If using these components, can a circuit still be defined as "analog"?

Question: Taking a circuit using transistors, CMOS dividers and monostable multivibrators, can it be considered as analog one or it becomes digital?
Comment: Some fanatics say all circuits are analog...
Comment: @TQQQ:They're not wrong. Even when up to my eyeballs in a complex digital design on an FPGA, all of the thorny issues are analog -- everything from allowed PLL frequency ranges to signal integrity (both on-chip and off-chip), metastability, fanout and routing delays, voltage tolerances, noise margins, radiation effects, etc., etc. The actual digital design is quite straightforward in comparison.
Comment: A circuit's intended usage my be digital but all circuits are ultimately analog.
Comment: Digital (my opinion) means numerical. This is a layer above electronics. Analog (my opinion) means simulation. This is also a layer above electronics. The rest of electronics is just electronics. Why divide it into two camps?
Comment: @PStechPaul:That would be wrong, too. While we normally talk about particle interactions as discrete events, there's certainly nothing "digital" about the particles themselves or their wave functions (probability distributions).
Comment: An extreme viewpoint would be that all electronic phenomena are digital, on an atomic or quantum mechanical basis.
Answer: When you respect all the assumptions that 'digital' chips require - 'fast' edges that don't linger in the forbidden region in the middle, and cross it once when intended, clean highs and lows, propagation delays allowed for, setup and hold times respected, fanout/in specifications met, clean voltage rails, and a few more I can't bring to mind right now, then designing with digital components can be as easy as manipulating a few Boolean equations on paper, and you're done.
When things go wrong, the logic doesn't behave as you expected, you get thrown back into the real world where everything is analog to debug that circuit, and see what assumptions you have not met.
Comment: Thank You for Your reply
Answer: Digital is a strict subset of analog.
All digital circuits are implemented with analog components, whether that be transistors, or levers and cogs.
It's not about what it's made of, it's how you use it!
A digital circuit is one in which the rules of digital logic apply:

There is a definite input parameter range (e.g. voltage) for logic '0' and '1' (or other levels if multi-nary)
There is a definite output parameter range which meets or exceeds the input range
The input and output parameter units and ranges match, or can be conveniently interfaced
There is a fan-out or fan-in rule (one output can connect to one or more inputs, or one input can connect to one or more outputs); and
There is a propagation delay between any given input changing, and the output(s).  (The exact rules for propagation delay may be quite involved, depending on which inputs and combinations are changing into a given component/function block, but the important thing is the logic operation is known to be completed within some period of time from an input change -- or if the time is well enough defined, it can be used for delay-based logic, but this is generally discouraged for more than simple circuits.)

A whole circuit, combining analog and digital features, might be termed "mixed signal".
There are certainly circuits that are useful to attach to a system, and which are wholly digital; a serial interface peripheral for example.  (One might rightfully argue, if that interface contains a PLL or voltage regulator, it isn't entirely digital.  We might constrain this example to older peripherals like the 16550 chip, in contrast to, say, USB devices which contain a 48MHz oscillator and/or PLL, and likely a 3.3V regulator as well.)
Conversely, we can trivially nullify the digital-ness of any given device, by observing that its inputs and outputs are continuous voltages -- analog by nature.  This isn't as useless an observation as it sounds, as one can indeed define the input and output pins of a logic circuit as 1-bit analog-to-digital (and vice versa) converters, and thus we might ignore the analog levels within that circuit (assuming it is fully described by the above digital rules, and its logic function), but still acknowledge its interface manifests as analog levels.
An application of this observation might be in high-speed design, where the impedance matching and ringing and etc. of a transmission line is nearly meaningless to a digital model (the only directly applicable parameter is propagation delay), but if we consider the interfaces as analog, then we are immediately reminded of their interface to the surrounding world, and the need for impedance matching, reduction of noise and crosstalk, etc.
Conversely, we can "abuse" digital inputs for analog purposes, given some restrictions.  Networking protocols can sometimes be made directly with logic pins (e.g. microcontroller GPIOs); while we might still have to provide external filtering and protection (for nominal performance in a noisy and often hostile electrical environment), the analog-digital interface can sometimes be as trivial as the pins themselves.  10BASE-T Ethernet has been demonstrated on MCUs as small as ATTiny85 for example, with only passive interface components.
Another application that's been demonstrated: an ambient light sensor, using an LED, and its (and the pin's) capacitance, and the pin's weak-pullup function.  This works by reverse-biasing the LED, charging it either to the supply voltage, or fractionally by way of the weak pullup.  In any case, pin voltage starts above threshold, and say a logic '1' will be read.  Over time, the LED's leakage or photocurrent (proportional to ambient light) discharges the capacitance, and some time later, a logic '0' is read.  The time is inversely proportional to illumination.
Indeed, since the LED emits light when forward-biased, this can be used as the basis for a bidirectional "no-interface" link!  Here, two MCUs are equipped with LEDs, one blinking out a signal and the other sensing the minuscule shift in ambient light.  The signal might be deep in the noise floor (due to the weak reception between LEDs, masked by external causes of light variation), but given a low enough signal bandwidth and much averaging, communication can indeed be established.
Comment: Thanks for the extensive explaination
Answer: Analog originates from electronic simulation of mechanical systems,
Digital originates from number systems.\$256\$ has 3 digits, the ones digit, the tens digit and the one hundreds digit.
"Digital" computers operate using "binary digits".
Any two level, position device is called a "binary device". Not necessarily digital. Example, two light switches generally turn two lamps on and off. Switch A for lamp A and switch B for lamp B. Are these binary digits or do the just turn the lamps on and off? Certainly they are binary devices.
Over time, analog came to mean "not digital", thus implying that the light switch might be referred to as a binary analog device.
Some may argue that analog should be used only when referring to electronic simulators. The rest of electronics would then be referred to as continuous, discrete level, binary or some other term that accurately represents the intended usage.
There is this tendancy to divide the electronics world into two: Analog and Digital. It is just not that simple.
So the answer to your question is it depends on whether the device(s) are to represent numbers or not.
Comment: I see. Thanks for the answer. Well if a logical gate needs for example to DIVIDE a frequency of course will need to count it. But I can say that a frequency is coming from an analog signal even using a Flip-Flop to divide it would become digital? Then a BINARY counter will of course need to do some operations with numbers? hence digital? For my POW digital is representing something that manipulates  the operation itself like the code inside an MCU. But still can a simple CMOS Counter IC be considered as digital?
Comment: Counting implies numbers, therefore there is a digital application. Don't over think the issue. The physcal device is still electronic so its usage must involve electronics even though the application is digital.
Answer: As already pointed out in another answer, is the signal(s) being processed that defines the nature of the circuit. Generally, analog signals carry information by varying voltage in continuous mode, where all the levels are in some way "valuable" and different. Digital signals have only two states - on and off. Of course no digital signal has only two voltages, because during transitions all the different voltages are produced, but the main purpose is to differentiate 0 and 1 (0 volt - 3.3 volts for example).
By this definition, a relay would be "digital", because it has only two states, on or off, both in its input (coil) and its output (contacts), even if the signal through its contacts is analog; but in that case (switching an analog signal), the relay would also be "analog" because the signal it operates on is analog.
A pure analog circuit could be one that has no signals which (by design) take only two values. A comparator can have analog signals as input, but its state (by design) has only two values, so it is not pure analog.
Comment: Thank You for the reply!
Answer: It depends on what those transistors, CMOS dividers and monostable multivibrators are used for.
In general, analog circuits deal with continuously variable signals, while digital signals have discrete levels and time steps. A digital circuit may use transistors as on/off switches, and monostable multivibrators to generate fixed time delays. CMOS dividers could be used to count pulses or produce lower clock frequencies. The signals are digital because they only have two valid levels, high and low, that are evaluated at fixed time intervals relative to the clock.
But of course transistors can also be used in analog amplifiers, and multivibrators can generate continuously variable time delays. A CMOS divider is always digital, but its outputs could be used for analog purposes.
As an example of how definitions can be vague, here's the schematic for an 'analog' pong game:-

Here we see a CD4013 CMOS digital logic IC being used to generate variable time delays with SR flip flops, a CD4060 divider producing a 3 bit digital output that counts from 0 to 7, transistors producing digital outputs from analog inputs, and another transistor taking a digital input to reset a capacitor charging circuit.
The complete circuit could rightly be called 'analog' because it works largely with analog signals. But some parts of it are digital.
Comment: Thanks for the extensive and example related reply


Remote access SSH problem

Question: I have been asked to setup a lab with 1 PC (fedora 18 OS) and 4 SGI (IRIX 6.5 OLD OS).
I am using a switch to connect them to university's network, and I asked tech guys to assign static IPs to them. Now I have statics assigned and I can ping all the machines, but I can't use SSH or FTP for a remote access. Do I need to make any configuration?
Comment: Are your static IPs in the same netblock?  Could be a firewall between them.
Answer: You trivially have to start the services (see netstat -alnp). And you have to see that these services are not blocked by a firewall (see iptables -L -nv).
Comment: Note that that covers services and the _local_ firewall on the Linux machine, the Irixes are probably different. Also, there might be a firewall in front of the lab. First check if you can ssh in inside the lab, then call tech people if it doesn't work from outside.
Answer: You need to install or check if ssh and ftp server is running on each box and it is not getting blocked by any firewall rules.
/etc/init.d/vsftpd status
and
/etc/init.d/ssh status
temporarily disable firewall , if it is running.
/etc/init.d/iptables stop
Comment: Can you provide the details on how someone would do this? Answers should be able to provide specifics with respect to the original question, see the faq: http://unix.stackexchange.com/faq

Remote access SSH problem


Opening a file from Version 2.83 in Version 2.49

Question: I am attempting to make a mod for the game Fallout New Vegas... To do that, I need to make a model in Blender, then export it as a .NIF file, but this only seems to work in version 2.49, but I have no idea how to use that version, only version 2.83... When I make something in 2.83 and attempt to open it in 2.49 so I can export it as a .NIF, I simply end up with a blank screen... Is it possible to open a file made in 2.83 in 2.49?
So far I've managed to export a file as a .OBJ and successfully open it in the older version, but it would be far easier if I could just open the .blend file itself, that way I wouldn't need to learn how to add textures and materials in the older version since in my texting, I cannot transfer textures or UVs and such if I use my current solution of transferring .OBJs
Comment: You could try exporting .FBX. It won't keep the textures, but it will keep their placements and UV maps.
Answer: Version 2.8 is not backwards compatible with previous versions.
Even if you could bring the meshes, none of the materials would work in 2.49
You might want to try using 2.79 and the internal blender render with simple materials. No nodes. Maybe those would work on 2.49


Versions of HaNeros Hallalu

Question: There seem to be many variations of the text of HaNeros Hallalu, the explanatory paragraph that people recite while lighting Hanukkah lights. Is it possible to list the major versions? What are the issues that make people prefer particular versions?
Comment: I've collected some versions for you to look at: [Siddur Rinat Yisrael](http://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=34229&st=&pgnum=453) (Nusach Ashkenaz), [Siddur Tefillah Yesharah](http://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=7190&st=%D7%94%D7%A0%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%AA+%D7%94%D7%9C%D7%9C%D7%95&pgnum=484) (Nusach Sfard),
[Siddur Tehillat Hashem](http://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=32581&st=&pgnum=339) (Nusach Chabad). I tried finding a Sefardi version but I couldn't. I believe it's close to the Lubavitch version though.
Comment: @ezra sefaria has edot hamizrah as: https://www.sefaria.org/Siddur_Edot_HaMizrach%2C_Hanukkah%2C_Menorah_Lighting.9?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en
Comment: Taz OC 676:5 quotes from Maharshal that there are 36 words following the introductory phrase הנרות הללו, corresponding to the 36 lights lit during Chanukah.
Comment: (2) It seems to me that most versions have problems with the grammar rules. For instance, many have "אנו מדליקים" while others have "אנו מדליקין", etc. Others, especially those printed in Eretz Yisrael, have the more Hebrew "אנחנו מדליקים". Of course there are also other differences in the wording.
Comment: @ezra I don't think מדליקים vs מדליקין is a "problem" with grammar rules or even significant at all.  It's not consistent even within mishnayos.  Same with אנו\אנחנו (my family says אנחנו just because that fits better in our tune).  In Tanach obviously the exact spelling matters (and even there אנן לא בקיאין בחסרות ויתרות), but other than that I don't think anyone cares or ever cared about having a consistent spelling for these things.  The more interesting differences between the versions you posted are ועל המלחמות (only in Nusach Ashkenaz) and ולהלל (Nusach Ashkenaz and Chabad).
Comment: @Heshy אנחנו rose out of concerns that the older אנו could have a negative connotation, since it also refers to mourning (like לא אכלתי באני). So whether or not they should have cared, a lot of people did care and cared enough to systematically edit/fix/deface the Siddur wherever that word appeared (eg. נזכר ונכתב לפניך אנו וכל עמך...)
Comment: @Heshy Thanks for the clarification. I use the Chabad nusach so I wasn't familiar with everything
Comment: Does the Machzor Vitri have it?
Comment: @sam nope.  See my answer to be shortly posted
Answer: A great article on this topic is by Rabbi Daniel Sperber in Minhagei Yisrael, Book 5 Chapter 2.  It addresses your question (some of it directly, otherwise, by the sources he cites) and much of it is available within the 40 page viewing limit on Otzar Hachochma (page 27 in their pdf here).  Another useful resource (albeit much shorter) is the Wikipedia page for Haneiros Halalu. Images are taken from Minhagei Yisrael.
In short, there are a number of versions (seen in both links above).
The Maharshal has one version (also cited by the Tur much earlier from Maharam Mirotenberg), and he suggests that there should be 38 words (Haneiros Halalu + 36 more, meant to represent the 36 Chanukah candles we light, not including the Shamash).  Except that his version has 41 words in total (Haneiros Halalu + 39):

Various Mefarshim deal with this in different ways, see the article for the suggestions of the Mateh Moshe and Elyah Rabbah.
There is a version attributed to the Rosh by the Mateh Moshe, which adds words to the version above until it reaches 44 total words (Haneiros Halalu are included in that count), except that all of the other sources that mention the Rosh say that his had 41 words as well, with one small change within.
Although the Tur quoted the version that he had ("Maharshal's version") from the Maharam Mirotenberg, our version of the Maharam Mirotenberg's teshuvos have a 38 word total (Haneiros Halalu + 36).

All of these versions are based on the original in Maseches Sofrim 20:7 (20:4 in some versions), but clearly, we had different versions of that at different times, so that's what the disagreements are based off.  The version of Maseches Sofrim that we have now is no more authoritative than what the Rishonim had.  In determining a correct text, some will also potentially take the number of words into play.
Daniel Goldschmidt (in Mechkarei Tefillah Upiyut, page 399, but see this article of his too) also writes about this at length. According to him, the structure is basically broken into three parts:

Haneiros Halalu...
Vechol Shmonas Yemei Hachanukah...
Kedei Lehodos...

He reconstructs a "Nusach Mekori", which is remarkably different than what we have, but see the R' Sperber article in Minhagei Yisrael or Goldschmidt's book for details.
For Sam: Rabbi Sperber notes that none of the Rambam's, Rif's, or Rashi's followers (including Machzor Vitri), as well as many, many others (prior to the Maharm Mirotenberg) mention the Minhag to say this.

Versions of HaNeros Hallalu


Security implications of Request.ServerVariables("REMOTE_ADDR") vs Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR")

Question: Let's say we're tracking the end-user IP for a web service:
ip = Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR")
If ip = "" Then
    ip = Request.ServerVariables("REMOTE_ADDR")
End If

I've read that this is the best method of retrieving end-user IP because it works even for users on a transparent proxy.
If we're using the end-user IP address to filter malicious users, are there are any security implications with the above method instead of, say, just using Request.ServerVariables("REMOTE_ADDR")?
For example, if we banned a malicious user by end-user IP, could they easily change their IP via a proxy and continue using our web service?
Thanks in advance for your help.
Answer: REMOTE_ADDR is generated by the web server based on the connection from the client.  HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR is based on a HTTP header sent by the client.
You can't trust input from the client, particularly input that is easily faked, such as HTTP headers.  Clients can stick anything into that HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR header.
Answer: If the users are using a transparent proxy then the above code will get the real IP address.  If they're using an anonymous proxy, though (like Anonymizer) then there's really no way to get the users actual IP address.


In search of sound schools

Question: Hi, I'm a young sound designer about to finish high school and i'd like to know what schools have the most reputable programs. Any suggestions?
Comment: What exactly are you looking for and in which country?
Comment: What area of sound are you looking into?  Post? Production? Music?
Answer: I graduated from Berklee College of Music with a degree in Music Production & Engineering. It's only gotten better since I was there, and I highly recommend it.
Berklee also has a comprehensive curriculum available online.
Comment: Berklee is also part of a consortium now with Emerson College, the Museum of Fine Arts' school, and two others I can't remember at the moment. You can attend one of those schools, and take classes at any of the members, which provides some truly excellent flexibility.
Comment: @Jay A co-worker of mine when the Berklee. What years did you attend?
Comment: 1988-1992, MP&E grad.
Answer: I've been teaching sound design at Video Symphony in Los Angeles, which offers a Protools certification program and helps with job placement as well. Very solid program. I'm also developing a sound design class for Academy of Art University in San Francisco, both on site and online. I've heard good things about Vancouver school too.
For those who aren't able to get to a school, I'm offering a six week webinar series beginning Sept. 8, which will included hands on assignments and personal feedback. There will be a free intro on Aug. 24. Check it out on SoundDesignForPros.com.
Comment: +1 on Video Symphony. It's an outstanding school with a full roster of exceptional instructors.

http://www.videosymphony.com/working.php?pg=ptinstructors
Answer: I took the Vancouver Film School Sound Design Program; graduated in october 2009. Wow! Makes exactly a year next wendnesday!
It's quite different now. Really very different, as most of my instructors aren't there anymore and the curriculum is different as well. A friend of mine that was TAing overthere told me it was really good! At least all the things i didn't like about the prgram changed dramatically... In  my opinion there was to much music theory and production (though the instructors were great!) and the game audio curriculum was painfully bad and unorganized. Not anymore!
They also have one more small mixing room, this one with a procontrol while the other 4 have control 24, and the Theater has an icon now. They're also a bit more well equipped with microphones now, and they have sounddevices 722 recorders.
I have to say i had an insanely great time over there learned a ton, and was really lucky as my classmates were absolutely great! It's super intensive two, in my last 2 months term me and most of my classmates were sleeping on average 3 hours a night.... But then again all of us did many side projects at all times.
It's a great great place to meet people from other fields like 3d and classical animation, film production, business management etc.
(The city is amazing to, i thought it was expensive at a time, but now that i'm in new york i laugh about that :D )
Hope that helps a bit.
Comment: Did you ever bump into a guy from Northern Ireland while in Vancouver, an old friend of my wife's did that course a few years ago.
Comment: I did meet a guy from ireland but he was around 20 years old. Does that sound about right?
Answer: I attended Full Sail University.  It's a bit pricey but they have the most modern equipment and offer great hands on experience.  When I was attending (2005) they didn't offer anything in regards to field recording so a lot of the equipment and microphones that are typically used aren't covered in their curriculum.  This might and hopefully have changed since then though.
I can say if you're looking for a music engineering school (not music theory) Full Sail is great.  They also have film and game design curriculum's there so the chance to network and work with other degree programs is easily feasible.
Comment: I've heard LOTS of horrible things about the on-campus courses at Full Sail -- that they don't care about students once they've paid, and that the around-the-clock scheduling is obviously set up just to screw with students -- but I've heard nothing but good things about their online curriculum.
Answer: I've heard good and bad things about Vancouver Film School.. but I'm still considering it.
The main issue is the tuition ($43,000 excluding living expenses!) Has anybody else heard anything about this program?
Share your insight!
Answer: Hi, Can you please layout the tools/software taught in the VFS sound design program, the people, the learning experience and what kind of projects do you work on? Do they provide a recorder or a laptop? and job prospect issues? Does the college help in getting job? How easy/difficult is it to get a job right out of college? With a heft education loan, getting a job is a big priority..
Answer: Savannah College of Art & Design is another place to check out.  It's sound department has been developing as a strong contender.  The Sound Department is led by David Stone, and Peter Damski is a professor of production sound, amongst other excellent sound professionals.
http://www.scad.edu/sound-design/
May be a place to consider along with other options.  I had a great experience, although I learned two things from being the education environment: 'you get out of it what you put into it', and 'use everything they have' - many schools are endowed with some great gear and software that real-life work environments may not have all the time.
All of the above listed schools are equally fair choices too, I run into and collaborated with a lot of wonderful sound professionals around town who are alumni from these places, especially Full Sail and Berklee.
Comment: Really not sure why this is answer deserving of a downvote... if someone has a distaste for it or a bad experience there, please share and don't hide behind your downvote.  But offering a perfectly valid answer which is not duplicated by another answer, thus offering a valid unique viewpoint perfectly in line with the question, is not deserving of a downvote in my opinion.
Answer: @Rig I didn't go to VFS, but I've wanted to for a long time. I've researched the school quite a bit and spoken to a handful of people who have graduated from the program. You'll mainly be working with Pro Tools and then some FMOD stuff when you start learning about game sound. You don't get a laptop, but you do receive an H2 recorder, and access to Icon consoles and Sound Devices recorders which is pretty awesome. As far as I can tell it's a pretty decent program but far too expensive and less than half of the people I've spoken to who went there have jobs in the industry. It's different for everyone though. As much as I've wanted to go, I just can't justify spending $50,000 for a year of school. Hope that helps.
Answer: @Hearmeout; thanks for the reply man. Im already working on Protools HD and ICON in my current job. also started learning FMOD from youtube videos, but how can one break into the game audio industry from another country or without going to any college like VFS?
How to develop those game audio skills and projects?
Answer: you develop them by working on them, University is all fine and dandy but you will learn most things on a job, shadowing someone above you and asking questions. You are not guaranteed a job if you go to University and they will not do the work for you to find a job, only offer advice.

In search of sound schools


Is there any reason to keep starred items?

Question: Some crops and foraged items (and likely other classes of items) sometimes come with a silver or gold star next to them. Is there any reason to specifically hold onto these items?
Comment: These items occasionally make for great gifts if you're trying to boost someone's social rating with you.
Comment: It was mostly just an assumption. I guess I was wrong.
Comment: I am aware of the need for at least gold starred items for the Community Center so that should be included in an answer but I am not sure if there are other reasons on top of that.
Comment: Food items with stars heal more health and energy if that counts.
Comment: @JonahBishop: Any refference for that? Since I read here from others that the decompiled code just diferentiates between how much a person likes something, not the quality.
Answer: 1) As stated in a comment, there is a community centre package that requires Gold star crops. (Parsnips/Melons/Pumpkins/Corn, 5 of each)
2) In Fall, there is a festival where you will be able to show off some quality products and gain points based on their quality, so bringing higher quality items will net your more points.
3) Other than that, higher quality food will yield higher health/energy benefits.
4) I am unsure whether a higher quality items makes a "better" gift than the same item but with a lower quality, but that would be another reason to keep some good quality items.
I mostly sell the quality stuff myself and try and keep some good ones for the Fall festival.
Comment: Higher quality items do produce better gifts for people - http://stardewvalleywiki.com/Friendship#Gifts - Normal +0%, Silver Quality +10%, Gold Quality +25%, Iridium Quality +50%
Comment: @1: Something I missed early in the game, the bundle has only two slots to fill, so if you failed to get 5 gold Parsnips in Spring you can still go for, say, 5 Pumpkins and 5 Corn. Use fertilizer to get better crops!
Comment: ^ three slots*, but since you have 4 options you can indeed miss one safely.
Comment: Now I wonder if it was changed by any chance, because I very strongly remember double checking that there were indeed only 2 slots to fill.
Answer: As well as the other benefits mentioned, the effect of any gift is multiplied by a factor of 10% for a silver-quality gift, 25% for a gold one and 50% for an iridium (not sure if this holds for disliked/hated gifts, but I assume it does).
So after giving someone a gift they love on a normal day (ie. not their birthday or anything), you'd normally get 80 friendship points, but if it had a gold star, for example, you'd get a total of (125% x 80), or 100 friendship points - that's 2/5 of a heart.


How to use Canvas element with OpenLayers?

Question: I would like to use element canvas of HTML 5 in OpenLayers to render maps.
I am searching some code or reference in which I can check it, can you help me in this?
Answer: You can have a look at this OpenLayers example. Below is the highlight of line from the code with mention the renderers.
<code>var wfs = new OpenLayers.Layer.Vector("States", {
    strategies: [new OpenLayers.Strategy.BBOX()],
    protocol: new OpenLayers.Protocol.WFS({
        version: "1.1.0",
        srsName: "EPSG:900913",
        url:  "http://v2.suite.opengeo.org/geoserver/wfs",
        featureType: "states",
        featureNS: "http://usa.opengeo.org"
    }),
    styleMap: styleMap,
    renderers: ["Canvas", "SVG", "VML"]
});
</code>
renderers: ["Canvas", "SVG", "VML"]
renderers array contains a list of renderers used by OpenLayers in the given order. So here first OpenLayers check for Canvas and if your browser doesnt supports HTML5Canvas, it switches to the next  one in the row, SVG and if fails again it goes for VML (IE only i guess)
You can see the API doc of renderer class here. But its not very helpful. There is a nice report on different HTML5 renderers usage and performance analysis done by someone available in the trac wiki. Thanks for the work
Comment: Hi @rashad, thanks for your reply. But if you see than in demo they have used div element to render map. Can you explain it further please if possible?
Comment: OK. OpenLayers does manages everything inside div. layermager, layers, controls. Each layer (wms/vector comes as a seperate divs. mapcontainer(another div).from w3cschool - `The  tag defines a division or a section in an HTML document. The  tag is used to group block-elements to format them with CSS`. `The HTML5  element is used to draw graphics, on the fly, via scripting (usually JavaScript).` please accept the answer if its acceptable.
Comment: Hi Rashad, if this is true than I am ready to accept your answer, why I am double confirming because we need a concrete answer before moving ahead.
Answer: If you used OpenLayers 3, the following link can help you: http://openlayers.org/en/v3.0.0/examples/export-map.html


How is bathymetry done without sonar?

Question: Or better yet, how WAS it done? I understand that depth sounding was done with a lead weight attached to a long rope or wire, but how were the leadsmen able to tell when the lead weight reached the bottom? Especially when the water is far too deep to see the bottom. Part of what inspired the question was the story of the first depth soundings at Challenger deep done in 1875. So I am inquiring about the exact details of how depth sounding was done.
Answer: When a weight is suspended from a rope and is hanging either in mid air or mid water the rope is in tension and is tight. In this situation, when the weight is lifted and lowered the rope remains tight at all times. The tension in the rope can be felt at all times. If the rope is coiled onto a winder, as the weight falls the rope unwinds from the coil.
When the weight hits the bottom, the rope will eventually stop unwinding from the coil and become slack. The rope has no tension. To determine the depth to be bottom from the length of rope slowly wind the rope back onto the coil until it first become tense and there is no slack in the rope. The length of rope at that point is the depth of the sea floor.
Comment: Importantly the rope must be neutral or slightly positive [buoyancy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buoyancy). If the rope is heavy and long (hundreds of meters), the difference when the weight hits the bottom is harder to detect.
Comment: @trondhansen "the development of language" was almost certainly not a discrete event, but a long process that extended over hundreds of thousands of years.  The development of rope (as something to tie around something else) probably fell somewhere in that long time range.
Comment: i wonder when a rock and a rope was first used to measure waterdepth,was it before or after the development of language in human history.
Answer: Fred has it wrong for the right reason.
The rope has weight (or if you follow @jpa, negative weight), so you want to detect the difference between (weight of rope) + (weight of sinker) and (weight of rope).
In which case, you want as light a "rope" as possible, and as heavy a sinker. You probably also want some moderately accurate load indicator on your winch - running it over a pulley suspended on a suitably stiff spring would do, or you can get more sophisticated.
@JPA's buoyant rope will eventually suspend the weight of the sinker and leave a pool of rope on the sea's surface.
When the Challenger did the first oceanographic survey, I think they used "piano wire" (single strand, high-tensile steel) because they were routinely sounding in 5km of water.
@RBarryYoung (Beanpole Barry, of "& Dr Toxic" fame ? ) - there is archaeological evidence of twisted fibre  ... well back into the Neolithic. Pierced bead decorations imply either a cord for stringing them or thread for sewing the beads onto clothes.
Actually ... there are pierced ostrich shell fragments in the South African deposits ... not Bloombos Cave (of the grooved ochre), but nearby. It was in Nature a few years ago. Sorry, details not in mind, but a hundred thousand years ago if not more.

How is bathymetry done without sonar?


Why doesn't Qui-Gon just use the force to unlock the doors in the beginning of the Phantom Menace?

Question: Instead of trying to use his lightsaber to cut through the doors when trying to get to the vicroy, why didn't Qui-Gon just use the force to unlock the doors and open them? Seems like that would be much easier and quicker.
Answer: That assumes the mechanism was simple enough for him to manipulate.  The doors were security doors (also called blast doors), obviously intended to keep those on the bridge safe from attack.  While they may not have been designed specifically with the Jedi in mind, there are other Force users in the galaxy.  A complex locking mechanism that would physically block the doors from being moved out of place, along with some type of physical combination, would have easily made it difficult for a Force user to manipulate the doors.
Almost any kind of physical combination device would have required a Jedi to take the time to sense where everything was, as well as figuring out combinations that would work, and then being able to manipulate all the moving parts.  Just sussing out the combination could have easily taken longer to do than cutting through with a lightsaber.
Comment: Not to mention if the lock is electronic.
Answer: He was trying to get through a blast door on a warship, not a screen in a private house where you can probably Force-pull a hinge or move the piece in the simple lock.
The Force exerts a certain amount of force (no pun intended). It is likely significantly less than what is required to break through a durasteel blast resistant door.
Comment: "Size matters not!  Judge me by my size will you?" - Yoda.
Comment: "That is why you fail!" - The cinematic of the Jedi cutting through the blast door is more the reason... that and the drain it would take to open it.  But Darth Caedeus several times ripped through blast doors like they were made of paper.
Comment: @Chad - I always knew Sith was a better Path :)
Comment: Clouded the future is...  Much danger I see in your path.
Comment: @Chad - There's a slight difference between overcoming 1G gravity of Dagobah and the force locking a military issue blast door.
Answer: It's as simple as that the more complex a lock is, just as a puzzle, it is harder to unlock by manipulating the pieces. It is just much easier to cut through them with a lightsaber. If it were a simple skeleton key lock or a door with tumblers, it would be fairly easy it instantly unlock it, but like a bank vault imagine multiple crossing steel bars and thick plating on top too. That's a lot of effort when you can just cut it open.


In 2016, the summer solstice will coincide with a full moon. How often does this happen?

Question: I found that the solstices work on a 400 year cycle based on this. I can't find anything similar for the lunar cycle. Is there a formula I can use to calculate the date of the full moon?
Comment: Beware of media-defined notions such as "coincide". This is similar to the "alignment of planets" - they are aligned only according to some lax definition. So, regarding your coincidence, what is the margin of error? One day? And if it's one day, in what time zone? As you can see, these are complex questions in reality. It's just the profit-driven media that dumbs them down and makes them into seemingly simple soundbites.
Comment: If you're talking about an *exact* coincidence, it virtually never happens. If you're willing to accept a two-week margin of error, it happens almost every year. The 400-year cycle is an artifact of the Gregorian calendar, which has no effect on when or how closely the solstice and the full moon coincide.
Comment: @Bishop: The solstice is a single moment. For example, this year's summer solstice occurs at about 10:51 UTC on June 21.
Comment: is that good enough for you? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_moon#Formula
Comment: 14.5 hours is a pretty large margin of error. Easily enough to give a false positive or negative. If there isn't a better formula, I can make do, but I was hoping for something more accurate
Comment: @KeithThompson, so if I wanted to calculate the closest those two occur to each other, which two formulas would I use?
Comment: @FlorinAndrei, I see your point. The solstice is by definition a day, correct? Then I guess I'd be looking for the 24 hour period including both the solstice and the full moon
Comment: Since the summer solstice and full moon are pretty much independent, the chance there will be a full moon on the summer solstice (to the nearest day) is about 1 in 29.5, the same as it would be for any other randomly chosen day.
Comment: If you're REALLY curious, you can see a list of moon phases at http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/phase/phasecat.html and the length of the year (time between solstices) at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropical_year#Mean_tropical_year_current_value combined with http://www.erh.noaa.gov/box/equinox.html to compute more exact answers.
Comment: I'm no statistician but I would think a full moon being on the summer solstice would be about 1 in 28 years. The lunar cycle is about 28 days. But most sites I've seen say it happens once in 70 years.
Answer: Florin Andrei what evidence can you supply to charge the oldest scientific body on this planet (The Royal Society at Greenwich) to be a profit-driven media entity.
Bishop, if you are asking when the 2 specific points in time match, it is true that they have a 'astronomical' infrequency to look at. But if you look at what the common terms for the definition of a solstice and full moon occurring at the same time, then it is not too infrequent. Matching a 24 hour period (solstice day) against a 72 hour period (a full moon) then they occur with a much more reasonable frequency. There are lots of lunar cycle calculators around. The current cycle we are in has the same middle day of the full moon  period In 2004, 2007, 2015, 2026, 2034, 2042 and 2045. further dates can be found using this http://aa.usno.navy.mil.
Just chose any date, calculate the drift on your 400 year cycle then calculate how often that drift occurs at the same time as the 3 day phase of the full moon drift. There will be large periods when the match occurs rarely (The center point of each phase occurring furthest apart). As the centre points close on each other the Frequency will increase. The recurring pattern of all astronomic movements.
Comment: Please don't mix comments with your answer.


smallest possible linux distribution

Question: I want to build a really small linux distribution which would be using busybox, possibly uClibc. In the beginning, just a ramfs would do. Plus, I dont mind not having a native toolchain. I went through 'linux from scratch'; but apparently, it is meant for a full blown distro. Can you please advice me on this ?
Answer: I can't tell you what the smallest possible is, but Tiny Core Linux is the smallest that I have ever heard of. They manage to squeze a graphical system into 12MB and a text-based system into 8MB.
Answer: There isn't really a restriction to how small a distro is except the functionality you want in the distro.
I recommend looking at linuxfromscratch.org if you're interested in creating a new distro.
Answer: Not sure what the "smallest possible" minimum config is, but you can start with an initramfs (see also the kernel documentation) containing just a few files.
That tucks a ramdisk image onto the actual vmlinux kernel before compressing the whole lot, so that on loading it gets automatically retrieved and decompressed. The kernel is started using that memory image as root filesystem, and looks for an executable in there with the name init. Which can be any binary - including busybox.
In fact, using a statically-linked busybox as init inside an initramfs is not an unusual step in embedded device bringup - getting to the shell prompt just past loading the kernel validates that the kernel boots, the kernel/userland interface and the console works.
At this stage, there's no need for any actual storage device, functional root filesystem and all that quite yet. If your device is used in kiosk mode (no data preserved across reboots) it's actually all you need.
Answer: Knoppix is smaller than Tinycore. And for Akira who thinks my proof makes more sense, try diffing the start_kernel() methods between the 2 and you'll see for yourself how much simpler Knoppix is.
Answer: Here you go, http://alpinelinux.org/     musl libc + busybox.
It is a distribution that fits under 8mb (although it can be reduced a bit)
It is based on musl-libc and busybox.
Comment: Can you expand on this a little?
Comment: Ok... Done ..

smallest possible linux distribution


What were the Buddha's agreements and disagreements with Hinduism?

Question: Although Hindus didn't call themselves Hindus when he lived, he would have been born a Hindu.  What factors pushed him away from Hinduism? I can think of two - He was against the caste system and did not believe in the authority of the Vedas or Vedic sacrifices.  But still there must have been enough commonalities for Hindus to regard him as an incarnation of Vishnu and for Sankara's critics to call him a "hidden Buddhist"
Comment: Buddha neither knew that he was "Hindu" (as nobody did until several centuries later), nor did he know that he was "Buddhist" (which is established by followers).
Comment: I have not found his disagreement with caste system in any of the Buddhist works, none of his disciples work mention either Varna or jati.
Comment: Belongs in buddhism.stackexchange.com. Off-topic.
Comment: One common thing between buddha, rama, krishna is-Well, the prophecy of Siddhartha becoming Buddha was given by asita https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asita the same asita was a Vedic seer as well as a staunch vaishnava. https://hinduism.stackexchange.com/questions/21059/who-are-rishi-asita-and-devala the same asita prophesied Lord Krishna's divinity.
Comment: Hindus regard him as an avatara because it is so stated in scriptures and not because of their own investigations about those "common factors"
Comment: How do Hindus know Siddhartha Gautama was the Buddha prophesied in Hindu Scripture? @rickross
Comment: There were actually many "Buddhas" and Gautama was one of them..the latest one.  @SK
Comment: Related: [When were Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism marked as separate religions?](https://hinduism.stackexchange.com/q/2977/277) and [Why is there a separate religion for Buddha, if Buddha is a Hindu god?](https://hinduism.stackexchange.com/q/4020/277)
Comment: @Anubhav Jha:  For varna see https://buddhism.stackexchange.com/questions/25804/do-buddhist-texts-record-or-comment-on-the-then-prevalent-varna-or-caste-systems
Comment: @zaxebo1 that's not disagreement with Varna, even hindusim says that a monk-sanyasin is without caste. Buddha said the same thing his monastic community is without caste.
Comment: Buddha himself states that Bodhisattvas are born only as Brahmanas and Kshatriyas so it is incorrect to say he didn't believe in Varna system.
Comment: buddha born to jain king suddhona.. jinasuta as described srimad bhagavatam
Answer: In Dhp 279 and many other suttas, Gautama Buddha taught that in all phenomena there is no self (atman).
In MN 95, he did not accept the authority of the Vedas.
In MN 38, he taught six types of consciousness which dependently arise based on the six media of eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind i.e. eye-consciousness, ear-consciousness, mind-consciousness etc. He taught that consciousness does not occur independently of these six media. This disagrees with Advaita Vedanta.
In SN 7.9, he rejected the notion of varna/ caste by birth, stating "don't ask about birth, ask about conduct," when someone asked him about his (Buddha's) varna /caste at birth.
In SN 7.7, he said that austerities does not make one pure and chanting mantras do not make one a brahmin, stating instead that accomplishment in conduct or virtue, and knowledge determines a brahmin.
In SN 7.21, he rejected the view that purification rites using water can wash away sins, stating instead to dip oneself in the shores of the lake of virtue, to purify oneself.
In DN 31, he rejected the ritualism behind the Vedic bath prayer ceremony practised by a young householder by the name of Sigala, and put a new spin on it.
In SN 42.6, he rejected the use of funeral rites to help the deceased go to heaven, stating instead that it is a person's deeds during their lifetime which determines their outcome, and not rituals performed after death.
In SN 42.3, he rejected the view that a warrior performing his duty to fight in war, will allow him to go to heaven after death, if he gets killed in battle.
In AN 8.39, he forbade taking of a life and in AN 4.39, he denounced animal sacrifices. This may have conflicted with animal sacrifices that may have been practised in his time.
In DN 2, he forbade his monks from doing fire oblations or fire sacrifices, practising astrology, reading omens, interpreting dreams, calculating auspicious dates for marriages, consecrating sites for construction and worshipping the Sun etc.
His agreement with Hinduism was on virtue, ethics and good conduct.
Comment: @SethuSrivatsaKoduru Concepts like karma are similar but not exactly the same in Hinduism and Buddhism. Of course, moral principles like not killing, not stealing, being faithful to one's partner, not speaking untruth or harsh words is more or less similar between Hinduism and Buddhism.
Comment: Nice honest answer sir. <> Did he agree with Hinduism in this matter?? Like what concepts sir?
Sir Buddhists also revere Devatas right? Though they cant grant Moksha they do exist!
Comment: Thankyou Ruben Ji. May I know which religion do you follow? I mean Baudh Dharma or Hindu Dharma..just curios


Why stakers tend to stake more on DOT than KSM?

Question: right now there is no oversubscribed validator on Kusama but a lot of validators on Polkadot are already oversubscribed, why stakers do not stake Kusama instead and insist nominating oversubscribes?
Answer: Kusama supports 1,000 active validators while Polkadot only supports 300 currently.
Kusama has 7,500 nominators.
Polkadot has 24,000 nominators.
This will naturally lead to more validators being oversubscribed on Polkadot.
As the network feels that the staking system is more stable and scalable, governance will increase these limits on Polkadot too.
Answer: Kusama is not as popular or high-profile as Polkadot, so it the latter attracts more nominators. According to the subscan.io stats,

Polkadot ~950k holders
Kusama ~246k holders

It is a different network, with different goals. I guess not all nominators want to experience chaos.
Without getting into "pricing", the ranking of the networks of various sites does generally what drives people toward the "blue chips", the numbers in accounts and active nominators show this.


What to do about my almost 3-year-old daughter pooing her nappy and not telling anyone?

Question: I have a 2.5-year-old daughter. She is almost almost 3. She poos her nappy and doesn't tell anyone to the point her bum is red and blistered. Can anyone give me advice or have something similar why she keeps doing it as she use to tell me?
Comment: How do you react when you find out? How do you react if you're told? If she feels she would get in trouble, she may not be telling you. _she use to tell me_ How long ago? 2 weeks? 2 months?
Comment: Does she tell you if you ask? How does she react when you find out? She could just be too busy or distracted playing.
Answer: We can usual tell when my two and a half yr old is doing one. He runs to a specific part of the house and grunts in a corner. Often he tells us, but sometimes he's too busy and will even deny he's done it. Just make sure you're not sounding cross when you find out ask her to come and tell someone. Otherwise cream her up and as @threetimes said she'll be wanting the nappies off before long anyway.
Comment: I think in this specific case the parents' concern and frustration at not being told in a timely manner may appear to the child as if they are cross with her for the poo in general.
Comment: "Just make sure you're not sounding cross when you find out..." Is that a thing? Perhaps I'm the odd one because my usual comment when I find out is "Good girl!" Heh.
Answer: My one child blisters easily on her bum.  You will have to put some sort of barrier cream or salve on her all the time to help resist that happening.  You will also then have to check her often.  Sometimes a child will do something & then stop.  My child used to do what I asked her to, then she got to about 3 & decided that resistance is where it's at.  It's all a process.  Some things could be considered regressive, other things are just phases & development.
So my sensitive skin kid who did not tell me when she had pooped was checked constantly for poops, and I kept cream on her all the time.  At 2.5yrs, if she is not terribly resistant, now is also a great time to have her try sitting on the potty briefly many times a day.  One way I have luck with this is "racing" them to the toilet.
The best news I can give you is that a this age, you are closer than ever to being done with diapers & that will mean the end of raw bottoms.  So hang in there.  Sooner or later this will be no issue at all & she will tell you when she needs to go.


Is firing order sufficient to tell if a crankshaft is cross-plane or flat-plane?

Question: If I know the order in which the cylinders on a V-engine fire, can I know for sure whether the engine has a cross-plane or flat-plane crankshaft?
Answer: If the firing order alternates from one bank to the other it could be (and probably is) a flat plane engine. If the firing order has any two cylinders on the same bank fire in succession, it cannot be a flat plane engine.
Comment: Go for it! I love a lively debate!  A flat plane must fire one bank then the other in order to keep it firing like two 4 cylinder banks. To keep it firing in a balanced manner. Could an engine be built to work differently? Yes, but it would have to fire two cylinders on the same bank simultaneously, which would not make for a smooth running engine at all. Not to mention quite a bumpy power transfer!! Let me know your thoughts. :-)


Why can't you ride a bike with a fixed handlebar?

Question: I tried one time, as part of an experiment, to ride a bike with a fixed handle bar. Impossible. So, in any case, our movements made with the handlebar helps us in not falling down. I can feel kinda how, but cannot really put a finger on it. Does anybody know the answer?
Comment: Possible duplicate: [Why doesn't a bike/bicycle fall if going with a high speed?](http://physics.stackexchange.com/q/506/)
Comment: How does your personal inability to perform this act constitute a proof that it's impossible?
Comment: Is it really impossible at a high speed? Getting started could be tricky, but at speed you can ride hands free. I wonder whether you still need to allow the handle bar to turn
Comment: @innifree: Every circus probably has half a dozen people who can take a nap on a unicycle... I think the OP needs to take a closer look at what people can do who are actually not giving up after five minutes.
Comment: Related: http://physics.stackexchange.com/q/24/2451 and links therein.
Answer: You can't ride it because it's very thin and so is bound to fall over to one side or the other.
A more difficult question is why you can ride a bike in normal circumstances. That has already been discussed on this site but as you would expect the answer is related to the steering mechanism.


How to quench unreacted sodium azide from reaction mixture?

Question: The reaction involved synthesis of azide formation from alkyl bromide in DMF using sodium azide. After the reaction has taken place, how do I quench the unreacted sodium azide from the reaction mixture?
Comment: Why do you want to "quench" it?
Comment: I happen to read about safety precautions regarding handling, using sodium azide. So I came across few web pages, where they warn you not to dispose it into the drain but try to quench it. So I thought about to get an opinion on this. Anyways  I took my reaction mixture, extracted in ethyl acetate/water. And it worked well.
Answer: Excess of sodium azide can be quenched using nitrous acid.
$$\ce{2NaNO2 + H2SO4 → 2HNO2 + Na2SO4}$$
$$\ce{2NaN3 + 2HNO2 → 3N2 + 2NO + 2NaOH}$$
For further reading, Click here.


Create private Facebook app to link Chatterbot to sent chats to people

Question: I have written a Python script to send and fetch Chatterbot chat messages. I now want to create a Facebook app that only I can access that has permission to send chat messages to people, and I want my script to send the messages to Facebook to people, and then back. The end aim to to say hi to everyone, then see how they react. How would I do this?
Comment: https://developers.facebook.com/docs/chat/ is a good place to start
Answer: For a list of known Facebook chatbots, see my Meta Guide webpage, "Best Facebook Chatbots" [1].  The Facebook Chat API is XMPP compatible [2].  Google App Engine is also XMPP compatible [3]; so, you should be able to use Python on AppEngine to work with Facebook Chat XMPP.
[1] http://www.meta-guide.com/home/ai-engine/best-facebook-chatbots
[2] http://developers.facebook.com/docs/chat/
[3] http://developers.google.com/appengine/articles/using_xmpp


Let $N_b = 1_b + 2_b + \cdots + 100_b$ . Find the number of values of $b$ for which the sum of the squares of the digits of $N_b\leq512$.

Question: The problem is:
"Let $b$ be an integer greater than 2, and let $N_b = 1_b + 2_b + \cdots + 100_b$ (the sum contains all valid base $b$ numbers up to $100_b$). Compute the number of values of $b$ for which the sum of the squares of the base $b$ digits of $N_b$ is at most 512."
I could only perform the following step in an attempt to solve the problem:
$N_b=1_b+2_b+\cdots+100_b=1+2+\cdots+b^2=\frac{(b^2)(b^2+1)}{2}$
I am not able to figure out what to do next. I have tried using small examples, tried to divide the problem into two cases:b is even and b is odd, and tried to see if there's any polynomial I could write to find out $\frac{(b^2)(b^2+1)}{2}$'s digits. These did not help me in proceeding any further. I would like to have some hint for an appropriate approach to the problem. Any help is appreciated.
Answer: HINT:
$b^2=100_b$ and $b^2+1=101_b$. Therefore:

If $b$ is even, then $b^2$ is even, so $N_b=\frac{100_b}{2}\cdot 101_b$. To find the digits of $\frac{100_b}{2}$, use the fact that $\frac{10_b}{2}=\left(\frac b 2\right)_b$.
If $b$ is odd, then $b^2+1$ is even, so $N_b=\frac{101_b}{2}\cdot 100_b$. To find the digits of $\frac{101_b}{2}$, use the fact that $101_b=(b-1)(b-1)_b+2$.


Testing machine learning models using a different set of labels

Question: I have a dataset with 119 features and 228 samples. I have trained my classifier using a particular set of labels (0 and 1). Now I want to test how the model is performing to external data.  There is not a single dataset out there with the same labels (0 and 1). But my supervisor really wanted to look for external validation of our model. That prompted me to look of other test datasets with the same feature set but a different label. I found one such dataset with 55 features overlapping with my train set. But the labels for the new test set are 67% correlated with my train labels. Should I test my model on this new data?
Answer: you can, but it's not really testing the generalization of your model since you are not using it for the same problem.
People sometimes do it, for example, someone might fit a model to classify healthy and depressed people and then show that it also classify healthy and anxious people but not healthy and schizophrenic people. This is then followed by speculations about why is it or bold claims about some kind of magical transdiagnostic effects or other speculations about for what purposes that model can be used.
Comment: you can create a model using only the overlapping features. There is no workaround for different labels, then you would just have to use your domain knowledge to interpret the results. If the labels are completely unrelated, then there is nothing you can do about it.
Comment: Thanks for the reply. But I am wondering if there is any natural limitation to what my model can achieve in this case. First, only 55 features overlap between the two datasets and then it isn't a 100% correlation between the labels. Any suggestions?


I have an HTC desire C and want to turn off Google voice typing

Question: The keyboard is so small that I keep hitting the voice typing microphone icon but I don't want to use that feature ever. It's too slow and lags.
So, I want to turn it off completely. Under settings>language & keyboard> keyboard & input methods, there is no option to turn it off.
This thread: How to turn on/off voice typing is similar but addresses another model that does appear to have an on/off feature or box to check to enable or disable. HTC Desire C does not seem to.
So how can I turn it off or disable it?
Answer: Disable both Google Voice Typing (in the keyboard menu) as well as Voice Input key (under Languages).


crontab does not get the log in log file

Question: I have batch program and i do get some data from one server and update the data in my database and i want to trigger my batch program for every 15 mins. For that i use the crontab concept, i just open the crontab with the command
crontab -e

//i add the command in that crontab

15 * * * * /usr/bin/java -jar xxxxxx.jar >> /var/log/cron.log

finally after that my batch program is not running and i did not get log in cron.log. whether it will automatically run the batch program or we have to trigger it
Answer: The crontab isn't running every 15 min; it's running on the 15th of an hour.  If you'd like it to run every 15 minutes of an hour, change the crontab to:
0,15,30,45 * * * * /usr/bin/java -jar xxxxxx.jar >> /var/log/cron.log
Answer: Your crontab entry will run the command at 15th minute of every hour. The command will run at 1:15, 2:15 and so on.
To run the program every 15 minutes, please use the following line
*/15 * * * * /usr/bin/java -jar xxxxxx.jar > /var/log/cron.log


Doctrine User Entity in Symfony: knowing the location of the avatar

Question: Let's say I have a Doctrine User Entity. Every user has an avatar and there's of course a specific folder on the webserver where these avatars reside. My question is: should the User Entity know this location?
I'm currently storing the avatar folder URL as a parameter in Symfony2. I'm injecting this parameter into Twig so that Twig can print the correct URL. I considered also injecting the parameter into the User Entity, e.g. for when a user is removed and I'd like to let the Entity remove the avatar image. However different sources mention that Doctrine Entity's are mere POPO's (Plain Old PHP Object) and that it's bad practice to inject anything into them.
This suggests that the answer to my question is 'No'. Which raises a new question: where should the User deletion business logic reside? And how does this know the location of the avatar?
Answer: I think you could use a UserManager service where all this business logic would be located.
The shorter solution is to set the path in the User entity and do your logic there as you don't need any external service to save/delete the user avatar file, as seen here : http://symfony.com/doc/master/cookbook/doctrine/file_uploads.html


What is the Golden Company?

Question: In my Game of Thrones Fantasy League one manager named his team the Golden Company. What is the Golden Company and who are they allied to and have they ever been defeated?
Comment: Disappointing, an actual GOT fantasy league would be great. Pretending the books don't exist (as spoilers) you get to pick 3 characters before each episode. You score 1 if the character gets drunk, 2 if they have sex and 5 if they kill someone. Score -10 if they die. I'm picking Tyrion everytime.
Comment: What's a Game of Thrones Fantasy League?
Comment: @Bardo Ha, it's fantasy football only we name our teams after intimidating forces from GoT.
Comment: @Bogdanovist Even if Tyrion eventually dies, you still win on account of conditions 1 and 2!
Comment: I absolutely agree with Bogdanovist, that would be great! I think I'll start something like that with my friends when the sixth book will be about to come out.
Answer: The Golden Company is a sellsword company based off the Free Cities, and founded by an exile from the Blackfyre Rebellion (the backstory of which you can find in the "Dunk & Egg" collection of short stories).
I can't remember right now if they have ever been defeated, but they are mostly renowned by their always honoring their contracts.
Spoilers for their alliance in A Dance with Dragons:

 In ADwD they are Targaryen loyalists and support the child Aegon Targaryen. As of the end of the book, we know they've successfully disembarked for Westeros.
Comment: It's interesting that the HBO show, having changed or axed a lot of side characters relevant to the Golden Company, seems to be about to radically alter their allegiance as well.
Answer: A Song of Ice and Fire
The Golden Company is a group of sellswords composed of exiles and their sons. It was founded by Aegor Rivers, "Bittersteel", one of the Great Bastards to King Aegon IV Targaryen.  They are renowned for never having broken a contract (until the following quote I suppose).

"Or one. Are you aware that the Golden Company has broken its contract with Myr?"
  "Sellswords break their contracts all the time."
  "Not the Golden Company. Our word is good as gold has been their boast since the days of Bittersteel. Myr is on the point of war with Lys and Tyrosh. Why break a contract that offered them the prospect of good wages and good plunder?"
  "Perhaps Lys offered them better wages. Or Tyrosh."
  "No," she said. "I would believe it of any of the other free companies, yes. Most of them would change sides for half a groat. The Golden Company is different. A brotherhood of exiles and the sons of exiles, united by the dream of Bittersteel. It's home they want, as much as gold. Lord Yronwood knows that as well as I do. His forebears rode with Bittersteel during three of the Blackfyre Rebellions." She took Ser Arys by the hand, and wove her fingers through his own. "Have you ever seen the arms of House Toland of Ghost Hill?"
A Feast for Crows, The Soiled Knight

Tyrion gives us some more insight into the company in one of his POV chapters.

The dwarf pondered that. The Golden Company was reputedly the finest of the free companies, founded a century ago by Bittersteel, a bastard son of Aegon the Unworthy. When another of Aegon's Great Bastards tried to seize the Iron Throne from his trueborn half-brother, Bittersteel joined the revolt. Daemon Blackfyre had perished on the Redgrass Field, however, and his rebellion with him. Those followers of the Black Dragon who survived the battle yet refused to bend the knee fled across the narrow sea, among them Daemon's younger sons, Bittersteel, and hundreds of landless lords and knights who soon found themselves forced to sell their swords to eat. Some joined the Ragged Standard, some the Second Sons or Maiden's Men. Bittersteel saw the strength of House Blackfyre scattering to the four winds, so he formed the Golden Company to bind the exiles together.
  From that day to this, the men of the Golden Company had lived and died in the Disputed Lands, fighting for Myr or Lys or Tyrosh in their pointless little wars, and dreaming of the land their fathers had lost. They were exiles and sons of exiles, dispossessed and unforgiven … yet formidable fighters still.
A Dance with Dragons, Tyrion II

It is comprised of 10000 warriors, elephants, knights and archers. It's current leader is Harry Strickland. Note the layout of the camp and that it seems incredibly well done.

The Golden Company was ten thousand strong, seasoned and disciplined. None of them seamen, though. Griff will need to keep a sword at every throat, and should they come on Slaver's Bay and need to fight …
A Dance with Dragons, Tyrion VII

They found the Golden Company beside the river as the sun was lowering in the west. It was a camp that even Arthur Dayne might have approved of—compact, orderly, defensible. A deep ditch had been dug around it, with sharpened stakes inside. The tents stood in rows, with broad avenues between them. The latrines had been placed beside the river, so the current would wash away the wastes. The horse lines were to the north, and beyond them, two dozen elephants grazed beside the water, pulling up reeds with their trunks. Griff glanced at the great grey beasts with approval. There is not a warhorse in all of Westeros that will stand against them.
  Tall battle standards of cloth-of-gold flapped atop lofty poles along the perimeters of the camp. Beneath them, armed and armored sentries walked their rounds with spears and crossbows, watching every approach. Griff had feared that the company might have grown lax under Harry Strickland, who had always seemed more concerned with making friends than enforcing discipline; but it would seem his worries had been misplaced.
A Dance with Dragons, The Lost Lord

The motto of the Golden Company is "Our word is good as gold" whereas their battle cry is "Beneath the gold the bitter steel" which references their founder.

"Not the Golden Company. Our word is good as gold has been their boast since the days of Bittersteel. Myr is on the point of war with Lys and Tyrosh. Why break a contract that offered them the prospect of good wages and good plunder?"
A Feast for Crows, The Soiled Knight

Arianne knew better. If Quentyn has the Golden Company behind him . . . "Beneath the gold the bitter steel," was their cry. You will need bitter steel and more, brother, if you think to set me aside. Arianne was loved in Dorne, Quentyn little known. No company of sellswords could change that.
A Feast for Crows, The Queenmaker

Game of Thrones
The Golden Company has only been mentioned briefly in the show. Firstly by Davos when he suggests that Stannis should hire them, here he mentions that they are sellswords.

Davos: Westeros is not the world, your grace. We need to look east for ships and men. Ten thousand skilled soldiers fight for the Golden Company.
  Stannis: The Golden Company?
  Davos: They've never broken a contract.
Stannis: They're sellswords!
Davos: We're willing to use blood magic to put you on the throne, but we're not willing to pay men to fight?
  Game of Thrones, Season 4 Episode 2, "Breaker of Chains"

They are then mentioned again by Dany to Jorah, again implying that they are sellswords.

Dany: Didn't you fight for the Golden Company before pledging your sword to my brother?
  Game of Thrones, Season 4 Episode 7, "Mockingbird"

Lastly, they are mentioned in conversation between Cersei and Jaime. Here not only do we learn that they are sellswords but that they are a mercenary company consisting of 20,000 men, horses, elephants. It also mentions that they are a very powerful army.

Cersei: Highgarden bought us the most powerful army in Essos the Golden Company. 20,000 men, horses, elephants, I believe.
  Jaime: The Golden Company is not here.
  Cersei: They're in Essos.
  Jaime: How is a mercenary company in Essos going to help us?
  Cersei: Do you really think Euron Greyjoy turned tail and sailed back to the Iron Islands? Do you think he abandoned the chance to marry the queen? No one walks away from me. He's sailing with his fleet to Essos. He's going to ferry the Golden Company back here to help us win the war for Westeros.
  Game of Thrones, Season 7 Episode 7, "The Dragon and the Wolf"

What is the Golden Company?


What does "can never" mean

Question: I am a English learner from Poland. One thing confuses me often while reading in English. It is the sentence "can never". Does that sentence mean that one will never be/do something 100 percent? Or it means it is possible that one will not do something but it is not 100 percent (can never do this, but also can always do this)?
Comment: Note that ***can never*** isn't a "sentence". It's just an *[auxiliary] **verb + adverb*** word-pair, which requires a ***subject*** and ***main verb*** to be a full sentence - ***Pigs** can never **fly***, for example.
Answer: The meaning of "can never" depends on the context. There is a very similar question like yours that goes into great detail right here.
From Karl

This means that 'they' are not capable of performing 'X'. They have no legs, so they can never walk. They have no way of earning money, so they can never have expensive things. 'X' is impossible for 'them', so it will never happen.
Comment: I think Karl is mistaken.  In his examples, "can never" doesn't mean "will never happen" (it's closer to "it never happens").  Circumstances could change - the person could obtain a way of earning money, or could be given some money.  They could be given an artificial walking aid.  "They can never walk" expresses the fact that currently they are unable to work, and "can never" implies that the inability is ongoing and repetitive, not that it is permanent.  To express permanency, we'd probably say "...they will never be able to...".
Comment: @rjpond: I don't agree with any of that. If I say *This problem can never be solved*, I'm not leaving the door open for the possibility that things might change in the future, such that it ***can*** be solved. It's true that idiomatically people sometimes use ***never*** when they mean ***not often***, but that's a quirk of colloquial speech not reflective of the more normal ***literal*** use of the words ***can*** and ***never***.
Comment: @FumbleFingersReinstateMonica You're right that sometimes "can never" can mean "will never be able to", but I'm not convinced this is the shade of meaning it carries in the sentences cited by Karl. Not because "never" is being used non-literally, but because "can" is being used in a manner typical of the present tense to refer to a recurring situation. "They can never buy expensive things" does not necessarily mean the same as "they will never be able to buy expensive things".  NB you can say "every time we go to Paris, he can never afford anything"; it doesn't imply he'll never be able to.
Comment: I think that's just clutching at straws. ***Can*** means ***be able to***, and ***never*** means ***at no time*** (past, present, and/or future, depending on context). Just because people tend to exaggerate sometimes doesn't mean learners should assume these words don't actually "mean" what the dictionary says.
Comment: I don't believe what I am describing is a question of exaggeration but a separate matter of interpretation/scope.
Comment: I don't see the difference. ***I can never find my car keys in the morning*** is obviously exaggeration, and any native speaker would realise that and ***interpret*** the intended meaning as *I **often** can't find my keys **quickly and easily***. But to cite that as an example proving that this is a *typical* usage reflecting the *actual* meaning of the words ***can*** and ***never*** is disingenuous, to say the least.
Comment: (And as regards "Karl's examples", I'd say it's pretty conclusive that if they don't even have any legs, they definitely won't ***ever*** be able to walk! :)
Comment: No, you are now conflating what I said in my *answer* (which was that "can never" is frequently an exaggeration) with what I said in the above comments about Karl's examples (which is that they have literal meaning but don't necessarily refer to the future, more to current/known circumstances).  Btw, the OP hasn't provided any examples of the sentences that are confusing them, and it may well be useful to them to know of the colloquial usage (which isn't the sole thing covered by my answer - but that discussion belongs under my answer).
Answer: "Can never" isn't a sentence.  The meaning depends on context.
It is not necessarily an expression of certainty.
Indeed, colloquially "can never" means "often can't":

"I can never understand what he's talking about."
"I can never find my keys!"
"I can never find a parking space."

"I can never" often refers to habitual, repetitive experiences.
When talking about the future, we tend to say "I'll never be able to" or "I'm never going to be able to" (though these doesn't express certainty either - just as often, they are an expression of despair: "I'll never be able to finish the essay in time").  So "I can never ride a bike" suggests "I never get the opportunity to ride a bike" (habitual/present), whereas "I'll never be able to ride a bike" is a prediction that I'll never be able to (whether in terms of ability or opportunity).
Answer: At first you need to understand the differences between "can vs could"
"Could" means possibility depend on context
"Can" means It's certain or you can say 100% according to context.
Comment: That's not quite true.  If someone says "I can give you a lift tomorrow", they believe currently that they are able to offer you a lift, but they aren't expressing certainty that nothing will get in the way of it.  And if someone says "Sorry, I can't tell you my secret", there is no guarantee that they won't change their mind, nor even that they felt complete certainty at the time they made the statement.

What does "can never" mean


Flatten transparency in illustrator (not PDF file) is showing white lines/gap between the shapes

Question: I have an illustration with transparency's blending mode applied, I am willing to flatten the transparency for better output but when I apply Flatten Transparency some tiny white lines appear as outline around the shapes. Refer the image below:
Comment: It is called a conflation artefact, a bug, that affects nearly all commercial and noncommercial vector rendering engines. (or in fact all practically used non research rendering engines mainly behaussa  most developpers have copied a idea. It will go away once the rendering engines get ported to harware accelarated rendering)
Answer: I've seen this many times in pdf's that have been flattened for printing. If you keep zooming in on the pdf and the white line stays the same thickness then it's probably not going to be an issue. It's just where the transparency has been flattened to create different coloured sections for output to printing plates. Contact your printer and get the pdf profiles that they use if you're unsure. If you change the compatibility in the pdf when you export from the native program to any version above Acrobat 4 you won't have this problem as only Acrobat 4 pdf's will be flattened.
Answer: Well I guess it's may be your computer having low graphics. If you think it's not with graphic, then try to restart your illustrator software and try again.
Comment: What do you mean by "low graphics"? I'm sorry and I realize English isn't everyone's first language, but even if the English in this made sense, the answer itself does not, nor does it even answer the question presented in the first place.
Comment: @Manly What I meant with _graphic_ here is the **Graphic Resolution** of the computer.


Crossing the line to 1 up coworker?

Question: I like to work hard at my job and try to do things better than my coworker in terms of projects and such.  Is this considered one upping coworkers or just healthy competition and/or me working hard.  I don't want to one up coworkers but at the same time I get satisfaction for doing the best on projects and doing things better than other people.
Comment: Compete with yourself while learning what others do well and what others do not so well.
Comment: Try to truly "ignore" the coworker.  Do your job, press for raises, and go home each day at 5.
Comment: Usually not, but if it reduces ability to cooperate, you should be careful about how you present the results.
Answer: That depends on how far you take it. If you just always do your best, it should be fine, but if you end up going out of your way to disrupt your coworkers or make them look bad, your coworkers might not enjoy working with you.

I don't want to one up coworkers but at the same time I get satisfaction for doing the best on projects and doing things better than other people.

If you always try to be better than your coworkers, I'd definitly consider that constantly trying to one up them. Again, doing your best to do your job properly is fine, but you might want to consider that people won't like it if they constantly see you put in a lot of effort, just to make them look bad (which is what will probably end up happening if you constantly try your hardest to be the best). Even if that's not your intention, it will be how they will perceive it.
I used to have a coworker who always had to be right and always needed to be the best. I really didn't like them (and neither did most other coworkers) until they realized why we didn't like them and put in the effort to change his behaviour (we're now great friends).
Answer: While I agree with Dnomyar96 this is not a very easy answer and I think there are many pitfalls in this.  Doing your best is obviously great, but there are many ways to hamper the common goal while trying to "prove" you're better.
One pitfall I've seen many competitive people fall into is not admitting when they aren't the best. When facing a problem that could be solved easily and elegantly by Mister X, then instead of going to Mister X, they solve it themselves to prove that they don't need Mister X and that they are just as good as him.
The issue here lies in that often it takes much longer and the solution is not as solid as the solution Mister X would have used. This is often very transparent to management and does reflect poorly on the employee. In many workplaces you are part of a team and that means using that team's members where they are strong.
While striving to be the best is a great ideal and can come off as a hard worker I've seen it very often lead to poor team-decisions and showing more as selfish.

Crossing the line to 1 up coworker?


Kinematic decoupling

Question: Is kinematic decoupling of a 5DOF revolute serial manipulator also valid?
The three last joints is a spherical joint. Most literatures only talks about decoupling of 6DOF manipulators.
Thanks in advance,
Oswald
Answer: Kinematic decoupling really depends on the configuration of your particular manipulator. When you decouple the wrist, it is typically so that you can take any given end-effector pose and determine the required wrist configuration separately before determining the required arm configuration that puts the wrist-connecting joint at the required location.
Typically, the wrist needs to be able to provide the 3 DOF necessary to achieve any orientation for this to be possible. The position of the innermost wrist joint itself is then the desired position for the end of the rest of the manipulator (3 or 4 other DOF). If your wrist provides 3 DOF with a spherical configuration as you mention, then it meets this requirement.
However, if you only have 5 DOF then that means you are underactuated for full 6 DOF end-effector space -- you could come up with an end-effector pose that is impossible to achieve. On the other hand, if you are constraining yourself to work with end-effector poses that you know are possible, then decoupling the wrist will work.
Decoupling the wrist just makes it easier to analyze the inverse kinematics since you can solve for the wrist joint angles separately. In general, the technique could be applied to a wrist that is constrained to planar motion or pan-tilt type rotation only, as long as the desired end-effector pose is achievable.
Answer: UPDATE Based on the comment below that the answer is not correct:
Kinematic decoupling divides the inverse kinematics problem into two parts. Coordinates of the wrist center point are calculated and based on those all the joint angles behing the wrist center point have to be determined. If this is possible, kinematic decoupling can be applied in you case. In other words if you can calculate a number of coordinates of the wrist center point that fully determines all joint angles behind your wrist center point than ... there you have it... kinematic decoupling works for you...
The original answer:
Yes, kinematic decoupling will work under 1 condition. You have to be able to determine the XYZ coordinates of your wrist center point (where the wrist axes intersect eachother) from the desired end effector coordinates. If the IK is solvable or not for the given input (i.e. the pose can be reached) is not a question of the kinematic decoupling but a question of the inverse kinematics
I may have been to fast in assuming XYZ, other coordiantes might be OK, depending on how many joints are there behind the wrist, XY could be enough.
If you have 5 DOF and have the desired TCP coordinates (X, Y, A, B, C) you cannot calculate XYZ of the wrist center point, but not calcualting XYZ may be ok, if the coordinates you can calculate are enough to determine all joint angels before the wrist center point., So if you have X and Y of the wrist center point, and 2 joint before the wirst center point, if the X and Y coordaintes fully determine the q1 and q2 angles, kinematic decoupling can be used to write the IK equations.
Comment: Thank you very much for your answer, Brian! and u too 50k4
Comment: Note that this answer isn't really correct! You can always "determine the XYZ coordinates of your wrist centre", why would that only be possible for manipulators that can be decoupled?
Comment: Not the best wording, I will correct. If the controlled 5 end effectror coordinates do not include all 3 translations (e.g. You want to control X Y A B C, and you do not control Z, it just results from all the others) you will not be able to calculate the XYZ coordinates of your wrist center point. Aditionally the wrist center poin has to exist in order to apply the kinematic decoupling.
Comment: @Oswaldfig No problem

Kinematic decoupling


Need Latest Version of Salesforce APK file

Question: We are having around 150 users who are using old Salesforce Mobile version and we want to update them to Latest Salesforce version as they are having Android Legacy MDM device they cant update Salesforce directly from Playstore. Hence we would need a trusted source of latest Salesforce APK  so that we can provide it to business and they would install it in end users devices.
Answer: Salesforce will never provide apk file directly. It is always recommended to install via Apple Store or Google Play Store.  However, if you do not have access to Google Play Store you can download manually here.
I would recommended to reach out to your internal team and Install Salesforce Mobile version app from Google play store on your corporate device.
Check more details on MDM setup and support.
Thanks


How does Yuka stealing Narumi's Alice take away his ability to love?

Question: In Gakuen Alice, Yuka Azumi stole Narumi's Alice when she was running away. Consequently, he lost all ability to love her or anyone else. How does this work?
Answer: When Narumi used his pheromones to make her love him. That made her lose control of her Alice, which had the result that not only Narumi's Alice was stolen, but his love-feelings, too. It seems that the Pheromone-Alice is connected to the emotions, and an out-of-control-stealing-Alice steals more than it's supposed to. If Yuka had retained control, Narumi would still have his ability to love.


Why Tor Browser Bundle should not be run as root?

Question: What is the actual cause of this error ?
I know how to solve so dont need that but just want to know why that error occur.
If we run it on root what can be the problems faced ?
Also What to do if we want to run Tor Safely ? like without making changes in code.
Comment: Maybe you change all directories and files to 777 for fully security?)
And then you can bundle tor as r00t, why not?!
Answer: The message itself comes from the start script. It checks if the current user has the id 0 (which is the root user) and exits with the message:

The Tor Browser Bundle should not be run as root.  Exiting.

In general it is considered good security practise that one should not run software as root. Especially when one browses the web there are quite some possible attacks and browsers have lots of weaknesses. So if it is possible for a website to successful attack the browser, it can access local data. In the case of a root user this means that the attacker has access to the whole system. The attacker can read and write arbitrary files.
So for security reasons it is better to run software as a normal user.
But also when you think about normal operation it is quite dangerous to do everything as root. Usually people make mistakes and making a mistake as root can have catastrophic outcomes. So it is better to only make administrative work as root and everything else as normal user.
Answer: for fix this error , follow this command
go to this folder /tor-browser_en-US/Browser
command :
<code># nano start-tor-browser
</code>
in editor , find this code : " The Tor Browser Bundle should not be run as root "
remove
exit 1
and
complain "The Tor Browser Bundle should not be run as root.  Exiting."
and press Ctrl + X > Y
next
type start-tor-browser in command line


Would the Valley have made Jerec more powerful than Palpatine or Abeloth?

Question: In Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II, Jerec tries to access the power of the Valley of the Jedi.
If he had succeed, would he have truly become more powerful than Palpatine or even Abeloth?
Comment: I do not think that Palpatine was all that powerful in the force.  He was clearly very manipulative and intelligent.  But in terms of raw force power he never really demonstrated anything that would indicate a level of inherent power beyond the average Sith.  Certianly not to a level comparable to Abeloth
Answer: First, we must know what power Jerec was searching in the valley. It's been about 15 years since I played this game, so I will rely on starwars.wikia article on Jerec, Apotheosis section for this.

Using the Force, he opened the dome and leaped inside to the absolute heart of the Valley's power. There, he engaged in meditation, hovering cross-legged among the captive spirits of the Jedi and Sith of ages past as he bent them to his will and leeched their strength. Reveling in the Force energies of the Valley, he reached a state of near-apotheosis in which he gained total omniscience. At long last, total knowledge—something which he had coveted for countless years—was completely, fully in his grasp, and untold power came with it.

I don't remember the details, but he somehow accessed the power of the Valley. Omniscience is a great power, but it could not saved him from Katarn.
Would he have he become more powerful than Palpatine or Abeloth? It's hard to tell, as not much is know about the power the valley grants. We can't put them in a cage and watch to see who is victorious. It's pure speculation, but my feeling is he would have held his own against Palpatine, but he would not have stood a chance against Abeloth.
Would he have become more powerful than you can possibly imagine? Probably, from a certain point of view, but I have a bad feeling about this...
Comment: I agree. Great answer, yet I don't think he tapped all of the Valleys power before he was killed.
Answer: In theory, if jerec was able to reach a state of near apotheosis he might be able to create new species or a parallel universe or realm of his own. He might even be able to travel back in time and of course forsee the future. it is possible that he might even be able to make all life forms his subordinates to do his bidding, he might even have been able to resurrect legendary sith.  we can speculate that if he reached a near perfect state that he could be hypothetically equal or greater to palpatine with the knowledge this holy site had to offer.  And this isn't taking into consideration that he was a tenured professor of archaeology or something like that, and he spoke multiple languages. In my opinion he was already a threat to both the sith and jedi back in the days of the republic he was already a knight back then.But what I have a problem with is that when he was absorbing the force at the force well: how he was not able to see or forsee his demise at the hands of  a farmer
boy who was really unrefined . this shows an inconsistancy it shows that even at a near perfect state he could not defeat a farmer from sulon.
Answer: Wookieepedia forgets to mention that Jerec accessed half the Jedi Valley's power, and he took almost all power. But I guess we can say he's almost equal with DE Sidious at the current. Had Kyle not stripped his powers, he would have become the most powerful Force entity from the Star Wars Universe,and he'd have surpassed even the Ones and could kill them with a mere thought.
This is an opponent that even Nihilus in a straight combat would fear and not dare to challenge (he would flee away of a god-like entity)
And I use Nihilus as a reference,because we know his drain is unblockable and the greatest one ever, similar to Galactus that consumes planets in minutes and creatures, in seconds.
Answer: It says in game that with the power he would be able to destroy planets with a whisper, so yes he would have become more powerful than any other force user at the time (probably ever)
Comment: It would be a great thing if you could add _when_ it's said in the game, or even include a clip/screenshot of it!


TorBrowser installer can't be opened

Question: I am running an iMac OS 10.15 (Catalina) and tried to install TorBrowser. I successfully downloaded the .dmg, but when I tried to load it I received an error message "updater can't be opened because Apple cannot check it for maliciious software"
Please advise.
Thank you
/gh
Answer: This really has nothing to do with Tor Browser and is a general Mac issue. I don't use Macs but I googled this issue and found the fix here.
The summary is that you need to go into your security settings and tell your Mac to open it anyway.
Answer: @JSEvans is right on the money .
Open System Preferences > Security & Privacy > General
There should be an option to allow the installer to proceed at the bottom of that page.  Click the lock in the bottom left, enter your password, and click allow.
Note: Be sure to go to system preferences immediately after you get the error message - if you wait too long the aforementioned "allow" option will disappear.
plz upvote so I can make this a comment in the future! :D thx

TorBrowser installer can't be opened