How do I retract a vote?

Question: I have seen only option for up-voting and down-voting. How do I retract a vote?
Answer: If you do it before 5 minutes are passed, you can just click again the arrow you clicked to vote. Once 5 minutes are passed, you can retract a vote only if the post is edited.
Answer: Your question doesn't specify why you'd want to retract a vote.
If you accidently hit some voting button and you want to undo that, then you indeed have up to 5 minutes to click the voting button to correct your mistake (as in the accepted answer).
And yes, if those 5 mins are passed already, you can only retract your vote from a post after it was edited (also as in the accepted answer).
However, if you want to retract your vote "badly", but the post doesn't get edited anymore (due to which you can't retract your vote), you may want to consider taking advantage of what IMO is a bug on any SE site ... For those users who do have sufficient rep to edit any post (with no approvals required from anybody else), just do an edit yourself. After you did so, you will be able to remove your vote. The bug, IMO, is that in such scenario, such edits should not be taken into account by the SE system to allow you to remove your vote (i.e. the system should look for the last update date of the post by a user that is different from the use who tries to remove his vote).
And BTW, for those who do not have sufficient rep to perform such edits (without approval), just think of "some edit suggestion" that gets approved. After the approval arrives, the same (IMO) bug applies. And don't forget: you only need a rep of "1" to be allowed to suggest edits (though you do need 15, or 125, to be allowed to upvote, or downvote).
Please don't shoot the messenger (about this apparent bug), instead get the bug fixed ...
A bug becomes a feature, right?
PS: voting is assumed to be (a kind of) anonymous. So for anybody who wants to take advantage of this (IMO) bug, you may want to wait "for a while" before retracting your vote (if you don't wait, you'll be the first suspect about which user changed his/her mind about voting).
Answer: Yes got my answer. Just click same button again to undo/retract.
Comment: @kiamlaluno is right once 5 minutes passed can not retract until the post edited.
Comment: I only partially agree with your prior comment ... have a look at my answer to understand what I mean.

How do I retract a vote?


Will reinforcement learning work if states wont get repeated again?

Question: I am working on a information retrieval model where the user enters a query and the model has to retrieve 3 most relevant FAQ pairs.I am collecting implicit feedback in terms of page clicks etc.What I don't understand is how to define states if I want to implement this with reinforcement learning?If I define each query as a state, all states will be different .Can anyone shed some light on this please!!!
Answer: I am not convinced that framing a document retrieval success as reinforcement learning problem will be easy to get working.
However, your core question is answerable. This problem occurs in other problems that are too large to explore all possible states. For instance, in the game of Go, the AlphaZero system cannot possibly explore all game positions. Similarly, in Atari games, many of which have also had reinforcement learning applied successfully, it is very unlikely that the agent has seen all possible states of the system - typically it will have trained on a million video frames.
The answer to this issue is to use some form of function approximation that can generalise to new unseen data. That is precisely what supervised machine learning models do, so the RL agent will use one internally, typically a linear regression or neural network, so that values and or policy learned from states it has explored will be associated with similar unseen states (for some interpretation of similar).
Comment: I agree with Neil that you should better adopt a supervised learning approach rather than a RL and that you need a function approximator that will generalize in unseen states. However, if you encounter once a state and you never get a chance to experience again the same or very similar state your method will generalize poorly. Think of of it as creating a classifier with 100/10,000 data instances as earthquake events. You will get a 90% accuracy classifier but won't be able to predict the rare event.


On windows server core, how can I copy file located in my local computer to the windows server?

Question: On windows server core, how can I copy file located in my local computer to the windows server ?
Comment: Do you already know how to copy files to a Window Server that is **not** Server Core?
Answer: If you're able to RDP to your server, you should be able to open notepad and from there use the file open dialog to copy/paste files from your local machine directly to the server. If you have local drives mapped through the RDP options, then you'll see any local drives appear as well. I tend to do it this way simply because it's a lot easier.
Answer: The best way to copy file to Windows core is by using USB, and copy it. But you can use SCP protocol for remote copying, but first, you must enable SSH terminal. It is light, secure and only using port 22. SCP is Secure Copy Protocol, and runs on top of SSH (Secure Shell)
First, you need to find the version.
Get-WindowsCapability -Online |  ?{$_.Name -Like 'openssh*'}

Mine shows like:
Name  : OpenSSH.Client~~~~0.0.1.0
State : Installed

Name  : OpenSSH.Server~~~~0.0.1.0
State : NotPresent

Install the server with:
Add-WindowsCapability -Online -Name OpenSSH.Server~~~~0.0.1.0

then enable it using
Start-Service sshd
Set-Service sshd -StartupType 'Automatic'
Get-NetFirewallRule -Name *ssh*

it should show a line like:
Enabled     : True

Then you can transfer a file using SCP protocol. One of popular client is WinSCP.
Plus, you can use it to manage your server from remote locations using powershell terminal. Make sure you harden your ssh server to publickey if you want to keep it, though. Also, restrict administrator access, and use New-PSSession to switch to administrator mode. It is linux de-facto protocol for managing OS, so I can vouch for its security. One of popular SSH client is Putty.
With SSH, you only need to open putty for powershell terminal, or winscp to copy file.
Answer: With the command-line copy command, perhaps.
Here's the interactive help for it:
 C:\>copy /?
 Copies one or more files to another location.

 COPY [/D] [/V] [/N] [/Y | /-Y] [/Z] [/L] [/A | /B ] source [/A | /B]
      [+ source [/A | /B] [+ ...]] [destination [/A | /B]]

  source       Specifies the file or files to be copied.
  /A           Indicates an ASCII text file.
  /B           Indicates a binary file.
  /D           Allow the destination file to be created decrypted
  destination  Specifies the directory and/or filename for the new file(s).
  /V           Verifies that new files are written correctly.
  /N           Uses short filename, if available, when copying a file with a
               non-8dot3 name.
  /Y           Suppresses prompting to confirm you want to overwrite an
               existing destination file.
  /-Y          Causes prompting to confirm you want to overwrite an
               existing destination file.
  /Z           Copies networked files in restartable mode.
  /L           If the source is a symbolic link, copy the link to the target
               instead of the actual file the source link points to.

The switch /Y may be preset in the COPYCMD environment variable.
This may be overridden with /-Y on the command line.  Default is
to prompt on overwrites unless COPY command is being executed from
within a batch script.

To append files, specify a single file for destination, but multiple files
for source (using wildcards or file1+file2+file3 format).

C:\>
Or were you referring to where to copy it?
If you have admin credentials, you can use an administrative share, which would be \\<server name>\c$ for the root of the C: drive on the server. You can get to the root of other drives the same way.
Or you can use server manager to create a share. Or you can use Computer Management to create a share.
In Windows Explorer on your computer - not the server open up the folder containing the file to you want to copy. Go to Start -> Run and type in \\<name of the server>\c$ and hit Enter. That should open a new explorer window showing the C: drive on the server - if it asks for a username and password, enter your administrator account credentials on the server. Now you can copy and paste from one explorer window to the other like normal.
Comment: @loki See my edit. You might consider adding the GUI to the server core so that it's easier for you to work with.
Comment: thanks todd, but how to do ?
Comment: no i still not see how to do :( i m under remote desktop
Comment: @loki Do you know how to copy files from one machine to another when the server is **not** server core?
Comment: I do with Ctrl-C / Ctrl-V and total commander
Comment: thanks Todd ! I finally decide to install remote desktop on the server core + total commander and then just need to do ctl+C / ctrl+v on the file
Comment: Server core doesn't have its file service enabled. And enabling it will only add unnecessary port open, and a port open, especially SMB port, means security hole. Adding GUI will also add unnecessary load, and also open a big can of worms.
Answer: This is not an ideal answer but for quick moving file between local and remote server core.

Enable ssh on server core
Using winscp to quick drag & drop file from local to server.

The server core itself must support ssh of course.
Answer: You could use SMB to open the c$ share on the server \\server1\c$ if you are an administrator and the firewall isn't set to block file sharing.
Likewise, you can launch powershell and run the following command to tell the remote server to copy a file from your local computer using SMB.
Copy-Item –Path C:\Folder1\file1.txt –Destination '\\your-client1\c$\filetocopy'

Alternatively, if you have enabled WinRM for remote powershell execution you can copy over powershell using:
$session = New-PSSession –ComputerName SERVER1
Copy-Item –Path C:\Folder1\file1.txt –Destination 'C:\' –ToSession $session

WinRM can be tricky to setup, especially for non-domain computers but it's worth it for remote administration if you have multiple computers/servers.


Symmetry arguments in Magnetostatics

Question: I am not sure that I understand how to argue using symmetry arguments that the magnetic field lies in a certain direction. Say we are given a circular loop of radius $R$ with a steady current $I$ flowing in it and that we are required to find the magnetic field $B$ at a point $P$ directly above the centre of the loop at a distance $z.$ Then in this case how can I argue using symmetry that the magnetic field must lie along the $z-$ axis?
Answer: So there you are in the $z$-axis, directly above the current loop. If you do a rotation about the $z$-axis, the loop looks identical. There is no preferred azimuthal angle. Hence, you assume the magnetic field produced by the current has no preferred azimuthal angle (is preserved by z-rotations). That only happens if
$$\vec{B} \propto \hat{z}$$
In contrast, an $x$-axis rotation completely changes how the loop appears in your coordinates so you can expect the solution to not be invariant under x-rotations (same for $y$ and any linear combination thereof).

Symmetry arguments in Magnetostatics


Which part of the Constitution was cited in Jacobson v. Williams?

Question: Which part of the Constitution did the SCOTUS majority opinion in Jacobson v. Williams cite?
Comment: Can you give a bit more detail, please: e.g. case citation, date, area of law at issue etc
Comment: Various parts, although they didn't agree that all of it was relevant https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ll/usrep/usrep197/usrep197011/usrep197011.pdf
Comment: Can you link to the case?
Answer: It appears you're asking about Jacobson v. Massachusetts.
The Supreme Court concluded that the state's vaccine-or-forfeiture statute was a valid exercise of its police power under the Tenth Amendment, that the Fourteenth Amendment did not prohibit the imposition of the forfeiture, and that the preamble to the Constitution does not create any substantive rights.


How to enable/disable stty settings?

Question: I'm on linux using bash with GNOME Terminal.
I used the command stty -ixon and then I checked if ctrl-s was sending XOFF and ctrl-q was sending XON : they weren't.
The problem is that by using stty -ixoff I can't re-enable the functions that these key combinations had.
Comment: @JdeBP I misunderstood the meaning of -ixon I thought it was an option and that -ixoff was the option that did the opposite, but now I know that by doing stty -ixon I disable XON and by doing stty ixon I enable it.
Comment: Not only is https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/367081/ a related question, it is almost certainly the same answer.
Comment: I noticed that the reset command does that but it obviously also clears the screen, this is not exactely what I wanted.
Answer: In order to set or clear the configuration flags you should use the following syntax:
stty -F /dev/yourdevice

Use - next to the name of the flag to clear it and remove - to set the flag On again. For example:

stty -F /dev/stty0 -parodd to enable the even parity flag and
stty -F /dev/stty0 parodd for odd parity.

Now replace the parodd flag of the example above for the flag you need to configure. You can check this here
You can use the stty -F /dev/ttyS0 sane to reset some of the default values,
Remember that the device will reset the default values after a system reboot.

How to enable/disable stty settings?


How to allow files with exec permission in NSOpenPanel?

Question: The Cocoa NSOpenPanel, in a third party open source library VSTGUI, disables files that have exec permission set. The exec bit is not needed, but it often seems to be set on files created on Windows and downloaded to OS X.
The library uses beginSheetForDirectory:file:types:modalForWindow:modalDelegate:didEndSelector:contextInfo: to display the panel. The given types parameter is a singleton array with a simple extension based UTI. What could possibly cause the panel to disallow these files and how and where can the behaviour be configured?
I'm aware that the method is or will be deprecated but right now i seem to be stuck on this. I'm on OS X 10.8 and the deployment target in Xcode is 10.5.
Edit:
The UTI used here is created with the function
CFStringRef UTTypeCreatePreferredIdentifierForTag(CFStringRef   inTagClass,
                                                  CFStringRef   inTag,
                                                  CFStringRef   inConformingToUTI)

with kUTTagClassFilenameExtension as inTagClass, the desired extension as inTag and kUTTypeData as inConformingToUTI. If i give the types parameter as an array with simple extension string, instead of a UTI, everything works as expected. So i guess the kUTTypeData hint kind of rules out files with exec bit set. Unfortunately the documentation doesn't tell any other value for inConformingToUTI that would work.
Answer: Most likely the open panel has a delegate set, which implements the method
- (BOOL)panel:(id)sender shouldEnableURL:(NSURL *)url

or similar. See the NSOpenSavePanelDelegate Protocol Reference .
Comment: No, unfortunately this is not the case.


Can a company see your old Google Searches

Question: I am signed into my personal Gmail account through Safari on my phone. If I simply sign into my personal Gmail account on my work computer, can they see any old searches made on my phone or personal computer from home? Or can can they only see what I'm actively searching while on my work computer?
Comment: I think your Google account can be set to log searches, so if you enter your credentials on the work computer and they steal those credentials (e.g. with a keylogger), then they could log into your account and see any history that was saved.
Comment: This depends on the company setup. Do they own and control the work computer?
Comment: They do own the work laptop. But all searches on my personal Gmail have been made on my personal phone or laptop. Never on the actual work computer.
Comment: Is there anyway to check that ability?
Comment: No idea. I don't use Google. It's probably under privacy settings somewhere.
Answer:
can they see any old searches made on my phone or personal computer from home?

Depending on the network setup, they could inspect your network traffic, get your login details and use it later. That would require you to install a CA certificate on your phone or personal computer, or to log in ignoring your browser warnings about invalid certificates. But logging private credentials can be considered a crime on some jurisdictions, so I doubt they would ever do that. But if they own the network, they can intercept your communications, steal your credentials, log back and see what you have.
But if you haven't installed any CA certificate on your phone or private computer, they cannot. That's exact the point of certificates: prevent any third party to read or change any of the requests you make.

Or can can they only see what I'm actively searching while on my work computer?

Your work computer is different, as they usually have jurisdiction over it. If they have an interception proxy (common on enterprise networks), they can see everything. It does not mean they will see, but they have the capability.
Comment: Not sure if you can sniff network traffic to Google due to built-in public key pinning (at least on major browsers)
Comment: Public Key Pinning does not stop locally installed authority to override the pin.
Comment: Oh yeah, I totally knew that because otherwise owasp zap/etc wouldn't work...


How to use a qualifier before the word 'money'?

Question: I want to qualify the word 'money' using the words good, decent, etc. But I am not sure how to use them. Do I have to say a good amount of money or a decent amount of money? Or just good money or decent money? Can I use good and decent interchangeably?
Answer: Good Money

Waiting tables can pay good money.
You can make good money writing computer code.
Answer: Good money and decent money (often used after It's...) are both frequently used to say that a job / appointment / opportunity / task is well paid.
Other common adjectives in this context are ample / adequate / abundant
People also talk about lots / loads / tons of money, as well as easy money and many more.
The source below gives lots of alternatives.
https://www.powerthesaurus.org/loads_of_money/synonyms
Answer: 'a good amount of money' and 'a decent amount of money' have similar meaning.
'good money' has similar meaning too.
'decent money' is different.  It has a dimension relating to its source.


Convert SVG to AI?

Question: I have an SVG file that I would like to convert to an AI file.  Can I just open the SVG in Adobe Illustrator and then save it as an AI file?
Answer: Mostly yes. But the two formats are not 100% mutually compatible so there are corner cases where this does in fact not work, but those features are rarely used.
Answer: Beware of RGB and CMYK - SVG is mostly in RGB without a ICC-Profile.
I refer to this one:
SVG with ICC Profiles
You possibly want to convert from RGB to CMYK. This depends on your Colorsettings in Illustrator (ICC-Profile)

Convert SVG to AI?


Features considered by ExtraTreeRegressor of Scikit Learn to construct Random Forest

Question: I came across this example which involves completion of face for the test data set. Here, a value of 32 for max_features is passed to the ExtraTreesRegressor() function. I learnt that decision trees are constructed, which selects random features from the input data set. For the example from the above link, images are used as train and test data set. This wiki page describes various types of image features. Now I am not able to understand which features dose sklearn.ensemble.ExtraTreeRegressor look for or extract from the image data set provided as input to construct the random forest. Also, how is it determined that a value of 32 is optimum for max_features. Please help me with this.
Answer: Random forests do not do feature extraction. They use the features in the dataset given to them, which in this example are just pixel intensities from the Olivetti faces dataset.
The max_features parameter to an ExtraTreesRegressor determines "the number of features to consider when looking for the best split" (inside the decision tree learning algorithm employed by the forest).
The value 32 was probably determined empirically.
Answer: The features used here are the raw pixel values. As the images in the dataset are aligned and quite similar, that seems to be enough for the task.
Answer: As others said: in this naive example there is no feature extraction: the extra trees just use the raw pixels as features.
In a more realistic computer vision setting it is very likely that performing hand tuned feature extraction will lead to more interesting models. The kind of features to extract depends on the computer vision task you want to achieve. Read the literature or examples from the OpenCV library to know the state of the art in computer vision (leaving neural net-based representation learning aside as bleeding edge research for now).
The 32 value for the parameter can be randomized searched. See this example from the master branch for an example:
http://scikit-learn.org/dev/auto_examples/randomized_search.html#example-randomized-search-py


What does "Catechetical Formula" mean?

Question: I ran across the phrase in this question, and a Google search just keeps bringing me to the Ten Commandments example found in the link on the question. I'm not finding a definition anywhere.  So what is a "Catechetical Formula"?
Answer: A Catechetical Formula is reliable or time-tested or traditional way of explaining some aspect of faith. For example, when you see someone quoting the Catechism of the Catholic Church on this site, they are reciting what amounts to a catechetical formula.
Doing this is called Catechesis:

Catechesis is the act of handing on the Word of God intended to inform the faith community and candidates for initiation into the Church about the teachings of Christ, transmitted by the Apostles to the Church.
Catechesis also involves the lifelong effort of forming people into witnesses to Christ and opening their hearts to the spiritual transformation given by the Holy Spirit.
A catechism is the name given to a written work that contains a summary of all the beliefs of the faith that is used as a teaching tool.

Some catechesis is aimed at younger children, some is aimed at adults in RCIA. The entire Baltimore Catechism is a comprehensive listing of such formulas. It keeps the questions and answers simple, so that even young children can understand. Here is what one such "formula" looks like:

Q. 340. Was Jesus Christ always man?
A. Jesus Christ was not always man, but became man at the time of His Incarnation.

Many of the people visiting this site are looking for catechetical formulas: ways of explaining an aspect of their faith to someone else. For example, when Peter asked Why is Good Friday called Good? ("Is there a very obvious way to explain to someone..."), he was looking for a catechetical formula. In my answer, I recited one formula, and then tried to develop two more - the first was adjustable and aimed at a co-worker, the second one was simple, something a child might readily remember to say to a classmate.
Answer: I suspect the term does not have special meaning but is nearly a synonym for "didactic formula", i.e., an established 'recipe' for expressing a teaching (for a catechism, in the form of an answer).  Just looking at the definitions of the separate words seems adequate to discern the meaning--from Google:
catechism: "A summary of the principles of Christian religion in the form of questions and answers, used for the instruction of Christians."
From The Free Dictionary:
formula: "An established form of words or symbols for use in a ceremony or procedure."
A non-Ten Commandments use was found here:

But for the Christian the resurrection has a still richer meaning. St. Paul, clearly repeating a catechetical formula that he had learned, says to the Corinthians:

(then quoting 1 Cor. 15:3-4).

What does "Catechetical Formula" mean?


How touch occurs in a simulation hypothesis or in a brain hypothesis in a vat?

Question: The point is that it doesn't matter whether these hypothesis are correct or not. The only thing that worries me is how the touch happens if in the real world it is the interaction of atoms (in particular, electrons). thanks
Comment: It would happen exactly in the same way as it happens in dreams, that is as a touch hallucination.
Comment: Only the sensation of touch occurs.
Comment: Rather than the atoms interacting, in the simulation the "electrons" that transmit the signal are directly manipulated.
Comment: that is, the touch will still occur?
Comment: can we call it touch?
Comment: but since we have no other way to touch anything, will it be the only way to touch?
Comment: Define "touch".
Comment: touch is a feeling
Comment: Bishop Berkeley made the point that we don't experience anything directly; all we really experience is our experiences. Your sensation of touch is not proof of anything "out there," but is just a sensation in your mind. You could well be having the sensation without anything being out there. A classic case is the phantom limb phenomenon, in which amputees feel sensation in their missing limb. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_limb
Comment: [Here](https://kolkol69.github.io). Check the algorithm.
Comment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P627tIEahso An example of the body transfer illusion by non-scientists
Answer: When you play any video game, some of the simulated objects are solid. Even in a simple side scroller like flappy bird, if the bird "touches" a pipe, the bird crashes and you start over. The game engine tracks the location of objects in the game world and provides appropriate feedback.
If we are living in a simulation, you don't have a physical brain as such, it's just code running on a computer somewhere. The state of your brain is determined by the simulation engine. Your brain state includes things like your location in space, what objects are around you, the sensation of gravity, the input of light… basically, all of your experiences. Touch is one of those experiences, and the simulation creates the brain state of a person touching something.
Answer: What you know is something. What you know is the subjective impression of the sensation of touch, for example the sensation that what appears subjectively to you to be your fingers are touching what appears subjectively to you to be a book.
What you believe is something else. What you believe is that touching is occurring in the material world, for example that your fingers are touching the hard cover of a book.
What you know is definitely something you know. As such, it is as real as could be, though possibly somewhat misleading. Still, at least you know something.
Whether what you believe is true, you don't know, but you believe it, which seems good enough. If you are still alive, it is probably good enough.
Obviously, if your are a brain in a vat, what you believe about the material world, if anything, will be likely false, but bear in mind that if you are not any brain in a vat, what you believe about the material world would be also most plausibly false. Again, what matters is that you should be alive and feeling good (If not, sorry for that).
Now, if I myself only existed as part of a simulation, I fail to see how the subjective impression I have now that my fingers are touching the keys on my computer keyboard could possibly be simulated. The simulation of a subjective impression is not itself a subjective impression, and yet I do have subjective impressions. This seems to exclude the possibility of any sort of simulation, unless we equivocate on the word "simulation".
So, brain in a vat, why not, though not even remotely plausible, but a simulation, no.
Comment: Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been [moved to chat](https://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/116475/discussion-on-answer-by-speakpigeon-how-touch-occurs-in-a-simulation-hypothesis).
Answer: Your main worries can be explained away by the contemporary extreme materialism school of psychology called Eliminative materialism which rejects the existence of certain qualia or certain types of mental states that most people believe in, and thus avoids the usual reductive physicalism's disjunction problem which results in the indeterminacy of propositional content. In summary, under this view, certain mental states such as your touch sensation don't exist at all, just an epiphenomenon of brain function with its corresponding neural process under certain additional environmental requirement such as a living skull. In this sense, you don't even necessarily need a hand to get a feeling of touch, touch "occurs" to you as a mere illusion inside your brain while maybe in the real world it is the interaction of atoms.

Eliminative materialism is the relatively new (1960s–1970s) idea that certain classes of mental entities that common sense takes for granted, such as beliefs, desires, and the subjective sensation of pain, do not exist. The most common versions are eliminativism about propositional attitudes, as expressed by Paul and Patricia Churchland, and eliminativism about qualia (subjective interpretations about particular instances of subjective experience), as expressed by Daniel Dennett and Georges Rey. These philosophers often appeal to an introspection illusion.

In the context of materialist understandings of psychology, eliminativism stands in opposition to reductive materialism which argues that mental states as conventionally understood do exist, and that they directly correspond to the physical state of the nervous system... Some eliminativists, such as Frank Jackson, claim that consciousness does not exist except as an epiphenomenon of brain function; others, such as Georges Rey, claim that the concept will eventually be eliminated as neuroscience progresses.

If you find above view is too radical, your main worries can also be explained away by Property dualism which views that non-physical, mental properties (such as touch, thoughts) exist in, or naturally supervene upon physical substances such as brain.

Non-reductive physicalism is the predominant contemporary form of property dualism according to which mental properties are mapped to neurobiological properties, but are not reducible to them. Non-reductive physicalism asserts that mind is not ontologically reducible to matter, in that an ontological distinction lies in the differences between the properties of mind and matter. It asserts that while mental states are physical in that they are caused by physical states, they are not ontologically reducible to physical states.
Answer: There are some principles of touch that are not so evident.
a) All solids, even those that seem absolutely rigid like glass or diamond, act like a beach ball during the kick in the proximity of another body: they get deformed. They start by compressing in the touch zone, then, the potential energy stored comes back and produces rejection in the other object, while the affected object recovers its form. A theoretically perfectly rigid object would need of infinite atomic forces within to keep integrity, otherwise it would break with the single interaction of an electron.
b) What happens in such case is that atoms, "trying" to keep an ordered position on the solid grid, get closer. That is like pushing a string: it tends to get to its original position. The opposite case, trying to break an object by pulling on opposite sides is similar: atoms get distant, and they "try" to get closer again, like pulling a string. The more you pull or push, the larger the force, of course, until the spring breaks.
c) Notice the usage of the word "trying": it is only didactic. Atoms have no will, but they show spatial tendencies, to remain in a place or to move, according to natural laws, starting from fundamental interactions.
d) Atoms are not small balls. Every possible thing in the universe (including matter) can be understood as energy. So, solids, touch, movement, etc, it's all about energy lumps interacting.
e) The nature of energy is not scientifically clear. We have mathematical ways to describe its behavior, but what it is, is a mystery.
f) Touch does not occur at an atomic or molecular level. Touch occurs in the mind. Atomically, the interactions are always the same, as described in the atomic/quantum mechanics theory.
When you think of atoms, assess atomic interactions. When you think of molecules, assess molecular interactions. When you think of solids, assess solids interaction. It is not logical to assess the interaction between an atom and a solid, or within a concept and a molecule, or within a car and an electron.
That's the issue with the question: you are trying to relate a macroscopic behavior (touch) with a microscopic one (atoms interacting). It is not consistent (example: the thermodynamic relationship between more temperature and more particular kinetic energy seems evident, but it's not: try looking the mathematics behind it: it's quite complex; essentially, the zeroth law of thermodynamics helps addressing such issue, just by saying that more temperature is just more energy in a very abstract way). If you want to understand the relation between touch and atoms interacting, study the systems and subsystems: what are the rules describing how solids are formed by particles; what are the rules describing how particles are formed by molecules; what are the rules describing how molecules are formed by atoms.


Can you teleport twice with two move actions and still hide?

Question: The Totemist soulmeld blink shirt bound to his totem chakra allows you to teleport as a move action. Can you teleport twice, and still use hide/hide in plain sight?
Answer: A creature that uses the blink shirt's teleport effect can't take any actions until the creature's next turn
The soulmeld blink shirt (Magic of Incarnum 60-1) has its most serious limitation stated in its initial description: "After using this ability, you can't take any other actions until your next turn" (MoI 61).
This limitation remains when the blink shirt's bound to the totem chakra, the description of which, in its entirety, says, "You can use the dimension door ability of this soulmeld as a move action" (ibid.).
That is, binding the blink shirt to the totem chakra changes the time to activate the dimension door-like effect from a standard action to a move action but changes nothing else.
Comment: @Simon Please tell me there's double-secret errata for *Magic of Incarnum* that, until now, I've been unaware of! Or is that, sadly,--because my *MoI* doesn't say that--a house rule?
Comment: Will update question, A blinkshirt bound to totem chakra has the additional text "You can use the dimension door ability of this soulmeld as a move action and act afterwards" so it would work with dimension door.


How do I get rid of my friend's face?

Question: In the Home Screen of my Nintendo 3DS, I scroll to the Face Raiders application and see that the face of a friend of mine is still there. That friend played with Face Raiders in June, so is there any way to take the face off the home screen?
Answer: The faces on the Face Raiders home screen eyecatch are chosen from the database of faces you have in-game.
While there is no way to mark a face as "do not use for eyecatch", the face will no longer be used if removed from the game.
Comment: @JerryRox Then there will be a chance of the face appearing on the home screen.
Comment: what if I don't want to delete the face?
Comment: The answer above is wrong. As I have had the same problem, I tried deleting the face and it still appears on the home screen. So, yo might have to delete the face from the camera if it was transported.
Comment: @user80039 It's not wrong. If the face you deleted is still appearing, that's probably just due to caching. Try restarting your 3DS - next time it chooses a face for the eyecatch the one you deleted won't be able to be chosen. Deleting the photo won't do anything at all - it's completely separate from the faces saved to the game.

How do I get rid of my friend's face?


How to collect thought which is in mind on paper into story

Question: I have lot of story in my mind but whenver try to write, my mind become blank and cannot collet all thoughts to write story.
Comment: I think this question is going to be seen as too broad to be answered, because the honest answer could be "do anything". I won't be putting this as an answer because I feel this is really too broad, but I also want to encourage you to write. So what I will say is this: hold a single thought very tightly. If your mind goes blank when you go to write, it's probably because it's too long since you were thinking about the story. Try sitting down, listening to some inspiring music, and write the first thing that comes into your head. A scene, some dialogue, or anything. Good luck!
Answer: The problem you are experiencing is probably that you have too much in your mind and when you try to write, you don't know where to start and in what order to write it all down, and you are afraid that you will mess your wonderful idea up.
There are two things you can do:

Chose one scene or situation and begin writing from there. Forget about order and all the things you think you need to get into your story, and just write from that scene forward, discovering your story as you go along.
That starting scene doesn't have to be the beginning of your story, you can write out of order and write parts that come before that starting scene later.
Also, do not worry that you will forget something. It's all in your mind, and you will remember to put it in when the appropriate place in your story comes. Or you can add things in later, when you revise your story.
Write down all your ideas that are related to this story on index cards (or into a text document). Do not worry about how they all should go into the story, just put them on paper (or in a text file), so you have them before you.
Now order them. Take each of the index cards, think where in the story this should go, and put it in a line in front of you, with the first parts of your story to the left and the ending to the right. (If you have a text file, copy and paste the notes to where you want them to be in your document.) Number the index cards, so you can easily put them in the correct order again, if you accidentally mix them.
When you have ordered your ideas into an outline in this way, open a (new) text document, take the first index card (or the first note in your other text document), and start writing from this beginning to the next index card (or note). Fill in, what happens inbetween.

When you write, using either of the methods briefly sketched above, you can write in several stages. Write a rough draft of your story first, and then flesh it out, adding more and more detail with each revision. This takes away some of the pressure of writing a publishable, "finished" version at the first attempt.
Just think of the first draft as "finding" the story. It doesn't have to be perfectly written, there can be inconsistencies and parts that you just write down keywords for, to flesh out later. Polishing the prose can come last.
Answer: Try dictaphone.
You may be not comfortable with writing yet, but maybe saying your thoughts aloud would be more comfortable for you.
I have to warn you, though. If you turn out to be a prolific "dictator", going through your records will be more difficult than going through written notes.
Answer: The only think I can suggest is to sit in front of your computer at a blank page and write. If you can't think of things to write, then just write random words.
Decide on a given number of words to write each day. I would start off at 1,000 if you're not used to writing. This may sound daunting, but it is very doable if you can type at all.
This exercise is designed to get you into the habit of writing. At first, what you write will be random and have little or nothing to do with your story. Maybe it will just be the main character's first name written 1,000 times. It doesn't matter.
The theory behind this is that there is a creative part to your mind that wants to express itself, as well as a critical part that doesn't want you to write at all. By writing randomly you are bypassing the critical part and letting the creative part have free reign. Eventually the creative part learns how to express itself bypassing your internal critic.
Eventually, you will learn to write with both the creator and the critic working together, but that is a long time away.
Happy writing!


What determines whether Destiny enemies are vulnerable or resistant to a particular damage type?

Question: This page lists the enemy shield types that are vulnerable to different damage types.  When I was playing recently, I noticed that a particular shielded enemy was resistant to Solar damage.  Are enemy shields that are vulnerable to one type of damage resistant to another type of damage?
Comment: related, but may not be a dupe: http://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/184129/how-does-arc-solar-void-damage-work
Comment: Look at the color of the shields...it shows either what they are weak against or resistant too. Cannot remember what one it is so I will not answer.
Comment: In my experience, harder missions (such as the weekly heroic raid) have had enemies with shields that resist other types of damage (for instance, a blue shield was weak to Arc and strong against Solar).

I have not noticed shield resists in regular raids (including lvl 24) and story missions up to lvl 24.  The damage didn't seem to be decreased either, same numbers popping up.
Comment: I won't answer because I'm not positive, but in harder strikes if you don't attack an enemy with the proper damage type for their shield you'll hardly damage them. I don't think it matters what type as long as you aren't using the one they are weak to.
Answer: Colored shields are weak to elements with the same color. If you shoot an enemy with a blue shield with a rocket launcher that causes void damage, you will still hurt him, but not do bonus elemental damage.
Bonus damage is usually displayed in the same color as the element, when shooting an anemy with the same colored shield.
Comment: I got mistaken with the blue shield Rapitor.  They looked same to me and i just assumed it took no other damage.  Thanks for the correction
Comment: Nothing in the game has a white shield.
Comment: No worries! In the heat of battle and in certain lighting the blue shield can look white.


What is readable code? What are the best practices to follow while naming variables?

Question: Do you think x, y, z are good variable names? How will you explain a new programmer to write readable code?
Comment: There are numerous topics on this: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged?tagnames=naming-conventions&sort=votes&pagesize=10
Answer: As already stated x, y, and z are good variables for 3D coordinates but probably bad for anything else...
If someone does not believe that names are important, just use a code obfuscator on some code then ask them to debug it :-).
(BTW that's the only situation where a code obfuscator can be useful IMHO)
Answer: Readable code means some combination of comments and variable and function naming that allows me to read the code once and understand it. If I have to read it more than once, or  spend my time working through complicated loops or functions, there's room for improvement.
Good summary descriptions at the top of files and classes are useful to give the reader context and background information.
Clear names are important. Verbose names make it much easier to write readable code with far fewer comments.
Writing readable code is a skill that takes some time to learn. I personally like overly verbose names because they create self documenting code.
Answer: There seems to be slightly different conventions per progamming language; however, the consensus these days is to...

use pascal case
make the name meaningful
end with a noun

Here is a decent recap of what Microsoft publishes as standard naming conventions for .NET
The inventor of python has published a style guide which includes naming conventions.
There was a time when Microsoft VC++ developers (myself included) actually rallied around what was known as Hungarian Notation
Answer: Certainly there are multiple schools of thought on this, but I would only use these for counters, and advise far more descriptive names for any other variables.
Answer: x, y and z can be perfectly good variable names. For example you might be writing code that refers to them in reference to a 3D cartesian coordinate system. These names are often used for the three axes in such a system and as such they would be well suited.
Answer: I would give them some maintenance work on some code with variables called x, y, z and let them realise for themselves that readability is vital...
95% of code viewing is not by the author, but by the customer that everyone forgets about - the next programmer. You owe it to her to make her life easy.
Answer: Good variable names describe exactly what they are without being overly complex. I always use descriptive names, even in loops (for instance, index instead of i). It helps keep track of what's going on, especially when I'm working on rewriting a particularly complex piece of code.
Answer: Well give them a chunk of bad code and ask them to debug it.
Take the following code (simple example)
<?php $a = fopen('/path/to/file.ext', 'w');$b = "NEW LINE\n";fwrite($a, $b);fclose($a);?>

The bug is: File only ever contains 1 line when it should be a log
Problem: 'w' in fopen should be 'a'
This obviously is a super easy example, if you want to give them a bigger more complicated example give them the WMD source and ask them to give you readable code in 2 hours, it will get your point across.
Answer: x,y and z are acceptable variable names if they represent 3d coordinates, or if they're used for iterating over 2 or 3 dimensional arrays.
This code is fine as far as I'm concerned:
for(int x = 0; x < xsize ; x++)
{
  for(int y = 0; y < ysize ; y++)
  {
    for(int z = 0; z < zsize ; z++)
    {
      DoSomething(data[x][y][z]);
...

Comment: a clever example - find a domain in which x, y and z aren't just random letters any more!
Comment: I'd be more likely to use i, j, and k for iterating through a 3D table.  Just feels more "mathy".
Answer: As long as x, y and z are (3D) Cartesian co-ordinates, then they're great names.
In a similar vein, i, j and k would be OK for loop variables.
In all cases, the variable names should relate to the data
Answer: This one is a short answer, but it works very well for me:
If it would need a code comment to describe it, then rethink the variable name.
So if it's obvious, why "x" was choosen, then they are good names. E.g. "i" as variable name in a loop is (often) pretty obvious.
Answer: An ideal variable name is both short (to make the code more compact) and descriptive (to help understanding the code).
Opinions differ on which of the two is more important. Personally, I'd say it depends on the scope of the variable. A variable used only inside a 3 line loop can get away with being single letter. A class field in a 500 line class better be pretty damn descriptive. The Spartan Programming philosophy says that as far as possible, all units of code should be small enough that variable names can be very short.
Answer: Readable code and good naming conventions are not the same thing!
A good name for a variable is one that allows you to understand (or reasonably guess) the purpose and type of the variable WITHOUT seeing the context in which it is used. Thus, "x" "y" and "z" say coordinates because that is a reasonable guess. Conversely, a bad name is one that leads you to a wrong likely guess. For example, if "x" "y" and "z" represent people.
A good name for a function is one that conveys everything you would need to know about it without having to consult its documentation. That is not always possible.
Readable code is first of all code whose structured could be understood even if you obfuscated all variable and function names. If you do that and can't figure out the control structure easily, you're screwed.
Once you have readable code and good naming, then maybe you'll have truly readable code.


CoffeeScript unit testing?

Question: I'm using CoffeeScript in a Rails application, and I would like to unit test it. Google didn't turn up anything, is there any way to do it short of writing my own testing framework or testing the JavaScript that CoffeeScript outputs?
Answer: You can use any javascript testing framework with CoffeeScript. This will be testing the Javascript that CoffeeScript outputs which is necessary since CoffeeScript itself can't be executed.
Writing your own testing framework for CoffeeScript is fun (I did) but entirely uneccessary.
UPDATE: Jasmine tests can be run on node.js in which case both the tests and the code under test can be CoffeeScript, without the need for any compilation step.
Comment: Thanks for the answer. I decided to go with QUnit for now. I had to write a little bit of glue code to get my test page going but that's all right.
Comment: There's also a Coffee-Spec  which is specifically for CoffeeScript. I think most people (including myself) just use JavaScript unit testing frameworks like you've done. (I use Jasmine.)
Comment: I have found this page where it says you can write jasmine as coffeescript and it will work http://coffeescript-cookbook.github.io/chapters/testing/testing_with_jasmine. Do you know if only coffeescript (and Nodeunit) will work or if it is possible to write any testing framework as coffeescript code?
Answer: You can use QUnit "as-is", but still only write coffee-script - and no glue-code.
I have a very small, pure coffee-script project on github as an example - rubyann.
The HTML test page rubyann_tests.html, references the rubyann_tests.coffee file which tests jquery.rubyann.coffee. I didn't write any javascript or any other code to make this work.
The tests only run on Chrome on your local machine if you use the command-line argument --allow-file-access-from-files. But it works on Firefox and even IE without issues.
addendum - the tests are also setup to run on the command line via Node/gulp/qunitjs - download the repo and type npm run test
Answer: I'm testing CoffeeScript in my Rails app with QUnit, and have written up how I'm doing it here: http://effectif.com/coffeescript/qunit-boilerplate
The most interesting thing in my write-up is the use of the callback to Coffee.load to guarantee that files containing tests get loaded after the files that contain the code under test:

The need for currying the test variable is explained in the article...
Answer: For Coffee-Script Unit testing you can try Beast-Test it was written from the ground up for coffee-script. FYI i am the own but i think you will like it none the less. It is similar to JUnit

CoffeeScript unit testing?


How we can use Authentication Provider in Visual force page?

Question: I am using custom visual force page for Community self register and login. I want to add option for register and Login via Gmail and LinkedIn. I created two Authentication Providers and it is working from standard login page. How we can use that providers in our custom visual force page dynamically for any org?
Answer: If you check the HTML source of the standard login page where Social Login button is present, you can see the following code.

In the JS the useIdp function is defined as below, which takes two arguments and updates the browser URL with the second parameter.
useIdp: function(a, b) {
    if (null !== l) try {
        l.setItem(n(), a)
    } catch (d) {}
    window.location.href = b
},

If you look look carefully at the URL, this nothing but the combination of Auth. Provider Salesforce Configuration URL and your community URL.
Decode this URL and you can see something like this, where ccommunity is my community name.
https://login.salesforce.com/services/auth/sso/00Di0000000inohEAA/MyLinkedIn?community=https://xxxxxxxxxxx.na15.force.com/ccommunity&startURL=/ccommunity/

So in your VF page you can use this same URL in a anchor link to provide user to login via this Social Netowk. Hope this helps.
Comment: Thank you for giving answer and appreciate your help. Problem is we are using custom Login and registration visual force page with custom UI so how we can get this URL? We can get this SSO Url from Auth. Providers but it would not same for all salesforce org.
Comment: You can get this URL from the standard login page. If you want to call the SSO methods directly from VF page then you have to implement the Registration Handler class. Check this link for details https://help.salesforce.com/articleView?id=sso_provider_linkedin.htm&language=en_US&type=0


What is the need of adiabatic compression in Carnot cycle?

Question: Why do we need to compress the gas adiabatically after the isothermal compression of gas? What if we just skip this step? What will be the consequences? By "skipping this step", I mean, after isothermal compression, just make the contact of gas and hot reservoir until both of them get equal temperature (during this we keep the volume of gas constant), and after this we follow the usual steps (i.e., isothermal expansion). Since there is no other heat loss (except the obvious heat damping during isothermal compression), will there be any effect on efficiency? Correct me, if I am wrong.
Comment: `Since there is no other heat loss`- Work and heat are path functions so the heat does differ in your case. Try plotting your cycle in a graph and calculate it's efficiency manually. Is it more than the carnot cycle?
Answer:
Why do we need to compress the gas adiabatically after the isothermal
compression of gas? What if we just skipped it?

The short answer is it is necessary in order to increase the temperature and internal energy of the system to its original state and complete the cycle. The work done in the compression equals the increase in internal energy (since $Q=0$). If we skipped it its internal energy and temperature would be less than at the start of the cycle.

By "skipping this step",I mean, after isothermal compression, just
make the contact of gas and hot reservoir until both of them get equal
temperature (during this we keep the volume of gas constant),

To do what you say you would have to continue the isothermal compression until you reached the initial volume. That means more heat is discarded leaving less to do work decreasing efficiency. What's more, you will have to add more heat to return to the initial state during the constant volume process, which further reduces the efficiency, since efficiency is the net work done divided by the gross heat added.
Bottom line: Doing what you suggest will result in a cycle efficiency less than the Carnot cycle efficiency.
Hope this helps.
Answer: Bob D's answer is good, and I'm no expert (mechanical engineer, not a physicist), but here's how I think about it. Yes, the total energy of the cycle will be greater this way, because the last bit of compression can happen at the low temperature, therefore requiring less work to return to the initial volume while at lower pressure.
The flaw is that when you touch the still cold gas to the hot reservoir to finally return to the initial state, this step now requires heat input, when before it only required mechanical input (compressive force). Furthermore, the input heat required to increase the temperature and pressure of the gas will be more than what would have been required to simply compress it. This is because the heat transfer from the hot reservoir to the cold gas happens across a large temperature difference, which cannot happen statically and will incur loss due to entropy generation.
The reason that this process seemed reasonable at first is because a "high temperature reservoir" makes it sound like the heat that it supplies is free, so getting more net mechanical energy per cycle is appealing, even though in practice that extra input heat has to come from somewhere.


I have a e bike tricycle. Its butchered. I need a wiring diagram

Question: So I found a Segway trike at the dump. It's all there but it looks like some body tried to turn it into a 48 volt system and I do believe that it was originally a 36volt. My next suspicion is that that the motor is also not for a 36volt, its more like a 750watt by the looks of it, so I'm wondering how can I function test the wheel motor without a plug on the end? Also, is there a way I can do away with the module and somehow jimmyrig the thing to the throttle with some alternative circiutry with regards to any electric bike motor that resides in the wheel itself? Is there any possible way to just hook up the battery to a manifold of wires from the cluster of wires from the motor to the battery to the controller or throttle?
Comment: Hi, welcome to bicycles.  I'm afraid that advice for rewiring electrical power systems isn't really our strength.  You might want to try a forum dedicated to electronics.
Answer: You're right - you really do need a wiring diagram or more info on that specific brand/model.
Everything depends on the design and the parts.  So start by googling up all the part numbers and see what you can find.   It is almost certainly a motor bought from a wholesaler and integrated into the bike, so the specs should exist somewhere.
The few ebikes I've worked with have had 3-phase AC motors, which all have three equal sized wires going into the hub, possibly with some optional thinner signalling wires.   As such you cannot hook DC to an AC motor and have it spin.
There must be a "box" that converts the 36V or 48V  DC from the battery to AC to run the motor.  That function may be inside the battery receiver in/on the frame, or it may be a separate box.

Some searching for "segway trike" returns decidedly non-bicycle results like this - a lack of pedals means this isn't any form of cycle, and falls into a gap tending toward electric motorcycle or "assistive technology"
  "Segway SE-3 Patroller"
Please add photos of what you have now, including an overview as well as closeups of specific relevant parts, like the controller box, throttle, motor, battery, and any labels.
Otherwise search through results like https://www.google.com/search?q=Segway+trike&tbm=isch and try find something that looks the same as yours.


What qualifies as a 'low-quality contribution' on Physics SE?

Question: Something tells me this question is a duplicate of something.
I noticed somewhere that accounts can be suspended for 'low-quality contributions'. Could you point out what constitutes a 'low-quality' contribution and why?
Answer: Suspensions for low quality contributions are generally tied to a large number of downvoted and/or closed questions (relative to the total number of questions the user has asked, of course). So if you want to know this:

Could you point out the questions that constitute a 'low-quality' contribution and why?

I would throw the question back at you: which of these questions would you downvote, and furthermore which of them would you expect the rest of the community to downvote as well? Which ones would you vote to close and expect others to vote to close?
When we suspend for low quality contributions, it is generally the community that has judged the contributions to be low quality, not (only) the moderators.
Comment: @Mitchell actually you can't tell that because we also consider deleted questions when deciding on a suspension. Deleted questions are not visible in a user's profile, though (except to moderators). Also, this is why I said "generally." Because of the way the suspension system works, the low quality message is sometimes displayed even when the true reason is something a little different. As always, if you suspect a suspension is inappropriate you should contact the SE team, but bear in mind that there may be things going on which you're not aware of.
Comment: @Emilio Sometimes posts are automatically flagged, but suspensions are never automatic. There is not a specific quantitative threshold that triggers a suspension.
Comment: @MitchellPorter: Adding to DavidZ's comment: Note as always, that publicly available information may involve only the tip of the iceberg. Particularly in cases where the offense seemingly (from a public perspective) does not match the penalty. There could be other issues as well in the suspension, such as, e.g., multiple accounts of low quality contributions, to name one example.
Comment: David Z, I was going to ask about this, and also about year-long suspensions, because [insert-here-the-user-who-shall-not-be-named] has been banned for a year for "low-quality contributions". 29 question asked, one of them at -1, about 17 at 0, the rest positive. So in this case it clearly wasn't the community who made the judgment.
Comment: @DavidZ Could you expand on what the process is for those suspensions? Is there a specific public (or private) limit at which this happens? Does this happen automatically or must mods intervene? Is there an auto flagging mechanism?
Comment: Suggestion to the answer (v1): In the first line replace the word 'downvoted' with 'downvoted posts' to make clear it applies to both answers and questions.


When one compiles a `C` file in Visual Studio 2010, is it compiled as a C++ file?

Question: C and C++ being different languages, and still I can compile them in Visual Studio 2010 under a C++ project. Why is that? Does the compiler interprets the C file as C++ one instead?
Comment: use the /TP option for that
Answer: No, it is compiled as C code.
A C++ project in Visual Studio can contain C++ and C code. The cl compiler recognizes the file extension and compiles it accordingly.
Files ending with .c are compiled as C code. Files ending with .cpp or .cxx are compiled as C++. This can be changed as documented here
Answer: Yes it is compiled as C++ file, unless the source file has a ".C" extension
With a few exceptions, C syntax is also valid C++ syntax, so C source code will be often  compiled successfully by a C++ compiler.
Answer: C is not C++, but the two languages are designed in such a way as to maintain compatibility.
There is a certain common subset that allows one to write .h files which can be included in both C and C++ compilation unit; that is dependent on the language standards.
What's more important, although the standards don't stipulate it, they silently presume that on a given machine the two languages will share a so-called ABI - Application Binary Interface. That allows for calls to be done from one language into another.
Unlike languages like C#, Java, or VB.Net, which require all the files of a project to be compiled as a batch, C and C++ are based on the idea of individual compilation units. Therefore it is possible to include files of different types (C, C++, Asm) into a single project.
One can, however, look at it under another angle. I have a C# project where some C# sources are generated by T4. I can regard it as a project where the resulting assembly is made from C# files but the C# files themselves may be obtained by some preparatory steps such as T4 conversion.
In the same way, you can regard a C++ project as a project where the resulting assembly is made from object files, but the object files may be obtained by some preparatory steps such as compilation of C or C++ compilation units. And mind, you can include ready object files into your project as well (typically, in batches called libraries).
Answer: no it is not compiled as c++, coz visual studio have support both c and c++ at a time..
if ur compile c program it is compiled as c only ... if u want to compile both in a single program you just add the header file of c and c++. (i.e) #include #include
,if u use both header you can compile both program at a time and also use printf scanf in c++ and u can use cin and cout in c programming.. thank you!


Religious Symbols in Naruto

Question:
Why are there religious symbols in the design of Mangekyou Sharingan?
Comment: i am not sure how the Star of David and the number 6 fit at all with the illuminati considering that when i google their logo i get The Eye of Providence or the eye ontop of a pyramid and to my knowledge there was never hexagon-base pyramids, only square-base pyramids which has 4 sides. also in the left image it's inconsistent. one of the sixes is fat while the other 2 are tall? and 2 of the sixes only overlap once?
Comment: I have no idea what you're asking... could you please clearify your question, for example adding a picture of the title where you mark the symbols you think symbolize the illuminati. And what do you mean by ``behind making``?
Comment: i mean@Armin ,why there are few symbols visible illuminati?
Comment: before that i'm sorry about my question , cause i'm biginner to use a english language . @Armin
Comment: @Memor-X i tried editing the question so it makes a little bit more sense... hopefully xD
Answer: The association of these images towards some religious symbols or to the Illuminati are a clear sign of over interpretation. Your issue is primarily with the Mangekyou Sharingan.
The left picture is Itachi's Mangekyou Sharingan. It depicts a pinwheel with three curls. Here is an image of one with four curls, but the 2D representation would be roughly the same.

When I read Naruto in the past, I thought it was a Shuriken.

The second one is Sasuke's Mangekyou Sharingan. According to Narutopedia, it also resembles a pinwheel, only with six curls.
But the first thing I saw when I looked at it was a model of an atom.

It could also be a six-petaled lotus blossom.

According to Narutopedia, all Mangekyou Sharingan resemble pinwheels. So no religious symbols and no Illuminati at all.

Religious Symbols in Naruto


Proper grip for Chinese straight sword (Jian 剑)

Question: This is a basic, but critical question.  I've noticed some variation among practitioners.

What is the proper grip for Chinese straight sword?
Answer: I'm going to use Major Methods of Wudang Sword as the reference, as the information comes from the last generation of Chinese fighters who used swords in combat and duels.  In a sense, everything after this generation is somewhat academic, and purely in the realm of sport and performing art.
In the chapter Shou Fa (Hand Techniques) The book describes two grips:

"Normally people hold the sword very firmly which is called Si Ba Jian (Dead-grip Sword). The advantage is that it is not easy for the sword to be knocked from your hand."

This is the way one is taught at the beginning, typically in regard to "external" sword form.  Here a teacher would simply tell the student to hold the sword in their fist, and not change that grip.  However, the book notes that "The disadvantage to [dead-grip sword] is that you cannot use the sword in a flexible manner."  This leads to the more advanced method:

"In Wudang Sword, you hold the sword loosely, which is called Huo Ba Jian (Live-grip Sword).  The good thing about Hua Ba Jian is that you can manipulate the sword freely.  However, if you have not practiced long enough to learn the ways of doing so, it might be easy for your opponent to strike your sword down [and disarm you]."

This reinforces why this grip should only be used after significant practice.  My own teacher would say "The sword should be wielded lightly, with two fingers."  In response to question for more detail, the reply was always "research" i.e. practice, with the idea it would become evident with enough diligent work.  (Some of us even speculated this cpould mean "ideally the thumb and any remaining finger" in the spirit of Musashi;) Luckily, this is explicated in Major Methods, such that one has a guide:

"The way to hold [the sword] is that you use your thumb, middle finger, and ring finger to hold the sword while keeping your index finger and little finger relaxed and separate, making the shape of the palm like a container that could hold something within it."

The note on the shape of the palm reflects the inclusion of Bagua in the Wudang system, where an empty, concave palm is standard across styles.  It's important not to be too rigid in adhering to that until it becomes natural, because the had does need to be relaxed. The book makes the point: "It takes quite a long time to train to the extent of mastering [live-grip], and this can be taken to mean decades as opposed to years.
(Tai Chi practitioners will also notice a similarity of dead-grip and live-grip to how one makes a fist in external styles and internal styles respectively—in internal styles the fist is not tight but empty.)
Relaxation is key b/c "when practicing, Jing (focusing) originates from the Dantian, issued by Yao Ji (waist and spine), and reaches the [end] of the sword through the arm."  If not relaxed, the power gets blocked by ones own body, but the book makes the point that "This type of Gong Fu requires both internal and external training" b/c one needs a baseline of strength to wield the sword in a relaxed manner.

Wrist flexibility is essential and also takes years to attain.  Typically beginning student will cheat the grip to get extra range on certain downward cuts, but this leaves the wielder open to disarmament.  One might see practitioners with the index finger hooked over the guard, but this is not recommended for obvious reasons.
My own teacher also added that the grip should be about 1 inch below the guard, although this may have been in service of the the draw from and return of the sword to the left hand in the standard "attention" grip (backhanded, blade controlled by the elbow) that many modern practitioners use at the opening and closing of the form.
Comment: I also found this resource which conforms to what I was taught: http://taijijian.free.fr/en/Grip.html
Answer: Typical Jian have a one hand, handle, thus the overall design means there's only two ways to hold it, forward grip blade facing up or backhanded with the blade upside down.
Some martial manuals depict the use of Shuangshou jian or two handed sword.
Comment: My experience of two handed grip is with the extra long blades exclusively, although my teacher found that good wudang waist technique allowed those blades to wielded one handed also.  (There's some parallel I think with the heavy Pakua dao, which can also be effectively wielded one-handed.)


What is the best method to snap features to road network?

Question: I have a road network with some of my tract centroids and facilities that fall off of it, however I would like to execute my analyses so that all features are part of the road network?  My facilities are hospitals and incidents are census tract centroids.  I am executing a closest facility analysis for drive time and distance.  I would like my output to adjust these features to the network with an output in an attribute table which shows the distance the feature was adjusted to the network.  Much like the near analysis, but actually adjusting features so that they fall within the network.
Answer: The result of your network analysis can be stored as a route event. You can then use "locate feature along route" to create a point event on your route. It will give you the distance.
Alternatively there is the snap point tool in GME (a free ArcGIS extension) that does it.


How soon does bitcoind incorporate locally solved blocks into its 'getwork' output?

Question: If one sends a solved block to bitcoind server using getmemorypool or getwork, and right after that requests a new block using the same API call, what will the server respond with? Assuming the data is correct, will bitcoind immediately create a new block to be solved with prev block field corresponding to the hash of the recently submitted work, or will it wait for the block to be accepted by its peers first?
Comment: The simplest answer is this: The client will always work on the longest, valid chain it knows of.
Answer: Bitcoin won't wait for its peers: your block will be considered the latest block in the chain once it has been processed. I'm not sure whether it's safe to say that the second RPC call will always reflect the existence of the new block, though, since Bitcoin is threaded and things might not be done in the exact order you expect.
Answer: bitcoind will act on the block you submit immediately. But there is no "right after that". Anything can happen between two requests to bitcoind. The responses you get from bitcoind represent a snapshot in time. In between two requests there could be a block reorganization causing not only your new block to be orphaned, but several blocks back in the chain could disappear, being replaced by blocks from a different fork.
You will usually see your new block at the top of the chain, but don't rely on that or you will have race conditions in your code.


C# Language updates

Question: How often has the C# language standard been updated and what is the current version?
Answer: There are no ECMA/ISO standards for C# 3 or 4. Yet. But I somehow doubt there ever will be, considering all the nasty politics.
As for the de facto standard compiler by Microsoft, C# 1 was in January 2002, C# 2 in November 2005, C# 3 in November 2006 and C# 4 just this April.
Mono, which is the runtime for Linux and OS X, has had C# 3 support since 2008, but C# 4 isn't out yet.
There's a C# version history on Wikipedia.

C# Language updates


How to make a url parameter stick in php

Question: Okay php newbie here, please bear with me. I am not sure if this is a redundant question but here goes. I have a reference code i want to stick to my url. example: site.com/index.php?refcode=123. That's fine right? we can put anything on there. Naturally the visitor goes to the index page. But if the visitor then clicks on other buttons that leads to other pages in my site, the parameter is gone. Like I want to track which code the visitor has when he sends me an email when he later decides to go to my contact page. How can this be done with php? or can this be done with jquery?
Comment: a session would probably be the easiest approach. just know that no method will guarantee the user does not change that code
Comment: agreed. the rest out there won't bother changing the code. I've seen it so many times, marketers giving me links, and guess what.. what keeps me from removing their referral codes? nothing. but people like that are few compared to the millions of people who would rather not touch the url. just saying... can you show me how to create a session to preseve that url parameter?
Answer: You would be best off saving the url variable into a session variable instead. The session variable will stick with the user so you have access to it no matter what page they go to.
<code>$_SESSION['refcode'] = $_GET['refcode'];
</code>
Make sure to use session_start()
But if you do want to do it the way you have asked you can modify all urls on your page and add:
<code>'?'.$_SERVER['QUERY_STRING']
</code>
This will add the query string to your url so the next page they go to would still have it. But that does seem like a lot more work.


Wobble in rear hub

Question: I have a 97' cannonade f1000 that has had disc brakes installed. The rear hub developed a wobble after only 200 miles. I took it back to the shop that built and installed my set up. I thought they fixed it but after only 50 miles the rear hub showed signs of beginning to wobble again. Was it a bad build or did Shimano provide my local shop with defective hub?
Comment: A wobble could be many different things: the hub bearings are bad, the wheel wasn't built right, the spokes are losing tension, you put a ding in the rim, etc. etc.  Unless you can give more details (photos are useful), I don't think we can answer your question.
Comment: So you have a 19 year old bike?  Why only 200 miles till the wobble developed?  If its a used bike then could be many things.  Did the shop fit a new hub to the wheel (hundreds) or did they simply reset the bearings (cheaper) ?
Answer: As commented, there are a multitude of reasons this could be happening.  However, they all boil down to roughly two categories, a defective hub, which should be a warranty issue for the manufacturer, or improper setup/adjustment from the shop (and subsequent possible damage) which should be the shop's issue.  From your stand point of just having bought a new wheelset (I am assuming the wheelset is new with the brakes) you should treat both the same way, take it back to the shop you purchased it from.

Wobble in rear hub


Check events emited by lightning component from managed package

Question: I have to cal some action in  my lightning component when the child component finished rendering. Best practice AFAIK is to handle event thrown by child component, but the problem is that I dont have access to child codebase because it is from managed package. I dont know if it throws any custom events, also cant find any info how to catch ootb lightnig render events from child cmp. Pls let me know if You have any Idea to acheive that.
Answer: You can request your managed package application provider to provide a global event for your scenario .
The managed package vendor will need to something similar to below code
<aura:handler name="render" value="{!this}" action="{!c.onRender}"/>

Controller code
({
     "onRender" : function(cmp) {
        var appEvent = $A.get("e.c:appEvent");
        appEvent.fire();
      }
 })

This assumes there is an event definition file and the Event is of type application event and marked global

 <aura:event type="APPLICATION" access="GLOBAL">


iPad 2 Broken Screen!

Question: I dropped my iPad 2 and the LCD broke so I can't see what's happening. Is there a way I can see my iPad screen on my computer so I can make a backup of the files in specific apps. I know that you can mirror iOS 8 or higher devices using the lightning adapter but since this is the iPad 2, it's still using the 30 pin connector.
Answer: Bummer to hear!
Fortunately, Apple does a great job in allowing you transfer data between devices.
I'm not certain on your meaning of "backup of the files in specific apps"; however, I have two suggestions that may be of help.

Plug your iPad into a trusted computer. This refers to a computer which has been used to sync your iPad in the past. From here you can back up your device with iTunes
.
[PAID SOLUTION] Third party software is available which will allow you to backup a bit more data than iTunes allows, which is especially useful if you do not plan to purchase another iOS device. I've used a software like iSkySoft iTunes Recovery, which is expensive but does the job well. Search around, I'm sure there are cheapest (or free) solutions if you plan on going the third-party route.

Hope this is of some help to you.
Comment: Thanks for the tips, but what I meant with "backup of files in specific apps"; For example the app Photo Vault. If you want to back up the files in Photo Vault, you have to be in the app to make a backup. But the problem is that the LCD is not working of my iPad 2. So I can't really see what I'm doing.
Comment: According to the developers website:

1) On your old phone, backup your phone to iTunes by plugging your phone into your computer and launching iTunes.
2) When you get a new phone, restore from the iTunes backup on your old phone.

iPad 2 Broken Screen!


What if I'm wiped out battling against the legendary Pokémon?

Question: My brother failed to save before battling the legendary (Groudon), and saved afterwards when his team had been wiped out by Groudon. Upon returning to the Cave of Origin, to the same spot that Groudon first spawned, he is not there. What can be done to make him respawn so he can be battled again, in order to advance in the story?
Answer: If you got wiped out by your legendary during the story, renter the Cave of Origin. On the second floor when going down, there is the normal stair-case, as well as another entrance to the west. Take the entrance and keep going downwards that way. You should eventually be able to encounter your respective legendary in another room.
Source: thanks to the user "[Dark Star] Greninja" on pokemondb.
Comment: +1 Also, now that you mention it, I kind of recall having paths splitting up and saving right before there. I guess I forgot to go back and check out that other path after I had beaten Groudon...
Answer: Where you find Groudon is when it takes you somewhere and you battle its Primal form, right? If memory serves me right there's another way you can go in the cave that leads to where the actual fight happens. This other way is blocked off until Groudon/Kyogre take you to where the actual battle occurs but since you've done that scene it should be fine.
Answer: You can rebattle any legendary you havn't yet captured, whether you kill it or get wiped out. Just defeat the elite four again and the legendary will reappear where it naturally lives, or if a moving pokèmon, starts teleporting again.
Comment: The only problem with this answer is, he can't challenge Gym Leader William if he hasn't first caught or defeated Groudon/Kyogre. Without that last badge he can't even challenge the Elite 4. Your answer is therefore not the correct one.


Do I need to rekey SSL if I move my server from one place to another?

Question: I have an existing ssl for a particular domain. Now we are planning to move the server to a different location with the same domain name. Can I just copy the SSL from the existing one or I still need to rekey in? Also I read there's some information that must be matched with the original one, how do I get this info back?
Answer: No, you do not need to rekey. All you need to do is copy over your certificate file and your private key to the new server and configure it in the same manner as your old server. The actual implementation of this is impossible to say without listing your server technology.
Answer: Nope !
The key is you're certificate, so where ever you take it.
it will represent you.
Managing Signing Certificates
Update the SSL Certificate for Your Load Balancer


How to deny drop, delete permission for a table?

Question: I want to give Create , alter , read permission on object to user but not insert , update ,delete,drop permission to user , How can i do it in sql server 2008?
Comment: As there are many types of objects in SQL Server's databases, you'll need to specify what type of object you want to grant permissions to.  https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms190324.aspx
Comment: the objects are Table , procedure, function ..
Answer: To CREATE a table, stored procedure or function in SQL Server you need to GRANT the following
GRANT CREATE TABLE, CREATE PROCEDURE, CREATE FUNCTION, CREATE VIEW TO [someuser/somerole]

to a user or role. I added VIEW in since you probably wanted that too.
You also need to
GRANT ALTER, EXECUTE, VIEW DEFINITION ON SCHEMA::schemaname TO [someuser/somerole]

to that user so that they can modify or use what they created.
With ALTER however that user would have the ability to DROP and ALTER anything in the schema which is not what you want based on your question.
ALTER PERMISSION SQL SERVER 2008

ALTER Confers the ability to change the properties, except ownership,
  of a particular securable. When granted on a scope, ALTER also bestows
  the ability to alter, create, or drop any securable that is contained
  within that scope. For example, ALTER permission on a schema includes
  the ability to create, alter, and drop objects from the schema.

You could restrict that user to their own schema but that would probably create a lot of work for you since any application using your database would have to be aware of that new schema.
Outside of permissions, another way I know of to prevent dropping objects from a database is with a database trigger. Something like this: How to deny drop permission for a table?
CREATE TRIGGER NO_DROP_TABLE
ON DATABASE
FOR DROP_TABLE
AS
PRINT 'Dropping tables are not allowed'
ROLLBACK


Why was NASDAQ(or other index) not fluctuating in 70s and 80s?

Question: Today I have a search of historical NASDAQ back to 70s and noticed the index was slightly increasing in 70s-early 90s and rising up and down in recent decade of years. Why would that happen? The only reason I can think of is there isn't much computer trading involved so the market wasn't crazy like today? How do you think
Comment: You need to log the chart. Your not going to see the price if it's either not inflation adjusted or logged.
Comment: Great question. But have you tried plotting with the y-axis from 0 to 500 only? This might tell a different story.
Answer: The volatility in the indices long ago was similar in magnitude to what it is today.  The problem you are seeing in your plots is one of compounding and scaling.
Think of it this way- back in the mid 70's the magnitude of NASDAQ pricing was around \$100.  Today it is on the order of \$4000, a change of 40x.  In linear terms, a 1% change in the index today (\$40) would have been a 40% change in the index back in 1975.  This goes the other way as well, so on a linear y-axis plot, a moderate swing in value in 1975 (say 1%, or \$1.00) is indistinguishable in 2014 terms.
There is a way to see the relative volatility over the years in a plot, and that is to use a logarithmic y-axis.  I see you are using google's charting app.  Under the chart there is a "settings" button.  Click it, and select "logarithmic vertical axis."  It makes a big difference.
Answer: Always use a semi-logarithmic scale when looking at prices. It makes percentage moves of equal heights on your graphs.
Answer: try to get a chart with prices for stocks that are not adjusted for dividends and splits, (from quandl, or yahoo) and you will see that the stocks were moving just like they do today, and even more since they didn't trade in decimals.
Answer: I plotted my own long term stock market price chart, nearly half a century ago, using semi-logarithmic scale and adjusting for inflation. So, I figure that now people are half a century late, in figuring out the obvious. But, at least people are starting to ask questions.
Answer: Here is the logic: Think of your investment as doubling and doubling again, and doubling again, rather than as going up a thousand, and then another thousand, and then another thousand. In other words, everything about investing is proportional, and that is EXACTLY what semi-logarithmic chart is.


Should my subpanel have a neutral conductor feeding it?

Question: I have a subpanel to an outdoor patio 75 yards from the house main breaker box and don't think it is wired properly.  There are two large hot lines from the main controlled by a 50 amp breaker that go to the subpanel.  There is a large ground connected directly from a grounding rod next to the subpanel. Only limited power comes out of individual 15 amp breakers at the subpanel.  Is there supposed to be a neutral coming from the main breaker box to the subpanel?  If so, what is the minimum size I need due to the distance?
Comment: If the panel was originally set up for 240 loads it would be fine. for 120 you should have a neutral that is isolated from the ground. #6 wire would be fine for a 150' / 75 yard run. today's code requires a 4 wire neutral & ground with the neutral isolated.
Comment: OOPS. brain fart 225' for 75 yards. #4 wire would be required for a full 50A draw at 225'. Depending on local code it is legal to run a 3 wire 2 hot 1 neutral with a local ground rod. since you have a breaker that can be turned off it would be easy to make it right.
Comment: While you appear to have a good description here, a picture would help to confirm your accurately describing what you see.
Comment: Is it two hot conductors, or a hot and neutral?  Is it a double, or single pole breaker in the main panel.
Answer: Sounds like they're trying to use the earth as a neutral, which in the US is not allowed.
If the wires are through conduit, and the conduit is large enough, you can simply pull two more conductors.
If the wires are in a cable, or the conduit is too small. You'll want to pull a new four wire cable, or four conductors through a larger conduit.
To compensate for the voltage drop across the 225' long conductors, you're going to have to use larger conductors.  In this case, you'll want 4 AWG copper conductors.  If you're going to install a new four wire cable, you can use 4-4-4-6 type USE copper cable.
Answer: Phone quickie answer:
Tester101's method is the conventional one.  Her are some potentially cost saving alternatives.
If you need 120/240 and don't want to run new cable, you could obtain a (perhaps used) 12KVA or larger outdoor rated transformer and install this as a new main service.  5KVA would suffice if you changed the supply breaker from 50A to 20A.  You'd redesignate the panel as a main panel, add a main breaker (it could be back fed) and ground rods just as you would have for a house.
Your 2 hots would deliver 240V to the primary of the transformer, and the secondary would supply split 120/240 with neutral.  This would be isolated from house neutral, and would bond to the local ground rods.  This might not require running a ground wire from your main panel.  Might.

Or, if you only need 120V service at this location, you could keep this as a sub-panel but re-designate one of the two "hots" as a neutral - but this is only allowed if the wire is 4 AWG or larger, which it may well be.  In this scenario you definitely need to run a ground wire.

If you want to bring a new neutral from the house, it cannot be routed any way you want.  It must be bundled or in the same conduit with the other "hot" wires.   Ground wires have no such restriction and can take any viable route, provided they are not being misused as a neutral.

Anytime you are working in wire 6 AWG or larger, seriously consider the new AA-8000 series alloy aluminum wire. It is in wide use for this "big stuff".  Kill on sight any 1350 alloys as they are now outlawed.
Perhaps this thing was originally wired for a 240V-only hot tub.  And when that was removed, some enterprising handyman tried to provide local 120 service via the ground rod, which assumes the earth conducts electricity well, which it does not.  In fact every time you plug a 120V appliance into that panel, you are energizing ground and creating a shock hazard.
Answer: *Not an electrician, just my layman's understanding:
1) Yes you should have two hots and a neutral, unless (and this is highly unlikely) your sub panel is on a single phase, in which case you could have 1 hot 1 neutral but that would be wrong wiring of a sub-panel to begin with.  You actually should probably also have a ground so 4 wires to the panel.
2) Technically you could go 6ga but I would go 3ga here.
3) PLEASE DO NOT CHANGE THIS YOURSELF.  HIRE AN ELECTRICIAN TO CONFIRM YOUR THINKING!


Cascaded Shadow Maps - Handling shadows that cast into different cascades

Question: For example I have 3 shadow cascades. A shadow is cast by a hill in my 2nd cascade, but the shadow itself is cast into not only the 2nd cascade but also the 1st. In the shader program, in order to locate the correct cascade, I check which bounds the Z clip space that the pixel resides within. Since the shadow was cast from the 2nd cascade, the portion of the shadow that is cast into the 1st is cut off, as shown in my image.
How can I get around this? Is there something I'm missing, or is my implementation wrong?
Comment: A shadow caster in the 2nd cascade whose shadow extends into the 1st cascade should have had its depth recorded in *both* cascades, no? What is causing this information to be absent from the first cascade?
Comment: You can do better than an arbitrary number. ;) You can do it extrude the sub-frustum for this cascade back toward the light until it encompasses all shadow casters, and use a tight bound on that z range. If you've solved your problem, want to post your solution as an Answer below?
Comment: Maybe my implementation is wrong: Each subfrustum has its own light position (based on the centroid of the frustum, and placed backwards in light direction), its own view matrix, and its own projection matrix. Could it be that in this example, the first frustum's view cannot see the tip of that hill, therefore not recording the depth information?
Comment: Following some research I just did, I found this "Choose the min/max values for z large enough, that all shadow casting objects are included, where ever the frustrum is."
I added an arbitrary number -100.f to my projection matrix Z min. And I think this has solved the problem. Does this sound right?
Answer: The 1st cascade was not showing the shadow, as pointed out by DMGregory; the depth information was not recorded. This is because the viewing position of this cascade could not see this part of the hill, because the minimum Z value of the projection was only set to the minimum Z coordinate of the subfrustum in lightspace.
Solution: I have now subtracted the screenfar value from the min Z coordinate, which has solved the problem. The more difficult, but more correct solution would be to do what DMGregory suggested; extrude the sub-frustum for this cascade back toward the light until it encompasses all shadow casters.


Magento 2 : how to LIbrary import using composer

Question: How can we library import without composer update give any solution.
Comment: Were you able to solve your problem?
Answer: No, cli command
php bin/magento setup: upgrade

is used only to upgrade schema/data of internal modules of magento based on increase in version of module or install module in case of new module.
The magento itself is upgraded through composer. It is neccessary to understand that composer updates modules based on composer.json located at magento's root directory.
So you should mention dependency of required extension in your composer.json and run following command ;
 composer update

Or running composer require command with name of the module you require as mentioned  in tutorial I have attached.
It would not update magento as the version of the magento modules mentioned in composer.json is not changed.
You can follow this tutorial too - https://www.magestore.com/magento-2-tutorial/install-magento-2-extension-by-composer/


Travel to Aerenal from Khorvarie (Eberron intercontinental travel)

Question: I can't seem to find a map that gives me distances to and from Aerenal and Khorvarie, nor a set cost. Can anyone help?
Answer: The various maps of Khorvaire, like this one, put the southern tip of Valenar just over 200 miles from the northern coast of Aerenal. Pylas Maradal is the nearest port to that point, so that could be another hundred miles or so assuming you don't want to ship out from the far end of the "jungle of scimitars" Ravar Orioth. The map of Aerenal in Eberron Campaign Setting, here, puts Pylas Talaear nearly 300 miles from the northern tip of Aerenal.
However, it is blatantly obvious that these two maps are not consistently scaled. The tip of Aerenal found in the first map is much, much smaller at that map's scale than it is in the Eberron Campaign Setting Aerenal map. And this is because Wizards of the Coast badly messed up the scales on Eberron maps. This is a known, admitted fact. The original distances were too large at least a factor of 10, for the populations described in the text (or else even the most vibrant and fertile lands of Khorvaire have population densities rivaled by some deserts in the real world). And here we see considerable inconsistencies of scale.
Assuming we go with that factor of 10, that puts Pylas Talaear something like 30 miles from the northern tip. The original 300-400 miles from the other map also seems suspect, but it's harder to say exactly what it is; I suspect it is more than 30-40 miles. But really, Pylas Maradal and Pylas Talaear don't seem all that far apart, which seems consistent with the ancient Aereni expeditionary force to Khorvaire that forms the basis for Valenar's modern claim.
Beyond these, little and less is offered. Explorer's Handbook offers this tidbit on page 97:

From Sharn, the journey to Seren is almost 4,000 miles [...] In a sailing ship, the journey takes half a year or more [...] In a House Lyrandar airship or elemental-bound galleon, the trip can be completed in four weeks. Pylas Talaer in Aerenal, a popular layover port, is approximately halfways between Sharn and Seren.

This implies three months by traditional ship, two weeks by something elemental-fueled, but that's coming from Sharn, a great deal further away than Pylas Maradal. The first map would call it approximately 1000 miles more, but this contradicts the statement that Sharn to Pylas Talaear is half of the 4,000 miles from Sharn to Seren however, since by the map it's certainly less than 1,500 miles.
Frustratingly, Explorer's Handbook actually discusses travel within Aerenal (specifically from Pylas Talaear to Shae Mordai), but not about getting to Pylas Talaer in the first place, aside from the off-hand mention as part of the Sharn to Seren trip.
As far as costs, Explorer's Handbook has a table of various costs on page 18. Assuming you're only transporting a party and you're not chartering your own trip but just renting a place on a ship making the journey anyway (i.e. almost certainly the Sharn–Pylas Talaear trip unless someone has ties with the Valenar), you're looking at approximately 1300 gp per person on an airship, about 400 gp per person on an elemental galleon, and about 40 gp per person on a regular sailing ship. Various other options are also documented. Ships of any stripe probably don't go to Aerenal very often, though; you could be waiting several days or weeks to actually have one of these options. Chartering your own is vastly more expensive.
Comment: What would be your expert recommendation for the best Eberron map to use for a globetrotting campaign?
Comment: @HeyICanChan I have never seriously had cause to establish exactly how long it would taken to travel from place to place; it was always just hand-waved. So I mostly just ignore the scales on the maps, knowing that they're rarely useful and having little need for them.
Comment: Do you know anything about—as mentioned in [this answer](http://rpg.stackexchange.com/a/10114/8610)—the *4E* maps being rescaled? (I know this question's tagged *3.5E*, but maybe *4E* has maps that are better?)
Comment: @HeyICanChan Unfortunately, no, I know nothing about what 4e did with Eberron's maps. After I learned only a little bit about what 4e did with Eberron as a whole, I became entirely disinterested. Maybe that is one area in which the 4e Eberron is better.