Send Exact Target email with attachment FuelSDK

Question: I have a c# task which is using Fuel SDK to create and send a simple email. How do I attach a file to that email with tracking enabled when somebody opens the attachment.
Answer: Attachments are handled using the AttachFile() AMPScript function which would need to be included in the email content.
More info: http://help.marketingcloud.com/en/documentation/exacttarget/content/email_attachments/
Tracking is not available for attachments.  A better option may be to upload your file to your Marketing Cloud Portfolio, then provide a link to the document in the email so that way it can be tracked.


Why didn't Higuchi suspect that Rem killed Ginzo Kaneboshi as Rem wrote Ginzo's name in Higuchi's note book only?

Question: When Rem killed Ginzo Kaneboshi, he wrote his name in the notebook that belonged to Higuchi. There's a possibility that Higuchi could check in the notebook that Ginzo's name was written there. Then why Higuchi didn't suspect Rem?
Answer: Rem did not kill Ginzo Kaneboshi using Higuchis notebook. She wrote his name in Rems own personal notebook, which is later recovered by Light after her death.


Call do_action() within WordPress cronjob

Question: I've programmed a cronjob in WordPress which get's executed every 5 minutes. In the function of the cronjob im trying to perform a do_action:
error_log('Send Email');
do_action( 'trigger_new_subscription_notification_email', $dv_id, $new_order->id );

My problem is now that I can see the error_log in the debug.log of WordPress but there is no email sent. When I trigger the cronjob manually like in a cronmanager, I receive the email.
I've also disabled wp_cron and implemented a real cron call via a linux script.
So is it not possible to do a do_action within WordPress cronjob?
Answer: You need to add this before calling do_action:
WC()->mailer();

Comment: That will work only for WooCommerce...


Textures won't work on some objects

Question: I am working on a scene, and am on UV mapping and texturing phase. I have managed to successfully UV map and texture a few objects, but for some weird reason now the objects I am trying to UV map won't take textures. In 3dview and render they are appearing pink, which I know means Blender isn't finding the textures, but I am browsing to select the texture images. The images are there. In one computer, after browsing to select the image, the node fails to show the name of the texture. On another computer, the name shows up but the texture doesn't get applied (same .blender file). Any ideas? I am using cycles render.
Comment: Try to see if your textures appear in the UV/Image editor. If not,they are not in Blender memory, so try to reload them (Alt+R) or reopen the files
Comment: For future reference it is advised to always create a main parent folder for your project and place textures and all needed assets in a sub folder along with your .blend file. Blender by default tries to use relative paths, so when moving computers or changing the file path the images will still work the the sub-folder structure is maintained.
Comment: are you using this file across different computers? if so, the file paths to the textures will be different and not work.
Answer: I have seen something similar when I have forgotten to UVMap an object to which I intend to apply an image texture.
Comment: Please be more factual in your answer. An object will not appear in pink if there is no uv map but only to indicate a missing texture.
Comment: I was trying to be helpful - but admittedly with some uncertainty. I'll check the exact behaviour next time my work takes me that way.
New here.

Textures won't work on some objects


JSF 1.1 on Websphere 7

Question: I am having an application which was developed using JSF 1.1 components. The tag libraries development team, is not going to support JSF 1.2, and we have to run the application on Webshere 7. As websphere 7, by default comes with JSF 1.2. Initially, i was able to deploy my application, but was unable to access it. Later, I read somewhere to remove "Precompile JSP" option, i did that and i was able to access the application. But i am facing some weird thing, first time i am able to login to application, but if i logout and then tries to login again, it is giving exceptions. The exception is javax.faces.el.EvaluationException: Exception while invoking expression #{login.authenticate}, where login is my bean name and authenticate is the method. Moreover, I want some other way, so that i should keep "Precompile jsp" option selected. I read somewhere about shared libraries, but not aware how to actually implement that. My war file contains jsf-api.jar and jsf-impl.jar of JSF 1.1.
Answer: Do you see some errors regarding propertyLoader? I had similar problem, and removed from config file custom propertyLoader (left standart), and it became almost ok.

JSF 1.1 on Websphere 7


Make wifi TX rate in menu bar instead of wifi icon

Question: Is it possible to make the wifi icon in the menu bar the TX rate or the wifi speed rate? My wifi sometimes drops out and I would like to know if it is my wifi or the website I am visiting.
Answer: While it won't display the TX rate permanently holding down the option key when you click on the WiFi pizza slice icon will display a great deal of information about your current WiFi connection, including the TX rate, RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator) and noise levels.
The RSSI and noise levels are more useful than the TX rate in determining the strength and health of your WiFi connection.
Answer: If you are using a pre-Sierra macOS, you can use MenuMeters. For Sierra and onwards, try Bjango's iStatMenus.
Disclosure: A happy consumer of both apps - no financial ties to Raging Menace or Bjango.com
Comment: FYI, there is also a [port of MenuMeters](https://member.ipmu.jp/yuji.tachikawa/MenuMetersElCapitan/) that works on Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan, 10.12 Sierra, and 10.13 High Sierra.
Answer: I recommend iStat Menus. It is an advanced system monitor for in the menubar. It also monitors your network statistics.

Network
A realtime graph to keep on top of what's being sent and received for all network connections, including a bandwidth breakdown
  for the top 5 apps.


How do I create an empty Nether and an empty End dimension?

Question: I'm trying to create my own SkyBlock map for 1.14 Minecraft but I'm struggling. I am able to create an empty overworld map, but that's not the problem. But how do I create an empty Nether and an empty end? I often read MCEdit could do this, others wrote that MCEdit would work for stuff like that. Do you guys have any hint or idea on how to accomplish this?
Comment: So why not just download a world?
Comment: Are you asking whether there is a way without WorldEdit or are you asking how to do it with WorldEdit?
Answer: Ilmango recently started a new 1.14 Skyblock series and provided an instructional video along with a full set of tools (links in the video description) to create the entirely empty world (including Nether and End) and adding some tweaks that allow to obtain/produce some resources that would otherwise be unavailable.

(The entire process is rather lengthy and convoluted never mind impossible to perform without the tools linked, so I see no point describing what's in the video here)
Comment: Can I change the files of my minecraft world to a void world? If yes, what would be the way without corrupting the files?
Answer: A way that works if you don't need much space is the following procedure that uses the file system:

Create a new Void Overworld
Fly around, maybe with high chunk loading distance, generating as many chunks as you need.
Go to your world files where you want to create a void nether.
Replace the region files in DIM-1 with the files from the Void World
Enter the nether.

Unlike SF's answer, my procedure has one advantage, but also on disadvantage, the ones being:

No additional tools required.
This does not generate a complete void nether, so you would have to manually add empty chunks.
No guarantees regarding consistent biome information.

This process looks like this:
Answer: You have to get something called the barrier block to put around the edges NOT ON THE BOTTOM for the bottom you can use a fill command to fill with air...
Good luck!
Comment: There is definitely a better way to do this other than to limit the player with barrier blocks.


Fatal error: Cannot redeclare

Question: I'm getting the following error:

Fatal error: Cannot redeclare ControllerSaleOrder::saveValue() in /home/xxxxxxxxxx/public_html/vqmod/vqcache/vq2-system_storage_modification_admin_controller_sale_order.php on line 2617

Here's the code:
<code>public function saveValue() {
  $json = array();
  if ($this->request->server['REQUEST_METHOD'] == 'POST') {
    $post = $this->request->post;
    $this->load->model('sale/order');
    $json['msg'] = $this->model_sale_order->saveNewValue($post);
  }
  $this->response->addHeader('Content-Type: application/json');
  $this->response->setOutput(json_encode($json));
}

public function install() {
  if ($this->request->server['REQUEST_METHOD'] == 'POST') {
    $this->load->model('sale/order');
    $json['success'] = $this->model_sale_order->install();
  }
  $this->response->addHeader('Content-Type: application/json');
  $this->response->setOutput(json_encode($json));
}
</code>
Comment: Possible duplicate of ["Fatal error: Cannot redeclare "](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1953857/fatal-error-cannot-redeclare-function)
Comment: Please share your complete code.
Answer: in vq2-system_storage_modification_admin_controller_sale_order.php there are two methods named saveValue(). Rename one

Fatal error: Cannot redeclare


Guess and verify?

Question: I am trying to understand the intuition of the guess and verify method. Please could someone furnish me with a basic and very intuitive explanation of what we are trying to achieve and how this method helps us? I have been unable to find a summary elsewhere that explains the intuition in as jargon-free a way as possible.
Comment: Please provide more context on where this method is found or used. Some references would be great too.
Comment: If you are asking for solutions to differential equations, this question would be better in the mathematics section.  If that is what it is, I could answer it, but not as clearly or succinctly as a professional mathematician.
Answer: As Dave Harris commented it depends a bit on the context. I know the guess and verify solution method mainly from solving value functions in differential resource games (more specifically the papers on fish wars), although I have also seen it used for value functions when there is no strategic interaction.
In such problems one is typically looking for a specific functional form that satisfies certain criteria, where the criteria are given by the problem. For a differential equation one of the criteria is that the functional form, when differentiated, returns the differential equation. For a value function, one of the criteria is that it satisfies the first order conditions and another that it satisfies Bellman's principal of optimality.
The specific functional form is often no more than an educated guess. In a paper on fish wars Fischer and Mirman try to identify a value function for a problem with an infinite time horizon, and they write that their guess is based on solving the problem in a finite 2,3 and 4 period setting and then inducting from that. They also write, however, that they cannot prove that this is the only functional form that satisfies the criteria.
Answer: This is an old question but it may be helpful for the community to give a formal answer.
Without context, it is hard to say so much. However, the seminal paper of Levhari and Mirman (1980) published in Bell Journal of Economics (now RAND Journal of Economics) is one of the references.
The idea simply consists of putting a specific form of value function.
For fisheries, suppose that there are $N$ symmetric harvesters and say that $c_{jt}$ is the harvest rate of an individual $j$ at time $t$ and $x$ is the stock of fish with a regeneration function $$x_{t+1}=f(x_t-\sum_{j=1}^{N}c_jt)$$ where $x_t-\sum_{j=1}^{N}c_{jt}$ is the escapement level. Put a simple concave regeneration function, say
$$x_{t+1}=(x_t-\sum_{j=1}^{N}c_{jt})^\alpha$$
where $\alpha$ is the regeneration rate of the stock. Say also that a harvester has the following utility with usual properties;
$$u(c)= \text{log} c$$
In a non-cooperative framework, a harvester maximizes the following program
$$V(x_t)=\text{log} c_{jt} + \beta V(x_t+1)$$
which is a standard Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation (HJB hereafter). $\beta\in\left(0,1\right)$ is the discount factor. By inserting the equation for stock dynamics into HJB equation, we slightly reformulate it such as
$$V(x_t)=\text{log} c_{jt} + \beta V((x_t-\sum_{j=1}^{N}c_{jt})^\alpha)$$
Once we have all these elements. Now, it is time to present linear strategies for the harvest. This means that the harvest strategy of a player $j$ is linear in the resource stock $x_t$ (also valid for all other players since all players are symmetrical). We write
$$c_{jt}=\omega x_t$$
Now, it is time to guess the value function. In some papers, you can find the word "conjecture" or "Nash conjecture". Say that your value function takes the form
$$V(x)=a \text{log} x + b$$
Note that we do not know the constants $a$ and $b$. However, we can find it by inserting it in HJB equation.
$$a \text{log} x + b = \text{log}(\omega x) + \beta (a \alpha \text{log}((1- N \omega)x)+ b) $$
Once we have all these elements, it is easy to find $a$ and $b$ which are
$$a=\frac{1}{1- \beta \alpha}$$
and
$$b=\frac{\text{log}\omega+\beta \alpha a \text{log}(1- N \omega) }{1-\beta}$$
If you want to verify that the result holds, just put the value function in HJB and you will see that it works. If you want to find the value of $\omega$, you should derive the first-order condition and find the envelope condition, which are quite straightforward.

Guess and verify?


Sample size calculation RCT time-to-event data

Question: I have a question regarding sample size (power) calculations when considering time-to-event data. When there is previous data for an RCT that showed non-inferiority (e.g. a simple two group set-up, treatment A and B, followed-up for 5 years) with a given hazard ratio, e.g. 0.7, [CI 0.4-1.0], what would be the best way to calculate the required sample size to be able to detect whether treatment A is superior to treatment B? I understand that there is a need to define a superiority margin, but have no idea how to decide on this? Thank you!
Answer: A hazard ratio alone is not enough to determine sample size for a clinical study. The hypothesis testing framework is irrelevant. Instead you need to understand the event rate accrual, at least in the control arm. This can be expressed as the median event time. Most software assumes an exponential event distribution, then there is a 1-1 correspondence between the median rate time and the rate parameter $\lambda$, so that the event rate in the active arm can be solved from the hazard ratio if not provided explicitly. The other inputs or considerations for a sample size calculation is the participant attrition (loss to follow-up), the accrual rate of participants, and the total study duration. Each of these is a consideration for design, and not provided externally. Statistical software such as EAST can calculate this, or you can just as easily design a simulation to identify the required sample sizes.


Why does Visual Studio launch multiple WebDevs when I debug?

Question: I have a Visual Studio 2008 solution with several projects in it - some of which are web applications / sites.
Whenever I go "Debug > Start new instance" for a specific web application and VS launches the ASP.net Development Server (WebDev.WebServer.EXE) for that application, VS also launches 3 additional such processes - one for each of 3 other web applications I have in the solution.
How can I tell Visual Studio to only launch WebDev for the one project I'm debugging? I've looked both in the project configurations and in the solution configuration and could not find the relevant setting...
Answer: I think it runs one for each Port -- you can try turning setting them to have the same port - click on the project and look at the properties pane (you have to turn off the the automatic port generation and then set the port#)
Answer: I tried the above solution but it did not worked. My solution was a vs2005, what I found to solve the project was to make the property window of VS 2008 visible. Then click on the web projects and then set the "Always start when debugging" property to false and this should take care of it :(
Answer: In Visual Studio 2008, there is an entry on the Properties page for the project called "Always Start When Debugging".
Note you have to get to this by selecting the project and going to the Properties pane (or right-clicking Properties).  This option is not present when you double-click the project and open it in the main editing pane.
VS by default sets this value to on for all your web projects.  Turning it off will solve this problem.
[editorial]This is fairly annoying and I wish the default were false![/editorial]
Answer: Suggestion - don't use the internal WebDev, use IIS instead. Also reduces the clutter in the systray. ;)


help changing footer on home page

Question: I wonder if you can help. I need to make some changes to the text on the bottom part of our home-page but I'm not sure how to. This site was designed for us by another agency and although I have access to the template and the back of it I can't seem to figure out how to edit the text on the footer of the site. help please!
Thanks,
Carolina
Answer: It seems like you're not a web developer? This is a very broad question unfortunately which will make helping hard. It depends almost entirely on how the previous agency decided to build your website, as "a footer" is not built-in functionality, but instead part of the design.
Typically, a footer would be controlled from a _layout.twig file in the templates directory. The content inside it may be "hard coded" or dynamically controlled from the CMS - there's no way for me to know. You'd need to look at the content of that file and see if you can find any text matching the text you see in your footer. Be aware though, that a footer template is usually site wide and not specific to individual pages; a change in _layout.twig would most often mean a change everywhere on your website.
You may be best off getting in touch with the prior agency, or perhaps a freelancer, and asking them to take a look.
Comment: Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. Much appreciated.
Comment: It's also possible there's are some variables you can control in the 'globals' section. If you have permissions to view, it they would be here: https://yoursite.com/cp/admin/globals/ (replace 'yoursite.com/cp' with the path to your Craft control panel).

help changing footer on home page


Windows installer upgrade code generated from command line

Question: I am using the windows installer to install/upgrade an installation.
Using Visual Studio I can manually change the version number and then select yes when asked to change the ProductCode.  This creates an installer that is capable of overwriting the existing installation provided that the following properties are set on the installer project
RemovePreviousVersions   True
DetectNewerInstalledVersion True

Now in my build server I can change the version number to the appropriate new version in the .vdproj project.
Can somebody advise on how to generate a new ProductCode for the project from the command line or a batch script?
Answer: The solution is to use uuidgen
uuidgen -c

will generate the appropriate ProductCode.
The following batch script will update the product code and allow for an overwrite install when applied through a build server prior to performing a release build.
REM
REM Batch file to set the release number and version number for a production release
REM
REM

if not defined RELEASE_VERSION exit /b 1
if not defined BUILD_NUMBER exit /b 1
if not defined SVN_REVISION exit /b 1

set SDKBIN=%PROGRAMFILES%\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\Bin
if defined PROGRAMFILES(X86) Set SDKBIN=%PROGRAMFILES(X86)%\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\Bin

REM Change the version details in the WindowsInstaller project

fart WindowsInstaller\WindowsInstaller.vdproj "\"ProductVersion\" = \"8:1.0.0\"" "\"ProductVersion\" = \"8:%RELEASE_VERSION%.%BUILD_NUMBER%\""

if %ERRORLEVEL%==0 exit /b 1

for /f %%i in ('"%SDKBIN%\uuidgen" -c') do set PRODUCTCODE=%%i

if not defined PRODUCTCODE exit /b 2

fart WindowsInstaller\WindowsInstaller.vdproj "\"ProductCode\" = \"8:{2DD6303F-BF0C-4CD5-9AAC-171C577FFEAD}\"" "\"ProductCode\" = \"8:{%PRODUCTCODE%}\""

if %ERRORLEVEL%==0 exit /b 1

exit /b 0

I use fart to perform the regex replacement in the source file.
Answer: As you can see Visual Studio Setup Projects are already deprecated:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/buckh/archive/2011/03/17/visual-studio-setup-projects-vdproj-will-not-ship-with-future-versions-of-vs.aspx
It would make more sense to migrate to WIX as soon as you can. It does have a learning curve, but it is not as bad as some people make it out to be. If you start the right way you'll be there in no time. The key is to go sample based and implement the basics first. There is a degree of "automagic" in Wix which will help you to do things right if you read the help file properly.
See my answer here for a few good pointers: https://stackoverflow.com/a/22550256/129130 - Particularly the codeproject link might be a good start.
Wix has new features to automatically change the product code and package code for every build.
Comment: I am essentially proposing a different solution to the problem because the technology used is known to be error prone, deprecated and difficult to work with. The link is to a post where the alternate solution is described.
Comment: If you've found a duplicate please vote to close rather than posting what is essentially a link to your answer on another question.
Answer: Wix will automatically generate a new ProductCode for your installer if you set Product/@Id to *:
<Wix xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/wix/2006/wi">
    <Product Id="*" Name="myproduct" ... >
        ...
    </Product>
</Wix>

The PackageCode is normally automatically generated. The documentation says that you should always generate a new package code for a product, so the attribute can be omitted. For a merge module you do have to specify the package code, but otherwise you shouldn't use it.
The UpgradeCode specifies the family of related products. Major upgrades will only work between packages that were labelled with the same UpgradeCode.
To support major upgrades, it's simplest to use the MajorUpgrade element. It defaults to preventing downgrades - you specify the DowngradeErrorMessage attribute to provide a message if the user tries to do this. All you need is the following:
<MajorUpgrade
  DowngradeErrorMessage="A later version of [ProductName] is already installed. Setup will now exit.">


How different is German handwriting from American's?

Question: Here is a bulleted list of my specific questions in case you want to save time not reading what gave rise to them:

Do German people use cursive writing often? Is it necessary for me to learn how to read & write cursive?
If so, which style should I choose? (I intend to go to Berlin in the near future.)
How do German folks hand-write numerals (0-9)?

Details:
I was hand-filling out a form in German just now, and I realized immediately that I could not decide how I should properly put words and numbers down. I vaguely recall how my German instructor back in college would write certain alphabets and numbers differently on the chalkboard--namely the capital "I", capital "G", sieben (as in "7" but with a sort of a slanted slash in the lower middle), and perhaps "null" and "neun".
Regarding the alphabet, I tried to look for related resources, but there was such a mixed result on Google that I really could not tell which one was more reliable. Now I did read on a page somewhere which said something to the effect that nowadays three types of cursive styles are taught respectively in schools in Germany: excluding the somewhat controversial Grundschrift and the outdated Sütterlinschrift.
In that case, which one should I learn? Does it depend on which state in Germany I will go to in the future? Or perhaps I should ask this: Is it imperative for me to learn any German cursive in order to have less of a hard time getting around in Germany? How often do the German write in cursive?
In terms of number-writing, how do German people write Arabic numerals? I kind of know for sure that "sieben" is handwritten differently from the American style which I believe I was taught, but how about the rest of them?
Comment: This are multiple questions put into one. You should ask questions one by one so voting can take place on the individual answers and every part can be marked as solved separately.
Comment: Actually, what's *American handwriting*? While everybody reads and typesets English in this site, I guess the title doesn't have to refer the differences between German handwriting and other language's, but to peculiarities of German handwriting.
Comment: Ich dachte wir würden keine vielfältige Frage akzeptieren...
Comment: As a non-German (raised in Australia and the UK) I find it interesting that many of these "Germanisms" also feature in my own handwriting. I will use a diagonal stroke on the numbers "1" and "0" if they're in a context where they could be confused for the letters "I", "l" or "O"; I put a cross through "7" always, and often though "z". That said, as a programmer I have ended up spending hours debugging a problem only to find it was caused by two characters that look very similar, so those experiences have probably informed by handwriting.
Comment: Es wird von mir also davon ausgegangen, dass man hier zusammenhängende untergeordnete Punkte aufbringen kann. Habe ich mich geirrt?
Comment: Judging from all the information and tips you folks have provided--which are all very generous and helpful, thank you--I think I just reached a conclusion. The way I understand it now is that, although I can probably do okay in Germany without the ability to produce cursive handwriting, it is also likely better for me to at the very least have certain knowledge of how the writing looks and works. I also find that my ability to write cursive in English helps with understanding German cursive writing as well.
Answer: This is how I would normally write them (I'm German):

I'm not really consistent with the U, as you can see. Of course everyone has their own handwriting style, some use cursive, some don't, but almost no one writes it the way you learn in school. People are flexible.
I mainly uploaded this to contradict jmiserez' claim that the 4 has to be closed. I didn't learn it that way, and nobody ever had problems recognizing my 4s. Both versions are common.
I generally wouldn't think about this too much – people will probably understand your unadapted handwriting perfectly fine, because handwriting styles just vary a lot anyway. My mom, even though she is German, always used to write the 9 the American way for example. And there are probably a number of Germans who are too lazy to draw the diagonal line for the 1...
Comment: Well, the 9 is actually supposed to be round, it's just my handwriting that's kind of messy ;). I could have written the letters extra carefully, but I wanted to give a realistic impression.
Comment: äüö? Was für eine Logik ist das denn?
Comment: I'm American and I have always written the 4 and 2 that way.. the 9 looks like a g to me. Everything else is how we are taught here in the States.
Comment: close to mine, but slings and loops dominate mine - my 4 looks like a small phi (not that round, though)
Comment: I also write my 4 like that.
Comment: In Poland, we write the digits exactly the same, with exception of 9 that is round like 6
Comment: Just wanted to verbally thank you for the diagram. I know that it may look absurdly trivial, but in fact it just offered a tremendous help to me. I needed to parse handwritten email address of a Munich airport police officer, to uhh, send some documents I owe, you know. My letter was rejected *twice*... until I consulted your diagram and realized how exactly I've been misreading that handwriting. Thank you so much.
Answer: Germany is a big country (80mil people) Depending on when and where you learned writing it tends to be different. But yes I did learn cursive writing. And this was what it was supposed to look like: GDR Handwriting

Just look at this article for some pictures on how "official" Handwriting is/was supposed to look in Germany. In the picture below you see where it is probably going to go according to Wikipedia. Wikipedia: Schreibschrift

On how often it is used? A lot I'd say, depending on occupation. Writing is mostly used for business. If you are just scribbling notes to yourself you'd probably use handwriting. If there is a chance somebody else should be able to read it use printed letters instead. Even then, some people cannot even make them look readable. (I corrected several tests (non German) and even though one would think the test takers would want to make the test scorers job as easy as possible, some of them just can't or won't write in a way that makes their potentially correct answers legible.
I cannot give you a percentage. But I was in a restaurant yesterday where a waiter used an iPad to take the order. So I'd say less and less. Yet at my work place there are some (including me, depending on circumstance) people that like paper and use it instead of all the technology we have available.
Comment: I grew up in the GDR (aka East Germany) and was taught that very "Schreibschrift". My two daughter (two years apart) were taught two *different* versions going to the same school but with different teachers. That was in Ba-Wü in the 90s. I still think that's very strange that handwriting is a "local thing".
Comment: Almost the same as in Poland, only "t" is other, more like a printed form
Comment: The cursive table is definitely showing its age, currently teached is [this](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vereinfachte_Ausgangsschrift#/media/File:Vereinfachte_Ausgangsschrift.png), which has greater similarity to printed letters.
Answer: No way should you learn Sütterlin - nobody uses this anymore. I guess you don't even have to learn a "new handwriting" at all. If you try to handwrite "Arial", you'll be fine :-) (Which is requested on most official forms anyway, when they say to fill out in "Druckschrift" or "Druckbuchstaben - could also be "Blockbuchstaben" or "Blockschrift", then they mean all capital letters).
The difference in number writing: 1 is written like a 1 in Arial. The 7 is written like a 7 in Arial, but with a little line parallel to the top line in the middle of the slanted line. See here:
Comment: Note that almost nobody writes the letter *a* as in Arial. Also *Blockschrift* is all-caps.
Comment: @T.G.Monk 9 and 0 look like in Arial. You *may* add the slanted line to make a difference to the letter "O", but that's not the usual way of writing it.
Comment: @Łukasz웃Lツ They may use it to prevent other people from understanding what they write, but I've never *ever* seen anybody use Sütterlin, also it is not taught in school. My Grandparents were able to write it, but my parents are able to read it more or less fluently and I can not do either.
Comment: @Łukasz웃Lツ I encountered [Sütterlin](http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Sütterlin-Ausgangsschrift.jpg) was in elementary school, and only because one particular teacher taught it as a curiosity, not because it's normally thought and my grandmother's handwriting is influenced by it. But apart from that I've never seen it, despite living in rural Bavaria. Normally I only see the [modern Schreibschift](http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Deutsche_normalschrift_ab_01091941.jpg) and of course Druckschrift.
Comment: People use it, even young (30-ties), at least in my office, but it's, well, Bayern.
Comment: @CarstenSchultz Ask the OP :-)
Comment: @Wrzlprmft I accounted for the difference of Blockbuchstaben and Druckbuchstaben in my answer. I'm not saying that people write `a` as it `Arial` font, but people will be able to read it if the OP does :-)
Comment: @ikadfoanhfda There is no horizontal line for "1" in Arial - Arial does not have serifes. The serif you see in my answer above is due to the fact that the "1" I wrote above is code-formatted (Courier New maybe).
Comment: @ikadfoanhfda ... like I did in the picture I added to my answer ;-)
Comment: What about the rest of the numerals, especially 9 and 0? I remember them being written differently from those of the English style. I think 9 is written like a lowercase g in Arial with a hook at the bottom, and 0 written with a slanted line across the "O", as shown here:0. Am I correct on that?

Thank you for the reply. It's a relief to know I can get away with writing Blockschrift only.
Comment: I believe you guys have clarified everything I wanted to know in the question. Thank you.
Comment: Why would anyone even bring up Sütterlin in this context?
Comment: Thorsten, I hadn't seen his mention of it, thanks.
Comment: @ThorstenDittmar note the horizontal line at the bottom of the Arial 1? It's not common to use that in german handwriting at all. A small detail, but we speaking about small details here after all.
Comment: @ThorstenDittmar I see. I understood it the way that the 1 and 7 written in a special font where examples of Arial http://imgur.com/a/l5xeC But looking at this makes it clear that 1 in Arial looks pretty much how it's written here nowdays (with the *very* minor detail that the first line of the 1 normaly isn't curved but a straight line) http://img.font.downloadatoz.com/download/imgs/a/r/i/arial-1-volume-af-character.png
Answer: As you already mentioned, there is a wide variation of styles in use. I wouldn't worry too much, most people are used to be rather flexible at reading them, as there are quite significant individual differences.
For filling forms, you are usually requested to use Blockschrift (upper case letters only) or Druckschrift (upper and lower case letters, but letters are clearly separated from each other) to make it easier to read and/or scan automatically.
If you are interested in historical styles of handwriting and their evolution into modern ones this article in the Austrian newspaper "Der Standard" may be of interest. (I didn't find a similar compilation for Germany in a quick search, perhaps someone else could add one). The article was triggered by a political discussion whether the Schreibschrift should be continued to be taught to children in primary schools. This tells a lot about its declining importance in everyday life, as electronic means of communication and taking notes slowly replace handwritten ones.
Comment: Interestingly--though far from surprising--a similar issue is taking place in my country as well. Our older generations often complain how kids nowadays don't know how to write properly. I believe this discussion begun since the dominance of personal computers--to say nothing of smartphones and tablets.

Thank you for the information. Very helpful indeed.
Answer: Contrary to Portree Kid, I would say that everyone frequently uses cursive handwriting. Most of the adults have learnt it in school and its quicker than block-letter style. As a result, you don't need to know cursive handwriting to fill out forms and most of written communication can be done by computer anyway. However, in order to understand written notes from people (colleagues, friends, etc.) you're in trouble if you cannot intepret it properly. Nevertheless, some people have a horrible handwriting, which is basically not readable by anyone but themselves, e.g. medical doctors are notorious for this. But I also have some troubles reading my own notes after some time if I write too fast and therefore, very sloppy.
Answer: You should not worry about numerals. Just make sure the top bar of the 7 is long and horizontal, so that it won't be confused with a 1, which in Germany has a short and diagonal stroke. But just using a single vertical stroke would be recognised as the digit as well.
As for letters, what all the other answers said.
Answer: Well, you should not care to much about. If you write Druckschrift, mostly all Germans will be able to read your notes. Those who are not do also have problems to read the notes of other Germans.
Nonetheless knowing Schreibschrift is not the worst idea - but more for reading.
Here you can download native German handwritings of all letters for excercises: http://www.kikisweb.de/wissen/deutsch/schreiben/schreibschrift.htm
Regarding the numbers: that won't be a problem.
Comment: Thanks for the link, but may I ask which of the currently used styles is featured on that website? Z.B. Vereinfachte Ausgangsschrift?
Answer: Nobody uses cursive writing after leaving school, so learning to write cursive is not necessary.
I my experience the Handwriting differs more, than you'd expect. My sons name is Ian and he often becomes Jan since the writing of I vs. J is not consistent. Some write a I with a hook like J and the J dipping below the line. This inconsistency seems to stem from reunification. When learning non cursive handwriting, most people in West Germany will have learned
Grundschrift
and in the GDR you will have learned Schulausgangsschrift
Comment: @T.G.Monk: Unless you intend to become a teacher or something similar, you are hardly going to see any handwriting anyway.
Comment: No you most probable won't see any cursive writing. I just wanted to point to slight subtle differences. Much the same as in English. I learned Normschrift (http://www.tzinfo.de/normschrift.html) in my apprenticeship  and is has influenced my handwriting.
Comment: There also is the ["Lateinische Ausgangsschrift"](http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lateinische_Ausgangsschrift#Lateinische_Ausgangsschrift) and the ["Vereinfachte Ausgangsschrift"](http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vereinfachte_Ausgangsschrift). The latter is taught to our children today.
Comment: Please correct me if I understand you wrongly: Do you mean that although I don't have to know how to write cursive, I do actually need to have the ability to read them?

Thank you for replying as well.
Comment: Aren't they "Schreibschriften"?
Comment: Yeah they are - in **theory** it's how pupils are supposed to develop their own handwriting based on these... epic fail IMO ;)
Comment: No bother. I have three kids in German School (Saxony).
Comment: "Most people in West Germany will have learned Grundschrift" contradicts with "Als Grundschrift wird **ab 2011** von interessierten Schulen in Deutschland eine Variante der Druckschrift **erprobt**" in the WP article you are linking to.
Comment: Clarified. I was talking about non cursive. Even with non cursive you have differences
Answer: I don't live in Germany, but my dad is German and was raised in Germany. My grandma taught me to write the number seven with a line through it, and I've been doing it like that ever since. If I were to right a seven the american way, it would just look weird to me.
Comment: Welcome to German.SE. Beside that personal experience "writing 7 in German" - are you able to add any comparison with the American style? How about the other numbers? How about the rest of the question? And please check the other answers as well - "copying" them is not quite helpful. Shedding light on new aspects is. Or new sources.


Microsoft Arc Touch mouse doesn't want to connect in MacOS High Sierra

Question: I've been able to pair a Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse Surface with my MacBook ever since Yosemite, but when I updated to High Sierra the mouse stop connecting. When I turn on the mouse, the Bluetooth sensor just flashes and the LED light below the scroll turns green and then red. Normally this is an indication that I need to change the batteries, but I have already changed them by new ones. What else can I do?
Answer: After a while, the mouse starts working with the next solution, but still, I don't know if it will fail again.

In System Preferences > Bluetooth at the devices list, delete
mouse and keyboard pairing (maybe keyboard was in conflict, I
don't know)
Pair the mouse. Turn on, press the Bluetooth button, wait for the device to be identified and connect.
Then turn on the
keyboard and connect.
Comment: The problem wasn't solved at all, I need to do this every morning, so any other suggestions are welcome
Comment: Is the vendor of the mouse no help whatsoever? Apple's Bluetooth mice should be able to pair with your Mac to ensure your Bluetooth stack is working.
Answer: I get the mouse working with macOS High Sierra 10.13.4 by pairing it a few times per day, as it is going to sleep constantly, never reconnecting on its own.
Answer: The Specifications page in the Microsoft Web site for the mouse Arc Touch Bluetooth Mouse now indicates it is compatible with MacOS 10.13. I have upgraded to 10.13.3 but still the mouse does not work. When I called MS Support, the representative told me that Apple was going to release a patch to make 10.13 compatible with the Arc Touch BT Mouse, and that I should wait.
Comment: I still cannot get my arch touch mouse to connect with my MacBook running 10.13.5 (17F77) after a reboot.
Comment: @JohnArmwood Bummer. I don't think that MS should say Apple has to release a patch since Bluetooth pointer protocol is super stable and works really well with multiple vendors. At best, if somehow Apple were to release a patch, the vendor should tell you exactly which version of MacOS has the required patch and support you until it's working (but then in an ideal world, all support would be thusly)


If my leave has expired while awaiting a decision, will I become an overstayer?

Question: My toursit visa will expire next month while I am waiting for an EEA family member residence card, does this make me an overstayer?
Comment: If you are a family member of an EEA citizen then you don't actually need the card and you can't really overstay. The problem arises of course if they decide you're not entitled to the card. The usual approach is that you're allowed to stay while the application is pending and they can't hold it against you if you do, but I don't remember the specific rules in this case.
Answer: As long as you can prove you are waiting for a decision you will not be penalized as an overstayer.
I think you have to show your case number, but am only recalling from memory.
Whatever you do, don't leave the country you may not get back in.
If the decision comes back unfavourably, you will need to leave as soon as practical.


Why don't radio waves sent by electronic devices intefere with each other?

Question: You know how phones, computers and other electronic devices that use wireless communication use radio waves to communicate?...well since almost everyone has gotten a smart phone wouldn't radio waves from different smart phones interfere with each other...well...they don't (other wise we wouldn't be able to call people)... But I want to know why radio waves from different electronic devices or from two different sources don't interfere with each other... if there are two explanations then pls tell me both of them (specially if one of them is a quantum mechanical theory)..help will be appreciated...thanx in advance
Answer:
Why don't radio waves sent by electronic devices intefere with each other?

Who says they don't? If you set up a broad-band antenna, the voltage across the antenna's terminals will be a weighted, instantaneous sum of all of the signals being sent by all of the devices in your neighborhood and your region.
Electronic communication devices use three different methods, often in combination with each other, to share the "airwaves."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frequency-division_multiplexing, in which the receiver contains a resonator that is tuned to the same frequency as a "carrier  wave" that is sent by the transmitter.  The resonator does not respond to the carrier waves sent by other transmitters operating on different frequencies.  This is the oldest of the three techniques.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time-division_multiplexing, typically is used in conjunction with frequency-division: It essentially means, transmitters operating on the same frequency use the channel in short bursts and either (a) they coordinate with each other and take turns, or (b) they transmit at random times, and even though some messages "collide", statistically, enough get through to enable reliable communication.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code-division_multiple_access, This one, I can't explain  because I don't have a strong enough mathematical background. You can do a google search if you want to learn more.
Answer: Indeed, there are two aspects to this question. One is more physical, one more technical:

Why don't electromagnetic waves interfere? They do, they always do, they just don't destroy any information in the process. This is the superposition principle in classical electrodynamics, but if you are keen on a more quantum mechanical explanation, the selfsame superposition principle is also at work there, and depending on the textbook it is even etched into the fundaments of quantum mechanics as one of the axioms. If you want to go as deep as quantum field theory, the fact the electromagnetic waves can travel undisturbed from one another comes from the fact the photons - as opposed to electrons or any of the quarks - carry no charge (neither electrical nor color etc.), so they do not interact with one another. So in summary, there is interference, and the electromagnetic waves lie on top of one another just like waves in a pool.

That brings us to the more technical point of your question. If we all send out electromagnetic signals all of the time, how can any device take this chaotic intereference and read out any valuable information out of it? That is pretty much like floating in a swimming pool, closing your eyes, and measuring the clothing size of the next person to jump in from the waves they create. The way around that is summarized nicely in the following link: https://www.explainthatstuff.com/cellphones.html
The key idea is that when multiple senders and receivers are present in an area, like with conventional radio devices, they use different frequencies to communicate. If the frequencies are far enough apart, it is easily possible to decompose a mixed signal (containing signals on the whole frequency spectrum) into separated signals at different frequencies (key word is the Fourier transform, 3Blue1Brown made a great video about that, if you care for it). However, the more people send and receive messages, the separation between neighboring transmission frequencies must grow smaller and smaller, until it becomes increasingly hard to tell neighboring signals apart. And there you would get your intereference. The way around that is sort of a divide and conquer approach. Instead of finding frequencies for all the phones (in the world or a country or a large city), where the available frequency ranges are not sufficient, one partitions the network into small units called cells (hence the name: cell phone). In each cell, the available frequencies are sufficient for all devices in the area. Each devices sends a weak signal that does not leave the area to a mast. The mast repeats a weak signal to another device at the correct frequency. With that, the two devices can communicate. That is communication within one cell. If you call someone from another cell, the signal received by the mast is transmitted to their cell (usually via land line) and repeated by a mast near them.
Answer: You are basically asking, "How does all of telecommunication multiplexing work", which is a question too large to answer comprehensively, so a vignette or two will have to do.
There is frequency multiplexing on radio and television, in which various signals are transmitted a different frequencies, commonly referred to as "stations" in the former and "channels" in the latter.
Your stereo (if those still are a thing) uses "space division" multiplexing, in which the left and right signals are carried on physically separate cables from source to speaker.
Civilian GPS uses code division multiplexing. All the GPS satellites transmit at the same frequency (and bandwidth), but each satellite has a pseudo random binary code which XORs the phase of their signal. The received signal can then be correlated with pseudo random code to recover each of the satellites data simultaneously in parallel, albeit at a lower bandwidth.
Another common method is Time Division Multiplexing, whose most familiar applications are CPU sharing on "the mainframe", or worse, time-share properties, in which multiple people (signals) share a vacation house (channel).
Many other more complex and/or subtle forms of multiplexing exists, but those are the basics.
Comment: thanx for the answer but  can you tell me why radio waves of different frequencies don't intefere with each other?
Comment: filters.........
Answer: For a significant and stable interference pattern, two such waves would have to be of the same frequency and of comparable amplitude.  There is an area in North Miami where I get poor reception on my car radio.  I think the several radio and TV transmitters in the area are over-driving the circuits in my radio.
Comment: Another explanation is that there are reflecting bodies (buildings, etc) that are place in just the places that diffraction from them causes a node.   This explanation would be more likely if you experience the signal fading in and out as you drive slowly.


Does Sitecore XM Cloud support custom code e.g. scheduled tasks, computed index fields

Question: What support does Sitecore XM Cloud have for custom code within the CM role (such as computed index fields, scheduled tasks etc)?
Comment: Those are really 2 separate questions. Can you post 2nd one as a separate question?
Comment: Thanks @MarekMusielak done.
Answer: There is a great article created by Martin, where he shared something about the customization and the way we can deploy it to XM Cloud. According to the article, it is possible to customize XM Cloud in a similar way as we did it with XP by applying patches, but there is an expectation is that developers would customize less and less with time and platform growth. From the functionality point of view, these customizations would focus on data and synchronization rather than patching system features.
You can read the full article here.
https://blog.martinmiles.net/post/ultimate-guide-to-XM-Cloud
You can apply config patches for configuring CM instance, the same as you did before with XP. And here the guide to do that
https://doc.sitecore.com/xmc/en/developers/xm-cloud/deploy-customizations-to-the-xm-cloud-environment.html
Answer: At the moment following features and modules are not in XM Cloud as per the Sitecore documentation (https://doc.sitecore.com/xmc/en/developers/xm-cloud/limitations-and-restrictions.html):

XP/xConnect/xDB functionality including existing personalization rules (a new embedded personalization experience is available for XM Cloud)
Marketing applications, including Experience Analytics, Experience Profile, FXM, Experience Optimization, List Manager, Campaign Creator, Path Analyzer, Marketing Automation, and the Marketing Control Panel
Email Experience Manager (EXM)
SXA with MVC, and SXA Search components
Sitecore Forms
Custom search indexes
Identity server
Sitecore Publishing Service
Universal Tracker
Device detection
IP Geolocation
MVC
The Update Center


Is there an analogue of Maxwell's equations in $2+2$ dimensions?

Question: I'm quite familiar with Maxwell's equations in the context of real Lorentzian manifolds in $1+2$ and $1+3$ dimensions. But then is there an analogue of Maxwell's equations in $2+2$ dimensions? How about for real pseudo-Riemannian manifolds of dimension $p+q$, i.e. of signature $(p,q)$? Somehow I think the answer is no because maybe Lorentz invariance gets destroyed, though I'm not certain.
Comment: The Maxwell equation, formulated in the language of differential geometry, is completely generalizable to an arbitrary signature. The hard part is having unique solutions then.
Answer: The Maxwell equation can be fairly simply written as
$$\nabla_{\mu} F^{\mu\nu} = 0$$
This expression does not depend in any way on the metric signature, and as such can be used with any metric signature. In particular, the gauge fixing of the equation does not depend on the signature, as far as I know, so that we can rewrite it as
$$\Box A_\mu - {R^\nu}_{\rho} A^\rho = 0$$
Of course, Lorentz invariance will be lost, and replaced with invariance under the group $O(p,q)$.
Let's see what this implies :
$p = 1$, $q = n-1$
This is the classical case of the Lorentzian manifold. In this case, the principal part of the PDE is a hyperbolic system. This can be generally shown to have a single solution for initial $A_\mu$, $\partial_\nu A_\mu$, if the spacetime is globally hyperbolic and everything is regular enough.
$p = n - 1$, $q = 1$
The opposite case, for which we can show easily that it's equal to
$$- \Box A_\mu + {R^\nu}_{\rho} A^\rho = 0$$
with the same solutions.
$p = 0$, $q = n$
The Riemannian case, in which case we just end up with the Laplace equation.
$$\Delta_g A_\mu - {R^\nu}_{\rho} A^\rho = 0$$
with $\Delta_g$ the Laplace-Beltrami operator. It is fairly well known that Cauchy-type initial conditions are generally too constraining to solve elliptic equations, hence they do not really correspond to what we typically expect of physics. An interesting treatment of physics in the Riemannian case can be found here :
https://web.archive.org/web/20170318151343/http://www.gregegan.net/ORTHOGONAL/ORTHOGONAL.html
Note that in general, it's always possible to have closed timelike curves in a Riemannian space (you can just turn around), as can be shown by the fact that it is invariant under the rotation group $O(n)$. Hence we can "boost" to the frame $(x,t) \to (-x, -t)$. This makes for pretty bad things.
The same is true for the case $p = n$, $q = 0$, simply by taking the opposite sign.
$p > 1$, $q > 1$
This is the ultrahyperbolic case, with more than one timelike dimension. Much like in the Riemannian case, since any timelike plane forms a Riemannian submanifold, there are always closed timelike curves in it. The ultrahyperbolic wave equation tends to either have no solution or non-unique solutions, and they are in general unstable. A good review on the topic can be found here :
http://rspa.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/465/2110/3023
Comment: Ah, another Egan fan (although Orthogonal's the only of his I have read, but liked it immensely). Nice summary of how the different signatures sit with physics.
Answer: Write it in coordinate free formulation first.
$$
dF =0\\
d *_g F =0
$$
Unwrap that universal result for whatever metric. Will expand it if necessary.
Edit:
Make an antisymmetric $F$ below which stands for $\sum F_{\mu \nu} dx^\mu \wedge dx^\nu$
$$
F = \begin{pmatrix}
0 & F_{01} & F_{02} & F_{03}\\
-F_{01} & 0 & F_{12} & F_{13}\\
-F_{02} & -F_{12} & 0 & F_{23}\\
-F_{03} & -F_{13} & -F_{23} & 0\\
\end{pmatrix}
$$
$d$ is the exterior derivation so in components
$$
d F_{\mu \nu} = \sum \frac{dF}{dx_\lambda} dx^\mu \wedge dx^\nu \wedge dx^\lambda\\
$$
$*_g$ is the Hodge star for the particular manifold in question. It's the thing that interchanges electric and magnetic fields in usual source free electromagnetism in Minkowski. Like taking $dx \wedge dy \to dz \wedge dt$, whatever 2 were missing. The exact coefficient depends on the metric you choose.
Follow the Wikipedia hole from here
Now you have all the ingredients. So what you have to do is expand out all the terms for that particular $g$. They will turn into some system of first order PDEs replacing usual Maxwell equations. Then give names to the $F_{ij}$ appropriately. Usually 3 of them become E and the other 3 become B.
Comment: Are you saying that it is possible to have Maxwell's equations in any arbitrary number of temporal and space dimensions? Please expand or elaborate if possible.
Comment: @Libertron He/she sure is! We're talking here about generalizing the statement that a closed two form has a dual whose flux (exterior derivative) is the current three form.  So it's simply a generalization of a really simple statement of a kind of symmetry that's in keeping with charge conservation (because the current three form is an exact three form, so if you hit it again with the exterior derivative, it vanishes). Whether or not this corresponds to possible physics is another matter altogether. Slereah's answer gives a good summary of why different signatures are "more possible" than ...
Comment: ... others, in particular yours has a problem at the outset, in that the symmetry group $O(2,\,2)$ for the analogue of Lorentz invariance can simply turn time around. So CTCs and time machines abound, which are [amongst Slereah's interests](https://physics.meta.stackexchange.com/q/7782/26076).
Comment: Good point. I left it current-less. Put in a $d \star_g F = J$ instead with $J$ being an $n-1$ form. You can use the metric again to turn that into a vector like the usual 4-vector for charge and current density.


$A$ is self-adjoint and $X$ is bounded commuting with $A$, why $AX$ is densely defined?

Question: Let $A$ be a self-adjoint linear operator on a Hilbert space and $X$ is a positive bounded linear operator on this Hilbert space. Assume that $X$ strongly commute with $A$ (commute with all the spectral projections of $A$). How to show that $AX$ is densely defined?
Comment: For the adjoint of $A$ itself to be definable, we must have that $A$ is densely defined. Then of course $X$ is  defined everywhere, so $AX$ is densely defined. If you have not understood what I have said, then please specify your definition of adjoint of an unbounded linear operator, and the definition of being self adjoint.
Answer: If $A = \int \lambda dE(\lambda)$ is the spectral representation, then you are given that $E[a,b]$ commutes with $X$ for all finite $a,b$. $AE[a,b]$ is defined on all of $\mathcal{H}$. So, $AXE[a,b]=AE[a,b]X$ is defined on all of $\mathcal{H}$. The set of all $E[a,b]\mathcal{H}$ is dense in $\mathcal{H}$ because $E[a,b]x\rightarrow x$ as $a,b\rightarrow-\infty,\infty$, respectively.
Comment: Simply and beautiful proof.
Answer: Another way of seeing this is (you don't even have to assume that $A$ is self-adjoint just a densely defined $A$ will do): Since $XA\subset AX$, we have $D(XA)=D(A)\subset D(AX)\subset H$ and hence passing to the closure in $H$ as $A$ is densely defined yields $\overline{D(AX)}=H$.


model building including very large or very small OR

Question: I am using logistic regression for a binary outcome. When building a multivariate model, is including insignificant univariate variables with OR >0.5 and <1.5 appropriate? And why?
Answer: Absolutely. In fact, it is not appropriate to exclude them on the basis of having a small OR alone. Here are some reasons why:

We build models based on our knowledge and belief about a causal model for an outcome, not based on the data.
The univariate associations between a predictor and an outcome are nonsense. These must be adjusted for other variables to make any sense.
The types of adjustment variables needed to assess the relationship between a stratifying variable and an outcome are likely not available, and they are not part of the central hypothesis.
We adjust for variables because they are prognostic or because they are confounders. It is possible that in a multivariate model, strong prognostic or confounding variables do not ultimately show a large OR in the final model.
The OR depends on the scale of the variable which is relative.

Lastly, as a note. An odds ratio of 0.5 is 1/2. It's positive valued counterpart is 2.0 (2/1) not 1.5 (3/2).


can i replace windows with ubuntu and still get the same gaming experience? Steam and Origin

Question: I want to switch to UBUNTU having first learned on the APPLE II with BASIC and being a Web Designer transitioning to Developer I want a shell based system geared for programming BUT, I STILL WANT TO GAME with Steam and Origin mostly is it possible? or will I not get all the games and same high graphical content of the 3D environment???
Comment: Some Steam games are available on Linux; best to check ypur library of games. It is also possible (with some hoop-jumping) to run many Windows gamex with Wine. The last fallback is to dual-boot or run virtual Windows. So it is unlikely you will get all the games, at least not without a significant effort.
Comment: I will make the effort if it is possible to completely be free from windows and not have to dual-boot as I am now I would like to free up disk space that is being used by windows but have some $ invested in gaming I don't want to lose
Answer: No, there is no guarantee that you will be able to get the same exact gaming experience.  Many games aren't available for Linux natively, and some are not capable of being run (even through PlayOnLinux or Wine-driven Steam) without a performance hit.
So, no, there's no guarantee you will be able to switch over directly and have the same exact experience.
Comment: ok thank you I guess I will have to spend my efforts trying to minimize my windows install and storage as to setup strictly for gaming thank you for quick response
Comment: sorry I'm a noob do I have to close the ? or is that up to the Moderator?
Comment: @RobrtPociecha, you can vote or select his answer as "best answer".
Comment: You can also run Windows games in a VM. With latest hardware and at least with qemu, it's possible to do PCI passthrough as well, to give direct hardware access to Windows games/drivers. You may still have problems of course, but it should be pretty reasonable to do.


Is there any way to justify text in Google Sheets?

Question: I want to justify text in a cell in Google Sheets. I searched Google and have no clue how because there are only 3 choices of alignment: left, center and right. Do you have any ideas or ways to solve my problem?
Answer: This is less in Sheets than on Sheets, but you can use "Insert > Drawing" and then create a "Text box" and choose the "Justify" option under "Align", which is found in the ellipsis (three vertical dots: "...") menu:

Result:


Schedule Full Backups

Question: Quick question. I'm using Ola's solution and with the full backup job for user databases, is there any issue scheduling these at the same time? I saw another thread on here that mentioned that it will just backup each DB one after the other but wanted to confirm?
Thanks!
Comment: At the same time *as what*? Are you running multiple backup jobs, each calling Ola's script with different parameters? Or running a job that performs backups a different way? With the right params, Ola's backup script is designed to walk through and backup each database one at a time, so I'm not sure what you're asking here.
Comment: It's not clear to me what the things you're scheduling at the same time are. I would generally recommend against running a back up and a job that (for instance) moves data around, like Ola's index maintenance job, at the same time. Please clarify what the things you want to schedule at the same time are.
Comment: Let me clarify. I'm looking at the full backup job that is created by his script for the USER_DATABASES.  If I run this job, it will go through and backup each user database. I'm just wondering if it's ok to run it as is. I'm assuming it is since that is one of the options to run it but wanted to confirm.  So for example, I have 4 user databases. I can run this single job and back up all 4 of them. I'm wondering if this is ok or should I create 4 separate jobs and schedule them at different times, like one after the other based on how long each backup takes?
Answer: If you run this command taken from ola's website it will backup all your user database one by one, if that is what you are asking. It will create a sub-folder under c:\backup\ for each database with its name. Each backup file will have server name, database name, date and timestamp.
EXECUTE dbo.DatabaseBackup
@Databases = 'USER_DATABASES',
@Directory = 'C:\Backup',
@BackupType = 'FULL',
@Verify = 'Y',
@Compress = 'Y',
@CheckSum = 'Y',
@CleanupTime = 24

If you need these same databases to backup in parallel you will need to create 4 jobs with database name passed to @Databases parameter and schedule at the same time.
Comment: Thanks, I was wondering how this would get processed when using a single job. I do see the DB's backing up in the log one after the other as you said. I just wanted to get some feedback on best practices. In the past the full databases backups were staggered at different times. It sounds like if I set these up to run in parallel like you mentioned, the backups would finish faster?
Comment: As I said it will do one after another. Yes you can have multiple job and run in parallel but you need to be careful with your resources. Best option is to test and decide.

Schedule Full Backups


generating density plot where domain and incidence given

Question: ggplot geom_histogram and geom_density both expect an x aesthetic, where each will look at the incidence of a variable across its domain.
I have a function that outputs both the domain and incidences for some distribution (i.e. does not present the events in a countable form, rather in an already-counted form).
The actual value set is coming from an external library, so will set up an example here.  I would like to plot this distribution:
data <- data.frame(depth=seq(0,20), incidence=seq(0,20)^1.5)
ggplot() + geom_density (aes(x=depth, y=incidence), data=data, fill='lightblue')

The above does not work.  Of course I can use x=depth or x=incidence on its own and generate a plot, however, neither would be correct, as the x variable is considered to be the variable we are counting events over.
It occurs to me that could take the data frame and generate rows for each depth, where the # of rows corresponds to the incidence #.  This becomes more complicated with fractional incidence, but could scale.
Question: is there a way to generate a density plot in ggplot given incidence rather than events?  If not, I guess could use something like:
c (apply (data, 1, function(r) rep(r[1], r[2])), recursive=TRUE)

to generate a discrete approximation of events.  A direct way within ggplot would be better.
Comment: I'm probably missing something, but why can't you plot with `geom_line()`?
Comment: I suppose if supplemented with smoothing (otherwise would be very jagged) and with an area fill.  I guess could construct rectangles for the area fill, though not sure about how to do the smoothing directly in ggplot?
Comment: Why don't you post data that resembles your real data. ggplot does smoothing for you without a problem.
Comment: I am going to close this as it seems that geom_density and geom_histogram are oriented towards doing their own binning and smoothing.  I will have to preprocess outside of ggplot
Answer: The obvious thing to do is
qplot(depth, data = data, weight = incidence, geom = "histogram", binwidth = 1)

If you need to do this with geom_histogram then it is the slightly longer
ggplot(data , aes(x = depth)) +
       geom_histogram(binwidth = 1, aes(weight = incidence))

producing


Is there any way to have private data?

Question: I'm aware of shortcut links. Looking for behavior similar to that of a native Google doc. File exists, possibly takes up storage, can be renamed/moved/deleted, but the data inside shouldn't be modified except by the app. Possibly, defining export formats/links.
Answer: I believe the answer is a simple "no" - Google Drive is for storing user files, not protected application data or configuration data. So you could put a file to a users drive, but only the owner of the drive can control whether the file is shared or changed. So they can edit it, you can't stop them, and there's no reason to think that'll ever be a feature in the future.
To have such control you will need to store such data on your own server, or some other such storage medium.
The only other thing that you would do with only Google Drive is encrypt the configuration file you store, for instance, so it couldn't be easily edited - but that's probably just a bad idea. If you must save a configuration file to a persons drive, bury it inside an application folder and sanity check it to ensure it isn't corrupt - but don't count on a person or application never opening and editing it. If it's something a person shouldn't be able to read or change, don't save it to their drive.
Answer: As of April 2012, application data is supported: What is the Application Data folder?.
"Export format links" could be done with Custom file properties, though, I'm unsure of what kind datatypes are supported for the value beyond the example string.

Is there any way to have private data?


How to use a pre trained model on Image net in tensorflow object detection api

Question: I am trying to use the Inception SSD model in tensorflow object detection API. To initialize the weights i want to use pretrained Inception V2 On image net as the feature extractor. I see the model config file lets you use a pretrained model on COCO but if I want to use an Image net model how should I go about it?
Answer: To train on Imagenet classification models, do the following:
1) Download a pre-trained model from the "Pre-trained models" section on the Slim page
2) Point the fine_tune_checkpoint at that directory
3) Set from_detection_checkpoint to be false (as you will now be fine-tuning from a classification checkpoint)
Note that training from an Imagenet classification checkpoint will require  significantly more time.


URL Redirects and Configuration Management

Question: I have installed Drupal's Redirect module to redirect from old URL's to new ones. I have added the required redirects in my local environment, ran drush cex but can not see the redirects in the export directory. Are URL redirects are content and not config? Therefore can not be exported via configuration management and have to be added manually per environment?
Comment: Yes, redirects are "content".
Comment: _and have to be added manually per environment?_ you can script a migration instead, it doesn't have to be manual
Comment: see https://drupal.stackexchange.com/questions/227978/how-to-create-a-redirection-programmatically
Answer: Yes indeed. If you wish to carry the redirects around you should probably export
Or manually create the file if they are not too many.
I would recommend a csv file.
You can check this for reference How do I export the list of URL alias into an excel or csv?
Then I would write a simple drupal migrate process to re import them in any environment. If you use csv file it should be quite simple for the redirects.


Descartes's cogito falls short

Question: I just started learning philosophy at school, so please forgive me if what I say sounds naive or has been disproved by philosophers. Basically, the teacher said that Descartes said "I think therefore I am" and meant by it that his existence comes from the fact that he can think. However, I didn't find this convincing and here is my argument. Saying I think therefore I am is clearly true: if I didn't exist I wouldn't be able to think. However, where I think it goes wrong is to say that this is the base for my conciousness. Because saying I think therefore I am must mean that "I think" is true (otherwise we can't derive "therefore I am" from it). So it is necessary that "I am certain that I think", and this in turn necessarily implies "I am certain". But who is certain? Of course, it is "I", so this means that certainty comes from "I" not from "I think". I am not sure if Descartes considered the two to be the same, but "I" certainly seems to refer to conciousness by itself whereas "I think" seems to denote conciousness plus an act of thought.
Comment: Where does Descartes say `this is the base for my conciousness`?
Answer: I think the cogito relates to Descartes' clear and distinction perception of himself thinking, which necessarily entails clear and distinction perception of himself as a living being. His argument moves from clear and distinct perception of himself thinking to clear and distinct perception of himself-as-being - the certainty is supposed to derive not from thinking itself, but rather clear and distinct perception of himself thinking, which perception is in general shown to be impossible unless one always and at the same time has clear and distinct perception of oneself-as-being.
Answer: Descarted did not say "I am therefore I think". Nor did he ever imply that.
He said "I think therefore I am", meaning that his capacity to think is a sufficient reason for Descartes to conclude that Descartes exists.
The main flaw in that argument, is that it's rather meaningless without first defining what it means to exist. If the universe is just a giant hologram, as scientists today are claiming, what does it mean to "exist" in that context? And can we draw the conclusion that one exists if one is able to think, without understanding first what it means to "exist"? It seems to me that the more we learn about the nature of the universe, the harder it becomes to define what it means to "exist".
Here, I believe, is where Descartes fall short!

Descartes's cogito falls short


uv unwrapping difficulties with a table leg

Question: i have tried various unwrapping methods to no avail. this is quite an unusual shape so i understand blender has a hard time trying to follow the topology. i have added seams to the top and bottom of the legs as well as the side but when unwrapped one part seems significantly stretched. smart uv project makes the texture look patchy also. what is the best way of unwrapping this with the least distortion possible?
Comment: Its hard to describe ... could U please share a .blend file so I could make changes and send it back to You? _(btw which leg is selected now? There are three on the image but none has selected vertices like in your UV editor and something looks really weird tbh imo. U have more separated meshes in one object? Better to UV one leg and then make copies of it btw.)_
Comment: yes, a .blend would be helpful. That mesh is difficult to unwrap particularly if you want a straight, seamless grain. Try creating many 'bands' around the feet to separate the different heights. The main part of the leg will have to be manipulated in the 2D editor. Try watching [This](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VgLlurusWc)
Answer: I think Mark Seam and Unwrap works pretty good, perhaps share your file + texture of this single object so that we can test


How to build prefixed key for rocksdb

Question: I would like to know how can the key for the state System Events storage can be built for a given block hash/height
Answer: If you want to pull a specific storage item from rocksdb, it requires traversing the patricia trie in order to find the key that you want. This can become complicated quickly, and is generally a slow way to retrieve many keys. The code to do this within substrate can be seen here:
https://github.com/paritytech/substrate/blob/318dea38c9d8af7b526b35a619c393b08ad236ce/client/db/src/lib.rs#L145
https://github.com/paritytech/substrate/blob/318dea38c9d8af7b526b35a619c393b08ad236ce/primitives/state-machine/src/trie_backend_essence.rs#L80
Specifically in reference to RefTrackingState, TrieBackend and TrieBackendEssence.
The first step would be finding the root of the storage that you want, which should be provided as a hash in the block i.e the StateRoot.
From there you would need a way to traverse the patricia trie to get to the key you want to pull:
https://github.com/paritytech/substrate/blob/318dea38c9d8af7b526b35a619c393b08ad236ce/primitives/state-machine/src/trie_backend_essence.rs#L173
the reason this is slow is because of the time complexity of traversing a trie -- there is no other way to retrieve storage keys from rocksdb.
The actual traversal (implemented as a rust Iterator) is implemented by this crate in substrate: https://github.com/paritytech/substrate/blob/318dea38c9d8af7b526b35a619c393b08ad236ce/primitives/trie/src/lib.rs
Substrate has a bunch of traits/caching/syncing/performance optimizations built on top of this raw trie traversal which makes the code complicated to read into -- however it would be really cool if someone could distill this down into it's raw parts and demonstrate how to directly traverse storage keys for substrate rocksdb. I think it could lead to some interesting applications!
I'm not the most versed in this however I hope this gives you a starting point to begin exploring the topic -- or at least manipulating the substrate trait objects / structs to do your bidding
some reading on tries: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radix_tree
Answer: You may need to clarify your question, but these samples might help:

A bit of an intro to constructing storage keys and obtaining storage entries from them via a node's RPC API:
https://github.com/paritytech/polkadot-interaction-examples-rs/blob/main/src/bin/04_storage.rs

How subxt constructs storage keys and uses them to get values back from the RPC API:
https://github.com/paritytech/subxt/blob/master/subxt/src/storage.rs#L81

For the System Events storage, being a plain storage entry, it's quite easy:

Take the pallet name and storage name you're interested in as ASCII bytes , hash them using twox_128 and concatenate the results:

let mut prefix = Vec::new();
prefix.extend(sp_core::twox_128(b"System"));
prefix.extend(sp_core::twox_128(b"Events"));

Submit that to the "state_getStorage" RPC endpoint to get back the SCALE encoded bytes representing the events. This would be a call like:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "method": "state_getStorage",
  "params": [prefix_hex, block_hash]
}

Where the first param is the hex encoded prefix from (1) (for system event storage,  "0x26aa394eea5630e07c48ae0c9558cef780d41e5e16056765bc8461851072c9d7"), and the second is the hex encoded block hash, or null if you want events from the latest block.
Bear in mind that your node will only keep storage from some set number of historic blocks; you'll need to run an archive node I believe to be able to query any block hash and get back the events from it.
Comment: I think he is asking not for the "trie key" but actually the underlying rocksdb database key... which is much more difficult to generate.
Comment: Indeed, I would like to know how to calculate the rocksdb key

How to build prefixed key for rocksdb


How to pass for Langevin equation to Fokker-Planck equation?

Question: What is the procedure to pass from the description of a phenomenon made by the Langevin equation:
$$
\frac{dv}{dt}=-\frac{v}{\tau}+\sqrt{2c}\,\eta
$$
to the corresponding description with the Fokker-Planck equation?
Comment: It's the substitution itself and, moreover, how to pass from a stochastic description of the $x$ and $v$ (Langevin)  to a deterministic description of the $P(x)$ and $P(v)$ (Fokker-Planck)
Comment: What beyond the linked Wikipedia article is this question about? A substitution gives you $\partial_t p = \frac{1}{\tau}\partial_v(vp) + c\partial_v^2p$
Comment: The substitution of your equation is just a direct drop into the formula in Wikipedia, as in my previous comment. If you want $p(x)$, you'll e.g. just write the system of equations for $dx$ and $dv$, get $p(x,v)$ as a substitution to the formula on Wikipedia and integrate over $v$. As for how to derive Fokker-Planck, that's in any standard  textbook and not really a conceptual question fitting this website.
Answer: Consider a set of equations-
$$\dot{x_i}=a_i(t,\vec{x})+\xi_i(t)$$
Coordinate  $x_i$ can be $x$, $p$ and such. I na vector form it can be rewritten as -
$$\dot{\vec{x}}=\vec{a}(t,\vec{x})+\vec{\xi}(t)$$
Fokker Planck assumes the random force is whie Gaussian noise (there exist generalizations for other cases). Moreover,the random force in most cases considered as delta correlated in time -
$$\langle \xi_i(t_1)\xi_j(t_2)\rangle=2D_i\delta_{ij}\delta(t_1-t_2)$$
The equivalent Fokker-Planck is-
$$\frac{\partial \rho}{\partial t}=\underbrace{\left[-\frac{\partial}{\partial \vec{x}}\vec{a}+\frac{\partial}{\partial \vec{x}}\overleftrightarrow{D}\frac{\partial}{\partial \vec{x}}\right]}_{L_{FP}}\rho$$
Notice the reversibility of this procedure - ig you know the Fokker Planck operator you can deduce the equivalent Langevin equations.
For reference Risken's The Fokker-Planck Equation is the best but this is also quite comprehensive.


How to manage site quotas

Question: What's the best approach / process to advise users of when discussing how to keep their document libraries and sites within their site quotas? (OnPrem instance)
Answer: it is little very much open ended question. When user asked us about the quota increase, here what i do

If versionning enabled then limit it( i forced them for max 4 version)
delete the unused data(documents, sites etc)
Empty the recycle-bin.
if they are using SharePoint as storage place you may force them to different tools(if you company has)
Ask them why they need more storage.

How to manage site quotas


Is there such a thing as the philosophy of economics, and if so, can I read some texts on it?

Question: I understand that there is a philosophy behind pretty much every science, like philosophy of physics and philosophy of biology. So, what about the philosophy of economics? Is there such a thing, and if so, can I see some texts on the philosophy of economics?
Comment: Start here: [SEP, Philosophy of Economics](https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/economics), and follow the references.
Comment: economic philosophy is organized into what are referred to as *schools*. try that as a search term.
Answer: Joon Chang's excellent and accessible Economics: The User's Guide discusses many of the various schools of economics, which he regards not as completing claimants to any scientific truth — for he denies that economics is a science — but rather as representatives of different philosophical systems.
Comment: I've tried as well to edit the author's name, and I confirm that the `Ha-` prefix is somehow removed.
Comment: The author's name is Ha-Joon Chang, but for some reason SE edits it to only Joon Chang every time I publish it. Why is that?
Answer: Check out Daniel M. Hausman, Tony Lawson and Lawrence A. Boland for economics as a whole. Related to this could be the philosophy behind property and the philosophy of coercion (as they are fundamental in the meta-analysis), ranging from Robert Nozick to Karl Marx (or even some non-western cannon, though I'm not sure exactly where you could get that).
Answer: Start with Why Economists Love Robinson Crusoe:
https://www.economist.com/christmas-specials/2023/12/20/why-economists-love-robinson-crusoe
The full article is not available but here is the teaser:

The character's strangest adventure, however, is none of these. It is surely his centuries-long ramble through the literature of economics. Crusoe has appeared in Karl Marx's "Das Kapital", John Maynard Keynes's "General Theory" and Milton Friedman's Chicago lectures on "Price Theory". He has an entry in the New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. And he often washes up in economics textbooks.

I cannot find a scholarly reference that describes how the distinct famous economists describe the Robinson Crusoe economy. I would start there with further keyword search to get to the core of economic philosophy.
My informal thoughts based on recollection of reading many economic theories. - Robinson Crusoe lives alone on a remote island. He can labor to produce goods using raw materials from the land. To subsist, without increasing his wealth, Crusoe must labor to obtain the food, water, and shelter that he needs to survive. Shelter at first might be crude because Crusoe must get food, water, and perhaps make fire, and must produce a surplus of these consumption goods, before he can invest his labor to produce other goods that economists call investment goods. Karl Marx, as I recall from second hand authors, focuses on the subsistence economy where the people can provision and reproduce themselves, and can repair the wealth at the rate that it wears out, and cannot grow the wealth because there is no surplus. If there is a surplus of consumption goods then it can be distributed to provision the investment goods workers such that a portion of the workforce can spend their time making investment goods. Crusoe is the workforce so he must divide his labor whereas society can divide the labor via political interactions.
Scarcity, production, and the concept of the consumer goods or economic suprlus, is the key to understanding all political-economic reasoning in my judgment. I think Marx and a few other economists make this the focus of their analysis of the political-economic systems. Austrian economists are libertarians and their focus in both on the surplus and on the political institutions that they think will maximize liberty of individuals in society.
Investment goods would be a sturdy shelter that allows Crusoe to consume its services for long periods of time, and tools that make it easier to produce consumption goods, such as for picking fruit or carrying water or diverting the flow of water, etc. So Crusoe must devote his labor to the production of either consumption goods or investment goods according to his needs and desires and to do so he must first produce a surplus of consumptions goods. This is the fable or story of one man making economic decisions when faced with scarcity, raw materials, and the capacity for labor and economic investment. Introduce another person onto the island and the model for the one-man economy is the same except for the politics of how to cooperate or compete over the resources, and how to decide how to create the consumption goods surplus, and how to distribute the surplus among the workers or land owners or private propery owners, etc.
Socialism is the idea that the people own all the land and capital in common so no private property owners can exclude the people from participating in the production and distribution of goods. But then there must be a political system to divide the labor between production of investment and consumption goods so socialist politics becomes the problem or the solution depending on the perspective of the speculating political philosopher.
Controversies in economic theory arise in part over the role of government (social institutions) include finance or financial relations. The way I try to simplify these controversies is to imagine society as a unit that I call The Company Town. In this model everyone who works outside the household sector for wages is paid by The Company Town. So TCT pays the wage bill in society. Somehow The Company Town decides how to provide public and private goods including the mix of investment goods and consumption goods. Households pay taxes to The Company Town and buy all their goods from The Company Town either paying back their wages, reducing their savings, or by taking loans from loan officers (bankers) who are also employed by The Company Town. This model is drastically simplified but it shows how finance relations work in the modern financial economy where we have both private banking and public finance relations. Economic models of the complex financial system are impractical but the Federal Reserve tries to keep a statistical accounting model for financial instruments in the flow of funds accounts. Philosophical debates in economics revolve around the role and nature of finance and the role and nature of government.


Replacing limit screw on R8050 Di2 front derailleur

Question: I recently bought a second hand R8050 Di2 front derailleur as part of my slow migration to going Di2. However, having got all the bits together and started building up I noticed that the H-limit screw is been completely rounded, and can't turn it all all.
I've looked for this part, and most everywhere is showing them as not in stock.
I'm wondering though, if any of the other limit screws from shimano would work for these, as they're listed as M4 x 8 which is the same as the 'official'. They all look the same to me. Can anyone shed any light on this, and can I pop into a hardware store and get a bag of these type of bolt or a link to where I can purchased them.
SJS Shimano M4 x 8 parts
Answer: Any M4x8mm screw will work. I prefer using an allen head in these cases. The head on an allen head is less likely to be stripped than a phillips head. Apply some Anti-Seize or grease to the threads to help eliminate corrosion. The screw should be available at a local hardware or big box home improvement center. Your local hardwarestore will likely sell you a single screw. These are small screws so get two "one to use and one to lose", just in case you drop it.


How to prove that the sum of the areas of triangles $ABR$ and $ CDR$ triangle is equal to the $ADR$?

Question: In the convex quadrilateral $ABCD$, which is not a parallelogram, the line passing through the centers of the diagonals $AC$ and $BD$ intersects the segment $BC$ at $R$. How to prove that the sum of the areas of triangles $ABR$ and $CDR$ is equal to the area of triangle $ADR$? I have no idea how to do this. Can this be proved with simple geometry?
Comment: Is it a true property this time ? Do you see what I mean ?
Comment: I think that $ABCD$ is not a kite either.
Comment: @maxkor I don't understand "the line passing through the centers of the diagonal intersects the segment $BC$ at $R$".
Comment: @WeijieChen I've attached the draw
Comment: This is a good question. It took me one week's time to figure out the solution. After it has been proven, there will be one more (a much simpler)  way to find half the area of a quadrilateral.
Answer: This is tricky.
We shall use an easy fact that if we are given fixed points $Y,Z$, and a variable point $X$ that changes linearly, then $[XYZ]$ changes linearly, where $[\mathcal{F}]$ denotes the oriented area of $\mathcal{F}$.
Let $M,N$ be midpoints of $AC, BD$. Using the fact we know that the function $MN \ni X \mapsto [ABX]+[CDX]$ is linear. However $$[ABN]+[CDN]=\frac 12 [ABD] + \frac 12 [CDB] = \frac 12 [ABCD]$$ and $$[ABM]+[CDM]=\frac12 [ABC] + \frac 12 [CDA] = \frac 12 [ABCD]$$ so this function is actually constant. In particular $$[ABR]+[CDR]=\frac 12 [ABCD].$$ This implies that $$[DAR] = [ABCD]-([ABR]+[CDR])=[ABCD] - \frac 12 [ABCD]=\frac 12[ABCD] = [ABR]+[CDR].$$
Answer: Let H and K be the midpoints of AC and BD respectively.
To prove the required, I will break the proof into several claims.
Claim #1: Every quadrilateral can be bisected (by a straight line) into two halves that are equal in area.
After joining AK and CK, ABCD is now divided into 4 triangles with [red] = [pink] and [blue] = [green].
Then, [pink] + [blue] = [white] + [green]. (See figure 1.)

Construction: (1) Draw KE // AC cutting AB at E; and (2) Let CE cut AK at J. By "equal base, equal altitude" principle, [⊿AEJ] = [⊿CKJ]. This means we can transform ⊿AEJ to fit the position of ⊿CKJ such that [⊿BEC] = [quad AECD]. (See figure 3.)

After adding ⊿RAD, the next goal is to fill its area by pieces of quad AECD. ⊿RAD is partly filled by Quad APUD because it is common to both. Note that [⊿AEP] = [⊿TUC] + [quad QPUT]. The latter is used to cover part of ⊿RAD while ⊿TUC is to be connected to ⊿CUD to form the new ⊿TCD.
The remaining question is "will [⊿TCD] = [⊿RQT]?" We are done if we can prove DQ // BC.
Claim #2: BVDC is a parallelogram.

Further construction needed: (1) Extend CK to V such that AV // HK; (2) Join BV.
Applying intercept theorem to ⊿CAV, we have CK = KV. This and with the given BK = KD make BVDC a parallelogram.
Answer: This link gives a great visual representation of this proof.
https://www.mathsisfun.com/geometry/quadrilaterals-interactive.html.
Analytically, I created a complicated proof by using the equation base*height/2 = area_of_a_triangle and cos(angle)*height = base for each of ADR & CDR & ADR and solved for a common relationship.  I recommend finding another way.
Comment: I have clicked on the link you provide, but one falls on a "naked" quadrilateral.
Answer: I am sorry, I withdraw (not completely ; see at the bottom) what I have said. I had read "line $AB$" instead of "segment $AB$".
Nevertheless, I think that, instead of "the line passing..." one should have found "in the case where the line passing through the midpoints $I$ et $J$ intersects segment $[BC]$, then ...".
I have looked for a geometric proof, but found none. Here is an analytical proof.
Take coordinate axis such that $B(-1,0)$ and $C(1,0)$ (without loss of generality). Let $A(a,b)$ and $D(c,d)$. Let $R(r,0)$.
The collinearity condition between $R$ and $I,J$ is
$$\begin{vmatrix}r&\frac{a+1}{2}&\frac{c-1}{2}\\
0&\frac b2&\frac d2\\ 1&1&1\end{vmatrix}=0 \ \ \Rightarrow \ \ r=\dfrac{b+d+ad-bc}{2(d-b)} \ \ (1)$$
Now, it is a matter of (rather simple) computation to check that the difference of areas:
$$\delta=A(ABR)+A(CDR)-A(ADR)$$ is zero. Indeed,
$$\delta=\frac12det(\vec{RB},\vec{RA})+\frac12det(\vec{RC},\vec{RD})-\frac12det(\vec{RD},\vec{RA})$$
which is equivalent (after multiplication by $2$) to:
$$2\delta=\begin{vmatrix}a-r&-1-r\\b&0\end{vmatrix}+\begin{vmatrix}1-r&c-r\\0&d\end{vmatrix}+\begin{vmatrix}a-r&c-r\\b&d\end{vmatrix}$$
Expanding previous expression and replacing by the value of $r$ given by (1)   gives $\delta=0$, as desired.
Note that a condition of existence of $R$ is $b \neq d$, i.e., trapezoids are not accepted (one can check indeed that, in such a case, line $IJ$ is parallel to $BC$).
Remark: The result, true for $R \in [BC]$, is no longer true if the line joining the midpoints of the diagonal intersect line BC outside segment [BC], if we continue to work with unsigned areas.
Here is a counterexample.
Let $A(0,2), B(1,0),C(2,0),D(3,1)$.
This gives for the midpoints: $I(1,1)$ and $J(2,1/2)$. Thus $R(3,0)$.
The areas are $A(ABR)=2, A(CDR)=1/2$ whereas $A(ADR)=3/2$ instead of $5/2$.
Comment: According to your example, $R$ is not in the **segment** $BC$, unlike what OP asked.
Comment: I also tried something like that, but failed, I think this time the statement could be true.