Using a timer switch for power, how to wire two lights so that when one is on the other is off

Question: Using a timer switch for power, how to wire two lights so that when one is on the other is off.
In the dull and cold winter days I am trying to grow seedlings. The light is insufficient during the day and so is enhanced with grow lights, which should be off at night, but the nights are cold so I want pad heating on then.
Comment: It's possible with a contatctor as well, with NO and NC contacts, but far simpler with another timer.
Comment: Need some clarification: 1 - Are you trying to make so that "something" is always (24/7) on, but alternates *automatically* between "lights" and "heating"? Or something else? 2 - Total power requirements of "lights" and "heating"? 3 - What model timer do you currently have?
Answer: You could use a smart plug like a Shelly Plug which will allow you to set up time with built-in tools to automatically turn on and off at dawn and dusk and be controllable with a smart phone. The advantage is that the Shelly is smart enough to automatically adjust to changing daylight hours, which a wall timer will not usually do.
It's hard to argue with the simplicity of a simple timer that @Tim suggests comments for your question.
Edit
There are timers which will allow you to control two different devices from the same power outlet. An example would be the NearPow Outlet Timer, which allows two different devices to have nine on/off settings per day and seven day programmable.
Good luck with the plants.
Comment: General advice: For anything plugged in to 120V or 240V, make sure it has a UL or ETL listing. The NearPow makes no mention of that (most product listings will make it clear if they are properly listed) and there are some real horror stories of fires. A properly designed product will almost always "fail safe".
Comment: @manassehkatz-Moving2Codidact Sage Advice and I appreciate you pointing that out.  The NearPow is CE listed and I could evidence that it is UL listed, but I do not have a url. Shelly products are UL listed, CE and RoHS compliant. I think if anyone is looking at home automation, it is a great way to go. But the NearPow seems like it fits the task.
Comment: You have to learn what the different terms mean. CE doesn't actually mean very much when it comes to safety and for a number of reasons it can be faked without getting sued. RoHS is about hazardous materials - nothing to do with electrical safety. In a quick search, I didn't see anything on NearPow about UL (or ETL or anything similar).
Comment: Now you're being insulting.I know what the symbols mean. You might want to educate yourself to the penalties of faking CE certification. This discussion is off-topic.
Comment: Not trying to be insulting. My understanding (limited, but based on some personal experience plus plenty of wonderful messages from Harper (who has some creative acronyms)) is that CE, real or fake, doesn't guarantee electrical safety. Same for RoHS. Or FCC. UL and ETL do.
Answer: Power the heat pad through dusk to dawn sensor.
Most are for bulb sockets, which you can convert with a socket-to-plug adapter, but there's also plug-only switchers with photocells.
if ambient light isn't enough to trigger cleanly, get an extension cord from the timer's output and plug in both the grow light and a nightlight to it. Then tape the nightlight onto the front of the  dusk to dawn so that when timer has power, the sensor doesn't, and vice-versa. I use these photocell-based consumer electronics "logic inverters" with LED nightlights in several places in my smart home setup to avoid modifying electronics.
To be clear:

the wall powers the timer and dusk to dawn switcher
the timer powers the heating pad (and optionally a nightlight to extend the light)
the dusk to dawn powers the heating pad.


Conditional probability/

Question: Each of $n$ urn contains four white and six black balls,while another contains five white and five black balls. An urn is chosen at random from the $n+1$ urns and two balls are drawn for it, both being black. The probability that five white an three black balls remain in the chosen urn is $\frac{1}{7}$. Find $n$.
My attempt: Let S be the event that we chose one of the first n urns, and H the event that five white and three black balls remain. $$ p(H)=p(H \cap S)+p(H \cap  S^{c})=p(S)p(H|S)+p(S^{c})p(H|S^{c})=0+\frac{1}{n+1}$$ . I think something went wrong in here. (I thought that the event H is the certain event if we chose $S^{c}$ and was the empty event if we chose an $S$). Any suggestions/hints?
Comment: You seem to have taken no account of the fact an urn with fewer black balls is less likely to deliver two black balls
Answer: The events you should investigate are: $L$ the event that you choose the last urn, and $B$ the event of drawing two black balls.
The information you are given is, in essence, that : $\mathsf P(L) = \frac 1 {n+1} \\ \mathsf P(B\mid L) = \tfrac 2 9 \\ \mathsf P(B\mid L^\complement) = \tfrac {3}{9} \\ \mathsf P(L\mid B) =\tfrac 1 7$
Use this to find $n$.

Conditional probability/


What is relation- difference and/or similarities between PPP, SBAS, GNSS, RKT?

Question: Recently i came across lot of terms such as IGS, GNSS, GPS,PPP, WAAS, EGNOS, GLONASS, CORS and many more ... I know some of them I can group them such as GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO . And then there is SBAS ...but can any one explain and provide useful links ? What is hierarchy can some draw it ?
Comment: In the end is it possible to use any/all/some of them to improve accuracy in android mobile devices ? is there any working open source project working on this topics ?
Answer: Although the accepted answer only shortly addresses it, I'd like to provide more detail.
GNSS: Global Navigation Satellite System. This is a satellite constellation that provides a global positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) service. As of 2015 we have GPS (USA), GLONASS (Russia) and in development are Galileo (Europe) and BDS (China, also referred to as BeiDou).
RNSS: Regional Navigation Satellite System. Similar to a GNSS (it is also a satellite constellation) but the satellites only allow for regional positioning (often on top of what GNSS already provides). As of 2015 we have BeiDou (China), and in development are IRNSS (India) and QZSS (Japan).
SBAS: Satellite Based Augmentation System. These are geostationary satellites that submit augmentation signals that provide integrity services to GNSS, and allow for some accuracy improvement. As of 2015 we have WAAS (USA), EGNOS (Europe), MSAS (Japan), GAGAN (India) and SDCM (Russia). Except for SDCM, which augments GLONASS and GPS, all others only augment GPS.
DGNSS: Differential-GNSS. This is a technique by which one or more reference base stations are used to provide corrections to a measurement station so that high accuracy positioning can be obtained. DGPS is often used when you only use the GPS constellation. RTK is real-time kinematic, in which a communication channel is present so you get real-time result (compared to non-RTK methods which only focus on post-processing of the data). A continuous operating reference station (CORS) network is a DGNSS technique.
PPP: Precise-Point Positioning. Although you can obtain similar accuracies as DGNSS, it is not a DGNSS technique as it does not use one or more reference base stations. Instead, it uses correction messages from (for example) services available on the internet (developed for example by the International GNSS Service, IGS).
This is of course just a short summary and many details are omitted. If you like to know more, there is plenty of information online. A good source of information is Navipedia.
Answer: GNSS is the generic word for getting a position on Earth based on orbital satellites.
Different countries have developped such spatial systems.
1) USA : GPS (the first one to be operational)
2) Russia : GLONASS
3) Europe : Galileo (not yet operational)
4) China : Beidou
Then you have systems that can be used to improve the precision of the measures by sending additional information to the receivers
1) EGNOS
2) WAAS
3) CORS
And you have methods used to improve the positioning precision
1)DGPS
2)PPP
3)RTK
Comment: So in general we can call group 1 as GNSS which consist of GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, BEIDOU. and can we call group 2 as supportive system that mostly consist of ground station working and disseminating extra data and at last we have group 3 that is relatively to user level (hand held devices) and mostly consist of algorithm, method to use data from group 1 and group 2 to get more accurate result in group 3


Is it worth using the most expensive salvage kits on low level items?

Question: Is it worth using master's salvage kits on loot from low level areas? Will I get rare materials from them, or would it rather be more efficient (profit wise) to use low level kits on low level items?
Comment: As far as I know, the basic point of master salvage kits is for guaranteed chances of extract things like runes and sigils? Low level equipment and salvage junk will only ever give you the equivalent materials no matter what level kit you use.
Comment: Rewrite this as an answer Gwen, I believe you're correct.
Answer: On any item the high level kits increase the chances of getting rare materials. Having said that if you wanted basic mats you could use a basic salvage kit.
Comment: Item quality does not matter in terms of salvaging?
Comment: It may be more worth it to buy the low level rare mats off the trading post (when it starts working) instead of using expensive high-level salvage kits to get them off low level items.
Answer: I use basic kits for most stuff, and keep a single high level kit that I use only when I want the rune/ sigil. ATM I don't think the resale value justifies salvage for sale, but maybe I'm not in the high enough areas yet to tell.
Remember if manufacturing stuff to get your craft level up you can salvage stuff you've made and recycle the mats; advance salvage to get jewels/sigils back, then reuse to invent a different item for yet more xp. Can be a cost effective way to make xp.
Comment: Welcome to the site Gothmog2. Do note that this is a question and answer site. So keep the subjective, this is what I do to a minimum and the objective, here are some results/calculations/references to a maximum. Easier cost effective is always good of course ;).


Can i get an email when an event is posted on the calendar

Question: I created a new calendar for my team, and would like to know about it every time someone creates a new event. An email would be a very good option. Can i do that  using apex?
Answer: This was supposedly included in the Summer14 release but product management later confirmed that it wasn't there.
The workaround I follow is to use a trigger on Event object and use a workflow to send out the email notification. This post has details on how you can use a trigger and custom email notifications. You can follow this link to understand how to configure the email alerts for Workflows.
Answer: You can write trigger on Event object (there are a lot of info about writing triggers) or you can  create a workflow rule on Event and add Email Alert as a workflow action.


What does it mean 'Be a hell of a way to go'?

Question: I watched tv shows for studying, found a line that i couldn't understand.
'Be a hell of a way to go.'
What does it mean??
Comment: It could mean several things, depending on the context. For example, you might say it about somebody who died in a particularly unpleasant way. It might refer to something that's a long way away. You can easily find explanations if idioms like this on the web, for example: http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/a+hell+of+a
Answer: It is difficult to say without more context, and it would help a lot if you could include something about the the lines before that line.  However, I can make a decent guess.

Firstly, it's probably a shortening of "It (or that) would be a hell of a way to go."  This kind of subject-dropping at the beginning of a sentence sometimes happens in informal speech where the subject is clear from context.  For example,

"How's your dad?"
  "Been sick." (where the full sentence would be "He has been sick")

This is sometimes called the null subject, or "diary drop", because people often write that way in diaries.

A hell of a X or one hell of a is an informal intensifier.  The exact meaning depends on context, but it always means something like "an especially noteworthy X".  It can be used with nouns or adjectives.  For example, you might say,

He's a hell of a drinker.  (that is, he's noteworthy for his drinking, probably for the amount of his drinking)
It made a hell of a big noise.  (that is, it made an especially big noise.)

Go is one of those words in English that has many definitions, and you sometimes have to guess the correct one from context.  In this context, it probably means something like "to finish" or "to die".

So when we put all of that together, we get something like:
That would be an especially noteworthy way to die. or
That would be an especially exciting way to finish something.
You can see almost exactly this same phrase used here: If last week was James Harrison's last game, it was a hell of a way to go out, where the author is saying, "If that was football player James Harrison's last game, it was a very noteworthy way to finish his career."
Comment: Note that "especially noteworthy" could mean very good *or* very bad. Can't really tell out of context.
Answer: In general the phrase "A hell of a..." indicates something extreme and the phrase you've quoted means "a dramatic/exciting way to die".


What configuration does "Additional Drivers" corrupt?

Question: I have been using "Additional Drivers" to switch back and forth between the open source and binary drivers for my AMD video card (R9 270X)
The open source driver is my only choice for gaming, because it performs with immensely vastly ridiculously lower latency. Gaming on fglrx is literally physically disgusting, but I need to switch back to fglrx occasionally for software development.
The other day, I did my routine switch back to the open source driver, but it utterly screwed my configuration somehow and now neither driver works. I've tried almost every single thing found online, here, google, anywhere. I've literally even tried silly suggestions that are barely related, just on the off chance it maybe uncovers something. I've tried EVERY solution you will find on Ask Ubuntu.

I had never manually installed a driver! It even said it successfully switched back to the open source one before I rebooted!!
AFTER all of this, after trying to work it out the "Ubuntu Way", I decided to actually try manually installing a driver, since the software seems so keen on that anyways lol. I got fglrx from AMD's website, of course this resulted in further mutilation of my configuration; After about 2 days I've managed to fix that and get back to being able to boot, at least. I am still stuck with no acceleration and my usual disgust for GUI configuration.
I have been using Linux for many years, have always been a Debian fan, and am comfortable working in command line. I have been trying (and hating these exact type of problems that feel like a half-ass python GUI is to blame) since the very beginning of Ubuntu almost a decade ago. I'm doing all I can to not denounce it as rubbish after every seeing every single install (mine, friends, coworkers) eventually fall apart in some magical way like this. Please help.

EDIT: After deleting lock files, the only difference I observe is the "package" icon being replaced by a "green light" icon:
Answer: Please Remove all lock files by running this in Terminal:

sudo rm /var/lib/dpkg/lock
sudo rm /var/lib/apt/lists/lock

You will need to be connected to the internet.
Comment: Sadly, it does not achieve the desired effect, but it does make a small change in the program state. The "package" icon is replaced by a "green light" icon, I will attach a picture to the original post.
Comment: do you remove all lock files? like: /var/lib/dpkg/lock
Comment: Where do you see a *lock* problem?
Comment: I tried all permutations of deleting lock files, rebooting, and starting the additional drivers tool, that "green light" icon was the only thing I could consistently achieve (by deleting the lock files and then immediately restarting the program)


Function that returns the number of items that appear more than once

Question: This is the question:

Write a method that takes in a string and returns the number of letters that appear more than once in the string. You may assume the string contains only lowercase letters. Count the number of  letters that repeat, not the number of times they repeat in the string.

How can I make this better?
function count(str){
    var nArr = [];
    var result = [];
    var obj = {};
    var arr = str.split("");
    // count all occurances in arr
    for(var i = 0; i < arr.length; i++){
        var letter = arr[i];
        obj[letter] === undefined ? obj[letter] = 1 : obj[letter] += 1;

    }
    for(var prop in obj){
        if(obj[prop] !== 1){
            nArr.push(prop);
        }
    }
    return nArr.length;

}

count("adsaaaffda");

Answer: The name count is too vague for such a specific task.  I suggest countReappearingChars instead.
Avoid big blocks of variable definitions.  Code is easier to read and maintain when variables are declared and initialized near where they are used.  For example, with a block like this, it's harder to notice that result is never used.
nArr does not need to be an array.  You can just keep a count.
obj is cryptically named.  I suggest calling it charCount.
var arr = str.split("") is unnecessary; you can iterate over str directly.
"occurances" is misspelled in the comment.

This line is hard to read:

obj[letter] === undefined ? obj[letter] = 1 : obj[letter] += 1;

It would be more clearly be written using if-else, and therefore should be:
if (obj[letter] === undefined) {
    obj[letter] = 1;
} else {
    obj[letter] += 1;
}

I would consider your ternary operator to be abusive, since you are not using it as as an expression.  In contrast, this expression could be considered appropriate, since the right-hand side of the assignment is an expression:
obj[letter] = (obj[letter] === undefined) ? 1 : obj[letter] + 1;

But that still looks cumbersome.  If you want to get clever with it, you could use || 0, as shown below.

function countReappearingChars(str) {
    // Count all occurrences in str
    var charCount = {};
    for (var i = 0; i < str.length; i++) {
        charCount[str[i]] = 1 + (charCount[str[i]] || 0);
    }

    // Loop over and filter charCount
    var result = 0;
    for (var char in charCount) {
        if (charCount[char] > 1) result++;
    }
    return result;
}

Comment: could you explain more about the "abuse" of the ternary operator?
Answer: The @200_success's answer is essentially a code review, strictly speaking, and I agree with its recommendations.
In the other hand it keeps a 2-steps strategy like in the OP, so I suggest a slightly different approach, using only 1 loop:
function countRepeatedChars(str){
  var repChars = '';
  for (var i = 0, n = str.length; i <n; i++) {
    var letter = str[i];
    if (!repChars.includes(letter) && str.includes(letter, i + 1)) {
      repChars += letter;
    }
  }
  return repChars.length;
}

countRepeatedChars("adsaaaffda");

If not already registered as repeated, each character is checked to appear after its own position in the original string, then registered if yes.
It results in a reduced code, and might be a bit faster.


Showing cultural assimilation

Question: So I have a group of characters who go to a new land.  They're stuck on this land, and eventually encounter the culture.  How can I show their gradual assimilation/adaption of traits/characteristics of the new country to the point where they don't speak their native language and their native customs are now foreign-seeming to them?
Answer: I'd say you just describe the details of the transition. It might help to look at how "going native" is handled by other authors. For example, James Clavell's Shogun (sailor becomes samurai), or Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land (human raised by aliens adjusts to Earth), or Kipling's Jungle Book (boy raised by wolves and animals (eventually) encounters his own people). There are many more.
Answer: This happens all the time in the real world.  Immigrant populations are constantly having to assimilate with new groups of people.  Most families have stories about odd things their grandparents or great grandparents did or words they used that were from the old country.  It's likely that you won't have to work too hard to find someone close to you that is going through this experience right now.
When my great-grandfather died, my great-grandmother had my great uncle go out into the yard and bring in a big pile of dirt from the garden and put it on the living room floor.  She then laid my great-grandfather's body on the pile of dirt.  Nobody in the family had any idea why.  They thought she was crazy.  Turns out it was a cultural tradition from parts of Eastern Europe.
You might try reading through some of the posts on www.humansofnewyork.com.  Sometimes you don't have to be from somewhere else to have a hard time fitting in.
Cultural assimilation usually goes both ways.  There are recent archaeological findings where archaeologists are tying the sun worship cult in ancient Denmark to sun worship in Egypt.  When people move from one place to another they pick up new things but they also bring things with them, but it usually takes a lot of time.  Assimilation happens, but it's usually the children of the immigrants that assimilate and not so much the initial immigrants.
If you were going to be realistic, what you'd probably have is that your group of people would stick together while moving into the new culture.  They might learn some of the new language and pick up some of the new ways of doing things, but it would be their children that would be the bridge.  The children would be the ones that would kind of fit into both cultures but not really in either of them.
Having said all that about groups, there are the individuals that you'll see that move from their own culture where maybe they didn't ever really fit in and adopt a new culture almost as a way of creating a new identity.  The movie Lawrence of Arabia is a good example of that, also C. J. Cherryh's "The Faded Sun" series.  And also this recent Escape Pod episode, "Them Ships."
Culture and customs are not some uniform thing.  Every family is a micro culture of its own with rituals, beliefs, and even family language that isn't shared outside the family.  Toddlers invent words that their parents pick up and use in regular family conversations.  I've found that the more children a family has, the richer their individual family language is.  No one family, no matter how similar they are to their neighbors, celebrates Christmas or Hanukkah or whatever the same exact way, but they are consistent within their individual families.
So I hope I've answered your question and given you some ideas on how to proceed with this.  Short answer - I don't think the original group of people would forget their culture and customs, but if they were separated from their native people for long enough, I'm betting things would have changed enough back in the old country to make the old country seem strange.
Comment: +100 for citing CJ Cherryh; she is a master at this, and the *Faded Sun* trilogy is a textbook-perfect example.
Answer: I'd pick a few things and highlight them.
Like, at the beginning of the story the characters arrive in this culture and comment to each other about some strange custom. Like, "Wow, these strange people wear socks with sandals. Why would anyone do that?" Then later you mention one of the characters putting on socks and sandals.
If you want to be subtle about it, you just say he did it and leave it at that, and leave it to the reader to realize, "Hey, just a few chapters back didn't this same character say that this was a bizarre thing to do?" If you're worried the reader might miss it, you can have another character ask him why he's doing this, and he replies, "Oh, I don't know, I didn't think about it. It just seemed normal." If you really want to make a point of it, you can have the character say, "Yes, now that we've been living here, I understand why the natives do this. You see ..."
If the point of the story is their cultural assimilation, then you could go through this for many customs and practices. If that's just a side note or a step to something else, then just mentioning two or three such things would probably be plenty. I'd intersperse them with other action. Like have the first one be something very minor, then other stuff happens, etc, and then the last one is something big, the Greek sacrifices his son to Moloch or something.

Showing cultural assimilation


Web Standards alternatives to Flex/Silverlight (I mean serious alternatives, not just JS framewoks)

Question: Is there a set of open standards technologies that I can use to achieve the same way of development as in Flex and Sivlerlight? I am talking about componentization, separation of concerns, rich graphics, states and effects . Please point out some tutorials and other resources if possible.
P.S. I KNOW that this is technically possible, so please do not respond by sending google search results or general JQuery tutorials. I've seen those already. I need to know how a Flex / Silverlight developer could design and implement an application in roughly the same way (imagine a rich HTML tag set, much like XAML/MXML, behind which stands JavaScript responsible for handling events and business logic. Think also about binding)
Comment: What do you mean by web standard?
Comment: HTML5 (although it is still something in between a standard and a revision) , JavaScript , CSS -  this kind of stuff
Answer: You can also check ExtJS and their newly released Designer is it "standards based" RIA JavaScript framework.
Here is a list of examples showing what it is capable of.
For vector graphics you can use great JavaScript library for SVG: Raphaël
For raster graphics you have Canvas API and explorercanvas library from Google for IE compatibility
If ExtJS charts are not enough for you, you can try HighCharts which uses Canvas SVG or VML for rendering.
Comment: More and more I'm hearing about the goodness of ExtJS. I do not know why, but my experience with jQuery sucked big time. I am really looking forward to separating everything -server side code from html from client side components . This would require a robust IDE as well. All my respect to Notepad gurus out there, but Visual Studio, and Flex/Flash Builder are much easier for development. There is so much that can be done with Eclipse for example, yet I am still to see a good web application IDE (real IDE, with completion, highlighting, a good resource manager, etc )
Answer: Stick to Flex for now !
Html 5 still Supports less active Browsers. Flex is Rich and As3 is a lot cleaner than js. Flex has a few very Advanced Frameworks.
bidirectional binding, dependency injection, all Kinds of fast mv* Frameworks.
So all in all Web development is far Away from Enterprise Development standards.
Guess its like in Adobe  Days we complained that Designers try to develop Language Not understanding the Concept of Enterprise Software and architectures. Its the Same now we have Web and Ajax devs at Hand :) it feels like they have less/no experience with Enterprise Standards ( Some maybe Even Architecture)  . So ! We will have to wait for js Frameworks to  improve A Lot , ext js feels like as2 and flex 2 - Pseudo Object orientation and clumsy getter/setter. Gwt  is pretty strong .. Knockout brings nice ideas. Angular js looks really promising. Jquery of course makes js bearable ... Yet it's just a small pill for a huge pita
A lot has to happen tho.
Answer: GWT (http://code.google.com/webtoolkit/) comes to mind. Or maybe OpenLaszlo (http://www.openlaszlo.org/).
OpenLaszlo is quite close to Flex in phylosophy, but can target either the Flash VM or just plain Javascript. So it seems to fulfil the "web standard based" requirement.
I havent used OpenLaszlo since 2005, and at that time it definitly was not ready for a serious application. But things might have changed since then ...
Answer: There is an upcoming project that brings Silverlight to all platforms. It is built using HTML5 and Javascript.  This project is still in an alpha phase, but promises a lot.  Check it out @ http://fayde.wsick.com.
DISCLOSURE: I am affiliated with this project.
Answer: Have you considered using all the new technology under the HTML5 umbrella, such as SVG, Canvas, HTML5 tags, CSS3, Transforms, Geolocation, Web Workers, Offline Storage etc. You can make some pretty amazing RIAs with that, and it's all open standards. Of course you'll be limiting yourself browser wise, at least initially.
Check out this HTML5 presentation written in HTML5 http://apirocks.com/html5/html5.html#slide1 (warning needs upto date browser such as Opera, Chrome or Safari).


Is the leading strand consistent in the same chromosome with multiple replication forks?

Question: If a chromosome has multiple origins or replication, do those origins necessarily pick the same DNA strand as leading and the same one as lagging, or can they be of opposite orientations, sending replication forks in opposite directions and therefore picking different leading vs lagging strands?
Answer: Replication proceeds in both directions from a single origin of replication, so the same strand acts as both the leading or lagging strand for the two different replication forks.


What should I enter as n when doing a meta analysis involving correlation coefficients- the number of observations or the sample size?

Question: The r package and function (metafor; escalc) I am using to calculate effect sizes asks for n's (the sample sizes). Should I put the sample sizes of the study or the number of observations that went into calculating the correlation? A little more detail: in some of the studies each participants' score was correlated with the a variable of interest and therefore the number of observations equals the sample size. Yet, in other studies, several participant's scores were averaged to get a summary score for text A, text B, etc., and then those texts score summaries of performance were used to determine the correlation coefficient. In this latter case, the sample size could have been 100 but then only 20 texts were used to get the correlation coefficient. I'm assuming I still use sample sizes but wanted to check because I am new to meta analysis.
Answer: You use the sample size.
The sample size is used to calculate the standard error of the (transformed) correlation.
It's possible that the studies used some other method to get the standard error (or the variance) of the (transformed) correlation. If they did, and they report a standard error (or confidence intervals) you can use that.
The sample is the number of units of analysis that the correlation is comparing. That's often, but not always, people. A way to think about it: If you were to represent the correlation in a scatterplot, each unit of analysis is a dot. How many dots are there? That's the sample size to use.
Is it possible to point us to one of the papers that you are wondering about? I feel like I'd have more confidence in my answer then.
Comment: +1 to asking for an example paper, because my initial intuition was the opposite of Jeremy's, but I might not be properly understanding your text A/B example.
Comment: In the paper (below) there are 88 people but the number of correlations is 50 (the performance of the 88 people were averaged for each of 50 passages and those 50 passages were correlated with the variable of interest). When you say sample size you mean the number of people? Because it sounds like sample size could also refer to the sample of 50 correlations.  Ardoin, S. P., Williams, J. C., Christ, T. J., Klubnik, C., & Wellborn, C. (2010). Examining readability estimates' predictions of students' oral reading rate: Spache, lexile, and forcast. School Psychology Review, 39(2), 277.
Comment: I would have thought $n$ was 50 here as that is the number of observations making up the correlation.
Comment: @sahanm - I don't have access to the article.
Comment: @mdewey - from the abstract, I agree - I will edit the answer.


PIC24 Debugging

Question: I'm in the process of figuring out what sub-model of PIC24 best suits my needs and I'm wondering if debugging the MCU takes up a UART module. The MCU will need to communicate with a LIN transceiver and a Bluetooth module, both via UART, so I need to know if two UART modules will be enough or if I should spring for an MCU with 4 UART modules.
Comment: I would reserve one UART for debugging/logging in any case.
Comment: PIC debugging does not require a UART. However, you'll need to check that the pins used for debugging (PGC/PGD) on the particular PIC you choose aren't used by some other function which you require.
Comment: Thanks -- I'll err on the side of caution and go with an MCU with >= 4 UART modules.
Answer: In-circuit debugging works over the same dedicated pins that programming does.  Just like a programmer, a debugger connects to power, ground, MCLR, and the programming clock and data lines.  These used to be called PGC and PGD, respectively, but lately there have been variants on those names.  Of course this is all in the datasheet.
On some parts, the PGC and PGD lines can be re-purposed at run time as I/O or other functions.  You can't do that during debugging.  For that reason, it is good to reserve these two lines for programming and debugging.
If you really need those two extra lines in your production board, then you can make debug boards with the next larger PIC in the family.  Now PGC and PGD can have their dedicated functions, and you take the extra two I/O pins from the additional pins of the larger PIC.  With proper firmware discipline, switching between the debug and production systems is trivial.
Another issue to consider is crosstalk between PGC and PGD.  Unfortunately, the pinout of the standard cable used by the RealIce and the like puts these two lines adjacent to each other.  This is one reason my PIC programmers have optional connections with a ground line between PGC and PGD.  For more details on this issue, take a look at my In-Circuit Serial Programming writeup.
Answer: No, it doesn't. There is no need to reserve a UART for debugging if you have a debug tool like PICKIT.
If you don't have then buy one, it helps a lot
The UART ports can be attached to any PPS capable pins so you can avoid conflicts with the debugger port.

PIC24 Debugging


What does "eben" mean in "ich arbeite immer noch für die Agentur aber eben freiberuflich"?

Question: In this sentence, does eben mean "als" or "as" in english?
Because I have never seen these meanings for "eben"
Answer: "Eben" (here - there are other meanings of this word) is a so-called mood particle. Every language has them and they are usually not translatable, because they don't transport information on their own but emphasize the stance the speaker takes to what he says.
For instance, English has "anyway":

What do you want?
What do you want, anyway?

The "anyway" does not add any meaning to the question itself but conveys a dismissive posture of the speaker.
Coming back to "eben": as @planetmaker has explained it emphasises the discrepancy between some expectation and the facts. Either, like he said, between the fact that one is getting paid but is not an employee any more or between "still working for the company" but "not being an employee", etc.. The emphasis is not on a specific discrepancy at all (hence all the mentioned ones are speculation) but on the fact that there is such a discrepancy.
If you still want to translate it: "indeed" would come close (here), perhaps.

I work for them, not as an employee but as a free-lancer indeed.
Answer: It has no direct translation.

ich arbeite immer noch für die Agentur aber eben freiberuflich"

translates to "I still work for the agency, but as free-lancer".
The "eben" indicates the emphasis that the expectation (of the mode of employment) is not met / changed. The "eben" implies a context of like "you are not employed by them anymore, but you still get money?", and the answer being "oh, I still am paid by them, but not as employee".
Comment: Yes-ish. The question is *what* has been mentioned before. That could either be "working as freelancer", then the conflicting information would be "but you have been working for the agency" or the mentioned fact could be "being working for the agency" and the conflicting information by the person asking "but you are not employed anymore". Both is equally likely IMHO. Possibly other modes of - on the surface - conflicting information leading to the same question are thinkable
Comment: Here, I think it mostly indicates that the fact has been explicitly mentioned before. The sentence with "eben" probably elaborates on an earlier statement "I am working as a freelancer".  – There's a list on: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modalpartikel#Bedeutung_einzelner_Modalpartikeln


Is it a fact that a smaller jQuery plugin (in KB) will perform better than same plugin with the same functionality but of a bigger size?

Question: Or does it depend on the way in which it is written?
My question is related to page rendering time. Can we determine which will give better performance?
Should we always choose a smaller sized plugin?
Answer: If you mean that you have two plugins with comparable functionality, but different size (not just minified but really different code), the answer is: maybe. One thing is obviously for sure: the smaller plugin will load faster. But for a million reasons, the bigger plugin can be faster after that. Without benchmarks, you can only guess.
Comment: +1.  The smaller plugin might use algorithms with smaller code space requirements but exponentially larger time or memory requirements.  Then again, it might not.
Answer: Only way to know is to measure it with tool like yslow or google page speed
e.g. I can write a simplest plugin which can halt your page rendering, or downloads too many things.
But usually if both are jquery plugin with exact same behaviour, shorter the better, but if you are comparing two different things e.g. one jquery plugin , one plain javascript then you must also consider the size of jquery library and such things.
Answer: A normally minified JavaScript file with whitespace removed will run equally fast as non minified. The difference is neglible, as the only benefit for the interpreter is that it doesn't have to skip as much whitespace. The benefit of minified JS files comes from reduced file sizes, not from increased performance.
But if a JavaScript is file 'packed' with Dean Edward's Packer, that's a whole different case as it might actually decrease performance because the code must be evaluated first with eval(). That's why in some cases it might not be advisable to pack with the 'maximum' setting – that is, with the 'Base62 encode' option.
So, if you're looking for performance optimizations, don't start by stripping whitespace or shortening variable names :)
But as an answer to your last question, yes, you should always choose the minified version. At least it will load faster due to it's smaller filesize.
Answer: Assuming you mean that the one plugin file has been minified, I would say in the majority of cases, yes.
But it really depends on hundreds of factors...
Answer: jquery distributes a "minified" version of the library. the code is stripped of inessential whitespace and other elements using a tool called JSMin. it's identical in function to the non-minified version, but loads much quicker. if you are debugging tho, you might find it easier to use the full version.


I need software that can help me create videos like this

Question: I need software that can help me create videos like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVezYxFEH5Q
It should be cost-free and run on GNU/Linux. Also, I am very interested in dynamic zooms and transitions while the video is ongoingas you can see in the video.
Comment: We will need much more information to give good recommendations here. Please take a look at [What is required for a question to contain "enough information"?](//softwarerecs.meta.stackexchange.com/q/336/185) Then please [edit] your question and see if you can incorporate some of these improvements. Especially missing: On what OS must it run, how much may it cost, what features do you need. Links are good for reference, but bad if they are the only source of information. Questions (and answers) should be self-contained ;)
Comment: @Izzy thanks for the suggestions :) I have amended the question. Also added bounty on the question.
Comment: Please clarify your specific problem or provide additional details to highlight exactly what you need. As it's currently written, it's hard to tell exactly what you're asking.
Comment: dear @Community If by reading this question you are having a hard time - then maybe just read harder? It is all clear there. I need software suggestions for video-making software with dynamic zooms and transitions.
Comment: Community is a bot, used to add anonymous boiler-plate comments from QA reviews, since recent stack-wide changes to the review structure. It's a bit of a blunt instrument & personally I think this particular boiler-plate is about as useful as a chocolate fireplace.
Comment: yes - it almost works an described here https://pics.me.me/so-bob-why-should-we-hire-you-thats-a-stupid-47771110.png :D
Comment: Sorry. I liked both answers but only could give the bounty to one and grant answer to other
Answer: DaVinci Resolve
Freeware.
Multi-platform, Mac, Win, nix.
Unless you need to integrate actual vision mixing hardware, there's nothing to touch it for free.
It's easily a match for Final Cut Pro & Premier.
…and, did I mention…  it's free !!
The only downside is it really is jumping right in at the deep end. Expect it to take between two & six months to be truly comfortable with it.
[No affiliation]
Answer: The features you are requesting are common to almost all video editors... One known exception being avidemux (it is made for much simpler workflows).
For you request I suggest kdenlive (kdenlive site click here). It comes with almost all major distros and it is easy to start working with! Also great tutorials and examples on youtube and other sites, so worth a try...


Compressing web service request

Question: I have a webservice and client in c#/dotnet and I am using EnableDecompression to gzip compress the responses that I get from the web server.  Is it possible to compress the requests as well?
Comment: Are you pushing large data up in your request?  If not, compression might cost you more than it will gain you.
Comment: Yes, we are trying to push up about 150MB of data in about 100 batches of 1.5MB...
Answer: SOAP extensions allow you to monkey with the SOAP stream on both the client and server. They're nice because you can leave your service code alone - manipulation occurs before a webmethod begins and after it ends. They work a lot like an HttpModule but can be included on the client/request side as well.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.web.services.protocols.soapextension.aspx
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc164007.aspx
SOAP Message Modification Using SOAP Extensions

Other than that, the only option that comes to mind is manually serializing and compressing large SOAP elements as byte[], then manually decompressing and deserializing on the server (shudder...). The maintenance issues with this approach are likely prohibitive.
Comment: It looks like your 3rd link is just being redirected to http://searchwindevelopment.techtarget.com/?id=SOAPExtensions
Comment: @Zack - Yeah, the answer is almost six years old (!) and suffered from link rot. I replaced the bad link with a Microsoft article. Beware, SOAP extensions are not part of WCF and are therefore largely irrelevant.
Answer: I've found this tutorial on compressing SOAP messages in C#, using the SharpZipLib library and SOAP extensions:
Seems to garnish about a 30% compression, will be giving this a try today.
Comment: Archived version: http://web.archive.org/web/20060507182910/http://www.infosrama.com/soapcompression.htm

Compressing web service request


Recombination rate/time calculation for plasma vs. solid state semiconductors

Question: I've been able to find how to calculate the recombination rate for semiconductors as a function of the type of semiconductor (like silicon), the doping material, the concentration of the excess carrier and resistivity, and the model for recombination.  However, I don't know about the recombination rate calculation for a gaseous plasma.  Can a similar relationship be used to calculate the recombination rate of plasma, where the electrons would be more excited?  I suppose that would have to assume that the plasma would be a semiconductor, while generally atmospheric gases are considered insulators, but otherwise I was wondering what calculation you apply for plasma of say, neon or nitrogen (not sure if it differs for thermally or electrically dominated plasma).
Answer: There are two types of recombination processes in plasma, three-body (collisional) and radiative (or photo-recombination). The distinction is based on what particle removes excessive momentum and energy when an ion and an electron recombine. In the three-body recombination it is another electron, in the radiative recombination it is a photon. A good starting point for this subject is the NRL Plasma Formulary, it contains main formulas and references. This is extracted from the Formulary:
Comment: There is also third type of recombination process in plasma called "Dielectronic recombination".


Can my US employer withhold tax if I'm not a US-resident/citizen working outside of the US?

Question: I receive an offer from a company in the US to work as an independent contractor. I'm not a US citizen nor a US resident, I will be working online as a contractor from outside the US. Will I have to pay US tax or more precisely will my employer withhold tax from my pay?
I have made some research and found out that employer must without 30% tax from an independent contractor, but I cannot determine in which situation, ie if I'm outside of the USA and not a US citizen/resident.
Comment: It's important to note that if you are a contractor / vendor, the company is not your EMPLOYER, it's your CLIENT.  An employer-employee relationship implies certain legal privileges that you won't have, and certain legal responsibilities that the company won't have.  Very different.
Comment: The amount of withholding, if you were responsible for it, would entirely depend on which tax bracket you were in.  Sounds like you need to hire somebody familiar with tax law when it comes to individuals in similar situations.
Answer: From the IRS article on tax for persons employed abroad:

As a general rule, wages earned by nonresident aliens for services performed outside of the United States for any employer are foreign source income and therefore are not subject to reporting and withholding of U.S. federal income tax.

I suspect the 30% comes from an article about backup withholding - that most likely would not apply to you, and you'd know if it did.
Comment: @Dr4ketheb4dass That implies they think you *are* subject to withholding (that's what that form is for).  It may be that your work is considered "in the US" even if you're personally offshore - you may want to clarify your question exactly what you're doing and exactly what your status is (there's a difference between an employee and a contractor, but it's not always used in a consistent way).  You also might get a more complete answer at [money.se], where tax questions like this are very common.
Comment: They "client" in that case asked me to fill a W-8 form, does it make sense?
Comment: Looked into it a bit more; it's apparently common to have the W8-BEN filled out even when not doing withholding (as evidence you don't need it, mostly).  So that may not be a concern.
Comment: If you are subject to withholding then I would expect that you should be able to file an annual tax return to claim at least a partial refund.


Calculating the horizontal distance the payload would travel with a parachute (horizontal drift)?

Question: When you release a payload with the help of a circular parachute, and you want to find out the range in which it would land. And how would you find the descent gradient of the parachute?
Answer: The first thing to figure out is how fast your parachute will fall. From https://www.pcprg.com/rounddes.htm you can compute the falling velocity:
$$ V = \sqrt{\frac{2 W}{\rho C S}} $$
Where

$C$ is the parachute drag coefficient which is approx 0.75 for a parachute without holes or slits cut in the fabric; same value in both Metric and English unit systems

$S$ is the total surface area of the fabric used to build the parachute, plus the areas of the holes and vents cut in the fabric if present. The units of S are in square feet (English) or square meters (Metric). This definition is such that when vents are cut in the fabric, the value of $S$ remains the same but the value of $C$ becomes smaller.

$\rho$ is the air density

near sea level its value is given by
0.00237 sl/ft^3 (English units) and 1.225 Kg/m^3 (Metric)
near 4000 ft or 1219 m above sea level its value is
0.00211 sl/ft^3 (English units) and approx. 1.07 Kg/m^3 (Metric)

$W$ is the weight of the parachute + load, in pounds (English) or Newtons (Metric)

$V$ is the vertical descent velocity, here expressed in ft/sec (English) or m/sec (Metric)

You can either assume a constant speed all the way down, or make it a function of $\rho$.
With starting altitude and speed you can find the time it will take to fall.
Then you add the wind contribution. Multiply the wind speed by the descent time and you get the maximum range the parachute can reach.
The calculations will get a little mode tricky if you have a rho profile by altitude and wind speed profile by altitude.
Comment: Slightly complicated by the inertia of the load - it may be released with a significant horizontal speed and will not immediately adjust to wind shear.  At low rates of descent it's possible for (even round) parachutes to get into a 'flying' state where there is some horizontal airspeed and the 'chute acts an an aerofoil, slowing the rate of descent at the expense of horizontal airspeed.


How safe is it to install XAMPP on my home computer to test PHP code?

Question: I want to test some PHP code and I figure the best way is to install XAMPP - but I'm nervous about installing server software on my home computer.
Is it generally safe to install XAMPP (given that I haven't done it before and don't have a lot of experience with server security)? What do I need to be aware of? Alternatively, is there a safer way to test PHP code?
Answer: Apache and MySQL can be configured so that they only listen to requests from your own computer. For most test systems this is fine and it greatly reduces the risk because  the services are not reachable from the Internet.
Before you start XAMPP for the first time find and edit these files:
For Apache edit the files xampp\apache\conf\httpd.conf and xampp\apache\conf\extra\httpd-ssl.conf. Look for lines starting with "Listen" such as
Listen 80

and replace them with
Listen 127.0.0.1:80

For MySQL open the file xampp\mysql\bin\my.cnf find the section "[mysqld]" and add this line
bind-address=localhost

After starting the services, verify the result by going to a command window and start and execute:
netstat -a -n

For the entries marked as LISTEN in the last column, look at the Listen column. It should always start with 127.0.0.1 or ::1 but not with 0.0.0.0.
Comment: @Piskvor, well I do think that a home computer with internet access and personal documents does deserve that term in this context. It is not a computer in a isolated lab without any kind of connection to the outside world and no important information what so ever.
Comment: Why it should be risky? Is your home computer directly connected to internet (no router and firewall)? If yes -- you have MUCH bigger problems here. By default firewall/router blocks all incoming connections (externally initiated) unless you manually allow some applications to accept them. This means that no-one will be able to connect to your Apache/MySQL unless you allow it to do so in your Router and then Windows Firewall. @Hendrik just explained you on how you can further restrict such access.
Comment: @Frost, the [front page](http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html#300) explicitly says "The default configuration is not good from a securtiy point of view and it's not secure enough for a production environment - please don't use XAMPP in such environment.".
Comment: Actually i reported a CSRF remote code execution vulnerability like 3 years ago that is exploitable despite this limitation.   This vulnerability was never patched.
Comment: @hendrik-brummermann Thanks for this.  I discovered that xampp was listening on port 443, but that was not explicitly configured in `httpd.conf`.  In order to block, I had to comment out the entire `ssl_module` section.
Comment: Thanks, this is very helpful. Would you say that a default installation is risky then?
Comment: @Hendrik Brummermann♦: I wouldn't call a home computer a "production environment".
Comment: @Hendrik Brummermann♦: Fair point.
Comment: I was most probably hacked by an insecure default configuration of XAMPP. It does not have this limitations by default.
Comment: Somewhat related: at some point in time. BlackBerry decided it was a good idea to install nginx on all computers using their BlackBerry Link program and allow read/write access to the entire `%appdata%  directory. [Here is a writeup of why that resulted in a security vulnerability.](http://blog.cmpxchg8b.com/2013/11/qnx.html)
Answer: XAMPP has a very poor secuirty track record.   There are remote code execution vulnerabilities exploitable via CSRF that are known and unpatched.  (Its acutally in their shitty example PHP/MySQL applications that come bundled.)  Even if you are only bound to localhost,  this can be exploited remotely.  The counter argument is that the attacker would have to know that you are running XAMPP.  Their install of PHPMyAdmin is always out of date,  and there are nasty exploits that also affect this project.
My suggestion is to use Ubuntu on VM.  Ubuntu's LAMP install is acutally easier than XAMPP and is acutally secure. Just run sudo tasksel or select the LAMP package when you are installing it.
Comment: What kind of CSRF exploits? If you remove the default contents of the htdocs folder and secure the mysql server, shouldn't it be fine?
Comment: @Luc  I haven't looked at in awhile. I know that phpmyadmin was really old and you could drop .php files using it.  It also comes with some really vulnerable example php apps that should be removed.
Answer: Disclaimer: I'm a XAMPP developer.
It is safe to install XAMPP in your local machine. You are usually connected to internet through a router so it is not possible to access your current installation.
Also XAMPP ships a "How can I make my XAMPP installation more secure?" section where you can follow that guide to change the MySQL root password, disable the services you do not use, etc.
Recently XAMPP disabled the PHP-based XAMPP Dashboard and we included static html guides. Any issue related to CSFR or related to this panel now it does not exist.
XAMPP also takes into account the latest security issues. You can check the blog to see we released new versions as soon as possible.
Answer: XAMPP should never be used in a production environment and tightly locked down and steps taken to secure it on a development machine, including any upgrades or security patches from the original software vendors (PHP, Apache, MySQL, etc. ).
If you do choose to install XAMPP be sure to make sure it only allows connections from the loopback address.  You should verify this for Apache, MySQL and any other services you setup for XAMPP.  As if you have something that can be accessed internally from the LAN and have someone else on your network knowingly or unknowingly they can use exploits to gain access to your machine and cause damage.
Comment: _By default_ it is open for everything, yes, but so is all software meant for development. With a few changes, a live (production) XAMPP installation is actually secure.
Answer: There is a safer way to test your code. You can - and arguably ought to - install your server software, whatever that might be (from XAMPP / WAMP in Windows to Ubuntu Server), in a virtual machine. It's not as daunting as it might sound at first, though it may be overkill if all you're doing is developing your own code.
A VM effectively sequesters whatever happens to your server (the guest) from propagating to your home computer running the virtual machine (the host). Imagine you have improperly configured permissions and a script you're testing executes a hidden system('rm -Rf some_dir'). No problem! Revert your VM to the latest snapshot and away you go. You could even diff the snapshots to see what changed.
Additionally, the network adapter on my VM of choice NATs the VM, forcing you to manually configure port forwarding for the VM to access it, let alone detect that it exists.
Testing in a VM also mitigates the risk of data leakage through malware. Personally, I'm much less worried that an app I'm testing will maliciously delete something than I am that it will silently steal it and upload it somewhere. Your host machine will be invisible to apps running within your VM.
I'm personally partial to Oracle's VirtualBox; it's completely free, has enough features to keep me interested and is very simple to use. The VMs are also portable: you can copy the virtual machine file to a USB drive and take it to work.
If you're ever going to do risky software testing of any kind, I suggest you learn to use VMs and test in there: it's a very useful skill to have in your tool-belt.
Answer: So, what do you exactly mean by "safe"?

Are you concerning of the data security or privacy? (i.e. others
can hack into your pc via the server applications and view/control
your local data)?
Or are you worrying about your php code or the software that will
make damage to your computer?

For 1), it is generally not possible to have access to your computer remotely if you have your OS well-configured. In most cases, your local network environment is protected by NAT, firewalls, and other techniques such as dynamic IP policies. Apache can also be configured to only accept local visits as @HendrikBrummermann points out.
For 2), just try to write robust code and that's all I can suggest. Apache and MySQL are very light-weight server applications. You are just doing local test, so there generally shouldn't be heavy data traffics or high computing overheads that could bring your system down.


1950s Short Story/Novelette - "TK! TK! TK!"

Question: I am pretty sure this short story/novelette appeared in either Galaxy or Astounding in the 1950s; it was definitely in a magazine and not an anthology. (It isn't Telek by Jack Vance, although it sounds like it.) The place is Earth in the near future and the  main character is a 'TK' a telekinetic. TKs are known to the public but feared and loathed. At the beginning of the story someone tries to run him down with a car while shouting "TK! TK! TK!" Unfortunately, that is the only detail I can remember. The story somehow involved crime; it had a real noir feel to it. The interior illustration that appeared with the story showed a man with a gun. Any help is appreciated.
Comment: I can't find anything in either *Galaxy* or *Astounding* like that.  I did find Silverberg's "[Hidden Talent](http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?59988)" in *If*, but while it has persecution of espers (telekinetics burned, pyrotics hanged) and uses the "TK" abbreviation, it doesn't otherwise seem to match.
Comment: The Silverberg story isn't it, but I appreciate your input - it reminded me of details that I can include in my story description. Thanks!
Comment: Sadly, not https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tk%27tk%27tk
Comment: Why do you date it to the 50s? Why to *Galaxy* or *ASF*? (The cry "TK! TK! TK!" rings a very, very faint bell. I think I;ve read it, but haven't the faintest idea where.)
Comment: During the '80s I collected 1950s Galaxy & ASF. I had a fairly large collection, but I had to move, they took up a lot of space & I gave them away, something I regret now. This story was in there somewhere...
Answer: This could be a partial match for has been confirmed to be Vigorish by John Berrymann (as Walter Bupp). This story was published in Astounding Science Fiction June 1960
In this story telekinetics or "TKs" are a part of society, but not feared as far as I can tell. However, the narrator tells the story of himself being forced into discovering who is stealing from a casino by the TK lodge he belongs to. During this job he is strong-armed by the casino bouncers after being revealed as a TK:

TK!" somebody yelled. He might as well have screamed, "Fire!" the way that mob of gamblers scuttled away from the table.

In another event he is almost run down by a car:

At last I went down the ersatz wooden steps into the neon-gashed night and started across the nearly deserted main drag toward the motel where I had registered. A powerful turbine howled as a car pulled away from the curb, perhaps a hundred yards up the way. His lights came on and snapped up to bright. I had a perfect flash of PC—I do have moments of it, no matter what the Lodge thinks. The car was going to take a dive into the fountain pool in front of my motel. But it sure didn't act like it. I froze in the middle of the road, hearing rubber scream as the driver floored the throttle and hurled the automobile right at me. He might as well have been on tracks. There was no place to go—I was in the middle of a six-lane boulevard, and could never make either curb before he ran me down.

The story has a strong 1940's--1960's gangster feel, including the argot of the times and caricatured bouncers, casino owners, hustlers etc.
Berryman also wrote 3 other stories on the same theme, all published in Analog Science Fiction: Card Trick, Modus Vivendi, and Right Time.
Comment: That is IT! Thank you!
Comment: @LeeEckhardt Excellent. I'll edit that in. There are quite a few different authors on this theme in the 1950s/60s - you might like "[That sweet little old lady](https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/23657)" from ASF by Randall Garrett and Laurence Janifer writing as Mark Phillips, which also has some similar scenes.


Is negative mass for a bound system of two particles forbidden?

Question: Is there any theorem that forbids the bound system of two massive particles to have negative mass?
Comment: Is this even true classically? Cf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_energy_theorem
Comment: Is your system conservative? If it is not, you can have as much "effective negative mass", as you wish, you just have to supply the necessary energy from somewhere.
Comment: Related: http://physics.stackexchange.com/q/18925/2451 , http://physics.stackexchange.com/q/44934/2451 and links therein.
Answer: A negative binding energy would make the vaccum unstable.
For example suppose a virtual electron and positron pop out of the vacuum. This costs energy to create the particles, but if their binding energy could be greater in magnitude than their rest masses then they could bind to form an energy state lower than the vacuum from which they were created. The result is that the vaccum would spontaneously decay into a lower energy state, which would then be the new vacuum state.
So the vacuum is by definition the lowest energy state that can exist, and no bound state can have a total energy lower than this.
Comment: This doesn't seem to me like a completely satisfactory answer, because it assumes that we will have a lower bound on the energies of states, so that we have something we can call a ground state. If the mass of a pion was negative, then we would presumably start producing quark-antiquark pairs and forming lots and lots of pions. Wouldn't this be a runaway process? Why would it terminate in a well-defined ground state?
Answer: Within special relativity definitions mass is the positive root of the square root of the dot product in four vector space.

With this definition there is no way a mass can be negative by construction. Two particles at rest will have zero momenta and their masses will add linearly for the minimum invariant mass of their system. Once they get momentum the invariant  mass goes up. Bound particles have a momentum .
Comment: The argument has to do with the constraints that special relativity sets on masses..Mass has to go through the addition of the four momentum vectors. Take a bound state part of the mass goes into the binding energy, which is important in nuclear bindings into nuclei. Then the sum of the masses of the constituents becomes larger than the mass of the nucleus. You are asking whether the mass of the nucleus can become negative? It would have to be possible to go to zero before becoming negative, and quantum mechanical solutions have ground states way above zero.
Comment: How does potential energy come into play in this argument?  Or it doesn't?
Comment: It  does not.the sign in a potential can be relative to where the zero is assumed. http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/hyde.html
Comment: I meant if the mass of the bound system can be negative relative to the free, unbound, infinitely separated constituent particle's mass, just as when the mass of the hydrogen atom (bound system) is compared relative to the masses of free electron and proton.  So I thought it natural to set the potential energy to be zero at infinity.  (I should have mentioned that I am not thinking of a confining potential.)  So I'm afraid I still don't see why the potential energy doesn't matter in the argument.


Reviews - No code first-question, with a to-do list to be accomplished

Question: While doing my daily reviews, I came across this question. It seemed to me some sort of "Please code something for me, I will not write anything". I chose to share a feedback (this is a user with >1K rep in many other communities), but no luck. After some edits and many comments, the author insists he is right.
Should this type of questions quickly be flagged in some way? Or in the end, is he right?
Comment: This seems to need "more focus". The question cites many separate tasks that need to be done.
Comment: No, he's not right. If he really wants to ask multiple questions, he simply should post multiple question. But as MisterMiyagi said, it need more focus. You simply have to flag it :)
Answer: The lack of code is a red herring. Only debugging questions need a MRE, for everything else code can be used to clarify the question.

The issue is that the question presents multiple tasks without focusing on one specific problem about this:

On load: Create timer Create variable to contain path to target folder
create an array to contain the file name of each image in the target
folder
Loop For every file in the target folder add the name to the array
loop until there are no more files in the folder that haven't been
indexed end loop
Set timer interval to 30 seconds.
On timer interval call function
For every timer interval set the wallpaper on screen number 2 to be
the target file path + the file name held in the current array index.
Increment the array index by one
reset timer to zero
loop until manually terminated.

The recent edits do not change that. There is an indication that the OP might know how to do some of the tasks and struggles to combine them, but it is not spelled out which parts those are and what the specific problem in combining them is. The code shown is largely unrelated (showing how to watch a directory of files) so it does not restrict the scope either.
Vote to close or flag as "needs improvement" -> "needs more focus".
Comment: @philipxy Unless they ask a debugging question, it is not a debugging question. Re-interpreting questions like that just because it "allows" to close vote is extremely harmful. A how-to question with code sample is perfectly valid and does *not* automatically chameleon-turn it into a debugging question. Demanding an MRE for things that do not need one severely limits the reusability of questions.
Comment: @philipxy You should have as it isn't a debugging problem.
Comment: I have no qualms close voting the null program as a debugging problem with no [mre].
Comment: The null program is what they gave & it doesn't do what they want. So it is a debugging problem/question.
Comment: @philipxy in that framework, if the null program is what they tried and what they want to "debug", then they perfectly well have a MRE. Copying and pasting the null program will reliably result in nothing happening, which differs from the described desired result. That's certainly reproducible and trivially minimal.
Comment: @KarlKnechtel The asker's justification basically boiled down to: "I want a wallpaper management application. Here's a random piece of code I found on the internet. Modifying code is on topic, so why won't people modify that and write the entire program for me?"
Comment: @BoogaRoo sure; that's *blatantly* Needs More Focus. We don't need to reinterpret that as a debugging question; we don't need to expect a MRE; and we don't need the "Needs Debugging Details" close reason. We already have a textbook close reason.
Comment: Ok, thanks for guiding me. Now I have more details to handle such questions :)
Comment: Next to "*the*" Issue (Singular) is that the Wording in the quoted '*Outline*' Section is hardly comprehensible, with hardly any Punctuation (3 dots + 1 colon, that's all for 8 paragraphs...!!), some random words with a Capital "in the middle", that sentence for example doesn't make any sense to me: "*Create timer Create variable to contain path to target folder create an array to contain the file name of each image in the target folder*" (Syntax/Grammar/Punctuation/Capitalization/+ missing words I suppose...)
Comment: @BoogaRoo Even if they did that (they did not – the code was added later) by itself that still would not be a reason to close. If someone would manage to formulate a good question by selecting code and prose snippets randomly, that would be fine. *This question is not good*, there is no need to contrive close reasons based on the asker's motivation or justification.


Mac OS X Leopard delete key no longer works

Question: I have no idea what happened but in the last few days I've noticed that my delete key doesn't work and nothing happens when I press it. How can I fix this?
Answer: Are you sure the key isn't just broken?
Try booting to your Mac OS X install DVD (insert the disc, then hold the Option key on startup).  See if the delete key works in that environment.  If it doesn't, then you've eliminated pretty much all software problems and the most likely explanation is that the key is broken.
Depending on what kind of keyboard it is (part of a laptop?), you might be able to try to open it up and clean any grime that might be preventing good electrical contact.
If the keyboard is covered under warranty or AppleCare, just take it into an Apple store and they'll take care of you.  Otherwise, you might need to just get a new one.


Compare implementing a simple automation design on a MCU vs an FPGA/CPLD

Question: I have been working with MCU's since the 90's, and I've recently ventured into the FPGA scene with the Spartan6 series chips from Xilinx. Assuming a simple factory automation design with sensors and motors, and some intelligence to link everything up, on which type of device could I finish the design faster and easier, MCUs or FPGAs? Small or "obvious" points are also appreciated because I'm new to FGPA's in general.
Comment: Even an FPGA solution would almost certainly also involve a processor, either next to the FPGA, implemented inside of it, or in a connected larger computer. Stored program structures are just far more readily targeted for implementing the complex parts of algorithms than specialized logic or state machines would be, so you save the later only for things which must be fast (or massively parallel) but simple.
Comment: Great answers from richard & Martin below.  It can be tempting to try to apply a newly-learned skill or technology to the next problem, but in this case (for reasons described by gentlemen above) I think an MCU is the way to go.
Answer: There's no reason to use FPGAs unless you need to.  Even two similarly talented engineers in the MCU and FPGA fields would use an MCU for a relatively simple automation task.
Pro MCU:

MCUs usually have all the peripherals to the outside world ready to go
Compiling takes seconds (FPGAs take minutes to hours)
There are an order of magnitude (or two!) more engineers that can help, or pick up where you left off. (For a fun, not necessarily statistically valid, comparison - compare the number of Q&A on Stack Overflow for C vs VHDL or FPGA)

Use an FPGA if you have to because:

The number-crunching required can't be met in the power, weight, size or cost budget with a microprocessor
There are hard real-time deadlines which can't be guaranteed with software (response times in the microsecond realm for example)
Using FPGA logic may make it easier to make robust assertions about response times
You can make big savings in cost, power etc by using custom data-types (like a 12-bit floating-point for example)

Or:

Your assignment tells you you have to :)
Comment: +1  For the 3rd bullet with "an order of magnitude (or two!) more engineers that can help".  Last time I've used this criterion, it was for choosing programming language.
Answer: A few reasons why I believe using a microcontroller (MCU) would be easier for you:

You have experience with MCUs. Learning the ins and outs of any new chip takes time.
MCUs have inbuilt peripherals which you would have to implement yourself (or buy) on an FPGA. For example, most MCUs have an I2C port which will come in useful if you read from an I2C sensor. Also, most MCUs have some sort of analogue to digital converter and pulse-width modulator, both of which will most likely be necessary for good motor control.
Complex algorithms are easier to express in C than in VHDL (I have no experience of Verilog).
Human-scale delays are easy in an MCU, but take significant resources in an FPGA.
For simple factory automation the short, standard bit widths and slow speeds of MCUs are most likely sufficient.

It is necessary in either case to take care with the code you write, so that it works properly in all situations, especially dangerous conditions.


Salesforce platform license and Box integration - what is supported?

Question: We are trying to find out whether the limited Salesforce platform license supports use of Box integration and if so, how it can be set up using permission sets.
Answer: The platform licence does support the use of Box, and you just enable the Box permission set for the users you want to allow using it. The process is pretty straightforward, check the Box resources for further instructions.


Are composite gates within superconducting hardware implemented as a single pulse or as a series of pulses?

Question: If we have for example a gate $U^{\otimes2}$, then within superconducting hardware, is the $U$ applied onto the first qubit and then the second or is a pulse corresponding to a composite gate (tensor product matrix) created which is applied onto both?
Comment: I'm asking that in hardware, are the gates applied simultaneously as a single pulse, or individually as separate pulses?
Comment: If you want specifically to know what happens on the hardware level, you need to specify _what_ hardware you are thinking of. Moreover, you might even need to specify what _systems_ you are thinking of (e.g. those of IBM, or those of Google, or a specific chip of, let's say, Rigetti). Also realize that in pretty much all cases a Hadamard gate will never be implemented itself, but compiled to some other native gates.
Comment: Is $H$ the Hadamard gate?
Comment: are you asking whether one should think of $A\otimes B$ as $A$ being applied (to first qubit) before or after $B$ is applied to the second qubit (rather than the two gates being applied simultaneously)?
Comment: Ok, I've changed the question to deal with an arbitrary native gate $U$, and have specified superconducting QCs
Answer: Typically superconducting qubits can be controlled independently, eg. due to having separate control wires. So you'd have independent pulses in each control wire applying a gate to the respective qubits. The gates can be done at the same time.
Due to crosstalk, it can matter if operations are done at the same time or one after the other. Doing them at the same time may have higher error. But doing them one after another means qubits have to live longer while the computation runs, which is probably worse than crosstalk.
Answer: Case 1: Composite gate
Given that your composite gate will be a 4x4 matrix, which will be multiplied to some wavevector, your question is not a valid question in terms of which qubit it gets applied to first or last. In this case, it is applied "together"  in some vague sense of matrix vector multiplication.
Case 2: Applied separetely
Since your two qubits are not entangled, and you are only applying one gate on each qubit, it does not matter which one is applied first as long as you measure after applying both.
Comment: Re case 2: does it matter whether the qubits are entangled? $H$ applied to one qubit will commute with $H$ applied to another qubit, even if the qubits are entangled.
Comment: Sorry if I was unclear, but I don't mean $U^{\otimes2}$ mathematically, I'm asking how real devices implement composite gates


Other than the ones we have seen on-screen, did any Dark Jedi or Sith fight alongside the Separatists in the Clone Wars?

Question: We've seen Sith and Dark Jedi such as Asajj Ventress, Count Dooku, etc. serve alongside the Separatist forces in the Clone Wars. Is there evidence to suggest other Dark Jedi or Sith, specifically named or otherwise, joining the Separatists?
Comment: @SpacePhoenix It's a generic term for any Dark Side user. "Sith" is actually a pretty specific term for a type of Dark Jedi.
Comment: Is there actually such a thing as a "Dark Jedi"?
Answer: In the canon novel Dark Disciple, written by Christie Golden based on unfinished arcs of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Jedi Master Quinlan Vos temporarily joins the Sith during the Clone Wars. He was sent by the Jedi Council in the final months of the war to train alongside former Sith assassin Asajj Ventress in order to assassinate Dooku. However, in an effort to learn the identity of Dooku's master, Darth Sidious, Vos succumbed to the dark side and joined up with Dooku, killing clones and Jedi along the way. Quinlan's love for Ventress convinced him to return to the light, but he meets your terms.

Additionally, I would count Prosset Dibs as a Jedi that fought against the republic. In the canon comic miniseries Jedi of the Republic--Mace Windu, set in the early days of the Clone Wars, the blind Jedi Master grows disillusioned with the Jedi's involvement in the war and expresses his feelings through violence. He is defeated by Mace Windu and sent to work in the archives as punishment. At the end of the war, he becomes the Tenth Brother, a member of the Inquisitorious. While not technically fighting for the Separatists, I would still put him up for consideration.
Answer: Legends: there were a lot
There were many more dark siders on the side of the Separatists in Legends than have appeared so far in Canon. Wookieepedia identifies them as "Dark Acolytes", although it's unclear to me whether this is an in-universe name—The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, for example, only refers to lowercase "dark acolytes" (eg in the entry for Sora Bulq).
There are 17-18 characters who fit the description, depending on whether Dooku's doppelganger can be considered a distinct character. Some of the more notable Dark Acolytes (besides Asajj Ventress and Savage Opress) include:
Quinlan Vos

Republic: Siege of Saleucami (via Wookieepedia)
Much of the Republic comic series follows Quinlan Vos's actions during the Clone Wars. He's a Jedi Master who is sent to infiltrate Dooku's inner circle, only to find himself actually drawn to the Dark Side. He turns from a double agent to a triple agent, only to resume his status as a quadruple agent, and so on, eventually successfully returning to the light before the end of the war. He later escapes Order 66 on Kashyyyk and has a son.
Sora Bulq

Republic #75 (via Wookieepedia)
Sora Bulq is a Weequay Jedi who first appears as a background character in Attack of the Clones, and later reveals in the comic Jedi: Mace Windu that he's joined Count Dooku. Throughout the Republic comics, he goes on to kill Jedi Council member Oppo Rancisis, and is eventually killed by Quinlan Vos.
Sev'rance Tann

Galactic Battlegrounds: Clone Campaigns (via Wookieepedia)
Sev'rance Tann is a Dark Side-using Chiss and the player character in the CIS (Separatist) campaign in Galactic Battlegrounds: Clone Campaigns. Since it was released concurrently with Attack of the Clones, this game expansion is notable for being one of the first portrayals of the broader Clone Wars, making Tann one of the first Dark Jedi characters appearing in Clone Wars media. She eventually dies in a lightsaber duel with the hero of the Republic campaign, Echuu Shen-Jon.


Copy and compare specific cells to one sheet, in VBA Excel (Watch out mindbreaker!!)

Question: i have a quite specific question about programming in excel. I'm moderately skilled in VBA but can't get my head around this one.
I have multiple sheets containing an list of id's and values. From these multiple sheets i want to make one complete sheet with values.
Example:
Sheet wk1
ID  - Var  - Var1  - Var 2

10 - A - B - C

14 - aa - bb- cc

Sheet wk2
ID  - Var  - Var1  - Var 2

11 - d - e - f

14 - AA - BB- CC

the function must make the following list
Sheet combined
ID - wk1(Var - Var 1 - Var 2) - wk2(Var - Var 1 - Var 2)
10 - A - B - C - - -

11 - - - - d - e - f

14 - aa - bb - cc - AA - BB - CC

I hope this makes it clear...
I think at first the function must define if every ID is present. And per iterated sheet copy values in the corresponding columns.
Currently i have the following code for it to work. I must say it is under progress, but i need some pointers:
Sub getalldata()

Dim MyPath As String, FilesInPath As String
Dim MyFiles() As String
Dim FNum As Long
Dim mybook As Workbook
Dim rnum As Long
Dim ShName As Variant, BaseWks As Variant
Dim rangearray As Variant

' Get all data from the eight excel files in the designated directory
' Compare Projnrs, an then paste values according in the designated slots
'
' Path\folder location of the files.
MyPath = ThisWorkbook.Path & "/Source/"

' External sheet name. To get data from
ShName = "Report"
' Range of columns to paste corresponding data too. sorted in per week eg {Wk1Val1, Wk1Val2 , Wk1Val3; Wk2Val1, Wk2Val2 , Wk2Val3 etc.
rangearray = [{"D2","E2","F2";"G2","H2","I2";"J2","K2","L2";"M2","N2","O2";"P2","Q2","R2";"S2","T2","U2";"V2","W2","X2";"Y2","Z2","AA2"}]
' Internal sheet name. To paste data too
ShName = "Report"

' Add a slash after MyPath if needed.
If Right(MyPath, 1) <> "\" Then
    MyPath = MyPath & "\"
End If

' If there are no Excel files in the folder, exit.
FilesInPath = Dir(MyPath & "*.xl*")
If FilesInPath = "" Then
    MsgBox "No files found"
    Exit Sub
End If

' Fill the myFiles array with the list of Excel files in the
' folder.
FNum = 0
Do While FilesInPath <> ""
    FNum = FNum + 1
    ReDim Preserve MyFiles(1 To FNum)
    MyFiles(FNum) = FilesInPath
    FilesInPath = Dir()
Loop

' Change application properties.
With Application
    CalcMode = .Calculation
    .Calculation = xlCalculationManual
    .ScreenUpdating = False
    .EnableEvents = False
End With

rnum = 1

'Sort array of max 8 excel files to get wk 1 results before wk2 reuslts
BubbleSort MyFiles

' Loop through all files in the myFiles array.
If FNum > 0 Then
    For FNum = 0 To 7
        Set mybook = Nothing
        On Error Resume Next
        Set mybook = Workbooks.Open(MyPath & MyFiles(FNum))
        On Error GoTo 0

        If Not mybook Is Nothing Then

            On Error Resume Next
            ' Set the filter range.
            ' Compare content and fill additional

                For Each c In mybook.Worksheets("Report").Range(Cells(39, 3), Cells(65536, 3).End(xlUp)).Cells
                If Not IsError(Application.Match(c.Value, Worksheets("Inputinfo").Range("A:A"), 0)) Then
                    ' String is in range, calculate values and paste accordingly

                    'Paste val1 ( Total profit (AQ+BA))
                    Worksheets("Inputinfo").Cells(c, 4 + FNum).Value = c.Offset(, 40).Value + c.Offset(, 50).Value
                    'Paste val2 (Not  yet allocated (K+BA-(R+AV))-(AQ+BA))
                    Worksheets("Inputinfo").Cells(c, 5 + FNum).Value = (c.Offset(, 8).Value + c.Offset(, 50).Value - (c.Offset(, 15).Value + c.Offset(, 45).Value)) - (c.Offset(, 40).Value + c.Offset(, 50).Value)
                    'Paste val3 (Net proj contri colum AT)
                    Worksheets("Inputinfo").Cells(c, 6 + FNum).Value = c.Offset(, 43).Value
                Else
                    'String is not in range, take last used row to paste projnr and values in columns

                End If

                Next

            ' Close the workbook without saving.
            mybook.Close savechanges:=False
        End If

        ' Open the next workbook.
    Next FNum

End If

' Restore the application properties.
With Application
    .ScreenUpdating = True
    .EnableEvents = True
    .Calculation = CalcMode
End With
End Sub

Can somebody point me in the right direction?
Kind regards,
Mathijs
Answer: Sub mergeRecords()

Dim rng1, rng2, c As Range
Dim r As Long

r = 1

'EDIT
Set rng1 = Sheets("A").Range("A1:A" & Sheets("A").Range("A65536").End(xlUp).Row)
Set rng2 = Sheets("B").Range("A1:A" & Sheets("B").Range("A65536").End(xlUp).Row)

For Each cell In rng1
    Set c = rng2.Find(cell.Text)
        If c Is Nothing Then
            Sheets("C").Range("A" & r).Value = cell.Text & "-" & cell.Offset(0, 1).Text & _
                "-" & cell.Offset(0, 2).Text & "-" & cell.Offset(3, 0).Text & "- - - -"
            r = r + 1
        Else
            Sheets("C").Range("A" & r).Value = cell.Text & "-" & cell.Offset(0, 1).Text & _
                "-" & cell.Offset(0, 2).Text & "-" & cell.Offset(3, 0).Text & "-" & _
                c.Offset(0, 1).Text & "-" & c.Offset(0, 2).Text & "-" & c.Offset(3, 0).Text
            r = r + 1
        End If
Next cell

For Each cell In rng2
    Set c = rng1.Find(cell.Text)
        If c Is Nothing Then
            Sheets("C").Range("A" & r).Value = cell.Text & "-" & cell.Offset(0, 1).Text & _
                "-" & cell.Offset(0, 2).Text & "-" & cell.Offset(3, 0).Text & "- - - -"
            r = r + 1
        End If
Next cell

End Sub

maybe something like this would work out for you
Comment: This code fails, specifically this fails right away `Sheets("A").Range("A1:A" & Sheets("A65536").End(xlUp).Row)`
Comment: do you have a sheet called "A"?
Comment: that was a placeholder for whatever your sheets are called
Comment: i think you meant to say `Set rng1 = Sheets("A").Range("A1:A" & Sheets("A").Range("A" & Rows.Count).End(xlUp).Row)`
Comment: absolutely what i meant, or Sheets("A").Range("A65536").End(xlup).row...and the second should be for sheet "B"


iOS - adding a button to the view of a subview, but calling button's action on top view's controller

Question: I've added a view (button) onto a subview (map) of the top view on my app, but I need to call an action on the top view's controller when the button is tapped. Here's a breakdown of the layers:
-ViewController.view has subview of map.
-map has subview of button.
-button needs to have target/action with target being ViewController.
All of that is done in the ViewController programmatically, so map is a direct subview of ViewController.view (ie, it does not have it's own view controller).
When I make the button and set the target to self, it calls the selector action on the map. The button is a crosshair that should zoom into the user's location. I need it on the map for clipping and rotating purposes. If I add the view as a subview of ViewController with target self, the action fires and the map zooms in. If I add the view as subview of map, the action does not fire or throw any errors.
Is this possible?
Here is what I want to do in the ViewController:
[crosshair addTarget:self action:@selector(zoomToLocation) forControlEvents:UIControlEventTouchUpInside];
[[self map] addSubview:crosshair];
Answer: You say:
"When I make the button and set the target to self, it calls the selector action on the map."
Where is this code, i.e., what is 'self' at that time?
What exactly is the problem with calling the selector in the map view?  If it is that some work must be done by the view controller, you can set up a delegate (callback) function in the view controller that the selector calls.


How to export a .FBX file without any extra things ( and Import it in Unity)?

Question:
Like the picture above, it is the model of Offcial_IA_MMD_Model. I used the mmd-tools adons to import it. The model contains physics simulations;mostly related to the skirt and the hair.

The setting I did to export the model as .FBX is the picture above.

I dragged the exported file in Unity but, it seems there is something wrong with the model. I think it may be displaying object related to the physical simulation. How to import the model like the first picture which contain the physical simulation without anything unneeded?
Answer: Select the meshes you want to export and make sure to tick "Selected Objects" in the export window


SoaSuiteComposites Delete old versions

Question: I am facing a challenge with deleting old composite versions in SoaSuite. I had a composite that uses local File Adapters to read files from and write to different folders. I had encountered some problems with the existing version and ended up creating new versions of the composite. Before deploying the new version, I un-deployed the old versions. However the old versions still seem to be running in the background and picking up the files from source folder. Does anyone know how if there are any additional steps to wipe out the older versions completely in-addition to un-deploying from EM?
Thanks.
Answer: There are no additional steps required after undeploying from EM.

SoaSuiteComposites Delete old versions


Miscellaneous quest text present even after quest completion

Question: I've completed the quest 'Find the word of power at Archwind' , but the text is still there in the miscellaneous. What to do?
Comment: What is the precise text you mentioned?
Answer: This is a known bug with the Arcwind Point word wall:

If Arngeir gives Arcwind Point as the location of a Word of Power, finding the word wall and learning the word may not complete the "Find the Word of Power in Arcwind Point" miscellaneous quest objective. The quest marker will remain in front of the word wall. The word wall located at Northwind Summit completes this quest, but only if it has not been previously found
The console command SetStage FreeFormHighHrothgarA 20 can be used to complete the quest, however Arngeir may give the quest again. Setting Arcwind Point as cleared via SetLocationCleared fd685 1 will prevent getting sent there again.
Since finding the word wall at Northwind Summit is the only known way to resolve this bug, this can be avoided by discovering the Arcwind Point word wall before the Northwind Summit one. (in PC SSE 184.108.40.206.8 it greybeards might still give you this wall if you "fixed" this bug by getting Northwind Summit)


Are adapters that allowing lens change on cheap camcorders worth it?

Question: I was told that adapters exist that allow you to mount an additional lens on a non-threaded camcorder.  Are these adapters worth it?  How common are they?
Comment: I altered your question pretty significantly.  Product recommendations and shopping for you are explicitly off-topic for this site, however there was other important related to the products you are looking for that I thought were worth communicating enough to edit the question a bit so it could still be touched on without directly closing the question.
Answer: Such devices do exist a reasonable amount of the time, but they rarely produce much in the way of quality.  There are exceptions, but they are fairly rare.  They do have their uses, but be aware that the results are most often marginal.  Your best bet to find them is generally looking around the various smaller NY/NJ photo/video shops that carry a variety of knock off products from around the world.
Make sure you are aware of what you are getting yourself in to with them.


In Gmail auto remove label when email is opened

Question: I would like to create a "unread email" label to filter what has been unread vs read.  I am successful in creating the filter; however the unread label sticks with the message indefinitely.  Is there anyway to remove the "unread email" label once the email has been opened?  This way, only unread email gets attention then automatically disappears once its been read.
Answer: The only way I know is to use the multiple inboxes option.

go into settings/inbox.
change inbox type to multiple inboxes
define one of the 5 sections as "is:unread". (don't include the quotes)
Click Save Changes

You can decide where to place the multiple inbox sections, and you can decide how many to show.
That section of your inbox will show all your unread messages/conversations.
When you read an message/conversation there is a lag before it refreshes the list.


Add a RewriteRule for WordPress multisite

Question: I have a brand new WP multisite network (v 3.5.1) on sub-directories. I'm getting an error with the images, where the subsites won't display them properly, but they are being uploaded correctly. I'm pretty sure all I need to do is add the correct RewriteRule to the .htaccess file in the main site, as such:
When an image is called from anywhere in the site, the URL is: example.com/subsitename/assets/sites/#/imagename.jpg. I want to change it so that the image actually pulls from: example.com/assets/sites/#/imagename.jpg, where subsitename, #, and imagename.jpg are all variables.
It seems like this should be really simple, but I'm having a hard time finding the right syntax or an example of someone else who has solved this issue. Does anyone know the proper RewriteRule I would add?
My current .htaccess file contains this:
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]

# add a trailing slash to /wp-admin
RewriteRule ^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?wp-admin$ $1wp-admin/ [R=301,L]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -f [OR]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d
RewriteRule ^ - [L]
RewriteRule ^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?(wp-(content|admin|includes).*) $2 [L]
RewriteRule ^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?(.*\.php)$ $2 [L]
RewriteRule . index.php [L]

Answer: Try this instead:
# BEGIN WordPress
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]

# uploaded files
RewriteRule ^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?files/(.+) wp-includes/ms-files.php?file=$2 [L]

# add a trailing slash to /wp-admin
RewriteRule ^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?wp-admin$ $1wp-admin/ [R=301,L]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -f [OR]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d
RewriteRule ^ - [L]
RewriteRule  ^[_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/(wp-(content|admin|includes).*) $1 [L]
RewriteRule  ^[_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/(.*\.php)$ $1 [L]
RewriteRule . index.php [L]
</IfModule>
# END WordPress


"Start work date" versus "start working date"

Question: How should I say the date I start working: Is "start work date" or "start working date"? I googled to just find out that both are used.
Which one is correct, and why?
Answer: Neither of OP's alternatives are acceptable compressed forms of what would normally be referred to as date of starting work in the full form of this compound noun. The most common short form is...

work start date

Note that the base noun here is date - modified by another noun start, which is itself modified by the noun work. Most compound nouns involve only two nouns anyway, and if there are more than two they usually all modify the same base noun, but the only grammar involved here is that when a noun is being used "adjectivally" it follows the normal rule for adjectives - it comes immediately before the noun it modifies (even if that modified noun is then used adjectivally to modify another noun that follows).
Comment: _Start_ is modified by the noun _work_. (You wrote, "which is itself modified by the noun ***start***.")
Answer: Some organizations -- say, a personnel or human resources department -- have phrases that they use for things that come up often in their own day-to-day business but don't have a widely used phrase. I've seen "start work date" used by such organizations as a way to refer to the date that someone actually shows up at the job and begins working; it comes up in their work to be distinguished from the day the person was offered the job, the day the person accepted the job, and the day the person left the job, etc., all of which are important when the department is calculating leave, waiting periods, tenure, etc.
In this case, it is acceptable to use the phrase the organization uses, even if they tend to treat it as a noun phrase instead of whatever it would normally have been in regular English usage.
Answer: In spoken English at least, the phrase I've heard most (in the UK and US anyway) is a simple, "start date", with context being used to determine whether it's referring to the start date of employment, a project, or some other time period. But I've heard most of the other forms above used from time to time as well.
I don't think strict adherence to rules is too much of a concern here. If the priority is simply to be as idiomatic as possible, and so sound like a native speaker, then the only form I'd avoid from all those mentioned so far, is "start working date".