Meaning of $p(\phi)$ where $\phi (x,y) = (x+y, x- 2y)$ and $p(x) = x^2 -2x + 1$

Question: Consider the linear transformation $\phi : \mathbb{R}^2 \to \mathbb{R}^2$ defined by $\phi (x,y) = (x+y, x- 2y)$. Let $p(x) = x^2 -2x + 1$. Does $p(\phi)$ make sense and if yes what is it?
Comment: $\phi^2=\phi\circ \phi$ etc.
Comment: If $p$ is a polynomial then you cannot evaluate a polynomial at a vector in $\mathbb R^2$. But a linear transformation "is" a matrix, and $p(\phi)$ may denote $p(\textrm{this matrix})$, which is a matrix.
Answer: Yes, one can make sense of this according to the following: if $\phi: X \rightarrow X$ is a function on a vector space (not even necessarily linear), and if $p(x) = ax^2 + bx + c$ is a polynomial, then
$$ p(\phi) = a (\phi \circ \phi) + b \phi + c \, \mathrm{Id}_X $$
where $\phi \circ \phi$ indicates composition of $\phi$ with itself, and $\mathrm{Id}_X$ is the identity map. We can generalize this appropriately to any polynomial $p$.
In your specific case, you can compute this in a variety of ways, either by hand, or by first finding a matrix representation of $\phi$, call it $A$, and then $p(\phi)$ has a matrix representation in the same basis given by $A^2 - 2A + I$, where $I$ is the identity matrix of the appropriate size.
Comment: Fair enough! Thank you very much!
Answer: If I have understood your problem, yes, it makes sense. Consider that linear transformations over a vector field form an algebra over a field. You can see easily changing point of view and considering the matrix representation of your transformation. If $A$ is the matrix that represents  $\phi$ in the canonical basis of $\mathbb{R}^{2}$ then $p(\phi)$ is represented by $AA+ 2A+ \mathbb{1}$


Do wooden storm windows need weep holes?

Question: I have read about the importance of weep holes with aluminum storm windows, but we have several old wooden storms in our house.  Do those naturally drain because they're not airtight, or is some kind of weep hole needed?
Answer: You will see weep holes in aluminum storm windows when the frame is projecting from the exterior wall and has a "lipped" edge. The weep holes allow drainage that otherwise would not occur because of the lipped frame edge. Wooden storm windows are usually hinged and set flush with the frame. The frame bottom is normally beveled so as to shed water away from the interior. If you have weather-stripping installed on the storm windows that creates a good seal it may be wise to modify it if you see water entering past the storm window.
Comment: Thanks for the explanation. That makes a lot of sense.  All the articles I found about weep holes didn't really explain what's happening with the lip.  My wooden storms are flush as you expected.  Incidentally, I can't seem to find weep holes inside or out of our aluminum storms though.  I assume they're not quite as important if we have eaves?
Comment: Actually, I forgot.  Water can come from condensation even if the window isn't directly exposed to water.
Comment: weep holes are usually at the bottom outside edge, but can also be found at the sides of he frame (rarely). Also, depending on the frame type, may not be necessary due to the configuration of the frame.
Comment: Any guidance on how I can tell the case where it wouldn't be needed? Pour a cup or two of water in sill?
Comment: That's a good way to check. It also would show a worst case scenario from water penetration. If water is retained in the sill and you decide to open weep holes keep them away from the edge where water may find a route past the frame joint.


Short circuit in welding

Question: All I know about welding is it is a technique in which electrode is connected to one terminal and the gripper connected to workpiece is in connection with the other terminal. As current passes and when the electrode is touched to the workpiece,an arc is generated which melts electrode and helps in the formation of a joint. As the circuit is completed with a conductor in-between,doesn't it result in short circuit?
Answer: No, this is not classed as a "short-circuit". This is a circuit with a designed current flow - ie a 60 to 150A range is common...
A "short-circuit" is a circuit where the current flow is not following the designed current path ie it is taking a "shorter" route to ground.
Comment: To expand a little. There *is* a circuit, but the welder limits the amount of current it puts out instead of letting it increase to a very high value. Current flowing through a wire (or through conductors making a circuit, including the cables, electrode, and plasma) generates heat, and that heat is generally where the electrical resistance in the circuit is high - which happens to be where the welding is taking place.
Comment: At that point, the resistance relative to other parts of the system (large cables, big pieces of steel, etc) is fairly high.
Comment: And , yes there is a "short arc" welding mode used with MIG ( wire feed welding) where the filler wire is heated as a short circuit then melts and drops. It requires a welding machine that instantaneously adjusts current and amperage to do this. It is used for low heat input welds. More common MIG process is the "spray arc" mode .

Short circuit in welding


a way to return value from @future method

Question: I have a situation where I have to insert data into a wrapper class and a bunch of objects to save in Salesforce first and then make an API call.
As we know, salesforce will not allow us to make any Callouts followed by DMLs. as a work around, I have written a separate class with @Future method and calling that from main class. That @Future method holds all http requests and callouts.
But the main problem is that I am receiving error or success message from the response. I need to return that message to show ERROR or SUCCESS message in the lightning page. I am using the response message and getMessage in components and using it to show that info. @Future method will not return anything and also will not save data in global variables too.
Can anyone please help me with this situation. If there is anything else can be done without using @future method, Please let me know that too.
Thank you,
Ashok.
Comment: can you clarify, is this triggered from VF page?
Comment: If your Future method is executing from Trigger, then I don't think you will be able to show the message in Edit or Detail layout. but if you are using VF page then you can use Continuation.
Comment: No @NarendraNimmana . It is not for Trigger.
There will be page where customer can choose the items to create an invoice. Then, it is making an API call and saving that invoice in JAVA application. What I need is to save the Invoice in Salesforce before making an API call. So, I took the selected items into a wrapper and inserted it in local first. Rest is the same story as above.
Answer: You can achieve this by three way

1.  Use Queueable
ID jobID = System.enqueueJob(new AsyncExecutionExample());

which will return ID of job and by which you can query your job status once its completed you can show the result of callout.

Separate transaction in two

Complete DML operations before callout and return cotroll on page and dont show any message.
Make callout use values from first transaction and you can show result on page.

Use your normal approach as you mentioned above once control received back on page from transaction set timeout for 5-10ms and check status of future and show respective result to user.
Comment: I do not understand what you mean check STATUS OF FUTURE in the third step. Can be be more specific about that. First two steps are not useful to me as I am updating object.list with two new values from response.
Comment: In third step you can update Callout log somewhere like custom object and you can check status by queryng from that object.
Answer: I think it's better to use Continuous concept here, it is similar to the rest Callout only difference is it works asynchronously, so no need of using @future. Asynchronous callouts (Continuous Callots) that are made from a Visualforce page don't count toward the Apex limit of 10 synchronous requests that last longer than five seconds. As a result, you can make more long-running callouts and you can integrate your Visualforce pages with complex back-end assets. Follow this Make Long-Running Callouts from a Visualforce Page, it has explained everything clearly.
I have just copied the Code from the link mentioned above.
VF Page
<apex:page controller="ContinuationController" showChat="false"
showHeader="false">
 <apex:form >

 <apex:commandButton action="{!startRequest}"
          value="Start Request" reRender="result"/>
</apex:form>

<apex:outputText id="result" value="{!result}" />
</apex:page>

Controller:
public with sharing class ContinuationController {
// Unique label corresponding to the continuation
public String requestLabel;
// Result of callout
public String result {get;set;}
// Callout endpoint as a named credential URL
// or, as shown here, as the long-running service URL
private static final String LONG_RUNNING_SERVICE_URL =
    '<Insert your service URL>';

// Action method
public Object startRequest() {
  // Create continuation with a timeout
  Continuation con = new Continuation(40);
  // Set callback method
  con.continuationMethod='processResponse';

  // Create callout request
  HttpRequest req = new HttpRequest();
  req.setMethod('GET');
  req.setEndpoint(LONG_RUNNING_SERVICE_URL);

  // Add callout request to continuation
  this.requestLabel = con.addHttpRequest(req);

  // Return the continuation
  return con;
}

// Callback method
public Object processResponse() {
  // Get the response by using the unique label
  HttpResponse response = Continuation.getResponse(this.requestLabel);
  // Set the result variable that is displayed on the Visualforce page
  this.result = response.getBody();

  // Return null to re-render the original Visualforce page
  return null;
}

}
Comment: My apologies @NarendraNimmana .. I should have mentioned that we are not using VF. Actually, it is Lightning. It seems above method is for Classic VF page. I really appreciate your quick response. Can we do the same in Lightning too??
Comment: I did it once in VF, but it's not useful for lightning. Currently i don't have any answer let me think of get back to you.


How to increase the shelf life of Bechamel sauce?

Question: how to increase the shelf life of bechamel sauce and what is the actual shelf life of white sauce?
Answer: You cannot increase the shelf life of random food. There are databases with food lifetimes, if you can't find your food there, assume 3-5 days for any cooked, ready to eat dish - that applies to bechamel too.
You can try freezing it and see if it comes out well; there is a chance it will separate on thawing. If freezing does not work, there is nothing you can do. Adding random things like acids or salt will not increase shelf life. Conservation methods which rely on acid and salt require a certain concentration, which very much changes the taste of the food (think pickles), is not applicable to just any food, and each recipe requires extensive testing before it is declared safe. So you have to accept shelf lives as a fact of life, and work your schedule around them.
See also How long can I store a food in the pantry, refrigerator, or freezer? for a rough overview of shelf life of food types, and visit databases like STillTasty for exact shelf lives.
Answer: For the proper storage method, see answers to this question: Storing bechamel sauce.
To improve the shelf life, you can try adding some acid such as lemon. Not sure how long that will allow the flavor to hold together better.
Comment: Hello Caleb, as a moderator I had to remove the copied text that came from the other question, as we consider it plagiarism. I see why you thought it is relevant, but the link is more appropriate here. As a user, and completely independently of that link story, I am downvoting the answer because of your suggestion to add lemon juice. Just because there are methods for preservation with lemon juice does not mean that adding a random amount of lemon juice will extend shelf life, and propagating this myth is dangerous.


Capitalisation of establishment

Question: I've read several pieces about capitalisation of the word 'government' in different scenarios, but how about with the word 'establishment,' as in "the British establishment of the day condemned the action".  Do I capitalize as I'm referring to a particular one in a particular time-period and it therefore has the sense of being monolithic, or, as it is inherantly a loose term, does it avoid such rules?
Comment: Were you to write 'the British establishment', you would not capitalise the first letter of 'establishment' specifically because you'd be using 'establishment' as a common noun, a common noun being restrictively modified by the adjective 'British'. Which establishment?  The British one.  The only way you could get away with writing 'establishment' with an initial capital E in such a context would be if you were to use the word 'establishment' by itself, not with 'British' in front of it (e.g., Sir Thomas More was taken down by the Establishment.).
Comment: @BenjaminHarman Even that case, I do not know if the capitalization is warranted.
Answer: The American philosopher and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson was the first to use the word establishment in a sociopolitical sense without further modifiers:

Conservatism never puts the foot forward; in the hour when it does that, it is not establishment, but reform. — Ralph Waldo Emerson, "The Conservative,"  Lecture, Masonic Temple, Boston, 9 Dec. 1841.
There are always two parties, the party of the Past and the party of the Future: the Establishment and the Movement. — Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Historic Notes to Life and Letters in New England," 4 Feb. 1880.

Emerson's new meaning does not appear to have taken hold except for a few scattered attestations in the 1920s:

Once and for all Englishmen were to be shown that revolt against the Establishment was not to be tolerated. — John Drinkwater, Oliver Cromwell, New York, 1927. COHA

The term was discussed systematically — and entered common discourse — in the Sept. 1955 number of the British magazine the Spectator by journalist Henry Fairlie:

By the Establishment, I do not only mean the centres of official power—though they are certainly part of it—but rather the whole matrix of official and social relations within which power is exercised. The exercise of power in the United Kingdom (more specifically, in England) cannot be understood unless it is recognized that it is exercised socially. — The Spectator, Sept.1955.

As the two passages from Emerson already suggest, there is no consistent use of upper or lower case, though once the term became, as it were, established, capitalization becomes less common. A more frequent technique, particularly in newspapers, was to put the word in lower case but bracket it in quotation marks to mark a novel meaning:

The first group of British authors he discussed were the "angry young men," who are similar to Beatniks. These authors, Bode disclosed, are protestants against the "establishment."  — Daily Kent Stater (Kent OH), 10 Mar. 1960.
"I've become the symbol of the attack against the establishment," he had told his fellow veterans. "I'm not a brutal person, but remember the attack against the police has been used since time immemorial to attack the establishment."  — William W. Turner,  The Police Establishment, 1968, 83.
The writers say studies must be made to identify those governmental procedures and institutions which turn increasing numbers of youngsters against the Establishment, and an action program designed to change those institutions and those practices. — Desert Sun (Palm Springs CA), 14 Apr. 1971.

Later sources are just as inconsistent:

The whole discussion was punctuated by unrestrained outbursts from a veteran who seemed to have a grudge against the Establishment (represented by the politicians and General William Westmoreland), and by actress Liv Ullman, who provided the chorus by periodically shouting "What about the children?" — Synapse (UCSF student newspaper), 17 May 1990.
The situation is a little like the role of the Establishment in art in England in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. What was hung in the annual exhibitions of the Royal Academy was determined by established convention and taste, not by new ways of viewing the world. — Eleanor J. Gibson,  An Odyssey in Learning and Perception, 1994,  283.
The Karen Finleys and Robert Mapplethorpes of the art world, and their many champions, are not disenfranchised outsiders, railing against the establishment: on the contrary, they are the establishment. — Hilton Kramer, Roger Kimball,  Against the Grain, 1995.
Arturo is a mysterious and enigmatic Banksy-like artist known in the art scene for his playful actions against the establishment. — Program, Input Conference 2013.
A man who fought hard against the Establishment to put an end to campaign financing misdeeds. A maverick, really, who seemed to have a real independent streak and whom even Democrats trusted to follow his conscience for the benefit of us all.  — Joan Wile, Grandmothers Against the War, 2008.

With a modifier such as British or American, both forms are also found, as in these two works published in the same year:

The prime movers controlling the British Establishment constitute a very narrow group of less than five hundred individuals. — Peter Childs, Michael Storry, Encyclopedia of Contemporary British Culture, 1999, 170.
For three years the king and Mrs. Simpson had carried on their affair under the knowing eyes of her husband and a large part of the British establishment, but without the knowledge of the British public.  — Edward Digby Baltzell, Howard G. Schneiderman, The Protestant Establishment Revisited, 1999, 79.

Althouth the word first appeared in a time when abstract nouns denoting universal concepts such as Truth, Beauty, or Salvation were often capitalized, broader usage of establishment in this sense occurred after the Second World War, when an upper case establishment seemed decidedly unmodern. Few authors today, for instance, write: separation of Church and State as it was consistently written in the 19th c., though some still do.
So basically, you can choose whichever form you prefer, though the clear trend does suggest using lower case.

Capitalisation of establishment


House sparrows ruining my plants. How do i kill them?

Question: Any idea on how to Permanently get rid of house sparrows? They've taken over the bird feeders we've set up for our pigeons. Plus, they destroying all my plants and creating a huge mess everyday. I've tried feeding them separately, setting up decoys, even have dogs but nothing seems to be working. They're just too many. We used to see alot of different bird species outside but now all we see are sparrows. I really want them gone and I'd go out and buy a pellet gun but everything's closed. I can't even buy bird poison. Is it possible to make poison at home using household products to all to their feed?
Comment: Get a Coopers Hawk, downside, he will keep all birds away.
Comment: That's a great idea but sounds too much of a challenge for me. I mean, a hawk ain't your typical friendly pet and i for one wouldn't even know where to start as far as training it is concerned.
Answer: You can reduce sparrow numbers by changing what you're feeding the birds. House sparrows tend to like small seeds like corn, oats, wheat, and other types of grain seeds. According to this site, sparrows really like millet and cracked corn (maize). What they DON'T like is sunflower seeds, if those are available in your area.
Changing your feed is far preferable than trying to poison the birds - not least of all because if something poisons sparrows then there's a really good chance it'll poison other birds.
Comment: House or English Sparrows in the US will eat about anything.
Comment: They stay away from my feeder in Wisconsin, which contains primarily black sunflower, regular sunflower, and safflower seed. I see primarily house finches, nuthatches, chickadees and cardinals this time of year; when the migration is in full swing I get grosbeaks and other birds that are just passing through - and sometimes starlings or cowbirds, unfortunately. All with this same mix. But NO sparrows
Comment: jurp_ unfortunately that wouldn't work cause even if i did change the feed, they'd still be fed by the neighbours all around and i cant convince them of how sparrows are an invasive species and how much of a nuisance they are to the environment and that they should be seen for what they really are as PESTS. I'd probably get labelled if anything else.
Answer: I'm sorry, but I also understand.
We have to control the grackles here or they destroy the diversity too.
I use a good air rifle with a good scope on it.  .177 caliber and steel shot.  I can discourage them enough that they cannot nest, but I have to be more persistent than they are.
Which means getting up whenever they start coming around and walking around for a few minutes.  By now they are smart enough to fly away before I can shoot at them.  Luckily they now only come around in the morning and in the evening so they must already have nests someplace else or have given up.  There are no active nests this season so far that I can tell.  Which is a big improvement over trying to pull nests out of trees and having 50 grackles attacking all the other bird's nests.
I also spent some time learning about them and which ones to target (females are smaller).
Can you go outside and scare them off regularly?  If you have anything like tennis balls or something to throw at them that might help get them to move along faster.
And for a while perhaps stop feeding the birds.
We do not feed the birds here at all other than having the gardens for them to forage in and some berry bushes they feed upon.
We do have birdbaths that we keep clean which keeps birds around the yard where we can see them and in the gardens.  This approach seems to work well for encouraging diversity but also avoiding the many pests that come with feeding.
Note, I do not enjoy this, nor would I do it otherwise, but I consider it a part of being a good steward of this land to encourage diversity as best I can so to spend a few minutes here or there managing the bird populations is worth it.
Comment: you want to be careful how far you go with the grackles, since they're native birds that are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Not that I'm not sympathetic to your plight - just make sure you don't run afoul of the law when removing nests or shooting at the birds. :)
Answer: I used to have a huge problem with house sparrows, and there are a couple of measures that helped me a ton in my war to make the backyard safe for other songbirds. In summary, these are:

Remove sparrow-friendly food and feeders
Protect remaining feeders with a magic halo
Trap them (humanely) if legal in your area

Pick your food and feeders carefully
House sparrows love millet and are big fans of cracked corn as well. Go for black oil sunflower seeds (beloved by many backyard birds) and safflower (bonus - squirrels tend not to like it either). They also tend to like feeding on the ground or in tray feeders, and unlike many other songbirds aren't particularly good at hanging sideways or especially upside-down to feed.
Make or buy a Magic Halo
The magic halo is just a few strands of weighted hobby wire dangling from a ring around the feeder. For whatever reason, HOSP will avoid a feeder with thin wire hanging around it and other birds will be undeterred. You may eventually get some particular brave birds that go to the feeder, but it tends to cut the numbers down by at least 90%. I credit this, more than anything else, to the return of diversity at my feeders.
If you are in the Americas...
... then house sparrows are an invasive species. In the US, this means they have no protections under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and you can do pretty much whatever you want to them (this is not legal advice, check your local laws). Similar situations may hold true in other countries.
Use traps, not poison. As @Jurp points out, poison is far more likely to kill birds indiscriminately and not only is that not what you want, it could also get you in legal trouble if you end up killing native birds. Far better to use traps that catch the birds alive (allowing you to release non-HOSP bycatch). I got myself a Deluxe Repeating Sparrow Trap, and it's worked brilliantly. Starts off slow, but once you've got a few decoy birds you can leave in the trap they'll flock to it.
Once you've caught some HOSP, you can humanely euthanize them or trim their wings (see below). See http://www.sialis.org/hospdispatch.htm for more on which methods are recommended to painlessly dispatch the birds. Remember that even though they may be pests in your area, songbirds like HOSP are more intelligent than you think and deserve your compassion.
If you prefer not to kill, there are wing trimming methods that help control the population. This is the method I went with because I'm too big of a softie to kill a bird. If you follow the instructions here http://www.sialis.org/wingtrim.htm you can trim the ends of their wings in such a way that they can still fly and avoid predators, but become more docile and won't build a nest or have babies that season. The thinking is that with trimmed wings they don't have the aerial maneuverability to get in dogfights or bully other birds, and it costs just enough extra energy to fly around that they'll spend their time eating rather than reproducing.
But don't bother trying to relocate them - even if they aren't pigeons, they're still good navigators and will find their way back.


Problems about import

Question: The following is structure of my program
./abc.py
./a/__init__.py
./b/__init__.py
./b/t.py
Source code of abc.py
import a

Source code of ./a/__init__.py
from b import t

Source of of ./b/t.py
def aa():
   print "bbb"

./b/__init__.py is an empty file.
There is a statement
t.aa()

if I put it into ./a/__init__.py, then when I run abc.py, it works fine.
But if I put it into abc.py, when I run the script, I get an error like

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "abc.py", line 3, in
     t.aa()
  NameError: name 't' is not defined

What's the reason of this? Thank you in advance.
Answer: t has been imported into a, and is thus available to code w/in a.  And while a has been imported into abc, what a imports has not.

Problems about import


How do I install Gimp 2.7.3?

Question: I'm trying to install gimp 2.7.3 from the repository of launchpad ppa:matthaeus123/mrw-gimp-svn, but when I try to install, it installs the package gimp with the 2.6 version instead of the 2.7, but the others libraries are installed with 2.7.3. There's an error? How I can install it?
Comment: Did you run `sudo apt-get update` after adding the PPA?
Answer:
You can see from the above image that gimp and babl packages failed to build.
You should contact the author of the PPA to see if he can resolve this problem.
Answer: Note that a system can point to many archives which contain various versions of the same package. By default the highest version is installed. To select a different version of the package, add "=(version)" (without the parentheses) to the end of "sudo apt-get install ". For example, let's say you want to install package "trojanrabbit" version 2 and it is not the currently highest available version:
<code>sudo apt-get install trojanrabbit=2
</code>

How do I install Gimp 2.7.3?


Sum of two elliptical distributions will it be again elliptical distribution?

Question: What will be the sum of two elliptical distributions  will it also be elliptically distributed?
from this What is the distribution of the difference of two-t-distributions
It says that sum of t distribution with different degree of freedom is not always t distribution but does it still lie in elliptical distribution?
Comment: In short, no it does not. Just apply the convolution formula to derive the density of the sum or difference of two elliptical variates and this should come out clearly. Elliptical distributions are not naturally associated with degrees of freedom, what do you mean by these?
Comment: Sorry for degree of freedom I meant when we use student t- distribution. But I  wanted to know  sum of two elliptical distribution also lie in family of elliptical distribution or not?
Comment: Please amend your question to include your clarification in comments
Comment: A Student t distribution is univariate. In this case an "elliptical" distribution simply is one that is symmetric. The sum (or, indeed, any linear combination) of any two Student t distributions will remain symmetric. One way to make this obvious is to recognize that the characteristic function of a symmetric distribution is a function of $|t|$ and the cf of a sum is the product of the cfs--and therefore is still a function of $|t|$.
Comment: @whuber I assumed the motivating intent on the mention of t was multivariate-t otherwise there's not much point raising elliptical at all. OP should definitely clarify
Comment: Yes I was talking about multivariate t distribution.
Answer: The family of elliptical distributions is not closed under convolution. e.g. see Sec 5.3.4 (p90) of Prestele, C. (2007), "Credit Portfolio Modelling with Elliptically Contoured Distributions", Doctoral thesis, Institute for Finance Mathematics, University of Ulm. However, some subfamilies of elliptical distributions are closed under convolution; for example the class of elliptical stable distributions (ESD) are closed under convolutions.
Comment: I previously converted this to a comment but since the Q. remains unanswered, I've decided to reopen it.


GTK3 programs not launching with correct theme or settings (even with config files)

Question: Currently all my gtk3 apps launch in the standard Adwaita theme. I have been, so far unsuccessfully, trying to get them to launch in the dark variant.
I know this should work beacue when I do GTK_THEME=Adwaita:dark program the program will launch using the correct theme.
After some googling and checking the arch wiki I found I had to create the following config files, ~/.gtkrc-2.0 for gtk2 programs and ~/.config/gtk-3.0/settings.ini for gtk3 pograms. The ~/.gtkrc-2.0  file contains the following:
gtk-theme-name = "Adwaita-dark"
the ~/.config/gtk-3.0/settings.inifile conatins:
[Settings]
gtk-theme-name=Adwaita:dark
gtk-application-prefer-dark-theme=1

I believe this worked because when I use neofetch it has a line stating Theme: Adwaita-dark [GTK2], Adwaita:dark [GTK3]yet still gtk3 applications launch in Adwaita and not Adwaita-dark/Adwaita:dark
Additionally I have also tried using the gsettings command, instaling lxappearance, and by adding export GTK_THEME=Adwaita:dark to my ~/.xinitrc file. None of these things have worked either.
I am using arch linux with xorg and i3 window manager.
How do I get this to work? All I want is for gtk apps to launch in dark mode. Is there something I am missing? Something I did wrong? Maybe a work around? I honestly did not expect this to be so difficult. Any help whatsoever would be greatly appreciated!
Answer: UPDATE: So I'm still not sure why it was not working but I just downloaded another theme from the Aur and used that instead. Works fine now!
Comment: Would be helpful if you included which theme that was.
Answer: Add the following line to ~/.xprofile:
export GTK_THEME=Adwaita:dark


How do I fix my humidity problem in my home?

Question: I have an older home. Last year I didn't have this problem but this winter, to save money I keep my temperature a lot lower. I'm seeing a lot of condensation on the windows and now on my livingroom wall, water running down and mold forming. It also smells like mold in my home. Will purchasing a good dehumidifier help? I am also thinking of adjusting the humidifier on my furnace? Another issue may be that my bathroom doesn't have an exhaust fan but I can't afford to have one put in. I need the best, cheapest solution.
Answer: I'd start by adjusting the humidifier on the furnace. It sounds like you don't have to add any additional humidity to the air, so you could probably turn it down (or possibly off).
If you have a gas fired furnace, turning the heat up a bit could help. If the furnace does not have an air intake connected to the outside, the air used for combustion will be drawn in from outside.  During the winter, the cold outdoor air has very little moisture. When the cold dry air is drawn into the house, it will lower the humidity levels in the home. This is why loads of people have dry skin in the winter, and the reason humidifiers are installed in the first place.
If none of that helps, you might have to consider installing a dehumidifier, or some other form of HVAC system to remove the excess moisture.
Comment: Also relative humidity decreases with increased air temperature.
Answer:
Another issue may be that my bathroom doesn't have an exhaust fan

That's likely the primary issue. Excessive moisture in a short period of time finding it's way to the coldest surfaces. A dehumidifier won't help with that type of moisture issue. Short of a proper exhaust (or just a window) in the bath you are probably better off fixing the issue on the window side of the problem by covering them with the shrink-film. At least the surface to condense on won't be as readily available to the moisture laden air.


FMA Feature parameter records do not show up for every license record in LMA

Question: We just released a new version of our appexchange app to set of customers.
This new version includes FMA (Feature Management App).
The issue is some org's licenses (in LMA) do not show Feature Parameter records listed under their License detail page.
Answer: Got response back from salesforce that there was a known issue which was fixed recently :Known issue which means either of Sandbox or prodcution could be impacted of this issue. To fix it goto License record of impacted org and simply make a change e.g. Expiration Date and hit save it should trigger the SF back end process to Sync FMA records between subscriber org and LMO org.
Comment: Sure.. it is a great extension to LMA.. we had some issues in the very beginning but most of the critical ones salesforce fixed and now it seems pretty stable. Although there would be some surprises like sometimes the sync operation takes time since it happens in asynchronous fashion. Other thing to consider is if there is an exception thrown by FMA SF class you can't catch it so be aware of that means if SF mess up something in their release you will see the impact but that happened only once since the implementation (we are using it for almost 2 years now).
Comment: We are considering adding FMA to our app. How has been your experience with it? Has it made your life easier? Any surprises?
Comment: Not to mention you cannot test it in unmanaged environment and it is not testable in sandbox of your LMO same as LMA


Is it really wrong to use gendered pronoun about users with a gendered avatar or username?

Question: On this Meta site (much less reason to write about specific users that way on the main site and if yes, the username or "OP" is used), is it really that wrong to use "he" or "she" when mentioning someone who uses a picture of a male or female person (and not an obvious celebrity) or whose username is clearly male or female (again, clearly like John, not ambiguous like Andrea)? Highly upvotes comments here seem to claim so for the avatar. Does a person have to specify their gender explicitly?
Comment: IMO, No, it's not, but if they correct you, apologize and move on, there's nothing else that really needs to be said about it. Just act like a decent human.
Comment: That topic is a real mine field, so I wouldn't suggest to assume the gender from the avatar or the name and always use gender neutral language. Some users may mention their pronouns in their profile, but I'm to lazy to check for them just to use specific pronouns.
Comment: @Nick: I don't think _anyone_ has to __apologize__ for the use of a gendered pronoun if the avatar is obvious in that regard. This specific case talks about a profile picture, which is a headshot of what's obviously a dude, stubble and all. I mean, if said user _cares_ about not being called a "he", he'd have something about it in his profile. I mean, there's being neutral, and there's going out of the way to make a political statement. In this specific case, I think both the comment and the "neutralizing" edit were excessive.
Comment: (So, to clarify, you shouldn't feel _guilty_ for assuming a profile pic of a dude represents a dude)
Comment: @Cerbrus In honesty I meant a token gesture of "Oh, sorry", effectively more of an _acknowledgement_ of wrongdoing. Sincere apologies only make sense IMO when the offense is caused in a situation it was more likely.
Comment: @Vladimir this is not the case - despite the official stance that the cotes of disagreement are expressed on FR posts, it is not true at all de facto. Voting is much more free-shaped on meta than on main. There is no need to assume anything about voters either - it might very well be that someone just did not see the issue as improtant, or just lost their keys.
Comment: I have an avatar of my friend. I told them "be there or be square". You can't assume the person in picture is the actual users behind the screen
Comment: Nope, nothing wrong with it - just stand corrected if told the preferred one (or fall back to gender-neutral language). *Never* feel the need to apologize for the assumption unless it should have been clear from the context (other conversations in the same thread, posts, and such).
Comment: Votes do not "punish" you.
Comment: My comment was deleted but I will repeat it in more word and detail. The comments all say what I should do and votes punish me for what they think I do or because I am surely a bigot or who knows. This is about the rules and the etiquette. It is about whether other users (not me) should be reminded they should not use he when mentioning a user with an obvious bloke avatar. Please do not say that I should do this or that. So what users may or may not in general. I, personally, normally cannot run i.to this issue anyway, because I strive to address users by their (user) name.
Comment: This question already has 1 pretty good answer.  If you would like to provide your own, please do, but do so as an answer.
Comment: Well, this is not really about me, I normally use the user name.
Comment: @Nick: Yea, something like "Ok, I'll keep that in mind" makes more sense, imo.
Comment: @VladimirF I do not think the comments refer to what *you*, specifically (at least mine doesn't), should do but rather signify what others feel is the correct way to proceed. As for the votes, well... 'tis the topic that strikes the bare nerve for some countries - I do not think it is possible to construct a post about such matters without causing at least *some* level of controversy.
Comment: @E_net4isnotinaforum These look very much so. This is not a feature proposal where votes show disagreement with the proposal. Here it very much looks like the voters assume something about me personally.
Answer: Quoting from the answers to the FAQ post about pronouns on Meta Stack Exchange:

4. Can I use he or she based on a user name/avatar and correct if they tell me I was wrong?
We do not recommend assuming people's gender, but you can do so. If someone corrects you with their stated pronouns, please start using the stated ones instead.

(emphasis mine)
Answer: A little anecdote. I am a gamer. I am a male. If given the choice of gender in a game, I tend to choose a woman. Or a cat! Whatever non-male options are available. I don't want to play as myself so I pick something far removed from myself. Escapism for the win.
So given that little sidetrack, let's take the Stack Overflow avatar and username. Frankly I don't want my avatar to have anything to do with me in real life either. If interactions on this site extend to your personal life / work life / social media, people can be persistent and it's a little unnerving. So whatever name and picture you see... it is just as likely to be a complete facade.
So do what you want, but I personally would not assume anything. And to be honest... using the gender-neutral terminology is just so wonderfully simple once you get used to it. I wouldn't know why you would want to make your life more difficult by just having to refer to a gender. All you can see is unicode text anyway.
Comment: And you or do not feel offended if someone addresses your female character or alter ego as a female? That is the point. The point is the gender you are going with, not what genitals you have on your physical body.
Comment: @VladimirFГероямслава I make an active effort to not be offended. And also to not trigger people who are looking to be offended... by only applying gender-neutral terminology. Frankly, I really don't know what you were hoping to achieve with that comment.
Comment: I do not understand what you wanted to achieve with this answer. It seems to me obvious that if one acts as a gender different from their physical sex that they want to be addressed in the gender they use. I do not understand why the fact they they are actually someone else should be relevant at all. If I post here as a cat, I can be addressed as a cat, unless I tell people to do otherwise. That's it.


Is it possible to disable compass?

Question: I don't yet see value for the compass in solo play and I have disabled every other non-essential, persistent HUD element in the game. Even though the HUD options are extensive, turning off compass doesn't appear to be possible at least from the options menu.
Answer: It is intented to be used when playing duos and squads so you can make easy calls for spotting targets. As it can not be disabled from the options menu. My guess is that Epic Games sees this as an essential part of the HUD and made it inremovable for that reason.
It would always be an option to dig into the files and mod it there, but this is stated as forbidden by Epic Games:

Epic Games support replied to someone when they asked about modifying the game files and it is not allowed. You risk being banned. Though it may not be considered cheating, it still violates the EULA.

Is it possible to disable compass?


What's the smallest tool-less splice for 18awg wire?

Question: I've got a bunch of 18awg thermostat wires that need to be spliced in tight spaces. Normally I'd use wago lever nuts because they can easily be installed and removed by others, but at 8.2mm thick they're way too big for the job. I'm looking for a 3 conductor tool-less splice kinda like this, except <4mm thick:
Comment: Low voltage might get away with just twisting the wires together and taping them.  Not recommended if under stress or high(120v) voltage.  Your size limits do make it hard.  Automotive connectors(thin ones) just might be at/under 4mm thick, but tools required for setup, not splicing/connecting.
Comment: Even single conductor wire nut will be almost 4mm or bigger.  If you remove tool-less then have a few more choices with climpers.
Comment: @crip659 Yep crimping would be an easy solution to the space problem, but I assure you it really has to be tool-less. At the very least, removal has to be tool-less even if it's not reusable.
Comment: Solid or stranded?
Comment: Is there no way to move the splices to have more space?  How do you even work in 4mm space?
Comment: even screw splices are 5.6mm (and you'll need a screw driver)
Answer: My go-to for that job is blue wire nuts e.g. Ideal 72B.  I use hundreds when re-wiring fluorescent fixtures, which are all #18 wire internally.
If somebody told you wire nuts are bad, well I don't agree but they're just wrong when dealing with wires this small.
Comment: 71Bs are slightly smaller than 72Bs, so if every mm truly counts, that's the choice. 72B goes up to 4 x 18 AWG compared with 71B 3 x 18 AWG but for this application that seems to be adequate. 72B 10mm diameter, 18mm long vs. 71B 8mm and 15mm.
Comment: @manassehkatz yeah I use the blues a lot, they're easy to work with given 2-3 #18.  I prefer to use nuts in the middle of their working range. Grays are a little tight for my tastes.  If OP has an "every mm counts" situation they 're probably violating the box fill rules. Time for an extension box.
Answer: I think the best you can do with Ideal brand wire nuts is the 71B:

Holds various combinations, including 3 x 18 AWG.
8mm diameter at the base - tapers slightly to the top.
15mm tall

So not quite as small as you'd like. Hard to compare with Wago as I am having trouble finding documentation of the exact dimensions.
Answer: the best tool-less splice I could find was Wago 2273-203 which is  5.8mm thick.


marking scale between Egypt and the UK

Question: How can I convert marks in the Egyptian scale to marks in the UK scale.
for example if I got a mark of 40 in Egypt what is the equivalent mark in the UK.
Comment: @PsySp: Are you sure that it's *that* easy? There's a whole page on Wikipedia dedicated to international grading systems: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grading_systems_by_country. I'm pretty certain that you can't simply convert between all of them by applying the rule of three. For example, the German grading system uses the grades 1.0 (best), 1.3, 1.7, 2.0, 2.3, ... down to 5.0 (fail). Usually, in-between grades (e.g. 1.5) are not allowed. Most people treat the distance between (1.0 and 1.3) and (1.3 and 1.7) the same: as one subgrade unit. Can you model that by the rule of three?
Comment: @PsySp: German 1.0 corresponds to the 96-100 percent bracket, 1.3 to the 91-95 percent bracket, 1.7 to the 86-90 percent bracket, and so on. So, the German scale is increasing with decreasing percentages, and it is neither continuous nor are the steps equidistant.  Unless you have a mapping function, you cannot express this by the rule of three.
Comment: It's called _rule of three_: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-multiplication#Rule_of_Three
Comment: @Schmuddi If both systems are modeled by a discrete scale with a discrete meaning, I do not see where is the problem.
Comment: @Schmuddi It seems highly structured to me (96-100, 86-90 and so on) but I see your point and I agree.
Answer: According to Naric (the UK's national agency responsible for grade comparisons):

[Egyptian undergraduate] grading systems vary between institutions and even departments. The table below indicates the different systems in use and the relationship between them:
75-100     Distinguished / excellent / very good     A
65-74      Good                                      B
50-64      Pass                                      C
0-49       Fail/Weak                                 F

For a UK undegraduate degree, grading is almost always as follows
70-100     First Class
60-69      Second Class Upper Division (often written 2.1)
50-59      Second Class Lower Division (often written 2.2)
40-49      Third Class
0-39       Fail
Naric suggests the following equivalency:
First class = A or A-
Second Class Upper Division = B+ or B
Second Class Lower Division = B- or C+
Third Class = C

marking scale between Egypt and the UK


Please Guide about Exceptions

Question: I have web application with Presentaion layer,Business Layer,Data Access Layer. I am getting data by web service which is connected with my Data Access Layer.Means it is one of type of remoting i am using. Which exception i must handle in this scenario, in my DAL and Business Layer?
Please guide me.
Answer: I view a Webservice as just another form of Presentation layer. It should be using the same business layer components as your Web UIs, wherever possible.
Even in fairly basic REST style services, I try to always incorporate a basic Response wrapper around the requested data - this ensures that in the event of a failure, I can still return a response with an Error flag set, and hopefully some form of descriptive message.
I always try to ensure I'm not passing exception data from lower layers (eg DAL) as this can be a security issue. That exception data should generally be logged, however.
Answer: Layer architecture is notoriously poor at following the natural flow of your app, so, well, you have some choice there. I like to put this sort of code into the business layer, although I couldn't make a compelling case for it to save my life.
Answer: I think you should not handle any errors at Data Access Layer or Business Layer. You simply have to throw it to next layer, so at last you have an error/exception at Presentation Layer. All the error/exception should be handled at Presentation Layer, the reason behind it is..

You may change Presentation Layer in future and it will be easy and comfortable to handle it if you know the real error/exception
You can have a class handling each type of error at presentation layer and throw custom message to the user

Still, This is my opinion and there is no hard and fast rule for that. I am also agree with "Niko" to handle such things at Business Layer.
Following article may give more light on architecture (still it is not on error handling).
 - http://www.codeproject.com/KB/cs/CLR_SP_Linq_n-tier.aspx

Please Guide about Exceptions


Kernel of map equal to commutator, free group on two generators.

Question: Let $G$ be the free group on two generators, and $K$ its commutator. We have that $G/K \cong \mathbb{Z} \oplus \mathbb{Z}$. This isomorphism is induced by $\theta: G \to \mathbb{Z} \oplus \mathbb{Z}$ given by $s \mapsto (\#a(s), \#b(s))$, where $\#a(s)$, $\#b(s)$ is the number of symbols "$a$" respectively "$b$" in the string $s$ (it can be also negative). For instance, $\theta(a^{-1}ba^2b^{-3}a^2) = (3, -2)$. It is evident that all elements of the commutator are mapped to $(0, 0)$. Therefore, $\text{Ker}\,\theta \supseteq K$. But how do I see the opposite direction, i.e. $\text{Ker}\,\theta \subseteq K$?
Comment: You mean "$K$ is its commutator subgroup" not just "$K$ is its commutator". $G/K$ is abelian, so the images in $G/K$ of any element in which the exponent sums of both $a$ and $b$ are zero is trivial. Hence $\ker \theta \le K$.
Answer: I think what you mean is that $K$ is the group generated by commutators.
For any $s∈Ker(θ)$,we know the sum of the number(including nagative) of "a" and "b" are zero. Without loss of generality,we can write
$$s=a^{n_1}b^{m_1}a^{n_2}b^{m_2}…a^{n_t}b^{m_t}$$,with $$\sum_{i=1}^tn_i=\sum_{i=1}^tm_i=0$$
The other three forms can be proved similarly.
Now we can see that
$$s=a^{n_1}b^{m_1}a^{n_2}b^{m_2}…a^{n_t}b^{m_t}=a^{n_1}b^{m_1}a^{-n_1}b^{-m_1}b^{m_1}a^{n_1+n_2}b^{m_2}…a^{n_t}b^{m_t}$$$$=c_1·b^{m_1}a^{n'_2}b^{m_2}…a^{n_t}b^{m_t}$$
$$c_1=a^{n_1}b^{m_1}a^{-n_1}b^{-m_1}∈K $$$$n'_2=n_1+n_2$$
Terms after $c_1$still satisfies $$\sum_{i=3}^tn_i+n'_2=\sum_{i=1}^tm_i=0$$
We can see that the number of terms except $c_i$'s minus at lest one if we do this process.So repeat it until $s$ becomes a multiplication of commutators $c_i$ ,since t is finite for each s.Thus $Ker(θ)⊆K$.


How to open XML file in ArcGis 10?

Question: I have a XML file that would like to use as a base layer in ArcGIS 10. What are the steps that I need to follow in order to open that file in ArcGIS 10?
The XML file does not have coordinates. When it's open it shows the following:
Comment: Is the .xml containing coordinates?
Answer: The only useful data in the screenshot you added of the XML contents is the path to a .jpg file. Why don't you just locate that and bring it into ArcGIS? ArcGIS won't be able to understand the XML file directly.
You'll have to georeference it manually if it doesn't have an accompanying "world" file (.jgw, typically).
Side note: XML is just a markup language, and XML files are just text files. They can contain practically anything. It's up to the consumer of the file to be able to make sense of its contents, and ArcGIS has no idea what this flavor of XML is or what to do with its contents.
Answer: What does the XML file contain? X/Y points?
If the file only contains points you could simply convert the XML file to Excel format and then import the Excel file as such:
Tools -> Add XY data -> open the excel file -> define the x and the y fields -> output the final point features
If the file is more complicated than X/Y points could you post a sample so that we can see the elements and better inform you?
Answer: That XML isn't anything but "metadata".  You need to track down "images/WA_Dayton_20110406_TM_geo_img_0.jpg"
Answer: Edit: The saveasxml plugin that apparently was used to create the xml is just a plain 'ol xml writer.
It does not create mapping data that can be imported into esri.
So to expand on the original document and where you might go to accomplish what you need.
It does appear that the pdf had some map information in it (as a linked image perhaps)
One method that could be used (one method I use).
Would be to (purchase) terrago "publisher" and use the  view pdf command to insert the pdf into arcmap.
However "unless" the software being used to create the original pdf creates a geopdf, you would still need to manually georeference your pdf (with terrago tools).
There are ways to create geopdf without terrago.
question from gis.stackexchange
and opengeo for ogc geopdf best practice specifications
you should also be aware that there are pdf files with vector, raster, and both which can be converted.
See this question on gis.stackexchange
HTH understanding and clarifies what you want to accomplish.  You might rework (edit) your question to get to the next level.
Old answer - doesn't seem to apply anymore with no comment I will remove
 If the xml is a workspace document created by esri you would need to import it into a geodatabase of some variety (file, personal, sde).
It is mearly pointing to the database you want the data in.
right click at the db level (not the feature class or feature dataset level)
and select import...

Note: you have the option of just the schema or schema and data.

How to open XML file in ArcGis 10?


What is use of preference activity in android?

Question: I have studied preference activity but I don't understand it. Can anybody tell me what is the use of preference activity? How does it differ from activity?
Thanks
Answer: PreferencesActivity is a way to easily create preference screens such as those in Android itself, just look under Settings. These can be used inside applications to easily save preferences to SharedPreferences and then easily access these from within your app.
See this page for more information on PreferenceActivity.
An example of a PreferenceActivity showing some preferences:
Answer: Use:
It gives a very easy way to create a standard looking settings screen for any application.
Why:
minimal coding is required
How it works:
it takes care of UI.The values are stored in SharedPreferences automatically by the PreferenceActivity and so its scope becomes app wide.
Sample Screen UI:
Answer: such settings screen, you can use it for your app where user want to change setting.
Answer: Its one stop to manage your Shared Preferences. Through this, you can provide a group of Settings to user for your app. Since it only deals with preferences, that's why its different from regular Activity. Read this for more info
Answer: PreferenceActivity supports the simple handling of preferences. It can show a set of preferences to the user.
An activity on the other hand is a single thing a user can do.
Checkout Section 13 at this link
Answer: It is usually  used to create a  settings screen for  applications .The values are stored in SharedPreferences automatically as soon as user selects a preference setting. It frees the programmer from explicitly saving preference values.
Answer: PreferenceActivity is a class that allows you to implement an activity that realizes a hierarchical organization of choices. Most often it provides a good bases for building the settings activity in you application.


Intuition - Why do I need to download the entire blockchain? What is the advantage over a Remote Node?

Question: I'm relatively new to Monero, but am extremely interested in it since it seems to be the best privacy coin out there. When opening Monero-Gui for instance, why are there multiple options for blockchain referencing? What are the downsides of Bootstrapping? Are there some docs that give more of an intuition behind all of the security options? I'm assuming there is a good security reason behind downloading the entire ~150 GB blockchain just to use XMR.
Answer: There are three modes available in the GUI, namely Simple mode, Simple mode (bootstrap) and Advanced.

In Simple mode mode, the GUI wallet will automatically connect to a remote node and have a simple interface. This mode excludes the need for the blockchain sync and ensures you can immediately use the wallet. However, it weakens your privacy insofar as the remote node will be able to see your IP address as well as associate any of your transactions with your IP address. Besides, using a remote node does not contribute to the strength and decentralization of the network.
In Simple mode (bootstrap) mode, the wallet automatically connects to a remote node whilst syncing your own (local) node in the background. The wallet will subsequently switch to your own (local) node once it is fully synced. This allows you to immediately use the wallet while still eventually using your own (local) node (which is optimal for privacy and contributes to the strength and decentralization of the network). Additionally, this mode has a simple interface as well. This mode is the default and is thus recommended by the developers for new users.
In Advanced mode, you will perform the blockchain sync from scratch (which may take from 10-14 hours (with an SSD) to several days to complete (with an HDD) and requires approximately 120 GB of free disk space) without connecting to a remote node. Advanced mode also contains all features that were deemed as advanced by the developers (and thus were left out of the simple mode). Note that you won't be able to properly use your wallet until the blockchain sync from scratch has been completed. Lastly, Advanced mode allows you to customly set a remote node (in case you, for instance, want to connect to your own remote node).

P.S. Extensive documentation for the GUI can be found here:
https://github.com/monero-ecosystem/monero-GUI-guide/blob/master/monero-GUI-guide.md


How to include "File upload" field in the webform composite element?

Question: I have created a custom composite element, I want to include "File upload" field...The field is visible to the user and the file is uploaded. But it is nowhere saved.
Answer: Depends on the destination folder. This webform FAQ might help you.
Edit: Webform Composite Elements do not support File elements yet. Reference on drupal here
Follow these issues (active as of 6/20/2017) to find release updates-
https://www.drupal.org/node/2883734
, https://www.drupal.org/node/2884624
Comment: @SAY True! doesn't support #multiple too.
Comment: I have tried that, it didn't work. I have created a custom composite element $elements['transcripts'] = [
           '#type' => 'file',
           '#title' => t('transcripts'),
           '#multiple' => TRUE,
 ]; This is my code for the file upload.
Comment: Composite Elements doesn't support file elements.


Replace a 36" door with a Five ft slider on a two story load bearing out side wall

Question: What should the header size be? I was thinking two 2x12.
One king and two jack studs on each side?
Do I need to build a temp support while installing the new header?
Comment: Is the door going to be on the first or second story? 2-2x12's should be good for a header of 5' even on the first story.
Comment: First floor and thanks for the info it's a big help
Answer: The 2x12's are good. 2x10's are calculated to be enough.  Double jack studs are good.  And definitely provide temporary support. This information is available on Table # R502.5(2) P.
Comment: Paul, you might add the title of the document that the table came from e.g. International Building Code, Table R502.5(2)


What is the keyboard shortcut to set the language for text in MS Word 2011?

Question: I usually write in English, but I often quote things in other languages like German or French. I know that you can set the language, like the font under Tools -> Language. Is there a keyboard shortcut to make this easier?
Comment: You can go to System Preferences > Keyboard and setup shortcuts for nearly anything. If change this preference does not show up, You can use an automator service
Comment: @thebro21 that did the trick! I should have thought of that. I found that Ctrl+Option+Cmd +L worked well for this on word (ie. No conflicting shortcuts)
Answer: Go to System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts and there will be various shortuc setups for almost anything. If you see something that is not listed, Make a service in Automator and add it as shortcut:

Here you see the service in Automator. It ain't always have to be an AppleScript. You can chose other services from the Menu on the left.

And here is a screenshot of enabling the service and assigning a shortcut by double clicking the shortucts on right, and pressing a combination of keys.

here is a full tutorial on services and automation as a little bonus to the question.


Release Notes Best Practices

Question:
What are some tips for writing good release notes? Any best practices or examples? My audience is both my QA department and the executive team.
Answer: I distinguish between release notes and release contents.  (The specific terms do not matter, and you may use different terms than I do).
The release notes is an externally-consumed document that helps users understand what is new in the release.  It usually describes new features.  It may or may not describe bug fixes, depending on the product, the type of customer, and how transparent the company wants to be.  Some product have release notes; others do not.
The release contents is an internally-consumed document that fosters communication between teams on a project.  It might start with a high-level description of the release's major themes,  a list of features, and perhaps a list of significant fixed bugs.
To answer your question, you need to calibrate your release notes to the needs of your QA and executive teams. Their needs are probably different.  Your executives may only want a high-level description of the project, whereas your QA team may care less about the high-level themes than in the actual features and significant fixed bugs.  (These days I suspect companies rely more on bug tracking systems for bug statistics than in written documents.)
You did not mention your customer service team.  Perhaps you do not have one, or perhaps your QA team is also responsible for customer service.  Customer service will probably want both kinds of documents.
Comment: We really never did release notes until now. The business had no requirement for one, other than a complaint about not knowing what just went live. I'm simply including a list of features that they've requested which were implemented in the current release, along with the descriptions from the requirements documents. They really just want visibility into what changed.
Answer: I can list out based on my experience. Release notes need to cover below items

Details of Release Feature - Whether this release is a feature additon / bug fix / Change Request
Prerequisities to run the build - Any prerequisite that is required prior to build installation
Environment for the build to be applied - You might have some scripts for DB, IIS, Biztalk ..It would be useful to callout the script target to install/run
Duration of Script execution - If the build requires downtime, It would be useful to specify the installation time for critical steps. This would provide good insight on time to install and also estimate production downtime
Log file path / Build Errors - Path to check for Errors / Troubleshooting (Call out if any known issues/ errors)

These are couple of items I found useful for QA Team, Production Team and Product Mgmt team as well.
Hope it Helps..
Answer: We are using 2 different types of release notes, depending on whether it's a regular release of our software, or an intermediate one.
Normally the software I'm responsible for has one major release a year and it comes with full documentation (user manual, online help etc).
For this release the release notes contains a section listing the new and modified features and the bug fixes. For the new and modified features there is also some kind of link to the documentation, e.g. "for additional information concerning this feature see chapter 3.2 of the user manual".
For intermediate releases, which are necessary due to bug fixes or features a customer needs so desperately that he cannot wait till the next major release, besides the list of new/modified features and bug fixes, there is also a description how to use the new or modified features from the users perspective. This information will be included into the documentation (user manual, release notes) of the next major release of the software. This is also true for bug fixes, which made it necessary to change the user interface or the way of handling the software.
Answer: Since my company works with multiple clients and releases may or may not affect all of them based on custom features in their install we use Release notes to the development & project management teams to:

Communicate which bugs were fixed
Communicate the new features included with the release
Communicate the release version
Specify which client is most impacted by the release
Communicate SVN revisions and merge targets

Our support project manager will then take those release notes and update our product updates page with details that have been "clientified" for public consumption.
Answer: This investigation/project ARENA: An Approach for the Automated Generation of Release Notes is very interesting and trying to answer the question by scientific-engineering argumentation, plus provides an online tool at https://seers.utdallas.edu/ARENA/
Additionally, because the study is always limited, I would pick some random high-light release notes (see list) and than specify your notes.

https://www.xilinx.com/support/documentation/sw_manuals/xilinx2019_1/ug973-vivado-release-notes-install-license.pdf
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/release-notes
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/ios_ipados_release_notes/ios_ipados_13_4_release_notes
https://www.st.com/content/ccc/resource/technical/document/release_note/b2/02/4b/e3/81/32/49/c4/DM00107607.pdf/files/DM00107607.pdf/jcr:content/translations/en.DM00107607.pdf

My background is over a decade in R&D so I have seen a lot. From another point of view, release notes seem not to have major project impact, i.e. if their quality varies the risk is still low. Stakeholders such as customer or PM of course will require them. Nor have I seen release notes as major documents used or relied upon in QA or specification activities. Think assessments. I would consider them part of Configuration Management.

Release Notes Best Practices


Attaching a Kryptoflex cable (Kryptonite) to the frame

Question: I want to attach the double looped cable (bottom) to the frame: it's two metres long, and isn't convenient to wrap around the D-lock, etc. Has anyone done this? Since a clip (top) can't get past the loops on the ends, the only way I can think of is to saw the clip in half and then stick it back together on the cable, but this seems a bit... dumb.
Comment: Saw the d clip in half.  Yes that does sound dumb.  How about a picture?
Answer: So, if understand correctly, the lock is mounted on the down tube as sketched below?
If so, you could try placing the "U" part of the D-lock in the frame mount, hold one loop of the cable on one end of the "U", wrap the cable around the seat post & up over the top tube, then back down to the D-lock & then place the locking mechanism on (also as shown in the sketch below).
Is this in the ballpark? It may keep the cable in tight enough to keep from rubbing on your legs.
Comment: +1 just for the diagram. How did you generate it?
Comment: Thanks. Done with AutoCAD, just a couple minutes quick CAD work.
Comment: Yeah, that's how it is, just that the d lock is the other way up. I'll try it that way.
Answer:
Unlock the U-lock.
Put the loops on the cable onto the U of the U-lock.
Clip the U-lock to the frame as normal.

If this is not adequate, use 4:

Use a piece of velcro to tie the cable in place to the frame.
Comment: As I said, the D-lock isn't in a good place for me to do that: it's on the hypotenuse of the bike frame and putting the cable there means it bangs into my legs.

I experimented, and the D-lock couldn't be mounted anywhere else with enough clearance to take it in and out of the bracket. You may be right that 4 is my only option.
Comment: It would help to see what the frame looks like -- most people would the U-lock on the seat tube or a rack if they have one.
Comment: @batman I've found that the best place for the frame mount from kryptonite is on the front fork (partly to do with the oversize tubes on my bike and cable routes). At one point I carried my (independent) cable lock velcroed to a front track on the other side. That worked well but now I put it in a spare bottle holder.
Comment: @Chris H. I too carried my lock (with a cable wrapped around it) on my front fork for a long time with no problems. The unbalanced weight did make it impossible to ride with no hands, but so what. I might add that I really only felt safe with it on the front fork because I also had mud guards & the stay that connected to the eyelet on the fork kept the lock from being able to rotate into the wheel.
Comment: @renesis,I've also got mudguards. I sometimes velcro the lock to the stay to reduce rattling.  Never ridden hands free and any weight moved forwards improves the handling with a toddler seat on the back.


Does using a light in darkness make a sneaking Rogue obvious to monsters?

Question: Playing D&D 5E we ran into a problem concerning our Rogue. With normal vision he seemed useless in scouting caves ahead. Trying to fix this by using Lamps and candles strikes me as problematic as this must influence his stealth checks (in a negative) or the Monsters perception (in a positive way). How can we use his stealthy skills while mainting the amount of lighting?
Comment: Your questions title does not Really match your question in the text. Which of these questions do you want answered?
Comment: Related: http://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/62774/how-far-away-can-you-see-light
Answer: Yes, using a light in darkness makes a sneaking rogue obvious to monsters
...provided that the monsters can see. The DMG is pretty emphatic about this on page 105 (the section on Darkness and Light in Dungeons):

The light of a torch or lantern helps a character see over a short distance, but other creatures can see that light source from far away. Bright light in an
  environment of total darkness can be visible for miles, though a clear line of sight over such a distance is rare underground. Even so, adventurers using light sources in a dungeon often attract monsters...

I am assuming that the rogue is holding the light source to use it to light his path, so the light is shining on him - illuminating him for all to see.
Note that the errata to the PHB corrects heavy obscurement so that vision works in it as you would expect:

A heavily obscured area doesn't blind you, but you are effectively blinded when you try to see something obscured by it.

This means that a monster standing in darkness can see through the heavy obscurement from the darkness to the brightly lit rogue. Unless the monster is distracted or looking the wrong way, it will see the rogue. Of course in combat it will see the rogue automatically as all combatants are deemed to be aware of all other combatants.
Answer: Yes, if the monsters can see the light.
In plain sight, it will be obvious that monsters are going to see him.
However, remember that any source of light has a bright radius and a dim radius. So if you are at an angle of a corridor and the light doesn't touch the side the monsters see, he won't be detected. Your player could also use some kind of Clamshell to quickly hide the light when needed.
If the monsters cannot see the light
Behind a door for example, you still have to make a stealth check for the noise coverage!
Comment: The dimly lit area is not the area where the light is visible, but the area where the light is bright enough to reflect off of a surface and return to the observer.  You can see a campfire from miles away on a clear night if there are no obstructions, yet a campfire does not illuminate more than a few feet on each side.
Comment: I would go so far as to say that the light in the very least would be seen coming up on the corner of a corridor, but not necessarily the PC. The cherry on a cigarette can be seen from over a mile away at night, barring fog etc. If the monster in question was already in darkness he would at least see the light approaching and might prepare or move to investigate what was causing it.
Comment: @Slagmoth If the light (even dim) doesn't go to this corner, No. You cannont see the cherry on the cigarette if it's hidden. Otherwise it would mean the player (without darkvision) can see the corner even if it is outside the lightning range of this torch. So why would he need a torch in the first place ?
Comment: One of those was explicitly stated ("barring fog etc.") and the other was implied by common sense in my comment.
Answer: The mechanics of hiding are discussed at length in What advantages does hiding have?. The most relevant rules are:

You can't hide from a creature that can see you (PHB p.177)
Passive Perception. When you hide, there's a chance someone will notice you even if they aren't searching. To determine whether such a creature notices you, the DM compares your Dexterity (Stealth) check with that creature's passive Wisdom (Perception) score, which equals 10 + the creature's Wisdom modifier, as well as any other bonuses or penalties. If the creature has advantage, add 5. For disadvantage, subtract 5.
The DM decides when circumstances are appropriate for hiding. Also, the question isn't whether a creature can see you when you are hiding. The question is whether it can see you clearly. (PHB errata)

Being able to Hide requires that you are not seen, remaining hidden requires that you not be found. So, holding a torch in someone's line of sight will prohibit you hiding in the first place but it will not mean that you are automatically found. It would be fair to say that trying to hide in the dark holding a light source merits disadvantage on the check but it shouldn't preclude it.
Your Dexterity (Stealth) represents natural talent (your Dexterity modifier), your training (your proficiency modifier) and a huge slice of luck (a d20 roll) - in narrative this could mean that you keep the light source behind your back, pick exactly the right moments to move and have a guard who is drunk, asleep, taking a dump or otherwise distracted.
Answer: The simplest answer would be to cast Darkvision on the Rogue before he scouts ahead.  Of course, Darkvision is a 2nd level spell, so the Wizard needs to be at least 3rd level, and it is a resource heavy spell until the party is advanced enough to create magic items... assuming the DM in this campaign allows item creation.  If not, I'd suggest the DM include some sort of wand of Darkvision or something similar in a loot-drop just to make this problem mostly go away... although the occasional wand is out of uses twist would make for a fun evening.
Answer: This question has two answers, based on two unique cases:
Your Rogue is trying to hide from Creatures with Darkvision:
Creatures with darkvision see in dim light as if it were bright light, and darkness as if it were dim light.  Therefore, even in pitch black, they do not suffer from the blinded condition.  They have disadvantage on perception checks, but they are still capable of seeing.
However, if your Rogue is carrying the light openly, then they are in a region of bright light.  If they are partially shading it, they may be in dim light, but unless they completely cover it, they are not in darkness.
So within a creatures darkvision range, the creatures will not have disadvantage on perception checks to see the rogue.  DMs should give advantage on perception checks and/or disadvantage on stealth checks as they see fit, recognizing that light sources are visible beyond their illuminated range, provided there is no obstructions blocking their view.
However, if the rogue is behind cover, the light source may not be visible. The DM should adjudicate this situation based on the surrounding terrain and the likelihood that the light could reflect off of surrounding terrain (trees, cave or building walls/ceiling, etc...) and be seen.
If the Rogue is outside a creatures darkvision range, apply the (below) case where the creature does not have darkvision.
The Rogue is trying to hide from Creatures without Darkvision:
If creatures are in the dark and do not have darkvision, they suffer from the blinded condition, meaning all visual perception checks automatically fail.  Thus, RAW, they should not be able to see the Rogue.
However, this seems to present a situation where a creature with darkvision, 1 ft can see any object light by bright light, but a creature without darkvision cannot see the same object.  A more RAI (IMO) is to say that creatures are blinded towards anything in darkness.
This means that if your Rogue is carrying the light openly, then they are in a region of bright light, and they will be spotted.  If the Rogue shades the light, so that it only illuminates the ground just in front of them, then other creatures will have disadvantage on perception checks to spot them.  Again, judicial adjudication of interaction with cover is required by the DM.

TL;DR: Your rogue will be visible if the only thing they were hiding in is the darkenss, and they illuminate that darkness with a light spell.

References
PHB pg 177

You can't hide from a creature that can see you.
What Can You See? One of the main factors in determining whether you can find a hidden creature or object is how well you can see in an area, which might be lightly or heavily obscured, as explained in chapter 8.

PHB pg 183

VISION AND LIGHT
A given area might be lightly or heavily obscured. In a lightly obscured area, such as dim light, patchy fog, or moderate foliage, creatures have disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) cheeks that rely on sight. A heavily obscured area-such as darkness, opaque fog, or dense foliage-blocks vision entirety. A creature in a heavily obscured area effectively suffers from the blinded condition (see appendix A).
The presence or absence of light in an environment creates three categories of illumination: bright light, dim light, and darkness.
Bright light lets most creatures see normally. Even gloomy days provide bright light, as do torches, lanterns, fires, and other sources of illumination within a specific radius.

PHB pg 290

BLINDED

A blinded creature can't see and automatically fails any ability check that requires sight.

PHB pg 173

The DM can also decide that circumstances influence a roll in one direction or the other and grant advantage or impose disadvantage as a result.

PHB pg 183-185

Many creatures in the worlds of D&D, especially those that dwell underground. have darkvision. Within a specified range, a creature with darkvision can see in darkness as if the darkness were dim light, so areas of darkness are only lightly obscured as far as that creature is concerned. However, the creature can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.


ArcGIS Pro 2.5 - Raster stretch - change minimum maximum values

Question: ArcGIS Pro 2.5 - When I set a raster to stretch symbology and use a minimum maximum for the value range, how/where do I change the minimum and maximum values?  In ArcMap there used to be a little tick box than would let you override the minimum and maximum, where has that functionality gone? (assuming it is even in ArcGIS 'Pro')
Answer: A little workaround that might help:
In the symbology pane, go to the histogram editing. There, you can narrow your symbology boundaries manually (although it is annoying that you can't specify values accurately).
Comment: I just noticed that in there you can double click on the numbers on the boundaries and specify them accurately, so I think this might do the trick.


Why metal hydrides have low lattice enthalpy

Question: Lattice enthalpy is inversely proportional to the distance between the ions. And the trend of lattice enthalpies is: $\ce{MF>MCl>MBr>MI}$. But why do metal hydrides have lesser lattice enthalpy than flourides?
Data
Comment: Hydride is *HUGE* - H- ionic radius 208pm, F- 119pm, Cl- 181pm (from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ionic_radius) . Hence the lattice energy is lower.
Comment: I guess they are less ionic.
Comment: OK, slightly more complicated as H- is rather squishy (technical term), see https://chemistry.stackexchange.com/questions/125814/radius-of-hydride-h%E2%81%BB-ion but even if you accept the lower value of 139.9pm it is still somewhat larger than F-
Answer: As suggested in the comments, hydride ion size is founded on shifting sands, and even the size of the cation is not really fixed. Everything in ordinary chemistry is at least somewhat squishy.
We should be looking at distances between ion centers and crystal structures. Where the crystal structure is the same we can assess the distance from Lattice constants, which are themselves a little squishy but at least accessible by direct (X-ray diffraction) experiments.
Let's look at sodium compounds. Lattice constants in Angstroms (Å) are from the Wikipedia articles on the respective compounds, lattice energies in kJ/mol are quoted from https://www.wiredchemist.com/chemistry/data/lattice-energies.
$\ce{NaH}: \pu{4.98 Å}, \pu{811 kJ/mol}$
$\ce{NaF}: \pu{4.62 Å}, \pu{904 kJ/mol}$
$\ce{NaCl}: \pu{5.64 Å}, \pu{769 kJ/mol}$
We would expect that for the same ion charges and crystal structure (the latter true of all the compounds cited above), we would expect smaller lattice constant to correspond to more lattice energy, and this we see. Essentially, the hydride ion holds its valence electrons so loosely that they wander over slightly more volume than the greater number of, but more tightly held, electrons in fluoride ions.
The similar lattice constants for alkali and alkaline earth fluorides versus hydrides facilitates the formation of solid solutions, which have been considered for hydrogen storage applications.


Is it desirable to talk about flaws in an interview?

Question: After an interview I had I realized I had talked openly about a flaw I have, which I'm not sure is desirable in an interview where the goal is to make appear as marketable as possible. At the same time everyone has flaws and should be aware of them, so showing that to the employer seems okay. I am assuming flaws like personality/character deficits or minor health issues. Not something with either a heavy stigma attached or that will make the job impossible to do.
Comment: Say nothing about it, ever.
Answer: It's definitely not ideal to talk about your flaws in an interview, unless you're spinning it into a positive ("sometimes I think I'm just too much of a workaholic")  That being said, it's not necessarily a torpedo in the water, either.
How do you feel about the rest of the interview?  Did it go well, overall?
I would just try to forget any implications of what happened and move on.  If they bring it up in the future, just say you were trying to be open and honest and got carried away (ie: the truth.)  Being self-aware of your own flaws means you can work to improve them over time.  If they don't mention it, you don't either.
Comment: It did go well overall. I fumbled a bit during the technical part but the question I asked sparked a nice conversation towards the end of the interview.
Answer: If you talk about how you adressed a flaw of yours, then it should be fine. I very much prefer people who tell me how they overcome flaws or how they share tasks in a way that their flaws don't matter instead of persons who tell me that they are perfect.
Comment: In fact I was talking about a side project that I was working on to address a flaw I have. So perhaps the damage is not too bad :)


How to Create Organization Chart Free and without Code

Question: I have trying to create an organization chart for my site but there is no free substitute for it. As I stumbled upon organization browser it only shows the current user hierarchy and I want to display an organization chart for a different team. I also cannot configure it as I do not have access to the SharePoint Central Admin center.
So anywhere I can create an organization chart free and without code?
Answer: There are many free options to create organization chart, apart from SharePoint Paid Apps(also have free version for evaluation)
You can check below link which mentions dynamic Org chart creation.
Dynamic organizational chart
You can also look for this link, if you are looking for Visio and excel services as well
How to create an organizational chart with SharePoint and Office 2013


Would unstable sample rate affect spectrum after FFT?

Question: The system samples analog input and then conduct FFT on the samples and then display the spectrum. Currently, the issue is the displayed spectrum line position is keeping shift between each scan. After examining the whole system, I found all the components in the system are consistency except the sample rate which varies between 9B~10B, but it always satisfies the Nyquist sampling rate(2B). My question is whether the unstable sample rate may lead to the frequency shift?
Comment: Holy crap! Yes. The FFT is an algorithm "tweaked" to take advantage of symmetries and identities to arrive at a fast transform. One assumption that underlies probably every FFT algorithm I've experienced is that the sample rate can be considered to be "fixed-spaced." That doesn't mean someone couldn't find a "semi-fast" algorithm that accepted delta-time values, as well. But I've not seen it. So, it most certainly will affect your results. When I design scientific instrumentation, I make *certain* the sampling is rock-solid (50ns jitter may be too much.) Or else scientists would complain.
Comment: @jonk, 50 ns or 50 ps?
Comment: @ThePhoton For most of the equipment I worked on 50 ns was sufficient. As always, though, context matters. So I was only making the point that "rock-solid" is the requirement. That meaning varies with context.
Answer:
My question is whether the unstable sample rate may lead to the frequency shift?

Since the frequency bins in the FFT are proportional to the sampling rate, if you change the sampling rate, you change the frequency of those bins. If you know what the sampling rate is on every particular data set, you can resample it to be consistent between all of them.
Answer: That 9bandwidth to 10bandwidth variation will cause 10% spreading of the spectral lines.
If you have 100,000 Hz Nyquist, and you expect a clean frequency line at 25,000 Hz, expect the 25,000 Hz to be 2,500 Hz wide.
If you gather 0.1 second of samples, you can expect 10 Hz frequency bins.
Thus 2,500 Hz line spreading should be very observable.


Can a laptop be monitored when booted from external drive?

Question: If a laptop is monitored (say from employer) and I boot it from an external USB hard drive or a LIVE-CD/USB-Stick, can it then still be monitored somehow?
Answer: While it is technically possible to do so, it would require modifying the device firmware to spy on the running operating system. The chances that your employer would do this are astronomically low.
It is feasible that some laptop manufacturer could design (or has already designed) firmware with a feature to log information about each booted machine, in which case you would need to disable that feature. I suggest you check your BIOS/UEFI to make sure you see nothing like that.
Answer: As forest mentioned it is possible the firmware was modified to log your activities, however another aspect to be aware of is if you're using your employers internet.
If you boot your laptop from an external source but then connect to your work internet, your employer could still potentially see the traffic to/from your device. Using your own internet source, or a service like a VPN can counteract this.


Password protection for section of a drupal website

Question: I am planning out a Drupal website, and it will have a password protected section.  All users will need a username and password to access content, but client wants to issue passwords by company (group).  For example, ABC company might have 20 employees, and they can all use the "ABC" username and password (issued by client) to access and read articles/content online. DEF company will use the "DEF" username and password, to access the same content.  What is the best module to accomplish this?
Answer: Introducing password protection to parts of a Drupal website means that you enter the the wild (and somewhat mysterious) world of node access control.
Out of the box, Drupal 7 (and previous versions) only provides a single global permission to grant a role the right to view a node (i.e. view published content in Drupal 7).  To get more fine grained access control to published content, you must use a node access module.  There are several node access modules to choose from.  This page gives a good introduction to the rules that govern node access, and lists the major modules that help you manage node access, along with capsule reviews of each.
There are no single "best" module.  Each module have different characteristics.  I suggest you identify those you think are the best fit for your site, and check them out, before committing to one of them.
Your plan (to have a company user with a company password) have some logistical problems (see last paragraph), but can be implemented (sort-off) by means of a role based access module.
A better approach (IMHO) would be to create a set of node access "groups" (this can be roles, OG groups, or ACLs - depending upon the module you choose to use), where each "group" consists of all the users associated with a single company. I.e. you assign existing users to these groups. Now users can authenticate with their primary password, but you can set up node access grants to be determined by each user's "group" membership.
The approach you suggest (with a company user and company based password) will have the problem that the company user's password can not be protected against changes without a custom module.  Also, you may run into problems if a user leaves one company and joins another.  Then the old company's passwords must be changed so that this user may no longer have access, and the new password must be communicated to all existing employees of that company.  If you do this the way I suggest, you just remove this user from the group belonging to the old company, and adds him to the group belonging to the new,. That is all that is needed to make sure that he loses access to the content belonging to his "old" company, and gains access to the content belonging to the "new" company.
Answer: Organic Groups is probably your best bet.

Enable users to create and manage their own 'groups'. Each group can
  have subscribers, and maintains a group home page where subscribers
  communicate amongst themselves.
They do so by posting the usual node types: blog, story, page, etc. A
  block is shown on the group home page which facilitates these posts.
  The block also provides summary information about the group.
Groups may be selective or not. Selective groups require approval in
  order to become a member, or even invitation -only groups. There are
  lots of preferences to configure groups as you need.


Print-screen button not working in Lubunt 14.04.03

Question: Print-Screen button does nothing.  I bound the keys to scrot as suggested by Vasa.  That did not do anything, but scrot does work from the command prompt.  So then I tried replacing lxsession-default as suggested by Joern.  That did not do anything.  I see at the end of the bug report they say the bug is fixed in 14.04. It is not for me !  Does anyone have any idea why this does not work ?  As far as I can see the key needs to invoke a command in the appropriate environment.  I can't see why this has been giving problems for so many years.
Answer: Sorry ...  PrintScreen button is working fine.  I made a silly mistake.
I was immersed in what I was doing on a headless machine through teamviewer.  Teamviewer does not send the PrintScreen key to the remote machine.  It is processed locally.  I just found all the screen shots I tried to get (of the headless client screen !) on the host machine.  To it's credit teamviewer is so good that I forgot that I was using a remote system !


Permissions to htm file in root of SharePoint 2010 site

Question: I created a simple HTM file in the root of our SharePoint site in SharePoint Designer.  It inherits permissions from its parent.  People who are not site collection administrators are getting the standard access denied message from SharePoint.
Looking at permissions, most everyone has permission to read the file.  All Authenticated Users has read access for the first thing.  I have a test user that gets the access denied message.  But when I log on as a site collection administrator, I am allowed to view the file.  The same test user can view siblings of the file I created without any problems.
We do not have anonymous access enabled.  This SharePoint 2010 environment uses claims based authentication through Shibboleth and ADFS.  I doubt that is relevant, but I thought I would share anyway.
What is going on?  I've poked around in the IIS, SharePoint and Windows Event logs without finding much.  Any ideas what I can try next to determine the source of my problem?  Or good ideas to try?
Answer: Found that there was no major revision of this file published.  Once I did that, it began appearing for non-site collection administrator users.


python 3.x restore variables from pickle

Question: I have dozens of variables in a dictionary in a pickle. If certain conditions are true, I need to restore all of these variables (all different types), with the same names as the dict's keys.
I simplified the code to point out the problem. For instance, one of the keys is 'ref10_data'. If the variable is defined elsewhere in the function, it doesn't get overwritten, but I would like it to be.
import _pickle as pickle
from numpy import max

def main():
  processing_path = '/data/common/PROBSEV_DATA/processing/'
  ref10_data = 0
  restore_dict = pickle.load(open(processing_path + 'cc_rt_prob_svr.out','rb'))

  for key in restore_dict:
    globals()[key] = restore_dict[key]

  print(max(ref10_data))

if __name__ == '__main__':
  main()

'0' is what is printed. This question/answer kind of works, but it won't overwrite a variable if it is previously defined. How do I get it to re-define a variable, or is there a better way to structure this functionality?
Thanks.
Comment: Why not just use them in the dictionary?
Answer: Instead of tampering with globals, which is inellegant and unpythonic, you can simply pass the variables as keyword arguments ("kwargs") to another function:
def foo(ref10_data, another_var, yet_another_var):
    print(max(ref10_data))

def main():
    ...
    restore_dict = pickle.load(...)
    foo(**restore_dict)

This is simple, intuitive, and pythonic.


Screen tearing while gaming

Question: I'm running an iMac with a 2.8 GHz Intel Core i7 with 12 GB of DDR3 on OS X 10.9.5 and am getting tearing with playing CS:GO. I'd like to fix this. How can I disable Vsync in 10.9.5? What does this have to do with Beamsync?
Answer: CS:GO respects its own Vsync setting, which works while in fullscreen. You can edit this in the Video options:

Enabling this setting will prevent screen tearing, at the cost of performance. Typically, this is undesirable in a competitive game like CS:GO, but there's nothing stopping you.
Beamsync is Apple's implementation of Vsync, present in the normal desktop environment and, by default, most apps. As of OS X Mavericks, the ability to enable/disable it was accessible through the Graphics Tools for Xcode:

Download Graphics Tools for Xcode - Late August 2014
Install or just mount Graphic Tools
Open Quartz Debug
Go to Tools -> Show Beam Sync Tools
Select Disable Beam Synchronization

Note that these changes are not permanent.
At some point however, this appears to have changed: disabling Beam Sync is no longer available through the Graphics Tools. Some tools (1 and 2) claim to disable it, but I haven't verified their integrity, and neither have been updated since 2015.
My recommendation given your use case is to just keep CS:GO in fullscreen and use their implementation of Vsync, toggling as you see fit.

Screen tearing while gaming