Scoreboard value in floating text

Question: Is it possible to have a scoreboard value in floating text (invisible armor stand with nametag)? I have really no knowledge of scoreboards. I'm using this generator.
Answer: Yes, change the field where it says CustomName:"Your Text Here" to CustomName:scoreboardnamehere you might have to use quotes CustomName:"scoreboardnamehere" This should work, as it used to in 1.8. Things shouldn't have changed for 1.9.

Scoreboard value in floating text


Can I put a road bike tyre on a mountain bike?

Question: I am finding it difficult to ride a Mountain bike, I feel that it may be more comfortable to change the tyre to that of a road bike, which are thinner in size.
Please advise if I can do so.
Comment: `The problem with mountain bikes is that most are "26-inch" wheels, and for 26-inch wheels the actual rim diameter varies with the nominal width` **NO**. "26 inch MTB wheel" implies ETRTO 559mm. The only time I saw a non-559 wheel that claimed to be 26" off road, it was a Repack-inspired Clunker. http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/tires/
Comment: The problem with mountain bikes is that most are "26-inch" wheels, and for 26-inch wheels the actual rim diameter varies with the nominal width, so a tire that's labeled as narrower may not fit.  If instead you had a 700C (standard road) wheel then the diameter is fixed and you could use pretty much any tire that's not crazy different.
Comment: I recommend discovering the true reason why the bike is difficult to ride. For starters, try inflating the tires you have now to 60-65 psi.
Comment: Not all mountain bikes use 26" wheels, which most of these comments assume.  29er bikes use the exact same diamater rims as 700c road bikes.  Assuming compatability with the rim width (which may require wider tires, see the sheldon brown article linked above), you could run some 700x35 or larger road tires without much issue unless you've got really wide MTB rims.  I've used an old mountain bike wheel on my cross bike with 700x32 panaracer ribmos with no problems.
Comment: You can certainly change the tires, but there are some (rather silly) complexities so it's best to go to a good bike shop for help rather than attempt to pick out your own replacement tires.
Comment: You can purchase Continental Gatorskins in 26".  I used them myself on my commuter for a few years - low rolling resistance and zero punctures.
Comment: Using knobby tires at 65 psi on the road isn't going to make them more comfortable.
Answer: They make slick tires for mountain bikes used as commuters (and fat slick tires which the air provides a lot of cushioning). Some examples are Schwalbe's fat franks or big apple's (these are more baloonbike) or Marathons . Thinner doesn't necessarily mean more comfortable - in fact, the smaller the tire, the less comfortable it will typically be (this is a function of the bike's geometry and setup as well as the terrain and tires and tire pressures though). Go to your LBS and ask them for tires for road use or commuting and they will probably point you towards something similar to the Schwalbe big apples. Currently on my mountain bike which i use for commuting, I use Geax Evolution tires since I got them very very very cheap (though something like their street runner or some of the Kenda Kwick tires are probably something better for just road use if you're cheap).
You can't just take a mountain bike wheel and put it on a road bike and vice versa - the brake mounts and what not have to match up (this has been discussed a few times on these forums, whcih you can find with search) which is difficult if they're running different sizes.
Answer: The short answer is yes (with apologies to jimrings).  The long answer is that your choice is very limited (and depends on your definition of road tyre - do you mean road-bike tyre or road-use tyre)?.
You'll need to look at http://sheldonbrown.com/tire-sizing.html#width or similar for what widths are compatible, and for urban riding (debris) or light off-road tracks (thorns) I would strongly suggest a kevlar anti-puncture belt.
The thinnest of the popular kevlar slicks available in 26" appears to be the Schwalbe marathon, but you could also try the Schwalbe road cruiser (I use these on my hybrid) or continental's comfort-contact
Answer: The short answer is no. Now for the long answer...
Mountain bike and road bike wheels are different diameters and use tires that are different diameters. Specifically, mountain bikes use 26" tires and road tires use the ridiculously meaningless 700c sizing. I won't get into what these sizes mean here, but you can find more info on this site or, if you really want to dork out for a bit, read Sheldon Brown's page on tire sizing.
As Batman mentioned, you can purchase slicks and semi-slicks for 26" rims. They're not technically "road" tires - they're a bit wider and run lower pressures - but they still reduce rolling resistance. There are lots of options. Just shop around
All that said, I'm not sure what you find uncomfortable about your mountain bike tires. Mountain bike tires are typically more comfortable than road bike tires. One thing you may consider is simply lowering the pressure in your tires. The maximum pressure listed on the side is very often much higher than you want or need. You can read more about finding the correct pressure here.
Comment: More comfortable provided you're not running knobbies on pavement (esp. knobbies on a walmart bike). The noise alone (especially when the pressure is too low) makes them rather uncomfortable. I have a strong suspicion that the tires are "off road" rather than "on road" if you dont want to consider 26" slick tires as road tires (I, on the other hand, am perfectly okay with counting these non 700c tires as road tires).
Comment: There are road bikes made with 26" wheels.  Terry makes a bike with 650C tires/wheels -- 26x1", and the same ISO diameter as the Schwinn S-7 26x1-3/4".
Comment: I guess it is important to note that a 26x1-3/4" is not the same as 26x1.75 tire in bicycle speak (http://sheldonbrown.com/tire-sizing.html is useful but not complete). The Surly Long Haul/Disc truckers do ship with 26x 1.75 tires as an option (and are a requirement on sizes under 5x cm i think where i think x=6).
Comment: This answer seems to be extremely outdated, in the age of 700c 29ers. And no-one can post a real up-to date answer, because it is closed as a duplicate of something very different. The question whether a certain type of bike can accommodate a certain type of tyres is useful, it does not have to be a duplicate of a question about how to make that kind of bike more comfortable on roads by other means.
Comment: @VladimirF I don't disagree with you. The answer has aged poorly, as has the question it is linked to. I recommend doing two things: 1) Downvote this answer and, if appropriate, upvote one or more that you think is/are better. You won't hurt my feelings. 2) Vote to reopen the question, if you think the closure is incorrect. Five reopen votes will reopen the question. I'm not going to do so because my mod vote reopens it immediately, but I won't override community consensus.


How does crowdsale contract with lots of tiers work?

Question: Hello :) I'm really interested in knowing how crowdsale contracts with tiers are made. ICOs these days have crowdsale for different tiers with different prices for each.. Like PreICO, Round 1, round 2, round 3 etc. I'm curious to know how that is achieved. Do they create and compile different crowdsale contracts for each tier or is there another way it's being done?
Answer: You'd have to take a look at a specific contract to see how it was done for that ICO, but both are certainly possible. now is a globally-available variable that gives the current time, so a contract can easily check which "tier" it's in based on hardcoded timestamps or durations.
E.g.:
if (now < phase1End) {
    price = 1;
} else if (now < phase2End) {
    price = 2;
} else if (now < phase3End) {
    price = 3;
}


Ignore certain system keyboard shortcuts

Question: I'm using the homebrew-emacsmacport version of Emacs on OSX 10.10 Yosemite. I've created an OSX shortcut to do something in iTunes, but when I'm in Emacs, this is captured and displays M-s-- is undefined (It's Command-Alt--). I understand that this is the correct behavior, but is it possible to have Emacs ignore this shortcut, so it can get to iTunes? Or is there some subset of keys that Emacs ignores generally?
Comment: You are describing the exact opposite -- i.e., Emacs is ignoring a system shortcut.  If Emacs is actually ignoring OSX system shortcuts (e.g., defined within System Preferences, Keyboard, Keyboard Shortcuts), then this is indeed new news to me.  In that case, you may wish to consider writing an applescript that will be called within Emacs.  Emacs has a `do-applescript` and there are other means of calling an applescript within Emacs, including `start-process`.
Comment: @lawlist I'm not sure I entirely follow your comment, but to clarify, I'd like the shortcut to be available globally on my system. I've defined it in Keyboard Shortcuts, but it still gets captured by Emacs when Emacs is the active program.
Answer: With a few exceptions (e.g., hiding the OSX menu-bar with ns-auto-hide-menu-bar), Emacs does not alter basic system settings generally controlled by OSX (e.g., keyboard shortcuts defined within System Preferences / Keyboard / Keyboard Shortcuts).  The original poster has implied that Emacs is receiving the keyboard input of Command+ALT+-, which Emacs responds to by displaying a message M-s-- is undefined.  If the keyboard input had been hijacked by an OSX system keyboard shortcut for controlling iTunes, then Emacs would not have registered the input -- i.e., Emacs would have done nothing.
In a situation such as this, the original poster has two general options: (1) keep trying to define an OSX system keyboard shortcut that prevents Emacs from ever receiving the keystrokes [this is not done within Emacs, but rather at the OSX system level]; or, (2) write an applescript or other mechanism to control iTunes from with Emacs.  [There are at least a couple of libraries already written for Emacs to control certain iTunes functions on OSX -- available by Googling.] Here is an example for opening Safari with an applescript from within Emacs:
(defun safari-activate ()
(interactive)
  (let ((script (concat
         "tell application \"Safari\"\n"
         "activate\n"
         "end tell")))
    (start-process "safari-activate" nil "osascript" "-e" script)))

The keyboard shortcut at issue is a little tricky because ALT+COMMAND+- on OSX is actually creating an EN DASH (i.e., –, aka character code 8211) instead of a HYPHEN-MINUS (i.e., -, aka character code 45). The following example can be used to demonstrate whether an OSX system keyboard shortcut is intercepting the Emacs keyboard shortcut:
(global-set-key [(meta super ?–)] (lambda () (interactive) (message "Hello-world!")))

NOTE:  In the above example, we use an EN DASH to define the keyboard shortcut -- not a HYPHEN-MINUS. If an OSX system keyboard shortcut to control iTunes had been in effect, then Emacs would be silent instead of generating the message Hello-world!.
Comment: Isn't binding `ignore` to the key an option?
Comment: @wasamasa -- `ignore` is a function defined within `subr.el` -- `(defun ignore (&rest _ignore) "Do nothing and return nil.  This function accepts any number of arguments, but ignores them."  (interactive) nil)`.  Running the function `ignore` with an Emacs keyboard shortcut will not cause a system-wide keyboard shortcut on OSX to effectively pass-through Emacs and go to iTunes -- i.e., in one ear and out the other so to speak :)  I suspect the problem stems from using a unique keyboard shortcut with an **EN DASH** on OSX -- the O.P. could try using a different shortcut to narrow it down.
Comment: I'm asking this since I get similiar "errors" for hitting `` which makes my screen brighter and therefore passes through just fine, it's just Emacs that somehow catches wind of this and displays that message. Using `(global-set-key (kbd "") 'ignore)` gets rid of this warning and doesn't inhibit the functionality of the key, so I suppose this could be a case of the questioner not interpreting the results correctly (as it could appear not to work because he made a different error somewhere else).
Comment: @wasamasa, just tried that, but didn't fix the problem unfortunately.
Comment: @lawlist I'm still wondering if there is some group of keys that is generally ignored by Emacs? What would make Emacs capture something like `M-s--`, but not something else?


Did Saruman rescue Gollum from the Wood-Elves?

Question: At the Council of Elrond Legolas reveals that Gollum has escaped during a well-planned Orc attack. According to Legolas the Orcs were from over the mountains and unused to the woods but they headed back via Dol Guldur and the Wood-Elves were afraid to follow them. The unspoken assumption was that Sauron was behind it but that route makes more sense if they were heading to Isengard. Sauron had already personally interrogated Gollum about the Ring whereas Saruman may have thought Gollum worth questioning.
Answer: Unlikely; "the mountains" that Legolas mentions are most probably the Mountains of Mirkwood, and he says later in the same passage that they had tracked the Orcs close to Dol Guldur:

We have failed to recapture Gollum. We came on his trail among those of many Orcs, and it plunged deep into the Forest, going south. But ere long it escaped our skill, and we dared not continue the hunt; for we were drawing nigh to Dol Guldur, and that is still a very evil place; we do not go that way.

There doesn't seem to be any evidence that Saruman was even aware of Gollum, and it's getting too close to "what do you think of my theory?" territory to go any further.
Answer: I've always thought that there are some canonicity issues with 'The Hunt for the Ring' (Unfinished Tales), but if we accept this material then the answer is 'no'. From version A:

So it was that Sauron prepared two strokes ... The orcs assailed the
  realm of Thranduil with orders to recapture Gollum ...

and from version B:

[Sauron] attacked Thranduil and Gondor at about the same time. He had
  these two additional objects: to capture or kill Gollum, or at least
  to deprive his enemies of him...

Finally, the route toward Dol Guldur makes the most sense if the orcs were in fact heading for Dol Guldur.
Answer: Sauron was behind the attack, and it was directed by the Nazgûl
In Tolkien's The Hunt for the Rings manuscripts, he says that this attack was orchestrated by Sauron, with one or more of the Nazgûl present on scene to direct it.
Sauron had already interrogated Gollum, but the goal here was to make sure no one else did the same. Sauron discovered that Gandalf was visiting Gollum and he did not want Gandalf to be able to pry any information about the ring from him.

Several of the Nazgûl must remain in A[nduin] Vale. One or more actually direct the attack on Thranduil when Gollum escapes. Sauron thinks it vital to have him captured again and/or killed.
The Hunt for the Ring. Marquette MSS 4/2/35, quoted in The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion

So it was that Sauron prepared two strokes - in which many saw the beginnings of the War of the Ring. They were made together. The Orcs assailed the realm of Thranduil, with orders to recapture Gollum; and the Lord of Morgul was sent forth openly to battle against Gondor.
The Hunt for the Ring. Marquette MSS 4/2/31, quoted in Unfinished Tales

Sauron heard the disquieting news that the Wise were aware of Gollum, and that Gandalf had passed into Thranduil's realm.
Sauron must then have been filled with anger and alarm. He resolved to use the Ringwraiths as soon as he could, for speed rather than secrecy was now important. Hoping to alarm his enemies and disturb their counsels with the fear of war (which he did not intend to make for some time), he attacked Thranduil and Gondor at about the same time. He had these two additional objects: to capture or kill Gollum, or at least to deprive his enemies of him; and to force the passage of the bridge of Osgiliath, so that the Nazgûl could cross, while testing the strength of Gondor.
The Hunt for the Ring. Marquette MSS 4/2/32, quoted in Unfinished Tales
Answer: I think you've looked at all the text there is on this question; but I don't see that the text allows us to come to any kind of decision on this. There's no discussion anywhere in the book of how Saruman may have come to know of Gollum's existence, or his whereabouts; nor of why he would have considered Gollum worth questioning if he already felt he had power and a ring of his own. Saruman already knew where the Ring was, or close enough.


How can I get root-like permissions so I can download stuff from the software center?

Question: When downloading an application from the terminal it said I couldn't download it because I wasn't root, and when I got to search for the specific software in the Ubuntu software center it doesn't even come up as a search result. I need to get/download ttf-mscorefonts and preload please.
Comment: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RootSudo
Answer: Open a terminal by pressing CTRL+ALT+T and enter id This lists the groups you belong to.
If you are using Ubuntu 12.04 or later then look for the group sudo in earlier versions the group was admin.  If you are shown as being in this group you are a system administrator and can run commands with administrator privileges.  If not then you will need to ask an administrator to either make you an administrator too or do what you want
An administrator can make you one too by running sudo adduser username sudo or sudo adduser username admin as appropriate for the version of Ubuntu you have replacing username with your user name.
If you are already an administrator then to run a program with a GUI with admin privileges press ALT+F2 to open the command line and type gksu or gksudo followed by the name of the program you want to run.  For example gksu nautilus runs the filemanager. gksudo is just a link to gksu so both commands are equivalent.
For command line applications then prefix the command with sudo you will be asked to enter your password.  There is no feedback when you type but it is being acceped.
For the specific example of installing preload the command is
sudo apt-get install preload

This is explained in more detail in the RootSudo - Community Ubuntu Documentation
Answer: Provided you know the package you are looking for, you can use sudo apt-get install x where x is the package you are looking for.
Basically, for your Preload (for example) you would use:
sudo apt-get install preload

sudo temporarily gives you root permissions. You may want to read up on https://help.ubuntu.com/10.04/administrative/C/terminal.html or even better use man sudo.
You can use the man pages to better understand the commands you use, to help you understand where they will help you.
Answer: You are completely wrong. You are using a non-administrative account, so you can't install software trough terminal.
The reason is because you don't have a sudo password (yes, sudo, not root).
You can (if not, you have another problem, new question) install software trough the software center with a sudo password of an administrative user.
If you want to have administrative privileges, then you need to add the user in the sudo group.
You have to know the difference between sudo and root. Root is not a command, sudo is not a user..


Single bid auction: calculating bid as function of winning probability

Question: I'm simulating a auction game with sealed single bid, where each of the $n$ players has winning probability $p_i,i=1,...,n$, and their bids $b_i$ have to be calculated to meet the $p_i$. Supposing that the value $v_i$ of each player is uniformly distributed in the interval $[0,1)$ and $b_i$ is a function of $v_i$ (as usual), how could I calculate their bids to match the $p_i$?
Answer: Given $b_i(V_i)$ define $G_i(b)=\Pr[b_i(V_i)\le b]$ and $g_i=G^\prime_i(b)$, you want to find $b_i$ that solves
 $$p_i=\int_0^{\overline b} \Pi_{j\neq i} G_j(b)\cdot g_i(b) db\quad \forall i \tag{*}$$
You should also have $\sum_i p_i=1$.
It seems there should be an infinite number of $G_i$ and so an infinite number of $b_i$ that are compatible with (*) since you are not imposing equilibrium conditions...
Comment: What is exactly $G_i\prime$? It seems to be the probability density function of $G_i$, however for that one particular $g_i$ we would need the pdf of the complementary event, Pr[$b_i(V_i)>b$], woundn't we?
Comment: Actually it is improper saying "the pdf of an event", because the pdf depends on the random variable only. What varies with the event is the interval of integration. I thought it about this question over and came up with a response which I will share below in the list of responses.
Answer: The goal is to simulate a sealed first-price auction game, where each of the $n$ players has winning probability $p_i$, with $\sum_{i=1}^{n}p_i=1$, and their bid functions $b_i:[0,1] \mapsto\mathbb{R}^+$ have to be calculated to meet the $p_i$; $b_i$ is a function of the player's valuation $v_i$, as usual. Supposing that the value $v_i$ of each player is stochastically distributed according to a probability density function $g_i$:
\begin{equation}\def\arraystretch{2.2}
g_i:[0,\infty) \mapsto\mathbb{R}^+\quad \textrm{s.t.} \left\{ \begin{array}{ccc}
 \int_0^1{\! g_i(v)\mathrm{d}v}=1 \\
 g_i(v)=0 & \mathrm{for} & v > 1
\end{array} \right.\mathrm{,(Eq.01)}
\end{equation}
how can the bid functions $b_i(v_i)$ be determined to match the $p_i$?
Without loss of generality, it can be assumed that $b_1(1)\leq b_2(1)\leq ... \leq  b_n(1)$. For a better understanding of the problem, initially it is defined that $n=2$. Being $p_2$ the probability of the player 2 winning, this event can be partitioned in two sub-events:
\begin{equation}
 p_2=\Pr\{b_1(v_1)<b_2(v_2)\}\quad\mathrm{(Eq.02)}
\end{equation}
\begin{equation}
=\Pr\{b_1(v_1)<b_2(v_2)\wedge b_2(v_2)<b_1(1)\}+\Pr\{b_1(v_1)<b_2(v_2)\wedge b_2(v_2)\geq b_1(1)\}\quad\mathrm{(Eq.03)}
\end{equation}
and each of the terms can be treated separately. The second one is simpler, because one event in the conjunction is consequence of the other (approximately, however it can be assumed that probabilities of exact values are zero), thus the consequence event can be eliminated:
\begin{equation}
\Pr\{b_1(v_1)<b_2(v_2)\wedge b_2(v_2)\geq b_1(1)\}=\Pr\{b_2(v_2)\geq b_1(1)\}\quad\mathrm{(Eq.04)}
\end{equation}
These probabilities can be calculated using the $g_i$'s, as long as the events to be measured determine the limits of integration. For (Eq.04), the calculation is:
\begin{equation}
\Pr\{b_2(v_2)\geq b_1(1)\}=\int_{b_2^{-1}(b_1(1))}^{1}\!g_2(v_2)\mathrm{d}v_2\quad\mathrm{(Eq.05)}
\end{equation}
The first term of (Eq.03) is a little more elaborate and needs a double integral on $v_1$ and $v_2$:
\begin{equation}
\Pr\{b_1(v_1)<b_2(v_2)\wedge b_2(v_2)<b_1(1)\}=\int_{0}^{b_2^{-1}(b_1(1))}\int_{0}^{b_1^{-1}(b_2(v_2))}g_2(v_2)g_1(v_1)\mathrm{d}v_1\mathrm{d}v_2\quad\mathrm{(Eq.06)}
\end{equation}
Thus the equation for $p_2$ described by the pdf's is:
\begin{equation}
p_2=\int_{0}^{b_2^{-1}(b_1(1))}\int_{0}^{b_1^{-1}(b_2(v_2))}g_2(v_2)g_1(v_1)\mathrm{d}v_1\mathrm{d}v_2\!+\!\int_{b_2^{-1}(b_1(1))}^{1}\!g_2(v_2)\mathrm{d}v_2\mathrm{. (Eq.07)}
\end{equation}
Complementarily, the obtention of $p_1$ initiates by defining
\begin{equation}
p_1=\Pr\{b_1(v_1)>b_2(v_2)\wedge b_2(v_2)<b_1(1)\}\mathrm{, (Eq.08)}
\end{equation}
because $\Pr\{b_1(v_1)>b_2(v_2)\wedge b_2(v_2)\geq b_1(1)\}=0$. From that, one obtains
\begin{equation}
p_1=\int_{0}^1\int_{0}^{b_2^{-1}(b_1(v_1))}g_1(v_1)g_2(v_2)\mathrm{d}v_2\mathrm{d}v_1\quad\mathrm{(Eq.09)}
\end{equation}
This deduction can be generalized for any integer $n$, and the outline of this generalization is: start by defining
\begin{equation}
P_{m|q}=
\Pr\left\{\left(\bigwedge_{r\neq m}b_m(v_m)> b_r(v_r)\right)\bigwedge b_{q-1}(1)\leq b_m(v_m) < b_q(1)\right\}\quad\mathrm{(Eq.10)}
\end{equation}
where, by definition, $b_0(1)=0$, and it is implied that $b_r(v_r)<b_q(1),\forall r$. The rightmost event in (Eq.10), when varied in $q$, defines a partition of the probability space, so it is possible to define the probability $p_i$ of a player as
\begin{equation}
p_m=\sum\limits_{q=1}^{m} P_{m|q}\mathrm{, (Eq.11)}
\end{equation}
having in mind that $\Pr\{b_m(v_m)\geq b_q(1)\}=0$ for $q>m$. This fact has to be used when defining the limits of the nested integrals of the $g_i$'s.
In order to take better grasp on how this formulation can be concretized, the pdf's can be defined as $g_i=1,\forall i$, which corresponds to a uniform distribution in the interval $[0,1]$, and the bid functions defined as $b_i(v_i)=B_i v_i$, with $B_i$ scalar constant in the same interval $[0,1]$. This conducts to  perhaps the simplest way to answer to the question on how to define the bid functions $b_i$'s when the winning probabilities $p_i$'s are given. However, the equations elaborated above are explicit for $p_i$ given $b_i$, so if it is assumed the other way around, as it was in the question initially posed, the equations have to be gathered in a system of equations that, when solved, allow to determine $B_i$'s for given $p_i$'s. Besides that, one of the $B_i$'s has to be arbitrated, because one of the probability equations is dependent on the others, since $p_i=1-\sum_{j\neq i}p_j$.


What user do scripts in the cron folders run as? (i.e. cron.daily, cron.hourly, etc)

Question: If I put a script in /etc/cron.daily on CentOS what user will it run as? Do they all run as root or as the owner?
Answer: They all run as root.  If you need otherwise, use su in the script or add a crontab entry to the user's crontab (man crontab) or the system-wide crontab (whose location I couldn't tell you on CentOS).
Answer: Edit: my answer doesn't actually apply in this case, see Zoredache's comment below.  Sorry, all (esp. geekosaur).  Kyle, note that if you want to run a script regularly as a non-root user, the following may be helpful; just do it through cron.d rather than cron.{hourly,daily,weekly,monthly}.
I hate to contradict, but I fear that geekosaur isn't quite right.  They run as root except where specified otherwise.  Here's part of my CentOS box's /etc/cron.d/munin file:
# cron-jobs for munin
MAILTO=root
1-56/5 * * * *     munin /usr/share/munin/munin-limits --force

Note how, on the substantive line (line 3), there's a username specified before the executable.  This particular cron entry runs as user munin, so provided your cron is similar to CentOS 5's (vixie-cron-4.1-77), you should be able to do likewise.
Comment: D'oh!  Thanks, Zoredache; I should read the question more carefully.  No coffee yet!  I'd delete it, but I think there's still useful information in my answer - just not for the OP - so I'm sort of inclined to let it stand.  What do you think?  (Sorry for wrongly jumping in, geekosaur).
Comment: He seems to be talking specifically about cron.daily and cron.weekly, and not things in cron.d/*.
Comment: You've already grasped that the idea of using directories rather than individual files for storing collections is that it makes it easier for a package to add an entry: just drop a file into a dir, instead of trying some complex sed invocation to edit chunks of text in and out of files...
Comment: geekosaur answered my basic question but I've never known what the cron.d folder is actually for. cron.daily, etc are rather obvious, as is crontab. But where does cron.d sit within it all?
Comment: ... In the case of munin, it needs to run a job every five minutes, and not as root.  That's a perfect example of why cron.{hourly,etc.} isn't suitable for everyone; some cron jobs still want to be able to specify a frequency, and maybe a user, and for them, cron.d is better.  Others don't, and for them, cron.{hourly,etc.} is simpler, as they just dump a script instead of a script plus a timing/user-setting wrapper.


Book recommendation for chess engine building

Question: This might be too broad a question, but can anyone recommend specific books that deal with chess engines, including hard-coded ones such as Stockfish, Komodo, and other ones also based on neural networks and reinforcement learning? I want to get a broad overview of the logic behind chess engines, and maybe experiment in building one myself. For starters, is there anywhere I can refer to understand the Stockfish source code for example, and Alpha Zero respectively?
Comment: The book "Deep Learning and the Game of Go" by Pumperla and Ferguson could help. The core deep-learning approach can be applied to just about any game.
Answer: To my knowledge there is no book on chess engine programming because there is no market.
People study the source code simply by reading it. If you have any question, please join Stockfish/LC0 discord. It worked well for me, I just ask online anything I don't understand.
I would suggest the following on learning. Many more I may have missed.

https://www.chessprogramming.org/Main_Page
https://www.talkchess.com
https://lib.vsu.by/jspui/handle/123456789/20821 (Deep learning for chess ai)
Stockfish/LC0 discoards
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/fishcooking
Comment: Actually, CPW lists a whole page on books about chess engines.
Answer: FM Bill Jordan has written several, including:

How to Write a Chess Engine
The Joy of Chess Programming: How Chess Engines Work
How to Write a Bitboard Chess Engine: How Chess Engines Work

The first is basically a printout of his engine's code, with an explanation of each code segment.
Comment: He also has a book on a javascript-based engine.
Answer: This depends quite a bit on your level of understanding, as well as your knowledge of relevant programming languages.
David Levy wrote a number of books that deal fairly closely with this topic.  "Chess and Computers" (1976) is more for the beginner, while his "Computer Chess Compendium" is more 'medium' and above.  See his biography/bibliography on Wikipedia for additional titles.
If you want to understand a particular engine,  you basically have to go on what the author(s) have published -- and that may be in technical academical journals, so a good reference library nearby who can help you locate those is probably a necessity. If you want to understand a specific search algorithm, it's academical journals or text books, depending on if it's research-level stuff or more 'standard' things.
Good luck!
Answer: Chess Programming Wiki (CPW) is a fantastic online resource and has a recommended reading list. It will give you more breadth of information than any book, at the risk of not laying things out in a consistent manner like a book.
A good gentle introduction to chess engines in general is the 6-part series by François-Dominic Laramée (2000) listed in the online resources links.
Neural networks are still new and there aren't many long-form explanations on them yet. The only one I could find is Neural Networks For Chess: The magic of deep and reinforcement learning revealed by Dominik Klein. I have not read it.
Your best bet to understand Stockfish is to read the CPW article on Stockfish and NNUE. Also refer to the original AlphaGo papers. You should have some basic familiarity with what evaluation is and also the principles of a neural network (backpropagation).
Comment: note that the book you mentioned ("Neural Networks for Chess: The magic of deep and reinforcemet learning revelaed") is apparently freely available at https://github.com/asdfjkl/neural_network_chess . There is also code, which I did not check


Is it possible for coordinate distance to disagree with proper distance in flat spacetime?

Question: The title pretty much sums it up. I'm learning about general relativity and I've ran across descriptions of coordinate distance not matching with a moving objects proper distance. We know this is explained in curved spacetime, but is it also possible in flat spacetime? Perhaps due to the expansion of the universe according to the spatially flat FRW metric spacetime? Thanks.
Answer: Sure!  Just set up coordinates such your coordinate is "0 meters";  a point a proper distance of 1 meter away from you is labeled "2 m"; a point a proper distance 2 meters away from you is labeled "5 meters"; a point a proper distance of 3 meters away from you is labeled "10 meters"; and so on, with no rhyme or reason as to how the numbers behave with increasing proper distance (other than the fact that they're increasing.)
The point is that coordinates mean nothing on their own in general relativity.  They are arbitrary labels that we put on points to help us keep track of them, but they do not necessarily correspond to the proper time for any observer or the proper distance along any geodesic.  Nothing stops us from writing down any coordinates we choose to describe flat spacetime in the same way, other than the fact that some choices make the calculations easier.  If I were to write out the metric in terms of my perverse coordinates above, it would not look like the Minkowski metric, but it would still describe flat space-time, just in a perverse set of coordinates.
Answer: Just take any two null-separated events.
Answer: Yes. One example is a row of accelerated observers. They keep a constant distance between them, what is indicated by the green line in the picture. An inertial observer agrees with that distances (half l.y. between yellow and blue, 1 l.y. between blue and red) only for t = 0, when  is momentarily comoving with the ships.
After that, the coordinate distances are horizontal lines, and the ships seems getting closer.
The spacetime is of course flat for the inertial observer, but it is also flat for each of the accelerated ones. While they can use this system of coordinates, their proper distances and proper time are different from x and t, and require calculation.


NVIDIA graphic drivers elementary os 6

Question: I need to install NVIDIA drivers on my pc. How can I do?
I tried """software-properties-gtk""" but I have an infinite loop login.
I discovered that my driver needs a kernel that works only on Ubuntu 16.04 and before.
Since I love elementary os, I don't know what to do
Answer: You can try this: sudo ubuntu-drivers autoinstall

NVIDIA graphic drivers elementary os 6


Configuring port on "Default SMTP Virtual Server" in Exchange 2016

Question: I have an old server running Exchange 2003 on Windows 2003. I'm trying to setup a brand new server running Exchange 2016. There is a massive change between the version and I'm having hard time how to duplicate my Exchange 2003 setup with the new 2016.
On my Exchange 2003 I have a SMTP Connection that forwards all emails to my webhost smtp server.
SMTP Connector to webhost
Then I have the Default SMTP Virtual Server configured to use TCP Port 2525 for the outgoing connection.
Default SMTP Virtual Server
In Exchange 2016 I've been able to add the send connection by going to mail flow> send connectors. How can I configure exchange to use port 2525 when forwarding emails to the webhost?
Answer: Found the answer you'll have to use exchange shell. https://authsmtp.com/exchange-2016/exchange2016_alternative_port.html


Taxes for New Immigrant

Question: I will enter Texas on immigrant visa, my wife is US citizen and she is unemployed  for the last 2 years,how should I deal with the Taxes Authorities?
Comment: In what way? Register? Pay tax? Reclaim tax? You need to provide more information if you want to get an answer
Answer: Your status with respect to federal income tax depends on when you enter the US and on your presence during the previous two tax years (because of the substantial presence test).  See Determining Alien Tax Status and Alien Residency - Green Card Test on the IRS website.  From the latter:

If you meet the green card test at anytime [sic] during the calendar year, but do not meet the substantial presence test for that year, your residency starting date is the first day on which you are present in the United States as a Lawful Permanent Resident. However, an alien who has been present in the United States at any time during a calendar year as a Lawful Permanent Resident may choose to be treated as a resident alien for the entire calendar year.

From the former:

You can be both a nonresident alien and a resident alien during the same tax year. This usually occurs in the year you arrive or depart from the United States. If so, you may elect to be treated as a Dual Status Alien for this taxable year and a Resident Alien for the next taxable year if you meet certain tests. (Refer to section "Dual-Status Aliens" – "First Year Choice" in Publication 519, U.S. Tax Guide for Aliens.)

(I don't know anything about taxation in Texas, but similar considerations probably apply.)
Comment: Note that even if the OP is a nonresident alien or dual-status alien for the year, they can choose to be treated as a resident alien the whole year using Nonresident Spouse Treated as Resident, and file taxes as Married Filing Jointly with their US citizen spouse. Otherwise, as a nonresident or dual-status alien, they can only file as Married Filing Separately.
Comment: @user102008 I decided not to mention that because I wonder whether that would be advantageous for someone whose income was mostly or entirely earned during the period of nonresidency and whose spouse has little or no income.  But indeed it should be considered, the tax figured both ways, and, if filing jointly results in a lower tax burden then the taxpayer will want to make the election.

Taxes for New Immigrant


Dimmer Switch in 3 Gang Box

Question: Quick question from a beginner. Trying to install 2 dimmer switches in this 3 gang box. In the picture, you'll see that I connected the positive and neutral already to the first dimmer switch. The third switch on the right is the one that I am not changing. There was just one long piece of ground wire here used that went to all 3 switches. Is the best way to connect the ground from the dimmer switches (stranded wire) to the ground wire that is there by using those green wire nuts? And then just wrap it regularly around the last switch? Any other tips? All help is appreciated, thank you
Comment: The correct wording for the wires to the switch is hot and switched hot.  Simple switches do not use/have neutral.  For the ground might want to pigtail shorter ground wires to the switches from the main ground.
Comment: Read the instructions that came with the dimmers, but you might find that you have to bend off one row of aluminum tabs if you want the dimmers to fit side by side. This de-rates the dimmer a bit, but usually not a problem with led fixtures. (You might also find that you don't have to break the tabs if you put the conventional switch in the middle.)
Answer: Yes, you can use the green thread-through wire nuts to attach the dimmer grounds to the ground wire attached to the switch.  Wrap the switch terminals with electrical tape. Be careful when you fold the wires back in, especially to keep the bare copper away from the switch terminals (even with the tape - it can get scraped off).
Answer: If you have some extra 12 ga wire and wire nuts, it would be easier to trim the extra long wire and attach that wire along with all 3 switch grounds using an extra wire nut.  That means fitting 4 wires into an empty 2nd wire nut instead of 6 wires into the original weird greenie with the twisted up business.
If you feel obligated to re-use the greenie with 6 or 7 wires inside, take some time to make all the ends straight and triple check that you've got each wire snugly and permanently attached after twisting.  Those greenies are not designed for 7 wires, and trying to cram them in there gracefully is a chore and a half.
I would not use any electrical tape here, and if I found someone else using it I would be mildly alarmed that something might be wrong.

Dimmer Switch in 3 Gang Box


Backup/Restore File Groups SQL Server

Question: I've got a database with 3 Filegroups and each filegroups own a single file, Filegroup names are Primary, SecondFG and ThirdFG. I want to backup ThirdFG separately each time without backing up the others. I've tried it in many ways but when I want to restore database filegroup backup I get the error for other Filegroups or files are not included in the backup file! but When I backup all FileGroups together there would be no problem, please guide me how to backup and restore single filegroup, by the way I've read all BOL and I couldn't solve my problem!
Answer: You can back up individual files and filegroups only when your database is using the full or bulk_logged recovery model, because you must apply log backups after you restore a file or filegroup; you can't make log backups of a database that's using the simple model.
Unlike full database and differential backups, a backup of a file or filegroup doesn't back up any portion of the transaction log. So, none of the transaction log is in a file or filegroup restore, and you still need to restore the log.
You can restore individual file or filegroup backups from a full database backup.
Immediately before restoring an individual file or filegroup, you must back up the transaction log. You must have an unbroken chain of log backups from the time the file or filegroup backup was made until the time the files or filegroups are restored.
After restoring a file or filegroup backup, you must restore all the transaction logs made between the time you backed up the file or filegroup and the time you restored it. Restoring these interim transaction logs guarantees that the restored files are synchronized with the rest of the database.
Comment: I did every you said but the problem is when i select restore file and filegroups and select the backup file that contains one filegroup back up backup I get the error that other filegroups are not included into the backup file.

Backup/Restore File Groups SQL Server


How fast can a human run?

Question: I'm a runner (cross country) and I'm always amazed at how fast Olympic sprinters are. There's a lot of hype about those in the 100-meter dash being the fastest in the world, and we're constantly seeing the 100-meter time dropping. But is there a limit? How fast can human being, propelled only by its own energy (i.e. without any external assistance) run?
Comment: Me about 13km/h average, or by sprint about 18km/h :D I guess far from olympic ranges...
Answer: An older answer that referred to the physiological feats of ancient humans, and why modern humans are wimps made me look up a couple of papers on running speeds a while ago. One of the examples used to support the statement that modern humans are "wimps" is a study of ancient fossilized footprints from Australia, which claim that the individuals making the footprints were running close to Olympic record times. The footprint studies (Webb, 2007) basically attempts to describe the humans that have created the footprint paths, and also tries to calculate the speeds they were running at. For one of the individuals (T8), the estimated running speed is 37 km/h (i.e. 10.3 m/s). The interpretation by Peter McAllister in his book Manthropology seems to be (I haven't read the book) that these barefoot individuals running on mud could easily have outrun current day sprinters, especially with training and on a rubber track (also see this huffintonpost article on the book). If the estimates in Webb (2007) are close to accurate, it would seem that modern top-trained athletes might not have reached the edge of what is humanly possible when it comes to top speeds.
There is also a biomechanical study on potential human running speeds (Weyand et al., 2010) that you will probably find interesting. This paper looks at factors such as gait, stance, force application etc, and includes empirically estimated values from 10 subjects to discuss the limits to human speed. They conclude that (natural) human speeds are likely to be limited to ~50 km/h (as reference: Bolt's top speed during his 9.58 WR was ~44 km/h).

Consequently, human running speeds in excess of 50 km/h are likely to be limited to the
  realms of science fiction and, not inconceivably, gene doping.

They also look at different scenarios and e.g. point out how important limb length is for top speed:

Second, limbs lengthened through evolution or perhaps prosthetically could
  substantially increase the top running speed attained at the minimum period of foot-ground force application. For example, a relatively small increase in leg length of 10 cm would
  increase contact lengths by 9 cm and the top speeds of the subjects tested here from 9.1 to 9.8 m/s.

In general, important factors for maximum speed in animals are ground  reaction force and ground contact time. An earlier study by Weyand et al. (2002) also show how faster human runners in general have shorter ground contact times compared to slower runners. As a sidenote, this seems to be in contrast to cheetahs, which have longer ground contact times than greyhounds, while still being much faster (Hudson et al. 2012 and popular summary).
View these as a couple of interesting examples and a starting point. This is not my area, and I do not know the literature well.
Comment: This is a superb answer! On reading the question, I actually felt that it was hard/impossible to answer.
Comment: Fantastic answer. Very comprehensive.
Comment: Recent article from New york times, on the same subject: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/21/science/human-running-speed-quadruped.html
Comment: Also [Kinugasa & Usami. 2016. *How Fast Can a Human Run? − Bipedal vs. Quadrupedal Running*. Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol.](https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fbioe.2016.00056/full)
Comment: It is interesting to look at the pre-motorized past when it was very common for people to travel on foot great distances since horses were expensive. I have read that some suspect mile records may have been beaten much earlier in history. On the other hand, older olympic marathon times are significantly worse than modern which may imply better training, nutrition and technique play a big role.

How fast can a human run?


Sending an Outlook invitation from Gmail

Question: Someone asked me to send them an Outlook invitation. I'm not on Outlook and don't want to set up an email account just to send them an invitation.
Is there a way to send an Outlook invitation from Gmail?
Answer: There is no specific invite for an Outlook user within the default Gmail interface. Since you can send a calendar invitation within Gmail now testing the behavior of Outlook should be trivial.
Generally speaking varying clients such as Outlook, Lotus Notes, Thunderbird, etc... acknowledge the invites from a differing client; however in some cases they don't.
Based on information from this thread it appears that at least towards the end of 2007 they stopped working; going from Gmail to Outlook.
The best option is to simply send a standard calendar invitation within Gmail to see how Outlook responds.
Comment: That is a nice new feature, and seems to work great with Windows 7 and Outlook 2010.
Answer: I just tested this by creating an event in my Google Apps Calendar to my Outlook 2010 calendar at work. It successfully came through as a calendar invite, and upon accepting, it was added to my Outlook calendar, Google calendar and the acceptance response email was received in the GMail.
Answer: Cross-platform invitations (Outlook to Google / Google to Outlook) are both problematic for similar reasons.
Recipient must click an email to add the event to their calendar (rather than it showing up as an invite directly in the calendar). Moreover, if it is a one-off event with no changes, this is generally painless. However, any edits or cancellations that the organizer makes to the event will not necessarily result in an email to the cross-platform recipient, and almost certainly will not render as a cancellation in the destination calendar, thus resulting in stale events. If you have an office 365 account (note you do not need to use outlook client for this) it is possible to use the the Outlook API to generate an outlook-based invite:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/api/user-post-events?view=graph-rest-1.0
If you wire that Microsoft API together with Google Apps Script you could theoretically mirror both the original event and its changes, propagating the original invites and their updates in the appropriate format. It is astonishing that something like this isn't easier.


Get rid of [being]

Question: Can "get rid of" be used with gerunds?
▪ I'm always forgetting to do what I have to, so I think I need to get rid of [being] so forgettable.
Answer: Get rid of is only used with nouns, so you would have to say "Get rid of the habit of being..." The word you want is forgetful. If something is forgettable, it is easy to forget about it.

Get rid of [being]


"I was too surprised to say anything (or) something"

Question: Which phrase is correct and why? I think "something" is correct because we have a positive sentence not a negative nor a question. As i have seen from the internet (google search) the case with the "anything" is correct. Can anyone explain to me please why is that correct?
Comment: Yes, where are you saying this, and what do you want it to mean? Both are okay, depending on the situation.
Comment: Without context, I'd say they're both usable but "anything" is more idiomatic, ie more commonly used.
Comment: This depends on the context
Comment: Is anything missing to understand the context ?
Answer: Too... to... is a structure which implies a negative. meaning I was too surprise (I can not say anything). hope this help.
Answer: The case with anything is correct.
Your phrase is in fact negative, since "I was too surprised to ..." roughly equates to "Because of my surprise I did not...".
According to Meriam-Webster Dictionary:
something means an unspecified thing
and:
anything means any thing whatever
Saying you were "too surprised to say something" technically means that there was a particular unspecified thing you did not say, when to be  precise there were many possible things you might have said and you did not say any of them.
"I was too surprised to say anything" is more accurate, as not saying any thing whatever is equivalent to saying nothing at all.


Civic won't start after replacing head gaskets

Question: My '94 Honda Civic (1.5l VTEC-E) was overheating, and I replaced the head gaskets. Now it turns over but won't start. What should I do?
Answer: There are five things I can think of which could possibly be at issue, but as written, your question is very broad and could have many different answers. You don't even give any thought to telling us whether or not the engine will even kick over or if it just cranks over with no other signs of life.
That said ...
Number one: Your cam timing is off.
This video should help you ensure you have the cam timing correct.
Number two: You don't have fuel pressure.
Put a fuel pressure gauge on your fuel rail somewhere and see if you have pressure. You can probably hear the pump prime when you turn the key. If so, this would be at the bottom of my list to check. Especially since the engine was running when you tore it apart.
Number three: You didn't connect power to your ignition system.
Go back over and check your wiring to ensure everything is in place and you didn't inadvertently break something in the process of putting it back together. You can also put a multimeter on your coil power lead to ensure there is power there as well. I doubt the coil itself is the issue. You can also check at the spark plug to ensure you are getting spark.
Number four: You didn't attach your spark plug wires in the correct order.
Carefully ensure you have the spark plug leads back into the correct position. Here is a diagram of how they should be attached:

Number Five: Your distributor may be 180 degrees out.
I'm not sure if this is even a concern, but it might be. If the distributor is 180 degrees out (meaning, the rotor is placed backwards when the distributor was attached to the end of the head or 180 degrees out of position), it will be firing the spark plugs on the exhaust stroke instead of the compression stroke, as it should. You'd need to static time your engine to ensure this is not the case. Again, the lack of engine information is hurting you here. I say might be on this one, because I'm not sure if you can even do this with Honda distributors, but it may be something to eliminate.


I'v heard that homosexuality is a genetic disease, but i don't know why Allah forbids homosexuality and why it is sin?

Question: If Allah allows abnormal gay boys to be
 born so why homosexuality is a sin?
Comment: First of all there are yet no absolute proof that someone might be born homosexual. There are still many factors involved, without starting a discussion about that topic, this article might be good to read http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/03/15/homosexuality-may-be-triggered-by-environment-after-birth/
Answer: A lot of muslims claim that homosexuality is a sin because it is unnatural. I disagree with them. Homosexuality has been observed in many animals. So it's completely natural. HOWEVER, it's still a sin. Just because something is natural does not mean that it will not be haram. For example, cannibalism is also natural. Does that mean it is halal to eat other human beings? No. So why is homosexuality haram? Allah knows best.
But if I really had to come up with an answer to why homosexuality is haram, it is this: Allah chose us (human beings) over all other animals. So he expects us to live our lives in a way different from other animals. That's why he made special laws for us to abide by. This is my best guess to why homosexuality is haram.
Another thing you should know is just because a person is a homosexual doesn't mean that he/she is guaranteed to go to hell. As long as the homosexual person doesn't act upon his desires and lives the life of a normal muslim, he/she has nothing to worry about. If a person is born a homosexual, that means Allah is testing him/her. He can either give in to his homosexual urges and be like the animals OR he could follow the laws Allah made unique for human beings.
Comment: How is cannibalism natural?


SharePoint 2013 Alert

Question: I have an issue with my Alert, the issue I have is every time I click on an alert item it will take me to the record however the record is empty. When I look at the URL the ID is duplicated and when I remove the duplication it's fine.
Answer: The issue was access mapping, I had to change the default alternate access mapping

SharePoint 2013 Alert


What was the mirror crystal in the cave under the Jedi Island?

Question: In Star Wars: The Last Jedi, what is the crystal Rey touches in the cave under the Jedi island when she falls through the hole, where she asks to see her parents? It isn't really addressed in the film and I can find no hints online about it.
Answer: This article from Den of Geek has some interesting theories.
Essentially, it says that the mirror scene for Rey served the same purpose that the cave-battle with Vader served for Luke (at Dagobah).
My interpretation: to become a true Jedi, it's necessary to understand that the dark side isn't an external enemy. Rather, it's a part of yourself that you must learn to accept and overcome. Luke saw his own face in Vader's mask, and Rey saw herself in a "dark side mirror".
Both of them learn the lesson that the dark side lives within themselves - but Rey is the only one that can accept and control it. Luke fights his dark side and "kills himself" by accident. Rey, on the other hand, plays with the mirror and seemingly starts to understand it. Perhaps she passed the Jedi test that Luke himself failed.
Comment: This is a good interpretation of the scene and the message it is trying to show, but we are still in the dark as to what the crystal mirror itself was, in geological / natural terms. It clearly was the anathema of the Force-Positive Jedi tree on the surface, but we don't know what mineral / material it was and if Rey was hallucinating or it was a property of the crystal itself that led to the trippy multiple-Rey scene.
Comment: Just to add, because it's a "cyrstal", it may relate to the mythology with kyber crystals in general--they are used in lighsabers as a conduit of force energy from a user into the blade, as they are "attuned" to the force. In new canon (dr. Aphra) a leader from an ancient Jedi splinter group (ordu aspectu) was able to artificially put his conscious into a crystal, but it became corupt. In Darth Vader comic (2017) tells the story of Vader gets his new red saber by having to kill and take a Jedi's crystal from his lightsaber and "bleed" the crystal. I could make a speculative anwer, if you want?
Comment: @OddCore: What does "anathema" mean in this context? In the vocabulary I can only find "something or someone that one vehemently dislikes" or formal religious curses and the like.
Answer: Just to add, the following metaphysical components may help relate to mirror's quantum mechanics.
Force-Sensetive Geology:

"The Jedi tried to cap the power of this shrine, but there's leakage.
  It's not just Sidious; it's the power of history, it's the residue of
  what's left of the dark side there." ―James Luceno[src]

In addition to this, there are "special" Force Sensative Gelogical Location that are "stronger with the force" than other locations. As mentioned in a previous answer, The Cave on Dagabah is such a place. (This is also furthered by the Force Ghost of Qui-Gon Jinn talking to Yoda in Clone Wars Animated Series). One reason the Jedi could not clearly see what was going on with the Sith during the Prequel-era, was due to fact that the Jedi temple sits upon a Sith Shrine!
Kyber Crystals:

Kyber crystals, also called the living crystal or simply the kyber,
  and known as kaiburr crystals in ancient times, were rare,
  Force-attuned crystals that grew in nature and were found on scattered
  planets across the galaxy. They were used by the Jedi and the Sith in
  the construction of their lightsabers. As part of Jedi training,
  younglings were sent to the Crystal Caves of the ice planet of Ilum to
  mine crystals in order to construct their own lightsabers. The
  crystal's mix of unique lustre was called "the water of the kyber" by
  the Jedi.3 There were also larger, rarer crystals of great power and
  that, according to legends, were used at the heart of ancient
  superweapons by the Sith. http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Kyber_crystal

The new canon has been playing with the mythological advancement on Kyber Crystals. For instance, in the Doctor Aphra comics, the second arc features Aphra looking for a legendary Jedi--one where the Leader of an Ancient Jedi Splinter group, Ordu Aspectu, had found away to artificially preserve his conscious in a computer that can only be activated by a crystal found on the body of the now cuorupt Rur. In the newer Darth Vader comics (2017) Darth Vader's first task after the events of Revenge of the Sith are to construct a new lightsaber. In order to achieve this he must hunt down a remaining Jedi, kill him, then take the crystal from the Jedi's lightsaber, and "bleed" it out, which turns it red. Also just briefly, the passage about a crystal that could be used as Sith superweapon *may relate to plots presented in the Aftermath Trilogy, as Sidious was looking for some kind of superweapon...
Force-Sensetive Trees:

Really, these could be considered apart of the Geological facter, but Force Sensative Trees also exist. There was the Great Tree at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. Luke with the help of Poe Damerons' parents, save two trees remaining from the Great Tree, in the Shattered Empire comic series, and it seems likely that the uneti Tree on Ahch-To is or was once Force Sensative, being the location of The First Jedi Order.

And Lastly, as an aside, The concept of the mirror is very similar to concept of mirrors used in LOST in relation to unknown exact quantum mechanics of Jacob's Lighthouse. It's unclear as an executive producer on episode VIII, if JJ. Abrams had any imput in Rain Johnson's story, but it is also no secret that LOST was full of Star Wars references and allusions. Even though the idea of Luke astral projecting comes from former EU, LOST's smoke monster was an astral projecting polymorphic being and TFA unused concept art also included a polymoprhic force-ghost of Anakin.
Comment: Very well constructed answer with interesting speculations. +1
Answer: Given that the ancient Jedi texts are stored in a hole place near by it seems likely that there are other Jedi relics such as the mirror on the island.
Beyond that it's not really explained and not really important to the plot. Perhaps the 9th movie would have done more with it if it had not gone in a different direction.


Eclipse plugin development - Putting a canvas into a editor window

Question: I'd like to use the editor window in eclipse to display a canvas, I'm looking to be able to put together the same sort of funcationality as the visual editors (example below)
My issue is that I don't really know where to start - I'm fairly happy writing plugins that do all manner of things, but I appear to be missing a trick here, can anyone point me at maybe:
a) the correct eclispe terms to be googling for (for example I did a lot better when I found out that what I wanted to do in eclipse was 'syntax colouring' not 'syntax highlighting'
b) a tutorial just showing how to put a picture in the space
c) some open-source thing with this functionality that I can inspect the code of
Answer: You see those two tabs at the bottom of the editor labeled "Design" and "Source".  If you're doing something similar, you're designing an Eclipse multipage editor.
You'll need to start by extending the Eclipse class MultiPageEditorPart.
Here's an IBM article to get you started: Building Eclipse plug-ins using templates


Is there any Mac Application used for part-zooming a picture?

Question: I found many screenshots for Mac App Store or iTunes App Store using pictures like this,
I want to find a Mac App can do this work.
Answer: This feature is built in ML 10.8 with the accessibility feature zoom. Go to system preferences Accessibility, select zoom the last feature is zoom style select picture-in-picture. This will be a rectangle and follows your mouse any where on screen. You can use option command = (to enlarge) or - (to decrees) the text under the magnifying rectangle, if you have a keyboard with num pad you can use option command + or - for the same effect.
Answer: It's called a Loupe tool.  You'll find it in a lot of different image editing programs.
Both Photoshop and Aperture have Loupe tools built in.
Comment: Aren't those just for viewing the image, though?


The feeling you get when you suddenly go down a very steep surface

Question: You've probably got this feeling while riding a roller coaster, that moment you suddenly fall to the bottom of a curve. It's like your heart and your stomach are being pulled down. I get this every day while going to work on my bike. On my way to work, there is this U-shaped curve in the street. Every time I get down to the bottom of this and then go up, I feel this tickling feeling which kind of makes me gasp for a moment. What's this feeling in English? If there is no particular word for this how do you describe it in English?
Comment: Funnily enough, the phrase is exactly as you describe it: "It's like your heart and your stomach are being pulled down. It's like [*my heart drops into my stomach*](https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091206184733AAh0LaH)." That phrase generates more imagery, but if you want a single word, you could also say, "[freefall](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/freefall)."
Comment: See also: http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/48534/a-word-for-the-feeling-of-falling
Comment: It sounds like you're actually asking about the feeling you get when you've *been* going down and you suddenly start to go *up*, right? It's also the feeling you get when you're in an airplane the moment that it takes off.
Answer: When you feel the bottom drop out, that's when you suddenly feel nothing beneath you and you are in a momentary free fall.
https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/230753/bottom-dropped-out
The bottom could drop out for someone who is being executed by hanging. The bottom could also drop out for the stock market, meaning the market is doing poorly. Or on an amusement ride, when the ride begins to drop rapidly, you could say, "I felt the bottom drop out."
If you are going over the top of a hill or rollercoaster quickly, you could feel your stomach drop or stomach sink. In actuality, it's probably the sensation of all your internal organs shifting slightly in your ribcage as your body defies gravity for a few seconds.
An article entitled How Roller Coasters Work says:

This is what gives you that unique sinking feeling in your stomach; your stomach is suddenly very light because there is less force pushing on it.
Answer: It's called motion sickness, although we usually limit that name to when the disagreement between what our optic and vestibular systems are telling us about our motion is in such violent disagreement that it induces nausea and discomfort instead of just minor lightheadedness and vertigo.
You could call it minor motion sickness, which it is, but people may probably think less of you for it either because they think you're whinging about a minor discomfort or because they think you should be able to handle a bike ride without incident. You could call it a sensation of kinetosis, since that means motion sickness but no one knows that. They'll just be impressed or put off by your vocabulary and leave it at that.
Finally, you could go with an expressive phrase but, pace Ringo, there really aren't any set ones. Remember, though, heart or stomach in my throat is usually talking about nervousness or fear rather than motion sickness.
Comment: I think "motion sickness" usually refers to being sick from riding in a car or from a tumultuous boat ride. The feeling of riding in a rollercoaster or one of those rides where you fall from a great height is a different feeling, I think.
Comment: @Ringo ... like in the first paragraph of what I wrote, yeah. The physiological mechanism is the same but we usually restrict the term for it to the incapacitating version.
Comment: I would say the roller coaster is very incapacitating for some people, who are so frightened that all they can do is clutch the safety bar and hold on as hard as they can.
Answer: The technical term is "Air Time".
See also:
How Roller Coasters Work

"Air time" has a strange effect on your body because your body is not completely solid — it is composed of many parts. When your body is accelerated, each part of your body accelerates individually. The seat pushes on your back, the muscles in your back push on some of your organs and those organs push on other organs. That's why you feel the ride with your entire body. Everything inside is being pushed around.
How Stuff Works

And:
Air time (rides)

In the context of amusement rides, air time, or airtime, refers to the time during which riders of a roller coaster or other ride experience either weightlessness or negative G-forces.
Wikipedia
Comment: I have upvoted this since it's backed by a source, but I (as a native Australian-English speaker) have never heard this.
Comment: "Air Time" doesn't describe the *feeling* it gives a name to the phenomena i.e. the sense of weightlessness
Answer: As Teacher KSHuang wrote in a comment:

Funnily enough, the phrase is exactly as you describe it: "It's like your heart and your stomach are being pulled down. It's like my heart drops into my stomach." That phrase generates more imagery, but if you want a single word, you could also say, "freefall."
Answer: You could use the word thrill, which means any sudden feeling of excitement or pleasant surprise. When you say it's a "tickling feeling which kind of makes me gasp for a moment", that definitely sounds like a thrill.
The word shock is similar, but that word means a sudden feeling of fear or unpleasant surprise.
Answer: Could you call it "your heart skipping a beat" in terms of the suddenly receiving bad news? I'm pretty sure I've seen that phrased used that way before.
Answer: It's hyperstimulation anxiety.  I've had it my entire life, and it's awful.  Anxiety medication helps a lot.  You'll need to go to the doctor and be put on anxiety medication but it will help with these "panic attacks".  Hyperstimulation anxiety is horrible to live with. But medication helps. Don't suffer, see a doctor.


What can a plunge router do that a fixed router cannot?

Question: I am a beginning woodworker, and I'm thinking about buying a router later this year. I note that fixed base routers are somewhat cheaper than plunge routers, which is attractive to me. As such, I'm curious to know what one can do with a plunge router that you cannot do with a fixed base router (and some patience). Is the plunge mechanism really just a convenience / time saver? Or are there tasks that can only be done with a plunge router?
Comment: @jdv, while I agree with the sentiment I think we need to try to remember what it's like when you're just starting out and you have no grounding, so can't yet filter the good from the bad. It's hard when you don't know what are reliable and unreliable sources of info, which can actually take years to realise, good presentation being so persuasive (#lookingatyouYouTubepresenters) but actually having nothing to do with the quality of the content. Plus on top of everything the beginner doesn't know what they don't know if you get what I mean.
Comment: Ok, i will say it.   A plunge router can plunge.
Comment: "plunge router vs fixed base router" is a fine web search, then you can add your own answer.
Answer: First of all, you are not necessarily limited to one or the other. You can get routers that support multiple bases - Plunge, Fixed, and Offset. If cost is an issue, either buy used, or get one that supports additional bases that you can add later.
As to the core of the question, one of the common mistakes people make with hand-held routers is making a cut that is too aggressive. A plunge router allows you to preset multiple depths, so you can quickly and accurately adjust the router between passes.
With some types of router work, such as inlay, you want the cut area to be very precisely defined. A plunge router allows you to reach your desired depth of cut without having to "angle drop cut" into your work.
Comment: It's arguable that there's a slight safety benefit as well, in the sense that when you lift a plunge router off the workpiece, the bit "retracts." I've often seen (mostly newer) woodworkers switch off a router, and then immediately lift it up and set it aside so they can look at their workpiece -  such that the bit is still spinning away as it slows down, unprotected in midair, while they're eagerly looking at the cut they just made.
Comment: @dwizum amen brother, preach! I'd argue it's not a slight benefit at all but a major one. Even with an experienced router user setting aside a non-plunge router that is still spinning is a major safety issue, particularly in a busy shop but even in the single-person working environment..... until such time as the user realises a spin-down cradle for the router might be a handy idea.
Comment: @Graphus "Spin down cradle" - euphemism for the spot on your workbench where you just set down your still spinning fixed-base router.
Comment: @FreeMan :-) yeah, that spot protected by a somebody-else's-problem-field, and we all know those are impenetrable..... r-right?
Answer: While I do use my plunge router occasionally for 90+% of the time I use the fixed base. But there are tasks that are difficult if not impossible to do without a plunge base.
I agree over all with the LeeG's answer. But would add get one that will accept 1/2" and 1/4" bits, variable speed,and a minimum of 1 1/2 hp. Buy the best that is within your budget.
Having said all of that for years I used a $10 garage sale special, it did do the job most of the time but not as easily, now dedicated for the dovetail jig. Look around for a good used one some time they can be had at a very good price.
Comment: What tasks are (near) impossible without a plunge base, and how does the plunge base some the difficulty? Adding that would make this a great answer; as is its mostly just a recommendation, which is not what the question asked.
Comment: Making stopped dado. mortise, ... are tasks that a plunge router excels at. Why I use the fixed base mostly they are easier to set up for edge routing ...  that and personal preference.


Requesting whole features implementations as answers to questions

Question: What is the "official" policy regarding users who consistently request whole features implementations as answers to their questions? In spite of down voting, the OP could be persistent in editing his question and/or re-posting it in order to re-surface and get someone answer him out of pity. This way, he gets his job done "for free", and I question whether it would be appropriate for SO to allow for such behavior. Is it ok to bring such cases to moderator's attention by flagging? I'm linking this and this question as specific examples.
Comment: voted to close both questions due to vagueness and lack of OP effort
Answer: As far as I can tell there is no official policy governing this situation.  And this is good, because if the creation of an official policy is required for every permutation of bad question, the hosts would spend all day writing policies!
We rely on the tools of down-voting, editing and commenting to allow the community to correct the situation.
As to what you can do ...
- Vote the question down if it bothers you.
- If you have sufficient rep .. vote to close it.
- Flag it for moderator attention if you think it crosses an appropriateness line.
- Write a comment suggesting ways that the OP could improve the question.
- Ignore it.
Answer: Technically, the question is valid. I would either down vote it or leave it be.  There will be enough people with a rep high enough to close it if the question is deemed vague, too localized, etc.
Comment: @Ether I would say that depends on your judgment on whether or not to close the question. I go back and forth as to what to do in these situations, but I know a lot of people will vote to close, so normally I don't vote to do so.
Comment: And what if you're one of those people with high enough rep? What then?


Can OS protect us from backdoored CPU?

Question: I was wondering if O.S. can act in such a way to hide from CPU what it is doing? I know that everything is computed only in CPU, but O.S. decides what that is, and keeps track of file system, etc.
For example, CPU would not know if data it is processing is video streaming or web browsing, or encryption. And I am not referring here on homomorphic encryption (zero knowledge computing on encrypted data), but zero knowledge computing on actual data.
Comment: That depends on what kind of CPU-based attack exactly you have in mind. Can you give us an example?
Comment: Related: [Firmware Backdoor Protection](https://security.stackexchange.com/q/61785/2138)
Answer: The CPU is where the code is executed so, no, you can't "hide" processing from it. At least, not if you have just a single CPU.
But if you have additional processing units that you can program in a safe way, then you can protect some processing from the machine's CPU.
Smartcards are an exemple of such offloading: they are programmed in advance with the keys that will let them do their job. Later, they can be inserted into untrusted system and still maintain the integrity of process they were designed for. For instance, you can use a smartcard to store a RSA private key and allow the smartcard to be used from an untrusted computer while still retaining reasonable trust that these keys haven't been leaked.
Comment: Of course, that's because the card can be made to *lack the ability to expose those keys*. Not entirely unlike how Notepad can't violate the confidentiality of a HTTPS session, because (at least last I looked) it didn't have the ability to speak HTTPS *at all*. It's much harder to do something similar if the purpose of the smartcard isn't to perform cryptographic operations, but to store cryptographic secrets that should be available to the system it is connected to.
Answer: It would be difficult for the OS to hide what is happening considering the CPU will process the instructions. Now, you may be able to hide date from certain threads within a CPU by explicitly stating which core you want the program to execute or to maintain a non symmetric multi-processing program. But, this all relies on which attack type you're trying to employ.
Answer: I don't think it is possible to mitigate any attack that "record" the CPU activities and "replay" it.
Nevertheless, it is possible to use distributed processing to break data process to multiple system to hide the big picture.
(update)
There is an answer that mentioned Smart Card Technology and Security. I will reserved my view. Because all the mentioned securities are not mean to mitigate "CPU process replay".

Can OS protect us from backdoored CPU?


cant find the create custom widget in the new project

Question: i am new to vaadin and i have installed vaadin eclipse plugin and i cannot find the create custom widget in the File->New project->vaadin
and i cant find create themes etc ..as i see these things in the tutorial video and i cant find the visual editor also in the eclipse and i am using linux (operating system)
Answer: Check that you have installed the experimental visual editor like described on http://vaadin.com/eclipse. You can first create a Vaadin project from File->New project -> Vaadin project. You could also try to install the unstable version of the plugin from http://vaadin.com/eclipse/experimental (open URL with Eclipse plugin installer) if the stable one does not work.
Then you can check out the manual on http://vaadin.com/book/-/page/gwt.eclipse.html to get an idea of how to create a custom client side widget using GWT. This is practical if you wish to get some new client side behaviour not found in any existing widget(s).
However, if you just wish to have a new component without any new client side behaviour, you could extend the CustomComponent on the server side (in plain Vaadin, without making GWT components), add some custom logic and perhaps combine a number of existing components to be included. This composite CustomComponent can then be used in code as any other Vaadin component.


Navigation Menu Options - drop downs and sticky?

Question: I'm new to Craft CMS.

It is possible to create a navigation menu with drop down menu items
and a sticky menu bar on the desktop view please?

How/where do I do this please? (Using Craft 2.7.10)
Thanks in advance!
Answer: Yes, both of those are possible in Craft, but this question doesn't really make sense for Craft projects. Craft doesn't care what you put in your frontend template, and it doesn't come with a theme system like WordPress or Drupal. Instead, you are free to create and structure your templates in whatever way you want, and use Craft's API to fetch and display content from the CMS. So basically, everything is possible – it's just a matter of what you can build.
To get started, take a look at the templating docs, that's a good place to get comfortable with Twig and start building your templates the way you want them.
You can take a look at the Navigation plugin, which allows you to create navigation menus in the backend and render them in the frontend. The plugin allows for nested hierarchies of menu items, which is a prerequisite for drop down menus. But it won't help you with styling the menu output, that's something you can do yourself.
If you're using a framework like Bootstrap, you can check if it has a component that fits your requirements – for example, Bootstrap's navbar will allow you to create sticky navigation bars with dropdowns. You can use the Navigation plugin mentioned above to output the menu's HTML structure as expected by navbar component, this will get you to something usable very quickly.


What is this black foliage plant called?

Question: I've tired looking it up on the internet but multiple plants of similar appearance came up which has gotten me all confused. Best guess is that it's either black mondo grass or a new Zealand flax but im not sure. Any idea?
Answer: It's either a Cordyline australis or Phormium - the answer to this question will decide; when I look at the base of the plant, it looks like there's some slightly woody stems where it's been cut back previously, which would indicate Cordyline rather than Phormium. Cordyline forms a semi woody, fairly narrow trunk over time, with the growth at the top, but if you cut it down, it just sends out new shoots from the base. Phormium, on the other hand, never forms anything even remotely woody, it simply spreads sideways with similar, soft topgrowth. Only you can know if this plant has been cut down at various times... Image of Cordyline here
https://www.rarepalmseeds.com/cordyline-australis-purpurea
If it's Phormium (which is the more likely ID primarily because of leaf colour) there are two types - Phormium cookianum and P. tenax. The latter get much, much bigger in the ground than the former, but each type has a wide colour range in terms of the leaves - yellow, red, purplish/black, variegated, striped and so on. There are several black cultivars such as 'All Black, 'Back to Black', Platt's Black and others - hard to say which precise cultivar this is. Phormium is commonly known as New Zealand Flax.
Comment: In the second photo, bottom right hand side, it looks like there's the stub of a woody stem that's been cut down, that's why its hard to be 100% its Phormium and not Cordyline. If that isn't firm and woody,then its Phormium - either way, it would be best to remove all that moss from the top of the soil in the pot and just check whether it needs repotting... though that's best done in spring, not sure where you are.
Comment: Great to hear from you again. I checked the base and it doesn't have that woody feel to it. More like dead skin that peels off so im guessing it's phormium. As per the cultivator, like you said, its hard to say. I got it off a friend who was about to throw them out cause he was told that they die in the winters and thats all the info i have on the plant.
Comment: Yes, I'll probably wait untill spring to do that. Im sure it needs repotting. I did clear the base of all the moss to check for wood but all i see is clumps of leaves so i guess its safe to say that it's phormium. Thanks for the help.


installing electrical boxes for out door light fixtures

Question: want to install light fixtures on each side of my garage door if I use weather proof boxes should any type of light fixture fit over them?
Comment: You need to provide more details. Is this a decorative light like a sconce or or flood light?
Answer: If you are wanting to install a wall sconce, you need to install one that is rated for outdoor use.
Note: The shape box you need to use will be dependent on what fixtures you would like to install. Some fixtures need round boxes while others require a rectangular box. My examples show round boxes, but this is not the only choice.
Aside from being constructed for outdoor (ab)use, outdoor rated fixtures typically include a foam/rubber gasket, a specially designed fixture base, or some other means for ensuring water resistance. Additionally, in many cases, you should use silicone caulk around any possible points of water incursion (if possible).

Some fixture bases come with extra holes for mounting flood lights. These extra holes should be plugged and then caulked around the seams.
Note the fixtures are installed in the side holes, and the hole in the middle that has been plugged.

It is also good practice to use wire nuts that contain silicone sealant, known as weatherproof wire nuts among other names, or to wrap normal wire nuts in electrical tape. This provides an extra layer of moisture defense for your electrical connections.
Comment: Thumbs up for mentioning the waterproof wire nuts.  ;-)
Answer: The smallest diameter recessed box to my knowledge is 3.5. Exposed "non recessed" boxes are definitely an odd choice for hanging decorative sconces. I also cannot stand sealing wall lights with silicon, nor do I recommend using those silly direct burial wire nuts.
Comment: Odd choice for one person might be the OP's only practical option, however he did not specify what _type_ of fixture he wanted to install, so it's open to interpretation. The silicone suggestion comes straight from most manufacturer's directions for metal exposed boxes (for the boxes, not the lights). Any reason why you don't recommend those "silly wire nuts"? At this point I'm assuming my answer got a down vote for suggesting additional weatherproofing deemed unnecessary.
Comment: Never have I seen silicon recommend by the manufacture for sealing an outdoor light. I think your recommending direct burial wire nuts for a non buried connection is overkill and bad advice. Never in the trade is this practiced.
Comment: Never in the trade, or never in the trade in your area? I'm not from a school of thought that says overkill is bad advice, especially for something as trivial as a wire nut. Can it hurt? I guess it can make a silicone mess. Can it help? Potentially. I have seen mfg instructions explicitly state to seal knockout plugs with silicone caulk to maintain the wet location rating for the box. You can argue any caulk past that is overkill.
Comment: Ideal WeatherProof Wire Connector: _Suited for interior and exterior electrical connections exposed to rain or damp conditions_
Answer: Many RAB outdoor LED fixtures can benefit by filling the gooseneck, esp if upside down, (Manf. requirement in that case.) Most problem free installs use a round box, recessed, with the gaskets or other suitable method to shed water and limit air infiltration.


Do cats meow only for humans?

Question: I have heard that cats don't actually meow in the wild. Kittens only meow to their parents, and the parents to their kittens, and both do it to humans, and that's all.
Is that true? If so, is it for humans specifically?
Answer: Cats in the wild are solitary animals so vocal communication is not very useful, scent marking is more useful for cats when it comes to keeping other cats away and at the same time give information about the gender and age and when the cat was in the area.
Most of the vocal communication is mother and kittens and this do gradually stop when the kitten gets older, other vocalization is related to reproduction and getting a mate.
Other types of vocalization act as a warning when a cat defends its territory or if other animals comes too close; most of the time this is effective (like cat chase bear type of effective).
Cats that live with people do talk to us as if we were kittens and they learn that we respond to different sounds. If there is more than one cat in a household some vocal communication might happen like the cats might call for each other and purr when they are together but most communication will be by scent.
Cats that live close to each other in a neighborhood and meet outside can develop a friendship. When the cats meet they will sniff each others breath; this happens very quick blink and you will miss it. Vocal communication is rare but the cats might start to purr together in the same way as cats that live in the same house do.
Answer: Domestic cats (felis catus) meow in the same frequency band as human babies' crying. Why? Because humans instinctively want to feed things that make that specific noise, so making that noise was an evolutionary adaptation for cats living around humans. When cats learn (during the critical socialization period) that making this sound gets them free food from humans, they keep doing it for life. Feral cats stop when they leave their mother after learning to feed themselves.
Notably, even their closest wild relative (felis sylvestris) meows in a much wider frequency range that does not elicit the feeding instinct in humans but rather makes us want to flee danger. And if you're close enough to hear a wild cat of any size, you probably should run.

Do cats meow only for humans?


Random walk through Ising model

Question: Ising model consists of up spin and down spin or empty/filled space. Can we model random walk for different densities of packing through the Ising model?
Comment: What do you mean by "Can we model random walk for different densities of packing through ising model"?
Comment: Hello Yvan , i am working on tipping points (phase transition) in ecological systems such as lake system using ising model. Here i am focusing on flow dynamics through vegetation .I want to simulate particle velocity using ising model  for different packing of spins (vegetation ) .Hope , i made it clear
Answer: There are ways to map the magnetization distribution problem of the Ising model to persistent random walks. The relevant references are:
R. Garcia-Pelayo, "Distribution of magnetization in the finite Ising chain," Journal of Mathematical Physics 50, 013301 (2009)
and
T. Antal, M. Droz, and Z. Racz, "Probability distribution of magnetization in the one-dimensional Ising model: effects of boundary conditions,"  Journal of  Physics A: Mathematics and General 37, 1465 (2004)
Answer: Yes, we can imagine going through 1D Ising model as random walk, analogous to Maximal Entropy Random Walk, e.g. to model 2D Ising $w\times \infty$ as 1D for width $w$ slices ( https://arxiv.org/pdf/1912.13300 ).
For $M_{ij}=\exp(-\beta E_{ij})$ transfer matrix, where  $E_{ij}$ is energy of $i-j$ edge (e.g. negative for the same spins in ferromagnet), you need to find dominant eigenvector $M\psi = \lambda \psi$, then
stationary probability distribution is $Pr(i)\propto (\psi_i)^2$,
Stochastic matrix: $S_{ij}=Pr(x_t=j|x_{t-1}=i)= \frac{M_{ij}}{\lambda} \frac{\psi_j}{\psi_i}$.
Sketch of derivation:

Random walk through Ising model


Order of rational function on projective curve

Question: It is known that any meromorphic function $f$ on projective plane curve $C=Z(P)\subset\mathbb{P}^{2}$ is rational, i.e.
$$
f([x:y:z])=\frac{Q(x,y,z)}{R(x,y,z)}
$$
for some homogeneous polynomial of same degree $m$ and $P\nmid Q$.
If $p$ is a point on $C$, then order of $f$ at $p$ is given by
$$
\mathrm{ord}_{p}(f)=I_{p}(P, Q)-I_{p}(P, R)=I_{p}(C, Z(Q))-I_{p}(C, Z(R)).
$$
where $I_{p}(C, D)$ is local multiplicity of curves $C$ and $D$ at $p$.
Intuitively, I think this statement is true but I can't prove this. (I really hope this is true.) How to prove this? Or... are there any counterexamples? Thanks in advance.
Comment: Some questions: Do you assume your curve to be smooth? How do you define $\operatorname{ord}_p$ and $I_p(C,D)$?
Comment: @JeskoHüttenhain Yes, $C$ is a smooth curve. I use definition in Kirwan's Complex Algebraic curve book : For local multiplicity $I_{p}(C, D)$, I use definition in here (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intersection_number) and $\mathrm{ord}_{p}(f)=m$ iff there is a chart $(\phi, U)$ near $p$ s.t. $f\circ\phi^{-1}:\phi(U)\to C$ has order $m$ zero (or order $-m$ pole) near $\phi(p)$.
Comment: @JeskoHüttenhain There is another definition of local multiplicity : if $p=[a:b:c]$, the local multiplicity is the largest integer $k$ such that $(bx-cy)^{k}$ divides the resultant $\mathcal{R}_{P, Q}(x, y)$.
Comment: I think this isn't correct, though you may point out why I'm wrong if that's the case. Let $XY - Z^2 = 0$ be a smooth conic. By Bezout, the line $X = 0$ is tangent to the conic at $[0:1:0]$, so the intersection multiplicity at this point is $2$. But the order of $f = X^2/Y^2$ at this point is $4$ (in a local chart around the point, $f = t^4$), while your formula predicts $2$, so there needs to be a factor of $m$, which is the degree of the homogeneous forms.
Answer: I found a proof with my friend, so I'll introduce our proof.
We will follow the proof of the theorem 3.22 in Kirwan's "Complex Algebraic curves".
Assume $p=[0:0:1]$ and $\frac{\partial P}{\partial x}(0, 0, 1)\neq 0$.
By implicit function thoerem for complex polynomials, there is a holomorphic function $\lambda_{1}:U\to V$ where $U$ and $V$ are open neighborhoods of $0$ in $\mathbb{C}$ s.t. $\lambda_{1}(0)=0$ and for $(x, y)\in U\times V$, $P(x, y, 1)=0$ iff $x=\lambda_{1}(y)$.
Moreover, $$P(x, y, 1)=(x-\lambda_{1}(y))l(x, y)$$
where $l(x, y)$ is a polynomial in $x$ whose coefficients are holomorphic functions on $y$.
If we assume  $P(1, 0, 0)=1$, then $$l(x, y)=\prod_{i=2}^{n}(x-\lambda_{i}(y))$$
where $\lambda_{1}(y), \dots, \lambda_{n}(y)$ are the roots of $P(x, y, 1)$ regarded as a polynomial in $x$ with $y$ fixed.
Similarly if $U$ and $V$ are chosen small enough there is a holomorphic function $\mu_{1}:U\to V$ s.t. $\mu_{1}(0)=0$ and we can write
\begin{align*}
Q(x, y, 1)=(x-\mu_{1}(y))m(x, y) \\
R(x, y, 1)=(x-\eta_{1}(y))k(x, y)
\end{align*}
where
\begin{align*}
m(x, y)=\prod_{i=2}^{m}(x-\mu_{i}(y)) \\
k(x, y)=\prod_{i=2}^{m}(x-\eta_{i}(y))
\end{align*}
is a polynomial in $x$ whose coefficients are holomorphic functions of $y$.
Then the tangent lines to $C$, $D=Z(Q)$ and $E=Z(R)$ at $p=[0:0:1]$ are defined by the equations
$$
x=\lambda_{1}'(0)y, \quad x=\mu_{1}'(0)y, \quad x=\eta_{1}'(0)y
$$
If $y\in U$ then
\begin{align*}
\mathcal{R}_{P, Q}(y, 1)=(\mu_{1}(y)-\lambda_{1}(y))S(y) \\
\mathcal{R}_{P, R}(y, 1)=(\eta_{1}(y)-\lambda_{1}(y))T(y)
\end{align*}
where
\begin{align*}
S(y)=\prod_{(i, j)\neq (1, 1)}(\mu_{i}(y)-\lambda_{i}(y)) \\
T(y)=\prod_{(i, j)\neq (1, 1)}(\eta_{i}(y)-\lambda_{i}(y))
\end{align*}
(Here $\mathcal{R}_{P, Q}$ is resultant of two polynomials $P$ and $Q$.)
Since $\lambda_{1}(0)=0=\mu_{1}(0)$ we obtain on differentiating above equation that
$$
\frac{\partial \mathcal{R}_{P, Q}}{\partial y}(0, 1)=(\mu_{1}'(0)-\lambda_{1}'(0))S(0)
$$
So $I_{p}(C, D)>1$ iff $\lambda_{1}'(0)-\mu_{1}'(0)$.
Similarly, we can show that $I_{p}(C, D)=e$ iff $$\lambda_{1}'(0)-\mu_{1}'(0)=\cdots=\lambda_{1}^{(e-1)}(0)-\mu_{1}^{(e-1)}(0)=0, \quad \lambda_{1}^{(e)}(0)-\mu_{1}^{(e)}(0)\neq 0$$
inductively by differentiating the equation repeatedly. Same thing holds for $I_{p}(C, E)$ and $\lambda_{1}^{(j)}(0)-\eta_{1}^{(j)}(0)$.
Since local chart of $P$ near $p$ is given by $\phi:[\lambda_{1}(w):w:1]\mapsto w$, the function $f$ can be written as
$$
f\circ\phi^{-1}(w)=\frac{Q(\lambda_{1}(w), w, 1)}{R(\lambda_{1}(w), w, 1)}=\frac{(\lambda_{1}(w)-\mu_{1}(w))m(\lambda_{1}(w), w)}{(\lambda_{1}(w)-\eta_{1}(w))k(\lambda_{1}(w), w)}
$$
By previous observation, $ord_{0}(\lambda_{1}(w)-\mu_{1}(w))=I_{p}(C, D)$ and $ord_{0}(\lambda_{1}(w)-\eta_{1}(w))=I_{p}(C, E)$.
By differentiating the equation $Q(x, y, 1)=(x-\mu_{1}(y))m(x, y)$ w.r.t. $x$, we have
$$
\frac{\partial Q}{\partial x}(\lambda_{1}(w), w, 1)=m(\lambda_{1}(w), w)+(\lambda_{1}(w)-\mu_{1}(w))\frac{\partial m}{\partial x}(\lambda_{1}(w), w)
$$
and $m(0, 0)=\frac{\partial Q}{\partial x}(0, 0, 1)\neq 0$, so $m(\lambda_{1}(w), w)$ is nonvanishing near $w=0$. Similarly, $k(\lambda_{1}(w), w)\neq 0$ near $w=0$, so
$$
ord_{p}f=ord_{0}(f\circ\phi^{-1}) =I_{p}(C, D)-I_{p}(C, E).
$$


Registering a MassTransit SagaStateMachine with RedisRepository in SimpleInjector - Multiple Constructors

Question: I am able to register a MassTranst SagaStateMachine in a SimpleInjector container using the InMemoryRepository:
container.AddMassTransit(cfg =>
{
    // Unrelated registration code ommitted
    // ...

    cfg.AddSagaStateMachine<FormEvaluateStateMachine, FormEvaluateState>()
        .InMemoryRepository();
});

container being the SimpleInjector container.
If I change the line in there to:
cfg.AddSagaStateMachine<FormEvaluateStateMachine, FormEvaluateState>()
.RedisRepository();
I get the following error from simple injector:

For the container to be able to create RedisSagaRepositoryContextFactory it should have only one public constructor: it has 2. See https://simpleinjector.org/one-constructor for more information.

So somewhere its trying to register an implementation for RedisSagaRepositoryContextFactory which indeed has two constructors.
Is there an elegant way to solve this?  It looks like SimpleInjector offers a kludge to allow for multiple constructors but enabling that anti-pattern on a systemwide basis seems a little heavyhanded.
Is there a way to tell SimpleInjector to only do it for certain types?  I assume I want to use the constructor that takes ConnectionMultiplexer but I'm not certain.  I would have tagged my post with SimpleInjector but I don't have enough internet points.
Maybe there is a better way to specify the RedisRepository() so this doesn't happen?
I'm also in full framework so maybe not having Redis itself properly registered is my issue?
Comment: Seems like a bug in the MassTransit integration package.
Comment: Otherwise, try overriding the registration for RedisSagaRepositoryContextFactory with a custom one that use a delegate.
Answer: It should be using the ConnectionMultiplexer constructor, seems like an issue with Simple Injector not being able to figure it out.
Seems like you can specify a strategy for constructor selection, and override the default behavior only for that type.