How can I creat this workspace in UV editor?

Question: I would like to create a similar workflow. I've downloaded a file from a popular free 3d Model website, so I noticed that I like the workflow, in the file, many objects, not matter the shaper they are, you can match the geometry in the UV place, notice that there are just rectangle with texture on it. I used to use texture paint and many tools in UV, even texture atlasing, but I would like to make this 4 funny stuff.
Comment: Why not paste your images directly here? Site like the one used just load as blanks my side of the globe...
Answer: I'm not totally sure what you are asking, but, my best guess is that your the image shown is just one texture and the UV maps are just moved to cover one section of the texture. You can grab, resize, etc. within UV edit mode by just grabbing the points.
Comment: Yeah, I use old Photoshop 10 then move it to blender to open the actual window and get a texture to it there are many videos that I've watched, but I'll try to explain If you are you using blender render then you have to click the mesh, make it a shadeless in the materials tab, then in the texture tab beside it hit new, open(open your texture), unwrap your mesh (If you don't know how then watch a video) and then either use the top left of the blender screen where it says file, help and such, just to the right it says default change it too UV editing and then open you texture in that window.
Comment: yes I noticed that if I grab or edit the geometry in the uv editor I can create every objects and match the uvs coordinate with the texture, But I want to create the texture , I do not know how to put these textures on the canvas. Perphaps photoshop create the texture and then load it ?
Comment: ok , yes I know the process of unwrapping and some tooles, but I ve never consider photoshop, I mean, I use photoshop for painting or make some texture, seamless, clone or even paint the UV layout, but ok I am going to do the texture in photoshop and then, export that image in my Uv layout and finally move, grab and place the UV coordinates in the uv editor.
Answer: I could recommend you try watch Game Asset Creation available on Blender Cloud. It covers a number of approaches from adjusting existing textures to drawing directly on meshes. The combination of multiple bakes, and organizing UV's I found particularly helpful. There are some free video. From the preview images you can also get an idea what is covered in the other chapters. Certainly more information than could fit in a reply here...


How to adjust metal cabinet round pins?

Question:
How to adjust metal cabinet round pins? Located inside office table cabinet
Comment: Ten to one you just pull them out and place in another hole.
Answer: Yank them out, shove them in.
Depending on the fit and age (or how long they've been sitting in the same hole), you might need a pair of pliers to grab them firmly enough, if fingers alone won't budge them.
Comment: Yep.  Just grab 'em with some pliers and they should come out.  But I've found that sometime they may need a bit of twisting to convince them to loosen.

How to adjust metal cabinet round pins?


What is the logic behind these design decisions regarding difficulty levels?

Question:
In some games you are unable to play on the harder difficulties before complete it on a lower difficulty. Why?
Achievements are popular. In some games you do not get an achievement for completing the game on the hardest difficulty (e.g. Bethesda RPG's) but for just about everything else, Why?
Comment: In Bethesda games you can set the difficulty to pretty much anything no matter where you are. How do you check if the player completed the game on the hardest difficulty? What if he changed it accidentally and left it on medium, but he didn't kill anything?
Comment: @Bálint This could be worked around somehow (e.g. ask if player really wishes to change Difficulty and spoil his achievement).
Answer: First of all: Why someone made a specific design decision is pure speculation. We can not read the designer's mind. Also, do not assume that every design decision you see in a popular game is necessarily a good design decision. You can find a couple of design flaws in every game. The best games are those which compensate for them by having plenty of greatness in other regards.
Regarding unlocking a harder difficulty after the player completed the game on a lower one, possible motivations can be:

It prevents frustration. The hardest difficulties are usually balanced for players who already completed the game, already mastered all the game mechanics and are now looking for a proper challenge of their mastery. The designers believe that a new player will be overburdened by this challenge and will just be frustrated by the experience.
It is a cheap way to increase long-term motivation. The player won't really feel like they completed the game before they completed it twice: Once on normal difficulty and once on the now available hardest difficulty.
It is a reward for completing the game. When the player gets something new to do after completing a goal, that's a form of positive reinforcement.

Regarding achievements for completing the game on different difficulty levels: Bethesda games usually allow the player to change the difficulty level at any time. They even encourage that: When the player dies a lot while on a higher difficulty, they will often get a loading screen hint suggesting to try a lower difficulty. But when you want the player to continually adjust the difficulty to their liking, you can't really give a reward anymore for completing the game on a specific difficulty. Not just because that would go against your design decision, but also because it now gets hard to measure how much of the run was played on what difficulty.
Comment: If I recall correctly, on Splinter Cell Blacklist we gave achievements for our top two difficulties, even though you could change difficulty whenever you wanted. The fact that we had a discrete mission/level structure made that easier — we could credit the player for the lowest difficulty they used in the entire mission, and then award the achievement once they completed each mission without going below a given threshold. Tough to do in an open world — if I drop my difficulty for one uneventful errand, have I scuttled my shot at the achievement? How do I redo that bit without starting over?


Is any source code available that has an Active X control hosted in WPF?

Question: I  am looking for some source code and a project to download and look at that has an Active X control hosting WPF.  I can not find any source code anywhere on the net.
I can not add a WPF resource the usual way in an Active X control.  I have to add it manually to the reference section.
Answer: Not sure if this is even possible. I would check out WPF browser applications. That may be a better solution for you given that if you are going to be running an active x control with WPF the user will need 1) Internet Explorer and 2) .net 3.0+ installed locally. A WPF Browser application will work with IE if the user has .net 3.0+ installed and will work with IE and FireFox if the user has .net 3.5+ installed. Check out WPF Broswer Apps here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa970060.aspx
Answer: It should be possible, although I don't have the code for it off-hand. You can create an HwndSource, which allows a normal window to host WPF controls, in your ActiveX controls. Then it is only a matter of adding your WPF UI to that window.


difference between two web works website

Question: http://www.blackberry.com/developers/docs/widgetapi/
http://www.blackberry.com/developers/docs/webworks/api/playbook/
can anyone point out y thy got two websites ? ..
does webworks support both ??
Answer: The first link redirects to the second one.
The widget api was a way develop using web tools and the traditional Java SDK. Now all their efforts are with WebWorks which accomplished the same.
You can use web tools with WebWorks directly, like JQuery or Google Gears, and you can still create ports to acces the Java SDK in you mobile phone (there is no Java SDK for PlayBook yet).
With WebWorks, building apps for the Blackberry devices is like building standard WebApps. Knowledge of Java is not needed.


Why the error message "transaction too large" appears when I commit a transaction in TiDB?

Question: When I commit a transaction that contains 100,000 rows in TiDB, the error message "transaction too large" appears. What is the limit for the transaction size in TiDB? Can I modify the limit using a certain parameter?
Answer: As distributed transactions need to conduct two-phase commit and the bottom layer performs Raft replication, if a transaction is very large, the commit process would be quite slow and the following Raft replication flow is thus struck. To avoid this problem, the transaction size is limited:

Each Key-Value entry is no more than 6MB
The total number of Key-Value entry is no more than 300,000 rows
The total size of Key-Value entry is no more than 100MB

It is not allowed to modify the limit.


Does Factory Reset reset Xposed Modifications, especially on Note 3 SM-N900 Exynos?

Question: or I need other steps to RESTORE Xposed and everything back to like I first receive it without the need to Flash with Odin. Because I either hard or softbricked my device using it! I am scared of it now. I rooted using Kingo Android ROOT for further info.. :) I want to reset because my device kinda laggy and I can not disable some Device Admin.. So, it is kinda messed up.. I want to start over with no Odin at all?
Comment: My device it OK, I just want to restore things up. No, I didnt create backup ROM with CWM. Yes, CWM is there..
Answer: Xposed will survive, and your root should as well. But you'll need to reinstall the Xposed installer app and any xposed modules you had installed before you factory reset.
EDIT: So, to clarify, xposed modifies /system/bin/app_process to "hook" in to android. This modification is not touched by a factory reset. Nor is the su binary. However, the Xposed installer app (which is responsible for the upgrading of the app_process modifications), and any xposed modules will be cleared.
Comment: I'm not sure about the wording here: Xposed will survive, but you'll need to reinstall. So in a sense it doesn't really survive. It can be used, but must be reinstalled. Most, if not all of the modules can be backed up with Titanium Backup or others, and set to how they were, after reinstallation to be 100% sure. You're not wrong, I'm just not sure that it really 'survives' it just doesn't horribly die!
Comment: Yep, I agree with RossC. I think what happen here is that the XPOSED framework is installed inside the SYSTEM. THEREFORE THE FRAMEWORK IS NOT UNINSTALLED HOWEVER THE USER INSTALLED APPS IS REMOVED LIKE THE MODULES AND THE XPOSED ITSELF.


How to get item details of abandoned cart?

Question: I need to add a new column to show item names (comma seperated) in Abandoned cart grid. Which tables to be join with the parent collection to get item names ?
Any suggestions will be appreciated.
Answer: Because abandoned carts pull from the sales_flat_quote table you should be able to join on sales_flat_quote_item and use the name field:
Comment: Thanks for the quick reply. How can I get products comma separately ? What is the obeserver event should I use to do this?
Comment: philwinkle, do you have any link which explains the relation between the products and the database tables? or is this can be known through pure experience only?


Max proximity for dinosaur dossier unlock

Question: Last night I tamed a philomia but was far enough away that when it became tame the dossier didn't appear on the screen. How close must you be to receive credit for taming the dinosaur?
Answer: I don't have an exact numerical value as there is no way to measure or know that in-game.
As a rough guideline, from personal experience and observation, I would say you ought to be no further away than about 30-40 feet max to be safe (and claim the dossier entry).


Solve $\tan^2(x)+\tan(x)=2$ for $0\leq x\leq 2\pi$

Question: I am trying to solve the trigonometric equation
$$\tan^2(x)+\tan(x)=2$$ for $0\leq x\leq 2\pi$. At first glance, I try to rearrange the trigonometric equation into something more manageable such that
\begin{align}
\frac{\sin^2(x)}{\cos^2(x)}+\frac{\sin(x)}{\cos(x)}&=2 \\
\sin^2(x)+\sin(x)\cos(x)=&2\cos^2(x).
\end{align}
I do not see how to progress from here. I have also tried using the Pythagorean identity $\tan^2(x)=\sec^2(x)-1$, but this did not seem to help. Any suggestions are appreciated.
Comment: $y=\tan x$ satisfies $y^2+y=2$.
Answer: Unfortunately, the algebraic manipulations you have tried so far do not help much. When solving trigonometric equations, it helps to be on the lookout for 'disguised quadratics'. The equation $\tan^2x+\tan x=2$ is actually a quadratic equation in $\tan x$. This might be clearer if we set $y=\tan x$: then we have $y^2+y=2$, which is equivalent to $y^2+y-2=0$. From here, you can solve this quadratic equation as normal, which gives you the possible values of $y$. Then, by substituting $\tan x$ back in for $y$, you can find the possible values of $x$ in the range $0\le x\le 2\pi$.
Answer: Let $u = \tan(x)$
It follows that
$$\tan^2(x) + \tan(x) = 2 \iff u^2 + u - 2 = 0 \iff (u-1)(u + 2) = 0$$
$$\therefore \tan(x) = -2 \; \text{or} \; \tan(x) = 1$$
$$\therefore  x = \pi n - \tan^{-1}(2)\; \text{or} \; x = \frac{\pi}{4} + \pi n, \; n \in \mathbb{Z}$$
In the given domain $0 \le x \le 2\pi$, we have
$$x = \boxed{\pi - \tan^{-1}(2)} \approx 2.034$$
$$x = \boxed{2\pi - \tan^{-1}(2)} \approx 5.176$$
$$x = \boxed{\frac{\pi}{4}}$$
$$x = \boxed{\frac{5\pi}{4}}$$
$\blacksquare$


How to add apache2 , php and mySql to eclipse?

Question: I'm using Ubuntu 14.04 ,i'm new to Ubuntu,I already installed apache2 , php and mySql . Now I want to add these to eclipse so that I can work on this IDE . Please help me I will be glad if you provide commands to add or i can add using application.
also please suggest some of the developers tools and softwares for web development.
Answer: You do not add these to eclipse - they run independently as servers (apache/php and mysql)
Download and install eclipse specifically built for web development from PHP Development Tools.
Comment: Thanks for your reply. I did exactly what you suggested.Now how can work on eclipse ? How to write my code in php so that I can open it on my server which is installed on my system ? please can u show a single example ?
Comment: little google research shows this: http://www.phpeclipse.com/ i am sure you'll find plenty of resources around. If you lack theory of client-server model there is a multitude of books covering php programming subject. There are many courses teaching this subject too. Simply put your question has no simple and easy answer you need to spend some time learning.  Luckily php/eclipse is simple programming system: in eclipse you open folder from where your apache server serves files, you create php files in that folder and run them in browser by navigating to your file.


Can I fork Linux source code, change it around to suit my desires, and claim it as my own kernel without doing any of the originating work?

Question: Is it acceptable form to take Linux kernel source from any version, change it, claim it is mine, and then distribute it for monetary gain? In such a case open-source software is entitled to a sort of "grab, change, sell" mechanism in which anyone can just tinker with something to look different from the original source, make it work their way, and sell it as if they made it entirely themselves. Isn't that illegal?
Comment: You should read this: http://www.novell.com/coolsolutions/feature/1532.html.
Answer: The Linux kernel is licensed under the Free Software Foundation's GPL (General Public License) version 2. It is a copyleft license; basically, this means you are free to make copies of the original or modified kernel and sell them at any price, but the license requires you to give the same rights to the recipients: They may copy your modified version and pass it on, without paying you.
You are also required to give them the source code of your modifications upon request, not just a binary. Under the GPL, you must also retain the copyright notices by the original authors, which prevents you from claiming you wrote everything yourself.
There are permissive licenses as well. Most of them have some form of attribution requirement; but apart from that, you are free to make proprietary forks of software under permissive licenses.
Answer: I advice you first read this Wikipedia article about free software licenses. It should give you a good overview about how free licenses work. The Linux kernel is licenses under GPLv2.
Another good page about this, is the licenses page at opensource.org. There is an FAQ, which pretty much should sort your questions, as it is written in almost the same kind of nomenclature.
Comment: would you mind explaining more on what these resources do and why do you recommend these as answering the question asked? ["Link-only answers"](http://meta.stackoverflow.com/tags/link-only-answers/info "what's this") are not quite welcome at Stack Exchange


Is it allowed to use a sill plate with a thickness greater than 2"?

Question: Can a sill plate be larger than 2" thick?  I installed a footing to carry a point load.  I will be installing 3 LVL's on top of this and then trimmers to support a header.  So I need the need to get my footing up to the bottom of the existing  joists.  I am a couple of inches short.  Can I use 4 X 8, or even rip down 6X to get to the height I need?  Would I be better off using 2X and furring up with PT plywood?
Comment: What's the outcome here? Were you able to use Lee Sam's answer? If so, give it a check mark so others know that this is resolved. If not, please write up an answer telling us what you ended up doing an give that one a check mark instead.
Answer: Yes, sill plates can be thicker than standard 2x material.
Sill plates are used to transfer the wood framing to the concrete foundation for 1) shear, 2) gravity loading, 3) seismic loading,
That transfer of load is usually fastened with bolts (sometimes metal clips poured into the concrete stem wall). Just make sure the bolts (and washers) are large enough that they don't bend.
In your case, the solid member is better than the multiple built-up members, but either would work, just make sure the vertical post connection is made to the member connected to the concrete...not just the built-up members.
Btw, only the member touching the concrete needs to be treated.


Which touchscreens do you prefer for flash kiosk work?

Question: Our company does a lot of flash work and occasionally offline / kiosk applications.  I'd like to recommend a touchscreen to our client but don't know enough about the market.
Anyone have any good experiences with any particular model of touchscreen?  Thanks!
Answer: ELO Touchscreens are the best, out of the few vendors I've used.
Answer: There is several technology of touch screens in the  market,as i know and we are using in our company there  two more famous are resistance based and capacitance based,
as my experience :
resistance based are easier to work with ,less push ,and even you can use a pen, but less life,
capacitance based are some hard to work for persons with large finger-prints or hard dry fingers, but more life


How many pages are required to be in each chapter?

Question: I'm writing a book right now. The chapter that I just finished seems as if it's done but it's only four pages. Should I leave it as it is, or does it need more pages?
Answer: The length of the chapter should only be as long as it needs to be. Think of each chapter as a story within a story, of sorts - or a frame narrative - wherein each chapter has its own set of events but they all connect into the larger, overall story.
One of my chapters, for example, is almost twenty pages long, but what happens in that chapter is all one series of events that wouldn't make sense to split into multiple chapters, unless I could find different themes or ideas to split it into.
If what happens in that four-page chapter of yours is all one continuous series of events, then I'd say to leave it as is, or if you feel it's missing something then add as much as you need.
Answer: There is no quantity of pages that must be in a chapter. If you have a conclusive chapter that is one page long, that wouldn't be unusual. If you have a 50-page chapter, that might also be fine.
It really depends on the story and the genre. Try not to make it too short (less than half a page) or too long (greater than 30 pages). Of course, there is no hard-fast limit, so no need to worry.
Answer: There isn't really much standard on how long it should be or how many pages a chapter should be. The average amount of pages 1 chapter has in a book is 8-10. But this is your book and you can organize it all you want; Each chapter must at least show something in the story to progress the plot or the narrative.
Since the story is what matters more.
I've read a few books with each one having numerous amount of chapters and words; one has 8 pages for a chapter, but then it has even more pages at the next chapters. Simply there's not much requirements on how many page or words for a chapter. One book has 12 chapters then it expands to more pages for a chapter.
I found this blog, it might be helpful for you.
https://wordcounter.net/blog/2017/02/15/102944_how-many-words-chapter.html#:~:text=Chapter%20Length%20Rule%201%3A%20There,sit%20up%20and%20take%20note.
Answer: The length of your chapters is not that important.
The advice, by Unkown Brain, to create chapters with a cohesive story element, section or similar is good.
However, in some cases, the length of the chapter can be used to set the pacing/tempo of the text.
Though, the length of your scenes, paragraphs, and even sentences is more important for tempo.
Shorter chapters, scenes, paragraphs, and sentences will increase the pace, while longer ones will lower it.
Although, the biggest factor for tempo is the content of the scenes. Is a lot happening fast or does the text pause to delve into descriptions of settings, people, etc?
Here is some reading material on pacing:

7 Quick Tips for Mastering Pacing in Your Story
How to Master Narrative Pacing: 7 Tips to Help Pace Your Writing
10 Ways to Master Pacing in Writing and Keep Your Readers Riveted
Answer: There's no law or strongly-enforced convention about how long a chapter HAS to be.
If all your chapters are just a page or two long, you might want to group them together. If your whole book is just three chapters and they're each 100 pages long, you might want to break them up. But whether your typical chapter is 10 pages or 20 or 30, nobody is going to care.
I recall reading a book once where there was a chapter that was just one sentence long. And I can't remember what it said now, but I remember at the time thinking, Yeah, the author is trying to emphasize this one very important sentence by setting it off in its own chapter.
Comment: I don't know if it's the book you were thinking of but, chapter 11 of [_Through The Looking-Glass_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Through_the_Looking-Glass) consists entirely of the sentence fragment "— and it really _was_ a kitten, after all."
Answer: I'm writing a book too. I do find it hard to search for a good website telling me how many pages. I understand, you want rules to follow. A simple estimate. Well, rules are rules. And I don't enjoy giving rules. But if you're willing to find some, I've got a few that I try. But it really depends on the type of book you're writing.

Nonfiction: 8-10 (pictures, headings, and bulletpoints included)
Mystery or thriller: This is a difficult one, maybe 10-15
Adventure: This one depends on the information you're willing to give. I'd personally say 7-9 or 8-10.
4: Exciting. An exciting book isn't necessarily an 'adventure' book. Divergent is a great example. Dystopian books, which is a book set in an apocalypse timeline, are great too. Maybe 5-10.

A question that most people ask me are: What is a normal chapter length? I wouldn't really love to tell you that. I don't like to make rules. At all. Really, it depends on the information that you give. But I know, like me, most people have been searching forever for answers, so sure. I will give you my estimate:
Any other book, still depending on the information . . .
Little information, tiny events (that might still be important) and little key hooks, would probably be 3-8 pages.
Medium information, new characters, key events, small problems or new character traits would most probably be 5-8 pages.
Meh-sized information, multiple new characters, information that will be needed for future chapters and huge hooks (the size of regular chapters) would be 8-15 pages.
Tons of information, about four new characters, gigantic events you can't miss, information you will 100% need (this is rarely used in books) might be 15-30 pages.
A part. A part is a section of a book. For example, Wings of Fire. Some of the books contain about 2-4 parts. The parts consist of chapters. A part may have about eight chapters.
Personally, if you were creating any book, with four pages you would have medium information. Great job!! Writing a book is not easy!!
Thank you so much!! I really hope I was the website you were looking for!!


Can a Harbinger use Dark Claim on an animated object?

Question: In the case of animated objects, is there any reason a Harbinger wouldn't be able to use Dark Claim? Party members are trying to claim that since animated objects are not sentient I cannot claim them.
Comment: I think they just want to know if an *animated object* is a valid target to Claim
Comment: After doing the research, I kind of have to ask: Is your harbinger PC—because of this ability or for other reasons—often outshining the other PCs?
Answer: So far as I can tell, there's no mention of a harbinger being unable to use on a nonsentient or nonsapient creature the supernatural ability dark claim.1 To rephrase this positively: So far as I can tell, a harbinger can use the supernatural ability dark claim on any opponent
For example, the ability maneuvers readied, in part, says

[F]or the harbinger to recover maneuvers, she must tap into her sorcerous malice by activating her dark claim class feature; the harbinger recovers a single expended maneuver whenever she Claims a creature, and she recovers a number of expended maneuvers equal to her harbinger initiation modifier (minimum 2) whenever a creature she has Claimed is reduced to 0 or less hit points. (Path of War Expanded 8)

And the ability dark claim says

[A] harbinger gains the ability to reach out with her sorcerous malice, marking foes as her own. As a swift action, the harbinger may Claim an opponent that she can see…. A harbinger can have a maximum number of creatures Claimed equal to her harbinger initiation modifier (minimum 1), and may not Claim a creature she has already Claimed until or unless the Claim expires.… [T]he harbinger automatically knows the position of creatures she has Claimed.…  (ibid.)

(Nonstandard capitalization as per the original.) Thus there's no mention in these basic abilities of the harbinger needing to Claim a sapient creature to receive these abilities' benefits. In fact, according to the descriptive text, the harbinger brings to bear her own "sorcerous malice" upon her opponent, and what kind of opponent is irrelevant.
To be thorough, later harbinger class features that are tied to the harbinger having a Claim on an opponent also don't mention any limitations on the kind of opponent:

The supernatural ability bleak prophecy at level 12 causes those creatures that the harbinger Claims to gain the condition shaken. While the typical animated object, for instance, is immune to that condition, so are many creatures, including any typical level 3 or higher paladin, making this hollow evidence of sapience being necessary for a harbinger to Claim a creature.
The supernatural ability dark murmur at level 13 sees the harbinger no longer provoke attacks of opportunity for her movement from creatures that she Claims. Why? The description says, "Those claimed by the harbinger find her as hard to catch as rumor itself" (9), which to this reader sounds like code for Because it's cool rather than, for instance, Because the creature that the harbinger Claimed views the harbinger as the specter of death, it hesitates to strike the harbinger lest the harbinger retaliate and slay it (perhaps implying that a creature without an Intelligence score might be immune to the Claim as the creature may not even understand what death is)… or, y'know, whatever.

None of Path's feats that have as one of their prerequisites The ability to claim creatures or the dark claim ability specify that a creature that the harbinger Claims must be sapient. No maneuvers even mention that a harbinger must Claim a target creature, much less that the creature be sapient. To be extra thorough, I searched Path for the word intelligence, and while it appears several times, the word intelligence does not appear in a context that limits the creatures a harbinger can use the dark claim ability against. It's difficult to prove a negative—and, to be clear, I've not strayed beyond Path of War Expanded—, but I find no evidence of the other players' claims. Likewise,—to be super thorough—the term mindless appears only in the context of the supernatural ability hearten the mindless that can be gained from the conviction class feature of the zealot.
With all this in mind, I really don't know where the other players got the idea that a harbinger can't claim a nonsapient creature. The other two Path of War classes have a particular alternative way of recovering expended maneuvers—the mystic by surging, the zealot by aiding another—, and the dark claim ability is the harbinger's. Denying the harbinger this mechanic weakens a harbinger for—so far as I can tell—no good reason.
I suggest that if the other players remain unconvinced that you have them try to view the dark claim ability not as an external effect but an internal one that's unique to the harbinger. The harbinger does not, for example, bestow upon the opponent the condition Claimed (which isn't a thing anyway), but, instead, the harbinger Claims a creature—not You have been Claimed! but I Claim you!—, and it's that act of "sorcerous malice" on the part of the harbinger that empowers her and that—at level 12 and higher—scares the crap out of those opponents… if they aren't, like, animated objects or level 3 or higher paladins or other creatures that are immune to fear, of course.

1 Path refers repeatedly in its descriptive text to sapient creatures but doesn't mention sentient creatures. Further, by my reading, Path associates no mechanics with being sapient. In context, it seems to employ sapient to mean possessing an Intelligence score of at least 3, the minimum Intelligence score in Pathfinder for the possession a language and, for instance, to avoid being handled or pushed by the skill Handle Animal. However, the Pathfinder rules don't seem to use the term sapient at all, using instead sentient and using that word to mean possessing an Intelligence score, like most creatures from a lizard to a solar do as opposed to possessing Intelligence as a nonability like the typical animated object, giant spider, or skeleton does. In other words, if the other players are objecting based on sapience or sapient then their objections lack a mechanical foundation, and if they're objecting based on sentience or sentient then Path doesn't even use those terms.
Answer:
They're hostile creatures, they can be claimed.

(Jade Ripley, author of the harbinger, personal communication May 26, 2020)
There was no mistake, oversight, or otherwise involved here: it is fully intended that the harbinger can Claim any hostile creature, period.
Answer: Assuming you are fighting said object, yes you can Claim non-sapients*
Dark Claim has "specific" (really, non-specific) targeting requirements; you must consider them an enemy.

As a swift action, the harbinger may Claim an opponent that she can see...

Other portions of the ability refer to Creatures, which is a game-term in Pathfinder

A harbinger can have a maximum number of creatures Claimed...  may not Claim a creature she has already Claimed... (etc)

However, even non-sapient things (such as animated objects) are "creatures" in Pathfinder. Specifically, they are Construct creatures.

*It usually goes without saying, but the GM (not other party members) has the right and responsibility to interpret the rules in a way that they deem fun and fair. Usually, this means they will agree that Dark Claim works fine on all creatures including Constructs.
However, a small number of GMs may adjudicate (for the same reasons the other player had, as an example) that there must be something to Claim that non-sapients don't have (e.g. an identity or soul). If you have concerns about this type of ruling, I strongly recommend talking to your GM in an open way outside of game time.
Comment: What would be "realistic" about Claim not working on constructs? The feature doesn't interact with a mind or soul in any apparent way; it really seems to me like it more exists in the harbinger's head than anywhere else, a kind of "dibs" recognized by the universe but not necessarily by the target. And making Claim not work on certain targets would certainly ruin the harbinger class, so while a GM certainly is authorized to make such a change, it'd be a mistake to do so.
Comment: That seems to be the crux of the question; if someone were to read into the context of the class and think the target needed "something" to Claim... it *could* be read that way in an RP heavy game. And I agree with you that it shouldn't (hence the rest of the answer), but I felt that it bore mentioning.
Comment: "It usually goes without saying, but..." strongly indicates that you consider this a reasonable, if not *expected*, houserule here, which comes across strongly as an endorsement. If you wouldn't normally mention it—and I agree it doesn't usually add anything to an answer—why are you here? And if you think "it shouldn't," it seems especially strange to raise the subject and then *not* warn against it.
Comment: I have no clue how you read it that way; it is intended to be seen as "In a small but not insignificant number of cases...". I'll try to rewrite it for people who think more like you than me


convert time to 12hr format

Question: Please tell me how to convert time to 12 hr format..
I have a string which i have converted to date but it is in 24 hr format....
Answer: You could use the 24 hour clock format instead of the 12 hour format. So use a NSDateFormatter with H in the format string. Using one of the predefined formats will end up using your systems localization which probably is the 12 hour format.
NSDateFormatter *inputFormatter = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
[inputFormatter setDateFormat:@"HH:mm"];

another solution is presented here using regex:
24hr to 12hr time convert, insert character to string
Answer: considering you have an hour int named time...
if (time>12)
time=time-12;
Answer: When you say you've converted it to a date, what do you mean? Do you mean you have it in an NSDate object? If so, the date is not in 24hr date format. NSDate does not concern itself with how the date will look on-screen.
The formatting comes from your localisation settings. Which is how it should be. I don't want times in 12hr format any more than you want them in 24hr.
But to directly answer the question, you may have to write your own formatting code if you want to override the defaults. I had to do this to work around bugs in NSDateFormatter when I received dates from a third party data source.
Answer: To change the date format from 12 to 24 hours or from 24 to 12 simply change hh:mm to HH:mm format where h is for 12 hours and H is for 24 hours.
Remember to change your location.
NSDateFormatter *df = [[NSDateFormatter alloc] init];
    [df setDateFormat:@"HH:mm"];

convert time to 12hr format


AWS, RDS. restoring instance from snapshot stucks in pending-apply in Option Group for hours

Question: Please help me to understand what am I doing wrong.
I'm trying to restore db instance from snapshot.
Seems like restoring happens fast but modifying phase gets stuck for hours.
As I can see it cannot apply Option Group for new instance - it gets stuck with status Pending-Apply for hours.
As I understand it should take only minutes to complete restoring.
Answer: Actually it didn't get stuck. It was converting storage type from IOPS to GP2. It's time consuming operation. When I left storage type without changes restoring operation took about 15 minutes.
Answer: Have you read the log files? what kind of database is? I had a similar issue with mysql and it was because a innodb datafile was corrupt. I solved it forcing to recover it setting the parameter force_innodb_recovery=1, but be careful    because you can lost data.
Comment: Yes it is mysql and logs are clean - no error messages.


Remove glued down carpet before installing LVP or install on top of carpet?

Question: I have carpet that was glued down on a plywood subfloor. Should I lay LVP on top of the carpet or remove the carpet?
If I remove the carpet should I try to remove the glue or lay paper on top of it?
I have removed the carpet and scraped up glue in another room. The LVP still sticks to patches of glue and makes an annoying noise when stepping on it.
What is best to keep the LVP from sticking to patches of glue?
Comment: I don't know the right approach, but I'm pretty sure laying down anything on top of carpet is the wrong one. I can imagine that carpet will retain moisture pretty efficiently, which is a recipe for trouble down the road.
Comment: 99.99% of the LVP flooring I've heard about requires a stable, _flat_ (not level) surface to install. Generally, I believe it's less than 1/8" dip or bump. Unless your carpet is literally nothing but threadbare backing, it will not meet this criteria. You certainly _can_ install over that, but it will unlock itself (if it's a click-lock type) and/or simply break pretty quickly.
Comment: Well, laying the LVP on top of the carpet would give you a sprung floor! :)
Answer: Floating floor? Lay down red rosin paper (after taking the carpet off).  Trying to get the glue off is a huge mess and you may end up damaging the floor.
Comment: Yes, something thin to prevent the glue from sticking. Some LVP manufacturers require one to use their special (and expensive!) underlayment to keep the warranty.


Can I write or modify data on an RFID tag?

Question: maybe my question would be lost in the forum, but has somebody work with RFID tags? I know I can read them, but can I write or modify the inside data? Does anyone know where can I find more about this?
Comment: For the record, I'm unsure of whether this is a good question for this site or not, not being strictly programming related.  However, this could easily be seen in a programming light, so I'm going to leave it open.
Answer: RFID Standards:

125 Khz (low-frequency) tags are write-once/read-many, and usually only contain a small  (permanent) unique identification number.
13.56 Mhz (high-frequency) tags are usually read/write, they can typically store about 1 to 2 kilbytes of data in addition to their preset (permanent) unique ID number.
860-960 Mhz (ultra-high-frequency) tags are typically read/write and can have much larger information storage capacity (I think that 64 KB is the highest currently available for passive tags) in addition to their preset (permanent) unique ID number.

More Information

Most read/write tags can be locked to prevent further writing to specific data-blocks in the tag's internal memory, while leaving other blocks unlocked. Different tag manufacturers make their tags differently, though.
Depending on your intended application, you might have to program your own microcontroller to interface with an embedded RFID read/write module using a manufacturer-specific protocol.  That's certainly a lot cheaper than buying a complete RFID read/write unit, as they can cost several thousand dollars.  With a custom solution, you can build you own unit that does specifically what you want for as little as $200.

Links

RFID Journal
RFID Toys (Book) Website
SkyTek - RFID reader manufacturing company (you can buy their products through third-party retailers & wholesalers like Mouser)
Trossen Robotics - You can buy RFID tags and readers (125 Khz & 13.56 Mhz) from here, among other things
Answer: I did some development with Mifare Classic (ISO 14443A) cards about 7-8 years ago. You can read and write to all sectors of the card, IIRC the only data you can't change is the serial number.
Back then we used a proprietary library from Philips Semiconductors. The command interface to the card was quite alike the ISO 7816-4 (used with standard Smart Cards).
I'd recomment that you look at the OpenPCD platform if you are into development.
This is also of interest regarding the cryptographic functions in some RFID cards.
Answer: Some RFID chips are read-write, the majority are read-only.  You can find out if your chip is read-only by checking the datasheet.
Answer: It depends on the type of chip you are using, but nowerdays most chips you can write. It also depends on how much power you give your RFID device. To read you dont need allot of power and very little line of sight. To right you need them full insight and longer insight
Answer: RFID tag has more standards. I have developed the RFID tag on Mifare card (ISO 14443A,B) and ISO 15693. Both of them, you can read/write or modify the data in the block data of RFID tag.
Answer: We have recently started looking into RFID solutions at my work place and we found a cheap solution for testing purposes.
One of the units from here:
http://www.sdid.com/products.shtml
Plugs into any windows mobile device with an SD slot and allows reading / writing. There is also a development kit to get you on your way with your own apps.
Hope this helps


can one use a toaster oven to bake cakes and cupcakes?

Question: I am an amateur chef that has passion in cooking.m looking for a small affordable oven to use for my baking but I am not sure which one to go for. i.e a toaster oven,a microwave oven or a mini oven. please advise.
Answer: I don't know what a "mini oven" is, so I will skip this one.
You should not, under any circumstances, get a microwave. A microwave is not suitable for baking. There are models which are supposed to be a microwave and convection oven at once, but I have frequently heard of them not turning off the microwaves when in convection mode, despite the manual saying otherwise. If you happen to get such a model, you will not be able to bake cakes in it.
I have a toaster oven of this type:

It serves me well for all kinds of cake and bread baking. Whatever has gone wrong with my cakes, I never had the feeling that it was the oven which was the obstacle to them getting better.
As far as I am aware, you cannot use the tiny toaster ovens which are only about 15 cm deep. I have never tried it, but I would be afraid that the heating elements are too close, and also you cannot fit a cake pan in there.
Comment: thank you thank you soooooo much. This really helps me coz I was stuck@rumtscho
Comment: I'd call that a mini oven (but toaster ovens aren't really a thing here in the UK)
Comment: Look for a mini oven with quartz heating elements for the best results, but that may put it outside the "affordable" range depending on your limits.  Breville makes one with quartz elements for about $250 on Amazon.  Yeah, it's not a $50 toaster oven, but it does a much more reliable job.
Answer: A good combi microwave can do it, but the top might cook a bit quickly.
The one we have is a Panasonic, and has microwave, grill and convection functions, as well as combinations of microwave with the other two. The convection mode uses a top element and a fan hence the top of the food may brown too fast. Foil should help. The controls, cooking in metal, and power consumption data (both in the book and tested by running it off a 6A circuit breaker) rule out the microwaves coming on when they're not supposed to, unlike some models which rely on turning down the microwave component to zero with an imprecise dial.
This wasn't cheap but cheaper models are available. Look for the manual online to find out more once you've identified a model.
Comment: I surely will @chris H


Object rotate in a strange way

Question: today i run into another problem. i dont know how i have done it (probably i clicked sth what i should not click) - anyway - since that moment my objects are behaving totally different when i try to rotate them. the objects are now rotating around the pivot point but they keep their alignment - not sure if i am clear. eg. if u would rotate a plane which is lies flat on the ground it makes the rotation but the faces of the plane would still be up and dont which shouldn't be the case with the "normal" rotation that i know. so i want to understand what i have done (because this kind of rotation could be also usefull sometimes for me) and how can i return it in the case it happens again.
Answer: Probably you have turned on "Individual origin" Pivot point.

Object rotate in a strange way


Can a Summoner Cast the Summon Monster Spell With His Eidolon Out?

Question: I have Summon Monster IV on my spell list.  Do I have to dismiss my eidolon before casting the spell, or can I cast it even with my eidolon out? I remember you couldn't have the eidolon and summon monster conjured by the SLA out at the same time, thus meaning that'd you'd have to dismiss the eidolon before using the SLA. I was wondering if this extends to the ordinary spell as well.
Answer: You do not have to dismiss your Eidolon to cast Summon Monster.
I can see your confusion, however.  Summoners have a class feature called Summon Monster, which lets them use certain specific summon monster spells as spell-like abilities.  When you use those spell-like abilities, you can't also have your Eidolon out.
The Summon Monster class ability says:

Drawing upon this ability uses up the same power as the summoner uses to call his eidolon. As a result, he can only use this ability when his eidolon is not summoned.
A summoner cannot have more than one summon monster or gate spell active in this way at one time.

Emphasis mine. This restriction only applies to the Summon Monster class feature, not the summon monster spell.  There is no restriction against casting summon monster while you have your Eidolon out, or even when you have used your Summon Monster spell-like ability.
Answer: Don't treat your spell like abilities like spells. Example, you can have your eidolon out via "summon eidolon" spell and have summon monsters out via your spell like ability. Any DM that tells you otherwise is deceiving you, or nerfing you.
Comment: Hi, 2020. Welcome to the RPG Stack Exchange! An important aspect of this site is that answers try to directly answer the question and provide some form of support for the content of the answer. When you have time, I recommend you check out the Help section on [how to write a good answer](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/help/how-to-answer) for some guidance :)
Comment: Welcome to RPG.SE! Take the [tour] if you haven't already, and check out the [help] for more guidance.


Is there a way to "manipulate" my location without third parties knowing it? (when i am logged in to my google account)

Question: Is there a way to "manipulate" my location (IP address) without third parties knowing it? (when i am logged in to my google account)
Comment: and I think using your google account probably gives everyone way more information than just a geo-IP based location estimate...
Comment: an IP address is not a location.
Comment: [A useful interactive diagram](https://www.eff.org/pages/tor-and-https).
Answer: You can use a Proxy/VPN. You will be visible as the targeted location after a sucessfull connect.
There are serveral free versions out there (e.g TunnelBear for Windows).
I'm currently using proxychain on my Fedora machine.
For proxychain I recommend using Socks5. Here you can find some addresses: https://www.socks-proxy.net/
As crovers mentioned, you're never 100% protected from 3rd parties locating you, as there must be a point, where your packages have go through. But via proxy/VVPN/tor it's way more difficult to track you.
Answer: If you mean without ANY third party knowing about it, no.  IP Routing works by passing packets from one router to another and packets have to ultimately get back to your actual IP address somehow, meaning if all the third parties you route through have logs and co-operate together, they could follow you back.
If you mean without a particular party knowing about it, then sure.  Going through TOR will make you appear as if you were in the location of the TOR exit node.  Going through a VPN will make you appear as if you were wherever the VPN exit point is.  Going through someone else's systems will make you appear to be coming from those systems.  But for VPN and TOR, it is likely that wherever you are going can tell you are routing through TOR/a vpn - TOR exit nodes are known, VPN systems can be too.  They won't know where you actually are, but they may well know you aren't where you say you are.
Comment: What about the following scenrio: I was thinking about setting a private open VPN connection. Let say when I want my laptop to act as if I am in Sweden, I use a real computer in Sweden and set up a VPN connection form that machine. Then i connect from my home laptop to this private VPN connection. Do you think in that case it will be still possible for third parties to figure out what I am doing (i.e. that i am "manipulating" my location)
Comment: If "third parties" includes your ISP(s), they could - they can see the vpn tunnel in and the activity out.  If you discount the ISP, likely not.


Is my fusion drive supposed to show as two different volumes in Disk Utility? (It shows just one in Finder)

Question: After a time machine migration from an old iMac (non-fusion drive) to my new iMac (Fusion Drive), I noticed that in Disk Utility, my Fusion drive lists two volumes: "Macintosh HD" and "Macintosh HD - Data". In Finder, I just see "Macintosh HD". Is my drive split or is this normal behavior in Disk Utility?
Answer: This is normal for all Catalina system/boot volume layouts independent of the number of physical disks involved.
The various main partitions (here disk0s2 & disk1s2) of the single physical disks of a Fusion Drive are combined as physical stores to one container: disk2. The predecessor (CoreStorage) did the same.
The whole container (here disk2) is divided into various APFS volumes with different roles: Preboot, Recovery, VM, Data and System. Each volume can be enlarged or shrunk dynamically.
The last two are combined in one APFS volume group.
You get all available APFS volume groups by entering diskutil ap listVolumeGroups.
The system volume (role: System, name: Macintosh HD, device: disk2s5) is mounted read-only. The necessary read-write data volume (role: Data, name: Macintosh HD – Data, device: disk2s1) is mounted to /System/Volumes/Data.
By default various folders of the Data volume are firmlinked to various folders of the System volume. They are needed to add user installed apps/binaries/frameworks etc. and user content (which requires a r/w volume) in a transparent way. The list of a all current firmlinks is available at /usr/share/firmlinks.
The two devices in the APFS volume group (disk2s1 & disk2s5) mustn't be confused with the two physical devices (disk0 & disk1). Both APFS volumes may partially reside on both physical disks.
At least the APFS volumes with the roles Data and System are shown as separate devices in Disk Utiliy. I expect the volumes with the roles USER, Undefined and Installer (which don't exist in the standard partition scheme) to be also shown in Disk Utility – I haven't tested this though.
Further reading and pics of the various stages of Catalina APFS volume schemes:

macOS Catalina Boot Volume Layout
Working with APFS Volume Groups


How do you create a self-signed certificate for use in object signing?

Question: I am trying to create an object-signing certificate myself instead of paying Verisign or some other company hundreds of dollars. I am using linux (specifically 64bit OpenSUSE 11.1) so it would be best if I could create it in that environment. I have successfully created self-signed certificates for Apache to use for https connections using openssl. However, I cannot find what I need to do different to make it this special "object-signing" certificate.
Specifically I need an object-signing certificate to digitally sign some javascript code so that it can use extra privileges. Mozilla javascript signing is described here : http://www.mozilla.org/projects/security/components/signed-scripts.html#signing, however the link that says it describes the basics of object signing is dead.
Any help would be appreciated on the differences between an apache https ssl cert and an object-signing cert, or a how-to or faq or something on the steps to take using openssl or some other similar utility.
Comment: See this answer: https://stackoverflow.com/a/73702334/1364242
Answer: http://www.wlug.org.nz/JavaScript
This should create a signing certificate :
signtool -d ~/.mozilla -p password -G certname


Limit decimal digits in Double Precision or float8 type in postgresql

Question: I have a postgresql database and am using it for a project which handles monetary value. My question is:
How do I limit the number of decimal digits to two for a Double Precision or float8 type column in a postgresql table?
Answer: Simply use Decimal (Numeric) type instead, as documented in the manual, e.g. cost decimal(10,2).
The first number (10) defines the total length of the number (all digits, including those after the decimal point), while the second number (2) tells how many of them are after the decimal point. The above declaration gives you 8 digits in front of the point. Of course, you can increase that - the limitations of the Numeric type are much, much higher.
In my opinion there is no need to use floating point when you handle currencies or other monetary-related values. I have no idea about the performance comparison between the two types, but Decimal has one advantage - it is an exact number (which usually is not the case with floating point). I also suggest to read an interesting, but short discussion on the topic.
Comment: I agree. The `float` (or `real`) datatype isn't useful at all.
Comment: Ok. Another question, How do I declare a decimal data type in service.xml file in liferay mvc? Any Idea ?
Comment: As far as I know, there is no direct solution. A workaround, using Java's `BigDecimal`, [can be found in the comments to Liferay LEP-841](http://issues.liferay.com/browse/LEP-841). It is also [discussed in the forum](http://www.liferay.com/community/forums/-/message_boards/message/11788130). Hopefully you can find a solution; if not - post another question, I am sure someone have already done something similar.


How to address someone formally in European Portuguese?

Question: I was always told that Brazilians only refer to each other with their given names and nicknames (or in some instances, with full names) but never with their last name only, no matter how formal or informal the setting is. A similar phenomenon happens in Iceland, but that because they have patronymics instead of proper surnames.
This is most famously seen in Brazilian footballers. Since I noticed that Portuguese ones are more likely to have their surnames printed on their shirts, I wonder if there are differences between the two countries. Do Portuguese people commonly use last names to address to each other formally? Or to talk about politicians, celebrities and so on?
Comment: When we talk about the president on TV, we always say they're full name, which makes it more polite. "Hoje o president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva fez um discurso em...". Addressing someone just by the last name is common in the military, or when you have several people with the same given name in a given place. (In Brazil)
Comment: No, Portuguese people do not use last names to address each other formally unless those names are preceded by Senhor, Senhora, or Doutor or whatever. Where did you even get this idea?
Comment: Senhor, ou Senhora
Answer: In Portugal, we just use the first name and sometimes the last name too and some Nominal forms like Sir, Miss etc..
Comment: In general, I agree with you. But there are a lot of situations where we prefer to use the last name, aren't there? (Aníbal) Cavaco Silva, (Álvaro) Cunhal, (Jorge) Sampaio, (José) Sócrates? All those high-profile politicians are known and called more by their family name than by their first name. (Cristiano) Ronaldo? (José) Mourinho, (Luís) Figo, (Paulo) Futre? Your answer would be more solid if you included something about this different use. :)
Comment: I noticed that even in Brazil, but there is no rule, they say Lula (nickname),Dilma and Aecio, for instance, but Bolsonaro (family name). I think it happens because in the latter case, his forename is too common, but his last name is not.
Comment: Mind that in Brazil the top 10 surnames are used by more than 20% of the population iirc. It is the same, of course, in Portugal, but population is far smaller so they are less repetitive. In contrast, there are some foreign (Italian, German, Arab) surnames found in Brazil obviously not found in Portugal. So, I guess, if a person has a common name and a rare last name, he/she will be more likely to be referred by the last name.


Fitting distribution to literature-reported incidence rates or cumulative risks

Question: I am building a simulation model in R. In this model, I would like to simulate a patient with a certain baseline age, and then simulate the time-to-event for breast cancer. I want to sample the time-to-event from a distribution that I fit on data from literature, but I am not sure how to go about. I have included the table with literature data that I want to use below.

Ideally, I'd like to fit some sort of cumulative incidence curve and sample from that. But I am not sure how to get this to work without individual patient data. The data is also not traditional survival data in the sense that you start out with an X amount of patients and during follow up some get events at certain times and others do not (or get censored). That would probably make it a bit easier to approach.
Currently, I have tried solving my problem by making a file with 100 'fake' patients that get events at either 25, 35, 45, 55, etc. years of age according to the cumulative incidence that was reported at each age category. So, for instance, I have 4 patients with a follow-up time of 25 years before getting an event, and then I have 20 patients with a follow-up time of 35 years before getting an event, etc. The patients without an event are censored at 85 years of age. However, I feel there should be a better solution that uses the given data in a better way.
I did find an R package that can reconstruct Kaplan-Meier curves based on literature, but it is more aimed at published curves and the aim to find estimates from that, which is not quite the same as my problem here.
Answer: Without knowing the shape of the curve, your time-to-event simulation will not be accurate. The only way to know the shape of the curve is to see it. If you know that events are distributed evenly over time, you could use the published crude rates, but homogeneity of risk over time is rare in human health.


Cisco Aironet 1200 mode button disabled

Question: I received a free Cisco Aironet 1200 and tried to restore it using the mode button but it was disabled and no one knows the password for the WAP's interface. Any ideas how I could get it reset?
Answer: You'll probably need to attach a serial cable to the console port.  Getting console on cisco devices can be a real pain.  You basically want the baby-blue RJ45-DB9 cables that comes with real routers.
Try following the directions in the link below for the Aironet 350 (which lacks a mode button):
http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/wireless/aironet-1200-series/9215-pwrec-2.html#connecting_ap
Briefly, you want to interrupt the boot process with ESC, then flash_init to load the flash memory, and then rename the config.txt to something else, and reset.  This should restore factory defaults.
Answer: To return all access point settings to the factory defaults including password you need to use the MODE button.
Disconnect the power and press and hold the MODE button while you reconnect power to the access point. You need to hold the MODE button until the ethernet LED turns amber (approximately 2 to 3 seconds), then release the button.
Then you can connect with cisco/cisco via serial console or web gui.

Cisco Aironet 1200 mode button disabled


How can I effectively solo the co-op mode?

Question: Is there a good way to solo the co-op mode?  This seems like a contradiction, but I find myself frequently either the last man standing or the only player left after others quit or are disconnected.  In other games, like Halo: Reach, it was feasible to even start a single-player "firefight" session and survive for dozens of rounds, but I find myself curb stomped nearly immediately in this game.
What can I do to make the best of this situation?  Is there any hope for my survival?
Comment: @LessPop I now demand you change your display name to "LessPoppy"!
Comment: You anti-social jerk.
Comment: @LessPop_MoreFizz You don't want to get mixed up with a guy like me.  I'm a [loner](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKLizztikRk) LessPoppy, a *rebel*.
Comment: Let them come to you instead of seeking them out.
Answer:  Me soloing Bronze as a Human infiltrator, all my points in everything but cryo blast, using Black widow and M-3 Predator. I used no equipment but had to use medi-gels and rockets becuase lucky me had 3 hacking missions on my solo..sigh
There are many factors that would come into play that will assist you in completeing a Bronze mission solo:

Being level ~20 is going to be almost necessary as you are gonna need every available power upgraded as much as possible to give you the advantages you will need.
The right weapons per your class that you use and the know how when it comes to using your powers.
Playing a map you are definately familiar with, making sure you know all the ammo locations and every important choke point on the map so you can grab ammo without delay as you move to the next choking point to funnel the enemies through.
Not being afraid to use your rockets and medi-gels as well as making sure you dont waste them unecessarily, saving your rockets for the 10th and 11th waves where you will find yourself overwhelmed by heavy units and really no way to retreat.
Plan ahead, dont run around finding a good spot to setup shop. Have a plan, when you feel like you are being make sure you know where you are going next and what path to take to avoid enemies.
Never be without ammo, having to rely on powers works for a lot of classes but have no ammo can be deadly.
Know the class you are playing, there is nothing more deadly then playing a character you only have the basic grasp of.
Fight against the enemy your class has advantages against, i.e. dont bring Sabotage to a Reaper fight.

Adept: Crowd control from stasis (make sure you get Rank 6:Bubble) or singularity and a little bit of combination from warp you will have a serious advantage over a multitude of solders. Using warp and throw in combination on units such as Ravagers, Brutes, Banshees, Atlas', and Geth Primes to create a biotic explosion and you will tear through their armored health. if you use the weapons M-12 locust with the mod SMG Ultralight Material and the M-3 Predator the weight of the weapons will not affect your power recharge percentage allowing you the ability to lay down some fire on the little guys.
Infiltrator: Having a semi-automatic sniper rifle is desirable in this case, allowing you to headshot multiple enemies and thinning the crowds. Make sure that your tactical cloak is specced Rank 4 damage Increase damage bonus by 30%,  Rank 5 Recharge Speed Increase recharge speed by 30%, Rank 6 Sniper Damage Increase sniper rifle damage by 40% while cloaked. As well as speccing into sheilds and health bonuses. bringing along a light pistol will come in handy for close quarters as you race to each position, putting distance between your enemies.
Vanguard: Vanguards obviously rely completely on their powers to inflict massive damage to their enemies. Ultimately this character is incredible powerful but extremely risky when you are alone and dont have allies to lay down covering fire. I would suggest constantly having caution and never stay out of cover for more then a couple hits before rushing to safety. Dont be afraid to fire a couple quick headshots to remove a couple of the stray buggers that get back up after your wave of destruction.
Engineer: Another power class that only excels with constant casting of powers. stay behind cover while always having your drone/turret/decoy up to distract them from firing upon you as you launch power after power into the crowds. Make sure you have a high power recharge and only carry light weapons as you will not be needing them extensively. Keeping in mind all the strategy tips i mentioned before you shall survive.
Sentinal: These guys are great at surviving and have an amazing panic button when you get surrounded. Have your tech armor upgraded to increase damage reduction so you can continuously lay down heavy fire on your enemies so they dont get the upper hand on you. These guys you dont have to worry so much about power recharge so you get to pick any number of weapon combinations to keep up the heavy damage.
Soldier: An incredibly versatile character with a decent survivability. The races for soldiers are incredibly different from eachother and obviously have their advantages. Krogans have increased defensive capabilites and Turians have increased fire rate. Use whatever weapons you are comfortable with and you will be fine.

little update for you, I found a couple videos for you they completed bronze solo. sentinals , vanguards , Engineers and
 Infiltrator
Comment: So being level 20 is necessary to solo win games. Sounds like I'll be losing games for the first 19 levels. There's no one to queue with anymore, had this quick match screen open for a while now. Any other way to gain levels?
Answer: A solo Quarian Infiltrator can solo Geth enemies with relative ease, provided you can aim a sniper rifle. Quarian Infiltrator has a couple major advantages, especially against Geth.
Sabotage: this skill causes major problems to Geth, making them easier to kill and making them attack their allies (or at least they stop shooting you). It has a small AOE too, so try and hit tight clusters of Geth. Target Geth Hunters or Rocket Troopers to make the most of it. It even works on Geth Primes (which are your only major obstacle here), but a fair % of the time Geth Primes shrug it off. Leave Geth Primes for last, otherwise the other Geth will tear you apart.
Tactical Cloak: This is what keeps you alive. When Cloak is active, enemies will immediately stop attacking you and can't see you. Take this time to snipe Geth; aim for the head, headshots still hurt Geth extra. Cloak lets you run like hell or take clean headshots with your Sniper Rifle. It can let you get some good Shotgun shots in too, but Shotguns are too risky in solo.
Items: You're likely going to have to use the Equipment items like Medigel or the Missile Launcher to survive in some cases. Don't be afraid to take out the biggest baddies with a Missile. The shield/health instant heal can be a life saver in tough spots too.
Weapons: Take a sniper rifle and nothing else; you need to be light weight to keep your Tactical Cloak and Sabotage ready. Take the sniper you're most comfortable using, but the Black Widow or anything Semiautomatic are your friend as you can keep firing and get more headshots in less time. The Mantis is too slow between shots unless you've got perfect aim, and even then it's risky.
Objectives: These will be by far the hardest part. Assassination is easy (it's what you're made for!) but hacking will be extremely difficult and the "activate 4 nodes" bits will be tricky. Try Hit and Run tactics to keep enemies away from your objectives, but once you've got a Geth Prime/Banshee/Atlas after you and you're trying to hack, it's probably Game Over.
Answer: As an Infiltrator, it's quite easy to solo non-timed waves by using the cloak defensively. You'll want to use the sniper rifle to take shots from a safe range, and then use the cloak to re-position to the opposite side of the map when the enemies start getting too close. It may take a while, but I've saved the day multiple times with this tactic.
You may also be able to handle some of the timed objectives by luring the enemies away from them. Don't waste time killing anything as they just re-spawn. However, objectives like the hacking one that requires you to stay in one place are nearly impossible to solo, as you usually end up getting swarmed by enemies.
It also helps to be familiar with the map. In particular, pay attention to spots where there you are relatively safe from being flanked, as well as the location of all the ammo piles.
Good luck!
Answer: Just to add a little to the other answers:
Some handy weapons to consider:
The Falcon Assault rifle is basically a mini grenade launcher, with each shot doing AOE explosive damage.  Also, this gun can richochet off walls, allowing you to shoot safely around corners and to targets behind barriers.  Although its heavy, its extremely nice to have.  Not to mention it does good damage against armored targets as well.
The M-6 Carnifex is an excellent backup pistol as it does very high damage, with a scope it can double as a weaker sniper rifle.
Answer: the best way to do this would be to make sure you can sparingly use your medigel and ops packs, and avoid getting flanked.
it's definitely doable. also, having a tactical cloak for sneaky escapes doesnt hurt.
Answer: I don't know if these tips are out of date or what but a I'd advise against relying on your tatical cloak for anything other than a damage buff when you solo a multiplayer match. When it's just you on your own, the invisibility seems to not work in the slightest, they just keep shooting you as if you're still in plain sight (think it still works when your the last man alive in the match, though not sure)
Still, if you keep you enemies at a distance, keep moving n leave the big enemies till last, it can actually be easier than in groups sometimes, since you don't have other people bringing their enemies into your escape route.
Also pretty sure this class wasn't out when these answers were written, but the N7 Shadow is amazing at solo, the cloak is still useless but if you just keep teleporting around too fast for them to get a good cross fire going then in a bronze cerberus match, it's child's play (except the hacking mission, that is still the hardest part, but obviously wave 11 is easy, just hang around the edge of the map till 30 seconds left, then sprint to the LZ n try n stay alive just long enough)


Should I introduce myself to my supervisor via e-Mail or set up an appointment to introduce myself?

Question: For my graduate studies my supervisor was assigned to me without me having spoken to him first. Now I am wondering if I should introduce myself via e-Mail and then ask for an appointment, or keep it short and ask for an appointment specifically to introduce myself. I don't want to waste his time or appear rude.
Comment: Getting to know his students is **not** a waste of time of a supervisor. Don't overthink it!
Comment: Sort of depends what you mean by "introduce myself". It'd be weird to ask for an appointment without stating your name, but he doesn't need your life history.
Answer: I would send mail suggesting you think it might be helpful to meet, just to get to know each other, and ask if your supervisor might suggest a time that's convenient.
Answer: Personally, I'd recommend going to their office and introducing yourself in person. Ask if they've got a minute and, if not, arrange a later time to meet. They may, of course, be busy or absent when you go in which case I'd fall back to e-mail, and write something like:

Title: New MSc Student
Dear Dr. Chappy,
I am on MSc programme X, and I will be joining you to work on your
  project 'Project title' shortly. Could we arrange a time to meet up
  and discuss arrangements for this project, please?
In the meantime, I am keen to get started. Could you recommend any
  relevant papers for me to read before we meet?
Kind Regards,
User61635

Note that there are cultural differences in how you address professors so you may need to adopt a more formal tone in some countries.
Also, be aware that when you've arranged what you expected to be an informal chat your supervisor may have different ideas and launch into a detailed technical explanation of the project. I suggest you prepare for this. Finally, and this is a key point, if you don't understand anything he says stop them and ask for an explanation. Don't think you'll impress them by feigning knowledge you don't possess, you will do far better to ask questions early so you understand what the project is clearly.
Comment: Contact them -- be efficient.  The draft above leaves them plenty of room to respond as they wish.  And if they don't reply promptly,  wait a little and remind them.  They ask for a new supervisor - politely of course but they have job to do and if they don't do it, YOU will be the person in difficulties.
Answer: First of all, you should try to figure out what the typical course of action in your department is. For example, in our department, MSc students are also assigned to supervisors (both students and supervisors can have some influence on that process, but the principle is the same as it seems to be in your case: It's not primarily something between the prospective supervisor and the student, but between thesis coordinator (who assigns) and the student on the one hand and thesis coordinator and supervisor on the other hand.
In our case, students get an email from the coordinator laying out the further procedure. In particular, this email states that it's the student's responsibility to set up a meeting with the assigned supervisor within a given timeframe.
The supervisor will know that you have been assigned to them, so just emailing them to say essentially the same does not help much. Every supervision trajectory will have to start with some meeting, so it is most likely that this will be the first ``real'' contact you have. Depending on your department, it is either you (most likely, IMHO) or the supervisor (less likely, IMHO) who takes the initiative to set up the meeting.
Answer: You can write email to him, i would go like this
Respected Dr/Prof/xyz
As you may already know that i have been assigned to do my project work under your supervision. I feel honored and motivated and i am confident that under your supervision i will excel my skills and will be more productive.
I am really looking forward to meet you at any time convenient to you, so we can discuss further and i may start my graduate work.
Please suggest me the time and date for the meeting, and also advise me if there is any thing i should consider preparing for the meeting e.g. some proposal or articles etc.
thank you and i hope i will do well under your supervision.
Comment: Whenever I see something starting with "respected" I automatically assume it's academic spam. This example is too long! Make it short and to the point! Writing like this lowers the chances of the mail being read to zero.
Comment: Frankly, if I were the professor and I read "_I have been assigned_" (lower case I) and "_thank you and i hope i will do_" (no capitalization and lower case I), I would not be impressed at all.
Comment: When you give an example of e-mail, please have it in proper English. Thanks.
Comment: Cultural norms differ between countries, so this language may be appropriate depending on which country our Questioner is in.
Comment: Its not to be copied and pasted,  just an idea for have a look. And formal emails has to be drafted revised and approved before sending.


STM32 enabling clock for port C sets IDR bit 1

Question: Why does enabling the clock for port C set the IDR bit 1?
It's the configuration for a Nucleo-F767ZI.
Answer: The pin is connected to something that makes the pin voltage to be high enough for the pin to read as logic 1, but state cannot be read until peripheral clock is enabled so it will read logic 1 only after enabling the clock.
Answer: The default mode of the pin is as an input, as soon as you enable the peripherals clock (well, a few clock cycles later), the pins state is clocked into the IDR.
Something is making that pin high.
As a comment on your code, there are defines for the bit positions in the registers, probably provided in the same include as you're getting the RCC pointer from, RCC->AHB1ENR |= RCC_AHB1ENR_GPIOCEN; is more readable than RCC->AHB1ENR |= 4;


setting up ODE (open dynamics engine) to work in visual studio

Question: I am trying to set up the ODE source code to work in visual studio. I have followed to instructions given in this link, which say to cd to the build directory and run the commnad premake4 vs2008.
that runs fine, and indeed, all the vs2008 files are created. But when I try to compile the project, I get an error saying that ode.dll cannot be found - should it be downloaded\installed separately or am I doing something wrong?
Answer: you should take a look a this link below
http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/arsproject/index.php?title=Main_Page#Visual_Studio
go to the section (middle of the page) Open Dynamic Engine (ODE)
Installation Steps for Windows.
I followed these steps and the installation works fine. In the ODE lib folder, do you have 2 folders
with name such as DebugDoubleDll or ReleaseDoubleDll? if you have compiled in double precision.
If yes, you should have a library named ode_doubled.lib in the ODE lib folder.
Did you try to run the demo executable to test your installation?
Last thing, did you include in your PATH environment variable the lib folder (where the libraries are located), if no, it's probably the reason why you have this error message.
Comment: Cannot find a tutorial for VS in that link anymore


How do I wire a ceiling fan?

Question: I recently purchased a ceiling fan - Harbor Breeze Tilghman WITHOUT a light - to replace a ceiling fan WITH a light.  The wires coming from the (old)ceiling are red, black, white, green, and copper. The green wire is coming from the ceiling mounting bracket. I do know the light worked on the previous fan before replacement, but the fan motor had long burned out.  On the new fan, the wires are white, blue, and black; with the green ground wire from the downrod.
The old fan connected to one switch, which turned on both the fan and light, then we could use the pull chains to turn either/or off as desired.
I have tried multiple wiring combinations and still the fan does not work.  What wiring combinations do you suggest - aside from the obvious white-white, black-black, and green to green, I'm not sure if I need to connect  the red (from the ceiling) or the blue (from the fan - since we don't have a light on this fan) to anything or to simply leave the alone and wrapped in electrical tape.  Any suggestions??
Comment: How was it connected previously? You should connect the new fan exactly as the old one was connected, except that you won't have to connect the blue wire (since that's for the light kit, that doesn't exist).
Comment: Nothing says "dangerous amateur" louder than finding wires wrapped in electrical tape. Use wire nuts.
Answer: Absolutely do not leave the wires alone wrapped in electrical tape. Electrical tape does not have enough longevity to safely protect the exposed leads and can create a hazard in the future.
The blue wire exists to support the future addition of a light. The polite thing to do for your future self or future owner of your home would be to connect the blue and red wires. However, it is not necessary; if you do not want to, you can cap both leads with wire nuts.
Note that it is also legitimate to connect the black on the fan to the red from the ceiling, and the blue on the fan to the black from the ceiling. Assuming you have two switches, that will swap which switch controls the fan and which switch controls the light.
If the existing black-black connection doesn't work, you can try the black-red. If that does work, it would suggest that the switch for the fan has failed, although it could also indicate other wiring problems.
Answer: Green to green, white to white.
Assuming you have a two gang switch (two switches at wall, only one used).  Blue and Black from fan connected either to the red or black wire from wall.  Other wire needs to be wire capped.  The black wire from the fan is the hot for the fan motor, the blue is for an optional light kit.
Answer: The wires from the ceiling box are probably a "hot" wire (black), a neutral wire (white), a ground wire (copper), and a switched-hot (red)(see description here).
On the fan you probably have a neutral (white), a "hot" lead for the motor and a "hot" lead for the light that is not there (blue & black). Most fans can be equipped with light kits so they have a wire for it.
So...
Hook black (or red if you want to control it from the wall switch) from the ceiling to the black and the blue on the fan (since we do not know which one is for the motor and which is for the light).
Hook white to white
Hook all greens to the copper.
You will need to have the wall switch turned on to operate the unit if you use the red wire. Cap all unused wires.
Please never work on live electrical equipment and use an electrical tester to confirm all wiring assumptions.
Answer: Green to copper and green
Red and black to blue and black
White to white
Comment: -1 This doesn't add anything not covered by the existing answers.

How do I wire a ceiling fan?


Better method to solve $x^2-x-1=0$ modulo $11$

Question: I want to solve $x^2-x-1=0$ modulo $11$. I already know that the solutions are $x=4$ modulo $11$ and $x=8$ modulo $11$, but I got this result by trying. I also know that I can get these solutions by using the usual quadratic formula and doing some congruences as follows:
$$x=\frac{1\pm \sqrt{5}}{2}\equiv_{11}\frac{1\pm \sqrt{16}}{2}\equiv_{11}\frac{1\pm 4}{2}$$
$$x_+\equiv_{11}\frac{1+ 4}{2}\equiv_{11}\frac{5}{2}\equiv_{11}\frac{16}{2}=8$$
$$x_-\equiv_{11}\frac{1- 4}{2}\equiv_{11}\frac{-3}{2}\equiv_{11}\frac{8}{2}=4$$
However, in this method I have to sum $11$ to some numbers until I get one that is in $\mathbb{F}_{11}$. What if I keep summing and summing and I don't get one in $\mathbb{F}_{11}$? When can I conclude that the equation has no solution? Is there a better method to do this?
Comment: It boils down to whether $\sqrt 5$ exists or not modulo $11$, as you can see. There is a concept, the Legendre symbol of $5$ modulo $11$, that will tell you whether there is an element $x$ such that $x^2 \equiv 5 \pmod{11}$ or not. Once you confirm that the Legendre symbol is $1$, you can then add multiples of $11$ until you succeed, but you know that you will succeed eventually. On the other hand, if the Legendre symbol is $-1$, then $\sqrt 5$ doesn't exist modulo $11$ and therefore you can conclude that there is no solution of the system.
Comment: Evaluating the Legendre symbol uses some standard rules : you have some additive and multiplicative properties and you have a "quadratic reciprocity law". This law will tell you, in our case, that $x^2 \equiv 5 \pmod{11}$ has a solution if and only if $x^2 \equiv 11 \pmod{5}$ has a solution, but the latter equation is clearly solvable since $x^2 \equiv 1 \pmod{5}$ has solutions $1,-1$. Thus, you can "add $11$" till you get a square, but also be reassured that such a square will occur. It so happens that $5+11$ works.
Comment: @TeresaLisbon I hadn't thought about using the Legendre symbol here. Thank you very much, this was really helpful
Comment: We have $$(2x-1)^2-5=4(x^2-x-1)$$ So, you have to solve $y^2\equiv 5\mod 11$, which is equivalent to $y^2\equiv 16\mod 11$. Now, the solutions can be seen immediately.
Comment: For the slightly more general problem of finding a square root mod a prime, see e.g. [Tonelli-Shanks algorithm](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonelli%E2%80%93Shanks_algorithm)
Comment: @kubo It's good to know that I was able to be of help. Thanks for the feedback!
Answer: At the point we reach $\sqrt{5}$, we are looking for whether there is an integer solution to $x^2\equiv_{11} 5$. If there is, then there is some solution where $x\in \{0,\dots,10\}$, because $(x-11)^2\equiv_{11} x^2+11(-2x)+11\times 11 \equiv_{11} x^2$, so we could continue subtracting $11$ from $x$ (or adding $11$) until $x$ is in the right range.
Thus, you have to try each possibility between $0$ and $10$: or, using the "add $11$ to $5$ until reaching a square number" reframing of this calculation, you have to repeat the process $10$ times (until reaching $5+11\times 10=115$) to establish that no solution exists. (Though of course, in this case two solutions do exist.)
Answer: Multiply by $4$ and complete the square:
$$\begin{align}
x^2-x-1\equiv0
&\iff4x^2-4x-4\equiv0\\
&\iff(2x-1)^2-5\equiv0\\
&\iff(2x-1)^2\equiv5\equiv16=(\pm4)^2
\end{align}$$
so
$$2x\equiv
\begin{cases}
+4+1=5\equiv16\\
-4+1=-3\equiv8
\end{cases}
$$
hence $x\equiv8$ and $4$.
The key here is that $5$ is a quadratic residue mod $11$. It's possible to know which numbers are quadratic residues (and which ones aren't) without necessarily knowing their "square roots," but for small primes like $11$ it's as quick to run through the possibilities as it is to apply any fancy theory.
Answer: A quadratic equation modulo an odd prime $p$ will have a solution if and only if its discriminant is a square modulo $p$. That's analogous to what you know about real quadratics.
In general, half the nonzero residues modulo $p$ will be squares, half not. Deciding which is an important question in elementary number theory. Until you learn about quadratic reciprocity
you should use trial and error. Since $(-x)^2 = x^2$ you need only try squaring $1, 2, \ldots, (p-1)/2$.
Answer: Let us subtract $11$ and realize that $$x^2-x-12=(x-4)(x+3).$$
The solutions are $4$ and $-3,$ modulo $11$ they are $$4 \quad \text{and} \quad 8.$$
Answer: If the problem is finding a square root of $5\bmod 11$, this can be done using what I call the "root-to-power method".
Since $11-1$ is divisible by $2$ but not by $4$, any quadratic residue $r$ will have a square root that is also a power of $r\bmod 11$. The square root can then be calculated as a power, which requires $O(\log n)$ multiplications where $n$ is the exponent.
To wit, if $r$ is a nonzero quadratic residue $\bmod 11$, then $r^5\equiv1$ and thus $r^6\equiv r$. Then the candidate square roots of $r$ would be square roots of $r^6$, thus $\pm r^3$.
With $r\equiv5$ the indicated multiplication leads to $\pm4$, which can be checked by directly calculating $(\pm4)^2\equiv5$. (Had this failed, the square root and thus the quadratic equation would have had no solution.) So we can confidently put in those values for the square roots of $5$ with bounded trial and error, and proceed from there.


Can Rayleigh scattering explain the orange color of the Titan sky?

Question: It is my understanding that Rayleigh scattering depends on both the length of the particle as well as the wavelength. Due to the similar lengths of molecular nitrogen and oxygen it is blue light that gets scattered down to Earth giving the terrestrial sky its blue color. But what about Titan? The Titanian atmosphere has a vastly different chemical composition than Earth(on Titan it is mostly nitrogen dioxide and methane). So is there evidence that Nitrogen Dioxide and Methane tend to scatter longer wavelengths than molecular nitrogen and oxygen do? Hence why extraterrestrial skies are not always blue like Earths.
Comment: The size of the molecules has nothing to do with it. If I'm allowed to self-publicise, see the explanation on my blog post on http://rogerjbarlow.com
Comment: Interesting @RogerJBarlow, but the fact is that the sky on other celestial bodies is NOT blue. They sky on Mars is pale yellow, and on Titan(which has a fairly thick atmosphere) it is deep orange during midday. How do you explain this?
Comment: @Roger You are allowed to cite your own work, we simply expect you to be up front about it (as you have been). And you could write an answer with that link in it, though you would be expected to provide a substantial enough taste here on physics to be some kind of answer on it's own (but of course it can also be less then you have already written so that it serves as a teaser).
Comment: @RogerJBarlow I beg your pardon, but Rayleigh scattering occurs when the particles have sizes that are shorter than the wavelength of the incident light. When the particles are much larger, it is called *geometric scattering*. Which is why the sky turns deep orange-red during sandstorms.
Answer: The blue sky on Earth is because of Rayleigh scattering, and because the particles in the air scatter blue light more then red.
This is the Tyndall effect, he discovered that when light passes through a fluid with particles in suspension, blue light is scattered more then red.
The amount of light scattered is inversely proportional to the fourth power of the wavelength.
This works if the particles are small. Much smaller then the wavelength.
The sky on titan is blue.
Please see here:
https://lightsinthedark.com/2011/12/18/the-colors-of-titans-sky/
You are right, that the size of the particles in the atmosphere does decide the color of the sky, because with larger particles, Rayleigh scattering is not dominant, but Mie scattering is.

On Mars, Rayleigh scattering is usually a very weak effect; the red color of the sky is caused by the presence of iron(III) oxide in the airborne dust particles. These particles are larger in size than gas molecules, so most of the light is scattered by Mie scattering. Dust absorbs blue light and scatters longer wavelengths (red, orange, yellow).
Comment: Might I add: Titan's atmosphere is MUCH thicker than Earth's atmosphere. So the noonday sun on a clear Earth day is 3000x as bright as it is on Titan. This is partly due to the fact that unlike Earth, Titan's atmosphere is dense enough to absorb light whereas the Earth's atmosphere merely scatters light.
Comment: Arpad, that photo you linked to is a photo of blue light scattering off of Titan's upper atmosphere & it was taken from space. This is what the sky looks like on the surface of Titan: https://www.esa.int/var/esa/storage/images/esa_multimedia/images/2005/01/landing_slideshow/10263370-3-eng-GB/landing_slideshow_large.jpg
Answer: The atmosphere of Titan is 95% nitrogen and 5% methane. There is nothing vastly different about the size of those particles in the atmosphere compared with Earth. However, there are large molecules - tholins - that are synthesized in the upper atmosphere and "rain down" on the surface.
A significant difference with the Earth is the density of the atmosphere. The atmospheric pressure at the surface is about 1.5 atmospheres, but since the temperature on Titan is much lower than Earth, the density is about 4 times higher.
The optical depth to Rayleigh scattering of blue light is somewhat less than the optical depth of the Earth's atmosphere when looking straight up. That means most blue light (and light of longer wavelengths) makes it to the ground from the Sun when it is high in the sky.
When the Sun is lower and the direct light must pass through a larger optical depth, we see that blue light is scattered out of the beam and we get red sunlight.
On Titan the optical depth of the atmosphere is sufficient to scatter a significant fraction of blue light out of the beam even when the Sun is at zenith.
There are then additional complications in that methane will tend to absorb the red part of the spectrum and the tholins form a thick haze in the upper atmosphere with an orangeish colour. You also have to account for multiple scattering.
I don't think there is a single answer. With Rayleigh scattering you might expect a reddish sky towards the Sun, but to recover a bluer sky through multiple scattering at large angles from the Sun. But absorption by methane and the tholin haze are extremely important, as can be judged by the fact that the surface can't be seen in visible light from space.


What are the best ways to ramp up aging using magic?

Question: What are some of the most effective ways to accelerate the aging process via magical means?
Comment: You may be interested in answers to [this question.](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/q/79564/8610)
Comment: @FrankCastle Are you a player looking to age an NPC so that they can inherit their throne, or a GM looking for a way to make an NPC old enough to get revenge on the PCs for doing PC things without it being weird? Context might matter.
Comment: I think you're going to need to put a little more of what you're trying to accomplish here.  It's fine if this is a thought exercise or something; we can still answer those questions. But it's not really clear what your goal or constraints are.
Comment: My goal is to magically age a child into an adult. Similar in effect as if I were to use the BOVD bestow curse feature. However, that is the only way I am aware of doing so, and would like to know if there are other magical sources, spells or items, that effectively achieve the same function.
Answer: Given that you cite Book of Vile Darkness, which uses bestow curse to effectively age a character, I would understand that you want some way to physically advance a character's age (e.g. so they can become an adventurer or the like). The ethical, metaphysical, and legal of this in your game world are probably beyond the D&D rules to define, but there are various effects in official 3.5 sources which will do what you want in some way.
Spend time on a plane with slower time
A planar trait known as Flowing Time refers to planes where time moves at a different rate relative to the Material Plane. What you want is to find, or create, a plane where time moves more slowly, so that you can live entire years and return aged. According to the SRD under Planar Traits, Time:

Flowing Time
On some planes, time can flow faster or slower. One may travel to another plane, spend a year there, then return to the Material Plane to find that only six seconds have elapsed. Everything on the plane returned to is only a few seconds older. But for that traveler and the items, spells, and effects working on him, that year away was entirely real.

A few examples:

The Far Realm (Manual of the Planes p.211), where one minute is equal to zero time on the material, so you can age years in an instant. However, the Far Realm may be highly dangerous.
Dal Quor (Eberron Campaign Setting p.95), where time passes at one tenth the usual rate. It was once coterminous with the Material Plane so you could physically just walk there, but canonically there's currently no way to reach it except in dreams.
A random demiplane with unique traits

The advantage is that you will really age both physically and mentally, so you'll gain all the benefits; i.e. you aren't just polymorphing a kid into an adult body, you're actually learning the skills and such relevant to being an adult in D&D.
Be breathed on by a time dragon
A time dragon (Dragon Magazine #359) has a breath weapon which is a line of ravaging time. It ages the target one year for each age category the dragon has, no save. It also deals a point of Constitution damage (Fortitude half), but that's recoverable with bed rest, as long as you don't get reduced to 0 Constitution.
Aging Touch spell
The spell aging touch appears in Dragon Magazine #350. It's a level 3 Sorcerer/Wizard spell which deals 1 point each of Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution damage. (Fortitude negates) As a side-effect, it ages the target by one age category. The effect is temporary, however. The exact duration is not clearly stated, but is implied to be 1 point per day. Only the body is changed, and you don't gain any benefits. It's not the optimum solution in most cases.
Time travel
According to Dragon Magazine 350, time travel is not possible in any 3.5 product, but may be possible by some deity-level things like artifacts, portals or divine intervention by a god of time. However, if you can find a way, you can do this to age up a character. See Time Travel at the Forgotten Realms Wiki for various methods.
Suppose you want to age ten years. One solution is to go back in time ten years, then just live ten years; the other is to age ten years, then go back in time ten years.
Bestow Curse
It was mentioned already in a comment, but Book of Vile Darkness has a variant which ages the target.
Invent something else
If you're the DM, you can just invent something. The kid falls into a time portal like that one Deep Space Nine episode, and now they're a grown-up. If you're not the DM, anything you come up with has to go through the DM, so you try to negotiate something.
Comment: You probably meant spend time on a plane with faster time. If a plane has slower time then you spend less time there than you would have on material plane. If the convertion is 1/10 like Dal Quor, then spending 1 day there would mean 10 days has passed on material plane. If you leave for 10 years you would have aged only for 1 year (as you experienced only 1 year)