Compile C++ over FTP

Question: I would like to know if I can use g++ to compile C++ source files stored on an FTP server? Can this be done?
Note: The FTP server is within the local network
Comment: Why do you think you need to do this?
Comment: Will the compiling occur on your local machine, or the one containing the FTP server?
Answer: You can't execute commands over FTP, nor can you operate directly on files stored on an FTP server unless you have mapped the FTP server to a filesystem. How to do the latter depends on your operating system.
Since you said g++, I assume Linux, so look into FTPFS.
Answer: No, this is not possible. Ftp doesn't allow you to execute programs on the server, it is just used to transfer files. To execute programs (like the compiler) you need some different kind of access to the server, like for example with Ssh.
Answer: If you are using a Linux system (and probably any *nix or BSD flavout as well) then yes it is possible if the ftp-server is mounted as a filesystem on your machine, like Tyler McHenry wrote.
It is however not neccessary to "look into FTPFS" if you are using any recent Gnome-based distro. In Ubuntu (9.04) I can do "Places"->"Connect to server" and choose FTP. Then, when the folder is opened in Nautilus you can find the mounted directory in ~/.gvfs/ and then you should be able to compile it without any trouble at all.
I would be very surprised if KDE did not have the same feature, but the directory will be mounted somewhere else.
Answer: Does the FTP server have a public website that works with scripting languages, such as PHP?  If so, you could upload your source code, edit a PHP file that calls system and compile your code.
In general this probably isn't a good idea:  It's a slow, manual process & could be subject to security problems if the PHP script lets you edit the compilation command.

Compile C++ over FTP


Creating node with multiple custom blocks, best method

Question: What is the best method to create a node that includes multiple custom blocks with content related to only this node? The main concern is having a method that content editors will be able to understand with all the blocks related to this node editable from the node edit page for example. Having multiple custom blocks with each having an edit page is really confusing.
Answer: You could try the context module https://drupal.org/project/context. With context you can specify that certain blocks only appear on a path specified so if you only wanted them to appear on the page with the url applepoluza you could do so.
As for being able to edit the blocks from the node edit page, perhaps you could set a context with a path to the edit page of the specific node to display a new custom block and in that custom block put in a list of links to each of the desire custom block edit pages. That would a be a pretty simple way to be able to accessibly access all of the custom blocks edit pages from the node edit page.
To directly edit the blocks on a node edit page would get pretty messy but could probably be done with something like Entity Fields and a bit of hard coding if you REALLY wanted to.
Answer: Sounds like views is something you could use here - Youre bascially creating a list of related content on the same page - you could also set it so that each piece of content could be editable from that page
views:

You need Views if

You like the default front page view, but you find you want to sort    it differently.
You like the default taxonomy/term view, but you find you want to    sort it differently; for example, alphabetically.
You use /tracker, but you want to restrict it to posts of a certain    type.
You like the idea of the 'article' module, but it doesn't display    articles the way you like.
You want a way to display a block with the 5 most recent posts of    some particular type.
You want to provide 'unread forum posts'.
You want a monthly archive similar to the typical Movable    Type/Wordpress archives that displays a link to the in the form of
  "Month, YYYY (X)" where X is the number of posts that month, and
  displays them in a block. The links lead to a simple list of posts
  for that month.

Views can do a lot more than that, but those are some of the obvious
  uses of Views.


How to export an animation from Blender and load it in Unity?

Question: My FBX file from Blender (as well as the .blend file) comes into Unity with no animation - none of the other forum posts have helped. The animation is very simple - made with keyframes in the dopesheet. What could I be doing wrong?
Answer: You should bake your animations before exporting to FBX using bake option:

this option includes all constraints and even any rig which is done in Animation Nodes addon.


difference between tar and deb

Question: What is the difference between a .tar.gz file, a .tar.xz file and a .deb file? Are all of them archives? When I download a software from the Internet, I sometimes get a .deb file, but sometimes I also get a .tar.gz file. Do, I treat the installation of a .tar.gz file differently from that of a .deb. I usually install .deb files using the comman line instruction sudo dpkg -i <filepath.deb>. Do, I do the same with the .tar.gz file or something different?
Answer: Debian packages, .deb, are only to be used in Debian-like distros like Ubuntu. These include precompiled libraries/binaries and files in an easy to install fashion by dpkg, which is the part of the system that ensures that they get installed correctly.
tar's in any of their compressions most of the time are not binaries but sources files. These archives needs to be decompresed, configured, compiled and installed. Hence you always should treat the tar files differently of deb files.
DEB files are ready to install, while tar may not be.
Answer: This is for compiled packages
With most tar.* files, just extarct the file, and look for the files README and INSTALL.
This should work - open terminal and run it - it will extract the file, change terminal to the extracted directory, and then open File Manager nautilus in that directory.
tar -xf /PATH/TO/PACKAGE-NAME.tar.*
cd PACKAGE-NAME
nautilus .

The README file usually has some usful information, anf the INSTALL file give the installation instructions. Sometimes those are in the README. You can then run the commands given, if they have a ./ you need to run cd PACKAGE-NAME first.
Comment: thank you, nautilus working, I understand it now. Lol. I knew it all along but just didnt know it was called Nautilus. I was reading up about LINUX a few days back and I came across the fact that APT is a packaging tool with the apt-get function which extracts data from `.deb` and places the right files in the right place so that when I go for `apt-get remove `, the system does not leave behind any useless trace of the software. Do I put myself at any risk, if I go for a manual install? Can I use `apt-get remove ` anyways?
Comment: Thank you for your answer. I think, I should be able to manage now. But, since I'm an absolute newbie and just migrated to Ubuntu13.10 from windows, I'm asking a little more, just so that I can follow. I'm guessing `tar -xf /PATH/TO/PACKAGE-NAME.tar.*` will create a directory by the package name in my system, hence the second line `cd PACKAGE-NAME`, wherein you want me to change my working directory to the newly created one. But, the next line `nautilus`, what does that mean? What is nautilus? Please correct me if I'm wrong, I have no idea, I'm just using my intuition here.
Comment: You have the file manager, inwhich you edit files and stuff. That is opened by the command `nautilus`. Normally that command is run by the launcher file which you click on to open it. The `.` after that means that nautilus will open in the current directory. Try it and see ;-)
Comment: Okay. Thanks a lot, will do that and get back to you :)
Comment: If you were installing is as a .deb, with `dpkg -i`, yes you could, you could of also do `sudo apt-get purge` to remove most of the configuration files and stuff. But, most `.tar.*` installers don't allow for this, although some do contain `uninstall` scripts that you can run as well. If you want to remove it afterwards, you can usually work out was was installed in the first place by looking at the installer package - like in [this answer here](http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1624097&p=10128504#post10128504), although be careful when deleting stuff...

difference between tar and deb


Who is Don Freecs?

Question: Is he an ancestor of Ging and Gon? What is probably his story aside from being the author of the Book which talked about the Dark Continent?
Comment: @Dimitrimx we do? as of the last chapter we just found out that don was a Freecs. Can you site which chapter says he's Gon's grandfather?
Comment: @ton.yeung Seems if been mixing up fan theorys and actual reading of the manga. my bad.
Comment: I have a slight, slight feeling, you know just a small feeling Don is Gon's mom, IDK maybe. Togashi gets crazy sometimes. Maybe they combined their names to form Gon? Anyway, that's a bit cheesy. But it could be if the plant mentioned in the manga could actually stop someone from aging. It's a small possibility though, thinking she's 300 years old. BRAHHH I'm just so anxious about this I hope togashi resumes already.
Comment: I think that the whole series has the "heroe's Journey" that many animes follow, so in comparison with other animes like Dragon Ball, I suppose that the 300 hundred old Don Freecs (old relative to Gon) should serve as a purpose of a kind of Mutten Roshi or Kaiosama if Netero was the HXH equivalent to Mutten Roshi.
Answer: Don Freecss is a character mentioned to have written a guide to the dark continent in two parts: East and West. The association has had a copy of East. West has not been seen.  Ging claimed that is because Don is still writing West, and thus is still alive. East was written 300 years ago.
If Ging is correct, then these are valid assumptions:

Don must be over 300 years old making him the oldest known character.
The Dark Continent is notoriously dangerous so Don must be strong or well protected to reside there.
Freecss is the last name of Ging and Gon so Don is likely related to them through Ging's father.
As Nen slows aging and is the major source of combat power in the series, Don is likely a very power Nen user.
As the Dark Continent is noted for having new/strange fauna and flora including powerful medicial plants, it is possible that his environment could greatly impact who the character is and provide a cause for his long lifespan.

That is all we know and can safely infer from the manga.  There are fan theories surrounding him but at this point we don't know anything else.
Comment: Do you know what chapter this was mentioned in?
Comment: 344 I think.  I don't have it right now so refered to the wiki to confirm memory.
Comment: Also it has been mentioned the new continent holds herbs that can cure anything and cause immortality.  Don may have succeeded in finding and eating those.
Comment: @Quikstryke I will add something to that effect.
Comment: Yup, found it, if you want a source: Chapter 344, pages 19-20.
Answer: I guess Don Freecs (grandfather of Gon) is someone who possessed Gon while he is in his fight against Pitou. Remember Gon was innocent and calm, and yet he become stubborn and fast temper. Maybe the author expresss the similar version of his another series like the Yu Yu Hakushou, when Yusuke being possessed by his father who were the most powerful person in the series in his prime.
Another hint that I can contribute is the gap between Gon and Don. Don somehow mention that he was 300 years (impossible) of age, close enough to like of the father of Yusuke in his another series. There is also other part of the world (Dark Continent) similar to his other series.
Don maybe the strongest character in HxH, who knows, he lives in a secret side of the world.
Answer: My guess is that Don Freecss is the great grandfather of Gon or later since over 300 years, many generations could've passed.
Now the question is, who is Don Freecss?
Don Freecss is a novel writer.
I don't think he is involved in Gon's transformation. Why? If he was involved in it, then the transformation could have been a power passed over generations and generations and the Freecs family could've been the most powerful nen users.
Don Freecss was a nen user, but we can't confirm if all parts of this anime are related to Yu Yu Hakusho. That would be a crime. Don Freecss carries the characteristics of Ging Freecss, if you compare them. For example, Don travels a lot to discover new things like Ging does.
Don Freecss is probably an Enhancer. Why? The Zoldyck family has similarities in Nen. They are usually Transmuters or Manipulators. The only (rare) Enhancer in the family is the great great grandfather of Killua. Ging would be an Enhancer or Transmuter. I took the information by personality by Hisoka; I have not read it well yet, but Ging posseses the characteristics of an Enhancer and Transmuter.
Don Freecss's appearance is not yet revealed but my guess is that he looks slightly like Ging.
I agree with the theory that he may still be alive somewhere farther than the Dark Continent.
I believe he is immortal since Freecsses are amazing.
Answer: An ancestor of Ging, who  obtained the immortality "curse" from the dark continent, or is still alive by some other means.
This is shown when Ging stated that he(Don) was still alive after 300 years. As such, Don is still alive by some means.
Comment: Please back up your answer by reasoning and example from the series.
Comment: What other reasoning do you need? Ging stated that he was still alive after 300 years. As such, he is still alive by some means.

This is common sense, honestly. Have you read the manga?
Comment: `Ging stated that he was still alive after 300 years. As such, he is still alive by some means.` Please edit your answer to include that in. We want a slightly long answer, where your theory is backed up by some details from the manga, not just a single-line conclusion.
Comment: Not a problem, I'll add that in.
Answer: I have a feeling that Don is an ancestor to both Gon and Ging. But I have a feeling that he is going to help Gon restore the ability to use nen and it could be possible that he could have been part of Gon's Transformation.
Comment: We're looking for longer, primarily fact-based answers, do you have some resources you can cite to back up your answer?

Who is Don Freecs?


How to delete half of the data from notepad file quickly

Question: I have a large notepad file and want to delete the first half of the data. I am at the midpoint now, the point at which I must do a trick to delete all the data before it. What command can help me do this? If I just do it with the backspace, it will take forever!
thanks!
Comment: At mid point, press Ctrl + Shift + Home - to select till the beginning. Then press 'Delete' or 'Backspace'.
Answer: Click on the point where is the middle, then
Ctrl+Shift+Home, then Del

if you want to delete from midpoint to the top
Ctrl+Shift+End, then Del

if you want to delete from midpoint to the bottom
Answer: At your mid-position, Hold shift, press page up. It will select starting with your position all the way to the top.
then press delete key.
If the last page (top most one will not select), keep pressing shift and use up-key the select the rest of it.
Crtl+shift home method usually works, but can be bugged in anything is bound to ctrl key.
Comment: And how much time I should press pageUp? This is not a good way to mark from point to the top or bottom!
Comment: I found many situations of users where ctrl key was bound to other functions (and not usable for the C-S-home combo), thats why I offered the alternative.
Comment: This is too heavy alternative. In such case is much easy to use mouse. And I am sorry, but Ctrl key is so much used so reassign it can be stupid!
Comment: Well, users do very unexpected things. :D Anyway I'd recommend using an actual editor, notepad is very limited when it comes to text edit. A good editor will also have things line select from line no 2 line no & other similar things. Even an ancient MSDOS editor is more advanced than notepad.


What's the difference between Compaq Visual Fortran and GNU Fortran?

Question: Under Linux, I used gfortran and failed to compile some Fortran 77 codes which are developed on Compaq Visual Fortran 6.5 (CVF) under Windows. Some errors are related to different keywords change, e.g. TYPE in CVF and PRINT in gfortran.
Are there detail comparison between CVF and gfortran?
Answer: If you look for a compiler compatible with CVF use Intel Fortran. It is its direct descendant. This site can help you
http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/migrating-from-compaq-visual-fortran
But I would strongly recommend to get rid of the nonstandard extensions.
Answer: From memory, the documentation for CVF made it clear where syntax that was accepted by the compiler was an extension to the standard.  If you program uses such an extension then there's a reasonable chance that a different compiler will reject them.
The TYPE statement is such an extension - it is not in Fortran 77.


How to disconnect Apple Wireless Keyboard without accessing the paired computer?

Question: I have a bluetooth Apple Wireless Keyboard that is paired to a machine I cannot currently access to disconnect the keyboard. How can I unpair it from this computer to use it with another machine?
Answer: You need to turn it off (best to remove the batteries for a few seconds, then put them back), and then press and hold the power button on the keyboard.
If your paired computer is not in range, the keyboard's LED will start blinking and the keyboard will be ready for a pairing attempt with another machine. Release the power button and pair with your computer.
Comment: and if it is in range ? :) Paired to ex-worker's computer which we cannot reset for now


QGIS graphical modeler: how to automatically enter parameters in r.drain.coordinate tool

Question: i am carrying out a cost least path analysis and i am using QGIS. The processing tools i am using are: r.cost.full and then r.drain.coordinate
Considering i have more than 1000 layer to process (starting and ending points) i have built a model. Everything works except r.drain.coordinate which requires to input E,N coordinates of the starting point (which is the ending point for what i am doing). I have tried to add the coordinate as attribute values from a table (see images below) but although the algorithm runs i do not get what i want.
Anybody has got a clue? A script that can do the job is welcome too.
Comment: @Joseph: i was using a vector file (point) and then two attribute fields (the parent was the vector file) which i had called N and E. However, now there is a solution. Thanks to a couple of QGIS developers, who kindly provided me the correct code for r.drain, i can use a vector file instead of the couple of coordinates (N,E). The new version of r.drain will be issued in QGIS2.14. the change in the current r.drain.txt file is ParameterVector instead of ParameterMultipleInput.
Comment: Are you using the **Table** parameter for `N` and `E`?
Comment: Glad you found a solution! You should post your comment as an **answer** and accept it (click the green-faded tick on the left-hand side of the answer when posted) to mark this question off =)
Answer: @joseph, hope to have understood. Thanks for letting me know. The question is closed.


How can I create a bounty of 25 points?

Question: I want to set a bounty of 25 points. 100 is too much.
Comment: 25 isn't possible, 100 is too much, 50 sounds about right.
Comment: Also, sometimes you will see 25 points rewarded as a result of a bounty which was offered for 50 points and never awarded by the user offering, but where there was an answer qualifying for the bounty. The 25 points is awarded from the community user as half of the posted bounty.
Comment: @nicael - I think you have an interesting outlook on bounties and their relation to reputation, you probably have offered the most total reputation in bounties across the entire exchange :)
Comment: @Brad Are you kidding? I am not *even close* to be the top bountier in the SE network :D (burned 16,650 reps netowk wide)
Comment: By default, questions have a bounty of 15 points (when you accept it as the right answer). In addition, you can award an extra 10 points by upvoting it (giving the answerer a total of 25 points). This is free from any spending on the part of the asker.
Comment: Well, that would explain it then. Thats the rules ("to avoid overly promotional bounties").
Comment: @Travis 100 ***isn't*** much :)
Comment: Did you post an answer on that question? Previously put a bounty on it? Those can raise the requirement to 100.
Comment: @Pluto That's not really a bounty; that's just reputation. (I think I see what you're saying, though – that's an easy way to award 25 rep.)
Comment: @BradleyDotNET Yes I put an answer on it, but I don't think it's the best answer.
Answer: The minimal amount is 50, unless you have already started a bounty of 50 reps (min amount doubles each time) or have an answer there (min is 100 in this case). If you don't award it manually and don't accept any answer and an answer was posted after you started the bounty and reached the score of 2, the Community would award half-amount - 25 in case you spend 50 reps on this bounty.
Comment: The requirement jumps to 100 (or more) if you previously put a bounty on the question or have an answer posted on it.
Comment: The minimum was 100 points.

How can I create a bounty of 25 points?


Why did Thanos go to Titan?

Question: During Avengers: Infinity War, Thanos stops at his home planet Titan, before going to Wakanda. Why did he need to go there? Why not go to Wakanda, where the fight was happening?
Comment: Well, they had to rendezvous somewhere. Could've been at Starbucks too
Answer: Thanos went to Titan because he had a rendezvous with the Black Order to collect the Infinity Stones from them.

Thanos: There are two more Stones on Earth. Find them, my children, and bring them to me on Titan.
Avengers: Infinity War

It's only when he gets to Titan and Strange is there and not Cull that he realises he must go collect those two Stones himself.

Stephen Strange: Oh, yeah, you're much more of a "Thanos."
Thanos: I take it the Maw is dead. This day extracts a heavy toll. Still, he accomplished his mission.
Avengers: Infinity War
Comment: Schlepping across the universe is much less of a hassle for Thanos once he got the Space Stone.
Answer: Why Titan, as opposed to anywhere else? Because of its emotional significance to Thanos.
Adding to the answer above, we find Thanos in an especially reflective mood on Titan, taking time out to reminisce about his childhood and the state of his planet, how he could have saved it if only he'd been able to decimate the population.

... he focused on Thanos, who was lost in the past that once more walked about him like a ghost. "Titan was like most planets. Too many mouths, not enough to go around." He sounded frustrated. "And when we faced extinction, I offered a solution " "Genocide." Strange did not mince words.  "But random," Thanos agreed, to Strange's shock. "Dispassionate. Fair to rich and poor alike. They called me a madman. And what I predicted came to pass." Thanos unflexed the Gauntlet and reality returned to Titan.
Avengers - Infinity War: Destiny Arrives

Thanos' goal was to collect all of the stones into one place. Although he had the choice to meet with his minions literally anywhere in the galaxy, Titan seems the obvious choice to Thanos because that's where his quest for the stones initially began, even if he was unaware of it/them at the time. Returning to his home world brings his personal story full circle.
Comment: @MaxD - His answers the question more closely (e.g. *"Why did he need to go there?"* ->  *"because he was expecting to rendezvous with his children there"*). Mine addresses a slightly different (and unspoken) question, which is to say ***"Why did he choose Titan in the first place?"*** Carrot's is the superior answer in the sense that it actually answers *the question asked*.
Comment: This is the better answer IMO, while TheLethalCarrot is of course correct, they don't provide a reasoning for choosing Titan over any other place.
Answer: This is largely inference, but Thanos' original plan appears to be for Maw and Cull to get the Time stone, Proxima and Glaive to get the Mind stone, and to personally get the Reality and Soul stones. Thanos' belief that his Black Order would be able to get the stones was based around surprise: Proxima and Glaive probably intended their surprise attack to kill Vision before he was aware of the danger. Given the ensuing battle, it is reasonable to believe that if Vision had been killed immediately and no further Avengers had shown up, Proxima and Glaive would have prevailed (Scarlett Witch would have had to not only hold them off, but cart Vision's corpse around with her the whole time; if she left it unguarded, they could just snatch the stone and leave).
The Battle of Wakanda was the Black Order improvising after the previous plan to get the Mind stone failed. It wasn't part of Thanos' original plan, and once it began, Thanos was already expecting Maw on Titan, and would want to meet him there. He didn't know until he got to Titan that Maw was dead, so as far as he knew, Maw didn't know about the impending attack on Wakanda, and so wouldn't know to go there, even if Thanos had wanted him to.
Meanwhile, Thanos' plan probably didn't account for Heimdall using the Bifrost to send The Hulk/Banner to Strange and warn him about the impending attack. Had they not had that warning, and Stark and Parker not gotten to the Q-Ship, Strange would have arrived on Titan alone and immobilized, and far from any reinforcements.
At that point, Thanos would have had to get the Time stone from Strange somehow. It's unclear that he was aware of how well Strange would be able to protect it, but basic prudence would suggest having the encounter between Thanos and Strange not be on Earth, as once the element of surprise was lost, Earth forces may have been able to interfere. If everything had gone according to plan, Strange would have been alone and immobilized, while Thanos would have four Black Order members and all but one of the Infinity Stones.
In addition, Knowhere, Vormir, and Titan are likely in the same galaxy (the Kree galaxy). Thanos didn't know the location of the Soul stone before capturing Gamora, but he seemed to know that Gamora knew, and if Gamora had only looked in the Kree galaxy, then Thanos could conclude that that is where it was. Thanos knew that once he collected the Time and Mind stones, there would be a lot of people coming after him to stop him from assembling the Gauntlet. Getting the Soul stone involved luring Gamora to him, so that was probably the most variable part of his plan. He would want the rendezvous close to the Soul stone, so if his luring Gamora gambit took a long time, he would need as little time to travel to the stone's location.
But given that his entire quest started on Titan and was driven by regret at failing to save Titan, he likely simply wanted the completion of the quest to be on Titan. He seems to have a certain kind of sentimentality like that.
Comment: *"Thanos' plan probably didn't account for Heimdall using the Bifrost to send The Hulk/Banner to Strange."* Thanos's plan to send Black Order to earth & meet on Titan was **after** Heimdall sends Banner using Bifrost.

Why did Thanos go to Titan?


What is the smallest amount of energy?

Question: It seems that we can get infinitely small but we will never reach a finite amount of energy that we could call the smallest amount. How can this be explained?
Comment: Your question is very vague, would you care to elaborate? Because in classical mechanics, for example, we can get $E = 0$, for a rest particle (defining the potential at our will).
Comment: I guess, excluding 0, you could say 1 quantum... but exactly how much energy that is depends on context and still doesn't technically have a lower bound.
Comment: As I know, there is no lower limit to energy, but there is for energy * time, it is the Planck-constant.
Comment: I guess this question could equally be applied to mass, space and time. It bothers me that apparently we can't see how it is possible to have "one" of anything in real life. When we talk about units of this and that, we are only able to say that in relative terms. I wonder how then we can talk about particles and quanta when there seem to not exist any such a thing.
Comment: Do a search for "photon rest mass" or "electromagnetic field rest mass".
Answer: A single photon carries the energy $E=\frac{hc}{\lambda}$, where $\lambda$ is its wavelength. As wavelength increases, energy decreases. Technically speaking, there is no upper limit on wavelength, thus there is no lower limit on energy. Strictly speaking, however, a wavelength larger than the size of the observable universe would redshift to infinity before it completed even one cycle. It would practically not exist. Still, there is no true non-zero lower bound on energy.
Comment: It's the age of the universe $1/H_0$ in length units.  I considered using your value, the radius of the comoving horizon, decided the factor of three difference was not interesting, and flipped a coin.
Comment: Just for fun, this lower limit in today's universe ($\lambda = 14\rm\,Gly$) is $10^{-32}\rm\,eV$.
Comment: @rob as long as you flipped a coin, I completely support your choice of wavelength
Comment: @rob ..... what number is this $14~Gly$? The radius of the observable universe is approx. $45~Gly$
Comment: I appreciate the comments. I guess what this means is that we can only know the smallest amount we can measure now. But there is no known unit of energy in actual universe, as far as we know.

What is the smallest amount of energy?


Engine vibration when A/C is on

Question: I have a Toyota IQ 2010 model. I bought this car second hand having driven 50,000 KM.
When I bought the car it had power and acceleration issues, it wouldn't even climb a small ramp. Other problems were that the car would vibrate a lot when the A/C was on but only in traffic. It used to get better when I put the car in neutral gear. Then after driving it for a year (because I had no time to see a mechanic) I took it to the mechanic.
I found out that the ABS motor is faulty and needs to be changed and it also has no catalytic converter as it has been removed. They also told me the gasket has been replaced due to overheating in the past and it's not the original gasket used for 1KR 3 cylinder engine. So I changed the gasket, installed new piston rings, changed the transmission fluid, changed the spark plugs and literally all the filters, but I didn't install a catalytic converter or replace the ABS braking motor
The power issue is solved now, it can climb ramps and is much better than before. So the only issue that is left is that the car vibrates when A/C is on when the car is on idle. I also made a hole in the butterfly for this issue but it didn't resolve it. I noticed the RPM of the car is not stable, it is dropping and rising on idle. Also, when the A/C is on and I am continuing to drive there is no acceleration. When I switch the A/C off the car accelerates.
Can some one tell me what more I can do. If I install the catalytic converter and ABS motor will it become OK?
Answer: change the cat. It most likely is collapsed on the inside and is not allowing for airflow, which is killing the power. If that doesn't fix it, report back
Comment: According to the OP the car doesn't have a cat, it's been removed.

Engine vibration when A/C is on


How can I install avant window navigator in 12.10?

Question: Installing the ubuntu 11.10 packages works.I can't compile awn on ubuntu 12.10. And i can't install it with the software-center but the program is listed on it. It isn't like awn depends to 100 % on vala, so all non vala written parts of awn schould be runnable on ubuntu 12.10 too.
Comment: This is not an anwser to your question but DockbarX standalone dock has gotten support for applets and the intention is to make an option for people who used to use DockbarX + AWN. It doesn't have nearly as many applets as AWN but it has the basics (cardapio menu, appindicators, clock, volume control). AWN applets written in python can relatively easy be ported to DockbarX (as volume control is). DockbarX 0.90.1 was released yesterday and will be in dockbarx ppa some times next week.
Answer: It has been dropped from Quantal:
source

Some applications including Avant Window Navigator behave erratically.
AWN has been dropped from Ubuntu as it is unmaintained and no longer builds from source with current versions of vala.

You can install the 12.04 version from here
In case you need dependencies find it from here
However - given the warning from Jeremy Bicha and the original OP - the advise is to switch to another dock such as Docky
Answer: AWN is now available in the main WebUpd8 PPA for Ubuntu 12.10 so you can install it using the commands below:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install avant-window-navigator

from WebUpd8
Comment: +1 Thanks for sharing . But since it is your blog , you should mention it in the answer :)
Answer: You can install AWN on 12.10 without crawling around the net collecting dependencies by temporarily using the repositories from 12.04:
1) create the file /etc/apt/sources.list.d/precise.list with the following contents:
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise main restricted
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise main restricted
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise universe
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise universe
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise multiverse
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise multiverse
deb http://extras.ubuntu.com/ubuntu precise main
deb-src http://extras.ubuntu.com/ubuntu precise main

3) sudo apt-get update
4) sudo apt-get install avant-window-navigator awn-applets-all
5) remove the file /etc/apt/sources.list.d/precise.list
6) sudo apt-get update
(EDIT: simplified instructions)


SharePoint 2013 workflow not showing in App Permissions list

Question: I have created a SharePoint 2013 workflow using Designer that is supposed to create a subsite. When I go into the App Permissions site setting to authorize the app, it is not showing up in the list of workflows that can be authorized. Is there something wrong with my site settings or other configuration, or is there something else I can do with the workflow to get it to show up? I have already checked and App Permissions are enabled on the server.
Answer: You have to first publish any Designer 2013 workflow within the site collection to create that <code>"Workflow"</code> item in the site app permissions list.


Borel-Cantelli argument for maximum of random variables

Question: Let $(X_n)_{n \geq 1}$ be a sequence of random variables taking non-integer values, such that for each $n$ and each $i$, $\mathbb{P}(X_n \geq i) = 1/i$. By Borel-Cantelli, I have managed to show that (almost surely)
\begin{equation}
\limsup_{n \to \infty} \dfrac{\log X_n}{\log n} = 1.
\end{equation}
Next I need to prove that, for $M_n = \max_{1 \leq k \leq n} X_k$, we have almost surely:
\begin{equation}
\lim_{n \to \infty} \dfrac{\log M_n}{\log n} = 1.
\end{equation}
My idea was to fix an $\epsilon > 0 $, then show that:
\begin{equation}
\mathbb{P} \left(\limsup_{n \to \infty} \dfrac{\log M_n}{\log n} \leq 1+ \epsilon \right) = 1,
\end{equation}
\begin{equation}
\mathbb{P} \left(\liminf_{n \to \infty} \dfrac{\log M_n}{\log n} \geq 1 - \epsilon \right) = 1,
\end{equation}
then take a monotonic intersection over all $\epsilon \in \mathbb{Q}^+$ and conclude. However, I have been unable to prove the above equalities, and I am not sure how (and if) the first property that I proved can be useful. Any help appreciated!
Answer: Without independence this is obviously wrong. If $X_n=X_1$ for all $n$ then the result you claim to have proved is clearly false since the $\lim\ sup$ is $0$, not $1$.
Assume independence.  The  proof  for limsup does not require any probability theory.
If $\lim \sup \frac {a_n} {b_n}=1$ for some positive increasing sequence $b_n \to \infty$ then $\lim \sup \frac {c_n} {b_n}=1$ where $c_n =\max \{a_1,a_2,...,a_n\}$.
Comment: That answers the question regarding the $\limsup$. How about the $\liminf$?
Answer: I think I have finally found a (probabilistic) solution to this question.
For any $\alpha > 0$, we have:
\begin{equation}
\mathbb{P}[M_n < n^{\alpha}] = \mathbb{P}[X_k < n^{\alpha}]^n \leq (1-n^\alpha)^n \leq \exp(-n^{1-\alpha}).
\end{equation}
Next, we use the fact that $\sum_n e^{-n^{\epsilon}}$ converges for any $\epsilon > 0$. This means that for any $\alpha <1$, the sum of  the above probabilities is  finite. Therefore, by the  first Borel-Cantelli lemma,
\begin{equation}
\mathbb{P}[M_n \geq n^{\alpha} \text{ eventually}] = \mathbb{P}\left[\liminf_{n  \to \infty} \frac{\log M_n}{\log n} \geq \alpha\right] = 1.
\end{equation}
So  taking a  countable  union over rational $\alpha \in (0,1)$, we get
\begin{equation}
\mathbb{P}\left[\liminf_{n  \to \infty} \frac{\log M_n}{\log n} \geq 1 \right] = 1.
\end{equation}
On the other hand, $\limsup \frac{\log M_n}{\log n} \leq \limsup \frac{\log X_n}{\log n}$. This is because if $\exists N_1 \in \mathbb{N}$ such that $X_n \leq n^\alpha$ whenever $n \geq N_1$, then $\exists N_2$ s.t. $M_n \leq n^\alpha$ whenever $n \geq N_2$. This is accomplished by taking $M$ such that $M^\alpha > \max(X_1, X_2,...,X_{N_1})$. This shows the $\limsup$ is at most $1$, so we're done.


Looking for recommendation

Question: I am a non IT background, my recent projects uses PowerShell for a lot of SQL Server administration. I would like to start from absolute zero, and learn to use and code the Windows PowerShell as it was meant to be used. I am looking for a good book for beginners or other materials? Thoughts?
Answer: Check out these article series on SQLServerCentral.com:
Stairway to Server Management Objects (SMO)
Stairway to SQL PowerShell
These are a series of articles that provide great foundational skills right through to some advanced concepts and practises with specific focus on SQL Server and SMO.
Comment: thx, I really appreciate your response
Answer: Agree with @HandyD for SQL Powershell.
Above that I will like to point one more source for Powershell learning Tutorials Point. This source coveres basics of Windows Powershell.
Now, first let's make one thing clear that Windows Powershell and SQL Powershell both are different.
SQLNeeds SQLPS installed as component. Similarly windows needs newer version of Powershell tools installed.
Note: Powershell have some version specific commands which may not be supported on older version in same way in current version. So check version of PS installed each time before starting on new machine. Latest is version 6 of Powershell source: How to install Powershell
I hope this helps.

Looking for recommendation


Why can't / doesn't U-boot log messages for us to view later

Question: I have a problem whereby a remote BeagleBone device is taking hours to boot up. When it does, I don't see any problems in the kernel boot logs such as journalctl -b or journalctl -b -1
Without having physical access to the device over the serial interface, we can't see what is happening in the bootloader. Why is it that the U-Boot bootloader logs are not saved to somewhere on the flash memory or even RAM, or somewhere readable from when the kernel takes over? This would be extremely useful.
I understand that the file system is not mounted at that point, but surely there could be a solution? Or am I missing something that makes this procedure very difficult?
Answer: You can use the net console as an output device to monitor the boot process. Cf. https://github.com/trini/u-boot/blob/master/doc/README.NetConsole.
Since v2020.07 U-Boot can emit syslog messages via UDP depending on configuration (CONFIG_LOG_SYSLOG=y). You will need a syslog server to record the messages.


Is there any good way to measure humidity constantly in a concrete block?

Question: So, there is this teacher who wants to test how an chemical compound acts in the velocity of drying in concrete. Basically, i want to measure continuously (it would be great if i could do it with an arduino) the humidity level in a block of concrete.
What is the best option? To use a air humidity sensor (DHT22, for example) or an ground humidity sensor? Or any other better option?
The main purpose here is to store every measure of humidity along approximately 12 ou 13 hours. Any ideas? Thanks!
Answer: If this is a test block (and not a part of a building), the easiest solution is to place it on a scale.
The scale will indicate the amount of water that has evaporated from the block. From this it is easy to calculate the moisture content, either by volume or by mass. There are also scales that output the weight through e.g. serial port, which you can then log.
Air or ground humidity sensors would probably give you values that are related to the concrete water content, but they would need multi-point calibration if you need accurate readings. For example, temperature would affect the air moisture readings a lot.
Comment: Hey, thanks for the answer. I came up with this idea to the teacher, but she said that the recipient will be closed and the water will not actually evaporate, but disappear in chemical reactions in the concrete. So we can`t use a scale. Aren`t there any other options? if not, how can we calibrate the readings? Thanks!
Comment: @Dovah-king I think the usual definition for moisture content in concrete is "amount of water that could evaporate given enough time". You'll need some kind of different definition if evaporation is not happening.
Answer: You can also think of the concrete as being similar to wood ( a porous, composite solid) and use a wood moisture meter. They come in a wide variety of styles, choose the one that suits your application. You might have to drill holes in the concrete to insert the moisture meters that have probes, so if you choose this method you will have to drill precise diameter holes so that the probes will be in intimate contact with the concrete.


taxes on home if quit claimed to son in entirety, but mom still lives there

Question: Will my thirty-year-old son have to pay taxes on my home if I quitclaim him to the title? What if he just owns one-half of the home; how will that affect his taxes? We live in Boise, Idaho and he already owns two homes that he is buying in his name.
Comment: Which taxes? Property taxes will certainly need to be paid, but other taxes related to your gift, capital gains in a later sale, etc., would be dependent on information you have not provided.
Answer: You're talking about gifting your home to your son. That will actually mean that you need to pay taxes, unless the value of your home is below the exemption for the gift tax. You will, probably, use the lifetime exemption, but it will come out of the exemption for your estate.
Once your son is the owner, he'll be liable for the property taxes. If your wife continues living there - she'll probably have to pay rent.
Another issue is that your basis in the home will pass to your son. If you were to give it to your son in your will, your son would have gotten stepped up basis.
I suggest you talk to an estate attorney and form a trust that will allow you executing your plan with less adverse effects.
Comment: thank you. an irrevocable trust, I think you mean. Deborah
Comment: I think that second paragraph should have "wife" changed to "husband" based on the OP's name. Or that sentence reworked to say spouse.
Comment: @mkennedy don't know if anyone told you, but same-sex marriage has been legal in Idaho for a while now. :-P
Comment: @DeborahCarey Trust, yes. Not sure if revocable or irrevocable is better. Consider all the alternative. Either way, will probably be better than just quit-claiming.
Comment: @littleadv that's great and why I said maybe a generic spouse would be a better term.


120 V 9000 BTU mini split from sub panel and wire info

Question: I am adding a mini split from the sub  panel of my home to additional room I am adding . Mini split of 120 v, 9000 btu and 20 Ampacity. From panel to disconnect fuse box,my contractor installed 8/3 ( 8 gauge??) wire but mini split require 20 amp ( 20 ampacity) which should be Ok with 12 or 10 gauge wire. Is it ok to connect the this mini split with this 8 gauge wire to pass Vito inspection ? Wire length may be 20 ft.
Comment: The only problem should be if the device connections are not made for(does not fit) or marked for 8 gauge.
Answer: Using the larger size wire will be OK. Make sure to use a 20 amp breaker or whatever the instructions call for. If the breaker or mini split connections won't handle the #8 AWG wire, use wire nuts and splice a piece of #12 or #10 to the #8 and connect the smaller wire to the devices
Comment: Wires can **always be larger than required for the current** (but you may need to join to smaller wires depending on device terminal largest capacity - or not.)
Comment: @Zia NEC 250.122(B). It specifically authorizes using larger wire than needed, *but* it specifies the ground wire being enlarged in proportion.  On paper that would require #8 ground, but if you read the Handbook *for the reason* for the rule, it clearly does not apply here, and the AHJ should waive it.  (the reason is that if you're enlarging hot wires to reduce voltage drop on a Very Long Run, you want ground to be able to flow enough current to trip the breaker.)
Comment: Thanks .. is there any city code or national rules or code link I can read for more details ?
Comment: @Zia you haven't specified which city or country you're in, so ...
Comment: The NEC is sometimes difficult to read even for professionals. Try this: http://wiresizecalculator.net/   It will show you that the #8 wire chosen by your contractor is well over the minimum size for your usage.
Comment: Thanks ,.. but 8/3 wire should have same dia wire for all three wire ?


Create clipping masks using contour lines in QGIS

Question: I'm new to QGIS and GIS in general. I'm trying to find a way to create height layers automatically and then use them to clip other layers.
In detail: Below is my area of interest. I have a raster containing height information and contourlines. I want to use the areas between the contour lines as clipping masks. Totally convex contours (like the small middle left) I can just fill with "convex enveloping" (I hope that's the English term for it). But others I can't. Especially the borders are difficult.
Answer: I would suggest you to use the GDAL > Raster Extraction > Contour Polygons tool, which creates Multi-Polygons (closed by definition),  for each given contour line height.
DEM:

Contour Polygons:

You can then use features from the resulting Contour layer to clip other layers.


Frankfurt to Buenos Aires back to Frankfurt

Question: I am flying out of Frankfurt, Germany going to Buenos Aires, non-stop.
I know I will have to go through Customs upon arrival in Buenos Aires, but won't I also go through Customs upon arriving in Germany from Argentina (again flying direct).
Thanks!
Answer:
but won't I also go through Customs upon arriving in Germany from
  Argentina

Yes. You will go through customs on arrival in both countries.
To clarify: "Customs" means "rolling your bags by an officer, who might want to look at it to see if you have cigarettes, alcohol, agricultural stuff or other items that are regulated or not allowed"
In contrast: "Immigration" (losely) means "Some government official is looking for at your passport and/or visa" . This always happens on arrival but in some countires also on departure. Germany does exit passport control. I don't know about Argentina.
Please note that you ALSO have your passports/visa inspected during check in by the airline. They will not give you a boarding pass, until they are convinced that you meet the entry requirements. This is separate from "immigration".


WPF Office 2007 Theme

Question: are there any additional WPF themes from microsoft except that default ones provided in
PersentationFrameWork.Aero,
PersentationFrameWork.Luna,
PersentationFrameWork.Royale &
PersentationFrameWork.Classic
i am specially interested in a Office 2007 Blue theme
Answer: If you happen to have Infragistics NetAdvantage: it has some Office 2007 themes.
Answer: There are some themes at this link which were converted from Silverlight.
Answer: You might want to try www.reuxables.com - we have both commercial and free themes, and it is the largest and most diverse theme library for WPF.

WPF Office 2007 Theme


Limit superior inequalities proof: $\limsup_{n\to \infty} \left(\frac{a_1+a_{n+1}}{a_n}\right)^n\ge e$

Question: Let $a_n$ be a positive sequence. Prove that
$$\limsup_{n\to \infty} \left(\frac{a_1+a_{n+1}}{a_n}\right)^n\geqslant e.$$
Comment: This problem is also present in the book "Problems of mathematical olympiads for university students" (Russian) by Sadovnichiy and Podkolzin.
Comment: A thought: Suppose not. Choose $l\limsup_{n\to\infty}((a_1+a_{n+1})/a_n)^n$, and $N$ such that $(a_1+a_{n+1})/a_n<l^{1/n}$ for all $n\ge N$. I believe that $a_n$ can't be always positive, and the contradiction is on the asymptotic behavior of large $a_n$.
Comment: @FrankScience: why $e$ and not $5.7$, then?
Answer: Since I solved this problem several years ago, I didn't write my solution immediately, so that others could think on this problem. Now I am writing my own solution:
It starts as the solution by Ju'x, i.e. we can safely assume that $a_1 = 1$ and suppose the converse inequality. Then there exists $N \in \mathbb{N}$ such that
$$\frac{1+a_{n+1}}{a_n} < e^{1/n}, \qquad n \ge N.$$
Hence
$$a_N > \frac{1}{e^{1/N}} + \frac{a_{N+1}}{e^{1/N}} > \frac{1}{e^{1/N}} + \frac{1}{e^{(1/N)+(1/N+1)}} + \frac{a_{N+2}}{e^{(1/N)+(1/N+1)}} > \ldots,$$
i.e.
$$a_N > \frac{1}{e^{1/N}} + \frac{1}{e^{(1/N)+(1/N+1)}} + \ldots + \frac{1}{e^{(1/N)+\ldots+(1/N+k)}}, \qquad k \in \mathbb{N}.$$
Using $e^{1/n} < 1 + \dfrac{1}{n-1} = \dfrac{n}{n-1}$ we get
$$a_N > (N-1)\left( \frac{1}{N} + \frac{1}{N+1} + \ldots + \frac{1}{N+k}\right), \qquad k \in \mathbb{N},$$
which is impossible, since the harmonic series diverges.
Comment: The inequality $e^{1/n}>n/(n-1)$ is not true, unless my calculator and Wolfram Alpha are wrong. Besides, it seems to me that the inequality you use to get your contradiction does not preclude the equality in the original statement, so you cannot expect to get a contradiction.
Comment: I didn't understand the second part of your comment.
Comment: I meant that you could have a sequence satisfying $\left((1+a_{n+1})/a_n\right)^n<e$, and such that in the limit you have equality.
Comment: OK, but I don't see how that contradicts to my solution. My solution actually shows that the case you are talking about is not possible for positive $\{a_n\}$.
Comment: Nice solution! (+1). Instead of your inequality, You can use $\exp\left(-\sum_{j=N}^{N+k}\frac{1}{j}\right) = \exp\left(-\ln(N+k) + O(1)\right)$ when $k\to+\infty$.
Answer: Without loss of generality we can assume $a_1=1$.
Taking logarithms and seeking for a contradiction, suppose that there exists $0 < \alpha < 1$ such that for all $n$ large enough,
$$
\ln \left(\dfrac{1+a_{n+1}}{a_n}\right) = \ln a_{n+1} - \ln a_n + \ln\left(1+\frac{1}{a_{n+1}}\right)\leq \frac{\alpha}{n}
$$
From this inequality we deduce that $\ln a_{n+1} - \ln a_n  \leq  q/n$.
Summing up, this yields $\ln a_n \leq \alpha\ln n + O(1)$ so $\fbox{$a_n \leq C\,n^\alpha$}$ for some $C > 0$.
Assuming (see below) that we can prove $\lim a_n = +\infty$, we find
$$
\ln a_{n+1} + S_n - T_n \leq \ln a_{n+1} + \sum_{k=1}^{n+1}\ln\left(1+\frac{1}{a_k}\right) \leq \alpha \ln n + O(1)
$$
with
$$
S_n = \sum_{k=1}^n \frac{1}{a_k},\qquad T_n = \sum_{k=1}^n \frac{1}{a_k^2}.
$$
This is absurd because $T_n$ is negligible with respect to $S_n$ and
$$
S_n \geq \frac{1}{C} \sum_{k=1}^n\frac{1}{k^\alpha} \sim \frac{1}{C(1-\alpha)}n^{1-\alpha}.$$

In order to prove that $\lim a_n =+\infty$, start from
$$
\ln a_n \geq -\frac{\alpha}{n} + \ln(1+a_{n+1}) \geq -\frac{\alpha}{n}
$$
This gives $\liminf a_n \geq \lim e^{-\alpha/n} = 1$.
Then write $\liminf a_n \geq \liminf e^{-\alpha/n}(1+a_{n+1}) \geq 2$, and so on... you can show that $\liminf a_n \geq K$ for every integer $K \geq 1$.


Blurred photos of a moving subject under low light conditions

Question: I'm using a bridge camera Fujifilm s7000. I've found it difficult to take photos indoors in low light conditions. The exposure looks right but blurred. I'm trying to take photos of our baby, as you can imagine a moving subject.Aperture priority mode f2.8 and no chance to use a flash.Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
https://www.fujifilmusa.com/shared/bin/S7000Manual.pdf
Indoor :

Outdoor (through my car windscreen) :
Comment: Possible duplicate of [Tactics to avoid motion blur in low light conditions](https://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/89718/tactics-to-avoid-motion-blur-in-low-light-conditions)
Comment: Have you got any example images? Since it's of a child I imagine you rather not share those but maybe try and re-create the issues for us. Also from just the question itself, I'd recommend a tripod and ensuring that you're being stable with your photos or if you don't have one make sure you're using a high shutter speed. If you're having issues with low lighting then crank your Appature up as well as boost the ISO.
Comment: Possible duplicate of [What is the "exposure triangle"?](https://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/6598/what-is-the-exposure-triangle)
Comment: Related: [Is camera flash actually harmful to infants or newborns?](https://photo.stackexchange.com/q/16411/4262)
Comment: Have you tried upping the ISO so that you can get a faster shutter speed? Otherwise you may need better lighting!
Comment: @MiguelH Ithink the ISO was 200, thank you. I think I can go up to 800. Lightning: daylight 60w bulb.
Comment: @Matthew If I were to increase Aperture (i.e. narrowing the hole) would it make the image dark ?
Comment: My advice: Record movies instead. They may look quite dark and noisy, but probably show no motion blur. Then wait. In the future one could expect smart algorithms to detect parts of the movie without any movement and extract low noise images from these parts.
Comment: You'll probably have to bump up the exposure in post anyway, so I highly suggest shooting in RAW. Going one stop faster probably won't make enough difference.
Answer:
Use more light.  Open windows, turn on more room lights, bring in extra portable lights.

Use a flash.  You say there is "no chance" to use a flash, but since you gave no justification for that it remains valid advice.  Added: I just looked at the manual you linked to, and right on the front page it clearly shows a popup flash.  A spot light from almost where the lens is doesn't make the best pictures, but they will still be better than blurred.

Take pictures in a brighter area.

Use a higher ISO setting.

Use a camera that is more sensitive, so that you can use a higher ISO setting without excessive noise.

All the above seek to change the exposure tradeoff so that you can use a faster shutter speed.  That results in less motion blur for the same motion of the subject.
Comment: @nish1013, if you have someone else to help you, you could ask them turn on their mobile phone's flash (as though they wanted to use their phone as a flash light). Then you can position them where you want the light to come from. This gives you "static lighting", which I find makes it easier to compose the shot in dark environments - and it allows you to prevent direct reflections and control the fall of highlights and shadows. Mobile phones are not perfect studio lights - but they are better than nothing :)
Comment: In particular, when it comes to flash, most modern compact cameras now meter the flash so you can bodge a reflector to bounce it towards the ceiling (thick white paper and sticky tape) and eliminate the direct harsh flash which you probably want to keep out of your baby's eyes
Comment: Thank you, I can fit an external flash to this camera. Would any shoe flash fit? e.g Miranda 630CD Shoe Mount Flash. Noting much mentioned in the manual, unfortunately.
Comment: @nish1013, any hotshoe flash should work just fine - though with some you may miss out on having the camera auto set the right amount of flash. You'll need to practice to get familiar with what settings to use and what power of flash level. Read up on "Guide Number". Also play around with bouncing the flash off the ceiling. I did just that for the photos of the cats at coreyharding.com - it's much more pleasing than directing the flash straight at the subject. Good luck!
Comment: @nish: Why not start with the built-in popup flash?
Comment: @OlinLathrop agree I need to try tonight and see how it goes. http://dpanswers.com/roztr/flash_show.php?id=419&pid=MR630CD
Comment: Yes, definitely use some bounce flash if you can.
Comment: @OlinLathrop I finally managed to get a nice close up using popup flash ISO 200 ,speed 60 , aperture 2.8 , S-AF focus using apeature priority mode . Thank you
Comment: But I think I should not use that flash  for baby  photos (close ups) as it points directly to the face.
Answer: From the information provided in your comments, it sounds very much like the shutter speed was too low, possibly because your ISO was too low and the subject was moving faster then the shutter, hence the blur.
I'd suggest increasing ISO and shutter speed.
Point of note. The light may seem OK to a human eye, but an eye is considerably more sensitive then a camera.
Answer:
I'm using a bridge camera Fujifilm s7000.

This is the root of your problem. The S7000 was announced in 2003, and discontinued in 2005. And while the camera might work just as well as it ever did, digital cameras have evolved significantly over the last 15 years, and that has changed our expectations of what we should be able to do with them.
The other answers here are right: adding ambient light or flash and turning up the camera's ISO setting to make it more sensitive are about all you can do in order to get a reasonable exposure at a shutter speed that'll reduce the motion blur you're currently seeing. At the S7000's highest setting of ISO 800, you're probably going to get some very noisy images.
Using a newer camera will go a long way toward solving the problem. Even a relatively cheap point and shoot camera will significantly outperform your S7000 in every way, possibly for less money than the cost of an external flash. For example, the Sony DSC-W800 gives you a 20 megapixel sensor that shoots up to ISO 3200, and includes image stabilization for under $90. I'm not necessarily recommending that camera -- a different choice might make more sense for you, and it's a little dated itself -- but it illustrates the point, which is that cameras have advanced so much since the S7000 that replacing your camera is probably the best and cheapest option.
No camera will take a good photo if you don't give it enough light; conversely, if you give have enough light, you can probably get a good shot even with a pretty old camera. But over the last 15 years, our expectations of how much light is enough have changed because cameras have improved so much.
Addendum:
The examples you posted don't show much blur from motion. The plant stem in the indoor image looks pretty sharp; it's only the leaf in the foreground and the doorway in the background that are blurry. That's just shallow depth of field, and it's expected when you use a wide aperture. If the goal is to get more of the foreground and background objects in focus, then a newer camera with better low-light performance would still help because higher ISO would let you use a smaller aperture.
It's hard to tell what was supposed to be in focus in the outdoor shot, and the fact that you took it though a windshield doesn't help. The streetlight in the middle of the shot looks like it might be in focus, but it's hard to tell because it's so small. The biggest defect, though, is that there's a lot of chromatic aberration: there's a sort of magenta glow on the right edges of the tree branches, and a green glow along the left edges. Part of that is just the quality of the lens, but you can often reduce CA by shooting with a smaller aperture. A cheap compact camera might not do any better here, but a DSLR with a good lens would.
Comment: The lens has a much wider range than those on compact cameras. It doesn't have a significantly wider aperture. It is good for some things, but not really for indoor photos.
Comment: @nish1013 It doesn't matter how good the lens is if the sensor behind it can't record the image well. I'm not advocating buying a compact camera, just saying that cameras have improved so much that even a 5-year-old sub-$100 compact camera would be an improvement over a 15-year-old bridge camera, at least for the situation you described.
Comment: You might start with [What is the "exposure triangle"?](https://photo.stackexchange.com/q/6598/4262) and [Is it practical to shoot portraits by only candlelight?](https://photo.stackexchange.com/q/17116/4262), or just start reading in relevant tags like [tag:low-light].
Comment: Isn't the lense good on S7000 compared to compact cameras?
Comment: Thank you , it makes sense now. Any link to a post on the forum to learn bit more about these elements of a camera?
Comment: Just checked the spec of my iPhone 5s, seems like it has got ISO 2500 (s7000 max 800)  and a fixed aperture of 2.2 (s7000 max 2.8). Seems like that's why photos taken from it are better than my s7000 in indoors
Answer: Images need a certain amount of light.
This is given by lens, shutter speed, aperture, sensitivity of film/sensor, and available light at all.
if your images are blurred you need a shorter shutter time, this you can compensate with the other parameters. if some paramters are fixed (available light) the remaining need to be altered.
Others have given the ISO, but you also can try to change aparture and maybe lenses. So changing the aparture change depth of focus you need to be more precise with positioning.
Or you get lenses with a wider diameter, they gather more light.
Comment: The OP has a fixed lens camera, therefore they're unable to increase the aperture or change lens.
Comment: so there is a fixed lens, additional lenses may be possible. My first digitalcamera was an Epson PhotoPC 3000Z, with build in lenses. But I also had an adapter for further lenses like filter and macro.
Comment: How would that help in relation to your answer to this question, you would neither be able to widen the aperture or have access to a wider aperture?
Comment: If I use a fixed/priorized aperture and complain about blurred fotos the priority should change to shutter time (either as a camera program or manual setting), which will result in a changed aperture.
Answer: Since no one's directly answered the question about why the photos are blurred, let me explain it here since it sounds like you are new to photography.
The exposure of a photo is determined by the total amount of light that accumulates on the image sensor. If the exposure is wrong, the photo will be either too dark or too light. If the exposure is right, the photo will be the correct brightness.
There are three factors that affect exposure, and together they're called the "exposure triangle". These factors are:

Aperture
amount of light let in by the lens
also affects depth of field (how blurred things in front of or behind the subject are)
Shutter speed
how long the light accumulates for, longer accumulation gives more total light and therefore a brighter exposure
also affects motion blur (longer shutter speed means that moving objects will be more blurred)
ISO
how sensitive the sensor is to the light, this doesn't change the actual amount of light but a higher ISO makes the sensor react more strongly to light, giving a brighter image
also creates noise in the image due to thermal and electrical characteristics of the sensor

You say that your exposure "looks right", which makes sense because the camera looks at the parameters that you've given (aperture) and chooses the other two (shutter speed and ISO) based on the amount of available lot. What went wrong is that the camera chose a shutter speed that was too long for the subject in question, so it appeared blurred. When photographing moving subjects, it's best to use the shortest (fastest) shutter speed possible.
With the camera in question there might be little that you can do. It sounds like you're already using the largest aperture, so the only two parameters that you can adjust are shutter speed and ISO. I don't know what ISO you're using, or if your camera lets you choose one manually, but your only real option if you can't use another camera (or increase the amount of available light) is to increase the ISO. Of course increasing the ISO will increase the amount of noise so look carefully at the resulting photos to check that you're happy with them.
Your best option is probably to just increase the amount of light. Move to a brighter location (possibly outside), turn more lights on, if you don't want to use a flash then get some additional lights (desk lamp, standing lamp, etc.). It's also possible that you're experiencing some camera shake (although this sounds unlikely) so it might be worth giving a tripod a try if you've got one, or putting the camera down on a flat surface if you haven't got a tripod.


Why would a peaceful race construct weapons?

Question: In my story, there is an immortal peaceful type iv civilization that has spead across the universe, helping other species to advance and to bring peace. They have left behind their need for war or violence and they despise any sort of conflict. And yet, despite being so peacefull a vast majority of them constructs weapons, like plasna rays or black hole bombs and even some more primitive ones like swords. Yet they never seem to use them in any hostile way. Why? Why, would a species that is so peacefull want to construct weapons. Could they be doing it as a form of art? Could they be making them for the sake of science? Or could they be using them as "toys". Could they be fighting with others in a friendly way (without causing harm to the other) as a sort of entairtainment, or some other reason entirely?
Comment: Hi, this could be an interesting question but right now it's just too broad and opinion based...it seems like you're trying to start a discussion not get answers to a specific question.
Comment: Self Defence? Not desiring violence doesn't necessarily mean you'll roll over for everyone. Plus they're explorers, there are likely aggressive animal and other natural hazards that they will have to face
Answer: Si vis pacem, para bellum
Just because they're at peace now, doesn't mean they always have been at peace, nor that they always will be at peace. They know what war is, they have been at war, there is a risk that they may again encounter a species who wish to be at war with them.
If you want peace, prepare for war.
Comment: This is in line with General Georges Sada's observation that the primary purpose of a strong military is to make sure you never need to use it.
Answer: 'For fun' would probably be a good enough reason.
It's good enough for us at least. Plenty of people in the modern world have very little desire at all to go to war or kill anyone, and yet those same people will happily play violent videogames, collect swords to hang on their wall (or take to re-enactments!), or go target shooting.
If they're far enough along the technological road, then their 'target shooting' hobby weapons could be fearsome indeed to a less advanced species. If you want to make it seem a little less flippant, then describing it as 'curiosity' rather than 'fun' would do the trick ;)
If the technological disparity is great enough, then even their tools might qualify as deadly weapons to other civilisations. Think about how a stone-age society might react to a chainsaw...
Answer: Not very interesting perhaps, but what about experimentation for the sake of research?  Ah, that's "for the sake of science" as you mentioned.  The argument could be made that, if "necessity is the mother of invention", then you might want to at least simulate wars as a means of competition, for scientific progress.
I'm not saying that's the only way to spark competition, but it's one way among many.


Where does the energy stored in inductor go on opening the switch?

Question: Suppose we have a simple RL circuit. At $t=0$, I close the switch so that current starts flowing in the circuit. When the steady state is achieved, current $i=\frac{\epsilon}{R}$ would be flowing in the circuit due to which an energy $\frac{Li^2}{2}$ will be stored in the magnetic field lines on inductor. But as soon as the switch is opened, the current would become $0$, which make the magnetic field lines disappear suddenly, which according to Faraday's law must induce an emf. But as the circuit is open no current will flow in it (according to my teacher, charge can never accumulate in a circuit. So if current flows in open circuit, it would mean that charge is accumulating in it). If there is no current how can the energy in magnetic field lines disappear suddenly? Isn't this a voilation of law of conservation of energy?
Ps: I read the answer given in a similar question Where the energy stored in magnetic field goes? but I kinda disagree with the point that in superconducting coil, current will keep flowing because according to Prof. Walter Lewin, no electric field can exist inside a superconducting coil, so current cannot exist in the coil. Only surface currents must exist.
Comment: https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/552611/what-happens-to-an-inductor-if-the-stored-energy-does-not-find-a-path-to-dischar absolutely duplicate once you know the answer
Comment: @EarlGrey the stray/parasitic capacitance.
Comment: @fraxinus Indeed, your answer to the duplicate is correct. However the accepted answer is also about dielectric breakdown, which certainly takes place sometimes, but which is unlikely as ubiquitous as the coils. This is really misleading.
Comment: I  have the same question in the past but I posted in electronics.stackexchange.com. Here is the link [What is the flowing current through an inductor when the switching gets delayed?](https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/496481/what-is-the-flowing-current-through-an-inductor-when-the-switching-gets-delayed).
Comment: Is Poynting hiding somewhere? maybe a vector is pointing at him.
Comment: Into the spark.
Answer: This is a situation where the simple rules are insufficient.  You simply cannot analyze that circuit any more than you can solve x+2=x+3.
What happens in the real world is that the inductor creates enough emf to form a spark in the switch.  This means the switch no longer acts like an ideal switch.
In the real world, we call this effect "flyback.". It can damage components, so we typically design circuits to prevent this from occuring.  For example, it is common to see a flyback resistor in parallel with the inductor on large motors.  It gives the current somewhere to go.
Comment: And its worth noting that electricity can be quite [insistent](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXiOQCRiSp0) when given impossible problems to solve.
Comment: @nimitjain No, I don't think you get to have that ego trip ;-)  You're right that in this unphysical problem, if you try to apply physics, you get funny answers that can violate things that aren't violated in physics.  However, in the real system (where you'll have an arc), the answers on the question linked describes the process the system undergos as the field collapses.
Comment: Ok sir. Can I conclude that the analysis done by me is correct and the answer I referred to in the question is wrong?
Answer: TL; DR: Every real circuit has a capacitance, hence decaying RLC oscillations.
General points
There are two general points to learn from this question:

Every model in physics (and beyond) has its limits of applicability. When a model is used outside of these limits, it fails.
Model needs to correctly reflect the reality.

What's happening here?
Here we deal with a lumped circuit description, which is the most elementary way of describing electromagnetic phenomena and often fails, when we start asking of the processes that actually happen in tge circuit.
Indeed, the electrodynamics tells us that the current in the coil cannot stop instantly, and the magnetic field won't vanish instantly. And our everyday with a computer power supply, the light on which turns off a few instants after it is disconnected, is a good experimental confirmation of this. Indeed, this is a case for every power transformer, which are ubiquitous.
On the side of what is missing in the model, one could suggest non-zero conductance of the switch (as spark suggested in the other answer) or a small but finite capacitance of the whole circuit, which is missing in the model. Consider and RLC circuit with a current initially non-zero, and we will see how it gradually decays, even though the circuit is disconnected.
Remark: stray capacitances and inductances play significant role in electric power lines. Historically they were discovered when long telegraph and telephone lines were laid, particularly the transatlantic cables. This led to formulation of the Telegrapher's equations by Oliver Heaviside.
Comment: FWIW, many modern power supplies use a [switched-mode](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switched-mode_power_supply) design, which requires a much smaller transformer (operating at higher frequency) than traditional power supplies that use a transformer operating at line frequency. (That's how, for example, phone chargers can be so small.)
Comment: *"the light on which turns off a few instants after it is disconnected"* Is that just due to the transformer coil? What about the power supply's filter capacitor?
Comment: @PM2Ring If we speak specifically about the laptop power supply, it may be due to a capacitor - I took this as example, since I don't know whether many people here have an idea of how a power transformer works and how ubiquitous they are.
Answer: The inductive energy is dissipated by producing a spark at the switch terminals. The core of the spark is a thread of very hot, ionized gas which produces light and noise with some of the energy, and heat in the gas with the rest of the energy. Thus, energy is conserved.
Answer: If an inductor holds a certain amount of stored flux energy, and then later it has none, all of that stored energy will have to be converted to some other form of energy (likely heat) within the inductor, and/or converted to some forms of energy (which may include flux, and will almost certainly include heat) stored somewhere else.  The only way to minimize the amount of heat produced will be to convert the energy into some form other than heat (e.g. by storing it in a capacitor).
An important thing to recognize here, which I haven't noticed other answers emphasizing, is that the rate at which a switching element opens may affect how much energy gets dissipated as heat within that particular switching element, but all of the energy is going to go someplace, and the only effective way of preventing it from being dissipated someplace one doesn't want it to go is to provide someplace else it can go instead.
Answer: The current doesn't stop.
But it doesn't leave the end of the inductor either.
The reason the voltage increases at the end of the inductor is that electrons are being forced that way, due to the magnetic field, which cannot dissipate.
So the voltage at the end of the inductor rises towards infinity, as electrons compress there.
But, the inductor is not alone in the universe.
There will always be some capacitance to something, no matter how small.
The medium within that capacitance will be stressed by the increasing voltage, (unless it is a perfect vacuum)
Eventually, the electric field becomes so strong that fabric of the medium breaks down and current flows through it, from the end of the inductor. The voltage at the end of the inductor falls as the current flows and the inductor's magnetic field dissipates.


Multiple Imputation of Mutually Dependent Data

Question: I'm trying to construct summary variables for proportion of time spent in different employment statuses over an individual's working life (e.g. % of time spent unemployed between ages 18-21).
My data has missing values which I would like to impute. The problem is proportions are mutually dependent: if an individual spends at least 90% of the time unemployed, they can spend no more than 10% of the time in any other employment status. Imputation of one value (e.g. time in unemployment) influences the range of values another incomplete variable can take (e.g. time in work).
Does anyone know the best way to impute data in this situation? I've tried using Brendan Halpin's method of imputing the raw month-by-month statuses first (link here), before creating summary variables. But, I have some individuals with no status data whatsoever, and this method cannot handle that as far as I am aware.
Another approach might be to naively impute each variable (% time in unemployment, etc) and then divide by the sum of all of them, thus constraining to 1. Are there any drawbacks to this or other approaches I should consider?
EDIT:
I should also add, in imputing the data, I don't want to throw away the information I already have which gives a lower bound to the value to be imputed. For instance, I may have data for 50% of the months I want to derive a summary variable from. If an individuals was unemployed for 75% of this time, then I know that the true value for % time spent unemployment must be at least 37.5% (.5 * 0.75).
Comment: data with non-negative variables restricted to sum to one (or 100% or ...) is called [compositional data](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compositional_data).  You could serach for "imptation compositional data":  https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/robCompositions/vignettes/imputation.pdf
Answer: Data with non-negative variables restricted to sum to one (or 100% or ...) is called compositional data. Typical examples (whence the name) are (chemical) compositions of minerals, drugs, ... Search this site for compositional-data, a starting point is Overview of compositional data analysis.
There is papers about imputation with compositional data, and an R package. See https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/robCompositions/vignettes/imputation.pdf


Why do engineers usually short ground and negative ports on a DC power supply?

Question: I'm fairly new to electrical engineering, and have seen many DC power supplies where someone has shorted the ground (green) port with the negative (black) port. From my understanding, the ground is there to serve as a reference when connected to another piece of equipment's ground so that the reference voltage is the same. Why then would ground and negative be shorted?
Comment: For future readers, a "short" implies a short-cut for current and bypassing of some or all of the intended path through the load. Unless the earth and neutral have some other connection elsewhere then no current could flow in your "short". A better term might be "bonding" of ground and neutral.
Answer: Briefly: Earth is not automatically a reference voltage, but it's good to connect your reference voltage to earth.
Long version:
Most electronic devices today are designed such that their local ground — their reference for what "0 V" is and what other signals are understood relative to — is the same as the negative side of their power supply input. This particular choice is arbitrary in that we could have designed to work with the positive side instead (mostly; there are some differences in semiconductor characteristics).
However, if you don't short ground (or to use a less ambiguous word, earth) and − together on your bench power supply, this does not mean that you have a positive, negative, and zero reference output. Instead, it means that the power supply is floating; it maintains a specified voltage between the + and − terminals, but the voltage between either of those terminals and the earth terminal is free to wander about. (Much like if you had a battery for power instead of the power supply — it isn't inherently connected to earth at all. Though in reality there is some leakage, and limits to the insulation in the power supply circuits so that it cannot float off to a very large voltage.)
If you designed a circuit to use the supply's earth terminal as a zero reference for incoming/outgoing signals, and the + and − terminals for power, then you would find that there would be wild fluctuations in the relationship between power and reference. And that's no good — you need stable voltage differences to do anything useful, whether analog or digital.
However, you don't need everything wired to earth to agree on a zero voltage level. In most cases, signals between devices are carried on pairs (or more) of wires, one of which is "ground" — connecting the two devices so that they agree on what 0 V is — and the other carries the signal relative to that ground. (Once you get into high-speed or noise-resistant signaling and considering parasitic inductance and resistance, there are very good reasons to have a parallel ground wire even if you also have connections to earth on both ends.)
Considering two versions of a system, one of which has one or more supply negative-to-earth connections and the other which does not, the difference between them in most (not all) cases will be that the one without earth radiates or receives more electromagnetic noise. This is because a large conductor whose voltage varies with respect to another large conductor is an antenna. If you "short" as much of the metal in your system to earth as you can, then they can't have voltage differences and don't radiate or receive interference as much.
(This is a simplification. In reality, every conductor has inductance and usually resistance, and signals take time to propagate (these are essentially the same thing), so preventing radiation is way more complex than just grounding lots of things, and also does not require grounding either. But it's a good approximation at low frequencies and clock speeds.)
Comment: An old question, but I'd like to add one point to otherwise good answer. Often engineers are going to do some measurements with an oscilloscope for the device that is connected to the lab power supply. The ground of the scope is connected to the protective earth. If the DUT is floating, it will be grounded through the scope. It is (usually) better to ground it at the power supply.
Answer: I assume that you are meaning Lab DC power supplies.
These power supplies are floating, for a number of reasons, one of which is to avoid interference that come through from the green ground line, another reason is so that you can take another or more power supplies and connect them in series, so to obtain a higher voltage, or a negative one if needed.
In most cases it is useful to connect them together so that there is a common reference when connecting the negative to another piece of equipment.
Tektronix wrote a white paper a while back explaining the fundamentals of measurements with floating circuits. see here
Answer:

Short answer: it can prevent damage to the power supply equipment.
Long answer: When its not shorted it means that the power supply is "floating" (i.e. NONE of the terminals is connected to ground) --> thus, although a specified voltage is maintained b/w the +ve and –ve terminals BUT the voltage b/w either +ve and ground OR –ve and ground terminals is free to wander (see image below). This can be a problem to the power supply equipment when another power source is also connected to one of the terminals of power supply because it can exceed the voltage rating of internal parts leading them to break down.
Comment: Harvir - Hi, Thanks for providing an answer. Please see [this site rule](/help/referencing) from the [help] which explains that when you include any content from elsewhere into a post here (e.g. photo, image or text), you must add a proper reference, which includes a link back to the original web page. Therefore please [edit] your answer ASAP to include the source link for each image which you copied into this answer. If an image is your original work, please add a short note saying that, so we don't get flags for plagiarism. Thanks. (After you have done that, I can remove this comment.)
Answer: I believe that the actual answer is in a control circuit good if you don't Use the grounded Side of the control circuit after the switching Mechanism. should the wire become shorted to the ground or the conduit the motor will start
Always a good thing to keep in mind with any types of controlls. The load side of the control switch can never be grounded It must be run through a resistance 1st.. Should it then become grounded or skinned a motor will start period. Always keeping in mind which is actually the hot or + and which is actually the grounded side -. That's the entire key
Sometimes it helps to think of the circuit  in reverse