UV Map not displaying vertices

Question:
Relatively new to Blender and currently attempting to colour one of my models, though in my UV editor tab, the wireframe is not displayed, only its contents.
Comment: First thing, in your 3D view, you need to have your object in Edit mode, not in Object mode, then you need to select your faces (or enable the Sync button), is it the case?
Answer: As Moonboots suggested, go to edit mode, select all the faces you want the wireframe to be displayed, then switch to texture paint mode.
Check also if your overlays are active.

UV Map not displaying vertices


How to create multiple jquery form fields and insert in mysql database, without using mysql_real_escape_string

Question: I need to create dynamic text fields with a button (which simply adds a new row of dynamic text fields). Then I need to INSERT the data in a in the database. I borrowed an example of what I need done from someone else's question, the problem is, it uses  mysql_real_escape_string, which is now depreciated. I am new to this, so could you tell me what I would use instead of the  mysql_real_escape_string?

$(function(){
    $('p#add_field').click(function(){
        counter += 1;
        $('#container').append(
        'Hobby No. ' + counter + '
'
        + '<input id="field_' + counter + '" name="dynfields['+counter+'][name]' + '" type="text" />
' +
        + '<input id="field_' + counter + '" name="dynfields['+counter+'][surname]' + '" type="text" />
' +
        + '<input id="field_' + counter + '" name="dynfields['+counter+'][age]' + '" type="text" />
' +
        + '<input id="field_' + counter + '" name="dynfields['+counter+'][gender]' + '" type="text" />
');

    });
});
</script>
if (isset($_POST['submit_val'])) {
    if ($_POST['dynfields']) {
        foreach ( $_POST['dynfields'] as $key=>$fieldArray ) {

            $keys = array_keys($fieldArray);
            $values = array_map("mysql_real_escape_string",$fieldArray);

            $query = mysql_query("INSERT INTO my_hobbies (".implode(',',$keys).") VALUES ('".implode('\',\'',$values)."')", $connection );
        }
    }

    echo "
" . count($_POST['dynfields']) . " Hobbies Added
";

    mysql_close();
}
Comment: http://php.net/manual/en/mysqli.real-escape-string.php isn't deprecated. Hehe
Answer: Your problem has nothing to do with jQuery and the form. It is just highly recommended to prevent SQL injection, an attack in which an attacker injects SQL commands into your DB Query by posting it in your form. That's why any data that comes from an untrusted source (eg html form) should be sanitized or at least escaped.
Here is a good explanation what SQL injection is and how it works.
As for your question: You can use mysqli_real_escape_string.
<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost", "my_user", "my_password", "world");

/* check connection */
if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
    printf("Connect failed: %s\n", mysqli_connect_error());
    exit();
}

$mysqli->query("CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE myCity LIKE City");

$city = "'s Hertogenbosch";

/* this query will fail, cause we didn't escape $city */
if (!$mysqli->query("INSERT into myCity (Name) VALUES ('$city')")) {
    printf("Error: %s\n", $mysqli->sqlstate);
}

$city = $mysqli->real_escape_string($city);

/* this query with escaped $city will work */
if ($mysqli->query("INSERT into myCity (Name) VALUES ('$city')")) {
    printf("%d Row inserted.\n", $mysqli->affected_rows);
}

$mysqli->close();
?>

Answer: mysql_real_escape_string isn't the only mysql_ function to be deprecated. They all are. including mysql_query.. I suggest googling for a PDO tutorial and spending 15 minutes teaching yourself. It really is pretty simple.
But to answer your question, after you create a PDO connection (you'll have to Google for how, I can't do everything for you) you'll change your loop to this..
$keys = array_keys($fieldArray);
foreach($fieldArray as $$k=>$v) $exe[":".$k] = $v;
$query = $pdo->prepare("INSERT INTO my_hobbies (".implode(',',$keys).") VALUES ('".implode('\',\'',array_keys($exe))."')", $connection );
$query->execute($exe);


change the background color of default home page

Question: How do I change the background color of the default home page?
Comment: Please learn CSS first.
Go to w3schools.com and give a thought on CSS.
Answer: Go to your ftp and open skin/frontend/your_theme_pack/your_theme/css/styles.css file and find something like:
body{background:........}
Change any color/image here and save file.
Make sure changed file is uploaded/replaced in ftp.
If you only want to change home page background then add following line right after body{....} in your styles.css file:
body.cms-index-index{background:....;} (in your case cms-index-index might be different)
Hope this will help.
Answer: Just go to cpanel and in styles.css under skin folder goto frontend and your theme and then css-> open styles.css and in body class write background-color:.... whatever color you want. Some themes providing custom css options there you can also write.


Is "school" a preposition in "The School day never goes too slowly"?

Question: Is School a preposition in this sentence?: The School day never goes too slowly. If it is not what part of speech is it?
Answer: It is not a preposition.  "School day" is a compound noun.  In this case it is the combination of two nouns (school+day), but can also be the combination of multiple different elements (i.e., noun+verb, adverb+noun, etc.).  Compound nouns are sometimes written as two separate words (e.g., "bus stop"), as a hyphenated work (e.g., dry-cleaning), or as a single word (e.g., bedroom).  In fact, you will sometime see it written as "schoolday."
Answer: No, it is not a preposition.
In this use, "school day" is a compound noun.
Answer: More specifically than it being a compound noun, or noun phrase, we can say what the role of school is in school day. It is an adjunct noun, or attributive noun. It is describing the sort of day being spoken of.
Answer: The question has been answered correctly already. "School" is not a preposition. "The School day" is a compound noun.
Collins Dictionary [www.collinsdictionary.com] defines a preposition as:  A preposition is a word such as 'by', 'for', 'into', or 'with' which usually has a noun group as its object."
You can browse a full, comprehensive list of all English prepositions on the web at www.thefreedictionary.com


Understanding the Open Game License

Question: I'm thinking about using the basic mechanics behind the D20 system royalty-free, however, I'm unsure if the OGL allows that. Any thoughts appreciated. And if I can't use the D20 system royalty-free, then any suggestions on other well tested systems appreciated as well.
Comment: That's cool. Just checking that it's not a boardgame or something similarly unrelated to programming.
Comment: Is this related to software?
Comment: Yes, I'm considering using it for a game I'm designing.
Comment: @Anna: it's related to licensing, so I think it's OK... assuming he's planning to incorporate the rules in a *computer* game anyway.
Answer: From what I understand this means the software itself does not need to be open, but the methods/data it uses that are OGL need to be available and must be the same data the program uses.
That explains that interactive games may be made using the OGL, but the d20 System is very different.
More information can be found in the Software FAQ for the d20 system.
Answer: I also am not a lawyer but I think you're heading into trouble here.
MOST of the D20 system is covered by the OGL but they deliberately omitted some critical bits so you couldn't make a complete system.  There's also the issue that the OGL prohibits computer games--they are licensed separately.
Comment: @Loren That is wrong. The OGL does not prohibit Software at all, that is ONLY the D20 license which would not be used at all in this case.
Comment: Since you state that the OGL prohibits computer games, then this'll be the correct answer. Thanks for replying. I guess I'll look into other ideas, like Dean Harding said, maybe create my own similar system.
Comment: @Loren, I marked a more recent answer the correct answer, as it links directly to the FAQ concerning using D20 in software.
Answer: I believe you are OK to do that, but I am not a lawyer. You should be able to contact the WotC and get clarification directly from them, which it what I would recommend in this particular case.
Personally, I wouldn't bother. Assuming you already know the d20 rules pretty well yourself, you shouldn't have too much trouble coming up with your own set of rules that work "like" the d20 system, but is independent of the d20 system.
Only a die-hard D&D fan would ever notice that your rules are actually different, and you completely avoid any problems you might run into with WotC.
Comment: Alright, I think I'll try and contact WotC first, and see what they have to say. I wouldn't mind having to add a D20 logo somewhere, as it'll serve as a proof of the underlying balance as well. I'll mark this the answer in a days time, incase someone else might know the exact answer.
Answer: You absolutely can. You need to have all software based on the d20 SRD follow the license such as clearly marking what is and is not Open Game Content and PI.
Here is software that is actively using the OGL : http://www.dundjinni.com/eula.htm

Understanding the Open Game License


Python: Installing Flask with MAMP

Question: I am going to try Flask very first time. I found this link for installation which asks me to install some virtualenv. I am using MAMP on my machine. I wonder whether I can integrate Flask with Apache. I want to later use Flask based app on my Shared hosting which just supports Apache. So I wonder whether I can use it with Apache?
Answer: Yes, you can use Flask with Apache (using mod_wsgi), check the deployment docs.  No need to use Apache in your development machine, Flask has integrated web server, which is more convenient when developing.  Unless you want to test your webapp in an environment similar to the one you're going to deploy to, but for that using virtual machine is a better option (e.g. Vagrant).
Since you say that it would be your first time using Flask, I'd suggest to forget deployment questions for awhile and simply follow the tutorial, just play with it.  When you'll have your first app ready, then you can learn more about the deployment.
Comment: If your hosting provider supports FastCGI, you can use that instead: http://flask.pocoo.org/docs/deploying/fastcgi/
Comment: could not agree more :) Just try, develop locally with built in web server. Maybe you will not like it at all :) For virtual machines simply virtualbox would work too.
Comment: My system is not so heavy that I use VMs for it. I agree with you that I need to focus on Development at this moment but I am being skeptic that I don't want to finish up my project in something that can;t run on my shared hosting which only supports Apache.
Comment: MY hosting don't support mod_wsgi. Guess I go for this solution. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/13465316/where-to-host-flask-and-alchemy-app
Answer: If you are using the Apache webserver, consider using mod_wsgi.
So it seems likely that they integrate fairly well.

Python: Installing Flask with MAMP


Will WhatsApp verification delete my contacts & messages?

Question: I have a WhatsApp account in my old phone, but I have put my SIM card in my new phone. Now when I opened WhatsApp in my old phone its asking for verification. Will verification delete my contacts & messages?
Answer: I don't think verification will delete anything, usually it's just an SMS verification code that has to be entered into the app. 2FA ( Two Factor Authentication )
Answer: No, it will not delete any of your contacts & messages. It's an simple verification code not more than that.


Can two people play the Hay Day game on one iPad?

Question: Can two people with different Apple IDs play the same game on one iPad? I am already playing a game, and my son would like to play, but he wants his own game, is that possible if he has his own Apple ID or Facebook?
Answer: Game Center only allows one sign in at a time, so you could sign out and then sign in another account. Most games also keep a local save file, so this might mix the results, but you would need to ask the developer of each app how it handles a log out of one Game Center account and into another.
Answer: Even if you create/use a different game center game, it still brings up the game which was originally started.  There's no way to have two different games going at once.


Why is the direction of net force on an object and the direction of acceleration of that object different in this problem?

Question: A $ 2.0 kg $ box of cucumber extract is being pulled across a frictionless table by a rope at an angle $ \theta=60° $ (from positive direction of $ x $ axis, we have taken horizontal surface of table as $ x $ axis) The tension in the rope is $ 12N $ and causes the box to slide across the table to the right with an acceleration of $ 3.0 m/s² $ But the direction of net force is along the rope. The direction of acceleration isn't. Why is that?
Comment: I've added the homework-and-exercises tag. In the future, please use this tag on this type of question.
Answer: You have to look at all the forces acting on the box, the downward force of gravity (mg), the reaction force of the table, and the vertical and horizontal components of the force exerted by the rope.  See the free body diagram of the box below.
The force exerted by the rope has both an upward component ($12 \sin 60=10.4 N$) and a horizontal component ($12 \cos 60 = 6 N$). You will see that the upward component of the force of the rope (10. 4 N) plus the upward reaction force of the table (9.2 N) equals the downward force of gravity (19.6 N), so there is no net vertical component of force and therefore no vertical acceleration.
Since there is no friction opposing the horizontal component of the rope force, the box will accelerate horizontally according to Newton's second law:
$$a_{x}=\frac{F_{x}}{m}= \frac{6}{2}= 3\frac {m}{s^2}$$
Hope this helps.
Comment: There are three forces in vertical direction. Force of gravitation, normal force and vertical component of tension force. Normal force and gravitational force would balance each other. So there is a net force in vertical direction also (vertical component of tension). The object should accelerate along the direction of tension. But it is accelerating in horizontal direction only. Why is that?
Comment: l didn't get it. Please help
Comment: @Markfuxerbergstein6 See revised answer with diagram.
Answer: Let the unit vector in the upward direction be $\hat u$.
If the box is the system with no rope pulling on it then there are two external forces acting on the box:

downward gravitational attraction due to the Earth $\vec W = -W \hat u$
upward force due to the ground (normal reaction) $\vec N = N \hat u$

Since the box is in static equilibrium
$\vec W + \vec N = \vec 0 \Rightarrow -W + N = 0 \Rightarrow N=W=2g$
Now allow the rope to apply an extra external force on the box $\vec F$.
A common misconception is that the normal reaction force stays the same.
Just to show you that there are times when this is not so assume that the force due to the rope acts vertically upwards thus $\vec F = F \hat u$
If $F<W$ it will still be a static equilibrium situation
$\vec W + \vec N' + \vec F = \vec 0 \Rightarrow -W + N' +F = 0 \Rightarrow N'=W-F=2g-F$
So the magnitude of the new normal reaction force $N'$ has been reduced because of the introduction of a third external force acting on the box.
Not realising this is where, I think, the following misconception has arisen.

But the direction of net force is along the rope.

In this case you cannot just take the static equilibrium situation without the rope and then add another force and assume that the two forces before are still of the same magnitude.
Certainly $W$ stays the same but if the force due to rope has an upward component (ie will be trying to lift the box up) the magnitude of the new normal reaction force $N''$ will be less than $N$.
The free body diagram is on the left and the vector addition of the three external forces (roughly to scale) to give the net force $R$ is shown on the right.

Resolving the applied force $\vec F$ into a component in the up direction $F_{\rm u}$ and a component in the right direction $F_{\rm r}$ and applying Newton's third law
$\vec W + \vec N'' + \vec F =m \vec a \Rightarrow -W \hat u + N'' \hat u + F_{\rm u} \hat u +F_{\rm r} \hat r = m a_{\rm u} \hat u + m a_{\rm r} \hat r$
Which gives two equations
$W = F_{\rm u} +N''$ as the upward acceleraction $a_{\rm u}$ is zero and $F_{\rm r} = m a_{\rm r}$ for the horizontal motion.


Schengen Business visa without a business invitation letter

Question: To apply for a Schengen business visa, you need a letter from the company in the Member state inviting you. My company is based in the UK, owns properties in Schengen countries, and I have to inspect their condition.
What letter do I get?
Comment: Where do you see the requirement that the company must be in the member state?
Answer: For a Schengen Business visa you will need a cover letter explaining, in detail, the purpose of the visit. It is like almost anyother company letter, on an official letter head filled in with all of the business details. I am assuming that the letterhead will contain the address/phone/email/fax etc of the company.
The letter format can be something like this:

[Letterhead of Company]
To: Consulate General of [the country of travel]
[Date]
Dear Consul General:
Through this letter, I want to confirm that Mr./Mrs. [Name and last
  name] is an employee at our firm [company name], as [job
  title/position]. Mr./Mrs. [Name] has been working with our company
  for the last [number of years] and will be travelling to [name of
  city], [country] starting from [date of entry] until [date of
  exit] for a total of [number of days] to attend to the following
  work-related activities:
Write in as much detail as possible about the business that will be conducted abroad. This would be a date-by-date break down of your business plan
While [name of employee] is visiting your country, it is important
  to also visit [name of visiting company and contact details].
Mr./Mrs. [Name] will be staying at [hotel name, address, phone
  number]. I kindly ask for the [visa type] to be issued to Mr./Mrs.
  [Name and last name] at your earliest convenience.
Applicant Details:
[name of employee]
[date of birth]
[address]
[passport number]
Please, do not hesitate to contact me should you have any further
  inquiries. Thank you for your assistance.
Sincerely,
[Supervisor signature]
[Name and last name]
[Title]
[Email
[Phone number]
[company website]

Of course you can make adjustments to this as needed for your business purpose/visit. Another document that may be required to complement this letter would be your "Company brief/profile". It may be a letter explaining what your company profile is what your company does for busine


Does Pathfinder have a Saint template?

Question: Is there something like the Saint Template from the 3.5 Book of Exalted Deeds in Pathfinder (3rd party stuff included)?
Comment: If you're including third party stuff, why doesn't the FR Saint Template you linked to apply?  Pathfinder and 3.5 are very compatible.
Comment: What do you want out of a "Saint template?"  The fluff?  There's dozens of holy-whatnot classes and p-classes and templates.  The exact powers?
Comment: I think I will try it this way. I choose an Aasimar, so I have Type: Outsider, Keen Vision and Damage Reduction (I will change Acid/Cold/Electro to Magic/Evil/Fire). Then I will change Crusading Magic (+2 to overcome SR) with Holy Power. Going into Bard - Arcane Striker I can change Arcane Strike with Holy Power (just 1d6 instead of 2d6-holy). I will the character develop these things over a few levels and stard as a gnome who will start with guidance, bless, virute and resistance as SLA in exchange for the gome magic. Just Amor Class, Fast Healing and Protective Aura is still missing.
Comment: Is that comment supposed to be part of your question? It actually makes it much less clear what you're asking. What is your question? Is it "How can I make a Saint-like character"?
Comment: no, if that would be sopposed to be part of the question I would have edited my question. This is rather a comment to mxyzplks question what I want. Thereupon I started to create an saint to see what I want exactley and how I could build it with the pfd sources. So THIS IS NOT PART OF THE QUESTION!
Answer: Not Really.
There's a few Templates that are sort of Good-ey, there's a few prestige classes that are saint-esque, but there's nothing with either the mechanical whammy or the horrifically extensive roleplaying requirements of the 3.5e Saint template.
A complex mixture of Pathfinder classes, spells, abilities, racial options, could produce something mechanically a bit like the Saint template's abilities, albeit slower (as there is no direct analogue and the optimizable abilities in pathfinder don't really mimic the 'defensive' nature of the saint template very well), but there is no good direct analogue.
Porting it directly might not be possible as the flat bonuses and abilities the Saint template grants (like the Vow of Poverty feat) probably look 'too powerful' to GMs with weaker mechanical understanding of the game.  Nonetheless, it's probably the only way to preserve that mixture of flavour and effect.
Comment: @JackLesnie I feel that your last paragraph too much suggests that a GM would be *right* to ban it *based on the Vow of Poverty feat*, which is just massively inaccurate. Your use of "weaker mechanical understanding of the game" gives a clue that you don't agree, but I think this answer would be much better without the reference to the horrific Vow of Poverty feat. Saint **is** a rather-powerful template, but it's definitely **not** because of Vow of Poverty.
Comment: @LegendaryDude  - The GM decides what goes in the game.  Most pathfinder games do not blanketly allow 3.5e or PF 3rd party material.  This question is also not about whether or not Saint can be ported into PF - it's about whether there is anything like Saint in PF.  The last paragraph is a comment on whether a GM following the normal PF mode would allow the Saint template - my guess is that a lot would not.
Comment: I'm not sure how porting it directly wouldn't be possible?  The power level and general level scope in both 3.5 and Pathfinder doesn't differ much.  Worth mentioning that an actual saint should probably be a pretty powerful being.  I also suggest removing that wording as it is misleading and you directly contradict yourself at the end of that paragraph.   You say it "might not be possible" then you say "it's probably the only way."
Comment: You're assuming the querent isn't the GM in his game (there is no information provided to indicate either way), and the question specifically says "3rd party stuff included."  It just sounds like you're adding context that isn't there and may not apply.

Does Pathfinder have a Saint template?


Significant Figures (rules of addition)

Question: It is a simple one but different teachers answer this question differently.
$$34+1.4+0.2$$
what would be its answer with due regards to significant figures?
Answer: The answer is 36. You do the addition to get 35.6, but then you realize that you have an uncertianty of about .5 on this answer because the 34 had an uncertianty of about .5, so it doesn't make sense to give the first decimal place because you aren't sure about it, so you round 35.6 to 36.
Comment: your answer makes sense but can u please explain the uncertainty of 34.
Comment: The reason that it is written as 34 and not 34.0 is because you are not sure that the digit after the decimal point is really supposed to be zero. the number might really be 34.3, or it might be 33.8 or anything around there. Thus the sum might not really be 35.6, it might actually be 35.9 or 35.4. So you are not sure about the decimal in the sum either. Therefore you don't write the decimal. Instead, you round the number.
Comment: but if we write the decimal our error% will be less as compared to 36.
Comment: I don't understand what you are saying. Are you saying it looks like we know more if we write the decimal? I agree with that. But we don't know enough to write the decimal.

Significant Figures (rules of addition)


Is it possible to destroy a village?

Question: I have made an iron farm (Copied Mumbo's iron farm from Hermitcraft S7) and I read something about villages having to be 150 blocks from the iron farm for it to function efficiently. I only read this after building it though, and there's a village about 120 blocks from the edge of the farm, and I cannot be arsed to rebuild it, so I instead thought it might be possible to get rid of the village? (I destroyed all the beds, workstations, doors, bells, houses and everything I could see that was village related)
Answer: In 1.14 the Village mechanics got reworked, and the definition of a Village is the following:

A village needs at least one house and at least one villager in order
to be a "village". A "house" is a bed.
https://minecraft.wiki/w/Village/Mechanics#House

In older versions:

A village needs at least one house and at least one villager in order
to be a "village". A "house" is defined simply as a wooden door with
an "inside" and an "outside".
https://minecraft.wiki/w/Tutorials/Legacy_Console_village_mechanics#Terminology

If you've destroyed everything (including the Villagers), then the game should consider the village non-existent, and therefore it shouldn't interfere with your contraptions.
Answer: You need to do the following:

Destroy all bells
Destroy all beds
Destroy all doors (if below 1.14)
Destroy the workstations (barrels, composters, stonecutters, etc)
Kill all villagers
Answer: My first tip is make sure there are absolutely no villagers alive, and there is no proof that a village existed, ie., not a single piece of wood. As @Andruida mentioned, a village needs at least one house and villager to be functioning.
After that, I don't think it's a good idea to copy Mumbo, because he didn't make a tutorial video so he didn't explain everything, and so he might've changed some stuff of camera or you missed this one tiny block. He put a link to the tutorial he followed, so you can check that out if you want to build you're own iron farm.
Answer: Yes you can but if not doing it properly then the golems will keep re spawning
Comment: so how do I do it properly? there's no villagers there anymore, and it wasn't a big enough village to spawn any golems anyway
Comment: By keeping them away or move it somewhere

Is it possible to destroy a village?


What is the purpose of Microsoft.Net.Compilers?

Question: What is the importance of this compiler? Is it a must have or could do without? What is the purpose of having another compiler anyway, or is it just a futuristic project? A brief overview would be appreciated.
Comment: It's also a dependency of [`Microsoft.CodeDom.Providers.DotNetCompilerPlatform`](https://www.nuget.org/packages/Microsoft.CodeDom.Providers.DotNetCompilerPlatform/1.0.8) in v1.0.8 and below so you might be seeing it for that reason
Comment: [According to Microsoft](https://github.com/dotnet/roslyn/issues/40129#issuecomment-565661236), `Microsoft.Net.Compilers` is deprecated in favor of [`Microsoft.Net.Compilers.Toolset`](https://www.nuget.org/packages/Microsoft.Net.Compilers.Toolset/).
Answer: The point of the Microsoft.Net.Compilers package is that the compilers distributed with that package will be used for compiling your project, rather than the compiler that comes with .NET Framework or with Visual Studio. The most practical direct benefit is that it allows your projects to use C# 6 features, and then allows those projects to be built on a system that doesn't have a C# 6 compiler installed, for instance on a continuous integration server where you don't want to install the full Visual Studio 2015.
Comment: I need to do a very simple thing, which is to compile any .cs file and emit il, No need to validate external references etc. Is it possible with Microsoft.Net.Compilers?
Comment: @Bandara It's not possible to compile C# without external references, with or without Microsoft.Net.Compilers. Referenced assemblies are needed for overload resolution, for instance. And if you do have the external references, then it's technically possible with Microsoft.Net.Compilers, but it's really the wrong tool for the job. You'd be launching an external process when the same compiler is already available in other packages in a way that you can call in your own program directly.
Comment: See the updated answer from @JaredPar (MS), this answer is no longer valid. Guess we should check our solutions and remove the old packages in favour of building with an up-to-date VS/VSCode/SDK toolset.
Answer: At present there is no purpose to Microsoft.Net.Compilers. This is a NuGet package that is deprecated and will stop being produced after Visual Studio 16.5. There is a successor package named Microsoft.Net.Compilers.Toolset. This package has much the same functionality as Microsoft.Net.Compilers but works with both .NET Desktop and .NET Core MSBuild instances.
Even so Microsoft.Net.Compilers.Toolset is not meant for general consumption. This package serves two specific uses:

Acts as a short term vehicle for unblocking customers that hit crashing bugs in the compiler. For such customers we can use this package to unblock their scenarios just an hour or so after we merge the fix into the Roslyn repository. This serves as a bridge until the fix makes it into the associated Visual Studio or .NET SDK servicing release. When that happens the customer is asked to remove the package from their solution and rely on the officially released toolsets.
Serves as a mechanism to move binaries between Roslyn and the official builds of the .NET SDk.

This package is not meant for general long term consumption by customers for their build. I understand that some customers choose to do this but such use is also not supported. The package can and will regularly cause breaks by taking dependencies on new versions of MSBuild or tasks / targets in the .NET SDK.
Customers who want to use new versions of the compiler for their builds are instead encouraged to use one of the official distributions of the compiler:

Use the Visual Studio Build Tools SKU.
Use the .NET SDK

Note: the Microsoft.Net.Compilers package was officially supported as a part of the Microsoft.CodeDom.Providers.DotNetCompilerPlatform package several years ago as it was a dependency. Beginning in version 2.0 though the dependency on Microsoft.Net.Compilers was removed and it now stands as a completely independent package. At the same time we've moved to deprecate Microsoft.Net.Compilers as there are no longer any explicit use cases for it.
This does mean that some customers unexpectedly find themselves with Microsoft.Net.Compilers in their project file because it wasn't removed when Microsoft.CodeDom.Providers.DotNetCompilerPlatform dropped the dependency. The advice for such customers is to simply delete the reference to the package. It is not needed anymore.
Comment: Very interesting insight. I am wondering why the aspect about short-term usage only is not mentioned in the description of the NuGet package: https://www.nuget.org/packages/Microsoft.Net.Compilers/
Comment: @JackMiller That's mentioned in [Microsoft.Net.Compilers.Toolset](https://www.nuget.org/packages/Microsoft.Net.Compilers.Toolset/). `      This package is primarily intended as a method for rapidly shipping hotfixes to customers. Using it as a long term solution for providing newer compilers on older MSBuild installations is explicitly not supported. That can and will break on a regular basis.`
Comment: What is the purpose of Microsoft.Net.Compilers vs Microsoft.CodeDom.Providers.DotNetCompilerPlatform? Both packages appear to contain the same compilers! Or is this happening because I'm looking at the newest version of DotNetCompilerPlatform?
Answer: It's a package that provides open-source C# and Visual Basic compilers with rich code analysis APIs.
You can find extensive documentation on github:
https://github.com/dotnet/roslyn
Comment: Thanks. I have been to the official documentation before but still find the purpose of the project vague.
Comment: @usefulBee Basically it is a result of the open source movement from Microsoft, check wikipedia for example for additional info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.NET_Compiler_Platform
Answer: As others have said, it contains the .NET compilers for C# and VB.NET.
An interesting aspect of this being a package is that you can specify a specific build of the compiler to for your project, including a version that hasn't been shipped with Visual Studio yet.
We use this in https://github.com/dotnet/project-system which is an open source component of Visual Studio. It allows us to use pre-release versions of the compiler to dogfood language features not supported by the compiler that ships with VS.


What is this stinging plant with little hairs on the leaves?

Question: I have no idea what this plant came from, where it came from or any thing about it. What I do know is its leaves are covered in little hairs, there's little thorns growing all over it and just by rubbing its leaf it burns you and leaves a red mark as well as blisters. It stung my mother and I would like to know what it is so I can help with a remedy.
Comment: @stormy's ID is correct. Note that one of the substances that cause the itch/hives is histamine, the same stuff that your body releases as allergy response. So even if you don't have a remedy at hand, your body will dissolve the "poison" within a few hours. Uncomfortable, yes, but not dangerous.
Comment: It's a valuable plant in that some butterflies use it as a place to feed and deposit eggs. If you get stung by it, despite the almost overwhelming temptation to rub the area, do not touch it, nor let anything else touch the area for about 20 minutes. It will pass very quickly if you leave it alone, but if you rub or touch it at all, it will continue to hurt for hours... I speak from experience!
Comment: This is why one uses 'antihistamine' to help reduce the histamines and hopefully if you get stung a second time the reaction isn't going to be worse.   The 'stingers' are on the under side of the leaf only...they dislodge in your skin and rubbing causes the stinger's sacs to break...no fun!
Answer: Urtica dioica - Stinging nettles...! Very valuable wilderness food.  Truly!  If you grab a leaf touching just the topside you can mash it (eliminating the chemicals on the underside of the leaf) roll it in a ball and eat it!  We had to do this in Wilderness Survival classes.  Interesting.  Even better, this stuff is almost exactly like spinach steamed.  Yummmm.  I can't remember the remedy at this moment. Let us know what you find.
This attachment has a great paragraph on remedies!! Definitely use cortisone or benadryl and there are some topical soothers you can make at home...
Comment: In San Francisco the local organic market sells it (the tender new growth) and the local pizza place uses it as a topping. Any cooking gets rid of the stinging.
Comment: @Stephie - was there supposed to be a link under "This attachment?"
Comment: Just click on the botanical name in blue?  I just did it and it worked.  I am definitely very bad with technical details (and brevity, being specific, sigh)!  Let me know if I've screwed up with adding the attachment, OK?  Thanx!!
Comment: I like them in broth (some rice, a lot of nettles, normal clear broth). If they don't sting (and having regular flowers), it could be _Lamium_ (dead-nettles).
Comment: Here in Bosnia we use it to make delicous nettle and cheese pie :) Also dried leafs can be used as herbal tea.
Comment: In wilderness awareness classes, we were taught to grab the leaf by the top without touching beneath the leaf.  Bringing the top of the leaf together you squish the 'stingers', keep squishing, roll into a ball and pop it in your mouth...raw spinach?  No stinging.  Cooking most certainly eliminates the stinging chemicals.  And tastier than spinach and I love spinach.
Comment: @Stephie I tried my attachment and it worked.  There is a paragraph subtitled in the body of the article...are you not able to pull up my attachment?
Answer: It's called stinging nettle here in the US. The cure for the stings grows right by the stinging nettle: jewelweed. I don't say this about many things but jewelweed is great for taking away pain from stinging nettle, and helps ease the irritation of poison ivy. I've used it for both of those things. IME the jewelweed works better for PI than any other medicine, OTC or prescription.
Search for jewelweed flower images. They are very distinct.
Comment: Truly amazing!!


to connect to a site having form based authentication with powershell csom

Question: i want to connect to a SharePoint 2013 site having form based authentication using powershell CSOM. With VS i can connect with X-FORMS_BASED_AUTH_ACCEPTED header. What alternative i have to use so that i can connect with powershell CSOM as well. Please help
Answer: In PowerShell, normally you could add an event handler to a .NET object using the Register-ObjectEvent command.
More information is in this article:
Accessing Mixed-Mode SharePoint Web Applications With CSOM And PowerShell


Login in Wordpress using external database data

Question: I have a WP site and also have a external DB (means not WP DB) with users. The insertion process at that table uses the same algorithm as WP uses. What I'm need to do here is login in WP but using this external DB which is in the same host by the way. I check this links http://www.tyssendesign.com.au/articles/cms/connecting-to-external-database-from-within-wordpress/ and http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/external-database-authentication/ and for the first is not what I'm want but for the second one is not compatible with WP 3+ and I'm using 3.3.1, any suggestion or docs or something else?
Answer: You can override the core wp_authenticate function.
You would need to create a custom plugin and declare a new version of wp_authenticate.  The function accepts a username and a password and returns a WP $user object.
wp_authenticate is a 'pluggable' function and it is found in the wp-includes/pluggable.php file.
Comment: can this function work at functions.php in my theme? Also how to connect to an external DB and check in that for username and password?
Comment: The function has to be in a plugin, it won't work in functions.php (has to do with how plugable functions are loaded in WP).
Comment: You could use php mysql/mysqli functions to connect to the database to validate the username and password, the db connection would just be standard php db usage.  It'd be good however to understand password hashing/salting processes to ensure best practices for password storage.
Answer: I needed more features than I could find elsewhere so I wrote my own plugin - External Login.
It has these main features:

Map a different DB table structure to be compatible with the WordPress fields
Handle different hashing methods from your external database (bcrypt, MD 2 4 and 5, SHA 256 384 and 512, and many many more)
Allow for different salting methods
Generate a copied version of the user in the database so that you can continue to use common WordPress features with users and roles
Map roles from your 'external database' to those found in WordPress e.g. a student in the 'external database' becomes an editor in the WordPress database.

Let me know if you require another feature :)
https://en-gb.wordpress.org/plugins/external-login/
Answer: Have you tried the External Database Authentication plugin? Just because it hasn't been updated in a while doesn't mean it won't necessarily work. At the very least you can look at their source code to see how they did what they did and use that as a basis to get what you need done.
Here is the code http://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/external-database-authentication/trunk/ext_db_auth.php
Comment: Yes I see that plugin but is a bit complex because I'm not a WP experts and a lot of things are new to me
Answer: I've just updated that old plugin for my needs. You can find the update @ http://www.7mediaws.org/extend/plugins/external-db-auth-reloaded
Comment: page not found :/
Answer: Yes, your plugin is awesome. Just what you need to improve and finalize your plugin is that in newer WordPress versions, there are two different tables that contain user data. They are wp_user and wp_usermeta. And in the plugin, it is provided only one table to authenticate. So if this feature goes right, definitely your plugin is 100% successful.
What else, is that there is a bug. As there is only one table to authenticate, so I couldn't authenticate user roles and sync them. This means when I enable external login, the time I logged out, and login the next time, I am of subscriber role, that I have specified if no roles matches. So i loosed my adminship too. Kindly help and understand.


I am no king, and this woman, no queen

Question: Just wondering whether the comma after 'woman' is correct in the title. The meaning of the sentence is: 'I am not a king, nor is this woman a queen.' The reason I don't simply write it that way is because it's a line for a poem. Thanks.
Comment: I think it's pretty good the way it is.  What the second comma implies is that "is no" has been elided.  (And, of course, poetry gets a free pass anyway.)
Answer: This is an example of the use of the gapping comma (ie the comma in its gapping-comma role).

Commas:  The Gapping Comma
The gapping comma is very easy. We use a gapping comma to show that
  one or more words have been left out when the missing words would
  simply repeat the words already used earlier in the same sentence.
  Here is an example:
Some Norwegians wanted to base their national language on the speech
of the capital city; others, on the speech of the rural countryside.
The gapping comma here shows that the words wanted to base their
national language, which might have been repeated, have instead been
  omitted. This sentence is equivalent to a longer sentence like this:
Some Norwegians wanted to base their national language on the speech
of the capital city; others wanted to base it on the speech of the
rural countryside.
Here is another example, which contains both
  listing commas and gapping commas:
Italy is famous for her composers and musicians, France, for her chefs
and philosophers, and Poland, for her mathematicians and logicians.
(Here I have inserted a listing comma before and for the sake of
  clarity.)
Gapping commas are not always strictly necessary: you can leave them
  out if the sentence is perfectly clear without them:
Italy is famous for her composers and musicians, France for her chefs
and philosophers, and Poland for her mathematicians and logicians.
Use your judgement: if a sentence seems clear without gapping commas,
  don't use them; if you have doubts, put them in.

[University of Sussex_Informatics]
Here, the sentence
I am no king, and this woman, no queen.
is simply
I am no king, and this woman is no queen.
with the repeated verb omitted. I'd omit the comma with this example.
Comment: Interesting for the fact that I was 5 minutes ago just discussing Bokmål, Nynorsk, and Gamelnorsk with my wife.
Answer: I would not use a comma after the and and have
I am no king and this woman, no queen.
Essentially you're using the comma after "woman" to stand in for "is" and provide pause and hence emphasis.
Given that it's a poem, you have poetic license.

I am no king, and this woman, no queen


If there's acid rain, is there such thing as acid snow?

Question: If so, would the acid snow just be as damaging?
Answer: As explained by user voltaic at reddit:

Yes, there is, and it can be more of a problem than acid rain.
For one, when snow is falling it spends more time travelling through
  the atmosphere before hitting the ground than rain. As a result of
  this, it has more time to collect pollutants, and can become more
  acidic than typical acid rain for the same region. There's additional
  factors that complicate this however, such as the solubility of the
  pollutant, the temperature and the water content of the snow, etc.
  (e.g. warmer snow which is more "wet" is going to dissolve more than
  cooler, drier snow.)
Once the snow hits the ground, the dissolved pollutants are going to
  stay in solution, or trapped within the crystalline structure of the
  snow until it melts. Because of this, snow can pile up and then thaw,
  releasing all the pollutants and acidic water in a relatively short
  amount of time. This can have fairly substantial effects on the
  environment.
You can read a bit more about this here:

http://www.elmhurst.edu/~chm/vchembook/191acidsnow.html
http://dwb4.unl.edu/Chem/CHEM869V/CHEM869VLinks/www.qesn.meq.gouv.qc.ca/cc/acidrain/info6.htm

Acid snow is also mentioned in passing on the acid rain wikipedia page.
The "fairly substantial effects on the environment", as described by the links above, largely involve a large release of acid during the spring thaw, which effectively releases all of the acid built up over the winter in a relatively short period. This can result in lowered pH in waterways, which can affect fish, amphibians and crustaceans.


Dumping and reprogramming the firmware of DarenWaves

Question: I have the following blue color lamp that can move, play music and do a few other things.

I'm quite sure it has a Firmware and it's reprogrammable. I'm looking for guidance on where should I look for it and how to do it. Here is a picture of the mainboard.

The chips on the board are:
IC 1 says:
74HC4051D
?85HYC06D
?UnG1336L
Probably an 8 Channel Analog Multiplexer

IC 2 says:
8002B
CG0920F
Probably Audio Power Amplifier

And IC 3 which don't have any writing on it. This one seems like the MCU.

Does anyone see a UART, JTAG or SPI on the board and could guide me on how to find and connect to it?
Backside pictures:
Comment: Any markings in the other side?
Comment: The other side of the board or the other side of the Chip? I will have to unsolder it to check.
Comment: The other side of the board. I doubt chip will have any markings on the bottom.
Comment: Yeah, that sounded a bit strange. The other side of the board doesn't have much writing. I'll add more pictures to the original post.
Answer: Not likely to have a programming port on this class of device. Chances are it's a Chinese 8051 or PIC clone, possibly OTP or mask ROM, probably read protected so getting firmware out it may require 'decapping' the package and probing directly onto the chip (not practical for an amateur, and risks destroying the chip).
Some older MCUs can be broken into with simple non-destructive techniques. But first you need to know which MCU you have. Trace out the circuit and try to figure out the function of each pin. Then match it up with known MCUs that have the same number of pins. The package shape (size and position of the 'pin 1' dot etc.) can also be a clue. You could remove the chip from the board and look on the underside for markings, but this may not tell you much.
Having a full understanding of the circuit and how it operates could allow you to develop your own code for another MCU (bonus if it has the same pinout and can be a drop-in replacement). You may find this is quicker, easier, and more enjoyable than a (probably futile) attempt to extract and reverse-engineer the original firmware.
Comment: +1 I've traced most of the connections already, so I guess I'll do that. Thanks.


Novel about a war between the Americans and Russians in Antarctica?

Question: I remember a friend of mine was reading a novel about a war or military confrontation between the Americans and Russians in Antarctica, but neither of us can remember the title or author.
Comment: What else do you remember about this book? A war in Antarctica isn't a unique idea. What kind of weapons was this war fought with? What other nations participated? Was Antarctica inhabited? What about characters, other plot points, or anything else about the book? Do you know approximately when the book was published (at least cold war era or later)?
Comment: I gotta throw in "Ice Station Zebra", although it's the Arctic and not SciFi.
Comment: Wish I could remember more details, the cover had a picture of a tank on it if I'm remembering correctly
Comment: I'm pretty sure there was a Ben Bova novel from ca. 1982 or earlier that was set on a moon base during a time when tensions between the US and USSR back on earth were escalating toward nuclear war. The trigger was mineral rights in Antarctica. But I can't seem to find the book, and the Antarctic stuff is off stage, since the action is all on the moon.
Answer: As Gilles points out, this is not a unique plot setting. A relatively obscure book that explore it is "White continent" (1980) by David Poyer (2). However, while a randomly picked book is likely to be obscure, a randomly picked reading is not. So I'm going to bet that this was a story by a fairly well-published scifi author.
The novelette "A Colder War" (2000) by Charles Stross would then be a fairly good fit (4) . Granted, the story takes place all over the world, but includes some kind of supernatural thing worth fighting over which is located in the antarctic.
Here are also two books that vaguely fit the vehichle-on-cover lead. Ring any bells?
Comment: Can't be 100% but I'm thinking that David Poyer's White Continent is the one I'm looking for. Thanks for the help :)
Comment: yor're welcome :)
Answer: Matthew Reilly's "Ice Station"(1998) was set in Antartica and followed the events of a small scale squad warfare, however no Russian forces were involved.
From Goodreads:

Antarctica is the last unconquered continent, a murderous expanse of howling winds, blinding whiteouts and deadly crevasses. On one edge of Antarctica is Wilkes Station. Beneath Wilkes Station is the gate to hell itself...
A team of U.S. divers, exploring three thousand feet beneath the ice shelf has vanished. Sending out an SOS, Wilkes draws a rapid deployment team of Marines-and someone else...
First comes a horrific firefight. Then comes a plunge into a drowning pool filled with killer whales. Next comes the hard part, as a handful of survivors begin an electrifying, red-hot, non-stop battle of survival across the continent and against wave after wave of elite military assassins-who've all come for one thing: a secret buried deep beneath the ice...
Answer: There was a novel turned movie called "Ice Station Zebra" (1963) by Alistair MacLean, set in the Arctic, that involved a confrontation between U.S. and Russian forces. More info on Wikipedia.
From Goodreads:

Under the Polar Ice-Cap ....
The atomic submarine 'Dolphin' has impossible orders: to sail beneath the ice-floes of the Arctic Ocean to locate and rescue the men of weather-station Zebra, gutted by fire and drifting with the ice-pack somewhere north of the Arctic Circle.
But the orders do not say what the 'Dolphin' will find if she succeeds – that the fire at Ice Station Zebra was sabotage, and that one of the survivors is a killer…
Comment: Welcome to Stack Exchange! Please can you add more detail to this answer, e.g. by quoting some of the info from the link you provide? We tend to discourage link-only answers here, since if the link goes dead the answer becomes essentially useless. (I didn't downvote this though.) See also [How to write a good story-ID answer](http://meta.scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/9444/how-to-write-a-good-story-id-answer) on meta.
Answer: Thunder of Erebus (1991) by Harrison Payne is US vs. Soviet war in Antarctica to acquire mineral deposits needed for new beam weapon technology.


World War I Military service for Canada by Belgian living in USA?

Question: My grandfather was born in Belgium, emigrated to the U.S. in 1906 through Ellis Island, then moved to Pennsylvania. He later moved to Detroit, Michigan and started a family. In 1917 he went to Canada and was in The Overseas Expeditionary Forces. How would a person who seemingly has no ties to Canada or Britain, that I can find, be in the foreign military?
Comment: Welcome to G&FH SE!  To help potential answerers to help you I think it would be best to use the **edit** button beneath your question to include your grandfather's name, data and location of birth.  He must have been born before 1915 so that will be no problem for our site privacy policy.  If you prefer not to share that information, that is fine too, it may just make trying to uncover any necessary background to understand his personal motivation harder.
Answer: In 1917 if a Belgian living in the US wanted to fight for his country of birth then I suspect his thought process might be:

How viable was it to sail to Europe and enlist for Belgium - I suspect it would cost a lot and, as @bgwiehle has commented, "civilian traffic across the Atlantic was severely curtailed by 1917, due to risk of attack (Lusitania, 1915) and appropriation of ships for military use"
Would enlisting for the US get a soldier to the war soon - they declared war on 6 Apr 1917 but it seems US forces only began arriving in Europe during summer 1918
How much would it cost to catch a train to Canada and enlist there instead - I suspect quite cheap and timely by comparison

The Canadian Soldiers of the First World War: 1914-1918 web site which is being rapidly expanded by Library and Archives Canada looks like something to keep an eye on:

The digitization of the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) personnel
  service files is in progress. The original paper documents can no
  longer be consulted. However, digital reprography is available for
  those files that have not yet been prepared for digitization. Newly
  digitized files are added to the  Soldiers of the First World War
  database, every two weeks until the project's completion in 2016.
Comment: To add to point 1, civilian traffic across the Atlantic was severely curtailed by 1917, due to risk of attack (Lusitania, 1915) and appropriation of ships for military use.
Answer: [Note: HistorySE might be a better venue for this question, if looking primarily for the motivations of American residents, either native-born or immigrant, that enlisted in foreign armies. G&FH SE answers focus more on documenting the individual, helping identify relevant records or providing resources for context].
Many of the volunteers in the CEF (Canadian Expeditionary Force, ~620,000 enlistments) were foreign-born - unsurprising in a "new" country, with a large proportion of immigrants. Patriotic feelings ran high, especially at the beginning of the war.
According to wikipedia's "Canadian_Expeditionary_Force" "By the end of the war in 1918, at least 'fifty per cent of the CEF consisted of British-born men'.
Googling american citizens in cef - yields a number of hits. According to at least one site, the blog "Roads to the Great War", 35,000 (~5% of CEF) Americans served in the CEF, many in "American Legion" contingents. U.S. citizenship was not at risk in WWI, and Americans were actively recruited in the earlier years of the war.
With 100th anniversary of WWI commemorations ongoing, many records are being made more available. Look not only for the official service papers through Library and Archives Canada, but look for histories of your grandfather's miltary units to flesh out what events he took part in.
Answer: Approx. 75,000 Americans and American related (immigrants, of American families, marriages, etc.) served in Commonwealth Forces including Canada in the two world wars. Your grandfather's story is logical and typical. Please see my website and book on the subject, which answers all of these questions and takes the story much further.
http://www.americansatwarinforeignforces.com/


Can one ask questions in a different language?

Question: If someone were learning English, but didn't know enough to ask in it, could they ask a question in their native tongue here? On Spanish, French, one of the Russian sites, etc. this is allowed, so how about here?
Comment: If you think about it, any answer in English would have to be then translated into the user's mother tongue. If a person cannot even manage to communicate the most basic elements, regardless of grammar, then they're unlikely to understand any answer written in English, especially an answer containing a lot of grammar terminology (or jargon), which occasionally happens.
Comment: @Mari-LouA why I asked this is because on Spanish questions can be in English; I was curious if it worked like that here. It makes sense that it doesn't, because unlike there there isn't one other language that almost everyone on the Network speaks other than the thing people learn here, so it would be extremely, extremely unwieldy with stuff written Russian, German, Spanish, French, etc.
Comment: `because on Spanish questions can be in English` Yes and that's because Stack Exchange is an American company, and English is mainly spoken there. Should Russian speakers post Spanish questions in Russian? Can you see how confusing it would be if everyone could post a language question in their native tongue?
Comment: Maybe one day language barriers will cease to exist, and we will all be able to communicate using our native language without worrying about being misinterpreted, but until then, and especially on an English speaking site,  users must write in English asking about English language questions or write in the same language as the specific non-English speaking site they are on, be it StackOverflow Japanese.SE, SO.Portuguese.SE, French.SE, SO.Spanish.SE etc.
Answer: The short answer is "no". There is more detail in this post on meta: Do posts have to be in English on Stack Exchange
If someone asks a question in a language other than English, they severely limit the people able to answer their question, and the number other learners who can benefit from it.
The community is happy to help learners improve their posts. We only ask that people write to the best of their ability, not that they be perfect.
Comment: Moreover, the likelihood  of competent English speakers knowing that "foreign" language will be severely curtailed. Imagine if the native speaker was Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Russian, Slavic... the list goes on.
Answer: If a question is asked in a language entirely other than English, that's grounds to vote to close it as "unclear what you're asking."
If it's obvious that English is not the person's native language, then allowances are made for mistakes in the English being used. Either it can be edited to correct obvious mistakes or the gist of the question can (hopefully) be understood well enough to have an answer provided.
Phrases in a foreign language are fine. Especially if the question is something like this:

In [some language] there is the saying [some foreign phrase]. It means [English description]. Is there an English equivalent?
Comment: @Andrew - That analogy isn't too simple, and it isn't too complicated. It's just right.
Comment: However, the foreign phrase should be explained in detail so that people who don't speak that language can understand it.
Comment: Also keep in mind that many idiomatic expressions are intimately related to the culture of that language.  For example, something like *"the Goldilocks principle"* would be more difficult to translate into a language where they've never read "Goldilocks and the Three Bears".


Why do Jupiter impact events look dark brown?

Question: When a large asteroid impacts a rocky planet, the impact area becomes molten, looking red. However, when an asteroid or other large object impacts a gas giant, like Jupiter, the impact area turns dark brown. Why does this happen?
Answer: The initial impacts are brighter.  The team that observed the shoemaker levy impacts described them as "fireballs" and the initial pictures showed spots glowing bright after impact, though I'm not sure how much those images used the infra-red range, so, grain of salt, because I think you're asking about the visible spectrum.
Jupiter's bands are essentially Hadley cells where the darker bands are the warmer rising atmosphere and the lighter band is the cooling, more icy falling atmosphere.   The whiter bands across Jupiter's latitude lines, what you see is sunlight reflected off ammonia ice.   (the blue color of Uranus and Neptune is methane ice).  When gas giant planets get hotter, they tend to lose their pretty colors and become darker reddish or brown colors.  They hydrogen and helium that dominate the atmosphere are mostly transparent.  The color we see comes from ice-clouds and other molecules in the atmosphere.
Impacts on Jupiter, with the planet's high escape velocity,  creates an enormous amount of heat for any impact big enough for us to see from Earth and perhaps obviously, heat removes ice.
A variety of molecules play a role in Jupiter's reddish/brown colors, I'm not sure which is dominant, but phosphine gas/phosphorus compounds, Sulphur and hydrocarbons all reflect or scatter darker colors.  But the primary answer to your question is that the brown spots you see after impact are due to a lack of atmospheric ice in combination with sufficient mixing so that there's an abundance of colored molecules.  It's not too different from Jupiter's large storms that create it's dark or red spots.
A more recent image of an impact taken by an amateur astronomer.   The initial impact isn't dark.  It's lighter due to the heat of impact reaching above visible temperatures with presumably some atmospheric covering.

If you use an infrared camera, you probably see the spots remain brighter for some time, even as they become darker in the visible spectrum.
Answer: What you are seeing is the top of a huge cloud of dust and smoke that forms in the Jovian atmosphere.  It doesn't look "red" because it cools down quite rapidly.
In fact the same is true when an asteroid impacts Earth.  There is a cloud of dust and smoke (that looks white because it is lit by the sun and is seen against the sky)  If there is a crater formed there would be an explosion, but usually there isn't much melting and the fireball of the explosion cools down rapidly.  The effect is similar to very powerful bomb.  You get a flash, a great deal of heat, that can start fires and a blast the might create a crater.  But you don't get much melting of rock.  (For colossal impacts there might be significant melt, There might be secondary volcanism triggered by the impact but these are not the red molten rock you describe)
Comment: @fasterthanlight I guess I read "red spots" as meaning Jupiter's great red spot.   Language can be a little confusing sometimes.
Comment: I might be confusing the red spots with major impacts.
Comment: @fasterthanlight  The red spots and the famous giant red spot are large, long lasting storms between Hadley cells.  It is, however, unknown how old the great red spot is and how it formed.   It also appears to be shrinking, so it's possible that it may have come from a formation event or impact.   It may not be a popular idea but it is at least theoretically possible.   The planet's fast rotation / Coriolis effect in combination with lots of heat inside the planet and the spots fitting neatly between Hadley cells suggest weather not impacts, but there is a little room for debate.
Comment: @userLTK I'm not talking about the Great Red Spot being an impact event. I'm confusing the red parts with large impacts (i.e. the Earth-Theia impact).


Smart Switch Wiring Neutral Wire

Question: Would anyone know what is the best way to wire my 3 smart switches. 2 of them are single pole, 1 of them is a 4 way switch, there are only 2 bundles of neutral (see picture) how would I wire 3 Switches to 2 bundles, all 3 smart switches need a neutral wire, any ideas? Sorry but I'm a newbie to this. I have wired a separate smart switch to another location of home, but it was simple since it was only one switch in box. Thanks for all your help.
Comment: Are these all on one circuit? I'd be cautious that the bundle of two white might NOT be neutral, despite being white. Got a voltmeter?
Comment: What are you using for a smart switch?  Are you replacing the other switches in the four-way complex?
Answer: A "cable" is several "wires" wrapped in a sheath.
In order to get neutral to a smart switch, you must follow the cardinal rule.  Note the (hot) wires already attached to the switch.  Note which cable(s) those hot wires come from.  You can only take neutral from those same cables that hots come from.
You have two totally separate groups of neutral.  You must follow the wires and take the smart switch neutral only from the bundle associated with those hots.
On the 4-way switch, you will not be putting a smart switch here.  There are at least 3 switches controlling that light.  You will need to open them up and look at the wiring layout present at those switches. That wiring will dictate to you which one to replace with a smart switch, if that is even possible.
Comment: Thanks, I take that back, It's gonna be 2 single pole smart switches, and 1 regular 4 way switch with no neutral to match the look of the 2 smart switches.
Comment: @ArtSoto As long as the smart-switch instructions tell you to wire it that way.

Smart Switch Wiring Neutral Wire


Load balancing Availability groups with SQL Server Standard

Question: So I have the current scenario, and it looks to be working fantastically, but I just want to get some input on the configuration.
Is it smart? Are there any issues I am not thinking of?
We have SQL Server Standard, and as such, you can only have 1 DB per AG (we have 20 databases), and no Read-Only secondaries.
Basically meaning, the primary server is doing ALL the lifting, with the secondary doing a lot less.
So essentially, you are paying for resources for Node 2, that are sitting at 10% workload, while node 1 is at 70/80% workload.
Both nodes are fully licensed with regards to SQL Server cores.
What I have done, to assist this, is slit the database primaries up.
So about 50% of the databases are Primary on node1, while the other 50% are primary on node2.
The results:
The applications all connect great to either node via their respective listener.
If a failover occurs, just the databases on the failing node are affected, and failover to the other node (we have tested this fairly well).
Each node, can now split the load, essentially load balancing.
It is a manual process to set it up this way and when deploying new DBs and groups they go to the lighter node. but a small price to pay for "more" hardware punch without much cost (licenses which we already have and a bit of admin).
What are your thoughts on this, guys?
Comment: When you say load balancing - do you mean allowing reads from secondary ? SInce you are using standard BAG - this is not allowed.
Comment: What happens when one node goes offline? Can the primary deal with the overall workload? This question is quite opinion based by the way and may be closed.
Comment: @George.Palacios : Yes the primary can, but it goes sit at 80% utilization or more. RAM is probably around 90% utilization when all DBs are on one node.
Comment: @Kin : No, I mean splitting the availability groups between the 2 nodes. So both nodes have primary and secondary availability groups.
Answer: I kind of like your idea, although it defeats the idea of a primary and second nodes. You should be sure to evaluate if one server can take the load of both, as if one goes down, then one server will have all the load.
You should also be careful, if the activity on one server gets to high in time, it might affect the "seconday" node activities and cause I/O bottlenecks. (It all depends on how your disks are confugred.)But other than that, it could be a good alternative and when your organization gets bigger, you will be able to afford another server to remove some load from your current setup. Just make sure to review carefully your emergency scenarios and to test them well.
Comment: Agreed on the Disk IO. Our Architecture is not ideal, and both servers end up using Virtual disks on the same SAN.
Answer: I scripted the failover of some AG on the secondary node in order to be able to "load balance" my AG all the time (the job run on server start).
I didn't implement it in prod and won't because:
1 - It's will be way harder to see if each node will be able to handle the full load (in case of a failure on one node or for DR for example). As the load will always be "split", I won't notice it if both server are used at 80% and will suffer from it in case of a server failure, forcing me to run on only one node for a couple of days.
2 - It makes it harder for patching as we could patch the secondary node without any user impact, with a "split" approch, there will not be any secondary server anymore so whatever the node you reboot, you'll get an impact (twice if the load is automated as there will be another failover once the patched server will come back online).
Finally, you should also make sure that there is no cross database queries. If a query/Store Proc in DB1 goes like this :
<code>update DB2.dbo.table ...
</code>
You will end up trying to run an update on a database that is not writable.
If you are ok with those downside, then I guess it's nice to have "load balancing" which unfortunatly, isn't build in with the availability Group in SQL.
Thanks


What happen when we parallel or series ferrite bead?

Question: If I use ferrite with capacitor as pi network. What happen when I series or parallel the ferrite bead? Which one reject emi better?
I known the ferrite bead is not inductance. It act like resistor at high frequency why dissipate energy as heat.
But think about series and parallel really confuse me.
Answer: If you parallel two the same then the impedance (complex number) will be half, and if you put two the same in series then it will double. The DC current capacity should be higher with two in parallel (ideally it would be doubled, but that may not be a safe assumption in practice).
Ferrite beads are inductive at lower frequencies, and capacitive at very high frequencies. It's possible that using a combination of two different types might be preferable in some particular situation. I can't recall seeing that used in practice.
Anyway, in a pi circuit (2 caps to ground and one series ferrite bead), two beads in series will increase the attenuation.
Comment: This answer my questiopn, seem just like RC pi filter.


Can you use jute twine to hold down the schach of a sukka

Question: In one of the Lakewood weekly (free) papers, I recently came across an ad from Rabbi Yehuda Shain in which he notes that jute twine is acceptable to tie and hold down schach. Keeping the lecatchila din of only using something you would use for schach in order to fasten the schach in mind, is jute twine not mekabel tum'ah? Would one be allowed to use it as schach? The following is what I found after a google search: in this responsum the OU discusses hemp and cotton strings. We can probably assume that the same applies for jute. But I am still looking for sources - mekoros discussing the acceptance of jute or other "gidulei karka" strings for fastening schach.
Comment: Hello Shlomo and welcome to Mi Yodeya. Just to clarify, you're asking how Rabbi Shain's ruling could be true? You want sources to back his ruling? Did he not justify what he wrote in the ad?
Comment: Thanks for the warm welcome! At this point, based on the OU's psak in regards to hemp and cotton and the prevalence of jute twine in Lakewood's stores, I would imagine that it is OK. I am just looking for sources so that i can make an educated decision. In regards to Rabbi Shain's add, the portion discussing jute was a single sentence , so he didn't delve to much into explanations.
Answer: From Star K

In addition, l'chatchila, kosher schach may not be supported by anything which is mekabel tumah (see Rama O.C. 629:7). According to the opinion of Rashi (as brought in Shaar Hatziyun 629:20) spun or woven threads (e.g. string, yarn) are mekabel tumah. Rav Moshe Feinstein states (Igros Moshe, O.C. 1:177) based on a Mishna, if something which is mekabel tumah is used to hold wooden slats together, the slats themselves are also mekabel tumah and are no longer kosher for schach use. Therefore, Rav Moshe Feinstein explains that wooden venetian blinds held together with cloth tape or string are not kosher for schach. It follows that according to Rashi bamboo slats held together by multi-filament cord (i.e. it is braided or twisted) are also not kosher for schach (even if they are not made to sit or walk on).

However, monofilament (commonly used for fishing line) is not woven or spun material. Therefore, it is not mekabel tumah and may be used to hold bamboo slats together. All Star-K certified bamboo schach is held together with monofilament cord.

So, if the jute twine is spun or woven, it might be problematic. It seems that the Jute fabric is spun and woven, so if the twine came from fabric it would be a problem. If it's straight jute without any spinning or wearing it should be fine.
Comment: [This](https://www.halachipedia.com/index.php?title=Materials_to_use_for_S%27chach#cite_note-21) presents some as not worrying about this opinion.
Comment: Thanks @chatzkel. So it seems like there is a machlokes. Star K (Rav Moshe zt"l) and the OU. I would love to know their sources.
Comment: @shlomo the link in the first comment on this answer explains it
Comment: missed that. Thanks @magicker72. This really has it all


Install RBS for second content database

Question: am using sharepoint 2016 onpremises. One Sql Server and one Web Front End(WFE) server, one Application server is there. I am using Sql server 2014 version. I installed RBS for First content Database Successfully using GUI. While installing RBS for second content Database in Sql server it is showing it is configured successfully.And i checked the rbs tables were exist or not using the following command.
USE[contentDataBasename]
selectfrom dbo.sysobjects
where name like 'rbs%'.
It was showing the table .While installing RBS for WFE server in log file it is showing MS SQL Server 2014 Remote Blob Storage configuration failed. Reconfiguration success or error status:1603 .
Below command only i ran.
msiexec /qn /lvx rbs_install_log.txt /i rbs.msi REMOTEBLOBENABLE=1 FILESTREAMPROVIDERENABLE=1 DBNAME=[your next content database name] FILESTREAMSTORENAME=FilestreamProvider_1 ADDLOCAL=EnableRBS,FilestreamRunScript DBINSTANCE=[your DB server].
I changed HKLM > Software > Microsoft > Remote Blob Storage >
value for key 'database' = [probably the name of the content database i initially enabled RBS on];
after that i restarted the server also it is not installing.
Finally i used the following command.
msiexec /qn /lvx* rbs_install_log.txt /i RBS.msi TRUSTSERVERCERTIFICATE=true FILEGROUP=PRIMARY DBNAME="WSS_Content" DBINSTANCE="DBInstanceName" FILESTREAMFILEGROUP=RBSFilestreamProvider FILESTREAMSTORENAME=FilestreamProvider_1
In log file MS SQL Server 2014 Remote Blob Storage configuration successful.
Reconfiguration success or error status:0
But while running $rbss.Installed() command it is showing SQL Remote Blob Storage must be installed on each web front end server and on the content database before it may be used.
How to solve this problem?
Answer: You don't touch the registry during the RBS installation. I documented how to do this at Enabling RBS on multiple content databases.
With that said, I'd highly recommend not using RBS. It doesn't offer advantages and increases maintenance and backup complexity by a significant margin.

Install RBS for second content database


Zero inflated data. ordinal variable prediction. Insurance data

Question: I have an insurance claims data with claim amount as a target variable. The claim amount has a lot of 0s . The output is to predict the high-risk customers. i.e., to preserve the order of claim amounts. I have planned to convert the claims amount variable to an ordinal value ( highest amount =1, second highest amount = 2.......) and perform ordinal logistic regression. Please let me know if my approach is correct. Also please help with any algorithms that deal with thid kind of data. The evaluation of the model would be done on gini index. How do i handle the high amount of 0s in data.
Comment: What's the rationale behind converting to ordinal variables? Why can't you do a ordinary linear regression, and then rank the predicted outcomes? I have a feeling that will be much more efficient. If you notice a poor fit because of the zeroes you can consider migrating to a zero-inflated/hurdle model, in which you can also use your predictors to estimate the chance on structural zeroes.
Answer: I would not recommend making the variable ordinal.
Liu, Shih, Strawderman et al (2009), Analysis of Zero-Inflated Nonnegative Continuous Data: A Review. Statistical Science, 34 (2) 253-279 is an excellent source. They recommend a two part model, first modeling whether Y is 0 or not, then modeling the positive values:
$P(Y ≤ y|X) = 1−p(X) + I(y >0)p(X)F_e(log(y) -   X^T\beta)$
where $F_e(u) = P(e ≤ u) \text{and } p(X) = expit(X^T α)$
They consider many variations and complications (which don't seem needed in your case) and have a github with SAS code to implement the models they recommend.
Answer: Take a look at zero-inflated lognormal (ziln) regression models.
See https://github.com/google/lifetime_value for an application and implementation in neural networks, that estimate the distribution of the Y=0 and positive part jointly, rather than through 2 separate models.
I have used this successfully on insurance claims data with excellent results.  In particular it allows you to estimate / predict tail risk and expected shortfall of insurance claims accurately.
For reference see
Wang, Xiaojing, Liu, Tianqi, and Miao, Jingang. (2019). A Deep Probabilistic Model for Customer Lifetime Value Prediction. arXiv:1912.07753.


Wiring Advice for Pole Barn

Question: I am looking to wire a pole barn. To avoid trenching from the box at the meter. I am wondering if I can put a 100 amp breaker in my 200 amp box in my house and pull from there. If so, what size of copper or aluminum wire would I need to use for a run of 120-150'. Can I even use aluminum wire from a breaker box inside of my home to output to another building? I do understand that I would not be able to run everything in the barn and the house at the same time, but I don't plan on running that much in the pole barn. Mainly lights and a fan in the summer. Worst case, I would be running a welder that requires around 40 amps. Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Comment: Are you planning on running a direct buried cable, or conduit?   Also, how much load does your house pull?
Comment: I hadn't planned on putting it in conduit but I can. Is there a rule of thumb for conduit size for wire for burial?
Comment: Can you post photos of the existing breaker box at the home, by the way?
Answer: When digging a trench, conduit means you only dig it once, and makes future wire damage much less likely. Up to you, but often the price of conduit + wires is not worse, and sometimes better than, direct burial cable. I am also a big fan of putting in an extra conduit for future use, say if you decided to extend your network coverage to the barn. I prefer schedule 80 PVC in the gound unless I have a special consideration where rigid metallic conduit (RMC, it's like galvanized water pipe) makes more sense. In Barns, I prefer to keep using EMT conduit for the individual circuits, as rodents, wires, and barns can be a recipe for barn fires otherwise.
Aluminum wire is a perfectly reasonable choice for a heavy feeder - the modern alloys don't have the issues the old stuff used for 15/20 amp interior circuits did, and the cost is far less than equivalent copper, even though aluminum has to be a larger size. It is the standard material used for heavy feeders, though if you are unfamiliar with proper preparation for connecting it, it's worth having an electrician drop by to make those connections correctly (torque matters, anti-oxidant paste matters, and prepping the ends for the paste matters.)
For 150 feet at 100 amps with 75C connections and wire insulation, 1/0 aluminum is conservatively adequate. 90c would drop that to #1, but 90C wire insulation is much easier to come by than 90C rated connections, from what I recall when shopping. #4 is adequate for the equipment grounding conductor.
That information is not some magic I know, just me using one of the many web wire calculators that reference back to the NEC requirements. I would do the same for conduit size once a wire size/insulation type is chosen, though I highly recommend making the conduit bigger than the minimum size for your own ease of pulling - it's not very expensive to upsize conduit, and pulling near maximum fill is a pain.
Answer: For a shorter run, there is no question that #1 aluminum would be correct.  (#3 copper would be equally correct but 3-4 times the price and with no safety improvement, since aluminum is reliable in these large feeders).
Long runs are vulnerable to voltage drop.  Normally at about 115' we think about bumping a wire size.  We would do that if you expected to run the circuit at/near limits much of the time.  However you do not.  That makes yours is a textbook example that you base voltage drop calcs on expected load, not breaker trip rating.
So it's back to #1 aluminum final answer.
The next size up is #1/0 aluminum, you might price the difference.
How do you arrive at this?  Any of the various voltage drop calculators out there, but you make 2 passes through it.

First, you punch in aluminum, your breaker trip capacity, voltage, 40% allowable voltage drop, and 1 foot distance.   This tells you the minimum size of wire you must use given that circuit breaker.
Then, you punch in aluminum, your actual expected loads, voltage, 8% allowable voltage drop, and your actual distance.  Now, keep lowering that voltage drop number until you get the same wire size. That will tell you the practical drop to expect on that wire.

Never take the calc's default 3% voltage drop.  Many, in fact most "size bumps" I see are cases where without the bump, the voltage drop would be 3.3% at breaker trip.  3% isn't even in the electrical code, it's an apocryphal number! facepalm... The people were oblivious that the bump was unnecessary.  That's why you have to cross-examine the calc a bit.
Comment: Was that first voltage drop really meant to be 40%?
Comment: Yup. @JPhi1618.  I would have said 99% but was afraid that would be interpreted as 1%.  Goal is to remove v.drop from the calculation.

Wiring Advice for Pole Barn


Drupal Views: Display recent nodes created by user on profile page

Question: I'm wondering how I can display the recently created nodes by a user on their profile page.  I've created a new page for a user at /user/%user and I want to be able to display the latest nodes created by that user.
Comment: You could just create a block for that and display it in the content region perhaps?
Comment: right, the issue i think is how can he create a block (from a view) that filters based on the user profile being viewed...
Answer: ok, the answer involves creating a drupal view, so you will need the views module and although simple, the answer is lengthy. please bear with me through this... :) (i am actually doing this on a test site as i write the instructions, to make sure i dont miss anything...)
i assume that you know how to download and install the views module. make sure you also enable the views-ui module.

go to site building->views->add.
put "recent_posts_by_user" for view name, "recent posts by user" for description and "node" for view type. hit next.
under the "default" view type, on the "fields" block, hit the "+" sign.
under "groups" select node, then check the "node type", "node title" and "node updated date" fields. hit the "add" button below the list.
under basic settings block (on the left), click on the "10" for "items for display" and change to "5" or however many items you want per page, and hit "update"
under "use pager", click on "no" and "full pager" or "mini pager" and hit "update" again.
under style, hit "unformatted" and change it to "table" set all fields to sortable, then choose the "updated date" as "default sort", then on "default sort order", select "descending". hit update.
hit "save" to save your progress thus far.

default view is done. YAY! lets add the block

now on the drop-down that says "page", select "block" and hit "add display".
hit "arguments" (block title on the center of the screen)
hit "override" and "update"
hit the "+" sign to the right of "arguments"
on the "groups" drop down, select "user" and select "user id". hit "add"
under "Action to take if argument is not present", select the last option "provide default argument", select "user id from url" and check "Also look for a node and use the node author"
under "validator", select "user" and "Allow both numeric UIDs and string usernames"
under "Action to take if argument does not validate" select "hide view/page not found (404)"
hit "update" then "save"

view is created now lets make sure it shows up on the right pages.

go to site building->blocks, search for the "recent posts by user" block and hit "configure"
scroll all the way to the bottom and select "Show on only the listed pages." and put in "users/*" under the "pages" text area
hit "save block"
now find the "recent posts by user" block again and set it to "content bottom" region (or any other region your theme has available).
hit "save blocks"

DONE! Not rocket-science, but lengthy process... drupal 6 views is so much better than drupal 5! :)
now go visit a user page http://site/users/username and see the table show up there!
hit me up if you still have questions about views.
enjoy
Comment: +1 Good work, been struggling with this for a while.  Its simple when you know how. :)
Comment: How do you prevent the block from being displayed on pages like user/X/edit  ?
Answer: Put in a Views Argument that uses the User ID from the URL argument. It will be arg(1). That should filter content that was authored by the profile you are looking at. That can work for a block or content pane.
Answer: I just prefer you to go to Views -> Sort Criteria and add the Node:Updated Date and mark it as descending as it shows the granularity over the time.
Moreover, you can also get the most recent node not only to the table style but to all.


How do I clean a cheap blow torch?

Question: I have one of those cheap Mapp gas + nozzle torches I'm using for sweat sodering and the tip clogged up today.  How do I go about cleaning it?
Comment: With most cheap tools, you dispose of it and buy a new one, as they are not made to be serviced. Did you drip solder into it?
Comment: No, definitely no solder in it, it actually worked 10 seconds before, turned it off and prepped the next joint and no hiss when I turned it on.  Can still had gas, I could feel it when I shook it.  And I tried a brand new can just to be sure.
Answer: I have doubt it's even the tip clogging - could be a valve failure and have the described symptoms. I have never needed to clean the orifices on a propane torch, and I've been using them (the same ones, for the most part, other than having them walk off sometimes) for decades. Oxy-acetylene, yes - those can and do get sooted up. Propane/propylene-air - never.
Sometimes "cheap" is expensive, and "costly" is inexpensive.
Comment: I dropped one in the mud once and had to clean it, but otherwise I concur: never have had to clean during normal operation.

How do I clean a cheap blow torch?


Where can I see the memory usage of firefox 4 plugins?

Question: I'd like to know when and how the firefox 4 plugins eats memory.
Comment: Firefox RAM usage scales with available RAM in my use. On a computer with .5GB of ram I've seen it use 20k but on my 12GB device it can use over a GB with similar or same addons. It just runs way slower on the .5GB device.
Answer: In general, add-ons are not running as separate processes. Determining which are using a lot of memory should be simply a matter of turning the add-ons off one by one, then restarting the browser, noting memory usage of the firefox.exe process along the way.
Answer: At least with linux you can look for a process called plugin-containe. I assume its the same with windows.
Under linux you can use:
<code>ps v -C plugin-containe
</code>
That will print out memory information about the process. That information refers to all plugins running in FF, because all run in the same process. I don't know if there is still any memory allocated in the main FF process related to plugins (e.g. some IPC overhead).
One of the printed information is a column with the percentage of your physical memory.
<code>   %mem       %MEM    ratio of the process's resident set size  to the
                      physical memory on the machine, expressed as a
                      percentage. (alias pmem).
</code>


Finding the area of the given quadrilateral

Question: In the given quadrilateral, we know the angles are as written on diagram $60,60,90,150$ degrees and the given sides have length: $6 , 4\sqrt3$. I want to find the area by transforming it into two triangles. Note that I know a method is extending the leftmost side and making a greater equilateral triangle and then subtracting extra parts. I don't want this method. I want to calculate the area by decomposing the shape into two triangles. I want to know how I can find the angles of these triangles in order to find the area.
Answer: Suppose $\angle B$ is subdvided by the dotted line into $\angle B_1$ and $\angle B_1$ and suppose the dotted line was $q$. Now, we have this system of equations:
$$\frac{\sin B_1}{6}=\frac{\sin 60}{q}, \sin B_2=\frac{4\sqrt{3}}q\Rightarrow q=q$$
$$\Rightarrow\frac{6\sin 60}{\sin B_1}=\frac{4\sqrt3}{\sin B_2}; B_1+B_2=60^\circ$$
Now substituting $B_1=60-B_2$, we get:
$$\frac{6\sin60}{\sin(60-B_2)}=\frac{4\sqrt3}{\sin B_2}$$
Which can be further simplified into:
$$\frac{6\cdot\frac{\sqrt3}{2}}{\frac{\sqrt3}{2}\cos B_2-\frac12\sin B_2}=\frac{4\sqrt3}{\sin B_2}$$
$$\Rightarrow6\sqrt3\sin B_2+4\sqrt3\sin B_2=12\cos B_2$$
Dividing both sides by $\cos B_2$ we get:
$$10\sqrt3\tan B_2=12$$
$$B_2=\tan^{-1}\frac{12}{10\sqrt3}\approx34.71^\circ$$
$$B_1=60^\circ-\tan^{-1}\frac{12}{10\sqrt3}\approx25.29^\circ$$
Now recall that $q=\frac{6\sin60}{\sin B_1}$, thus:
$$q=\frac{6\sin60}{\sin\Big(60-\tan^{-1}\frac{12}{10\sqrt3}\Big)}=\sqrt{148}$$
Now knowing that $\triangle ABD$ is a right triangle, it can be easily shown that $AB=10$.Thus the area of $ABD$ is:
$$A_{\triangle ABD}=\frac12 q\cdot AB\sin B_2=20\sqrt3$$
Now to find the area of the $\triangle BCD$, we need to find $\angle D$ in that triangle, thus:
$$\angle D=180^\circ-60^\circ-B_1\approx=94.71^\circ$$
And thus, the area of $\triangle BCD$ is:
$$A_{\triangle BCD}=\frac12 q\cdot DC\sin D=21\sqrt3$$
So the area of the quadrilateral is:
$$\therefore\bbox[15px, border: 2px solid black]{A_{ABCD}=A_{\triangle ABD}+A_{\triangle BCD}=20\sqrt3+21\sqrt3=41\sqrt3}$$
Answer: The method of Completing the equilateral triangle seems easier and I was going to proceed on that just when I read that you didn't want that.
Using sine rule on $\triangle DAB$ and $\triangle CDB$
$$\frac{DB}{\sin(90^\circ)} = \frac{AD}{\sin(\angle ABD^\circ)}= \frac{4\sqrt3}{\sin(\angle ABD^\circ)}\\
\frac{DB}{\sin(60^\circ)} = \frac{CD}{\sin(\angle DBC^\circ)}= \frac{6}{\sin(60^\circ-\angle ABD^\circ)}$$
So we get $\angle ABD$ and $DB$ from here. Rest is straight forward.


Problem Disabling Roaming Profiles on Grouped Users

Question: I'm having some serious issues getting a group of users to stop using roaming profiles.
As expected, I have roaming profiles enabled accross the domain.  - But am doing GPO filtering, limiting the scope.  I originally had it set to authenticated users for Roaming, but as the domain has branched out to multiple locations, I've limited the scope to only people that are near the central office.
The GPO that I have linked filtered to a group I have created that include users that I don't want to have roaming profiles.  This GPO is sitting at the root of the domain, with the "Forced" setting enabled, so it should override any setting below it.  *On a side note, it is the ONLY GPO that I have set to "Forced" right now.
I know the GPO is working, since I can see the original registy settings on a user that logged in under roaming profiles - and then that same user logging in after I made the Group Policy changes, the registry reflects a local profile.
But unfortunately, even after making those settings - the user is given a roaming profile on one of the servers.
A gpresult of that same user account (after the updated gpo) is listed in the code block below.  You can see right at the top of that output, that it is infact dealing with a roaming profile.  - And sure enough, on the server that's hosting the file share for roaming profiles, it creates a folder for the user once they log in.
For testing purposes, I've deleted all copies of the user's profile, roaming and local.  But the problem is still here.  - So I'm aparently missing something in the group policy settings on a wider scale.
Would anybody be able to point me in the direction of what I'm missing here?

*****gpresult /r*****
Microsoft (R) Windows (R) Operating System Group Policy Result tool v2.0
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corp. 1981-2001
Created On 5/15/2010 at 8:59:00 AM
RSOP data for ********** on ***** : Logging Mode
OS Configuration:            Member Workstation
OS Version:                  6.1.7600
Site Name:                   N/A
Roaming Profile:             \*****\profiles$*****
Local Profile:               C:\Users*****
Connected over a slow link?: No
USER SETTINGS
<code>CN=*****,OU=*****,OU=*****,OU=*****,DC=*****,DC=*****

Last time Group Policy was applied: 5/15/2010 at 8:52:02 AM
Group Policy was applied from:      *****.*****.com
Group Policy slow link threshold:   500 kbps
Domain Name:                        USSLINDSTROM
Domain Type:                        Windows 2000

Applied Group Policy Objects
-----------------------------
    ForceLocalProfilesOnly
    InternetExplorer_*****
    GlobalPasswordPolicy

The following GPOs were not applied because they were filtered out
-------------------------------------------------------------------
    DAgentFirewallExceptions
        Filtering:  Denied (Security)

    WSAdmin_*****
        Filtering:  Denied (Security)

    NetlogonFirewallExceptions
        Filtering:  Not Applied (Empty)

    NetLogon_*****
        Filtering:  Denied (Security)

    WSUSUpdateScheduleManualInstall
        Filtering:  Denied (Security)

    WSUSUpdateScheduleDaily_0300
        Filtering:  Denied (Security)

    WSUSUpdateScheduleThu_0100
        Filtering:  Denied (Security)

    AlternateSSLFirewallExceptions
        Filtering:  Denied (Security)

    SNMPFirewallExceptions
        Filtering:  Denied (Security)

    WSUSUpdateScheduleSun_0100
        Filtering:  Denied (Security)

    SQLServerFirewallExceptions
        Filtering:  Denied (Security)

    WSUSUpdateScheduleTue_0100
        Filtering:  Denied (Security)

    WSUSUpdateScheduleSat_0100
        Filtering:  Denied (Security)

    DisableUAC
        Filtering:  Denied (Security)

    ICMPFirewallExceptions
        Filtering:  Denied (Security)

    AdminShareFirewallExceptions
        Filtering:  Denied (Security)

    GPRefreshInterval
        Filtering:  Denied (Security)

    ServeRAIDFirewallExceptions
        Filtering:  Denied (Security)

    WSUSUpdateScheduleFri_0100
        Filtering:  Denied (Security)

    BlockFirewallExceptions(8400-8410)
        Filtering:  Denied (Security)

    WSUSUpdateScheduleWed_0100
        Filtering:  Denied (Security)

    Local Group Policy
        Filtering:  Not Applied (Empty)

    WSUS_*****
        Filtering:  Denied (Security)

    LogonAsService_Idaho
        Filtering:  Denied (Security)

    ReportServerFirewallExceptions
        Filtering:  Denied (Security)

    WSUSUpdateScheduleMon_0100
        Filtering:  Denied (Security)

    TFSFirewallExceptions
        Filtering:  Denied (Security)

    Default Domain Policy
        Filtering:  Not Applied (Empty)

    DenyServerSideRoamingProfiles
        Filtering:  Denied (Security)

    ShareConnectionsRemainAlive
        Filtering:  Denied (Security)

The user is a part of the following security groups
---------------------------------------------------
    Domain Users
    Everyone
    BUILTIN\Users
    BUILTIN\Administrators
    NT AUTHORITY\INTERACTIVE
    CONSOLE LOGON
    NT AUTHORITY\Authenticated Users
    This Organization
    LOCAL
    *****Users
    VPNAccess_*****
    NetAdmin_*****
    SiteAdmin_*****
    WSAdmin_*****
    VPNAccess_*****
    LocalProfileOnly_*****
    NetworkAdmin_*****
    LocalProfileOnly_*****
    VPNAccess_*****
    NetAdmin_*****
    Domain Admins
    WSAdmin_*****
    WSAdmin_*****
    *****
    *****
    Schema Admins
    *****
    Enterprise Admins
    Denied RODC Password Replication Group
    High Mandatory Level
</code>
Answer: I just had overlook the simple profile location setting in AD.     Craptastic.
It's fixed now.


As you get further in difficulties will Diablo/evils change color?

Question: I'm just curious will they ever change color like in D2, I always though that was a pretty cool addition to show the difficulty, and with the graphical changes it would be kinda cool to see a blue/purple diablo in d3 so I was curious if they would ever change color in this one.
Answer: Unfortunately, they don't - though there's already the Phase 2 Shadow of Diablo, who's a pretty sweet black/blue coloring.
Comment: That is upsetting, i guess thats true there is a shadow diablo which is pretty neatly colored, thank you for letting me know