and iOS? describing how these are being deployed on smartphone os as well.
Hope it helps!

Who uses Boost ASIO?


What is the difference between tags oracle-apps and oracleapplications?

Question: I don't have the rep to suggest synonyms but think the oracle-apps and oracleapplications tags are basically the same. Can we synonymize them?
Comment: For clarity, you could [edit] your question to put the tags in the title in brackets as well.
Answer: Looks like oracle-apps focuses more on the business side of the applications, and oracleapplications is more of an umbrella over all oracle applications and their purposes.


How to keep myself from getting lost in the nether, and find Nether Fortresses

Question: I have a survival world in which I reached the Nether.  However, my portal generated in some tunnels, none of which lead to the surface of the Nether.  I did find my way out, but my opening to go back to my portal is very small.  I got lost once already, ending in me losing all my iron gear and tools, as well as a netherite scrap, which took me 12 beds to find.  I don't want this to happen again.  Not only this, but I am looking both north and south but cannot find any Nether Fortresses.  Am I doing something wrong?  Is my world broken?  My main goals need to be reached after I beat the Ender Dragon, but how do I do that without the Eyes of Ender? Can I get Eyes of ender without blaze rods?
Comment: Please ask one question at a time...
Comment: Sorry, should have clarified.  I left my diamond tools and armor at my base so that didnt happen to them, but the netherite scrap I had just found and couldnt find my way back.  I probably had my efficiency 2 diamond pick on me, but this was a while ago as I haven't been to the nether in a while due to me making renovations to my base, and I made a new one with efficiency 3.
Comment: You were getting netherite before diamonds?
Answer: You're probably most confined by thinking in terms of other games. Minecraft requires you to break some mental barriers.
First off, Netherrack is very soft. Never feel confined by it, just dig your way through. Any huge gaps can be bridged through. If you have a high drop, riding off a cliff in a boat cancels the damage (usually...). If you have enderpearls, they can cover large gaps or save life. But in general, what the game generated as your path is merely a suggestion which you can reshape as you will.
Next, Nether is easy to get lost in. My preferred method - grab a stack (or more) of torches and cobble, and leave markers "back towards the portal" within sight of one another - whenever you stand on a block of cobble, and face in the direction where the torch is attached, you should see another marker (unless there's no other way, say, narrow non-branching tunnel. But always mark the entrance and exit!).
There's a bunch of advice related to survival in the Nether which would be a subject for a different question, but in general finding a fortress is a challenge and it's a worthy one. Don't deprive yourself of the satisfaction of finally getting there through cheating - have patience, keep seeking, mark your way, be cautious, and find advice on survival in the Nether. It's not that difficult once you know what to do and what not to do.
Answer: Broadly speaking there are several strategies to avoid getting lost in the minecraft nether.

Build infrastructure. Cut tunnels, build bridges, place markers outside and signs in tunnels (whether natrual caves or tunnels you build yourself), build structures that can be seen from a distance, especially around tunnel entrances.
Use compases, a regular compass directs you to worldspawn, but unfortunately it only works in in the overworld. A lodestone compass directs you towards it's corresponding lodestone provided you are in the same dimension as the lodestone. So you can place a lodestone near your nether portal in the nether and then use a compass on it and the compass will direct you towards home.
View your coordinates, in bedrock this is a specific option, in java there is no specific option to show coordinates but they can be seen on the debug screen. Some may consider this cheating though.

If you get lost in the nether without a lodestone compass and you don't want to turn on coordinates then I would suggest building a new portal and going back to the overworld. Once back in the overwold you can then use a regular compass to find your way back to world spawn.
I would advise carrying resources with you to build a portal when traveling in the nether. However since Minecraft 1.16 it is possible to obtain all the resources needed to survive and get back to the over world in the nether without relying on structure loot (i'm not 100% sure but I belive it has long been possible to escape the nether using loot from nether fortresses.

Giant fungi can be used to obtain crimson or warped stems which can be use for most purposesd for which wood is usually used such as making tools and bowls.
Mushrooms can be harvested for food, it's also possible to kill hoglins but it can be rather dangerous.
Gold in the nether can be mined using a wooden pickaxe, it can be bartered with piglins to obtain a variety of items including gravel, obsidian and iron.
flint can be obtained by mining gravel (either gravel from bartering or naturally generated in the nether).
Answer: You can use chunk base to help you find nether fortresses,
https://www.chunkbase.com/apps/nether-fortress-finder,
and to answer your other question, no, your world is not broken, and no, you cannot get eyes of ender without blaze rods.
Comment: As for not getting lost, you can make markers to help you find your way, and use a named banner, placed down where your portal is, named the coords of your portal, then make a small level one locator map in the nether, right where your portal is, and keep it with you at all times. named banners show up on maps, and the name will have the coords of your portal on it to help you.
Comment: Right-click on the banner with a map for it to show up of course.
Comment: How does one open the F3 menu or find coordinates on Nintendo Switch?
Comment: I don't know, but I play on bedrock, where there is no f3, but in settings, you can select "show coordinates" which will put the coords of your feet on a small bar on the side of the screen at all times. I believe the setting is under the tab where you select things like game mode and weather cycle.


Separable verbs and phrases with verbs-difference

Question: So I'm currently studying the basics of verbs in German. I'm aware of the so called "Trennbare Verben" (separable verbs) in German and how they're the closest to an equivalent of phrasal verbs in English. However, there also exist the so called "Partikelverben" which are basically combined with other parts of speech to form phrases. The latter may include, among other, prepositional phrases. So, I've stumbled upon the following sentence:"Fahren Sie mit der U-Bahn?". Here, as per my understanding, mit is not a separable prefix but rather part of the "mit der U-Bahn" prepositional phrase. My question is would the following sentence with a separable verb convey the same meaning- "Fahren Sie der U-Bahn mit?"
Answer: So what you're doing is comparing "fahren" to "mitfahren".
You add the information on with what you're travelling using a modal adverbial.
"Mitfahren" can't have an object and "fahren" does not technically require it (see the comment), so it's just a modal adverbial for them.

Ich fahre [mit der Bahn].  (fahre + Modal adverbial)
Ich fahre [mit der Bahn] mit.  (mitfahren + Modal adverbial)

For "fahren", you can have an Akkusativ object like this:

Ich fahre [den Zug].

Also: Partikelverben are, according to my Duden grammar, the "Trennbare Verben" you mention in your first sentence. The verbs that form complex phrases with other parts of speech are a whole different story.
What you have with "mitfahren" is a Partikelverb already, and "mit" is just a particle of the verb.
Comment: From a syntactical standpoint, "fahren" does not need an object. "Ich fahre jetzt" is a valid sentence. It does lack some information, but that's a semantic problem, not a syntactical one.
Comment: Ok, thank you for the correction.
Answer: No, the mit in mitfahren and the mit in fahren mit etwas, despite having the same origin, have a very different function. The first mit is used to construct a composite verb, whereas the second mit is an ordinary preposition.
"Fahren Sie der U-Bahn mit?" is not a valid German sentence, because mitfahren cannot be used with a dative object in this way.
I am not sure about the part of your question mentioning "Partikelverben". Trennbare Verben and Partikelverben are basically the same thing in German. They can be used with prepositional phrases, but in this regard they are not fundamentally different from other verbs.


Do I still need the Xbox Bluetooth adapter to use multiple Xbox One controllers on Windows 10?

Question: The new Xbox One controller (reviewed here) is advertised to have Bluetooth support and no additional adapter needed to connect to a Windows 10 PC. However, if I want to pair two of these to a laptop, would I still need the older adapter?
Answer: Laptop Bluetooth interface usually supports connection of many BT devices.
According to Microsoft's Xbox support site, depending on Windows version you can connect up to 8 controllers with windows


How can I add the torque of multiple gears?

Question:
If I have 3 gears meshed with a gear in the center of the 3 gears as shown in the picture. all of those 3 gears are connected to different power sources. They are free to rotate in the same direction and they have different torques and speeds (sometimes zero but never in a different direction). My question is, will the gear at the center has a torque equal to the summation of the other 3 gears? If not is there a certain set-up that can accumulate the torque of multiple gears. Note: my purpose is to generate electrical power using a compact set-up of gears if every gear has a different mechanical power source. I am trying to avoid 3 electrical generators if I can because I don't have too much space.
Comment: Cross posted https://physics.stackexchange.com/q/667301
Comment: Start with the case of 2 of the peripheral shafts instead of 3, it's conceptually simpler. Maybe something with a differential and possibly brake to keep any open ends from spinning?
Comment: "My question is, will the gear at the center has a torque equal to the summation of the other 3 gears?" I think the OP is simply asking whether the driving torque equals the sum of the torque of the followers. (T = ti + t2 +t3)? And can those gears have varying torques?
Comment: @r13 you rephrased my question correctly. Thank you
Answer: This problem is very similar to adding balancing resistors to parallel voltage sources in electronics.
What you need is less "stiffness" in the system so that when one gear loads up more than the others, something gives to unload it which serves to increase the load on the other gears.
Something like mounting the drive gears on a torsionally flexible mount would do this for small imbalances but if you want wildly different speeds and torques to combine you're probably out of look without a very complex variable transmission.
Answer: The gearing constrains the speed of all the planetary gears to be the same. Whatever that speed change does to the torque of each gear, the torques becomes forces acting on the center gear.
If one gear is connected to a water wheel, another to a windmill, and a third to a bicycle, then they'd all turn together, and perhaps the slow speed of a high-torque waterwheel would slow the windmill, while also spinning up the idle bike.
IOW, it depends on the torque-speed curves of all the components.
Answer: I think the sketch below may help you to find answers to your questions. Since I am not familiar with gear design, there may contain mistakes, let's see how others say about it.
Answer: in your configuration all the three gears must turn with exact identical speed.
if one is slowere or faster it bring all to slow or faster or even crashes the entire system.
Many inexperienced drivers used to do that before the automatic transmission era.
Comment: firstly, thanks for your answer. Will this configuration increase the torque of the central gears(at the same speed) which leads to an accumulated power? If not can you suggest a better configuration?
Comment: Yes if they are synchronized their contribution will be three-time the torque of an individual planetary gear.
Answer: (Assuming a direct connection to the motor for the smaller gears), the torque of the larger gear ("sun") will be equal to the sum of the three smaller ones only if the three smaller gears have :

identical size
rotate in the same direction
rotate with exactly the same angular velocity (rpm).

With the direct connection of motor to gear, if the angular velocity even one of the three is different then the assembly will not operate.

There are other types of couplers and gear connection that can be used to allow for different velocities however the torque will not be the sum, but a fraction of it.
Comment: It will operate, however that excess energy will be transferred into the wrong gear, the system must Balance…the question is which gear will break first
Comment: @morbo Ok in that light yes. I just don't consider that   operation normal or the  design good.


If ball hits the arm protector that is touching the glove holding bat, is it out?

Question: If the ball hits the arm protector that is touching the glove of the leading arm in question that is holding the bat, is the catch considered legal, and the batsman out?
Answer: If the ball hits the glove of the batsman and the catch is legal, the batsman is judged OUT. Otherwise, if the ball hits the arm-guard and the catch is taken, the batsman is judged NOT OUT.
Caught OUT rules in Cricket
Comment: Apparently the rules have been changed in test cricket, and now it is considered NOT OUT
Answer: NOT OUT even if arm protector that is touching the glove of the leading arm.
The rule is that OUT only if ball directly touches glove.
It's something like that what if ball touches helmet and bat is in touch of helmet simple thing is that ball should touch bat or glove Hope you understand better...!!


Running another program from c# setup project

Question: I have made a setup and deployment project in C#, Now i have another windows update exe which i want to run and install successfully before it installs my project. I've packaged the exe with my project. How may i run that exe before?
Answer: You want to add a Custom Action to the Setup Project that runs the executable.  This WalkThrough will take you through getting htat working.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/d9k65z2d(VS.80).aspx
Answer: Any other package that should be installed before your own MSI file must be installed by the setup bootstrapper (i.e. the setup.exe file). In order to do so, you should right-click on your setup project, select properties and then pre-requisites. The dialog will list you the components which can be installed by the bootstrapper.
Now, if the component you want to install is in this list, you are done. Otherwise you have to dig deeper into the mechanism of the bootstrapper. Every item in the list has an associated package description stored under
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\SDK\v2.0\BootStrapper\Packages

for VS 2005 or
C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v6.0A\Bootstrapper\Packages

for VS 2008. This package definition basically contains instructions on what to install, how to obtain the component (download url) and how to check whether an installation is necessary.
For custom components you can create your own package definition. If you don't want to do it manually, you can use the Bootstrapper Manifest Generator.
EDIT: If you don't want to go the rather complex but powerful way using the boostrapper you might want to have a look at IExpress. This is a free tool included with MS Windows that allows you to create a self-extracting installation package consisting of multiple components and executing a custom script.  IExpress has a graphical UI, but also have a look at the created .sed file for further options.
Comment: nope my component is not listed there. Can i run a batch script instead where i write the commands to execute? if so, how to do that
Comment: That would be best done by a custom action, or - maybe a simple option - have a look at IExpress. It allows you to package several installers and execute a custom script / bat file.


Does $y''+ xy = 0$ admit a unique solution?

Question: Does the solution of this equation even exist? even if it does, how am I supposed to check it if it is unique? Is it necessary to find the existing solution (if at all) to check if it is unique?
What if we provide an initial condition as
$y(x) = a$; $y'(x) = b$; where $x$ is a particular point and $a,b$ are constants?
Comment: Presumably, the solution (if it exists) is not unique, as we don't have initial conditions.
Comment: You may have a look at the [Airy equation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airy_function) and consider the change of variable $x\mapsto-x$.
Comment: But for a linear equation, if uniqueness exists at a point, it exists everywhere.
Comment: As (only) hinted in the answers, all related initial value (IVP) or Cauchy problems to that ODE have a unique solution, different initial values will give different solutions.
Answer: You can get infinitely many solutions of the type $\sum a_nx^{n}$. You get the relation $a_{n+3}=\frac {a_n} {(n+2)(n+3)}$ with the condition $a_2=0$. You can assign any value for $a_0$ and $a_1$ and find $(a_n)$. The series necessarily converges in a neighborhood of $0$.
Answer: $y''+ xy = 0$ is a homogeneous linear differential equation of order $2$. The set of all solutions if this equation is a two-dimensional real vector space.
Consequence: $y''+ xy = 0$ does not have a unique solution.


Why do I get my own text message sent back to me in a group message on iphone 5S?

Question: I just got an iphone 5s.  I was sent a group text message from a friend.  When I responded, it showed my response in the group message, but then chimed and showed a new text from myself which was the exact thing I just sent to the group.  So I send a response, but instead of sending it just to the other people in the group, it also send it to me?  Then when I read through the group messages, I duplicates and it gets confusing.
Answer: Several things can cause this.  I would need more information to give you an accurate answer. If you are using iMessage it could be that a number or email in the group is somehow associated with your contact information.  Go to Settings>Msessages and make sure that only one phone number and AppleID is linked to your account. Check the group and make sure you only see your email or your phone number in the list, not both.
If it's SMS contact your carrier as that is controlled by the carrier programing.


Object Recognition and tracking

Question: I've been trying to make a butter passing bot, like the one from rick and morty.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7HmltUWXgs
I can do pretty much everything on there, but I need someone to help with the camera on the front. I need a low cost system that will look for the butter and tell my motors to go to it.
Comment: you may find something here https://opencv.org/
Comment: "*I need a low cost system that will look for the butter and tell my motors to go to it.*" - I wish I could express a huge problem sounding like a walk in the park like you.
Comment: Using a neural network wouldn't be too bad either, just saying.
Answer: Since you're new to computer vision, I'd suggest the below algorithm based on color segmentation. It will be pretty fast using OpenCV in Python on a Raspberry Pi.
1) Read in the live video one frame at a time (you can find lots of OpenCV tutorials where people do this)
2) Classify pixels as buttery yellow or not. The easiest way is probably to convert the image to HSV color space, and use a simple threshold on the H and S. (This way you gain a little robustness to changes in lighting)
3) Find the median x and y of the buttery yellow pixels
4) Convert the x to an angle, and have your robot turn there. (Basically just establish the left and right angles of your camera and hard-code those in.)
There are lots of other possible ways too, like the SURF algorithm to recognize a specific butter dish, or a QR code on the butter dish. But the above is probably the best place to start.
I recommend you just install OpenCV on your PC, take a picture of your stick of butter, and try things out! (By the way, StackOverflow has a "computer vision" tag; you probably want to post further questions there.)

Object Recognition and tracking


Could 'otwards' or even 'hotwards' ever be accepted into the language?

Question: I've just woken early from a vivid dream. (must be the local ale - we are in Yorkshire at the moment). I was in an inferno of an industrial kitchen where they were manufacturing 'ready-meals'. One large individual with rolled up sleeves and sweat pouring down his arms was shouting above the din. Portion-sized food was going past on conveyors. Some was going toward ovens and some away from them. The noisy director of operations was shouting instructions for all he was worth. One word that he kept saying baffled me and, I couldn't fathom its meaning. It sounded like 'otwards'. Then I realised that what he was saying was 'hotwards'  (he had a Cockney accent so it sounded like 'otwards) meaning in the direction of heat, or the ovens. When I awoke it occurred to me that this might be a good question for you folk. Is 'hotwards' an acceptable word in the English language?
Comment: It's a word that someone named Gav Thorpe has written in books, but he's doing [that thing where one makes up words that one imagines people in fantasy worlds would need to describe the fascinatingly different events in their fantastical existences](http://xkcd.com/483/).
Comment: Are you asking if people on Yorkshire actually have a word that sounds that way?
Comment: Whatever gave you that idea? By the way, it should be 'IN Yorkshire'. Yorkshire is a county of England, not a ship in mid-Atlantic.
Answer: As much as we like to impose our rules, the reality is that language definitions will eventually follow language usage. New words are introduced into the English language all the time. Start using it. If it catches on, then maybe it'll make it into the Oxford English Dictionary some day. Good luck :-)
Comment: Thank you. The possibilities are endless. Skywards, waterwards, dangerwards, pleasurewards etc.
Comment: Or perhaps just **wards:** *noun* : a section in a hospital for patients needing a particular kind of care *from m-w.com* ;-)
Answer:
(fourth line) "towards oven" ; "toward" is static (very frequent confusion in the USA)
why not "ovenwards" ?


Which courses in computer science and logic are relevant to Machine Learning?

Question: Although I have a decent background in math, I'm trying to understand which courses from CS and logic to look into. My aim is to get into a Machine Learning PhD program.
Answer: I worked as a professor for a time, and often advised students on this. For a PhD in machine learning, I think the ideal background is:

Core CS Courses

Programming (typically 3-4 courses). Language choice is not highly important, but Python, C++, Java, and perhaps JavaScript, are reasonable picks, if only because of their prevalence.
Core topics: data structures, algorithms, operating systems, databases
numerical linear algebra or numerical methods
advanced algorithm design and analysis

Together these will allow you to read and write the code that even highly optimized versions of ML algorithms are written in, and to understand what might be going wrong within them.
2. AI & ML courses, usually offered through a CS department

a broad survey course in AI (like AI:AMA by Russel & Norvig), usually offered to senior undergraduates.
A course applied machine learning or data mining.

You may also take other AI courses, but they are not as common to see offered to undergraduates, so many students wait until graduate school:

reinforcement learning
soft computing
computational learning theory
Bayesian Methods
Deep Learning
Multiagent Systems
Information Retrieval
Natural Language Processing
Computer Vision
Robotics

Together, these will give you the broadest possible background in AI & ML. These can allow you to find new applications of ML, or to pull AI techniques from one area into another as you need.
3. Statistics courses

a 1 or 2 term course in probability theory, ideally a version that requires and uses calculus.
at minimum a course in statistical hypothesis testing.

Much stronger would be to also take courses in:

regression
generalized linear models
experiment design
causal inference
Bayesian methods

These courses allow you to reason formally and comfortably about uncertainty. They also give you the correct framework for answering questions about whether your ML algorithm is working, and what patterns an ML algorithm uncovers mean.
4. Mathematics courses

3 semesters of calculus, going at least as far as multi-variate/vector calculus.
optionally, a more advanced course that builds on calculus, like real analysis, but only to reinforce calculus concepts.
at least 1, and preferably 2, courses in linear algebra
at least 1, and preferably 2, courses in discrete mathematics.
ideally, something like Knuth et al.'s Concrete Mathematics
ideally a course in advanced optimization techniques
optionally, courses in logic, but be aware that this is almost a fringe area in AI now, and essentially irrelevant to a PhD in machine learning. The parts you need are usually covered in a broad survey AI course.

These courses give you the basic mathematical fluency to understand most machine learning algorithms well.
Comment: @nickw I agree. A survey course in AI, as well as a typical course in advance algorithm design will cover these topics pretty well, and probably well enough for someone to start on an ML PhD. That said, if they can do a mathematics course that is _specifically_ about optimization, they'll be way ahead of the pack.
Comment: I have found studying optimization techniques to be invaluable when trying to decide what technique to use in solving ml/ai problems
Answer: From the top of my mind roughly in order of priority excl. math:
Practical/applied CS: machine learning, artificial intelligence (incl. symbolic AI), data mining, algorithms, data structures
Theoretical CS: complexity theory
Programming: Python
Logic is highly relevant for symbolic AI but not so much for sub-symbolic approaches like ML.
For all topics mentioned in the first two categories you can find free online lectures from different universities.
Answer: In several projects, I found data analysis and data structures to be critical.  Machine Learning requires huge amounts of data and, most likely, the data will come from multiple sources. Prior to use, data  requires analysis, cleaning, interpretation, feature engineering (subject matter expertise), and structure.
Comment: Data analysis is not necessarily part of the core of computer science. It is more of a statistical sub-area.


Characteristic exponent Levy process

Question: The Levy-Khintchine formula tells us what the characteristic function of a Levy process looks like. Given a process $Y_t$, the characteristic function of $Y_1$ is given by
\begin{equation}
 \phi_1(u) = e^{\Psi(u)},
\end{equation}
where
\begin{equation}
 \Psi(u) =i \mu u - \frac{1}{2}\sigma^2 u^2 +\int_{\mathbb{R}} \left(e^{i u x} -1 -
  i  u  x \mathbf{1}_{(-1,1)} \right) \nu(\mathtt{d} x ).
\end{equation}
Is $e^{-\Psi(u)}$ also the characteristic function of a Levy process? Thanks in advance.
Comment: I don't know much about this stuff (Levy processes, etc) but wouldn't the minus sign ruin the boundedness of $\exp(\Psi(u))$?
Comment: Take the Wiener process; $-\Psi(u) = \frac 1 2 \sigma^2 u^2$ so $\exp(-\Psi(u))$ is unbounded for real valued $u$.
Comment: No, $\Psi$ is complex valued: $\Psi: \mathbb{R}\to \mathbb{C}$.And $|\phi_1(u)|\leq 1$ for all $u$ (characteristic function of a probability measure).
Answer: HINT: Consider simple examples of Levy processes: Wiener process, Poisson process and check if $\exp\left(-\Psi(u)\right)$ is a characteristic function of a random variable. (see criteria, and use examples: first, second, third, fourth)
For Wiener process, $\Psi(u) = -\frac{1}{2} \sigma^2 u^2$, for Poisson process $\Psi(u) = \lambda \left(\mathrm{e}^{i u x} - 1 \right)$.

Characteristic exponent Levy process


Japanese Acer care

Question: I have a Japanese Acer which I've had for 3 years. Every year around March/April it has regrown its leaves. This year it has not. I noticed last year that the pot that it was in was waterlogged. I regretfully didn't do anything about it and left it, thinking that it would be fine. The pot was probably waterlogged for quite a few weeks. I have now sorted out the pot, but still no sign of leaf growth. Have I killed it?
Answer: It may have got root rot and died - scrape back a little of the bark covering on the stems using your fingernail to see if the wood beneath is still live. If it is, it will look greenish and maybe moist - if its dead, it will either snap off or look brown and dry inside. Check low  down on the branches, near the base, if the upper ones are all dead, and if they're all dry inside, then the plant has died.

Japanese Acer care


Gel electrophoresis and foam

Question:
I've never seen this kind of thing happen. What might trigger this??
Comment: Looks like an agarose gel. What buffer did you use? Did you happen to clean the tank (incompletely) using a detergent?
Answer: Gas bubbles are foamed by electrolysis of water, generating bubbles of hydrogen gas on the negative electrode and oxygen gas on the positive electrode.
As for the foam itself... I am guessing there is some form of detergent in the buffer. Some electrophoresis buffers do contain detergent.

Gel electrophoresis and foam


Mail merge error with outlook 2013 and MS CRM 2011

Question: I am using Windows 8 with Outlook 2013 client to connect to MS CRM 2011 (both CRM server and on roll up 14). When I try to do a email via mail merge say against an account I get the following error
E-mail cannot be sent because the specified sender does not have an e-mail address. Add an e-mail address to the sender and then try again.Do you want to send the e-mail? If you click Yes, the e-mail will be sent out, but no corresponding activity will be created in Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
What I have already done
1) Made sure that the email address of the MS CRM user which is being used to connect outlook client and MS CRM 2011 server has a valid primary email and the email is approved as well.
2) un-installed, reinstalled and synchronized Outlook 2013 client.
Any pointers, help, log locations that can help will be much appreciated.
Thanks
Dev
Answer: Check out Troubleshooting section from Microsoft. It has some helpful checks that might help narrow down your problem.


Gas Dryer - Gas Shut Off Valve

Question: Replacing our washer/dryer and our old ones are getting picked up tomorrow and the new ones will arrive the day after. We have a gas shut off valve with the dryer but I'm wondering if that is something I can rely on to keep gas completely cut off over a 24 hour period. Anyone have any thoughts?
Answer: Gas shutoff valves are very reliable. If it were to leak, you'd smell the gas. You can always get a plug or a cap and seal the pipe after the valve but I don't think it's necessary.
Who will disconnect the old appliances and reconnect the new ones? Many gas companies will reconnect for free and will test the connections for any leaks. If you paid the appliance store for installation, they should also check for leaks after reconnecting.
Comment: If you leave the valve off for longer term than just a few days then capping is required even after a shut valve.

Gas Dryer - Gas Shut Off Valve


Checking out from svn only if files are different

Question: I already have about 80% of the files I need to checkout from SVN. But these files are not current;y under version control in my local system. Now I want to checkout a directory, but I want only the remaining 20% of the files to be downloaded. The other files, which I already have, should only be validated against the repository, and downloaded only if they are different from the repository version. Is this possible?
Answer: As far as I can see, there is no supported method to do that. SVN wants to download a copy of each file into the .svn folder in the working copy. That copy is used for creating the diff of edited files.
It could be possible to manually edit the content of the .svn folder and create all necessary base files and index files but that will be a lot of manual work and there is no guaranteed way to make sure the repository is in sync afterwards.
Edit:
I can not figure out a way to modify the entries file with only some files and have svn fetch the others. Unless you are in serious trouble, the best option is to just check everything out from scratch.
Answer: The standard way to do this is to use a working copy, which it sounds like you do not have.  You have something like a partial or sparse export.  Essentially you are asking to "update" something that is not a working copy.
Without a working copy, I don't think there are any svn client tools that will help you do that.  TortoiseSVN certainly won't.
If your SVN server is working over http, you might be able to use something like wget -m, but you'd have to get wget onto your machine first.  And I think it uses timestamps to make the determination, so that may or may not be suitable in your case.
If it were me, I would just check out a fresh working copy.  Once you have it you can just update it whenever you want.  That's kind of the point.


how to use Pear Text_wiki

Question: The docs on the pear website link to a site that cannot be accessed. Does anyone know a site, article, or book that would explain how to use the Text_wiki package?
Answer: @mario's answer is accurate, albeit brief. I was frustrated by the lack of "let's get you started quickly" documentation too and spent some time communing with the source (which admittedly is never a bad thing). Here's some more background information for future potential users of the Text_Wiki PEAR package:
To use the PEAR package:

Install it with something like pear install Text_Wiki
Alternatively, you can install any of the sub-packages directly, such as Mediawiki: pear install Text_Wiki_Mediawiki
Once the PEAR package is installed, you can require_once 'Text/Wiki/Mediawiki.php';  in your PHP file, assuming PHP and PEAR are set up correctly. (See also: PEAR Troubleshooting Tips)

From there you can pick up where mario started. Here's a bit more detail to help you out:

This package uses one class for each "rule" (like for Paragraphs, Headers, Wikilinks, Tables, ...).
The rules are organized as individual PHP class files in your PEAR directory and split into "Parse" classes that match parts of your wikitext input and "Render" classes that format the matched wikitext into an output format like plain text or XHTML.
You can find your PEAR directory using pear config-get php_dir. For example, mine is /usr/share/php
Installed PEAR packages are in subfolders matching the package name, so on my machine, "Text_Wiki_Mediawiki" is in /usr/share/php/Text/Wiki/Mediawiki
For a given output type (like "Xhtml'), each Render rule has its own configuration options. (Look in Text/Wiki/Render/Xhtml/Wikilink.php for Wikilink rule options.) These options must be set with the SetRenderConf() method.
SetRenderConf() takes the following arguments:

The name of the output type, usually 'xhtml'
The name of the Rule you want to adjust, which will match the file name. 'Wikilink' for example.
The name of the option from that rule that you want to set.
The value to assign to that option.

You have to read each rule's source code to know what options are available for it.
You can control which rules to use and what order to call them by passing an array or strings with rule names into the constructor.

<?php
require_once 'Text/Wiki/Mediawiki.php';

// If you only wanted ==Heading==s,
aragraphs and
// [[Wikilink]]s in your output:
//$rules = array('Heading', 'Paragraph', 'Wikilink');
//$wiki = new Text_Wiki_Mediawiki($rules);

// Create a new Text_Wiki instance with default rules:
$wiki = new Text_Wiki_Mediawiki();

// When rendering XHTML, make sure "internal" wiki links
// point to a specific base URL.
$wiki->setRenderConf('xhtml', 'Wikilink', 'view_url',
  'http://your.wikibaseurl.com/wiki/');

// Turn off fake "page exists?" checking.
// This makes every "internal" link point to an "existing" wiki page
// instead of a "page doesn't exist, do you want to create it?" page.
$wiki->setRenderConf('xhtml', 'Wikilink', 'pages', false);

// Turn off opening external links in a new window.
$wiki->setRenderConf('xhtml', 'Url', 'target', false);

// With all of your options set, transform source text
// into a destination format using the "Xhtml" renderers.
print $wiki->transform("==Some wiki text==", 'Xhtml');

These additional points should get you started much faster by helping you know where to look to find the settings that can be adjusted.
Comment: Attempting to follow your instructions (thanks for the thorough answer!) but after using pear `install`, launching a php terminal (with `php -a`), I do `require_once("Text_Wiki")` and then `$wiki = new Text_Wiki'` and I get the error: `$wiki = new Text_Wiki;
PHP Parse error:  syntax error, unexpected T_VARIABLE in php shell code on line 2`.  Any ideas?
Comment: A couple things. My example is missing a semi-colon at the end of the require_once(); call (I've fixed it.) When you try that now, you're going to get a different error: That `Text_Wiki` can not be found. That's because it's not a valid PHP file to include. Try matching my example more closely and using `require_once "Text/Wiki/Mediawiki.php";`. Start with those changes and see if you fare any better.
Answer: The documentation is accessible here: http://pear.php.net/package/Text_Wiki/docs/latest/Text_Wiki/Text_Wiki.html#methodtransform
In the simplest case you just need:
$wiki = new Text_Wiki;
print $wiki->transform($source_text, "Xhtml");

Comment: Yeah, but I would have never known what function to look at. :p Also, what about extending and all that?
Comment: You need to declare a parse and format class, then register it with ->loadParseObj() etc.
Comment: ok, i might be able to work from there. but there wouldn't be any tutorials, articles, or books that would further explain it would there?
Comment: No idea. Check the authors homepage http://paul-m-jones.com/?s=text_wiki and the YaWiki implementation, otherwise go by the source.

how to use Pear Text_wiki


How to stop one machine on LAN from accessing network shares?

Question: I have one XP computer on a Windows network which I want to isolate from the network shares of other machines on the network.  I do not want this machine to be able to access other network shares on the network.  How can I do this?
Comment: Make the other shares require some permissions?
Comment: That is 1) impossible 2) highly insecure
Comment: I just want to exclude that one machine.
Comment: Don't give him the password.
Comment: I don't want to turn off simple file-sharing.
Answer: You need to remember that there are user accounts and machine accounts. Machine accounts are used pretty much just to join the machine to a domain. User accounts are used to log on to computers or domains. Managing access to shares is done via user accounts. Users log on to either local computers (i.e. Workgroup scenario) or to a Domain (i.e. a machine that acts as a domain controller supplies authentication credentials to all network users - runs either Windows server or Linux Samba). Simplest home use case is logging to each PC separately which is workgroup model. That happens even in the case if your PCs just start up and go to start button screen without any login - there still will be a user account on that machine which "auto-logs-on". (Explore users with mmc command - this will open Microsoft Management Console).
Case 1: Workgroups
Disable "simple file sharing" via Tools - Folder Options - View - Advanced settings - see also. Right click the folder and share it via Sharing and Security. Whilst you are at it, set permissions via button Permissions. Two scenarios here:

First is when you grant access via local username and password that exists on the computer sharing the folder. Say it is USER1. In permissions give access only to USER1. Make sure on all other computers there is no USER1. Then upon connecting users will be asked username and password. If person using the computer from which you do not want to allow access does not know the username and password - he/she won't be able to access the share. Of course - everybody else will have to remember the username and password and also resist temptation of giving those credentials to that user you wish to exclude.
Scenario 2 is when your users are oblivious to network usernames passwords, etc and they come to computers that "auto-log-on". Which means they do not know no passwords no nothing, I just use my computer, man. They just come to a computer that boots to the Start button screen. You can make use of that. Note user names on computers from which you want to access shares. On your sharing computer create user accounts with exact same usernames AND same passwords as on the allowed computers. When sharing the folder - give permission to those users. You could also set up user name exact same as for the user on the computer which you want to exclude. When giving permissions to that account on your sharing computer - you remove all access. What your users will see - they can access the shares from the "allowed" computers and will be denied access from the "excluded" computer. Behind the scenes your sharing computer will look at the access requests in such a way: who is asking? - user1 - what's your password? - password1 OK you can access. When the excluded computer will connect - exact same exchange will happen, except the last response will be Access Denied!. It works only because the usernames and passwords on accessing computers have been set up by you to be the same as usernames passwords on the sharing computer. Say you have 4 accessing computers - they each will have one user account. On the sharing computer you will have at least 4 accounts then (unless all the accessing computers are set up with the same username / password "auto-logon" in which case you will have 2 accounts on the sharing computer - one for the accessing computers and 1 for the excluded computer). Only reason why it works without asking is because usernames and passwords match and the computers try to sue the only credentials they have at hand. From any network security perspective this is ... hmm... not great, Cthulhu way, I guess. But it will work unless your users start fiddling with those accounts they are automatically logged on to.

Case 2: Domains
Way more simple - all users log on to a domain - so all usernames are stored centrally. So you can restrict access to shares from the central server - just when you share, then you specify allowed users like this DOMAIN\User1 etc. The users who are not specifically be permitted will not get in. You of course need to remember to remove access for the Everyone group.Nice and easy way, but requires you to run either Windows server (costs $) or set up SAMBA 3 or 4 server on Linux.
Case 3? Firewall
You, I suppose, could use a software firewall on the sharing machine to specifically exclude traffic coming from the IP address of the machine you want to exclude. It would be enough to tell the firewall to drop tcp/udp traffic for ports 138 and 139 if requests come from that IP address. That would have to be some other firewall than the standard windows XP firewall though. Well, you could even use a firewall on the machine that you want to exclude - tell that machine to drop all packets from the sharing machine that come from ports 138 and 139. Another Chtulhu way ... may work, provided your users will not undo your changes ;).


usage of the phrasal verb " stand by"

Question: How is the phrasal verb stand by used in a sentence? It should convey the meaning, "to be available and ready to act if needed or called upon".
Comment: Please stand by, I'll answer your question later.
Answer: Couple of examples:

Our team is standing by to help you.

and

Stand by for this key announcement.
Answer: This is a beautiful example of a phrasal verb! Above when Jim said:

Please stand by and I'll answer your question.

The meaning of the verb has something to do with waiting in an attentive manner. Although the main verb is 'stand' the speaker likely cares very little if the person stands, sits, leans, squats or any other type of positioning. This differs from an example like:

Please stand by the door.

In the second example, the intent is to specify the location of where to do the standing, and in this case standing by the door can not be properly achieved if the person sits or squats. Although both examples have 'stand by' in them, the first is an example of a phrasal verb, but the second is not.
Answer: I fondly imagine that "stand by" is military in its origins, and joined at the hip with the phrases "stand to" and "stand down".
"Stand to" is a shortened version of the order "Stand to your arms", which is an instruction to pick up your weapons, in preparation for action. The British Army has long had a tradition, which was still current when I was in the Territorial Army almost 40 years ago, and for all I know still is, of standing to arms at first and last light, as these were the times an enemy was most likely to attempt a surprise attack. Once it was obvious that the wicked enemy was not going to attack, the order "stand down" would indicate that everyone not detailed as a sentry could relax their state of alertness and carry on with whatever they were doing. "Stand by" I believe to be an instruction to assume the intermediate state between these two -- action is not imminent, but neither is it possible to relax completely, as one might be called upon at any moment.
Analogously, with new-fangled electronic equipment, the old-fashioned "on" and "off" states correspond to "stand to" and "stand down", but "standby" mode means that your electronical iskermoffit is in an intermediate state where it does nothing useful, but continues to draw power. It is, however, poised to swing into action at any moment.
The use of the verb "stand" in the phrase "stand to your arms" might seem odd, as "stand" seems essentially static, but the order suggests motion. This reflects the Naval usage of "stand" as a verb of motion, as in the signal "you are standing into danger" (Inernational Code Signal Uniform). The Naval usage still retains an element of stasis, in that it implies holding a steady course.
Comment: Your answer has supplied no references at all and is the dreaded 'wall of text' being one, long, very long, paragraph without a break.

usage of the phrasal verb " stand by"