What symbols are used after base 36

Question: Since Hex (base 16) uses 0-9A-F, and (I'm assuming here) Base 17 uses 0-9A-G and so on. What symbols are used once 0-9A-Z are all used up.
Comment: by convention, I've not noticed any language I've used where hex 0x10A != 0x10a
Comment: @Preet - why? It is the computer that needs to interpret them, and the computer knows that 'a' != 'A'... base-64 is so ubiquitous that this isn't going to change
Comment: THanks all, I still think that lower case should not be considered different.
Comment: I agree with Mike. 0x10A is just a symbol. After all thats what you asked as well, "what symbols are used after..." Notice that all other numbering schemes line up on bit boundaries; 16, 32, 64. This ends up having other advantages too.
Comment: @PreetSangha: That's because hexadecimal doesn't have an A and an a so when you type 0x10a it's unambiguous that you mean 0x10A. You'll find a computer DOES think A and a are different in Base64 because both are valid and different in that base.
Answer: Well, look at base 64: 0-9, A-Z, a-z and then a few symbols depending on the context. (Base64 for the web tends to be different to other schemes to avoid URL/HTML encoding issues.)
Answer: There is no standard answer for your question. "Base 36" is coincidentally convenient to talk about because:

Hexadecimal conventionally uses 0-9a-f, so it's "obvious" to keep going through the alphabet.
The Roman/ASCII alphabet runs out of steam at 'z'.
Base 36 (regardless of how you represent it) is mildly interesting from a Mathematical perspective because 36 has so many divisors.

However, there's no universally-accepted convention for what sequence of characters one might venture into after 'z'.
Comment: Actually, it does. Base 10 merely means that you represent a large number by a string of characters over an alphabet of size 10. Base 16 is a representation of a large number by a string, with an alphabet of size 16. Base 64 is a representation of a file=large number as a string of characters over an alphabet of size 64.
Comment: Until you get to base64. That's fairly standardised.
Comment: @Colin, I understood the original question to be about mathematical bases. The "base" in "Base64" doesn't really mean the same thing.
Comment: Actually the Roman alphabet does not have 26 letters. The letters U and J are recent inventions in the past 500 years. The English alphabet on the other hand has 26 letters.
Answer: Digital clocks (base-60) use base-10 numbers as symbols and separate them with a separator symbol (like ':'). This way you'd never run out of symbols!
Answer: The Babylonians used Sexagesimal math with base 10 numbers in groupings to form base 60 digits for the various 60's places. (This is where we get all the base-60 math used in angles and time.) This is probably the oldest precedent for the method of creating some some form of base-N digit using base-10 numbers.
Comment: I believe that they didn't use 6 groups of 10 but 5 groups of 12. As with all really old math it has it roots in using our fingers. Left hand is the number of 12s. Right hand is 1 - 12. Place your thumb to index tip for 1, middle tip is 2 ..., thumb to behind the index first knuckle is 5, behind the index 2nd knuckle is 9. You can extrapolate the rest. You could really go up to 71 in this way before running out of fingers but I guess they decided to stop after the last full carry.
Comment: wow thanks - that's really interesting. I always wondered about the 60 but never enough to look it up.
Comment: See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexagesimal#Babylonian_mathematics for the cuneiform digits.
Comment: @Dinah: They used symbols representing 1s, 10s, 60s, 600s, 3600s, etc., where all odd and all even groups used the same symbols (differing only by position).  So nix on the "5 12s" theory.
Answer: Base64 adds the lowercase characters and + and /.
Answer: The standard way to write IPv4 adresses can be viewed as a base 256 representation, where decimal numbers are separated by points.
Answer: well there's base64, and then Pokemon characters
Comment: @Coxy: There are some 500+ Pokémon these days. Believe me, I my little sister regularly plays the game.
Answer: I would say Greek and Hebrew are two likely candidates, as they are used in mathematics.
Answer: I'd go for 0-9, then A-Z capitals, then alpha to omega in lower case.  That gets you to 60.  After that, I'd go with Jeremy's answer.
Answer: chinese maybe? wikipedia says that there are 47,035 characters in the Kangxi Dictionary!
Comment: And the fun part is, data encoded in baseChinese can produce poetry as a side effect. ^_^
Answer: That's easy: 0..9 ++ A..Z ++ a..z ++ 阿..中.  Couldn't be simpler.
Comment: @Preet Sangha: OK, so you read my answer and what leaps out at you as being ridiculous is the upper and lower cases?!
Comment: So the upper and lower cases leaped out as ridiculous, but the Chinese characters didn't?
Comment: see my comment about upper and lower cases
Comment: I don't see why. The reason I asked the question originally was that on every computer I've debugged upper and lower case was treated as the same when using numbering systems.
Answer: RAD50 got it to 40 (which is 50 in octal), not quite following this sequence.  But hex wasn't so common then.  Nor was lowercase.

What symbols are used after base 36


Upgraded SharePoint 2013 Solution includes deleted files

Question: I have a SharePoint 2010 solution that I upgraded to SharePoint 2013 using Visual Studio 2013. The code will build just fine and I have taken steps to upgrade the CSProj files and Solutions files. When attempting to deploy the solution my development farm I receive 689 errors and two warnings. The warnings are that the 2010 SharePoint Assemblies (Microsoft.SharePoint and Microsoft.SharePoint,Security version 126.96.36.199) cannot be resolved. All the errors are related to files that I have deleted from the project. Also, Visual Studio 2013 tries to upgrade the solution every time I open it.
Answer: You should first try to download and install Visual Studio Office Developer Tools. This will ensure that all assembly references are automatically updated. You want need to do any manual changes in project files. And then you should look to change references to _layouts, controltemplates etc. I recently migrated two of my codeplex projects to 2013. I have detailed the issues I encountered in my blog:
http://sharepointnadeem.blogspot.in/2013/12/sharepoint-2013-upgrade-sharepoint-2010.html
Comment: That definitely helps. I realized that even though I had removed the files from the project I was still referencing some of the files in the package. I had to go into the package explorer and delete the references to older assemblies included in the WSP file.
Comment: You can mark it as answer if you feel it wa helpful.


Tail probability for heavy tailed distributions

Question: For some data (where I have the mean and standard deviation) I currently estimate the probability of getting samples greater than some x by using the Q function; i.e., I'm calculating the tail probabilities. But this assumes a normal (Gaussian) distribution of my data, and I may be better off assuming a heavy tailed distribution, like log-normal or Cauchy. How can I calculate the tail probabilities for heavy tailed distributions?
Comment: Note that the Cauchy doesn't have a mean or variance
Comment: Q-function appears to be a nonstandard term for [*survival function*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survival_function)
Comment: Why can't you use the q-function for the relevant distribution (eg, Cauchy)?
Comment: @gung because [the Q-function](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q-function) assumes a Gaussian distribution. I'm looking for the similar calculation that doesn't make this assumption, or assumes a different distribution.
Answer: The Wikipedia article you linked shows that the Q-function is just 1 minus the cumulative distribution function (CDF) of the normal distribution. Every distribution has its own CDF. So just use the CDF for the distribution in question. In R, for example, 1 - pcauchy(5) tells you the probability of getting 5 or more from a standard Cauchy distribution.
Comment: Try SciPy: `import scipy.stats; print 1 - scipy.stats.cauchy.cdf(5)'`
Comment: That's precisely what I'm looking for, but do you know if there is the same easy calculation in Python?
Answer: One approach is to estimate a tail index and then use that value to plug in one of the Tweedie extreme-value distributions. There are many approaches to estimating this index such as Hill's method or Pickand's estimator. These tend to be fairly expensive computationally. An easily built and widely used heuristic involves OLS estimation as described by Xavier Gabaix in his paper  Rank-1/2: A Simple Way to Improve the OLS Estimation of Tail Exponents. Here's the abstract:

Despite the availability of more sophisticated methods, a popular way
  to estimate a Pareto exponent is still to run an OLS regression: log
  (Rank) = a−b log (Size), and take b as an estimate of the Pareto
  exponent. The reason for this popularity is arguably the simplicity
  and robustness of this method. Unfortunately, this procedure is
  strongly biased in small samples. We provide a simple practical remedy
  for this bias, and propose that, if one wants to use an OLS
  regression, one should use the Rank −1/2, and run log (Rank − 1/2) = a
  − b log (Size). The shift of 1/2 is optimal, and reduces the bias to a
  leading order. The standard error on the Pareto exponent is not the
  OLS standard error, but is asymptotically (2/n)1/2. Numerical results
  demonstrate the advantage of the proposed approach over the standard
  OLS estimation procedures and indicate that it performs well under
  dependent heavy-tailed processes exhibiting deviations from power
  laws. The estimation procedures considered are illustrated using an
  empirical application to Zipf's law for the U.S. city size
  distribution.

For an opposing view, see Cosma Shalizi's presentation So, You Think You Have a Power Law, Do You? Well Isn't That Special? which states that relying on OLS estimators such as Gabaix proposes is "bad practice." For more mathematical rigor see Clauset, Shalizi, Newman Power-Law Distributions in Empirical Data.
Wiki has a good review of Tweedie distributions which are based on the domain of the tail index.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tweedie_distribution
Answer: In finance what you're trying to do is called "value-at-risk" (VaR). There are many different ways to do VaR, for instance check out Jorion's book, which is a standard reference.
The approach you have taken is called "parametric VaR", i.e. you fit a distribution into your observations, then based on the parameters calculate $F^{-1}(1-\alpha)$, where $F^{-1}$ is the inverse cumulative distribution (CDF) of profits and losses (P&L) and $\alpha$ - significance. For instance, if you were to fit normal distribution and calculate 95% VaR then it would be approximately equal to $\mu-2\sigma$.
So, if you want to use another distribution, then you fit it to data and simply get the inverse CDF of the fitted distribution at a given significance. The popular choice is Student t (location scale) distribution. You have to be careful with Cauchy. As you know it doesn't have moments, which could be an issue in certain applications, such as portfolio optimization.
Now, there are other approaches, e.g. "historical VaR", which is basically a nonparametric (empirical distribution) method. All you need is to get the corresponding percentile of your data set. There's no need to assume or fit a distribution.
Comment: still VaR is useful in normal market conditions which not always appears to be such


Finding tangent angle

Question: Finding the tangent angle between the negative $x$-axis and the parabola $$y=-ax^2+bx$$($a,b>0$) at $(x_0,y_0)$ :
I am trying to find the tangent angle with negative $x $ axis for a parabolic curve. I assume the equation of tangent line will be
$$y=mx+C$$ and the equation for the parabola $$y=-a{x^2}+bx$$
  So,$$-a{x^2}+bx-mx-C=0$$
Again  $${y_0}=m{x_0}+C$$
We obtain
$$a{x^2}+(m-b)x+{y_0}-m{x_0}=0$$
So if this tangent line is to be the desired tangent, then this $x$ has to be unique. That is,
$$(m-b)^2-4(y_0-mx_0)a=0$$
Then $m$ has two values. So it seems to me complicated what $m$ I have to choose.Now what can I do?
Comment: Derivatives will help you
Comment: Can i say $\frac{dy}{dx}=\tan(π-\theta)$?
Comment: What you are doing its just getting the intersection point between a general parabola and a general line, you are not using the condition that the line has to be tangent to the parabola
Comment: I am just interested to the angle of tangent, at a given point of parabola, with the negative x axis.
Comment: I suppose you are looking for the complementary angle so yes $\frac{dy}{dx} = \tan{(\pi - \theta)}$ is correct
Answer: If you  take into account that $(x_0,y_0)$ is on the parabola, the  last equation in $m$ can be rewritten in the following way:
\begin{align}
(m-b)^2-4&\bigl(-ax_0^2+(b-m)x_0\bigr)a=m^2-2mb+b^2+4a^2x_0^2-4abx_0+4ax_0m \\
&=m^2+2(2ax_0-b)m+\underbrace{b^2+4a^2x_0^2-4abx_0}_{\textstyle(2ax_0-b)^2}\\[-1ex]
&=\bigl(m+(2ax_0-b)\bigr)^2,
\end{align}
so that the last equation has a double root (in $m$), and you don't have to choose.

Finding tangent angle


When the target of a .NET HttpModule RewritePath call is a PHP file the $_POST array is empty

Question: We have an application running on IIS 6 which uses a custom HttpModule to rewrite urls. This works great (well done us) except in the case where the Context.RewritePath destination is a .php file. The php file is executed as expected, however the $_POST collection is empty meaning it cannot access any forms which are submitted to rewritten urls. The problem does not exist when rewriting to .aspx files as the Request.Form collection is fine.
My question therefore has two parts:
Why is the $_POST collection not being populated?
Is there a way to ensure that the .php $_POST collection is correctly populated after a rewrite?
I don't have much to show in the way of code. There's just a simple:
context.RewritePath(newPath);

once the HttpModule has figured out where to send the request.
Edit:
Interestingly, if I do var_dump(file_get_contents('php://input')); in the PHP file (method described here) the contents of the form is displayed. So the data is reaching the PHP script but not the $_POST array.
Answer: Redirecting turns a POST action into a GET action, which means that any POST parameters initially sent are lost. You'll have to use a backchannel method (e.g. sessions) in order to pass the variables along.
Comment: Thanks for your incredibly quick answer. How is it that .aspx pages can access the form collection but .php files can't?
Comment: My guess is that ASP.NET implements the backchannel transparently.
Comment: Good old ASP.NET. Interesting a call to file_get_contents('php://input') shows that the POST data is getting through somehow. Just that the $_POST array isn't getting populated.
Comment: What does `$_SERVER["REQUEST_METHOD"]` give? If it's not `POST` then it probably won't try to grab the parameters.
Comment: Yeah, as you suggested above it's marked as a GET.  I've found a work around but sadly it doesn't work when the form includes a file upload which some of ours do. Ho-hum. Again, thanks loads for your time and attention with this one.


How do I know if image from my site is getting cached by proxy servers?

Question: The following is a http response header from a image on our company's website.
<code>HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: image/png
Last-Modified: Thu, 03 Dec 2009 15:51:57 GMT
Accept-Ranges: bytes
ETag: "1e61e38a3074ca1:0"
Date: Wed, 06 Jan 2010 22:06:23 GMT
Content-Length: 9140
</code>
Is there anyway to know if this image is publicly cacheable in some proxy server?  The RFC definition seems to be ambiguous http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc2616/rfc2616-sec14.html#sec14.9.1 and http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc2616/rfc2616-sec13.html#sec13.4.
Answer: Run RED on your URL and it'll tell you whether the response is cacheable, among other information.
Answer: The headers you show appear to be cacheable.
If you would like to control the caching behavior of correctly configured proxies and web browsers, you might investigate using the Cache-Control and Expires headers to gain additional control.
Here is a webpage I had bookmarked that has one person's opinion of how to intepret the specifications you list (plus some other ones):
http://www.web-caching.com/mnot_tutorial/how.html
If you need to guarantee that someone sees a completely new image each time (even with misconfigured devices between you and them), you may want to consider using a randomized or GUID value as part of the URL.
Answer: Here is a tutorial on setting headers for proxy caching. Be sure to read the part about setting cookies!


what is the output of predict_survival_function method in lifelines package?

Question: I'm using predict_survival_function method in lifelines package and I want to have the conditional survival function of each individual in my dataset.
The dataset includes some users feature, the weeks from signup to churn and whether they churn or not.
The result is a matrix which gives the survival probabilities of users over time. I'm a bit confused with the indices of this matrix.
I'm seeing that they start from the minimum signup_to_churn duration and goes to maximum of that. Below is an example:
<code>    ----+-----------------+
   index| user_1 | user_2 |
    ----+-----------------+
    10.5| 0.89   | 0.87   |
    ----+-----------------+
</code>
Does that mean 10.5 weeks after signup, user_1 has 0.89 probability of survival? or it means 10.5 weeks after the date of the analysis, user_1 has 0.89 probability of survival?
Basically, given that this is a conditional probability, what are the start time of these indices? signup? or date of the analysis?
Answer: The index represents the duration of the subject from their signup. So in your example, after 10.5 weeks since user_1 signed up, they have a 89% chance of being alive still.


What is 'Atika Kadisha'?

Question: In פתיחת אליהו it mentions the עתיקא קדישא, which literally means the Ancient Holy One. Is that a name of HaShem or referring to something else?
Comment: According to Wikipedia, a ספר by the name of Re'uyot Yehezkel identifies it as מטטרון. Not sure how reliable that is
Comment: Do you have the exact quote in the Sefer? IIRC עתיקא קדישא as used in Zemiros refers to an aspect of Shabbos, not of Hashem, but I can't post that as an answer until I confirm the context is the same in פתחת אליהו.
Comment: Are you talking about this? https://he.wikisource.org/wiki/%D7%A4%D7%AA%D7%99%D7%97%D7%AA_%D7%90%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%94%D7%95 Can you give a reference if not?
Comment: Patach Eliahu is a passage of tinune hazohar. The tetm atika kadisha is a reference for hashem in the sfirot topic.
Comment: I suggest learning the sefer Choker u'Mekubal from the sefer Shaarei Ramchal and then the sefer Klach Pischei Chochma קל"ח פתחי חכמה both from the Ramchal.
Answer: This is discussed in Sefer Eitz Chaim, Heichal Shlishi (Heichal HaKeterim), Sha'ar Rishon (Sha'arei Atik).
Atikah Kadisha together with Arich Anpin is the highest level of existence in terms of the hishtalshelut of the universe. (They correspond to the individual aspects of maleness and femaleness and their union to be truly one.) As the Ari z"l explains, they are both included in Keter of Atzilut. It is not a name of HaShem, but above the level of names.
At this level of creation, the language of the Torah as transmitted by the Ari z"l is talking about paradigms for existence (what is called Shechinah in other places), meaning how we relate to or perceive G-d. In the language of Chassidut, this is usually delineated as the distinction between Atzmut, the framework of existence (In terms of allegory, think like the bones of the skeleton are the framework upon which the body is built. This is what we relate to.), and Mahut,  G-d as He truly is (which is beyond  the ability of all created beings to perceive at all).
This concept of Atzmut has an external aspect and an internal aspect just like our bones have an external, hard, white covering and an inner, soft, red marrow, which is the distinction between Arich Anpin and Atikah Kadisha.
Another important concept to understand about עתיקא קדישא is that it is from the root עתק which has a connotation of copying or translating.
In other words, עתיקא קדישא is introducing the paradigm of Safrut (Scribal Arts) and the Faithful Sofer (the Holy Scribe). In this usage, Holy has the connotation of copying without error. Whatever is being copied is a faithful copy of the original. But at the same time, it is a translation from the original into our native language. This corresponds to the many laws associated with the copying of a Sefer Torah (that it must be a perfect copy down to the letter or it is invalid) and also to the idea mentioned in Noam Elimelech and many other places, that:

וזהו ידוע דאורייתא וקב"ה כולא חד

That G-d and the Torah are one.
And this idea, that creation is a reliable translation of G-d's oneness is in keeping with the text many recite on Erev Shabbat known as Patach Eliyahu (Eliyahu the Prophet opened and said...) which  describes the entire concept of the sephirot and states:

אַנְתְּ הוּא חַכִּים וְלָא בְּחָכְמָה יְדִיעָא. אַנְתְּ הוּא מֵבִין וְלָא בְּבִינָה יְדִיעָא. לֵית לָךְ אֲתַר יְדִיעָא. אֶלָּא לְאִשְׁתְּמוֹדְעָא תּוּקְפָךְ וְחֵילָךְ לִבְנֵי נָשָׁא וּלְאַחֲזָאָה לוֹן אֵיךְ מִתְנַהֵג עָלְמָא בְּדִינָא וּבְרַחֲמֵי. דְּאִית צֶדֶק וּמִשְׁפָּט כְּפוּם עוֹבְדֵיהוֹן דִּבְנֵי נָשָׁא. דִּין אִיהוּ גְבוּרָא. מִשְׁפָּט עַמּוּדָא דְאֶמְצָעִיתָא. צֶדֶק מַלְכוּתָא קַדִּישָׁא, מֹאזְנֵי צֶדֶק תְּרֵין סַמְכֵי קְשׁוֹט, הִין צֶדֶק אוֹת בְּרִית קוֹדֶשׁ, כּוֹלָא לְאַחֲזָאָה אֵיךְ מִתְנַהֵג עָלְמָא, אֲבָל לַאו דְּאִית לָךְ צֶדֶק יְדִיעָא דְאִיהוּ דִין, וְלָא מִשְׁפָּט יְדִיעָא דְאִיהוּ רַחֲמֵי, וְלָא מִכָּל אִלֵּין מִדּוֹת כְּלָל:

That You, G-d, are wise but not with a known wisdom, etc.
That it uses different forms of the words for wisdom and understanding, etc. than are used for us, His creations. We, His creations, are, so to speak, a reliable copy of Him, who is truly one.
Answer: Atika Kadisha is clearly defined in the Hashmatot of the Zohar at the end of Shemot, around page 275b.
There, we see that "Atik" refers God emphasizing God's transcendence from time and space. There are three ways this is done in the Kabbaah, as the Zohar there enumirates, Keter Chochma and Bina. That is, Keter- something totally unknowable, Chochma - the singular origin point of the universe, and Bina - the eternal guiding forces of the universe that are constant through time and space.
The Arizal's clam that Atik refers to Keter exclusively, and notions that it refers to Metatron are misguided.
Comment: [Welcome to MiYodeya](https://judaism.meta.stackexchange.com/a/3887/11501) Dr16 and thanks for this first answer. Great to have you learn with us!
Answer: It refers to עתיק יומין (which is the highest partzuf) as in the songs sung on shabbos אתקינו סעודתא. There too we find עתיק יומין being referred to as עתיקה קדישא (the ancient holy one).
Comment: Here is a quote from chabad.org ""Partzufim" are compound structures of the sefirot. A partzuf is a metaphorical figure of human likeness, used to represent the expansion of an individual sefira (or group of sefirot) into an independent configuration with ten sefirot of its own".
Comment: As I've researched the topic a bit more, it seems that while sometimes עתיקא קדישא is used synonymously with עתיק יומין, other times it could be referring to a specific aspect of עתיק.
Comment: For r starters, I don't think we are praying to
 atika kadisha, rather it is just stating that this
Meal is the meal of atika kadisha (each meal
On shabbos corresponds to a different partzuf).
Aside from that, I don't believe there would be an
Issue in praying to atika kadisha (at least from a
Kabbalistic perspective) because it is an aspect
Of G-d. In fact it seems from the sources I've seen
That atika kadisha is synonymous with the Ain Sof
Himself.
Comment: The Atika kadisha can't be the אין סוף. According to one source, the עתיקא קדישא is מטטרון, so I'm pretty sure that might be עבודה זרה

What is ‘Atika Kadisha’?


Cannot login using Facebook on IOS app

Question: Using an iPhone 5c with IOS 9.2 and latest version of stackexchange app, I cannot login using my Facebook account.
Comment: Any error message?
Comment: "Could not perform this request with your account. Please try logging back in. If this persists, let us know on meta."
Comment: Does your Facebook account have an email address?  Looking at the server, the error could happen if we get an error from Facebook or a response with no email.
Comment: Yes it does have an email address
Comment: On Facebook, can you go to Account Settings -> Apps -> Logged in with Facebook -> Stack Exchange iOS App -> Info You Provide and see if "Email Address" is in that list?
Comment: The new version has shipped.  You should hopefully see a more helpful error message if you're still not able to log in.
Answer: This will be fixed (or improved) in 188.8.131.52.
The message you're receiving is because the /me request issued by the server either got an error or did not contain an email address.  Assuming nothing bad happened with the server, the the causes were either that you didn't give the app access to your email address or that your account doesn't have an email address.  The app now performs the following validations after getting a successful login response from Facebook:

If the user has declined access to the email permission, it gives them the options to add the permission or cancel.
Once it has the permission, it tried reading the email from /me.  If that fails, the app will display the user facing error messages (error.error_user_title and error.error_user_msg).
Otherwise, the app will check if the email address is nil.  If it is, it will inform the user that it couldn't find an email on the account.
Once these validations are complete, the API will make the same request which now shouldn't fail.  If it does, the original error message will be displayed which would then mean an issue is occurring between the API and Facebook that would affect all users.

Cannot login using Facebook on IOS app


How are block hashes generated

Question: I was wondering how the future block hashes are generated. Is this fully random or could this be influenced by someone?
Answer: It's the digest of the block. Therefore any transaction/action that makes it into the block affects the calculated hash. It is "random" in the sense that the transactions and actions applied to the block are "random" (which is not really true, they are just typically not predictable).
Therefore, if you are able to influence the data contained in a block so that  it results in a certain hash, you are able to influence the hash. It's very unlikely that this happens and that the there's a predictable outcome early enough to cause harm but it's theoretically not impossible.

How are block hashes generated


26 letters probability: how many combinations do you have to make?

Question: How to calculate soccer result with propability
Comment: this seems more like a problem than an open data question...can you clarify how this relates?
Answer: 26C9(without repetition) would be the answer.
The method described here:- (combinations)
is used to find out how many combinations are possible.
As for listing them down, they would be a little bit too many to list down with a pen and paper I guess. You could, however, use tools like the combination generator


Why is Benson a gumball machine in Regular Show?

Question: Most of the main characters on the Regular Show are organic, anthropomorphized, animal-like creatures. And then there's Benson; the humanoid gumball machine. I don't get it. Why is he a gumball machine? Why does a gumball machine have arms and legs and become more than an inanimate object?
Comment: Because cartoons
Comment: @sanpaco Yes, cartoons. But surely there is some kind of explanation in an early episode or something.
Answer: There was never an explanation in the show as far I can remember, but the creater (J.G. Quintel) of the regular show had already played around with the idea of a humanoid gumball machine before. In his student film 2 in the AM PM there are two characters that take drug laced candy which turns them into Benson and Mordecai, characters we know from Regular Show.

I don't think there is currently a reason as to why Benson is a gumball machine, it's just the cartoon world, everything is possible. It's more likely that Quintel is paying homage to his earlier work, but until he speaks out about this, we won't know for sure.
Comment: It should also be noted that this is possibly a recurring theme in the series as Gene, the manager of a rival park, is a vending machine.


Does GIMP support smart objects in .psd files?

Question: Is it possible to open and edit Photoshop .psd files with GIMP that are using smart objects?
(I'm asking because I would like to add a Android app screenshot into a "hand holding Android device" mockup photo)
Answer: GIMP does not (yet) support smart objects like in Photoshop (there's an open feature request about it), so the only way they could be imported would be by converting them into something else that GIMP does handle (most likely, a simple "dumb" layer, or a set of layers).  I don't know (and have no way of testing) whether GIMP's PSD importer is smart enough to do that, but I suspect it isn't.
Your best option, if possible, is probably to make the edit directly in Photoshop.  If you absolutely must use GIMP for this, see if you can get the author of the PSD file to export it into some standard, non-proprietary format like PNG or TIFF — you'll lose most of the information about things like layers and smart objects, but at least you should be able to open and edit the image without fear of the importer messing it up.  Also, if the image contains a lot of vector art or things like replicated smart objects, consider exporting it to a vector format like EPS, PDF or SVG, and editing it in a vector editor such as Inkscape instead of GIMP.
In any case, IMO, the PSD import feature in GIMP should generally be used only as a last resort, when all you have is a .psd file and no copy of Photoshop to edit it with.  It's better than nothing, but far from perfect, and always likely to lag somewhat behind the latest new features and quirks introduced by Adobe.  Apparently, keeping the GIMP PSD import up to date with new Photoshop features is not currently a high priority for the GIMP developers anyway (although, as usual with open source software, volunteer contributions are always appreciated).
Comment: The file format specification for PSD is available, by Adobe themselves, without registering or anything: https://www.adobe.com/devnet-apps/photoshop/fileformatashtml/ . PSD file format support isn't a priority for GIMP development though, but contributions to the PSD format plug-ins are always welcome (just please get in contact with the GIMP developers first).
Comment: Then maybe you can make it a priority to look for people who want to contribute to GIMP? In Free Software, many features are contributed by those who want and need them.
Comment: @MichaelSchumacher It's beyond me why it's not a priority. Migrating PS users to GIMP should be their strategy, For me, the strongest deciding factor between PS and GIMP is based on the availability of free PSD resources online that increasingly rely on smart object editing. It just seems really short-sighted and ignorant on GIMP's part. I really want to stick with GIMP but it's impossible for me to fully migrate so long they overlook the importance of prioritized PSD support. As a designer, I'd be losing access to an entire global library of PSD resources which just isn't an option for me.


time series based classification

Question: I want to classify some data. Basically the data is time series in nature. The target variable is categorical. I know there are so many algorithms for predicting the time series model. However, I have very little information on classifying the time series model. Can anyone tell me how to classify the time series model based on categorical data ? What kind of approach will solve the problem ? I have used HMM for classification of part of speech tagging, entities. But it is not time dependent. I found that there are good algorithms available using kNN and Dynamic Time Warping. Is this the conventional model used for time-series classification ? Any other model available ? Your thoughts much appreciated.
Comment: In regard to _dynamic time warping_, check [this answer](http://stats.stackexchange.com/a/131284/31372) of mine on the topic.
Answer: Well.. your features should represent always the same thing. Say you have 1 second time-series with a sampling frequency of 100 Hz, so 100 samples per second. Then you have some number of such time-series. In each of the time-series, does x(t) represent exactly the same thing? If not, I would first transform the time-series into the frequency domain. That can be done by taking the Fourier transform (FT). Does the FT reveal any interesting shapes, e.g. peaks at certain frequencies? Limit your analysis to those. The classifier can then be any I would say, picking the correct data is more important.
Comment: I'm actually assuming here your time-series come from some kind of measurement device. Adding more information about your problem would be helpful

time series based classification


What's the difference between GPUs Familys be it NVIDIA or ATI?

Question: Just started doing research on the hardwre/GPU world but still, there are some things i dont understand/know. For exmample, what's the difference between the GeForce, Quadro, Tesla & Tegra for NVIDIA and the ATIFirepro, ATIRadeon & ATI Mobility Radeon for ATI?. Im not asking for NVIDIA Vs ATI thread, just the main diferences between the GPU families.
Answer: In a nutshell:
GeForce cards are NVidia's mainstream GPUs.
Quadro cards are designed for workstations rather than mainstream use and gaming. They're used for faster digital content creation and CAD (computer aided design) applications where more power is required from the GPU rather than the CPU for image processing.
Tesla are based on Quadro cards if I remember correctly, and are intended for high performance computing rather than mainstream use and gaming, just like the Quadro.
Tegra is not a video card by itself but rather an entire small computing platform for mobile devices. They're comprised of a CPU, memory, GPU, and storage space.

ATI Firepro cards is ATI's version of the Quadro, a card for high performance computing on workstations.
Radeon cards are ATI's mainstream consumer cards, like the GeForce series.
Mobility Radeon cards are Radeon GPUs for mobile devices, usually found in laptops.
Comment: I didn't know about telsa and tegra till now,thanks John :)
Comment: No problem! I hope my information is fairly accurate. There is a lot more interesting things on the Nvidia site as well: http://www.nvidia.com
Comment: Sounds right, but i think its *tesla* not *telsa*
Comment: Sounds right indeed


Minecraft server connecting to site

Question: I'm thinking about making a server where there is team of 8 vs team of 8. and I'm wondering if I can make a website where you register your team and it's members usernames, and it tells the server that these 8 people are on a team and play together as one, in a sense.  Does anyone know if this is possible? If this is unclear, tell me, and I'll try and explain better.
Answer: Yes, but not with vanilla
You'd need to make a server plugin, or find one that's close enough to what you need that you can customise, or just find one that someone else has released which does what you need
Comment: Could the down-voter here also please explain the down-vote?
Answer: You will need to setup up:

Bukkit Server
Web Server
Database

Then either custom make or have someone make you a plugin, or find one as "Jon Story" said.
Finally you will need to integrate it all using PHP.  While it is possible to do, learning Java, and PHP is much more work than just setting up a team selector in game.
Answer: I have played Minecraft for many years and i have not yet seen this.. (It would be awesome!)
You could get a simple white list plugin that you can put on your website..
Then simply use command blocks and scoreboards to assign people to a random team...
This is not exactly what you wanted but it is the the best you can do without hardcore coding or mods :)
Comment: I'm using a bukkit server.
Comment: I could be wrong but I don't think there is a plugin to do this..
Comment: Could the down-voter explain why the down-vote?

Minecraft server connecting to site


What is the best blending mode or opacity to use for printing?

Question: What is the best blending mode to use for a pattern to give a transparent look in a packaging products? This product will be printed in CMYK colors, I attached samples of Black and cream colors.. For black example, I used rich black 60,40,40,100 / Cream 0,5, 25, 12
In the attached file, I used white on the top part and changed the mode to screen 25% But I am not sure if this is correct?
[The design look like the attached photo
Comment: any blend mode will work, since it will not be really transparent when you print it.
Answer: A blending mode is just a visual screen effect. To have something not totally opaque, you will need to talk to your printer about what the substrate that is going to be printed on, they will also advise you on how colours may look if they are not opaque. Also remember if the transparent bits have a dark or light background, this will effect how the colours look.


From a planet in one of our satellite dwarf galaxies, would one be able to see the Milky Way?

Question: Say there was a lifeform not unlike ours native to a planet somewhere in one of our nearest satellite galaxies, say Sagittarius, during their nighttime would they be able to see the Milky Way brightly? I can imagine it would be very beautiful.
Answer: It would be a border case. The Andromeda galaxy is on the border of the free eye visibility. It is enough visible that it was found by medieval free eye astronomers (but, for example, the ancient greek didn't see it).
Our galaxy is similar to the Andromeda, thus it is a similarly strong light source. @dmckee mentioned in comment, positioning yourself closer to a not point-like light source increases the raw amount of light arriving, but also increases the solid angle over which it is presented. Thus, our galaxy would be around similarly visible as the Andromeda for us, although it would be much bigger.
Note, being in a dwarf galaxy doesn't mean, that the star density in your local region would be small, or that the atmosphere of your planet is enough transparent for that.
Comment: Positioning yourself closer increases the raw amount of light arriving, but also increases the solid angle over which it is presented. And the two effects have the same scaling to first order. The right naive reaction would be "about the same as Andromeda".
Comment: Andromeda is only at the limit of visibility if you live in quite severe light polluted places. Even the much fainter galaxy M33 is visible with the naked eye if you move to a dark place, [see here](http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-resources/light-pollution-and-astronomy-the-bortle-dark-sky-scale/), and you can then even spot [M81 with the naked eye](http://messier.seds.org/xtra/supp/m81naked.txt)
Comment: @CountIblis The greek didn't see it (or if they did, no trace left). According to the wiki, the first mentioning of the Andromeda is from $\approx$ 1000, from a Persian astronomer. Also to the wiki, its luminosity is +3.4 magnitude what means you have to have really good eye and a good sky to see that.
Comment: @peterh The Greek might not have recorded seeing it, but unless their eyesight was significantly poorer than just a few hundred years later, they would have routinely seen it.
Comment: @Thriveth (sorry for the late reaction) They recorded everything what they know. Having an amorph, cloud-like thingy on the sky could have even affected the platonic phylosophy (its major point is an idealistic world-view, the stars and the sky are "perfect", idealistic things, just like the concepts like "triangle" and so on). Other ancient civilizations (sumer, agypt and so on) didn't see it, at least the first mentioning is from the 600s (A.D.). And it is really a border case, I personally never seen it with free eyes until now (ok, I live in city).
Answer: The Apparent Magnitude  of the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy is 4.5, and it is 10,000 light years in diameter. The diameter of the Milky way is 10 times that, so if we can see "them", they can definitely see us, assuming no dust cloud near their planetary system.
My thanks to dmckee for correcting this simplistic approach above to what apparent magnitude actually represents:

Your first paragraph is a non sequitur. You have to evaluate (in some approximate way) the amount of light coming from a patch of sky; that is the luminosity per unit solid angle as seen from the remote location and what you've written—neglecting as it does stellar counts and any other approximate luminosity measure—actually argues for a dimmer appearance.

If the putative inhabitants on a planet in the satellite galaxy are either extremely long lived, and/or their civilisation survives long enough, they should get  a really  good look at the Milky Way as time goes by, as their galaxy is on a collision course with the Milky Way,
Sagittarius Galaxy

Based on its current trajectory, the Sgr dSph main cluster is about to pass through the galactic disc of the Milky Way within the next hundred million years, while the extended loop-shaped ellipse is already extended around and through our local space and on through the Milky Way galactic disc, and in the process of slowly being absorbed into the larger galaxy, calculated at 10,000 times the mass of Sgr dSph.
Comment: Your first paragraph is a non sequitur. You have to evaluate (in some approximate way) the amount of light coming from a patch of sky; that is the luminosity per unit solid angle as seen from the remote location and what you've written—neglecting as it does stellar counts and any other approximate luminosity measure—actually argues for a *dimmer* appearance.
Comment: @dmckee. So it is  just is as silly/wrong as saying, if we can see a quasar, it  can see us.. Thanks, I will modify it


Right-to-Left on English display

Question: I have Windows 10 in English, but the Left-to-Right isn't so comfortable for me.
How can I switch to Right-to-Left but stay with the English language as the main display language of the system?
Comment: English isn't a right to left language though.
Comment: You don't want English *text* to go RTL, ?thgiR (Not even just word by word, I assume?) So just the placing of the components (buttons, menus, taskbar) should change?
Comment: There isn't any way so I can be on RTL and still on English?
Comment: [Windows Form has a property to select left-to-right to right-to-left layout](https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/7d3337xw%28VS.80%29.aspx) but it depends on each application to set that. For example with [powerpoint you can do like this](https://superuser.com/q/662658/241386)
Answer: If you're using a word processor such as MS Word or LibreOffice, you can define a block of text or a whole document as right-to-left, and change the keyboard layout for that section as well. For example, to use Arabic, Farsi or Hebrew in LibreOffice, see How to setup LibreOffice for Arabic and Persian? and Edit Hebrew with LibreOffice.
This will not help with text entry in CMD, browsers etc., though.
Answer: Add a keyboard layout (in Regional settings).
Settings - Time and Language - Region and Language - Add a language.
This does not change the UI language, only offers you more languages (including left to right languages) to use in applications (such as MS Word).
Answer: I've been employing the following method for years:
Reversed Taskbar, Reversed Explorer Window
Using Microsoft Locale Editor, I took my current locale and edited one setting (enabling RTL for that locale).  Then, export your new locale to an <code>.msi</code> installer and run it.  Afterwards, restart File Explorer.

Right-to-Left on English display


Page Numbers not Behaving as expected in Word

Question: I'm putting page numbers in the footer of my document and I find that it will count up to nine and reset back to 1 where the the next 10 pages are all page 1 before it then goes and makes the next 10 pages page 2 and so on. They're all in the same section so the footers are linked with each other where trying to fix one changes it for the entire section, it's marked to start counting at 1 and not to show chapters. I saw somewhere online someone recommended saving as XML and opening that and resaving as Docx, but that did not help. As a last-ditch effort I even tried copying the entire document to Notepad to remove all formatting, then pasting back into Word and had no luck there either. Same thing. I'm going bonkers! Why won't the page numbering just work?? This is happening in both Word 2010 and 2013.
Comment: "even tried copying the entire document to Notepad to remove all formatting" - so do you have also this strange behavior in all new documents (e.g. entering 10 page breaks), or does it fine and gets corrupted only when you paste the specific content? is it possible to upload that file (of course without any confidential information) and share it with us?
Comment: Did you try on a different PC?
Answer: I finally figured it out, and wow is it dumb. The default formatting of the page number that I selected is only wide enough to show one digit. Once I widened it I could clearly see that the 1 was 10 and that it was in the 10s for 10 digits until it became 20 when I started seeing only 2!


Determining combination of resistors for an equivalent time constant in an integrator circuit

Question: I have a varying source voltage for maximum of 15 V and am using an error amplifier to maintain it using an integrator. Reference voltage is of 5V. I want a time constant of 100 msec with a capacitor of 1 uF, so I'll need a resistance of 100 kOhms. What combination of resistors would equal that resistance?
Comment: Maybe it's just me, but I'm confused. Are you trying to create a variable output power supply? You write, *"... a varying source voltage for maximum of 15 V..."* What does that mean? Sounds kind of like a variable output to me. And since this is an *"error amplifier"* I have to imagine this is part of a closed loop -- the rest of which I cannot see nor does a single obvious one pop to mind where all other ideas are eliminated by what you wrote. So I guess I need to see and hear more about this *system*. And I certainly don't feel comfortable trying to answer your question at this time.
Comment: Please clarify your specific problem or provide additional details to highlight exactly what you need. As it's currently written, it's hard to tell exactly what you're asking.
Comment: The time constant would be infinite for the above circuit if the opamp is ideal. How would u get a finite time constant?
Answer: Neglecting the problem about whether the time constant of 100 ms can be achieved with what you have shown and what you propose to add to the circuit (hint, the integrator you have drawn will simply ramp indefinitely), it's possible to answer the question of what combination of R1, R2 and R3 will yield an effective output resistance of 100 kΩ, and a voltage division of 3:1.
The effective output resistance of the R1/R2 voltage divider is their parallel combination. If this is not 100 kΩ, then R3 can be used to increase the output resistance.
The simplest solution is R1 = 300 kΩ, R2 = 150 kΩ, with R3 = 0.
There is an infinity of other solutions with a finite R3, as long as R3 < 100 kΩ

R1 = 3 x (100k-R3)
R2 = 1.5 x (100k-R3)

We normally describe a pure integrator as having a gain, rather than a time constant. With an input resistance of 100 kΩ, the gain is 10 V/s per V, or 10/s. When the integrator is used in a feedback loop, it's usually more useful to express the gain as the frequency at which it has unity gain, which is 10 rad/s, or roughly 1.6 Hz.


First time getting a connecting flight

Question: I am flying to Dublin to Stockholm, with a transfer in Oslo, this is my first time on a non-direct flight. There is only an hour layover between the flights, is this enough time? Do I have to go through security in Oslo airport?
Comment: Are they on the same ticket? Please provide a bit more detail.
Comment: Tbh with you I am not 100% sure, this was booked through my work as it is a business trip, I believe they are on the same ticket though
Answer: If they are on the same ticket (not self-transfer),  should you miss the second flight due to no fault of your own, then the airline has to get you to your destination. If it's self-transfer, then you're on your own, and the Stockholm-Oslo return flight will probably be cancelled as well.
As both Norway and Sweden are Schengen countries, you will clear Schengen immigration in Oslo. If you are travelling on an Irish passport, then this is a formality, and shouldn't take long

First time getting a connecting flight


Can anyone share Dhyanmantra for Krishna?

Question: Since we have not seen Krishna ,I want to know What image of Krishna should we mediate upon.
So,I want to know Dhaynmantra/DhyanSholaka for Krishna.
Answer: Hindupedia gives Dhyana Shlokas/Mantras for a variety of deities.
For Shri Krishna (actually for Bala Krishna or child Krishna) we get the following:

Lord Krishna
Balam neelambhudhabham navamani vilasadkinkini jalabadham,
Sronijangandayugmam vipularuru nakha prollasad ganda bhoosham,
Phullambhojavakthram hatha sakata marut poothanadhyam prasannam,
Govindam vandhithendradhya varamamumpoojayedh vasaradhou.
I pray daily morning to Him who is being saluted by Indra and other
devas, Who is a child with the blue colour of the clouds, who ties on
his leg and hips, The jingling belt made of the nine precious gems,
who wears a chain, With a tiger's claw hanging on it, who has a face
like a fully opened lotus flower, Who killed asuras like Sakata,
Trunavartha, and Poothana laughingly, And who is the cowherd who
protects all beings.

But this is not the only such Dhyana Shloka for Krishna. There are many more depending on the Prayogas done or Krishna mantras which are being practiced. I will try to add some more here later.
Answer:
Note:

This is primary version of answer, under construction and will be updated with more information

All of these are taken from the Vṛhattantrasāra
For the 10-lettered mantra

Remember Govinda situated in the beautiful Vṛndāvana surrounded by a thousand gopīs. These gopīs are sending bees in the form of their glances to savour the nectar of beauty oozing from that flower which is His body. All of them are afflicted with the arrows of Kāma & are eager to hug Him. Pearl necklaces shine over their large breasts whose weight which causes them to bow down a little. Their hair-braids & clothes are disheveled & their speech is stuttering due to intoxication. Their lips shine due to the reflection of their teeth. Being proud of their feelings, they are trying to attract Him by various postures & mannerisms. The colour of His body is like that of a full-bloomed blue lotus, His body is as resplendent as the moon, He is adorned with peacock feathers. His chest is adorned with the śrīvatsa symbol, He bears the Kaustubha gem, He wears a beautiful yellow garment. He is adorned by the lotuses in form of the eyes of the gopīs & is surrounded by cattle & gopas. Worship that Govinda who is adorned with divine ornaments & is playing the flute with His hands.

Sketch of a Pāla era Kṛṣṇa idol recently unearthed from Simraungaṛh, the ancient capital of Mithilā, currently situated in Nepāla, matching the characteristics as described before
For the 20-lettered mantra

In the city of Dvārāvatī lies a bejeweled maṇḍapa surrounded by many kaplavṛkṣas (celestial wish-fulfulling trees) & residential homes that shine like a thousand suns. Its pillars, doors, gateways & walls are made up of precious stones that shine like fire. Within this maṇḍapa lies a baldaquin decorated with pearl-strings & garlands of full-bloomed flowers. This maṇḍapa is situated under a divine tree in midst of an island of padmarāga (a kind of sapphire) within an artificial stream containing precious stones. It is being illuminated in all directions by bejeweled lamp-stands. In this maṇḍapa lies a lotus-shaped bejeweled throne that is as red as the rising sun.  Meditate upon Acutya seated upon it, whose complexion is like that of burnished gold. His brightness appears like that of crores of moons, suns & lighting bolts which have appeared simultaneously. He is handsome, his every limb is beautiful, he is bedecked with all sorts of ornaments. He wears a yellow garment, his arms are resplendent with the discus, conchshell, mace & lotus. He is being anointed by the stream of water containing precious stones poured over His head by the hands of Rukmiṇī & Satyabhāmā, who stand to His left & right respectively. They are being supplied with the pots by Nāgnajitī & Sunandā respectively. Mitravindā & the good Lakṣmaṇā are situated to their right & left respectively, filling up the pots with the water containing precious stones from the artificial stream. They are being instructed by Jāmbavatī & Suśīlā situated in the right & lefft respectively. Surrounding them from behind stand the 16000 junior wives with golden pots filled with water & precious stones in their hands. Surrounding them stand the 8 nidhis who are filling the earth with treasures. Surrounding them are standing the Vṛṣṇis. They are in turn surrounded by the suras.
Answer: हरे कृष्ण हरे कृष्ण , कृष्ण कृष्ण हरे हरे |
हरे राम हरे राम , राम राम हरे हरे ||
The mantra can be found in its origin in the Kali-Santarana Upanishad, a Vaishnav Upanishad of the Krishna Yajurveda
"The sixteen words- Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare- are especially meant for counteracting the contaminations of Kali. To save oneself from the contamination of Kali, there is no alternative in all the Vedas except the chanting of these sixteen words."~Kali-santarana Upanishad


Spatially and temporally variable velocity

Question: I have the velocity function of an atom, $v(x,t)$, which changes with time and space. I'm looking for a general relationship for finding the location of the atom at time $t_s$. The atom start to travel from $x=0$ at $t=t_0$. I'm confused since the velocity is a function of space :-?
Comment: Why would you to treat space $x$ and time $t$ as two independent variables for the velocity? Makes no sense to me
Comment: @lemon can you elaborate more in form of an answer. I get your point but not fully. I mean I could not manage to write what I have in my mind in mathematical expressions :/ Any help is appreciated.
Comment: @lemon It seems OP is considering a continuous fluid, and asking themselves about the trajectory $\gamma(t)$ with $\gamma(0)=0$ and $\dot\gamma(t)=v(\gamma(t),t)$. If I understood it correctly, this is a rather standard excise.
Answer: The general relationship would be
$$ x(t_s) = \int_0^{t_s} v(x(t),t)\,dt $$
which follows from the definition of velocity.
Ideally you would want to eliminate the $x$ dependence in your velocity function so that $v$ is a function of time only. However, if that's not possible, then the above equation describes an implicit equation in $x$ which you would probably have to solve numerically.
Comment: Thanks. Let me share with you a little bit more details. As you said the velocity can be written in terms of time. However, my velocity itself is coming from atomic flux ($J$) basically: $v(x,t)=\Omega J(x,t)$ where $\Omega$ is atom density. In this relationship time and space dependency is not very visible to me. I hope I explained well. Can you comment on this? I'm trying to offer a mathematical model for the phenomenon keeping the physical meaning visible in the math.
Comment: @Dolle I have updated my answer slightly. Is it practical for you to solve your problem numerically?


What are "cast" "shoutcast" "blastcast" etc.?

Question: Watching HD / Husky commentaries, they often refer to what they are doing as "casts" and sometimes "shoutcasts" or "blastcasts". I guess "cast" is short for broadcast, but what do the other two mean? And what other types of "casting" are there? Do other games use this terminology as well?
Answer: Shoutcast is streaming software, but I think it's used like some people say iPod to a MP3 player...
The word "blastcast" seems to be used when a lot of seeker missiles are cast, resulting in a blast.
Comment: +1 for Shoutcast having become something of a generic term for 'internet broadcast'.
Comment: Didn't know that about shoutcast. I've definitely seen "blast cast" used for matches with no seeker missiles, though.
Comment: Does anyone have any match and time where it is used? Perhaps makes it easier to figure out what other use it has...


can i enter to Croatia with schengen visa as first country?

Question: i have schengen Visa category C i will be landing to Vienna and take a bus directly to Croatia on same day ,there is any problem with police border to enter first day to Croatia ?
Comment: @MarkJohnson I did search the site, and could not find anything that would suggest that this is a problem.
Comment: How many entries are on your visa? This is important information for answering your question.
Comment: Yes, search this site for many samples as to why this so.
Comment: Since you're taking a bus from Vienna to Croatia, Croatia will not be the "first country"; Austria will be.
Answer: You should be fine.
Although Croatia is not part of the Schengen zone (legally bound to join, but not yet), it does allow vistors holding a Schengen visa without the need of an additional visa. Days spent in Croatia do not count towards the Schengen 90/180 rule.
The Croatian Ministry of Foreign and European affairs tells us the following on their website (emphasis not mine):

Pursuant to the Government's Decision, starting with 22 July 2014, the Republic of Croatia applies the Decision No 565/2014/EU.
All third-country nationals who are holders of valid Schengen documents, as well as national visas and residence permits of Bulgaria, Cyprus, and Romania do not require an additional (Croatian) visa for Croatia.
Third-country nationals who are holders of:

uniform visa (C) for two or multiple entries, valid for all Schengen Area Member States;
visa with limited territorial validity (LTV visa), for two or multiple entries, issued to the holder of a travel document that is not recognised by one or more, but not all of the Schengen Area Member States, and which is valid for the territory of the Member States recognising the travel document;
long-stay visa (D) for stays exceeding three months, issued by one of the Schengen Area Member State;
residence permit issued by one of the Schengen Area Member State;

[...]
do not require a visa for transit or intended stays in the territory of Croatia not exceeding 90 days in any 180-day period.

This basically means that the Croatian visa policy is just like Schengen, but it's not Schengen.
Also, according to this website, travellers holding a dual-entry Schengen visa must have one unused entry if travelling to Croatia.
I myself crossed the Croatian border from Slovenia with my friends (all Dutch) in the summer of 2017, when diplomatic tensions regarding territorial waters were a bit on the high side. Border police did ask a few stern questions about the intention of our stay but aside from that we had little trouble crossing it. We're crossing the border from Hungary this summer, I'll update this answer if we run into any problems there.
Comment: It should be noted that your experience entering Croatia may not be at all representative of the experience of someone with a Schengen visa, since Dutch travelers are covered by EU freedom of movement and may be denied entry only on very limited grounds.  Someone with a Schengen visa is subject to greater scrutiny (though, of course, the vast majority will also be admitted with little trouble).
Comment: Exactly, it isn't. I was just trying (perhaps poorly) to share my experience crossing the border and that it can depend on (diplomatic) circumstances. Since Croatia is legally bound to join the Schengen countries sometime, they've adopted a policy that allows Schengen country citizens and visitors with a Schengen visa to enter.
Comment: The policy toward Schengen country citizens is a function of Croatia's membership in the EU (compare the UK and Ireland).  Only the policy toward Schengen visa holders is due to the anticipated incorporation into the Schengen area.


If I don't use PrefabUtility class, how can I save my changed prefabs and build without exception?

Question: I'm designing a racing game for my graduation project.
I used PrefabUtility.SaveAsPrefabAsset to save my color change on the car prefabs, I finished the codes and it work well in Unity, but when I want to build my project,the Unity give me a error:The name 'PrefabUtility' does not exist in the current context.
I want to know can I not use PrefabUtility or UnityEditor to save my changed prefabs in assets directory, or are there someways to solve this problem?
Answer: I'm sorry, but the architecure you have built is not going to work.
All classes from the using UnityEditor namespace are only available when you run your game from the editor. Any game which relies on these classes at runtime will fail to build for any platform. This includes any classes which create assets. So you have to find a different solution for your problem.
If it is really just about storing the color preference of the player, then you might store the RGB values of the picked color using the PlayerPrefs class. When you instantiate the car prefab during the game, retrieve the values from PlayerPrefs and apply them to the material of the car.
If the customization options in your game are more extensive and you want the player to be able to save multiple customization setups, then you might want to look into inventing an own file format to store that information which you then read and write using the regular C# classes for file access (If you need some examples, then Stackoverflow  will have you covered). But remember that you can not write files on platforms like WebGL which do not have access to a writeable filesystem. And when you decide where to save the files, you should make use of the property Application.persistentDataPath to get a savegame location which follows the best practices for the platform your game runs on.
If you don't even need to store the customization setups permanently and only want to communicate them from one scene to the next, then you might want to check out what other options are available for that situation.
Comment: It may also be worth mentioning that the Assets folder wher OP says they want to save into no longer exists in a compiled build — it's only for organizing development files — but `Application.persistentDataPath` gives you a location where you can save your custom files.
Comment: OK thanks, my situation is I want to save it and every time I open the game the cars' color will be the color I changed last time. Maybe I will try add a new C# component to solve it.
Comment: @KatElectric Maintaining player preferences between sessions sounds like a typical use-case for PlayerPrefs.
Comment: Can always just save it as a json file as well to the persistent data path
Comment: Alright I solved, I used PlayerPrefs to save changed colors' RGB value and read it when a scene instantiate a car, and replace the Material 's color of cars' MeshRenderer. Thank you all.


How old are these trees? (Match kids with trees)

Question: These trees were planted by a gardening company in our courtyard. We would love to match the trees' ages with neighborhood kids' ages so they can see the trees growing along with themselves over the years. The childred will be able to attach their photo to 'their' tree. Unfortunately, the gardening company was unable (or unwilling) to give me estimates on the tree ages. Who could throw in some guesses on the ages of these trees?
Comment: Nice idea. But does it really matter if the plant is *exactly* 4 or 5 or six years old? Tree age is always an estimate until you cut it dead.
Comment: It does not need to be exact. One-off is totally fine. But it cannot be invented, the kids need to trust it.
Answer: There are a couple of ways you can go about this.
One way is to use the formula developed by the International Society of Arborists for calculating the age of a tree from its diameter. You measure the diameter of the tree "at breast height" or about 4 feet off the ground (actually, measure its circumference and divide by 3.14). Then you find the appropriate growth factor for that tree type, and multiply it by the diameter to get the tree's age.
<code>Tree Species | Growth Factor
Red Maple Species | 4.5
Silver Maple Species | 3.0
Sugar Maple Species | 5.0
River Birch Species | 3.5
White Birch Species | 5.0
Shagbark Hickory Species | 7.5
Green Ash Species | 4.0
Black Walnut Species | 4.5
Black Cherry Species | 5.0
Red Oak Species | 4.0
White Oak Species | 5.0
Pin Oak Species | 3.0
Basswood Species | 3.0
American Elm Species | 4.0
Ironwood Species | 7.0
Cottonwood Species | 2.0
Redbud Species | 7.0
Dogwood Species | 7.0
Aspen Species | 2.0
</code>
That method is more accurate for older trees, and may not be as accurate for your young trees. Also on younger trees, it can be challenging to measure the DBH because there may be branches in the way. But, since all you really need is an estimate, this may be fine. Plus it gives you an activity to do with the children.

Another method is to read the tags on the trees to find out what nursery or tree supplier they came from. It may say on their website how old their trees of each species typically are. Or you can contact them and ask. This might require some interpretation on your part, to figure out what size of tree your gardeners planted.
Comment: Are the species you listed the species that are shown in the pictures? Which one is which?
Comment: You posted 18 different tree photos. That's a bit much to expect to have them all ID'd in a single question. I suggest separating them out into separate questions, with one tree per question, and better photos including close-ups of leaves. The only one I can ID with confidence from those photos is number 12, which is a dogwood. When you go to take leaf photos, check the trees to see if they still have labels with species names on them. Number 6 seems to have a label.
Comment: But even with close up photos of the leaves, no one can predict the precise age of the plants.
Comment: @Johannes_B The leaf photos are necessary for species ID, which will allow them to use the formula from the ISA to calculate approximate age. Yes, it will be approximate. I addressed that in my answer.


How much gap is acceptable with tongue-and-groove OSB subfloor?

Question: I am installing subfloor in a old house attic. I am having a hard time getting the tongue and groove all the way in.
Will I fail inspection with gaps this big?
Comment: Better question might why you are having trouble.  Depending on why they are are not fitting in might lead to problems after with a finish floor.
Comment: @crip659 I think I figured out why. It's because I've been nailing too close to the groove.
Comment: Your problem is not the inspection, is how to reduce the gap, so the flooring is adequately supported. Good luck.
Comment: I am curious about the inspection, by whom? You are doing this for someone else by contract?
Comment: @r13 no I am adding a master suite to our attic. Our city requires a building, plumbing, and electric inspection.
Answer: That's not a gap--it's a nearly complete lack of engagement. While T&G OSB will not go completely tight on the surface (that's how it's designed), you need it mostly tight. If it isn't you'll have noise and/or flex, things the T&G arrangement is meant to prevent.
I've never taken the approach that Jack proposes. It could help, but I haven't found it necessary. We'd typically nailed a row down completely before laying the next. That said, we always used BIG hammers--six pound sledges--along with a "beater block" consisting of a 3-5' 2x4. In that I certainly agree with Jack.
I also agree that you need to start out straight. A zigzagging first row will result in larger gaps in subsequent rows.
It takes a lot of force to overcome the friction of that rough wood when inserting tongue into groove. There's no way around that.
If you've started out badly or for other reasons can't get your joints tight, you'll have to float backing to tie the sheets together. 24" lengths of two-by floated between the joists, perpendicular to the joint, and fastened to each sheet would do. Use construction adhesive and make sure they're pulled up tight.
Comment: A bigger hammer also helped a lot.
Answer: You are correct on your comment. The last nail to the edge should be no closer than 6", to allow the tongue to ease up the groove if need be. The remedy should be as simple as pulling the nail out. You could pull it out partially, but that does make a mean trip hazard.
Besides inspecting each tongue and groove before setting the subfloor in place to be driven in, have a real heavy hammer, something like a 5 lb sledgehammer works well for this. To drive it in, keep a 2 by 4 ft long or more to protect the groove side that you are driving against.
When I am setting subfloor alone, I keep my screw gun, 2" screws and some small scraps of plywood handy. When the tongue does not want to align with the groove readily, I screw down a block onto the piece that is already down where the next piece has lifted up, this will draw it down to line it all up. Usually 2 blocks are the most you need, sometimes only one.
I also assume you chalked a line to have a guide to go by for the first row....


How to determine the value of a chess set?

Question: How to determine the value of a set? How much does a first-class set usually cost? Does it include a timer or any accessories? Are there famous manufacturers like D&G in clothing? And what are the most expensive sets ever?
Answer: The value of a set can be pretty arbitrary. Things that affect the cost of a set include:

the materials from which it's made
the amount of skilled hand-work
the quality of the components
its rarity
size
accessories

The travel set you posted is unremarkable with respect to the attributes above:

it's plastic
none
historically low
not at all
small
magnetic board and carrying case.

Now, the same set coming from, say Germany, would get similar remarks except for the "quality" rating. I'd expect that a set from Germany would be made of better components; thicker plastic, better glue, and more careful assembly.
Now, value is a tricky beast.  The hypothetical German set I mentioned might cost $30. The Chinese set could have the same or better value.  You won't know until it is in your hand. For $17, you'll probably have a set you can use for a year or two.  Who knows, though, it could be amazing and last forever. Or it could arrive broken. Who knows.
I don't know much about travel sets.  A webs search should tell you what's out there. Then you can compare features.
I think the most luxurious sets are coming out of the House of Staunton.  You'll see some amazing sets there. Be prepared for sticker shock.  My personal insane favorite would be the set made from mammoth ivory.
Bigger is not always better, rarer materials are not always more practical, fancy is not always better than simple. HoS has more affordable sets, though many would not consider them so. The Reykjavik set has always been a favorite of mine. Boxwood and ebony are to me the perfect woods and a 3.75" King is the perfect size. The design is clean. It's $350.
What makes these sets a good value is that the wood used is rare, suited for the task, and of high quality.  The workmanship is where it needs to be. Skilled people are carving the knights (in some cases), the size is correct, the weights are correct, the styles are correct (don't take your Star Trek themed set to a tournament...), and they simply feel good to touch.
Answer: The value of anything is exactly what a willing buyer is willing to pay to a willing seller.  There is no other way to determine value.  Value can not be imputed by some authority who says that is what something is worth.
In the end it is supply and demand that sets the value.
When there are multiple sellers and or buyers then the value will depend on how many items are available for sale. Auctions work for scarce items to determine value.  Competition by sellers works for plentiful commodity items.


Passing list of exceptions Back to Caller - Domain Driven Design

Question: I am new to DDD but I am trying to implement it in my Project - I have a service which is setup following the DDD principles - Application / Model / Repository - The Clients of the Service want to get back a DTO class (which also contains a Error Collection as one of its members) . Questions is how do I populate the Error Collection of the result DTO. Can the Error DTO be passed from the Application/Service Layer to Model/Service layer and populated there – Can someone point me to some example of these kinds of scenarios Currently I am bubbling up all the errors that I am getting back to the Application Service and populating it there like I said I am struggling.
Answer: As a general rule try not to copy code (classes, methods, interfaces). If you really have to use DTOs create them as late as possible in the process so that if you remove them you should still be able to use the system in another way.
I would have something like this:
Model

Domain classes
Error class

Model/Service (has reference to Model)
Application/Service (has reference to Model and Model/Service)

Domain DTOs
Error DTO

Also a question do you really need two Service Layers? Avoid Anemic Domain Model


Free Body Diagram of Precessing Top

Question: Consider a heavy, symmetric top spinning on a table, initially inclined at some angle from the vertical. Assuming this angle is fixed, it follows that the weight $\textbf W$ and normal force $\textbf F_N$ from the table must act as an external couple on the top, providing the net external torque $\boldsymbol{\tau}^{\text{ext}}$ that causes the direction (but not magnitude) of its angular momentum $\textbf L$ to change, specifically to rotate in a uniform circular motion. As a result, the top's center of mass also undergoes uniform circular motion. However, assuming the table is frictionless, the only external forces acting on the top are $\textbf F^{\text{ext}}=\textbf W+\textbf F_N$ and neither of these has a centripetal component, so how can this be consistent with the precession of the center of mass in a circle?
Comment: A top would move differently on ice than a table. The tip would not stay fixed. There is a a horizontal friction force.
Comment: Who says that the center of mass precesses in a circle?  IIRC the motion on a frictionless table involves the center of mass remaining at rest (in some frame) and the contact point "orbiting" that point in a circle.
Comment: Thank you for your clarifying comments, it was my mistake to assume that the tip must be fixed in the inertial frame of the lab if there is no static friction. So in theory, it seems that the tip will remain fixed iff the angular precession velocity $\Omega$ is sufficiently slow, specifically iff $\Omega\leq\sqrt{\frac{\mu_sg}{R}}$ where $\mu_s$ is the coefficient of static friction and $R$ is the CoM orbital radius.
Comment: Or actually, there are $2$ factors: the slower the CoM's angular precession velocity $\Omega$ AND the smaller its tilt angle $\beta$ from the vertical, the "easier" it is for the tip to be fixed (the condition becomes $\sin(\beta)\Omega^2\leq\mu_sg/d$ where $d$ is the distance between the tip and the CoM). Although iirc there are only certain values of $\beta$ that admit $\dot{\beta}=0$ so including nutation effects might make it a bit more complicated.
Answer: Since there is no friction, the top wouldn't really spin in its regular fashion.
There will be no external force in the horizontal direction which would result in the center of mass remaining fixed and the rest of the top spinning around it

I remember this to be what happened in my childhood when I spined tops inside the house on the smooth tiles and they just kept rotating around the COM.

Free Body Diagram of Precessing Top


Flash CS5 Font Inconsistencies Across Windows/OSX

Question: We have multiple people working on a single project (and often even a single FLA), everyone's using Flash CS5.5 but some users are running Windows whilst others OSX. I've noticed that some Fonts appear differently when moving a FLA from OSX to Windows or vice versa. In particular, the vertical gutter will often be larger on Windows and sometimes even the leading will be significantly increased.
Published SWFs appear fine across both systems, it's only when you edit an unpublished FLA in the IDE or re-publish it that you notice the difference. I'll also add that this doesn't occur across all fonts and as far as I'm aware, I've only noticed it on the OTF file type (the Helvetica Neue LT family is one such example). And of course, all users have installed the same version of the font.
The problem exists regardless of whether the TextField has been added to the editor or programatically. TLF TextFields don't appear to exhibit this problem, however, we already have an extensive library built up that utilises the old TextField class so migrating to TLF isn't preferable.
This is incredibly frustrating as files move back and forth frequently and it basically boils down to telling users of one OS to ignore the alignment issues because they won't exist when published from the other system. Does anyone have any theories as to why this could be happening or how to get around it? Thanks.
Answer: Well same applies to CS3 and CS4 versions.. <notforholywars>That was the reason why I moved from Windows to Mac platform 4 years ago.</notforholywars>
Nothing really you can do. This is Adobe's famous "cross-platform development" in the flesh =(


Can't suspend or hibernate with an Nvidia Ti 4200 card

Question: Have tried to use previous solutions to hibernate or suspend but system will not boot with modified xorg.conf. Using Oneric with NVIDIA ti4200 graphics card and NVIDIA drivers.
Answer: Fixed it eventually by running nvidia config from sudo. The xorg.confg file isn't properly configured when the drivers are automatically installed. Once nvidia control panel has updated the xorg.config the usual work around here works :
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BinaryDriverHowto/Nvidia


Adding Images in Azure DevOps Wiki

Question: I'm trying to add a few images to the wiki in 1 of my Azure DevOps projects. When I use the absolute path as mentioned here https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/project/wiki/markdown-guidance?view=azure-devops#images in the article, the images are not showing up. Any help?
Comment: I ended here trying to resolve images in devops repos / local machine README.md with the same source. Obvious when you figure it out though: Use relative paths e.g. ![AR-Architectural](./AR-architectural.png)   https://stackoverflow.com/questions/15764242/is-it-possible-to-make-relative-link-to-image-in-a-markdown-file-in-a-gist
Answer: The wiki pages get created in their own Git repository and the image files are also added there. You can browse the repos from within DevOps at; https://dev.azure.com/MyOrganisation/MyProject/_git/MyProject.wiki
The markdown path for the image should begin /.attachments/ and make sure if you are adding dimension you use =500x and not =500 if you exclude the height e.g.
![MyImage.png](/.attachments/MyImage-98765432-abcd-1234-abcd-a1234567890b.png =500x)

Comment: replace all %20(space) from the link by -(dash)
example:
...com/MyOrganisation/My%20Project%20Name/_git/My-Project-Name.wiki
Comment: Trying to mass export Confluence spaces here, discovered that you also CAN'T nest images in e.g. `/.attachments/sub1/image.jpg`, it has to be flat in that top, e.g. `/.attachments/image.jpg`. I wonder why this is so restrictive?
Comment: Thanks! I was looking for image resizing.
Comment: If you paste the image, it won't show until you click save.
Answer: Add image from local machine:
In the wiki page editor, click 'Insert a file' icon and select image from your local pc, you will see mark-up something like: ![image.jpg](/.attachment/image-devOpsfileIdentifyer-withMixedAlphabetsAndDigits.jpg)
This will also displays preview in the editor.
Answer: Actually, you can now use the "Insert a file" button (represented by a paperclip icon) when editing a wiki page to upload an image.
When you upload an image this way, the image is automatically stored in the "/.attachments/" folder
Comment: This is very similar to [an existing answer](https://stackoverflow.com/a/58343475/3025856) from last year. In the future, please review existing answers and upvote ones that are useful before contributing a new answer. If an existing answer is mostly right, but includes a minor error, you can even edit it to suggest a correction.
Answer: For my side I just copy the image in the clipboard and after that on paste it generate automatically the markdown code
TLDR
CTRL+C and CTRL+V
Comment: The best for me.  No additional external resources required.
Answer: When inserting a file in a Wiki, you initially get an image-url like blob:https://dev.azure.com/SOME-GUID. This url (when including the blob:-prefix, can be used to display the attached image in an img-tag.

If the image is important enough to be inside a Wiki page, it's probably important enough to host it somewhere you can use it inside your wiki. Have a look at creating a public container/blob in an Azure Storage account.
EDIT:
For your specific image: right-click the image and select Copy image address. You'll get an URL like this that you can use as the src of the img-tag.
https://dev.azure.com/rubdevopson/c53ed56f-c130-470b-a6ae-3c4a93266530/_apis/git/repositories/88df06c2-f627-4953-9438-0f762d4cad3a/Items?path=%2FPartsUnlimited_docs%2Fhome.png&versionDescriptor%5BversionOptions%5D=0&versionDescriptor%5BversionType%5D=0&versionDescriptor%5Bversion%5D=master&download=false&resolveLfs=true&%24format=octetStream&api-version=5.0-preview.1
Comment: Yes that's correct, but what if I have the images under the same repo? I have a bunch of documents structured within the repo as folders. So all my images are under that folder. How do I use in that case? Here is the link to see how does the repo look like with images which I'm trying to access inside wiki page: https://dev.azure.com/rubdevopson/_git/AzureDevOps?path=%2FPartsUnlimited_docs%2Fhome.png&version=GBmaster
Comment: Yes, I know that option. I was trying out to use the relative path to see how it supports or works :-)
Comment: Would be nice if the GUIDs could be replaced by human-editable names
Comment: Definitely find another place to host the image because ADO deletes the image in less than a day, presumably because it can't see the markdown for the image.  It will look right to the author for a little while since the browser caches the file.
Answer: You can host external images in the Azure DevOps wiki, using the following syntax:
![Your image](https://some-location/your-image.jpg)
The image will need to be hosted via https, http will not work.
Reference:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/project/wiki/markdown-guidance?view=azure-devops#images

Adding Images in Azure DevOps Wiki


How to enable Windows 10 notification and action center

Question: I am not sure but it looks that i disabled windows 10 notifications permanently. I can't receive popups at all. All related settings are ok in windows Setting but still not able to receive notifications. Please help me.
Comment: What are the related settings?
Answer: 1.If your action center cannot receive any notifications, because we may relate to background APP feature of windows 10.
we can follow these steps to turn on this feature:
a. open the settings app
b.go to privacy - background apps under App permissions
c.On the right, ensure that you have the option Let apps run in the background enabled.
d.If the option is disabled, you should enable it.
2.However, if the mentioned option is enabled, but the Action Center notifications are still broken, you should try the following.
Open Settings.
Go to Privacy -> Background apps.
Turn off the option  Let apps run in the background.
Restart Windows 10.
After restarting your PC, open Settings again and enable the mentioned option.
Restart the operating system.
This sequence should restore notifications.
Best regards,
Comment: Thanks for your reply. I did everything you said but still i can not receive notifications. I need notification when i compile node packages with cmd.


Why is it undesirable for current to flow back into a power source?

Question: I am building a simple power source OR-ing circuit using two Schottky diodes like the one below. Source 1 is a 3.7V lithium-ion battery and Source 2 is a 6V 1W solar cell. I can see that the two diodes make it such that the load is provided current from only one source at any time (ideally) and that current is prevented from flowing back into the inactive source. But say, one of the diodes is omitted. What are the consequences of current backflow?
Comment: You need the diodes when one source is higher voltage than another. For instance it would be unsatisfactory if you applied 6V to a 3.7V battery and overcharged it, damaging the battery. Also, not all sources are batteries, and some of them have electronics that can be damaged by current going into the output. So not every source needs a diode, but some do. I would assume in your case the diodes are needed to a) prevent overcharging battery and b) prevent damaging solar panel electronics, but would have to know more about both to know for sure if diodes are needed
Comment: In your specific case, if current flows from solar panel to battery, that is unregulated charging of the battery. It would definitely lead to shortened battery life or possibly, catastrophic failure of the battery. In general, rechargeable batteries need to be charged in a controlled fashion, and non-rechargeable batteries must not be charged at all.
Answer: The consequences of reverse current flow depend on the power source - some can handle more current (and voltage) than others.
Your 6V panel probably consists of 12 cells in series (equivalent to 12 forward-biased silicon diodes) so it will draw excessive current when the voltage exceeds 7.2V. However a 3.7V Lithium-ion battery is only 4.2V when fully charged, so you could safely eliminate the diode in series with the solar panel.
Your Lithium-ion battery may be able to take all the current that the panel can produce, but it must be not be charged above 4.2V (or it will explode!). The panel can put out up to 7.2V, so you need a diode in series with the battery to prevent it from being overcharged.
Another reason for using diodes is if one or both of the power sources is connected externally, and you want to prevent damage due to a short circuit at the socket or source connected with reverse polarity.


What is Peter Quill's status after Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2?

Question: Spoilers for the end of the second film

 Towards the end of the fight against Ego, we see that the bomb Groot set off blows up Ego's core. Shortly thereafter, it cuts to a scene where Quill is shown apparently losing his powers.

Given that the movie builds up this finale so much, I'm left wondering:

 Did Quill lose his powers or merely the means to access them after Ego's apparent death?

Answers from the film or comics are very much welcome.
Comment: I was wondering the same thing. The way Ego talked near the end very strongly implied that Peter would be less powerful or less able to tap into his power, but he held an infinity stone in his bare hand the previous movie and there's no implication he somehow borrowed Ego's power back when he did that (iirc Ego said he only "heard about" Peter doing that)...so my guess is he went back to his GotG 1 "power level".
Comment: Related on Movie and TV: [What happened to Peter Quill at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy 2](https://movies.stackexchange.com/q/73149/44222)
Answer: We have no reliable way to tell.
Ego certainly claimed that the events at the end of the movie would mean that Peter was primarily human (and mortal, and non-glowing-ball-creating) at the end of the movie.  Every on-screen act supports this - Peter is unable to do any of his Ego-like acts until he reaches Ego (the planet) and is taught how to use the abilities.  During the lessons, he is told to reach out to the core of the planet, which is also the core of Ego's being.  During the climax, the core of the planet is what

 Groot destroys.

When this happens and Ego feels the effects, he certainly claims that it will prevent Peter from using his abilities, and indicates that it will make him "just like everyone else".  There is on-screen evidence to support this, as well, as we see the visual evidence of Peter's abilities fade.
That said, Peter still has all the genetics that permitted him to use those abilities.  He still has the capability, and we have only Ego's word that there are no other compatible power sources.  Ego has every reason to lie in this case, as it is his last bid to save his own life and advance (or at least salvage) his plan.  We have no evidence that his words were a lie, but it is not impossible that he was lying or mistaken.
For this reason, while it is likely that Peter is now just a fairly 'normal' human, that is not certain.
Edit:
There is, of course, another possibility as to what happened:

(image courtesy of Texts From Superheroes)
Post-Infinity War Edit:
During Infinity War, we see Starlord post-Ego.  In most ways, he acts and reacts as a normal human.  He does do some outlandish physical feats (such as handling superpowered combat relatively well, and surviving at least one long fall) but no moreso than most other 'normal' superheroes.
Thus, he is (at most) an enhanced human, with high-end human capabilities augmented by his alien technology.  Starlord post-Ego is not significantly different than Starlord from GotG 1.
Comment: I think "all the genetics that permitted him to use those abilities" is the key - to me, he was (intentionally or not) channeling the infinity stone's power using his innate abilities the same way he channeled Ego's power.  The godlike abilities granted by Ego are gone, but he could still channel abilities from some other source.
Comment: I suspect your answer is correct, if for no other reason than the writers don't want Quill to be a god going forward. However, as you say we have only Ego's word that there is no other "light." In the comics there are many Celestials and it's entirely plausible that one could show up during the inevitable Thanos fight and re-empower Quill.
Comment: I would agree with this answer except Peter Quill is supposedly a battery.  It seems unlikely to me that he is both a battery and the source of his power is the brain.
Comment: @William It is unlikely, but we can clearly see it's true.  Perhaps he has the same potential that Ego has, but no real way to use it right, and that potential connection to whatever power Ego uses is what Ego tapped into.
Comment: @Necoras: Knowhere is actually the head of a long-dead Celestial, so we know there are other 'small-g' gods out there.
Comment: The rules in the movie vary from the comics - Ego says that "as long as the light in the planet" exists (i.e. his essence/power/core) Peter would be immortal and have the power of a god. The core is destroyed, Peter loses his powers. This also may explain why he was able to survive in space far better than...others did in the first film.
Answer: Whilst Ego said they were linked, he also had to wait for a second Celestial so he could power his plan. Just as the glowing centre of the planet was the celestial Ego, implies that Peter is a separate power source, like Ego, but perhaps not as strong. Ego having have millennia to access/build his power had easy access, whereas Peter had only just heard of it, and maybe needed more practice.
Comment: This is certainly possible, but it's also possible that Peter will be unable to create a similar power source (or become a similar power source) given he isn't 'pure' Celestial.
Answer: This is paraphrased from when I saw the film last week. However, Ego's dying words to Starlord are:

Ego: "Listen to me! You are a god! If you kill me, you'll be just like everybody else!"
  Peter: "What's so wrong with that?"
  Ego: "No!"

This seems to suggest that Peter Quill's powers are tied to Ego's existence, and without Ego Peter will be rendered Mortal. This however could just be Ego trying to stop Peter from killing him, and therefore Peter might just need a new source of "white light". This will likely be clarified in Vol. 3!
With regards to the comics this answer by Gandalf'sFISTS states that in the comics, Star Lord's dad is J'son, and therefore, as far as I'm aware, there is no reference we can take from the comics of what happened to Starlord. However as mentioned by Disturbed Neo. The MCU Universe is Earth-199999 and the J'son is Star Lord's father on Earth-616 (Original comics Earth)
Comment: Recently re-watched the movie and I can confirm that the conversation went exactly as you quoted.
Comment: To be fair, the only thing the quote confirms for sure is that Peter would be ok if Ego's words were true. It is apparent he does not have any knowledge or understanding of his powers that would enable him to tell. It should therefore be understood as "[Even if this is true...] what's so wrong with that?" imho.
Answer: I was wondering the exact same thing.
It turns out the comics aren't much help here. In those, Quill's father was not Ego, but rather a (strong but quite mortal) alien named J'Son. There were a fair bit of story parallels other than that though.
Ego himself in the Comics is indeed a Celestial (although there are some alternate genealogies presented). He was once destroyed just as completely (he fell into a star after a similar attack by Thing), and managed to reform himself from particles. So I wouldn't expect Ego to stay dead in the MCU any longer than is convenient for story purposes.
I'd say the same goes for Star Lord's "powers" (whatever they may be). There is plenty of wiggle-room there should story purposes one day be helped out by having a Celetial-ish Guardian. After all, he should still have the DNA, and Ego did say that it took him a long while to learn what he could do. However, in the comics he is mostly a normal human who is really good at combat, strategy and languages, has good gadgets and powerful colleagues. So you can most likely expect his MCU portrayal to not fall too horribly far away from that tree.
Answer: Peter may still have the capability of accessing his powers, even without an external power source. In the movie, after Peter lights up Ego with his blasters when hearing about his mother, Ego gets super mad and mentions that Peter would just be a battery for the next 1000 years implying that Peter has power within him. If he already had the power, he wouldn't need something like one of the stones. The planet may just have made it easier for Peter to access his power,  not the cause of his power.
Answer:
Did Quill lose his powers or merely the means to access them after Ego's apparent death?

Yes, Quill lost his powers.
Peter Quill / Star-Lord lost his powers in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. James Gunn, the director of the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, confirmed this in a tweet that he posted after the release of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023), where Quill was not shown using the powers he inherited from Ego in Vol. 2.

Does peter still have some kind of power or something unnatural in his body that makes him Survive more than a normal human???

James Gunn: No.
Answer: So toward the beginning of the film, they show Ego showing Starlords mother a plant he planted. That plant is a piece of him that feeds off of the Earth. If it somehow manages to remain hidden from the Avengers and any other investigative groups, the Earth holds a small amount of the light. In order for Peter Quill to regain his power, he would obviously have to return to Earth. If in the final film, Thanos decides to invade Earth, this would summon Quill back to Earth to defend his homeworld. I feel like he might be able to use his powers in the fight against Thanos. If the plant continues to grow, Peter Quill would become stronger over time. Maybe he would be able to come and go from Earth to rejeuvinate his power. Similar to Ego leaving and being forced to return back home.
Comment: Do you have a source for that last part? On this site, we prefer answers that can be backed up by something.
Comment: Also, did you actually *watch* the movie? Remain hidden, really?
Answer: Quill always had the power in him there's one scene that kinda got overlooked, I think. There is one point right before Ego and Quill start flying around he says "you shouldn't have killed my mother". Ego looks confused as Quill explodes with power, I don't think Ego expected him to get the hang of his powers so fast. So I believe, that just like Yondu told him that he doesn't fly his arrow with his mind he flies it with his heart. I think going forward this is where we are going to see his power come from ...his heart :)
Comment: So you're of the opinion that he still has his powers?
Answer: I think that Peter still possesses his powers. As others have previously stated, Ego needed Peter for his plan, stating that he is a battery. It only makes sense that Peter is his own source of power, if his powers truly disappeared with Ego gone, it makes me think that maybe Peter would have died too, but he didn't. It took Ego millions of years to hone his powers and be able to create things, getting stronger and stronger.
I believe that Peter's ability to use his powers are slim to none currently because he is not strong enough, but with a power source such as an infinity stone or Ego he is able to use them, just how Ego uses Peter as a battery for his plan.
Currently, I believe that Peter thinks he has lost his immortality and powers simply because Ego said he would. My guess is that in The Avengers: Infinity War there will be an event where Peter realizes Ego was wrong, maybe he goes back to Knowhere for the Reality stone or he does something that would require being part-celestial.
Comment: Do you have any evidence supporting this?